Showing posts with label doug. Show all posts
Showing posts with label doug. Show all posts

Sunday, November 18, 2012

The Infection

Sometimes something small and unimportant becomes big and scary and very important - but only when you least expect it and only when your whole life is focused on something else. We have been working on an extra special, extra large wholesale order this past month and it has consumed so much of our life that when Doug started talking about his leg hurting again we both just brushed it off. We all kept working and powering through the long and sleepless nights. But last week, when the pain became unbearable, we started paying more attention. As you know, he had an infection in a torn muscle and was on antibiotics for a few weeks that we thought has done the trick. But it just wasn't healing, and in fact, it was becoming worse. So, back to the hospital we went, and found out that the infection has spread to his lymph nodes. Back on antibiotics, anti-inflammatory and bed rest.
 

The holidays are our busiest season and for being self employed, we don't take days off. We work endlessly to get orders out and we love it. But this has been scary. Infections are scary, and being in so much pain you can't walk, that's really scary too. So no matter what, no matter how many pending orders we have, no matter how much work we have, being healthy comes first and I feel lucky we have so many understanding, caring customers and friends.  

We are the kind of people who have to be drug to the doctors office kicking and screaming. We writhe in pain, cry, scream, cough up blood and chop the tips of our fingers off - and still insist that a doctor isn't necessary. But this experience, it has changed us. An infection in your body can be deadly and it is something that you don't take lightly. It took Doug almost a month before he let me take him to the hospital, and when the pain came back, it took a few days for me to convince him he had to go. We spent all night there, and when we got home and crawled into bed, we both felt better. I don't know what I would do without Doug and a fear of the hospital just isn't worth the risk. 

Anyways, long story short, we learned a lesson, Doug is already feeling a little bit better but is pretty confined to the couch for a little while and still in a lot of pain. We are leaving for Florida for Thanksgiving on Wednesday and I'm hoping a quick vacation and family time will do everyone good. We get pretty spoiled when we go home. 

Have you ever been hurt/sick and not done anything about it? I know there are lessons to be learned in all of this - tell us about yours. 



Sunday, March 4, 2012

Impromptu Picnic

Yesterday afternoon, Doug and I put down everything, packed up the van with a basket, fishing pole and rifle, a blanket and a book and took off into the woods for an impromptu adventure.
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We drove all the way down to the end of the road to nowhere and shot quarters for a little while. It was foggy and quiet out, and the wind was incredible. I felt like I was going to get blown over!

I needed this get-away so bad! We both did. We have been so stressed out and totally taking out on each other. NOT FAIR! Most of our stress has been due to a really slow month of February, getting ready to move again, keeping up with orders, keeping the house clean, the dogs not having a fence, finances, etc, etc, etc. You know the deal. Most of all, we have had a hard time getting motivated every day. We love what we do, so much, but sometimes it feels like a factory and not like art. So, we get frustrated, and since it's just us, two people, we want to scratch each other's eyeballs out. That's the truth behind owning a business with your significant other. It's not always sunshine and rainbows. BUT yesterday we followed one of our very important rules. When it gets stressful and you want to kill each other, get the hell out of the house and do something awesome.
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There is nothing better to relieve stress than shooting stuff. We had a blast shooting quarters with Doug's rifle. He's an incredible shooter, but I'm not so bad myself. I like living in a small town (read village) where we don't really have neighbors, because I sit in the front yard with a fire going and shoot the old sign across the road with my BB gun or shoot the bow and arrow down the street to a makeshift target.
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When Doug got his fishing pole out, I got my book out and some snacks we grabbed at the corner store. Nothing fancy, you can't get anything fancy in this town, but some chips, grapes, macaroni salad, cheese and deli meat. I recently bought this book at a thrift store. I read it years ago, but wanted to read it again. It's an incredible book. The only thing that bugs me is that all of Owen Meanies dialogue is in ALL CAPS and it kind of drives me crazy. But, it's a good book.
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Doug has been tying his own flys, and wanted to mess around with them yesterday. He didn't really expect to catch any fish, he just wanted to see how they fared, but low and behold, an ugly fish found the hook and took a big old bite. We threw him back of course, but look how ugly he is!!
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While we were driving back to the house, we caught a glimpse of a deer on the side of the road. We thought she would just dart into the woods, but instead she revved her engines and started hauling ass next to us. If we slowed down, she slowed down, if we sped up, she sped up, it was incredible. It's one of the amazing things living out in the woods, the wildlife is abundant and since deer hunting season is over, they seem to be a little more visible. It's funny, I thought a running deer would be graceful and pretty, but she ran like a bat out of Haiti and face planted into a ditch. I felt so sad, but she hopped back up and darted across the street behind up into the woods. What a goober!
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I am so glad we took the time to go out and leave the cell phones and work stress at home. It's totally necessary and don't let anyone tell you otherwise. What kind of adventures do you take to get away? Does it help your stress?

I am about to make a big dent in packing before I get to work today. Our power was out this morning from the wind, so I was able to start deep cleaning. Can you believe we get the keys to our place in Tennessee a week from today. I am not sure I'm ready!

xo,
Beca

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Sea How Much I Love You

Happy Valentines Day, friends. I got this card for Doug from Cartoules Press. We're planning on making breakfast for dinner and watch scary movies tonight. I can't wait!
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Today has been a busy work day and isn't quite over yet, but I certainly found a minute to play with my giant puppy on the porch. It's been raining off and on today, so a play date on the porch kind of called for a goofy photo shoot. I love this little (big) guy so dang much. He's my other Valentine today! (Don't tell Charlie or Monster...)
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xo,
Beca

PS. The winner of the super bundle is miss Polly Davies. Please email me at tumbleweeds.shop {at} gmail {dot} com to collect your amazing prize pack.

Monday, January 30, 2012

Handmade Bowie Knife

+ D O U G ' S H A N D M A D E B O W I E K N I F E +
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Despite common belief, we don't just make sunglasses, although sunglasses take up so much of our time that we don't really have much free time to work on new projects. However, when we went to the ace hardware this morning, I talked Doug into getting a blank blade to start building a handle around, since most of the work needed to be done today was my work. I got busy, and Doug started digging through our wood pile to find a good piece of cedar to use. It's hard to believe that the knife started as just a and became something so incredible.
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The handle started out looking like this gnarly piece above, and as I passed in and out of our sun room working on frames and packing up orders, and what looked like nothing, started slowing turning into something.
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Doug is insanely creative and within a good hour, the handle was already taking shape and looking all kinds of beautiful. I took some photos of the final product. What a sight to behold. And of course, our house smelled like little bunnies all day because of the cedar.
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My friend Danielle sent me those pretty beads a long time ago, and I have been saving them for something really special, and this knife is really, really special. I feel like this is something that we can keep forever.
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I spent all day today working in the shop, puppy-sitting and doing taxes (ahhhh) and all three of those things give me something to share. First of all, despite anything that I have written that seems like I am down on working right now, I love what we do. I love the final product and I love our company and the business morals we stand by. I am not so great at communicating with customers, but you have to remember, I get a dozen emails a day about our shop, if not more, so I am getting a lot of practice.

Secondly, having a puppy around a few days a week (we watched Kaida aka poptart while Mo was at work today) is really fun but it makes me appreciate my dogs so much. For example, today Ollie was running around the front yard, we still don't have a fence and up runs these gnarly big dogs, and Ollie was a perfect gentleman. He listened, and ran inside, and he didn't mess with the other dogs. I was beaming with pride. After the incident with Poptart...er, Kaida, the first day we had her, I have been a little worried about Ollie. He's a good boy, but i want to be able to trust him.

And third, doing your own taxes when you own your own business is insane and I am glad that they are done, but I am exhausted. Totally and completely exhausted!

It's past midnight and we are actually going to bed early tonight (er, earlier than normal) so have a good Monday night! I should be back with part one of our home tour tomorrow! The Florida room aka my front porch aka my favorite place in our house!)

xo,
Beca

Saturday, January 7, 2012

Our Day in Pensacola

+ B R E A K F A S T +
This morning, Doug and I woke up super early and took the boys for a good walk to the docks. They love Florida already and I do too. I've never been to Pensacola before, I am kind of in love. It was so heavy with fog this morning and it felt so nice to just hang out with the pups. Doug's Mom is severely allergic to dogs, so they can't stay in the house, and lord only knows those boys of ours are spoiled rotten, so you can imagine how sad they are to have to stay in the back room. They have been extra excited to go for walks.

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Doug's stepdad wanted Krispy Kreme, so we took the car down to the corner store and got donuts for breakfast. Normally I would have eaten a few, but I only had one. I'm trying, friends, I am trying so damn hard. But I had my cup of coffee and one lemon donut and I felt good. I have been really good about entering in my meals into weight watchers, it helps there is an app. Please excuse my broken phone screen, I dropped it, AGAIN, and Doug hasn't had time to fix it yet.
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+ J U N K I N G +
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I never thought I would say this, but I am all junked out. I cant go thrifting again, even if somebody paid me. Doug's mom and cousin took us out, and boy, oh boy, they thrift like it's a sport, and I think we went to about 15 stores today. I left every single one of them with a bag of stuff. I am going to dedicate a post to it next week once we have internet set up in our house. I miss thrifting in the south, it's a whole new ball game. YAWL have no idea.

+L U N C H +
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We ate lunch at The Oar House, which you can imagine made Doug and I giggle. Regardless of the name, it was really good. I had a crab cake burger and fries, which were perfect. After lunch we did a lot more thrifting, laughing and driving around Pensacola. Doug and I leave tomorrow morning for Steinhatchee and will finally be home, at least for a month or so. I can't wait to get settled and back to work. It has been so very nice spending time with Dougie's mom and family.

What does your weekend look like? If you blog about it, leave me a link, I would love to read about your adventures!

xo,
Beca

Friday, December 9, 2011

It's the Little Things

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Matching socks on a cold morning. Those are the things that matter.

xo,
Beca

Sunday, December 4, 2011

Magically Multi-Purpose

We recently got a new camera that shoots amazing video and I'm really excited to start shooting again, but it also takes 12 megapixel photos. We don't have an adapter to put our lenses on the new camera, it's in the mail, but Doug took some really pretty photos holding the lenses up to the camera.

Aren't they magical? The light leaks and blurred edges make them look like film photos. I like how they make our average space look so extraordinary.
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I love how photos like this alone would normally just get deleted, but when they are all together, they look all kinds of fancy and pretty. Happy Sunday.

xo,
Beca