Life Lately

I wanted to stop by today to share a little bit about life lately. We’ve been working on several things behind the scenes, and then other things (like office progress) have come to a halt…

And all because Anthony and I both caught the nasty bug that’s been going around. Anthony got it first, and then had sciatica problems which left him in severe pain. We were making trips to the chiropractor a few times a week to try and get him back up and running. He’s always had back issues (and 4 knee surgeries!), so we had to get him back up and walking.

He spent about a week down and out on the couch, poor guy, and I felt really, really bad for him. Just when he couldn’t take it any longer, he went to the doctor and started taking antibiotics. He started getting better, life was starting to ease back to normal… and then I got sick. I didn’t have the back issues that he did, but I had the cold set in and I couldn’t get off the couch. About a week or two in, my eardrum burst and that was perhaps one of the most miserable things I’ve ever dealt with. I’m about two weeks in with no hearing, other than loud ringing and buzzing, and sharp pains throughout my ear. I’ve locked myself in the house to avoid any type of loud noises, or background noise as well.

Mind you, none of this is to complain… I know there are so many people battling far worse things, and my heart goes out to them.

Having something like this happen really puts it into perspective on how lucky we are to have good health. It’s a huge blessing, and if you’re someone who struggles with bad health (yourself or someone you know and love), our thoughts and prayers are with you!

So, with all that said… we haven’t really been getting too much done on the home front. We’ve spent a lot of time on the couch trying to get better so we can finish tackling all those projects that still need finished in our home office. I’ve been itching to get back to working on the space, and to be able to use the new room. My Valentines Day post last week was a happy excuse to step out of the house for a few minutes for some very needed groceries and to grab some fresh flowers. They’ve been a happy sight and my appreciation for fresh flowers has grown drastically.

Life Lately by The Wood Grain Cottage

The other day I also finally mustered up enough energy to finally clean out the old guest room closet. It was loaded with home décor items and I went through everything, narrowing down what I wanted to keep, and then items for the donation pile…

Life Lately by The Wood Grain Cottage
Life Lately by The Wood Grain Cottage

And after transporting all of my “keep” items down to the basement shelving, I was left with this:

Life Lately by The Wood Grain Cottage

So. much. better! Since this picture was taken, I completely cleaned out the closet and finally bought a preservation box for my wedding dress… only 8 years later. Ha. I felt accomplished, which was big since we hadn’t been able to do too much for quite awhile.

I mentioned before that I felt the house was feeling stale to me, and I’m sure my couch time hasn’t helped, ha!, but with that said, there are several new changes I’ve had time to sit and plan out. This little wall is one of them…

Life Lately by The Wood Grain Cottage

Changes will be happening soon, and I’m excited to get started on them. This wall will also be getting a refresh…

Life Lately by The Wood Grain Cottage

Or should I say, the wall behind the shelves… The shelves are definitely staying! I’m still working on the specifics, but I’ll hopefully be sharing more on this update soon!

And, the other things I’ve been wrapping my head around, is switching up the furniture/ layout in our living room. I’m sure this will be something that happens later down the road (we have a home office that needs finished first!!), but Anthony and I both really want to adjust the furniture in our living room. I like our sectional, but we really need a recliner. Anthony really needs a recliner. He really wants one, and I realized just how much we need one when he couldn’t lay down in bed or sleep on the couch when he was having big issues with his sciatica. Luckily, my mom and dad had an extra recliner we could barrow and Anthony really found it helpful.

Life Lately by The Wood Grain Cottage

We’ve talked about adding a recliner in great depth, and I basically detest the way they look and how bulky they can be, but I know we can find a common ground. I’ve been browsing a few different options and I’m excited about the thought of changing things up in our living room. We’ll see how long it takes before we have this one figured out, but the wheels are turning!

So…. that’s what our life has been like lately. Luckily, Anthony is on the mend and I’m doing much better, minus the whole burst eardrum. We’re both gearing up for a very busy season of farming. It’ll only be a few weeks now before Anthony will be spending his days (and most of his nights) in a tractor prepping all the land for the new crops. I’ll be transporting meals and baking snacks to share with everyone needing a little pick me up in the afternoon. I mean, a yummy snack has never not made them happy! 😉

We’ll be back to share more office progress soon… I’m anxious to get it finished and functioning!

5 Comments

  1. My heart goes out to your husband. Since August, 2015, I’ve been dealing with back/sciatica issues. I had surgery in April, 2016 which helped 100% – until December, when the problem came back on the other side. My doc got me in for the preliminary visit, an MRI and surgery, all within one week. I cannot speak highly enough of him. I feel I’m on the road to recovery. I don’t know where you live, but if you can’t find any relief there, I urge him to come see my doc in Edina, MN. The company is Twin Cities Orthopedics. With my initial sciatica, I went to the chiro for several months with no positive results, I had two cortisone injections, which did nothing. Finally the doc said I need to see a surgeon. If you want more info, contact me. Good luck!

  2. Have you looked at the sofa’s that recline? We have 2 leather ones and absolutely love them!
    We have used them many time when when sick and needed to sleep “propped up”.
    Prayers for continued healing and health.

  3. Shayna,

    I’m not a huge fan of fitting recliners into a living room space, but I must tell you that we actually have 2 of them and a sofa. My husband and I can be found every evening in our recliners and never on the sofa. I had a full knee replacement 5 weeks ago and don’t know what I’d have done without my recliner. My husband enjoys napping in his. You might want to google La-Z Boy and see if you can find a dealer near you, they carry so many styles and can order them in a huge variety of fabrics. Our latest one is a mushroom/taupe color that I love. Good luck!

  4. My uncle is a farmer, and boy do farmers work HARD! He has had back issues for 20 yrs and had tried many things. It would get so bad it would basically get stuck and he would be bent over. Yet we never heard him complain. The thing that sucked was it took that long for it to finally show up on an MRI. He finally went to a back clinic in Phoenix who treat a lot of farmers (!) and his back is waaay better. He had laser surgery on 2 discs and 1 needed reg surgery to scrape it. So there is hope! My prayers are with you. Its been a sick winter for us, our kids nonstop sick, the last being the flu. My 3 yr old was in the hospital in.nov too so its been tough. Know that you are not alone. Anyway I love your house and love getting ideas for me own!

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