Rough week!

I must warn you - the first part of this post is a bit of a downer.  I'm writing it more for myself - a therapeutic post, you might say.  I tried to pick it up a bit towards the end.  So if you don't want to hear the bad stuff - stop reading now.

What a rough week!  Work has been exceptionally trying recently!  It's basically reminded me this time last year when I was on the brink of giving up on this job.  Now I'm not anywhere near that now, but the issues we were facing were causing a mental link back to last year....and of course a lot of stress!

The health and welfare of my family and friends has also been weighing a lot on my mind this week - more than normal.  My Grams is still struggling to be successful at home with the help of my Gramps and my mom.  It's really been an uphill battle for her.  I also found out this week that someone near and dear to my heart was placed on hospice.  This was quite a surprise considering I only recently found out that she was ill.  I've found that it's super difficult to be away from home especially in times like this - almost makes me angry.  I realize that I'm not the first person to be away from home in tough times, but it sure doesn't make it any easier.  If anyone has tips for dealing with these rough times while being away from home, please share.

On top of everything else, one of my kitties is sick.  Mr. Smokey.  He's lost about 4lbs. over the last 1.5 years and has had some chronic GI problems since January.  We finally took him to a cat specialist this week.  I'm just hoping it helps.  Here's a pic of what we came home with this week.  We not have to give him weekly Vitamin B12 injections and who knows what else.  We take him back this Monday for more tests. 
Sigh.  I see a very costly road in our future. 

Here's a pic of my sicko hanging out with me after the Vet visit.

Sorry for all the downers.  I'll try to end this post with some High Five for Fridays.  It's been tough to find 5 good things about this week.

1)  I'm happy to finally have my office nook in the kitchen finally somewhat organized.  It's not quite done yet, but at least it's usable.  I spent Sunday afternoon fixing this space up.  Now I won't have to spread everything all over the dining room table.

2)  I'm super happy it's Friday and this crappy week is over with!

3)  I'm thankful for my healthy little girl!

4)  Excited to be heading to Columbia, MO this weekend to spend some more time with the family.  I'll get to see my mom 2 weekends in a row and...

5) We'll get to see my kiddos! 

Here's to hoping next week is better!

Master Suite almost finished!

It's been awhile since I've posted pics of our place.  Chad and I have been working hard, and I think we've just about finished our Master Bedroom minus a few decor pieces.  Our Master Bedroom area is really more of a Master Suite.  We have french doors off of the living room area that enter into a small hallway that leads to the Master Bath (to the left), the Master Closet (directly in front) and the Master Bedroom (to the right).  Our bedroom has 3 very large windows and receives a ton of light, which couldn't be more opposite of the last place we lived in here.  I'm looking forward to being able to sleep with the window open slightly - one of my favorite things to do!  Here's a few "Before" pics...

Master Suite Entry (Before)

Bedroom (Before)

Since our bedroom receives so much light, we opted for a darker, cozier paint color.  Our designer helped us choose this wonderful color.  I'm not sure I would have ever picked this out on my own, but I do love it.  Here's a few pics of the bedroom now that's it's just about finished.

Master Bedroom (After)

Loving our new lamps we picked up recently!

We chose to put a chair next to our dresser which is opposite of the bed.  

Seems to make it cozier.

Loving our wedding picture arrangement.  Chad did this all by himself!

Lastly, here's the view from our Master out into the little hallway that connects the suite.  I'm so glad we found a place for this bookshelf - another one of my faves. 

I think it looks great here!!

I also love our decision to bring the gray color that we have in the hallway into the bedroom doorway.  Seems to frame up the entry nicely.

There's still a few empty spots to fill, but we're really happy with how it turned out so far.  Hope you enjoyed it!

High Five....for the Weekend!

I haven't been able to fit in much blogging lately...and even missed by HFFF post.  So I'm altering it to...High Five for the Weekend.  Same difference, right?  :)

Here's a few highlights from my week...

1) Spring Weather!  Yahoo!!  This past week, we've been blessed with Spring weather with only a couple leftover Winter days scattered in between.  It's such a mood booster to see the lovely, bright sun!  I almost forgot what it felt like.

2) In the spirit of Spring weather, Chad and I did a little Spring cleaning this past weekend.  We have some massive windows in our new place...9 in our main living area and 3 in our Master bedroom.  It was exhausting cleaning these monsters!  We split the job in half - I took the lower and Chad the upper.  (I think my results were much better.  LOL!)  Here's Chad performing a bit of a balancing act in the corner of our dining area.

3) It's amazing how dusty this place gets...much worse than other homes/condos that I've lived in.  Seems to be a common complaint among the residents.  I could seriously dust a few times a week.  So last weekend, we cleaned & dusted our closet.  That was another project in itself...but so nice once completed.  Thank goodness for Luck's help!  LOL!

4)  I'm working on a new blanket, and I've made some serious progress this week.  Smokey's been helping with this project.  :)

5)  Chad and I tried out a new bar last night - Westport Ale House.  This has been advertised as a craft beer bar, but I must say that it's more like a sports bar with very minimal craft beer.  They have a decent quantity of different beers, but they are your typical - not rare at all - craft beers.  They do have a nice representation of KC & Kansas beers...many of which are quite good.  Needless to say that we were a little disappointed in the "craft" part of this place, but the food was decent.  I'd have to say that the apps look to be the best things on the menu.  We had their jalapeno bottle caps.  (Sorry, no pic.)  They were round slices of fresh jalapenos with a light tempura batter and chipotle ranch for dipping - super yum!  My jalapeno cheddar brat was decent - flash fried, I believe - but the jalapeno pretzel bread bun was disappointing.  Chad had a jalapeno burger that was average.  I don't think we'll rush to go back, but it's a good place to hang with friends and watch a game.

This week will prove to be another busy one, but looking forward to my mom and John visiting next weekend.  Enjoy the weekend!