Ronnie's latest surgery

As many of you know, Ronnie had surgery just a few days after we returned from our Caribbean Cruise (May 28th).  A scar band located on the back of his knee that has been a chronic open wound for over 3 years now was excised.  In its place, a temporary synthetic skin-like covering was placed.  His leg must stay in a brace to until his next surgery when a skin graft will be placed on the spot.  We are still waiting to hear when the next surgery will happen but it is looking like it will be either at the end of June or beginning of July.  Other than the inconvenience of the brace and immobility that comes with that, Ronnie is doing quite well.  We have been incredibly blessed by our loving friends as many of them brought us meals to help get us through the first week.  What a blessing!  There are no words to describe how blessed we are by all those that have poured into our lives over the last few weeks.  

My New Piece

Ronnie got me a new little hand gun this week!  Isn't it cute?  In a scary kind of way?  Can't wait to get some practice time in at the range.  :-D

Across the World and Around the Corner

This past week has been a busy one as we, along with my parents, opened our homes to friends from across the sea.  The Henriques are a family, originally from El Salvador, that minister to the Hindu middle class in India as they teach Spanish and run various ministries.  Shelby spent most of last summer in India teaching along side this sweet family.  Over the last few years, we have been able to build a relationship with them through the distance and were excited to welcome them into our homes.  Ronnie and I were especially blessed to get to know the daughters, Dorean and Rebekah.  We loved laughing with them and swapping stories.  Isn't it crazy the way the word sometimes feels so small?

Cruising the Caribbean

We had a wonderful vacation with Ronnie's side of the family at the end of May.  We cruised to Roatan, Belize, and Cozumel.  It was amazing and the weather was perfect!  We enjoyed the down time on the ship while hanging out at the pool, watching the boys play sports, and eating until we could not possibly eat anymore!  At each destination, we took an excursion:  A park where we could hold monkeys in Roatan, cave tubing in Belize, and a day of adventure on a private beach in Cozumel!  I'm still working on my shutterfly photo book, so more to come later....

Just add ice cream!

A sweet family friend took a terrible fall a month or so ago and wound up with a severely broken ankle held together with lots of metal.  Ronnie asked me to do a little care package to cheer her up.  I put together this "Just Add Ice Cream" box.  It turned out super cute!  I added toppings like chocolate, caramel, nuts, cherries, and a variety of sprinkles along with waffle cone bowls and cake cones.  The cute little scoop, stickers, and shakers were touches from an ice cream themed basket I had just won at a silent auction.  They topped everything off perfectly.  I'm really happy with how it turned out and I know our sweet friend was too.  

Springtime in the backyard

As winter melted away we began to see glimpses of spring. Yes, they were usually chased away by freak snow storms or icy winds, but I am going to go out on a limb and hope I don't jinx it-- I think spring is here to stay!

Our backyard has had quite the transformation in the last month. We added a fence for both privacy (fences make good neighbors!) and for the pups. They love being able to run. We added some deck furniture, flowers, a little garden and it finally feels like a place we can relax in. I love it. 

Before: 

After: 

Our front yard got a dash if color too!

Happy Easter!

Easter kind of snuck up on me this year.  Maybe it was because it has been so cold for so long... I really don't know.  We "egged" our neighbors on the Friday before Easter.  They have two sweet kids that we so enjoy and we wanted to bless them in a fun way.  We stuffed about 30 eggs with candy and little toys and hid them all over the front time.  Our timing was perfect as their daughter arrived home from school about twenty minutes after we were done.  She had so much fun collecting the eggs.  She ran inside to grab a bag and kept telling her dad she would need another one if there were more than a few more eggs!  It's funny how we are blessed when we bless others.  

Med Tech.  Clinical Laboratory Scientist.  Not many people know what we do and fewer still know how we do it.  We are the ones that are unseen and often forgotten, but we play a vital role in patient care, diagnosis, and treatment.  In fact, over 70% of a patients diagnosis comes from us!  From blood smears and differentials to electrolytes and hormone levels, and wound cultures to transfusions.  We do it all.  

I love my job and take great pride in my skills and my coworkers.  

This was my first year as a real Med Tech and therefore a "real" participant in Lab week.  [SIDE NOTE: I've been out of school for a year and been working at Eskenazi for over 9 months!!!  WHAT???]  It was a week full of fun (and treats!) that made the days seem to fly by.  We had pizza one day and Olive Garden another day, then of course leftovers for a couple of days.  We had contests like "match the pet to the tech" and a cookie bake off and of course prizes.  All in all, it was a fun week celebrating our careers and the way we care for patients.  

Green Clean Part II

Recently, I went from this...

...to this.

I haven't spent enough time with all of them yet, but I thought I would share a few of my favorites so far.  

Granite Cleaner:

I've been using this for almost a year now and it is great!  Hubby says it is his favorite too.  It's simple to make, smells good, works well, and is versatile   I use it for my granite counter tops, as well as general clean up on the tile and other hard surfaces (not wood).




o   1/4 cup rubbing alcohol (you may also use vodka)
o   3 drops of dish detergent
o   1 cup water
o   A few drops of essential oil (to help mask alcohol smell).
Recipe courtesy of Mama Cheaps


Window Cleaner:

Okay, this works GREAT.  I will admit I was thoroughly surprised.  I'm totally sold on this one.
o   Equal parts: white vinegar and water
o   1 tsp dish soap (preferably unscented if you plan to add essential oils)
o   10-15 drops of any citrus oil (I personally like grapefruit) or Lavender is always a great cleaning scent
Recipe Courtesy of bloom doula



Furniture Polish: 

So far so good with this one.  It works really well and is SO much healthier than Pledge.  I think it's a keeper for sure!
o   2 tsp olive oil
o   1/4 cup white vinegar
o   2 cups water
o   10-20 drops of Lemon, Lime or Lemongrass
Recipe courtesy of bloom doula




Poo-Pourri:
Okay, this was probably the one I was most excited about.  Have you ever seen this stuff?? It is seriously the greatest!  I first heard about it over five years ago and I don't know how we ever went without it!  Need to know more about it?  Check out their commercial here.  You wont be sorry.  You can pretty much use any type of essential oil combination as long as you have about 70 or so drops.  

o   3.5 oz. water
o   30 drops wild orange
o   30 drops lavender
o   30 drops lemongrass
o   1  4 oz. dark glass spray bottle
Courtesy of Little House on the Valley

Green Clean

I cant believe we are hopping forward into April already!!  Where has the time gone?  I feel like moments are rushing by and I can hardly catch my breath.  Do you ever get those moments where you are thinking ahead to the next few weeks and months and in your mind the year is already gone?  That's what life is like right now.  We have lots of things coming up... trips, visitors, meetings, work stuff, and house projects.  I'm trying hard to live in the moment and not for the next event on my list.  

With time whirling around me, I am still managing to plug on though my 2014 goals.  One of my goals is to be cleaning chemical free by 2015.  As some of you may know, I cleaned houses for a year when I lived in Georgia.  It was certainly not a "fun" job and I tried my best to move more into nannying and out of home care, but my time cleaning gave me an appreciation for "green" cleaning supplies.  Trust me, when you spend hours breathing in fumes and gagging on chemical odors, you learn to appreciate clean air.  I had several families that chose to use green cleaning supplies like Shacklees and Seventh Generation.  I was so grateful for that and I vowed that when I had my own home to maintain, I would do the same thing.  

Now, I'm still a huge fan of Shacklees but I started looking into home-made cleaning supplies, especially those containing essential oils.  I wanted to be simple, cost effective, and naturally CLEAN.  I didnt know much about oils but started using lavender water to clean counter tops about a year ago.  I've added a couple more lavender and vinegar base concoctions to our cabinet over the last few months and tried several variations of recipes.  Hubby was quite skeptical as his nose tells him that only that chemically smell is clean, but even he has come around and began to associate the sweet and calming smell of lavender and even the tangy smell of vinegar with clean [it can be done!].  

After a bit more research, and with hubby's reluctant blessing, I took the plunge.  I bought my first set of 6 essential oils: lavender, lemon, orange, eucalyptus, tea tree, and peppermint from Eden's Garden along with a Young Living Purification Oil for good measure.  I compiled all my favorite recipes from pinterest and got started.  My timing could not have been better as we have company coming to stay at the end of this week.  I cant wait to try out some new home-made cleaning products and let you all know how they work!