Where to begin?

I've finally found a moment in this unbelievably hectic last several days to post some updates for my blog readers. I guess I'll start from the beginning:

• We ordered our invitations Friday! One less thing I have to think about. I'm pretty happy though, we ended up getting all of our invitations and enclosures for under $250. Now I get to wait and see how good the colors look... I hate this part. Updates on that in a couple of weeks.
• Saturday was jam-packed with running errands. Rob and I started the day with getting my new cell phone (more on that below) which, I'm not joking, took 2+ hours. It was totally ridiculous and made the rest of our day all the more rushed. Then we headed to get something to eat because after two hours of dealing with idiots, we were ravenously hungry. After getting a very quick bite to eat, we went over to Ashley Furniture to get some ideas for what we want for the house. We walked around for a while, spotted a couple of things we liked, but didn't love anything. Then we hit Thomasville - way out of our price range. After which we went home, showered, and went out with some friends. It was a solid day of accomplishments and wasted time. Is that possible.
• Ahhh, my new phone. I'm in love. We ended up getting our own T-Mobile plan at Costco where they happened to be running a deal where if you get your own plan, you get a brand new Blackberry Pearl, for free! Yes, I got a Blackberry Pearl for free! It's very different from the cell phone I'm used to, mainly because it's more like a mini-PC than a cell phone. All the better. Stephanie LOVES new technical gadgets! Isn't she a beauty?
• Sunday, I enjoyed a wedding shower thrown by Rob's family for a relative of Rob's that is getting married in March. It was great to get together and see every one (for four hours!) and it makes me all the more excited for my own... ;)
• Monday I subbed for a copy clerk at West High School which led to a very interesting turn of events. I took the job last minute because I hadn't gotten anything for that day quite yet and I had subbed as a copy clerk a couple of times before and quite enjoyed it. I got there and discovered that the woman I was subbing for is going to be out for an indefinite period of time and they were searching for a long-term replacement. Turns out, I'm very available! So now, I'm a temporary replacement for a copy clerk working from 7-2 on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays which is quite a relief. Best of all? I have wireless!!! So after I program in a bunch of copy jobs to what I have dubbed as "The Beast," I have time to wait and do things I normally don't have time to do! Like blogging and homework! Woo-hoo! Check out the machine I'm using... yeah, I know.
• Today we had our walk through at the house. My wait to see my completed house has come to an end, and it's beautiful! I'm so happy. I didn't get to take any pictures, but they have taken care of almost all of the issues we had mentioned before, and are working on everything else. It's all very minimal though and I couldn't be happier. No, I take that back. I could be happier if we were closing tomorrow, when we are supposed to close. Not on Thursday because Vantage home was late in getting paperwork back in on their end. I WANT MY HOUSE!!! NOW!!! It'll be ours before we know it, along with the payments... :o)
• We also went shopping for furniture today again. We stopped at Rothman Furniture after eating at Bob Evans after the walk through. We have found our furniture! I love everything we've picked out and now we just need to purchase it! Of course we're waiting until we close, but it feels good to have something picked out. Check it out! Our lovely bedroom set. Very simple and elegant and I LOVE the dark wood. Our kitchen table set. It's also a very dark wood (to kind of go with the cabinets in the house), counter height (love it!) and we got 6 stools - we may get two more.... And last, but not least... our living room set. We fell in love with this the moment we saw it. We'll be getting the sofa, loveseat, and ottoman. I love the deep seat and the color and fabric. We need to take some measurements and make sure it will fit in our great room. There shouldn't be a problem.
• The next few days should be just as hectic and I'm very much looking forward to it! I can't wait to get the keys to our house and park in my OWN garage! I'm so excited!!!
• Mom and I also began the search for a dress for mom for the wedding. It's proving to me much more difficult that we expected. More to come on that venture :o)
  

Snow Day Miscellany

A little miscellany to fill a lovely snowy day...

• I have a snow day today! While the morning part of it was self-imposed... Lindenwood actually called off the afternoon classes, people. I'm not joking. They haven't called off school for weather in 20 years or something like that. I'm glad I didn't make myself drive for my morning classes. Woo-hoo for snow days!

• I'm so sick of winter. This year has been especially bad with the multiple storms we've had. But overall I'm just tired of being cold. I want summer sun and 90 degree weather, people. Mmmm.... love it.
• We're coming down to the wire with the house. Rob and I bought a dryer on Saturday during Sear's appliance sale. Now all we need is a refrigerator, and furniture, and various other things... :o)
  

• Good news with the house: they fixed our carpet! The seam was REALLY noticeable in the great room and we complained about it, not really expecting much, but they fixed it! Our real estate agent said he's going to get us in on Saturday so we can walk through ourselves before the final walk through with Vantage. I hope so! I want to see it! Say a prayer that everything else that needs to be fixed, gets fixed.
• I'm currently researching home security systems. I have no idea what I'm doing. I'm clueless as far as this is concerned, so any suggestions are welcome. Rob and I really want one when the house is done. I've checked out ADT and Brinks websites, so I'm going to make some appointments and talk to some people... we'll see.
  
• We DESPERATELY need to order our invitations for the wedding. We've been waiting until after the house is done because it's quite an expense, but now that I'm not on the loan, I can purchase them. We've pushed our time frame to the max... must do that this weekend.
• I'm officially the computer genius of my house. I successfully fixed the wireless internet on my brother's laptop, after Rob tried and failed. Go me!
• Deanna, who is doing the girls hair for the wedding, gave my hair a trim on Monday. She cut off about 2-3 inches. It should grow back nicely for the wedding. Right now though, I feel as though a weight has been lifted off my shoulders (pun intended).
  
• We are approaching the 100 day mark with the wedding. I really need to get back in the gym. I've been successfully using the cold as an excuse to not go. I refuse to go outside in 10 degree weather in those thin gym pants when I'm miserable enough from the cold. But I really want to tone up for the wedding!

• I have a love-hate relationship with blogger. I LOVE blogging, but I hate putting pictures in my posts. First, it only lets you upload five photos at a time. Then getting them where you want and how you want them is a pain as well. But it doesn't help that I'm lazy and hate uploading pictures from my camera to my computer.
• I found out while watching Show Me St. Louis today that a woman that goes to my church is a pet photographer! She comes to peoples houses and takes pictures of their pets! I'm so doing this when we get the house to a livable point! She's got a website here. How fun!
  
• My dad is watching a show on TV about doughnuts, and I'm really growing a craving... Care to join me? Mmmm... chocolate long johns...
  

• My cell phone has gone off the deep end. It keeps turning itself off and on, off and on. The buttons aren't working right. Rob and I are going to go look at a plan on Saturday... I'm kinda bummed because I love my phone: I've had it for almost two years. But compared to my last phone, that's nothing. I had my first phone for about 5 years. It was great. Hopefully we get something good!
• Mom and Dad may be going on a vacation to Hawaii this year. I really hope they can go, they deserve it. But at the same time, I'm VERY jealous. I really want to go on a vacation. We thought about going, too, for our belated honeymoon, but I really don't think we can afford it. That, and our good friends Greg and Valerie (Valerie is a bridesmaid in my wedding) may be getting married in the Caribbean this December, so we'd need to save money for that trip! I can dream though, right?

• I'm now going to take advantage of this dreary, cold period and make some cookies and chicken and dumplings. Mmmm... since I can't have doughnuts....
  

Happy snow days everyone! Drive safe!

To hold us all over...

I've made a slideshow of the house progress from start to finish to hold us over for the next week while I'm not allowed to go in... I'm going through withdraws! My house is finally done and I'm not allowed to see it?! That is soooo not fair. So, I'm reminiscing about how it all started and what a fun (and stressful) process it has all been. Would I do it again? Definitely, but not anytime soon. This has been a blast and we've finally reached the end! In one week we'll be homeowners!!!

Belated Valentine's Day

Rob and I have always celebrated Valentine's Day, but never on the day itself. It usually works out that way with most holidays and occasions. We figure that just because the calendar says it's on February 14th, doesn't mean we have to celebrate it on that day.

We didn't do anything major this year, but I did want to share Rob's gifts for me. I'm so freaking happy!!!

First, he got me a pair of earrings. They are beautiful and if I weren't a lazy bum, I'd pull them out of my ears, take a picture, and post them, but I don't feel like it. I lost one of my diamond earrings he gave me a couple of years ago (I was so upset!) and he felt like he should make an effort to replace them... they're beautiful.

My favorite gift? Not that the earrings weren't amazing.... You may remember that Rob got this fancy new piece of technology that allows him to paint on his computer. Well, I asked him to paint me a picture. 2 1/2 months later, it's finished. And, it's is unbelievable. I LOVE it.

The big reveal.....




Isn't it awesome? It looks ten times more amazing in real life (18x20). The detail is incredible and he put so much work into it. He wants to sell his art and I definitely think he should. Happy Valentine's Day to me! (and everyone else...) :o)

Wedding Shower!

My lovely friend Samantha had her first wedding shower today. It was beautiful! It was nice and small and she got some great stuff. It makes me so excited for mine coming up in about a month! First, I LOVED the house where it was hosted. Our friend Jennifer's mom kindly opened her gorgeous home to us for the shower and we ate on fine china and used real silver. It was so nice! We had delicious baked potato soup, chicken salad, fruit salad, poppyseed muffins, and cake! It was just a great time to talk and get together with friends.

Sam with all her gifts... (check out the pond in the backyard and the awesome color of the walls!)

She got a mixer (it doubles as a hand mixer... how cool is that?)

Jenn making Sam's ribbon bouquet, she only broke three... hmm...

Sam with her ribbon bouquet :o)

You can't open a present with a big bow and not put it on your head, right?

Drum Roll, Please...

It's done!!! Well, almost. The house is complete as far as construction is concerned. They are cleaning things up right now. Woo-hoo!!! I thought this day would never come, but now that it's here, I'm a little overwhelmed. It's so scary! We'll close in a little over a week! At least if all goes well with the loan - say a prayer, everyone. Rob and I went out today and put some post-it notes up around the house pointing out some problems that still need attention, but they are still finishing things up.

It was fun to go around and turn the lights on and off and run the faucets. It's amazing how something as simple as ringing the doorbell can make you so happy!

My favorite part? Our front door!! I've been waiting ever so patiently to see the color of our front door on the house... like I've said before, I'm horrible with colors and "seeing" things. But it looks fantastic!!!

Ta-da!!

Our Range and Microwave

The kitchen, minus the cardboard that has been covering the linoleum

My first goal, after putting our blinds up, is to paint the walls. I'm thinking a nice neutral color. Just something besides white. I can 't stand the white. I want to get some curtains up and warm the place up a bit. It will be so fun!!

Check out the shattered window in our back door. Yikes! But, I personally think it looks pretty cool. Too bad we can't keep it that way...

Rob and I are going to look at a dryer tomorrow at Sears, hopefully we can get a good deal! Let the fun begin!

Just a couple of things...

First, Jennifer, here's the link you were asking for!!

Shabby Princess Desktops

They are in PNG format, which works with Photoshop. So you can use Photoshop to put the pictures in the frames, then save it as a JPEG to use for your desktop. If you don't have Photoshop or can't figure it out, let me know and I'll do it for you if you want!

Second,

4 MONTHS!!!!!

We're four months from the wedding!! I had to change it in my about me section. I love these days...

Just a couple of things...

First, Jennifer, here's the link you were asking for!!

Shabby Princess Desktops

They are in PNG format, which works with Photoshop. So you can use Photoshop to put the pictures in the frames, then save it as a JPEG to use for your desktop. If you don't have Photoshop or can't figure it out, let me know and I'll do it for you if you want!

Second,

4 MONTHS!!!!!

We're four months from the wedding!! I had to change it in my about me section. I love these days...

Check it out!

I've just discovered something on my all-time favorite scrapping website, Shabby Princess... Monthly desktops! So, check out my new desktop:


That's all, good night.

Wedding Choices

I had a wedding dream lastnight! My first one in a LONG time. I haven't had many dreams, but when I do they are pretty funny. I dreamt that I was getting married at a church attached to JcPenney's at West County Mall and I was running late. Then after I got there, I was sitting in the back pew of the church waiting to walk down the aisle. I was so upset because I wasn't "hidden" in a room before the wedding and everyone could see me. Then I walked down the aisle and a random person from my church was marrying us. Then they were having sound problems and I kept saying, "you don't need a mic!" It was pretty crazy....

Anyway, after my horribly depressing post yesterday, I thought I'd try to lighten it up with something wedding related. That's always fun right? We're coming up on 4 months (tomorrow!) and counting - 122 days, or 17 weeks - and we've got a bit of decision-making ahead of us.

• The first dance. This has been a decision that has been plaguing my mind for months now and we can't make a choice! Rob and I both love music and often just sit and listen together. We don't reall have "a song" which makes it hard, but we want our first dance to reflect our tastes. We both LOVE Coldplay and Jimmy Eat World. In fact, Jimmy Eat World just came out with a new CD, Chase this Light, which is AMAZING: and Coldplay is supposed to release their new one this year (May???). I'm really hoping to find something on Coldplay's new CD. But somehow I doubt it.... We also like Snow Patrol, Aqualung, Imogen Heap, David Gray, and many, many others. So, as my lovely readers, it's your job to make suggestions! By the way, you can leave comments even if you don't have a blog or aren't registered anywhere. So I know there are lots who read that don't post comments. Now's your chance. You could make your mark in my wedding!


• Decision number two is the invitations. I believe we've already picked out our invitations, but we are waiting until the last minute to order them because we want to close on the house. But we need to choose how to do the colors on them and whether we want lined envelopes and what enclosures we want. This is way more complicated than it needs to be. But I love the invitation we chose.

• What to eat at the reception. This decision shouldn't be too hard, but it's kind of been shoved to the side with everything else. I'm sure there will be something everyone likes. :o)
• Pictures! This is going to be the hardest part of the day, I think. We are VERY strapped on time. We have Clary, my wonderful photographer for 5 hours and I want to make the best of it. Rob and I have decided to see each other beforehand, which will ease some of that pressure, but we still need to make sure that everyone is on board and knows exactly where to be and what to do. Unfortunately when I need to be organized, I never am... I have to try really hard on this one.
• The Wedding Night. We have two choices. We can go home to our new house, or stay in a hotel. We're still debating on this one... I'd love to stay in a really nice hotel and splurge on room service. But, it would be much easier, faster, and cheaper to just go home - which would be nice too. If we do decide to go to a hotel, we need to decide what hotel to go to. Again, dear readers, any suggestions? FYI: our reception is at the Lake St. Louis Banquet Center, so I don't want to drive an hour or more to go someplace....

Since I don't want to bog you down with too many decisions to make :o), I'll cut it off there. Don't you love wedding posts? Me too! Now if only the wedding was here!

Breathe in, Breathe out.

We're almost there. It's almost done. I'm so ready for it to be done. I'm beginning to lose count of the "nervous breakdown" moments I have felt in the past week or two. There's times when I literally just stop, close my eyes, take a deep breath, say a little prayer, and keep pressing on. I feel like I'm running a race.

This weekend has been one of those extremely busy, yet unfortunately unproductive ones where you look back and wonder what the heck you did that made the time fly by so fast. Friday we met up with Rob's friend Ryan and his new girlfriend Stephanie - that was pretty confusing all night... :o) But we had a blast. We went and ate at Ethyl's (delicious!) and then went bowling at the new Brunswick Zone bowling alley (beautifully smoke free!) where Rob relived his days of being 6-time junior league bowling champion and putting everyone (well, me...) to shame. It was so much fun!

Saturday, I woke up to an absolutely beautiful day (I think it hit 65 degrees?). I took my babies for a walk. I love walking my dogs, but I'm too intolerable to cold to do it when it's below 35 degrees outside. Guys, I don't shiver, I convulse. Seriously. So, the puppies had a fabulous day and went home to take long naps after expending so much energy. Then Rob and I took his aunt Camille who was in town from Chicago to see the house. She loved it! They've got the doorknobs on as well as the stopper things. Not much else has changed though (e.g. my list has yet to be acknowledged - they still have time though!). Then Mom and I went shopping at the mall for a few things and I came home to go out to eat with Rob's family for his grandmother's birthday. She turned 79 this year (I think...)!

Sunday, I got up for church - running late again... and then went to work for the afternoon. Boring. Rob came over last night and we just bummed. Not very productive.

That's what I did, but here's what is causing me such mental distress... Tracy, our loan officer, called and said he wasn't sure if the loan was going to go through (my worst nightmare). He said we are great candidates (we both practically have perfect credit and Rob has no debt to speak of), but they are being EXTREMELY picky with the market the way it is. Awesome. So, he says he needs to re-figure a couple of things, get some updates on Rob's account balance and try taking me off the loan. This brings us to point number two. I hate my financial status right now. It sucks. I work when I can, but come on people, I'm a student. I'm POOR. I'm not a very good contributor to the newlywed fund, but I can't help it if Lindenwood is sucking the life out of me. So, my financial status is hurting us more than helping us... go me. That makes me feel loads better about how much I don't help out to begin with. Once I get out of school it will be different. Rob is such a good sport about everything too. He's the best and just listens to me and my little pity parties telling me he loves me no matter what. :) That's why I love him!

So, we get that figured out and now we're playing the waiting game again, hoping the loan goes through at our pretty good interest rate. Say a prayer everyone.

So, I just add that to the list of things constantly flowing through my thoughts all the time and try and make a habit of writing that mental list down every once in a while.

By the way, I apologize for the Debbie Downer posts lately, but I have to vent somewhere...

I'm so proud of myself!

I'm a very anal retentive person and, for the most part consider myself a pretty good cook - as long as I have a recipe. I enjoy following recipes when I cook. It's fun. The other day, however, I ventured out of my realm of comfort and made my first ever wing-it recipe. Good old fashion Chicken and Dumplings. It was amazing!!!

Here's what I did:

Approx. 6 cups of water
1 Can Cream of Celery Soup
2 Cans Cream of Chicken Soup
"Enough" boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/2 an onion (average size)
About 2 stalks of celery
About 2 carrots
Chicken boullion
3 Cans of biscuits

Cube the chicken breasts and chop up the veggies. In a large pot, boil water and add chicken boullion to make chicken broth (as much as you like!). Then, add all three cans of soup. Cook chicken in some olive oil until almost done seasoning to taste, and add celery and onions. Cook until celery/onions/chicken are done. Add celery, onions, chicken, and carrots to the pot. Let it cook (add some salt and pepper if you like) for about 20 minutes or until you can't wait any longer and the carrots are getting soft. While that is going, about 15-20 minutes before you want to eat, prepare dumplings. Take two to three biscuits and "roll" them out on a cutting board with your hands. Using a pizza cutter cut them into strips. You have to do this fast because as they warm up they'll get soft, stick together, and start rising. Put the dumplings into the soup keeping them separated as possible and let cook until dumplings are done (however you like them!) about 15 minutes is what I do.

You're done! I know it's kind of hodge podge, but it turned out really good and Rob's obsessed. It makes quite a bit, but who doesn't like leftovers, right?

Carpeting

Ran out to the house today to check out the carpeting. WOW!!! Now it really looks more finished. It was weird walking into the house and taking our shoes off. We've hit another bump in the road though. I got a call from our new sales agent which, by the way, ticks me off to begin with because I really liked our first one and they up and switched them around leaving us with someone who hasn't been through the process with us. But, I digress...

As I was saying, the sales agent called and wanted to set up our appointment for our final walk through. Sure, in a couple of weeks, about a week before closing, right? Nope. They want to do the final walk through the day before we close. Um, what if something needs to be fixed? What if that thing that needs fixing will take longer than one day to fix? Then whatcha gonna do, huh, huh, huh? I'm not signing closing papers until the house is to my satisfaction and that's that. But apparently that's the way it's done. Fine. So I went up today and did my own little mini walk through, one of many, and made a nice little list of things for them to fix. We'll see if it gets done...

I have to admit, people, I about lost it today. You see, my brain has reached it's capacity. The pounding headache I am currently experiencing is just physical evidence that it can't handle any more. In computer terms, I need more hard drive space with a ton more RAM (that one's for you babe...). When I've got school (19 hour class load) and keeping up with homework, working 20 hours a week at least, taking care of wedding stuff, and building my house (for which I do the majority of business things - phone calls, paper work, etc.) (and blogging!), I feel like I've hit my max. So one more think about shoved me past my limit. What's that thing? Some of our windows won't close and lock, and there is an issue with the banister. Seems small, right? Nope, getting them to fix anything is a pain. My first list has been left untouched. So, here I sit hoping my list will be given some amount of attention and praying that things get fixed so I don't have to think about it anymore.

We'll see... Now, on to the pictures!!!

The view of the great room from the foyer (pardon the mess...)

James breaking in the new carpet :o)

The linoleum transfer to the carpet (Looks great!!)

James checking out the master bath

Hopefully everything goes off without any more problems... say a prayer!

More...

...progress on the house! I ran out to the house today after work because they are supposed to put the carpet in tomorrow and I wanted to make sure there weren't any random nails sticking out of the floor. There were quite a few surprises awaiting my arrival. Let me start from the beginning though.

Getting in the house is always fun. They have it master-keyed, but we can usually get in through the backyard. Well, with the ridiculous amount of precipitation we've gotten, we couldn't get to the back door. Believe me I tried and literally ended up sunk in mud up to my ankles... lovely. So, after taking care of my mud-packed shoes, we ran back to the office to get the master key (should have done that in the first place, right?). But, eventually we made it in, I stripped off my shoes and socks (luckily I was wearing two pair and wasn't completely barefoot) and went in. Let the fun begin!

The first thing I hear when I walk in the house? "Your microwave is in!" WOO-HOO!!! One of the more exciting moments in the house-building process.

Ta-da!!

Next, I find my DISHWASHER!! Double yay!!

And the Range must be somewhere... HERE!!

As well as our faucets throughout the house (the garbage disposal works by the way)

Rob's pride and joy, the hookups for the surround sound...

Light fixtures...

Our kitchen chandelier! Beautiful!

Double whammy with this picture: lights that work, and shelving in our closet!!

Also, all the lightswitches and plugs have plates on them, our doorbell works (I rang it!), our thermostat is in, and all the smoke detectors are up, as well as the toilets, mirrors, shower doors, curtain rods, etc. Phew. I can't wait to go out tomorrow or Friday and see if the carpet is in!

Chock Full of Cuteness

I have to say my house is chock full of cuteness. See for youself:

Every time I pull my camera out, James insists that I take his picture - this time he wanted me to take a picture of him taking a picture

"Again, Nene!"

Then Nene made James pose for a real picture - my sweetheart

Oliver avoiding the camera as usual

When I finally got him to look at me he sneezed...

And... finally!!! A good picture of my handsome boy!

Sadie using Dudley as a pillow

Oliver sleeping - as usual

Sadie and Dudley keeping each other warm

Dudley was beginning to take interest in the camera and trying to get out from under Sadie

Am I right? I am, I know. :o)

Chock Full of Cuteness

I have to say, my house is chock full of cuteness. Well, you can just decide for yourself:

Countdowns and Random Miscellany

I have so much to look forward to in the next 6 months. It's fun because I have random countdowns everywhere I go on my computer. Here's my list, in order of their arrival:

1. 12 days until my dear friend, Samantha's, bridal shower (yay!)
   
2. 15 days until our house is supposed to be done
3. 23 days until we close on our house (and get to start looking at furniture!)
4. 1 month, 18 days until my bridal shower (double yay!)
5. 2 months, 1 day until Chris and Samantha's wedding (I can't wait!)
6. 3 months, 11 days until school's out!
7. 4 MONTHS, 9 DAYS UNTIL I GET MARRIED!!!
   

Okay, nothing can compare to the last one, so I'm gonna stop there. The main reason for so many countdowns? It gets me through to the wedding! I feel like I'm taking it step by step, reaching each goal as it comes. We're 18 weeks away! I can't believe it, but I couldn't be more happy. In the mean time, I'll enjoy the events that are in between.

And since I'm too lazy to make another post about it, Rob and I made our first "big" purchase for the house! We've been really careful about buying stuff until we close, because EVERYTHING matters, but we couldn't pass up this deal:

Our mattress!! It's not much, but I'm happy with it:

It's a Sealy Posturepedic Sedona Springs "Ultra Plush" queen size mattress. We got it for $489 (both the mattress and boxspring) with a $100 off coupon at Costco. Woo-hoo! I love a bargain!


We're also hoping to find a nice bedroom set for a decent price. I'm currently loving this one:

It's from Costco (I love Costco!) and at $2,000 for a 6 piece (bed, 2 nightstands, dresser, mirror, and chest) it isn't half bad (I don't think...). But, we were kind of hoping to catch one of those sales at a furniture store where they give you no interest financing for 3 years. The only way to finance at Costco is to open an American Express... we'll see.

Wouldn't the bed set we registered for look great with it???

I can't wait to start decorating the house... :o)