Martha Monday {painting vertical stripes}

so, Martha Stewart didn't have much to say about painting vertical stripes.
at least not that i found.


so, hi! i'm emma & i painted these beautiful walls almost all by myself!
{my brother helped... a little}

so instead of a Martha Stewart info column {see here, here, here, here, here, & here}
i'll be the one giving the tips!


so, here are my tips for painting vertical stripes.


tip # 1- always start with the lighter color first!
First paint a base coat on the entire wall. for stripes that's really important because the base coat will be one of the stripes


tip #2- measure TWICE paint once.
from sewing i've learned that you measure twice, cut once. instead of ruining your work, your fabric, the whole thing. i would suggest {& so would the rest of the "experts" online} that Stripes should be between 4" and 12" wide. {A width of less than 4" would be too narrow and busy; more than 12", too wide and heavy} my stripes as 4 & 8 inches wide. measure from the corner least seen out. i used a pencil to mark my lines. I think a laser level would've been ideal for this! if i had one.


tip #3- mark the stripes you're NOT going to paint!
mark them with an x, or as i did in the picture below, with a diagonal strip of tape. you might get in the painting groove & paint a spot that you weren't supposed to.
{mathew & billy thought i was going to paint diagonal lines on those. silly boys}

tip #4- paint your edges FIRST!!

tip #5- be patient with the tape.
it'll tear your base color off if you don't wait 48 hours before even thinking of measuring & taping your stripes. trust me! 

and last but most important!

tip #6- know what you're up against.
48 hours for base coat to dry. if you need to primer before that you'll need to make sure that dries. then dry time for the stripes. cleaning your walls before you even begin. this is at least a 4 or 5 day process. not 2 like initially thought. & that's not counting the 3 layers of wall paper & boarder I had to remove. also look up "painting vertical stripes" on youtube. there are some great videos by Home Depot!

 love my stripes, though it was kind of a pain to do because i didn't know tip #6 & didn't know there were 3 layers of wallpaper. i'm still glad that i followed through, did it right & got the kitchen paint i wanted!

mathew

yes, mathew with one 't'.
my mathew.

ok, isabella's pretty much stolen him from me right now but he's still mine.

he's been having a bit of a hard time lately.
you see, my guy has got some back problems.

this is a long one! so make sure you have a few minutes!

a few years ago he was doing something, can't remember exactly what it was right now but he hurt his back. i don't think that it was anything major, just you know, normal stuff. normal farmer stuff. which probably isn't the stuff most people refer to as normal at all. anyway the pain was almost unbearable. he went to the chiropractor & was told he more than likely suffered a slipped disk.


"Although they do not actually "slip," a disk may split or rupture. This can cause the disk cartilage and nearby tissue to fail (herniate), allowing the inner gel portion of the disk to escape into the surrounding tissue. This leaking jelly-like substance can place pressure on the spinal cord or on an adjacent nerve to cause symptoms of pain either around the damaged disk or anywhere along the area controlled by that nerve.

The layman's term "slipped disk" is, therefore, a misnomer and actually refers to a condition whereby portions of an abnormal, injured, or degenerated disk have protruded against adjacent nerve tissues. This condition is also known as a herniated disk, ruptured disk, or prolapsed disk.. The most frequently affected area is in the low back, but any disk can rupture, including those in the neck."

{via emedicinehealth}

a while ago, it was after i had isabella so less than a year ago. i got a call from his mom.

"we need to you to bring the tahoe here mathew's been hurt"

i like to think that i'm usually pretty cool under pressure. except when it comes to bugs or pretty much anything that's not a big deal, then i go overboard. weird.

i just said ok & loaded up the kids & took off. no panicking. no questions asked.

between the first incident & this one the injury seem to bother him about every 6 months. it's like it wouldn't bother him at all and then one little thing, like bouncing around in a tractor or a semi truck would flare it up again.

this time i got there & he was sitting in a chair bent over unable to straighten back up.

he was unclogging the hay mower {?? i think ??} & when he went to stand back up the pain just hit him & he fell to the ground. normally his phone would be out of his pocket in the tractor. this time God had kept him from doing that so it was there when he needed it. there's no telling how long he would've been laying there if he hadn't had it on him. God is awesome isn't He?!

mathew called his dad, told him to come get him because his back hurt & he was going home. click.

dad, not knowing how bad this was decided to take mathew's truck to the field.

mathew's monster truck.

the one with the step that's at my face.

though i know i'm challenged in the height area. here'd a good picture of our height difference

when dad got there they tried to get him into the truck. 

they gave up.

dad wanted to call an ambulance.

but they tried again & got it.

i got there, he got in the tahoe & we headed to the chiropractor.

he's not just our chiropractor, i honestly think we consider him a friend of the family.

mathew had re injured the disk from what he could feel. it would fix it self, but it would take a while.

i think that time mathew was out of commission, off from working for about a month.

for a while after that it seemed his back would get "hurt" every few weeks. not as bad. just a little sensitive. & so he'd take off work as not to hurt it worse or cause any problems. taking off work for a few days is better than being unable to work for a month. 

i love the chiropractor. we both try to go often. him more than me. but it helps me a lot too. i went the whole time i was pregnant with isabella. ribs, hips, everything out of place. about a month and a half, maybe 2 months ago mathew went for an adjustment & Dr Ford told him that it seemed like he'd taken well enough care of it that it felt like it was as good as healed from what he could tell. both mathew & i  had a sense of relief.

the week before the 4th of July mathew came home with a hurt back.

not in agony, just in pain. in a slightly different spot.

enough is enough. he's been working 1/2 days {that's an 8 hour day for a farmer}

Friday Dr Ford scheduled him for an MRI this coming Tuesday afternoon. once he gets the results he'll get to see what we're really dealing with here. he'll see what's wrong.

he'll refer him to a specialist who will let him know what his options are.

there's a good possibility he'll need to have back surgery.

i remember when i had isabella & had to have an emergency c-section, how helpless i felt.

i hated not being able to do my own things.

being told not to bend over, be on my feet too long, or pretty much do anything.

i can't imagine back surgery.

photo - Simplicity by Cara

so i'm asking you.

please.

please pray for him. please pray that the MRI might show that something alternative can be done. or that if he does need back surgery that it fixes it good. so that he doesn't have to go through this again.

please pray for Dr. Ford. for wisdom to make the right diagnosis, the right recommendations.

please pray for us. that we'll be able to budget  our spending with all of this that's going on.

but mostly, i ask that you pray for mathew. that you pray he keeps his spirits up. that he doesn't get depressed, upset, or discouraged. he started to go there when he was hurt for that entire month+.  & can only imagine when you're the head of a household, the "breadwinner", the leader, how hard it must be to need help, to not be able to do your job the way you want to.

thanks so much! i just know that you'll keep him in your thoughts & i'll keep you posted!

summer party

my katlyn is growing up:

she came over about 2 weeks ago to drop some stuff off & i asked her what she was doing for her birthday.

"i don't know yet. i know i wan't to have a party, maybe at tiffany's house"

our friend tiffany & her husband just bought a house. one that came with a shop, a deck, a hot tub, 2 fish ponds, a gazebo & a pool. whew! sounds beautiful, but like a lot of work. as much as i'd love something like that i know it would be full of weeds & practically be ruined if i had to take care of it. i can barely keep up with the inside of my house, in fact i don't do that great of a job. tiffany though, she's awesome at stuff like that so she keeps it looking great!

the invitation read that the party would be held "in Tiffany's gazebo"

the guests saw this when they arrived. 

candles lined the path to the gazebo

my first attempt at making bunting! i think it turned out pretty good! :)

doesn't it look lovely?!

pompoms, flag bunting, tulle, the works!

not to mention great food, which i forgot to take a picture of until my plate was pretty much empty

but believe me! it was yummy!

i think everyone enjoyed themselves. 

i know i did.

this is Tracy & Elizabeth, Katlyn's mom & 1 of her sisters. they told me not to get weird or funny pictures of them.

what?! i'm sorry i didn't hear that!

we even got a couple of group shots!

& we each got 1 with the birthday girl!

i had to leave before pretty much anyone else. motherhood. kids with allergies. you know.

but before i left, the sun started setting & the party venue looked a little something like this

one of the prettiest parties, ever.

happy birthday Katlyn! love you!