Almost done

Our house was a fixer-upper when we bought it.
We've remodeled both bathrooms and the kitchen early on.
We have been working on the yard since.
Our yard was completely dirt and weeds.
We have been making gradual improvements as our time and $ allowed.
We still had this area of dirt that would fill with weeds.
So I though why don't we Just extend our patio (a small 10’ X 10’ section).
We ended up (by the time John finished planning) tearing out all the railroad ties,
hauling out tons of dirt, pouring 5 tons of concrete, and laying a 2’ retaining block wall. (Soon to build a shed also)
A huge change from my plan but now that it’s almost done it looks amazing.
I can’t find the pictures from our yard before (when we bought the house) but here are some of the progress.




We still have to stucco the wall and lay mulch. It’s going to be great.





Also, an update on Jarom.
The dermatologist called this morning and she’s got nothing.
The biopsy culture showed nothing so they sent it off to a national lab.
She also took a section to send to a dermatopathologist.
The pathologist said she had never seen anything like it and had no idea what it was.
So she sent it off to another dermatopathologist.
His dermatologist said if they don’t know it could be sent off to another lab and pathologist.
I think that means it could be a while.
Poor kid has spots popping up all over his body now.
Luckily they are slow growing and hopefully won’t get that big before we figure this out.
If they can’t figure it out they will have to cut them all off.
Jarom will love that!
He’s still insisting on wearing a long sleeve shirt to school so the kids don’t make fun of him.
He also won’t let me take out his stitches. He doesn’t believe I’ve taken out lots of stitches before and won’t hurt him.

another trip to the doctor

I took Jarom to the doctor yesterday morning. She decided we needed to double up on the antibiotics and add a topical. She also needed to do another culture since the last one was negative but he obviously had an infection. To do this she poked 3 holes in the sores. Poor Jarom, it hurt. Then she squeezed, and squeezed but no pus came out. (That hurt also) She said she wasn’t sure what was going on because there was no pus so she tells me she needed to call a dermatologist. They set up an appt a short time later.
We go to the derm and she checks it out, asked a lot of questions and tells me she needs a biopsy. Jarom was not doing well by the time she finished explaining what a biopsy was. He was still getting over the pokes. He was so scared. He insisted on having a pillow to shove over his face during the biopsy. They numbed the area with ice which helped. He did well and even looked at it when they stitched it up. We’ll see what the culture shows. He’s pretty funny. He had to tell everyone the story. I think he’s a little proud he did so well. No tears at the biopsy.
I know it sounds horrible but I am sooo glad it was Jarom and not Madison. We would have had to knock her out cold.

Weekend update

A quick recap

Friday

Everyone had the day off so we prepped the back yard for cement on Saturday. Maddie was going to a movie with friends and they chose a movie she didn't want to see (The Haunting in Connecticut) and so we took her out to see Paul Blart Mall Cop. Jarom's stayed over at a friends.

Saturday we were supposed to pour cement in our back yard but it rained and hailed so we had to cancel. Frustrating. But I got some spring cleaning done.

Charity has been pretty excited about Easter and has made us hide eggs all week.

She was pretty nervous that the Easter Bunny would steal her tv, slippers, and dog while we were sleeping.

She was relieved to see everything was still there Sunday morning.

I've been kinda lazy about the work involved in the holidays but seeing the excitement Charity has makes it worth it.

Easter morning





So Jarom's arm is getting worse and I finally called the doctor. We have to go back to the doctor tomorrow. We'll see what they say. The sore is growing bigger and turning black. Not good.

Lesson learned

There are "lessons" I have heard all my life.
Things that I know I should do but am usually too lazy or don't care.
I'll admit I do not remember to wash my hands before every meal.
I sometimes share cups and straws with sick kids or husband.
I eat raw cookie dough, and brownie batter, and cake batter, and...(you get it)
I usually don't wash a cut or scrape that doesn't look dirty.
Well it turns out there is a reason for these lessons.
at least one

We were doing yard work a little over a week ago.
Jarom came in and showed me a scrape he had on his arm.
We were moving railroad ties and I think he scraped it on one (he doesn't remember what happened).
Instead of telling him to wash it I replied with" ouch that must have hurt"
and went back to the dishes.
A little over a week later and his little scratch is a huge sore that has spread to his shoulder.
It's kinda gross.
The doctor thinks he got a bacterial infection that then spread to his shoulder
and is starting on the other arm.
Woops!
He hasn't complain of it hurting or bothering him.
He's pretty self-conscious about it and will only wear long sleeves or a coat.
One lesson learned the hard way.

Sleep please!

I have been having trouble sleeping the past few weeks.
For those that don't know, I am not a happy or patient person
without my required 9+ hours of sleep.
I've been sick (up all night sick) the past couple
of days and finally got a nap today (or yesterday I guess).
I was woke up by a phone call and had to try so hard to be polite.
(It was church related). I was trying to be nice but I was sooo tired.
One of these times I'm going to say something I regret.
I'm thinking I need to try some type of meditation.
Maybe I can clear my mind and finally relax enough to sleep.