Whatcha Working on Wednesday

Hello All :)

How is everyone holding up with Winter so far? Good I hope!
I have noticed a few blogs have been getting a good amount of snow. Normally by this time of the year we are snowed in. I am not complaining, trust me I would rather have what we do have for the rest of the Season.

Well it's that time of the week again, 'Whatcha Working on Wednesday' and I thought I would get my but in gear and work on the things that I received for Christmas and finish up my shelving that hubby built me back in November sometime.

I just don't have that burst of energy like I use to. Wish I could find it so I could get cracking on my 'To Do List'. I have tons of ideas of things that I want to make but I look at it and think 'Oh maybe tomorrow'.

As I mentioned I FINALLY finished the shelving that dear hubby built me. Boy did I ever take long finishing up this one and I have to say, it doesn't help when I have no room to work on it other then my kitchen. But I am very pleased with how it turned out :) I painted the first coat flat black and then a coat of barn red. Sanded, stained est VOILA! Beautiful! The penny sheep runner and candle hugger was purchased from Karen over at My Colonial Home. I purchased these two items last year sometime, I have had them for awhile now. Finally I am able to display them properly. Karen's work is just wonderful! I only wish I could stitch like her.
I also had the wool applique picture since last year but just didn't know where to hang it. I am liking it right at this spot. When I am in the kitchen, I can see this arrangement perfectly :) I must admit though, I am running out of wall space. Oh no! LOL... These items are displayed going to the basement right beside my pantry cupboard.

This was also a item that I purchased last year and for some reason forgot to post a pic of it. We have very little cupboards in this place and we had can goods and other items alike stored in the cupboards in the half bath, in the basement in our little storage room under the stairs and other places. I was getting frustrated because I couldn't reach nor see what we had and what we didn't so I finally told hubby that I wanted a cabinet made to hold ALL of the can goods and such. This thing is HUGE! It stands 7' and holds ALOT of things. I had the same man build me this that built me my large barn red cabinet. I wanted it to look like something I found in a old barn or something. And that is exactly what he built me. I LOVE it!!!
Once I had my shelving completed, I painted my blanket crane. I must say, this was one of my favorite Christmas gifts. My FIL never disappoints :)
Here is a better picture of it with my quilt. I have another quilt that I ordered awhile back but it was back ordered. Once I receive it, it will be joining this quilt.
Since I put up some things I had to rearrange other items. Very mind boggling and it takes me time to make the final decision since I hate putting extra holes in the wall. I did notice though that boy do I ever need to paint. It has been 4 or 5 years and with little hands dragging along the wall, causes dirt on light colored paint.

I now have one item left to paint and that is the shelving that my parents gave me for Christmas. I know what color I want it to be, I just need to find it. This is the shelf undone for those of you who may have forgotten it.
Once I have it all done, I will be hanging it right here...
I have decided that I will re sand the mirror frame this Spring and paint it another color so I can put it in the full bathroom upstairs. Right now I have a modern mirror in there and thought this antique one would look much better.

Onto another note, I have been running to the Doctors for tests, tests and more tests. So far two tests have come back negative, so that is good! But I am still awaiting for the results from a ultrasound on my pelvis that I had done last week. I am hoping nothing bad comes up on that one. And then in two weeks I go for blood work. I am thinking with my energy level being so low may have to do with my Vitamin B-12. Back last year in the Spring, my Vitamin B-12 was very low due to the Remicade that I take by IV. But the Doctor is going to have everything checked to see if it may be something else. I am just happy that I finally stopped crying and the pain in my chest has finally gone away. I had to up my dose on my meds for that. The Doctor thinks that I may have pulled ligament which was causing the pain. And also with my AS, it causes pain in the rib cage and I am already very sensitive to touch. My bones hurt so much, I couldn't imagine being pain free.

And then hubby and I thought we would have a relaxing weekend. Well that soon changed come Friday morning. On Friday we received good news and bad. I will give you the bad first...my MIL went through a test the week before Christmas. She never received a phone call so we all thought everything was good. Well it's not! She has the bad word "C", cancer of the uterus. It was such a shock to all of us. My husband told me that it hasn't sunken in yet and I feel the same as he. How can this happen??? She is a lady of excellent health. Goes for many walks, daily. And when I mean walk I should say that she almost jogs. I can't keep up with her. She eats healthy, takes her vitamins and has never been ill in her life. And then all of a sudden she is struck with this nasty disease. What do you say? What do yo do? I just don't know. All I know is that the Doctors are moving quickly. She found out Friday and already has been sent for tests yesterday and has a full day of more tests tomorrow. She will be receiving a scan to make sure her lungs, kidneys and other organs are OK. The Doctors are thinking they caught it at it's early stage. So she has decided to have a hysterectomy since she is 60 and like she said, she does not plan on having any more children. Come February, they think she will have had the surgery. Now we sit and pray that she is really at the beginning stages and everything will be good.

Onto the good news, on Friday before hubby finished work, he received a phone call about a job he has been working on for the last couple of years. The man that is helping him trying to get into this company wanted to confirm that hubby was still interested. YES we are! This would be the best thing that could happen to us right now. With a long discussion, we decided that we do not want to take over the Sears Dealership from his father. At the beginning you would have been nuts not to jump at this but over the years, Sears has made so many changes, it's not worth it anymore. It's actually scary because the last couple of years the store is not making the money like it use to. With this new job, hubby's salary would more then double, gets a company pension (which he does not have right now so he contributes to private investments monthly) a awesome medical plan and bonus's. And there is so much more, it would be a dream come true for us. So we are hoping by the end of the month we will hear positive news on this. We have our fingers, toes, and legs crossed...LOL.

My MIL is one of these people who truly believe that things happen for a reason. She thinks that she fell ill as a sign it's time to retire and enjoy the remainder of the years that she and my FIL have together. They both will be turning 61 in the Spring and they originally wanted to retire at 55 but have been holding on because they didn't want to give the store to hubby when things were so bad. And now that hubby received the phone call for this job opportunity on Friday night, MIL thinks that hubby will get the job and she and FIL can hand the store back to Sears and they can finally retire. I truly hope that this is really what is going to happen. We need my MIL to be around for many more years and hubby to get this job opportunity would be the best thing that could happen to us right now. So we are praying really hard that this is whats going to happen.

My poor hubby told me over the weekend that he thought 2009 was a bad year for his family with his father almost dieing on us and taking many months to recover. And then the store not running to par that he thought 2010 will be a great year. We sure are not starting it off on a good note.

My girls are very much attached to my MIL and they can not afford to loose her. So please I am asking for everyones prayers. Like I said, we still need her. She is a wonderful lady and very genuine. I have a excellent relationship with my in laws unlike most people who hates theirs or don't get along with them, well I don't. They are the best!

I know that right now, we all need to be very POSITIVE! I will keep you all posted as things go along with MIL and for hubby. At this time, my MIL does not want her illness to get out and around our town because we live in a small community and people talk. She wants to wait to see how advance she is and if any other organs are affected before she makes it public. I needed to share this with someone and since all of you ladies are like family and I don't have anyone on my blog that I know from my community, I knew I could share this with all of you.

So until next time my friends, stay warm and enjoy life to the fullest! Tell someone today how much they mean to you and how much you LOVE them.