Chandelier Finished

Well, it looks like this week is going to be better than last week. Yesterday was my first HIVE FREE day and you wont believe what we found out....Well Saturday night shortly after the hubs got home from work I started itching again and I was having a hard time breathing. Now, at this point  over the last 8 days I had already been to the doc, Urgent Care and 2x to the ER, so I was very hesitant to rush out to the ER again...I think the docs there think I am a hypochondriac. But I have had 3 pulmonary embolisms and I get scared when I cant breathe. It kept getting worse and worse until it literally felt like someone was sitting on my chest...I made sure I was not hyperventilating etc and off we went. So, they hooked me up to all the machines, got an IV, gave me some steroids and ran more tests...I have had a CT, a nuclear scan, an EKG and many others...Everything's clear...After a few hours I am able to breathe perfectly, so we figure I needed that shot of Prednisone. When I first got the hives we made sure I hadnt eaten anything different, used any new products etc...I hadnt changed ANYTHING.

OK, so we leave and I kid you not, we are not out of the parking lot and it starts happening again. The hubs and I are dumbfounded, but it's the EXACT same feeling. I jokingly said maybe I was allergic to the hubs but I said that wouldnt work since he was with me at the hospital, but the hubs, brilliant man that he is, says, yes, but they have a super duty air filtration system and much of the time I was away getting tested. I said it was impossible to be allergic to a person for pete's sake. Well then we started thinking about it...My initial hives happened once the hubs came home and it got way worse every night when he got home. It never dawned on us that maybe something HE was using could cause me to break out in hives...The hubs had run out of shower gel and used my sons AXE he had left when he was home. Now this crapused to give mea terrible headaches when my son used to use their cologne spray.

Well, it turns out it coincided perfectly timewise...he had used it a little over a week. All the way home we are thinking, "no way", but hello, I was itching like crazy by the time we got home and my chest was heavy and couldnt get a full breath. So, the hubs put all his clothes in the laundry and took a shower and grabbed a bottle of Old Spice shower gel from the cabinet...I have been itch free and hive free ever since. I may have a heart attack when I get the bill for all those unnecessary tests, but at least I wont be itchy. I do know my lungs, heart and head all checked out ok, so I guess I have some piece of mind for my thousands of dollars. It literally never dawned on him that HIS shower gel could effect me. It hadn't dawned on me because I use a different body wash than him...I am grateful we figured it out, but I am overwhelmed at how much its going to cost us. I am a very frugal shopper, but that has to be the MOST expensive shower gel on the planet !!! Can you believe it ? I am still in shock over it. We both feel sooo stupid...how could we have missed it ?

Well, now that that's out of the way I can show you the before and after pictures of my chandelier...Remember several months ago when I bought this tacky brass chandelier at the Habitat for Humanity Restore for $20 ?

Well, my father in law rewired it for me and after a can of spray paint and some glue and stain on the candle part, I think I have a winner...I had seen one in a shop in Volant Mills that was the same size for almost $300...Of course I could NEVER afford that, but look how great it looks now...I am sooooo happy with how it turned out.

I am so super psyched about it...I love it when a plan comes together so nicely. So, if you see a cheap chandelier, think makeover !!! I do still want to makeover the actual bulbs so that they look more like a candle, but I need to run to Home Depot and get some caulking..maybe I will do a step  by step of how to make those kind of lights !

Well, like I said, this week is starting out sooooo much better than last week. I am also working on a couple new ruglets....here's what I have done so far...

I like having 2 projects on my frame at a time because when working on a smaller project theres no waste this way. I am trying to decide the color scheme for the other one...Maybe really , really pale yellow for the chicks and a watery blue for the background ???? Not sure...still piling up different wools and trying to figure out what I want to do !!!

I do want to take a minute and thank all of you who prayed for me and encouraged me through all this mess with the hives. You are so precious to me and I am so thankful to have such wonderful, caring people in my life. You guys are the best.

Okie doke...I am going to go get busy finishing up some more projects and get some bread baking.

Grace to you,
Margie