Stuff for the Cabin #4

I went to some yard sales and scored some nice furniture for the cabin, including a large wooden armoire w/ large square coffee table/chest, a double night table, a single night table an old wooden chair, a towel rack, some decor and this little lighted pine tree. We are only buying hard (clean-able) surfaces used. We are going to fill up a storage unit so it's ready to move once the cabin is completed--the builder just got his first draw of money to start excavation!

Piece #1: The Double Night Table

This thing was $15, and looked kinda cool. Upon taking it home, I found it to be fairly dirty inside, with pet hair all over. I scrubbed it, and removed the backboard, to replace it with a new one cut at Lowes. I put an adhesive liner on the inside and painted the sides. I put new wooden feet that I painted chalk white.

 For the doors, I thought those white stripes were tape residue, but it was where the cheap papery outside had peeled off so I had to paint over. I decided to use the supply of rustoleum I had.

 I also put new clean hardware (they were old, dirty and rusted), and added these cute knobs from Hobby Lobby. These were the first table legs I picked out but it didn't fit the style at all so I went back and got these chunky wood ones I like better.

 I decoupaged this wood pattern (59 cent scrapbook pages again!) on the top surface and the door panels--adding a few coats of mod podge so it would seal it from water damage.

I plan to put this between the Queen & Full beds in the bedroom 1:

Olivia's Doll Chair :)

 Olivia got this cute wooden chair at a yard sale for $3.

She chose a red acrylic paint, and a heart wreath stencil to use my chalk white paint. 

 She plans to use it for the monkey doll her Grandma Hodge made :)

Making Stuff for the Cabin 3

 $7 serving tray from Ikea. 

 I got a can of "Sage Green" Rustoleum spray paint, and it didn't work :( I called the company to see if I was doing something wrong. They sent a brand new 6 pack out right away! and I love the color and ease.

Then I took an old book from Lucas & Olivia's 1st grade reading lessons. It was originally published in the 1950's so the lessons are really cute and deliciously politically incorrect haha. So then we needed to age them, and so I dipped them in coffee/water but they didn't change much so I blow dried them and John had the idea to spray them with strong coffee and it did the trick. I dried them a bit and mod-podged away.

Making Stuff for the Cabin 2

Next, we have a really cool old wood coffee table, John inherited from his paternal grandmother Helen. When we first married (nearly 13 yrs ago..) I saw some spots that were worn, so I sanded it, and then dumbly painted it black and added fabric. It didn't look right and we have kept it in the garage. I cleaned it off and sanded it with Olivia:

I put a coat of this white chalk paint, and...it looks like I painted white over black. I was going initially for the distressed look, so I was going to sand the edges to age it...

But decided to paint another coat and loved it again!

 I had searched for unique wrapping paper to decoupage to the surface, but decided on these 59 cent sheets from hobby lobby that felt cabin-y:

 Plaid and...hay lol

Making Stuff for the Cabin

 I got these side tables for $4 at a yard sale.

 Olivia and I sanded the legs down.

 This was my first adventure in decoupage...I tore pages of highlighted quotes from The Imitation of Christ (circa 1500s). Then outlined with black paint marker---so easy! I sealed it with more Mod-Podge and Polycrylic.

 Then I put a coat of this pretty sage paint.

 Then I picked these knobs at Home Depot. I think that is a very cheap way to add a lot to furniture. 

 Repeated the steps for 2nd table. I can't wait to see these in the cabin. I hope they start conversations for our renters! It's my way of forcing people to read one of my favorite books. 

A Quick Trip to South Dakotee

John and I drove out to finally close on the lot purchase, and begin construction on the cabin. It was last June that we took our first trip to the Black Hills, and we were really anxious to get back. We really wanted to start a new tradition with our kids, and have a place full of memories to hand down to them. I used a floor plan I found and made some changes to accommodate more beds, and also fit the covenants of the Powder House Pass development. I found a reputable builder, and a good lender and we finally officially own the land!

We enjoyed our brief stay although we really missed the kids--Emily came to town to watch them for us. 

We drove 16 hrs wednesday night, got there Thursday afternoon, went to Deadwood to gamble and won a few hundred at roulette (my favorite), fri morning we signed the closing docs, and met with the builder who drove us all over to the design centers to pick out all our materials, styles and colors, then to several of his builds, including the home he is building for his wife. We are very happy with our choices and can't wait to see it put together:

 Here are the exterior choices for Heathered Moss green hardiplank siding, with Terratone grey trim, and cultured stone wainscoting.

This is a photo of the builder's home ceiling that we liked for our vaulted ceiling in the main living area. 

These were our interior choices--the dark greyish brown wood stain for the doors, trim and cabinets, with luxury vinyl tile in that grey/brown tone, and the minty green is the color I picked for the island cabinets, with butcher block cabinets. Also, the exterior stone will be used on the fireplace floor to ceiling, with a custom wood mantle.

We also had some good Chinese food with the builder, and Philly Ted's cheesesteaks weren't bad either :) 

The excavation begins next week and if I get updated pics of the progress I will post them. Proposed completion is June! 

Ancestry

I'm set to get my wisdumb teeth out next friday.. so that should relieve my stiff jaw. My dentist plans to get me fitted for invisalign to fix my deep bite and stop my grinding. I'm hoping to get this silent reflux issue under control soon, and I'm getting over the sinus infection.

    During the worst of the illness the past few months, I've been getting into genealogy and decided to do a test with family tree dna, especially since we know very little about my dad's side. 

    This is what came up as my origins, a pretty even split between my dad and mom :

 

Then I got to see a list of users in their database that show up as relatives. The closest relative was a possible 2nd cousin. This woman is filipino hawaiian, and I happen to be related to other relatives of hers, which is notable because her nephew was unsure of certain connections within his family (he's an engineer that does genealogy as a hobby). His aunt is his mom's half-sister, but they were not raised together, and she was adopted. Since islanders don't seem to have kept very good records and they adopted randomly, and changed names whenever they wanted, it has been difficult to trace back any line further than my dad's grandmother, who was named Phoebe Api. However, I was able through Ancestry, to find an old census of when she was growing up, and her parents came to Hawaii from China, where their name was "Ah Ping": 

I also don't know a lot (none of the family does) about my dad's birth. For some reason, his mom Mary Kalili, moved from Hawaii to the Philippines, and had my dad there in Cadiz in 1943, and I found this roster of the USS Brewster, leaving the Philippines heading for Honolulu on Aug 7th 1945, a day after we bombed Hiroshima. My dad's mom married very young and her name was Abarca, but she didn't go to the Philippines with her husband. Many tales were told about who my dad's dad is, but no one knows. He was 2 yrs old by the time they left. And his mom called him "Jerry Abarca" before she remarried another man in Hawaii named Gregorio Gallardo (not his dad). I guess I'll never know, but this roster was interesting, especially because someone wrote "caucasian filipino" by his name:

I was talking with the genealogy expert about my results and we used this oracle program on gedmatch that calculates based on your dna matches, what your most probably make up is, if you were only 2 things. Mine were "52% Malay-cambodian/47%scottish". He said that most Filipino, would show up as Malay/Cambodian. 

On my mom's side, there was a lot of documentation for several generations(each of which had 10 kids!) And we traced back to a Welsh semi-famous historical figure, who came to Pennsylvania and was working with William Penn to help Welsh immigrants get their own land. His name was Dr. Griffith Owen. Pretty cool! 

I started getting into John's side which was cool too, but there's too much to post, so I'll have to update later. We are waiting on both our 23andme dna testing :) 

Cabin plans

Ever since our trip to the Black Hills of South Dakota last July, we have been working toward building a vacation cabin there. We had some hiccups with our rental home here, and fraudulent tenants...and after eviction, and their retaliations during selling, we were able to close on the sale of our Savannah house last December.
      So we have been working with a contractor up there, and officially signed docs to purchase the lot we want, which is in this really cool development called Powder House Pass in Lead, SD. The utilities are built in each lot, and the roads are paved, plus it's very near the ski attractions which are popular there.
      Here are my drafts I made to get bids from builders:

 Then the drafts were changed a bit, and we are deciding on hardiplank siding color:

Here are the drafts the builder sent:

 And this is downstairs:
I've wanted to do built-in bunk beds for a while. So we decided to--which adds to the # the cabin sleeps for renting out :)

Here's an example of what I want:

We are looking forward to creating a family tradition and handing it down to our kids someday. South Dakota is really a great place to vacation!

Another Health Update

My acidic coughing is still there, but not as bad. My hr is going up, and my bp was high at the dr yesterday. My initial swollen lymph node under my chin on the right, turned into both parotid glands being swollen and sore yesterday and today. I have a low grade fever, (99-100, usually 96's for me pre-ovulation, 98 after), and my whole jaw aches along with my gums.
    I had my ENT order labs to check for autoimmune conditions, as i've read some that can be associated with LPR, and I have some autoimmunity in my family. He begrudgingly did it, and i'm sure he thinks I am a complaining woman wanting attention, but i'm in real pain. He said my swelling could be due to the supplements I am taking....which i've taken nearly 3 months. My pain and fatigue was worse today--thank God John was home. I slept nearly all day, except for the 2 hours I spent at a clinic to get tested for the flu. It was negative but the dr prescribed antiobiotics, because he thinks I have some kind of infection caused by the LPR coughing.
    Today after touching my teeth and gums, I realized the right side in back was more painful, and I know my dentist last year urged me to go to an oral surgeon to get my impacted wisdom teeth out before they get infected. I now believe that is what's happening. Of course it's the weekend, so I am going to call an oral surgeon monday and see how soon I can get them out. I remember the dentist saying I needed a CT scan because my wisdom teeth look like they are sitting right on the main nerve (?) then he wants the surgeon to remove all 4, and then he wants to get me fitted for invisalign braces to fix my bite (i have an overly deep bite, that exacerbates my TMJ). AND THEN, he will make me a night guard to stop my teeth grinding damage.
   I should've had my wisdom teeth out way earlier...like before I had kids. I'm scared to go under, but I can't wait to get these stupid wisdom teeth (ha an oxymoron) out of my already small mouth. I pray this can all be done quickly and safely so we can get back to dealing with my LPR. I feel like i'm going to die a lot earlier than I thought!

My Health

I'm writing this to keep a record of my health status throughout this year, as I try different approaches toward attaining maximum health.

October 2016- I went to a gastro dr because for years I've had these episodes of extreme nausea and flank pain, even before my kidney stones in 2010. She did an upper endo which showed minor gastritis. No H Pylori. Suspected gallbladder problems.

November 2016-I started going to the chiropractor for back pain, and was diagnosed with a form of scoliosis. My lumbar spine below has an 8 degree curve to my left, and my neck is pushed forward instead of curved back. I began a 12 wk treatment of adjustments and exercises.

I also came down with a cold, with a cough that intensified to the point where I would pee myself.

December 2016- the cold symptoms abated but my throat would sporadically hurt like it was being stabbed and my voice was gone. I went to an ENT and he scoped my throat and found I had callouses forming on my vocal cords from "silent reflux". I never have heartburn and had never heard of Laryngopharyngeal Reflux (LPR) or silent reflux. The dr said I should look into acid/alkaline diet with ph strips, and took blood for food allergy testing.

January 2017- My results showed an autoimmune reaction to most of the foods in my diet:

The other test he did showed slight sensitivities to almonds, pistachios, shrimp, peanuts, bananas, avocados...I was pretty frustrated. He told me to cut all these out and I'll heal. 

I have cut my diet drastically, and my pH is usually 5.75 :( I tried alkaline water, greens first alkalinizing supplements, Apple cider vinegar with baking soda, a sinus rinse for post-nasal drip, greens suja juice, and I got worse. My throat was scorched in the morning, and I would wake up hacking trying to catch my breath, but my throat felt smaller and smaller. I developed asthma bad. My resting heart rate had been good at 59 and went up drastically :

My blood pressure went up as well. My chest was tight from walking upstairs. I had no energy to do homeschool lessons, which with my son (auditory processing disorder) and especially against the noise of 3 babies, requires a lot of loud speaking. I bought an expensive wedge pillow to sleep upright, and started drinking Gaviscon, this thick anise paste that helps keep acid down. 

I read all I could find on LPR (which isn't much) and mostly read forums full of people in the same boat, whose drs just throw omeprazole at them, which doesn't help. Even link surgery didn't prove to have lasting results. The more I read the more I wanted to fix this holistically. I remembered last year when Toni's pediatrician did a "new age-ish" test to see what foods I was eating that were causing her stomach to be upset or cause rashes, since I was breastfeeding at the time.  The test revealed more about my "leaky gut" than Toni's sensitivities; my body wasn't fully breaking down the food I was eating so it wasn't in an easily digestible form for baby in my milk. I forgot about this "leaky gut" diagnosis til I researched LPR causes. 

It goes around in circles so I can't tell what the root cause is ...food allergens cause damage to the stomach lining, which cause holes to develop between cilia, and allow undigested food particles to seep directly into my blood stream, which in turn causes an autoimmune reaction to those foods. This can cause low stomach acid, which ironically can cause reflux because the stomach acid level during digestion is what signals the LES to close and keep acid from refluxing into the esophagus and throat. 

Basically the more I read, the more important diet is becoming...which is hard for me since the kids have their own sensitivities and pickyness, and John's just like "I'm horngry!"

February 2017- I had my gallbladder scanned and it is working properly thank God; I really didn't want it to be removed. 

Today, I am feeling slightly better, but still have congestion, post nasal drip, and occasional coughing. My ph is still acidic at 5.75, but my resting heartrate has gone down :

I am against getting on an acid-reducing prescription, especially before knowing whether or not my stomach acid is low or not. So I'm trying my own treatment, using the dietary knowledge compiled from studies, other patients, friends and books. I hope to document more progress, so I can stay motivated to get healthy. 

Last night I bought a book by a Dr. Jamie Koufman called "Dropping Acid". She is a doctor in NYC that has a voice institute, and has had many patients with the constant coughing and wheezing that was actually undiagnosed LPR, which eventually leads to esophageal cancer. She explains that the damage is actually due to Pepsin (a digestive enzyme) rather than stomach acid (HCL). Pepsin starts digesting, when it neets acid. She says pepsin gets refluxed and clings to throat tissues, and is activated by not just acid being refluxed, but by the acid in foods/drinks we ingest. She asserts that because our diet's include many bottled and canned foods/drinks that are highly acidified (via the preservation process), it creates a vicious cycle that can lead to cancer. 

 The book is also a cookbook of low acid low fat foods that her patients have seen great results with. The first 2 weeks are a detox pepsin flushing diet, after its just maintaining. Thankfully my diet already doesn't include coffee, alcohol, or soda, and I don't eat much chocolate or citrus. I am contemplating fully devoting myself to her diet, (but avoiding eggs since the allergy test revealed a severe reaction) as I don't want to take acid reducers as doctors have advised. 

As of today, this is my regimen: 

*Only Fiji (neutral ph) water to drink

*AM:

3 greens first capsules

1 multi vitamin

1 zinc tablet

1 magnesium tablet

2 SP zypan (whole food)

2 SP beta food (whole food)

1 probiotics

3 vitamin d3 capsules 

*Orgain organic protein powder w/ almond milk, banana and pine nuts

*neilmed sinus rinse (saline)

And 10 ml Gaviscon at night before bed. 

Still trying to use wedge pillow(hard for side sleepers). 

At the risk of being a hypochondriac now,  I am going to document whatever I feel. Last night I was with Lucas at his church class and I turned to the left and just my shirt collar touching my jaw hurt. My submandibular gland is swollen and sore on my left. Not sure what that is about yet. 

That's all for now!  

Cute Stuff

Susan's bday visit!

We celebrated all the bdays in Janary together :)

Lucas & the Saints

Lucas typically doesn't like having to write a paragraph to tell about his reading assignments, and since he has trouble speaking comfortably, I gave him the option to prove his reading comprehension in video lessons. Half of his reading assignments are assigned by the Kolbe curriculum with questions that he doesn't mind doing. The other half can be any book of his choosing, with a paragraph. For these outside reading days, we use this Once Upon A Saint book, and he gets so into them. I love hearing him say, "mama this one's so amazing. Thank you for buying me this book". I don't even read them before so that he can totally give his summary in his own words. Here are the ones we have done so far:

Toni & Kinsley

Toni studies her 4 mo old cousin--who isn't much smaller than 1 yr old Toni!  Then Eusty (now 2 yrs) and Toni give forehead kisses :)

Merry Christmas 2016!!