Sweet Crafty Action

Apparently July is my "getting stuff done" month. I felt extra guilty after my nightstand post because I'd realized how many things I promised I'd get done for Jeff, but didn't. Plus I have all these plans and ideas, but I always put them off thinking I need money to do them. So last night I got busy and finished off Jeff's book. All it took was putting in the pictures from the party. So it didn't take long, but I still feel monumentally better. And now I'm super excited to give it to him so he can remember the day forever! Here are a few of my favorite pages. *Disclaimer--I took all the pictures I'm posting today with my phone camera. I'm having issues uploading pictures from my regular camera so I just didn't want to bother*  **Disclaimer 2--I am NOT a scrapbooker. These are probably around the design level of a middle school student, but the fact I did it all by hand makes me proud anyway. :)**

This is the cover of the book (sorry it's a little blurry)

The first page of the book

(The little can says "Bug Be Gone" lol)

Of course I had to throw in some good cowboy decor!

The last page of the book.

I covered the areas that have comments just to

keep his privacy. But they are on several pages

throughout the whole book. Just think of how many

people came to the party and you'll have an idea of the

amount of comments!

After I finished the book I was sitting on my couch relishing in my accomplishment when I started to think about the picture of us that I printed to put in a frame for myself. I found a black frame I already had and decided to put it up right then. I already had a picture of me and my niece on the wall so I threw this one up diagonal to it. The wall had looked kind of empty before but now it looked really weird. So I looked around and noticed I had another picture of me and my friend, KJ, in a black frame elsewhere in the room. Throw that sucker up there too! Now there was just one more empty space. Here is how the dialogue played out in my brain:

I should spray paint some frames black and just keep putting pictures up here...Wait! I actually have extra black spray paint...and a silver frame that matches nothing in my decor [I use the term decor loosely]. I'm spray painting right now! 

Then I remembered a cute tutorial I found where someone made peony flowers by holding circles of tulle over a flame. (I can't find the exact site anymore but there are tons of tutorials online. And of course looking for that link I found a dozen more ways to make adorable fabric flowers.) I still had wrapping paper from the nightstand redo so I sprayed adhesive on a 5x7 piece of posterboard, stuck that to the wrapping paper and cut out around the edges. I made my tulle petals and glued them together with hot glue. I had more buttons that I didn't use in Jeff's book so I found a big black one and glued it in the middle. Then I glued the whole mess to the wrapping paper board. At this point I looked around and wondered if one of the small white buttons would fit inside the big black one and it did! But the glue gun was already unplugged so I stuck that one on with a glue dot. Today during lunch I checked that my painted frames were dry and slightly sanded some paint off the silver one. Just to make the details stand out. Put the whole shebang together and Voila! Well....almost. I realized my frame didn't have a hanger. So back in goes the glue gun plug and I glued a little piece of ribbon to the back. Up on the wall and it fits in perfectly! I'll get this apartment decorated someday...mark my words!

 

Again, camera phone...sorry!

Here's a shot of how I glued the ribbon on the back

And here she is at home in the start of a lovely photo collage!

This stuff is just way too fun. :D

Step 2.2

Quick update! I went to the lab today to start round two of testing. The blood they took today (2 purple tubes) will be sent out for a histocompatibility test. The compatibility test basically compares the little ins and outs of my blood to my dad's so we can make sure nothing in his will reject mine. (Fine, if you want to know more of the technical such and such go here aaaaaand here)

Next up I have to complete the 24 hour pee test so all those who work with me will have to excuse me if I hold it until I can make it home. lol There are just certain things I don't want to handle outside of my own place if at all possible. That test will check my creatinine clearance. *Note* Take my advise from my last post and DO NOT mix up creatinine and creatine. Since I got confused, here's a little info for you on why this test is important:

"As the kidneys become impaired for any reason, the creatinine level in the blood will rise due to poor clearance by the kidneys. Abnormally high levels of creatinine thus warn of possible malfunction or failure of the kidneys. It is for this reason that standard blood tests routinely check the amount of creatinine in the blood. A more precise measure of the kidney function can be estimated by calculating how much creatinine is cleared from the body by the kidneys and it is referred to creatinine clearance." (source: here)

When I take that test back to the lab they'll also draw some more blood for a serum creatinine test. Using both tests, they'll be able to make sure I'm filtering out creatinine properly which will indicate that my kidneys are working right.

I like that they gave me a copy of the orders today so I could look up these tests and know what we're checking. I also find it interesting to be going through some of the same testing my dad has done. I know he's gone through a helluva lot more, but it kind of makes me feel like I can relate in a small way to some of what he's going through. Plus I'm actively doing something to help. Not everyone gets that opportunity when a loved one has an illness.

More updates to come...

Step Two!

It's been an interesting day for my mom, I can testify to that. I just about gave her a heart attack today! I was told last Wednesday would be a good day to call the kidney transplant coordinator about the results of my first round of blood work. I had to leave a message with the secretary and *surprise* I never heard back. That makes two times I've left messages so far (one with a person, one voicemail) and zero responses. So I called again today and was actually able to get a hold of her. She grabbed my chart and kept telling me that everything looked good so far. Then she described the next steps and when I can come in to take care of them...more on that in a minute.

On to the heart attack. My mom is a medical technologist (although they call them something different these days) who works in the lab of a hospital. She has since I was a young girl so she's got a whole lot of knowledge about lab results. As usual, I texted her and my dad to let them know what the test results said and then went about my work day. On my way back from lunch I noticed she'd called so I called her back. She was panicked! Our conversation went something like this:

Mom-Did she really say your creatinine is 98.2?!!!
Me-Yep
Mom-Did she tell you what that MEANS?!!!!!!!!
Me-Uh...yeah....(confusion beginning to set in)
Mom-You need to be at the hospital..RIGHT NOW!!
Me-Wha?? Noooo...
Mom-YES!
Me-Wait, she said it needed to be above 80
Mom-(a beat of silence) Ooooohhhh...Do you mean creatine?
Me-oops

Apparently there's creatine and creatinine and I mixed them up. Anything over a 4 with creatinine is bad news bears. So my mom was thinking that even if I had heard a decimal place wrong, I was still in some deep crap. But no, it was just me confusing the two. In my defense, they are very similar sounding so it's not that much of a stretch right?

So now we're onto step 2! I'm meeting with the transplant coordinator tomorrow to go over some consent paperwork and to get the next round going. Apparently it is going to involve some more blood work and a 24 hour urine. Which I'm not exactly looking forward to. Don't worry I won't discuss too much bodily fluid stuff, but it's all a part of the experience so it's getting mentioned.

I'll try to write a follow up tomorrow once I've talked to the coordinator. (Hey, I'm a coordinator too!) Thanks for all your finger crossings, keep it up!

Fun Nightstand Redo

Shocker alert! I actually finished something I planned to do. No, hell has not yet frozen over and I haven't seen any pigs flying past my office window, but it still somehow happened. (It's more than I can say for Jeff's blanket. Sorry babe, any day now it'll be done, promise!)

I keep getting super pumped looking at all the fun that is "crafty blogland" and they actually have a way of making me feel like I could do some of that stuff myself. I'm telling you, it's true! So I ran to the DI and scoped out the furniture section, just sure I'd find an awesome hidden treasure aaaaaand....nada. Crap... There were a couple of desks and some entertainment centers but nothing I could use for my pretty love plant. Much sadness :( I couldn't give up after one DI, though, so I went to another one and Voila! A sturdy little nightstand that looked nice and tacky on the outside, but with plenty o' potential. I just fell in love with the lines. The little criss crossy parts on the top drawer, the way the corners are flat (?...no idea how to describe it), extra storage, and I tidy little price tag of $15. With a renewed excitement I made off to the Home Depot for hardware and paint.

Ain't she a beaut?

I didn't get a picture with the hardware on so here's the loveliness that was happening on the drawers.

I have to disclaimer that I probably spent a tad more than most of my craft blog idols do on their projects. BUT, remember this is my very first project. I now have all kinds of starter stuff I can use for upcoming ideas so they'll get progressively cheaper. I ended up purchasing 2 cans of Rustoleum black gloss spray paint, a nice paint brush, a small can of polyurethane, and some simple silver drawer pulls. I spent the most ridiculous amount of time mulling over which pulls to buy but I think I made the best choice.The plan was just to paint the whole thing black and then do some distressing to bring out the details of the lines. Maybe...to line the drawers with some cute fabric too. But then I saw a great blog where someone modge podged wall paper onto shelves and the lightbulb went off. Duh..paper. So off to the Target I went (because I knew they would have cute wrapping paper) and they did! I got a great black and white damask pattern. I actually did already have some modge podge that I got to make Jeff's party scrapbook (Aww man, project number 2 for him I haven't finished. Girlfriend FAIL.) so I didn't spend anything there. I did decide to make it a little easier on myself with some spray adhesive though.
Thinking my plans are set and I should be done now? Ha ha! You obviously don't know me very well. My brain just cannot settle on one plan from start to finish. I happened to take a look at...you guessed it...another craft blog (I might have a bit of a problem) and someone stencilled the CUTEST design on the front of their dresser. *squeal* It's too much for me to handle really. So I thought I would so something similar to mine. Then I remembered I have zero stuff for stenciling. Hmm...more shopping? Tempting as it was, I had another epiphany that helped keep my bank account from crying. I took a picture of a branch I found online and a picture of a bird I found in Word. I put them together and printed it out. I cut that out and traced it onto some of the wrapping paper. I decided to add some butterflies to the drawer for good measure too. I glued those puppies on and modgepodged the crap out of them. Then I covered everything with a little polyurethane and tada! A table I was proud to actually have someone else see. So without further ado, here are my after pics. Next thing is to make my flowerpot look just as cute. Eventually I want this corner that the table is in to look great! I need to get going on some curtains, a little wall art, and somewhere to store my mountains of yarn (that I conveniently cropped out of the pictures...he he). Stay tuned after the "after" pics to see links to all of my inspirations. :)

I Heart Modge Podge!

This little guy makes me happy

I'm not sure why this picture looks so shiny, but it's not so bad in real life, I promise. :)

I love how the ugly finish below the paint comes through the distressing looking all warm and golden.

Inspirations:

The Shanty2Chic blog was my first inspiration. Really you can take your pick of any one of the amazing pieces of furniture they've redone. I'm inspired by them all!

The adorable birdy inspiration came from this link. I follow both the blog where I saw it and the guest who wrote the post's blog now.

And wouldn't you know it, for the life of me I can't find the shelves I was talking about. They were really cute with some striped paper modge podged onto them! Deeelite-ful. If I come across the link someday I'll post it up here.

And just for fun, check out a picture of the fun 4th 'o' July goodie buckets I threw together. Dang I'm feeling crafty!

**UPDATE** I'm linking this puppy to some parties. These are my very first party link ups ever. I feel so cool right now :P
Remodelaholic

Step By Step...Oooo Baby

*I know I owe a post about the NY/Michigan trip, Jeff's party, and all of the craftiness I've been up to. I have that post started but Iphoto is confusing me so I haven't been able to upload the pictures yet. I should have it done soon!*

Step 1...

I think most people who read this know, but here's some background anyway. My dad was diagnosed last year with multiple myeloma and amyloids that have wreaked some havoc on his kidneys.

(For more info about the process he's been going through, you can read his journal at this website. It hasn't been updated for a few months, but you'll get the idea.http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/dennisminch)

He's been doing dialysis 3 times a week for 4 hours at a time pretty much since he was diagnosed. The lack of working kidneys puts him through a lot of discomfort and sickness. He was just recently accepted into the kidney transplant program and we've been told that a new kidney would help him a ton! That brings us up to date.

I am the only one in the family with blood that he could accept (O neg) so I'm really the only one who could consider donating a kidney to him. When we first found out he was accepted into the program, he said that he would only accept a cadaver kidney. With some more talking to the doctors about the donation process, he's opened up to the possibility of a live kidney donation. SO...Last week I started the process of seeing if mine will match. AND...I'm going to blog about it!

Total there are six steps to the matching process. Step one was four tubes of blood and a cup of pee. My mom would know better what they're testing for, but I can say they took a green tube, a red tube, a pink tube, and a purple tube. Such pretty colors! The results should be done soon so keep your fingers crossed that everything is good to go so far.

Of course both my dad and Jeff teased me because I pointed out that I got 4 tubes of blood taken and a teeny bruise. I'm know I don't have room to talk about getting poked, but it's something different so I'm probably going to talk about it anyway. lol

Even though my family can't donate their kidney to my dad, there is still the possibility of a paired donation. How that works is that someone in my family would go through the matching process. Then we'd be connected with another person who needs a kidney that matches theirs. That person would know someone willing to donate their kidney to my dad and we would help each other out. So there are lots of options these days and I'm hoping one of them will come through extra quick.