Feeling Better?

Well, I felt wonderful yesterday, and that was nice. As I mentioned in the last post, I had a nasty little stomach something rather, but that went away. (YAY! I don't think I could have tolerated that much longer.) Anyway, I got one day of feeling wonderful before the nasty nose stuff started. I'm currently congested and can't breath decent. Orange juice and cheese have sounded absolutely wonderful all day (not together, of course), but I know those are on the list of things to avoid when you're congested or have a soar throat. So I guess I'm having another 'feeling yucky' day and just trying to wait patiently until my nose is happy again.

We Have Power!!

YAY!! We have power at our house again!! It's been 9 days since the ice storm and the power went out, so we're a little excited. We actually got power late yesterday, but we decided to wait until today to move back into our house because we were all a little under-the-weather yesterday. Jimmy said he felt queasy all day, I was just plain sick (stomach flu or food poisoning, not really sure which), and Tucker was sluggish and a little sick following Monday's 'boy-kitty surgery.' We're all feeling better now. (Or at least I know Jimmy and I are feeling better; Tucker is acting like he feels better, but who knows.) Anyway, I'm very excited to be able to go home tonight. (We still don't have cable or internet and that's probably a few days away, but I'm happy with heat and light.)

Wow....I Disappeared!

I knew I hadn't posted any updates in a while, but I didn't realize that it had been quite so long. I guess I'll try to provide a flurry of updates regarding the ongoings in my little corner of the world since I returned from Thanksgiving break....

House Searching: Jimmy and I have been searching for houses once again. We looked at a couple dozen houses and put in a very reasonable bid on what initially appeared to be the perfect house. It was a nice 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom house with a partial basement, and the house had recently been redone (new roof, cabinets, fixtures, paint, floors, etc.). Our bid was accepted, and we had our inspector come out...only to find out that the house needed new wiring, plumbing, a new hot water heater, and a whole bunch of other things. We very quickly put in a cancellation of the contract and ran away. We now think we have a lead on a house, but we're waiting to work out the details; if everything goes as we think it should, we'll probably be moving in late January or early February.

School: The semester's officially over. Classes ended the first week of December, and I turned in final grades a week or so ago. We had our department Christmas party, and our vacation has officially begun. I've been working on a few things for next semester already, and I'm really excited about the coming term since I won't actually be 'teaching.' (I'll essentially be tutoring all semester instead of teaching. Thus, I'll probably be doing just as much work, just without the prep time, office hours, or grading.)

Weather: As many of you know, or may have guessed, our area of Oklahoma was hit by the terrible ice storms last weekend. The storm itself didn't really seem too bad and the ice all melted quickly, but that 'little' storm certainly left its mark on our part of the country. Our house lost power...and is still without power. (This is Day 7 without power.) PSO, our power provider, estimates that all of the homes in our part of town will have power by Dec. 18, but the news last night said that PSO hopes to have power restored to all customers by Christmas; I don't quite know what to believe. The huge tree in our (or, to be technically correct, our neighbor's) front yard isn't nearly as huge as it used to be. The ice brought down about a dozen branches, narrowly missing the cars that were parked in our driveway. Anyway, the storm has been quite an adventure. Jimmy are currently camping out at a friend's place on campus where there is power and heat and light. YAY for friends!!

Disclaimer: Though I'm certainly going to try not to let my blog (and its readers, that is, if there are any remaining after my long absence) go unattended for so long again, I'm not going to make any promises until I have power in my home office again. I miss my office....

Hello Folks, I'm Back!!

Jimmy and I just got back from our Thanksgiving trip out to visit my parents. The trip was very nice, but it's good to be back home (and it will be nice to sleep in my own bed tonight). Tucker stayed with friends, but I think he's happy to be home too....

Dumbledore is....

Thanksgiving Dinner

I know it's a bit early, but I made Thanksgiving Dinner today for the students in the class that I'm teaching. Since I have a class composed of entirely non-native English speakers, all of whom are either immigrant or international students, I decided it might be fun to have a traditional Thanksgiving dinner at my house. While I had either made or helped make nearly all of the traditional side dishes, this was my first attempt at cooking a turkey. I did the turkey in the over, and I used a simple herb recipe that I found online...and it turned out beautifully (definitely done, but not dry). My students were eager to learn about the foods and anxious to know what everything was made out of. Their favorite two dishes seemed to be the stuffing/dressing (which didn't surprise me) and the candied sweet potatoes (which did surprise me). The meal was good, my students seemed to have fun, and now I'm very, very tired and have a refrigerator full of leftovers.

Another Great Literary Figure Gone....

Today's top headline in the news: "Literary Legend Dies." I guess it's been a rough year for the writers of the 1960s/1070s: Norman Mailer and Vonnegut both gone in the same year....

BRRR!!

Yep, it's the first cold, cold day we've had here so far. We had a pretty good freeze overnight, and the heater ran a lot during the night too. Here comes winter....

The Great Pumpkin

We had a Halloween party in my class today. We had orange soda, sugar cookies with orange frosting, and lots of candy. Instead of actually doing work today, we watched "Charlie Brown and the Great Pumpkin." (None of my students had seen it before, and they all seemed to enjoy it.) I hadn't seen the film in a while and I didn't really remember it, but it was good! So, Happy Halloween! And I hope the Great Pumpkin finds you....

Coffee Shop Required

I've come to the conclusion that I cannot survive in a town without a coffee shop. (And I don't even drink coffee.) Anyway, coffee shops are essential because they provide free wireless internet, tea, and typically a relatively quite place to relax or study. I just realized that I've lived in towns/cities with coffee shops for almost 10 years, and I think they've become an essential part of life. I can function without coffee, but don't take away my coffee shop!!

Back Home Again

I'm back home again.... Jimmy and I made a trip up to SC (which is in Kansas) for my college class reunion. We got to spend some time with friends, watch a football game, and eat pizza with enough people from my class to drive the waitress at Pizza Hut a little crazy. The reunion was nice, though I was a little disappointed that so few people attended. (There were about 70 people in our graduating class, and fewer than 20 people were there for the reunion.) Anyway, we got to visit a few friends in locations along the way, which was also nice. And now that I'm home, the adventure's over, and the kitty's here too, I'm tired.

Happy Birthday, Mommy!!

It's my mommy's birthday today. Happy Birthday Mommy!!

Fall and Soup

Well, fall weather is here. The temperatures have dropped, and the air conditioner hasn't kicked on in at least two weeks. (Which probably means a lower electric bill this month. YAY!) I've pulled out my fall jackets, and I'm almost ready to pack my summer things away and bring out the sleeves and sweaters.

I've also been hungry for soup for the past few days. I pulled out the crock pot and have been concocting all sorts of yummy things (though not necessarily soups). I made roast a few days ago, and I tried out a new chicken and dumplings recipe today. Most of the soups that I've had, however, have either been from restaurants or out of cans. I did have the last of the Irish stew that I had put in the freezer a few months ago; it was still quite yummy. I bought some stew meat at the grocery store a few days ago, so I may have to try out a new stew recipe sometime in the relatively near future....

My Needy Kitty

The Tucker's been a needy little guy lately. He had his rabies shots (the last of his kitty shots - YAY!) on Tuesday and he was totaly wiped out for the rest of the day. Any time I would sit down, he would curl up on my lap and go to sleep. He was a very clingy kitty. And today the storms scared the little guy. Between the thunder, lightening, fierce winds, rain, and hail, the little guy didn't know what to think. He, once again, curled up in my lap and refused to move....

Locked In

Jimmy's youth group had a lock in last night. There were a lot of kids there (junior high and high school), and it was very loud. I went to help supervise. I didn't stay up all night, but I'm still very, very tired. I think I'll be going to bed very early tonight.

(Wow, I used the word 'very' 4 times in 5 sentences. I must be tired.)

Happy Birthday to....

...ME!! Okay, it's not really my birthday, but today my blog turns a whopping 2 years old (which I believe would be considered 'middle aged' for a blog). Also, this is Post #286, which means I'm averaging one blog post every 2.55 days. Wow....

Smoothie Day

(Wow, it's been a whole week since I last posted. I wonder where the time went?)

Anyway, today was United Way $3 Smoothie Day. There have been advertisements about it all over campus for the past week, so I'd been eagerly awaiting the arrival of October 4. I got my peach smoothie for lunch today, and it was very yummy.

Tulsa State Fair

Jimmy and I went to the Tulsa State Fair this evening. It was the opening night of the fair, so gate admission was cheaper than normal and parking wasn't too much of a nightmare. We walked around for a few hours, ate fair food, and just enjoyed the evening. However, I'm still wondering why it's called the 'Tulsa State Fair' rather than the 'Oklahoma State Fair.' It doesn't seem to make much sense to me....

:(

Another sad day.... I heard on NPR this morning that Marcel Marceau died yesterday. 'Tis a sad day for the mime world.

Aye, ye scurvy dogs! Arrr! Arrr! Arrr!

Yes, there is a logical explaination.... Today is International Talk Like a Pirate Day. In case you need some assistance with the lingo, check out this handy English-to-Pirate Translator.

Taboo

I played Taboo with a group of junior high kids this evening. It was a lot of fun, and I learned a few things.
*Ted Turner is Tina Turner's brother.
*When people have cancer, they get aromatherapy.
*"Plastered" is what happens to walls before the building's finished.
*Watergate is a type of salad.
*The abominable snowman lives in Antarctica.

Updates....

Okay, so my blog has been a little neglected over the past few weeks. Here's a general update on the primary ongoings of my life....

School: School's been underway for a few weeks now. I'm spending a lot of time reading and working. I'm teaching a Composition class specifically designed for Non-Native English Speakers; I have 9 wonderful students who are wroking very hard to improve their ability to communicate in English. I tried to sign up for the pilates class at the fitness center, but the class was already full; I was really bummed.

House: Buying a house sucks, so we decided we're not going to do it right now. Though Jimmy and I really liked the house we had picked out, we ended up having a lot of problems with house-buying stuff. (The stuff that was supposed to be hard was easy, and the stuff that was supposed to be easy was hard.) We've decided to wait a few months and then maybe start the whole house-hunting process again.

Tucker:The little Tucker has gotten bigger. He's almost 4 months old and he's very, very active now. He likes to play with his toys, sleep in Jimmy's office chair, and rearrange things on my desk. He also helps me with my work. (He really likes to grade papers with me. Sometimes he even tries to leave teeth marks on the essays that he really likes.)

12 Miles

And my arms hurt and I have a sunburn.... Jimmy and I, along with a few members of his family, floated 12 miles of the Illinois River this afternoon. We rented a canoe and a few kayaks and spent just over 3 hours on the water. (The water was moving a bit quicker than normal and we paddled quite a bit instead of merely floating, so we made what is supposed to be a 6 hour trip in 3 hours.)

A Sad Day for the Music World

The headlines read: Italian Tenor Pavarotti is Dead.

Almost Halloween

Jimmy and I made a quick trip to the grocery story this evening. As we were wandering the aisles in search of popcorn, we managed to find the Halloween candy. Jimmy made some remark about how Halloween, and I then realized that Halloween in precisely two months away. Isn't it a little early to start with the candy already? Oh well, I guess that's what you get when you have a holiday that celebrates costumes and cavities.

Rejected by the Vampires

The vampires were on campus again today. I went to see them, but they sent me away. They did give me a t-shirt though....

Reading Books....

Wow, this is a post about books, and not the ones that I'm reading!!

I saw an article on yahoo! news that caught my attention: "One In Four Read No Books Last Year." As someone who reads and loves to read, this astonishes me.

Also, I've long wondered just how many people actually finish the books that they start on airplanes. People almost always seems to be starting books on airplanes, but very few people ever seem to be finishing books on airplanes. Is it just the people that I end up sitting next to, or is something more going on here....

Happy Birthday, Boy!!

Yesterday was Jimmy's birthday. To celebrate, we took a little overnight trip out of town and stayed in a beautiful little bed-and-breakfast. It was a nice little trip, and we decided that we're going to start looking for bed-and-breakfasts instead of hotels when we go out of town. Prices seem to be comparable, and the bed-and-breakfasts are a lot more fun.

Trash and Bathes

Another blog about my little Tucker....

He's been a bad kitty today. This afternoon I found him in the trash can in the kitchen. He crawled in all by him self; I was very glad there wasn't anything messy in the trash or otherwise kitty would have needed a bath.

Kitty did end up getting something resembling a bath tonight. I was enjoying a nice little bubble bath earlier this evening, and all of the sudden I had some kitty company in the tub. He promptly jumped out of the tub and ran through the house, but I then tracked him down and gave him a mini-bath to get all of the soap and bubbles off of him. I didn't know if the soap was non-toxic or not, and I didn't want the little guy to be sick....

Oil of Olay

Apparently kitty doesn't think my Mary Kay stuff is working for me. Yesterday when I was wotking in my home-office, Tucker came in to me carrying an Oil of Olay coupon in his mouth. (Mom sends me coupons in the mail, and I'd left a stack of them out.) I think he's trying to tell me something.

Today he jumped in the shower after I got out. He just sat there under the still-dripping faucet. Now I understand why the whole spray bottle discipline technique doesn't work on him. I also wonder if he was hinting that he needs/wants a bath.

Tucker does, however, seem to like my taste in shoes. The shoeboxes are just the right size....

Inspections

We had house inspections today. Everything faired pretty well except the roof. The roof's in much worse condition than we had anticipated, so we put in a request to have the seller put a new roof on the house (or pay for us to do so). Now we're playing the waiting game once again....

A Global Market

I bought a new calendar yesterday. It's a bilingual calendar--English and Spanish. It was made in China.

House

I think we've found a house. We put in a bid, and it was accepted. Now we're working on money stuff and all that stuff that has to be done before you can buy a house (inspections, etc.). Jimmy took some video of the house as we were were walking through, so I thought I would share it here:
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Though the house is technically 'move in ready,' we are planning to do some work on the house. We're planning on redoing some of the floors, repainting some of the walls (particularly the bright blue ones), taking down the deer wallpaper, removing the second kitchen, and taking all the stars off the ceiling in the spare bedroom. I'm sure we'll be doing other things as well, but those seemed like good places to start....

Why Computer Work Takes For-ev-er

It seems like everything that I try to do on the computer takes twice as long as it should now.... My computer is running a tad slower than it used to, but I don't really think that has much to do with my little problem. Folding laundry also takes more time that it used to; it used to be a chore, but now it's an adventure.

House Hunting Sucks....

Well, a lot of things have happened in the last week or so. Jimmy got a new job--essentailly his dream job. The only problem with said dream job is that it's in another town nearly 60 miles away and they're requiring us to relocate. So right now we're looking for a house somewhere that puts him a reasonable distance from work. (However, that will be putting my a much greater distance than the 1/2 block from work that I currently enjoy.) We've been looking at houses for about the past two weeks. We'll be in a much, much smaller town, and rental houses just aren't readily available. (And the few rental houses that we've found have been either drastically overpriced or in rather poor condition.) Thus, we've been looking at houses to buy. By now we've probably looked at over 25 houses, and we've put in bids on 2. However, both bids were rejected with no counter offers. (On the first house, the sellers decided that they didn't want to sell at all and that they were going to move back into the house. On the second, we offered what we thought was a reasonable bid on an overpriced house; though our somewhat stoic relator seemed to agree with us, apparently the seller didn't.) We have one more house out of those that we've looked at that we're generally interested in; perhaps we'll talk to the relator and try to do something with that in the next few days.

So, in summary, house hunting sucks!!

Bagpipes

I like bagpipes, but this made me smile....

A Gallon of....

I went grocery shopping today, and I randomly started thinking about the prices we pay for things. I was shocked when I went to the dairy section and reached for a gallon of milk -- $4.06 for a gallon of 1%. Then I started thinking about how that price compare to other things. A gallon of regular unleaded gas is $2.96 (or was when I was out this afternoon). A gallon of bottled/filtered/distilled water costs somewhere between $0.98 and about $2.50. A 2-liter bottle of Coke is usually $1.19 when it's on sale; regular price is $1.69, I think.

But anyway, I was wondering why we complain about prices of some items but not others. Nobody's happy about the rising gas prices, but how often do we hear people complaining about the rising milk prices? (I'm sure the fact that people typically purchase multiple gallons of gas at once as opposed to single gallons of milk at a time contributes to the complaining.) Anyway, I left the grocery store sans milk; I went to the ice cream store around the corner and bought my gallon of 1% milk for $2.89.

The End of....

...something frequently thought of as endless. Follow the link. I like this one.

Tucker...

...rhymes with "sucker!"

A stray kitty wandered onto our back porch last Friday. I didn't really want a pet at all and I don't particularly like indoor pets, but he adopted us anyway. Now we're working on kitty-proofing the house (or at least the portions of the house in which we're allowing the cat to reside), learning to distinguish between the 'needs' and 'wants' yelps and meows, and teaching the kitty some manners (preferably good ones).

So far, Tucker likes to play with his toys and pretend he's a parrot. His favorite toys are his blue GAP box, his plastic clothes hanger, and his red firetruck. He also likes to climb up my pants and shirt and then perch on my shoulder when I'm washing dishes or working in the kitchen. (That's something we really need to train him not to do, but it's so cute....)

4th of July, Fireworks, and (Surprise!) Rain

Well, at least the rain stayed away until most of the fireworks displays were finished....

Jimmy worked part of the day yesterday, and I enjoyed a rather lazy holiday with my books. We met up with some friends for a little evening cook-out, and we all went out to watch a big fireworks display after that. We went to a local country club (a friend's parents are members) and watched their absolutely gigantic and beautiful display. Though I've seen large fireworks displays before, this one was very different in that the musical accompaniment that went along with the display was a blasting array of car alarms that were set off by the sound of the fireworks. The discordant blaring was, at times, accompanied by the high-pitched yet nearly imperceptible drone of a small choir of mosquitoes. Beautiful.

Happy July 2nd!!

Yep, Happy July 2nd!!

First, it's my dad's birthday. Happy Birthday Daddy!!

And second, it's the middle day of the year. That means that 2007 is now half over already....

More Rain, More Rain

It rained today. Again. It has rained every day this week; I checked the weather records on weather.com, and they're reporting that we've had rain here for 18 of the last 21 days. The yard is like a wet sponge; every time I take a step water oozes up from the ground around my foot. Algae is beginning to appear everywhere...not just on the ground but on sidewalks and driveways as well. Anyway, today it waited until the evening to rain. This made me happy as I was able to spend part of the afternoon working in my garden. I picked beans and cucumbers, and I pulled lots of weeds. Most of my garden seems to be doing pretty well. However, my cabbage is looking awful. It looks all wilted and sad (like it should look on a 100 degree day when it hasn't been watered for the better part of a week); though I'm not certain, I think that the roots are simply not establishing themselves and are thus rotting in the ground.

I don't want to live in a swamp any more....

Yoga

Since the pilates class for this summer term overlaps with the course that I'm teaching, I decided to try a yoga class instead. Our first class met today. At this point, I think I'll probably go back to pilates in the fall. While I liked the yoga class well enough, I don't really feel like I "did" anything. There was no "burn" during class, and I don't think I'm going to have any of the "I had a good workout yesterday" pains tomorrow. We'll see....

A Modern Charlie Chaplin

One of my friends who's a film major recently did a short Charlie Chaplin imitation film. It's great, just follow the link....

No More Weeds

I weeded my garden today. It looks very nice now. I also put some bug-be-gone dust on some of my plants. My lettuce is nearly ready to be cut, but something's already eaten about half of the leaves. Whatever it is also seems to like my cabbage and the leaves on my bean plants.

Oklahoma in the News....

Looks like Tulsa's been in the national news this week. I have to admit, it is kinda cool. It's not everyday that people dig up a time capsule containing a 1957 automobile.

Settling Back In

I feel like I'm rambling a bit today....

Anyway, I'm finally getting settled back into something resembling a normal schedule. It's amazing how being gone for a week can completely throw a schedule awry. The house is clean and generally in order, so that makes reading and working easier. (Housecleaning and laundry are among my favorite things to do for productive procrastination. They allow me to put off doing what really needs to be done while still feeling like I'm accomplishing something.) The summer course that I'm teaching started on Monday. I've got a section of Introduction to College Composition (which is a course I haven't taught before), and I have a class of 6 students. So far things are going well.... My garden desperately needs weeded, and I've been working on it little by little; however, the mosquitoes have been so thick lately that I'm convinced they're trying to carry me away. I'll probably douse myself in bug repellent and try to finish that task sometime tomorrow.

Over 1,000....

That's how many essays I read in Louisville throughout this past week. I don't have any exact count of how much I read, but I know I read at least 1,000 (mostly mediocre) student essays. I flew home today, and it sure is good to be home.

However, I thought I would use today's blog to recount some of the things I did/learned in Louisville.

*I learned lots of new words while I was reading essays. I kept a new words list from the week, but I don't think would be allowed to share it here due to institutional and student confidentiality issues.

*I watched horses run at Churchill Downs. I didn't place any bets, but I got to sit on the front row and watch the horses race past the finish line. The horses run very fast.

*I learned how baseball bats are made at the Louisville Slugger Museum and Factory. Their special exhibit, which was also pretty cool, was on Snoopy and baseball.

*I learned that the Ohio River is beautiful from the 23rd floor of a hotel, but not nearly so pretty from up close.

*I saw Sir Philip Sidney's armor and lots of chainmail, swords, and guns at the Frazier International History Museum. In addition to the weapons, they also had a pretty cool children's exhibit on dragons.

*I drank Bourbon.

*I learned that horses fly on airplanes. (We saw the airplane that transports race horses as our plane was leaving Louisville.)

I'm sure there's more stuff to report, but I think that'll be it for tonight. I was up at 5am to pack and everything, and I'm tired.

Hotel Pillows and Fire Alarms

Okay, I don't know who told the hotel people that everyone likes big fluffy pillows because, you know what, we don't!! While I understand that most people like pillows that are 8-12 inches tall (each), I'm not one of those people. I've been having trouble sleeping every night because my pillow is too big. I just want a normal pillow. Nothing extravagant, just something reasonable.

The fire alarms went off in our hotel at about 10pm last night. I was up in my room (on the 23rd floor) when the alarm went off. The alarm was followed by a disembodied voice giving instructions on what to do. After about half an hour things cleared out and we were allowed to go back to our usual business. When I arrived for breakfast this morning, I was informed that the alarm went off at about 3am as well. I guess I slept through that one. Perhaps the hotel should rethink the volume of its alarm system.

One Down....

I've safely arrived in Louisville. The flights were okay, though I don't particularly like flying at all. Though I was concerned about changing planes in Chicago, it was easy; I literally got off one plane and walked across the hallway and was where I needed to be to get on the next plane. However, I still don't understand why I had to fly from Tulsa to Chicago to Louisville....

Today was our first day of reading; one down, six to go. I ended up reading the responses to the prose question again this year. Most of the essays that I'm reading are very, very similar. I think I'm going to get tired of reading essays quite quickly this year.

I've met up with a few people that I went to school with or met other places, and I'm amazed how many people that I met last year are back to read again this year. I guess we're all a little nuts to keep doing this....

June Already....

It seems like the last part of May has just gotten away from me.... I've been reading and studying, avoiding reading and studying, and doing a whole lot of other things too.

My Garden -- I finally finished planting everything in my garden. Everything has come up except the potatoes and the mint (and at this point I don't know if they're going to come up any more). The birds had been eating my garden, so I bought a bird feeder to lure them away from my plants and seeds. The tactic is working wonderfully, but the birds are hungry little creatures. I filled the bird feeder twice yesterday, and they had emptied it twice by nightfall. They do spill some of the birdseed on the ground, but they eat it off of the ground too.

Totus Tuus -- I've been helping out with teacher training for the Totus Tuus program during the past several days. I helped prepare meals today, but I did some of the behind-the-scenes work earlier in the week. The group leaves for a week-long training tomorrow, and Jimmy will be going with them as the cook and general go-fer.

AP Reading -- Before Jimmy leaves tomorrow, he gets to take me to the airport. I get to hop on a plane to Louisville, KY for the annual AP English Literature reading. It'll be a long week, but there will be some fun in it too. (However, Louisville's not Daytona Beach. I'm taking the Killer Bunnies.)

I could keep rambling, but I won't.... However, I did see a funny thing today: I was driving behind a car that had a sticker on it that said 'Brown Ford.' The car was red.

No Okra

I finished planting my garden yesterday. (And I didn't plant any okra.) Everything seems to be doing well so far; things are starting to come up nicely. However, the weeds are coming up too, and the birds are eating the leaves off of my zucchini plants. I bought a bird feeder and put it in the opposite corner of the yard, but I don't know if that will do anything or not.

Parsley, Sage, Rosemary, and....

Chives? Okay, I know that's not how the song goes, but that's what I planted in my garden today. I completed my row of herbs with basil and mint, and I also planted potatoes and onions. Making progress....

Hmmm....

Wow, I'm wondering where the week went. (That was a lot of w's there....) Anyway, the week seems to have gotten away from me. I've been reading, reading, and playing/working outside in my yard and garden. (By now those tan lines that I worked so hard to get rid of before the wedding are back...and they're getting more pronounced.) I now actually do have a garden. Jimmy borrowed a roto-tiller last weekend, and I've been getting things in the ground since then. So far I've planted a tomato, cucumbers, zucchini, honeydew melons, yellow bell peppers, corn, and beans. I only planted the corn and beans from seed, so I have pretty little plants growing in the garden already. I'm hoping to finish planting this weekend, so then I'll be spending my gardening time watering, pulling weeds, and communing with the misquitoes instead of preparing and planting.

For All Lovers of Classical Music

Follow the link. This is great....

If I Wanted to Live in A Swamp....

If I wanted to live in a swamp, I would have moved to one...intentionally!! (Or I'd relocate to Okefenokee and live with Pogo. Pogo for President 2008!!) Anyway, the weather here has been completely nuts. While this is usually a relatively dry time of year (actually, any time of year is typically a relatively dry time of year), we've had rain here on 16 of the last 31 days. I've been wanting to put in a garden now that Jimmy and I have a backyard, but the backyard's been so wet that I haven't had a chance to do anything with the soil. A roto-tiller probably won't work very well if there's water standing where I want to till.

This crazy weather reminded me of something that happened when I was an RA in the residence halls at SC as an undergrad. Anyway, an international student from the Philippines arrived on campus, and she was asking a whole slew of questions about the US, about Kansas, and other questions about campus and American culture. She had a lot of very good questions, but there was one (and only one!) that made me laugh: "So, when is the wet season here?" My answer, after I controlled my laughter, "We don't have one." Hmmm, I guess maybe sometimes we do.

Spiderman

Yep, Spiderman. Jimmy took me to see the 12:01 showing of Spiderman 3 last night. While I'm not much of a comic book person and not all that into the whole superhero thing, I do seem to enjoy the Spiderman and Batman movies. And I liked this one too. Some of the special effects and action scenes seemed a little too much (too fast, too choppy, or too hard to follow), but overall I liked the movie. I had to take a nap today to make up for some lost sleep, but the movie was still good....

School's Out!!

I'm officially finished for the semester!! I calculated grades, and I'm done. (Yes, done; not finished. My English teacher brain is on vacation.) YAY!!

However, I am going to spend quite a bit of the summer reading. Today I worked about half way through Cooper's The Last of the Mohicans. I hadn't read that one before, and I figured that it was about time....

And His Name Is....

No, I'm not pregnant. And no, we didn't get a dog.

I've decided that I need to name my rosebush. I spent a few more hours today cleaning brush and junk out of my soon-to-be-garden, and I think my rosebush needs a name. The rosebush is beginning to bloom, and the roses are yellow--a soft, pale, almost-white yellow, and not the bright yellow that you usually see in the flower shop. (Did you know that the yellow rose is not the state flower of Texas!! Dad used to sing 'The Yellow Rose of Texas' all the time; since Dad's originally from Texas, I thus--for some reason unbeknownst to me--always thought that the yellow rose was the Texas state flower. But it isn't. Apparently the Texas state flower is the bluebonnet. The bluebonnet? Who thought of that? Oh well, at least they have a state flower. All Oklahoma has is a state parasite that we try to pass off as a flower. I mean, mistletoe, a state flower? Really.... Hmmm, I digress.) Anyway, I'm still trying to figure out what to name my rosebush. I think it needs a 'he' name, though Jimmy and I thought it would be kinda cute to call it Petunia. Any ideas?

Things Eastern Oklahoma has that Western Kansas Doesn't....

Yesterday I was thinking about Kansas and Oklahoma and the differences between the two. Thus, 'Things Eastern Oklahoma has that Western Kansas Doesn't.'

1. Chiggers. (Not fun. We have pheasants in Western Kansas.)

2. Ticks. (Again, not fun. While you'll occasionally find a tick in Western Kansas, they're fairly rare. You certainly don't have to check yourself for ticks every time you come in after being outside.)

3. Poison Ivy. (I didn't have a clue what this stuff looked like before coming to Oklahoma. I still don't know what it looks like, but I do know that it has three leaves and that Jimmy's allergic to it.)

4. Red Dirt. (I thought dirt was supposed to be brown.)

5. Trees. (I like trees, but there are tree roots and tree stumps from old, dead trees all over where my garden is supposed to go.)

6. Snails and Slugs. (Okay, the snails are kinda cool to watch, but the slugs? How am I supposed to get rid of these little creatures?)

7. Lakes. (I don't really like to swim anyway, so the thought of swimming in green water with fish in it just isn't overly appealing.)

8. Humidity. (I think this probably has something to do with the lakes and the trees and just water in general--which is something that Western Kansas doesn't really have.)

Also, where are all the basements?

Almost Finished....

Wow, the school year's almost over. Our last day of class here is Monday, and I'm trying to get all of my grading and stuff finished up by then. I still have some work to do, but I'm looking forward to summer. I'll have about a month 'off' before I start teaching my summer section, but I'll be keeping myself with reading and studying, working in my yard and garden (after I get the overgrown rosebushes and poison ivy cleaned out of where my garden is supposed to go), and preparing for the classes I'll be teaching both this summer and in the fall.

We finished our ultimate frisbee season tonight. We lost our playoff game tonight, and we ended the season 4-2. Since we had a good turnout tonight, I just sat on the sidelines and watched everyone else play.

Also, it seems that winter's almost finished too. Actually, since I decided to pack my sweaters away and pull out my summer clothes today, I wouldn't be surprised if winter decides to reappear for a few days yet....

Playing....

I did some playing this past week and over the weekend....

I played a couple of games of Ultimate Frisbee this past week with an intramural team from my church. Though I hadn't played in a while, I did okay. Our team is currently 3 and 1; not too bad....

Last night Jimmy and I had a few friends over to play Settlers of Catan. I'd only played that game a few times and I didn't do too well, but I did have a lot of fun (and I think everyone else did too).

Today I played in the dirt. I have a little flowerbed out in front of the house, and Jimmy's mom gave me some bedding plants for my birthday. Though I didn't get the plants planted today, I did manage to get the flowerbed cleaned out (which was a much larger task than I'd anticipated). I hope to be able to plant flowers within the next few days....

"Poo-tee-weet?"

Kurt Vonnegut died today at age 84. So it goes.

Happy Easter!!

Happy Easter!!

Jimmy and I went to an early Easter Mass this morning, and we determined that neither of us can recall ever going to an Easter morning Mass before. We're both more accustomed to going to a Saturday evening vigil Mass, so the Easter morning Mass seemed very (very!) short and different. I think I'll/we'll go back to the vigil Mass next year; it just felt more like an Easter Mass....

We had Easter dinner with Jimmy's family at our house today. We cooked a ham and all the fixings, and it was generally a lot of fun.

I spent most of the afternoon taking a nap. (The early morning Mass combined with the late night of housecleaning threw my sleep schedule way off.) I've been spending most of the evening working on my computer and playing with wedding pictures. (I got some wedding pictures from one of my sisters, and I got the proofs back from the photographer. I'm in the process of uploading the wedding pictures to my shutterfly site; I should have some up there to share within the next few days. Oh, if you were at the wedding and have pictures that you would like to share, I'd love to see them....)

BDanica Finally Had a BBaby!

In case you're as out of the loop as I am, BDanica (who doesn't update her blog very often) finally had her baby! Her name is Brynna Elisabeth, and she was born on Wednesday, March 28. YAY BDanica!!

"Wait a Minute, I Got Married..."

Well, it's been a busy week....

The wedding was last Saturday, and it all went beautifully. The whole day was generally a lot of fun. I haven't seen very many pictures yet, but I'm eagerly awaiting a phone call from the photographer....

Jimmy and I flew out early on Sunday morning for a little honeymoon in Washington D.C. We'd both been to D.C. before, so we got to spend the trip seeing the things that we either wanted to see again or hadn't seen before. We went to the International Spy Museum, the National Postal Museum, the National Gallery of Art, the Folger Shakespeare Library, the Library of Congress, the Pope John Paul II Cultural Center, and various other places. While I enjoyed visiting most of the places that we went, I particularly enjoyed the Postal Museum, the Shakespeare Library, and Ford's Theatre. I was a bit disappointed by the JPII Cultural Center; I was expecting a museum and it was more of a cultural/convention center. I probably would have enjoyed the Spy Museum and the National Archives more if they hadn't been packed with children who were apparently on school trips to D.C.

Our honeymoon was generally pretty low key. However, we stayed at the Hotel Rouge, a fancier-than-usual little place, and went out for a fancier-than-usual dinner one night which was followed by a limo tour of the D.C. area. We flew back home on Wednesday so Jimmy could be back to work on Thursday morning.

I feel like I've spent the last couple of days just trying to put my house back in order. (My absolutely wonderful family came down for the wedding, and my house--now our house--was Grand Central Station. The back room got turned into a flower shop, the kitchen became a cafeteria, and the rest of the house was either visiting space or work space as needed.) Between all of the traffic from the past week, the wedding gifts and stuff (decorations, etc), and the recent return from a trip, there's a lot of work to be done before the house looks like I think it should. Most of today was spent in the back yard; tomorrow I'm staying in the house.


A Story: "Wait a Minute, I Got Married...."
On Sunday night (after a long day involving airplanes, problems with check-in at the hotel, and some sight-seeing), Jimmy and I decided to go find a pub where we could just sit back and have a beer or two. We pulled out our little D.C. guidebook and decided to go to The Brickseller (the bar that's in the in the Guinness Book of World Records for bar with the most beers). Jimmy was very excited because they had Lithuanian beer. Anyway, after the first beer, I decided to make a trip to the ladies room. After trying to open a door in the ladies room the wrong way, I flippantly remarked, "Well, you can tell I've never been here before." Another young woman replied, "I've only been in town two days, and this is my third visit to this bar. They have the cheapest beers in town." I replied, "We decided to check the place out because my fiance...oh, wait a minute...I got married yesterday...that means he's my husband...well, my husband was hoping they'd have Lithuanian beer here...." The lady laughed, offered her congratulations, and asked if my husband and I would like to join her and her friends; I politely refused, but I'm sure I left her with a little story to tell her friends....

Married.

I got married today. More details and stuff to come after we get back from the honeymoon....

"go ogle"

"Go ogle." That was the spelling suggestion that I got from my Yahoo! e-mail when it came across the word 'Google.' I giggled (not googled, giggled). Tee-hee!

Weddings and Life....

If you're reading this, I'm guessing you survived the Ides of March. I hope you had a Happy St. Patrick's Day too. It seems I've missed a few reasons to celebrate this past week....

The name of the game recently has been wedding planning. The pesky little details are still being pesky, and they're really starting to get in the way of every day life. Though I'm excited about the wedding, I'm also looking forward to being able return to something resembling a normal life. I fear that, despite my best efforts, I'm slowly becoming a bridezilla (metaphorically, of course--I certainly don't have either the complexion or the coloring for it).

3.14

Happy Pi Day!! One of my friends who is a junior high math teacher reminded me that today is Pi Day. Just thought I would remind you too....

Wow, Time Flies....

It seems like time has gotten away from me. I was a bit surprised to see that it's been 10 days since I last updated my blog....

I think the time change probably contributed to the time flying, but I don't think that's why I haven't blogged in a while....

I was away at a conference for a few days this past week. I got to go up to Kansas State University for their annual Cultural Studies conference. I presented a paper on WWII films and their influence on the Vietnam War soldiers and Vietnam War literature. The conference was interesting, and I certainly enjoyed visiting with friends and the faculty members there. The drive there and back, however, was not quite so much fun. (I forgot to pick up an audiobook at the public library before I went.)

I've been working quite a bit on wedding stuff. Jimmy and I met with the caterer this weekend, and I've been in contact with quite a few other people who will be participating in the wedding in various ways. I don't think I quite realized just how many pesky little details there are in planning a wedding....

I'm on Spring Break this week. YAY!!

Carmen

Tonight was an opera night. Jimmy and I went to see Bizet's Carmen. Though I'd played some of the music on the piano a very long time ago, I'd never seen the opera on stage before. The music was absolutely amazing (both the stuff I already knew and the stuff I didn't). I think it was probably one of the best productions that I've seen here....

Nuns Get Up Too Early....

I'm helping to plan a retreat for our church women's group, and I'm working with a couple of Sisters from a nearby monastery. I called to speak with one of the Sisters yesterday, and she said she would call me back with more information today. She did, at 7:36am. Though I answered the phone and carried on a generally coherent conversation (I think), I'm not really sure that I remember all of what was said. I don't think I function well enough to conduct any type of business before at least 9 or 10 am....

One Last 'Achoo!'

Jimmy came over and we finished cleaning out the garage today. I threw all of the remaining stuff down from the top story, and Jimmy and Brad cleaned out the bottom part of the garage and built a workbench. We stirred up a lot of dust today while we were working, and it was a windy, dusty day in general. My front porch view of the downtown skyline was clouded by a fog-like dust that was hanging in the air all day. Though I'm fairly certain that my allergies aren't gone and my sneezing isn't over, I'm quite glad that the garage is clean and won't be the cause of any more sneezing and wheezing.

226

Wow, according to the blogger homepage, this is my 226th blog post. That's a lot of words....

I don't have much to write about today. I feel like I have a lot of adjectives today, but not many nouns or verbs. A lack of nouns and verbs makes writing difficult....

The Garage

Jimmy and I worked on cleaning out the garage today. The garage is detached from the house, and it's a mess. We're trying to get it cleaned up so the space is usable for more than simply storing junk. Judging by the state of things, I don't think the garage has been cleaned out in years, many years. Jimmy mostly worked on the bottom floor, and I spent my time sifting through stuff in the attic. While most of what we found was old Christmas decorations and boxes full of random stuff (everything from fabric scraps to paint cans), we did find some interesting things too. We found some books, some Christmas card catalogues, and a box with some old cards and letters. We threw out over a dozen trash bags full of trash and junk, but we did save a few interesting things to sort through and look at later. Though I'm glad we made progress in the garage, I'm now wondering how long it will be before I'm breathing normally again....

Dear John,

I thought I would share the 'Happy Valentine's Day' activity that I force upon my students with the world at large. (I didn't create this one on my own. It was given to me by someone somewhere.) Anyway, the task is to punctuate the letter to make it understandable. Ready, set, go....

dear john I want a man who knows what love is all about you are generous kind thoughtful people who are not like you admit to being useless and inferior you have ruined me for other men I yearn for you I have no feelings whatsoever when we’re apart I can be happy forever will you let me be yours Gloria

(I posted the answers as comments connected to this post.) Happy Valentine's Day!!

Making Babies

One of my sisters sent an e-mail forward to me yesterday. It was called 'Kids' Explanations." I liked this one....

A second grader came home from school and said to her grandmother,
"Grandma, guess what? We learned how to make babies today."
The grandmother, more than a little surprised, tried to keep her cool.
"That's interesting," she said, "How do you make babies?"
"It's simple," replied the girl. "You just change "y" to "i" and add 'es.'"

About Me....

(Okay, this is all Krysten's fault....)

There's a set of websites that are something of a personality perception analysis. The websites asked me to pick out the adjectives that I feel best describe me, and then it asks my friends to pick, from the same list, the adjectives that they feel best describe me. It sounds like fun, so here are the links if you'd like to contribute to my perception map or create your own. One assesses positive characteristics whereas the other assesses the more negative characteristics. (Don't feel bad about picking out my weaknesses; I can take it, I promise. Also, you can leave feedback anonymously....)

Bridal Shower

The girls at the office threw a bridal shower for me yesterday. We met, ate pizza and cake, and then I opened gifts. There were quite a few of the girls from the office there, some of Jimmy's family and some of his mom's friends, my sister Janet, and Kristy, one of my friends from SC, surprised me by showing up in the middle of the event. (Well, not quite the middle, but I didn't know she was planning on coming. Apparently, 2 other SC friends had planned on coming along with her, but they were unable to do so because of babies.) The shower was fun, and then afterwards I got to spend some time just hanging out with Janet, Anna, and Kristy. It was a pretty laid-back event and a relaxing day, which was nice for a change....

Sometimes My Bike Needs a Horn

I ride my bicycle to campus and the office everyday (yes, I ride my bike in teacher clothes), and some days I want a horn for my bicycle. I don't want a little bell or one of those little funny sounding horns like I had on my banana-seat bicycle when I was 9; I want a real horn that drivers will notice (and not laugh at)....

I cross one relatively busy street on my way to campus. (Well, it's not really a very busy street, but it's busy enough to have a traffic light with buttons for pedestrians to push when they want to cross the street.) As I was preparing to cross said relatively busy street, a pickup (which I think was exceeding the speed limit) made a sharp right turn, completely disregarding the 'walk' sign (well, the picture of the man walking that has replaced the 'walk' sign) and the whole 'pedestrians have the right of way' rule. (Granted, I'm not exactly a 'pedestrian' when I'm on my bicycle, but the person starting to cross the street from the other side was certainly a pedestrian.) Anyway, I wanted my horn. It's not all that often that I use my horn when I'm driving my car, but I do like my horn on those instances when I need it. Sometimes I wish my bike had a horn too....

It's the Weekend, but....

The weekend's here and half over, but I don't feel like I've had a chance to really rest yet. Janet came through town yesterday and took Jimmy and I out for supper, and then Jimmy and I went to see a movie. (We went to see The Pursuit of Happyness; it was a good movie, though it was a bit slow throughout.) I got home relatively late last night, and then I was up fairly early this morning. Jimmy and I went to a daylong retreat/workshop for engaged couples. It was generally informative and interesting, but the day felt long. We went out for supper afterwards, and then we spent some time running errands around town. We did a little shopping and worked on wedding registry stuff (we're registered at Target and Dillards if you're interested). Now I'm home for the night, and I'm planning on getting a very long, restful night of sleep; hopefully tomorrow will feel more like a 'weekend' day....

The Bottom Shelf Conspiracy

I'm convinced there's a conspiracy here somewhere.... I went to the library today to check out books. I had a very long list of books that might be helpful to me, and I somewhat randomly selected 6 that I decided to check out and peruse tonight. I found the call numbers and then went in search of said books. I found all of the books, and every one of them was on a bottom shelf in the stacks. Strangely enough, most of the books that I need when I go to the library are on the bottom shelves. I know it has to be a coincidence, but at the same time it's too systematic to be a coincidence. Therefore, I have concluded that I'm the victim of a conspiracy that targets tall people (or, who knows, maybe just me). I wonder, do all of the books that the really short people need belong on the top shelves?

The Silly English Language....

"Why do we say 'the alarm goes off' when the alarm actually comes on?" I've been helping a few ESL/NNS students (English Second Language/Non-Native Speaker) with some writing assignments lately, and I noticed that they tend to have trouble with prepositions. Being a native speaker of the English language, I don't often think about how idiosyncratic and idiomatic our language is. (Ohhh, big words!!) As a native speaker, I just know which preposition to use; I don't know why I use a given preposition instead of others, but I still know which one to use. Though I don't particularly like to just tell students the answers to their questions (I prefer to guide them on their search for the answers), I've given up on prepositions. I've resorted to the "It just sounds right, trust me" answer when confronted with questions concerning why we use certain prepositions in certain situations in favor of others....

My Tummy Hurts, and My Neck Hurts, and....

I signed up for a pilates class at the gym this semester. We've met twice this week (Tuesday and Thursday), and my muscles are screaming. It seems strange to me that my muscles are getting such a workout when I don't even break a sweat during our one-hour class. I'm hoping that my back and neck and legs won't be screaming out in pain for the entire semester....

Tired.

Yep, I'm tired. I stayed up late last night working on lots of random stuff, and I had to get up to teach class this morning. I hit the snooze button at least half a dozen times and slept until I didn't think I could sleep any longer and still make it to class on time. If teachers were allowed to cancel class because they simply wanted to stay in bed and get more sleep, today would have been one of my cancel-for-more-sleep days. I've been going through my normal Wednesday routine today, but I feel like I'm on auto-pilot. Though it's a little earlier than I typically go to bed, I think I'm going to go take my eyes out, crawl into bed, snuggle up with my Duncan (my teddy bear), and go to sleep....

Wine Tasting

Jimmy and I had a wine tasting party at my house yesterday. We've been trying to decide what type(s) of wine to serve at the wedding reception, and we decided to have a few friends help us make that decision. We spent nearly 2 hours sampling 9 different wines, and by the end of that time we reached a general consensus regarding which wines would be most appropriate for a reception. After tasting wines, we spent another 2-3 hours playing Apples-2-Apples. Though I'd played the game before, any game involving words and/or interpretations is different when played with a group of English majors....

Wedding Invitations

I mailed the first round of wedding invitations today. Though I'm glad that they're in the mail, I'm just hoping they all reach their destinations without any problems. I took a sample invitation in to the campus post office yesterday, and I talked to the guy at the window. He weighed an invitation and told me that it was merely fractions of an ounce from needing extra postage, but that it would be okay. He also told me that they would be able to hand cancel the stamps at the window in their little office. Today when I went back to the post office to mail the invitations, a different guy was there. He wasn't very polite or accommodating, he didn't offer to check the weight on the invitations, and he refused to hand cancel the stamps. (I realize that hand canceling stamps takes extra time, so refusing to hand cancel the stamps really isn't a big deal. I'm just a frustrated that yesterdays answers and todays answers didn't match.) Now I guess I'll just hope that none of the invitations arrive at their destinations 'postage due'!

One

One: The number of times my bumm met the ground today. Still icy, still cold, still slippery. Same story as yesterday....

One

One: The number of times I fell on my bumm today....

We've been hit with a wintry blast of ice throughout the past several days. The ice has accumulated, and now there's a 3-inch ice shell over just about everything. I spent most of the past few days hibernating in my little house, but I ventured out for school today. (School wasn't canceled today; I was surprised.) Even though I was all bundled up, I was still pretty cold for most of the day. The walkways and such on campus were all pretty clear, but just getting to campus was a bit of a challenge. I kept my stairs and the sidewalk leading up to my house clear, but the sidewalks near the streets were another story altogether. (I think I could have skated to work today more easily than I could have walked to work.) Anyway, I did walk to work. I figure I walked about a mile today (round trip) and I only fell once. While my bumm didn't particularly like meeting with the ice, one fall per mile really isn't too bad of an average....

The Miller High Life Guy

I was just playing around on the internet (which I do on occasion) and I found something of interest.... I was on the SC website perusing through the class notes in the alumni section, and one of them directed me to http://www.youtube.com/. I followed their links and directions and realized...that I went to school with the new Miller High Life guy. If you're interested, click on the above link and then search for 'Miller High Life' and either 'bistro' or 'grocer.' (There are two commercial on the site.) If you're an SC alum or were an SC theatre-goer, you'll see a familiar face!

Playing!!

I got to play today!! I'm babysitting for a four-year-old boy one day a week for part of the semester, and today was my first day at his house. Though I was only there for about 6 hours, we did a lot of playing. He likes games, so I got to play some of the old favorites and I also learned how to play 'Don't Break the Ice' and 'Mousetrap.' (How did I manage to miss those during my childhood?) Anyway, we had fun today, and I'm looking forward to playing again next Thursday!

Slightly Pinked

I'm 'slightly pinked'...or at least that's what the lady at the tanning place told me. I'm not sunburned and my skin doesn't hurt, it's just a little pink in a few places (that, and my face feels very dry).... I've never tanned before, so I don't really know what to expect. I don't particularly like the whole concept of tanning, but I decided that I would kinda like to get rid of my tan lines from last Memorial Day sometime before the wedding. (Amazingly, I still have tan lines from Memorial Day, and those lines don't work very well with my white dress. In fact, they look rather funny.) I'm hoping the 'pinked' stage of tanning doesn't last very long because it doesn't look very pretty....

More Wedding Stuff

Today was a 'work on wedding stuff' day. I went to 2 bridal shows today, but I didn't' come away with much of anything (except a set of heart cookie cutters). I did, however, come away with a sense of accomplishment; it was nice to walk through, see all of the vendors, and think "got that, that's done, that's done too." If nothing else, I feel like I'm making progress with the wedding stuff.

I spent a few hours this evening addressing invitations. I think I got somewhere between 1/4 and 1/3 of the invitations finished. Though they're addressed, it will probably be another week or so before they're ready to go in the mail. We still need to work out a few details regarding guest accommodations and rehearsal dinner type stuff.

I ordered the bridesmaids' dresses yesterday. They should be in in about 2 months (which I think is a ridiculously long time), and I'm just hoping that they fit the girls well so we don't have to bother with any alterations.

Bridesmaids' Dresses (Again!)

Well, here it is. After a shopping trip with Anna a few days ago, I managed to make a final decision on the bridesmaids' dresses. The color is a little darker than I originally wanted (more platinum than silver), but the style is very fun. The picture shows the general cut of the top, but it doesn't show the detail very well. The top has black beadwork on the straps, the upper part of the bodice, and around the bottom. It looks pretty sharp with the black skirts....

I'm making progress on other wedding stuff too. Tomorrow I plan to go scouting for hotels and making preliminary arrangements for guest accommodations....

I might go to bridal shows this weekend. As far as I can tell, there are three different shows happening in town this weekend (and all on the same day at the same times too). We'll see how much wedding stuff I can work in....