Things Are Finally Looking Up!

After having the worst week ever last week, we're finally seeing some light at the end of the tunnel. I don't know if it is just because Spring is here or what. I know I woke up today feeling alot better than I have for the last couple of weeks. It might have helped that I had a little retail therapy last night (shh...don't tell Doug.) Plus, I did manage to get a little exercise in the last couple of days too. Saturday evening, Doug & I walked around the neighborhood, I walked the parkway with Desire & Jackson on Sunday and I'll count the shopping I did at the mall with Amanda last night too. :) Plus, I've been remembering to take my vitamins the last couple of days. So maybe it is a combination of all of the above. Whatever it is, I need to keep it up! Maybe now I'll finally be able to be motivated enough to make wedding plans. Doug did talk to the pastor we wanted today and he will marry us and he's doing it for free. All he asks is that we make a donation to his church. Cool, I can deal with that. I need to call a couple more photographers still, but it's starting to get done. I really hope that you guys can make it out here, so we can hopefully decide on your dresses. Then we just need to do food, cake, and decorations. Yeah, like it'll be that simple. :)

It's going to be a bad day...

I hated Grey's Anatomy last night. For one thing, my DVR stopped right before the very end, so I don't know if I missed anything crucial or just the previews for next week. For another thing, I'm really not liking George & Izzie right now. And they used to be my favorites! I was reading the writer's blog and it was just making it worse, because from what Amanda told me about the spoilers she read they are all coming true and they aren't good.

And today is Boomer's last day. Doug's taking him this afternoon. We're holding up really well. No tears for the last several days now. Doug says it is because we have accepted it. I feel bad that I haven't been crying over him, but maybe that is good. We can remember his last days with us as happy ones.

Dishes

Here are the dishes I like. No seriously...this is it! I am not going to look for anything else. :)

Thanks for the tip about Firefox, btw. Logged onto online banking with no problems and is it just me or does it seem faster than IE?

Boomer in Pictures

More Updates

Thanks for your prayers yesterday. I know they helped. We went to see Grandma last night after Kaden's birthday party. She was looking alot better. She had the scope and they discovered 6 inches of inflamation, scarring and ulcers on her esophagus all from acid reflux. They also discovered another condition that I can't remember the name of, but the only way to get rid of it was through diarrhea (TMI, sorry). Anyway, that can last up to 2 months and that's with the medicine that you have to take. Apparently that's the only way it can leave your body. So since they know the problem now, they told her that if she could take her medicine and eat and keep it all down she could go home. So hopefully that will be today.



And to keep up with the good spirit here are some pictures of the birthday boy for you:

Kaden Eric

March 10, 2006

Look how you've grown!

March 10, 2007

One more thing before I go...do you think you could come out some weekend in the not too distant future? I think it would be fun to go shopping for bridesmaid dresses together. We'd love it if Josh came too. You guys could stay with us if you'd like. We'll probably have new furniture in our guest room by then and it may be repainted. :) Anyway, think about and see if you have time and funds for such an expedition. I'm pretty flexible about the weekend, so don't worry about when. Or if during the week is better for you, that's fine with me too. I don't know what you have for time off at work. I'll talk to you soon!

Update

My grandma is still in the hospital. She hasn't been able to eat or drink at all since she got there. I think they tried giving her jello and she couldn't keep it down. They are going to do a surgical scope thing later today. My mom says she's mostly just been sleeping. I went to see her on Thursday night, and I could tell she was really uncomfortable. I think we're going to try to go see her sometime today, probably after Kaden's birthday party. Keep her in your thoughts and prayers today, please.

Bonus Time!

It's Clinique Bonus time again. This is actually a pretty good one, so I might have to go and get it. In ours you get a make-up bag (always...it's actually cute this time!), mini powder, mini sunblock, mini Take the Day Off, mini Dramatically Different Lotion, and mini Black Honey almost lipstick. What I'm going to spend my $21.50 on, I do not know. I'm almost out of my Take the Day Off, so I might get that. I also could use some more 7 Day Scrub, but I use it so sporadically, I don't know that it is worth it. I definitely do not need anymore lipstick. I might get some Touch Tint. I finally ran out of my tube. I swear it last 2 years (yes, I know I should have thrown it away long before that.) Anyway, it doesn't start until March 11, so I've got time to decide.

Now for my unhappy...my Grandma Swartz is at the emergency room right now. :( She's been sick with flu-like symptoms for the last couple of weeks. Actually she went to the doctor last week and started to feel better, but I guess she woke up feeling really bad again yesterday. She asked my aunt to take her to the hospital, but my aunt talked her into just going to her doctor. The doctor prescribed an antibiotic and something for her stomach and sent her home. The antibiotic caused her to break out in hives and she still couldn't eat or drink anything. I talked to her this morning and she didn't sound good at all. She said my aunt was going to take her to the hospital as soon as she got off work and that she thought she had thrown up blood earlier in the morning. I asked her if she wanted anything and she said my dad was supposed to bringing her some Pepto for her stomach, but hadn't got there yet (my mom is at a training session in KC all week). I talked to my dad and he hadn't had a chance to get there and asked me if I would take it to her on my way to work. So I did, but I had just missed them. My aunt took her to the hospital about 5 minutes before I got there according to my uncle who was there doing some work on her house. Then I talked to my mom who was really upset that my grandma didn't call her sooner. My mom would have gladly stayed home today and taken her and she was upset because she thought my aunt should have taken her yesterday when my grandma asked her to. I'm sure at this point they will have to admit her just to get her hooked up to an IV and rehydrated. She said she hasn't eaten or drank much in the last couple of days, so she's probably severely dehydrated. Anyway, I got pretty upset about this morning. I don't know if it is hormonal (stupid period!) or what. My grandma almost never gets sick and never for long. Then I started to feel bad, because my grandma & I used to be really close, but as the years go by I talk to her less and less. I need to be better about that.

Okay, I feel better now that I have vented. Talk to you soon!

Here They Are!

Here's Sarah looking oh-so-bored.

The only reason she came was because it got her out of soccer practice.

Sandy's trying to mimic the look of the dress with the piece that laid across the front.

Here we are discussing how nicely the material lays.


Now here she's trying to do the ruching on the bodice.

Sandy apparently has the vision and I'm glad she does, because I absolutely do not. She hasn't taken my measurements yet either and that scares me a little because I mentioned to her a while back that I wanted to be down to a size 8 for the wedding and I'm afraid we only got enough material for a size 8 gown. I'm sure that is not true, but maybe that'll give me a little motivation. Something's got to.

More Dishes!

Are you sick of me blogging about dishes yet? I am! We were at Aaron & Lindsey's on Saturday and I noticed their dishes for the first time. Look familiar? They aren't exactly the same, but pretty darn close. And of course theirs are the more high end brand, which wouldn't bother me, but I know would annoy Doug. So I think it is back to the HGP stoneware or maybe I'll borrow a page from you book and go with the Fiestaware. The more I see it, the more I like the sunflower. And I figured out a way to do just 3 colors if I wanted to, get 12 place settings. Apparently that's what you're supposed to register for anyway. So we could do 4 place settings of sunflower, 4 of cobalt, and 4 of cinnabar. And then mix & match when we set the table. What do you think? I think I could probably even live with 12 place settings of sunflower, but I think the variety would be nice.

We got the material for my dress yesterday. Five yards of crepe back satin on sale for $5.59/yd. Now I need to pick out trim and my mom wants covered buttons. We took some pictures, and I'll upload them later.

Your Opinion is Needed!

I'm thinking of getting my mom either this or this for her "mother of the bride" present. Which one do you like better? I think the first one seems more joyful, but I think the second one looks more appropriate, but maybe a little bittersweet. What do you think? Maybe it is bittersweet that I am getting married? They have a mother/son one that I thought about getting for Doug's mom, but it doesn't feel right. He's just not that close with his mom. Besides, he needs to pick it out, right?

I really shouldn't have drank that chocolate coke tonight. I don't know if I'll ever get to bed!

Time to Celebrate!

Why, you ask?

Because we...

SOLD OUR HOUSE!

I'm relieved and happy, but it doesn't feel real to me yet. I thought it would feel real when I had the check in my hand (!!!!!!!!) but it doesn't. Not sure why.

So this means: No more mortgage payment.
And it also means: Big boost to savings account. We owed $36,000 on it, and sold it for - are you ready for this - $62,500!!! Granted, we're actually carrying part of that note for the buyer (they will pay us $100 for 3 years), but we still got a check for 10k.

Okay, writing all that out did make me a little bit more excited. I only wish it wasn't snowing so I could get Josh to take me to Ik3a!

Registry Goodness

Last night, Doug & I went to Bed Bath & Beyond to look around and decide if we really want to register there. We came to the conclusion that yes, we will be registering there. They have everything! We'll probably still register at Target too, but no deparment stores. Anyway, we found some dishes that we both agree on, although Doug would rather have something like this because you get all the pieces. He didn't seem to mind that it didn't match our kitchen at all. Silly boys! They actually have the Pfaltzgraff set that I like on their website, but not in the store and I have decided that if I haven't seen it in the store yet, I'm not going to get it. I need to be able to pick it up and feel it, you know what I mean? Something else I found interesting on their webstie was a Bridal Registry Checklist. Might come in handy, but I think we'll disregard more than half of it.

In other news, one (or both) of the cats peed all over our new rugs. We discovered it last night after coming home from our lovely evening out. I went to sit down on the couch and walked across the rug with my shoes off and was immediately rewarded with wet feet. After closer inspection, I quickly realized it was from the cats. And it wasn't just the big rug, it was the throw rug too. Doug's shampooing them today, since I'm at work, but we're afraid they will just do it again. I don't know if it was because of the smell of the new rug or the fact that Ronnie & Corey brought their dog up last weekend or something health related that caused them to do it. *sigh* We just might have to give up our rugs, I suppose. All that money, gone. I'm really glad we bought them on sale now. Maybe it won't hurt so much if we have to get rid of them.

Lots of Randomness

I loved the latest installment of Olivia's story, but I need more! :)

I cleaned my house tonight, well I surface cleaned it, but it made a HUGE difference. I forgot how much cleaning helps improve my mood.

Speaking of which, I've been in a horrible mood the last couple of days. I think it's PMS, because I'm super-bloated too. I hope so, because I may not have to worry about wedding planning at the rate I'm going. Doug might be ready to leave my cranky butt, if I get any worse!

It's our 3 year anniversary Monday. I think Doug is making me dinner tomorrow night, hence the cleaning. That makes me a little less cranky.

Something else that doesn't make me cranky, but is kind of scaring me is that I decided this week that I am ready to go back to school. Probably won't be until Spring of '08, because I don't even want to attempt to do last-minute wedding stuff my first semester back. I will more than likely finish my education degree. Whether or not I choose to use it, I don't know yet. I said something offhand to Doug tonight about being a kindergarten teacher and he said he thought I was "too highstrung" for the job. See, why he's making me cranky? What does he know about teaching kindergarten?? He wouldn't last 10 minutes with twenty 5 year-olds. I mentioned the idea to my mom last night and she thinks I need to be an ESL teacher. We've had a huge-influx of Spanish speaking people move here in the last year or so and I know for a fact that at the beginning of the school year there were several classes with kids who only spoke Spanish. Anyway, don't get too excited yet. I still have to figure out how I'll be able to work and finish school. *Sigh* Lots to think about.

Wedding plans: Mom & I went to Hobby Lobby last night and bought some different flowers for a practice bouquet. I wish you were here to help! I'll send you pictures when we get one made. On Sunday, I'm going shopping for dress material with my mom & Sandy. This should be interesting.

Olivia Gets Grilled

“Olivia, I’m Sheriff Bearis, and this is Officer Webb.” The man who had captured her said, gesturing toward the young, skinny cop who looked around the room with his mouth open, plainly wishing for a camera to capture the moment.

“Webb. WEBB.” Bearis rapped his knuckles on Webb’s back; not taking his eyes from Olivia.

“Yeah, boss.”

“Why don’t you head outside and radio the station. See how much longer till Mrs. Caine gets here. I want to tell Olivia about her new home.”

“It’s Sunday, Sheriff. No one will be at…”

“WEBB!” Bearis warned. “Go. Take you time. And give me that folder.” Bearis snatched a manila folder from Webb’s grasp. All joviality fell from Webb’s face, and for a moment, Olivia thought Webb would hit him. Instead, Webb looked right into Olivia’s eyes, nodded with a condolatory smile, and left through the battered front door.

Bearis crossed the room and sat, without asking, in Olivia’s green chair, the only comfortable piece of furniture in the room. Olivia had dragged the chair down from her bedroom after realizing that the living room was the warmest place in the house. Many times over the last six months she had come home late from work and fallen asleep in the chair, waking an hour later in a confused panic of time and place.

“You ready to talk about it?” Bearis asked, in a voice that meant Olivia should confide. I’m not talking to you, she thought, concentrating on Bearis’ strange beard. It puffed out on the sides and went flat at the end. In the movies, cops are always clean shaven. Suddenly, a desperate question formed inside her.

“Is she okay? My grandmother, I mean.”

Bearis waited a moment before he opened the folder in his lap.

Olivia leaned away from the sofa and peaked at the contents as he flipped through it. On top, a tidy batch of Denver Post news clippings about her father’s accident, below that, a few pages of lined paper filled with writing she couldn’t quite make out.
Bearis came to what he was looking for and removed it.

Just as he snapped the folder shut Olivia glimpsed a photograph she never wanted to see again. A Caine family portrait. Her father, his wife and young sons. Next to them, in the place that Olivia should have stood, was a Christmas tree. Olivia’s gaze dropped to the floor. Her discarded peanut butter and jelly sandwich lay an inch from Bearis’ booted foot.

“Camille Caine suffered a stroke on December fifth of last year. She has been in a coma since that time. Her status has not changed.” Bearis offered Olivia the fax from St. Andrews Manor in Portland.

Olivia waved it away and exhaled slowly. “She’s okay then.”

“As okay as she can be.” Bearis leaned back into the chair, confident that Olivia’s injury would prevent an escape.

“Now Olivia, I want to make it clear that while what you have done isn’t punishable under the law, you do owe us a few answers.”

“You’re sending me to live with her, aren’t you? That’s punishment enough.”

“Actually, Miss Caine, your placement with your stepmother is only temporary at the moment. Meredith Caine hasn’t yet decided… I mean she’s still in shock over you’re father’s death.” Bearis took out a pen, a bright, hateful smile on his face. “Now, first tell me why you chose to lie to everyone and live alone.”

A white-hot anger filled Olivia’s heart and invaded her brain. She jerked herself off the couch and stood over Bearis. The sharp pain that shot up her leg only added to her fury. “You have that file in your lap about me. You know everything. Yet you ask me why, after everything, I would want to live alone; to stay in this house. I’ll tell you your answer now, sheriff. I lied because I wanted to. Because I was happy here, and because one day my grandmother will come home and I’ll have a family again.”

Bearis continued to smile, though darkness had taken hold in his eyes. “Sit down, Olivia.”

The front door creaked open. A summer breeze flooded the room and the wind chimes played a loud and haunting tune. In the door stood the dark and hulking Evan Giatti, a year ahead of Olivia at school, but easily twice the size.