Saturday + Sunday + Monday

Friday Mayhem and I did a little traveling and spent the afternoon visiting my sister and then stayed the night with my mama.  I sorta had hopes that the curse would be reversed and he'd go back to sleeping twelve hours straight like he did the last time we stayed with her.  No such luck.  But we had a good time and got up early Saturday morning to drive some more to my stepbrother's wedding.  

You know, I consider myself to be pretty funny, but when confronted with a blank Jenga piece and asked to write something to the bride and groom on it I just slap came up empty.  Nothing!  So I had to settle for just our names.  The same went for the tongue depressors we were supposed to write date night suggestions on.  

(My stepbrother...poor fella...knocked over the unity candle before the wedding even started!  All he could do was laugh and smile and I kept thinking to myself, "SYMBOLISM!"  Let's hope not.)

Mayhem behaved very well during the ceremony and I give all the credit to Goldfish.  No loud MM MMMing like at my cousin's graduation though thankfully.

Target was having a buy one get one half off dress sale Friday so I bought three potentials to wear to the wedding without trying them on (that turned out well) and took them all back Saturday afternoon.  Some interesting clouds blew up while we were inside and it wasn't long after we made it back to the car big ol' fat rain, as Forrest Gump would say, came down.

Mayhem was exhausted and just passed out right on top of his daddy!

Since nobody was sick we went to both services at church Sunday.  When I picked him up from the nursery after the morning service the ladies told me that he'd been so good and played they didn't even know he was there.  That night was a different story.  They said he had social difficulties and fell apart when one of his little friends crawled at him too fast for his liking and then a little girl bopped him in the face for crying!  I guess it's hard learning to play with others.

Monday morning we went back to the doctor for a check up on his ears.  They seem to be about 70% better the doctor said and should finish healing on their own.  They'll check him again at his 18 month appointment in September barring any trouble between now and then.

The doctor spent most of the time talking to me about his sleep problems- Mayhem's sleep problems, not the doctor's.  I'll try anything once so last night I gave the Cry Yourself to Sleep approach another go.  It took an hour and half and about six different times of me going in to help him lay back down, but he finally went to sleep and slept the next 7 hours!

The doctor said it should take two weeks but, if we're consistent he ought to be cured of this waking up every 45 minutes nonsense.  I certainly hope so and last night was a good encouragement.

My mama and my sister Haley have been busy making the seed throwing thingies for the wedding.
Yay!

Black Not Blue

I ordered black.
They shipped me blue.

Blue tie = me distraught

So You Need Some Motivation?

How's this for lighting a fire underneath your own butt?

Yesterday morning I woke up in a hot sweat from a wedding day nightmare.
It started off with me, Boots, my mom, and a preacher.
We were standing on a patio by a pool.
We had a short ceremony, sealed it with a kiss, and apparently we were married!
A few people walked up and I groaned about having to do this again.
Why did we get married before the wedding?
Boots isn't supposed to see me before the wedding, this doesn't go with our plans.
Why was I wearing a poufy princess dress with raspberries on it?
I hid in a closet and an old church friend found me and made small talk, asking was I ready for to get married.
I wasn't ready!
I forgot to buy the groomsmen's shirts and ties, I forgot to print the programs!
I made a mad dash for the parking lot and took off in Boots' truck.
I was headed for the nearest JCPenney's, determined that the groomsmen wouldn't be seen wearing the t-shirts I imagined them in.
And then, I woke up.
Imagine my relief when I realized this was only the nightmare wedding of my dreams.
I spent the whole day running around town checking off a list of things I've been putting off for too long.
I can't let this nightmare become a reality.

I haven't had much to write lately.
There's just not much too much happening.
I'm just working and doing wedding stuff and house stuff.
But by not writing I'm neglecting the purpose of the blog.
(Purpose? 
Oh, yeah! 
To keep people our family fah fah away informed of our happenings!)

We had a wedding shower the past two Saturdays and got lots of great presents.
Boots and I are going to have plenty of new things to use in our house.
We got nice, new, fluffy towels.
Shiny pots and brand new spoons!
Baskets, and decorations, and tools!
I'm dying to cook something with all my new wares but I haven't had the time yet.
Expect lots of cooking posts in October.

I've been writing 'thank you' notes until my eyes cross.
Don't you just love writing 'thank you' notes?
(I may be sarcastic about a lot of things but from the bottom of my heart I love writing 'thank you' notes.
I like paying bills too.
There's just some allure about writing checks, licking envelopes, and sticking stamps.
Maybe because it's only 'special' occasions that you get to do such.)

Boots and I finally decided on the flooring for the majority of the house!
Hallelujah!
Indecision makes my head spin.
I like to have things decided out right away so I don't have to stress over the possible outcomes.

Possible outcomes......
New business venture idea in the works.

Dear Boots,
I am becoming increasingly attached to the blue bathroom each time I see it.
Please, do not destroy.
Save your creative destructive energies for the grand house we're building in our heads that will someday be on the ground.
Much love,
Rachel

You know what's great about all this hectic wedding stuff?
Ya know, besides the cake and punch?
I get to see so many people that I haven't seen in a while and/or don't get to see very often.
I can't wait until the wedding!
There will be (I hope!) so many people there that love us and I hope we get to visit with them all.

Chloe has moved out of my apartment and down to our house.
She chewed up a wall in my bathroom yesterday as payback for the trouble she got in that morning and I cannot have teeth marks on everything that doesn't belong to me that I have to pay for when I move out.
I'm not sure if Nikki is sad her friend is gone or glad to have all the attention to herself again.
I hope they mesh as well as they have been meshing next month when they have to live together for good.
I hope me and Chloe started meshing better.
Mesh, mesh, mesh.

Cake, love, and funerals,
Rachel

Do My Eyes Look Green To You?

I know it doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things.

In fifty years who will even care?

But at this present time it's important to me and now it feels slightly tainted.

Shoulda called and asked.

Etsy Likes: Jars

from

I like these jars.

If I had these jars I'd put flowers in them at the wedding.

But maybe I'd want clear instead of blue.

from

Lovely!

Wedding Dream Texts

I got these text messages from my sister Haley today:

"I dreamed abt ur wedding last night"

"It was sooooooo long and the preacher talked abt stupid stuff. U didn't even walk down. It was kinda weird"

"It was really strange. Ur bridesmaids didn't even stand up there. We were scattered throughout the whole church with black and teal knee length dresses on"

Yikes! 
Hope that's not a premonition!

Yesterday was a road trip for me.
I drove four hundred miles in twelve hours to go to a friend's wedding and pick up my wedding invitations.

The trip's events were dominated by Boots' GPS which he made me take even though I insisted I didn't need it because he insisted I did.

Before I left, I stopped at the local Target to buy a wedding bag and a wedding card for my wedding present.
I even color coordinated with the invitation and the wedding colors (blue and white.)
How nice.

I bought a big bag of Sour Patch Kids and a Dr. Pepper.
Junk food for the road, you know.

Got Boots' GPS set for my destination and hit the interstate, being careful to watch for those state workers because it is Fourth of July weekend, of course.

I'm driving along, listening to my new radio, wearing my sweaty dress I'd had dry cleaned this past week, eating Sour Patch Kids until my tongue was slap raw.
I'm thinking about how cool it would be if GPS machines and radar detector beepers were all-in-one devices.
And maybe if it was combined with cell phone.

That GPS lady would come real handy telling you which way to turn to duck the police.
I look at my fingers on the steering wheel, admiring my engagement ring, and there is an ant on my arm!!
Crawling along like it belonged there!
I freaked out, crossed into the other lane (nobody was around, it's ok) and got that one and another off my leg!
Where did those chomping critters come from?!

After that near disaster, fifty miles later, I'm off in La La Land thinking about Boots and wedding stuff and TURN RIGHT!!!
Scared the crap out of me.
I mean I jumped twice it startled me so bad!
Can't that thing beep or something to let you know you're fixin' to get yelled at?
What if I'd had a bad heart?

Another 50 miles or so later, I'm so far out in the woods the radio stations don't play new music anymore.
I passed by some blue and white balloons tied to a sign.

"Huh.
Wonder if that's it?
Nah, probably not.
GPS lady says I've still got 15 miles to go."

15 miles later, I'm obviously in the wrong place.
There is no church where I am.
I don't know if it's the bride's fault or the GPS lady's but I proceed to freak out since I'm lost and beginning to run short on time before the blessed event.

I make a call to a man I know lives in that general area and he gives me directions back to the church.
It was the balloons.
Shoulda just stopped and looked.
Genius.

Wedding went fine.
The bride was her most beautiful.
Flower girl wasn't too cooperative, ring bearer was very aerobic, but it was nice.

Traveled on to my aunt's house and picked up my (perfect!) invitations.
They look great.
Can't wait to mail those bad boys out.

The whole road trip thing made me want to go to Texas.
Boots, when can we go back?

T-minus 100

You know how new presidents always have this big thing about their First 100 Days in Office?
Well, today is the beginning of my last 100 days.
My last 100 days as a single woman.
My last 100 days with only one ring on that special finger.
My last 100 days as......OK, that's enough
I'm getting married in 100 days!

Perhaps in 200 more days I'll write about how my first 100 days in my new position has been, generally speaking of course.

In keeping with the 100 Days theme, here is my thrown together plan of things I hope to accomplish in the next 100 days.
Ahem.
1-Get married.
(Maybe that should be toward the bottom.)
2-Buy a house.
3-Fix up said house.
4-Decorate said house.
5-Fill up my recipe book that I bought myself as a graduation present with recipes for things I can cook and feed Boots once we get to the other side of this transition.
And maybe before.
6-Finish all of this wedding planning hullabaloo.
That's a big job in and of itself.
Six is plenty, six is my lucky number, I'll stop there.

Happy Last 100 Days!

Hello, Martha!

I found this cake on Martha Stewart's wedding website.

I like the swirls in the icing and the simpleness of it.

I want my cake to be three layers though and ivory colored.

Pictures as Promised

This first one is kinda gross.

I went down to the farm this week.

How'd you like to have those horns mounted on your wall?

(Since then I've been thinking

I would love to have a humongous peacock tail fanned out and mounted on my wall one day. 

I think that would be so pretty!)

We went swimming in the limestone pond.

This is my cousin, Pea.

Nikki even went swimming!

Here she is with my cousin, Em.

Boots and I went to a friend's wedding on Saturday.

We practiced taking pictures.

(I'm not sure why his purple shirt and tie looks blue in pictures.)

Sunday after work I got the clippers out again.

But this time not on the dog.

I cut my roommate's boy manfriend's hair and it didn't turn out too bad if I do say so myself.

What a scary sight.

I We got lots of things accomplished for the wedding last night.

-We bought the wedding bands.
So pretty!
(No photo, sorry!)

-We got (1) out of (6) bridesmaid dresses picked out.
(My apologies again.)

-We argued and debated and fussed and griped over Boots' suit but the mission is accomplished.
(At least I hope!)
(I'm sure you saw this coming, no photo here either.)

I still have lots and lots of things to do.
Wedding planning is no joke, y'all!

Dear Boots: Don't Make Me Say "I Told You So"

I come from a long line of cheap skates.
Misers.
Penny pinchers.
Whatever.
I don't like to spend money unless its something good.
This has benefited me because I have no car payment and no debt for my education.
I'm torn between arranging my wedding flowers myself (because I want to be creative, DIY, and cheap) or having a reasonably priced professional arrange them for me (because I want them to be pretty and not cheap looking or hastily thrown together.)
Decisions, decisions.
Boots has pretty much jumped off the wedding train and decided to stand out of Bridezilla's way.
(Boots, don't go!  I need help!)

Yes, My Middle Name is Naive

Earlier this afternoon I drug Boots (not drug as in secretly gave medicine, drug as in physically made go) to the tuxedo store to get him suited up for the wedding!

Yay!

He was super enthused.

Photographic evidence to ensue.

This tux thing is exciting!

Then I drug him to Target to get registered for stuff.

You know, house stuff.

So we got the gun and I handed it over because I know that new toys/weapons are an easy way to get a man's cooperation.

It worked.

Evidence:

Yes, that's a grill.

Not a very flattering picture but I think he's trying to decide which grill accessory we he needs.

It was shortly after this picture that the camera batteries went dead so I missed getting pictures of him shooting all the pots in the cooking aisle.

Then Boots gets all neurotic and hunger-painish so I have to hand the gun back in and we leave The Target registered.

So I crossed two wedding to-dos off my list today.

After Target we trek 5 miles/30 minutes to the restaurant.

Boots wants to sit in the back room with all these people when the whole front of the restaurant is empty.

I am not excited.

"Surprise!!!!"

I was definitely surprised!

Most of the people I work with had showed up at a surprise party that had been planned for me.

I was crowned with a pink tiara and sat in a chair with balloons tied to it.

Then I was presented with an assortment of gag gifts appropriately themed.

Oversized sunglasses to protect my eyes while embalming.

A play dough kit to practice my restorative art waxing recreation with.

Barrettes to keep my hair pulled back.

A toy cell phone to represent the company phone I'll eventually get (if I make it up that far.)

A pack of socks since I never match mine.

Toy keys to represent the company car I might get one day.

And a foam dart gun to shoot the boss with.

I was definitely shocked.

Its been a good day.

:D

I totally get why people get married at the court house now.
Dang, this is expensive.

A Dress

Remember last month when I found "the one?"
Turns out it wasn't "the one."
I found it and I bought it. 
Then I took it with me to Target because I was afraid someone might steal it out of my car and I can't afford that!
Now I'm scared that the apartment is going to burn down with my dress in it!
This is too much stress for an event for one day that will forever burn in personal infamy.

Flip Flops or Veils?

I acidentally found my wedding dress this afternoon.
I went out with The Roommate in search of beach footwear.
Flip flop hunting led to an implusive idea from yours truly.
"Hey, let's go look at wedding dresses."
So we did.
And I fell in love with the fourth one, not the first one.
I would post a picture, but I can't.
I'm not suspicious, but this is supposed to be special, so no peeking.
Oh, and my wedding director hired herself. 
I've always said that a funeral director is just a wedding planner on short notice, so I figured how hard could it be?
She said I couldn't do it myself and that she would pay me to let her do it.
I must really need help!

Dear Boots,

When I was seventeen and shopping for my first prom dress, we stopped at David's Bridal (No, I did not get paid to name-drop) to see what they had.
There was a woman there who was trying on wedding dresses and decided on a beautiful poofy gown.
It was black with white flowers jumping down the side of it and a white bar across the top and white inside.
So pretty.
Since that time I've been in love with black wedding dresses.
I'm subscribed to Etsy's daily whatever list and today......oh, just look what they recommended!

Dear Boots,

Please?

Love, Rachel