Around the Home

I LOVE where we live. There is something about living in a small town that you can simply walk through and enjoy the beauty of. That is our town. I grew up one town north in the country and although I miss the open landscape at times, I don’t have to travel far to see it. And the rest of the time, I get to explore every little detail of our town and enjoy the beauty of where God has planted us.

This past week consisted of saying “goodbye” to Millie, Maggie’s best friend and sister for life (we still see her at least once a week), speaking at a MOPS group, figuring out what was wrong with Maggie, and working through bronchitis for myself. Also, I decided to tear about Mazy’s closet, which has needed to happen since we moved in, but better late than never, right? That is one thing I so appreciate about house projects. For us, we are do-it-yourself people and ya get to it when you get to it. Over the past almost 3 years since we moved into our house, we’ve done plenty to it, but that is a joy we’ve been able to have because it has been a process. Learning to do it ourselves has been incredible and learning to appreciate our house all the more BECAUSE of the sweat we’ve left behind, has made it all completely worth it. It makes us all the more grateful!

Last Sunday Mazy and I took a walk to the downtown area to see if the painted rocks were out and to our surprise, THEY WERE! There is something fulfilling about watching your child searching high and low for rocks and soaking the joy she feels every time she finds one!

Maggie needed some extra TLC this week due to her not having Millie around, but she also became a little lethargic. After having NUMEROUS accidents every day, I took her to the vet and sure enough, she had another UTI and also bladder infection. Poor pup was a sick little pup, but hopefully this new set of meds will do her wonders!

Mazy gave Maggie plenty of entertainment, including BEING the entertainment:

In preschool, Mazy’s class just finished a unit on trash and recycling. On a walk home from school this week Mazy told me she wants to keep God’s world pretty and make it pretty by picking up trash. So we grabbed a plastic bag, the pup, and we walked the block picking up trash. This girl teaches me daily, the gift that God’s creation and to value it! And thanks to Mazy’s teachers for reiterating this Biblical truth to her. Trash on the ground drives her crazy – no matter where we are, if she sees trash, she will pick it up and throw it away!

Mazy has wanted to make homemade pretzels in the worst way, so I finally caved and to work we went:

When I say they are the best of friends…they are. Maggie couldn’t even stay out of the tub! First her paws were wet from leaning over, then her chest was wet (thanks to Mazy), and before I knew it, there she went in! Instead of panicking, I thought what are a few more wet towels? What is a wet floor? In the grand scheme of life, not a big deal.

This dog spent a LOT of time sleeping this past week, in the weirdest of spots and positions:

On Friday, our FAVORITE ice cream shop OPENED! To Captain Sundae we went! Mazy ordered the square cheese popsicle, also known as SpongeBob SquarePants :). Her definition of who/what that is, made us giggle:

A first this year: fishing in grandma and grandpa’s pond, WITH SUCCESS!

Maggie clearly couldn’t stay out of the pond either…

These two sure were excited to see each other again!

Even after a busy day, Mazy begged and begged to go to the park, and with the sunsetting, how could I say no? She dressed herself, if you can’t tell…

This coming Friday I have a check-up in Ann Arbor to talk about taking me off of the drug that is suppressing the extra beats my heart has. We are hoping that the ablation I had done in December has for sure done the trick, but there is only one way to find out, and that is by going off of this medication. Part of me doesn’t want to go off of it because I haven’t felt this good in YEARS. Yes, YEARS. But this drug causes organ failure, which it’s not worth waiting for that to happen. So I’m embracing this next week’s health as much as a can, in case it changes. Which that is heart failure – you can feel GREAT one week, the next, land in the hospital. I had been battling a cold for 3-4 weeks and I finally decided to go to the doctor for it, and sure enough, bronchitis. Not much you can do for it except hack and hack until it’s gone, but I was put on the z-pack, just in case any pneumonia was developing. I do not have it, but as a severe heart failure patient, that is the sickness you don’t want to get (in fact, I get the pneumonia vaccine). I’m all about preventative care if it’s available!

We have so enjoyed the gorgeous weather we have had in Michigan in the past few weeks and after sitting by the closed pool for about an hour the other day, well, we are ITCHING for pool weather! Mazy even put on a tank top and got a beach towel because she too, can’t wait. The day will come…