Gallery Wall on a Budget

One of my favorite bloggers Veronika's Blushing did this AMAZING gallery wall in her home. You can find her blog post HERE. When she posted the gallery wall it was around the time we were listing our house and planning to move to Texas. I decided in my next house this was the type of gallery wall I wanted to do. It was clean, crisp and beautiful!!! 

When we looked at our house I immediately thought of 2 places to do the gallery wall. I started planning to do one. I loved the frames Veronika used. She got hers at Target HERE. I put a lot of thought into those frames. I have all silver or brushed nickel hardware in my house. I love the gold frames, but I was concerned with having large statement gold frames with silver every where else. Also the cost was another reason I just wasn't sure I could go for them. 

Walmart has REALLY stepped up their game with their home items. I have bought a few things from them for the new house. I bought this bench for my mud room. It is very sturdy and adorable! I also bought this desk which matches the bench. We have the desk in the mud room too. The mud room is very large, so I wanted the items to match. The colors of both items are gray and they go together well. The description of the names isn't the same online. I feel they might have had a different option for the desk when I bought it months back. Anyhow these items are great quality! 

I started looking for frames all over the internet. Amazon, Walmart, Target, Kohls etc. I read a lot of reviews to see what people were saying. I wanted to keep the gallery under $150. The size of the frames I wanted to use if I went with the Target frames it would cost me around $300. Walmart had THESE frames for $10.99. I was able to get all 9 frames for under $100. The frames I bought from Walmart are AMAZING quality! If you bought them from any other retailer you would spend $25 and up on them. 

The frames sat in an enormous box in our guest room for a month. The thought of measuring and hanging them was daunting. I ordered all the pictures except one. I had Cash's pictures taken, so I wanted to put one of his new pictures in a frame. I was talking with my friend Krystal and she mentioned using these Command Strips to hang pictures. Using the strips no longer sounded like a daunting task trying to hang 9 frames. I ordered the strips from Amazon. Then I came down with strep throat and the project got pushed back another week or so. 

One day during nap time I decided it was time to just bite the bullet and hang the pictures. The huge box kept George entertained while I took all the frames out of their packaging, put the pictures in the frame, adding the command strips and arranged them how I wanted them to be on the wall. Laying them out of the floor really helped give me a visual of how I wanted them on the wall. I moved certain pictures around and was able to determine the order before applying the strips on the wall. 

I used a level to make sure each picture was level and to measure the space between each frame. It was so easy to do! It took longer to take them all out of the packaging then it did to hang them. It took me maybe 10 minutes max to hang them even with letting G climb up and down the step ladder a couple times. The entire project took me around an hour and a half from start to finish. I was able to sit down for about 10 minutes to enjoy the amazing gallery wall before Cashy woke up from his nap. 

I absolutely LOVE the final results!!!! I sit in my living room and love look at the gallery wall at least once a day. This is one of my favorite projects I have done in any of my homes. I love the white frames! I think it really lightens up the wall and makes the pictures pop more! 

Frames: Walmart 

Photo Credits:

Photography by Chelsea Lynn Bulik 

Sparkle Photography by Ashley 

I ordered all my pictures from Costco.Com  I have always used Costco to print my pictures. I find their quality to be great! I have pictures from them from 11 years ago that still are great quality and crisp. I spent maybe $10-$15 on the pictures. 

Total cost of the project was around $132. 

Frames were $98.91

Pictures were $15.00ish

Command Strips $18.00

Bike Rides

Growing up I spent HOURS riding my bike. I wore my tires down until they were balled. I loved to rid. As long as I could be outside I would ride my bike up and down our dirt road. I still LOVE riding bike! It's one of the things that can make me smile and relax me, so quickly. 

G outgrew his bike, so we bought him a new one recently. I also found a used bike since we didn't bring my old one from CA. G and I have loved going for a bike ride around the lake. The hard part is we can't go in the morning when it's the coolest. I have been searching Facebook Marketplace to find a bike trailer. I found one this past week. I loaded up both kids and off we went. Holy cow! Hauling 50 pounds of kids is a great workout for your legs! We made it around the lake one time before I had to go in. It was also 98 degrees outside. Cashy was singing away though on our ride! G will be able to ride his bike in front of us for our early morning rides in the future. 

My parents bought G this little Radio Flier trike for Christmas when he was a year old. When he opened it he gave the box a big hug and LOVED that trike! Now Cashy is big enough to ride in it and boy does he love it. If everyone goes outside he starts yelling that he wants to go outside. He knows if we take him out back we will put him on the trike. 

I have also been going on walks around the lake with the boys. G rides his bike and I push Cash on the trike. Houston heat is no joke! We make it around the lake once and will usually stop at the play ground for a little bit. Then it's home to drink a gallon of water! 

When we first moved into our neighborhood I struggled with how quiet it was. It was eerie to me. In CA we lived on a pretty busy street. Now that it has been a few months I LOVE how quiet our neighborhood is! I love that we can walk around without worrying about traffic. The lake is great to walk around. There is plenty of shade through the entire neighborhood from all the trees. The only thing I wish we had was a neighborhood pool. I feel there are always some trade offs though. You can't have everything, so we will find splash pads to visit in the summers. 

It's very nice to go out for a bike ride or walk and not stress about G staying right beside me. I lived in the country with absolutely no traffic until I was 16. I was able to run and play all day. I like that the boys will be able to go fishing at the lake, ride their bikes, and have space to run and play. 

Cashy - 10 Months

It's hard to believe this little guy is 10 months old today! He has brought so much joy to our family. The moment he was born there was an instant connection between the two of us. He has been the biggest mamma boy since he was very tiny. I have cherished that too! 

He sure loves his brother and daddy. Even though he is a mamma boy he refuses to say mamma. He says dada all the time. Actually every morning he gets up he looks for Art saying dada. Some days it's almost like he is telling me stories about Art. He will be jabbering away talking about dada. So adorable!

He wears 12-18 month clothes

Size 3 diapers

Crawls & walks around furniture

Favorite foods - bananas and sausage are his very favorites! 

We were shopping the other day. I picked up a package of chicken and apple sausages. He started SCREAMING. He wanted to eat one right there. He is WAY picker as a baby about food than G ever was. G wasn't picky about any food at all. G ate anything and everything until he was about 2.5 years old. Cash is not that way. He wants color and flavor with his foods. He spits things, refuses to eat, yells and is very vocal when it comes to food. 

If Cash sees a bottle he thinks he needs to have it even if he just finished eating. He can drink 4 ounces in 2.5 minutes. I should enter him into one of the baby bottle drinking contests. lol

Each day before Cash goes down for a nap or bedtime G has to give him a hug and kiss. G and Cash just adore each other. They are the sweetest together. G might get jealous at times, but he has never been mean to Cash. Cash giggles so much watching G. At this point Cash is 20 pounds and G is 32 pounds. One day Cash got on G back. G was yelling mom get Cash off me I can't move. bahahahha oh boy!

Motherhood!

A little over a year ago my friend Chelsea asked if I would take some pictures with G for a mother's day promotion she was doing. Free pictures...of course I will do it! I was 5 months pregnant at the time with Cash. She wanted me to wear white or light colors. What you don't see in these pictures are the numerous dresses I ordered and outfits I tried. I ended up just using stuff I had. I used a belly band to wear my regular white pants. I never imagined how much I would cherish and how special these pictures would end up being to me. 

These pictures are some of my very favorite pictures of G and me! When I see them I just smile even a year later. They were laid back, we had fun in the flowers. At one point G wasn't sure he wanted to take anymore pictures, so we just started goofing around. 

These pictures are motherhood to me! When I look at them this is how I feel about being a mom. I struggled for so long to just become a mom, then it happened and the amount of love you can have for one person is crazy. I didn't worry if I could love a second child. I knew that love would come. It's amazing the type of love you have for your first and then a whole different type of love comes for your second. Your heart grows again with each child. You develop different types of love for each of them. 

I spent 6 years struggling to have a baby. It was a loooong 6 years! It was exciting, but scary when I would get pregnant. Excited that maybe this was the time, but terrified I would see blood. Even when I was pregnant with G I felt this one was going to make it, but I still worried in the back of my mind a lot. It took us awhile to decide on a second child. I didn't expect to deal with loss again. I had 2 miscarriages after G. I was told G was a miracle and I would most likely never have another child. That was heartbreaking to me. I spent almost a month mourning the loss and the fact I wouldn't have another baby. I felt like cancer once again was robbing me. Then I got pregnant....I didn't tell Art for a few days. I cried when I saw that positive test because I had just went through a miscarriage and I was told I would just keep having them. I wasn't sure I could handle it emotionally or physically. 

Weeks went by and nothing was happening. I finally went to the doctor and there was this amazing little flutter on the screen. My miracle little Cashy! It shouldn't surprise me that my boys are so strong willed because they have been fighters from the start. 

Motherhood is this dance in life where you are trying to balance so many things. All moms are working moms. The majority of moms keep their families running. Our world would not be running without the women juggling!

3 Decades

When I started dating Art he was 37. At that time in my life that was the magic age for guys I had dated. I remember thinking why am I going to even date this guy because the others didn't want the same things in life that I did. I was in my mid 20's. I took a chance on him. I remember two conversations we had about the future. One was a phone call where he said he was ready to get married, have another child and find someone to spend the rest of his life with. The other conversation was him asking me what I wanted. Was I willing to stay in CA to take a chance on seeing what happened. These conversations were both exciting and terrifying to me all the same time.

I took that chance and stayed in CA. Now we have 2 boys and we have moved across the country. I have spent 3 decades with him - 30's, 40's and now 50's. 

Happy Birthday to Mr. Post!!!! 

Medullary Thyroid Cancer & MD Anderson!!!

Last week I wrote a blog post about being back HERE. I talked a little about our move and why we moved. We didn't move because we wanted too. We moved because of my health. When I found out in January 2013 I had Medullary Thyroid Cancer I was with Kaiser an HMO insurance. I am going to say right now Kaiser is a great place for people who are healthy, who do not have weird illnesses. If you have something rare you need to leave Kaiser. I was told this MANY MANY MANY times by people who had Medullary Thyroid Cancer. I didn't get it until I left them. 

My experience with Kaiser was rough! I am not going to name Kaiser doctors in this post. These doctors could be amazing with other things and I don't feel it's fair to blast them. I went to 3 doctors for 4 years that I was either their first patient or they had seen a couple others with MTC. My surgeon and endocrinologist I was their only patient. My oncologist saw less than 5 people. The last year I was with Kaiser I finally stopped seeing my oncologist and only saw my surgeon. My surgeon was AMAZING!!!! If I asked her for a second opinion, consult with MD Anderson and to look into things for me she always did. She seriously was and is the most amazing person to me. I will probably always have a very special place in my heart for her because I feel she saved my life. She found the cancer, removed it and just gave me exceptional care! 

The Kaiser oncologist was great the first year or so I saw him. Then I don't know what happened to him but he became an ass. I watched the show the Resident and after seeing that show I think for him I didn't bring any money, so why keep me around. I also think it bothered him that I knew more about Medullary Thyroid Cancer than he did. I had to learn everything possible because I needed to make sure I was getting the best care. I would ask him questions and he would talk to me like I was stupid. I asked him if certain tests had been run on my tumors. He turned it around treating me like I had no idea what I was talking about, that the blood tests had been run etc. I remember getting very blunt with him. I said NO I asked did you run these tests on my TUMORS not my genetic testing. There is a difference here. This was in November 2016 or so when all this went down. At this point I was starting to realize I needed to leave Kaiser and head to MD Anderson. I also stopped seeing my oncologist and just went to see my surgeon for check ups right around this time. 

In September 2018 I went in for my routine CT Scan. My surgeon had requested the scan along with instructions to use contrast. When I arrived for my scan they weren't prepping me for an IV. I asked are you going to put an IV in for the contrast? The nurse said you don't need that for this test. I said someone needs to look in my file because you always need contrast. Did anyone look at my doctors notes? HELLOOOOO I am no nurse or doctor, but I knew more about MTC than I think anyone at Kaiser. I was sooooo frustrated. 

When my results came back from the Sept 2018 scan it showed my liver legions had grown. Kaiser wanted me to meet with a surgeon to have the spots removed. I told Art I am not going to let Kaiser do anything else when it comes to MTC because they can't even get the contrast right for the scan. I said what if they do surgery and completely mess things up. I only have 1 liver and I can't keep taking these changes. This is when we decided it was time to move. 

I have gone into the detail above because I want people to understand the lack of care I received by not going to a center of excellence for Medullary Thyroid Cancer. Doctors who are not at a center for excellence will tell you oh there aren't doctors that see this rare cancer very often. That is a lie! My doctor at MD Anderson sees over 200 patience with MTC. Currently she is treating 200 patients. She has seen way more than 200 patients over the years. 

I called MD Anderson prior to moving to set up an appointment. My mom had scheduled a trip down to help with the boys. When they booked my appointment it was 2 full days of tests plus I met with my doctor, her staff and a consultation with a surgeon. I had MRI, CT Scans, ultrasounds, and blood work. I would leave the hospital each day and I felt completely exhausted. Between the contrast making me sick and all the testing it was rough. 

It was sooooo nice to meet with people who understood MTC. I would describe my symptoms and they wouldn't blow me off. They would have me go into more detail or let me know that is very common for MTC. With Kaiser doctors would get this deer in the headlights look when I was start in about symptoms or problems I was having. I had more care in 2.5 days at MDA than I had in 6 years with Kaiser. I didn't have to ask about contrast, how they would be running the lab work, if the labs would be changing. Some of the imaging staff was familiar with MTC even! 

I received phone calls from my doctors team explaining the tests, the next steps, checking up on me to see how I was feeling. They don't see a lot of patients that are in their 30's with kids let alone a nursing mother. The nurse practitioner called me numerous times to check on me. Ask how long I pumped and dumped. She said she was taking notes for future patients in my situation, so she could help them based on my experience. It was amazing! They also requested an additional Dotatate scan. It is a newer scan that MDA makes the contrast right at their facilities. It's similar to a PET scan that actually works for MTC patients. PET scans do not work for MTC. 

While I didn't receive the news I wanted that I don't have cancer or things aren't growing....a part of me had hoped we made a mistake by moving because I didn't really have cancer. I had 6 years of blood work showing I did, but still I kind of wanted a miracle. Anyhow they found even more cancer than Kaiser had found. My doctor at MDA says the stuff Kaiser was blowing off is MTC. She said this is very common to see it spreading. At this point they are just going to watch it for 6 months. I will go back for more testing. If things grow we will need to discuss additional steps - biopsies, chemo, surgeries etc. 

In the past 6 years things have changes for the better with MTC.  There is additional genetic testing they do now. Kaiser had no knowledge of this. Thankfully everything came back as sporadic, so it is not genetic. If it was genetic my kids would have to be tested and whatever side of the family it was on would also need to be tested. There would be talk about removing thyroids of the family members that had any signs of a raised calcitonin or CEA. Thankfully this isn't an issue! I was hesitant to have kids if it had been genetic when we found out I had cancer. I just didn't want to spread it to them. I may have taken the chance, but it was something that weighed heavily on my mind while I waited a month for those results to come back. 

I can't recommend MD Anderson enough!!!  Is it expensive to go there? Sure it is! I met my deductible and yearly out of pocket within 1 day of testing. I will budget for this in the coming years. I will know I need to set up the max amount of flex spending money available plus some additional money to help cover my medical costs. We pay a TON of money for insurance each year plus co-pays, deductibles and out of pocket. 

So many people complain about Obama care. There have been some great things with Obama care. The lifetime maximums went away and pre-existing conditions. I would possibly be without insurance at this point in my life because of my pre-existing conditions and I would have for sure met the one million dollar lifetime max. I don't agree with everything they have done with it, but these 2 things alone have been great for people who have major medical issues. 

MD Anderson is an amazing place! If you have cancer my suggestion would be to go to MD Anderson. They know their stuff! I am sure there are other places that might know stuff too, but when it comes to your life go to the best! 

I'm Back!

I have realized blogging goes to the back burner when I have a baby. When I had G I took a break too. It takes a little while to find your groove and be able to do it all again. 

I took a break from social media over Good Friday and Easter. It was really helpful to me to just give my brain a break from all the scrolling. It helped me come up with some things I wanted to share and realize I do miss blogging. I just haven't been able to fit it in. When Cash was first born I felt all I did was sit and nurse all day long. It's true that is about all I did. I was constantly feeding him. 

Then we packed up all our belongings and moved from California to Texas during the Christmas season. When I think back to all that I am like how in the world did we do all that? Well it wasn't easy, there was plenty of stress, anxiety, tears and frustration. My only tip is do not move during Christmas with kids. Putting your house on the market while trying to keep it decluttered during Christmas was a major struggle.

That wasn't our timing for the move. We had been trying to move for 6 months. The entire move was God's timing. We had been trying to move to Sacramento prior to Cash being born. It just didn't happen. I remember being sooooo frustrated because nothing was working out. The middle of September I went in for more tests. I remember thinking is there a reason why the Sac move isn't happening before I went in for tests? I pushed that thought away because things would be the same. Normally my doctor emails me with the results within a day - things are the same we will do scans again in a year, but that email didn't come. I was just going to contact her to see what was going on. She called me a few days after the scans. When I saw her calling I knew it wasn't good. There were new spots and some were growing. I remember getting off the couch and going to my bedroom to talk to her. I had a baby 6 weeks old. How could this be happening?  We decided to have a baby because things have been so stable. 

I took a week after that news and just decided California wasn't an option for us anymore. If I wanted to be with the best doctors for my cancer we needed to move by MD Anderson. Once we made a decision things started happening. We put our house on the market - sold it in 6 days - had a bidding war over it. We flew to Texas to look for a house and Art to interview for 2 jobs. We looked at 34 hours in 2 days. As we got on an airplane headed back to CA we put an offer in on a house. Art had 2 job offers. It was going so fast! 

While all this was happening I remember thinking don't push doors open. If a door isn't opening let it be. I had spent so much time praying over all these changes. I had put it all in God's hands to handle. In the past when I have pushed to get things done things have become a mess. This time I was impatiently patient. It was really hard to be patient. 

I plan to write a blog post on my experience with MD Anderson and the care I have received since we moved. It's TRULY amazing!!!! 

I hope everyone is having a wonderful Thursday! Maybe today you needed to hear to just be impatiently patient. It's ok to be frustrated with the fact everything isn't working out!