Always drink upstream from the herd......

The past few weeks have been full of all kinds of challenges....nothing life threatening, Thank God, but little things that just peck away at me one issue at a time.....I think I have been drinking downstream from the herd....so changing it up this next week and taking the advice of Will Rogers.....Always drink upstream from the herd!

 

 

For a break between Dr. appts, condo repairs, IRS love letters, endless forms to fill out, insomnia and general chaos I have been working on little projects that have been piling up as we are still around the house way too much for my liking.....Kristen was given this little gem....she saw potential and parents with time on their hands...

 

 

 so we sanded, painted, distressed, covered.....

 ....and it turned out so cute for Kristen's family room!

 Steve got me this bracelet in Alaska and it caught on everything and finally broke :(

 I had these gold earring clips.....

 I used my little tools and made a pair of earrings!

 Our little garden is still producing.....

 The tomatoes are so beautifully red and juicy....nothing like a home grown tomato! Lots of caprese salads, pasta's and blt's....

 We were able to drive to Carlsbad one day last week and browsed some of my favorite shops up there....so inspiring, love every thing they have....

 Went to a few antique malls....I have this 2 of these little refrigerators (replicas - dark wood) and use them as night stands in our master bedroom....love them in white chippy as done here, however, most of our bedroom furniture is dark....maybe some day I will recreate them in another room.....

 Takes some Moxy to paint an antique waterfall dresser turquoise...love.....

 My list for antiquing is long....Steve's is small, in fact one item:  Vintage Mustang Signs

 We had lunch alfresco and drove back to our house on the beautiful 101....lots of traffic but oh the views!

  ...... so inspiring and relaxing........

 
 



So when I came home I pulled together some this and that.....

....and made a little reminder of our day out and how lucky we are to live.....
 

The Helter Skelter Summer of Nurse Jacque

Nurse Jacque has had a rough summer......she is being tried on all kinds of levels and trying to keep her chipper upbeat disposition in check....it has not been easy.....you can tell when Nurse Jacque is stressed....she talks about herself in the third person.....

 

 

 Having hours and hours around the house and a very limited amount of freedom and being a fidgety sort of gal, Nurse Jacque has been working on projects.  Remember this treasure from Chicago land????

She found these great vintage luggage labels from the Golden Age of Transport.....

 Each and everyone incredibly beautiful and many many places she has been before her case load was so heavy....sigh.....

 So she had fun picking out her favorites and arranging them and then applying them.....

 It was a fun little project.....

 Not too demanding and a nice little reprieve and.....

 And a chance to remember a lot of fun places she has been......and think of a few more places she wants to go!

 It added a little punch to this arrangement in her family room which has a lot of her travel pictures and globes, etc....

 Rocky's little stairs were looking shabby.....she took off the covering and used one of the matching pillows that came with the couch to make little covers for the stairs.  The little stinker balked at using it, scratches at it with is paws and barks to be lifted up.  It is a battle of the wills I tell ya.  Nurse Jacque may refer him out for a second opinion.

She went thru all the boys toys and rearranged their room.  They use Adams old bedroom and have a tv and Brody will play upstairs but usually drags everything down.  When they are bridging to an older level of toys she routinely go through the ones they play with and organizes those and then donates some of the ones they no longer play with as much....

 Military Toys, planes and cars are the faves of the day.  She moved all the Fisher Price on the go toys to the middle shelf  sniff sniff......she still kept the little doll house but yesterday she saw the mommy and daddy of the doll house driving a tank!

 The Scooby Doo van has not seen much action however she still left it out and seeing if it gets any attention....they will have to reach over it to get to the military toys so that is the real test....Nurse Jacque is schemey like that....she sets little traps all over to do her research.....

She put little vignettes on her MaMa Autens dresser....I love to do that as I wonder what she would think to know that her great great grandsons keep their clothes in the same dresser she did.....she is hoping it would make her happy.  Come to think of it when Nurse Jacque was a little girl her MaMa Auten would give her warm coke when she had a tummy ache.  Nurse Jacque will add that to her approved RX list.

 Nurse Jacque's biggest angst of the summer.....the Cabinet ordeal....she has moved dishes and food in and out of cabinets at least 3 times...she has read every label and washed every dish multiple times.  She has donated and organized....she is type A and this makes her very unhappy.  Lucky for her the end is in sight. 

 Nurse Jacque was so happy to have her little brother and son come for a long weekend.  It is just the break she needed.  Between the two of them they worked on all the things Nurse Jacque and her #1 patient have not been able to do....Fridge door not working - Done!

 Patio Table legs rusting out and need replacing?  Done!

 Water station programming all messed up causing $400.00 water bill and needed revamped - Done!

 Nurse Jacque believes  her patients and family members benefit from fresh air in order to keep and  maintain good health.  She treated everyone to a wonderful day at Del Mar...yummy food...drinks and treats.....

Lots of time to relax and soak up the sun and cool coastal breezes....

 Mild and light play with a recovering patient.....

A walk on the beach to calm the soul.....

 Playing a little game of catch with Nurse Jacque's favorite Dr., Dr. Brody

 Epic waves and a fun day for all.....

 followed by a big game of Cranium to stimulate the brain.....

 Nurse Jacque's daughter really gets into the charades part....

 Nurse Jacque tests her patients levels of stress....this is the response she is seeking....Nurse Jacque is kinda weird like that....

 Luckily Nurse Jacque's Golden Son has nerves of steel and knows every bit of trivia in the world and can save the day by being on Nurse Jacque's team!  No Sweat!

 Nurse Jacque feels fresh food is best for recovering patients.  A little garden out back yielded some pretty good specimens....

 It made for a beautiful caprese salad at meal time!

 BBQ Pork Chops, salad and fresh corn on the cob was served to all in house patients who were not on restricted diets.

 Also a lasagna for Golden Boy was made and consumed by many......

 Finally after a long shift, Nurse Jacque got to have her sweet boys over to play for the afternoon....

 Plants were watered, birds were fed, cuddles and hugs were had, laughter ensued....

 And nothing like a good case of bed head the next a.m. to give Nurse Jacque the encouragement to suit up for yet another shift....

 Yes, epic bed head - the best medicine for Nurse Jacque !

Take 2 aspirin and leave a note in the comment section.  Nurses Notes Out