YIPPEE!!!!

My dress is in!!!! I picked it up last Wednesday and took it with me to Houston to my best friend (and MOH) A's house this past weekend. I am wanting to make a shrug out of lace to cover the arms a bit and A is a bit of a lace freak. She has been buying up all kinds of old lace for herself the last few years. She even scored some amazing old wedding dresses from the 60's that looked like they were custom made by hand just because she loved the lace on them!
Now, I have this flaw....I consider it a major flaw so I will just put it out there.....I HAVE FAT ARMS. I inherited them from my Dad's side of the family and I absolutely HATE them...but not enough to really do anything about them I guess because I still have them.

Anyway, after ordering this beautiful strapless dress I panicked over the whole arm issue. A thinks I'm nuts but she is willing to make me a shrug that will downplay my least favorite assets. She found some really cool pleated lace to make a stand up collar for the shrug. It helped having the dress there because some of the lace that looked like it would be a perfect match in the photos was WAY TOO DARK when we put it near the dress. We made a good start on it but it was nowhere near completed when I had to leave on Sunday. I DID, however, have to try it on with my dress a few times while we worked on it....darn it all!!!!

They are DONE!

YIPPEE!!! I have about half of my STD's in the mail! I think they turned out pretty cute and have the feel of a real concert ticket. D loves that we were able to incorporate a picture of a teardrop trailer in it. The name of our teardrop is Todah 2. The lady that built her named her, it is a Hebrew word that means giving thanks.

I need to remember to give thanks for all the wonderful things in my life and not dwell on the not so great parts.

I caved....

I mailed out the first batch of Save The Dates last night. And I caved to the pressure from my sister and sent one to my parents. I'm finally not so ticked off at them and frankly I'm tired of my sister telling me almost daily that I need to let them know I'm getting married because in her mind she thinks they will help out with the expenses. Yeah right. In our family if you aren't a deadbeat then they really don't have time for you.

Case in point. I tried for 2 months to get a little family get together organized the Saturday after Thanksgiving since we were going to be there for our High School reunion (it's a small town so every class goes to the reunion). First I was told OK, then I was called back about a week later and told that she wasn't going to COOK ANYTHING. If we wanted to come out FINE but it would have to be sandwiches because they had plans that night. Uhhh OK, WE ALL HAVE PLANS THAT NIGHT! I was only wanting everyone to get together for LUNCH not an all day ordeal. The reunion didn't even start until 6 pm. Then she informed me...Oh and by the way they were going to having Thanksgiving dinner for Quatro's parents on FRIDAY. (my loser brother's 4th wife that I'm sure he's already cheating on. He hasn't had a single relationship make it to the one year mark. But he is a whole OTHER RANT.)

Then about a week before Thanksgiving I called to confirm everyone getting together for an hour or so for lunch and was informed that it was "too much of an inconvenience to have lunch". So here I am. I was driving 4 hours to come home for Thanksgiving so I could see the family. Hadn't been home in about 6 months. HADN'T BROUGHT A GUY HOME in about 10 years. And my own MOTHER is telling me that I'm an INCONVENIENCE. All I wanted to do was show D around my old stomping grounds and to announce our engagement to the family in person. I was so pissed I haven't spoken to her since.

I took D out for some great food, some really bad for you but mighty tasty food and then we went to the dance part of the reunion. I introduced D to ALL of my cousins and told THEM that we were engaged. My sister and her family took us around to see all old favorite haunts and made D feel welcome. So it wasn't a complete bust of a trip.

As for the folks....we are taking bets on if they even acknowledge the SOD.

I have such a wonderfully generous Sweetheart!

When his late mother in law was alive they had bought her a hoveround to use. She died not long after they bought it so it's been parked in his garage for the last several years. He saw a listing on craigslist where someone was needing one but didn't have much money to give for it.

My Sweetheart, knowing that they would have to spend money they probably didn't have to spare on new batteries and maybe new wheels for the unit, gave it to her!!!

He had the sweetest email from her this morning that ended...

"...every time I get to go out in my chair I will thank the lord and tell him to bless that nice man D!"

Packing....

I am packing my apartment this week because my lease is up in early February and I'm moving in with D and his 14 year old son. I should have this packing thing DOWN because I've moved about 6 times in the last 7 years. But for some reason THIS TIME it's DIFFERENT. It's been 20 years since I really LIVED WITH SOMEONE. I was married briefly when I was really young, he was abusive and I got the hell out as fast as possible. Since then I've managed to live on my own. I was in a long term relationship some years ago but he had his house and I had mine.

I think I'm just freaking out and making this MUCH harder than it needs to be. I keep telling myself that all I really need to leave out are my clothes and toiletries. Everything else can be packed and we'll sort through it over the next few months as we go room by room purging and remodeling the house. For some reason that isn't helping me get past this mental block. I sit down on my lovely black leather club chair and just STARE at the piles of stuff that need to be packed.

Anyone want to help me pack?

I'm gonna kick some butt!!!

I received an email from my bestfriend and MOH. It appears that her other bestfriend that I am also friends with had just called her with his "good news".
Apparently he has been dating this girl for 3 weeks and they decided over the weekend to get married. ON MAY 2ND!!!
Now I KNOW for a fact that the boy knew I was planning a wedding for the same day. I almost had a bridezilla moment over the whole thing...I just wanted to drive to Houston and kick his BUTT!!!!
On the positive side (for me anyway). He is notorious for meeting women and getting engaged within weeks. He has done this about 5 times since his divorce but they always break up within 6 months. So while I know this one probably won't last either it irritates the daylights out of me that he would "take my day".

New Driver's License

I have been putting off getting my driver's license renewed for YEARS. Every time I think about going and getting it renewed and my address updated I am getting ready to MOVE AGAIN. It just didn't make sense to update the address if I was going to be moving again in just a few months! And there is that oh so pleasant experience of having to stand around for several hours just to have a bad picture taken.
So I was forced, FORCED I tell you, to update my driver's license because it expired on my birthday this year. arrrggghhh! I'm moving in with D in February and we are getting married in May. That would have been 2 more afternoons and 25 dollars each time to update my license. Double aaarrrrgggghhh!!!!
I know it's silly and illegal to not update you license when you move but I just dread the thought of dealing with "those people". I have very little tolerance for idiots and if I'm having a headache that day (which I usually am. I get whoppers all the time.) I have EVEN LESS. I decided to ask D if I could talk D into letting me go ahead and use his address since I will be living there officially in a few more weeks and I'm there all the time now. He thought that was a good idea. His actual words were "I don't care" and rattled the address off for me. Yippee!!! ONE less update I'll have to make to my license!!! And I'm actually looking forward to making that change!!!!