We went to Lowe’s tonight to pick up some extra 2×4’s and I decided to walk through the kitchen department and drool over cabinets and appliances. I am in LOVE with the appliances from Electrolux. They are gorgeous! All the appliances have a glass touch screen that is dark until you touch it and then all the buttons slowly light up. They are the iPhones of appliances. The fridge. OMG. I’ve never been so amazed by a refrigerator before. When you open the doors, the light inside gradually lights up. Seriously, it’s so elite. It has all these handy little compartments and drawers that pull out. And did I mention it’s GORGEOUS? The oven. I would cook my little heart out all day long with an oven that beautiful! And the racks. They gliiiiiide right on out so smoooooth. *Drools* Go check out the Virtual Kitchen Tour and see how Electrolux can help you “Be Even More Amazing”. Even more amazing! Okay so now I really need all these appliances.

Here is my Electrolux wish list:

Wall Oven - $2,199

Glass Cooktop - $1,799

Dishwasher (the quietest in it’s class!) - $1,399

Refrigerator - $3,199

So that’s only $8,596! Wishful, wishful, wishful thinking. Now, where’s the broke mo-fo isle?

First of all, I’m totally excited about this…. look! It’s my future kitchen!

Today the girls had to go get blood work done because when they had their checkup last week, their blood test showed they were anemic. I took them to get their blood drawn, and the test showed that their iron levels are fine. So why are they showing as being anemic then? Turns out, they inherited the genetic blood disorder that Preston has called thalassemia minor.

Thalassemia minor is basically a mutation of the red blood cells:

- the defective production of hemoglobin, the protein that enables red blood cells to carry oxygen (and carbon dioxide)
- The individual with thalassemia minor has only one copy of the beta thalassemia gene; together with one perfectly normal beta-chain gene
- Persons with thalassemia minor have (at most) mild anemia (with slight lowering of the hemoglobin level in the blood). This situation can very closely resemble that with mild iron-deficiency anemia. However, persons with thalassemia minor have a normal blood iron level (unless they have are iron deficient for other reasons). No treatment is necessary for thalassemia minor. In particular, iron is neither necessary nor advised.

So, there’s nothing that needs to be done about this. Doctors have long said that thalassemia minor has no “symptoms” but Preston has throughout his life had symptoms of the moderate form of thalasseima. Interestingly, you can search online and find out that there are plenty of people with thalassemia minor who in fact all share the same symptoms. Here’s just one example. Doctors say that these particular symptoms are not related to thalassemia minor and that these people all just happen to share these symptoms for other reasons. Who knows. I don’t know. No one knows it sounds like! It seems odd to me for you to have a mutation of your blood cells and not have any symptoms from it.
I don’t think that Ashton has this, there’s a 50/50 chance that a carrier will pass it on to their children.

Anyway, so that’s that. No big deal really, just thought I’d share.

Besides being busy, I haven’t really been in the blogging mood the last couple days. I guess I don’t have anything to talk about that I haven’t talked about a million times before. I’m feeling boring at the moment!

I’ve been working on orders for my boutique and fun stuff like that. I’m also trying to get some stock built up to put in the mail store I was telling you about, and I’m also going to start doing a bunch of bows for another childrens boutique. So, I’ve been pretty busy.

I’ve also been looking at house related stuff a lot, daydreaming about being in more space again! I told Preston I would love to have a cool movie room complete with movie posters, theater seating, and of course some cool home theater lighting! Wouldn’t that be fun? We’ll see what happens.

Anyway, more later!

What’s the price of gas in your town? Gas here in East Texas is going down nicely. It’s currently $2.97/gal and at Kroger I can get 10 cents off when I spend $100 or more in groceries (which I did today) which brings it to $2.87/gal! Not bad considering how high it has been lately.

I’m so anxious to get into our house. It seems like this place we are in gets smaller every day. I can’t wait to start on the interior and landscaping. I’ve been browsing online looking at everything from outdoor lighting to kitchen cabinets. I’m trying to remind myself that the end is in sight! Even if it doesn’t seem like it right now. I really don’t need to complain, and I’m not really complaining, I’m just anxious. Preston is working so hard on everything and it’s actually happening faster than I expected so I just have to remember to keep my patience! Which is hard for me.

Today Preston is outside putting down the wood for the first floor (the cabin is 2 story). Previously he had been working on the beams and foundation but now we are at the actual floor and it is so awesome! I’m soooooo excited!!! It’s happening so much faster than I expected. And the best part is - we’re not even one month’s worth of rent into it yet! Can you believe that? It’s amazing. Instead of paying rent we’re building a house. The smartest thing we have ever done, hands down. I am going to take a few pictures after I post this and I’m sure Preston will make a post on our building blog tonight. I just cannot wait to get into this place. I’m so anxious to work on the interior. That’s going to be so fun to be able to customize the entire place to exactly what we want. We really are blessed to have this opportunity.

I finally got time this week to sit down and add most of the rest of the holiday stuff for my boutique, so go check it out! Almost every category has something new! And if you look over on the right hand side here you’ll find a little discount code…

Well, I’m off to go watch the hubby work. He’s so cute when he’s all dirty and sweaty. Here’s a pic of the girls today before I go:

I was just thinking, you know what sounds good right now? A Starbucks coffee. I wish there was a Starbucks in town!

A new post over here! Yay!

Hope everyone is having a good Monday! I am, even though I started it off with a depressing post. It’s all good though.

Preston posted an update on our building site and I think he decided to leave this one public. Soooo, go check it out if you are interested!