That's just crazy talk!

Good books :)

2012-01-13T14:01:00.000-08:00

I must say. One of the best and worse things is finding a book to read that you just can’t put down. The last book I couldn’t put down was the Hunger Games. Finally after reading a few duds and a few “ok” books I finally have another awesome book that I can’t seem to put down. That book is The Bay at Midnight by Diane Chamberlain. I was reading it on my lunch hour and I only have about 30 pages left and it was sooo hard to put the book down. I hate that! You expect me to put my book down when I only have 30 more pages left just to go back to work?! Ugh! Can’t wait to get home and finish it. :)

2011

2012-01-06T08:37:00.000-08:00

*WARNING: Long Post!* I’m slightly late on this post but better late than never! Another year has ended. 2011 brought many more positives for me than negatives and turned out to be a pretty great year. Here are my highlights and lowlights of 2011:

January
*We started the New Year off at my house with friends.

* Vader’s 3rd birthday was January 4th. Since I’m late on this post and it’s now 2012 he just turned 4 the other day! Seems like just yesterday his momma was trying to give birth to him on our bedroom floor and had to be rushed to the vet to have a c-section. I love my little Vader very much!

*I started painting the house at the farm. This was a difficult task emotionally but I think it helped me to work through some things. At first it was hard to be there but after the many many hours spent painting and working on the yard it became easier and started to be more positive - filled with lots of good memories instead of just bad ones.

*I started wedding dress shopping. I met up with my bridesmaids and we went to David’s Bridal and then went out for dinner afterwards. I didn’t end up finding “the dress” but had fun trying on tons of different styles.

February
*I had an appointment at the Wedding Shoppe on Grand and found “the dress”! This was exciting because I had 3 of my bridesmaids with me and my two aunts. After buying the dress I went out for dinner with my aunts to catch up on life.

*Winston came into my life! After Phil and I finally closed on our house I started the hunt for a golden retriever puppy. I finally found one a few hours away and I called my brother up to see if he wanted one too (since he said he wanted another one someday). To my surprise he said yes and we went together to pick out our pups. I immediately was drawn to Winston and in less than a second I said dibs! I love my Winnie Winston so much (even though he’s naughty sometimes)!

*February was also a sad month. My Grandpa’s wife, Barb, passed away after fighting cancer. She was a fantastic lady and I will forever miss her. My poor Grandpa is lonely and sad after losing his first wife about 8 years prior and now losing Barb. But he is one of the strongest people I know!

March
*I started the month off getting my wisdom teeth pulled. Not the most favorable thing but it wasn’t that bad. The worst part was eating soft food for a few days.

April
*We started our yard demolition. My brother and a buddy of my dad’s came out and re-did our entire lawn. They had to till it up, rack it, level it and seed it.

*We had our food tasting for the wedding and decided on lemon chicken and pork loin.

*I bought my Honda Pilot! I love love love this car. The only bad thing was after a few weeks of owning it I realized that the AC didn’t work so I had to go get that fixed.

May
*100 mile garage sale with the girls. I didn’t really find anything great. I just enjoyed the time I had with my lady friends.

June
*Started working on the garden at the farm. The start of many hours/days of work I put into it with the help of my aunt, friends and family. By the time the wedding came around it was beautiful and I was very proud of myself!

I never got a "done" picture but here is close to done picture of part of the garden:

*I had my first dress fitting.

*Phil’s sister and her husband came to town from Portland and we went to see them at the Tourville pig roast.

*Met with the florist and picked out the flowers for the wedding. Another check off my long wedding to-do list!

*Phil and I had our engagement pictures taken by a friend who was in our wedding.

July
*Phil and I went and saw Transformers 3: Dark of the Moon. This is on my list because Transformers is one of my favorite movies! I’d say it was my 2nd favorite out of the 3 so far.

*Went tubing down the Apple River with a bunch of friends. Good times, good times.

*Phil and I went to the Stillwater fireworks with our friends Josh and Lynsie. This is the second year in a row we did this together. We went out for dinner and then watched the show. I remember it was hot hot hot that day and we were sweating our balls off.

*Phil and I went shopping for Phil’s wedding ring. He made it easy for me and we only made one stop at the Shane Co. and within a few minutes he picked it out! Easy-peasy.

*My friend Lynsie had her bachelorette party and bridal shower. The bachelorette party was on a boat and then we went out to the bars afterwards. Good times, good times.

*Started building the deck. And it’s still not finished…

August
*My bachelorette party. We got a hotel downtown Minneapolis and walked to the Hard Rock Cafe for dinner and then bar hopped for the rest of the night. Good times, good times. :)

*The day before my bachelorette party I sold my Honda Civic. I was glad to get rid of the little go-cart!

*Phil and I went to the courthouse and got our marriage license. So exciting!

*Two of my very best friends, Josh and Lynsie got married on August 20th and I was so happy to be a part of it! Their wedding was perfect (except for the fact that I had bronchitis – but I still managed to have a real good time at the reception).

*I attended my bridal shower. My aunts threw it together for me and it was a small gathering at my aunt’s house in Stillwater.

*The law firm I work for puts on a summer outing for us every year and this year we went to a Saint’s game. This was my first experience at a Saints game and it was pretty fun. We had a little “tailgate” party before the game and then watched the Saints kick the other teams’ butts.

September
*Sad news first - Phil’s Grandpa Louie died after battling cancer. :(

*Back to good news - Phil had his bachelor party with his boys. I think they had a bbq at his friend, Scott’s house and then went bar hopping and then ended up at our house playing video games.

*The day before our wedding we had our rehearsal dinner at the farm. We just had a small get together of the wedding party, ran through it a few times and then had a bbq.

*Phil and I got married on September 16th! Everything was perfect (well, the weather could have been a little bit warmer but it could have been worse). Best day of my life thus far!

*Phil and I went on our honeymoon. We went to Orlando, FL and went to all the 4 main theme parks. It was hot, hot, hot down in Florida and we spent the majority of every day walking! My calves were rock solid by the time we came home! As much as I love a good vacation I also love coming home. Mostly because I missed my puppies and also wanted to eat like normal again. I was so sick of eating out.

October
*Finally got to changing my name. It was really weird leaving the Walton name behind. I still miss it from time to time and catch myself writing it down. It’s funny because most people who try to say my new last name can’t say it right. It’s kind of annoying to have to spell it for everyone. Oh well, right?

*My 26th birthday was on October 31st. We had a low key evening. Went to Applebees for some apps and then downtown for the bars. Good times.

*Coldplay came out with a new CD – Mylo Xyloto. Coldplay is by far my favorite band so I was quite excited when their new CD came out and it is awesome. However, atm I’m not too happy with Coldplay. They are only coming to about 17ish US cities in their 2012 concert tour and I can’t go to the only one nearby because I have a wedding that day. I’m totally bummed and I’m mad at them for not coming to Milwaukee!

November
*I went to see the Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1 with my Monday crew girls. We went out for a little dinner and then went to see the movie. This was my favorite movie thus far from the Twilight Saga. They keep getting better and better!

*Black Friday – one of my favorite times of the year! This year we started at midnight and went until 8 a.m. and I’d do it again!

December
*December started off with an office Christmas party at Luna Rosa. It has only snowed a few times so far this winter and Mother Nature decided to pour on the snow that night. Oh well, we made it to Stillwater and back alive.

*The Monday crew decided to do a “Thanksmas”. It’s a little get together between Thanksviging and Christmas – just eat a good dinner, hang out and play games.

*Winston’s 1st birthday was on Christmas Eve. What a great birthday!

*This year I decided to go to Brainerd to spend Christmas with my mom’s side of the family. The last two years I stayed home. The reason being is that it’s a 3 hour drive there and that usually means that I have to skip Christmas with my dad’s side and Christmas with Phil’s side.

*To celebrate x-mas with my Monday crew we decided to do something different this year. We usually make dinner or go out to eat and do Secret Santa. But this year we decided to go to Acme Comedy Club for dinner and a show. It was a lot of fun and my face hurt from laughing by the time we left.

Plans, hopes and dreams for 2012:
*I am hoping to have a baby sometime in 2012 or at least be pregnant.

*Phil and I are thinking about going to Arizona in March (at the same time as my brother & girlfriend) to visit my grandpa and get out of the cold for a few days.

*I’m looking forward to having at least two more nieces or nephews (hopefully more).

*Phil’s sister is getting married this summer (not sure on the date yet) but we will be going to Portland at some point this summer! We are actually thinking about a road trip out there... :)

x-mas

2011-12-28T09:50:00.001-08:00

Finally, Christmas is over! Yay! Well, almost… still a few more celebrations to go.

The only parts of Christmas I still like are seeing family (but not having to chose between who to go see since they are usually on the same day) and giving people their presents. The Monday before Christmas our Monday crew did presents for the Monday crew kiddos. I just love buying presents for them and watching them open them!! They are finally getting to the age that they know what presents are and they like opening them. Hopefully next year there will be 4 more kids. ;)

Christmas Eve Phil and I had his mom and grandma over for dinner. I made a yummy pork roast with mashed potatoes, stuffing, corn, buns, etc. We had the whole works except instead of pie we had ice cream. :) After hanging out for a bit they went home and Phil and I opened presents. Phil got me a mini laptop and I was completely surprised. I can usually guess what he got me and I had no idea. But I’m very happy with it. My old laptop was about 8 years old and was a monster. So it was time for an update. I got Phil a Kindle Fire and I’m excited to see how it works. Hopefully he will get a lot of use out of it.

Christmas morning I headed to Brainerd alone to spend time with my mom’s side of the family. I haven’t seen them the last two years for Christmas so I thought I would skip my dad’s side this year and go up there. It was definitely good to see everyone but I missed my dad’s side and being in the car for 6 hours that day wasn’t my favorite thing. But I fully enjoyed seeing my little sister open all her presents! She is so darn cute and she loved the zebra backpack that I got her and the cupcake shirt.

Friday I’m celebrating Christmas with my Monday crew. We are all going to a comedy club for dinner and a show. I don’t think any of us have done that before so it should be a fun new experience!! I can’t wait!

Last but not least, next week I’m having a little “Christmas” with my brother and his girlfriend. We are just going to go out for dinner. Nice and simple - just the way I like it. :)

Tis the Season

2011-12-13T14:49:00.000-08:00

I remember when Christmas time used to be so easy and so much fun. Our family would always go to church on Christmas Eve and then go home, eat a nice dinner and then open our presents (except for our stockings). When we were still gullible my mom would always rush to put the presents under the tree and put half eaten cookies on the counter while we were waiting for her in the truck with dad ready to go to church. When we got home from church my dad would tell us to look at the roof really close and we could see the reindeer tracks. Of course we believed him and I have a foggy memory of getting so excited because I thought I saw the reindeer tracks on the roof! Man I was gullible. Christmas morning we would wake up really early and dig into our stockings (one of my favorite parts of Christmas) and then lay around in our PJs until it was time to go.

We would always have one Christmas with my dad’s side of the family at my grandma and grandpa’s house (which was almost directly across the road from our house). My grandma made the best meals and treats!! Oh how I miss those dinners! I am the only girl on that side of the family. My aunt has 4 boys and my uncle has 1 boy and then it is me and my 2 brothers. But when I was a kid I was a tomboy so I fit right in!

We also had Christmas with my mom’s side of the family at my Aunt Laura’s house in Stillwater. It’s funny because every time we drove to Stillwater we would pass Andersons and my dad would always tell us about the time he worked there. We had heard the story a million times but he would still tell us every time we drove past there. Christmas with my mom’s side of the family was always one of my favorite times of the year. Again, I was the only girl in the family but I fit in with the boys just fine. We were really close with my cousins on my mom’s side so we always had a ton of fun together.

Now that we are grown things have changed immensely. First, my grandma passed away so Christmas with my dad’s side of the family was never the same. Then my parents got divorced and I felt like I had to choose who to go see on Christmas. Since my mom lived a few hours away it was hard to do both. By that time Phil and I had been together for a few years and I started going to his family events as well. Then my dad died and that changed my whole view on Christmas. This will be my third Christmas without my dad and I still don’t want to put up the Christmas tree. I still do it every year in the hopes that I get into the Christmas spirit but all I want to do is take down the tree. I don’t even turn the Christmas lights on anymore. At least I have very fond memories of what Christmas used to be about - family. Maybe when Phil and I have kids of our own I will be more inclined to get back into the Christmas spirit for them.

.

2011-12-05T08:23:00.001-08:00

December 4, 2009 was the last time I talked to my dad. We talked for about 40 minutes while I was on my way home from New Richmond. I remember most of our conversation very clearly and I remember the end of our conversation like it was yesterday. Towards the end of our conversation we were joking around and I was telling him to stop texting me stupid and racist jokes (he had just learned to text and forward jokes so I got them all the stinkin time). He laughed and said fine, he won’t send me anymore of those. Then he said he wanted to send me an actual picture of a 12 pt buck he shot. I told him those are the kinds of pictures he can send me! I got off the phone with him seconds later and seconds later I got his text. It was another racist joke. Here is the 12 pt buck:

I remember laughing so hard at how dumb my dad could be. I remember getting home and talking to Phil about how it and feeling so proud that he was my dad.

Today marks 2 years since my dad died and I’m still not dealing with it. I thought I would at least attempt to do something about it so I decided to write how I feel. This blog is mainly for myself and I don’t care who reads this. Like I said, this is for me and I don’t care what anyone else thinks about it. Judge me if you wish. I need to get this off my chest and I can’t seem to talk about it out loud so I thought I’d write it on paper (so to speak).

I think about my dad very often and I miss him very much. Sometimes my eyes will start to fill with tears and every so often a few will drop but most likely, they won’t. This is because shortly after I start to feel sad and miss him I get extremely angry. I have an extremely strong hate towards skank (I will not bring myself to even say her name because she doesn’t deserve that). Skank was my dad’s “wife”. She was nothing but a negative part in my dad’s life. Weeks before the accident my dad wanted a divorce. He spoke open about wanting one but he didn’t want to have to go through it again – but he knew he had to. She is the reason why my dad isn’t here today. I still can’t explain what happened that horrible, horrible night but I do feel strongly about one thing – it was no accident. They got in a fight that night so he stormed home and went to work. My mind travels from one theory to another. Either way, no matter which theory of mine I go with, she is the reason why he’s not here.

After he died her greedy, selfish ways came out even stronger. I’m not going to get into all the details of that but I just have to say that I HATE HATE HATE her so much for ruining his life and turning ours upside-down. She tortured us for over a year after my dad died by being a constant greedy bitch and yet even though I haven’t seen or talked to her in almost a year she is still torturing me to this day. I wish so much that I could just get her out of my head. I want to stop hating but I feel like I can’t get past my anger. I want to miss my dad without her popping into my head and without all of the anger I feel. I want to remember my dad and only my dad.

That’s all I can get out today.

Black Friday

2011-11-28T14:44:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving weekend was quite nice. It felt so good to have a four day weekend. Thanksgiving itself wasn’t that great. Like I said before, I’m not a fan of the holidays so much anymore. We went over to Phil’s mom’s house for a small gathering and then went home early to try to take naps since we were both going to be up all night. We both attempted to take naps but we both failed miserably. Oh well. Black Friday shopping was a success. I wasn’t as tired as I thought I would be. We started out at Wal-Mart and didn’t find anything good there. Then we hit Target, Kohl’s, JC Penny and then Menards. I got a few good things. I got Phil his Xbox from Target - $60 off normal price. Bought a few shirts, blankets, sheets, storage rack, cubby shelf thing, towels, etc. That’s about it though. I think this was my fourth year Black Friday shopping and I think I spent the least amount of money this year. Hopefully next year all the stores will go back to opening at 5:00 a.m. instead of midnight. It’s just more fun that way. I got home about 8:30 a.m. thinking I wasn’t tired at all. I sat on the couch and was out like a light shortly thereafter. I got a nice 3 hour nap in and the rest of the day was spent lounging on the couch.

Random Topic Day

2011-11-23T12:53:00.000-08:00

Last night I was sitting on the couch watching Bones (trying to catch up on the episodes I’ve missed) and I see a hole on the corner of the couch and the corner is soaked with slobber. It’s only about the size of a quarter but it’s a hole with stuffing about to come out. I was just pissed. This is the second hole in our couch in the last week and Winston is on my shit list. We got these couches about 5 years ago but they are still really nice couches and I don’t want any more holes. So from now on Winston is no longer trusted outside his kennel without anybody home or even if we aren’t in the room. He goes in his kennel when we are sleeping, when I’m showering and getting ready for work, when we are downstairs (since he isn’t allowed downstairs) or when we aren’t home. Hopefully he will learn his lesson darn fast. I’m so sick and tired of him being a puppy. I can take the holes in the yard from his digging. I can take the stuffing all over the house from when he rips apart his dog bed or a toy. I can take him getting into the toilet and garbages. What I can’t take is him ripping apart our couch. I love that dog but he is sure testing my patience.

Next topic. I’d love to get Vader fully potty trained. When I’m home he knows he needs to pee outside and he is a good boy and always lets me know that he wants out. When I’m not home it’s a different story. Apparently he can’t hold his bladder the 8 hours a day nobody is home – or he just doesn’t care. He also goes on the carpet sometimes at night. I know that the best way to fix this is to crate train him while we aren’t home and while we sleep but Phil says he won’t allow it. Things will need to change! I’m sick of cleaning up the house when I get home every day. Ugh, I’m so sick and tired of cleaning up after 4 animals!!!!!!!!!!!!

Next topic. Black Friday is this weekend. I’m more excited for Black Friday than I am for Thanksgiving. I’ve been more excited for BF over Thanksgiving for the last few years. Thanksgiving is no longer the same. I don’t really want to go into my reasons because it is just depressing and who wants to get depressed during the holidays. BF will be different this year. All the stores are opening up at midnight instead of 5 or 6 a.m. This kind of sucks but we are still going to do it! We (Jewells, Loin and I) are starting at midnight and will go until about 7-7:30 a.m. We are going to be dead tired by morning! I’m the lucky one I guess because I can go home and take a nap. Jewells has to go home to a baby and Loin has to work. But it will be worth it. Hopefully we will get some good stuff at good prices! I’m sure I’ll blog about it at a later date and let you know what kind of goods I find.

Next topic. I’ve been sick for a week now. Started out with a horrible sore throat and a pounding headache and now I’ve got a runny nose and keep getting stuffed up. Not fair. I’ve been sick more in the last 2 years then in the last 10 years put together! I was even sick 2 ½ months ago with bronchitis and now I’ve got a stupid cold?! WTF my body hates me. My body has also decided to be a jerk and instead of my periods lasting 6-7 days like they did on birth control, they now last 9-10 days. Too much information, I know but I just had to say it because it sucks.

Next topic. My brother shot a deer a sent me a picture of him with the deer. The picture is the exact replica of a picture I have of my dad taken a few years ago. They are both holding the deer’s head up in the box of the truck with the same shit grin on their face and the same unshaven face. The only difference in the pictures are that Justen’s hair is blonde and my dad’s was black and Justen doesn’t have a beer gut like my dad did. Other than that, he is his father’s son through and through. I wish I had the pictures to show you how exactly the same they are. Breaks my heart.

Nice surprise and girls night!

2011-11-18T12:37:00.001-08:00

Last night Phil and I were sitting on the couch watching a movie and all of a sudden the door bell rang. We both looked at each other like – wtf, I’m not expecting anyone. Turns out it was someone dropping off a card and a wreath from the realtor who handled our closing on our house. What a nice surprise!! If anyone who is reading this and wants to sell their house or is looking to buy a house I would strongly suggest you use Jackie Henderson Kumm from Edina Realty! To be honest, she wasn’t even our realtor but she is the reason why we closed on our house. She kicks ass and knows how to get shit done (and saved me some money)! :-) Now, who doesn’t like saving money? ;-)

Tonight I get to go out with my three favorite gal pals for a girl’s night out! We are getting dinner at BWW’s and then going to see The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 1. I’m so stinking excited for being able to hang out with just the girls – no boys. I could really use some girl time after the crappy week I had. And I’m also quite excited to see the movie! I’m hoping it’s good!

Painting overload

2011-11-14T08:08:00.000-08:00

In the last year I have painted the following: 1 kitchen and then re-painted the same kitchen, 2 dining rooms, 2 living rooms, 2 bathrooms, 1 bedroom, 2 stairways and 1 stairway re-painted again, and 2 hallways (only one of these rooms being small). Ufdah! So, let’s add one more room to the list - Saturday I spent the majority of my day painting my office. I’ve had the paint for probably about 6 months and I’m finally putting it on the walls! I finished it on Sunday, got it cleaned and mostly organized, and also had Phil put in my new desk! By new I mean a desk that Phil built – not one we bought. The only thing I’m missing is a couch and a nice warm blanket! All I can say is that I don’t want anything to do with another can of paint until it’s time to paint Baby K’s room (and no I’m not pregnant).

Addicted

2011-11-10T12:30:00.000-08:00

Hi, my name is Jessie and I’m addicted to TV. I started yet another new show – Private Practice. I can’t even count how many shows I watch now. My favorite thing is when I decide to watch a show that started a few years back because then I have 100 or so episodes to watch. Then I can watch them one after the other and not have to wait each week for a new episode and then wait until the new season starts in the fall. I get so into the shows that I don’t want to do anything else. I could spend my entire Saturday watching the same show episode after episode. Phil and I have recently done this with Rescue Me, Sons of Anarchy, Raising Hope, The Walking Dead, and Numbers. I also like to have MY shows on the side so when Phil is busy I can watch one of my series… so, like I said right now it’s Private Practice and I’m addicted. Before that was Grey’s Anatomy, Gilmore Girls (a few times) and the Secret Life of the American Teenager. Phil hates this about me… All I have to say is I love instant Netflix!!!

Hormones suck

2011-10-21T09:28:00.000-07:00

Sucks being a woman. Why is it that our monthly “friend” as they call it, can be so mean? Sometimes I feel like it takes over my entire body. I get bad back aches, headaches, get bloated and I feel like crap. Not only does it take over my body but it seems to take over my mind as well. I’m exhausted, get cranky very easily, I’m much more sensitive and sometimes I get depressed – like this month. The last few days I’ve been so down that I just don’t feel like talking to anyone. I just want to go home, sit on the couch and watch my shows. I don’t want any interruptions and I just want to be sad. Which is what I did last night when I got home from work. I didn’t want to talk to Phil and he tried so hard to make me feel better (I feel bad for him around this time of the month). Nothing works. So I just sat there, watching Grey’s Anatomy, with my bowl of ice cream for supper, not talking to anyone. Why is it that our hormones go nuts this time of the month!? It’s not fair. Not fair at all.

:)

2011-10-18T09:55:00.000-07:00

I’ve gone back to reading books finally. After major wedding planning went into effect I didn’t really have time to read (basically all summer). Most of my reading I do on my lunch hour at work and my lunches were overtaken by the wedding. I either was searching for ideas for the wedding on my lunch or making calls to venders, etc. Even if I didn’t have any specific wedding stuff to do that day I was still on the internet doing wedding crap due to the fact that I couldn’t think about anything else (and I must say that I’m so glad I’m done with it). So, back to the topic at hand. I started my reading kick off with the Hunger Games. I loved, loved, loved the first book! I couldn’t stop reading it. The only part I didn’t like about the book was the way it ended. Obviously it was set up for another book. Good thing I had the second book and I went straight to that one. The second book was good as well but not quite as good as the first. Then I read the third book which took me the longest to get through. I liked it but it was not nearly as good as the first or second. I don’t want to give anything away so I won’t go into it. All I have to say is: I love Peeta! :) They decided to make the Hunger Games into a movie as well and the first movie comes out in March of 2012. :)

Now that I’m done with the Hunger Games I’m on to my next book. My friend, Loin borrowed me her book that she loved, Matched. I’m going to start reading that today. Apparently this one is a series as well. The second book comes out Nov. 1st. :) I’m pretty sure I’ll like this book as well.

Speaking of new arrivals – Coldplay, Mylo Xyloto comes out October 24th!! I’m so stinking excited for this CD. I can’t wait to hear when they are coming to Minneapolis for a concert. I’m definitely going! And maybe their Milwaukee and Chicago concerts as well. ;) ;) That’s how much I love Coldplay!

See, this is another reason why I love fall! Tons of good books, CDs and new seasons of my favorite shows come out! :)

Weird Question

2011-10-14T09:22:00.000-07:00

Do dogs act out just like children when they don’t get what they want?

This morning I noticed the corner of the pillow was chewed up. I initially blamed the cat since it was such a small hole and she likes to chew on the edge of things. It irked me but I blew it off and went to take a shower. After I got out of the shower I opened the bedroom door and let the dogs come in and hang with me while I got ready (like I do every morning). I was in the bathroom doing my routine and looked into the bedroom to find this:

What a naughty dog! At first I couldn’t’ tell what it was but then I realized it was Winston’s bed and he is totally excited and chewing it to shreds. He hasn’t done this in a long, long time. We were even thinking that he has outgrown all of this bad behavior and were going to wean him off his kennel (he goes in his kennel while we are at work and at night). Guess not yet.

After walking out to the kitchen for breakfast I found an even bigger mess of fluff:

So, why do I ask if he is acting out? Well, he went to the vet on Monday for his rash and they told us that he is overweight. So, we have to start feeding him only 3 cups of food a day. I’m pretty sure we were feeding him twice that amount. So the poor little guy thinks he is starving. Another reason why I think he is acting out is because he has to be on antibiotics for three weeks. He gets two pills in the morning and two at night. We have tried everything to make him eat his pills w/out spitting them out. We’ve put them in his food, put peanut butter on them, bread, sandwich meat, etc. He eats the good stuff and then spits the pills back out. So I literally have to open his mouth and cram them down his throat until he is gagging and then hold his mouth shut until he swallows. So anyways, I think he is mad at us for withholding his food and shoving pills down his throat and that’s why he is acting out. This naughty stage better end quickly!

9.16.11

2011-10-07T01:00:00.000-07:00

I’m just going to warn you now - this post is mainly for me. It’s kind of a diary so I don’t forget the details of our wedding - so you might get bored. I was going to wait to post this until I received my pictures from the photographer but that might be up to another 3 weeks from now. So, I’ll post pictures when I get them. Until then…

Phil and I got engaged 10.31.10 and married 9.16.11. The day we thought would take forever finally came! Let’s start out on Thursday – rehearsal day. Phil and I spent Thursday running around trying to get everything finished for the big day. We ran to Woodbury to pick up his tux, then ran to Hudson to do some last minute Wal-Mart shopping for things we needed for our honeymoon and the wedding and then to the grocery store to get the remaining food items we needed. Later that day we headed to The Orchard to drop off everything and pay for the food/alcohol (largest restaurant bill I’ve ever paid before, that’s for sure). After that we headed to the farm to meet all of our friends/family who were in the wedding (except Rachel and Val since they didn’t fly in until 8:00 p.m. and Patrick since, well he decided not to come). We finished decorating the farm (which didn’t take much), did a few quick run throughs of the ceremony and then ate some food. I was kind of a mess because I get anxiety over the smallest of things (thanks to my mother). I was trying to remember everything we had to do and figure out for the big day. Afterwards some of us headed to the Orchard to finish decorating. It didn’t take us long to decorate since we didn’t need to do much. Before we left I wanted everyone who was there to put their fingerprints on our guestbook (which was a painting of a tree that people would put their fingerprints on). It’s a good thing we tried that because the ink I bought didn’t look good. It was way to light. Then I started to panic, realizing that our guestbook isn’t going to work and we had no time to fix the problem. Then Phil’s cousin’s girlfriend said she could run to Woodbury and pick up some darker inks that would look good. Thank god for Katie!! She ended up picking out some awesome colors and it turned out perfect. After decorating we headed home to wait for Phil’s sisters and their other halves to arrive from the airport. Josh and Loin decided to come hang out with me while we waited for them since my nerves were high and I needed the company so I didn’t flip out. So they sat their listening to me vent about what was irking me. Phil’s sisters didn’t get to our house until around 11:00 so it was a good thing Josh and Loin came over to keep me company. We hung out for a little bit and then Phil had to leave (since we didn’t want to see each other on the day of – old tradition). Right before midnight I kicked Phil out and then we all went to bed (or at least attempted to go to bed).

Friday morning I slowly got up and then Loin and I headed to town to get my hair and makeup done. It was really weird getting my makeup done. I’ve never had anyone do that for me before. After I was all dolled up we headed back to my house where the rest of the girls were getting ready. We had some lunch and a few mimosas and then headed to the farm. They boys took their pictures first so they left right before we got there. Right when we got to the farm I got into my dress and then she took my photos and ones with my bridesmaids. Then we went to hide in the house until the ceremony. About a half hour before the ceremony I started to get really nervous and started to feel sick to my stomach. I wasn’t nervous about marrying Phil, I was nervous about all those people staring at me! So, the half hour before the ceremony was a blur to me. I know there was people coming up to me dragging me in every direction. First the DJ has tons of questions, then the photographer wants the rings, ect then family members came in and wanted to see me, then the DJ again with more problems, blah blah blah. Then it was time. I saw Phil out the window walking our mothers down. Justen and I were in the porch watching, waiting for our turn. He started to get emotional and then that made me emotional but I kept it together. It was difficult to be walking down the aisle without my dad but I wouldn’t have wanted anyone else to do it in his place. I remember walking down the aisle and not really paying attention to anything until I saw Phil. I could tell that he was “emotional” and then that made me tear up again. The ceremony felt like it went by really fast and really slow at the same time. My legs were shaking so bad because I was so nervous. I’m sure everyone thought it was because it was so chilly out but it was all nerves. After the ceremony was done I felt soooo much better! I finally felt like I could breath! After the ceremony Phil and I hurried off to take more photos of just us and then we got the whole gang together to take more. After taking all the pictures we headed to the Orchard. We got there a little ahead of schedule so we decided to get a drink and relax before the big grand entrance. When we did the grand entrance I asked that everyone “bust a move” when their names were announced. I’m pretty sure most of them did but unfortunately I couldn’t see them and didn’t get anything on camera. Anyways, after we made our entrance we sat down for dinner. The food was ok. I remember the taste test being better. Oh well. Lots of people said they enjoyed the food. After the food came the toasts. Jimmy P was Phil’s best man so he had a little speech and then Jewells, my maid of honor did her speech. We all know that I cry over anything and her speech made me tear up so there is nothing out of the ordinary there. Phil and I argued about who would do our thank-you speech and I won because Phil manned up and took the mic. After dinner we had our cake cutting and then started mingling. It was so good to see everyone. There were people there that I’ve never met (like Phil’s cousin from Washington) and people that I haven’t seen in years (like my godparents and Phil’s aunts/uncles from his dad’s side). The rest of the night I spent mingling, dancing and having fun! By 11:30 I was exhausted. I couldn’t have asked for a better night. Yes there were tiny mistakes all over the place that bugged me but nothing is ever perfect. All that matters is that Phil and I got married and all the people that mattered to us most were there to help celebrate our love.

Honeymoon

2011-09-29T23:30:00.000-07:00

WARNING: Long post with too many pictures.

Phil and I got married 9.16.11. I'll talk about the wedding on a different post because I don't have the pictures from the photographer yet. But here is a sneak peak...

The hubby and I left for our honeymoon on 9.18.11 bound for Orlando, FL. We stayed in the Walt Disney World Resorts at the Buena Vista Palace for 6 nights. The first night we arrived we walked around Downtown Disney looking for food and then went back to the hotel and relaxed for the rest of the night since we didn't get to the hotel until around 9 or 10 p.m. The hotel was nice and we had a little balcony. This is our view from the hotel:

The next day we decided to go to EPCOT. I believe this is the day we also walked down to Joe's Crab Shack where we had the best meal we've ever had before (and the most expensive!) But it was totally worth it. They even made us wear bibs (Phil wasn't too thrilled to be wearing it - especially since it said I love crabs). Here are a bunch of random pictures from EPCOT.

Phil and I waiting for our shuttle to EPCOT.

At Joe's Crab Shack! Food was sooo yummy :)

The next day we went to the Magic Kingdom. Misc. pics from that day: We got rained on towards the end of the day - I stole Phil's hat so my hair wouldn't get wet. Sexy, I know...

Just thought this shirt was funny! They came in all sizes - baby-adult.

I prefer the crane in tha background...

One of my favorite treats!!!

The next day we took a "lazy day". We walked down to IHop for breakfast and then hung out at the pool and then later went to Downtown Disney for dinner at Planet Hollywood. We even splurged and ordered room service and a movie! Too bad I fell asleep during the movie. :( Pics:

Room service :)

Phil got to play in the arcade room next to the pool after I got done sitting in the sun.

After we were done at the pool we went to Downtown Disney which was almost right across the road from our hotel. There were a ton of kids down here... Phil and I walked through Lego Land and it was terrifying. Kids everywhere - running around, screaming, crying, tripping you... Phil even took a video of us walking through Lego Land the second time. He thought it would be funny to go back and take a video of the chaos... I didn't think it was funny. Here are a bunch of pics (minus the video):

Here is the boat from Forest Gump! "Jenny"

Planet Hollywood. We ate here twice because the food was aweome and it was so cool! They had movie memorabilia everywhere.

This is the jeep from Ace Ventura, Pet Detective (one of my favorite movies as a kid)!

A dragon made out of legos:

And now Woody made out of legos:

I just thought this looked cool:

After our lazy day we went to Animal Kingdom. Here we took a safari ride and went on the mountain ride (can't for the life of me remember what it's called). Here are some pics from that day:

We took a safari ride and saw a bunch of cool animals - here are a few:

Anyone loose a child??

The last day we went to Hollywood Studios. We saved this one for last because we thought it would be the most fun. This was probably one of my favorites. I think it had the best rides. Pics:

One of my favorite rides :)

Monkeys!

We took more pictures but I think you've probably had enough by now... Saturday morning we slowly got up, packed and headed to the airport to fly home. I was so happy to get home and see my babies! I missed them all (even the cat a little - quiet, don't tell anyone).

Getting Organized

2011-09-28T10:24:00.000-07:00

This is a very large project and one that I want to accomplish in the very near future. This is the perfect time to get organized. Phil and I just got married so I’m about to change my name and once I do I’ll have to go through tons of paperwork anyways. I hate going through the file cabinet…. I hate, hate, hate it! Ugh, I’m so not looking forward to that. However, I am looking forward to getting my office all pretty. I’m going to make myself go through the files first (so I actually do it), then I plan on painting my office (already have the paint) and then I’m going to clean and decorate it (with the new decorative items we received as gifts from the wedding). It is going to look so cute when I’m done. Phil even said he would make me a desk! Much cheaper than buying a new one. After my office is clean, organized, all painted and decorated I’m going to clean and organize every closet and drawer in our house! Right now our house is so disorganized and I can’t stand it. It stresses me out when things aren’t in their correct spots. It will be so nice when I’m all done. Once it’s organized I’ll have to make sure Phil keeps it that way. He likes to just toss random things in random places (which is why we are so disorganized!).

FYI – I know some of you are wondering where the wedding/honeymoon posts are. Don’t you worry your little heads – they will be coming very soon! I’ve actually started the honeymoon post and I just need to finish it up.

:)

2011-09-14T08:02:00.001-07:00

Total craziness… today is my last day of work for 12 whole days! I can’t believe it. This day might take forever since it’s my last day. But I have a ton to do so everything is caught up for JDS and DPS so maybe if I’m lucky it will go by fast. :) Today the office is taking us all out for lunch to celebrate mine and another co-worker’s marriages. I feel so blessed to have such a great group of people to work with! Yay for free lunches! :)

Greasy yummy food please!!!

2011-09-12T13:41:00.000-07:00

I have cheeseburgers, french fries and chipotle floating around in a circle above my head, teasing me… Ugh, I’m so craving bad things! The wedding is in 4 days, 4 DAYS!! I can’t stinkin believe it! I’m so ready for it to be here. Once it’s over I’m going to pig out on all bad things!! ;)

Wedding and poop

2011-08-31T08:21:00.000-07:00

I just got an email notifying me that my new Excel bill is ready and the due date is after the wedding! That’s just crazy. I can’t believe we only have two weeks left. Which also means that summer is basically over. This Friday is our last ½ day Friday at work. I’m going to take advantage of this and run a bunch of errands after work. I want to get as much errands out of the way as I can so I’m not running around like a madman the day before the wedding. There are a bunch of small things that I need to buy for the wedding and a few “thank-you” gifts. Other than these small details I’m am pretty much ready for the wedding! The only thing that is really stressing me out at the moment is the weather, fitting into my dress and getting everyone’s rsvp cards back – we are still missing about 35 people. Not bad since my last update was 49 people missing. So, I can’t do anything about the weather except hope for a nice sunny day. I started up my 30-day shred again so hopefully that will help me fit into my dress and I’m trying to eat better until the wedding is over. That means more chicken and veggies and no more ice cream! I gave a list of people for Rita to call since most of the missing people are from her side of the family and I’ve only got a few people that I need to call. Other than that, we are practically ready! We should get our marriage license in the mail tomorrow or Friday and then I can send that in along with our ceremony to the officiant. Then I’m meeting with the photographer next week, getting my hair cut and dyed next week and having the hair trial the week of the wedding. The next two weeks will be busy!

Off wedding talk – I came home after work yesterday and I didn’t realize that I would need a hazmat suit… Phil usually gets home before me but he went to the hospital instead to visit his grandpa. I bet he is glad he did because poor Winston had an accident in his kennel. Let’s just say he needed a very good scrub and his bed and his large bone were not able to be saved. Poor Winnie. I wonder how long he had to lie in his own poop, his own very large, very smelly poop. :`(

This and that

2011-08-25T08:43:00.000-07:00

First of all, I have to say that the antibiotics that I’m currently on for my cough/bronchitis is tearing my stomach to shreds. I’m not kidding. As I’m sitting here typing this I can literally hear my stomach turning and I bet I could see it moving if I pulled my shirt up. It’s not happy. I heard eating yogurt helps so I’m trying to get some of that down – not my favorite food. But I’d rather force yogurt down then run down to the bathroom every 5 minutes. Anyways… enough about my digestive system and on to the next subject.

Two of my best friends got married last weekend. Their wedding was gorgeous and went perfectly and I couldn’t be happier for them! I’m so glad their wedding was first. :-) It actually made me less stressed out about mine. Things will go just fine even though they seem like they won’t! There are only 3 weeks and one day left until I’ll be Mrs. Kasinskas. There is really not a whole lot left to be done. Only a ton of small things but nothing big remaining. I just started bugging people who haven’t given me their rsvp card back yet. So far we have 121 yeses, 24 no’s and 49 who haven’t rsvp’d yet. So, I guess we invited more people than I thought. I think tomorrow Phil and I will head to the courthouse and apply for our marriage license. :-)

Always running errands...

2011-08-15T08:23:00.000-07:00

I had myself a busy week/end. Thursday after work Phil and I met with the lady at The Orchard for the wedding reception. We went over placement of everything/food/drinks/schedule/etc. I’m starting to get a little overwhelmed about the bill I’m going to get the day before the wedding and the day of the wedding.

Friday after work I ran to Wal-Mart to pick up 20 bags of mulch for the farm. After picking up the mulch I ran to Stillwater to pick up my wedding dress! Yippy!! I’m so excited to have it at home! Now I just need to try it on one last time to make sure it fits and will work with my shoes, jewelry, etc. However, I’ll need some help in that department since I’ve tried to put it on by myself and I can’t zip up the back. :-/

Then on Saturday I ran to Woodbury to finish my remaining errands since I couldn’t fit everything in the car on Friday with all the mulch and my dress. I had to run to Achievers for special pens/markers for the place cards and ink for the guestbook fingerprint tree. Then I ran to Kohl’s to try to find a different kind of spanks. I neglected to think about having to pee in my dress with spanks on that go down to my thighs and up to my bra. The only way I’d be able to pee with those on is if I unzipped my dress each time I had to go – which would mean I’d need help every time I go pee and let’s face it, I go pee a lot. So I decided to get a different kind that only was for my waist. I only needed them for my waist anyways since the reason for them is to hide my belly button from showing through my dress. After Kohl’s I ran to Home Depot to buy some flowers/shrubs for the farm. We are finally putting the final touches on the garden and it’s almost done!! After running errands I went home and cleaned the house a bit and then Phil and I went out for dinner.

On Sunday Phil and I had more errands to run (I feel like I’m always running errands). We ran to Fleet Farm to get more dog food and dog toys that we hope Winston won’t destroy in less than 5 minutes. Then we ran to Menards to pick up some more pieces for our deck since the guy who helped us order the deck forgot to put a bunch of important pieces on our list. I ended up buying some more plants for the farm (good thing because we needed them). After running errands I met my aunt Laura at the farm and we worked on the garden for 3 hours. It is so close to being done and it looks great!! Tuesday I’m going back over there to finish with the mulch and then the only thing I’ll have to do is water! Over the next few weeks I need to water it pretty much every day until everything looks like it will live. Some plants looked pretty pathetic after being moved around and replanted.

This weekend my two very good friends are getting married! I'm so excited for them and I'm excited to take a break from my own madness and enjoy their wedding!! :)

Bach Party Weekend!!

2011-08-08T08:12:00.001-07:00

WARNING: LOTS OF PICTURES!!

I had an awesome weekend. Friday I sold my Civic and I’m very happy to have it gone and not have to deal with the extra expense anymore. Goodbye Wanda!!

Then Saturday I got to see my mom for a little bit. She went to the farm to see Justen and help me with the garden. So I went over there for a few hours and helped her weed, etc and we chatted a bit. She looks really good and seems to be happy again. I just hope it lasts.

Then Saturday night was my bach party! Lynsie, a/k/a “loin muffin”, came over after work and then Ashley, my brother’s girlfriend, came over around 4:00. Right after Ashley got to my house it started down pouring out which really sucks because they boys were working on the deck. Soon after Ashley got there we left for the hotel in Minneapolis. After getting a little lost we finally made it to the hotel (a little late which I’m sure Jewells was happy about). Right when we got to the hotel we started the celebration. There was beer, jello-shots (strawberry and champagne I believe – and were quite delicious), wine and champagne. Before we even left for dinner we were all feeling pretty good.

After getting ready we walked to the Hard Rock to meet my aunties and have some dinner. The food there is delicious! I love a big juicy burger w/fries – my favorite!!

After the Hard Rock we walked around and found some Irish bar and had a few drinks outside on the patio. After we had a few drinks it got really windy and started to sprinkle outside so we decided to head to an inside bar and this is when my aunties left.

I think we started out at Drink and then jumped to a few other places (Aqua, Envy, etc) and then ended the night at Drink. Here are some of my favorite pics of the night in complete random order...

The whole gang at the Hard Rock! I'll just introduce everyone here. From left to right - Sarah, Rachel, Lynsie, Jenny, me, Laura, Jewells and Ashley.

Before we left for dinner

Jello shots before we left for dinner.

Pole dancing?

Not quite sure why we were doing this

I'm sexy, real sexy...

So cool...

On our walk back to the hotel.

We are awesome...

All us girls.

Cleavage anyone?

Eventually the heals came off...

I'm pretty sure they had too much to drink ;)

Me and my aunties :) Laura is on the left and Jenny on the right.

At the Hard Rock

Yeah....

two for ones!

Sleepy time

Random guys that apparently thought we were cool.

Tid bit windy?

Shots, shots, shots, shots, shots, shots EVERYBODY! Well, for Loin and Ashley at least.

Addicted

2011-08-03T06:09:00.000-07:00

I have been watching The Secret Life of the American Teenager. I know, I know… I’m a little old to be watching this show but I can’t help it, I’m addicted! This show really puts things into perspective… I’m old. I can’t believe how immature and how irresponsible 16 year olds can be! I remember being 16 and thinking I was one of those “responsible and mature 16 year olds”. Looking back, I really wasn’t. Don’t get me wrong, I was more mature than a lot of other 16 year olds and thank god I didn’t get myself pregnant at that age but now I can see how stupid I was at times and how stupid they can be.

45 days and counting...

2011-08-02T14:11:00.000-07:00

We have 1 ½ months until the wedding – plenty of time to get shit done but yet I’m stressed out about every little thing. Some days I feel okay and others I feel like the anxiety is taking over (like today). I hate anxiety… I get that from my mother. I get anxiety even when I’m running late. Actually, I get anxiety even when I’m going to be right on time (I like to be early for everything)! Why can’t I just stinkin relax and not worry about every little thing? I know the wedding will go just fine but I can’t stop worrying about it. My main to do list: pay vendors, finish picking out music for the ceremony/reception and send DJ our list and event profile, finish place cards (once I get all the rsvps), finish planning ceremony (vows, etc), finish garden at farm, make slideshow, and get marriage license. There are of course plenty of tiny things to do but those are the main things left. This weekend is the start to my wedding events - I have my bachelorette party! I cannot wait to celebrate with my favorite lady friends! Don't worry, I'm sure I'll have plenty of pictures to post next week. 45 more days to go until the big day!!

Few days behind...

2011-07-27T06:35:00.001-07:00

Let’s talk about last weekend (I’m a little behind here). Saturday night was Loin’s Bach party! We all met at Laura’s house and drove to Lake Minnetonka to get on our boat. We fit nine women in one minivan! Tight squeeze! The boat was fun and the food was delicious! The weather decided to cooperate with us for most of the cruise. On our way back to Laura’s it started raining out once again… Oh well, then we were off to the Wild Onion! This was my first time there and it was fun! The only bad thing was that it was a little crowded for my taste. Maybe if they made the dance floor a little bigger it wouldn’t have been so bad. There were times when I couldn’t really even move so dancing was not an option. Plus, they should really turn up their AC! Damn it was hot in there!! Anyways, it was a good time and I hope Loin had a good time! :) Sunday was rough. I made the mistake of sitting on the couch half the day and I fell asleep 3 or 4 times during the day. I only took tiny little cat naps because I wanted to be able to go to sleep at night but I just couldn’t stay awake!!! I’m so glad that there is a weekend in between Loin’s bach party and mine! I can’t do two weekends in a row like that! I’m getting old…
Bach party pic :)

This weekend we are supposed to build our deck. I’m not quite sure if that will happen or not. Phil was supposed to get the footings done last weekend but that never happened for two reasons. 1. We forgot to call the diggers hotline and have them mark the lines and 2. Phil and Jimmy P. were hung-over on Sunday and wouldn’t have done it anyways. Ugh, so hopefully he can do it sometime after work in the next day or two. The footings need at least 24 hours to dry before we can build the rest of the deck. If he can’t get the footings done by Friday then I guess we will be doing that on Saturday instead of doing the fun part – building! I’m excited to have it done. I’ll feel much better about the money I spent when I can actually use it. :)

Less than 2 months!

2011-07-18T08:25:00.000-07:00

The only thing on my mind is wedding. I can’t seem to think outside of the wedding box anymore. I can’t concentrate on work or even sleep. I can’t believe there is less than 2 months to go and so much left to do! But Phil and I got some more details out of the way over the weekend and also managed to get some cleaning jobs done – stuff that you don’t do on a usual weekly basis. Phil finally got the Cricut working and cut out all of our birds for the place cards. He even helped me glue everything together and I didn’t even have to ask! Now I just need to write people’s names on the cards. However, I don’t have the best handwriting so maybe I better find someone who does to write them. I also worked on my fabric flowers. A few more hours of work and I should be done with them! We also finally booked our honeymoon! We are going to Orlando for 6 nights and staying at a hotel that is in Walt Disney World Resorts. I let Phil pick the vacation this time since I’ve picked all the rest. I really wanted to go to Hawaii or something but Phil didn’t. But, I’m actually getting really getting excited to go to Orlando! I’m excited to go to all the theme parks. We are getting a 4-day theme park pass so we will be very busy! In exactly two months from today we will be boarding a plane and heading to Florida! :) :)

Another Wedding Blog

2011-07-11T10:23:00.000-07:00

I just have to say that I can’t believe it’s already July and the wedding is only 67 days away (just over 2 months). Craziness… The real wedding festivities start this weekend. Well, it’s not my wedding stuff that starts this weekend, it’s my friends, however, I’m in their wedding so I count it as wedding festivities! I’ve got her bridal shower this weekend, then Sunday I’m meeting my Aunt Laura at the farm to work on the garden (and hopefully finish it or get it close to being finished). Then the next weekend is my friend’s bachelorette party (whoop whoop)! The weekend after that, we are building the deck (not wedding but whatev). Then the next weekend is my bachelorette party! I have the weekend after that open (I’m sure it won’t stay that way). Then it’s Josh and Loin’s wedding the next weekend and then it’s my bridal shower the weekend after that. Then Phil and I get married two weeks later!! So, it looks like I have 3 weekends left open (intentionally keeping the two before the wedding open for last minutes stuff). It will be here before I know it!

This & That Over the Weekend

2011-07-06T10:43:00.000-07:00

This weekend was fabulous! Phil and I got a lot of wedding stuff done, yard work done and actually had time for some fun too! For our date night on Friday we went and saw Transformers: Dark of the Moon in 3D. The movie was just ok. I definitely enjoyed it but I would have to rank it as my least favorite out of the three.

Saturday we went tubing down the Apple River with a bunch of friends and then had a bbq afterwards. It was nice to get outside and do something fun for the first time this summer!

Sunday Phil and I spent a lot of the day working on the yard. We finally got all the shitty pebble rock is gone from our walkway!! It only took us a week to get it all out of there. Now we just need to till it up, put a pathway in and put down some grass seed. Sounds easy enough…

Yesterday Phil and I took an extra day off work to run errands and get stuff done. Our first stop was Menards to order our deck. After some bickering on the design, we finally got it ordered and it will be delivered on Thursday! I’m quite excited! Hopefully we can get it all built by the end of this month (as long as my awesome friends are still willing to help *wink wink). After Menards we ran to Woodbury to pick out Phil’s ring at the Shane Co., which we bought and then went to Savvi Formalwear to pick out the tuxs for the wedding. I thought I wanted to do suits but that didn’t work out. I guess they would have to buy their suits and that would be more expensive. So, we went with the tuxs but minus the vest and pocket thinger. They are going to look so spiffy!! Once we got home I finished up our wedding website and finished tweaking our Target registry. Hopefully we have enough stuff on there since we didn’t register anywhere else. Our wedding is only 72 days away! I’m sure Josh and Max would like that.

Now after a 4 and 1/2 days off work I'm back to work. :( Little vacations just aren't long enough..

Busy bee

2011-06-29T07:36:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I picked up my wedding dress! I’m so excited to finally have it and it fits! However, I’m not as excited for the next step… dry cleaning. I’m scared to death of the dry cleaner ruining it! The dress has a lot of detail so I’m sure it will be on the more expensive side to dry clean which means that there is more of a chance for them to ruin it. Ugh… but, I gotta do it since it was a sample dress and who knows how many women tried that very same dress on before me.

Rachel emailed me and said that the invites are all done and I should have them in the mail by Thursday! I’m so excited to see them in person!! All I’ve seen are the proofs on the computer, which does not show what they really look like since they are all screen printed. Rachel is very talented so I’m sure they are perfect! I can’t wait to have the invites all out in the mail. That will be a big load off my shoulders. I’m trying to get our website and registry all finished before they go out as well so it will be nice to have all that done…

This weekend is going to be very busy. Friday I only work a half day and then I’m getting my hair done at a new salon. I hate having to find a new person to cut and dye my hair. Hopefully I like this new lady. When I get home I’m going to work on the wedding invitations and hopefully get them all in the mail. Then on Friday night Phil and I are having a date night and we are going to see Transformers Dark of the Moon in 3D!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I’m so EXCITED!!! Transformers is my favorite movie – no joke. The movie comes out today and I’d love to go see it tonight, however, there is nobody to let Winston out and we can’t leave him locked up for 13 hours… not fair. So, I can wait until Friday I guess. Only because I love my dog…

Saturday a bunch of friends and I are getting together and we are going tubing down the Apple River! I’m pretty excited. This will probably be the last year we go for a while since I’m hoping to be knocked up next summer. So we will float down the river, get a good buzz in the middle of the day and then have a BBQ afterwards.

Sunday I don’t have anything planned exactly but Phil and I need to work on our yard and probably should work on the garden at the farm. So Sunday will be no fun but what are you gonna do…

Monday is the 4th of July and the office is closed! Yippy!! We don’t have any set plans nailed down yet but I’m sure we will do something with friends.

Tuesday I asked off work so I could have an extra day to get shit done. Phil and I plan to go to Menards and figure out our deck and maybe order everything. Then we are going to head to Woodbury and pick out his ring and hopefully the guy’s suits. There was something else we were supposed to do but now I can’t stinkin remember… I should probably write this stuff down. Anyways, busy weekend but it will be fun and we should get a lot done. :-)

Weekend stuff

2011-06-20T08:00:00.001-07:00

This last weekend was both great and horrible. It started off great with a dress fitting. The dress is even better than I remember. Maybe I just thought it was better because it actually fit me instead of being 2 sizes too big. Either way, I love it. She just needs to add the buttons so I can bustle it and then finish a few minor things and then I get to pick it up! But then I need to find a dry cleaner… Now that I’m quite nervous about. I don’t even want to think about that yet.

Saturday I want shopping with my gal pals. It was quite nice to hang out with just us girls – no boys or kids. I feel like we haven’t done that in a long ass time. I found a few things, like my bachelorette dress or the one I’ll wear to Loin’s bachelorette party and I found a dress to wear to my bridal shower. Two more checks off my list! After I got home from shopping I relaxed for a tiny bit and then Phil and I went to Bart’s (Rachel’s hubby) family reunion/pig roast. It was nice to see them both. I don’t remember the last time I saw Bart… it might have been at their wedding, which was a few years ago!

Sunday was when it got horrible. I woke up and decided to keep my mind occupied since I knew it would be an emotional day so I cleaned the house from top to bottom. By noon, I was exhausted. I felt like I was on an emotional rollercoaster all day. One minute I’m sad, then I’m crabby, then I’m angry, then back to sad. So, I didn’t go with Phil to his mom’s house to visit with the family. I just couldn’t be social. This was my second father’s day without my dad. You would think it would get easier with time but it doesn’t. I get sad and miss him any day but dates like father’s day and his birthday are very difficult. There are things I still can’t do and things that I find I’m finally ready to do. One thing I can’t do is delete his phone number from my phone. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to do that. I also can’t visit his gravesite or walk over to the bins where he fell. But something I found I was ready to do was to drive a way home from New Richmond that I thought I’d never be able to do again. I’m sure you think that is weird… But the last time I talked to my dad – the night before the accident – I called him on my way home from New Richmond. I talked to him the whole way home. There are many different ways you can take from New Richmond to Baldwin. However, my favorite way, the way I used to go, I couldn’t take anymore because it hurt too much. However, last week, after a year and a half, I took that route. It was difficult but nice at the same time. It gave me a little bit of time to cry, laugh, remember and miss him. Sometimes I feel like I’m a zombie because I don’t like to feel. I choose to ignore things that will make me get emotional and feel and I go out of my way to make sure that it doesn’t happen. I don’t want to be like that. I guess I’m writing this blog for myself. It sometimes feels good to get my feelings out – even when I’m not really talking to anyone.

In wedding news...

2011-06-15T14:45:00.000-07:00

I ordered my bridesmaid gifts today and I’m so excited to give them to my bridesmaids in exactly 3 months and 1 day!! I wish I could tell you more but I can’t due to the fact that 3 out of the 5 bridesmaids read this blog – maybe the other 2 as well… not quite sure. Anyways, I checked that one off the list! I have also checked off a few other things from my wedding to-do list this week! I called the florist and set up an appointment for next Saturday. This will be an easy task because I’m pretty care free about the flowers and I don’t need any for the centerpieces. I also called our officiant and chatted with her about the plans for the big day. The only thing I’m nervous about is the fact that she doesn’t do a rehearsal the night before. I’m scared that it won’t go very smoothly. I suppose if I wanted to, I could do a rehearsal dinner with someone filling in for her – that might be a smart idea. Then we could get a general idea of what to do.

Other news… On Friday I get to try on my wedding dress for the first time since I dropped it off a few months ago with the seamstress! I’m so excited! Hopefully it fits. After I try it on she will sew it all up and I get to pick it up very soon after!

The next few items on my wedding to-do list that I want done this week are to call chair rental places, make my veil (hopefully it turns out), find a hair stylist, buy my bachelorette outfit and book our honeymoon. There are many more tasks of course but it helps me to write down only a few things to do and then check them off the list. If I wrote a list of everything I would just get stressed out immediately and not do anything… So, hopefully those items will be done by the end of the week. However, I’m quite sure that we won’t book the honeymoon this week. I’ve been meaning to do that for months now and it just seems to never get done. Probably because we haven’t’ decided on a place to go yet… Eh, it will get done eventually.

That is all for now!

P90X

2011-06-13T08:52:00.000-07:00

I have decided to grow some balls and start P90X. I was flipping through the channels on Sunday morning and a P90X commercial came on and it got me pumped! I’ve been doing Jillian Michael’s 30 Day Shred and it is getting boring and I’ve wanted to do something new for a while now. I’ve always been scared of P90X and I think the most scary thing is that it takes a lot of time (around an hour a day). But, there is exactly 94 days until Phil and I get married and I want to be in the best shape of my life when we get married (a little goal of mine) so it seems kind of perfect. I thought I started it yesterday by doing the first video, shoulders and back. However, I just went online to see the “schedule” on what DVDs you should do and in what order (there are 12 DVDS) and I did not start with the right DVD. I guess there are three different workout plans you can do. I decided to do the P90X Lean workout plan. This plan has more cardio and less weight resistance training. This seems perfect for me since I don’t want to end up like an unattractive muscle woman (not that I would anyways I’m sure, but you know...). So I guess I start the plan on Tuesday. I really hope I can do this every day (except Mondays – I’m giving myself a day off). I don’t want to start and give up right away. If I can finish the 30 day shred then I can do P90X right? I only wish I could get Phil to do it with me…

Yellow Balls

2011-06-10T06:41:00.000-07:00

Yesterday morning when I woke up I looked at Winston’s “special area” to make sure everything was looking okay and his balls looked yellow and they sure didn’t look like that the night before! I instantly knew that that wasn’t normal. I took a picture of it but I’ll save you from having to see it – it’s pretty gross. He was also acting weird – all depressed and mopy, didn’t want to do anything but sit or lay down and he panicked when he had to pee or poop. So I called the vet right away and the technician said it sounded like he had an infection and he should probably come in but she would have the vet who did the surgery call me back and tell me what to do. So I went to work and a little while later she called and said she wants to see him and that she is sure he has an infection. So, we made an appointment for that afternoon. The vet was surprised to see how bad it was and gave us two different antibiotics, more pain pills and a topical spray to spray on his balls. She said that she is glad we didn’t wait any longer to bring him in because they would have had to do surgery again to get the puss out of there, etc. They also gave us a different thing to put around his neck to protect him from licking, which looked like a life jacket because he kept scraping his balls with his cone. I asked if he would be able to still lick his balls with the life jacket looking thing and she said she would be very surprised if he could. While at the vet, he didn’t try to lick them but right when we get home, lo and behold, he could reach his balls… dammit. So we had to put the cone back on and tape the edges so they weren’t so rough in case he decided to scrap his balls again while trying to get to them. I feel so bad for my Winnie Winston! He has to take these meds and wear his cone for 7-10 days. I can’t wait for him to be back to his normal self. It breaks my heart to hear him cry.

My Cone Head

2011-06-08T06:46:00.000-07:00

Last night I was driving to New Richmond after work to go pick up Winston. It was 101 degrees outside and the same inside my car since I have no air conditioning. I made it to Roberts and then decided that if I could barely handle the heat - how is Winston going to handle the heat after he had just had surgery? So, I called Phil and asked him to meet me at the vet so we could bring Winston home in the Civic w/air conditioning. My poor baby looked so tired but he was happy to see us! He had an allergic reaction to the stuff they used to wash his surgical area and now his balls are bright red. Poor Winston. He gets to wear a cone on his head for a whole week because he is a licker. Even with the cone on his head he still tries to lick his balls. Silly boy. I felt like a horrible mother leaving him to go to work today. He is only happy when Phil or I am petting him or talking to him. Otherwise he starts to whine. :( My little cone head…

Yard work

2011-06-06T12:05:00.001-07:00

Over the weekend I went to the farm and started on the garden (the background of our wedding ceremony). I got there a little before 9 a.m. and shortly after me, my Aunt Laura showed up to help. We started pulling weeds and wishing my brother would wake up so he could come out and pull all the trees. Not too long after we started he came out, got the skid steer and we pulled all the “weed” trees out. The only picture I will show you at this point is most of the trees we pulled - and this isn’t all of them.

I don’t want to give away the surprise until the project is done! So, Justen pulled all the bigger trees and then had to leave. Pretty soon after he left my wonderful friends Josh and Loin showed up to help. Josh shoveled up the rest of the small trees for me and the rest of us pulled plants out of the ground and weeded the entire garden. After 5 hours of work and a nice burn line, I decided to call it quits for the day. The hard part is now done and it should be much easier to finish the project. I can't wait until it's done and I can see how much better it looks.

After all the yard work on Saturday Phil and I started our yard work at home. I mowed our grass for the first time (and the first time in my life!). So I developed a burn on top of my burn from the day before. After the yard work I ran to Hudson to get groceries and some suntan lotion so next time I won't burn. ;) But it's all good, when I woke up this morning most of my burn had already turned into a tan! My first tan of the season. I love summer. :)

My Winston

2011-06-06T08:15:00.001-07:00

My Winny Winston is at the vet today to get his manhood chopped off! When I left this morning, I said goodbye to him and I started tearing up. I know, I know… it is just a dog. But he is my baby!! I’m worried about how he is going to do and I’m going to miss him. It will be weird going home and not having him there and then waking up tomorrow morning and not having him there… :( I can’t wait until Tuesday at 5:00 when I get to go pick him up!! Phil just got him to the vet and he is weighing in at 58 lbs! My big boy. :-)

Let's get shit done!

2011-05-31T08:29:00.000-07:00

I’ve been in a “get shit done” mode for the last few weeks and it has really been paying off. I’m exhausted because there has been little relaxation involved, but things are getting done and are making me feel less stressed about everything going on. Don’t get me wrong, I’m still very stressed out and I don’t see how everything can get done before the end of summer & before the wedding – but the more I check off my list the easier it gets.

This weekend started off with painting the dining room at the farm. I’m kind of jealous because it turned out really good and I love love love the color! After I finished painting I did a little bit of weeding and planning with the garden. I’m excited to really get started on it! While I was there, Justen and Ashley were cleaning up the farm (getting rid of scrap metal, trimming around the trees, etc). Apparently he has big plans for the farm before the wedding. He wants to turn the office into a bathroom, take down a few trees and he wants to tear down two buildings and bury them. Hopefully he can get that all done before September! After spending half the day at the farm I went home and spent a few hours cleaning the house and cutting out fabric flowers for the wedding.

Saturday I spent the majority of the day cleaning/organizing and running the dogs to and from the groomer. I took a little break when Phil got home from work and then we left to go to Josh & Loin’s house for a bonfire for Joshua’s birthday. It was a good time! It felt good to get out and have a few drinks with my friends. :-)

The next day Phil and I slowly woke up (since we were up til 3 a.m. the night before) and finished the underground fence for the dog. We got it all done and went to grab the collar to test it out to make sure everything was working before completely burring the wire and we couldn’t find the collar. Cool…. Phil misplaces EVERYTHING and now it’s lost. :-( So, we can’t start training Winston quite yet but it’s done. If we can’t find the collar Phil gets to buy a new one. After that we decided we needed a break so we went out for dinner at Chipotle (my favorite!), then had a little desert at Mc D’s and then went to see the Hangover II. The movie was funny, however, it was an exact replica of the first one so it was obvious what was going to happen.

Then Monday came (the last day of vaca!!) and we spent the day running errands. I bought my first tree for our yard!!! I’m overly excited about it. It’s just a tree… but it’s our first tree in our new house! It’s so cute! So after running errands we got home, planted our new tree and Phil started power washing the front of our house/deck while I cleaned and did laundry. All-in-all - very busy weekend.

Over the next few days Phil and I have plans to finish power washing the front of the house, clean/organize the garage, seed/fertilize our yard and take on the big job of shoveling up all the pebble rock from the front walk-way and put it in the back of the house where the deck is going and then re-do the entire front walk-way. Ugh… now that is going to be quite a large job and will take a few days… not looking forward to the work but it will be nice once it’s done.

That is all.

More wedding talk

2011-05-25T09:28:00.000-07:00

Another wedding blog people… I’m sorry but it’s the only thing I have to talk about! Last weekend, my Aunt Laura and grandma came over to see the house. After the tour and a little bit of chatting we decided to head over to the farm to check out the ceremony site for the wedding so Laura could get some ideas. Laura is very into gardening. She is in a garden club and most of her front yard is a garden and it’s beautiful. I fully trust her gardening tips. When we got to the farm and she instantly got tons of ideas and saw all the potential. The farm isn’t horrible… it is just overgrown and all the goods are hiding underneath all the crab grass and weeds. This weekend I plan on going to the farm to finish painting the dining room and then I’m going to start weeding. Laura plans to come out to the farm next weekend and we are going to start the madness. I’m excited but at the same time I’m extremely overwhelmed. It sounds easy but I know it is going to be a lot of hard work. But all the hard work will be well worth it in the end because we will have a beautiful ceremony site that means a lot to me and Justen gets to have a nice looking yard after the wedding is over.

I also started my fabric flowers last night. It took me a few hours just to trace 10 flowers and cut out 8. After cutting out 8 my hand cramped up so I couldn’t finish the last 2. Only 52 more to cut out and then I have to sew them all! This is another project that is going to take me a while but it will be well worth it when it’s done. I like that I’m adding something to our wedding that I did myself.

All this gardening and crafting talk is making me really feel like a Tuomala finally! By that I mean my mother’s side of the family. They are all very crafty, talented and love to garden. Someday I hope to be half as crafty and talented as they are!

We also finalized our invitations and our guestlist and Rachel is going to start making them. She is coming to Wisconsin in the middle of June and plans to bring the finished product with her. So, hopefully all of the invites will be out by the end of June. This whole wedding experience seems to be flying by so fast! I can’t wait until the big day is here and I get to marry my best friend in the whole world! Then we get to start having babies! :-) :-)

4 down - a gazillion to go

2011-05-20T13:10:00.000-07:00

I feel like I’m on a roll this week! I finally found someone to marry us, I found and purchased our fabric for the fabric flowers, I ordered the centerpieces (except for the candles) and I ordered return address labels so we don’t have to write all that out by hand! Four checks off my list! Whoot whoot!

However, now that I'm thinking about my very large to-do list it doesn't seem like much.... ugh, so much to do!

Wedding To-do List

2011-05-16T10:22:00.000-07:00

Over the weekend Phil and I knocked some more items of our wedding to-do list. We went to Target and registered for our gifts. I knew it was going to be a pain in the ass and it was. Phil and I don’t agree on a lot since we have completely opposite taste in design. But after some arguing we got it taken care of. Now I just need to go online and tweak a few things and add a few more things since our scanner gun died towards the end. But, that’s basically checked off the list!

While in Woodbury we also stopped at Joann’s to find some gray and yellow fabric for our fabric flowers. There wasn’t a whole lot to chose from in gray so I didn’t exactly get what I was picturing. But, I got what they had so I could see what the flowers looked like in color. Here are the two final products:

I think I’ll buy different fabric and maybe do different kinds of fabric together, like throw in some lace or something of that sort to give it a little bit of different textures. So, once I find and purchase my fabric I can start making my many many fabric flowers!

Next few things on our wedding to-do list that I want to get done within the next week or two is find someone to marry us, finish getting people’s addresses, decide on where we are going for our honeymoon and book the tickets. There are still many many other things we need to get done but those I think are the most important right now.

Fun DIY Project

2011-05-10T11:10:00.000-07:00

So I got this cool idea from Rachel and Val to make flowers out of felt or fabric for the wedding. I was looking for a way to incorporate our colors (gray and yellow) more so fabric flowers would be perfect. I plan to use them on the tables as part of the centerpieces. I did some searching on the internet to find something that I liked. I have to make a ton of them so I had to make sure they were easy and not too time consuming. Here is one of the tutorials I found and I’m going to give it a whirl. I can’t stinkin wait to get over to Joann’s Fabrics to pick out cute gray and yellow fabric and start making flowers!

Here is the tutorial:

Get a strip of fabric about 37×7

Fold it in half.

You are going to cut out a bunch of these petals. Here’s what they look like. You really don’t need a template. Real flower petals all vary, right? I also don’t use any fabric stiffner because I like the movement of the fabric, again, like real flowers.

Here’s what the petals look like open.

Start by making larger ones and get progressively smaller. Not too small, though. For a large flower, you will need about 15 petals. Begin stacking them as shown.

Here’s what it looks like when they are all stacked.

Now get a needle and thread and pull the first stitch through the middle.

Stitch a small ‘x’ so everything is in place well.

Now that everything is secure, we are just going to form the flower more. I fold it in half and stitch it through.

Then after that I fold in half again and make another stitch through.

Here’s what it looks like after those steps.

After that, tie it off in the back.

You can add to it whatever you want to attach it. You can buy pins and glue it on, you can use a safety pin, a barrette, whatever you want. You can also add fun things to the center like a pearl, a diamond, a fabric center, a button- anything.

Here’s the pink one I did.

Doesn't this look easy!!! It would obvioulsy take a while to make 70-100 of them but I have 4 months to make them and maybe even my wonderful, awesome bridesmaids might help me a little... ;) ;)

:-)

2011-05-02T07:24:00.000-07:00

So this weekend Phil, Jimmy P. and I went car shopping. Before even getting to any car dealerships I already had my heart set on a Honda Pilot but I went into it being open to other options. The first place we went was Walser Honda because they had 15-20 Pilots. I had a limited choice since I was picky on the color. I didn’t want any of that gray, white, silver bullshit. The last two cars I bought were silver and white and I didn’t want some ugly boring car. Plus, I figured that if I was going to pay as much as I was, I was going to get a color I liked. So the only options I had left were black and dark purple. When we got to the dealership it was pouring rain. I found one out of all the Pilots that seemed to fit what I want and my budget the best. Then we went for a test drive. I was pretty nervous about test driving any vehicle. For one thing, it was pouring rain. Second, I was in the cities and I hate driving in the cities and not knowing where I am going. Three, I had to drive with some stranger in my backseat. And four, I was test driving a vehicle that was twice as big as my little Civic. Even with the rain, the city driving, the “truck” and the weird guy, I knew instantly that this was the car for me. I loved driving it! I thought it would be difficult since it is humongous compared to my civic but it felt so good and it was so much fun to drive! After test driving the Pilot we headed over to a few other dealerships. We went to Toyota next, then Mazda & Nissan. I was disappointed in the Toyota dealership because I was seriously considering a Toyota as well. But, they didn’t have anything even worth test-driving. So, we headed back to the Honda dealership and asked them to bring the Pilot in the garage - out of the pouring rain so we could have a better look at it. The three of us spent a while going over every bit of it to make sure there weren’t any dents, etc. After taking a good long look at it and going over everything in my head to make sure I was getting a good enough deal, I decided to purchase. I couldn’t be happier with it! All I can think about now is driving it. I’m quite excited that I purchased it just in time for the 100 mile garage sale this weekend! I can fit all my friends AND small furniture and other treasures we find in my new Pilot. :)

Fam-damily

2011-05-01T08:31:00.000-07:00

As promised here are a few pictures. :)

Drained

2011-04-29T06:58:00.000-07:00

The last few days have been a whirlwind… Tuesday Phil stayed home from work so he could take his mom to the doctor for an MRI but instead he got a call in the morning that she needed to go to the hospital asap because her leg went numb and hurt really bad. She got to the Baldwin Hospital and they decided to bring her to Regions right away. I went home from work and picked up Phil and we went to Regions. After a very long day of worrying, stress, one procedure and one surgery everything was fixed. She had a blood clot in both legs but they got her all fixed up. So Phil and I were at the hospital all day Tuesday and Wednesday and then I had to be home by 5:00 on Wednesday because my mom was coming to visit. I have to admit I was quite nervous to see her. I haven’t seen my mom since my dad’s funeral and I haven’t seen my sister since months before that. So, almost a year and a half since I saw my mom and probably almost two since I saw Jackylynn. Jackylynn has gotten soooo big!!! She is no longer shy and she loves to play with the puppies. She has quite the imagination. My brother Justen and his girlfriend Ashley also came over with my mom and sister and we just sat and had dinner and chatted. I promise to post a few pictures soon. The last few days have been very stressful. Only 4 ½ months until Phil and I get a much-needed vacation! Which means only 4 ½ months until we are married! Wowza!

Happy Birthday Little Brother!

2011-04-26T07:29:00.000-07:00

Today is my little brother’s 24th birthday! Man we are getting old! It seems like just yesterday we were best buds wandering around the farm looking for trouble. Trouble is what we were always able to find. We whipped pigeons, put nails on the road and hid behind trees watching cars get flat tires as they drove by, snuck pop and candy into the tent that we set up in the back yard, disassembled the swing set, built tree houses and lost all of dad’s tools in the process, went fishing for sucker fish and then put them on the road so they would get run over… I could go on and on. Those were my most favorite and cherished times. Now we are older and things have changed but what hasn’t changed is the fact that I love him! He had to take on a huge responsibility when our dad died suddenly and I’m just so proud of him for all that he has done. I feel like a parent when I say that but oh well, it’s true. Happy birthday little brother!!

Will you marry us?

2011-04-21T14:48:00.000-07:00

I received a call today from the lady who was thinking about marrying us and she said she just can’t do it. :( That made me sad… She is a court commissioner and we are getting married on a Friday so that makes it kinda hard for her. She was really considering it but she said the judge is out that week so she should be there. She gave me two other names and I’m not horribly fond of them from what I hear since they are both attorneys. However, you can’t judge them by their clients and work related stuff. One of them I have actually talked to when I went to his office to pick up some documents – really nice guy, just not the greatest attorney in my opinion. Anyhow, I’m not going to name names. Phil and I will just need to sit down and talk about it. Guess I'll be making some more phone calls next week. Hopefully we will find someone to marry us.

On a good note, our food tasting is tonight! I’m excited to scratch one more thing off our “to-do” list! It is a small thing and I’m pretty sure on the two food choices we want but why not eat for free tonight right!! Besides, I have some questions I want to ask about the reception. ;)

Yard Demo

2011-04-13T09:02:00.000-07:00

We started our yard demolition last night! We weren’t sure if it was going to happen or not because Justen was having a hard time finding someone with a tiller to borrow. I didn’t want to have to rent one and pay a few hundred dollars. But, Justen found one and came over and tilled the entire yard in about 2 ½ hours. Now when we look out the windows all we see is dirt. When we go outside, all we smell is dirt. It’s not so bad right now with Winston but once it rains…. It won’t be pretty. I’ll have to take Winston on a walk if the yard is mud and I’m not looking forward to that. Winston can hold his bladder all day long while we are at work but the minute we get home he wants to go outside at least every hour. If we don’t let him outside when he asks he will pee on our floor. I don’t get it. Anyways… after the rain comes this weekend, Hawkins (the guy doing the majority of the work) is going to come out and do his thing. I’m not even sure what he needs to do. I’m assuming he just needs to grade it and then seed it. But, maybe there is another step in there somewhere that I’m not sure about. Anyways, I’m hoping that it will be done soon. Now we need to start searching for a lawnmower for when we actually get our grass back! I’ll post some before and after pictures once it is all said and done. Although I didn’t get before pictures… But I did get pictures of it all tore up!

This & That

2011-04-07T07:40:00.001-07:00

Lots of random tidbits….

I brought Winston over to the farm last night to play with his brother, Mister. Mister is h.u.g.e! I weighed Winston the other day because I was curious to see how much of a lard ass he is and he is 35 pounds and is only 15 weeks old! Mister is probably 40-45 pounds and he plays rough. I think I need to bring him over more often because Winston needs to man up! He is used to playing with a 6 lb yorkie and a small cat. Maybe Winston needs a brother his size in the house … Right Phil? ;) ;) haha, jk... kinda.

Wedding planning… well, I haven’t done much lately. I should be finishing up the guest list and finding someone to marry us rather soon. Both are on my list to get done by the end of next weekend. Crossing my fingers that I actually do it by the end of next weekend but instead I will probably put it off again. I hate the guest list part. We also need to figure out our times for the ceremony, drinks & dinner and then do the food tasting soon so Rachel (Phil’s sis) can get started on the wedding invites and RSVP cards. Since she is screen-printing them all herself it is going to take time and she wants them done by June when she comes to town.

I just checked on my dress yesterday (via email). The lady told me she has been working on it in between projects and that it probably won’t be done until the beginning of June since she has a whole wedding party she is sewing for in May. Waiting until June is no biggie. I’m just getting a little anxious to see how it looks when it actually fits me! I hope I still love it as much as I did when I tried it on at the Wedding Shoppe!

There are lots of projects that are going to be going on at our house this summer. My brother and his buddy are putting in our deck sometime in May/June (whenever they have time basically). I can’t wait to be able to walk out our patio door and sit out on the deck w/a beer and enjoy the summer! Unfortunately, we are also tearing up our entire yard within the next month or two as well. Our front yard is horrible. It is bumpy and does not consist of real grass, just field grass. We also have a gopher problem so there is probably 15-20 mounds of fresh dirt in our front yard, which Justen said his buddy could take care of for us. I’m kinda embarrassed about it so we are going to fix it. One of my dad’s good friends is going to come check it out and tell me how much it will cost. Justen said he would do a lot of the work so that will cut down on the cost. I’m just really not looking forward to having dirt/mud as a front yard until the grass grows. Once the yard is dug up we are going to put in an underground fence for Winston. Then he can roam the yard and I don’t have to worry about him running away or getting hit by a car. He loves to be outside and he doesn’t always like to listen. In fact, he likes to play the “come get me game”. He will run up to me and once he gets about 2 feet from me he darts in the other direction with a big smile on his face and expects me to run after him.

Wanda turned over to 111,111 miles last night on my drive home from work. She is getting so old! Phil and I are going car shopping at the end of the month and if I’m lucky I’ll be driving home my new (used) Honda Pilot or Toyota Highlander! I can’t stinkin wait to get my new car.

Well, that's all for now. Until next time.

Dear Winston

2011-03-24T11:13:00.000-07:00

Dear Winston:

I would appreciate it if you would let me sleep in until at least 6:15 a.m. during the week and until at least 7:30 a.m. on the weekends. Waking me up at 5:45 on the dot every morning makes your mother very crabby. I don’t feel like I’m asking for much. I don’t mind getting up a ½ hour early to play with you each morning but an hour… come on. If you’re a good boy then maybe I’ll take you for a walk/jog in the morning once it gets nice outside. :)

Love,

Mom.

Goodbye wisdom teeth

2011-03-21T10:40:00.000-07:00

Friday I had my wisdom teeth pulled. I only had the top two so thank god for that. Apparently the top two heal much faster. I opted for them to put me to sleep because I was terrified. They gave me laughing gas and then put me to sleep. When I woke up I didn’t even realize that they were done. It took no time at all, probably only 30-45 mins. I was pretty wobbly on my feet and remembered being kinda silly so I probably looked drunk. I felt drunk. After the appointment Phil and I were off to Walmart – in New Richmond because Phil didn’t want to go to Hudson – to get my pain meds, etc. We got the meds and then were on a mission for a chocolate shake. First stop was Mc Donalds and of course their shake machine was down. WTF! Next stop – Burger King – and they don’t have shakes. Seriously!!!! Then we drove all the way to Baldwin where I finally got my chocolate shake! It was so good and totally worth the drive! For anyone considering getting their wisdom teeth pulled – I suggest a shake from Mc D’s afterwards. :)

I said YES to the dress!

2011-02-28T14:32:00.000-08:00

Saturday I went wedding dress/bridesmaid dress shopping with my bridesmaids and my aunts Laura and Jenny. I tried on a few dresses and started to wonder if I would ever find the right dress. They were all wrong and I knew instantly that they weren’t right. After trying on the first 5 dresses or so, I went to the “lace section” at the shop and I found the dress right away! Right when I saw it I knew that it was the dress. And then I looked at the price tag… $2,880. Then I got sad again and told the lady that I want this dress – but cheaper. Then she told me that it was on sale and that if I wanted the dress I would have to buy that dress and the price was basically cut down to a third of the full price. I knew it was the right dress because I couldn’t stop thinking about it and I wanted to keep trying it on! I can’t wait for Phil to see me walk down the aisle in that dress in less than 7 months! :) Now I just need to find a dry cleaner (since the dress was a sample dress and who knows who tried it on) and someone who is good at wedding dress alterations. I’m pretty nervous about both! I don’t want to ruin the dress and I’ve heard horror stories about both. This isn’t a $30 pair of pants here! If anyone has any ideas for either the alterations or a good dry cleaner you trust then let me know!

Best buds

2011-02-25T11:36:00.000-08:00

Alright, I know that all I blog about lately is Winston - but who couldn't! He is just too damn cute for his own good. I have had Winston's brother, Mister, over at our house since Monday. They have basically been inseparable since Mister came over. Mister is the bigger pup and as the older, larger sibling I think that Mister thinks that he needs to teach Winston how to get into trouble. Since he has come to stay he has taught Winston new places in the yard to go (out of my sight of course) and new things to chew on (like the bushes). I'm not very happy about him chewing on the bushes since we only have a few. The few bushes are the ONLY living things in our yard - we have no trees. So, I would like to keep what we have! Mister has also taught Winston to go under the bed to play. This will be bad some day in the near future when he gets stuck because he is just too big to go under there. I'm not quite sure how he fits now! All-in-all it has been fun having Mister stay with us. The only problem is having to clean up after two puppies instead of just one. Winston and I will sure miss Mister when he leaves this weekend! But Phil, Asterix, Vader and Precious will all be happier once he is gone.

Winston

2011-02-17T11:49:00.000-08:00

I know, I know… I haven’t blogged in a LONG time…. I’ve been stuck in a “down in the dumps” rut and I’m ready to get out of it. So, I’ll start by blogging about the new member of our family. Last Friday my brother and I drove to Kenyon, MN to pick up our new babies! Meet Winston :)

I love, love, love him! I think he is the sweetest, most adorable thing on the planet! He is such a good boy too! He loves to be outside and play in the snow so it’s a good thing we got him when it started to de-thaw outside! Precious isn't too fond of him but I think Vader likes him. He just doesn't like the fact that he doesn't get all the attention anymore. Winston loves Asterix, but she doesn't love him back quite yet. I think she facinates him. So, like I was saying before I started rambling on about how cute my puppy is, my brother got a new pup too. His name is Mister. How cute is that! He named the dog for my dad. My dad would ALWAYS call everyone mister or misty. When one of his buddies would walk in the shop, the first thing he would say was “Hey misterrrr!!” Guess you would have to know my dad to see the humor in it. Anyways, Winston and Mister will have many play dates so they remember each other. They had their first play date on Wednesday. Justen and I had to go to a funeral and so I brought Winston with me on my way to pick up Justen. They got to play together all morning. :) Then on Monday I’m going to pick Mister up and he is going to stay at our house for 5 or 6 days (shh, I haven’t told Phil yet :-/). Justen is going to AZ to help my grandpa out so I said I’d watch his baby. Our house will be a zoo and I love it. :)

Barbara M. Kast-Walton (April 30, 1934 - February 9, 2011)

2011-02-15T06:46:00.000-08:00

Age 76, passed away peacefully on February 9, 2011 surrounded by family in Mesa, AZ. Barb lived in Brainerd with her husband Richard Walton for the past six years. Prior to that she lived in Shoreview and Stillwater and was actively involved in those communities. Barbara graduated from St. Catherine University - School of Nursing. She was a gifted teacher of Certified Nursing Assistants at 916 Vo-Tech/Century College and authored two Nursing Assistant textbooks. She retired in 1997. Barb experienced great joy participating in several Elderhostel projects around the country and volunteered for many years at the Good News Project in St. Lucia. She especially enjoyed the break from Minnesota winters in Apache Junction, AZ with her husband and their many friends. She was preceded in death by first husband, Wayne G. Kast; parents Paul T. and Grace V. Arend. She is survived by her husband, Richard; children, Steve (Terri) of Cambridge, Kristine (John) Goulet of Shoreview, John (Teri) of Stillwater, Wayne (Mary) of Stillwater, Joe (Tanya) of Hudson, WI; eleven dearly loved grandchildren; brother, Paul (Jean) Arend; and sisters, Virgina (Joseph “Burt”) Cain, Maxine (Dan) Blommer, Marlene (Gib) Rowe, all from Minnesota. Mass of Christian Burial 11:00 AM (gathering begins at 10:00 AM), Friday, March 4 at ST. ODILIA CATHOLIC CHURCH, 3495 Victoria St., Shoreview. Family and Friends Gathering 4-8 PM Tuesday, March 3 at HOLCOMB-HENRY-BOOM-PURCELL FUNERAL HOME, 515 W. Hwy 96 at Mackubin, Shoreview (651-482-7606). A private committal service of her ashes will be at Roselawn Cemetery. Special thanks to Copper Cottage Hospice House in Mesa, AZ and to all the people in Arizona for their support during her last peaceful days. Memorials preferred to GOOD NEWS PROJECT, INC. 1106 5th St., Wausau, WI 54403.

Sad...

2011-02-08T10:54:00.000-08:00

I’m sad today. I can’t concentrate on anything. My mind is elsewhere. Some of you know, my step-grandma, Barb found out she had pancreatic cancer about 9 months or so ago. It didn’t look very good for her. My grandpa and Barb decided to fly down to Arizona one last time to relax in warmth and then they were going to come back to MN at the end of February. Things took a turn for the worse yesterday. They tried to get her on a flight back to MN but were not successful. They said she can’t fly so they put her in hospice in AZ. That is where she will stay until she passes. She has only a matter of days left. Her daughter said that she has not spoken to anyone all day. She sleeps & seems to wake up every now and then - but is pretty much in a "coma- like" state. It breaks my heart to see this happen. I have always liked Barb. She is the sweetest, most caring person and I don’t see how this can happen to good people. It also hurts to see my grandpa have to go through this for the second time. My grandma died in 2003 from ovarian cancer and it was a long, horrible ordeal. Now he has to go through this again with Barb. I wish I could do something. Anything…

Winston

2011-01-13T08:28:00.000-08:00

Well, now that we have finally closed on the house I get to start looking for “Winston”!! I’m so stinkin excited! I’m going to slowly start my search and then hard core search once we hit spring if I haven’t found him by then. It is tempting to wait until spring to get him just because it would be much easier potty training him when it’s not so freezing outside. But I also want him now!!! My future Winston:

Aren't they just the cutest things you have ever seen!!!!

2010

2011-01-06T09:29:00.000-08:00

So I know I'm copying Loin's idea here but I liked it. Here are my highlights of 2010:

January: Vader’s 2nd Birthday, Sammie was born, What would have been my dad’s 51st Birthday

February: Got a tattoo in memory of my dad, Super bowl party with friends at BWW

March: I graduated from Rasmussen College, Phil and I went to Florida

April: Made an offer on our house

May: Syttenia Mia

June: Found out that my Grandpa’s wife Barb has cancer :(

July: Moved out of the duplex into our house, camping trip near Chicago, floated down the Apple River with some friends

August: Started Jillian Michael’s 30 Day Shred, Miller Family Reunion/60th Wedding Anniversary for Phil’s grandparents

September: Finished Jillian Michael’s 30 Day Shred and lost about 2 inches off my waist!, Went to the MN State Fair, Started painting our new house, Comedy boat cruise for work

October: My 25th Birthday, Phil and I got engaged, Dexter was born

November: Phil’s 30th Birthday, Got a new member of the family – Asterix, Phil’s cousin’s wedding, Phil’s sisters came to visit from Portland

December: Christmas with my Monday crew and then Christmas with the family, closed on the house on New Year’s Eve, had a party at our house on New Year’s Eve (which I will blog about soon, I promise!)

I'm excited for what is to come in 2011. Phil and I are getting married, we just closed on our house so we can finally start working on it, and I'll be getting Winston soon. Skank is also pretty much out of my dad's house (she has until mid February) and then she will be out of our lives for good!!!!!! Yippy!! I have started helping Justen paint the farm house. We are painting every single room and will be working on the lawn/outside come spring. I just finished the living room last night and it looks great! My other close friends are getting married right before Phil and I and I will be in their wedding. I will also hopefully have a new "niece" or "nephew" this fall/winter and another one in the oven come this fall! So, it appears 2011 will be filled with weddings, babies, painting and landscaping! Yay!

Wedding colors

2011-01-04T10:39:00.001-08:00

Ugh... I just can't decide on what colors to choose for our wedding. I have been trying to figure this out for what feels like forever and I keep going back to the yellow and grey. I would like some honest opinions here people! What do you think? This pic below has the three color swatches that I would like to go with: Yellow, gray and green.

Then I could do grey dresses with yellow flowers like this:

Or yellow dresses with yellow and green flowers like this:

Decisions, decisions.... PLEASE HELP ME!!!

Starting the New Year off with a bang!

2010-12-30T10:00:00.000-08:00

The moment Phil and I have been waiting for has finally come. It only took 8 months and 17 days but it has finally come! We close on the house on Friday! Yippy!!!!!! I am so very excited I can’t even stand it. However, I’m also freaked out and stressed about the whole closing. It has finally become apparent to me how big of a deal buying a house is. That is a lot of money and a big decision! Not that I’m changing my mind or anything, however, it’s a big deal okay! So, as long as all goes to plan we will be starting the New Year off right!! Wahoo!!!!!!!

Christmas Time

2010-12-27T09:04:00.000-08:00

I had a wonderful Christmas this year but I’m sure glad it’s over! I started my Christmas out with my Monday crew. We had a little potluck and exchanged presents the Monday before Christmas. Great way to start out the holidays I must say! I got a pretty scarf and earrings from Loin (thanks again Loin:))! It was so cute watching Sammie open her presents and seeing what both her and Dex got for Christmas!

On Christmas Eve morning I went to the farm and went through paint colors with my brother. We (well, mostly just me – painting party anyone?) are painting the entire inside of the house. There will be no old paint colors left standing when I’m through with it! Justen and I were not going to do presents this year but when I was shopping I found something I knew he would love and I just had to buy it. I love watching people open presents! After hanging out for a bit and picking a few paint colors, Justen took off to Menards and I went home to clean the house and get ready for Christmas Eve.

Phil and I had his mom and grandparents over on Christmas Eve and made some yummy food and opened more presents. Then after his family left we both decided we were too excited to wait until Christmas Day to open our presents so we opened them that night. It is my family’s tradition to open presents on Christmas Eve and then open our stockings on Christmas Day morning. I’d like to stick with this tradition but Phil doesn’t like it. Anyway, Phil opened his presents and I opened mine. I got him a new chair for his office (the one he wanted from Ikea) and then a few little things. He got me surround sound for my TV upstairs and lots of little things. I think we were both very happy with our gifts this year!

Christmas morning we lounged around the house and then got ready to go our separate ways. Phil went to his mom’s house for Christmas with that side of the family and I went to my Aunt Laura’s house for my mom’s side of the family. Once we have kids we won’t be able to go our separate ways anymore! Christmas with my mom’s side was very nice. I missed everyone and it was very nice to see them all again. I hadn’t seen most of them since last December! The cousins are getting so big! It is weird because now we are all adults drinking beer around the table instead of running around shooting each other with darts or causing some sort of ruckus like when we were kids!

The day after Christmas, Phil and I drove up with Justen and his girlfriend, Ashley to my Aunt Barb’s house to have Christmas with my dad’s side of the family. Again, weird that everyone is grown up!! We had a good time, enjoyed a few mimosas, good food and the annual dice game. When Phil and I got home we took down everything Christmas (except for the outside lights). I usually leave it up until New Years but I just was so done with Christmas and I wanted my living room back. So, all in all it was a very good Christmas this year – much better than last year. I’m hoping that the snow storm I’ve been hearing about doesn’t ruin our New Years Eve. We plan on going out to downtown Hudson.

My new year’s resolution: to cook more (and that doesn't mean spaghetti ;)).

Name change

2010-12-20T07:44:00.000-08:00

I just had to mention that I had my first “the next time I fill out this form I won’t be using Walton as my last name anymore” moment the other week. I was filling out a W-2 form at work and as I was writing my last name I realized that next year I will be writing Kasinskas. Weird. And very exciting! Which then makes me think about all the things that I have to change after we get married and then I start to get stressed out. I’ll just ignore those details for now. :-)

My babies :-)

2010-12-12T15:29:00.000-08:00

I have proof!!! They really do love each other. :-)

Gotta Love Wisconsin!!

2010-12-12T15:13:00.000-08:00

So Friday night it started snowing and it continued on for about 24 hours. Obviously we were snowed in. They didn't even plow our road until Saturday mid-morning.

This is our mailbox and where our driveway is supposed to be. There is a good 3-4ft bank.

These are my foot prints.... the snow came up to my knees.

This is where the driveway is supposed to be...

Phil bundling up to go outside and plow.

Oh look! We found the driveway!

All thanks to Phil and Jimmy P. :-)

September 16, 2011

2010-12-10T14:42:00.000-08:00

Well, it’s decided. Phil and I are getting hitched on September 16, 2011. We are going to have the ceremony at my dad’s farm. Main reason, it means a lot to me. I grew up there, I miss the farm and I also miss my dad and know “he will be there” in his own way. I’m going to help my brother, Justen clean the farm up. It doesn’t need much – just a little TLC. :-) After my mom left about 6 years ago, the farm started to look a little run down. There were no more pretty plants around the house and a nice garden. Nope, everything is overgrown because skank (dad’s skank wife) was too lazy to do anything. Okay, I’m getting a little off track - back to the topic at hand. The ceremony will be at my dad’s farm and the reception will be at The Orchard in Baldwin. I’m quite excited! Now that the date is set, the locations for the ceremony and reception are decided and booked, I can finally look forward to this magical day (well, as magical as Phil and I get)! The only problem is that the photographer I chose is not available on the date we had to switch it to. :’( This is a very sad thing because I liked her a lot! Now I need to find a new photographer. Stupid. But, she recommended a few other photographers and the one I like the best is still available. Hopefully she will be the one! Anyways, now I can breathe a little and slowly work on other things like the invites and the decorations. :-) And next month I’m taking my girls to go dress shopping!! Now that’s something to be excited for!!! Whoot Whoot!

Phil's Birthday, Weddings, Thanksgiving, and BLACK FRIDAY!

2010-11-28T07:53:00.000-08:00

Well, I'm very behind on my blogging lately so I thought I'd get you all up to date on what's been happening. Let's start with Phil's Birthday. I took the day off work so I could spend the day with him. I woke up early, hung up balloons and other birthday stuff, made him breakfast in bed (well, he woke up while I was in the middle of cooking but.. oh well) then we relaxed a bit and then eventually got ready and went to Woodbury to meet up with his family. His sisters Rachel and Val flew in from Portland that morning to visit and go to a wedding. We met at Red Lobster and had a fabulous lunch! Then Phil and I did some shopping and then went to pick up his birthday present:

Then we got home and his sisters and mom came over for pizza and wine.

Later that week we all went to Phil's cousin Dianna's wedding. It was beautiful and it gave me plenty of ideas for our own! One really cool idea I saw was this tree painting. Everyone who came to the reception put their thumb print on it! Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of the final product. But, you get the idea.

Then the next night Phil and I went over to his mom's house to have an early Thanksgiving with his family. It was delicious!

On Thanksgiving day Phil and I drove up to Brainerd to spend Thanksgiving with my dad's side of the family. The drive sucks but it was so nice to see the family! Dumb me never takes any pictures so I don't have any to show you. There was a group of 36 of us - most were my grandpa's wife Barb's family. We had to leave pretty early since we have a 3 hour drive home. We got home around 10:30 and had to wake up at 3:30! Phil had to work at 4:00 and I had to go shopping! :) Black Friday was a success! There didn't seem to be too many crazy people out there. I got Loin's present done and Dexter's. :) And the rest of everything was for me. :) Come on, it is the one day of the year that I splurge!

Well, that's about it for now. I promise I'll try to blog more!

Asterix

2010-11-28T07:44:00.000-08:00

Welcome the newest member of our family! Technically we have had her for almost 2 weeks... guess I'm not very good at blogging lately. It took a week to figure out a name for this cutie pie. Phil finally decided on Asterix. :)

My Love Story.. (oh, and my birthday)

2010-11-06T05:20:00.001-07:00

My birthday weekend started off on Friday at work. Lots of treats and birthday wishes. Then Saturday I woke up at 7:00 a.m.! I wasn’t very happy about that at first but then I thought that I’d be able to get a lot of stuff done around the house and then have time to take a nap! So I did. I spent the morning painting, cleaning and doing laundry. Then I took a nice nap before Phil got home. The evening started out at the Phoenix in Baldwin. Here is Phil and I and Josh and Loin right before leaving for the Phoenix.

My brother and the neighbors threw me a little birthday party. It was soo cute and nice of them to do that for me!! They even brought balloons and a cake! So Phil, Josh, Loin, Brad, Rachel and I all spent a few hours there and had a few drinks. Us girls did a shot off the ice sculpture too. I was forced to do it since it was my birthday and I was dreading it. I hate shots. But this one wasn’t bad at all! It was actually pretty good. It’s called a Chuck Norris. :) Then I spent about 10 minutes begging my brother to do one. I never got a picture of me doing it but here’s Justen.

Justen and I :)

Loin, Rachel and I

After the Phoenix Phil, Josh, Loin and I headed to downtown Hudson for Dicks and Ellies, Ellies and Dicks (inside joke that you probably won’t get). There we met up with Dan and his cousin and then ran into Colette and Joe. We had a good time dancing the night away.

Sunday Phil and I got up and he made me eggs, bacon and toast for breakfast. Then we got ready and left for Ikea and the MOA. Phil was going to get me a new TV stand for my birthday but I couldn’t find one that I liked. So, he bought me a new purse, a necklace and a dress! After a full day of shopping we headed home to relax and then go to bed. I was pretty exhausted when we got home and I probably could have went to bed. I only got 6 hours of sleep the night before and had been drinking the night before. FYI – don’t spend all day shopping after a night of drinking. So anyways, we got home, sat on the couch and turned the TV on. Phil ran off with the dog and then came back with a Halloween costume on Vader (he was an angel). Poor little guy hated it. After a minute or so I notice something shinny around his collar. It was the ring!!!

Our little helper :)

Then Phil asked me to marry him and of course I said yes! And then I started crying. But they were happy tears! I’m so very excited to be engaged to Phil! It has been a long time coming but I couldn’t’ be happier! I can’t wait to start planning our wedding, then get married and have lots of babies! Okay – maybe only two or three babies.

Random thoughts

2010-10-15T11:00:00.001-07:00

I can’t stinkin concentrate on anything for the life of me today. Maybe because it’s Friday? Maybe because my brain can’t handle anymore? Maybe I just need a nap? Who knows. Either way, I’m useless today.

Exciting news... my “nephew” Dexter was born on Tuesday! He is so darn precious! Here is a photo of me and Dex (that I stole from Sarah :))

Now, don’t get me wrong… I’m thrilled that Dexter is here, however, that means that I am without his mother for 8 stinkin weeks at work! It is rather odd not seeing her every day. I’m counting down the days until her return!

So, my birthday is coming up. I haven’t really given it a whole lot of thought this year and I’m not very excited. I love birthdays, especially my own but this year it’s just different. Maybe it’s because I’m getting older? Maybe it’s because it’s my first birthday without my dad? Who knows. Maybe I’ll get more excited when it gets closer. Until then – whatever.

Another random thought – my life is boring. I wake up, go to work, go home and do nothing. I can’t even fester up the energy/care to clean or decorate the house. It’s just the same old thing every day. I asked Phil if we could have a date night tonight hoping that it will help me get out of my funk. The only thing we could come up with is dinner at the Hammond Hotel (the usual). We would usually add a movie to the agenda but there is nothing good playing. That’s all we can think of?! Jeeze- where is the fun, the spontaneity?

That’s all the random thoughts I have for now. Back to work… if I can get it together. Maybe I should just go to lunch.

all of the above

2010-10-14T11:29:00.000-07:00

Excited – check
Exhausted – check
Happy – check
Crabby – check
Unappreciated – check
Sad – check
Angry – check
Love – check
Disappointment – check
Irritation – check
Joy – check
Doubtful – check
Frustrated – check
Worrisome – check
Stressed – check
Desire – check
Annoyed – check

You name it - I'm feeling it.

Little bit of house news

2010-10-04T09:03:00.000-07:00

Quick update for all you on the house. I think I already mentioned that the title company suit was settled but just in case I hadn’t, I’m mentioning it now. I also just got word today that the ex-wife suit has settled! Yay! She hasn’t actually gotten a check yet but I was told she will be getting one soon – so that means that it has settled. :-) So now we are a normal short sale! The realtor said that she has submitted all the docs to the bank and we are now playing the waiting game. Hopefully we can close by Christmas. That would be the best present ever!

Update on the house

2010-09-22T11:07:00.000-07:00

It has been 5 months since we put our offer in on the house. 5 months and we still don’t know if it is ours! Man, this short sale business is stressful! I haven’t talked about it in a while so I thought I’d bring it up. At least we are in the house and renting it for the time being. I talked to the realtor for the seller a few weeks ago and she said that the claim against the title company is no longer an issue. Apparently that was resolved and it has now been submitted to the bank. She also mentioned that someone will need to do a walk through at the house – I’m guessing to give it a value so the bank knows how much it is worth. So, hopefully I’ll have some good news within the month. Phil and I are slowly getting the house to the way we want it. We are going slowly just in case we end up losing the house and we don’t want to waste our time, energy and money. We have painted two rooms, one being our bedroom and I just put up the curtains last night! It looks sooo good. I’m so happy with the way it turned out. The curtains really pull it all together. All I need to do is hang up the pictures/art and the room is complete! One room down – all the rest to go. I’m hoping that the house is ours by Christmas. That’s only 3 months away! Holy crap, I didn’t realize how soon winter and the holidays are coming!! Hopefully within the coming weeks/months I will have good news. :)

oink oink

2010-09-17T07:19:00.001-07:00

I’m exhausted. I didn’t get a whole lot of sleep last night and I put most of the blame on my dog, Vader. Let’s rewind a bit. I went Wal-Mart shopping on my lunch break yesterday. While I was shopping I thought I’d treat my dog to a new toy. As I was walking towards the toy section I already had one in mind. It was a cute little pink pig that oinks when it is moved, hit, jiggled, or basically looked at. Once I put the pig in my cart it kept oinking as I was finishing up my shopping. Kind of embarrassing walking through Wal-Mart with a kart that oinks. Anyways… I got home and gave Vader his new toy. He LOVED it! He always loves his new toys but he especially liked this one since it made noise. He wouldn’t let it out of his mouth for the rest of the night, including when we went to bed. Throughout the whole night I would hear the pig oink. When I finally did sleep I dreamed about Tyrannosaurus Rex and German Sheppards trying to kill me. Then when my alarm went off all I wanted to do was sleep more but instead I had to get up, work-out and then get ready for work. Poo. All I can think about is going home and taking a nap. This day can’t end soon enough!

In a funk

2010-09-14T10:27:00.000-07:00

I’m in a funk today. Not sure what caused it but I’m in a funk and can’t seem to get out of it. I have the strongest urge to go home, curl up on the couch and watch the Gilmore Girls until 9 p.m. tonight. But that can’t happen. Nope. Instead I am stuck at work – with my mind trillions of miles away from where it should be. So I guess I will continue this pointless day of work, go home at my scheduled time of 5 o’clock and then proceed to do nothing but watch the Gilmore Girls until bedtime. Maybe if I’m lucky the funk will be over by the time I wake up the next day.

Dexter, I love you

2010-09-10T10:45:00.000-07:00

OMG OMG OMG!!! I just watched Dexter's Season 5 trailer! I cannot wait until it starts up! September 26th baby!!

That's what she said

2010-09-09T14:24:00.000-07:00

I just had the perfect “that’s what she said moment” and I couldn’t even say it out loud. I just had to giggle quietly to myself after they walked away. It went something like this: Me: “It keeps skipping and I can’t understand what you're saying half the time.” Him: “I guess I’d better get a new unit.” Hehehe Oh man. The one time I actually remember to say it and I can’t because it wouldn’t be appropriate.

:-)

2010-09-07T11:03:00.000-07:00

I had a pretty good weekend. Friday started with a crazy half day at work. My partner in crime was off so I was running around like a chicken with its head cut off for 4 hours. Needless to say, the half day of work flew by. After work I went to visit my friend Jewells to take a peek at her baby’s room. It’s looking so cute! I’m going to have a niece or nephew pretty dang quick! After hanging out for a bit I went home and got busy cleaning the house. I was in a “get-shit-done” mood so I got a lot accomplished! Right when I was finishing up Phil got home and we went out to eat at the Orchard.

Saturday I got up and cleaned & organized some more. There are very few boxes left to be unpacked! Hopefully after this next weekend it will all be put away – but I’m not promising anything! Later that evening my buddies came over for a laid back game night. We were all pretty lame and I was in bed by 11:00. :-) It is nice to have a laid back night from time to time.

Sunday Phil and I went to the MN State Fair. We got to the fair about 2:30 and walked around until our feet hurt. We got cheese curds, French fries, gyros, root beer floats, mini doughnuts, caramel apples and cotton candy. I think that was it? It was all delicious! The food is the best part of the fair!!

Monday Phil, Jimmy P and I went pawn shopping in Eau Claire. None of us found anything too exciting. We figured since we went all the way up there we might as well go to the mall as well! So we did a tiny bit of mall shopping and I got myself 2 zip up hoodies (buy 1 get 1 half off-I couldn’t resist!).

That was the weekend… I am now officially done with Level 1 of the 30 day shred!!! Tomorrow I start Level 2. I’m excited because I was getting sick of Level 1. I still feel the same. I don’t think I’ve lost much yet but I feel so good. I’ve also been eating really crappy lately so that probably doesn’t help much! A bowl of ice cream a night, going out to eat a few days a week, the MN State Fair, etc. Now that my ice cream is gone and the fair is over, maybe I’ll start to lose some inches!

Something that I am excited about – it’s finally fall!!! Well, not officially but we are having fall weather and the trees have just begun to turn colors. Fall is my absolute most favorite time of year! For one thing, it’s beautiful! The trees, the colors! Another thing is that I get to pull out my fall/winter clothes. It’s like I have a whole new wardrobe! I get to wear all my cute jackets, my boots, sweaters and socks! I finally get to wear warm clean socks again! :-) :-) Fall puts me in such a good mood! I’m looking forward to the next few months!

A boggled mind

2010-09-01T08:21:00.000-07:00

I have a lot on my mind lately and I thought I would get some things off my chest. My dad has taken over the largest part of my thinking lately. I still miss him tremendously and it seems to be getting harder lately. Maybe because it is almost fall and this is when the harvesting/hunting season begins? Hunting was one of my dad’s favorite things to do. Every year he would have a new story to tell and every time he told it, it would get more dramatic and change just a bit! Haha. The last story I remember was about him driving a wild boar over with his pickup! I think I heard that story 6 or 7 times. Each time I would say, “Dad, you’ve already told me that story.” He would then laugh and keep telling me.

Things with Justen seem to be getting easier. He seems to be in good spirits lately and is excited for harvesting and hunting. Chris, however, is another story. He has been nothing but trouble lately. Threats, manipulation, guilt, anger… I was hoping that today was the day it would get easier on me but it sounds like it might be a few more weeks.

On to more positive news… I’m done with day 5 of the 30 day shred. It doesn’t sound like much, I know, but it is getting easier. When I first started I could barely finish some of the moves. Now I have more endurance and the moves that I struggled with are getting easier. I have noticed that I have more energy lately too so that’s a plus. I measured myself before I started and I will measure myself after the 30 days are up. Hopefully I will have lost a few inches! If not, then at least I got more in shape and have more energy. I just need to stick with it! Which I don’t think that will be too hard since it is kind of fun (kind of).

Last night I started and finished painting room number 2! I painted the small half bath and it is a very small room but a room none the less! I love it! It is a nice bright yellow! All I have to do to finish it is take the tape off the walls and hang the pictures and other crap back up. The house is starting to feel more like home. I’m trying not to worry about the renting/not closing part. I find that now that we are living in the house, I’m worrying about it less. I should probably worry more since we might lose it and need somewhere to live all of a sudden but I have high hopes that it will all work out in the end. Something needs to work out this year for me and dammit, I hope this is it!

After Phil’s grandparent’s 60th wedding anniversary/family reunion we met more of the neighbors. We were just sitting at home with Phil’s cousin and his girlfriend enjoying a beer and the neighbors came knocking on the door and told us to come on over because they were having a party. So we did! It was pretty fun and they seem like a fun group. It was easy to talk to everyone and get to know them since they were all pretty drunk. And I also must say that I’m proud of our friend Jimmy P. The neighbors were having karaoke and Jimmy P worked up the nerve to go up himself. He’s actually not too shabby! Johnny Cash suits him well. :-)

I hate what shirt I am wearing today. Hate, hate, hate! The only reason I keep it around is because I need variety in my wardrobe. But every stinkin time I wear it I wish I hadn’t. So I might as well give it away. It may look like I’ve got a lot of clothes but I really don’t. Most of them I don’t wear. Some are too big, some are too small and some are just worn out. Soon it will be getting colder out and I will need to pull out my fall/winter clothes. This to me is exciting since I get to go through my clothes and get rid of stuff!

Things to come in the next few months:

- This weekend we are going to the “great Minnesota get-together” (the MN State Fair). Hopefully it is not too hot out! I’m excited to eat all the yummy food! Let’s see, there will be foot long hotdogs, French fries, gyros, cheese curds, ice cream, cotton candy, etc… I better fast the day before so I can stuff all this food in my belly! Yum Yum! :)

- Next weekend is my office’s summer outing. Every summer/fall we do something fun. Last year we went on a train ride and had dinner on the train. This year we are going on a comedy cruise. I’m super excited! I’ve never been on a big boat like that and I’ve never seen a comedy show.

- Then the next weekend is a poker tournament for my pregnant friend Jewells and then a baby shower the next day for her as well. The poker tournament is for collecting diapers and you get money if you win.

- The next weekend is another baby shower for Jewells. My favorite shows also start that weekend!! (Dexter and Desperate Housewives) I miss Dexter sooo much! I can’t wait until it starts up again.

After those few busy weekends I will hopefully not have too much going on and then before I know it, it will be my birthday!! I know, I’ve got 2 more months but I’m really excited for this year’s birthday. I will be turning the big 25! Then a few weeks later Phil will be 30! :-)

That’s about all I’ve got for now. Sorry for blabbing on forever.

Firm your flab

2010-08-24T10:14:00.000-07:00

So I was talking to Josh and Loin about working out last night and they made me really want to try working out again. I’ve never had any success with working out. I’ve always struggled with the 5-10 lbs. that I want to lose and I’ve never been able to do it. I guess it isn’t even about losing the weight. I just want to get in shape and lose a few inches around the waist. This is going to be very difficult but I’m going to give it a try! (Again) Loin was talking about the Jillian Michaels 30 day shred. It sounded kind of fun (not really but it sounded like it would work if I really put some effort in it). So I’m going to have Phil find me the DVD and start working out. Loin said she would work out with me… but technically not together since we won’t be in the same room – but we will do the DVD daily together. I think that might make it easier. I won’t be able to say - I don’t want to work out today - since I know Loin is going to do it, I have to keep up. Right Loin??!! :-)

Please and thank you!

2010-08-19T06:54:00.000-07:00

Why are some people so frickin annoying?! Don’t tell me to help you with something - ask me! If I’m not already busy with MY job I will gladly help you! But only if you ask politely. Okaaaayy?

Weekend fun

2010-08-16T14:56:00.001-07:00

So I have nothing to write about. My life is boring. I think of things to blog about randomly all the time but in that moment I can’t blog about it. Then when I finally have time to blog I can’t stinkin remember what it was I wanted to blog about! So I’ll just chat about what went on over the weekend. Friday after work I went garage saleing with Jewells. I got a dining room table/chairs for $80. Not too shabby since the chairs are solid oak and in perfect condition.

Saturday I went to Ikea with Jewells. I was on a mission for picture frames and I ended up buying much more than that! Oops. I love Ikea! Then we went to Target where I bought Phil a present just because. Then Joann Fabrics where I found 4 baskets 50% off. I needed them for the new cube-shelf thinger I got at Ikea. I was going to get baskets at Ikea but they were so expensive! Good thing I didn’t buy them there because I saved about $40 going to Joann Fabrics! After shopping I went home and spent most of the evening watching Gilmore Girls. :-) FYI – I love the Gilmore Girls – I am addicted – I wish they would just hurry up and make a movie already!

Sunday I went floating down the Apple River with a bunch of friends (Phil, Jimmy P, Josh, Loin, Dan and Gerber). I’m mad at the sun… It is blazing hot ALL week and then Sunday comes and it is just okay out. Wasn’t really tubing weather but we went anyways. It wasn’t horrible but it was chilly. Then we had a little barbeque at Josh & Loins and then went home. That was my weekend. Now I’m off to go see my Monday crew! Until next time (I’ll try to have a more interesting blog next time)!

thoughts...

2010-08-12T14:58:00.000-07:00

Sometimes in my tears I drown but I never let it get me down so when negativity surrounds I know some day it'll all turn around.

Life is a cesspool.

2010-08-03T14:01:00.001-07:00

Life is a cesspool. That is what I have come to learn over the last 8 months. Seems as though nothing goes right anymore. I try my hardest every single day to be positive and think that this has to turn around sometime. I still think it just has to turn around at some point but come on, this is getting ridiculous! One person can only handle so much. fml

Home sweet home

2010-07-28T10:54:00.000-07:00

Here is our house! I'm so stinkin excited about it! As you can see, the yard needs work. But at least they mowed it for us a few weeks ago. It was up to our waist in weeds.

Home sweet home

2010-07-28T06:26:00.000-07:00

So after a very very long weekend we are all moved in. Saturday I ran around trying to pack things that were still not packed up and then met up with some friends for some tubing down the Apple River. Tubing was a lot of fun and was nice to get away from the mess of my apartment. I was slightly disappointed because I thought it would be crazier on the river. There were a lot of people but I saw no boobs. It’s not that I want to actually see boobs but I wanted the full experience. But then it was back home and more packing. Sunday morning we started the move. I made 4 trips with my car and Phil and Jimmy P made 3 trips with the truck and trailer. It sucked. But it wouldn’t have been so bad if it wasn’t blazing hot outside and we were all getting overheated. Then we spent the day on Monday unpacking and I went to pick up the fridge with my brother. Now we have a cold, pretty much empty fridge! Yay! The only thing in the fridge is condiments and beer. Haha. Guess we have our priorities right. We have been living off of fast food and spaghetti for the last week. I can’t wait to find a little time this weekend to go grocery shopping!

I wake up every morning at our new place and think about how lucky I am. But then I instantly pray that we don’t lose the house. However, this morning I woke up to the water heater not working. Cool. Oh the joys of homeownership… except for the fact that we don’t fully own it yet. So, since we both had to work this morning we couldn’t look to see what’s wrong. Hopefully Phil can fix it tonight or else I’ll be taking cold showers for a while!

Chicaaaagoo!

2010-07-21T11:01:00.000-07:00

Sorry everyone but I’m going to have to blog without pictures. Currently my new computer is being a pain in the butt and things are just too busy to be able to go through my pictures as of right now. Maybe I’ll get around to adding pictures at a later date.

Some of you have already blogged about the Chicago trip but I’ll just add my experience, which was pretty much the same minus the raccoon incident. Haha. ;) Anyways, we left Thursday at 6 in the morning, well 6:30 because it took a while to get the cars packed up. We all had too much stuff. You wouldn’t think you would need so much stuff when you go camping but I guess you do! We managed to get everything in the car except Jewells and Max’s cooler. Then off we were. The drive down was actually very quick. It didn’t seem like we were in the car for that long. Right when we arrived we pitched our tents and got our campsite all put together. We ended up getting down there at the hottest part of the day so we were all dripping in sweat by the time we were done! That was not fun. But after we got everything set up we got some lunch and went to the beach. The water was freeezzzinng cold! But it felt so good to cool off. Us girls were only able to run in and right out that first day. I think they said the water was about 37 degrees… something like that. Brrrr. After our beach time we played cards, bags and just hung out around the fire.

The next day was beach day. Again, it was extremely hot but the water felt much warmer. I could actually go in and not have my feet go numb right away. We spent most of the day at the beach and at the camp site. More card games, bags, drinks and fire.

The third day we were off to Chicago. It was yet another scorching hot day. Too hot for me to be out walking around all day. I almost couldn’t take it. Everyone was a little more irritable than usual. But minus the heat it was a good time. We walked around Millennium Park, did a little shopping, got some pizza and walked down Navy Pier. We picked a crazy day to go to Chicago because they were filming Transformers 3 – my favorite movies! The streets were packed and they blocked off the main roads for filming. We didn’t get very close but you could see parts of the movie set and helicopters flying around filming. At one point they had explosions going off. I was slightly bummed that I didn’t get to get a closer look but I figured I was probably the only one really interested in seeing it. It will be interesting to watch the movie now and see the sets that we saw from a distance!

Day number 4 was another beach day. The day started off nice and cool and it actually sprinkled out for about 30 minutes. After that it went right back into the 90s. We had another day of card games, ladder golf and drinks around the fire.

Then Monday we all got up, started packing up our shit and were on the road. I want to say it is good to be home, but it isn’t. Now it is back to the real world. :-( Back to waking up at 6, going to work for 9 hours, packing and cleaning until at least 9, and then doing it all over again. We only have 4 more nights at our apartment! Yippy!! It also looks like the weather will be nice this weekend which is good because we plan on going tubing down the Apple River. I’ve never been so I’m pretty excited.

So much to do, so little time

2010-07-12T07:39:00.000-07:00

I thought this past weekend would be a free weekend to relax. It wasn’t. I ended up being busy the entire time. Friday after work was the inspection at the house. It went very well. There is nothing major wrong with the house. There are just little cosmetic things that there would be in any house. The only larger issue is that the house was sitting unused for about a year and a half. So, Phil and I have to clean the pipes or something because there is sediment in the drains and they don’t have much pressure. But the inspector guy said it’s no biggie – just clean them out. Then after we got done inspecting the house we headed home and started major packing. We took all the pictures off the wall and most decorations are in boxes. Our house looks very blank/boring and it is a disaster area. There are boxes everywhere and random crap everywhere.

Saturday I got up and started the process all over again. More packing and random cleaning. We still have a long way to go. You can see where all the pictures were on the wall because they are much whiter. You can even see Family written out from where my little Family sign was. Guess we are washing all the walls too. After a day of packing and cleaning Phil and I went to “Fun Fest” in New Richmond to spend time with his friends. It was the typical Wisconsin town’s festival with the beer tent, band and random hicks. Some people are unbelievable. But we all had a good time. It was fun to hang out with his friends. In the last 7 years I’ve been with Phil, I haven’t really gotten to know his friends very well. I kind of regret that because I really like them!

Sunday Phil and I got up and went fridge shopping. We made many many stops and I was happy to have spent no money. …Until we hit Best Buy. There I made a very expensive impulse purchase. I wasn’t planning on buying a washer and dryer until after we closed on the house – just because this could all fall through at the last minute. But I couldn’t pass up a good deal. So now we won’t have to go to Phil’s mom’s house to wash our clothes! Yippy! Back to the reason we went shopping – a fridge. We found 2 that we liked but Phil and I disagree on which one we should get. But after talking about it we decided to get the one that I think is a better deal. So tonight I have to go purchase it and spend more money. :( This is a lot of money to spend over one weekend and it is kind of freaking me out but we definitely stayed well under our budget for the fridge, washer and dryer… so that makes me feel a little better.

Now it’s Monday and I only have to work 3 days this week! Yay! Thursday, bright and early, we are off to Chicaaaggooooo! I’m so excited to get away from this town and all the bullshit that’s going on and relax with all my wonderful friends! Should be a good time! I’m just hoping for good weather.

Busy Bee

2010-07-01T11:33:00.001-07:00

I cannot stinkin believe that it is already July! Where did the last 6 months go? Before I know it, summer will be over!!! :-( July is a very very busy month for Phil and me. Tonight I’m going on a “date” with my friend Lynsie, “aka” Loin. We are going out to eat then going to see the movie Eclipse! I’m so excited!! Then tomorrow is my brother’s birthday so Phil and I are going to take him out to eat somewhere. The 4th of July is also this weekend and we are hoping to do something fun. Maybe go to Taste of Minnesota?? At least do something fun…. Then we are going to Chicago in exactly 2 weeks for 5 days! Yippy! I’m excited to hang with all my friends, relax and have a good time. And then the weekend after we get home from Chicago we are going tubing down the apple river (if the weather permits) and then moving into our new house. So Phil and I have lots of packing to do! We are also getting the house inspected next week and if everything is good to go then we need to go fridge shopping. Hopefully we can find one rather cheap and get it there before we move in. In between that I have court hearings galore and tons of shit to take care of that I want nothing to do with. Somewhere in there Phil and I need to squeeze in a day where we can go to Willow. We’ve been going every year for the last few years so it’s become our thing. I wish there was more time in each day! I feel like there are so many things to do and not enough time to do them in!

The countdown begins!

2010-06-28T11:16:00.000-07:00

I just sent out our very last rent payment at our duplex! Now that’s a good feeling! I can’t stinkin’ wait to be out of there. I’m counting down the days! T – 27 days and counting! :-)

praying

2010-06-24T12:25:00.000-07:00

We just found out recently that my (step) Grandma, Barb, has pancreatic cancer and is having Whipple Surgery next week. I'm praying for things to go smoothly, for her to have a fast recovery and have many more years ahead of her!

Isn't she cute! Love you Barb!

Watch out people

2010-06-23T06:31:00.000-07:00

I definitely woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning. I’m crabby, I’m cold, I don’t like what I’m wearing, everything is annoying, I don’t want to do anything and I just want to go home and go to bed. Great attitude for the rest of the day.

Oh my god. Oh my god. Oh my god!

2010-06-17T06:30:00.000-07:00

So we have been getting nothing but bad news lately and life just keeps getting harder and more stressful. But finally we got some good news! It is not actually the really good news we had hoped for but it’s still good. I got an email from the realtor for the seller for our house we are trying to buy and she said that she had spoken with the attorney for the 1st mortgage. The attorney for the 1st mortgage said that she thinks this is going to take several months longer. So that is the bad news. The good news is that Brian, the seller, said he would like to rent the house to us so we aren’t homeless when our lease is up. I know, I know, we are taking a big risk by doing this because there is no 100% guarantee that we will be able to buy the house. But we have thought it through and want to rent until they can settle the claims. After a nice long chat with the seller’s realtor she basically said it is ours but they have to settle these claims before we can close. She said the bank was ready to accept our offer but then these mortgage and title issues came about. So anyways, basically we are going to rent the house until the claims are satisfied and then we can close. Yippy! The seller is going to give us the 1st month rent free since we have to purchase a refrigerator and I think Phil is going to ask his mom if we can borrow her lawn mower to mow the lawn until we can close. We aren’t sure what we will do about the washer and dryer yet though. Not sure if it is smart to buy them since there is a small chance we will lose the house in the end. We could probably go to a laundry mat for a little while or give some money to Phil’s mom and do our laundry there. Hmmm… Anyways, I’m quite happy with this decision and I’m super excited to move in towards the end of July! The only thing that will stop us from moving at the end of July is if the inspection comes up with something bad. We decided it would be smart to have the inspection before we move in since we would get it anyways before we close. Yay! I’m super excited! Anyone want to help us move? ;-)

Beyond stressed!!

2010-06-07T13:18:00.000-07:00

I am a planner, we all know this. And when I get something in my head, I have to do it right now. I can’t do it a week later or even a day later. I have to do it right away. As of July 31st Phil and I don’t know where we are going to be living. Will we be in our new house? Will we be at Rita’s? Will we be in a different house or apartment? Who freakin knows?! I sure don’t. And if we do get our wish and get this house will we even have time to get everything we need before our lease is up? I’m guessing that if we get this house, they are going to close last minute and we won’t have a washer, dryer, lawn mower and fridge when we move in. But that is the last of my worries right now. First we need to get the house. That’s the most important thing.

So I’ve got all these “what ifs” and plans upon plans floating in my head. It is getting bad. All weekend I couldn’t sit down and relax until I was completely exhausted because I had to be doing something... something to help ease the anxiety. So I power cleaned the carpets and the couches with the steam cleaner and did some more unusual cleaning. This week I’m going to paint my two tables and lamps that will look so cute in the house. That might keep me busy enough for a few days.

I can’t fall asleep at night because my brain won’t shut off. One minute I’m excited about all the decorating I want to do, the next minute I’m terrified because I think this is all going to fall through and we will no longer have a home – just a place to crash. And if we don’t get the house then for how long will we be at Rita’s? And what will we do with all our stuff? We would definitely need to put the majority of our stuff in storage but where? The last few nights I have been completely exhausted but I can’t fall asleep! Then I wake up in the middle of the night and my brain decides to start its planning mode again and I can’t get back to sleep. So today I’m stressed and tired and have high anxiety. I’m beginning to wonder if I’m more like my mother than I thought. Not good. The anxiety is really starting to get bad. Anybody know any remedies to help anxiety go away? What seems to help is doing what I can now for our house (like painting my tables, cleaning the weird things in our apartment for when we leave, shopping for little things for the house, etc.) I can’t imagine how much worse this is going to be next month at this time if we still haven’t heard back from the bank. Agh!!!

Over the weekend…

2010-06-01T13:57:00.000-07:00

Friday after work Jewells and I went shopping in Woodbury where I proceeded to spend a little too much money. Then we met Lynsie at Applebee’s and had some dinner before going to see Sex and the City 2! I was super excited to see this movie. I thought that it was good but not amazingly good. I thought it was kinda weird that most of the movie was based in Abu Dhabi, not NYC.

Saturday I spent the majority of the day cleaning. All I have to say is my dogs piss me off. Don’t get me wrong, I love them, but if I didn’t, I would send them packing! If I didn’t have dogs I wouldn’t have to mop all the dang time and wash the blankets as much. My soon to be golden retriever sure won’t pee in the house! He will be potty trained ASAP! Speaking of golden retrievers… I had a chance to purchase one now but Phil said no. :’( I understand that it would be stressful to get one now since we will be moving in 1-2 months and we are not sure where we will be at. BUT I want him now! I have been waiting to get him since I moved away from home 5 years ago! *sigh* Hopefully I will get him in a few months.

Sunday Phil and I went to Ikea and the MOA. It was nice to spend time with Phil and get out of the house. We took our time walking around the mall and went out to eat. By the time we got home I was exhausted.

Monday. Phil – if you are reading this I’m sorry. I was quite crabby. I should have been in a good mood since I didn’t have to go to work but no… I was crabby, all day.

Any who, that was my weekend. I have a few things to look forward to this week. Tomorrow night we are going out for dinner to celebrate Rachel’s 24th birthday! Then Thursday I’m going out to dinner with my Aunt Laura to catch up. This weekend is Good Neighbor Days so we will probably head down to Roberts on Friday or Saturday night. We should also find out more about our house this week. I talked to the realtor for the seller today and she said that the seller wants to rent the house out to us until we can get the bank to finalize everything and close. I’m not sure on the details yet but that is good news. Phil and I are willing to rent as long as we know 100% that we are getting the house in the long run. We don’t want to start renting it and then lose it in the long run. There is work that needs to start when we move in and I don’t want to waste my time and money. So hopefully by the end of the week we will know more. Until next time…

Yum

2010-05-27T10:26:00.001-07:00

Chipotle... you are so wonderful and I can't wait to eat you for lunch. I'm drooling just thinking about you...

Warning: Spoilers

2010-05-24T08:18:00.000-07:00

I am forewarning you that I might spoil some season finales for you so if you haven’t seen them don’t read this! I really didn’t realize it until last night but I have watched 5 season finales in less than a week. This year television was very disappointing because in my opinion most season finales sucked.

The first season finale I watched was Desperate Housewives. This one wasn’t very good. It wasn’t horrible but there was no “wow factor”. It was just plain boring…

Next season finale was Dexter. Dexter wasn’t bad, it was just stupid. Why did they need to kill Rita off? I just don’t understand what they are going to do with that. What will happen to the kids? A single dad serial killer? Just stupid. I’m sure they will ship the kids off to their grandparents and he will be on his own again.

Bones was the next and again, just plain boring. I had high hopes for Bones because it is probably my favorite show. Both Bones and Booth decide to take a year off and go in separate directions? Stupid! Just kiss and love each other for god’s sake!

Next, Grey’s Anatomy. Grey’s had the best season finale I have seen in a long time. I was seriously sitting on the edge of my seat. There was a nut job running around the hospital shooting people. They did a great job.

And then there was Lost. Oh Lost… you have been going downhill for probably the last 3 seasons. I must say that the season finale was good BUT there was still a lot left unexplained and it left a lot up to your own interpretation. They were talking about it on the KDWB this morning and I thought their interpretation was way off. My interpretation is that the plane crash actually happened and as the show went along people died. Eventually they all died and they all met in their “heaven”. Okay, that really doesn’t make sense… it’s hard to explain.

My conclusion to all except Grey’s (and Lost since it is over) – you can do better, try harder next year.

Venting

2010-05-17T08:09:00.000-07:00

I had a very long weekend and not in a good way. Saturday I got up and started cleaning. Our place was a mess and needed to be cleaned. That wasn’t so bad though. It makes me feel better to have a clean house. When it’s dirty I feel stressed out. Anyways, so I cleaned the house all morning and then got ready to go over to the farm. Saturday we had the “memorial” for my dad. First we went over to his grave. It was much harder than I thought. I figured that I could handle it since it has been almost 6 months but it wasn’t easy. Now it just seems so… final. We buried some of his ashes in the gas tank of a Harley. He would be happy about that. The rest of his ashes we took up in a plane and spread over his field. There were many things that I’m not happy with. Actually, I’m quite pissed off about. I don’t remember the gravestone saying anything about him being a great son, father or friend. Maybe I’m wrong but the only thing I saw was a good husband. I can’t even describe how upset/pissed/irate I am at the whole situation. We are supposed to celebrate his whole entire life – not just the last 2 years. And the most important people in his life have no say in the matter. Fuckin stupid.

Anyways… later on I met up with some friends at Syttenia Mia (Woodville days). Basically, the only thing to do is drink beer. So we had a few at the beer tent. It was a good time. I just wish I hadn’t been so exhausted from the horrible day.

Sunday I woke up and could not get off the couch. I didn’t feel good and I was exhausted. It couldn’t have been a hangover since I never was drunk (just buzzed) and I got enough sleep the night before. Poor Phil. I was depressed and crabby all day. Oh well, what are you going to do.

Things that I would like to punch in the face

2010-05-14T07:42:00.000-07:00

Thanks to a friend of mine I now have a new awesome blog to read. It is: http://thingsiwanttopunchintheface.blogspot.com/

This blog got me inspired to write one of my own: Things I’d Like to Punch in the Face. Here it is!

1. People who are successful/powerful that think they can treat people that are below them like crap. Kiss my ass.

2. People who leave their dog tied up outside all day, all by themselves. If you are going to make the commitment to have a dog – then love the dog and play with the dog! If that is too difficult than give the dog to someone who will take care of him properly.

3. People who call the office and get pissed when I ask for their last name. Hello! You are not the only client in the world named Anna! FYI- I know who you are now and I just ask for your last name to piss you off!! Suck it!

4. People who return a call to the office and say to the receptionist, “yeah, um you just called me?” Um, no I didn’t. There are 18 people who work here that could have called you. Listen to your voicemail first and maybe then you will know who to ask for when you call back.

5. When you ask somebody a yes or no question and they decide to go into a 5 minute spiel about it. I now cringe when I have to ask you a simple question. It’s ridiculous.

6. Rosie O’Donnell. Chris Daughtry. Enough said – I would like to punch you in the face.

7. People who are always late. I know some of you are my friends but it drives me nuts. 5 minutes isn’t so bad – but anything much later than that pisses me off.

8. Getting the blame for something you didn’t do. And if you say that it wasn’t you, you look like a tattletale or a complainer.

9. Fake people. You know the ones who act all nice and friendly to your face but then talk crap about you when you leave and/or screw you over because they only care about themselves. You know who you are.

10. People who drive slow in the left lane. I know this is on everyone’s shit list but come on! If it pisses everyone off then why do you do it? It also pisses me off that you don’t know how to use cruise control! If you don’t have it then you should try to learn how to go a steady speed please.

Go Away

2010-05-13T08:10:00.000-07:00

From the first day you walked into my life I knew you were bad news. You have done nothing but make my life a living hell. Hate is a strong word, but I hate you. If you were to disappear, nobody would miss you. In fact, hundreds of people would throw a party that would last for months. Please do us a favor and go away!

Missing you a lot today...

2010-05-08T09:55:00.000-07:00

Uncertainties

2010-05-07T11:03:00.000-07:00

It’s official. We must move out of our duplex by July 31st. SCARY! Since we are not sure if we got the house or not yet this is a big gamble. We only had 2 options though. We either had to sign up for another lease with them or give them a 70 day notice. I’m not about to sign another lease! If for some reason this house falls through we will not be homeless, we do have somewhere to live. Phil’s mom was nice enough to offer her house to crash at (for a very short time – if necessary). We of course are hoping that we get this house and close sometime in June. A few days ago the bank asked me for another approval letter from my lender that states what loan amount we were going to get and that says that we were approved for that. So, that is another step in the right direction. Why would the bank ask for that information if they weren’t going to accept our offer? This is getting so frustrating! I just need to know if this is going to work out or not. I already feel like this place is our “home”. The place we are living now does not feel like home. Since the day we moved in 2 ½ years ago it felt like just a place we were crashing at – temporary. I can’t wait to move into a home! Please let this work out!!!