Nine days out

Isn’t that enough? I’m nine days away from a wedding. I’m so excited I can’t stand it.

Two weeks to go

Well we have two weeks to go before the big day.  Less than actually.  We’re so excited but also ready to just be married and enjoying a normal life.  I’m hoping to start blogging again more regularly after that.  I’ll actually have free time again that I can dedicate to anything I choose (and even a little expendable income that will no longer be going to wedding plans and honeymoon budgets). 

I’m just so excited.  I can’t believe I get to marry HIM. 

Big news!

I’m getting married.  It’s still not registering when I say it.  I just can’t believe that my life is working out like this.  What on earth did I do to deserve marrying the guy of my dreams?  Sure, there’s stress, and some things don’t work out the way I’d hoped, but nothing could have prepared me for this blessing. 

We’re getting married with views of the mountains in front of us and our families behind us.  We’re going to have a commitment ceremony later in front of our friends, because they matter too. 

 I’ve been a nervous wreck worrying about the dress (evidently most people have more than 5 months of wedding planning, and just ordering a dress takes 4 months!) and worrying about the logistics of it all.  Of course I want it to be perfect.  Of course I want to look beautiful in the perfect dress.  Things like that can make me crazy.  We decided yesterday, that it WON’T be perfect.  We’ll have Mother Nature to contend with, as well as one of the busiest places and months the Smokies have.  But you know what?  He is.  And we are.  And that is all that matters!

Taking a break

I’m going to need to take a break (as I obviously have for a while now) due to a new job and no home internet connection.  More details to come, when I can actually update this thing!

New addition to a family, just not mine

My dear friends (and Cash’s godparents) welcomed their first child, a baby girl, on Tuesday night.  Abigail Mosi Swanson joined the party weighing in at 7lbs.  Mother and baby are doing well and hope to be home tonight (father is presumably ecstatic).  We’re all very excited to meet her, and thrilled everyone is doing so well.

 Welcome, Abigail, and congrats Dan and Jenny!

My niece and her daddy!

*

I got to spend some time with my brother, his girlfriend and my niece yesterday.  We had a nice time just goofing off and doing nothing.  We don’t see them as much as you’d expect with us living as closely as we do, so it’s always nice to take some time and relax with them. 

Lake is growing so fast and walking like it’s no one’s business.  She has the best personality and smiles and giggles constantly.  She talks and talks and talks, but of course, we have no idea what she is saying.  She finally warmed up to B (after her first introduction when she was a baby and cried) and now she just smiles at him and crawls all over him and flirts.  Its so cute watching her look up and smile so mischievously.  She’s going to be such a fun little girl; she already is. 

*Adorable picture lifted from Karissa’s myspace!

Merry Christmas from the Dog in Black

New addition to the family

A few weeks ago B got an email about an old redbone coon hound that needed adopting.  He immediately wanted to adopt him.  It wasn’t unlike the feeling I had after I had seen Cash’s picture and a few weeks later heard he was going to PetSmart hopefully to be adopted.  In my mind, if he was going to be adopted, he was going to be adopted by me.  Now in both of our situations, neither of us were looking for a dog, but immediately knew that this dog’s home was with us.  I think that’s probably how it goes, if it’s right, you just know this dog is supposed to be in your family.

Well someone spoke up before we did and the dog ended up in Virginia with a family that had never had an indoor dog before but was willing to give it a try for this old boy.  When B heard the news, he was heartbroken.  He woke up in the middle of the night to tell me, “I hope he poops in their house, then they won’t want an indoor dog for sure.” 

Well evidently the “praying for poop” campaign worked, because we got an email from the rescue lady that the adoption had not, in fact, worked out, and the family wasn’t ready for an indoor dog.  We were to meet her on Sunday so she could see the home and meet us.

When she got there, we put Cash outside so he wouldn’t be overwhelmed with excitement (Cash is very high strung) and met the dog with much excitement of our own.  We took him outside to meet and play with Cash.  They immediately got along, even though he’s an old lazy dog and Cash is a 5 year old ball of energy.  When we took them back inside and we were talking with the lady about what she knew of him (he was found in a ditch in Kentucky nearly starved and flea and tick-ridden, but is now up to date on all shots and parasite-free).  Cash still wanting to play, was really enthralled with him, he, on the other hand, wanted nothing more to do with playing.  He jumped up on the couch (which is completely allowed in my house) and curled up on B and put his head on his chest.  We all agreed, he had found his home. 

He is Leon, the 8 year old redbone.  Welcome home, Leon.

Edit: This picture was not posed.  That is exactly where he crawled.

How ironic is this?

I am in sales.  I love to negotiate.  I’d like to think I’m pretty good at it.  But when it comes to MY life, I absolutely HATE negotiating things.  I really do.  Ugh.

I remember thinking what a strange phrase to know…

My first high school boyrfriend’s mother was Korean and I asked him once if he knew any Korean or had picked up anything from her.   He replied, “I know how to say ‘I can’t take it any more!”  I thought it was hilarious and immediately pictured his mother screaming that around the house. 

After today, I now see a value to knowing how to scream that in a language others might not understand.

As a bit of a pre-resolution

We are attempting to spend more (a lot more) time at home.  As it has turned out, with B’s family being so close and my family being dual (my dad lives in Chattanooga and my mom lives in Dayton), we are spending quite a bit of our time away from home.  It really wasn’t a problem until recently.  While in the past, we wouldn’t have been expected to see his family on birthdays and minor holidays, now that they are only four hours away, it’s a bit more expected. 

In addition to our recreational concert-going habit that sometimes takes us out of town, this “new” development has really had us spending many, many more nights away from home.  So we’ve decided we need to be really focusing more on staying in during the week. 

While, this might not sound like much of a chore to my kid-having blog readers, to me, it will take effort.  You see, I hate Mondays, no different from the everyone, I guess.  My exception is that I usually go home for lunch, and let the dog out and relax.  This frees me up for $2 pints at Barley’s after work.  While that isn’t so bad, it does cost money (not to mention the cost of the inevitable Jager-bombs)!  If you add up what we spend in tips alone, we could make a new car payment!  (I don’t want a new car, but I’d like to have the option!)  I also enjoy this time with B after work.  Its a de-stressor for both of us. 

Well just repeat for the rest of the week and you’ll get an idea of the problem.  On Tuesdays I work late so he likes to hang with his buddies, prompting me to meet him later.  Wednesdays are like a vacation because my bad day is over already so I can treat myself, and by Thursdays, I’d like to get a beer and visit with my friends.  Well we all know what happens on Fridays.  Now of course, this doesn’t happen every night of the week, but there’s an option and a temptation every night. 

Of course there will be days we go have a beer.  I’m (we’re) just hoping they are fewer.  And truth be told, we do enjoy our home time.  I hate it when we get home at 8PM and I feel like we have so little time for curling up on the couch together winding down the day. 

Change of plans

We were supposed to be visiting my dad this weekend and celebrating B’s mother’s birthday on Sunday with a Polar Express train ride.  Unfortunately, B’s grandfather passed away and the family is going to Pennsylvania for the funeral.  He was sick for along time, but you’re never really ready to lose a grandparent.  I can attest to that. 

After much debate, we’ve decided we’re not going to the funeral.  At this time it would be really hard for us to afford it, although there are other reasons.  We thought we had a solution, that B, his brother, and I would drive up together, but his brother, after a long employment drought, is starting a new job and really couldn’t take off. 

I am really glad that we went up to visit in September and got to spend some time with his grandmother alone, as well as his grandfather and a surprise visit from his aunts and several cousins.  It was a much better visit that we’d have during the time of a funeral.  I think we’re doing what’s best, and he really does too, even so, he’s having a hard time not feeling guilty about it. 

My life was changed by a train

My life was changed by a train, on a particularly peculiar Monday, immediately following Thanksgiving weekend.  I have every reason to be especially thankful this year.  And I am. 

There’s music in my memories…

He told me something very wonderful.  I cried.  I knew at that moment, it would be one of the happiest moments of my life.  And then I noticed the song on the radio.  Now, I love Rod Stewart’s Maggie May as much as the next person, but I can honestly say, when I realized it would forever be aural wallpaper during one of my greatest memories, I was a bit disappointed.  I guess its funny now. (And to be honest, I immediately knew I would write this post, but when I sat down to write it, for a brief moment, I couldn’t remember if it was Maggie May or Tonight’s the Night, so how bad could it be?)

 It could be worse.  It could have “a-zig-a-zig-ahhhh” in it!

Does everyone remember what song was playing in most of their memories? 

Ahh, its that time of year

Well, I’ve got the funk.  I think the overly crowded, but beautiful Biltmore Estate, is what did me in.  Everyone and their flu bug were there on Saturday.  And it would seem that someone’s flu bug rode home with me.  Ugh.  I’m so incredibly weak.  To say I’m achy is such an understatement, my skin literally hurts.  I’m going to get this week’s issue finished and crawl back under the covers.