Miracle Miles

If you are so inclined, please done a few dollars to Tyler's Trek. Tyler is the son of my very dear friends Matt and Tracy. All money donated goes directly to NICU at Winnie Palmer Hospital for Women and Babies here in Orlando.

Here's Tyler's story (there is a video on Team Tyler's Trek page - you really should watch it and see how amazing he is)...he is a miracle!

Tyler was born at Winnie Palmer Hospital at 28 weeks, 6 days gestation weighing just 2 pounds, 13 ounces. The first few days were especially critical, with us not knowing if he was going to survive his early arrival. Before I even left recovery, Dr. Lipman was at my bedside explaining what was going on and assuring me that they were going to take good care of him. The NICU journey is one filled with steps forward and steps back, good days and bad. Because his arrival came so suddenly, we had no time to prepare and no idea what to expect. There are a lot of unknowns and it's so difficult to see your baby hooked up to monitors, wires and tubes when all you want to do is take them home. But the staff at Winnie Palmer Hospital took great care of him - and of us! When Tyler came home 56 days later, we knew that he was ready. Today, Tyler is a ball of energy at 4.5 years old. He's tall for his age and has zero residual effects stemming from his prematurity. He loves superheros and his baby sister and we couldn't be happier. He often looks back at his pictures from the NICU and makes comments - I can only hope that one day he truly realizes the impact that he has had! We're sharing our story in hopes that others can understand that miracles do happen - the doctors and nurses at Winnie Palmer are outstanding and we will always be grateful to them. Please help me in supporting Miracle Miles and in giving other families the chance at the same happy ending!

Click here to see Tyler's Trek 

Space...

Mr. Paisley and I are gearing up for a trip over to the coast to visit KSC (that's Kennedy Space Center) while they are letting people into formerly restricted areas since the government decided to bail on the space program. 

I saw this video and thought it was pretty amazing. Kinda long at 8:32, but totally worth it - especially having grown up with the Space Shuttle in my back yard...well, you know what I mean.

What the Solid Rocket Booster saw... 

and here's a 360 view from the Mars rover
Mars... 

Anywho...apparently, it's going to cost us like $500 to do the KSC thing with all the extra super secret tours. That's CRAZY!

Robin's Nest

Here's a quick round of photos from the cabin in April and June of 2012. Things have been a little extra crazy at the Cottage. Cancer. Death. Unexpected travel. A toddler. Lots of changes...we're getting thru it and well, it is what it is.

 

#1 the ribbon stripe between the patchwork and check pattern is actually the same color of maroon, it just photographs weird.

#2 all of the "stripes" actually line up between the two curtain panels...I need to move my curtain rod up a few inches.

 My dad gifted me with the red, white and blue bobbins.

 Last changed to the mantle...the basket is filled with cinnamon pine cones.

 The downstairs bedroom.

 The other side of the downstairs bedroom. What? You don't use 5 gallon buckets of stain as decorative objects?

Still love this quilt...

 The door behind the door...it's the laundry room / closet in the downstairs bedroom.

Moved my favorite homemade (not by me - thrift store find) floor lamp to the bedroom and relocated the little cubby cabinet from beside the front door at the Paisley Cottage. Makes a great side table!

 The kitchen...

 The living area...don't ask me why the front door is standing ajar...who knows.

The upstairs bedroom! Finally a new picture or two...with the artwork actually HANGING on the wall.

 The little white bench is temporarily living upstairs.

The sewing table is a WAY better TV stand than the little green side table (now on the back porch). It's taller and more narrow so the love seat isn't so close to the front door anymore.

 Packing up to go home.

It's almost completely re-stained now! Such a difference. The doors and window trim are charcoal gray (I wanted black), but it came out looking more like a dark espresso. Frankly, I'm ready to just use black paint on the trim, but Mr. Paisley said no way. So dark brown it is.

We zipped up to Ohio (part 1 unexpected trip) and my aunt Alyce gave me a TON of her Americana / Primitive stuff from her last house. She redecorates and changes her style somewhat regularly. The white enamel pitcher is one of those goodies. I had a blue and white speckleware coffee pot there with the wheat in it, but this is narrower and fits better.

 From the top of the stairs.

 Over one of the windows in the living area

Some artwork from Alyce.

A beautiful braided rug from Alyce (and a naked bed...go figure) I'm not sure, but I think it's a Thimbleberry. It weighs a ton.

 My side of the bed!

 LOVE this framed print that Alyce gave me - I needed something up there!

I thought the candle/plate holder was working in this spot (also from Alyce, minus the plate), but not loving it in the picture. I'll be moving that in a few weeks when I'm back up there.

 Decorated the front garden for Summer / 4th of July.

The side of the cabin from up on the hill...yeah! It matches the front!

And a closer up shot of the new stain. It's a bit more orange than I was expecting (yeah, I wasn't expecting ORANGE at all...gotta love stain...never quite know what you're going to get until you put it on the wood that you are working with). You can sort of see the previously mentioned blue and white speckleware coffee pot there in the garden window - it has pip berries in it now.

Making money...

It's been awhile, I know. This post will be short, I'm blogging from my phone...in the backseat of the truck...somewhere in Virginia. We are headed to upstate New York to say goodbye to grandma.

Alas, making a little money along the way. We happened to be going right by Replacements, LTD in NC and I had recently packed up my wedding dishes after getting new ones that go with the changed decor. The old ones were Pfaltzgraff Key Largo. A simple pattern of cream stoneware with pale green and yellow bands. It's retired. It's not selling well on ebay. No interest on Craigs list. I left with a check for $93.00 for 11 year old dishes that we used every day. I'm thrilled to say the least. More later when I can actually type on my laptop and not spend so much time correcting typos from the truck bouncing all over the road.

Here's the other song...or poem? IDK. I don't know if this one was finished or not. I assume it is...but who knows.

Blood

Drumming the rhythm of motion through space,
Collapsed within heartbeats, ages, and time,
Tears stain the scars set in my face
Sharing a reason and loosing the rhyme
All but forgotten in loneliness, bliss
Cold and dark footsteps remind her
Collections of her breath quietly hiss
And vision is cleared, the mind left blurred
Midnight within the collapsing heart
Pierced and suckled, drained and bled
Her world of shadows is blown apart
Within the limits of her head
But hush and hear the whispers speak
Their embers dimming through the night
With daylight's shadows, poised and sleek
The last immortal birthright.

 (typed as written - no spelling changes on my end)

Again, feel free to throw your interpretations out there.

In keeping with the Spring Cleaning theme...I found a couple of songs that were written for (or about) me. I don't really "get" lyrics (or poetry for that matter) so I don't really know.

Feel free to throw out any interpretations of this one

 Candlewax (a tragedy)

She stands in white flowing forrestry
Caring, but not knowing why
Looking about, she notices me
Enthralled with the wink of her eye

Captured in timeless tapestry,
Going, but not knowing where,
Turning around, she runs from me,
Her hands holding onto the air

She spent a long while in the monastary
Looking for some peace of mind
She's blind in the dark but she wants to see
Too bad it's a waste of her time

She stares at some strange monstrosity
That followed her out to the glen
She isn't sure, but she thinks it's me
Coming to see her again

And a shot in the dark pierced through a dream
As slumber was slipping away
And again and again somebody screamed
As night slowly fades into day

Now I'm going down to the edge of the sea
You know I will always be there
Where undertow dances with dying sea weed
And waves shout her name in the air

(typed as written - I take no credit for spelling here)

I'm neck deep in Spring Cleaning since Mr. Paisley is otherwise occupied for a few days. Today I have focused on my office. Lord have mercy...

My poor shredder is on overload. I've emptied it 5 times. It's overheated in protest 6 times since 11:30 a.m. 

Thus far the only monetary treasure i've unearthed is a 2001Vermont quarter. However, other treasures abound. I found a photo of me and my two BFFs from 1991. Senior Grad Nite at Disney. All I can say about that is...wow. 

#1 seriously...i'm wearing a ROMPER...with a bib no less. It doesn't get any more awesome than that folks! (yes it does...that thing is still in my closet - no I don't wear it, but the 80s are back baby - just you wait, the 90s will be back again)
#2 shoulder pads...they were all the rage. Really.
#3 so were stockings and rayon "dressy" short sets...ahhh rayon.

If you're not familiar with "Grad Nite" Disney hosted it from the 70s (at least here in Florida) up until 2011. I went twice - one for "Jr. Grad Nite" for 8th grade "graduation" from Junior High and again in 1991 for Senior Grad Nite for high school. They have popular bands / musicians headlining and the park is (or was) closed except for the students. We had to dress up. Hence the lovely outfits above. No one in their right mind would normally wear that to Disney. Yep - rules were no tennis shoes, no school logos, no sports logos, no jeans, no hats...some of that changed later on (jeans and sneakers became acceptable as long as they weren't torn or low rise).

Who was performing for my Senior Grad Nite...don't hate! It was: Stevie B., Tara Kemp, En Vogue, Timmy T., C&C Music Factory

(at Jr. Grad Nite it was  Ready For The World, Rene & Angela, Animotion, Nu Shooz, Starpoint, Klymaxx, Miami Sound Machine, Sly Fox...you know you're totally jealous)  

Not much else I can say about it...always good to look back on where you came from ;-)

I also found a new Circuit City credit card...it expired in 2010...sadly (or not) Circuit City expired in 2009.

I found some new ink jet cartridges for a printer that died many years ago. I listed those in the free section of Craig's List earlier today as Canon still makes printers that use this particular cartridge. They may or may not be any good, but for free, someone might as well take a chance right?

I dug out a brand new, still in the box vintage 1980's Go Bot Command Center. My parents bought it for my brother (back in the day) and either decided not to give it to him or forgot where they hid it  before Christmas. I listed it on ebay once and sold it for $75 but the guy never paid for it and I never relisted it - I will be doing that soon. I would do it tomorrow, but there are 3 or 4 also NEW on ebay right now. Interesting.

My favorite find is a newspaper clipping - my scanner is currently buried so i'm going to throw some random bits from it here for your entertainment.

From The Orlando Sentinel, Wednesday, March 10, 1993 "Spring Break Survival Guide"
The write used the name "Tammy Tanline" (ha...not).

Top 10 Pickup Lines
TOP 10 pickup lines girls DON'T want to hear during Spring Break.

•  If I were a pair of Reeboks, would you be my pump? (I totally had Reebok Pumps...)
• You look like you could really use a Big Mac.
• So...is that really your father's Oldsmobile?
• Hey, baby, is that sand in your teeth or are you just looking for more fiber in your diet?
• Been on the Big Dipper yet?
• I don't want to brag, but at home they named an anthill after me.
• Listen, if it doesn't work out, I've got a friend who can get us on Divorce Court.
• Dan Quayle told me you'd be here tonight.
• Funny thing about those sloths...they had three toes.

and the #1 pick up line girls don't want to hear during Spring Break...

• Are you pregnant?

The actual article is about dumb crap we all did in Daytona Beach during Spring Break. Ok not "we" - my Spring Breaks were spent in Cocoa Beach because, well, that's where the condo is and mostly free is good.

So it goes on to talk about Vanessa (a chem major from up north somewhere) who needed to blow off some academic steam and so she entered (and won) a wet t-shirt contest. Followed by an interview with Brad - the reigning home town hero - (Lyman High grad and student at UCF) who won a beer coozie and a hat for having the best (?), longest, most disgusting burp. He likened it to an earthquake coming out of his body. Awesome. On to Dan from Norwich U (a military school in Vermont apparently) who got a t-shirt for winning a belly-flop contest. 

Ahhh the "cool" stuff we did back in college during Spring Break. 

Speaking of Spring Break...I found some of MY last Spring Break photos...I will NOT be posting those. So sorry to disappoint. Some things are better left alone. Just sayin'...