look who came to visit!

spooky~fun!

jerry's daughter and her family carved this cool dude free~hand, using no pattern. they had a blast, and so did we just looking at him! very cool, very creative, very fun.

a quick recap...

so mom came to visit this past monday and help me get some more preparations for the wedding completed. she's finished six corsages, seven boutonnieres, nine centerpieces, one small broom, two large cinnamon brooms, my bouquet, and forty bows. we plan to also do four more centerpieces, three more large brooms, and four more small ones tomorrow. then my brother and father are coming over from arkansas on sunday and will be on hand to help out too.

this past monday, i also went to the first discussion of Between the Pages book club. we had read "guernsey literary and potato peel pie society" for this month. next month, we'll read "the secret lives of bees", which i found last month on bookmooch.com. yea! yea for me! then in december, we will read john grisham's "skipping christmas". i think we've decided on something for january, but i cannot remember off hand which title it is.






tuesday evening, mom and i began to assemble the centerpieces, and jerry spent some time with his grandkids. he read some stories to them, including "it happened on mulberry street"; we could tell by the gleeful recitation of the key line! they had great fun.








wednesday morning, jerry's mom came back home from the hospital. she was really wanting to be back in familiar surroundings and the doc felt that it would be better for her to not be in the hospital any longer. she is doing so much better now, and altho she still requires lots of rest and should not be taxed by things beyond her control, she continues to improve every day. i'm glad of that, esp since she gave us all a scare!

also wednesday morning, one of jerry's best friends from childhood came to visit for a couple days. he is officiating at our wedding, and it was great fun to take him around and show him the lake and the farm and the town and all. he grew up here, but hasn't had any reason to spend much time in the area for awhile. so he was amazed at all the changes! that evening, we fired up the brazier and spent a few hours sitting around it, chatting and laughing and catching up. it was a great night, relaxing.

thursday, he took my mom and i out for lunch at a local mexican restaurant that has a buffet. i tried my first churros and they are just as good as i've heard they would be. he plans to come up again in the next week, for the wedding.

today, mom and i went to tupelo. on our list of things to do was stopping at hobby lobby for more of the fixings for the centerpieces and such. then we went for a wonderful lunch at red lobster {mom surprised me with a birthday lunch, since she won't be here on my birthday next month}. then i had my hair cut. it's now a bit of a chin~length bob, very cute and yet long enough to allow me to be appropriate for the wedding.

so, things are rolling right along, very nicely! this coming tuesday, jerry's other best friend from childhood {who is his best man} will be coming in from wisconsin with his wife. wednesday afternoon, jerry's daughter flies in from portland. i think his son and his wife are coming up from the coast either monday or tuesday. and the preacher will be coming in thursday or friday.

all set for saturday's wedding!!

cool cloudy day, nappage!

my jerry's mama is doing lots better, and then not so good, and then some better and then not too good. she moved from icu to a private room yesterday and seemed so much better when i'd stopped to see her in the afternoon than in the morning, that i felt much better about her prognosis. she needs lots of rest, at this point. so when we were visiting yesterday afternoon, i kept my voice low and any news positive and we just chit~chatted for awhile. it was nice!

my own sleep patterns were messed up, so today i spent much of the day, snuggled with a good book, reading and napping. the lil doggies were huddled up against my upper thighs, butt, and lower back. pearl was under the covers and shaking and shivering as she does when she is deeply terrified of storms. harley was above the covers with his nose so far up his butt, he resembled a warped view of the snake eating his own tail, ya know, only his butt was eating his head {snicker~~poor dude, i pick on him soOOoo much; gotta love the lil horn~dog}.

i didn't venture out of my jammies, let alone get in the car and drive in to visit jerry's mama, today. he did, and had said that she is hurting some, and needs more sleep. so maybe tomorrow, after our running around and moving things {he's borrowing his boss's truck}, but before we head out for dinner; we'll stop and see her for a bit. i don't want to visit too much, cuz she needs her rest, but i know that she likes company too. so it'll be a fine balance.

k, off to get all cozy in my chair with crochet and the tv remote...winks

warm wishes for happy healing

my jerry's mom moved to an assisted living home last year. she likes it and i'm glad to know that. since she is just down the road, jerry can stop to see her a couple times a week on his way home from work. sometimes i pop in, sometimes not. usually i do, but when my folks and i were busy cleaning/painting/flooring, i didn't~i'd just send messages with jerry.

sometimes i take her to doctor's appointments and such. she's not been feeling wonderfully well for quite some time. there isn't any one thing majorly wrong with her health, it's a bunch of things that affect her in various ways. so some days she's feeling fine and can enjoy movies, telephoning her friends, visiting with other residents while they do crafts, and even getting her hair/nails done on site {there is a beautician's shop in the home, that's way cool}.

other times, she's not feeling so great. then she usually stays in her room, only venturing down the hall for meals. when she's not feeling good, it's hard for her to get comfortable and so once she is situated just right, she's reluctant to leave her comfy reclining chair.

last winter, she had pnuemonia. it never quite went away. several times this year, she's had to take a course of antibiotics, because the doctors felt that her lungs needed it. sometimes she has a hard time catching her breath, and sometimes will cough lots in an effort to breathe easier. she's been examined and treated several times and things get better but not completely so.

last night, she ran a high fever and went to the hospital. earlier today, she was admitted. her fever had broken, but they felt that the pnuemonia was settled in her left lung and they wanted to see if they can rid her of it. finally. so she's in the ICU now, and feeling sorta rough.

jerry's sister kept him updated thru~out the day and after he was able to leave work and all, he stopped by to see her for a bit. since the ICU has strict visiting times and rules, because the primary point is so that the patient can rest and not be disturbed, he was only able to spend a short amount of time with her. but he said that he felt reassured that she is receiving good care and that she is doing as well as can be expected, with a good prognosis for the next few days.

so we're hoping that before the week is out, she'll be back in her room at the home, and feeling tons better and able to enjoy her activities again. and for when she does get to read this: hugs and kisses, sweet carolyn!!

wedding update, day sixteen

and then my mind flipped and i lost my shit.

actually i haven't. that's just what this lil pic reminds me of. doesn't it say that to you?

a couple weeks ago, after my mom and brother left, jerry and i looked at what we'd done, what we'd to do, and make some decisions about what we would get done before the wedding as far as the house stuff goes. that really eased up some of my own stress cuz i decided not to do everything and to accept that i can do some stuff and certainly not all of it. so that helped with the de~stressing lots and lots.

next week, my folks arrive in the area from arkansas. they will be on hand to do all those last minute things that we want to do. and since they are coming in ten days or so prior to, that means that nothing will be ultra~rushed. at least, that's the theory.

the following week, jerry's best man {bill, and bill's wife deanna} will arrive from wisconsin. they'll stay with us and so this weekend, jerry and i are planning to move over my bed, bookshelves, and vanity {so that we can put the room together for them to use}. a day after that, jerry's daughter is flying in from oregon. she's been a HUGE help to us all year and i can't wait to see her again! she'll also be staying with us. and jerry's youngest son and his wife are coming up from mobile and staying with us. and the minister is staying with us too. that's a pretty full house!

so since jerry and i have basically done all we can do regarding the preparation plans and all for the wedding, we have been lots more calm about things in general. tomorrow i pick up jerry's suit's pants, newly altered and hemmed. my own dress goes in for pressing the week of. next week, we'll order the sugar lay~ons for the cake {his youngest is making our cake, and since we're going with a harvest/autumnal theme, our lay~ons are three different leaves in different colors}. the following week, we'll order the live/real flowers {roses in reds, oranges, and yellow...my jerry'd won a gift certificate from proflowers.com}. then several days before, we'll prepare/grill the chicken and hamburgers. the day before, i'll slice the tomatoes and onions, and prepare the lettuce and such for the hamburgers. hopefully, we can get into the building several days beforehand to decorate and assemble things {like the toast flutes, we plan to use white grape peach juice for the toasts}.

so just in case things get real busy and i don't say it then, let me say it now: i appreciate all you guys helping us out and pulling this all together for us! thanks for sharing in the celebration and being happy for us, that means so much! i've had so much fun planning this, and know that it will be a wonderful day. we're looking forward to seeing everyone and know that we thank you from the depths of our hearts!

don't hold yer breath

i'm a tad impatient right about now. sigh. and the thing is, i know that being impatient is not helping, in fact, a good case can be made that it's hurting. yup, hurting.

i'm relatively new to the whole eBay thing. my jerry does use it, so in the spring of the year, he showed me some stuff and we bought a few things for the wedding using the service. for many months, i just looked, and sometimes marked things to 'watch' so that i could show him those items. but when it came to actually ordering anything, i hesitated, and would say, 'you do it' cuz i knew that somehow i'd activate some chain reaction that would end up destroying our entire budget.

so the first time i ever bid on anything, i held my breath {very very ineffective, i know, but i did it none the less} and made sure that i put the decimal in the right place so that i didn't commit to a bid of one hundred dollars, instead of one, or even ten. so yeah, i was all excited when dude, i actually got the item!! yea!!! yea for me!!

that was two weeks ago and i'm still waiting for it to get here. every day, i start checking the mailbox at twelve~thirty, and nope, and then again around one~thirty. the mail definitely runs by two. so you'd think i'd be all, well, let's just wait til two~thirty to be on the safe side. but nope! instead, i walk to the end of the drive, dash across the road, hold my breath {cuz somehow that might make it actually happen...i think that comes from taking a deep breath, holding it to make the birthday wish, and then whooshing out the candles} and pry the lid on the mailbox down to peak inside and go oh. not today. sigh.

last week, i even went out and checked on sunday, cuz i was thinking, maybe i didn't check on saturday {yeah, sometimes i even believe my sillee self}. but today, i didn't even give it a shot. cuz today {well, yesterday now} was a postal holiday and tuesday's mail might even be backed up. so quite possibly, the package might not even arrive til...two weeks from now. sigh.

the past couple days, i've bid on a few things. i am proud of myself for exercising restraint and not losing my head to the thinking that "oh, well, what's another fifty cents?" and getting swept up in a bid~battle. there'd been an eight pound cone of cotton yarn/thread and a two pound cone and a one pound cone that someone outbid me on. since i didn't already have a specific use in mind, i'm not vested in gaining possession at this point.

i've never been the sort of person that gets into a skirmish over the last something or other at walmart or what not. it always amazes me when i see harried women doing that during the holidays. i cannot think of anything that is so vitally crucial to my health and well~being that is worth me snatching it up and gloating over.

but, dude, send me the stuff that you've already received payment for! do it, do it now! stomp.stomp.

where did the weekend go? oh, yeah...!

dude! i suggested to jerry that maybe he might want to invite his eldest daughter and her family over for MSU's homecoming game, since it was televised and both his son~in~law and his grandson like football too. then i slept thru the first half of the game. sigh. i don't usually like to sleep when company's here.

but i made it out of the bedroom at half~time and sat at the smaller kitchen table and watched his granddaughter draw and listened to her explain to me what sounds animals make, and how they look, and what they do. {i now know where chicken comes from: turkeys!!} then she decided to gather together some stuff and make a band; very creative, a bucket was a drum, and so was a swiffer {she'd hold one end of the head down with her foot and lift it up with the handle and the other end of the head would thump~thump on the floor} and a fork on a wire rack completed things. she gave my shaddow some treats {and let her lick the barbeque sauce of her hands, it tickles}.

then after the game, and his daughter's family left, we drove over to winona {about an hour} and met up with his best childhood friend, who is now a truck~driver and had a delivery in the area. since he now lives in wisconsin, i've not met him before, so it was really cool. we had a good visit and i'm glad that we will be seeing him again in a few weeks. even tho he says he brings rain with him.

at least i'll know who to blame if we have to move the ceremony indoors!

house update

my jerry hung two door and the moulding around them today, we decided to leave the third off til after i move over my things, that way we won't be needing that extra inch or two. he also repaired the leg/foot of a large rectangle table that had been his late wife' parents', which they'd brought back from germany when her father had been stationed there back in the early sixties. i'm not sure how long it had been sitting in pieces, but it's been repaired and placed and it's looking good!

i sorted thru most of the linen and made up the beds in two of the guest rooms, so they are ready for the wedding guests {one will be for jerry's daughter, and one is for the minister}. i want to wait til closer to the time to do up the room for his son and his son's wife {that is one of the two rooms we haven't been able to get to just yet~~and at this point, i think we plan to wait til after the wedding, no point stressing about it right this minute, now is there?}. i also was able to store some of the extra linens for each of those two rooms' beds in the armours in each of those two rooms {one is a double/full size {jerry's grandparents left that to him} and one is queen sized}.

then i stored the rest of the comforters and quilts. jerry's late wife made some lovely quilts, so i've made up the beds with them, but i can't use all the quilts at once. so some of them are in sealed plastic bins so that they are nicely preserved and safe for future usage. when i went thru the linens in the spring of this year, i'd gotten rid of some sheets that we couldn't use, and some comforters and blankets that we couldn't use. but i made sure to save the quilts because either jerry's late wife, her mother, or other women in the family {jerry's grandmothers on both sides} made them and they are to be treasured for a long time to come. there are a few that need an inch or two of stitching for repair purposes, and that sounds like a winter project; along with unpacking and placing all the keep~sakes we've been storing in one room since spring.

once that room is empty, it can be cleaned/painted and then we will use it for the toys and books and things that would be good for the grandchildren to have. in the past, they had the wide long hall in the addition to play in, it was just loaded with toys. we went thru all the toys in the spring of the year, and got rid of some with broken parts, missing parts, etc. then we set some aside that i'd bleached for very young ones. we put the other toys up in the other guest room that we've not yet cleaned/painted. basically, cuz we had no room to go with any of them.

so next spring, that toy room will be ready and those toys will go in there. my jerry and i talked about buying some children's books for various age groups, because his oldest grandson is ten years now, and they go all the way down in age to his youngest grandon at age ten months. we both love to read and we want to encourage the kids to do so too!

so that's pretty much where things are!

whoa, dude...

i just stumbledupon this, which actually was on a site and then quoted from another:

I grew up in a college town, and one Halloween our doorbell rang and we opened the door expecting to see trickortreater—but what was in front of our open door—was another door! Like, a full-on wooden door, that had a sign that said “Please knock.” So we did, and the door swung open to reveal a bunch of college dudes dressed as really old grandmothers, curlers in their hair, etc, who proceeded to coo over our “costumes” and tell us we were “such cute trick or treaters!” One even pinched my cheek. Then THEY gave US candy, closed their door, picked it up and walked to the next house.

— np312 on MetaFilter

how utterly cool would that be, eh?

{oh, and it turns out there are hundreds of thousands versions of this same story floating around in the tubes of the internets; but it all comes down to this dudette...np312, check it!}

sometimes ya feel like a nut...

last night, i draped the hooded cape on my jerry once again, or actually five times. cuz i wasn't sure how best to proceed. jerry is such a great sport, letting me turn him around, poking and pulling as i tried first one idea, then another. it takes a confident, comfortable man who is secure in his own masculinity to be ok with modeling a child's {a lil girl's} garment.

we had a fine discussion, tossing ideas about, in order for me to try to figure out where this child's knee~length would be, if she and my jerry's heads were on the same level. cuz we both had been a bit goofy, we were giggling over the pseudo~serious theorizing that if one's proportions where this and taken into account that, and if this condition were met, then what is the length of that. we were really poking fun at ourselves while trying to also come up with some sort of reasonable guesstimate. cuz dude, it'd be way too easy to ask the mother of said lil girl to just measure from head to knee and let us know. way way too easy and that'd make way too much sense; ya like get all logical on my ass, why doncha?

so we determined that if the lil girl's head was level with my jerry's, then she could quite easily knee him in the groin. after we snickered with each other over the whole infantile process of us arriving at that conclusion, i piped up, "nut~length is it," and then added, "i'm so gonna blog about this" with all the solemnity i could muster at the moment.

on a totally unrelated matter...i had a freshly made fig~preserve muffin {made with home~made fig preserves} today and omg, if i could have rolled around in its sinful moistness, i would have. it was divine. simple fine. i love, Love, LOVE the "lil building cafe" here in starkville, miss'ippi. if you have a chance to stop by, please do so, sigh. you'll love it, too!

lil red

my jerry's middle daughter moved to portland, oregon about a month ago. prior to that, she and her husband had stayed with us for a week, so we did get a chance to visit some. one of the things we did was make hats.

i'd been crocheting a few hats for them, prior to their visit. some were very funky, some had earflaps, some had bills, some were extremely warm, and some were more conventional. while they were here, they'd asked if i would teach them how to make one in particular called a Jeep Cap {it goes by various names, but it generally is close fitting with a short visor/bill}. neither knew how to crochet, but both are creative and since the cap was comprised of rather basic stitches mixed with mathematical principles applied, well, i was fairly certain this was doable.

and it probably would have been, had we not decided two days before their departure to attempt this. his daughter actually caught on very quickly but her husband encountered a few difficulties right off, which is understandable...what with all the stuff there is that is unfamiliar to a newbie {things like yarn tension, how to hold it, how to hold the hook, how to make the beginning half hitch, the steps to a chain, a slip stitch, and then single crochet, working in the round, increasing, and so on}. so i did some thinking and decided to show them how to use the knifty knitter's round looms.

they're simple to learn the basics on, easy to use. and after you become comfortable with them, you can create all sorts of interesting wraps, stitches, textures, techniques, and from all that, the possibilities are endless. or seemingly so. you can find a set of four round looms at walmart for about twelve bucks, and need no prior knowledge of any special skills. they're portable, and make the ideal craft to do while your traveling for a couple thousand miles.

so, they each made their own funky hats. he chose a style with a brim, more snug than hers. she chose to go with a roll up brim, and made hers longer so it was a bit more floppy. the cool thing is that it is entirely up to you, be as creative as you want, and wear your own thing.

after they got somewhat settled in oregon, i sent a box with three hats in there. each was unique in style, tho all were of the same yarn. one was a simple roll up rim, with some added length but not too much. another was actually three layers of brims, harder to explain, sorta like the taller hats that you might picture as russian. and the other was an oversized news boy cap, that sorta looks like an old fashioned hunting cap. they were meant more for warmth than the other ones i'd made. i'd sent them for the entire household, to pick and choose.

then my jerry's daughter let me know that they were much appreciated by the household, including the roomies. she'd asked if i might be able to make a lil red riding hood type cape for their lil girl, who just turned five. sure i can! i haven't before and there are not easily obtained patterns that fit the bill, but! i decided to give it a whirl and i've made some real progress on it.

now i need to make a few adjustments, so that might mean ripping out a row or two, as i think i can make it a bit better. it's a trick to try making things for kids, esp if you don't have them right with you to try it on as you go. kids have different proportions than adults do, and each child seems to grow at different rates, at different times. this lil girl is big for her age, but i don't want to make it too large, cuz i don't want it to swamp her in folds.

so i'll take pix, when it is finished and maybe i can get my best lil friend to model it. she's five too, tho she isn't quite as tall as the lil girl this is meant for, she is large for her age too. and if not, i'll just drape it on jerry and take a pic {wink}!

tho he'd be better suited to the big bad wolf role. snicker.

don't forget the floors

time is taffy, especially of late. in some ways, i feel that things have moved very very slowly, just dragging on and on. and yet, in other ways, i feel that so much has zipped right along, at a fast pace. and the truth is, time moves at the same rate. or so i assume, not being a student of such units and matters, i can never be absolutely certain of these matters.

so i've been chipping away at the task at hand, which is to set things to rights and find homes for everything that has been stored in various rooms for the past six months or so. my jerry and i were up late last night, moving furniture around. then this afternoon, i continued to move what could be moved and try this here, well maybe it'd be better there, nooooooooooo, back to here. aha! how about over there?

it may take a bit on the front end, but then, once a home is found for pieces and parts, then that's where they stay. i don't feel a great urge to rearrange on a whim, or with the changing seasons, or what not. sometimes, i'll move things temporarily, rearranging them to accommodate a larger crowd {which since jerry has five adult children with spouses and four with children, a larger crowd happens more often than not~~so i'm taking that into account and attempting to find places for things so that we don't need to majorly rearrange every other month or at least several times per year}. just put things where they will best be used, found, fit, etc.

so for the time being, my jerry and i decided to leave the computer desk in the current location which is the breakfast nook, rather than relocating it to the study. so because it is here, what had been going to go here must go elsewhere. and so on and so on and so forth.

things won't be exactly as we'd have them by the time of the wedding, but much further than they had been. and every step forward makes everything *click* into place. which makes us more comfortable and is soothing to the soul. hope your autumn is off to a good start as well!

my jerry & me

i thought it would be very appropriate to post this pic, which is probably the one we'll run in the paper to announce our wedding, in four weeks. my brother took this pic and a buncha others, when he and mom were here last week to paint and lay floor in three rooms. tomorrow, jerry and i begin to move things into those rooms and i'm very excited, but also sorta nervous. i don't want to do anything that will mess up the tile or the walls. i know i'll feel lots better after some of the stuff that's been sitting in the dining area for the last six months in moved and we can start to unpack one room that has been filled with keepsakes since spring.

the dress is one that i'd gotten at this past may's moondance. it's quite lovely and comfortable. in the past few weeks, i've actually gained quite a bit of weight, and that has been extremely upsetting for me, as i know weigh the most since my jerry has known me.

all the foundation garments in the world won't help if they don't fit, now will they? arghen farghen, blast my weak will and inability to control my insatiable appetite {and no, i'm not pregnant}. i'm sure it'll be fine, The Dress will fit and all that. but at the moment, i'm none too pleased with myself.

sigh.

date day

because my jerry and i have been extremely busy of late, because money has been a bit tight, because we won't have lots of opportunity in the next month, because we haven't be alone, and because we're worth doing this; earlier in the week, we decided that today would be date day. we both slept in some, i more than he {naturally}. we got up and around and decided to go to town, stop at the bank, drop off some items at the palmer home thrift store, and go to a favorite place of ours for a leisurely lunch before heading to the movies.

Scheherazade's is a small middle eastern eatery near the college and a special place we like to go for a cup of tasty coffee, or hot sweet mint tea, or a shawarma pita, or kabobs, or a small feta pizza, or or or... a new family has taken over ownership {the old owners were getting burnt out, that happens in small business, where the owner is the manager and the chef and the bottlewasher and and and...}. provided the women are left to run, serve, and such, the place will do just fine. they were very nice, considerate, approachable, and we had the best time chatted with the new owner and her daughters as well as her visiting father. i wish them all the good fortune in the world, and i'm sure they will do just fine; provided the man of the family steers clear and allows his wife to actually do what she is doing without his heavy~handed interference.

the mood darkened as soon as he came in to the building and began throwing his weight around, brow~beating the working women, and adding to their workload. the mood lightened up immediately after he left. we all breathed a collective sigh of relief when his absence was palpably felt. whew.

my jerry and i engaged in a wonderfully informative conversation with the ladies there, the new owner and her daughters. she has seven children, the eldest will turn 18 in a few weeks and the youngest is just now three. today was the third day of them taking over the restaurant and her parents have come down from the nashville area to watch over the smallest children so that she and her older children can smooth the transition from old owner to new. her father came in, after her asinine husband took his presence elsewhere and blessed us all with his absence, and took a few pictures of his lovely granddaughters who doted on him the entire time he was there. jerry and i spoke with him for quite some time, eventually inviting him to sit with us so that we could continue a wonderfully delightful conversation.

by the time we left, all the negativity that amassed with the presence of her husband had dissipated and all of us were laughing, smiling, and feeling lots more light~hearted. we've every intention of returning, they're very pleasant and the atmosphere they created was just what my jerry and i needed and wanted for today. we highly recommend them for a unique experience!

after stopping by walgreens, we motored on down to the movies. my jerry expressed an interest in zombieland, and i was not averse, so we settled back to enjoy woody harrelson, with a cameo by bill murray. it was corny, but you'd expect that, right? and there were a few very funny moments, quips, and situations.

after that, we headed to walmart to get some needed groceries, and a few other items. among those items was a much~considered brazier. our fire~pit is very similar to this one pictured, without the additional six inch rim. the rest of it is identical to what you see here. the cost for the one online that i just viewed was four hundred and sixty dollars. *gasp* we bought ours right here in starkville, miss'ippi for about a tenth of that! ours cost forty~eight dollars.

hah~UUUUUge difference in dollars.

same difference in enjoyment!

after my jerry and i unloaded the car, and put away all the groceries, we assembled the fire~pit and set it up in the front yard. then we set a nice fire in there while the sun set and spent the evening on the wooden swing under the oak tree and chatted while watching the flames leaping and dancing and the dogs basically doing their own leap~dance. it was a great way to finish the wonderful day!