Dem Bones

Last week my bones revolted and overthrew my body.

I didn't do one thing in particular to cause the revolution; it was more of a progressive slide into total unhealthiness that did me in. When I woke up on Sunday, I was fine. An hour later, I couldn't move my legs without great pain.

I have been wanting to check out a local chiropractor for a few months now. I sleep poorly, and am always throwing my neck out of whack. And with all the knitting I do, I have been having a lot of pain in my elbow and shoulder, to the point of hardly knitting for weeks on end. I wanted to see if I could get an adjustment and help prevent further occurrences like these.

Obviously, the need became urgent on Monday when I could still hardly move.

I called the doctor in the local phone book, and they were able to get me in right away. He did x -rays, moist heat, traction, and finally an adjustment. Pure relief.

The x-rays showed that I had several lumbar vertebra out of alignment, and that my pelvis was torqued to the left. I have some degeneration in my neck, and bone spurs that are aggravating the nerve.

The good news is, that most of this can be reversed. I am continuing to go in for 14 adjustments, and in the meantime working on strengthening my core. So, crunches. Lovely.

The other thing I have to do is try to sleep on my back, which is a lot harder than you would think. I flip flop all over, 30 times a night. Laying flat on my back is unnatural to me. I'm hoping a new core pillow will help.

So friends, treat you back nicely and strengthen your core!

The Reveal...Emma's room

Sorry to keep you waiting for the 'money shot' as my husband so lovingly called it. Between cloudy, rainy days,and teen messiness, the room was not suitable for photographing.

Here is the finished room!

The blinds will be replaced soon, hopefully. Emma keeps looking at curtains. She likes the expensive ones, naturally.

The rug took over a month to arrive, because Pottery Barn kept sending the wrong color. Like 3 times. Every time they messed up, Bart would call and they'd offer another discount. Hey, we like discounts!

The floor photographs very dark, but there is a lot of tonal variation throughout. I really like the dark wood...the main problem being dog hair. I vacuumed the room to take this photo and already I can see white hairs all over.

Lola thinks the rug is cozy! It's perfectly placed in a late day sunbeam :)

Thanks for all the kind words about our DIY project!

This is Halloween

My friend Sharyn posted this today, and I have to steal it because it's the coolest thing I have ever seen. I wish I was cool enough to do this to my house. Enjoy!

Emma's room redeux part 2

Here's the stripped down bare floor

Bart and my dad laying down the underlayment

Working across the room

Working in the closet

The finished floor

Evan & I went to his soccer game in the morning and by the time we came home, Bart & Emma had ripped up the carpet, pad and staples. Time to do the hard work!

The underlayment was tricky to work with. It is basically a moisture barrier, and only has one sticky edge on it. The trick is to lay it down and not overlap it, or to have any wrinkles, which was nearly impossible considering we had to walk on it.

Bart, Greg & my Dad started in front of the closet, alternating long & short boards, marking what needed to be cut. Emma was the runner, running pieces out to Bart's Dad who was manning the circular saw. I watched for awhile, and then Bart let me do the majority of the room. For anyone who knows my husband, this is a big deal. He never relinquishes control, and I usually just stand around. Not on this project! Of course he came back and finished it off and did the closet, but I was happy that I got to do some of the work too!

Emma's room redeux part 1

Sometime in the last 2 years, my 14 year old daughter has been bitten by the decorating bug. She watches all the shows on HGTV with her dad, and has very specific opinions about how things should look.

As if 14 year olds didn't have enough opinions.

She started nagging us for hardwood flooring in her room last year. We pretty much ignored her for as long as we could. Hardwood flooring is expensive. Time to install the floor was nonexistent. She kept on us though. Her Dad caved.

Here are some before pix of her room, with (according to her) the world's nastiest carpet. Girl, you sadly were too young to remember the really nasty stuff that was in this house when we moved here!

Tomorrow I will post pictures of the new and improved bedroom!