A Place of Our Own

Well we have found it! We found a beautiful 2 bedroom/2 bath and 2 car garage. There is a washer/dryer combo. OMG a FIREPLACE!!!!! I LOVE IT!! I am actually getting excited about this move. It has taken a little while. I think that it was the dread of actually moving and finding a place. Now that is done and we can focus on the other things. Yeah!!!! If you cannot tell I am excited!!!

Anyway! Work is really dead this week. Most people are gone. I think I will remember that for next year. I also think that I am coming down with my annual sickness. I have a sore throat and have been coughing a lot! Just in time to take it up north to Josh's family. ;)

A New Look

I decided that it was time for an update. I am one of those people who get bored. I really like to re-arrange the furniture in our home. I do not do this frequently but enough so that I keep my mind "stimulated". So in the spirit of keeping things interesting. I have redesigned. Not too much just a new color scheme. I was getting tired of the pink. Let me know what you think!!!

The Christmas Haul!

We had a GREAT Christmas this year. I don't think that there was one gift received that we didn't like. We got so much AWESOME stuff!!!! We received luggage, games, card table and chairs, a knife block(my favorite gift), a salad spinner, a nativity set and clothes and stuff.

We really didn't open too many things because we are moving soon. We don't know where yet. We are looking at 2 more places tonight and then we are making a decision. We really want to have a decision so we can plan to move.

We have one more Christmas to celebrate.

Happy Holidays

Well the Holidays are officially here. We have been ready for them for weeks. The tree is beautiful, all the gifts wrapped and goodies baked, exchanged and frozen. So why doesn't it feel like Christmas? Is it the lack of snow? Is it the fact that we have to start packing soon? Is it that we have to be sure of a place to live? Or is it the fact that we just got married and finally got all the Thank You's out? I am pretty sure that it is because Josh is working X-mas eve and the day after x-mas.

I hope that you all get what you want this holiday! I hope you spend time with your loved ones. May each of you share your holiday joy with all of those you love!!!!

There is hope

We are going to look at a place tomorrow. This is a place that I called on a couple weeks ago. I think that we will like it. It is just it is a little high priced. We were looking for something a little less expensive. Josh really balked at the idea of having to drive 1.5 hours to and from work for a while. Then he also balks at paying two rents. The question is which on makes him balk less. So anyway. Here is a link to the very nice apartment. Let me know what you think. It would be a lower level apartment.

I think that it looks really nice. Just reading the description makes my mouth water. What I wouldn't give for two bathrooms???? How sad is that? There are only two of us. I think that it would be good for when we have visitors OR potty emergencies!! Oh yeah and a 2 car garage would be nice. It just depends also on if there is a door directly into the apt or not. Jackson would have to learn to be a quiet dog though!!!!!!!!!!!

If I don't get back to you with an update, happy holidays!!!!!!!

Homeless

Well we are still looking for a place. The place that I liked fell through. The woman decided to let the man living there stay. We had a feeling that this would happen. What can we do, besides keep hunting? The paneling place is still on the market! Oh yeah.

I think that we will take a break for the week and continue the search next week. Besides no one is going to want to show us a place this week anyway. Unless of course if we see something that REALLY catches our eye. Then we will take it!!!!

Ho Hum, it's Monday!

Accomplishment!!

Well, I bought our last Christmas present on Tuesday! How many people can say that they are completely done Christmas shopping with around 10 days left to shop. There are some people who are getting wedding pictures as Christmas gifts. So we are waiting for those to come in. Otherwise I have EVERYTHING wrapped too!! That is until Jackson unwraps everything. He had one day where he unwrapped 3 gifts. Now he is locked into the laundry room while we are away. I felt so guilty doing it but he has been good in there. AND he has yet to have an accident. He didn't have many when he was loose in the house but he did have a few. That I consider a good thing!! The only problem is that his food and water are in there so we cannot shut the door all the way. So we have to listen to the furnace or the laundry going. We learned too that our dishwasher has a tendency to leak. We thought that the water in the kitchen was due to the sloppy dog drinking water. Well it wasn't it was because the dishwasher leaks at the end of the cycle.

Anyway!!! The house/duplex hunting is going. I liked the place I looked at on Saturday. Hopefully the rent issues can be sorted out. I also looked at a place on Tuesday. I really liked that place. There were 3 drawbacks. 1)the duplex is upstairs/downstairs. 2)We would have to share a garage and 3)the guy upstairs has access to the basement. That may be something that we would/could prohibit. I feel mean about it, but can you really blame me. Oh yeah a fourth. The garage isn't' attached. YUCK!!!

That is all for now!!!!!!!

The Chinese Carrot

Now I don't know what nationality carrots really are but mine is Chinese. My Supervisor,let's call her B, had a do-it-yourself bonsai plant kit. It was something that she had gotten as a gift or a prize at one time. It sat atop her filing cabinet for many months. Then one day her deskmate A mentioned it. Well B told A that she didn't have a green thumb so if she wanted to see if it worked she would have to go through the riggers of getting it to grow. So A perform the cold stratification and the process of germination. The kit contained 5 seeds. So they were split into 5 different peat pots. We followed the instructions as best we could. A kept 3 of the bonsai pots, I took one and another co-work, NV, took one. We watered, watched and waited for the plants to grow. I even named my plant, upon suggestion from J, I named him Huo Shing Ren Wang, which was translated from english. The meaning is The Great and Almighty Martian King. Again J's idea, I told him I wanted something a little more ethnic, so I just translated it.

Much to our dismay neither mine nor A's Bonsai broke ground. In fact we believed that it may have been washed down the sink during one of our waterings. We had to water the plant with warm water so it sometimes. I would let the water run all over the peat packet to ensure that the warmth was getting into the seed. Maybe this would help the plant to grow. I know it sounds silly but get over it!! ;). Well NV's plant did start to grow. It is still growing. Rather slowly but it IS growing.

So A and I were getting pretty bummed. When I took off time for the wedding/honeymoon I gave A what was probably an empty pot to take care of and maintain until I got back. You see I wasn't going to give up on it yet. I don't ever give up on things that is just how I am. When I returned from my vacation I took the pot back from A. In my absence something happened, there was a sprout coming up from the dirt. No it didn't look like a bonsai tree, but like grass. So B tells me while we were gone she, M and J played a little trick on us. She planted carrot seeds in our peat pots. So now instead of having a beautiful bonsai tree that I can prune and shape I have a carrot which someday not too far from now i will eat. Hopefully it grows to be big and yummy. Well as big as a tall glass will allow..... ;)

The search continues....?

Well, we went and looked at the places last night. I think that we were just lucky to have found the places that we did the past two times we had to perform "the search". Our homes have been nice and up to date. We looked at several last night at a pretty penny and not really worth the money that they were asking. How can ppl get away with this highway robbery. They know everyone needs a place to live and they gouge the shit out of rent prices until you decide to go $200k in debt on a house that is only worth $150k.

Luckily I know a guy. A guy..let's call him K. K works with me. He lives in Sun Prairie. He drives to work here everyday. He has lived to tell the world about it!!! GO K you drive that big bad beltline!! I spoke with him today and he said the he would me those shopper papers that barrage our homes every week. Also, his wife works for the SP PD she may know of some nice person whom we can rent from.

Let's say it together now..... THANKS K!!!!!

The Hunt Begins

This afternoon and evening we will voyage to the city of Sun Prairie and look for places to live. The thing that is really troublesome to me is that rent is $100-200 more per month. Now Josh is getting a raise with this change of job and I know I can expect one in the next 4-5 months. We aren't living paycheck to paycheck most of the time. I am just worried that we will have to start that. The saddest part is our extra cash time of the month is in the middle of the month. We have to teach ourselves not to say "oh we have extra money lets spend it", but to teach ourselves to think "We better put this money away for next month, or put it into savings for the house."

Jackson had me up at 4am this morning. So I spent a good 1/2 hour worrying about money. We have to take money from our savings for the first month's rent and security deposit. On top of that it appears that we are going to have to pay for our place in Sun Prairie until it gets rented. Josh spoke to our landlord last night and he in not so many words affirmed that. He said that he have 2 other units empty( a 1 car garage/2 br and a 2 car garage/3br(I think)). One a little old lady was placed in an assisted living facility, and the other right next door to us the people moved out and never told him. He came back from vacation and they were GONE! I would be pissed. The promising news is that he has had several calls on the other places, so if two people are interested in the same unit he can say "hey if you want to wait just a little bit longer we have one opening up in February. "

Now you may ask yourselves this question: "Wal-Mart is moving him why don't they pay out the lease?" The answer is this: Wal-Mart has a form for a landlord to sign, the form says something to the effect of this: "Wal-Mart may move it's associates at short notice and a lease may need to be terminated. Do you agree to end the lease outright(not sure if that is the right word)? Check yes or no below." If the landlord checks yes then lease ended with 30 day notice and boom you are out. If he checks no then Wal-Mart will pay out the rest of the lease. If we had known this for existed we would have had the land lord sign it. Since we didn't we will have to suffer. It isn't Wal-Mart's fault it is our own.

I will keep you posted as to what we find tonight........

I am the MASTER!!!

So this story begins almost 5 years ago. It is the story of my driving. When I learned to drive I was taught on an automatic. I believe simply because there weren't any manual vehicles at my disposal. That and I had no urge to learn how to drive a manual. Well about 5 years ago it was decided by everyone that I should learn how to drive a manual transmission. I decided to hey let's give this a try. I believe part of the reasoning for learning was that my friend Tanya either learning to or teaching someone to drive stick. I figured if my ditzy friend Tonya can master the manual transmission. I should be able to do this.

I went to visit my friend N. up at UW-Stevens Point for the weekend. N had a stick shift. She said to me "Jessica, I can teach you how to drive a stick no problem." So she takes me to a back road in Point and lets me "drive" her car. We jerk our way through Point and she says to take her back to the dorms. So I do having to cross a pretty busy road in the mean time and having to stop and start several times. I surprisingly enough was able to get her car back to the school in one piece.

I was also told to try to learn on my step-dad's old one ton truck that you didn't even have to use the clutch any more. Josh told me that he had never seen a vehicle bounce so much in his life. Do I boycotted learning to drive a manual transmission.

Then Josh bought his Frod Probe GT. That was a NICE car as far as cars go. I decided that hey maybe I should try my hand at this again. It has been a couple years let's give it a try. So Josh took me out to the old K mart parking lot and had me drive try to drive his car. I remember rounding the building a few times. I couldn't really call it driving because I would start out jerking the car or stalling it. Then by a miracle of God I would get the car to start smoothly. I could get maybe into 3rd gear before having to slow down to turn the corner to head around the building again. Somehow I made it into the new K mart parking lot and drove around for a little bit and was convinced I was ready to head out onto the road to drive home. Well actually if I remember correctly we were driving to Hardee's. So I coast through the stop sign and pull out onto 151. Luckily the stop light was green and I didn't have to stop. I remember speeding up to 55 and having Josh scream at me "Shift Dammit you are going to blow my car up!!!!" We got to the stoplight were I had to turn. No traffic again!! I am so lucky!!! I then have to turn left into the Hardee's parking lot and what happened. Bam! a whole long line of traffic shows up and I can no longer coast into Hardee's parking lot. I tried and tried and tried and I couldn't make the car move. I tried to make it go and it wouldn't. I couldn't get the car to move for the life of me. Finally in jerky motion I got the car to cross the centerline and into the parking lot. By this time I was in tears!! Not just tears all out sobbing. I stopped halfway to the drive thru and made Josh take over. I vowed that I would NEVER learn it was just too hard and that I wasn't going to be able to master this EVER!

Well, then Josh bought his Scion. He absolutely had to have a manual. Don't ask me why, he is weird like that. So again I was faced with a dilemma. Should I or shouldn't I try. I didn't want to end up in tears again, so for the past 3 months I have avoided it like the plague. Finally last Sunday (11/28), I said to Josh "Why don't we go and try to teach me to drive stick again?" He agreed and we went to the school. He parked in a parking stall and said here you go. I got and and bam on the first try started going. Stopped and tried again and got it on the first try again. So I continued to drive around Spring Green. I drove home got the dog and drove to my parent's house. In all this time only killing it once. I was pretty proud of myself. I have Mastered the driving of the manual transmission. I am not an expert yet but I will get there some day. I am just happy that I don't get picked on by my family anymore. Woo HOO!!!!

I am the stick master!!!~~

The News is in!

We got the news that Josh got the job at Wal-Mart in Beaver Dam so we will be moving soon. Not looking forward to that!! More tales to come.............

Oooh, Baby Baby, B B B Ba-by

I have three friends who are expecting. Count them 1-2-3... One in April, one in May and one in June. So this year was the year of weddings. Next year is the year of the babies. I just wanted to let the world now how happy I am for all 3 of my friends!!! I cannot believe that this is happening. I am so happy for each and everyone of them!!!

And for those of you who are concerned......No we aren't pregnant or trying!....Yet.

You did WHAT?!?!

So when I arrive home last night Josh had started the laundry like a good husband. He remembered my gripe about how I think every load of laundry since we returned from Vegas has been done by ME!!! There was a load finishing as I got home so I came in and helped him fold it. He says to me I have something to tell you.....

Josh proceeds to tell me that he interviewed for a job as a photo lab/connect center manager at the Wal-Mart in Beaver Dam. Which for those of you who are experts in Wisconsin geography will note is NO WHERE NEAR Spring Green!!! MY first thought is "Isn't marriage a partnership where the husband and wife TOGETHER make difficult decisions about life and where we will move and changing jobs and everything. Second thought, Beaver Dam is an awful long way to drive to Madison too. I say.... I think that we should live in Sun Prairie then. That would be about halfway. He agrees.

I then proceed to through a barrage of questions out to him. Lecture him about not consulting me and get my panties in a bunch. To which the man of my dreams says. "Jess go have a drink or something, I don't care as long as it calms you DOWN!!!

The things that bothers me the most are a) he didn't talk to me about it, b) we have to decide almost immediately upon receiving the offer, c) the job starts after the first of the year and d) not only will we have the stress of the holidays we will have to pack move and clean!!!!!

I'll keep you posted.

If You Can't Return My Calls Don't Read My Blog!

I am frustrated! I have a friend that I have been trying to call since we returned from the honeymooning. I talked to her once, which was about a week after we got back. I have been trying to call her since then. It has been 2.5 weeks. I call several times a week trying to get ahold of her but to no avail. I leave message after message for her. I even popped off an e-mail...nothing!!!

Let me write this to try and make myself understand.....
We have been friends for YEARS!! I have even called her my BEST friend. We have helped each other through many of the hard times in life. In fact, we even both got married this year. How exciting is that? Right?

I am just confused! I know you are all thinking Jess it has only been 2.5 weeks it isn't like it has been years?!?! Well, it is just hard to go from talking several times a week like we have for the past year or so to nothing. I just hope everything is ok. Upon the confusion is the frustration of this: I know she is reading my blog. There is a program within the blog formatting which tells me where people are visiting me from. It tells me if you have been referred from another site or blog, or if you just typed in the address. One other thing is that it tells me the name of the internet service provider. So I figure it out. Plus, I know who most of my friends and families use as there internet service provider.

So I have made this an official rule of this website:
If you cannot return my phone calls do not read my blog!!

I'm Official!!!

I now have my Wal-Mart Associates discount card. I can now go CRAZY in a Wal-Mart and get my 10% discount!!!! WOO HOO!!! This is what I have been looking forward too!

Actually, it is just one of the many bonuses to being married to a wonderful, sweet and handsome man. I think I would have married him without the discount.......... I think.

Post-Wedding Depression

I am beginning to think that I have sunk into a post-wedding depression. I have heard that this happens. You know there was SO much stuff to do before the wedding and we were busy when we were on our honeymoon too. Now there isn't that. When we got home there was the name changing thing (It is hard getting used to being Mrs Honer...ugh), putting away the wedding gifts, and sorting through our stuff to give away, garage sale or just trash. Now there is NOTHING!!!! Ohh we have to pick out our pictures and place an order. That really isn't much. I come home to the laundry, dinner, dishes and cleaning.... It makes me want to cry!!

I was so INCREDIBLY crabby on Tuesday night. I had to deal with traffic slow ass traffic all the way home. What is exactly the deal? It seems as though since the time changed people forgot how to drive after dark. UGH NOTHING CHANGED THE GAS PEDAL IS STILL ON THE RIGHT!!!! Then I got home and there was a pile of laundry to do and Josh says to me...."what's for supper." I lost it! I said "you know I have been the one doing ALL the damned laundry since we got back you have been home for an hour, you can see this needs to be done, or you could have started dinner! It doesn't matter to me what we eat!" I then proceeded to wandering around the COLD house muttering things under my breath. My favorite topic was why the house needs to be so cold we aren't f'ing Eskimos we don't like in g' damned Alaska, can't we have heat like normal people? I determined that we couldn't be normal because that would be to EASY!!!!

I know that this will pass. But you look forward to something for so long. BANG it's OVER!!! Then you wonder where the time went. And since Josh and I were living in SIN to begin with there really isn't anything that feels different except that stupid last name change.....

Some Wedding Pictures

Here are some of my favorite wedding pictures so far.
These are our Platteville Friends.


This is My Handsome Husband dancing



These are our friends Billee and Jon. They are getting married next October


And these are our friends Mitch and Heidi.



These pictures were taken by my friend Billee!! I can/will post pictures when I get more!!!

If My In-Laws Ever Go Missing......

Do NOT expect me to waste my time looking for them. As many of you married folks know, dealing with your in-laws can sometimes be difficult at best. I don't see myself as an intolerant person. But something about my in-laws brings that out in me. I cannot STAND them.

I am not going to list everything that they have ever done wrong on the website. I am simply saying they cannot expect any help from me in the future for anything!!!!!!!!!!!

Welcome Again Victoria

My friend and ex-co-worker has chose to join my company. I am VERY happy to be working with her again. I know what you are saying sounds a little fishy huh? I simply sent an e-mail to my professional friends mentioning that we had a opening and if they or someone that they know are interested to send their resume to me.
In any case, I am happy to have the fun and brilliant Vic working with me again. I really love that girl!!

Old Married Woman

Well we have been married for 10 whole days. Have we fought a little. It is little things. The main reason is because I had one of my teeth abcess while on our honeymoon, when the pain meds wore off I got CRANKY!! Other than that I am so in love with this man! I cannot imagine a day without him in my life.

The day was beautiful, unitl it got windy, but it was still gorgeous. Josh looked so incredibly handsome in his tux. My heart skipped a beat just seeing him. Josh broke down during his vows. That way I didn't have too. But it was so sweet. Just to see in his eyes how deep his love is and how he couldn't bring himself to speak the words. I will hold that forever dear to my heart. It was wonderful to see all of our friends and family. I saw relatives that I haven't seen in YEARS!!!! That was really nice.

Now that I have been trying to write this post for 3 days I am just going to post it. I will write more later. These tips that I NEED to get removed are making typing a challenge.....

A Case of the Nerves

Everyone keeps asking me if I am nervous or how I am holding up these days. I can officially say I am nervous. This morning I woke up with the nervous stomach this morning which leads to the nervous shits....I know too much information. The thing is it is the truth. Hopefully if this keeps up I won't have to do the deed in my wedding dress. Josh is nervous too, it is really tense in the house right now. We are both nervous and a little snappy. But, we decided when we begin to get snappy to stop, go to the other person hug them and tell them that you love them. That way we remember why we are going through all this stress. Like I always said if you can make it through planning a wedding and stay together it was meant to be...... I am sure the same holds true for children, but one step at a time here people!!!

I will try to keep you posted today, tomorrow and Friday. I will be gone from Sunday 10/24-Saturday 10/30. After that I will have hundreds of stories to tell I am sure.

Back Update

My back is feeling better thank the good Lord for the ThermaCare Heatwraps. You have no idea how much those helped. I was able to get out of bed this morning and no screaming on the toilet in the middle of the night. I am in some pain today, but a HUGE improvement!!!

This is my cartoon of the week:

I would have rather tossed and turned

As you know from my previous post, my back hurst. Last night I took a pain killer at 10:30ish, woke up at 1:49, I thought the clock only said 11:49 because I couldn't roll over to see what the clock actually said, I had to pee. It took me a good ten minutes to get out of bed. I got out and couldn't walk to the bathroom so that took another ten minutes. I am lucky that I didn't leave a puddle or a river on the floor. I struggled onto the toilet, did my business, then the worst thing happened: I got stuck. Yes I got stuck on the pot!! No matter how hard I tried I couldn't get up without help. I tried pushing off the tub like I had done all day, nothing worked. I had to cry and scream for Josh to come and help me.

By the time I got up I was ready to go to the hospital and have them just put me out of my misery. But I decided to take another tylenol with codeine. That was my only chance. I sat on the couch as if it were a chaise lounge. I started to fall asleep and somehow in the night moved into a lying position. Next thing I know it was 5am and Jackson was whining to go out. So I struggled off the couch and miraculously was able to hitch him to his tie-out. I fell back to sleep and next thing I know Josh woke me up saying "honey it's 7 o'clock, it's time to get up." The first thing that I did when I got up was to fill up on ibproufen. That is the only thing that is going to keep me alive today and the rest of the week.

Wedding Forcast

This is not only a wedding day weather forcast but a mental forecast as well.....

The day is forecasted to be a high of 60 and sunny. Thank you weather Gods!!!! I will keep giving you bribes to keep this forecast.

Many ppl cannot believe that I am doing ok. I am, I really am. Except for the fact that I somehow got an AWFUL back ache yesterday I am fine. I was fine when I woke up and it was almost as if something "snapped" all of a sudden I couldn't do ANYTHING! I spent most of yesterday confined to the couch. I know that I should try moving but moving HURTS! It causes screaming and crying and whining on my part. Which isn't pleasant for any of he involved parties. I raided my parents narcotics stash yesterday, I love tylenol with Codine. I think I may have to move up to some Percocet. My family has been in the hospital so much this past year that there are several half empty bottles of stuf for me to chose from.

Other than that I think we are ready. My mother is finishing the pew bows, which are pretty much the last thing on the list besides paying ppl and calling and confirming a few things. Trust me you will hear about when I start to lose sleep. Right now I am just having wedding nightmares.

I cannot belive in 5 days I will be Mrs Joshua Honer.....

Little E's New Webpage

Many of you know that I LOVE Dale Earnhardt Jr. Well he has unveiled his new website. So if you need to satisfy a craving for Little E like I do check it out! Also check out the new Nascar cartoon link I added today.

The License

Today we are heading to the country clerks office to get "THE LICENSE". I think that it is going to cause this to set in and seem real. Not only that I have set up a meeting to meet with Dancin' Dave a week from today. How can this all be happening? How can it be 10 days away. I know I say everyday, "how can it be one day less than yesterday already?" I just don't know......

I talked to Mike my Minister last night. He asked how I was doing and I told him good. He didn't' seem too shocked but he kept asking me. Are you sure you are ok? I said "yes, it sounds like you don't believe me Mike." He classified me as an anal bride who has most everything done and is just "waiting for the day". Most ppl would probably view that analness as a negative. But hey I feel good about it.

A Year and a Half Ago Today........

It was one year and a half ago this evening Josh asked me to marry him. When he threw caution into the wind and began his slow castration(my step-dad's theory on marriage). I cannot believe it! Where has the time gone. When we got engaged and set a date it seemed like forever until we would become man and wife. Not the date is 11 count them 1, 2, 3.....11 days away. Part of me wants the time back, we would have saved money better, I would have not stressed out over a date change, I would have changed a few things. But, the other half wants it to be Oct 24th. That is the part that is ready to be done with this planning mess. The part that doesn't want to start to lose sleep at night over small details. That is the part hoping that we remember everything that needs to be remembered. The part that wants to put on her big ivory dress everyday. The part that wants to finally get my Wal-Mart discount!!!!

I am just hoping that everything goes well. I know that something will go wrong. You plan, and trust the vendors you have hired. I know it is just what the day will be. If it was meant to rain it will rain. If it was meant to be 80 it will be 80. The important thing is that Josh and I end up as man and wife.

I Love Josh more than life itself. I am so honored that he asked me to be his wife. He is the best thing that has ever happened to me. I cannot wait to love him the rest of my life, or for the next 10 years as my brother predicted our marriage would only last that long.....

Happy Birthday!!!!

I want to wish some very special people a happy birthday! My beautiful, fun and sweet Aunts turn another year older today. My mother was lucky enough to be blessed with twin sisters. All her life my mother wanted a sister. After being stuck with 4 brothers my grandmother had one more chance and giving my mother a sister. What luck she got two!!! I know that you read, so I wish you the happiest of birthdays!!

My Aunts share their special day with 2 VERY handsome gentlemen. So I would also like to extend a Happy Birthday to Brett Favre and Dale Earnhardt Jr.

That Sucks!

I received a call from my future mother-in-law last night. It is official Josh's brother Ben won't be able to make it home for the wedding. I am really bummed. We were prepared for this but we were hopeful that he would be able to make it. It is also official that my grandparents in Florida will not be able to make it either. My poor grandmother is suffering from back pain and will have to have surgery this fall. Also, they were hit by both Frances and Jeanne. So, yes I am pretty bummed out about this, but you have to roll with the punches. I am just happy of the people that we have traveling distances to spend the day with us!!!

Wedding Bell Blahs..............

I know that I have not been a diligent blogger and I am sorry. My goal was to tell you about the bachelorette party and stuff but ran out of ambition. Last week I was sick, had to help my girlfriend with her wedding, she got married...to clarify. I don't even have the ambition to tell you about the whole weekend. I am so tired....... I have no ambition to do anything but wedding stuff. You should see my house you can tell that. I just want to sleep..... That is one thing that I am NOT having a problem with yet is sleep.

Don't be worried. I am ok, just blah..... Need a central line of caffeine.....

Oh Happy DAY!!

For those of you who know me personally you know the saga of my Brother Andy and his leg. For those who don't here is the quick and dirty. Betsy was driving Andy to work the day after Thanksgiving 2003. They hit a driveway rolled the van they were driving. Andy ended up with a shattered tibia. This all this the Friday before the poor boy turned 16. They placed 6 "pin" in his foot(3 at the ankle and 3 below the knee) with connecting rods. He has been recovering for 10 months now. And today there came happy news, Andy gets to FINALLY have his fixater taken out! It will happy the week of the Wedding. The Dr says that he should be able to walk without a crutch by Saturday......OH HAPPY HAPPY DAY!!! This is something that my family really needed right now!!!!!

Showers of Love

On Saturday was the Bridal Shower thrown by my Maid of Honor. I was a little worried to be prefectly honest. N has been VERY busy with her own wedding and was VERY stressed out on Saturday to say the least. The shower was scheduled to begin at 1:00 pm. I arrived at 12:20pm to find Josh's parents already there. Not to far behind them pulling in was his aunt and grandma. They the guests began flocking on the house. We had a wonderful lunch of bbq'd pork, many salads and my Sister in Laws famous Taco Dip.

We went around the room and introduced evereyone. It was cute as to what different ppl said. My mom was so cute, she said I am Julie and she's mine. That is enough to bring a tear to your eyes..... We played toilet paper bride. I got to be dresses up in a dress made of TP. The fun part was dressing each other up as my bridesmaids. My little cousin Lucy was the cutest of them all so she was declared the winner.

I recieved many wonderful gifts. I appreciated everything that we received. I cannot wait to go through our stuff and pack it up for garage sale. Yeah!

The final "game" of the afternoon. I had a rose and for each petal that I removed I had to list a reason I loved Josh. Now I thought about this earlier in the day. I thought that this may come up. So I had many reasons thought up, but when you are on the spot like that your brain goes BLANK. I think that I did pretty good. There was only one that I thought of later that I should have said.

Lower than Dog Shit

Many of you know that Josh's parents were invading our house of sin this weekend. I have always felt judged by Josh's mom so this is a hard thing for me. I want her to "feel included" in the wedding then maybe she would show some emotion for us. I don't understand how someone whom I love so much could have been a product of his parents. He is so much like his dad in his mannerisms but looks like his mom. But he was a warm heart, a wonderful personality and partakes in mortal sins which are things his family lacks.

Where do I begin??? My sweetie was helping out at my parent's on Friday by mowing the lawn. Which is something Josh did for a living one summer. I met him at my parent's house, stayed for a short while then headed off to home so he could take a shower and prepare ourselves for the planned invasion. I arrived home to find Josh on the phone with his parents. They were in Spring Green already at the gas station. Josh hopped into the shower and his parents arrived. I went out to greet them with our bastard dog (our first child and he is out of wedlock). His mom brought Rachel's wedding pictures in and "Oh aren't they just SO WONDERFUL?" Sorry I don't know what came over me. Oh that's right I work for the devil. I hoped by looking at the pictures then it would prevent the anticipated "let's look at Rachel's wedding pictures at Jessica's Shower. She doesn't deserve a day to celebrate her and Josh's love. The whole world revolves around Rachel" scenario. Which it did, so much to discuss between now and then.....

So we went out to eat at our favorite restaurant and the location of our rehearsal dinner, The Shed. We got to see the upstairs all ready for a rehearsal dinner which was nice. I think that we are going to be very happy with it. We had a long wait for our dinner so we had some time to talk. The good news first, it seems as though Ben, Josh's brother, will be able to make it home. That is really good. He may actually get Friday-Sunday off so he can spend more time with us.

Now for the bad news, if you have a sensitivity to curse words stop here. I asked Josh's mom how Rachel was going get down here on Saturday. She replied "oh she isn't coming, Michael had three concerts in Indiana and she couldn't live without him for that long. My simple reply was "oh". I practically had to pick my jaw up off the floor. I must have looked pissed because Josh picked up on my frustration right away. All of this anger boiled up inside of me. Hang on here it comes again. I drove 4 count them 4 fucking hours to go to her shower. The shower was at 10 o'clock on a Saturday morning. SO I had to get up at 7am to leave early. I drove through SHITTY weather. And all to be there for a 2 hour family function. I did not do this out of obligation. I did this because that is what you do for your family and friends. You drive ridiculous amounts of time to spend a little while with them. I cannot believe that she wouldn't come. On top of that she is a FUCKING BRIDESMAID! She made sure everyone of her girls were there. A bridesmaid's role is to be there and support the bride. Fucking Bitch!

Ok so I calmed down from that news, to have my blood begin to boil again. Josh's parents have promised us many things and hasn't really followed through yet. They promised that they would come down on Friday morning and help us throughout Friday with things that need to be done. So Josh's mom informs us that Michael has a concert on 10/22. That is the date of our rehearsal dinner. He isn't sure if he is going to attend it. If Michael does come they are going to have Rachel drive down with them. Rachel cannot skip her classes that Friday because attendance is vitally important. So is this wedding she has known for a year and a half when it was going to be and that she was a part of it. Then Michael will have to drive down early Saturday morning. ANYWAY, his parents then inform us that if Michael gets out of the concert they will drive down with Michael and Rachel on that Friday. They aren't sure when Michael will be able to get off of work though. It may be 12:30 -1:00ish. What the FUCK! Didn't you PROMISE that you would be down FRIDAY MORNING?!?!?! Now you are telling me that you may make it down before the rehearsal but you are not sure?!?!

I am PISSED about this for the following reasons:
1. Josh and the guys will be picking up their tuxes at 2 on Friday. If Josh's dad's tux has a problem there isn't a way to get it fixed if it isn't noticed right away.

2. I worked 4 fucking 10 hour days so that I could have Friday off to attend Rachel's BORING personal shower.

3. I went and helped at the church when Rachel did NOTHING she didn't not lift ONE FINGER to help decorate for HER OWN WEDDING!

4. Josh's parents PROMISED that they would be down to help us on Friday!

5. I wanted my girls there in the afternoon to help with things.

6. Rachel cannot SKIP TWO FUCKING CLASSES FOR US! It would be one thing if there were exams but there aren't.

7. I am trying SO HARD to feel like a part of this family but when they don't let you in it is frustrating. You know Rachel never invited me to be back with her on her wedding day, her cousins did. Her cousins offered to have me come and get ready with them. Why does she have to be so COLD. Is it because I will be another daughter and take away her attention? Why?

8. Why couldn't she be decent enough to return the favors that I showed before her wedding?? Why can't she show me the respect that I deserve?

9. Why can't we ever win?

10. Tears flow freely here......

Spray Painting?

I have been tanning for a month now. Well as many of you know I don't have the complexion for tanning. So I have been "basting" myself 3 times a week. I am to the point where I do not burn each time that I go anymore. Which is a small but important victory. Maybe this will change the way that I tan for the rest of my life. So anyway, I have debated on trying the UV free Mystic Tan. My package ran out yesterday so today I was going to tan per usual, I had been thinking about buying the tan accelerator and trying than. On my way out the door I got involved in a conversation with M and J my two co-workers about tanning. They are boys and don't truly understand the need for me to be tan. As I said they are boys so I will let that go. They pretty much convinced me that I am not getting my desired results from my tanning sessions that it would be better for me to try "getting spray painted" The conversation took a turn for the worse when they were arguing that they wanted to get a job at the tanning place as "the spray painter".

So I convinced myself on the way over that I would do it. I had to watch the cute little video to learn about what to do in the booth so that I didn't end up like Ross in that one episode of Friends. The girl escorted me to the room gave me my instructions and left me to prepare. I undressed and removed my jewelry. I then applied the cream to my hands and feet so that they didn't end up brown. I decided against purchasing the nose plugs and goggles for fear of passing out from not being able to breathe and raccoon eyes. The girl assured me that they weren't necessary just keep your eyes closed. She informed me to breathe through my nose as much as possible not to breathe through my mouth as the tanning solution tasted bad. Boy was she right. It is amazing how quickly you feel like you are going to die from chemical overload. I know have a headache like when you spend all day in a swimming pool. I nervously stepped into the booth. Shut the door and bravely pressed the green start button. I couldn't remember how long she told me before the spraying would start so I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. I did feel like I wasn't able to breathe. But I did fine. The spraying lasted for 14 seconds. I quickly turned around and waited for it to begin again. All you have to do next is exit the booth, towel off the excess solution and get dressed. I have to wait 8 hours to see the maximum effect. We'll see how it goes to see if I would like to go again....

Why Can't We Just Get Along?

This weekend was a fun/stressful weekend. I had a bridal shower thrown in my honor by my Step-dad's mom. It was fun! I had a nice time and got several nice and much needed gifts. As my mother so nicely put it "Josh and I still live like college students" Meaning we have a mishmash of furniture, pots and pans, flatware and dinner ware. That is VERY true. One of the most exciting things about getting married is picking out MATCHING stuff to register for. Yeah Matching!!! You know also the whole actually GETTING MARRIED thing, that's ok.....

So during the shower my mom received a phone call from my Step-dad. He has been having troubles since he had his teeth pulled being tired and feeling ill. My step-dad has had a problem with infections for the past 2 years. He gets them very badly, so badly that he has to usually go into the hospital for antibiotics and to stay for a couple days. Well he went in and had blood drawn on Thursday by Friday the blood culture had grown up. So he went in Friday to have more blood work and have an ecocardiogram. The blood work again grew up. My step-dad called during the shower to say the Dr. had called and that they suggested that he come in immediately. So we ended the shower as quickly as possible and left.

Now I am having a shower this weekend thrown by my MOH at my parent's house. Now there is a lot of work to do there as far as cleaning and fixing up. My parent's house is a 150+ year old farmhouse. It gets dirty pretty easily as most houses do. So my parents, are fixing up the house before the shower and the gift opening. They have torn the bathroom apart and are putting in a new floor, toilet, and vanity. The house also had to be pretty deep cleaned as far as washing the windows, cupboards, and all the glassware and knick knacks my mom has. So Saturday night while my mother was at the hospital my sister called. She was telling me that I HAD to come over on Sunday and help clean since my mother was going through all of this for me and that it would be selfish for me not to. Well, I really didn't appreciate that. I know that my mother is going through a lot right now. I had already promised that I would come over this week and help her with whatever needed to be done. I just really wanted Sunday for me to clean my house. My in-laws(to be) are coming as well as we girls are going to crash there Saturday night after the Bachelorette Party. I thought that I should have a clean house. I tried to explain this to my sister and tell her I already promised to be there this week. She wouldn't listen. I told her that I would come AFTER I got some of my stuff done at my house. I had to wash curtains, bedding and organize the wedding room (the spare bedroom). So I did that stuff ran and errand and got to my parent's around 2.

I helped cleaning the cupboards, removing all the tins, wiping them down and then putting them back up. What a pain and a filthy job. Like I said the house gets dirty quickly and easily when you live on a farm/dirt road. In the middle of cleaning I stop to help my sister hang the clean curtains. We get into a fight......didn't take long. My sister and I have fought like cats and dogs for many years. Needless to say I stopped helping her. I continued cleaning the tins/cupboards. I got to the last cupboard and was getting irritated by the dust and dirt so I went into the living room to sit down for 5 minutes. I wanted to see how the Nascar race ended. Most importantly I wanted to see where my hero Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished and see how he ranked in the points standings. She yelled at me for sitting down, then watching TV. I finished watching what I was watching got up finished my cupboards, took my "rotten ass dog" and left. I honestly don't think she understands the stress that I am under. Planning a wedding is NO easy feat. I wasn't planning on leaving my mom high and dry with the cleaning, I just was going to help when it was better for me to do it. I think she felt that if she didn't see me there she wouldn't believe that it would be done......
Stupid sister.........

Why haven't you written?

I am so sorry that I haven't written ANYTHING lately. I am becoming preoccupied with this little party that I am throwing on 10/23. Everyone keeps telling me it is only a little party what are you freaking out about? This has been a true test of my planning, organizing, communicating and creative skills. I have been told by a dear friend that I should terminate my employement in the biotech field and become a wedding planner. I love doing all of this but I do NOT think that I could do this for a living. Although somedays I seriously would think that I could do it. It would be pretty good money too. But I am sure that I would get one bridezilla and be done with it.

I have been good. Doing a bunch of wedding stuff. I will give you a quick checklist.

favors-check, finishing tonight
Flowers-check
music-check, check, they are practing together this weekend.
hair-check, pre-wedding trial 9/25
dress-check need to get it to the store for cleaning then bustle the week of.
attendant gifts-check, Josh is buying the guy's stuff tomorrow
tanning-check, turning native believe it or not
stuff for marriage license-check, going on 10/10 (happy birthday M nM (my favorite aunts), Brett Farve and Dale Earnhardt Jr)
readers-check

That is all that I will bore you with at the moment. I apoloize for the lack of attention to you. I do still love you. Think of me for the next 37 days.......

Hurricane Report

I heard from my Grandparents on Friday. They are well. They went down to see their home last Thursday. There is minimal damage. They are unable to return to their home yet as the power and water hasn't been turned on yet. Also, their home was deemed unfit to live because the inspector was unsure of the flood damage to the home. I think that they have to wait for them to come back through and check in out. I am VERY happy that Ivan will stay away from them. My grandma's health is starting to go downhill. The last thing that they needed was another hurricane.

Thanks for the prayers it helped!!

Are We Having Fun Yet?

This weekend was the weekend to celebrate my friend's wedding. N(I will call her that as she is a reader and I haven't asked her permission to use her name yet.) is getting married on October 2nd. Yes, three weeks before me. I know we are crazy, want to end up completely BROKE and have a true test of our friendship. Planning these events are a little stressful. I'll admit it I got a little cranky about things. I just wanted everything to be perfect for N. She is my oldest, dearest friend. I want nothing but the best for her.

Saturday we went out for N's bachelorette party. We painted pottery at Paint It! Pottery in Wisconsin Dells. It was REALLY fun doing this. I hope that my vase turned out. Now I just need Josh to bring flowers home to put in the vase. We then went out to eat at Pedro's had a few Margarita's and good food. We then hopped in our limo and rode to Cruisin' Chubby's as they have male strippers on Saturday nights. We of course had to walk past the horny men watching the naked women walk around. I didn't know that the women got completely naked?!?!? I thought that they had to leave their g-strings on at least. Why the heck couldn't the men do that? I purchased a lap dance for N she kicked and screamed the whole way up there. She really didn't want to be there. I don't know why, but she didn't want to do it. Silly Girl!

Then we rode around a while in the dells. Stopped and picked up some people at N's place of employment(That I will not tell you as I don't tell you mine. I do not want to link the two as protection for both our and our employer's sake they don't need to know about this. And we want to keep our jobs) to pick up some people. We cruised around the dells and got dropped off at Ho-Chunk to lose a little money. I was up 4 dollars on the penny slots and we went to nickels and I lost it all. We found these hot bachelors at Ho-Chunk. I think that we saw them at Cruisin Chubby's going in when we got out. They got dropped off by their limo the same as us. We were taking the shuttle back to N's place of employment to pick up one more person as she had to close out the drawers and stuff. We hopped into S(another bridesmaid)'s SUV and drove to Brother's in law. It was the last they were open so it was a HUGE party. It was packed. We danced our hearts out. It was too crowded to get to the bar so we didn't really drink. Just danced our hearts out. We ended up running into the hot bachelor's again. There was this one guy dubbed "The Thunder Down Under" He was SO HOT!!! He was cute and nice and had this smile that makes you melt. They hung out and danced with us and had a good time. We closed the bar down. And had a blast doing it.

Thank You Officer Kratochwill

This morning was a rough morning. First of all with all of our late nights it has become harder and harder to get out of bed in the morning. This week is going to be a rough one. There is a lot to do. So I got up this morning and headed to the shower. I ended up leaving the house about 10 to 15 minutes late. So I figured I could grab our "wedding change" and cash it in. So I stopped at the bank. I was a couple minutes early for the opening so I waited patiently until I saw them unlock the doors. I went in and it took a couple minutes to count seeing as there was $108 worth of change there.

I got in my car and continued on my way to work. Not paying any attention to pretty much anything but where I was going I drove on. Now not paying attention to anything but the road can be a dangerous thing. Because you do not even notice the speed at which you are driving. As I rounded the corner at Wisconsin Heights I noticed a cop sitting there. Looked down and went "Oh SHIT I am going 65!' I thought for a moment that he wasn't going to pull me over but a I passed him and the lights went on. I pulled over. I wasn't as nervous as I had been when I had been pulled over in the past. I knew that I deserved the ticket. I knew that I was speeding. I have a case of what they call lead foot.

The officer came up and asked to see my license. He politely told me that I was speeding and that the radar gun said 65mph. Warned me that I was indeed in a school zone and the speed limit was 45mph there. He continued to tell me that he didn't plan on giving me a ticket just a warning. He also stated that the cost of a ticket going the speed at which I was driving was $156. He then said that he was going to run my license to make sure that it was valid. He officer returned to his car.

Like I said. I wasn't too upset about this. I just hate it when people drive by and stare at you. It is like you are on a hidden camera and everyone is laughing like "Ha Ha Ha you got got speeding..."

The officer returned saying everything checked out and bid me a good day. He told me to keep a better eye on my speed and that I should be careful pulling back out into traffic. Also that he found that I hadn't had a traffic violation since 2001 and that if I kept speeding my record wouldn't be clean for long.....


Wow what luck....

Watching & Waiting

Well hurricane Frances has came and gone. I have been glued to the TV most of the weekend. As you heard Frances ravaged Florida hitting near Ft. Pierce, which is coincidentally the town my grandparents get their mail. I keep seeing pictures of the wrath of Frances in Vero Beach and Ft Pierce. My grandparents live on an Island between those two cities.

I stopped and talked to my uncle on Sunday my grandparents are still in Kissimmee. I think that they were planning on staying until today or tomorrow. I told my uncle to let us know when he hears ANYTHING since he talks to them almost every day. I will let you know when I find out....Hope that there is something there....!

Watch out here comes Ivan!

Say A Little Prayer

I am not by any means a religous person, as I have said many times before. Please, Please, PLEASE say a little prayer for my grandparents. They live in Florida in the direct path of Hurricane Frances. They moved down there permantently about 6 years ago. They really took only the essentials with them to Florida. Now they packed their car and headed to Kissimmee with the few sentimental things that they packed. I am so scared that their home will be gone. Just keep them in your thoughts, pray that they have a home to come back to.

Thanks in Advance!!!!!
JRae

Knottie Bitches

Ever since I got engaged I have been a huge Knot.com supporter. As you may or may not know I am planning a bridal shower. No sillies it is not for me it is for my friend Nora. She is getting married three weeks before me. In fact a month from now she'll be leaving for her honeymoon....I think. Sorry Nora spacing for a second!

The Knot has these helpful message boards where you can go for advice, help, wedding talk and if you just need to vent. So I have been looking for a particular shower game for a month now. It is getting down to the end of the wire and I still want to do this. So I figured I am a knot member I will post this on their message board. I know that someone somewhere has done this. So I typed up my post. It didn't show. I typed it again, it didn't show. I refreshed the page to see if it came up. All of a sudden there is like 10 of these messages that I typed.

I feel bad. I tried finding a delete button, nothing happened. I see one of my posts has a some replies. So I click it open. One was helpful. The other informed me that everytime I hit refresh it re-posts my last post or comment I made. Oops. Atleast I understand now why I have so many posts. I still can't figure out how to delete them.

All of a sudden people are posting. Jraehoner is a moron. People are yelling at me because I posted so many times. I had to type I am new get off my back several times. But the women were REALLY cruel to me. I am NOT repeating anything they said. I made a few "friends" that stuck up for me and reminded me what it was like to be new. Someone needs to do that once in a while. Now I am nervous about posting a question again. I know people won't pounce on me because now I know what I am doing. But jeez if they get that hyped up over a simple mistake. WOW!!!!

So you are now warned of the knotties. Oh and don't go there if you aren't getting married and mess with them because they call you a troll.....

This Poor Woman

The Story of Terri Schiavo

You may or may not know that I worked in various nursing homes during college. I have seen many things with my young eyes. I have stumbled upon my favorite resident dead in his wheel chair. I have held the hands of family members watching their loved one slip away. Shared in the tears of sorrow and happiness for they are suffering no more. I have seen a young man, not much older than I, lie there in a coma never to wake up due to a prescription drug overdose. I bathed him and talked to him and watched him survive because of a feeding tube. That is not a life that is an existence.

What I do not understand about the family of Terri Schiavo of Florida is this: Why? Why prolong her life? Why not send Terri to a better place? Why put her loving husband through this? Her husband has been there through all of this and loves her just as much as you. Why spend more money on the healthcare? Why would you want to put yourself through this?

I just don't understand. This story makes me want to cry. I love my family with all my heart! I love Josh more than life itself! But I would not want them to have to watch me go through what this poor woman has gone through. It is just causing strain for her family. The family cannot close this chapter of their lives. What good is visiting her empty shell of a body? That is all that it is. She looks around but cannot process what she sees. It is selfish of her family to prolong her life! They are only doing this for themselves, because she cannot be getting anything else out of this. I understand that she isn't being kept alive by machines for breathing, just the feeding tube. She could live for 50 more years on that feeding tube. If she didn't want to live this was respect her wishes. That is the best thing that you could do for her.

What I want my family to know is this: If I ever become "a vegetable" or have to remain on life support to continue on let me go... I have lived my life, there isn't anything that I would change. Remember the good times that we have shared. Remember that I will always be with you in heart and soul. I am not a religious person, but I know that I will go to a better place. I want to be united with the people who have passed on before me. We will be happy and wait for you to join us when your time is through. Honor my memory, respect my wishes.....

**Sidenote: I am sorry that this is such a somber post but this issue really touches a nerve with me. I was outraged when I first heard about this story and just thought that I would share my point of view and see what you think.

Sad Time of Year?

Since being introduced to the wonderful world of blogging by my friend kmoka I have become an avid blog reader. I have developed quite the blog roll in my favorites folder in explorer. I have found wedding blogs, dating blogs, political blogs, and just blogs.

I have for some reason been sucked into several blogs that deal with the emotions dealing with the experiences of trying to conceive and fighting infertility. I don't know why I am reading them. Maybe deep inside I am fearful that I will have to go through this. Maybe it is so I truly appreciate the miracle of life. Maybe it is because I am a bleeding heart. Two of the women have just failed another round of IVF. What is next for them? As sad as their story is I can't wait to see if they can have a baby, if they chooses a surrogate. These women are so sad and both at the same time.

Then my dooce has been struggling with post partum depression and anxiety. It was so severe that she checked herself into a mental institution for several days to help to balance out her life. Part of the balance was to find a drug cocktail that she can live with. More tears.......

What is it with all this sadness? Is it because it has been a colder than usual summer? Why have I chosen such somber reading materials?? Will the world ever cheer up???

The Wedding Countdown

I found this cute little counter online. I cannot believe that our wedding is in 54 days yikes!!! So much to do... So much to pay!! Enjoy the counter.

Country Girls Part II

So here we are sitting in the biker bar. Because T and I both drank so much Friday we had 1 and 2 drinks respectively. A had 3 Mike's Hard Lemonade's and it was bar time. A drove back, again taking our lives into her hands. This girl flunked the drivers test so many times. A half blind, deaf, mute could drive better than A. We got home without event and went to sleep.

We got up about 9 am Sunday Morning so that we could be checked out by 11am. We threw on clothes and went down the elevator for the continental breakfast. By the time we got down the there were a few of those mickey's donuts left, cheerios, raisin bran and some english muffins. T dished up some raisin bran, I grabbed a donut and an english muffin and A grabbed a muffin as well. I went over to the fancy dancy toaster to toast my english muffin and stood by the counter. Then A came over and put her muffin in the other side of the toaster. We were standing there in a daze. All of the sudden we hear "EXCUSE me girls" in a nasty tone from behind us. I turn around and there is an old man we say "yes...." He then proceeds to tell us we were rude for standing in front of the toaster. We explained that we were waiting for our muffins to toast. He says that we are in the way of the supplies, when in fact we weren't. I told him to say excuse me and we would move. He said : I and you didn't" I was so pissed. We were already creating a scene in the little room. So I really didn't want to tell him that he should stop being such an asshole, there is no need for that that early in the day. But I was REALLY close to it.

We go back to the elevator to shower and get dressed to be ready by check out. We were patiently waiting by the door behind these two black guys. They were talking about drinking Hennessy and smokin' blunts. I know what you are thinking HIGH class hotel huh???? The younger of the two guys notices that there are 3 young women standing behind him. He slyly turns around and says "I didn't know that the Miss Minnesota finalists are staying her. Miss Minnesota 1, 2 and 3. " I was still annoyed from the asshole old guy now this...? So I simply said "Oh it is too bad that we are from Wisconsin." Hoping that would shut him up. He proceeded to ask us where we were all from. A the dingbat says "Oh well I am from Minnesota, they are just here visiting". The elevator arrives. This guy starts hitting on A like there is no tomorrow. T and I are just ignoring him. The elevator arrives on our floor and wouldn't you know it it is their floor too. We start walking out of the elevator, practically running to our room the guy is calling "Miss Minnesota, Miss Minnesota come back." He kept pursuing A so fiercely that we had to slam the room door in his face.

We get ready to go without event. A asked us if we knew how to get out of where she drug us to. I said that we would look at a map. So you would figure that when we got to the car she would point out where we should go. She didn't so we looked at the map thought that we had it figured out. We didn't. We got on the Interstate and just as we got on I realized that we needed to be in the far left lane to get where we were going. Oops. We made it out of the city alive with a lot of things that we learned.
1. Get directions!!

2. Don't ride in car with crazy braking girl ever again.

3. Pick a bar close to your hotel.

4. Pay a little extra for a decent hotel room....there was a holiday inn just up the street.

5. Just let us pick a hotel next time.

6. When a sketchy guy starts hitting on you do ANYTHING to blow him off.

7. Don't assume the hotel room is being split three ways.

Country Girls Part I

I have never ever been ashamed of being a country girl. This weekend my roots began to show. My friend A had a baby about a month ago. She decided to give the baby up for adoption. She decided to go with a non-traditional adpotion and had an open adoption. For those of you who are undure of what that is it is when the birth mother is able to know the family and be a part of the baby's life. The involvement is up to the adoptive parents and the birth mother. So being the good friends that we are my friend T and I adventured to the big cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul. So I thought that I would share the follies of the weekend with you.

Friday night I drove to T's house which is an hour and a half away. We decided to leave on Saturday morning for the cities. She lives by LaCrosse we would be a little closer and I wouldn't have to be stuck in the car for 6 hours on friday night. I arrived at her house at about 8:30-9:00 pm after a hellish drive home and a packing frenzy. I do usually pack the night before but I was so tired. We decided to go out to a "hick bar" in town. Note: That is the only type of bar in her town. Most of the people in the bar didn't know about the advances in dentistry. They were missing teeth and proud. We were only going to stay out for a drink or two. But, the bartender started giving us shots. First we were too quiet and needed to liven up. The second shot was given for the same reason. The third shot was because her feet hurt and we weren't quite rowdy enough yet. The forth and final shot was just for the hell of it. We had all of those on top of the 5ish drinks we had. Needless to say cookies were tossed from both parties that night.

Saturday was an adventure of a lifetime. First of all we were as hung over as hell and didn't crawl out of bed until 9am. We had 2 sets of directions, 2 maps and two heads to figure it all out. We started going out of town the wrong way first of all. The signage for the turn onto the interstate was awful we had to turn around. The construction in Rochester, Mn was awful. I swear they were working on that back in 2001 when we went through for spring break. Did you know in Mn they have stoplights in a 55 mph zone and you are actually expected to stop. Crazy mud ducks. Then where our highway we needed to take split there wasn't correct signage due to a construction zone, so we made our way across the city by map. We got to our friend's house and went to eat at McDonald's . She then took us across town to a hotel. I swear we drove for 20 minutes. She said that she would get one near her house. Not even close. The hotel was so sketchy I am not going to even tell you the hotel chain.

After checking in we drove out to the adoptive family's home to meet the baby. A VERY cute baby. He was so good while we were there. He did nothing but sleep. T and I figured that we would only be out there 1.5 hours or so. But we were there for 4 count them 1, 2, 3, 4 hours. It got the point with the "oh we need to eat hint" which A didn't pick up on she just invited us for supper. T and I said that we had other plans of taking A out for supper. Luckily there was a Red Lobster near our hotel. I LOVE Red Lobster. We ate a wonderful dinner and I had 2 Lobsterita's...mmmm lobsteritas......mmmmm.

We went back to the hotel and got ready to go out. We were trying to find a place to go out near to the hotel so that we didn't have to worry about driving. Well we had trouble finding a bar. I went to the front desk to return the iron I had borrowed and found that they had a phone book just for the Roseville area. I found a bar in there on my way back up to the room that was on the same street as our hotel. Granted it was a sports bar but we could still go and get a drink. By the time I got back up to the room A had found a bar she knew where it was and was about 20 minutes away. She completely IGNORED my suggestion that was close to our hotel......

So we pile into her car to drive to this bar. I sit in front along the way. I find out that A has a stop sign stopping deficiency. She does not stop at the stop line or the stop sign. She stop HAF WAY INTO THE INTERSECTION!!!!! I feared for my life the WHOLE way there. We get to where the bar is "supposed to be" but she cannot find the street. I am thinking "oh great we are lost." We passed a bar I along the way. By which we almost hit a passle of people who were drunkenly walking home from the bar where we were probably supposed to be. The people were in the cross walk but imagine walking home and you see a car screeching to a halt right at your feet would you pee your pants? I would. So we can't find the bar, So I suggested why don't we go to the bar we passed on the way. So we turn around and head to the bar. Know you think we would have realized the establishment we were about to go in when there is a sign about the city ordinance banning firearms in the bar. But we went in anyway.

It was like being in a hick biker bar in Arena for crying out loud. You either had to be a drunk or a mental patient to frequent this bar. There was one lady talking to herself the whole time. There was a guy with the balding mullet going on. You know the ones who have gone bald on top and have the long hair in the back. The people were sketchy as hell. Here we were 3 young girls all gussied up they must have thought that we were nutty.

Stay tuned for a future up date. The amount of things that I have to write about this weekend could take a week to write.

Web Dorks Unite!

Ok I am officially a web dork. I don't like the phrase computer geek because I am a science geek and I can't be two forms of geek. Earlier this week one of my favorite bloggers wrote a post entitled Crossing the line about posting a comment on dooce.com. Which if you have never read dooce you should. It is an excellent, excellent site!!! I highly recommend it I check her site at least three times a day looking for a new post.

SO, I have been reading a site called PlanetGordon.com for two months or so now. I have gone back and read his archives to catch up on all the history. I really relate to this site because it is a blog that a groom is writing about the wedding. He reminds me of our friend Prock. The happy couple lives in New York city. He is a writer for a news broadcast out there and she is a Jewish clergy member(I am not too sure about her title for sure). It is nice to read what they are going through just to know you aren't alone. Also, helps in knowing what other people are doing. He is getting married a week from sunday in Oconomowoc at a summer camp. He is leaving today I believe to come to Wisconsin to get all ready for the wedding.

Today he posted about the weather forcast here in Wisconsin called And Now The Weather.... The forcast for Oconomowoc says that it is supposed to thunderstorm next Sunday. So I wrote a post telling him that that weather forcast will change and you can't even count on the weather forcast the morning of for the afternoon. You know Wisconsin the weather is so unpredictable. The only difference with my post this time than other times that I have posted on sites in the past is that I thought to myself. "I should put my URL in the comment box, maybe I would get a reader or two out of it." Well this afternoon I looked at my referral URLs on bravenet.com to see where my latest hits had come from. There it was right there I had a link from my post. So I resolved the IP address to the web host's name and sure enough it said the site was hit from a web carrier in New York City. It was The Groom. The Groom visited my site....He read about my olympic favorite moments, my he-she dog and my lunch envy. He knows about my car saga. He actually was here!!!!! I cannot believe it. This guy is a famous blogger, he has been written about on multiple occasions in national articles and he read my little old site...... I am officially a web dork and I am proud of that!!!!!!

Olympic Obsession

That's it I have become an obsessed Olympics fan. I am constantly checking to see who has won what medals. Then I watch it at night that day's happenings on NBC. Here is a list of my favorite happenings so far. In no particular order:

1. Watching "The Thorpedo" beat Michael Phelps in the 200M freestyle final. I am not being unpatriotic but the whole Michael Phelps thing is getting a little bit over played. Plus Ian Thorpe is HOT!!

2. Paul Hamm's winning high bar routine. Three release moves in a row. That is strength!

3. The US's sweep of the 4 x 200 relay. That Klete Keller(I love saying that name) sure can swim. Plus a girl from WI was on the women's team. The men swam a GREAT race!

4. The US men's basketball team being kicked around by Portugal. Those guys needed to be knocked down a few pegs.

5. Watching the Shot Put on the ancient grounds in Olympia. That Adam Nelson is CRAZY!!!

6. Synchronized Diving who knew?

7. The young woman who placed second in whitewater rafting Rebecca Giddens is originally from Green Bay.

8. Who knew fencing was so cool? I didn't...

9. Men and Women's Gymnastics getting silver. It's not gold but it is the next best thing.

10. When Bob Costas doesn't talk.......That man could bore grass.

The Saga

Some of you may be wondering why I haven't written in a couple days. I usually try to post 4-5 times a week. First, I apologize because now you are going to have a super long post to get you up to date and because you have been checking in to see what is going on. So here is the story:

Monday was a normal day at work. I left work on time to head to the salon to try out a new place and see if it was good so that we could get our hair done there the day of the wedding. On my way home I make a stop to buy boxes for the jewelry for the maids and as I am checking out I get a phone call. It is my friend Heidi. As you may remember she recently got married. We make small talk as I am checking out. I start leaving and she says to me "I have something to tell you. Please don't be mad at me. I am pregnant!!!!!!" Good thing I wasn't driving too fast because I almost hit the stop sign in front of me. I still cannot believe it! I am so happy for them. They are going to make great parents! She thought that I would be mad because she will be pregnant for our wedding. I am not mad I just wanted her to be able to drink and have fun. I know, I know you can have fun without drinking.

SO, I get to Spring Green to the hair dresser. Hair looks great, I make wedding day appointments. I leave the shop and call Josh to tell him to turn his phone on so that Mitch can call him and tell him the good news. I chit chat for a while. Come to find out his car died on his way back to work after his lunch break. He had someone come pick him up and take him back to work. He thinks that it is either it ran out of gas or the fuel pump is broke.

So, I call my mom who is in Spring Green. When my brother's practice gets over we take some gas to try and get it running. It doesn't run so we decide to push it into a nearby parking lot. The parking lot was uphill and a right hand turn. My mom and I pushed and my brother steered the car. We got 3/4 way up the hill and couldn't push it any further. So my brother who is a little injured helped us up the hill the rest of the way. Since it was so closed to Josh's end of shift we stayed in RC until he was done a whole hour or so.

So I didn't get to see the Packer game. I didn't get to watch the men's all around gymnastics final. I gave up the whole night to help my future husband. We stayed up until midnight and we had to figure out how to get him to work on Tuesday. So we came up with the plan that my other brother would take him to work. I would go into work early so that I could leave to pick him up at the end of the day. My step-dad and brother came and picked up his car so that he wouldn't have to pay a towing bill. They got it home and checked it out last night and they still think that it is the fuel pump.

So Josh magically got out of stuffing invitations. All but 11 are stuffed and sealed waiting for stamps. Those will be sent out on Monday to keep with the two month deadline.

I guess that has been our week thus far. I carpooled with a lady from work so Josh has my car today. That is ok it keeps me from going out to lunch and spending money. I hope that the rest of the week is better. I am visiting my friend who had a baby this weekend so hopefully we will have a good time!!!!

Do you smell that?

That smell is football season officially starting in wisconsin. That's right the first Packer game is tonight. It is the stench of beer, brats and kraut the three main food groups for any Packer fan. I myself am looking very much forward to the football season. Brett Favre is threatening retirement and we need one more championship in his era.

There is nothing like the experience of a Packer game either. Sitting in the freezing cold with 60,000 other people shivering and cheering. Keeping warm with Hot Cocoa and Beer(pick your poison) Watching the Lambeau Leap, actually seeing Brett Favre in person. Sure you can't gawk over his handsomeness as you can on TV but this better. Cheering the GO PACK GO cheer. I was lucky enough to visit Lambeau before they renovated it. They say it feels the same but I was glad to experience it to know for sure. I hope to get to a game again soon. Lord knows I can't count on getting season tickets in my lifetime. I am about 28,000 on the list.....

P.S. I guess it was the players stinking that smelled not the brats. I only got to watch the low lights.......They better shape up!!!

Lunch Envy

I am sure that you have all felt this. In grade school there was always the kid who had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with chips and a snack pack when you were stuck with big bologna, stale crackers and a banana. You sat there sulkingly nibbling on your processed meat and monkey food craving that pudding....... Thinking to your self "Hey kid, I'll trade you the rest of this banana for your snack pack"

This is my life everyday. J the guy whom's desk I face ALWAYS has a wonderful smelling lunch. It is either chicken and potatoes, or hibachi beef (which he has today). It is always seasoned with garlic and smells SO good. I sit there drooling until my stomach says to my brain "hey dumbass!! Why don't you get up and find something to eat?" Then I go and either get my can of soup, the mystery leftover of the day or a salad from the grocery across the way and nibble on my lunch wishing it would magically change into something wonderful........

Our Poor He-She Puppy

Today will forever be known as the day we permanently scarred our puppy. Today was the day that we ttok him to the vet to be neutered. Not only did we have to neuter him. The vet looked at his teeth and decided to pull the baby teeth that hadn't come out yet had to be pulled. So not only does our puppy have a sore genital region his teeth are not hurting him. Good thing that they gave us pain killers so he can go from one drug induced state to another. Thus decreasing the stress on us. Aren't we awful for feeling that way?????

I Stole Something

I am sorry!! I have to admit my guilt. I stole the cute terror alert level indicator now shown in the sidebar. My friend Kmoka, of whom I am a religous reader, has had the cool terror alert indicator on her side bar for a month or longer and I had to have it. Yes, I am the kid in the store saying "but mom everyone has one........why can't I?????" Followed by a huge fit and screaming by mother to get me to sut up. Yup that's me.......

Thanks for the cool indicator. I am reverting back to my childhood.....Except this time my mom can't tell me no!!!!!!!

Home Page It's Time For Blaire To Get Married - and she needs your help

I really didn't know what to think of this webpage when I first read about it. I know that we all have "timelines" for our goals in life. I don't think that I would ever go to the this extreme. I have been reading this site for ~2 weeks now. I have voted on her last two guys. Check it out let me know what you think...

A Wedding Update

I realized that I hadn't bored you with an update of my wedding plans lately. I probably should since it is this HUGE thing that I am planning. I cannot believe all of the things that go into planning a wedding. When you get down to it there are a lot of fine details.

1) The Invitations-They are all assembled. The response cards are all completed with stamp. The return address is printed on the back. I will print off the envelopes next week. Yes I am printing them, those of you who have tried to read my handwriting understand. We are hoping to get them stuffed, stamped and sent by the 23rd.

2) The Church- I took my mother to the church for the first time last Sunday. We lucked out because they had the church all set-up for their hymn sing so that we could see how the church would look all opened up for the wedding. No matter what we won't be able to invite everyone on the guest list to the church unless we want standing room only and that would be VERY full!!!! We decided what to do with the aisle situation. The church has two aisle. I wasn't sure what we were going to do about that. We decided to pick an aisle, sit the bride's side on the left, grooms on the right and use the third section as overflow. I think that will do just fine. I also took lots of pictures of the church to show the florist. The church really isn't used too much so she will have a hard time getting in there when it is opened.

3) The Cake- We also went to see the cake lady on Sunday. The cake design is all set. all that we really have to do is find the color votives we want with the cake. I am really happy with the design that I chose. I think that it will turn out beautifully. I picked great flavors too. Yummy I can't wait to eat it!!!

4) The Center Piecese- They are now designed. I have put some prototypes together to determine which one is the best design. That was figured out last night by me, Josh, my mom, sister and aunt. So now I can put them together. That is one thing off the list...Check

5) The Favors- The candles are done. Well we are waiting for another color to come out on the candle line. Then we only have to put those together. We are almost ready to order the other things.

6) Garments- The girls are all set. Most of them have their dresses. The guys have their measurement cards. I am all set.

7) Decorations- We have basic ideas are in the middle of purchasing our supplies. We are trying to tastefully mesh the fall colors with the Purple of the dresses.

8) My beautification- my teeth are white!!! I highly recommend the premium white strips.

That is it!!!!! I think that we are rolling along pretty well. What do you think???

100 Hits

I have hit 100 hits on my blog. That was accomplished in only 8 days. That is an average f 12.5 hits a day. As my stat counter tells me that Wednesdays are the days with the most traffic. A BIG thank you to the audience of the Circus. I really appreciate your readership. I also love the feedback I get. I encourage you all to give me feedback and advice. I love to hear from my readers. Luckily with the counter it doesn't count the forty times a day I check back to see if anyone has made any comments........

The Little Houdini

Well in the danger of sounding like Those People. I am going to follow-up on yesterday's post. I of course do these things when I don't have to come home to the dog first. I don't know if I secretly dread coming home to a mess so I do it so that Josh can deal with it or what. So I left work about 10 minutes late yesterday and called home like I always do to say that I am on the way. In my conversation I of course asked if Jackson had made a mess in the kitchen. Knowing full well that if he had Josh would be sure to tell me. He informed me that there wasn't a mess in the kitchen because Jackson wasn't in the kitchen when he got home. Jackson somehow managed to escape from his fortress.

SO today we put him back in there with the gate a little bit off the ground and messed around with the cardboard "wall" hoping that we made it so that the little "satan dog" as Josh sometimes calls him, wouldn't escape.

Everyone double cross your fingers and blink twice. Maybe he won't escape today......

Fool Me Twice Shame On Me

As you remember a week ago I left our puppy Jackson in kitchen and he turned into the Amazing Shred-O. Well since then Josh has either had the day off or working overnights so Jackson was only in his crate for a handful of hours. As I said before I hate leaving him in the crate because he is getting bigger and yes we have a larger crate but he needs to move around more. Expecially since we leave him for 8-9 hours a day. I know it is cruel to leave him alone that much but I really want him to be able to be left alone in the house. We have tried leaving him alone loose in the house for 4 hours with success. I am so surprise that we haven't yet come home to a problem. We also know this because he runs outside right away and pees for like 3 minutes.

So today is his first day since last Tuesday that he will be left alone. So I set up the gate like I did last week and used the same cardboard box on the other end. I just hope that we don't come home to any sort of mess. I gave him all of his toys. I only gave him a splash of water. So everyone cross your fingers........

The Price of Beauty

I have decided to beautify myself for the wedding. My beautification for the moment is whitening my teeth. I have a bridge across my front teeth so the whitening isn't going to do anything for those teeth but they are still white. My bottom and side teeth are the one's that are really affected by soda and stuff like that. So on saturday I went to Wal-Mart to buy every household cleaner as we were out of EVERYTHING! So I swung down the handsoap aisle which happens to be the same aisle as the tooth care aisle. So I decided to purchase some Crest Premium Whitestrips. I figured hey it is cheaper than getting it done at the dentist office and paying up the wazoo for it. And if it doesn't work I am only out $30 not $300.

So I tried it out Saturday night. I also wore the strips for 1/2 twice yesterday per the instructions. By the end of the evening my teeth were pretty sensitive. So I bit the bullet this morning and applied the strips again. The sensitivity in my teeth isn't all THAT awful but it is just uncomfortable. I think that I will try to apply them 8-12 hours apart and see if that helps the sensitiviy issue. Gee I hope that it will be worth it!!!!!!!

The End of an Era

I left my previous job a little over three months ago. I didn't leave because I was so unhappy that I couldn't go on. I left because I felt that I wasn't going anywhere, that I was stuck. I left because I wanted better health benefits. I left because of Management burying their heads up their asses so that they didn't have to deal with issues facing the company. The reason I wanted to stay....... My friends and c0-workers. These are some of the best, kind and understanding people you will meet. These people found me when I was lost, hugged me when I cried, laughed when I was happy. I know that they truly care about me as a person and want to see me succeed that is why they let me go. For weeks and weeks after leaving the hardest part about going to my new job was knowing that I wasn't going to see the people that I loved that morning. Monday's were the worst because I had a whole weekend's worth of stories to share and no one to share it with. So today is the end of an era for two reasons. One is that one of my ex-co-workers is leaving and continuing on with her life and her career. She is one of those rare gems. She is sweet, understanding and always there for you. When I was going through issues with Josh's family she was there and gave me a sweet gift as she knows exactly what I am going through and was available to offer me the advice that I needed to stay strong and deal with the problems I faced. Oh how she will be missed. You don't find friendship like that just anywhere. The second end to the era is this. Although I miss my friends deeply I have made new friends at my new job, I feel like I fit. They listen to my dog stories, my Josh stories and my problems. I know that we will always be friends, that I will keep up with the news. But we will never have the magic we once shared. It is the ending of an era.................... The best kind of era to have

A day of Non-work

Today has been a day of non-work. I have been at work but only have done about an hour and half worth of work. This morning we had to run to the grocery store for food for the new employee social that we were in charge of. So it took a while to get ready and see what we had in house. Then we spent a half hour or so at the grocery store. We got back, put everything away and then i went to work. After I worked for a while it was close to lunch time. We went to Maharaja's for lunch. I have never experienced indian food before....it was ok. By the time we returned it was time to set up for the new employee social. We socialized for an hour, cleaned up and here I am feeling like I haven't done anything today. I have been busy but I have to finish up some work and write in my notebook and fun stuff like that. I suppose I better really get to work!!!!!

Thank You!!!

I would like to thank all of the WONDERFUL people that responded to my I need some help post. I know that my girlfriend really appreciated the advice and is in the process of deciding what she should do. I will keep you posted on her decision as I know you are anxiously awaiting to hear what she decides.

The amazing Shred-O

Ok so I am a guilty Dog parent. I hate locking Jackson up in his crate when we are gone during the day. So I came up with this brilliant idea. I figured hey there has to be a way to block him off in the kitchen. So I took our gate and put it across the small doorway. We have a HUGE grill box in the garage so I brought that in and fixed it up so that it was a GREAT gate. I gave the pup his Kong and headed out the door. I thought about him sporadically throughout the day.

I had some errands to run after work so I told Josh to please make sure that he made it home on time to be with the dog. He walked into a MESS!!!!! Jackson had taken the paper bags we had stored along side the refridgerator and shreded them to smitherines. He also peed twice on the floor. I blame the peeing on myself becuase I am the dumbass who left his water and food on the floor. He managed to pee on one of the rugs. So Josh thought that he should take the rugs outside and shake them so that he could get the paper off the rug and he only managed to shower himself with dog pee. Silly boy.

I think that we will continue to try leaving him out in the kitchen. Next time we will remove the ONE paper bag we have left and remove the food. We will also make sure that his toys are in there as well. You know the rope bone, the chewy bone, his dental bone and something that he can shred so that he isn't bored.
You live and you learn

I am going to be a WIFE!!!!!

Go ahead laugh at me. I am used to it. In a conversation with Josh this weekend, I came upon a harsh realization. I am going to be someone's WIFE!!!! As Josh so sweetly pointed out not anyone's wife his wife. In unison awwwwwwwww!!!! When it comes to this wedding I know that I can handle the mishaps and the problems that come up along the way. I don't even feel overwhelmed anymore when I think of all of the stuff that we have to do because we steadily cross things off the list. What really throws me into an asthma attack is the fact that I am getting married. I am going to be joined to someone until death does us part...... I know if it doesn't work out we can always get a divorce but who goes into their married life with that comforting thought. I know that nothing in our relationship will change only my last name. But a wife, a wife cooks and cleans and wears cute little aprons. She always has fresh cookies in the cookie jar. She can make a Martini extra dry with a twist. I don't even know what a dry martini is. I still sometimes leave dishes on the coffee table or in the sink hoping the dish fairy will come. Then I realized oh I am the dish fairy now along with laundry elf, toilet gnome and dust bunny hunter. Being a wife means that I have grown up and that is scary!!!!!

I don’t' feel grown up. How is a grown up supposed to feel? I never felt a magical change. Where was that??? Who waved the magic wand and said ok she is a grown up?? Where ever that wand is I want to break it in two. I don't wanna grow up...................

3 months and counting......

It is now three months until the wedding. What can I say but ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We registered last night. That was a treat!! I love going shopping and not buying anything because that is what registering really is. We also met with our minister yesterday. It is really nice to have a minister that swears once in a while. This shows that he isn't perfect and that is ok. Other than that the favor putting together begins!!!!! Yeah!!!! I cannot wait to get that done. When we get that done we will have to start stuffing invitations. Then panic mode begins!!!!!!! Please PLEASE help me with my previous post. I need to help my girlfriend out. She has been there for me!!!!! I just need to know how to be there for her because I am at a loss!!!!

I need some help!

Ok so it really isn't me needing the help it is my girlfriend.  I need some advice.  I am the maid of honor in my friend's wedding and she is really going through a tough time.  I don't know what to tell her.  Here is the story.......

My friend and her future husband have been dating off and on since I don't know sixth grade.  So as you understand there is a lot of history with them.  The real troubled time in their relationship was about 3 years ago.  She was going through a phase where she was trying to find herself and find out what she wanted from her life.  As anyone knows your early 20's is a time of discovery and learning about yourself.  At this time in their relationship a lot of feelings were hurt by both parties.  So as it turns out they came back to each other and are now planning on getting married.  Happy ending???? 

Nope!!!  The problem lies in her future brother-in-law(bil).  Now three years ago when all this shit was going down he got very mad at her for the things that she had done.  Bil did not think that they should be together and he really let his brother(groom) know this.  He has all along made his distaste for the bride known.  Now that they are getting married things are really getting sticky.  The bride and groom have moved past their problems.  The bride is ready for this to be over the problem is the bil is not.  They are trying to figure out how/if to include the bil in the wedding.  The mother in law and father in law are starting to get involved and saying that the NEED to have the bil in the wedding because he is the groom's brother and it would look bad if he isn't.  The groom's family is really pressuring the groom to involve his brother and the bride really doesn't want someone in her wedding that despises her.  It is getting to the point that it is causing a HUGE rift not only with the bride and the groom's family but is really affecting the relationship between the bride and groom.  The bride has cried herself to sleep already three days this week.  Please Please help me by giving me some advice that can I tell the bride???  What can I offer as a solution??  How can I help her get through this????  Please help both me and her!!!!!!