Destruction

Thankfully this weekend finds us at the end of a *fairly* normal week. Finally feel a little under control at work, the house is back in order and Adam turned 27 this week! I tried my hand at homemade orange chicken for his birthday supper, and it turned out pretty darn good!

For those of you wondering about my grandpa, he's doing pretty well. Mom told me that the nurse says that he is gaining a little strength! She even had the OT come out to work on goals.

Now on to the bathroom...

I'm going to be showing lot of picture of "stuff" but thought you might want to get a look at my contractors. Of course, my very studly husband...

...and Adam's dad, Dale. (I really thought I had a better picture, maybe I'll find one later.) Dale was here for a week and half and worked his butt off. Most of the time in a Charlie Brown Christmas t-shirt.

Before you can make something new, you have to destroy the old (well, at least in this case!). Here's the first hole in the drywall. You can see the original plaster lath in the kitchen wall...

Then, for some reason, the drywall is all over the floor! :)

Man did this project make a lot of trash. Enough to fill the entire bed of Adam's truck and then some.

Here's after we pulled the vanities out. Don't you love the duct tape on holding the exhaust pipe together? More on this another day.

This was probably the worst mess of the whole project. This is our office that connects to the bathroom. During destruction/construction, this was the staging area/dumping ground for everything bathroom related.

As I tried to figure out the best way to share the renovating process with you, I decided to go start-finish with each part of the bathroom. Then I'll share the complete finished project. Hopefully we're DONE by then!!

Hope that you are having a great weekend. :)

::Sigh:: :)

I've been fairly absent from my blog lately.  And will probably be absent for a while.  But do you know what??  God is doing great things right now that are keeping me busy.

Did I tell you?  We're moving to Iowa!!  Never did I dream that I would say those words with true happiness, but that is how I feel.  Maybe joyful would be  a better description.

Below is about the only picture that I have from the last time we lived in Iowa, three years ago.  We moved there two days after our wedding for Adam's summer internship.  After a long, boring summer, I vowed never to return to that awful state.

Confused yet?  Since we have moved away, I have become much closer with Adam's extended family in Iowa.  I've also learned that we lived in a really old, boring town.  This time we'll be in a better town, and much closer to family. Including 6 little cuties like this:

Adam will be working for another co-op, doing pretty much the same thing as he is now, but with a better company who is more interested in his future.

Me?  Well, funny story.  So by accident found a job on our new church's website...applied...called to see if job was even still available...yes and they were already planning to set up an interview..."I'll be there on Sunday, does that work for you?"...interview on Sunday goes great...telling Adam about how it went...tap,tap,tap..."Do you have a minute to talk to the director?" says one of the interviewers...talk for few minutes..."Do you want the job?"  "YES!"  "Okay."...He adds as I walk about the door, "I knew as soon as we got your application."

God.  Thank you.  You are mysterious and wonderful.  Your plan is far more than I could ever hope to dream up myself.

And the last, and most exciting, bit of news?  Well, I'll leave you with a picture, of ...

We have been waiting on God's directions for, really, years for this point in our lives.  We keep waiting for directions.  Sometimes we have felt burdened by those directions.  But always, they are the best.  The right directions.  Without those burdens and detours, we could never have found our way to the blessings that God has given us in these last few weeks.  We pray that we will begin a season of steadiness, but also know that we have no idea what is in store for us next!!

Back to the Blogging World

Yes, I am back.  Just when I started to get some regular readers, I disappear for a whole month!  Life was happening for a while.  Had to experience it.  One of the biggest reasons that  I have been absent is because I was in a craft fair this past weekend!  Adam was on a walk about two weeks before and saw a sign that the mall across the street from us was having a craft fair and needed crafters.  Why not?!  So for two weeks I busted my butt to get some inventory built up and set up my "business" affairs as well.

 

This was one of my two tables.  Overall traffic at the fair was HORRIBLE.  But then there are literally only 4 stores left in this mall.  I did sell enough to feel it was a success.  I got a few orders for onesies like these:

And several people took my card with promises to call.  Even a few who may be interested in wedding invitations!  I would LOVE to do weddings.  I made a new blog just for my business Felicity Avenue.  Check it out!

In other Dykstra news, we spent Thanksgiving with Dykstras yesterday.  It was a really nice day.  Got to spend some time with Adam's cousin Kurt who I really haven't ever talked with, just in passing on a few holidays.  Starting to really "settle" in to the family.  We won't make the Dykstra Christmas this year, so it was nice to see everyone.

Adam is starting to wind down from harvest.  Well, wind down a little.  He's still working this whole weekend.  I think if his machinery would cooperate, he'd be home a lot sooner each day.  Grrrr.... 

Got my first FAKE Christmas tree a few weeks ago.  I swore I would never buy one, but when you aren't allowed to have a real one, there are exceptions to be made.  It was only $35 from Walmart, 6.5' and pre-lit too!

Other than that, life is moving along.  Work is still good.  Mel's doing fine.  I'm staying healthy.  Waiting for our next set of directions.  It's been almost six months, aren't we due for a move?!  Ha!  I hope not, but if past history is any indication, who knows!

Happy Turkey Day!  (So I'm late, better late than never!)

Why are they called "Onesies"?

Really, anyone who has the answer to this question please let me know!!

We have two new babies in the family, Adam's cousins in Iowa.  Both were due the same week as me and came early, making it a little bittersweet, but babies are just exciting and cute so I just have to be happy for them.  One of the dad's called Adam and felt guilty for telling us that his son was born!  Yes, it's hard to hear, but we are so happy for them. 

So, a few weeks ago I saw this post on Nichole Heady's blog.  (She is the owner/designer of Papertrey Ink which is my favorite stamp and packaging store online.)  Well, I knew that these little ones would be getting hand-stamped onsies when God brought them into the world.  I did the first one and literally squealed!  They are so stinking cute!  Now we need more babies so I can make more of these.

Close up:  Don't babies really have a special "scent"??

Couldn't just throw them in a box.  Tied on a little wrist rattle too

Well, and then there were the cards... 

Been working on the design of my Christmas cards (yes already, when you make 70+ it takes awhile!).  Finished Halloween cards and need to do one last set of wedding card packs.  And October calendar pages for Kristi and Grandma.  And make cookies for small group tomorrow.  Hmmm.  That's a lot.

Got a few pics of new things I did to the apartment, will add those later this week.

Oh, and Wednesday afternoon we have a doctor's  appointment with a high risk OB.  Got his name from someone at work.  With everything that happened this spring I am high risk for lots but especially ectopic pregnancy (one of my abscesses was draining THROUGH my fallopian tube!).  My OB in Hudson said that when I do get pregnant again, call Adam but my second call should be to a doctor.  So I decided that we should get a doc on board BEFORE anything happens so that we are ready when we do conceive again.  Which hopefully will be soon. 

Starting to Catch up

Dells Weekend:

This has, hopefully, become a Dykstra summer tradition.  Dale and Wava for the past two years have rented a house for them, us and the boys.  Last year it was Shell Lake, WI, and this year we were just outside the Dells.  GORGEOUS place, really in the middle of nowhere, and Melody was invited!  She loved swimming and running and liked to look from afar at the horses.

She was so happy here...

 

The horses...

Wienie Roast... (that's Adam's fire fighter brother Tim)

I LOVE campfires...

Then Saturday we went into Wisconsin Dells (BIG tourist city based on water parks and carnival-type places).  Dale (Father in Law) and Tim and Kyle (Brothers in Law) went on some crazy extreme rides, like a free fall and slingshot.  Yuck!  Adam had a bad neck or he would have been there too.  Then some go-carts and a jet-boat ride where we got soaked!  Went to dinner and saw Tommy Bartlett's show.  Normally this is a variety show with water-skiers, but since the lake emptied after floods broke the dam this spring, it was just a stage show.  The show's producers called back some OLD acts that were pretty good.  One guy used to do sound effects for MGM cartoons and movies, like 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.

At the bottom of the tower...

At the top of the tower...

 

Then after falling ALL of the way down into a net with NO strings attached...

 

More updates on their way!!

Home again, home again...

Home sweet home. It's 11:12pm and QUIET. Adam and Mel are sleeping, the tv and radio are off. The traffic is as quiet as can be. And I just got off of an extremely creative high. Good feelings.

Got home midday, just enough time to pick up a little, then Adam's Iowa grandparents and uncle stopped by for a few hours. (We're on the way to Sheboygan where Adam's aunts live.) We got some Black Angus hamburger, arm roast and stir-fry meat, plus fresh-frozen sweet corn and just-picked green beans. YUM! Need to call Dad for his green-bean recipe.

Adam had a headache all night so he just slept and vegged. I took advantage of that time by starting to make something for someone. I must be sneaky because someone connected to the recipient reads this blog. So no pics or explanations,

just know that I am in LOVE with Photoshop elements right now. And fonts.

Like this one I used tonight.

I used this one too.

Tomorrow I get my TB test for work; then off to the Y to meet up with Stephanie. She's going to take me to the elementary school where my YCare site is and then back to the Y to meet some of the kids. Tomorrow night we go to dinner with the Youth Pastor from church, excited to see what he's got in mind. Then a couple more days and we're off again! This time back to MN for a wedding and Kristi's big move! I wonder if Mom has started crying. Odds are pretty good.

Anywho, off to bed, but will share more about our trip and add some pictures later. Goodnight!

And We're off...

Had orientation yesterday, lots of just listening as my boss went through the huge binder of policies and info. Not bad though. I did get the before school position, so I'll be there 6:30-8:30 (an elementary school no more than 3 min away). Then go to the Y for the 4K from 8:30-12. Hopefully I'll get some fill in hours in the afternoons too. My boss made it sound like those would be plentiful. Then there are the days that school is out and the Y runs programs for them. And maybe summer camp next year. Options.

We're heading out to the Wisconsin Dells area this weekend with Adam's parents and brothers. They rented a house for the weekend with LOTS of land, so Mel will be in heaven. Unfortunately, the weather looks to be hot, humid and rainy. Means lots of card games and probably some Cranium. lol A Murphy weekend with the same weather would mean movie time!

My glasses, as of now, did not come in on time. Dang it. Oh well, I've survived a week.

Oh, just wanted to add a pic of my very healthy snack from the other day. Just apple cider vinegar, olive oil, salt pepper and wonderful tomatoes and cucumbers. Next time I want to add some pasta.

Time to go pack.

Lots to Ponder

Well, just finished a card for my grandparents. I'm pretty proud of it. Wish I could post a picture to show off, but I don't have my camera! Never have I wanted to use it as much as when it's not here. But of course if it was here, I would forget about it. Grrr.

Here's Grandpa.


Sending a card to my grandparents because my Grandpa is pretty sick. He went to the doctor last week and while it's not pneumonia, they did find a lump. My grandma tried to get them an appointment with the specialist and surgeon this week, but of course they can't get in until next Wednesday! So more waiting...

The in-laws came over tonight. Dale and Wava had the day off of work and decided to go golfing out here and then take us to dinner. We went to Park Plaza Pizza. After getting sent a pizza with green OLIVES instead of green PEPPERS, we waited awhile. But mmmm, really worth the wait. The thickest pepperoni I've ever seen!

Hmm...pondering lots tonight. For my ears only. Going to go continue pondering...Going to stop writing "pondering" because it's starting to look misspelled.