our garage bathtub

Ever since we moved into our house 20 months ago, we have been itching for a BIGGER shower. Right now it is SMALL. It might be an "average" small shower, but it's still small.
I had to shave my legs on the side of the tub for the first few months we lived here because I was afraid of falling when I propped my leg up to shave!

The next three pictures have the previous owner's things in them from before we moved in. The shower on the left, bathtub on the right with a floor-to-ceiling wall in between.

{remember-not how it is now! they took the radio thing under the cabinet, no toilet seat cover, no cords everwhere on a good day!}

About this time last year, we started talking about making the master bathroom renovation a reality. Chris acted quickly and pulled the "splash board" (not sure what it's actually called) and front panel off of the tub. At the end of that week we made the decision to go to Uganda that summer, so operation: bathroom reno was put on hold. 

Fast forward to this month...

We've finally been talking about the reno again 

We've brainstormed lots and lots of ideas.
Made some decisions and changed them. Then changed them again.
I'm sure that will happen many more times before we are completely done!
This is kind of the look of what we are wanting for the door/openness of the shower. We are going to tile the shower/tub but haven't decided on a tile.

Chris took out the sheetrock on the surrounding walls.

Then took out the tub...

We are going to turn it 90 degrees to create a larger space for the shower.

Aaaand..now we have a tub in our garage for a while!

(hence the title for this post!)

This past weekend Chris' project was creating a hole in the concrete to move the plumbing for the tub. This pic was taken after the concrete-chipping aftermath was cleaned. Concrete dust is MESSY! It was covering everything and quickly traveled into the closet and bedroom when we opened the bathroom door!

Awesome drawing Chris' dad sent Chris as they have been talking about what is next... :)

They have Skyped several times in the last 2 weeks, which is pretty comical to watch. The mic and camera don't work on his dad's computer..so Chris walks around the bathroom with his iPad showing his dad what he needs to while talking to him with the cell phone on speakerphone. Love technology. :)

So that's the progress we've made so far.

Chris actually did all of this. I didn't do anything except help clean up twice. ;)

Not looking forward to the bathroom being out of commission for a while, but I am looking forward to a new beautiful shower/bathroom!

What I'm Loving Wednesday

I'm linking up with Jamie today for What I'm Loving Wednesday!

I'm {loving} some mexican food!!
Chris and I ate at Ninfa's Mexican Restaurant after I got off work last night and I sure love me some chips and green sauce! :)

I'm {loving} the Buffet Server that I got from Sam's Club this week!

It was only $12!!! And they are NICE ceramic bowls! 

(I actually have to credit my mom with this find!)

They didn't have it in stock at the Sam's near my parents, so she found that the one by us had it. So she did "Click 'n' Pull" and it was ready for pick up the next morning.

I'm excited to entertain with this!!!

I'm {loving} that my sister's first baby shower is this weekend!

I've tried out several new projects for this shower and even made a bow holder for baby Brooklynn! I'll post a picture after the shower. 

Here's a sneak peak at the invitations I made.

I'm {loving} Kari Jobe's new album that came out yesterday!!

I had it on pre-order for about a month, so I was super excited when I got an email saying it was ready to download Monday night!

I'm {loving} that Valentine's Day is approaching! 

Really, I just love the color pink and the decorations that come with V-Day!! 

This is the display at Hobby Lobby...

swoon!!

Have a blessed Wednesday!

our weekend in pictures

My sweet sister and brother-in-law came in this weekend and it was a nice relaxing time together!

When I was working on some projects, Scout kept getting up on the couch and sticking his head between the wood. He never does that..so I thought maybe it was because I had the blinds up on the door and he wanted to see into the backyard. Made me laugh! :)

I made this Chicken N Dumplings recipe after hearing Megan say it was delicious.

She did not lie! It was DELICIOUS!! And EASY!! 

For real. Try it this week. You won't be sorry!

I spent some time working on some HOS orders and gifts and a new listing.

Last night we played Nertz. I looove Nertz. Sometimes I win, but last night I did NOT. 

We had a lot of fun though!!

Tonight I've been busy busy working on stuff for Katy's baby shower this weekend.

(here's a sneak peak)

I'm sad I didn't get any pictures of PEOPLE this weekend! 

We also started a big project in our master bathroom. I'll be back later this week with some pictures of that.

I'm linking up with Jenni! 

all things night shift - part two

I'm back for Part Two of Q&A of working night shift...

Check in for Part One if you missed it.

When do you and your husband see each other?
The first 2 years of being married, Chris was into the heavy coursework of his Master's degree along with being a TA. There were many times I would get home from work AFTER he had left for school and wouldn't get home until AFTER I had left for work that evening. So many times we would go 2-3 days with seeing each other for maybe 15 minutes/day or none at all.
That was hard. But we knew it was a season and now we rarely don't see each other when I work.

His schedule is much more flexible now, so that hasn't really been an issue since last May.
Since I only work 3 days/week, even if we don't see each other in those days, I know we will have time together in the other 4 days.

How do you stay awake at night?
Some nights it is tough to stay awake. But it's weird how my body just knows {usually} that I'm supposed to be stay awake. Surprisingly, I do not drink coffee. I don't really drink caffeine at all actually. Occasionally I'll have a cream soda, but not usually at work. It helps that we have some lights on and I have other coworkers to help keep me awake when I'm feeling extra sleepy.

The night before my first night shift, I stayed up until 4am in the morning. I thought this would allow me to sleep into the afternoon and be rested up for the all-nighter. Well, my body wasn't tricked. I woke around 10am the next morning. So my first shift was tough because I was reeeally tired, but I slept really good the next day! :)

What do you eat? And when?
The only difference in my diet when I work is that I usually want cereal or some other breakfast food when I wake up in the afternoon. I know some night-shifters will eat "dinner" food in the morning after work, but I can not do that! If I don't eat "dinner" by about 3am, I usually don't eat or maybe eat a bowl of cereal. So when I'm working consecutively....
I eat "breakfast" when I wake up around 4pm. 
Snack around 10pm. 
"Lunch/Dinner" around 1am. 
And typically I don't eat anything when I get off work.

What's the atmosphere of the hospital like at night?
Quiet. Usually.
We don't use that word on the job though, because as soon as you say that, it gets chaotic or we have a kid get really sick, something happens! We don't usually say the S word either. {slow}
There aren't a lot of visitors at night. We will have some, but usually just before 10pm or so. Since I work on Pediatrics, there are always parents/family members.
It varies from night to night on how busy we are. Typically speaking, the weekends are the slowest. Monday-Wednesday are the busiest. And Thursday and Friday and somewhere in between. This can change at any point, but usually [again] this is true.

A few other things...
--I hate having to call doctors and waking them up in the middle of the night. It's easier than when I first started, because I'm more confident in what I'm doing/saying, but it's still hard sometimes!
--I do get shift differential for working night shift. I get an extra amount for working 7-11pm, and an additional amount for working 11pm-7am. It's nice, but I would give that up to be on a normal schedule.
--Having a "Do not ring doorbell." sign on our front door has been a lifesaver! Some people still don't read before they ring, but most do..and I'm grateful!
--My husband has been the best with me working night shift. He is so thoughtful and always stays quiet and lets me sleep as long as I need/want to. He is very understanding of me needing to sleep during the day since I was up all night. I'm one blessed wife. :)

Did I answer all your questions? 
Any of my readers also fellow night-shifters??

ps. My Etsy store, House of Shep, is hosting a giveaway on Heather's blog, Blonde...Undercover Blonde today! 

Go check it out!

all things night shift - part one

I've worked night shift since I started my nursing career. 

Over the past 2 years I've been asked many of the same questions and thought I'd answer them on the blog in case you have the same questions AND so someday I can look back on this and remember life working night shift.

Here is the good, the bad and the ugly of working night shift!

Do you rotate shifts?
No, not usually. Before this week, I had worked one day shift in the time since I've been off orientation and that was to help another nurse out that needed off. This month, day shift is short staffed, so I am scheduled 8 of my 12 shifts for day shift. But that is not normal for the scheduling on our unit.

Do you prefer nights over days?
When I started working, night shift was the only position available. I hope to move to dayshift permanently sometime this year. After working 3 day shifts last week, I would love that even more! They posted two positions this past week, but they are flex 7a-7p AND 7p-7a based on the unit patient load/staffing. They would alternate my shift as they need me. Chris and I haven't decided if this is something that we are willing to do.

When do you sleep?
I'm working when you sleep, so I'm sleeping when you work! :)
If it's my first night on, sometimes I take a nap before work, sometimes I don't. {which means sometimes when I'm getting off, I've been up for 22-24 hours straight!}
When I'm working consecutive nights (which is MUCH preferred) I usually come home and go to bed within 30 minutes. I am blessed that I have never had problems getting to sleep after working. I joke about falling asleep so fast I am sometimes in the middle of setting my alarm.
When I do not work the next night, I come home and go to bed like normal, but usually I'll get up around 1 or 2...or 3. ;) Then I'll go to bed with Chris that night and have a "normal" schedule until I work again.

Is it hard to sleep during the day?
Sometimes yes, sometimes no.
Thankfully we live in a very quiet subdivision, so neighbors/dogs/traffic/etc have not been a consistent problem. There have only been 2 or 3 days where something was going on outside (ex. neighbor's roof getting repaired) that woke me up and kept me awake.

One thing we've found that really helps our schedule is me sleeping in the guest bedroom when I sleep during the day. We've done this since we moved into our house. Chris isn't always ready to wake up/get up when I come home from work at 7:30am, so it allows him to sleep until his alarm and then get ready and not have to worry about waking me up. Then he also has access to the bedroom/bathroom during the day if needed.

I always wake up at least once during the day, usually about noon, to pee. Always. No exceptions.
And I usually have no problems going back to sleep until my alarm goes off around 3:30-4.

I'll be back tomorrow with Part Two!

fill in the blank friday

I'm linking up with Lauren at The Little Things We Do with some fill in the blanks today!

1.   The last thing I ate was   a yummy grilled cheese sandwich.

2.   The last song I listened to was   I can't remember exactly what song! But I was listening to the adult alternative station on direct tv while I was working on my computer .

3.  Using the letters in my name I can spell  _{Leisha} sheila, leash, aisle, lies, heal, she, hail, sea, ha, and lots more! [ok..so...I might have cheated and looked at wineverygame.com. shameful, I know. but this is the same reason i don't play words with friends. i'm awful at it) 

4.  If I had to dress in one color for the rest of my life I would pick     maaybe black. It's easy to dress up, dress down, blend in, etc. (But pink accents, if that was allowed!) .

5.  If you were to look in my bag right now you'd find    I don't carry a purse. I haven't in about 3 1/2 years. I just carry a clutch wallet, but I always keep a pen and chapstick in there! My car is a different story...I usually have anything I might need in it.

6.  When I finish filling in the blanks I'm going to   anxiously wait for family to arrive. We are celebrating Christmas with the rest of Chris' family this weekend!

7.  My all time favorite song to dance to is    [disclaimer, i don't dance!] My best friend and I are known to have music videos that include songs like Show Stopper by Danity Kane, Ice Ice Baby, ChaCha Slide and we'll just stop there. ;)

Have a great weekend, yall!

my bling

I'm linking up with CMae of Happiness is for Ring Bling link up!

I loove my rings! 

We had looked at a few rings and I knew I wanted a solitare princess cut.

Chris did perfect.

Here are some shots at our wedding with our wedding bands.

I went back and forth on what to pick for a wedding band. I really liked the way the wraps looked. But..since we plan to do some short term missions I thought it would be better to have a band that I can wear by itself. I also thought I would wear the band by itself at work. (turns out I wear all three of them)

Because of that, I went with an enhancer instead. 

I love it!

{out of focus phone pictures. eek!}

This time of year (cold!) I am wishing they were soldered because they separate and slide around all over! 

{hand wrinkles are just not cute to photograph!}

Where do I keep my rings at night? On my finger!

I never take them off. Ever.

Unless my hands are getting into something dirty that might mess them up. But I know if I take them off, I will lose them. So I avoid taking them off at all. :)

Want to read about our engagement?

year in review {2011}

Most read post: a what i'm loving wednesday post...random!

Biggest traffic month: November

Top referral site: facebook..by FAR

Most searched keywork: library card (boooring!)

Final Follower Count: 95

Twitter: 114 followers, 723 tweets

Pinterest stats: 522 pins, 20 boards

this christmas {2011}

It's so crazy to me that Christmas has come and gone. 

While we were at my parents' house for Christmas festivities, on the 26th I thought to myself that I wanted to go see Christmas lights...but then remembered, woah, Christmas was yesterday!!

I worked the three days leading up to Christmas eve, but was so glad to be off for 4 days to spend time with our families. Here's a quick photo recap of our holiday!

presents under my parents' tree.

//side note//

I am reeeally in to jute twine right now. So for the gifts we gave this Christmas, I wrapped them all in brown paper and jute! Then I made tags with my Silhouette.

sweet sisters.

{once again...can't even tell katy is almost 30 weeks pregnant!}

love my family. :) 

{me, chris, middle sister: katy, mom, katy's husband: cody, dad, little sister: becca}

my dad and his brothers. 

hil.ar.ious.

they are so much alike and SO goofy.

merry christmas from the shepperds!

After we spent a few days with my family, we drove to Dallas to visit Chris' parents for a couple hours.

We drove a waaays this holiday, but it was so great to see family! 

We are planning on having Christmas with the rest of Chris' family next weekend.

Our Christmas tree is still up. Chris says we have to take it down this week. bummer.

This is the only picture I got of our tree this year!

And our stockings from Neapolitankids finally came on Christmas eve eve. I love them!! Now I need to get some stocking hangers and get these babies up next year! 

That's all the Christmas I have for ya until later this year!