Odds and Ends of Life

 Well life has changed drastically around our house! This little guy is ruling the roost!
I have no life now, its official.  Colby Chalmers has been having bouts of an upset stomach so that has been the thing that we have been trying to tame, and it seems we may have turned the corner.
Anyway, he is darling and we love him so much!  We are crate training him and of course he is a baby so he has to go outside all the time to learn where to do his business.  He is only getting up once during the night and has had no accidents at night, so that is fantastic.  I will try to limit how much I write about him and post pics of him, but its hard because he is my everything right now. :-)
If he wasn't here I would have led off with this exciting tidbit:

We are in the process of getting our French doors installed in the dining room!!!

OMG!!! I have waited for years to see this happen, and it finally is happening.

There is a huge hole cut out in the wall right now, and the door is getting fitted

and then we will need to make it all look pretty, inside and out.  So stay tuned on that one.

At the end of the week I will be joining some fabulous design bloggers as part of the Project Design series, created by Mary Ann Picket of Classic Casual Home and Cindy Hattersley of Rough Luxe Lifestyle.  Its all about taking things apart from a design perspective, and on Friday we will examine how to create a beautiful bed.  You will learn more than you thought, seeing what all these designers have to say on the subject!

Hopefully I can get back in the swing of blogging but this puppy thing has me tied up.
Oh yes, and there are a couple of other super exciting things....one is that the videos I made with Matthew Mead for his series with Wagner Spray Tech are finished.  I got to see a sneak peek, and then of course I fired it right off to my sons so they could see them and give me feedback!

Professionally done videos are pretty impressive, and I have to say these videos came out great!  Soon enough they will be on the Wagner.com website and everyone can see how amazing their new Home Decor sprayer is, as well as see how fabulous Matthew and I look in front of the lens, using the sprayer and talking at the same time! Hahah!

Oh this was so much fun, and it was about 100 degrees in the warehouse while we filmed, but you would never know it.  Cool as cucumbers I tell ya!

I wanted to mention that I got tons of feedback from lots of you interested in the Whole30. 

I have been off of it for almost a week now and I am still following the guidelines pretty much and have lost another 1.5 pounds.  And my cholesterol dropped 30 points, and as soon as the doctor sends me the paperwork I will post my before and after numbers.  Its is truly a healthier way of living, and who wants to take statin blockers and struggle to button up their pants every morning??  I don't, and no I don't have to.   Can you tell I am pumped up about this program!?

I got the most touching comment when I posted about it from a reader named Susan.  I was really

moved by what she wrote, and I will include her comment here.  I wanted to tell Susan that I posted 

her comment on my Facebook page and so many women and men reached out with positive thoughts and messages for her as well as for me.  So Susan, if you do Facebook find me on there and check out what these lovely people had to say to YOU!! And thank you sooo much for that message.  It made my day, my week and even my hubby got verklempt over it.

This was Susan's comment:

"I have been with you as a reader since the early days of being a house wife, b/4 we had annie paint down here in Alabama I ordered my paint from you, I have been on vacation with you, there when you got the blue chandy, painted and decorated your first window display, and so many more memories, you inspire me so much Amy like when you were eating steak tips and salad everynight when you were opening your shop,felt like I was with you in the car when you were driving to the vet I wanted to sue them for you.....now, I said all that to say, Amy you were put here to inspire, you do all the research,planning,experimenting and then tell us the easy tried and true way which is what your latest post has done I won't continue making this comment any longer than its already gonna be but I need to tell you that I wish you lived closer as I would so want to be your bestie I have fought diabetes for 10 years, my hubs died of cancer, but it is folks like you and my Savior,Jesus that keeps me going. I wish I could start the whole 30 plan but living by yourself and feeling pretty rough everyday it is hard to get the wherewithall to pull it together but if I were ever to be able to do it just know it would be after reading one of your posts which leaves me smiling and full of determination to make it through another trial or day my bucket list is very long and I do try to mark them off as I can. You look fabulous and again I am inspired to do better and just try and be a better person,I don't comment much as I do go on and on, SORRY....and from the bottom of my southern heart Thank you, you are loved and appreciated"

And last but not least, my mom and dad sold their house on Martha's Vineyard and will be moving back to the mainland (that is Massachusetts for everyone who lives somewhere other than here).  Their new condo will be in an old school that my sisters attended growing up, how neat is that?  They will only be about a half hour away from me so I am looking forward to seeing them a lot more often, as before I had to travel by plane or ferry to get to them. My sister Ellen and I helped mom look at the place and we all agreed it was simply terrific.  So that is the latest from me, I hope you are enjoying these beautiful days as we officially approach the next season.  Its been great for the puppy and house training.