After being in Minnesota for 3 weeks I am desperately trying to get caught up on all that went to hell in a hand basket while I was gone. The weeds in my flower beds were literally up to my waist.
I spent time with my girlfriend Connie while I was home and after being in her new home I could not wait to get home and start painting and ripping down wallpaper.
Have I ever told you that there is a special place in hell for people who hang wallpaper up without prepping the walls?
Every room in my home had hideous wallpaper in it and down it must go! I repainted the hallway and dining room. I had painted it a year and a half ago but had the misfortune of painting it an awful green. I kind of looked like a granny smith apple had thrown up. It is now a pretty beige.
Our bedroom was next. It had never been painted. Twenty years of builders primer with a horrible border. We have been living with it for 3 years. It was very depressing to go into your bedroom. The yellowed cheap blinds with years of dirt. It was really made you look forward to a romantic evening with your husband...NOT! It is all gone. Out of here. Replaced my cocoa brown, new hardwood floors (throughout the entire home), beautiful curtains. I love going into my bedroom now. It is so comfortable and cozy.
I then moved onto the master bath. The brilliant builder hung wallpaper right on top of the Sheetrock so every time I removed a piece of the Laura Ashley meets Holly Hobby wallpaper it pulled the top layer off of the Sheetrock. Cuss like a long shore man I did. Mind you it is not a small bath. It is larger than my bedroom which meant lots of Sheetrock repair. Thin coat, primer, paint, more paint. You get the picture. Painted it the same cocoa brown and it looks so much better. Need to get the curtains up though, lots of windows with NO privacy right now.
I have been pressed to get this done because I in-laws are coming on Monday to watch the kids for 6 day. My husband and I are going away on the bikes and I cannot wait. I dont' know why I felt that I needed to get this all done before they get here. They hadn't seen the new floors we had put in and I guess I want it all to "come together".
So anyway...back to Minnesota. The above is my lame excuse to justify why I haven't done what I really needed to be doing.
While I was there I did a photo session with my girlfriend Connie and her family. Her son Gabe is very sick and I really wanted her to have some special photos of their family. I must have taken 400 photos. I have looked through them many times and every time I try and start to edit them I have the hardest time. I want them to be perfect. She had been very patient and has not asked about them until tonight. She is way more patient than I would have been. It has been almost 4 weeks since I took the photos. I need to get them done,to get pass the "fear" of them.
We did family photos but the main shoot was of their day with Gabe.
Carey and Connie do have a nurse that comes to the home but they are the main caregiver. Gabe's room is right off the living room, surrounded by windows so that he can see the outdoors. These photos are of Connie, Carey and Gabe after they have given him a vest treatment and are suctioning the gunk. Connie climbs in to bed with Gabe and straddles him to support his weight. They have to do this several times a day. The frequency depends on how he is feeling and how clear he is breathing. When you first see Connie holding Gabe you wonder what she is doing? She has to do this so he is able to hold still so Carey can do the suctioning and hopefully get him to cough. Unfortunately as they were doing this Gabe had a seizure. You can see it in his eyes.
Please check out Gabe's Story on CaringBridge
http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/gabejohnson/journal?jid=5865570
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Hi Krista,
ReplyDeleteI think that the photos that you took were very good. It is sad to see this young man so ill. But you are an excellent photographer.
As for the wallpaper, I can relate. Whoever wallpapered our kitchen, did it on the unpainted plasterboard! I had to sand every inch of the walls by hand before I could prime them! What a nightmare. So there will be no wallpaper in my house, ever! Love Di ♥
Wow this post gave me goose bumps. I just don't know how someone can go through that pain with their child. I had to do hang on to hope with my 23rd old son when he was in a car accident, for 3 months every day....and God granted him another stay and chance at life....married now with 3 children. But his child....oh my heart goes out to his family. I can see the sadness in his mothers eyes...beautiful job you did with the photos.
ReplyDeleteIncredible photos. They are very powerful.
ReplyDeleteI know what you mean about the house. We came home from a play date the other day and I told everyone, "We're getting rid of this horrible wallpaper once and for all!"
Now I have stripped walls and no time to do anything about it :-(