A Registry for Everything

With the wedding quickly approaching and my excitement level quickly rising, people are asking where we’re registered for gifts. We have registered but in truth we’re pretty excited about just seeing everyone, spending time with family and friends at the wedding, and officially starting our life together. As we were discussing where to register, it became quite apparent that there are registries everywhere for everything.

Weddings? Check.

New homes? Of course.

Babies? Absolutely.

Bed bugs? Huh?

Yep, there’s even a registry for bed bugs.

I’m leaving today to go out of town for work; Robert’s left to fend for himself. I’m pretty sure he can handle it; he’s pretty independent and industrious. I’m also pretty sure there’s leftover lasagna in the frige and frozen something in the freezer to tide him over until I get back. (But no whoopie pies; sorry, babe, I ran out of time. L )

In preparation for my trip, someone at work informed me that the place I’m going is “The Bed Bug Capital of the US”. It’s the WHAT??? That’s just nasty. And he proceeded to tell me to “check the registry”. Check the what? As it turns out, there is a handy dandy website called The Bed Bug Registry where you can enter your hotel name or address and they will tell you if the location has had any reported sightings of the creepy, crawly, can’t-wait-to-get-their-snuggle-on critters. I was almost afraid to look.

But I did.

And although I will do a thorough check of the place upon my arrival and I might still keep my suitcase in the bathtub just in case, I’m happy to report there are no reports of bed bugs at the hotel I’ll be in.

If this turns out not to be the case, you can rest assured (while I am resting anything but comfortably) that I’ll give you the full report when I return.

In the meantime, I hope your week is full of fun and free from pests (be they 2-legged or otherwise) and that your weekend plans are coming together to be something summery, something sensational… Something More.

Follow up note: The very thorough (and several times repeated) bed bug investigation revealed no evidence or indication of cuddlebugs! :)

Weekend Top 10

If Monday could talk, it would borrow a line from Gwyneth Paltrow’s character, Emily, in A Perfect Murder, “That's not happiness to see me is it?” And I’d have to say, “No, not really.” Poor Monday, in your defense, you do live right beside the two or three best days of the week; it’s not really your fault.

My weekend was pretty low key but it still had its moments… 10 or so, if anyone's counting.

So, here we go... this weekend's Top 10!

10- When a “maybe it just needs Freon” turns into “Oh, that’s not good. You might need a new compressor”, it’s nice to have a fantastic superhero Dad and a mechanical wizard on speed dial. Thanks, Dad & Randy, for fixing Fordinand (and thanks Mom and Robert for helping run the sick car shuttle service!)

9- Is anything better than a tomato sandwich when the tomato comes right out of your garden and one slice covers the whole piece of bread? I think not.

8- The quickest way to make friends in the Wal-Mart checkout line is to share a few coupons with the person in line in front of you. And, if you’re doing in the name of coupons, cart stalking becomes a perfectly acceptable past time, right? J

7- Homemade blueberry cobbler… I’m starting to believe the rumor that a certain someone in my life is getting a little spoiled. Oh, well, it’s the least I can do. He is about to commit to putting up with me for the rest of forever.

6- I’m sure there is a limit on how many times in a row you can watch Shawshank Redemption before you get bored with it… but I don’t know what that number is.

5- When trying to decide “does this dress make my butt look big?”, do not use your reflection in the door of a big pick-up truck as your mirror.

4- When you make bets with a self-proclaimed nerd, keep in mind she knows random things like the names of a cow’s four stomach chambers. (Rumen, Reticulum, Omasum, and Abomasum just in case anyone was curious.) And, bet something that benefits you too- like lunch at Applebee’s!

3- Homemade lasagna… Did I mention that perhaps there’s a little spoiling going on?

2- Meeting with the minister to finalize the ceremony details means you’re one step closer to the official start of the Happily Ever After. I, for one, can’t wait!

1-   Sitting on the back porch laughing and watching hummingbirds is a happy, happy way to spend a lazy Sunday afternoon.

I hope your weekend had something as savory as homemade lasagna, something as sweet as blueberry cobbler, and something as lovely as someone to share it with. I hope your weekend was something lazy, something amazing, and… Something More.

Bridezilla Shoes

With the wedding three weeks from Sunday, and all of next week a wash because I’ll be out of town for work, people are starting to ask me if I’m stressed. I probably would be… if I had time. Right after we got engaged, I promised Robert that I would not be a Bridezilla. Apparently, he doesn’t watch WE tv because he actually asked, “What’s a Bridezilla?” I tried to explain it but finally settled on an explanation of “you’ll know it when you see it”. He seemed content with that and pretty much decided to keep his eyes peeled and his running shoes handy so that he could make a hasty escape at the first signs of a fire-breathing dragon that resembles the girl he’s come to know and love.

I think there may have been two or three Bridezilla moments over the past six weeks but I’m fairly certain that one of them was an issue of selling the house and not planning the perfect wedding so I don’t think that one should count. Robert might disagree with me on that number; sometimes you don’t recognize the dragon in yourself the way others do.

I did a little internet research yesterday and found a quiz that would help me determine my Bridezilla status. I haven’t thrown cake at the baker; I haven’t screamed at a florist. I haven’t told anyone that their opinion doesn’t count and that their money situation isn’t my problem (truly, are there people that actually say things like that?). In all the scientific accuracy that an internet quiz can muster, I’ve been declared “A Handler” which, as far as I can tell, is pretty much on the opposite end of the spectrum from a Bridezilla. I’ve done what I can; I’ve delegated the rest to people I trust and they’ve done a fantastic job. It’s all in good hands and it’ll all come together.

At the end of the day, I can pretty much guarantee that no one will remember the font on the invitations or the color of the frosting on the cake. No one will care if we get five minutes off schedule and no one will notice whether the ribbon holding their utensils together was tied with a knot or a bow. At the end of the day, it’s not the wedding but the marriage that matters. What’s important is that we’re united in love, committed by faith, and determined to walk side by side for the rest of always.

Robert may have gotten his running shoes out to be ready to escape the attack of a Bridezilla but I suspect he’ll put them on to walk as far as this path of life will take us. I know that my running shoes are on, my laces are tied, and I’m ready to walk too- not just down the aisle but as far as I can see into the future- with him.

Weekend Top 10

Blurry, blurry… for a girl whose Friday night drink of choice is Diet Dew, my weekends sure do get blurry. One of these days, I’m going to have to seriously stop to smell the roses. This weekend, there was no time for roses but I did tackle my lawn so maybe I took in at least one whiff of fresh cut grass. That counts right? So, as Monday’s tradition has become, here’s the top 10 moments of magic and mayhem from my weekend.

10- While having a marriage license in hand will make you seriously consider going to the Magistrate’s Office to tie the knot, visions of upset mothers and the knowledge that no wedding = no cake is enough to make you wait.

9- Registering for gifts is easy. Helping the groom understand the value of matching towels and the concept of glasses as opposed to plastic cups is not so easy.

8- If the quickest way to a man’s heart is through this stomach, a box full of homemade oatmeal cream pies makes that trip a lot shorter.

7- Animal crackers are the best negotiation tools when you are being held hostage by three year olds who appear to have had Jolt cola and pixie sticks for breakfast.

6- Two eight year olds and a four (and a half) year old doing cartwheels in the bonus room might sound like a herd of elephants but that happy little stampede is welcome at our place anytime.

5- Getting both sets of families together may require a scheduling miracle but there’s nothing in the world quite like having a house full of people who love and support you. We are truly blessed and so very thankful. J

4- Slow service at a restaurant just means you get more time to hang out and catch up with people you haven’t seen in a while.

3- It takes exactly 2.5 nanoseconds for a praying mantis and a little boy to become “the very bestest of buddies”. It takes considerably longer for a little boy to understand that the praying mantis doesn’t want to live in his pocket.

2- Even with a couch and a loveseat I wouldn’t have to share, the left half of Robert’s chair (with him on the right half of course) is still my favorite place in the whole house to sit.

1- A heart full of love, a home full of laughter, and a refrigerator of leftovers… it just doesn't get much better than that.

I hope your weekend was light on the chores and loaded with fun, that you met some new people and made some new friends, and that you’re already ready for next weekend. I know I am! J

Goodbye, Hello.

Six weeks ago, when Robert proposed, a million questions ran through my head (whether or not to marry him wasn’t one of them). Should we get married before his deployment or when he gets back? Where can we go for the honeymoon? Will he still love me when he figures out how many pairs of shoes I actually own?

After a short discussion about keeping one house as rental property, we decided to live in his house and sell mine, eliminating the hassle of renters, repairs, and the like.

Over the past few weeks, I’ve been slowly packing up my little palace and preparing my house to sell. And, if we’re just being honest, some of the moments haven’t been very pretty. There may or may not have been tears.

As I look back on my 7+ years in that house, I remember the big decisions that were made, and the little ones. That house was “home base” where I could run and hide behind locked door and closed blinds when I needed to be “olly olly oxen free” from the troubles of the world. It was the place I had total control over the remote, the refrigerator, and everything in between. It’s where I learned how to fix a running toilet, restring a weed eater, and make a pretty fantastic lasagna. It’s where I finally figured out that it’s OK to stand up for myself and to speak my mind as long as I try to do it with tact and grace. It’s where I learned that it’s not the end of the world if I make a mess, burn dinner, or put three holes in the wall trying to hang one picture. It’s where I learned to try new things even if I’m not very good at them at first. It’s where I learned that I can do a lot more than I ever thought possible. It wasn’t always easy and there were numerous calls to Dad for the mechanical and countless calls to Mom and Jaime for the emotional but in the end, in that house, I took a look at being an independent grown-up and thought, if only for a moment, “I got this.” In that house, I somehow just knew that everything would be alright. I guess you could say that house is where I came into my own; in a lot of ways, in my adult life, it’s the house that built me.

But now it’s time to let that house build someone else. The For Sale sign is in the yard; the memories are all packed away and I’m ready to hand over my keys to someone who needs that house as much now as I did then.

As often as I’ve looked back over the past few weeks, I’ve also spent some time looking forward and I realize that I’m not really losing the HOUSE I had for seven years, I’m simply trading it in for a HOME I’ll have for a lifetime with a man who understands the difference.

Goodbye, House. Hello, HOME.

Weekend Recap...

A long holiday weekend should be full of fun and frivolity… not packing and pressure washing but as my least favorite saying in the world goes, “it is what it is”. When you’re planning a wedding, merging two houses, and doing anything you can to think about anything but a pending deployment, you find yourself making the best of a lot of chores you’d rather not be doing. As I look back on the weekend, it wasn’t all fun and games but even amidst the packing of boxes and moving of furniture, when Robert and I are in the same space, that’s my favorite place to be.  So, here’s the Top 10 of what I learned…

10- In my next life, no heavy furniture will reside on the second floor.

9- A new pressure washer is a good thing. A new pressure washer on sale with a gift card that comes with a free water hose is a better thing.

8- An ice cream date will not fix the bruises and scrapes you earned while moving furniture… but it sure does help.

7- I consider myself to be fairly intelligent but ratchet straps confuse the stuffings out of me.

6- How many Pyrex dishes does one household need? Obviously, just one more.

5- No matter how many boxes you think you’ll need, you will always need at least five more.

4- Your curious neighbors, the ones who watch your house and can give you a perfect physical description of any visitors, UPS packages, and the pizza delivery guy, will be unexplicably absent from their front porches when it’s time to move something heavy.

3- The quickest way to recover from packing, cleaning, and other assorted manual labor is to take a road trip on the back of a Harley.

2- If you go to the wrong cabinet for something more than twice, you’ve obviously put it in the wrong cabinet and you should just move it to where you naturally gravitate for that item.

1- At the end of the day, when all is said and done, a day (or two or ten) spent sorting and packing and sweating and moving is worth it because it’s a step to, as Robert reminded me, “being in the same house, as a family, starting a life together.” And he’s absolutely right. So, hand me another box… I have a little more packing to do.