My Never-Ending Quest Continues...

Still trying to pick some dishes. I really like these. Actually, I've always really liked the Pfaltzgraff stuff. I need to go to Penney's and see if they actually have them at the store. I really don't want to mess with shipping dishes again. And I think I'll probably just register for them if Doug & I decide we like them. They are a little pricey, well compared to the ones I liked at Target. I think I really just like cream-colored or beige dishes. I like the bright colors too, but I'm nervous about picking a pattern or color that I won't love forever. This way if I get something neutral I won't have to worry about when I redecorate. Actually they kind of remind me of Fiestaware, with their bands around the edges. I'd probably go with Fiestaware if it came in cream or beige!

Hello?

What happened to the rest of those pictures? :)

Carmen's Picture Post

Yes! I am finally getting around to posting up some pictures! I've got alot of them, so I hope blogger doesn't freak out on me.

I'll seperate this into two posts; Milwaukee and Other.

Other comes first. (And by other, you know I mean my animals, right?)



This is the snow that fell last night. We're expecting much more. 11-15 inches on Sunday alone!



I took this pic of Maddie this morning. She seems to be asking, "Whatcha doing?"



Not ten minutes later, in her favorite chair by the window. She's getting sleeeepy!


I know you've seen this picture, but I love it so much, I had to post it here. Beautiful Casper on the Banana Boat! (She loves that couch because it keeps her cool, and because we're not always kicking her off to sit on it.)





My crazy kitty! This is the first picture I took with my new camera. Sorcha didn't quite know what to make of the flash! The box she's standing next to held my cobalt dishes!



Hands down, my favorite picture. She is such a pretty kitty, and fun subject for my incessant picture taking!

-------------------------------

Well, as I said, I've got lots more. I kitty just climbed in my lap though, and it's hard to do this with one hand, so I'll post the rest up later. My Milwaukee pictures are nice and include *gasp* HUMANS!

Finished!

As promised, here are pictures of my completed living room. I forgot that Blogger loads them backwards, but I don't have time to reverse the order this morning. :) Ready for the tour?

Here is our new big rug. It is a shag rug and a lighter color which I hope will disguise some of the cat hair. Although, so far neither of the cats have been really laying on it.

Here is the matching throw rug.


Here is a close-up of one of the pillows. I can't believe how well it matches the couch!

I wanted you to see the end table and lamp. I wish all our lamps matched, but Doug really likes the lamp his mom gave him and won't give it up. that's the one on the far right.

Another view of the living room. Wow...the walls really look blue.

Maybe that's just my screen though.

Last one that was supposed to be the first.

So what do you think?

Look What I've Been Doing

Yep, that's my living room. I posted a comment on the blog before your latest chapter (I need more, btw!) about it, but now that I'm taking a break I'll elaborate. For whatever reason, Doug decided he needed to butter me up last night and promised me that we'd go to Penney's today and look at rugs since they were 50% off and you got an extra 15% off if you used your Penney's card. So off we went to Penney's this morning for a new rug. We found one large one and it's matching accent and decided to pick those up (I'll post pictures of those later after I have them out). Then I noticed that throw pillows were right across the way from the rugs and they were on sale buy one get one for $1. So we bought these really great pillows that were regularly $40 a piece (yikes!). In the meantime Doug decides that what we should (finally!) do is paint the living room. So I took the pillows to Lowe's with me and picked out a lovely blue-grey color called Autumn Fog. Now that it's on the walls, I'm not so sure how much it matches the pillows really, but I think it'll all work once we have it put together. Anyway, I'm taking a much needed break. I have been working on the living room for about 4 hours straight. I'd like to get it finished tonight though. Won't be much longer. I'll post more pictures when everything is done.

Oh and my dishes did come today, but they were broken. I'm going to return them to the store and see if I can't get the next set shipped to the store. If not, then I may just get a refund and pick out something else. I haven't decided yet.

Alright, time to get back to work.

Dishes, Misty?

Well..... Are they here?

What's the verdict?

Olivia's Next Chaper

Olivia hated the hand gripped on her shoulder, and though she hadn't yet seen his face, she hated the man attached to the hand as well.

"Let's go inside and have a seat, Olivia." The man moved his grip to contain her bicep and guided her through the backdoor of the house. "Watch that ankle," he said as she stumbled on the threshold. In the thin light of the three-quarter moon Olivia saw the silhouette of a gun on the officer's hip.

Good Lord, when would he ever use that in Pawtucket? Olivia knew she hadn't done anything illegal, but her hands went cold.

Her captor turned on a flashlight and pointed it at the antique couch in the middle of the living room. "Sit." Olivia lowered herself onto the old couch, her grandmother’s favorite. The heat of her ankle had faded; replaced by the tight feeling of swollen flesh.

The officer swung the flashlight around the room. “Where’s the light switch?” Olivia heard him mutter, but she didn’t say a word. The living room was in the oldest part of the house and didn’t have an overhead light. She hoped he never found the lamp in the corner. Life was so much easier to take in the dark.

“You in here, boss?” Another man called.

“Yeah, just looking for…. ah, here we are.” The corner lit up; Camille’s Tiffany lamp brought to action.

“What the…” the second officer ducked instinctively as he looked around.

In the muted light from the Tiffany lamp, the wind chimes hanging from the ceiling cast long shadows; spider legs reaching down, grazing their scalps, searching for the warmth beneath.

* * * * *

Olivia remembered the first time she saw the chimes and cringed. She hadn’t meant to tread on her grandmother’s feelings. Especially not on the day she arrived in Pawtucket, suitcase in hand, wearing the plain black dress her father bought for her middle school graduation. She’d worn the dress more recently to his funeral.

Camille answered the door in a plaid cotton house dress. “Oh, it has been far too long, my child,” she’d said, hugging Olivia, then sweeping her into the house that hadn’t seen a visitor in over sixteen years.

Camille’s living room faced east, and that morning the diffused daylight sharpened every color. Olivia dropped her suitcase on the patch of scatter rugs that served as a foyer before she looked around at her new home. “Whoa!” Olivia exclaimed as she processed what she saw. The living room was large, formal, and filled with expensive antique furniture. On the floor was an eighteenth century braided wool rug. On the ceiling was a spectacle so incongruous it forced a smile to Olivia’s lips. She hid it with her hand.

“There are three-hundred and five, dear.” Camille had said looking right into Olivia’s eyes, a soft smile on her face as well. “And each one brings me joy.” Olivia stood on the scatter rugs, next to her suitcase, and watched as grandmother touched each of one those chimes. Olivia thought the music would go on for days...

MORE TO COME! :)

No Dishes Yet

Apparently it's not that simple as just going to the house where you misdelivered, picking it up and redelivering it to the correct address. So frustrating! I was on the phone with UPS for over 20 minutes Friday morning trying to straighten things out only to be told that I needed to call the shipper (Target). Well, I didn't have time because I had to go to work, but the more I thought about it the more upset I got. It wasn't Target's fault, because the person I spoke with checked and the address label was printed correctly. So I didn't feel right calling Target and asking them to remedy the situation. Fortunately it doesn't look like I'll have to. UPS called later Friday morning and told Doug that they were tracing the package and I didn't get it yesterday, but it looks like it was scanned in late Friday night. So hopefully, Monday. These dishes better be worth it!

Mystery Solved!

Okay, I know I was supposed to be going to bed, but that UPS thing was bugging me too much, so I called. First of all they had a stupid automated service that you had to talk to, which was annoying. I went through the track my package option and it told me that my package had been delivered to **** Dewey Street. I knew something was wrong as soon as I heard that. There is a Dewey Street here in town, I can't quite remember where, but I know there is one. So I listened to the other options and when I didn't hear anything for what I needed I pressed "0". That gets you an actual person, she confirmed my address, but did say that the package was delivered to Dewey Street, not Avenue. She tried to put a trace on the package, but since the office was closed for the night, I have to call back again tomorrow. Oh well, at least I know where my package is now.

A Picture For You

I hope you & Josh had a lovely Valentine's Day. :) Here's what Doug got for me. I felt bad, because all I got him was a card, but I was hinting all weekend that I really wanted tulips for Valentine's Day. Good to know that he listens, right?

In wedding planning news, we might have a DJ for $300. My parent's friend's brother (he does it professionally) said he would do it for that much. My mom is going to verify it, but hopefully it'll work out. One more thing to cross off the list. Still no photograhper, but Doug's going to hopefully talk to Aaron's brother-in-law this weekend. If we got those two things situated, I think I'd feel better about everything wedding related. Then I could start concentrating on the little stuff... like my wedding dress!

(Not) My Picture Post

Josh is alot less lazy than I am. He's active at a VW forum and posted up some pics of our pups, and the cutest picture of Sorcha I've ever seen. (BTW, when you go to this link, notice his spelling of Sorcha. Apparently, we are in disagreement on how it is spelled! Too Funny!)

HERE ARE SOME PICTURES!

I do also have some pictures from our weekend in Milwaukee. I might post them up tonight.

Flowers

I emailed you a picture of the bouquet we're going to make for the wedding. Let me know what you think when you get a chance to look at it.

BOO!!!!

No snow day for me. :( Oh well, at least I don't have to drive very far to work today. Poor Doug got stuck in the driveway last night. He woke me up about 12:30 and we decided to call my dad since we figured he was the only one we knew of still awake. Unfortunately, I had taken some benadryl for my stuffy head last night before I went to bed, so I went right back to sleep after talking to my dad. Everything must have been okay, because when I woke up this morning Doug was in bed with me and the truck was parked in the driveway. We probably need to take my dad to lunch sometime for coming right over like that. Hopefully, our lovely neighbor with the plow will come by sometime today and actually get the driveway plowed all the way. He usually does it for our next-door neighbors, I think they pay him to do it, because of the daycare she runs out of her house. One of the benefits to sharing a driveway, I suppose.

I guess I should think about getting ready for work now. My car is completely covered in snow, so that's going to eat up alot of my time this morning.

Wishin' & Hopin'...

...for a snow day tomorrow!

Here's what it looks like outside my house right now. I took this picture not ten minutes ago. Those spots are snowflakes.

Actually, what I really want it to do is taper off pretty quick so that I won't have to worry about Doug getting home tonight and then once he's here safe & sound I want it to snow like crazy! We're supposed to get 3-5 inches over night and another 1-2 tomorrow. I've got my fingers crossed!

Pardon Me...

I don't want to interrupt your birthday festitivites, I just wanted to know what you thought of this for a table centerpiece. It is probably too small for the round tables, but it might be nice on the long tables if we did like three of them down the table. What do you think?

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

LOVE,

MISTY & DOUG

Back to Blogging

We're back! I switched everything over this afternoon and sent you an email with the info. I changed the template, but I'm not crazy about it, so change it if you want.

YOU BEAT ME HERE!!!

Josh and I went to a Ethnography film thing at his school last night . We got home laaattte. A bit past 11:00 p.m.. Way too late for a school night. ;)

All night Josh told me I had a surprise waiting at home. I figured it was my camera (which did actually come yesterday as well). But what did I see when I got home?

Two beautiful boxes with what my best friend knows I wanted most!

I couldn't have waited to open them, even if you wanted me too... FIESTA WARE was written on the side of each box!

I most graciously relinquish my best friend of the year crown. You deserve it now! I only wish you were here so I could serve you a meal on them first!

Birthday Present

So for some reason I decided to check and see if your package was going to ship any sooner and saw that it arrived today. YAY!! I'm so glad it got there in time. It is okay to open it, you don't have to wait for your birthday. Sooooooo...did you like it?