it's me again....

Just dropping in for my bimonthly update?? Is this what is has come to?

Well, to be fair, these past couple months have been more "interesting" than most.

It started with receiving results from a recent food intolerance test for Last But Not Least.  She has always had a sensitive stomach, but recently this has escalated, with frequent stomach aches and diarrhea, and it was time to investigate.  We expected a food allergy but were a bit gobsmacked by this:

Intolerant. To. Everything.  Let me tell you, trying to cook for a kid who can't have dairy, egg, gluten, rice, potato, sunflower, most nuts and more is a bit of a game changer.  No more fast food or processed foods, almost everything from scratch.  It has required a lot of research and time spent scouting out unusual ingredients like yucca root, arrowroot four, coconut butter and more.  But we have made it work. It looks like she is getting some relief from her symptoms, and we are having her tested for Celiac's disease as a precaution.  It is pretty time consuming but we are starting to find some alternatives that work for her.  Good times.

Next, it was off to a much needed holiday- Dominican Republic! Yay!  We enjoyed some of this...

...and a bunch of this...

...for about 2 days.  And then came this:

I am not kidding. I took a tumble over the tiniest ever step, fell hard on a marble floor, knocking myself out in the process even.  But wait, the story does not end there.  We came home, had it all re-examined, and it was actually this:

Which made me want to spend all my time drowning my sorrows like this....

...with the help of my kids, because who knew but it is really freaking hard to open a bottle of beer with 2 broken arms.  Among many, many other other things.  Please trust me on this and do not research for yourself.

So, that has occupied much of my time of late, to say the least. Two broken arms is not exactly compatible with my work as a dentist, so I have been off for the past 7 weeks as I have been recovering and, more recently, starting physiotherapy to regain mobility and strength in my arms.  Back to work later this week though!  Both happy to get back to "normal" and a bit nervous at the same time.

And in the midst of all of this "fun", life continues of course.  Luckily, I have the best friends and family ever who have been incredibly helpful with practical issues like driving my kids to and fro, making meals, or even helping me get dressed or comb my hair!  I am hoping I did not scar my 11 year old son for life by having the first bra he removed on a woman to be his mother's.  

Ah well.  Save that for the therapist.  And of course there was the emotional support, the laughs through the frustrations, sweet gifts from friends.  I am truly thankful for all of it.

While all this was going on, we have also been in the midst of a full blown renovation at the cottage.  Back in September, a leaky fridge hose resulted in all of the flooring needing to be replaced, along with some drywall, lighting and the kitchen counters.  So why stop there? We decided to to a full on gutting.  I came up with the brilliant idea to repaint all of our sturdy but dated oak kitchen and built ins with chalk paint.....which then became the job of the Hubs when I was rendered armless!  Ha! The show must go on! We went out for a few days over Spring Break to put it all together and this is what is happening so far:

Still a ways to go but it is coming together nicely!!  I will be sure to do a full before and after post once things are finished :)

Anyways, that pretty much brings you up to speed.  Crafting was more or less shut down until recently, when I started some short bouts of knitting and hand sewing as a part of my physiotherapy-  I actually had them write it on my instructions as proof to the Hubs that this was "work" for me.  It has been a wonderful thing.  I have a small finished quilt to show you in another post.  

In the meantime, I want let you know that a blog hop is underway for Make It, Take It! Each of the contributors is having a turn discussing their projects, and are giving away digital copies of the book. I will be back with my turn and giveaway on Sunday!  If you wold like to follow along, here is the schedule:

Blog Tour Schedule 

Friday, April 3 Blog hop kick-off at Poppyprint!
Monday, April 6: Berene at Happy Sew Lucky and Amy at During Quiet Time
Tuesday, April 7: Leanne at She Can Quilt and Felicity at Felicity Quilts
Wednesday, April 8: Martingale Inc. at Stitch this! (check out their Rainbow Round the Cabin staff party!)
Thursday, April 9: Krista at Spotted Stones and Krista at Krista Withers Quilting
Friday, April 10: Lynne at Lilys Quilts and Cindy at Live a Colorful Life
Saturday, April 11: Ayumi at Pink Penguin and Krista at Poppyprint
Sunday, April 12: Kristie at OCD: Obsessive Crafting Disorder and Christina at Sometimes Crafter