Seeing as how it's since been searched by a completely different ISP, and following some further investigation (i.e., plugging the search phrase into Google--ingenious!), I'm beginning to suspect that the snake-bit chihuahua search had something to do with Snakes on a Plane. I hope so. I hope no actual wee doggies were harmed in the making of today's blog.
Wednesday, August 30, 2006
And so are these posts about the TO DO LIST. Promise.
Here's what's left to do:
- Give final head count to Inn
- Find Dad's wedding ring (to affix to my bouquet; this will be my something old... if we can find where mom put it)
- Make appointment to wax eyebrows
- Make appointment for hep. shot for cruise
- Delegate someone to return tuxes day after
- Find/print Claddagh legend to be read in place of tradtional ring speech
- Mix CD for Matt for wedding day
- Wrap & hand out wedding party gifts
- Make list of everything to pack and go shopping for what we still need
- Learn to use video camera
- Assign someone to operate said camera at wedding
- Make wedding day/carpooling schedule tables (where are you, fenwic?)
That's it. That is, comparatively, a really short list. There are a few more items related to the reception and the honeymoon, but I've got a whole 'nother week after the wedding to take care of those if need be.
So Friday night is Bachelorette Party Night. Saturday Night is Last Date as an Unmarried Couple Night, since when I pointed out on our birthday date Saturday before last that that would probably be our last date as unmarrieds, Matt decided that that wouldn't do at all, and that he wanted our last date to be something special. Nevermind that I pointed out that this had better not be our "last date," to which he assured me that it won't be, but it's the end of an era, nonetheless, and it has to be memorable, dammit. I can't wait. I think Sunday might actually get to be a day of rest. Can't wait for that, either. Thank God for the long holiday weekend, the Monday of which I'll spend knocking out as much of the above list as possible.
And that's all... still two days away. I still can't believe it's not Friday yet.
Here's what's left to do:
- Give final head count to Inn
- Find Dad's wedding ring (to affix to my bouquet; this will be my something old... if we can find where mom put it)
- Make appointment to wax eyebrows
- Make appointment for hep. shot for cruise
- Delegate someone to return tuxes day after
- Find/print Claddagh legend to be read in place of tradtional ring speech
- Mix CD for Matt for wedding day
- Wrap & hand out wedding party gifts
- Make list of everything to pack and go shopping for what we still need
- Learn to use video camera
- Assign someone to operate said camera at wedding
- Make wedding day/carpooling schedule tables (where are you, fenwic?)
That's it. That is, comparatively, a really short list. There are a few more items related to the reception and the honeymoon, but I've got a whole 'nother week after the wedding to take care of those if need be.
So Friday night is Bachelorette Party Night. Saturday Night is Last Date as an Unmarried Couple Night, since when I pointed out on our birthday date Saturday before last that that would probably be our last date as unmarrieds, Matt decided that that wouldn't do at all, and that he wanted our last date to be something special. Nevermind that I pointed out that this had better not be our "last date," to which he assured me that it won't be, but it's the end of an era, nonetheless, and it has to be memorable, dammit. I can't wait. I think Sunday might actually get to be a day of rest. Can't wait for that, either. Thank God for the long holiday weekend, the Monday of which I'll spend knocking out as much of the above list as possible.
And that's all... still two days away. I still can't believe it's not Friday yet.
Labels: wedding
It must be because Monday was such a long day, but I keep thinking it's much later in the week than it really is. All day long yesterday I thought it was Wednesday, despite constant reminders that it was, indeed, only Tuesday. Then this morning upon waking I actually thought to myself, "It's okay, it's Friday. Tomorrow you get to sleep in." Followed immediately by "Wait... crap." And I still can't convince my mind that it's only Wednesday. This week seems to be taking forever.
I suppose I need to make my final wedding To Do list. That always seems to make time speed up to almost non-existent. Neat how I can affect the laws of space-time with a single, panic-inducing list. Can I count that as a super power?
Speaking of (wedding tasks, that is, not super powers), we got N2's tux reserved, and all of the nephews look to be on board to come to the wedding and only mildly offended at making up the B list after pretty much everybody on Matt's half of the invite list either declined to attend or failed to RSVP. Man, people suck. If you want to draw a connection between that last statement and the one before it, feel free. I'm just sayin'. Anyway, adding the nephews to the list has added a whole new layer of complications to the driving logistics, not to mention family politics, but I'm pleased as spiked punch that they get to come.
Speaking of Matt, he's got a check-up today that he's a little apprehensive about (as am I--without going into detail, there are a couple of things that have come up recently that are probably nothing, but could be SOMETHING, and considering his history, even the slightest chance of SOMETHING is scary). So if you could send any prayers/healthy vibes/normal blood sugar thoughts his way, they will be appreciated.
I suppose I need to make my final wedding To Do list. That always seems to make time speed up to almost non-existent. Neat how I can affect the laws of space-time with a single, panic-inducing list. Can I count that as a super power?
Speaking of (wedding tasks, that is, not super powers), we got N2's tux reserved, and all of the nephews look to be on board to come to the wedding and only mildly offended at making up the B list after pretty much everybody on Matt's half of the invite list either declined to attend or failed to RSVP. Man, people suck. If you want to draw a connection between that last statement and the one before it, feel free. I'm just sayin'. Anyway, adding the nephews to the list has added a whole new layer of complications to the driving logistics, not to mention family politics, but I'm pleased as spiked punch that they get to come.
Speaking of Matt, he's got a check-up today that he's a little apprehensive about (as am I--without going into detail, there are a couple of things that have come up recently that are probably nothing, but could be SOMETHING, and considering his history, even the slightest chance of SOMETHING is scary). So if you could send any prayers/healthy vibes/normal blood sugar thoughts his way, they will be appreciated.
Tuesday, August 29, 2006
Thanks to Matt's shiftless friends all flaking out on him... okay. I haven't met most of them. I don't actually know that they're shiftless. And many of them have far to travel, and circumstances and whatever, so "flake" might be too strong a word. But I still want to kick all of their asses right now, so I'm in no mood to be gentle. At any rate, through a series of circumstances and let-downs, Matt has ultimately asked my #2 nephew to be his best man. Nephew #2 currently doesn't have a car that runs nor friends available to drive him to the sto'. So guess who doesn't get to go home after work and snuggle with her honey and tend her injured doggie and call it an early night and get all caught up on her sleep? Guess who has to go pick up her nephew after work and schlep him around all night to order his tux and run various other bestish mannish errands?
Thanks a lot, Matt's friends.
Thanks a lot, Matt's friends.
Current conditions: 66° F and overcast with an expected high of 80° F. Omigosh I love this weather! *hugs phony fall day and begs it not to leave*
Today is a good day. I'm feeling about ten times better than yesterday, despite a late night last night (more on that in a minute). I can breathe, for one thing, which by itself is a vast improvement. It would be a better day if I could stay home with Matt (it's his day off) and break in our new propane grill and bask in this gorgeous weather. But I can't, so I'll embrace a day in which I can breathe and not have cramps and make it to work without melting as a damn good day.
The only thing that would elevate today to truly fantastic is if I had gotten to bed early as planned last night, but, well, there was pet drama. And trauma. Pet trauma drama, in which the cats took their fight over to Fizzgigg's side of the couch and his left eye came out on the losing end of somebody's claw. He's okay--it turned out to be a fairly superficial scratch that missed his cornea, thank God, and he's got antiseptic eye drops to keep it from getting infected while it heals. But thank God for Matt, is all I have to say. When it first happened there was blood everywhere and, see, Fizzgigg's allergies are worse than mine so his eyes are usually gunked up, so while I tried to hold him and stop the bleeding these bloody eye boogies kept coming off on the tissue and I thought it was chunks of eyeball and I gotta tell you, I did not handle that well at all. But Matt took him from me and calmed us both down and cleaned the poor puppy up enough to see that it was just a scratch, but it was bad enough that we'd better get it checked out. So we got to share our first experience of taking our "baby" to the emergency room in the middle of the night. As for Fizzgigg, he's a trooper. I swear, I've never had so much drama with any single other animal as I've had with this little guy. He's an accident magnet like his mama. So he seemed to take it all in stride.
Needless to say, when we got back home, the kitties got their claws clipped. They took that less well. Pusses.
So, I'm tired. But there's still the breathing and the not having cramps and the fabulous weather. It's a good day.
Today is a good day. I'm feeling about ten times better than yesterday, despite a late night last night (more on that in a minute). I can breathe, for one thing, which by itself is a vast improvement. It would be a better day if I could stay home with Matt (it's his day off) and break in our new propane grill and bask in this gorgeous weather. But I can't, so I'll embrace a day in which I can breathe and not have cramps and make it to work without melting as a damn good day.
The only thing that would elevate today to truly fantastic is if I had gotten to bed early as planned last night, but, well, there was pet drama. And trauma. Pet trauma drama, in which the cats took their fight over to Fizzgigg's side of the couch and his left eye came out on the losing end of somebody's claw. He's okay--it turned out to be a fairly superficial scratch that missed his cornea, thank God, and he's got antiseptic eye drops to keep it from getting infected while it heals. But thank God for Matt, is all I have to say. When it first happened there was blood everywhere and, see, Fizzgigg's allergies are worse than mine so his eyes are usually gunked up, so while I tried to hold him and stop the bleeding these bloody eye boogies kept coming off on the tissue and I thought it was chunks of eyeball and I gotta tell you, I did not handle that well at all. But Matt took him from me and calmed us both down and cleaned the poor puppy up enough to see that it was just a scratch, but it was bad enough that we'd better get it checked out. So we got to share our first experience of taking our "baby" to the emergency room in the middle of the night. As for Fizzgigg, he's a trooper. I swear, I've never had so much drama with any single other animal as I've had with this little guy. He's an accident magnet like his mama. So he seemed to take it all in stride.
Needless to say, when we got back home, the kitties got their claws clipped. They took that less well. Pusses.
So, I'm tired. But there's still the breathing and the not having cramps and the fabulous weather. It's a good day.
Monday, August 28, 2006
Cats and dreams kept waking me up last night. So I finally woke up for good this morning with a grumpy attitude, made worse by allergies that are making it extremely difficult to keep my head up and my eyes open, and making my sinuses feel like they're going to explode any second now. As if that's not bad enough, I forgot to go over my 401K paperwork with Matt this weekend, it's due today, and this stuff gives me a headache under the best of circumstances. Also, work is busy. So here's the condensed version of the weekend:
Shower on Saturday. 'Twas your standard hen party, but fun. L'il sis and her friends did a fab job putting it all together and they didn't subject me to any embarrassing shower games (I'm sure she's saving up all the humiliation for the bachelorette party). We came away with a pretty good haul, including the portable propane grill Matt was hoping for and, best of all, a digital camcorder from his mom that, bless her heart, she must have been saving up for since we first mentioned the M word in her range of hearing. It's awesome, and way better than anything we could afford, and now we can cancel the layaway on our video camera and put that money in the honeymoon spending fund. Thanks again, Mom.
Also Saturday, as mentioned in the picture post, I picked my dress up from the tailor's, and L'il Sis (and friends) and Tess all stuck around after the shower to get the flowers done. The bouquets turned out better than I hoped for, thanks to Tess's guidance and good eye for these things. And while we worked on the bouquets, Sis's friend Christy did the groomsmen bouttiniers (sp?) and mom corsages, and did a lovely job. Thanks again, Christy.
Sunday was a sedate co-mingling of resting and doing chores. Somewhere in there I managed to burn our unity candle song and recessional music (Ode to Joy) to a CD for the wedding (the Inn will take care of the processional) and upload pictures. Nothing too exciting, but I feel accomplished.
I ate many very unhealthy things over the weekend, haven't worked out since Wednesday thanks to cramps that have made it pretty clear that all of my previous cramps which I thought were from Hell were really only from a lesser Heck dimension somewhere, and I'm feeling fat and bloated and just plain ick. I'm back on the healthy eating train so far today, though, and the cramps seem to finally be subsiding (please dear God in Heaven) so maybe I'll get in a workout tonight and I can start feeling better soon.
That's it for now, since unfortunately these 401K papers aren't going to fill themselves out. Bleah.
Shower on Saturday. 'Twas your standard hen party, but fun. L'il sis and her friends did a fab job putting it all together and they didn't subject me to any embarrassing shower games (I'm sure she's saving up all the humiliation for the bachelorette party). We came away with a pretty good haul, including the portable propane grill Matt was hoping for and, best of all, a digital camcorder from his mom that, bless her heart, she must have been saving up for since we first mentioned the M word in her range of hearing. It's awesome, and way better than anything we could afford, and now we can cancel the layaway on our video camera and put that money in the honeymoon spending fund. Thanks again, Mom.
Also Saturday, as mentioned in the picture post, I picked my dress up from the tailor's, and L'il Sis (and friends) and Tess all stuck around after the shower to get the flowers done. The bouquets turned out better than I hoped for, thanks to Tess's guidance and good eye for these things. And while we worked on the bouquets, Sis's friend Christy did the groomsmen bouttiniers (sp?) and mom corsages, and did a lovely job. Thanks again, Christy.
Sunday was a sedate co-mingling of resting and doing chores. Somewhere in there I managed to burn our unity candle song and recessional music (Ode to Joy) to a CD for the wedding (the Inn will take care of the processional) and upload pictures. Nothing too exciting, but I feel accomplished.
I ate many very unhealthy things over the weekend, haven't worked out since Wednesday thanks to cramps that have made it pretty clear that all of my previous cramps which I thought were from Hell were really only from a lesser Heck dimension somewhere, and I'm feeling fat and bloated and just plain ick. I'm back on the healthy eating train so far today, though, and the cramps seem to finally be subsiding (please dear God in Heaven) so maybe I'll get in a workout tonight and I can start feeling better soon.
That's it for now, since unfortunately these 401K papers aren't going to fill themselves out. Bleah.
Finally, I bring pictures.
- Babies! Three of grandneice Dakota and one of nephew Ash. Cuties!
- Misc. wedding prep, including Eureka Springs pics. The one with the fountain is actually next door to our wedding venue, but since my camera batteries died before we got to the little wedding chapel around back I figured I'd toss it in there. Also, Here I am trying on my wedding dress at the tailor's on Saturday.
- Also, we got the wedding flowers put together on Saturday, and that was the last major task to accomplish before the wedding. Yay!
- Babies! Three of grandneice Dakota and one of nephew Ash. Cuties!
- Misc. wedding prep, including Eureka Springs pics. The one with the fountain is actually next door to our wedding venue, but since my camera batteries died before we got to the little wedding chapel around back I figured I'd toss it in there. Also, Here I am trying on my wedding dress at the tailor's on Saturday.
- Also, we got the wedding flowers put together on Saturday, and that was the last major task to accomplish before the wedding. Yay!
Labels: wedding
Friday, August 25, 2006
I was hunting for the VM blooper real (alas, I didn't find it), and came across this:
I'd never have thought to equate Logan Eckles (*dreamy sigh*) with Larry the Cucumber, but it works.
I'd never have thought to equate Logan Eckles (*dreamy sigh*) with Larry the Cucumber, but it works.
Matt reserved the tuxes. That just leaves arranging the flower bouquets, and my bridesmaids are sticking around to help with that after the shower on Saturday. Almost there. Woo!
And now, I meme. I'm not generally much of a meme sort of person, but I saw this book meme in Bojojoti's LJ the other day and it grabbed me. Maybe because I don't talk about books nearly as much as I should, and I'd like to remind myself and others that I do, in fact, read:
1. One book that changed your life?
I would say the Bible, but that's pretty much a given. So instead I'll change things up and go with Women With Attention Deficit Disorder by Sari Solden. Because if I had any lingering doubts about whether I had ADD when I picked up the book, by the time I finished it I not only had no doubt but also had a greater understanding of my type of the disorder and what I could do to keep it from interfering with my ability to be a functional adult. I highly recommend it not only for anyone who suspects they might have ADD, but also for anyone who is in any kind of relationship with a woman who has ADD, because this will help you understand what it's like to be her and why she does the seemingly stupid things she does. And, hopefully, make it a little easier for you to forgive and accept the way she is.
2. One book you have read more than once?
Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman. I read this one way back when it first came out, having only a passing familiarity with "that Sandman guy." I loved it enough to recommend it to friends a few years later, and when they tried to enthusiastically discuss it with me and I found I didn't remember a lot of what they were going on about, I picked it up again and found new layers that I'd missed the first time, as tends to happen. I've read it again since then, and it's come to feel like an old friend.
3. One book you would want on a desert island?
The Bible. I'm not just saying that because I have to. Spending time in the Word centers me and gives me a sense of peace and calm like nothing else, save prayer. It would keep me from losing my mind.
4. One book that made you laugh?
Good Omens by Neil Gaiman (again) and Terry Pratchett. It's like Monty Python meets Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (another book--series of books, really--that made me laugh) meets the Book of Revelation. Irreverent and naughty and hilarious.
5. One book that made you cry?
A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin. If you've read it, you know what and why. If you haven't read it, you should. And then keep going with the rest of the series (to date), because it only gets better.
6. One book you wish had been written?
I've got about three partial manuscripts on the back burner that I wish could write themselves.
7. One book you wish had never been written?
I don't tend to think that just because I don't like or agree with something, it loses its right to exist and be enjoyed by other people who don't share my brain or my beliefs. That said, the world would probably be better off without any book that was written with the intent of inciting people to evil acts. Or without unbalanced propaganda in general.
8. One book you are currently reading?
I'm slowly but surely working my way through A Confederacy of Dunces. It's... not as funny as all the blurbs on the cover led me to expect, but it has its moments. Mostly I just feel sorry for the main character, who I suspect is an undiagnosed high-functioning autistic. He reminds me of this kid in my sister's ED class when I was interning, and what he'll probably turn out to be without the proper intervention, and... yeah. Kind of a painful read, which is why it's taking me so long. But I'm also re-reading Stardust (another Neil Gaiman fairy tale) in anticipation of the movie, and finding that I like it much better than I remembered. And it's moving along much more quickly.
9. One book you have been meaning to read?
The Catcher in the Rye has been sitting on my shelf started but not finished for years. Ditto 1984. I always plan to get back to them.
10. Now tag five people.
Er... no. But if you run with it, please comment and let me know. I'd love to read your version.
And now, I meme. I'm not generally much of a meme sort of person, but I saw this book meme in Bojojoti's LJ the other day and it grabbed me. Maybe because I don't talk about books nearly as much as I should, and I'd like to remind myself and others that I do, in fact, read:
1. One book that changed your life?
I would say the Bible, but that's pretty much a given. So instead I'll change things up and go with Women With Attention Deficit Disorder by Sari Solden. Because if I had any lingering doubts about whether I had ADD when I picked up the book, by the time I finished it I not only had no doubt but also had a greater understanding of my type of the disorder and what I could do to keep it from interfering with my ability to be a functional adult. I highly recommend it not only for anyone who suspects they might have ADD, but also for anyone who is in any kind of relationship with a woman who has ADD, because this will help you understand what it's like to be her and why she does the seemingly stupid things she does. And, hopefully, make it a little easier for you to forgive and accept the way she is.
2. One book you have read more than once?
Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman. I read this one way back when it first came out, having only a passing familiarity with "that Sandman guy." I loved it enough to recommend it to friends a few years later, and when they tried to enthusiastically discuss it with me and I found I didn't remember a lot of what they were going on about, I picked it up again and found new layers that I'd missed the first time, as tends to happen. I've read it again since then, and it's come to feel like an old friend.
3. One book you would want on a desert island?
The Bible. I'm not just saying that because I have to. Spending time in the Word centers me and gives me a sense of peace and calm like nothing else, save prayer. It would keep me from losing my mind.
4. One book that made you laugh?
Good Omens by Neil Gaiman (again) and Terry Pratchett. It's like Monty Python meets Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (another book--series of books, really--that made me laugh) meets the Book of Revelation. Irreverent and naughty and hilarious.
5. One book that made you cry?
A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin. If you've read it, you know what and why. If you haven't read it, you should. And then keep going with the rest of the series (to date), because it only gets better.
6. One book you wish had been written?
I've got about three partial manuscripts on the back burner that I wish could write themselves.
7. One book you wish had never been written?
I don't tend to think that just because I don't like or agree with something, it loses its right to exist and be enjoyed by other people who don't share my brain or my beliefs. That said, the world would probably be better off without any book that was written with the intent of inciting people to evil acts. Or without unbalanced propaganda in general.
8. One book you are currently reading?
I'm slowly but surely working my way through A Confederacy of Dunces. It's... not as funny as all the blurbs on the cover led me to expect, but it has its moments. Mostly I just feel sorry for the main character, who I suspect is an undiagnosed high-functioning autistic. He reminds me of this kid in my sister's ED class when I was interning, and what he'll probably turn out to be without the proper intervention, and... yeah. Kind of a painful read, which is why it's taking me so long. But I'm also re-reading Stardust (another Neil Gaiman fairy tale) in anticipation of the movie, and finding that I like it much better than I remembered. And it's moving along much more quickly.
9. One book you have been meaning to read?
The Catcher in the Rye has been sitting on my shelf started but not finished for years. Ditto 1984. I always plan to get back to them.
10. Now tag five people.
Er... no. But if you run with it, please comment and let me know. I'd love to read your version.
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
Yesterday we got stuff done. Go us! First order of business: ordering the cake. We went with a marble cake with Bavarian cream filling and buttercream icing. Mmmm. It's a two-tiered "poetry" cake, white frosting with the quote "True love is friendship caught on fire" written in black piped icing around the sides. 'Twill be pretty.
Second order of business: finding our way to Eureka Springs and the wedding venue. Mapquest was excellent help on the first part; the second, not so much. Once we got into town we drove around forever looking for the street MQ told us to turn on, even stopping for directions only to be told that they'd never heard of that street. That person told us to head into the historic downtown area, sure that somebody there would be able to give us better directions to the B&B, and lo, they were right. Even then, our B&B sits between two others and they didn't have a sign out in the road, so we drove right past it and kept going for a couple of miles before we turned around and went back. So I would say it's definitely a good thing we decided to track this place down and scope it out before the wedding day. Now I have to be sure everybody who's coming gets directions that are actually useful.
The B&B is beautiful, at least on the outside. We got there while the innkeeper was out for lunch and the house was all locked up (apparently there are no guests staying there right now), so we snuck around the back to check out the gardens. Their outdoor wedding area is pretty but very tiny, so I understand now why we're only allowed such a limited number of guests. As it is it looks like it will be standing room only, so we'd better keep the ceremony short. These things are good to know in advance.
Thirdly, we found our way to the town hall and picked up our marriage license. Yay! We got a nice lady in the court clerk's office to take a picture of us in front of the building brandishing our certificate. Maybe someday you'll get to see it, if I can ever get my camera software installed.
Finally, we headed back home (the Ozarks are beautiful, but the roads sure are twisty, and mildly car-sickness causing, so I was glad when we reached straight, flat roads again) and ordered our wedding rings. I'm getting this one. Matt's getting this one. I'm a little scared about the timing--they e-mailed me this morning to let me know they're out of my size and it will take a couple of weeks to get it in. I wrote back and told them what it's for and when I need it by and that I'll take it in another size and fix it later if I have to. *fingers crossed*
So that's... not quite everything, but we're getting there. The only major tasks left are for Matt to reserve the tuxes and for me (hopefully with the help of the bridesmaids) to arrange the bouquets. OMG it's coming up fast. This weekend is the shower, next weekend is the bachelorette party, and the weekend after that is the wedding. Eeeeeeeeee! I'm getting married in three weeks, you guys!
Second order of business: finding our way to Eureka Springs and the wedding venue. Mapquest was excellent help on the first part; the second, not so much. Once we got into town we drove around forever looking for the street MQ told us to turn on, even stopping for directions only to be told that they'd never heard of that street. That person told us to head into the historic downtown area, sure that somebody there would be able to give us better directions to the B&B, and lo, they were right. Even then, our B&B sits between two others and they didn't have a sign out in the road, so we drove right past it and kept going for a couple of miles before we turned around and went back. So I would say it's definitely a good thing we decided to track this place down and scope it out before the wedding day. Now I have to be sure everybody who's coming gets directions that are actually useful.
The B&B is beautiful, at least on the outside. We got there while the innkeeper was out for lunch and the house was all locked up (apparently there are no guests staying there right now), so we snuck around the back to check out the gardens. Their outdoor wedding area is pretty but very tiny, so I understand now why we're only allowed such a limited number of guests. As it is it looks like it will be standing room only, so we'd better keep the ceremony short. These things are good to know in advance.
Thirdly, we found our way to the town hall and picked up our marriage license. Yay! We got a nice lady in the court clerk's office to take a picture of us in front of the building brandishing our certificate. Maybe someday you'll get to see it, if I can ever get my camera software installed.
Finally, we headed back home (the Ozarks are beautiful, but the roads sure are twisty, and mildly car-sickness causing, so I was glad when we reached straight, flat roads again) and ordered our wedding rings. I'm getting this one. Matt's getting this one. I'm a little scared about the timing--they e-mailed me this morning to let me know they're out of my size and it will take a couple of weeks to get it in. I wrote back and told them what it's for and when I need it by and that I'll take it in another size and fix it later if I have to. *fingers crossed*
So that's... not quite everything, but we're getting there. The only major tasks left are for Matt to reserve the tuxes and for me (hopefully with the help of the bridesmaids) to arrange the bouquets. OMG it's coming up fast. This weekend is the shower, next weekend is the bachelorette party, and the weekend after that is the wedding. Eeeeeeeeee! I'm getting married in three weeks, you guys!
Monday, August 21, 2006
It's one of those days where it feels like the universe is conspiring to make me late and behind on everything. I won't go into any detailed whining on the matter other than to point out that the main culprit in making my day a stressful one is a Bad Times (tm Poundy) gas station near my house. Everything was running smoothly until I got there. Ever since then it's been total chaos. Bah.
So, the weekend: 'Twas a good one. Matt's birthday is this Wednesday, and since we're too old and tired to venture out of the house on work nights and next weekend will be filled up with bridal showers and still yet more wedding prep, I took him out Saturday night for a birthday dinner and a movie. He, being a fan of the Michael Mann, wanted to see Miami Vice, and since it was for his birthday I kept myself from trying to nudge him toward Pirates 2 (which, no, I still have not seen) or Snakes on a Plane instead. But Miami Vice turned out better than I expected (and I gotta say, my expectations were pretty low), so it's all good.
We also stopped by a jewelry store to find out our ring sizes so we can order our wedding rings this week (we're pretty sure we're settled on going with Irish claddagh rings, because we like the symbolism and we're not going to let Bangel ruin it for us (or for me--Matt actually prefers B/A; somehow this did not become grounds to call off the wedding). We tried a few rings on at the store just for the heck of it, and I found that I still really don't like big and showy rings, that my definition of "big and showy" is some people's definition of "small and understated," and that a wedding ring on Matt's finger looks really good and gives me warm, fuzzy feelings.
The only real glitch in the evening was when we stopped by our bakery of choice to order our reception cake only to find out that only thier Tulsa locations sell wedding cakes and they don't deliver outside the Tulsa area. And since nobody wants to drive to Tulsa to pick it up, either, we have to find another bakery closer to home. I think I've found one that will work. We're going to drop by tomorrow to check them out and, hopefully, order our cake.
I suppose walking into the pub where we wanted to have dinner only to find it filled with a Celtic band and a film crew (?!) and overflowing with geriatrics in kilts and the only available seating being the smoking room upstairs might also count as a glitch, but it was a minor one, as we realized we were both more in the mood for Mexican food, anyway.
And I suppose the slightly scary thunderstorm that came out of nowhere when our movie let out could also be called a glitch, but it led to heroics (Quote, after Matt braved the lightening and pounding rain to go fetch the car and pick me up at the door of the theater: "I know I drove like an asshole pulling up here just then, but dammit, I had to come and get my woman!") and ended up lending a little extra romance to the evening, so that doesn't count, either.
The evening wrapped up on a pretty neat note when we got home and discovered a smallish (as far as such things can be considered "smallish") brown tarantula at the end of the driveway. I realize this would not qualify as "neat" for a lot of you, but with the exception of certain evil brown recluse hell spawn, we like spiders. Tarantulas in particular. Matt even used to keep them as pets. As down as I am with the spiders, I'm not really down with keeping them in the house, so I was pretty relieved when he talked himself out of capturing and keeping this one, deeming it "too feisty." Now, when you see tarantulas in the movies, they always creep along really slowly, giving folks plenty of time to fling them off their persons and run like hell before they can be eaten. But I'm here to tell you that, in reality, these buggers can move. Fortunately it was running away from us instead of charging at us (except when it got turned around and ran up on Matt's shoe and made him scream like a girl--okay, maybe "like a girl" is a bit strong, but I was a little surprised that his voice could pitch that high, which, hee!). Matt kept trying to steer the little guy towards a nearby cricket in the hopes of seeing "something cool," but apparently the spider either wasn't hungry or was more interested in hiding from the two hairless giants who kept looming over and poking at it, because it ignored the cricket completely. So finally we herded it away from the street so it wouldn't get smooshed and went inside.
And that was Saturday.
Sunday was less eventful and hardly even worth mentioning except to rant about how I couldn't upload the promised baby pictures because I couldn't get a turn at my mom's computer and how I couldn't finish my laundry because certain cousins who don't even live there decided doing their kid's laundry was more important and took my laundry out of the washer and dryer so that they could cut in and do theirs, but I won't, because complaining is boring, and because the latter thing resulted in my mom and aunt both offering to finish my laundry for me to keep me from killing anybody. So I will just say that getting ready to move is definitely going to be priority one in the new Bauhaus household.
And I just realized that it's fifteen minutes into my lunch hour already. And it just started storming outside. Hooray for rain! I'm going to go eat something now, maybe play a little mah jong, and hope my afternoon runs a little more smoothly.
Oh, and PS: Tomorrow we're driving down (up? Over? I need to Mapquest this place) to Eureka Springs to scope out the wedding venue and pick up our marriage license (yay!), which will mean a day of blog silence. But I'll be back to tell you all about it on Wednesday.
So, the weekend: 'Twas a good one. Matt's birthday is this Wednesday, and since we're too old and tired to venture out of the house on work nights and next weekend will be filled up with bridal showers and still yet more wedding prep, I took him out Saturday night for a birthday dinner and a movie. He, being a fan of the Michael Mann, wanted to see Miami Vice, and since it was for his birthday I kept myself from trying to nudge him toward Pirates 2 (which, no, I still have not seen) or Snakes on a Plane instead. But Miami Vice turned out better than I expected (and I gotta say, my expectations were pretty low), so it's all good.
We also stopped by a jewelry store to find out our ring sizes so we can order our wedding rings this week (we're pretty sure we're settled on going with Irish claddagh rings, because we like the symbolism and we're not going to let Bangel ruin it for us (or for me--Matt actually prefers B/A; somehow this did not become grounds to call off the wedding). We tried a few rings on at the store just for the heck of it, and I found that I still really don't like big and showy rings, that my definition of "big and showy" is some people's definition of "small and understated," and that a wedding ring on Matt's finger looks really good and gives me warm, fuzzy feelings.
The only real glitch in the evening was when we stopped by our bakery of choice to order our reception cake only to find out that only thier Tulsa locations sell wedding cakes and they don't deliver outside the Tulsa area. And since nobody wants to drive to Tulsa to pick it up, either, we have to find another bakery closer to home. I think I've found one that will work. We're going to drop by tomorrow to check them out and, hopefully, order our cake.
I suppose walking into the pub where we wanted to have dinner only to find it filled with a Celtic band and a film crew (?!) and overflowing with geriatrics in kilts and the only available seating being the smoking room upstairs might also count as a glitch, but it was a minor one, as we realized we were both more in the mood for Mexican food, anyway.
And I suppose the slightly scary thunderstorm that came out of nowhere when our movie let out could also be called a glitch, but it led to heroics (Quote, after Matt braved the lightening and pounding rain to go fetch the car and pick me up at the door of the theater: "I know I drove like an asshole pulling up here just then, but dammit, I had to come and get my woman!") and ended up lending a little extra romance to the evening, so that doesn't count, either.
The evening wrapped up on a pretty neat note when we got home and discovered a smallish (as far as such things can be considered "smallish") brown tarantula at the end of the driveway. I realize this would not qualify as "neat" for a lot of you, but with the exception of certain evil brown recluse hell spawn, we like spiders. Tarantulas in particular. Matt even used to keep them as pets. As down as I am with the spiders, I'm not really down with keeping them in the house, so I was pretty relieved when he talked himself out of capturing and keeping this one, deeming it "too feisty." Now, when you see tarantulas in the movies, they always creep along really slowly, giving folks plenty of time to fling them off their persons and run like hell before they can be eaten. But I'm here to tell you that, in reality, these buggers can move. Fortunately it was running away from us instead of charging at us (except when it got turned around and ran up on Matt's shoe and made him scream like a girl--okay, maybe "like a girl" is a bit strong, but I was a little surprised that his voice could pitch that high, which, hee!). Matt kept trying to steer the little guy towards a nearby cricket in the hopes of seeing "something cool," but apparently the spider either wasn't hungry or was more interested in hiding from the two hairless giants who kept looming over and poking at it, because it ignored the cricket completely. So finally we herded it away from the street so it wouldn't get smooshed and went inside.
And that was Saturday.
Sunday was less eventful and hardly even worth mentioning except to rant about how I couldn't upload the promised baby pictures because I couldn't get a turn at my mom's computer and how I couldn't finish my laundry because certain cousins who don't even live there decided doing their kid's laundry was more important and took my laundry out of the washer and dryer so that they could cut in and do theirs, but I won't, because complaining is boring, and because the latter thing resulted in my mom and aunt both offering to finish my laundry for me to keep me from killing anybody. So I will just say that getting ready to move is definitely going to be priority one in the new Bauhaus household.
And I just realized that it's fifteen minutes into my lunch hour already. And it just started storming outside. Hooray for rain! I'm going to go eat something now, maybe play a little mah jong, and hope my afternoon runs a little more smoothly.
Oh, and PS: Tomorrow we're driving down (up? Over? I need to Mapquest this place) to Eureka Springs to scope out the wedding venue and pick up our marriage license (yay!), which will mean a day of blog silence. But I'll be back to tell you all about it on Wednesday.
Friday, August 18, 2006
So what's a proper response for someone whose congratulations on your upcoming nuptials are followed by a "hope it sticks!" or a "Starter marriages are great," or the following exchange:
So how would you respond to someone who implies that your marriage is disposable? Besides kicking them in the nethers, which is my first impulse, or the equally socially unacceptable and office-innappropriate method of preaching about your beliefs on marriage and divorce and how once it's done you're pretty much stuck with each other, because you know you're not marrying the type of person who would ever provide you with Biblical grounds for divorce? I'm looking for something slightly more clever than my actual response, which was pretty much to stare in disbelief with a polite grin pasted in place and laugh in that fake way you do when something is absolutely not funny but you still feel obligated to pretend otherwise.
People make me sad.
Congratulator: This your first marriage?
Me: Barring tragedy, it's my only marriage.
C: [Knowing chuckle] That's what we all say.
So how would you respond to someone who implies that your marriage is disposable? Besides kicking them in the nethers, which is my first impulse, or the equally socially unacceptable and office-innappropriate method of preaching about your beliefs on marriage and divorce and how once it's done you're pretty much stuck with each other, because you know you're not marrying the type of person who would ever provide you with Biblical grounds for divorce? I'm looking for something slightly more clever than my actual response, which was pretty much to stare in disbelief with a polite grin pasted in place and laugh in that fake way you do when something is absolutely not funny but you still feel obligated to pretend otherwise.
People make me sad.
Thursday, August 17, 2006
| Charlie Brown is on the run from the Peanuts Gang after the Great Pumpkin puts a bounty on his head in this wild animated student short by Jim Reardon. | |
Well, it's a done deal: as of yesterday I'm an official [Anonymous Engineering Firm] employee. It felt like getting made. You should have seen me strutting back from the HR office, brandishing the shiny red company logo mug and pen (also shiny and red) that they gave me as welcome gifts. Okay, I didn't really strut. But I was all swagger on the inside.
I have a very tall stack of paperwork to fill out. I had to call and move my dental cleaning appointment to the week before my wedding, because I'll be without insurance until September 1. I'll also be without a significant paycheck until September 11, and that's... really, really bad timing, considering all the things I still need to buy for the wedding and the trip, not to mention bills and groceries and whatall. But I've been saving spending money for the trip, so I suppose I can use that to help get past the squeeze, and then pay myself back once I get my first company paycheck. Which at least I'll be getting before the cruise.
Speaking of, at least I got Discover to raise my credit limit so we can pay for our excursions. Not without a bit of a fight, natch. When I called to check the status of my request and they told me it was declined, I asked to speak to the department in charge of these things, and asked them why. When they pointed out a couple of items on my credit report, I pointed out in turn that those were there when I applied, so then why did they approve me for the higher limit in the first place? She goes, "We did? Let me check on that." Then she came back and said that I was right (gee, thanks), and how much did I need again? I told her that the full limit they offered me in the first place would be nice, but barring that I need at least a thousand more, and pointed out that I was going on my honeymoon next month and, frankly, was on the verge of freaking out. So she split the difference and bumped me up to a thousand less than their original offer. Good enough. Sometimes polite persistence pays off. You gotta question the man, yo.
I have a very tall stack of paperwork to fill out. I had to call and move my dental cleaning appointment to the week before my wedding, because I'll be without insurance until September 1. I'll also be without a significant paycheck until September 11, and that's... really, really bad timing, considering all the things I still need to buy for the wedding and the trip, not to mention bills and groceries and whatall. But I've been saving spending money for the trip, so I suppose I can use that to help get past the squeeze, and then pay myself back once I get my first company paycheck. Which at least I'll be getting before the cruise.
Speaking of, at least I got Discover to raise my credit limit so we can pay for our excursions. Not without a bit of a fight, natch. When I called to check the status of my request and they told me it was declined, I asked to speak to the department in charge of these things, and asked them why. When they pointed out a couple of items on my credit report, I pointed out in turn that those were there when I applied, so then why did they approve me for the higher limit in the first place? She goes, "We did? Let me check on that." Then she came back and said that I was right (gee, thanks), and how much did I need again? I told her that the full limit they offered me in the first place would be nice, but barring that I need at least a thousand more, and pointed out that I was going on my honeymoon next month and, frankly, was on the verge of freaking out. So she split the difference and bumped me up to a thousand less than their original offer. Good enough. Sometimes polite persistence pays off. You gotta question the man, yo.
Tuesday, August 15, 2006
CAG just stopped by to tell me that she spoke with our hiring supervisor this morning, who has initiated the paperwork to hire me permanently. Yay! They weren't sure yet whether it would go into effect this pay period (starting tomorrow) or the first of next month--depends on how quickly they can process the paperwork. I'm not sure yet how this will affect my pay schedule (it'll suck not getting paid weekly anymore, but that's a minor inconvenience). Also don't know yet whether this means I'll get vacation pay for all my upcoming time off, which would be awesome, or how it will affect my dental coverage for my cleaning appointment in two weeks... but I'm not a temp anymore! I can make long-term plans with the relative assurance that I'll still have a job to support them! Yippee!
So I can see from my visitor stats that OF COURSE the one day I bitch about my sister is the day she chooses to start reading my blog (I was actually whining about our mom, but I'm sure she won't see it that way). I think my uppance has come. Let this be a lesson to us all.
Monday, August 14, 2006
Forgot to mention earlier that Saturday was a weigh-in day, and I've lost 4 pounds in the last two weeks. I probably shouldn't mention it, since blogging my weight loss progress seems to be the jinx that ensures I'll start putting weight back on. ...or maybe it's all the junk food binges and failure to exercise that ensure the weight gain? Hmm. Might have to ponder that one some more.
I just spilled cereal all over the floor beneath my desk. I didn't just dump the bowl, mind. No, I catapulted a big spoonful into the floor by somehow flipping my spoon out of the bowl as I was trying to take a bite. I may be clumsy, but at least I'm clumsy with flair.
Now that's cleaned up, here's the weekend doin's.
Expect a GAP (Gratuitous Auntie Post) as soon as I get around to installing the digital camera software. Nephew #2 brought Baby Dakotah over this weekend. It was the first time I've seen her since the one hospital visit, and I got to hold her for the first time ever. She's adorable, people, and also very healthy. She's still a little small for her age, but she's doing her best to make up for it in baby fat. I took about a million pictures of her (and one of Ash, who was also there, and who forgot to scream "No pictures!" and run and hide like some kind of paparazzi-harrassed child star long enough to ham it up for one great shot), and I'll be inflicting the choice shots upon you soon enough.
The rest of my Saturday (all the rest of it; we headed out at 1:30 PM and didn't get back home until almost 11) was spent wedding-shopping with Mom and Li'l Sis (Ash stayed behind with my aunt, which turned out to be an excellent decision, considering how long it took us without adding a cranky three-year-old to the mix). I'm going to be gracious and adult and not whine about being ignored by my mom while she kept wandering off to lavish attention on my sister, especially considering all that Sis has been through lately (...what? Okay, fine. But I mean, really, you guys. Yes, she's been through a lot of hell lately and is in need of some pampering, and I don't begrudge her that, and I wouldn't complain at all if not for the fact that this is par for the course, and has more to do with her baby-of-the-family status than anything else, and she's already had a lot of pampering and attention bestowed upon her by all of us and yes, I feel like a bitch for even thinking so, considering what she's been through, but still, can't I have ONE DAY with these women that's actually at least somewhat about me seeing as how I'm, y'know, THE BRIDE, and can't I say so quietly to my mom away from prying ears without being told to stop being a Bridezilla? Which show, by the way, she has lost her priveleges to watch anymore? Anyway...).
Where was I? Oh, right. Shopping. So Li'l Sis is doing much better. She's still a little sore from the surgery and rebuilding her strength and had to take a lot of breaks to rest, but for the most part she did fine and we all had a lovely time. We found her an awesome Little Black Dress that looks great under her wedding poncho and will remain useful far beyond the wedding. We also found my mom a pretty mother-of-the-bride dress that coordinates with my color scheme. And I really shouldn't complain, because what my mom failed to spend on me in attention she made up for in money, spending a ridiculous amount on quality makeup products for me to use on the big day, as well as buying my jewelry, stockings, and even a "Just Married" tank-top, just because. She also picked up the tab on Sis's dress, coordinating jewelry and shoes.
Speaking of shoes, damn you, Payless, you and your irresistible clearance prices! I was supposed to spend my extra money this week on clothes to wear on the cruise, but, well.... Shoes count as clothes, right? I don't really feel bad, though, because I needed a dressier pair of brown flats for work. And I also needed a pair of athletic/deck/hiking shoes for the trip, and the fact that I found them in a cute Mary Jane style is just a bonus. Maybe I didn't really need the pretty flower-embroidered espadrilles that I also picked up, but for seven bucks on clearance nobody's going to begrudge me having them. Annoyingly, not a single pair that I bought is on display at Payless.com, but at least I can show you the pair Sis picked out for the wedding.
In craft project news, I finished off my veil, woo! I also made peace with the fact that tiny, delicate things and I are non-mixy and started my garter over in a larger, more weildy yarn. This might turn out to be one fugly garter, but it's too soon yet to tell.
And that's my weekend. Matt worked all weekend, so between that and the shopping I didn't get to see much of him, bah. I probably should have worked in more relaxation time, but I got to check a lot of things off the monster To Do list, and that's pretty rejuvenating right there. Now it's almost lunch time, which means Wal-Mart, because I'm low on cereal and out of milk. And possibly my grapes went bad over the weekend (in the no longer edible kind of way, not in a "everybody's gone from the office, let's rock this fridge and PAR-TAY!" kind of way, but you probably already guessed that).
Now that's cleaned up, here's the weekend doin's.
Expect a GAP (Gratuitous Auntie Post) as soon as I get around to installing the digital camera software. Nephew #2 brought Baby Dakotah over this weekend. It was the first time I've seen her since the one hospital visit, and I got to hold her for the first time ever. She's adorable, people, and also very healthy. She's still a little small for her age, but she's doing her best to make up for it in baby fat. I took about a million pictures of her (and one of Ash, who was also there, and who forgot to scream "No pictures!" and run and hide like some kind of paparazzi-harrassed child star long enough to ham it up for one great shot), and I'll be inflicting the choice shots upon you soon enough.
The rest of my Saturday (all the rest of it; we headed out at 1:30 PM and didn't get back home until almost 11) was spent wedding-shopping with Mom and Li'l Sis (Ash stayed behind with my aunt, which turned out to be an excellent decision, considering how long it took us without adding a cranky three-year-old to the mix). I'm going to be gracious and adult and not whine about being ignored by my mom while she kept wandering off to lavish attention on my sister, especially considering all that Sis has been through lately (...what? Okay, fine. But I mean, really, you guys. Yes, she's been through a lot of hell lately and is in need of some pampering, and I don't begrudge her that, and I wouldn't complain at all if not for the fact that this is par for the course, and has more to do with her baby-of-the-family status than anything else, and she's already had a lot of pampering and attention bestowed upon her by all of us and yes, I feel like a bitch for even thinking so, considering what she's been through, but still, can't I have ONE DAY with these women that's actually at least somewhat about me seeing as how I'm, y'know, THE BRIDE, and can't I say so quietly to my mom away from prying ears without being told to stop being a Bridezilla? Which show, by the way, she has lost her priveleges to watch anymore? Anyway...).
Where was I? Oh, right. Shopping. So Li'l Sis is doing much better. She's still a little sore from the surgery and rebuilding her strength and had to take a lot of breaks to rest, but for the most part she did fine and we all had a lovely time. We found her an awesome Little Black Dress that looks great under her wedding poncho and will remain useful far beyond the wedding. We also found my mom a pretty mother-of-the-bride dress that coordinates with my color scheme. And I really shouldn't complain, because what my mom failed to spend on me in attention she made up for in money, spending a ridiculous amount on quality makeup products for me to use on the big day, as well as buying my jewelry, stockings, and even a "Just Married" tank-top, just because. She also picked up the tab on Sis's dress, coordinating jewelry and shoes.
Speaking of shoes, damn you, Payless, you and your irresistible clearance prices! I was supposed to spend my extra money this week on clothes to wear on the cruise, but, well.... Shoes count as clothes, right? I don't really feel bad, though, because I needed a dressier pair of brown flats for work. And I also needed a pair of athletic/deck/hiking shoes for the trip, and the fact that I found them in a cute Mary Jane style is just a bonus. Maybe I didn't really need the pretty flower-embroidered espadrilles that I also picked up, but for seven bucks on clearance nobody's going to begrudge me having them. Annoyingly, not a single pair that I bought is on display at Payless.com, but at least I can show you the pair Sis picked out for the wedding.
In craft project news, I finished off my veil, woo! I also made peace with the fact that tiny, delicate things and I are non-mixy and started my garter over in a larger, more weildy yarn. This might turn out to be one fugly garter, but it's too soon yet to tell.
And that's my weekend. Matt worked all weekend, so between that and the shopping I didn't get to see much of him, bah. I probably should have worked in more relaxation time, but I got to check a lot of things off the monster To Do list, and that's pretty rejuvenating right there. Now it's almost lunch time, which means Wal-Mart, because I'm low on cereal and out of milk. And possibly my grapes went bad over the weekend (in the no longer edible kind of way, not in a "everybody's gone from the office, let's rock this fridge and PAR-TAY!" kind of way, but you probably already guessed that).
Friday, August 11, 2006
My mom is basically running a boarding house. Since about six months after she built the place there's been a steady stream of people in and out--family members, church folks and even distant friends of acquaintances waiting to take over one of the "spare" rooms for low-cost or, depending on how down and out they are, no-cost rent. I moved out and into my own apartment in the first place because sharing the house with so many people overwhelmed me (not to mention annoyed the crap out of me). But then I got down on my own luck and ended up forced to move back home. That was only supposed to last until I graduated college and got a good job; but, well, it's taken me two years past graduation to find said good job, and even it's not officially permanent yet. And so, going on six years later, I'm still here.
Most of those years have been a rare oasis of relative peace and quiet, with just my mom and I and, surprisingly, no tenants. My brother and his family lived next door, so they were there all the time, but eventually they would go home and things would be peaceful again. But then my brother and his wife moved to be closer to his job, leaving my adult-but-not-yet-graduated nephew behind at our house to finish out the school year. Now he's graduated and, instead of going to live with his parents or moving out on his own, is looking for a job so that he can start paying rent on his room.
Around the same time they moved, a friend of my mom's, who was going through the kind of divorce which to call "nasty" would be putting a positive spin on things, moved into the guest room. She stayed until about six months ago, when she felt confident enough to establish her independence and step out on her own.
This was about the time I came up with the plan for Matt to move in and take over her room. It was a solid plan. He was just making ends meet and was having trouble saving up for his part of the wedding costs, he hated his apartment and the people running it, I hated that seeing him and working meant never getting to be home; and if, as we'd already decided, we were going to live in my upstairs apartment and obsessively save money for the first couple years of our marriage, we might as well get the moving part over with before getting overwhelmed with wedding stuff. And so he did.
He had a hard time adjusting at first, what with a "houseful" consisting of me, my mom and my nephew being pretty overwhelming to a single child who's never even had that much roommate experience. He was starting to have second thoughts about our plan to stay put long enough to pay off some credit cards and save up a downpayment for a house of our own. "We have to get out of here soon" became his mantra. But then he started to get used to things and the sensibility of sticking to our plan once again outweighed his discomfort.
But now.
But now.
But now my aunt and her grandson have moved in, never mind that the house was all out of spare rooms. No, they've packed themselves, their parakeet and their entire houseful of stuff into our closed in back porch, the room that was previously relegated to housing seldom-used exercise equipment and the dogs whenever we needed to shut them away from company. That's where they'll be sleeping until after the wedding when Matt moves upstairs and frees up the guest room. Now, this wouldn't be so bad, but for one thing: my cousin. Not the grandson, mind, but his mother. She is... look, I don't like to gossip publicly about family, so I'm just going to say that she's a fairly useless human being, and leave it at that. She hasn't moved in, necessarily, yet, but she's staying there a lot, enough so that she can point to it and say "See? I'm there for my kid. I haven't completely abandoned him."
So. The point is, the house is overflowing with people, and has surpassed my threshold of being able to deal. I want the hell out. So does Matt. Our sensible financial, eventual-house-buying plan doesn't seem worth the price of our sanity. Looking at several cute and cozy rental houses and duplexes this morning on Craigslist--a pretty unwise thing to do right now, considering--is only fueling the fire. Trouble is, Matt still needs to finish his degree, preferably before I'm too old to have babies, which means he'll need to work less, or possibly not at all for a while, which means money will be tight, which means that we're stuck. Or at least that we have to make a choice: staying put to accomodate his education, or moving out to accomodate our sanity and either putting his degree (and, subsequently, babies) on hold a while longer or drawing it out over several more years.
Bleah. I'm trying to talk myself (and him) down. We can't do anything until after the wedding, anyway. Probably not until after the holidays, even. So maybe we'll get used to it. Maybe Cousin Useless won't come around quite so much once her kid is settled into his new school. Maybe once Matt's upstairs and we can just come home and shut ourselves up in our apartment and not have to negotiate a human obstacle course to get to each other we won't mind what goes on in the rest of the house. Maybe once our refrigerator is bought and installed and we have a proper kitchenette that we don't have to share with anybody we'll become a peaceful island unto ourselves, only venturing into the morass of people when it becomes necessary to leave the house.
Maybe.
In our saner moments, he thinks we should plan on sticking it out for a year, and then see where we're at and where we should go from there. I say six months. My six months might eventually be coaxed into a year, but for now, six months is the largest number I can deal with. With six months, the light is actually visible at the end of the tunnel. In six months we should know what kind of financial aide he's eligible for and whether or not I get to keep this job and what kind of raises I can expect to get and how often. And if we stick to my current payment plan, we should have quite a lot of debt paid down in six months.
Six months, and then we'll see what's what.
But if anybody else moves in, all bets are off.
Most of those years have been a rare oasis of relative peace and quiet, with just my mom and I and, surprisingly, no tenants. My brother and his family lived next door, so they were there all the time, but eventually they would go home and things would be peaceful again. But then my brother and his wife moved to be closer to his job, leaving my adult-but-not-yet-graduated nephew behind at our house to finish out the school year. Now he's graduated and, instead of going to live with his parents or moving out on his own, is looking for a job so that he can start paying rent on his room.
Around the same time they moved, a friend of my mom's, who was going through the kind of divorce which to call "nasty" would be putting a positive spin on things, moved into the guest room. She stayed until about six months ago, when she felt confident enough to establish her independence and step out on her own.
This was about the time I came up with the plan for Matt to move in and take over her room. It was a solid plan. He was just making ends meet and was having trouble saving up for his part of the wedding costs, he hated his apartment and the people running it, I hated that seeing him and working meant never getting to be home; and if, as we'd already decided, we were going to live in my upstairs apartment and obsessively save money for the first couple years of our marriage, we might as well get the moving part over with before getting overwhelmed with wedding stuff. And so he did.
He had a hard time adjusting at first, what with a "houseful" consisting of me, my mom and my nephew being pretty overwhelming to a single child who's never even had that much roommate experience. He was starting to have second thoughts about our plan to stay put long enough to pay off some credit cards and save up a downpayment for a house of our own. "We have to get out of here soon" became his mantra. But then he started to get used to things and the sensibility of sticking to our plan once again outweighed his discomfort.
But now.
But now.
But now my aunt and her grandson have moved in, never mind that the house was all out of spare rooms. No, they've packed themselves, their parakeet and their entire houseful of stuff into our closed in back porch, the room that was previously relegated to housing seldom-used exercise equipment and the dogs whenever we needed to shut them away from company. That's where they'll be sleeping until after the wedding when Matt moves upstairs and frees up the guest room. Now, this wouldn't be so bad, but for one thing: my cousin. Not the grandson, mind, but his mother. She is... look, I don't like to gossip publicly about family, so I'm just going to say that she's a fairly useless human being, and leave it at that. She hasn't moved in, necessarily, yet, but she's staying there a lot, enough so that she can point to it and say "See? I'm there for my kid. I haven't completely abandoned him."
So. The point is, the house is overflowing with people, and has surpassed my threshold of being able to deal. I want the hell out. So does Matt. Our sensible financial, eventual-house-buying plan doesn't seem worth the price of our sanity. Looking at several cute and cozy rental houses and duplexes this morning on Craigslist--a pretty unwise thing to do right now, considering--is only fueling the fire. Trouble is, Matt still needs to finish his degree, preferably before I'm too old to have babies, which means he'll need to work less, or possibly not at all for a while, which means money will be tight, which means that we're stuck. Or at least that we have to make a choice: staying put to accomodate his education, or moving out to accomodate our sanity and either putting his degree (and, subsequently, babies) on hold a while longer or drawing it out over several more years.
Bleah. I'm trying to talk myself (and him) down. We can't do anything until after the wedding, anyway. Probably not until after the holidays, even. So maybe we'll get used to it. Maybe Cousin Useless won't come around quite so much once her kid is settled into his new school. Maybe once Matt's upstairs and we can just come home and shut ourselves up in our apartment and not have to negotiate a human obstacle course to get to each other we won't mind what goes on in the rest of the house. Maybe once our refrigerator is bought and installed and we have a proper kitchenette that we don't have to share with anybody we'll become a peaceful island unto ourselves, only venturing into the morass of people when it becomes necessary to leave the house.
Maybe.
In our saner moments, he thinks we should plan on sticking it out for a year, and then see where we're at and where we should go from there. I say six months. My six months might eventually be coaxed into a year, but for now, six months is the largest number I can deal with. With six months, the light is actually visible at the end of the tunnel. In six months we should know what kind of financial aide he's eligible for and whether or not I get to keep this job and what kind of raises I can expect to get and how often. And if we stick to my current payment plan, we should have quite a lot of debt paid down in six months.
Six months, and then we'll see what's what.
But if anybody else moves in, all bets are off.
Thursday, August 10, 2006
I love that e-Harmony commercial where the couple's like "(Him) We-- (her) finish each other's sentences! (both) *giggles*" That's such a widely accepted/expected hallmark of soul-mate-dom that it's become a cliché, and one that doesn't apply to me and Matt. Quite the opposite, in fact. Here's an example of a conversation we end up having almost every day:
So does this mean we can't be soulmates?
Matt: That fruit smells like... um. What's the word I'm looking for?
Me: Fruit?
Matt: No. It's like, fresh, like... sweet...
Me: Fruity?
Matt: [rolls eyes] I thought you were supposed to be some kind of wordsmith.
Me: A writer does not need to be a thesaurus to get the point across.
Matt: Whatever. Help me out here. It's like, healthy...
Me: Earthy?
Matt: No.
Me: Organic?
Matt: No! ...maybe.
Me: That's all I got.
Matt: Some writer you are.
So does this mean we can't be soulmates?
Wednesday, August 09, 2006
Read this if you could use a good cry. And/or a reminder that there are still good people in the world.
Projects I've knitted for my wedding so far:
- a shawl for Tess
- a coordinating poncho for Li'l Sis
- handle wraps for all of the bouquets
- a shawl/bathing suit cover wrap for moi, for the honeymoon
- a wee beaded purse to go with my gown
That's a lot of knitting right there. And it's not over yet.
My current and final project is this lacy wedding garter. Probably. I've been working on it for over a week now, and let me tell you something about knitting lace: it is not a forgiving project. Mistakes matter. It's not like tossing off a simple square shawl or scarf where if you unintentionally drop or add a stitch, most likely nobody will notice, and even if they do, it just adds that touch of hand-made character that makes the piece unique. No. With lace, one wrong stitch will throw off your entire pattern and give you no choice but to rip it out and start over.
This I know because I've had to "frog" it and start over twice now. It's my own damn fault for not using a lifeline (an unattached string of thread strung through every few rows to provide a stopping point in case you need to unravel mistakes). I started my third attempt on my lunch hour, and you can bet your sweet bippy that this time I brought along lifeline thread. Because if the third time's no charm, then I'm going to give up on concepts like "special" and "heirloom" and "goes perfectly with all my accessories," lay down my size 0 needles and just wear the cheap "something blue" garter that I bought for Matt to toss. Seriously, people. Knitting lace--especially tiny, delicate lace, with tiny, delicate thread on tiny, delicate needles--is quite the bitch. I advise you not to try it. Unless you enjoy projects that make you pull out your hair, scream at your hearing-impaired dog for pawing your project mid-knit, cry, panic, and generally flip out every third row. In that case, go for it.
In other news... allergies. Woe.
- a shawl for Tess
- a coordinating poncho for Li'l Sis
- handle wraps for all of the bouquets
- a shawl/bathing suit cover wrap for moi, for the honeymoon
- a wee beaded purse to go with my gown
That's a lot of knitting right there. And it's not over yet.
My current and final project is this lacy wedding garter. Probably. I've been working on it for over a week now, and let me tell you something about knitting lace: it is not a forgiving project. Mistakes matter. It's not like tossing off a simple square shawl or scarf where if you unintentionally drop or add a stitch, most likely nobody will notice, and even if they do, it just adds that touch of hand-made character that makes the piece unique. No. With lace, one wrong stitch will throw off your entire pattern and give you no choice but to rip it out and start over.
This I know because I've had to "frog" it and start over twice now. It's my own damn fault for not using a lifeline (an unattached string of thread strung through every few rows to provide a stopping point in case you need to unravel mistakes). I started my third attempt on my lunch hour, and you can bet your sweet bippy that this time I brought along lifeline thread. Because if the third time's no charm, then I'm going to give up on concepts like "special" and "heirloom" and "goes perfectly with all my accessories," lay down my size 0 needles and just wear the cheap "something blue" garter that I bought for Matt to toss. Seriously, people. Knitting lace--especially tiny, delicate lace, with tiny, delicate thread on tiny, delicate needles--is quite the bitch. I advise you not to try it. Unless you enjoy projects that make you pull out your hair, scream at your hearing-impaired dog for pawing your project mid-knit, cry, panic, and generally flip out every third row. In that case, go for it.
In other news... allergies. Woe.
Schtupid Jeanie Dummie Girl went for formality over clarity in her reception invitation wording, and as a result people are misreading it and thinking that they're invited to the wedding too. D'oh!
I posted a clarification at the wedding blog. Here's hoping most of the invitees will read that and spare my mom having to make awkward explanations and apologies.
Sigh.
I posted a clarification at the wedding blog. Here's hoping most of the invitees will read that and spare my mom having to make awkward explanations and apologies.
Sigh.
Tuesday, August 08, 2006
Maybe this can help!
I... yeah. I think the cartoon tiger wiping his cub's rear-end is the scene that disturbed me the least. The Japanese are all very very high. But you gotta love 'em for it.
via Pop Culture Junk Mail
I... yeah. I think the cartoon tiger wiping his cub's rear-end is the scene that disturbed me the least. The Japanese are all very very high. But you gotta love 'em for it.
via Pop Culture Junk Mail
I just ordered these shiny, sparkly hair pins for the wedding 'do. Also came across these, which look so easy to make that I can't believe somebody's actually selling them--and make some I shall. That ought to do it for the hair-bling department. Now if I can just find a necklace and earings that don't clash with my dress....
I hate my bra today. No, seriously, you guys, it's making me angry, like, furious at its existence. HATE! It's strapless so I can wear thinly strapped camis which is about the only kind of cami you can buy these days, and I wore it yesterday and everything was fine. But today, for some reason, it's digging into my ribs and I can't breathe and I can feel the sticky rubber elastic stuff clinging to my skin and I can't focus on anything else and did I mention the part where I can't effing breathe?! Aaaarrrgh!
*shallow panting*
I'm going to have to do something about this. Just taking it off is not an option. I'm seriously contemplating heading into the bathroom with a roll of packing tape and taping the girls in place. That's probably not super comfortable either, but at least my ribcage would thank me.
In other news, I'm out of my super special ADD brain vitamins. So if you're expecting me to get anything done today, well... good luck with that.
*shallow panting*
I'm going to have to do something about this. Just taking it off is not an option. I'm seriously contemplating heading into the bathroom with a roll of packing tape and taping the girls in place. That's probably not super comfortable either, but at least my ribcage would thank me.
In other news, I'm out of my super special ADD brain vitamins. So if you're expecting me to get anything done today, well... good luck with that.
Monday, August 07, 2006
We watched Cannibal: The Musical yesterday. The songs aren't quite as catchy as South Park: BL&U, but maybe that's only because they're sung by Gold Rush era miners instead of cuddly animated eight-year-olds.
I'm feeling a little better about everything. Friday I made some calls and did some Google research to get some deadlines for various things like reserving tuxedos and ordering cakes. All of the wedding magazines and advice sites and pre-published task lists say you have to take care of these things months in advance, so I was freaking out that we haven't gotten them done yet. But those lists and advice must apply to big coastal cities or something. Here in small town middle America there's no need to be in such a hurry. As long as we place our orders in the next few weeks we'll be fine. Really, all of our planning is pretty on schedule. I'd rather be ahead of schedule so we could take some time off and relax, but this is better than being behind, so I'll take it.
Spent the weekend racking up checkmarks on my To Do list. Among other things, I dragged my cat-pee scented luggage out to the driveway and hosed it off with my mom's new pressure washer. That would have been a much more miserable and heat-stroke-inducing chore had it not been for the backspray keeping me tolerably cool. Bleah, I hate summer.
Also, I made my veil. It took about two hours (one if I discount the time my mom and I spent futzing about with the length and deciding where to place the gather) and only reinforced my belief that anybody who pays scads of money for one of these things is a sucker (and if that applies to you, well... sorry). It was so easy and required no sewing skill whatsoever beyond the fundamental ability to string thread through a needle. And it turned out really pretty. I was planning to embellish the edges with some Swarovski topaz beads, but once I tried it on I decided it's just so simply pretty and elegant without them, and they would just disappear into the beadwork on my dress anyway. I still need to attach some bridal loop--I was going to sew on a comb but I decided this stuff would work better with my planned hairstyle and allow me to just bobby pin it on. I'm not really much of a headpiece person (I'm DEFINITELY not a tiara person), so all of the bling on my head is going to be blinged-out bobby pins and/or barrettes.
ANyway. So that's done. Next Saturday my mom and I will go shopping for her dress and my accessories and various odds & ends. That'll get a lot more done.
Finally, remember how I rejected Discover's offered high limit and asked for a really low one instead? Now I'm trying to get the limit raised back up. We picked out our ship-to-shore excursions over the weekend, and really, there's no other way for us to pay for them. Which probably means we shouldn't do them, but we figured, how often are we going to get the opportunity to do things like swim with dolphins or skim a sting-ray filled lagoon in a helicopter or hike through Mayan ruins? "Not very" is the answer, if you're us. We're not thrilled with adding to our debt, but it's a worthwhile cause. Plus we figure it would be a good idea to have some extra credit available for emergencies. The trick, of course, will be not identifying "emergencies" as "really awesome duty-free gift shop items."
I'm feeling a little better about everything. Friday I made some calls and did some Google research to get some deadlines for various things like reserving tuxedos and ordering cakes. All of the wedding magazines and advice sites and pre-published task lists say you have to take care of these things months in advance, so I was freaking out that we haven't gotten them done yet. But those lists and advice must apply to big coastal cities or something. Here in small town middle America there's no need to be in such a hurry. As long as we place our orders in the next few weeks we'll be fine. Really, all of our planning is pretty on schedule. I'd rather be ahead of schedule so we could take some time off and relax, but this is better than being behind, so I'll take it.
Spent the weekend racking up checkmarks on my To Do list. Among other things, I dragged my cat-pee scented luggage out to the driveway and hosed it off with my mom's new pressure washer. That would have been a much more miserable and heat-stroke-inducing chore had it not been for the backspray keeping me tolerably cool. Bleah, I hate summer.
Also, I made my veil. It took about two hours (one if I discount the time my mom and I spent futzing about with the length and deciding where to place the gather) and only reinforced my belief that anybody who pays scads of money for one of these things is a sucker (and if that applies to you, well... sorry). It was so easy and required no sewing skill whatsoever beyond the fundamental ability to string thread through a needle. And it turned out really pretty. I was planning to embellish the edges with some Swarovski topaz beads, but once I tried it on I decided it's just so simply pretty and elegant without them, and they would just disappear into the beadwork on my dress anyway. I still need to attach some bridal loop--I was going to sew on a comb but I decided this stuff would work better with my planned hairstyle and allow me to just bobby pin it on. I'm not really much of a headpiece person (I'm DEFINITELY not a tiara person), so all of the bling on my head is going to be blinged-out bobby pins and/or barrettes.
ANyway. So that's done. Next Saturday my mom and I will go shopping for her dress and my accessories and various odds & ends. That'll get a lot more done.
Finally, remember how I rejected Discover's offered high limit and asked for a really low one instead? Now I'm trying to get the limit raised back up. We picked out our ship-to-shore excursions over the weekend, and really, there's no other way for us to pay for them. Which probably means we shouldn't do them, but we figured, how often are we going to get the opportunity to do things like swim with dolphins or skim a sting-ray filled lagoon in a helicopter or hike through Mayan ruins? "Not very" is the answer, if you're us. We're not thrilled with adding to our debt, but it's a worthwhile cause. Plus we figure it would be a good idea to have some extra credit available for emergencies. The trick, of course, will be not identifying "emergencies" as "really awesome duty-free gift shop items."