Project Baby Wipes!

Ok, so I really didn't think I was going to get to this part of my project-doing so soon. Really.

Some background: I have been wanting to add a distressed glaze to our kitchen cabinets since, oh, 2.5 years ago when we moved into this house and I was 9 months pregnant with John. Well that never happened and I have probably attempted to start this project about 3 separate times and chickened out. Like, go-to-the-store-and-buy-all-the-ingredients ready. Very ready but something was holding me back.....

Then yesterday as I was showering it just hit me and I decided I. had. to. glaze. right. now. or. else. (said in a robot voice, here). I declared to Kyle that today was the day. I was going to do it. FOR REAL. But not to the kitchen because that was too daunting and I wasn't confident in my method yet. So I locked in on the guest bathroom with laser-beam intensity. She would be my lucky guinea pig. Thankfully my mom took John to spend the night at her house last night so as soon as I put Anna to bed I started my mission.

I really wish I had the foresight to have a before picture but I think most of you know what stark-white cabinets look like--especially if you've been to my house. Plus, I was so intent on doing this NOW that I didn't even think about the camera. So here's a picture of our bathroom with similar cabinets...(the pictures are so awful--where is a nikon d90 when you need it?!)

And (a mere 3 hours later) here is the after....

I seriously declared that I wanted to sleep in the bathroom last night. And I wasn't kidding. Maybe even just sleep in the hallway so I could look at the cabinets as I drifted off to sleep? But before you think I'm nuts....I didn't, ok?

But really this was sooooo stinkin' easy and I knew it would be. I also knew once I did it I would kick myself for not doing it sooner and that was pretty much how I felt.

What do baby wipes have to do with this? Ok, so after you add the glaze to the cabinets you rub it off with a clean rag to get your desired look. But the baby wipes help you clean up a little bit more and take off some of the streaks that won't come off once the glaze has dried a little too much. Baby wipes are great to have around for paint projects....look out, master bathroom cabinets....you're next!

Kyle Update: Kyle has been improving over yesterday and today (you know things are looking up when I start on my projects again). He has been moving around the house and eating a bit more. He's able to talk without being out of breath immediately. We'll go back to the doctor again tomorrow for a follow up so I'll have more news but it looks like the infection is clearing up---slowly but surely. He still hasn't been able to get back to work so his favorite thing to watch are game shows because they "don't make me anxious". Funny, for me, game shows inherently make me anxious.

Getting My Project On

Well, here we are...it's been two weeks that I've been very focused on keeping our little family afloat. It's been a full time job taking care of my three and the creative side of my brain is atrophying. It has been dormant for too long. And to make matters worse it is revolting by populating my brain with waaaay too many projects than can be handled in a reasonable span of time.

I took the little lady with me to Lowe's today and I saw it in her for the first time......*crazy eyes*. Yes, Anna, I know. When I go to Lowe's or Michael's or HobLob I get the crazy eyes too. I think she was more impressed with the vastness of space, big and bright lights, and lots of people and things to see. But me, I got the crazy eyes thinking of all the random parts and pieces that could be brought to life in a DIY project.

What do chicken wire, a painter's drop cloth, and baby wipes have in common? Nothing together but each one is an important part of a different project rolling around the recesses of my little brain. You'll have to stay tuned for more on that.

Stand back! I am (crafty) woman, hear me roar!

Doctor Update

Quick update on Kyle's doctor visit:
His chest xray came back looking pretty much the same. The doctor mentioned that Kyle has "quite a pneumonia" and it could take a couple more weeks before he can go to work or do things like he used to. The doctor is hoping that Kyle can eat a little bit more to give his body the fuel it needs to recover. He also said he is ready to stick Kyle in the hospital at any point if he is heading towards being malnourished especially since he's lost about 10 pounds in the past 10 days. But today Kyle was able to keep small portions of food down so hopefully that trend continues. (Kyle did enjoy the yummy casserole the Meraz' brought over and John got to play with his bud Henry for a bit--thanks G & H!).

The visit to the doctor just about wiped Kyle out since he hasn't moved any farther than occaisionally from the bed to the couch. As we walked into and around the building to get xrays and such Kyle had his arm around my shoulders for support and I had my arm around his waist to steady him. Several people looked at us and smiled saying "how cute, you two!" and "awwww". I had to laugh....um, yeah, we're so soooo cute. We're not on a date, people. Does it look like we're headed to see a movie? walking on the beach? We're in a clinic. My husband is leaning on me so he doesn't collapse, we're not just two lovebirds that can't let eachother go, you know. Puh-leeez! :) At least that gave Kyle and I something to laugh at. So we have another follow up on Tuesday. The doctor just wants to monitor everything so it doesn't get worse.

We'll keep you posted! Thanks for the prayers and well wishes. We do appreciate it!

What a Week!

Well, I'm not sure where I left off here on the blog. A lot has happened in the past week. Last week I was frantically getting ready for our trip to Ecuador. My mom, my aunt, me, and the kids were supposed to leave last Friday to spend a week with my family down there.


The week leading up to us leaving was kind of nuts. Bear with me if you've already heard this story but it must be documented here on my "online diary".


Sunday night Kyle started to feel bad with symptoms of a cold. He was pretty much out of order for a few days. We sent John off to my parents so John wouldn't catch a virus.

When I took John to school on Tuesday the teachers told me there had been a case of hand foot and mouth disease in his class and they were obligated to disclose the information. Normally that wouldn't bother me because I have faith in the school's ability to disinfect and clean the classrooms but I was being The Germ Nazi and wanted to keep John away from any possible illness before our trip so I kept him out of school last week.

Later that day John's pediatrician's office called to say they had received the seasonal flu vaccine and would I like to make an appointment. I asked if they had the H1N1 vaccine because we were leaving the country on Friday and I would really like to get both. They said if I could make it to the office within the hour they could make that happen. Because of John's inhaler use he had to get the elusive and very unaccessible shot version not the mist version. So he got the shots and the champ did not even cry AT ALL with the two sticks in his legs. (Hurray for whoever taught me about how to manage your child's expectations because that is like the best parenting tip I could ever tell people about)

Ok, back to the story. So Wednesday night Anna came down with a fever. The next morning we found out she had a double ear infection. Thursday night John came down with a fever. The next morning he tested positive for flu (most likely H1N1). His fever and symptoms only lasted about 12 hours and then he was back to normal so I think it was just a bad reaction to his vaccine. Nonetheless, that trip to the doctor made us cancel our trip because I wasn't going to take 2 sick kids with me on a five hour international flight. No sir, no thank you. Plus Kyle was still sick, actually getting worse.

We cancelled our trip.

And, oh, did I mention our credit card number was stolen Thursday night and I had to cancel our card the night before we were supposed to leave? Um, yeah, there were pretty much one million reasons to NOT go on our trip at this point.

So Kyle went to the doctor on Monday and it turns out he has pneumonia. yikes. This pneumonia thing is a booger. It has wiped Kyle out completely. He can't walk around much, has difficulty breathing, gets coughing attacks, can hardly eat a thing, is in bed pretty much all the time, and is generally not in good shape. And apparently the recovery is very slow. It's been hard to see him so sick. It's scary to see how illness can creep up and affect someone so quickly. You never know how your life can change in a few seconds, hours, or days and the plans that you think you made are not really all that important when your health is in jeopardy.

But God is very good because he knew that we didn't need to be in Ecuador but we did need to stay in Houston to be with Kyle. He also knew that a trip with two young children to a country that, we found out a few days later, is experiencing rolling blackouts and water rations due to a random seasonal drought would not be a comfortable place for us right now. I can't imagine how difficult the trip would have been if we had ended up going. So I know all the junk that has happened in the past week has been for a purpose that I can already see and maybe for other reasons that I will never know. But I feel like the Lord protected us tremendously.

So, anyways, I ask for your continued prayers for Kyle's healing. He seems to be getting better (albeit at a verrrry sloooow rate). We have a follow-up doctor appointment tomorrow morning so I should have an official update for you soon. He can't talk or do much but I know he'd love to hear from his friends and family so if you care to leave him some well wishes in the comments section it will give me something fun to read to him and I know he'd appreciate it :) Sorry for the looooong post but I had a lot to say, huh?!

And my patient is calling my cell phone as I write so Nurse Bethancourt is reporting for duty....until later, friends!

Post Halloween Happenings in the Hood

Our latest news is that Kyle is a bit down with some mysterious illness. All of us are avoiding him like the plague. I feel bad for him since he never gets sick so it's tough to see him holed up sleeping most of the day. He came home at lunch time today and snuck in the house without John seeing him. Otherwise John would have demanded play time and cuddle time and I can't have John or Anna sick this week. Nor is Kyle in the mood to be rambuctious at the moment.

Kyle's illness is big news but that was usurped this evening by another story of greater importance and bewilderment. This evening at 9:10 Kyle and I heard a crazy brick breaking/glass breaking/something breaking noise. I know it was 9:10 because I'm one of those crazy people when I hear (what could be) gunshots or odd noises I take note of the time in case it is of importance later on. (Oh, I watch 48 Hours Mystery, people...the exact time of an event can make or break a case, okaaaay? ok.)

Anyways, a few minutes later Kyle hushed me for making too much noise opening a Teddy Grahams box (so sue me....I had the munchies....and I have no qualms about stealing John's snacks). I stopped moving and we heard people yelling, then we heard sirens.

Kyle locked down the house but I wanted to step out the front door to see some action. When we walked out together our neighbor across the street told us her husband and two other neighbors just took off running down the street chasing a man on foot (hence, the yelling we heard).

The story: A car came crashing through the exit side of our gate (we live in a gated horseshoe shaped 2-street neighborhood), tearing down our street all the way to the end of the cul-de-sac, took a left thinking there was a way out of the neighborhood, then ran straight into the master bedroom of a house where new neighbors had just moved in about 2 months ago. Welcome to the neighborhood!

So the driver was the man the neighbors were chasing on foot but he outran them. The passenger of the vehicle was still on the scene, standing around talking to people and seemed coherent to me. Not sure how the heck he was going to explain that one to the Coppers except we overheard him claiming he didn't know the guy who was driving....interesting story. I don't know too many people that get into cars with unknown drunk and/or high people but whatever....

Thankfully no one was physically injured but I had never seen a car inside a house and certainly not in a cul-de-sac of a usually very peaceful gated community. So bizarre. And speaking of bizarre...six tow trucks showed up and a bunch of us standing outside noticed a lot of commotion, huddling over, flashlights, and coins clanging on pavement. Would ya know it those tow truckers were flipping coins to see who was going to get the job. Never seen that before either but I don't frequent accident scenes so maybe that's the way they roll?

to be continued....