It must be in the air

Its here. Well sort of. The cold season. The season where everyone you know plus their mom gets sick. Mr. Estep got a wicked cold last week. He still has a horrid cough but otherwise feeling great! I on the other hand have a runny nose, watery eyes, sore throat & horrible cough. :/ I didn't think I would get it since it took so long. But yea, I was wrong. I have it ten times worse than he did! Can you believe it? UGH! But he has been pampering & taking care of me. :) So no complaints here! I have been taking some cold/flu liquid medicine & rubbing vicks on my chest & throat. So far the vicks is a big hit! About 10 minutes after I put it on my throat stops hurting & my cough becomes less & less dry. So it really helps to break everything up in my chest & help me cough it all out. As for the liquid stuff, pff I am not taking no more/buying no more for this cold. Because it has been no help other than making me very sleepy.

So here is to all those out there with a cold. Have a tissue!

& A list of good old cold home remedies:

Drink more Orange Juice. 

Buy a humidifier.

Use a saline nasal spray.

Stay warm & rested.

Gargle with warm salt water to ease your sore throat.

Drink hot liquids such as tea. (Add 1 tsp of Honey.)

Take a steamy shower/bath.

Vicks, vicks, vicks on your chest/throat.

Always make sure to ask your doctor before using any new medication such as nasal sprays. 

Rest up & get well soon!

Fall

& Now that I showed you all our Fall/Halloween decorations I think I will show some cute pictures I took really quick of our wedding bands on a cob of corn. Mr. Estep & I got the cob of corn last year at a corn maze we went to. :)

Enjoy!

Fall/Halloween part 2

Now time for the inside decor! There isn't much yet I still have more to do. But here is what I have put out in our living room. Enjoy! :)

Fall/Halloween!

Anyone that knows me knows that I adore the fall season. Its just such a beautiful time of the year! All of the colors, the leaves, the pumpkins, the Halloween decor! Its amazing to say the least. This year I decided to go all out with the Halloween decorations. I am doing alot of indoor decor as well. We will get to that in another post. So for all my readers enjoy our outdoor Halloween decor! :-)

Happy birthday sister

This post is for my baby sister who turned 9 on the 19th this month. Happy Birthday sweet, sweet little sister! I love you!

Pictures from her birthday party.

Diabetes.

I have been diagnosed with diabetes for 7 years now. Woah, I can't believe its been that long already. Having diabetes changes everything. Just imagine every time you ate food you knew once you finished you would have to count the carbs, figure out how much insulin you need, then infect yourself with a syringe. Imagine everyday having to poke your finger so you can check your sugar daily to stay on top of it. Its not as easy as some may think. My fingers get sore to the point simple tasks such as holding a fork become a painful task. Bruises & knots on my arm become noticeable due to all of the injections. But I have come to terms with it. I embrace it. I am a diabetic. I am strong. I have faith. I have hope. I have my diabetes in control. Diabetes no longer controls me. So power to all you diabetics out there! Don't let diabetes control you, take control of your diabetes!

Here is about two weeks worth of my daily shots. Just for an idea of how many I really have to take.

Low potassium

The night before last I started feeling, odd. At 2 am I awoke to my heart feeling like it was beating funny & faster than usual. I wasn't doing anything to make it race so I had no idea why. My head felt light & I felt like I couldn't get enough air. Needless to say I didn't go back to sleep. I stayed up all that night & all that next day. Around 4 something that evening I started feeling worse. So bad I woke Mr. Estep up who had work a few hours later. I took a shot & laid down on the couch. Mr. Estep sat on the end of the couch & watched over me. As I started breathing heavier/looking worse he then got out my meter. I checked my sugar & it was to high for the meter to read. My breathing got faster, my heart started racing faster & my teeth began to chatter! Mr. Estep rushed me to the ER. On the way my whole body began to shake uncontrollable. My teeth was chattering but I was burning up. I even had the car window all the way down & it was quite chilly out. Once we got there & I was seen my heart rate was 140 something (to high) my sugar was 400 something (to high) & was even higher before we got there. My meter reads sugars up to 595. So it had to be in the 600-700 area before we got there. My potassium levels was to low. They did tests, blood work & a chest X-ray. They found out from the chest x-ray that I have a bit of bronchitis. They brought my heart rate back down to the 100-107 range. My heart wasn't racing anymore, the shaking stopped & no more chattering teeth. They told me I was hyperventilating. :/ The low potassium levels was causing my heart to beat irregular (reason I had been feeling funny.) & Also the reason I have had intense leg pain/cramps for the longest time now. I never knew low potassium could be so dangerous.

Here are the side effects from having low potassium:

Muscle Cramps

Muscle Fatigue and Weakness

Irregular Heartbeat

Fatigue

Mental Confusion

Irritability

Abnormally Dry Skin

Insatiable Thirst

Chills

Depression

Nausea and Vomiting

Nervousness

Insomnia

Diarrhea

Low Blood Pressure

Periodic Headaches

Salt Retention

Constipation

High Cholesterol Levels

Glucose Intolerance

Impaired Growth

Edema

Extreme cases, cardiac arrest 

Woah, what a list huh? Needless to say my legs are hurting like no other. I have a prescription for some potassium pills & also some antibiotics for my bronchitis. I am going to buy some over the counter daily potassium supplements for the future & eat more foods/drinks with potassium in them. Otherwise readers I am back to my normal self (other than the leg pain.) 

Birthday Weekend part two

So Saturday rolls around...... We get to my moms house & as we walk in the back door she had the whole dinning room decorated! She told me she didn't have time that she would decorate when we got there, sneaky sneaky her! :) It was so pretty & my cake was awesome, I loved every bit of everything. Mr. Estep, my mom, sister & I all went outside & did a small photo shoot. It was such a BEAUTIFUL day! Mr. Estep & my baby sister went swimming while I sun soaked on the porch watching them. & Watching Sophie (our dog) play with my mom's doggy. It was such a great day! My beautiful mom & wonderful step dad got me an awesome Google Android! (I don't have a picture, but will post one soon.) Otherwise please enjoy these photo's from our awesome day!

Mr. Estep & my Mom lighting my candles!

& Let the photo shoot begin! 

So day two was just as great as day one, thanks everyone for reading!

Birthday Weekend part one

Although my birthday isn't until Monday Mr. Estep wanted to do something for me that Friday & my mom wanted to have me a family birthday party that Saturday. So I got an entire weekend dedicated to me! : )

Mr. Estep waited until I went into the bathroom Friday morning then hollered for me to come out. As I walked through the hallway I could see the lights was off & there was a huge ice cream cake sitting on the dinning room table lit up with candles! Mr. Estep was standing there holding our camera singing happy birthday. It was so sweet. & It didn't end there. There was a small pink bag sitting beside the cake........ See pictures below for more details!

My face when first walking into the kitchen!

My yummy ice cream cake!

Blowing out my candles!

Gift time!

My beautiful bracelet!

I loved everything about that day, Mr. Estep is the best! <3

Surprise

As some of you may know my 20th birthday is September 5th, which is less than a week away! Exciting, I know. Mr. Estep & I headed off to TN for the big night race at Bristol Motor Speedway. On the way we had to make a quick stop at our local walmart to pick up a few things, like pop, ect. I checked out & went on to the car but Mr. Estep had something to do. As I waited in the car I heard something coming from behind the car! It was Mr. Estep hiding my gift away in the trunk until he could get it home after the race in a better hiding place. :) So I wouldn't see what kind of box the gift was in to tell what it was he put it in a sock. So its a little box, small enough to fit in Mr. Estep's sock anyways. Its now hiding in the closet far out of my sight. Needless to say I am excited. My Mom & Step Dad also already have my gift bought. I told them I don't know what I want, so surprise me. Usually I just tell them what I want or give them an idea. So its pretty exciting to see what they have for me as well. :)

With that being said Happy Birthday to all the September babies! My little sister's birthday is exactly two weeks away from mine. Shhh, we wont say on here what Mr. Estep & I plan on getting her, because she might read it. ;)

Diabetes, leg cramps, knee pain

That's what my daily life has turned into these past few weeks. It started out with slight barely just noticeable knee pain. It has turned into full on leg cramps along with knee pain, its beginning to take over. Mr. Estep & I went to the first day of the Nascar race for this weekend & had to end our trip short due to my leg pain. It was so bad I was almost in tears. Needless to say tomorrow I am going to take some aleve before we leave for the second day of the race & hope for the best. This time weather or not it hurts I am going to tough it through. :)

There's racing, then there's BRISTOL!

Mr. Estep took me to my first ever Nascar race back in March. It was a blast to say the least. Loud, fast, big crowds, the wave in the crowd, ect ect ect! So now we are going back this weekend, for my first ever night race at Bristol Motor Speed Way!!!! There is a chance of rain though. Pooooo! If it rains & they cannot keep the track dry that means no race & no getting our money back!!!!! & We bought tickets for BOTH Friday & Saturday. So everyone lets hope the rain shies away for all us Nascar fans. Oh & one last thing... GO DALE JR!!!!!!!!!!! ;)

                Photo's from our last trip to Bristol Motor Speedway.

Furniture & Appliances

Mr. Estep & I bought our first washer & dryer during tax season. We put 500 down on them & have been paying them off monthly. With only 110 dollars left to pay we are starting to look into Living room suites! (How exciting!!!!) Our couch came with our apartment & our chair was given to us from Mr. Estep's Dad. They are comfy & go well in our living room. But lets face it, its time for a new suite! The store Mr. Estep & I got our washer & dryer from take down payments & let you pay monthly. It helps build up your credit through them, which is a big plus! We checked out all they had (which is awesome stuff) & we both liked so many different ones! Mr. Estep was a big fan of a really nice rust brown leather suite (it was gorgeous) but I quickly reminded him that with our fur babies this couch could easily be scratched. So we kept looking. I found a really nice green suite but reminded myself that green doesn't always go with everything. We both talked about it & have decided between a suite that is between a tan to a brown color. Here are a few I have in mind. I will update when we make our final choice!

Love, Commitment, Honor

That is what these two rings I wear on my left hand ring finger stand for. And everytime I look at them, I smile. Yes, wedding rings are very beautiful & sparkly. But they are much more than that, the meaning behind the ring is the most beautiful of all. The reason "most" people wear their wedding rings on their left hand ring finger is because of the belief that the main vein in the finger went straight to the heart. In some cultures the woman wears a plain band on her right hand until the day she gets married & then switches it to her left hand. Its really easy to see why a ring can hold so much behind it. Its a circle, which never ends. 

Earthquake In VA

As most of my readers may know Mr. Estep & I live in Virginia. Mr. Estep also works night shift so our hours of sleep are very weird. At 2 pm today while both of us was sleeping a 5.8 Earthquake hit in VA near DC. People just a 25 minute drive from us felt their entire house shake! While we slept through the whole thing (Thank God!) It was tremors that everyone around us felt. But it is still quite scary if you ask me. The news said it also hit our home town, Pike County. Alot of my friends insured me they did in fact feel the shakes, while others felt nothing. My mom didn't feel anything, thankfully. All in all I can defiantly say I am thankful Mr. Estep & I was asleep. From what I have read everyone is okay & damage is minimal.

Recipe time

So I am not a pro cook or anything by any means. But I just recently started making this EASY 5 minute snack that Mr. Estep & I both love. All you need is.

• Rits Crackers (Or cracker of choice.) How many depends on how many you serve.
• Pizza Sauce
• Ham, Pepperoni , Cheese or toppings of choice. 

On any sized pizza pan cover in aluminium foil & spray with cooking spray. Lay the Crackers on the pan & spoon on desired amount of pizza sauce. Add any toppings you like. Mr. Estep & I use ham & Cheese. Place them in the oven at 350 degrees until the cheese melts or in microwave oven for about 1-2 minutes.

There you have it, your five minute go to snack. For whenever someone drops by unexpected or when you are just hungry for a easy, fast & labor free snack.