The Newish Deck

I posted last month about having that old decrepit spa taken out of our deck. On Sunday a man and his grandson came over to remove that part of the deck. They arrived around 9:00 am and by the time I got up they had gotten pretty far along. I think I took these picture around 1:30 or 2:00:

The man was able to save the old steps that went off toward the back. This next pic is with all the old deck gone as well as the finished outside edge of the deck that was left. The guy did a really good job and I enjoyed watching him work. He had to do some strange angle cuts because the beams underneath the deck board were not square to the boards. I was really impressed.:

They left to go get some fill dirt and have a late lunch and pick up another person and after a second trip to get dirt, the hole was filled and packed down and the steps were reattached to the deck:

They actually finished as it was getting dark so I took these last two pictures (above and below) the next day after I rearranged all my flower pots.

I was a tad disappointed after doing my research and finding out that it would not be a good idea to resod now. So we'll have a big sandy dirt patch for our company. Oh well. We will resod in April and by sometime next summer the grass will look like it was there the whole time.

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I think I like my new smaller deck. And that's one more thing I could check off my list. Yay!

Yikes I've Been Busy

One of the reasons I blog is to keep a record because I don't write stuff down in a journal. My Sweetie said to me today, "You haven't posted in a while." I replied, "I got nothing to say." That's not really true. I was just being flip.
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On Thursday my daughter and I went to the country club to go over some questions we had. The girl who had been so awesomely sweet when we met with her before was not so much this time. She kinda killed my buzz. I realize that there was an event going on at the time but it was like she was a different person. That's a huge turn off for me. I want people to be consistent. Yeah I know there wouldn't be words like "moods" and uhm, other words like that if people didn't get wiggity and jiggity sometimes, but isn't that what she's paid to do? Be all chipper and stuff? When I was paid to be all chipper and stuff, you can bet your last twenty I was cheerful and helpful and all kinds of that.
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Other than that girl being Betty Buzzkill, it was a good meeting. We found out that one of the foods was not what we thought and changed that out and got to go over the layout of everything. They had actually done some remodeling and the set-up will be better than we were originally told. That was nice. Then my daughter was presented with the bill and she got a bit moody herself.
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So we stopped at a bar after that to unwind before we headed to to the tailor shop. That part cheered us up because it was the first time my daughter had the wedding dress on and it wasn't just a pile of material on the floor. That lady is really good. If you live in the east side of Tarrant county go to the tailor shop in Bedford at Harwood and Central.
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Saturday My Sweetie and I went to the optical place to pick out new glasses for him. Wow! He's going to be so cute! He gets the ones that turn into shades in the sun, so we have to wait a week. Then we went to the suit store and got him a suit and shirt and tie that will go really well with my dress. The shirt and tie I mean. The suit will go with anything.
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After that we went to the Hobby Lobby and I found some cool stuff including the pearl pins that I will need to to make the bouquet. Oh yeah I forgot to mention that I'm going to make the bouquet. It will be easy after watching this video:

More Wedding Stuff (part: 517)

Today (Tuesday, actually) my daughter and I went to the wedding chapel. It's an old chapel that is on the national register of historical places. It's a non-profit wedding site where the moneys are used for preservation and renovation. I really liked it. And I scoped out a place to put a little ice chest for my beer.
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The picture above is one I found online of the bride's room. I was really looking forward to seeing it and I felt like I was in an old English Mary Stewart novel. I didn't realize until much later that I had never been in a bride's room. 49 years old, married three times, and never been in a bride's room. That seems a bit peculiar, doesn't it? Oh and that picture down on the right there (things I'm looking forwadr to:) is the actual chapel and that's what it looks like.
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The whole chapel was very quaint and lovely and I really loved the lady that was helping us. She will be there during the wedding to make things run smoothly. She was really fun and the three of us had some great laughs. I was the most impressed when she kept a straight face when my daughter told her the music she'd be using. My daughter wants bagpipe music playing before the ceremony. The groom and best man will enter followed by the maid of honor to Vivaldi's Summer. Then my daughter will enter to Vivaldi's Spring. There will be no music during the short ceremony. Then my daughter and her husband will exit the church to John Williams' The Imperial March (also known as Darth Vader's theme).
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We went to lunch downtown after we left the chapel and finally got a head count for the rehearsal dinner. I suggested a place and as usual my daughter was fine with it and called her future MIL to see if she was good with that. It wasn't until we got home that I told my daughter, "Now that it's a done deal, I have a confession. I picked that restaurant because I have a good memory of being there with Dad." I've been doing little things to make Dad part of the ceremony. The wedding weekend is also the 12th anniversary of Dad's death weekend. You may think it odd that I like that, but I do. My brother and my best friend will be here and they were also there. I'm thinking the three of us will have a special toast.
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Thursday we go back to the country club to go over last details and then go to the tailor shop to do the "after" dress fitting for the wedding dress. My best friend and her beau will be here in just two weeks and that is the kickoff of the official wedding week. Two weeks! You can't spell that without eek!

Heart Attacks and Moons

I had a minor heart attack today when I got an R.S.V.P. in the mail. When my daughter and I did the seating arrangements for the wedding, we squeezed everyone perfectly into 9 tables. On top of that, the R.S.V.P. said: 2 or 4. Really? 2 or 4? What kind of response is that? I couldn't find them on our table cards and they were not marked with a "T" on the original list so just as I was looking over everything, I finally saw the name and saw that we had already sat them as 4. Apprently they had verbally responded to my daughter. What a relief.
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Saturday night I took out my 5" telescope. I love astronomy but because of our location there is not a lot to see here. We're on the side of a hill, there are trees all around and there is an abundance of light pollution. But after reading about Jupiter making its closest pass in 47 years, I had to try. Jupiter is big and was easy to find without a telescope. It looks like a huge bright star. It rises in the east, southeast and goes straight overhead. After a lot of positioning and changing of eyepieces, we finally got a great view through the telescope that looked like this:

That's Jupiter with its moons Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto. It will be near the moon for the next couple of days. I don't have the proper equipment to photograph through my telescope, so I found that picture on the web, but that's exactly what we saw. If you have access to a telescope, try to get a look at Jupiter, especially on the 22nd when a faint Emerald disc will be nearby. That will be Uranus. Also on the 22nd will be a Harvest Moon. It's a great skywatching month, but watch out for mosquitos.

More Wedding Stuff

Today I made the wish cards:
Cutting out all those cards was tedious even with a paper cutter. And I killed two birds with one stone with this idea:

The cobalt blue wine glasses will be part of the centerpiece design and we needed something to put in them. We also needed placecards for the tables or table cards maybe since we are not having designated seats, just designated tables. I had to scrub out the top name for this post, but you get the idea. The lighting is poor on the wine glass but it is a very pretty cobalt blue all over.

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You will get to see the finished product of my tablescapes or centerpieces or whatever you call 'em after the wedding.

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My daughter came over this evening to see my ideas and as usual she was fine with everything. Then we started doing our head count and table assignments. We ended up with 9 tables not counting the wedding party table. The tables hold eight. I only knew enough people to assign three tables and Kate had to figure out the other 6. We'll get the seating chart for 9 tables next week and figure out the placement. I know who I want away from me and who I want near me. We named one table (for ourselves I mean, not for the placecard!) "The Baby Table" and that table will be as far from me as possible.

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I'm hoping there will be four tables at the front. And by front I mean by the wedding party table. Because there are three different parents' tables and I do not want to sit near them. I want to put the cool young people between my table and theirs. But if there are only three I'll put my ex next to me and put the groom's folks on the other side. I'll be in the front corner near "stage left" if you consider the bridal party's table the stage. Behind me will be other family and friends of mine and some leftover older dude. I'm also putting my second husband there because he's a nice fella and my friends and SIL will be nice to him.

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My table will have my husband's parents, Mom, my brother, Lo and her boyfriend, and My Sweetie and me.

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On Tuesday we are going by the wedding chapel. My daughter has to pay them the final amount and I want to see the place. On Thursday we are going back to the country club for the seating chart and to go over some questions we have. 23 Days until the wedding. 19 days until my best friend Lo from N.C. arrives. 20 days until Mom and my brother arrive. That's not a lot of days, but I think I'm ready. I need a beer.

Can't Complain, It Would Be Rude

Sometimes I want to complain about stuff and then I think of all the people starving and without fresh water in countries and I feel like I'm a dick for complaining and then I think that's not fair because I'm a person and this is my existence and then I think I am selfish for even thinking about it and then I realize that this sentence has gone on way too long.
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I blame my second husband who is a very nice guy. Too nice - he was always depressed about the state of the planet and whatnot. He left his career as an engineer (hee hee that's sorta poetic) and became some sort of yoga zen master somewhere. At the time I found him tiresome for feeling the weight of the world and now sometimes I catch myself doing it and well, obviously it's all his fault. And who knew that shit was contagious?
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And all of this because I wanted to complain about the eviscerated mouse I found in my garage this morning. There was a head and then a partial body from the chest down with guts all spilling out. I have no idea where the shoulders and forearms ended up. Maybe Barney ate that part. It was really gross. I should be able to complain about that. I guess I just did.

The Terrible Irony of Domestic Violence

The radio station I listen to plays that new Eminem/Rihanna song quite often. The lyrics are very disturbing because as I've said many times, I am unable to grasp the concept of "loving someone so much you want to kill or hurt them." And the reason I put that in quotation marks is because it's too bizarre for me to think of as an actual thought.
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In the song he says something like: if she tries to leave me again I'll tie her to the bed and set the house on fire.
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Usually I just ponder these things and think they are bizarre. But yesterday I finally got it. It just came to me in a flash of thought. I understand what domestic violence is all about now. And it is a terrible irony.
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What happens is the violent person does not realize one of the very basic facts of life: One cannot control all aspects of life or control other persons. Heck, the serenity prayer, which is just really common sense, is pretty much all about that. So these ignorant pathetic individuals can't even grasp the simple fact that pure control is elusive. Therefore when something happens that they can't control, they lash out from frustration - and here's the ironic part: They act out violently because they don't even have self control. So they are furious because something happened that they couldn't control and yet they can't even control themselves. How ironic is that? And how awful.
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Anyway, that's what I believe domestic violence is all about. Maybe they should make kids recite the serenity prayer every morning before class. They can leave out the god part and call it the "Serenity Mantra" or something. Or maybe call it "The Wisdom Poem." It certainly couldn't hurt.

My WTF Week

What a crazy week! First the flooding. I saw pics on the news today of cars floating down streams, and also, after pics of cars up on sidewalks. And Wednesday I saw a crazy rescue of people from an apartment building that involved crossing over horizontal ladders from rooftop to rooftop and then another ladder down onto a firetruck.

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The second WTf was, of course, watching all those tornados live on TV. If you are new here, you need to read the post just before this one.
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My third WTF was this (Thursday) morning. Actually it started Wednesday during tornado time. My neighbor dude who has not spoken to me since his wife bitched me out for having to pay my cat's vet bill when their cat ripped up my cat, showed up at my door while I was tornado watching. He told me that a guy was going to come over to replace two posts on the fence between our houses. Well, the posts are on my side of the fence so I was all sure, sure, my gate will be open. I just wanted to get back to tornado TV. When I woke up the fence post guy was parked right in front of my mailbox. That always annoys the hell out of me, but probably not half as much as it annoys the mailman. Then I went to peek out the side window and saw a doofy guy slowly pounding the fence with a sledgehammer. I thought, "Who the F did he hire?" Finally the one guy moved his truck and they seemed to be doing decent work, but they left with one perfect post and one post that was only partially filled:

So there's like 4 or 5 inches left in the hole. Are they going to come back with more cement? WTF?
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The last one was I got a package today for my daughter. If you remember, we used my return address and mailing address for the wedding invites and R.S.V.P.s because my daughter "lives in an apartment" and doesn't "really check her mail" because she does everything online. So I got this package and sent her a text: You got a wedding gift from "the Taylors." She texted back: Who are the Taylors? I texted: That's your dad's cousin "Elizabeth." Then I was all WTF? I was married to this guy for only 4 years and she's been his daughter for 26 years. Why did I know who it was and she didn't? And she's the one who had the list and addressed everything. All I did was print the things and tie the bows. WTF?

So that was my WTF week. I hope my weekend is mellow and someone fills in that hole.

Whoa! Whoa! Tornados!

All of these pictures are from today (Wednesday I mean - as usual I am posting after midnight). I spent a whole hour glued to the TV watching tornados form. From 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. I watched the live feed from chopper 8 and then from their TV tower as funnels formed, touched ground, swept across the land throwing up all sorts of debris and then letting go and retracting back into their giant wall cloud.

Usually when we marvel at modern technology, it's the internet or cell phone or digital video we are talking about, but this was just regular old TV news with their live feed from chopper 8.

It was certainly an hour like I've never spent before. And I hope I never get to see anything like that again.

The Short Long Weekend

For a four-day weekend, it sure went by quickly. My Sweetie took Friday off and we did MOW together, had lunch, ran home for a little bit and then drove across town to visit my FIL in rehab (from breaking his hip in case you forgot). Then we headed over to My Sweetie's mom's house to visit with her and his aunt and uncle who were here from Michigan. We were having a great time but had to leave at 11:00 because I didn't have a crazy pill with me.
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While we were visiting we asked them to come by the house on Sunday before their flight back as we live right by the airport, so I spent Saturday cleaning the house. Then we ate out, and got flowers to replace the dead ones outside as well as hitting the grocery store.
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On Sunday I made a veggie tray with homemade ranch and a fruit platter with whipped cream. We had a fun visit and got to sit outdoors because the weather was so lovely. And every morsel of food was eaten. I don't even know how everything got eaten because it seemed like we were all outside all afternoon. A little while after aunt and uncle left for the airport, My Sweetie took his mother home and then grabbed some barbecue on the way home.
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On Monday I pretty much napped all day off and on. I finally showered and we went out to eat and hit the grocery store again. Now he's in bed and the long weekend is over. But what was really cool was I never cooked. I don't think I've gone 4 days without cooking dinner unless I was out of town or recovering from surgery. It was really nice. Now I realize I have a very positive thing to look forward to on the long wedding weekend. No cooking. Or at least not very much. Sounds like a plan.

The Here and Now

I realized this afternoon that I was always thinking about either the wedding weekend or things I need to do to the house before the wedding weekend and how I never seem to be in the here and now. I did finish the veil and I think it came out well.:

I know you loved my old painted styrofoam wig head jammed onto an old lamp base. That's how I roll.
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I still can't figure out how to photograph Austrian crystals. I tried two different things:

I guess the beauty in Austrian crystals is the motion of colors as you move. Maybe the only way to show them off would be to make a video. I should have thought of that before.

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Tuesday we took the wedding dress to the tailor's shop. She is a very sweet lady. And smarter than both of us put together. I've used her many times and her prices have always been very low, but I had never before encountered her wiseness. So here is the dress:

We're not going to tie the bow how it is tied in the picture. I was just in a hurry to get out of the way of the tailor lady.

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I've been trying to think of how not to think about wedding stuff all the time. Of course just thinking about how not to think about it is thinking about it. I think maybe I should use a little notebook and write everything down. But then again, when my North Carolina family is here, I don't want to flip open a notebook and say, "We are having this quiche and fruit for lunch and tonight we will eat at Dos Posados. Between meals, we should chat and be jovial and have fun." I don't even know what time I should get up on the wedding day. And what about lunch for Mom and my brother on that Friday when I'm delivering Meals on Wheels? I'm stuck in the little details. My brain hurts.

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Well at least this evening, I did get to be in the here and now for just a little while. I came out of the grocery store and saw this:

I did take my time. I love rainbows and I enjoyed the moment. I was in the here and now for just that little while. And it was good.