95 Days To Go...

So, the countdown is definitely on as we are in the double digits with 95 days and counting until the big day. I must say that things are pretty much under control. Maria gave me the envelopes today, so I could mail the invitations any time. I think I will grab that stuff when I stop by the apt today.

Here at work we are ending the lease on the National President's apt and everyone can bid on the stuff and take it home. So far I have come away with all the liquor, a very comfortable recliner, some crystal candlesticks and a little electric skillet with a glass lid. It's all very nice. I'm especially excited about the recliner as we don't really have any place to sit at the house. I'm trying to convince Shaun to borrow dad's truck and bring some of this stuff up to the house. I would like to move the bed up there since I think the air mattress is giving me back problems. My back has been really bothering me the last couple days. I should prolly just go to the Chiro instead.

Since the picture frames are finished I really have no reason to not finish the table name card descriptions. Which hopefully shouldn't take me too long. I need to do some other minor things, and get fitted for my dress. Other than that, I think I'm all set. So basically I'm just coasting. Charity said the bouquets and boutineers are finished, so I'm excited to see how those turned out. Her cousin and one of her bridesmaids is just got engaged and is getting married the weekend after us. I wouldn't want to be her right now. Just starting this daunting process. Course she's actually excited, so that would probably help. And her and her mother agree on things I guess, and she is coming out to help her. It truly is a blessing that my mother moved when I got engaged. I don't think I could've planned this with more of her input.

I'm still thinking about cutting a few more people off the guest list. People that I've tried to call, and I haven't talked to in months. I'll run it by Shaun. Yes, I must say that I really can't wait til this blessed event is over with.

Good Luck Kyle!

Kyle graduated from UTI and Volvo Safe this year and is on his way to a career at Phillips Volvo in VA Beach. I'm very excited for him... and proud. But, I'm also sad that he's leaving us. I've drove back to Lafayette today, and am going to drive again tomorrow to spend some more time with him before he goes. He came over for brat's tonight after him and Dad fixed my mirror. (Long story... card reader won). Ashleigh is going with him and is wanting to go back to school. I really hope she does. She just totaled her car last week, so is currently without wheels. Kyle is trying to sell everyone a Volvo now, and pretty much has me convinced. Maybe they could just send him to the sales floor when things are slow in the shop. So, I wish him well on his new venture, and can't wait to visit him in VA Beach!

So Intense

Stephanie came over for dinner last night. I made Salisbury steaks with baked potatoes with sour cream and little ears of corn on the cob. It was so good. Then we chit chatted and I showed off the proposal video, and other wedding paraphernalia . She left as Everwood was starting. It was so intense! Rose finds out she has cancer, Andy finds out he loves Nina, Bright finds out he likes Hannah, and that she still likes him, Amy doesn't tell Ephram that her mom has cancer, Ephram sold all his piano stuff to fund a trip to Europe, Bright turns down going with him to be responsible and go to summer school. Man, tons happened. Then I watched CSI Miami where Horatio and his sister-in-law find out that his brother might still be alive. Goodness.

So, tonight I think Beth and I are going to hit the gym. Carol and I went on a walk the last two days during lunch... every lit bit helps. Plus I haven't been in like 3 weeks. Tomorrow Krystal is coming over.... haven't seen her in weeks! And Thursday Shaun and I are going to Chicago for Kyle's graduation.

Adam found out he's definitely going and that he either has to be on a convoy (those things that get blown up all the time on the news) or law enforcement (sounds much less exciting, but more safe). So, we're praying for the second.

Good News and Bad News

So, good news first. Kyle got a job in VA beach at Phillips Volvo. They are paying his moving expenses and his new boss found him a 2 bdrm townhouse that's only $500/ month. Ashleigh has decided to move with him and maybe find a school to go to. He's really excited. He graduated this Friday, and Shaun and I are going up on Thursday to represent the family and celebrate. I'm so proud of him.

Bad news. Adam is being deployed to Iraq again in July. If that's not bad enough... he'll miss the wedding, and he was a groomsmen. So, Shaun is thinking about who he wants to replace him. He might have to go for training, even though he went through training the last time he went. Bill and Shaun and I talked about going to see him for a long weekend sometime between after June 12th. Course Shaun and I will be in Vegas the 18th-21st for our bachelor/ bachelorette parties so it can't be then. We've already booked the tickets.

OH, and Happy Mother's Day to mom, Angelina, Grandma Waters, Grandma Schafer, Ma, Grandma Sue, and all of you other mothers out there!

House Hunting

Shaun and I have been house hunting in recent weeks. Yes, this all began because my mother got the idea to sell her house. The one that Shaun moved all his belongings into thinking we were going to spend the next 3 years in. So, we found one last week we liked and then found one yesterday that we loved. It's out by Meijer, has a huge deck that extends past the master bedroom with another sliding glass door. It has vaulted ceilings, nice size bedrooms and kitchen, and it's in our price range. Plus the people are building and don't want to move out until mid-July, which is when we wanted to move.

So, then we're talking last night about possibly making an offer on this house, and discussing where we are going to come up with this money for a down payment, plus pay for this wedding. We have some people we could borrow from, but then we would just be in more debt than we are. And with me commuting to Indy everyday, my gas budget is going to increase significantly. Basically, we decided to talk to my mom and convince her that we need to stay there so we can use the next 3 years paying off debts and saving for a down payment. Because buying really doesn't make much financial sense. But, now that's we've been looking, I was getting really excited about owning a new home. But, if something went wrong with the house, we wouldn't be able to afford to fix it. So, Alas.

Do you not see me running circles around you?

What exactly goes through Leonard's mind when he enters the domain commonly known as work? I mean really. The most the guy moved today was when I briskly walked by and he dramatically threw his hands down as if me jetting by would blow the papers off his desk! Well, Leonard, maybe if you actually did some work, there wouldn't be so many papers on your desk and then me walking wouldn't be such a hindrance to you.

I met with the National President today on 3 different occasions. I swear this woman never makes up her mind about anything until it's too late. This she hands me this article ripped out of a Sky magazine (doesn't she know these things are free?) and says, "I would like something like this (commemorative gold coin) for the National Commandeers gift, but not exactly like it." Would someone like to tell me what the hell that means?

Meetinged Out

I wanted to get to work early this morning. Instead, I awoke at 7:20, got stuck in traffic, went to Starbucks and got to work at 8:05. I have just enough time to read my emails, check my voicemail, and yell at Leonard when I realize that I have a meeting at Worrell at 9 that I have to leave for by 8:30. I then read an email from Marta informing me that I'm now to take over all the purchasing, and that I can handle all the awards for convention. This is fine, but of course Rina has been doing the awards and I have no clue what's going on. And of course I have time to take over purchasing. After this email, I call Lucia and ask if she is ready to leave for our meeting. She says yes, so I go downstairs, only to find her on the phone. I'm wondering who she could be talking to when I realize it's Tony. So I walk to Tony's office and tell him to get off the phone so we can leave. So, we finally leave and then we get on I-74 instead of I-70 and wind up at the 4400 block of Post Rd instead of the 300 block. Get to meeting late. We're there for 2 hours. Get back to office only to find that Stephanie has already left for lunch and Carol is having leftovers from yesterday when we went to Old Pointe. I take one for the team, and ask Kay to go with me to Wendy's. Had an extremely crisp salad and a baked potato. Get back to office, read emails, look of faxes and answer messages. Lucia comes up to remind me that I have another meeting in 5 minutes with Von to discuss something I haven't had time to finish. Attend meeting to learn that it didn't matter because he had given me the wrong format to do it in. So, I got back to my desk at 2:30. Sat down. Sighed. Received phone call from Mitzi saying that I needed to get pricing on ribbons for event in Jan 2006. Can't this wait? Call from receptionist saying I have a fax. Thanks. Then I call and complain to the cubicle people who were supposed to dis/ and reassemble two work stations today and just came out and measured. Complained for 2 minutes. She said she would call back. We have an appt. for them to come out tomorrow and do their job. Called ribbon people. Then realized that the National President will be tomorrow and that I'm now included in that meeting so I can figure out what awards I still need to order. Not to mention that I have a Dr's appt in the morning and will be in late. Basically I'm fed up with meetings and petitioning to have them cease at once!

Busy Weekend...

Busy weekend. Met with up Travis and Christy Friday night at Rheilie Brothers. It was dead, but it was good to see them. We were exhausted, so we came home and went to bed. Saturday we got up at 8am to take Marie to the airport. We had a nice chat on the way down and picked up a couple things at the apt. on the way back to Lafayette. Then we met with Dad and Valerie at LBC. This was both their first times. They loved it. Then we went and looked at 9 houses. We feel in love with one in Valley Forge on George Washington. That's a long street name to write, but the house is adorable and reasonably priced. Then I met up with Stef and Josh and Janelle while he helped Dan move Jen into his apt. We stickered some garage sale stuff and then went to Shaun's. We took them to LBC so Josh could have the best hamburger ever. He's obsessed with hamburgers and was a definite fan of their Angus burger. Then we went to Fantasy Gift Shop because Stef wanted to go. I still can't figure that one out. Then we came home and went to bed. We all went to church this morning, for a very good service and then swung by the house in Valley Forge. Then we tried to go to lunch at LBC, but forgot they were closed on Sundays, so we went to Arni's instead. I'm still full. Then Shaun went to his dad's to change is oil and Josh and Stef and I went back to finish stickering the garage sale stuff. They dropped me off at Bill's and then headed home. Shaun is now cooking steaks on the new grill and Bill is making fries and just finished with the salad. Hope I get hungry soon.

Bereavement Day

So apparently you get 3 days of bereavement pay when an immediate family member passes away. So, I went to Stephanie's last night, help her drink a bottle and half of wine, and now I'm sitting at Shaun thinking about going to pick up/ look at my wedding dress b/c it came in yesterday. Yesterday was horrible. No, this whole week has been horrible. Talked to Stephanie and she said it's not getting any better so I guess I'm glad I didn't go in today. Well, Gma just called to say her and Marie are going to insurance company, so I guess I should leave.

Weird Ass Day

So, my day began with Shaun getting up at 8, leaving to go to PU to see his prof about this thesis he's supposed to be getting bound and turned in by Friday and I get in the shower. He calls to ask what I want from Starbucks. I say my usually, caramel Mocha, Non-fat with whip. He shows up with, well... I never quite figured out what, but I'm thinking a high-fat cappucino with caramel drizzle. So, then we head to the showing where everyone is asking me about my cervix. (For more on this event see blog below). Then we try to buy a ream of 20lb 100% cotton paper for his thesis. Staples only has 300 sheets, Office Max, Copymat, Follets, Kinkos and University Bookstore only have 24lb. So, we're thinking that we read the sheet wrong. No, we get back to the house to discover that we read is correctly, but on the website it says that it can be up to 24lb. So, we go back to Kinko's to get the paper. We get home, only for me to realize that I need to get my rent check from dad's because I won't see him again before the first. So, we leave, come back, pull in the drive for my mom to call and say that they are leaving and so I need to leave again to go to grandma's. I just want to go to bed.

Good-bye Grandpa

My grandma's husband died Saturday. Donald Waters. My grandparents had been married for 10 years in February. He has been a grandpa to me and a dad to my mom and sister. They had a pool that I and my friends would swim in. He is the best husband my grandma had. On their 3rd date he knew he wanted to marry her. They were so cute together and I think my grandma thought they would get older together. He was 73. Today was his showing and funeral. My mother and Aunt Re said some touching words. His granddaughters spoke also. There wasn't a dry eye in the place. Shaun said it was the most depressing showing he's ever been to. Then at the funeral, someone passed out and the ambulance came. My cousin Laura ripped off her jacket, stormed over and said, "I'm a nurse, out of the way!" I told her we were proud to call her family. So, there was no service and we all went to the Eagles to eat. I am so full I'm uncomfortable. This is why family is a bad influence.

"I'm not even supposed to be here today"

So, I came into work this afternoon after Leonard told the receptionist that I wouldn't be here. I've been here a total of 1/2 hour and I've already heard, "You're not supposed to be here today!" Well, stop giving me more work to do so I won't feel obligated to come in today. I heard that the whole 4 1/2 hours I was here yesterday too. Too funny. It's nice that people care that I probably should be at home resting, but then if I want to come in I should feel like I won't get kicked out. Now that I see all this work on my desk, I'm thinking "I'm not even supposed to be here today." Alas.

Lucia came over last night for dinner. We had turkey with gravy, mashed potatoes, a very yummy salad that she made and apple crisp that was so good. Lucia is moving out on her own after living with 3 other ladies in June. I told her to be prepared to be lonely, because I sure was when I first moved out by myself. She is realizing that she doesn't have anything: flatware, plates, furniture. I went through that once. Hard to believe, I had so much stuff, but not the things I needed. I'm trying to come up with some things I could give her to help her out.

Weekend Happenings

Saw Stef on Friday. We went to Josh's band contest, they got gold. Stef bought me a caramel mocha and a 7 layer cake. Stef's boss and her husband bought us dinner. Sat. morning we went to IHOP with her mom and Aunt Diane and Diane bought lunch. I came back because I thought Travis and Christy were going to come over, and Kathleen was going to stop by. Didn't see any of them. Krystal and Chris came over and we went to the canal. Chris paid for a paddle boat. Then we went to Krystal's and Chris made steak, with baked potatoes and salad. Shaun gets home Sat. night. Sun we woke up and went shopping. Shaun bought new golf clubs. I got a new tennis racket for $2.35. How exciting. Mon. I had my surgery. I went to work today, and everyone yelled me and told me to go home. So, now I'm at home waiting for Lucia to come over for dinner. I guess I should figure out what to make.

Co-Workers

So I have this co-worker who frequently asks whether you like her or not. One of these days I'm going to write yes or no check boxes on a sheet of paper, check no, and give it back to her. I mean your 62 years old and you are still worrying about the dumbest things. And I'm sorry, if you have to ask, the answer is no.

So, went to Wendy's with Carol for lunch. It was quite good and Carol bought, so it tasted even better! That is the 2nd time I've been there this week. Carol and her husband work at Conner Prairie and help with tours and such. Currently they are doing the "Follow the North Star" where you are a slave and there is a slave master that takes you to the auction to be sold and then you travel to freedom. At the end the slave master reads off statistically which people would've drowned or made it to safety. It sounds very interesting. She said she could get me tickets if I wanted to go sometime, so I think I will have to check it out.

I think Leonard is wearing off on me. I feel like to doing absolutely nothing. I'm thinking about seeing Stef tomorrow and my new shirt I'm wearing, and how tasty my lunch is. I have tons to do, just no motivation to do it. So, this must be what it feels like to be Leonard.

Travis

So Travis finally created a blog! I'm so excited, even though it may only last a week before he gets bored. You may visit his blog here. I thought it was absolutely hilarious and I really hope there are more posts to come. And as for "Who would read this shit?" I would Travis. And come to think of it, you read mine.

So, Travis and Christy are coming to Indy today to celebrate Christy's birthday. Hopefully I can hook up with them for dinner or something tomorrow.

Happy Birthday & Anniversary Shaun!

Today has gone so slowly. Every time I looked at the clock it felt like 2 hours should've gone by and not 20 minutes. Alas. Leonard was also moving slowly... not a good combo. At least I got quite a bit finished.

Shaun's coming down for a little bit tonight before he leaves for the happening town of Columbus, OH for the ANS conference. He and Dan have to present. Yeah for them.

Today is Shaun's 25th birthday and our 7th Anniversary. Hard to believe... but I'm so happy that we're still together. I love you honey!

I actually went to the grocery store again last night. So weird. This is becoming a regular thing. I got everything on sale including some sour cream potato salad, hoeny roasted turkey and nacho cheese (even though I still have 1/2 a container at home). It really is cheaper.

Monday News

So I'm playing Miss Match-Maker this week. See I'm sitting in church on Sunday and while I'm supposed to be praying about things I'm thankful for, I'm think... Allen and Stu. And I'm in pray, so this must be a sign from God. See, Allen is my 48 year cousin and Stu is my 49 year old co-working, both of whom have never been married, no kids, gainfully employed and own their own houses. Oh, and they both love Sci-Fi. So, I'm convinced this is a match made in heaven. I sent Stu and picture of him today and she whispered to me how nice the picture is. I've called our Aunt Bea (Mrs. Gossip) and she called Allen's sister Regina to get more dirt. I'm still awaiting a call from her. Stu is now glowing... as am I. I really hope this works out.

I've been fairly productive today, although I still have yet to mail my taxes. Yes, I realize that today is April 12th and I have only 3 days left. I did manage to bring them to work, but forgot my W2's. Alas.

Leonard decided to grace us with his presence today. So he's finally working on rearranging the 4th floor which I wanted finished like 2 weeks ago. Instead we been bombarded with various other projects.

Talked to Stef last night before I worked out. She and Josh are doing a lot better and I can't wait to see her on Friday night. We're going to see Josh's band play and then skip out and have some much needed girl time.

Krystal came over last night. We were trying to find the video with my whale watching footage on it. I couldn't find that, but found all the Christmas footage since 2000. And then we stumbled upon "Moments from the Guenther-Henson Household." We started to reminisce about the fun times we had and how we sometimes miss having a roommate. Soon, I will have a great roomie... Shaun :)

Sunday Night Already

I really don't know where the weekend went. So we met with the house lady. She is very nice and Shaun said she is exactly who you think of when you picture a realtor. But she is very "in tune" with Lafayette and I think will find us something great. We drove around for nearly 2 1/2 hours looking at possibilities in different areas of town. We are thinking an existing home will be cheaper than building. So, Saturday night I had planned a surprise party for Shaun at BW3. It went very well. The following people showed up to congratulate him: James (co-planner), Angelina, Jere, Lisa, Anna, Ian, my dad, Valerie (a.k.a. Vicky), Renee, Courtney, Aunt Dink, Kyle and Amy. So a pretty good turn out... and best of all, Shaun was surprised. We stayed until about 9:30 and then went to Travis' for awhile. There wasn't much happening there and we were getting up for church this morning so we left around midnight. Church was very good this morning. There were actually two songs we knew. Today's sermon is the first of a 7 week series of the 7 T's. Today was Thanksgiving. He read off a lot of statistics of how many people are hungry, homeless and that one million people won't be alive at the end of the week. Scary really. So, basically we should be thankful because we don't know what God has in store for us. This also tied in with last week's sermon on not worrying and giving your worries to Christ. So, I'm excited to hear the next 6 sermons. My dad's neighborhood garage sale is in a few weeks and I really need to work on getting things stickered and sorted. Alas. It's been so nice the last week, but it's supposed to rain this week, so maybe I will get more done. I still haven't mailed in my taxes. Yes, I realize that the deadline is this week. I'm even getting money back. I don't know what my deal is. Well, hopefully I will get a lot accomplished this week... and I can blog.

Insanity!

So I've been working every night until 7pm and I've been so busy while I'm at work that I've almost forgotten to take a lunch. So needless to say, there's been no time for blogging. So, other than working, I've been hanging out with "my new best friend" as everyone is calling her. Her name is Stephanie, and she's a co-worker. I went to her house for dinner last night, and we had several glasses of wine with our tacos. She just bought a new condo... it's very cute. Shaun defended his masters thesis today. He did great, and even thanked me in the acknowledgments. I love him. So we went to Tony's to celebrate and saw Jere and Lisa there. They were going to go to the "Wine Tasting on the Wabash" thing. It sounded so fun. I tried to convince Shaun to go the last two years, but I guess it's like the carriage ride... I will have to be on my death bed before I get to go. Alas. So we're meeting with Jere's realtor (who is also a friend of the family) tomorrow at 2 and are going house shopping; I'm very excited. So, I will keep you posted...

I am Woman... hear me roar

So I basically rock. My former boss took 6 months to look over a deal for new copiers that save us money, and get us an additional copier and still didn't know what to do with it. I look at it for a week. Take another week to write a proposal as to why we would be idiots to not take this deal and to talk it over with the powers at be. And this week, that's right, today, Tuesday, I got the powers at be to sign this proposal and we are getting are 3 new copiers on Monday! Plus I'm saving the company $200/ month. Basically we are getting 3 copiers for $200 less than we are paying for 2 copiers right now AND the price per copy went down from 1 cent for one and 2 cents for the other to 0.007 cents per copy for all 3 copiers. Why didn't we do this sooner?

I met with a vendor today who might be able to design our brochures for $350 instead of the $400 Lucia found. (And that was the cheapest). More money saved. (Why can't I apply more of these principles to my personal life...) They might also do some branding for us that Lucia and I think needs to be implemented pronto. We get a new National President every year, that comes up with a general theme, and then a membership theme. How are we supposed to put out a consistent message about our organization when what we're saying changes every year?!? Well, we can't and that is why no one outside our organization knows what we do. Hopefully we can remedy that.

Came to Lafayette tonight because I had forgotten my phone charger and my battery was about to die. I treated Shaun to Don Pablos. Silly me says, "Oh I think I'll get a salad so I don't have any leftovers." I took 2 boxes home... full... and none of it was Shaun's. So much for that.

So I'm winning in the basketball tourney competition I orchestrated at work. I need to say this now, so after Thursday when I'm not winning, I won't feel so badly. There are 6 people playing; 3 of us are tied with 42 points, but I'm the only one with all 4 Final Four teams left. Everyone else picked Wake Forest, so they are down at least one. Good thing I don't know anything about any of these teams.

I've had so much work to do this week since I missed 3 days last week that I worked 10 hours on Monday, and 8.5 hours today. Plus I brought stuff home to work on, which has left no time for blogging. Good think I get paid overtime. Guess this makes up for laying on the couch dying for 3 days. Well, better get to some of that work I brought home...