A few thoughts about what we are going through...

If you haven't noticed I have been neglecting my blog lately--late posts, missed Feature Fridays, no giveaways, and less then stellar tutorials. 

Recently, we found out we were preggers.

Bells and whistles rang out in our house that day.  It was bells and whistles of terror when we began to realize that we I would be pulling double duty on diapers, tantrums, feedings, throw up messes, and sleepless nights.

Once the terror finally wore off it was replaced with thoughts of pink and blue, white crib or brown crib, boy name or girl name. Delightful thoughts began to fill my mind of a cooing little snuggler, then I started to bleed and thus began the daily visits to the doctors office which meant multiple check ups and lots of needles.

When the pain started to set in the thoughts of a miscarriage were then replaced with the words ectopic pregnancy. Luckily, the doctors figured out what was wrong with me before a rupture occured.  So for the last two weeks I have been poked and prodded more then a few times.

While I am so grateful for wonderful doctors and kind nurses, the medicine they have injected me with, which by the way is given to chemo patients, now makes me feel nauseous at all hours of the day and has made me so tired that sleeping is no longer something I enjoy.

And if that weren't enough the cramping and gut wrenching pain has made me somewhat immobile for the last two weeks--and when I have gotten out of bed my slow movements resemble that of Quasimodo.

Yesterday, was the first day I was able to move around without pain shooting throughout my every movement and I am thankful that for the time being the pain has subsided. Now, I am just trying to come to terms with the emotional and mental portion of this ordeal.

Really I am fine, but there are a few things I am still trying to sort out in my mind.

 I realize and know that the pregnancy would have never been viable, but I think what I am having a hard time with is knowing that pregnancy will always be one of those trials I will have to overcome. For those of you new here, Punk was born at thirty weeks and between the two of us we spent nearly three months in three different hospitals. It's a story for another time, but the point is, so far pregnancy has not been easy or enjoyable.

I always imagined how wonderful of an experience it would be, and that I would be one of those pregnant women who would gush my growing tummy and my soon to arrive stork flown package. I then imagined kissing my little snuggle bug in the hospital and bringing home my bundle of joy to a wonderfully prepared house. None of those dreams happened--which is life and I am fine with that.

What I am having a hard time grasping is that I have no control over my body or the situation. It will take time for me to come to terms with the fact that I will never have a house of ten kids. I must clarify, I never wanted ten kids, but the thought that if I wanted to I could would have been nice.  

I am not planning on writing a book or a mini series (hahaha) on my feelings, but I just wanted you to know that my neglect has nothing to do with a lost desire to blog anymore.

Quite the contrary actually, once I feel well again I have major plans for grand home decorating projects, fun new summer tutorials, and lots of great guest posts and features.

For right now, though, I am going to keep writing posts about my family and feelings because those seem to be the things that are making me feel better.

{source}

I hope you all have a fantastic weekend and know here in the Bishop house we hope you can find some comfort for all your trials as well!

Life is Better with Spunk on a Thursday

I hope you all had a great week and were able to get out and enjoy the sun...and visit some kind of park. To be honest with you, we didn't get to really go outside until yesterday. Punk and I spent most of the week at the doctors office. I felt horrible keeping him inside when the weather was finally starting to grace us with some sun and green grass.

He did, however, enjoy the great outdoors yesterday. He had his first haircut yesterday morning and after that tramatic ordeal he needed to recooperate by playing with his cousin. It was so fun to see him play in the sandbox, throw rocks, and follow her around like a little puppy dog.

It was also nice to finally get out of my bed. Punk and I have been cooped up watching Nemo--over and over and over again. 

****************

{source}

For this week's challenge I want to do something inspiring.

 I am in need of some positive ju-ju so this challenge will hopefully benefit all of us. For this week's challenge give out a random compliment a day. The compliments could be given to a cashier, stranger, friend, family member, mailman, waitress--just give some positive ju-ju to someone else, I know it will brighten their day and yours day too!

Fakers...

I have heard from a few reliable fashion sources that fake glasses are hip and cool. Like who wants to have two eyes when four eyes is way better kind of cool.

Because I love my little man so much I decided that he must also become hip and cool. Obviously, his charismatic personality and devilish charm is not cute enough that I must compensate.

;) 

So one afternoon I got my guy all gussied up and tried to take pictures of him with fakers adorning his knocker. The fakers of choice happened to be kids 3D glasses with the lenses knocked out, they were also painted red with finger nail polish.

Yes, red finger nail polish.

Anyway, after dancing like a baffoon and quacking like a duck I was finally able to grasp his attention for t-minus 30 seconds, it was just long enough for me to snap a "few" shots.

Once I started looking through all the pictures I couldn't help but think about how much the glasses reminded me of the Don Draper-esque era.

hmmmm.

Just hope my guy has more concern for moral integrity and the use of seat belts...

Leather Bow Headband TUTORIAL

Good Morning all!

I hope where ever you may be that the sunny is shining and the birds are singing. Wow, that sounded corny.

Anyway ;)

Today I want to show a simple tutorial for a rather simple headband.

 See? Simple even with my not so good picture.

For this project you will need a long scrap of leather (I got mine from my Dad's saddle shop), but I am sure you can find scap leather at Johann's, Hobby Lobby, Roberts, Michaels, or even Tandy Leather Supply.

You will also need fold over elastic (FOE) which can also be purchased at any craft store.

Finally, you will need scissors, a sewing machine, and a glue gun.

Capiche?

 I already gave you the dimensions for all your pieces so lets get to work on making the bow.

1. Take the 1''x5'' piece and fold it in half. On the "half" crease put a dab of glue, then fold the two ends over onto the glue. And voila, the bow is formed.

2/3. Take the 1''x4'' piece and cut the ends so it looks all pretty and such.
Then find the center and put a dab of glue. Take the bow that you made in the first step and now put it on top of the dab of glue.

4. Now take the small skinny piece and wrap it around the center to create the "knot" of the bow. Make sure to pull it tight so it begins to gather in the back, this will help to give more dimension to the leather bow.  

 While the bow dries take the long leather piece and the piece of FOE and sew them together. Note: I made mine length to fit my head, you may adjust the length as needed.

Also, make sure to make the long leather piece a little smaller then the actual size of your head because you will want the elastic sewn in so that the headband may be adjustable in size.  

Hopefully that made sense...

 Now that the bow is dry it can now be glued it to the headband. I off-centered it so it the elastic would be under my hair and the bow would be off to the side.

I promised it would be simple.

This project would be great for little girls too!

So grab your glue glue and make some magic happen....

(was that corny too)? 

Enjoy my friends!~

Small reminders:

Have you linked up to the Spunky Junky Feature Friday Party?

Have you check out Groopdealz to see what Spunky Junky is selling?

I am also partying here!

Spunky Junky is hijacking Groopdealz

Have you heard of Groopdealz?

It's this awesome site where boutique shops and "mom based" businesses can sell their handmade items for a fraction of their original price.

Pretty awesome, right?

Well, Spunky Junky is being featured on Groopdealz today and man oh' man am I going to hook you up!

Today, I am offering my cabochon chrysanthemum earrings for only five dollars a pair--that's a 50% discount from their original price!

You'll have your choice of four fun summer colors:

Raspberry Red

Cornflower Blue

Jade Green

Sun Yellow

Each earring set will come in a hand crafted jewelry box and will be made with love by moi!

So treat your daughter, your sister, your momma, your girlfriends, or even yourself with some new ear candy!

They're yummy--I pinky promise!

Check it out here!