Hello?
World?
Are you there?
It's me, the missing blogger. The missing blogger, missing photographer, missing stamper, missing scrapbooker, missing crafter, missing hoop.dee.do maker, missing Etsy store owner, missing friend, missing dog mom, missing shopaholic...
I AM BACK! (I think...)
I am sooooooooooooooooooooooo damn sorry for making you stare at that stupid dust bunny picture for nearly 6 freakin' months. I promise to make up for it soon.
But, first things first...you might be curious to know where I have been all summer long.
*Sit back, grab a cup of hot coffee, the story telling is about to commence*
Well, as you might remember from the last few posts, John and I ran away from home in April to spend a couple of months staying at the family beach house on Hood Canal. John had a few painting projects lined up in the area, and a few more interested parties appeared once we were settled in, so our stay lasted until the end of June. While I was at the beach house, I tried to catch up on a few things. First, I worked on selling the rest of the hoop.dee.do stock from the Etsy shop, so I could reorganize and reopen the store in the summer, and then I worked on learning a little bit more about CSS and redesigning my blog, and I brought almost all my scrapbooking supplies with me and spent some time working on a few projects here and there for KI Memories and Making Memories. I also just spent some time trying to recharge my creative batteries and develop some new ideas for future projects, worked with John on talking about changes for our future and his business, and also spent just about every free waking moment in the GLORIOUS SUNSHINE that shone for almost ALL OF MAY AND JUNE IN WASHINGTON!!!I was sooooo tan, you wouldn't have believed it. It was HEAVEN!
I swam with Drake whenever it was hot enough, we had friends or family visiting almost every weekend, and we spent lots of quality time with our friend and neighbor at the house next to ours, who also came out to take advantage of the weather with his adorable dog Joplin.
(John, Roxy and Joplin)
When I wasn't playing with Joplin, I was running after her trying to make sure she didn't get hauled away by one of the twin bald eagles that had made their home a few trees away. That would have ruined my relaxation time completely! :D
Oh, the wildlife! Spring on the Hood Canal is the place to be. One day, in the drizzly rain, we had our binoculars out watching a deer swim all the way across the Canal with two of our resident seals following in his wake. I so wish I could have captured that on camera. The seals were a riot, they loved to hang out and follow us in the kayaks, and towards the end of June, they finally got up the gumption to haul out on our neighbors swimming dock. Did I mention the otter? Yep, we had an otter too, and lizards, and birds of all kinds. It was like a zoo.
(Otter and watching Seal + Me and John about to go for a swim)
Our beach is full of clams and oysters, so our friends ate well when they came to visit. Fresh fruit, cocktails, beer soaked clam pasta, spectacular sunsets, and bonfires...it was just the vacation I needed. I can't tell you how rejuvenated I felt at the end of our trip.
We didn't really make it home officially until July 7th...we were home for a week, and then back to the beach for a long weekend, and then home for a week, and then back to the beach for the big 4th of July party...the party to end all parties! We were treated to an entire weekend of food hauled out and prepared for us by Wendy and Eva, our friend Peter's girlfriend and mom...we had brushetta, clams, mussels (which I learned I actually like much better than clams), chicken and steak, burgers and hot dogs, chips and dips, strawberries and cream, cheese plates and veggie trays and pies and desserts! It was awesome.
And then we were home, and life was just getting back to normal,
when...
I woke up one day and felt really, really dizzy.
I figured I was just severely hung over from all the food and sun and fun...but it didn't get better no matter what I did. I kinda freaked out, I started looking into making an appointment with an endocrinologist to make sure I didn't have a brain tumor. Seriously, I was so convinced that my health had taken a nosedive that all I could do was imagine the worst.
Just before I picked up the phone to call and make a doctor's appointment, I asked myself, "What are they going to want to rule out first?" hmmmm....maybe, oh maybe....I better take a pregnancy test.
and wouldn't you know?
After almost 3.5 years of trying/not "not trying"...
Those two pink lines popped up faster than I could even comprehend. I was floored. FLOORED. John casually walked in and asked, "Is it positive?" kind of half joking...and I looked at him and said, "Um...yeah...um...but it says to wait two minutes so maybe we should wait...." LOL! Still two lines, two minutes later, and two more lines on the second one I took just in case the first one was broken.
I phoned my best friend, who I woke up from a dead sleep, and the first words out of her mouth I can't write here. She called her mom, a reproductive nurse, who had me come in the next day for a blood test- and by 4:30pm on July 9th, it was officially medically confirmed that we were going to be proud parents of a little baby by approximately March 7th of 2010.
(our first ultrasound June 17th)
That was the first half of the spring/summer.
The Second Half?
Oh, I was lying on the couch with a bucket next to my head everyday from the middle of July until just about the beginning of October. I lost about 20 pounds. I was SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO sick, I wanted to die. When people ask what I did this summer, I have one simple answer. I vomited.
I vomited every kind of way you can think of, from simple easy regurgitation to all out squeezing every liquid from my body and bursting blood vessels under my eyes. Everyday was a crap shoot, I never knew what the puke fairy had in store for me.
Needless to say, when one is puking their guts out for nearly 3 months, one doesn't feel much like doing anything crafty. In fact, I think I may have puked up all the creative juices I posses, because even though I now feel wonderful, I have zero desire to do anything Martha-y. The hoop.dee.do's are sitting unfinished in my cupboard, and all my scrapbooking supplies (including piles and piles of delicious new KI) are sitting untouched. I haven't taken a picture in I don't know how long. Aside from keeping up somewhat regular contact with my friends on Facebook, I have been totally and completely MIA.
Until now! :D
So that, my friends, if you are still out there and interested, is where the hell I have been.
Pretty exciting, huh?
When I say, "I'm back," I mean honestly with great intentions that I am back and will be blogging and regularly sharing again. There will be lots of redecorating and moving around of our house and stuff, lots of shopping I know I will want to talk about. And, since the weight loss dropped me at least one size and so far, at about 22 weeks, I am all baby, I think I am actually a pretty cute pregnant chick. I might actually want to capture these feel good self-esteem moments on film! And, the holidays are coming, so the Etsy shop will be re-opened as soon as I can get all the new pictures taken and edited, which is a bit of a process, but it's in the works. And I saved all the projects I did make over the summer to share, bit by bit...as well as a pile of stuff sitting on the table waiting to post for giveaways! So much to look forward to!
We don't know the sex of our baby yet, but we will be finding out very soon, so if you have read this far in this super duper long update post, and you feel like taking a guess, go for it!
And, last but not least, I promised to let you know if and when our next Super Awesome Scrap Crap Garage Sale was going to be...we have set in stone Saturday, November 7th- RAIN OR SHINE!I will post a link to the Craigslist Ad once it is up that week so you can have the details.
I am happy to be blogging again, I really, really missed it. And I will be back with another post really soon.
Lots and Lots of (((((((((((((((((((((((((((((hugs))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))
Pebbles
