THE DAY BEFORE
Ds2 and I showed up at my job at 7am Friday morning. The day's goal was set up the room, get it decorated for the wedding. The first thing we did was put away all the chairs, and break down the tables, moving them off the floor entirely to allow the entire room to be mopped and buffed. Ds2 and I mopped the floor and our President/CEO of our company buffed the floor. Then we set up the tables and chairs and started decorating. It took hours and hours. We finally got home around 5pm. Both ds2 and I were exhausted and our feet were killing us when we got home. I was a little worried about the condition of my feet in heels for the wedding. Every time I got up that night, I hobbled due to the pain of my feet. While we were setting up the room, dh was at home making the wedding cake and on birth watch. Our doe did end up having her kids. Thank God that was over and we could have the wedding without worrying about her being alone. Dh did attend the birth and it went great. She had a boy and a girl. We already have a home for the little boy. I think. Now I just have to work on him so he'll be people friendly.
THE NIGHT BEFORE
I had several things to do. Dh's youngest brother was married back in June, and we didn't make it to their wedding. I had not replied to their RSVP card (what a dummy, I didn't know you are supposed to! DUH!) and we had not sent a present. I told Rees when she was doing my nails that I hadn't done that, and there they were flying in from out of state to come to OUR WEDDING. She said get them something in case they gave us something (they gave us cash!) so we wouldn't feel funny. So I had a present I could give them on hand, and got that wrapped. I also sewed lace onto the hankies for my mom and dh's mom, and wrapped their presents. Doggone, I forgot to take pictures! I can probably photoshop something together. . . I got my mom a teddy bear that said "Bride's Mother" and got my MIL a gift certificate for a massage. Finally, I stood by the ironing board making my bridal bouquet from real roses, and two corsages with real roses for my mother and the groom's mother. I was up until 9pm getting things ready. I finally fell into bed, exhausted.
W-DAY EARLY MORNING
I was up at 4am with more last minute things to do. I had to iron ds2's suit pants and jacket, and when I was nearly done, suddenly a dark brown, chocolate looking spot appeared on the ironing board. I wondered where chocolate, of all things, had come from. I wiped the board and continued ironing and another appeared. I then realized it was my iron spewing out rust! My wedding gown - my WHITE wedding gown, was next on the list for ironing! Oh man, what if I had ironed it first! Thank God that it happened when it did. I called my friend Rees (the one doing my hair) and asked her if she had an ironing board and iron. Of course she did and it was all set up, ready to use.
I started going through my list, loading the truck with everything needed. Amazingly, I got everything! I had backup, in case I forgot anything, because dh and ds1 were leaving 3 hours later in our other vehicle. So if I forget anything, they could bring it. But I didn't need them to bring anything. All my list writing paid off! Plus, living so far away from town and our jobs, you get a lot of practice remembering everything you need to bring with you.
BREAKFAST AT DENNY'S
Ds2 and I had breakfast at Denny's for the 2nd day in a row. I ordered a grilled turkey sandwich with fries. We ordered biscuits and sausage gravy to go for my boss again (we did that on Friday morning, too). She loves them. We got ds2 there on time, he was expected at 8am.
HAIR AND NAILS
I was a couple of minutes late getting to Rees' house. I had to iron the gown again, so I did that first. Then she started on my fingernails. Oh, my nails were so beautiful! I am not really into doing much beauty stuff, but today was -- like my friend BB told me the night before, "Your day to be a Princess!"
After my fingernails, she started on my toenails. After my toenails were done, she had me move over to her hairdresser's chair. I scraped my still wet toenails against the foot of the chair, and she had to redo two nails, which set us back on time.
THE CAKE DISASTER (NOT)
I'm sitting in the chair, getting my hair done. Dh calls and says there has been an accident with the cakes. They fell and are ruined. I'm envisioning maybe a layer cracked and I'm asking if he can't just put them back together somehow and he says they fell into each other and are destroyed. Finally he says, "I don't know how, but the table collapsed." Okay, then I knew he was pulling my leg and I said, "You're lying. You are SO lying!" And then he confessed that he was just trying to give me a hard time. I was not about to be ruffled by a cake disaster, lol. Rees thought it was pretty funny. She was falling for it totally and was already calculating a run to the nearest store to buy cake.
MAKEUP
After my hair was done, Rees did my makeup. I figured out what I didn't like about my makeup the first test run -- she filled in my brows and I just couldn't stand the look of it. So she left my brows alone and I looked beautiful.
RUNNING LATE
I'd planned to get to work to start getting dressed at noon. But I ended up being at Rees' house until 1:00! While she was doing my makeup, I started getting anxious that I wasn't done yet. I had to keep telling myself to bring down the level of anxiety. Amazingly, I was able to keep myself relatively calm. Rescue Remedy helped a lot!! Finally, I was all ready. Rees helped me load my car and I was on my way. The first call I made was to our pastor, to let him know two things had changed. 1) The receiving line wouldn't be out in the lobby area - the people wouldn't need to leave the room as originally planned, 2) I was reading a poem I'd written (with ds2's help) for dh. It is about a ten minute drive and I was making call after call as I drove. I called my friend BB who was going to come help me get ready. I am so glad she was able to help me! I needed her to be there!
MY WEDDING PLANNER
Part of the reason my stress level was escalating is because I had some things to do still once I arrived back at work. I needed someone to get the mother of the groom and mother of the bride corsages from the refrigerator AND someone to get my bridal bouquet trimmed. I'd put it all together, including the wrap for the handle, but I left the stems long and kept the roses in water so it would stay fresh. I don't have any pictures of the bouquet with me here at the resort, but I will upload some photos as soon as I can. Something I hadn't realized was that my boss had morphed into my wedding planner. She knew I had the guest book pages that needed to be distributed, and the programs. She asked me if it would be okay if one of our volunteers could be in charge of the guest book. I had a traditional guest book, too.
I had written up instructions for my mother and my mother in law. I wanted THEM to hand out the guest book pages and ask people personally to please fill them in. What ended up happening is my boss placed them on the table as place mats. The programs were also on the table with the place mats. There is nothing I can do about it now. I don't even know where the guest book pages are at. I do think at least half of them were filled out and they must still be at work.
I was really panicking when I got to work. Somehow my mom thought I said I wanted my groom to come back and see me. I don't know if I said his name instead of ds2's? Or if she just thought I needed him? I don't know, but I did NOT want to him to see me. I wanted to walk into that room and for him to see me looking beautiful. My boss found him headed back that way and asked him where he was going and made him turn around and get out of there.
Ds1 was a bit stressed, I could tell because he was wandering around looking a bit dazed and when he turned and saw me, he rushed at me and said, "Mommy!" He hugged me tight, and his voice was very stressed. I hugged him back and told him I had to get dressed and he was going to be just fine.
My boss came in and I was having trouble breathing. I knew it was because I needed to use my asthma medication, but I was kind of hyperventilating, because I only had 20 minutes to get ready and I still wanted to present my mom with her hankie and her gift, and my MIL with her hankie and gift. My boss told me to take some deep breaths and settle myself down right now. She told me I was going to be just fine. I will have to tell her when I get in to work next week that I did NOT want dh to come see me. She probably thought I wanted him so I could get calmed down. I was carrying my medicine around with me - I'd told my mom to not let me forget and she kept worriedly reminding me. . . lol. My friend BB finally arrived and I told her I needed her to go get the corsages and the bouquet and could she cut the stems at the bottom. She did a great job, pulling the ribbon down and stapling it.
My boss came by again to tell me it was almost 2 and I WAS going to be on time. My friend countered (they don't get along very well, I'm like the liaison between our two companies) that weddings never start on time. Anyway, I was almost ready. [Recounting this to dh tonight, he told me that my boss had already committed herself, by saying to the pastor and him that the wedding WOULD begin ON TIME because she was running things. So now she had to keep her word, lol]. I was so HOT, sweating and standing in front of the fan. Rees was coming to attach my veil and she called me telling me she had just rear ended a guy. She was very stressed, I could tell, she sounded close to tears. I told her I'd have ds2 watch for her. I thought she'd come in the back parking lot, but she went to the front. Ds2 was at the back watching for her. The front parking lot is right near my office and finally she called to say she couldn't find ds2. Phone calls right and left, but finally we realized she was close by and went to let her in the side door. I gave her some Rescue Remedy right away and she told me later it calmed her down so fast she couldn't believe it. She attached my veil and my boss was by again to tell me it was time.
SURREAL
The whole time I was getting ready, it didn't feel like it was me that was going to be getting married. I don't know WHO I thought it would be, but it felt very surreal. I was going through the motions, but I felt very disconnected. When it was finally time to start my walk, I started feeling panicky. Feeling scared to face everyone, mostly, I guess. Ds1 took my arm and began walking me down the hall. He was gripping my arm very tightly, so tightly that we were waddling back and forth, lol. We stopped at one entry and waited for the signal from my boss. My audio guy started my walking-down-the-aisle-song, The Very Thought of You. My sis#2 was keen on my playing Our Love Is Here To Stay (sorry, sis#2!) but the words to The Very Thought of You, to me, were so perfect. Our Love Is Here To Stay was excellent and I do love the lyrics and they fit us well, but listen to The Very Thought of You and envision the groom standing there, waiting for his bride. Imagine it from that perspective. Here are the lyrics:
The very thought of you and I forget to do
The little ordinary things that everyone ought to do
I'm living in a kind of daydream
Im happy as a king
And foolish though it may seem
To me that's everything
The mere idea of you, the longing here for you
You'll never know how slow the moments go till I'm near to you
I see your face in every flower
Your eyes in stars above
It's just the thought of you
The very thought of you, my love
Since the song was nearly four minutes long, my audio guy faded the music out just after I arrived at the altar. We'd listened to it previously and from 1 minute 50 seconds to about 2 minutes 20 seconds there was music only. So we decided it would work best to just fade down to nothing. Pastor ended up not using a microphone either.
WALKING DOWN THE AISLE
Ds1 took his job very seriously. My friend BB was holding my gown for part of the way. She had JUST suggested that ds1 walk a little further away from me so he wouldn't step on my dress and suddenly I was being pulled back because SHE was standing on my dress, lol. Pretty soon we were at the entrance and there was everyone, beaming, smiling. Ds1 and I walked in, he was all serious, I was smiling and I felt beautiful. I was truly a princess! I guided ds1 to his Granny (dh's mom) and he gave her a single rose. She practically swooned, she loved that so much. Then we headed toward my mom, who was all the way across the room, on the other side of the table. I had not relayed to anyone that the mothers needed to sit in seats easily accessed. But it turned out okay. My mom ended up getting up to get her rose.
THE CEREMONY
After ds1 handed the rose to his Grandma, his job was to then hand me off to his dad. We walked toward dh, and ds1 placed my hand in dh's. It was at this time that I started breaking down crying. Our pastor was so great, he was so good. He looked right into my eyes, and he calmed me with soothing, caring words. He mostly told me to take deep breaths, and that I would be okay. Then he said, "You okay?" He is really a good person. I was able to compose myself, and then he began the ceremony.
There were a couple of humorous moments... we were watching the DVD of the ceremony and caught this mistake the pastor made: "Groom's name, take your wife or your bride-to-be by the hand..." Then he was having us repeat the vows for the ring exchange and it was my groom's turn. The pastor said a few lines, groom repeated, then pastor said: "Before whose presence, I tredge my plud, I pledge my trud, my trust!" So my groom looks at me with an apologetic smirk on his face, and repeats after the pastor, "Before whose pleasure I pledge my trud." Pastor said, "No. You did a good job repeating what I said, but let's try that again." My groom looked at our pastor and shrugged his shoulders as if to say, "Sorry man, that's what you said for me to say!" LOL. Many people in the room laughed, including me and my groom. Then when it was my turn, he said, "Let's try to do this better on your side."
READINGS
We each read a poem to each other. Dh's had most of the audience in tears. Several people after the wedding told me they were really glad we'd provided Kleenex at each table. My mom had asked if we needed to have Kleenex at each table, and I wasn't sure. I considered it, and I called one of my friends, but she said we didn't need them at the tables, but needed them in the bathroom. In the end, my MIL decided to pick up Kleenex on the way. MIL also bought 15 cameras to place one on each table.
Then it was my turn to read my poem to dh. It was supposed to be a surprise to dh - Pastor gave him a heads up.
I didn't include it in the program, and both the mothers asked me to send them a copy. They said they wished it had been in the program, so they could follow along. I broke down twice during reading my poem. I was just fine, then boom, I couldn't talk. I wrote this poem and ds2 helped me a bit. Actually I was writing it one night and asked him to help me and he said to just email it to him and he'd help me with it. He did make some great changes, but I decided to stick with most of my original material.
MY HERO
Groom's name, you are my best friend
*Loving throughout the years
Ever willing to contend
With my many moods and tears
You cared for me
When I was ill
Waited on me faithfully
Better than any hospital
Your zany sense of humor
Makes me laugh until I wheeze
Fits of sidesplitting laughter
Until I'm beggging STOP PLEASE
You accept me completely and fully
Never a doubt in your mind
You support me in all my endeavors
To anything I'm so inclined
We read each other's minds some days
Other days it's hard to communicate
But eventually we find a way
To relate
This past year has been difficult
It's hard to believe we survived
You changed our lives for the better
Now free to make me your wife
Thank you for making it possible
Groom's name, you are my hero.
*italicized words courtesy of ds2
There were no more memorable moments that I can think of. . . Pastor pronounced us husband and wife and introduced us as "Mr. and Mrs. -Groom's First Name- -Bride's First Name-", then corrected himself, "Mr. and Mrs. Groom's First Last Name." He's a great guy. The last thing he said was directly to us when he said, "Welcome to the Hallowed Halls of Happiness." His father says this, too.
Then we walked out of the room to the song I'd chosen by James Taylor, How Sweet It Is.
RECEIVING LINE
We were standing out in the lobby area and the photographers ran over and started snapping photos. My boss rushed over and ordered us to get back to the stage. She was determined to keep this show on the road. ;-) So the pastor told the people we would have a receiving line and everyone started coming up to greet us. I have to say that was my most favorite part. All of those hugs! All of the well wishes, the compliments. I hugged and thanked everyone for coming.
CHILDREN IN ATTENDANCE
My husband and I didn't even consider anything other than having children at our wedding. We both feel that is part of what a wedding is all about, family and children! The little girls were just staring at me in awe, I felt so much like a princess. It was all worth the hard work for the past few weeks.
SPECIAL THANKS
I will be eternally grateful to my boss for taking over the food preparation, and ds2 who worked for two days straight, helping my boss to get it all together.
And now I'm tired, and I should crawl into bed. I have taken a couple of baths, I need to get my bathtub at home cleaned out! It is full of boxes and bags of stuff.
I'll write another post when I get a chance about some of the gifts we received.
Until next time.
Sunday, October 21, 2007
Wedding Memoirs
Labels: Wedding
The Hallowed Halls of Happiness
Labels: Wedding
We're man and wife again!
It was wonderful. Everything went off without a hitch. There were even some funny moments like when our pastor stumbled over his words and dh took advantage of the situation to flub his words even worse. Pastor said right away, "No." You know, like "You got it totally wrong, guy."
Here's the view from our room:
Oh look there, our car has been decorated... but wait, my dh's name isn't Chris. . . oh. . . no that's not OUR car, it's the one parked right next to ours. Another honeymooning couple staying here.
We went out to breakfast at a steak/seafood/buffet restaurant. We had 8 ounce rib steaks, which came with a baked potato and toasted cheese bread. $11.99 for the meal and $3 more for the buffet.
We're going to go there later with our sons and have dinner.
I'm taking a nap.
More about the wedding as I find the time.
Until next time.
Saturday, October 20, 2007
WEDDING DAY
Labels: Wedding
I'm at work. That's where I'm getting married. I am also printing out the programs. I hope I caught any typos!!! I am waiting for those to print out. I brought in my own paper, and will pay for the toner. Ds2 is in the kitchen right now, helping my boss with the food trays. My boss wore her shirt! :-)
Here is the wedding cake that dh made:
I envisioned a white cake with lavender flowers, etc., so I was a little taken back when I saw it. I do think it's a pretty cake, very elaborate! Dh and ds1 are at home still, they will be here in a couple of hours, and are bringing the cakes.
Zoë gave birth yesterday. Dh attended. She did great, no complications. WHEW. Now we can get married in peace, without worrying about her kidding at home alone. A boy and a girl. Cute as buttons, they are. I was sorry to not be there to witness the birth, but I was busy setting up the room at work.
My audio guy was here yesterday and got everything ready for the music and knows which songs to play. No music during the ceremony because we need the microphone to be heard across the entire room.
Ds2 is video recording the ceremony.
I'm just popping in here for a really quick minute because I have nothing else to do while waiting for the programs to print out. Two sided. So 200 copies.
Done, gotta run!
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Last Update for the Night
Labels: Wedding
I got real busy earlier tonight and got several tasks completed. I'm very proud of myself for what I accomplished.
I needed to sew buttons onto ds1's suit. The button on the jacket was literally hanging by a thread. And the suspenders apparently need buttons to hook onto. After I looked at them some more, I realized that you are supposed to thread a belt through the loops. But a belt would cost at least $25 and it was less expensive to buy six buttons and sew them onto the waist of the pants. I learned how to use my button foot on my sewing machine!
Then while beginning to think about sewing on the buttons, I remembered that I wanted to alter ds1's suit jacket, for it was not coming together in the front. I examined the seams (after ripping out the hem at the bottom) and discovered I could gain at least two inches by altering the back seam. So I did that, and now it fits him just perfectly! It took me about 2 hours to do that alteration and get it all back together.
I ironed his suit jacket, pants and white shirt. It's all on a hanger, with a plastic bag over it to protect it from dust. I couldn't get all the danged cat hair off, even though I lint rolled it several times. I need to buy some of that cling protection spray.
I ironed dh's white shirt and his pants. His suit is also hanging up. I did a better job at removing the cat hair from his suit. I called his mom and told her I would need some help lint rolling these guys.
My dress, too! Only my dress is showing all the DARK cat hair, while the guys' suits are showing the white hair. AGH!
Speaking of my dress, I needed to take in the seams on the side. I measured around my ribcage, I'm 39.5 inches around. I laid the dress flat and it measured 42 inches. So I stitched up each side seam (there are two on each side) about 1/2 inch, taking each side in by 1 inch. Once the guys got home I tried on the dress and it is just perfect - but I didn't put on my Spanx, only my bra. I'm thinking about asking while I'm at Lane Bryant's tomorrow, if they think a girdle would help me more than the Spanx.
I am trying to write a short poem to say to dh after he says his poem to me (during the ceremony), and I got some of it, but now ds2 is helping me to refine it. Wow. He's talented. He took what I had and immediately started fixing it.
I went out to check on Zoë a couple of hours ago. She's not doing anything.
Tomorrow I will be gone most of the day. Getting my manicure and pedicure.
I'm tired.
Until next time.
My Lane Bryant Shipment Arrived Today
Labels: Wedding
A prayer of thanks that I had the foresight to try the bras on with the wedding gown BEFORE the day of the wedding!! Neither one will work!!
So tomorrow, when I go to get my French manicure I am taking the beige bra with me AND the wedding gown. I will try on another bra there, a white one, with the gown on and make SURE it will work.
Blogger still won't let me upload images. They have a scheduled outage today at 4pm PDT. Maybe that will fix the problem.
Until next time.
October 17 - 11am Update
Labels: geek-stuff, goats, Wedding
Yes, I have nothing better to do than blog throughout the day.
Tomorrow is my mama's birthday, I got her present in the mail yesterday. Then dh went to her house this morning to pick up the stress relief arsenal she's providing me so I don't end up in the loony bin.
I finally gathered up my nerve and went out to check on the pregnant doe about 7am. She's still pregnant, but seems to be okay. And maybe, finally, in early labor. She's moving her body around real funny, like she's trying to position kids. Sometimes her belly is jutting out to one side and flat on the other the way she's moving it around. I milked at 8am and around 9am I went out to observe her for a while. Still nothing happening. I have the baby monitor on so I should be able to hear her if she starts screaming - a sure sign pushing has begun. ;-)
I can't even begin to thank ds2 enough for the excavation job he did on the gate that allows me to access the pen that the pregnant doe is sequestered in. However, now that I think of it, he did thank me for footing the $26 bill from the pizza place last night.
I think I found the song for walking down the aisle. It is one of my MIL's favorites The Very Thought of You by Nat King Cole. I wanted to honor her in some way, for she has really helped a lot financially.
And before I forget, the program I'm using to make a diagram of the room setup for the wedding is called DIA. Here is another program that looked interesting that you can use online: Gliffy
Here's my mama's stress relief arsenal. . . okay, Blogger's having some difficulty with the upload image feature so I can't upload the picture right now. Here's what she sent:
- New Dimensions Kava Kava Root Tincture Supplement
- NOW Kava Kava Extract 250mg capsules
- Sundown B-Complex Sublingual Liquid
- Nature's Bounty Ester-C 500mg
- Hyland's Homeopathic Nerve Tonic
- Bach Rescue Remedy Flower Essences
- Hyland's Homeopathic Calms Forte
Dh arrived home with lots of cake making materials.I'm working on the wedding program. Did I mention yet that my plan for the room to be set up like pews has changed and now everyone has to sit at their table during the ceremony? Now I'm wishing I knew where the clear christmas lights have gone. Someone could have thrown them away. But I'm envisioning the room being lit by christmas lights, and the arch of course has lighting on it. If I only knew where they were. They may have been thrown away. I bought something like 20 boxes from Target at the 90% off clearance sale back in 2005.
Until next time.
Countdown: Three Days Until Wedded Bliss
Labels: Wedding
Or maybe the title should read "How To Keep Out of the Loony Bin While Planning a Wedding All By Oneself and Worrying About a Pregnant Goat".
The solution I came up with? Take today and tomorrow off work, and also next Monday and Tuesday to recuperate.
My original plan was: Do everything, work every day as usual, stay at the hotel on Saturday night and Sunday night, check out Monday at 11am and go to work the very next day.
I realized yesterday that if I continue at this pace, I will not make it to the wedding on Saturday, but would surely be placed in the nearest loony bin instead.
So even though I do not have the comp time built up to take off four days, I asked my boss if she could make it happen. I told her if I can make it up later, great, but if she needs to dock my check, so be it. My sanity is worth a few hundred dollars.
When I told dh about my idea for keeping my sanity, he decided his would also benefit from the same technique. He, however, has 30 hours sick time accrued and was told when he asked that those are his days, and he can take them whenever he wants them, sick or not. That's great. Other jobs where I've had benefits usually they sometimes required a doctor's statement for taking off sick! Imagine! Having to go to the doctor just to stay home from work. What kind of rest is that? And nowadays, who could get in to see their doctor on the same day for a headache or cold? Dh loses his sick days at the end of the year, so it is good for him to take them while he can.
Now I can understand better why one would choose to have bridesmaids and matron of honor, etc. My mom, with my grandma having died so recently, is not really able to help much, not to mention my mom really doesn't know the first thing about planning any type of event, let alone a wedding. So pretty much everything has fallen on my shoulders. I thank God daily for my boss, deciding to intervene in the food area. I am not sure if there would be food at all, if not for her.
Also, regarding bridesmaids. . . I do not know enough women that could have afforded to buy a dress and take the time to work for me on this wedding. I actually can't name even one woman that I could have asked. Okay, one woman, but she is planning her own wedding for the 13th of November and so she couldn't have done it for me.
Dh is keen on making a fabulous cake. I bought a Wilton cake book for him that cost $12.
I've been trying to choose the song I want to walk down the aisle to, for the past hour or longer. I'm getting really tired. I'm going to lay down for a while and see if I can sleep before I have to go out and milk and face the world.
Until next time.
Monday, October 15, 2007
My Corsage Fairy
Labels: Wedding
Today I went out to check the mail and there was a fat envelope. I opened it eagerly and found the hankies for my mama and MIL -- and MORE corsages! I bought THREE boutonnières (do you know if you use the Firefox Browser while blogging it will show you incorrectly spelled words? That's how I get boutonnières spelled correctly and accented each time, lol) and she sent me an email saying she would send the rest of the corsages. A pack arrived last week, and now this one today. So all together she has sent me 26 corsages and boutonnières! There should be one for each member of the family on both sides, including children. Neat!! These are the ones that arrived today:
These arrived last week:
These are the ones I made, figuring some of the men wouldn't want to wear lavender. I did pretty good if I do say so myself! Now I should practice working with real roses since I plan to make my mama and MIL real rose corsages, and put together my bridal bouquet myself.
And here they all are, pinned with straight pins, to a pillowcase. Dang, THAT'S what I could have used the white lace for... I will try to find some time to re-pin them. The lady used the pin clasps on the back of each one. Much nicer than having to deal with the corsage pins.
Here are my purple berry flowers, which will be all over the place... the colors will match. I don't need perfectly matching colors. Just shades of purple is great.
I took the day off because I was up most of the night worrying about the pregnant doe. She is still pregnant. I was just too tired to even think about going to work. I thought I'd get SOMETHING done today, but mostly I have just rested.
Until next time.
Sunday, October 14, 2007
Two Nice Things
My MIL has only visited us here at our home six or seven times in the five years we've lived here. I remember distinctly two of those times she scrubbed my kitchen sink. It was pretty grungy, with all the gunk built up around the sink handles and back of the sink. But since I started trying to do FlyLady again, I try to wash and whine shine the sink at least once each weekend. She's never been mean about it or anything, she would just start scrubbing, like that's one of the things she always notices at other people's house. You know how that is?
Like when I go to her house, I notice the fingerprints and dirt on every door near the knob. And she and her husband live alone. :-) It always bugs me and I want to grab a bottle of cleaner and clean it. The interesting thing is when I was cleaning buildings for them, that is what I noticed was filthy, the door knob area of every door. Funny how things get on your "radar" and you notice it, and other things don't.
The other nice thing was since I invested the time in cleaning my bathroom and it's still not spotless. . . at least I could let her go in there and use the toilet without a lot of stress. The men's room here is a big mess. But my bathroom was pretty good. A few spots on the mirror, so obviously I didn't just clean it. And the toilet was swished and my shoes were neatly in their spot. It's still got a big pile in the tub, but it was very nice that it was clean enough to let her in there without worrying about it.
She would never have fussed at me, but I am sure she would have thought something in her head about what a mess. There is no way to overlook the big mess that was in my bathroom. I mean come on, if I got three 55 gallon garbage bags out of there, just imagine.
It's time to milk.
We are all going to church this morning, taking two vehicles so I can stop afterwards and get a few more things that ds2 and his Granny didn't get a chance to stop for. They shopped for the paper goods for the wedding. Dinner and cake plates, dinner and smaller napkins, food utensils and drinking glasses.
Today after church I have to get the plastic champagne glasses, a belt for ds1, plastic tongs and large plastic spoons, and punch. I see myself stopping at two places minimum. My boss also said to feel free to start bringing supplies to work and stashing them in her office.
Until next time.
Artificially Sweetened Pudding Vs. Homegrown Meat
Labels: My Faith
My mom has become interested in going to our church. So far she hasn't been able to make it. Mainly because her significant other is resisting. He doesn't want her to go for whatever reason.
This is a huge thing, my mom having a desire to go to church. She has wanted to go to church over the years, but since Mrs. So and So damaged us to very badly for fourteen years, it has been difficult. My mom has tried a couple of other churches but ended up being hurt so she stopped going.
We've been going since June and I have just talked a little about our church and what we've been learning. Most of it has been eye-opening. Some of it has been hard to accept right away and has taken some time and much study of the Bible to come to the same conclusion. A lot of it has been a comfort and confirmation. Then Mom met our Pastor at the memorial service and she felt comfortable around him as a person. He is like a regular guy.
My mom has a few television ministers that she watches and it occurred to me this morning that she's been watching the vanilla ice cream ministers. The ones whose sermons are about being happy and they smile a lot while they minister to you and they never read from the Bible.
I think this has served two purposes for her. To alleviate her guilt over not attending church, and not having to listen to ministers who will only exacerbate her guilt.
But that's the thing about learning to rightly divide the Word of Truth - it's studying the Bible and learning how to figure out what instructions are given to us (the "Gentiles").
It becomes very interesting. No fear, or guilt. No pressure to give money. No railing about hell and damnation. Just studying the Bible and I tell you it is just fascinating to see the all the places in the Bible that correspond to each other. I thought this was fascinating, to see how prophecies were fulfilled. Learning the Pauline teachings makes me want to read the Bible. All my life I pretty much feared and dreaded reading the Bible. Because it was always used as an instrument against me. One of my favorite things to do in life is read and yet the Bible was not on my favorite reading list, because I was taught to read it wrong. When I read the Bible, it was out of guilt and it was difficult to pay attention. My mind would wander.
The other thing is I actually want to go to church. I don't like missing the fellowship with my "family". You see, this dispensational teaching is not embraced by all churches, so some Christians that I speak with have 1) never heard of it, 2) don't believe it, 3) can't begin to look into it.
I do have some feelings cropping up which has to do with people being people. I sometimes feel like "they" don't like me. The other women in the church. Maybe they think I'm too fat. Maybe they don't respect me because dh and I aren't yet married. At least the pastor's wife talks to me and seems to like me. And the older women are nice. I'm also realizing maybe they are just shy. I am also shy. I feel like since they have been going longer (some for years) it is more their duty to approach me. But I decided last week to stop looking at it that way. I decided to renew my commitment to introducing myself and meeting one new person each Sunday.
In watching one of the "happy" ministers this morning, one that my mom likes, it occurred to me that listening to those guys is like having a steady diet of artificially sweetened pudding. Almost no nutritional value. Compare that to eating real organic, delicious homegrown beef. The nutritional value to the soul cannot be compared. I'm learning things I've never heard and it's right there, in the Bible!
For example, how many animals of each kind did Noah take on the ark? Take my poll at the top right side of my blog.
Until next time.
Saturday, October 13, 2007
Countdown: Six Days Until Wedded Bliss
Labels: Wedding
Wedded Bliss? What was I thinking when I titled this post? Dear honey and I were bickering again today. We managed to keep from killing each other. This time it's because my manicure and pedicure appointment was rescheduled and I didn't get the email. Lack of communication all around. Anyway, now I'm taking a couple hours for lunch one day next week and having it done then. I should just take half a day, come to think of it.
Everyone keeps telling me this is normal. Too much stress. My sister even told me she was 40 minutes late for her wedding and she and her fiance hadn't spoken (weren't speaking? not sure if they had also been "bickering") since the previous day, so he almost thought she'd stood him up. Sis thought she was only 10-15 minutes late.
Heavens. I am planning to be in town by 9:30 at the latest, at Rees' house and back to the wedding "chapel" hehe, by noon. The ceremony begins at 2pm.
Let's all just say a word of prayer that the goat kids either before, or waits until several days after the wedding. I can't take much more excitement and stress. Births are always anxious times for me, as we've had several EVENTFUL births where I've had to "go in" and extricate kids manually because the doe couldn't get them out herself. This doe's first kidding was uneventful, let's hope and pray this one is as well.
Okay, so in the rest of the day I managed to finish the flower arrangements, and I began putting the arch together. It's a monstrosity. The picture on the box depicts an arch that looks much more narrow than what we're seeing in real life. Looking at it more closely, I can now see that they took the picture sideways. Oh, and it's also very flimsy and it's meant to be anchored to the ground. You know how you pound those big nail looking things into the ground when anchoring a tent to the ground? Same thing. And I haven't even put the last leg in place, which will add another 16 inches. How will I ever get this thing decorated? I'm beginning to think maybe it's a BAD idea.
Pastor told us a story last week about a wedding he went to, which he was filming for the couple. First he said, "If you drop the ring, don't bother to pick it up. Just go through the motions and we'll get it later." Then he told the story of how the groom and best men dove down stairs for the ring, conked heads and they had to turn off the camera, get everyone back in place and start over. LOL.
Here are the boutonnières and corsages that the lady sent me. The extra ones. I only bought three off eBay and she sent 12 altogether, remember?
I also worked on the three boutonnières I'd already made, (those are in the bags to the far right of the photo) and fancied them up a bit for practice.
I realized today that no one knows the location of dh's new white shirt. That must be located asap.
Dh's mother came by to take ds2 out for his birthday shopping trip they take together. I can't remember how many years they've done this. First? Second? At any rate, they went shopping at a place where they could pick up the plates and spoons, forks, knives, drinking cups, etc., and I will be eternally grateful for them getting that out of the way for me. Thank you dearest ds2 and my wonderful, lovely, soon to be MIL.
I hope to finish up the lace tablecloth tomorrow. Then everything left can pretty much be done after work or while dh is driving us home. It's pitch black in the morning, so I can't do much but sometimes work on the laptop.
I feel stuck about the wedding songs. I don't want to walk down the aisle to "Here Comes The Bride" and my main reason for not wanting to do that was because I wasn't going to be wearing white. But now I am wearing white. Do I want that song, or not? I may end up going with it, just to make things easy on myself.
It probably doesn't seem like I got much done, wedding-wise, but I also had a bunch of other things to do like cleaning the kitchen, which included sweeping and mopping the floor, washing and folding and putting away clothes, washed our bedding and made the bed again.
I need to continue with checking and updating my lists and keep my head clear at what needs to be done and press forward. I grew weary of making the flower arrangements, but I kept pushing through and finally got them completed.
OH, and I did get the kidding kit all put together in case Z goes into labor.
Until next time.
My Expectant Doe and Her Sister
Labels: goats
These girls are tall, long and lean. They were pregnant together in late 2005 and early 2006 so they had big stomaches together. Z was bred in May and is due between now and the end of the month. She looks huge. She could have from 1 to 5 kids inside her belly. It has been an interesting contrast to observe these sisters whose bodies are so close in size (save for their teats... M inherited her granddam's huge teats, while Z's are nice sized, very close to her dam's sized teats). Yes, teat size is an important thing. It is one factor as to why I'm not breeding M this year. Her teats are so big and long that I'm concerned that the more she's bred, the bigger and longer they will get. She's got good height, so I'm not worried they will be dragging the ground (literally) but if I milk her through again and breed her next time, there will be less pulling by kids at her teats, less growth through being freshened again.
Anyway, I decided to take some pictures this morning to show the contrast between the two girls. Yes, I know I have a wedding to plan, but it really didn't take long to snaps a few photos and I'm at the end of my day and this is relaxing, so I'm taking the time to do it.
Look at that belly hang! It doesn't seem like she can get much bigger.
I wish we had time to milk twice daily. M's udder gets very hard and full with only one milking in a 24 hour period. The most she can hold in her udder is 3.5 to 3.9 pounds. If we milked her twice a day, she would probably give us close to 5 pounds, maybe 6.
We haven't milked Z all month long. She kept decreasing her milk each day for about a month and when she got down to 3/10ths of a pound I just stopped milking her. She still gets to come out each morning for a half ration of grain. When she's nearer to kidding, her udder will begin to fill with milk. I've talked here before about the practice of drying off does. I don't like it at all. Some people just STOP milking the doe. If you have ever nursed a child and have missed a nursing session, you can probably relate. The breast becomes hard with milk. It hurts and it's uncomfortable.
Here is another shot of M's teats. They are really large in comparison to all our other milkers.
Until next time.
Lane Bryant Expedites My Order, WHEW
Labels: Wedding
I have been up since 5:30 and have already marked two things off my list. Actually I worked some more on a third thing that isn't on the list. More about that in a minute or two.
It was so simple to put elastic into the crinoline slip. I measured the elastic around my waist, drawing it snugly around me but not too tight and giving an extra inch for binding it together. I then sewed the elastic to the rope that was drawn through the slip and pulled it right through. Then I sewed and sewed and sewed the elastic pieces together. I wouldn't want that elastic to break on the 20th.
So I got that off my list.
Then I fought my body into the Spanx. They are the ones that come all the way up the entire belly area to the ribcage. I do mean FIGHT, let me tell you. But as any woman knows who has worn panty hose can tell you, it was a fight I was happy to win once it smoothed my body into submission.
Put on the crinoline slip and the gown and for good measure tried on my emerald earrings and the necklace I got off eBay. The dress looks a lot better when I draw the sides tighter to my body, so I am thinking about sewing in a 1/2" seam on each side. I will hand baste first and try it on to see how it looks.
Now I need to get outside and milk so I can get that part of my day out of the way.
OH, I almost forgot the whole point of this post. I received this email this morning from Lane Bryant:
Dear Harried Bride To Be*,
Thank you for your recent email.
As per your request, we have changed your shipping method to Federal Express Saver and once your order ships, you will receive an email confirmation that your order has shipped. You should receive your order in 3 to 5 business days.
Sincerely,
Gloria
lanebryant.com Customer Service
www.lanebryant.com
*name changed to protect my identity ;-)
And the third thing I worked on. . . I am trying to write something for dh to say to him during our ceremony. He is going to read the poem he wrote for me last December and I want to have something to read back to him. Ds2 you are sworn to secrecy - DO NOT TELL YOUR FATHER THIS IS MY PLAN. Besides I might not get it done, then dh would be wondering what I'd written only to find there is nothing.
Would you like to read the poem dh wrote? Here it is:
An Unbridged Canyon
The bridge that we built to join our two lives
once crumbled and swayed so long in the night
Until one sad day it came crashing down
falling to pieces and smashing the ground
It lay there for years as wreckage can do
no attempt to rebuild we had not a clue
What we failed to see thru the hurt and the tears
was that God was with us thru our most difficult years
I look back now and cry a small tear
of all the time lost thru all of the fear
We reached and stretched and who would have guessed
our time had come to share in a kiss
We know much more now ‘tho the end is still far
I can once again call you my bright shining star
No unbridged canyons to stop us this time
we'll reach for the sky and continue our climb
Your sweet bright smile, green sparkle in your eyes
captured my breath, caught my heart by surprise
I love you more with each passing thought
the words they are few and cannot be bought
To express how I feel I must search very deep
to the depths of my soul where all men do weep
You mean more to me than mere pen can create
your gentle, soft touch swung open heart's gate
Room just for you, with you I share love
the window now closes to capture my dove
There she will stay in my heart and my soul
together as one will then be our goal
Out to milk.
Until next time.
Friday, October 12, 2007
Crunch Time
Labels: Wedding
Tomorrow is the last day I have to be home all day and get things completed for the wedding. I would love to get everything done tomorrow and then stop worrying.
We did get the guestbook pages printed today at OfficeMax. So that is thankfully out of the way. Now I just need to take them with me to work so I don't forget them at home!
Here's what my list looks like:
- Figure out what to do about the lace tablecloth I was going to sew for the "head" table
- Finish the flower arrangements
- One last fitting with the gown and see if I need to take the sides in at all
- Thread elastic through the crinoline slip (I bought it cheap off eBay and it has a cord running through that gets tied in a knot, which shows through the dress as a bulge!)
- Finish the wedding program (crucial to be done asap so I can have people help with proofing!)
- Finish choosing the wedding songs!
- Print the wedding program
- Fix ds1's suit (the button is almost off)
- Get ds1 a belt, or find the suspenders and attach buttons to the pants (easier to buy a belt, yes?!)
- Last but not least, the all important "remove cat hair from all the suits"
- General to-do list for things I can't do this week because they are getting pushed aside because of the wedding to-do list
- Wedding to-do list
- List of things for me to bring the day of the wedding
- List of things for dh to bring, along with the things needed by ds1 and ds2
- List of things to bring to work each day and store in my boss' office
- Shopping still to be done for the wedding list (still need to buy the paper goods)
On Sunday I'm supposed to have my manicure and pedicure. I tried to grow my fingernails just a little bit, but I really am prohibited with their length due to milking. Plus they start bothering me and I start picking at them when they get about 1/8 of an inch long. I keep them trimmed to about 1/16th of an inch.
There's the kidding kit that needs to be assembled for the doe that was bred sometime between May 12th and June 1. She is the only one due until February. But I still need to have the kidding kit assembled in case I have to assist.
I think that's it.
Today I got dh to try on his shoes and decide which of the two pair he wanted to wear. The bouttonieres arrived that I purchased off eBay. I bought three that the seller had. She was selling them for $0.59/each plus $1.99 shipping. Only one more dollar for shipping of each additional item purchased. She wrote me and told me she was shipping ALL her extra corsages (they are small) and bouttonieres. So I have twelve now. I will see if the pastor wants to wear one, and maybe some early birds can have one to wear if they want. I've decided to see about making corsages for the mother of the bride and mother of the groom. I think I can do it. I found that one grocery store sells a dozen roses every Friday for $7.99. I will buy two dozen or maybe three... and make my bridal bouquet, I've decided on just a simple one. I also want baby's breath in my bouquet.
I ordered this for my boss, who is doing a lot for me by taking over the food totally, and orchestrating the room breakdown between the ceremony and the reception:
She loves the color blue and she already told another lady she was NOT dressing up and if I didn't like it, that was too bad (she said that in front of me). I don't really care what she wears, but I hope she will concede to wearing this. I think it will be real cute. They have all these other t-shirts like "Mother of the Bride" "Cousin of the Bride" and on and on.
I got my mom a teddy bear that is wearing a shirt that says "Mother of the Bride". I got my mom and dh's mom each a monogrammed hankie.
Both our sons still needed white shirts, so I got one for each from Walmart for $15 each. I also bought two ties like the one above. $8.96 each. We have another green tie like that one, and dh will wear that one. I think the color is very close. Ds1 is modeling his new "hair". He has alopecia areata and is completely bald. Well, I just learned something new by following that link. Ds1's condition is now called alopecia totalis because he is completely bald. I didn't know the diagnosis changed once the scalp became completely bald. The wig cost $50 off eBay. My friend Rees is going to dye it to a dark blond color to match the color his real hair would be. It is actually a grey color right now.We also managed to find the sparkling apple cider on sale for $2.00 a bottle and bought 20 bottles. I was so, so, so excited to discover that the store has 6 pack cardboard containers that hold wine bottles. Otherwise they would have had to be laid down or find a box or something. That made me feel really happy to have those cardboard containers provided by the store. That's a lot of bottles to have rolling around in the back of a vehicle!
I had better get to bed.
Until next time.
Lane Bryant and the Not Expedited Order Disaster
Labels: Wedding
Just over two months ago I went to Lane Bryant for the first time and got fitted for a bra.
Today I get an email that says they have their "full support" bras on sale 2 for $25. I need a white bra for the wedding. My beige bra's straps show with the wedding gown.
So I agonize over the 8-9 bras on sale, the colors and all. The only thing I'm sure of is the size to order. I can't decide whether to order FedEx expedited (an additional $6) which assures it will ship in 3-5 business days, or overnight ($13).
I am pretty sure I was sitting here for 2 maybe even THREE HOURS, trying to figure out which ones to order.
Finally I made up my mind, put in the order. . . and FORGET TO SELECT THE EXPEDITED SHIPPING!!!
Regular ground shipping takes 4-8 business days. There is no way to call lanebryant.com. You can only email or write to them. I emailed, asking if they could please upgrade the shipping on my order. Hopefully they can.
In the meantime, this is not helping at all with my stress level.
Until next time.
The Wedding Guestbook
Labels: Wedding
Before it was time for me to start working yesterday morning, I opened my Inkscape created guestbook pages in Adobe Illustrator just out of curiosity. I've opened Illustrator a couple of times, but don't have time to just play around with new software.
I was able to rework the whole file and make it look much better. This morning we are going to OfficeMax to have them print out the pages. I decided we should get 150 copies, just to be safe and sure that everyone has a chance to fill one out. I called the OfficeMax where we'll be going and they told me the cost will be $0.22 per page. That doubles the cost ($33) to what I thought it would originally be ($16.00).
I woke up at 1:30 and was unable to sleep so I thought I'd get up and do SOMETHING. I could think of lots of things to do. I decided to scan the guestbook pages and show them here on my blog. It took me a while to figure out why the scanner wouldn't work. I guess I wasn't quite awake as I forgot I can't plug the scanner into the USB extension piece, but have to use the actual USB port in back of the computer. After some time of futzing around with the computer and scanner, I finally got the pages scanned. I began replacing our names with "Bride & Groom" and found this glaring mistake!
Man, I read over this thing I don't know how many times yesterday. And I showed it to at least two people who looked over it. I originally had in there, "Where do you think the Bride & Groom will be in 10 years." I changed it to "Where will Bride & Groom will be in 10 years." Missed taking out that second "will". Whew. That would have been near to disaster in my mind, to have not caught that. Now I need to be sure to have someone else proof the program for the same reason. That was page 2, the backside.
Here is page 1:
So I just realized why I'm awake. My blood sugar must be low. Dh got up a few minutes ago and I'm becoming increasingly agitated at noises and the sound of the television. And my stomach just signaled that I'm ravenously hungry. Since it's still very early (2:45am), I am going to eat something and get back into bed. My back had already started stiffening up by 1:30 anyway, so this way I can sleep a few more hours in peace until it begins stiffening again.
One more thing. Since I have access to Adobe Illustrator, I will make a point to use it for any future [stupid television, SHUT UP!] items I need to produce, RATHER than using Inkscape.
However, if the only option I had was Inkscape, I'd suffer through it. I mean, Illustrator costs nearly ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS, so Inkscape is WONDERFUL in that regard, but it is an EXTREMELY cumbersome program. The printing process alone was enough to drive me mad. It won't print more than one copy at one time, so that means you have to reset the printing options each and every time you need to print something. It won't hold the setting that tells it to print Landscape or Portrait, I needed it to print Landscape and it kept reverting back to Portrait. I needed to print 150 copies, both sides, so 300 prints. And my printer leaves smudges and I have to insert each piece of cardstock manually and the printer misfeeds every other time (when using thick paper).
Okay that's it. I have to eat something and go back to bed. I'm about ready to smash the television.
Until next time.
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
OH NO, only TEN days to go!!!
Labels: Wedding
Starting to get a little bit anxious.
As I said in my last entry, I worked on my laptop on the way home, instead of knitting. I managed to finish creating the guestbook pages I mentioned in this post back in JULY!
I tried printing them out on both my printers. It will be a long arduous task and I finally called OfficeMax to see what they could do for me. $16 to print 100 two-sided pages. I'm going for it! I will stop by hopefully tomorrow.
The program I'm using is freeware and very CRUDDY when it comes to printing. It doesn't keep the settings from one print to the next AND it won't print more than one print at a time. Plus my printer needs to have a button pushed when I use the manual feed tray. So I'd be sitting here for 20 hours. Yes, $16 is well worth it. I will probably even pop for 150 copies. The new tally on attendees is 99 people. Gasp.
So that's one thing down. My ex-boss came by today to work on the audio for the wedding. He's also working on the audio for my job's upcoming event, so it is good he's working on it for me now.
Now I have to finish choosing the ceremony music! And the program and print it out. SCREAM!! And the flower arrangements for the tables. I have ten of those done now, or maybe eleven.
AND the shopping for the paper goods.
Oh me, oh my.
I have to get to bed.
Until next time.
Purple Passion Vest
Labels: knitting
I started this project on Sunday September 23rd. I don't like our new camera and I can't find my job's camera to take a picture of what I've done so far. This first picture is using the flash. It's practically psychedelic. Hmmm... I seem to have spelled that word correctly. The towel is actually a dark navy blue color.
Here is the same piece of knitting without the flash. Totally washed out. 
Here I attempted to Photoshop the correct rendering of the color. It's pretty close. But the purples are more intensely purple. More like the next photo.
Only again, not so psychedelic.
This is the back. There is a neat border on the bottom and sides achieved by using the seed pattern. At least it seems to be a variation of the seed pattern, because it's basically knit the purl and purl the knit for four stitches on each end (five rows to start out with). Then the standard whatever it's called, uh, stockinette stitch, which is knit on one side and purl on the other (wrong) side.
I am knitting on the way home, while dh drives. Except today I realized I'd better get myself in gear and start working on the wedding things that have to be printed out, so I worked on the laptop on the way home today.
Monday, October 08, 2007
Zoe's Due To Kid Pretty Soon
Labels: goats
One of our milkers is due to kid between the 12th and the end of the month. Talk about your good timing on my part. This is the first year I've tried off season breeding, and then I plan a wedding right close to the time she's due to kid. On top of that I lost my barn records for the last half of the month of May (gestation is 5 months for goats). I have been wanting to get our goats tested again for CAE. I don't think we have it in our herd (we tested our foundation does in 2003 and all were clean and we've only brought in two new goats from clean herds) but it's nice to have the paperwork to prove it, when it comes time to sell. I was stressing out about when was I going to get all these does' blood drawn and my friend who lives in New Mexico and has goats for years, suggested I test my one doe, to make sure she is clean, since we plan to allow her to raise her own kids and CAE is transmitted via the colostrum and milk. The others aren't due until February. So I geared myself up this morning to draw blood and I am dead serious it took me 20 minutes to find her jugular vein. It is so nerve wracking drawing blood. Ds2 came out eventually and I finally found the vein and managed to draw the blood. I was glad he was out there, he offered to help hold the doe (she was stanchioned in the milking stand also) and it made the job easier. So I did get that one doe's blood drawn and will now send the sample in to the lab for testing.
Until next time.
On Pins and Needles
Labels: Wedding
The wedding plans are coming right along and I'm near to having a nervous breakdown with all there is to do, plus everything else.
Dh and I met with our pastor yesterday to discuss the ceremony. Pastor loved the idea which ds2 and dh came up with and that is to have dh run off and have ds2 guarding the door with a shotgun. I told them all in no uncertain terms do I think that would be funny. They all loved it, so I just hope they don't get any ideas because I really don't like the idea of it at all! Maybe I'd better get an ankle holster and a pretend gun, just in case. Goodness.
I finished the veil today. WHEW WHEW WHEW. I expended so much energy when Grandma was in hospice, then helping to plan her memorial, then making the memory book, plus crying and grieving, the wedding got shoved to the side for a bit. That did not help my stress level in the least. I finished gluing on pearls, then I stitched through the top and drew the material together so I could attach it to the comb. Sewed it to the comb, and for the finishing touch, sewed a row of pearls and clear glass beads at the top.
I got the wedding gown sewed back together. I'd ripped out one of the side seams to see how difficult it would be to take the area in just about half of an inch. I needn't have worried, I feel certain I've gained enough weight to fit into it just fine. I am so anxious over food and my body size I can't eat hardly anything without feeling spasms of guilt. I knew I wouldn't be able to lose enough weight, or as much weight as I'd have liked to lose, but just the thought of being as large as I am sure does trigger me something awful. I sewed it back to where it was, and it seems to be fitting just right. I might need to take the seams in just a tiny bit but for now it's staying as is.
I debated on sewing this extra little fancy piece to the back of the gown, and after I got it ironed and hung up I thought it looked plain and decided to go for sewing it on. I think it really dresses up the back of the dress. These pictures really don't do justice to the piece, but here are a couple of comparison shots, without the extra piece and with.
Here is a closeup of the added piece.
Let's see what else did I get accomplished... I did get six of the seventeen table centerpieces together on Friday night. I had hoped to get the rest of those done today, but I don't think it is going to be possible.
We invited 168 people, I never expected more than half to attend. The tally so far is:
91 attending
27 declined
48 unknown
Egads!
Until next time.
Saturday, October 06, 2007
Happy Birthday Dear Son Two
My Dearest Son Two
Since you embraced hygiene
It's a delight spending time with you
Your funny stories bring tears to my eyes
Exaggerating, carrying on like a schoolgirl
Outright bold-faced lies
Each one to me a precious pearl
I especially love that your writing
is wonderfully correct
Your grammar and punctuation and spelling
is so nearly perfect
A wonderful cook you are
Constructing meals with love
Helping us eat healthier
Your talent is a gift from above
To women you show respect
I am so happy you are in touch with your feelings
It causes me to reflect
And count my blessings
Your love for God is certain
You eagerly read His word
You are a good Christian
Happy to follow your shepherd
I am proud of the man you have become
Do gooder, straight and narrow, goody-two shoes
You are simply awesome
Not like those other yahoos
Last November you stepped up
Proud is what you made your father and I
Even though I was about to crackup
You stayed calm and let me cry
A treasure hunt for your birthday
fond memory from the past
Presents from your family
Memories sure to last
New things you aren't afraid to try
like going "no poo" with your mother
Makes my heart sigh
And turns me into a bragger
Of what a wonderful son you are
And how glad I am that we had you
So glad in our life you share
The love of goats so true
This poem sucks
But it is the best I could do
Just don't upchuck
Into your shoe
Happy Birthday. I love you.
Tuesday, October 02, 2007
Morning Star Crochet Pattern
Labels: Memory Lane
Click on image to see it larger.
Mom says it is by Coats and Clark.
Grandma used to make this pattern into a tablecloth, then sell raffle tickets to neighbors and coworkers to make extra money. We're looking for the pattern, 'cause mom says it was stolen from Grandma's house several years ago.
Until next time.
Monday, October 01, 2007
Auto Maintenance Ford 10-1-07
Labels: auto maintenance
Changed modulator valve.
Changed spark plugs.
Changed distributor cap.
