get to know me questions...

I always love reading these question and answer surveys on other blogs, so thought I would do the answering this time! :)

1. sweet or salty? salty

2. favorite color? PINK!

3. favorite animal? anyone that knows me in real life knows that I am a flamingo lover through and through!!

4. if you were given/won a million dollars, how would you spend it? both of my kids are in college (well, my son will be in 35 days) so the easy first answer is TUITION! :)

5. any tattoos or piercings? I have a flamingo (see number 3!) tattoo on my foot and I have my ears double pierced. nothing exotic over here! an interesting tidbit is that I rarely wear earrings in my bottom holes, but always wear the same earrings in my top holes-diamonds from my grandma's wedding ring.

6. are you a morning or a night person? hmmm…tough question! I don't stay up late but I do tend to wake up early. this is not by my choice and I don't really enjoy it, but sleeping in seems to be a thing of the past.

7. are you a collector of anything? I LOVE globes and have lots in various rooms of our house. I also have a precious moments collection in my grandpa and grandma's hutch, haven't added to that collection in awhile, but I do dust them periodically! :)

8. any bad habits? cracking my knuckles. so hard to break that habit, too.

9. favorite drink? I love a good fountain dr. pepper. preferably from mcdonalds. I don't like their food, but their pop is the bomb!

10.favorite song at the moment? happy by pharrell williams! and I have to really turn it up and sing along. :) that's a great visual, isn't it? you're welcome.

11. do you untie your shoes when you take them off? YES! it is a must!

12. favorite cereal? I don't eat it regularly, but I do like lucky charms!

13. do you still have your tonsils? (really?!) nope…I had those taken out when I was five. :)

14. mountain hideaway or beach house? definitely beach house.

15. what movie could you watch over and over and still love? easy…pretty in pink. my very favorite movie of all time. pretty woman is a close second.

want to play along? let me know you did so in the comments! :)

a tate update…..

a couple of weeks after tate suffered his stroke, he was pretty much back to 'normal'. that all changed on monday night. I let him out before bed, as usual, but he just circled on the top step and wouldn't go down. the minute I lifted him up, I could just feel his equilibrium was all out of whack. he couldn't walk back up the steps and just wasn't 'with' it.

tuesday afternoon, we took him to our local vet. he told us it was probably the blockage from the stroke growing and there really wasn't much else we could do. (a 5 minute $38 appointment)

wednesday was just a horrible day. tate was VERY unsteady on his feet and just wasn't himself AT ALL. at one point in the day, I am not sure he knew who he was, where he was or who I was. it was VERY hard. he was literally bouncing off the walls and running into everything.

on thursday, our old tate returned! he had a fantastic day-no wobbling, went up and down steps and was perfectly normal!

he wakes up this morning and is swaying in his kennel. I open the door, and he can't take a step over the cushion to walk out. I know then that I need to call for a second opinion. 2 hours and $297 later, we have a couple of possibilities. tate has all of the symptoms of vestibular disease, which is a 'short' in the nerve that connects the brain to the inner ear and is not life threatening. it affects equilibrium, causes a head tilt (which had been non existent for the last week or so, but is back) and causes the eyes to 'jump', making it hard to focus and hard to walk. it is the equivalent of vertigo in humans. Dr. MacLellan also believes that tate may have a tumor that is pressing on that nerve and that is what is causing the same symptoms. another reason she is suspecting a tumor is his late onset of 'seizures', which may have been signs of the tumor and not really seizures.

so where do we go from here? well, we are trying prednisone and an antibiotic for a week to see if there is improvement and will recheck with her next friday. if it is the vestibular disease, he will show improvement within a week or two. if it is a tumor, he may show improvement since the prednisone will help to reduce the swelling on the nerve. if the prednisone doesn't help, it will be time to make some major, not-so-fun decisions for our furry child.

thank you all so much for your thoughts and prayers.

and the winner is....

True Random Number Generator
Min:
Max:
Result:
225
Powered by RANDOM.ORG

and lucky number 225 is......Joan Corley Robbie!

Joan, please email me at dukefans@mchsi.com with your chain length preference (again, anything length is possible!) and your mailing address. you have until tuesday, july 9th at noon CST to email me and claim your prize! congrats!!

as I explained on Facebook, I will now move the winner announcement to this blog as I had someone leave a 'recommendation' (not quite sure why since obviously it wasn't a recommendation!) saying that basically my contests were 'rigged'. so I will post here with a copy and paste of the box from random.org so everyone will know it is OFFICIAL and me not just RANDOMLY choosing who I WANT to win. I am not quite sure how rebecca knows who my past customers are....(maybe ESP?!), but I have had a TON of winners that were not customers UNTIL they won a giveaway and a whole FILE full of those winners who could attest to that. I will further address this with rebecca and if anyone else wants to discuss my OHD giveaways with me, feel free to convo me thru my etsy store-www.oakhilldesigns.etsy.com!

be sure to watch for this fun piece to be listed in my store just as soon as joan claims her prize and I get it stamped and sent out to her!

enjoy your sunday all!

ankylosing what? (part 1)

ankylosing spondylitis is a long-term disease that involves inflammation of the joints between the spinal bones, and the joints between the spine and pelvis.

these joints become swollen and inflamed. Over time, the affected spinal bones join together.

the cause of ankylosing spondylitis is unknown, but genes seem to play a role.

the disease most often begins between ages 20 and 40, but it may begin before age 10. it affects more males than females.


you may lose motion or movement in the lower spine. you may not be able to fully expand your chest because the joints between the ribs are involved.

Fatigue is also a common symptom.

Other, less common symptoms include:

Eye swelling or uveitis

Heel pain

Hip pain and stiffness

Joint pain and joint swelling in the shoulders, knees, and ankles

Loss of appetite

Slight fever

Weight loss

(all of the above courtesy of pubmed health)

sounds like an awful disease, doesn't it? our son, john, was diagnosed with ankylosing spondylitis (AS) this last june at the age of 16.

it all started on february 21st (my birthday!) when john called from their fishing trip saying his eye was all red and hurt. thinking he had an infection, we visited our eye doctor the next day and received the diagnosis of iritis/uveitis. drops were dispensed with the precaution that if he didn't improve to come back. and also a word of caution that iritis/uveitis is extremely uncommon in teens and it is very rare to also have both eyes affected.

iritis is nothing new to the reisner household. my husband, tom, was diagnosed with AS in 1991 while we were (thankfully) living in rochester, mn. having the mayo clinic in our town was the biggest blessing we could have asked for during those first few pain filled weeks and months. tom would get the iritis right before he would have a flare up of the arthritis-about 1-2 times a year. he would start the eye drop therapy and it would settle down fairly quickly.

I wish we could say the same for john. between february 22nd and june 11th, he endured COUNTLESS eye doctor and ophthalmologist appointments, 4 varieties of steroid eye drops, a steroid eye ointment, a dilating eye drop and oral prednisone. finally the decision was made to head to the mayo clinic.

bloodwork confirmed that john was a positive carrier of the HLA-B27 gene. a physical examination confirmed that indeed john had AS and already had limited mobility in the spinal area.

and the winner of the copper soldered heart square necklace is.....

tina skrepak!! congrats to tina and thanks to all of you for entering! the next giveaway will be posted in the next day or two, so be watching!

copper heart soldered square giveaway!

these great pieces just arrived from my supplier and I can't wait to try them out!

this is a 7/8 inch sterling silver square with a tiny copper heart soldered on the top. the patina on these are just really cool and make them look worn, not all bright and shiny. these can be stamped with just one word or on three sides (as shown in the pic), the winner's choice!!

who wants one?!

rules-
-leave your comment with what you would stamp on this if you're the winner
-one entry only!
-comment must be left on this post to be eligible to win
-winner selected....friday evening (the 31st)
-good luck!

let's load up the comments with entries! this is just as easy as facebook, so no excuses! we want to keep these giveaways coming, right?! :)

landscaping loves....

I thought it would be fun to share some of our landscaping with you today!

check out this massive hydrangea tree! obviously I snapped this pic just a week or so after its prime, but the blooms are still gorgeous! love the mix of pink and creme.

and they look equally as beautiful when they are dried.

hello grape hyacinths again! these fun beauties already bloomed once this spring (just in time for graduation, thank-you-very-much!) but are getting ready for a repeat performance! these are actually a mixture of deep purple, a medium purple and a light purple-all on one plant. I will attempt to snap the pic when they are bloomed.

thistles! ugh!!! I will pull weeds, but not these prickly little guys!

love my pink sedums!

spider worts are the strangest plant-blooms during the day, turns all green/yellow at night!

such a gorgeous purple flower!

what is your favorite flower/plant? please share!

and the winner is......

#7 stephanie wittrock! you are the lucky winner of the gold heart washer! please email me at dukefans@mchsi.com with washer winner in the subject line.


thank you to all that entered! did you check out the newest pics that I just posted to Facebook? love that copper cup-so dainty and cute!

and I just have to say....everytime I pull up the blog and see the 'she's a hawkeye now' title, I think of that pull-ups commercial-I'm a big kid now. does anyone else? nope? that's what I thought...I'm just weird like that!

she's a hawkeye now!

it's true-ashton is now an iowa hawkeye! but can someone please tell me how that happened??? it seems like just a couple of years ago that she was starting kindergarten with the backpack that was WAY bigger than she was! we look forward to watching ashton continue to excel at the university of iowa, but we just wish it wasn't so FAR away!! 4 1/2 hours is a bit long for a one day trip, so we have lots of weekends already penciled in on the calendar. and yes, two of those include home football weekends-go hawks! if you want to follow ashton on her college journey-check out her life as a hawkeye blog that i have bookmarked on my sidebar. thanks to her roommate megan for this first day of school pic! :)

first day of school!

can it really be that time of the year already-the first day of school? yikes, where did the summer go? this year we have a high school junior and a college freshman-go hawkeyes! I was pleasantly surprised this morning that I had full cooperation with the first day of school pics, even though it seemed not right that ashton wasn't there as well. (hopefully her roommate takes her pic today, too!)

and now for the giveaway part of this post! thanks to facebook's ever-changing rules, I am forced to move my giveaways to this blog instead of continuing with them on the ohd page or risk having the facebook page shut down. this giveaway includes the ever popular heart washer, but in GOLD! the silver washer has been one of my best sellers over the last couple of years and I'm sure this gold one will be as well! rules- -leave your comment under this post ONLY to be eligible to win! include the names or phrase that you would choose if you are the lucky winner! -contest will end thursday morning, august 23rd -good luck!

christmas wrap up!

happy new year! it is finally time to wrap up the reisner christmas 2011. :) here are just a few of my favorite pics from the day....

(not a favorite pic of me, but shows one of my great gifts...a kindle!




seriously spoiled dog, tate and ashton



tom got new hunting pants! :)



my adorable niece and nephew! they make christmas so fun!



one of john's five new hunting hats he received. he loves it, we think it is so dorky!



and we finished the day with some just dance 3...



wishing you a healthy, happy, safe 2012!

all in, all done!

alert the presses....ALL of my guaranteed christmas orders have now been mailed!!!! (still have a couple of local orders to finish!) now excuse me while I go ice my hand...for the rest of the day.

it's that time of the year!

it's been crazy busy over here at oak hill designs! I had a five person vendor open house last sunday here and we had a great turn out! lots of great products and yummy food and drink! :)

a couple of new pieces I just whipped up last week and added to the store....





don't forget...oak hill designs can help you with everyone on your christmas list! :)

back to stamping I go....

halloween 2011...pumpkin carving

while everyone else in blog land has pictures of their adorable children in their halloween costumes, I have pictures of my adorable children (and neighbor!) carving pumpkins.

this has become our yearly tradition...order pizza and carve pumpkins with the neighbors. something all of us look forward to each year.

during the carving....







the finished products!





and, I know this picture would be so much better if I would've turned off the flash, but with my new camera, I haven't quite figured this out yet! :) total, complete honesty, folks! so know that it was pitch dark during this shot...



and sadly, this will be the last year with all three kids since ashton will be in college five hours away next year....let's hear it for skype! :)

a sale!

do you 'like' oak hill designs on facebook?? you SHOULD! I just announced a great pre-holiday sale going on today....25% off ALL pieces in my ohd store on etsy with the coupon code WINNER. a great way to conquer that holiday list EARLY! :) be sure to share this sale with your friends!

and here is a sneak peek of the new 'look' coming to ohd soon! let me know what you think!

family pictures....

last saturday, we got the whole family together for some family pictures. we had SO much fun with whitney and she is so awesome at her hobby (seriously, not even her full time job!) as you can see! (pics will enlarge if you click on them...)



the cousins having fun with leaves!



me, my mom and my sister, mindy.



the sisters, spouses, mom and dad



the whole group! (notice I'm not really smiling....I had just 'biffed' on a low spot in the weeds...surprised I don't still have some in my hair, on my lips...)




another shot of the cousins...after playing in the leaves! :)

so much fun and so many great memories to have forever!

wednesday and sunday.....

those two days are laundry days at the reisner household!

our laundry area is located in the worse possible place in our whole house--in the mudroom, right off of the garage entrance. when we moved and discovered that we had made a HUGE mistake in putting the washer and dryer there, I knew I had to do laundry only a couple of days a week. if I didn't have a schedule, I would have laundry all over my hallway EVERY day of the week (it is bad enough just 2 days a week....)

it is funny though, that my children can NEVER remember to bring their laundry to the hallway.....someone is ALWAYS complaining that a certain thing didn't get washed. it's not going to get washed if you don't bring your laundry out! I've even heard the occasional, 'but you didn't remind me...'. um, sure.

then we always have the problem of the laundry going back where it came from. nothing is more irritating than to see them just pick what they need out of the mountain and leave the rest there. see my evidence....



so tell me....do you have certain days that you do laundry? do your kids do these same things?? :)

service awards dinner

last night, tom and I attended the hy-vee service awards dinner. this yearly dinner honors regular and full time employees with 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, and 40 years of service to hy-vee. also, all employees over 20 years can attend yearly (although they don't get an award, just recognition), so tom and I have attended for the last five years. this year, tom received his 25 year award.

we always look forward to this event-great to hear our CEO ric juergens speak, see the growth of the company, and GREAT FOOD!! oh my gosh. the dinner is always pretty much the same, but the dessert always changes and last night didn't disappoint. the meal was salad, chicken breast and beef tenderloin, grilled veggies (zucchini, onions, peppers), sweet potatoes and regular potatoes, and a chocolate cupcake with a chocolate filled center and topped with a ton of whipped cream for dessert! almost too rich to eat...but no one had a problem at our table! :)

five for friday....

this is some sort of record, I'm telling you! three days in a row of blogging! a few fun friday facts....

1-tate is feeling much better today, thankfully. he has his eyes all the way open most of the time and has some spunk back.

2-tom and I walked in the 'gotta start somewhere' walk today with a group from hy-vee. it was fun, except for the horrific winds...

3-I am wanting a new look for my etsy store and business card....I still love what I have, just wanting a fresh, new look. thinking red, aqua, mustard yellow and gray...thoughts/opinions?

4-in the past month I have read of two Iowa teens being killed when their atv rolled over on them. this causes me to be anxious again and thankful at the same time. john was SO incredibly lucky. thank you, doug!

5-happy that ashton figured up her RAI score and it is high enough (by alot!) to apply at the u of iowa. I just wish the college wasn't five long hours away....

happy friday, everyone! leave me a comment with your five for friday!

poor tatey.....

isn't this just pathetic? really.



last night, we noticed that tate's eyes were all red and he didn't want to open them up all the way. then the green goop started flowing. poor thing.

bright and early this morning, we headed to the vet's office to find out what was going on. turns out he has an eye infection that was triggered by bean dust. the treatment? drops 3-4 times a day. who wants to come put these in for us? :)