Let the Celebrating begin.

I had been invited to my Future in-laws for a cookout over Memorial Day weekend. After lunch there was dessert, which turned out to be an ice cream cake. Ice cream cake is not all that "cakey." More like ice cream that is cake shaped. Either way it was good. I got a assortment of goodies from the FIL for my birthday.

All the ingredients to make Sugar cookies. Yum.

Yesterday I get a call from my friend Pam. She says"Happy Birthday Eve." She was on her way to Wal-Mart to get some paint and asked if I wanted to go. Sure why not. It's Sunday and Eric isn't home yet. Off the Wally World to get paint. She couldn't decide what color she wanted for her mud room. She wanted a gray/blue color to match the tiles on the floor. I picked out the color Blue Whale. Nice color, matches perfect. Pam had made some soup, tiny garlic rolls and Margarita's. Everything tasted great and look what I got for my birthday.

A journal and slippers in wedding colors no less.

I am not the only one to enjoy these fine examples of things of knit.

And they called it Puppy love.

Then my parents took me to dinner at the http://www.thefrogandturtle.com/. It is a very nice place to have dinner. One of the hostess (Christy) had gone to school with my daughter Samantha. Christy bought me a drink called Chocolate Cake. It was very good. My parents got me one of my gifts off my wedding registry.

The Magic Bullet

I was trying to figure out what I could make in 30 seconds or less. With Eric being gone, I don't have that much by the way of groceries in the house. The only thing that I could find was tequila and margarita mix. So.....

MANGO MARGARITA, OLE!

I got ready for work today. I picked up my phone to leave the house and there was a text message. I thought that it would be from Tracy as we share the same birthday but it was my honey, Eric saying Happy Birthday. Then I get another message, this one from my daughter in Texas. Happy Birthday.

I get home and stop by the mail box to pick up the mail. I noticed that there was a "card" sized envelope. I stopped short, looking at it. I thought I recognized the handwriting. I looked at the return address on it, it was my address. The handwriting belongs to Eric. He mailed me a card from Indianapolis. I got on my birthday. What a guy. He is the best in the whole wide world.

Another year has come and gone. What is a 46 year old woman who is getting married to the man of her dreams suppose to feel like? A million dollars. Wouldn't trade it for anything else.

My daughter says I need to "UPDATE."

The reason I haven't blogged in a while is because I didn't have anything to say. I know that comes as a shock to some people, but it is true.

My life has been the same the the last 2 months. Get up, pee and poo the dog, fill up the dogs pee and poo tanks with food, get ready for work, go to work, come home, pee and poo the dog, fill up the dogs pee and poo tanks with food, talk to Eric, get ready for bed and then go to bed. Then it starts all over again. Exciting huh?

I guess in between there has been wedding "stuff". Got pink and brown candles for the aisle candle holders. Still need to get tulle, light pink M&M's, rope lights and white lights to decorate the reception area. I got my dress fitting scheduled. I haven't been to the gym in those 2 months so when I start to go again tomorrow, I will be a hurting mass of muscle. I will be the old lady in the corner moaning. Got my hair and makeup appt's scheduled. Eric's parents are working on the reheasal dinner. (Going to starve myself just so that I can eat then. I can already smell the Autumn Chicken cooking.) Going to look for a wagon for the ring bearer to be pulled down the aisle with. I think my head is going to explode with all the "little" things that need to be done. Still have get my wedding ring to get off layaway. Invitations are at the Calligraphers for addressing and will be mailed in a few weeks. That reminds me I need to get stamps. The boys need to get measured for their Tux's. I know that's something I shouldn't worry about but I do. Got to meet with the DJ to get music picked out. WAIT.....STOP! What was that noise I just heard? It was my head. It just exploded. HELP ME.

I can list about a trillion and half of things that need to be done. I just keep telling myself it will all come together like pieces in a jigsaw puzzle. Good thing I am organized. If I keep on talking about this my head will explode like one of those balloons in the game Popit. Ouch. So this means I have go. Cuz if I don't I will keep going on about the things that need to be done for the wedding. I am trying to cut back on talking about it. It's like an addiction. At first you start talking about it a little here and little there, then all of a sudden in takes over your life. I can go on and on about things that need to be done.


Must.....make......myself.....stop.

Wedding Things

I finally ordered the invitations. Yeah. I got them online. Both Eric and I picked them out. Actually, I picked them out and Eric agreed that they were nice. We did the wording together. We work well together. The only thing that he didn't want was the proofing (extra $20) they send you via email and then you either approve it or make corrections.



I ordered them on Wednesday and yesterday (Friday) I got the proof. Yes, I had to make a few corrections but otherwise they were good. They even sent proofs of the reception card, response card and the return addresses on the envelopes. All was good.



I also ordered pink and brown tissue paper. The paper is to be used as "filler" in the favor boxes. Then pink and brown M&M's will fill the boxes. I already got the favor boxes, which are almost all folded, only the pink bottoms need to be done. I am way ahead of schedule with these. I even ordered the brown M&M's on Thursday and when I got my email at work confirming my order, there was another email saying that the M&M's were delivered. WHAT! How can that be? I just ordered them the day before. Sure enough, when I pulled into my parking space right by my door, there was the box.

Pretty box. I opened it and it was bubble heaven. A variety of bubble to be popped at a later date. Inside was 5 pounds of brown M&M's. I would have taken a picture of the bag but there was a little mishap. I don't know how and when it happened but the bag magically opened. Being a gracious hostess, I thought that it would be a good idea to "taste" them to make sure they didn't have a bad flavor. It wouldn't be a good idea to give the wedding guests bad chocolate. No, that would not do. Now I can honestly say that the M&M's will be enjoyed by everyone that will be at the reception and maybe a few before. I had purchased a few bags of M&M's at Valentines. In these bags were the colors of red, white, light pink and pink. I picked out the red ones and left the others thinking this would be good combination with the brown. Not when you mix them together. So, now I am going to have to order the light pink ones. Darn it. What am I going to do with all the other M&M's? I am kinda on a diet. If I ate all those M&M's I don't think that I could fit into my wedding dress. What to do? What to do? I could donate them to the Save a Sheep fund. This fund is for anyone who doesn't want any chocolate to go to waste (my waist). What a good idea.

Eric was just home this past week. He left on Wednesday and will be gone until the middle of July. We couldn't figure out a way were he can be gone for a few weeks and then be home for when Samantha come home for a visit with the grandbaby. It will be a long time but we can handle it.

Anyway, while he was home, we went to find him a wedding ring. Eric has very sensitive skin and he has a reaction when he wears gold. No gold ring for him. There are options out there that I didn't think about. Stainless Steel. Titanium. Silver. Platinum. Tungsten.

Since Eric is a truck driver we wanted a ring that would be durable. Titanium was a good choice. Strong metal but it does scratch. Stainless steel looked good. But once again if it gets scratch then it looks....well, scratched. The only ring that would hold it's style and grace was the Tungsten. That is what we got. Eric has his ring. Now, I need to get mine. We have been to countless jewelry stores. I couldn't find one that looked right with my ring. That is until we went to GM Pollack. We found one that looked amazing. It was beautiful with a capital B. They were even having a sale on top of a sale. It was meant to be until she told us the price. For me to have that ring, I am going to have to give up something else that is already planned for the wedding. The answer was no. I will find another wedding ring that will match my engagement ring. The moral of the story is......Patience is a virtue. I will wait. Good things come to those who wait.

Off to clean out the storage unit. Need to save more money.

Oh no, not another one?

Two posts in one week! My F.F.I.L is not going to be able to handle it. Good thing he sits down when he is at the computer.

Today was a busy day for me. I decided that I was going to do some errands and get the garden done. But from the look of the sky that wasn't going to happen. The weather person said that we are going to have showers. OK, I can do this in between storms. No problem. Off I go.

Got dressed, put my sneakers on and then it hit me or I should say Sargeant hit me. He knows when I put any type of footwear on, time to go out. He has this habit of jumping and springing off the my calves when I am walking. This really shouldn't be a problem since he is only 5 pounds. Right? Wrong. Every time he does it, I feel like my knee gives out. You know like when someone is walking behind you and thinks its funny to push on the back of your knee. Kinda like that. He does this EVERY single time. Then I start to feel guilty about not spending more time with him, so I decided to take him on some of my errands with me.

First stop, ATM to take the garden money out so I don't spend more than what I had allotted for this project. Stupid dog almost jumps out of the truck window because he is excited that he is out for a ride. Off to the next bank to make car payment.

This bank is nice. Every time I go there with the dog, the drive thru window bank lady gives Sargeant a treat. He KNOWS this. New lady at the window. Didn't give it a second thought. Out comes the draw. I put the payment in. In goes the draw. New DTWBL takes payment, walks away. Comes back. Puts receipt in the draw. Now Sargeant is all excited. Shes back, shes back. I can have me treat now, I was a good boy. I was even wagging my tail. Out comes draw. NO TREAT. Evil DTWBL. He looked at the draw, looked back at me, then at the draw again. Tail stops wagging, ears deflate, eyes droop. One sad dog. Instead of taking him on our weekly trip to Petco, we went home and I gave him a few treats to make up for the EDTWBL not giving him any. Then I put him in the crate and off I go to finish my errands.

Petco.....dog food, check.

Lowes.....dirt, rocks, rake, shovel, herbs and more dirt, check.

Highland Ave greenhouse......flowers and flowers, check.

Since I didn't see what I really wanted at Highland Ave, I thought I would just take a little ride to Broadway Gardens to have a look see. At this point my budget money is running low and I knew that I would have to stop soon. Ok, all I have left was $18.00. I had to look fast and not fall for anything that I wasn't looking for.

They didn't have what I wanted but I did get a beautiful Red Dahlia along with a few Petunia's. That should do it. Keeping my fingers crossed as I went up to the cashier, I hope I would go over the $18.00 that I had in my wallet. Total was $22.40. Not to bad but still over my budget. So what is a woman to do? Pull out the debit card, pay for the whole thing and keep the cash. So I was over by $4.40. It's not like I was over by $440.00. I did very well, even if I say so myself.

Got everything done with the garden with a few minutes to spare and only a few raindrops on me.

Pictures to be posted once I get my dancing frogs. You'll understand when we have a picture. Because right now I don't have the dancing frogs (which can be purchased at BJ's wholesale) and the garden is not complete without them. One day I will get them. They were meant to be in my garden. They are mine, all mine.

Until I get my frogs......

This one is for you, F.F.I.L

It seems that it has been a while since I've posted a line or two. I was asked by my Future Father-in-Law why I haven't posted anything.....answer is simple, I have been very lazy. I think I get that way when Eric isn't around. No one here to do things with, except for the dog. He doesn't talk much.

I have been out to California to see my new grandson. He is the most adorable little guy that I have seen in a long time. I got pictures to prove it.

Jarrid Layne Liles; The girls at work says he looks like me.

Baby boy sleeping with the blanket that Meme gave him.

Memere (meme) is the french word for grandmother. Both my mother and sister are giving me a hard time about being called Meme cuz we're not french. I went on the internet to find a name for grandmother that I think was appropriate for a young...er grandmother. But there aren't any that a little boy can pronounce. So we are sticking to Memere. Meme for short. My sister wanted to know why not be called nana? That still is a older sounding name. My mother is grammy. I just refuse to called anything but Meme. I am still young. Young, I say Young. Ok, denial is not just another river Egypt. But I am allowed. Aren't I?

As far as the diet goes. I am still on it more or less. More than less I suppose. I have been watching what I eat and drink. I drink plenty of water. Now that the weather is somewhat decent I go for walks with the dog.

But I think those walks are more along the lines of a "drag." The dog takes me on a "drag" instead of a walk. You know when you have a great big dog and he pulls so much that you think your arm is going to come out of the socket. Well, it's almost like that except my dog, Sargeant, is all but 5 lbs. (soaking wet) Yorkshire Terrier. These dogs have amazing strenght in their front legs. They were bred to hunt rats in foxholes so they had to dig. So that he is not being choked because he walks faster than I do, I have to walk a little faster which makes him walk faster, which makes me walk faster. Besides being tired after our walk, my right arm is now one inch longer. :) As far as weight loss goes.......drum roll please........a total of 12 pounds are now gone. Never to be seen again on this body.

This was a total shock to me. I didn't realize that I had lost that much until I went with the bridemaids to get sized for their dresses. After everyone was sized I decided that I would try on some wedding dresses myself. I saved the dress that I had picked out about 2 months ago for last. Showed them some dresses and then went to put on the dress that I had tried on before and it was too big. One size too big, yeah. Now I am happy that I had waited to buy the dress. I have bought my wedding dress. I guess there is no turning back now.

Eric is stuck with me.

Can't wait to show off the dress at my "October" wedding.

Here's Linda......

I guess it is time to up date the blog. I didn't realize how long its been since I've posted anything.

Nothing really has been going on. Just working, then going to work out and home again. I know, the excitement is killing you. That was my nickname in high school, Linda "Ms. Excitement" Henigan.

Eric was home about a week ago and all I did was eat, eat and eat some more. Gain 4 pounds. He is not very good at motivation. It didn't help that I didn't care what I ate either.

We did do something. Went to this paper store in Kennebunk to pick out invitations. Ok, I thought that it would be cheaper to do it that way. (I mean when I met the women at the Bridal show in Wells, she stated that she can do a good job for less money.) We picked out some nice paper, discussed ink colors and told her we only needed 80 invitations. When I called her to ask if she figured out the price, I almost fainted. $349.20 plus tax for 80 invitations? I can go online and pay less than that for 100 invitations. That was ridiculous. I talked to Eric about it and he agreed. I am going to have to look for other options. So the search is on. Maybe I'll get lucky and find a do-it-yourself kit for $35.00. Keeping my fingers crossed.

Anyway that is it for now. Was sneezing all day today. Hope I didn't catch Eric's cold. That would be a miracle since he got sick after he left. I know we are close but being sick together when we aren't together is a little crazy.

Don't you think?

Diet Diary

Dear Diary,

I know I haven't written in a while, but I have been very busy. Right now I am at a stand still. I have been working out 2 to 3 times a weeks. Using the treadmill and taking a weight class is about all that I have been doing lately.

This weight class is called Final Cut. I thought I could take this class and do some toning on the ole muscles. Well, the first 2 classes were great. The instructor was firm but gentle. Then she quit. The next instructor was like Attila the Hun. Maybe it was me and I was being a wuss so I decided to hang in there and see what happens. After the 3 rd class with Attila, I couldn't take it anymore. Having to use my muscle "to exhaustion" I decided that I didn't want to look like Arnold Schwarzenegger. So taking what I learned in Attila class, I am now doing it on my own. Hopefully this will work.

So as of today, I have lost a total of 8 pounds and a few inches. Yeah. Two more pound to reach my goal. Then on to the next goal.

I look at myself in the mirror at least once a week and say, "I will lose weight, I will lose weight."

I think it might be working.