The big day!

The big day has finally come and gone.  On December 12th all of our planning for the last year came together for one of the greatest days of my life.  Julie and I had been together for 5 years by the time we got married and although it didn’t change much in our day to day life it was great to solidify our lives as one.  We had a private ceremony with family and a few close friends at the Thorncrown Chapel in Eureka Springs.  One of the touches that we added that I just loved was have a live violinst.  Fred Mayer provided the music.  We received so many great comments about the music and what a great touch it added.  The big day was caputured by David & Sarah Coleman.  His work is absolutely amazing and will provide us memories of our big day for the rest of our live.

The last month has been a whirlwind but I can’t wait to see what is in store for Julie and I.

New Home

My last post, which seems like it was forever ago, mentioned that Julie and I had closed on a house.  We searched off and on for several years to find the house we wanted and pay a fair market price.  We found several we liked but price was always a big issue.  After closing on the house we have spent the last few months remodeling and getting settled in which explains my absence from my blog.  We peeled wallpaper, painted all ceilings, every wall has a new color, laid tile (as part of an entire master bath remodel), and had hardwoods installed.  All of this was completed in the evening after work and on the weekends.  It made for many long days that made me wonder if it was worth it but in the end I love having our own home and having the ability to make it our own.  Here are a few before and after photos from the remodel.

Old plywood vanity & dirty vinyl floor

New slate floors, new toilet, & new vanity

Green carpet, yellow walls, yellow ceiling!

New paint color & new hardwood floors.

We have installed tile in the guest bathroom but still have to paint.  We also will be tearing up the laminate floors in the kitchen and installing tile.  Last but not least we will be ripping the carpet out of the living room and refinishing the hardwoods in the living room and bedroom.  All of those task won’t happen until the spring. 

Overall it has been alot of work but I am very pleased with where we ended up.  We did buy a house in town though so there were some things we had to give up.  I am hoping to still carve out a little spot in the back yard to make a garden this spring plus there are a few other options that might work out.

Now that things are starting to slow down I hope to slow down and be able to blog a little more frequently.

Moving on up!

Well we finally found a house that we both liked and a seller that was willing to sell there house for market value as it stands today and not what it was 2 years ago.  Julie and I have been looking for a house off and on for several years now and have found a few we liked but everyone who was selling seemed to be people that were in financial trouble and had to have more than their house was worth.  We had pretty much given up hope and decided that we would live out the rest of the recession from our small apartment.  On a whim I decided to go out with our Realtor and look at a house one afternoon while Julie was still at work.  I walked in and loved the house.  We set up another showing later that evening for Julie to see and before we knew it we were submitting an offer.  We both knew not to get to excited as we had already offered on a handful of houses, had one excepted just to watch it fail inspection, and numerous other let downs.  To our surprise we received a call the next morning that they had accepted the offer.  Now we just had to make it through appraisal and the inspection and we were home free.  The inspection went surprisingly well based on the house being ~ 50 years old.  The biggest surprise was when I received the appraisal back.  I had an accepted offer of $10,000 less than appraisal value.  Now we are just waiting to close at the end of this month and we will be proud home owners.  With the lower price I got I have some room to work if the market does not pick up.  We will be more than doubling our space and look forward to being able to have friends and family over in the near future.

Health Care Reform

Just a quick post but wanted to put this video out there.  It is good to see the Congressman for my district stepping up for individuals rights when it comes to health care instead of blindly following the president on his quest to have the governments hands in every aspect of our life.

 

Allergy Update

Several weeks ago I blogged about Julie and I looking into alternative options for treating her allergies.  She had been taking a weekly injection for 3+ years with mixed results.  She did not seem to be sick as often but still had 1 to 2 days a month that she was down to a point that going to work was a struggle.  We decided to go see a Naturopathic Doctor and find out what other options we had.

For the most part allergies are caused by a weakened immune system and digestive system since most allergens (outside of food allergies) are inhaled.  After looking at her case he decided that our diet and lifestyle were very good if not better than most so he decided to concentrate on supporting the immune system, adrenal support, and GI.

He “prescribed” 4 products for her to take to help get rid of her issues.  They are Aller-C, Luffel nose spray, homepathic allergy drops, and pantothenic acid.  He also recommended splitting up our vitamins into 2 dosages.  Instead of taking everything right before bed like we had been he had us split them up and take 1 of each product we take in the morning and right before bed.  We did find out that pantothenic acid is not good to take right before going to bed, at least for us.  After several days of laying in bed at night for hours she contacted the Dr and he had her only take it in the morning.   He also recommended Julie continue eating yogurt like we had been.  She has found though that she prefers to drink keifer in the morning for breakfast though.

He had originally told Julie to continue taking her allergy shot and then when she felt comfortable to try skipping a week.  I think she was already at the breaking point when we decided to make the appointment so she decided to just skip that week and see how things went.  I am happy to say that after 3 + years of taking a shot every week she is now in her 4th week of not taking a shot. 

We have spent several days at her mothers farm and attended a BBQ at a friends farm with no issues.  In the past both of these scenarios would have caused a reaction but there was no flair up this time. 

This just goes to show that the big pharmaceutical companies are not always right.  Sometimes going back to way things have been treated for hundreds of years is a better option.

Constitutional to force vaccines in AR???

With the current global pandemic being created by the World Health Organization over swine flu many countries have began the process of preparing for forced vaccinations for their citizens.  France and Sweden already have their plan in place once the vaccine is released and Canada has thrown around the idea.  With many countries already planning for forced vaccines a member of the public in AR decided to call in to the Arkansas State Health Department to request what the procedures would be so he could opt his family out of the vaccines.  He was informed that it was constitutional and that if it was deemed mandatory there was nothing that could be done about it.  There currently is not a planned vaccination but it is a possibility that people should prepare for.

 

 

 

Lets put aside the debate on whether it is constitutional or not and look at this merely from a health perspective.  According to the CDC approximately 36,000 die from the flu each year.  This coming from a disease that they have had a vaccine for years that is supposed to reduce/irradiate infections.  The last time a vaccine was rushed to the market for an “epidemic” was in the 70’s.  There were 25 reported deaths from the vaccine for a pandemic that never happened.  I have no issue with them creating the vaccine and providing that as an option for people who prefer the pharmaceutical route but do not force it on everyone.

 

What will your answer be when they show up on your door to administer an untested drug with unknown side affects to your family?

In the words of a fellow libertarian blogger, “Molon Labe!”