Thirteen Pictures Of A GLIMPSE INTO MY LIFE

2.  I made decorations AND the food (some the night before and much of it the morning before the 1pm reception!!!!).  None of the people who said they would help put the food together showed up that morning (story of my life) and 45 minutes before the guests were scheduled to arrive, Jesse walked in and looked at me in horror.  I was in a flannel shirt, jeans, barefoot, no make up, and straight as a board hair!!!!.  I arranged the table for the reception and flew back to the bathroom to transform myself from Cinderella into Princess Cinderella!!!!  Jesse couldn't believe I got myself changed and put together so fast.  I was perspiring - for sure!  Unfortunately, the food isn't recognizable in this copy.  I remember there was a platter of meats, cheeses, with croissants to make your own sandwiches, veggies & dip, a relish tray of different olives & pickles, mixed fruit salad,  shrimp on ice with cocktail sauce in a smaller bowl in the middle with the larger bowl decorated with lemon wedges, and maybe we served crackers with different cheese balls.
 

3 & 4.  Our cake was made by a friend of mine (we both went to the same cake decorating school).  She delivered and assembled the three tiers, and I decorated it with things I had made ahead of time.  I asked her to use a simple continuous shell pattern around the edges (like bakery cakes) and dotted swiss on the sides.  I tried to keep it simple for her and used "stuff" to make it more elaborate and "decorated" looking.  I made and decorated the cake (after she assembled it) with white roses with "dew drops" (made from drops from a hot glue gun), evergreen springs, real leaves dipped in gold, and two white doves on the top with greenery & tiny white roses.  We were married in January, the reception was at the end of January and so everything I bought for decorations was marked down 90% at Michael's.  I know how to do things pretty cheap!!!

5.  This is a view of the back of my dress.  The only picture I have of it and my head piece worked into a French roll.  I never thought to ask someone to photograph my rear-end!!!  Sad to see this picture.  Reminds me that several who were in attendance have died.

6.  This is the picture that didn't post last night.  Just as well.  It would have probably been red, too.  As it is, this is just a blurry version of how we looked.  What I'm holding is NOT a bouquet.  It's a floral decoration I had made to sit on the back of the toilet tank in the reception's restroom!!!  I laugh every time I see me holding that.  Someone taking the picture said, "You HAVE to have a bouquet!" so, I ran to the bathroom and grabbed that!!

7.  This one cracks me up and I'm no longer too vain to post it!  I must have opened my mouth to take a bite at the exact moment this photo was snapped.  I looked like I was about to puke up everything I'd just eaten!!!

8.  Moving on to this past January when we renewed our vows.  Only 3 friends were there as witnesses and Luci was in daycare.  This was VERY informal, but meant so much to me.  When the  pastor (same one working with Luci right now) said "There have been tough times and there have been times of illness that you have stuck by each other faithfully . . . " I started to cry.  I thought of how close to death I was last year and Jesse's concern for me.  A very touching moment.  Jesse broke through my emotionalism when he lightened things up by saying, "Yeah babe, I almost bolted but decided to stick it out, anyway.  I had to.  None of my friends would take me in and I didn't have any other place to stay!"  Then we continued with the serious part of the ceremony!!!!   (I can't believe how blurry these photos came out!)

9.  This is such a sweet picture.  My friend, Emily, caught us holding hands with some of the flowers from the podium right behind our hands.  Again - blurry!

10.  This was right after he pronounced us "still" man and wife!

11.  And another blurry shot of us as a family.

These next pictures should be of much better quality.  I took them this morning and didn't try to copy another picture or scan stuff!!!!!!

12.  My friend Lori's family is arriving and her birthday is in a little more than a week.  She always brings my April birthday gift and I give her hers early and we have a little birthday party together each year.  One of the highlights of our short time spent together!  My dresser is STILL cleaned, except for her gift that needs to be wrapped.  I can post this because I know she is on the road right now traveling this way and won't be on the Internet!!!!

Hooray for crispness and clarity of pictures!!!!  LOL

13.  And finally, I couldn't say good-bye without posting what I woke up to this morning.  Remember, I went to the store late and got home at 10pm.  I was so tired and put refrigerated/frozen things away and left other things to just be dealt with today.  HERE'S MY BAR!  In total disarray again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I tell you:  I bet this  is a mild example of what hell must be like.  Evil things continually coming back to haunt you and an intense feeling of  HOPELESSNESS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  LOL

Here are the requested wedding photos - only 3.  I've decided to grocery shop tonight to get it out of the way and not have to go anywhere tomorrow.

Okay - I don't know what happened to third picture that showed my full dress. 

Well, today went very well.  Very well, indeed.  I canceled the girls' therapy appointment for tomorrow since Stephanie is off work tomorrow.  No reason spending gas going all the way out there when I have company arriving that night.  I think I could be more productive around here and missing that one appointment.!

True to my word, here are pictures of the almost still clean desk and the semi-kept-clean bar except for a couple gum wrappers and someone's "Little Debbie" wrapper.

I am really glad the bedding got folded, bagged in zipper bags, and all pillows stored away.  AND, the fact Lori's family has a place to sleep tomorrow night is a HUGE plus!  They would have been lost in the mass of quilts, etc. on that king bed!  Rissy's shelf in her closet even has one empty bottom shelf left for - whatever!  She's currently storing a can of Glade Lavender Fields on that shelf!

While in Rissy's closet, I saw my wedding dress again and thought I'd take a front and back picture and then front and back close up picture.  I had seen a dress I loved for $3200.00 (gulp!) and then found something similar but much more plain for $600.00.  So this wonderful friend of mine and I glued approximately 10,000 sequins, beads, and rhinestones to the dress to make it look like the $3200,.00 dress.  Not a bad job, no?

Here's the front

and here is the back (lots of pretty silk covered buttons) and rhinestones followed down the center seam to the bottom of the dress.

Since it was my second wedding (first in 1973 & this one in 1998), I chose opalescent sequins that put off a slight pink & yellow shade - making the dress not the traditional stark white.

NOW, about that mystery picture that I caught this morning - the one over my desk that took on it's on shape . . .   Get this, I decided to photograph it up close and without a glare and here's what I got ???

it photographed UPSIDE DOWN!!!!!!!!!!!!  It was sitting on sofa cushions right side up.  Isn't that weird?  Kinda creepy???  Maybe I should get rid of it, since it seems possessed by something all its own!  Just too weird!  I know my camera wasn't upside down when I took the picture.  But, nonetheless, you can see it doesn't have a lamp shape base like the photo earlier today showed.  But it's also not upside down, hanging on my wall!!!!

And the day wouldn't be complete if you didn't see some of my little honeys!!!! 

Along came Luci to be included!  As always!

I promise you, everyone's hair WAS brushed this morning!!!!

It's time to leave and pick up Stephanie.  I feel good about what I accomplished today and we're having chili cheeseburgers for dinner tonight (on paper plates).  So, cooking (and clean up) will be easy!

It's not Tuesday, right?  That means I have to turn my energy and motivation up a notch!!!

Rissy's old bookcase on top of the chest in her closet.  This will create SO MUCH MORE storage for extra comforters, blankets, and pillows.

Her new cherry wood shelves with her snow globe collection on top.

My dresser is still uncluttered and I took a close up of my great great grandma's picture and my triple great grandmother's hair twisted into a floral arrangement.  I think the picture was taken around 1880 and the hair was done around 1835.  Thought someone might find it interesting.

MY desk is looking pretty good.  I have some projects going this morning.

I'm looking at that white background print on my wall and wondering how the camera transformed it into something  (a shape) it doesn't look like in "real life" at all.  It is 1/3 white at the bottom, and 2/3 above is a "square-ish" shape of purple and other swirls of color - NOT a base like a tree like this picture shows!  That's STRANGE!!!  The gold-ish picture over my printer belonged to my Grandma and I think HER mother.  It's in a lot of our old family's old photos - seen here and there over the years.  I'm glad I have it.

Once I'm done with my To Do list

And preparing a few cards for mailing

the clutter on my desk should be gone again!  Yay!

Then, there is the KITCHEN BAR.  I haven't even been in the kitchen this morning except to get a cup of coffee!!!


(See how tiny the kitchen's work space is?)

But, after bellowing, "Fe Fi Fo Fum, who messed up the BARRRRRR again?"

This is how it looked after three, "I'm sorry Mom"s!!!!

I need to leave in 30 minutes to pick up Stephanie, so I'd better go bathe and get dressed.  I don't know what the girls will do all day, as it is hot, muggy, and the mosquitoes are VERY hungry.  I decided to try some of that new "Off" smooth and dry spray.  I've always used the stronger Off but I'll see if this works as well.  Still, I'm scared to send them out back because Rissy and JanLyn are very allergic to mosquitoes.

We are meeting with the pastor this afternoon, instead of this morning.  Please pray specifically at 1:30pm (CDT) for our family.

I decided to write this tonight with pictures added and all.  I'm not sure what tomorrow will bring. 

This is my cleaned desk and two file cabinets - as clean as they will every be!

I wish I knew how to hide the icons, but do you like my screen saver?  Two Amish girls helping each other carry a bucket.

Next is Rissy's closet.  I took all of the extra pillows, quilts, bedspreads, blankets, you name it, off of the top of the chest of drawers and her closet shelf; and left only 3 blankets.  It looks barren compared to how it used to look!  That's my wedding dress in left corner.

Buying those utility shelves for the other side of her closet was one of the best ideas I've had.  That and the shoe hanger for her closet door.  She has so much more room to organize things and the top shelf isn't even being used.  I've stored "future shoes" on the top shelf!

I DID finish sorting all of the stuff on top of my dresser.  I was even able to take glass cleaner to clean the glass we had cut to protect the wood!  The plate is a collector item I bought back in the 1980's.  I can't believe it has always fit into all of my bedrooms.  I must be a peachy/brown bedroom type of person!!

I'll try to enlarge this next one in hopes you can see some of my beloved, deceased family members.  The top picture are my dad's parents (the Grandma I miss and was so close to), the second one is my uncle who passed away suddenly and the bottom is his wife, my aunt, who also passed away 18 months later and VERY suddenly.

I'm really not a morbid person with a mirror memorial for the deceased.  That's just where those 3 pictures ended up!

Yeah, I know.  Company coming Thursday and I created this mess.  I'm not sure WHAT I was thinking!!!!  I guess just one more project for this week that I can now add to my list!  I have to put the new bookcase together so I can move that small one into Rissy's closet.  I suppose the messy guest bed is my new motivation to assemble the new bookcase!

Oh!  I forgot to show you the pink shag rug we bought for Rissy's room.  It looks great with the periwinkle paint and the pink & periwinkle floral bed spread.  It even matches her bean bag chair!

It seems I'm forgetting something REALLY important . . . now, what could that be?????  Ohhhhhh!  I knooooooow!!  The kitchen bar!!!  Look fast, because I'm not a betting person, but I bet it doesn't stay like that for long!  LOL

Everything looks kinda yellowish, but it's bright white.  Maybe when I enlarged the picture, the pigment changed.

1.  My bar WILL be cleaned off today!  (can't promise what it will look like on Wednesday, though!) done

Today has brought many changes.  Even though pending storms threatened to pour down on us, they mainly hit upper Oklahoma and the Kansas border.  Meaning, Jesse went to mow today because he has someone to help, things are dry enough to mow, AND it may rain tomorrow.  Sorry Lori K, you know how it is every year!

Anyway, I decided to post a few changes that have happened around here.

Rissy lost a third top tooth last night.  The 4th one on top is also loose.  Oddly  enough, Annamarie has developed a lisp over the past few months and has all her teeth.  Rissy is without 3 top teeth and doesn't lisp AT ALL.  I don't get it - I admit!  But I also don't understand how Rissy is able to eat right now without food dribbling down her chin!!  Doesn't she look proud???

She was also given glasses on Thursday to help her when she is doing her book work in school.  She was amazed at the difference the glasses made when she read!

While I waited for Annamarie to get her glasses, so I could show you HER new look, I snapped a pictured of my hallway to the kitchen, foyer, and formal dining room - the front door is to the left of that little hallway.  Bored, I guess!

Gads!  Look at that smeary mirror!  Amazing what you don't see in your house until you see a photo.  Then you notice every smudge and piece of fuzz on the floor, etc.!!!!! (like the wires under the curio cabinet showing and the replastered wall area by the dog bowls in the hallway)

Okay, moving away from what's WRONG with my house, now it's Annamarie's turn to show off HER new look!

And, her second picture . . .

She will have to wear her glasses all the time.  Right now she is getting used to them and wearing them for a while and then taken them off for a while.  I guess she'll be okay within a few days - wearing them all day long.

Believe it, or not, I spent almost all day, yesterday, cleaning my desk top off, AGAIN!  I'm not finished, but should be done later today.  Can you believe how quickly this becomes a catch all, no matter how hard I try?  I think a bunch of the clutter is because I've been gone so much lately with Stephanie and JanaLyn, so the house has been at the bottom of the list!

Then there is THAT KITCHEN BAR, again!!!!

That's a ziploc bag of four zigsaw puzzle pieces.  They were so mixd up, I figured one big bag would be easier than trying to sort them back into boxes.  Besides, with my children, they never stay in their correct boxes anyway!  That's a raspberry coffee cake and 1 1/2 chocolate graham crackers on the counter, along with my folded  (uh?) clothes.  Jesse left his coffee mug for me to wash (our sink is about 5 feet from where he set it on the bar ( scratching my head and rolling my eyes, wondering WHY those last 5 feet were so hard to reach!), and, standing up against the side of the bar, is Rissy's new cherry wood shelving unit.  I hope to assemble that today.

Keeping that bar cleared from ANY clutter is almost impossible because, other than the counter area over the dishwasher (where the coffe pot, blender, and cutting boards sit), there isn't much cooking area left to work with.  It isn't like there is another work space to choose.  There is only the bar and that's where everything is put - from the laundry to leftover snacks to preparing meals  . . .  The kitchen is one of the few things I dislike about this house and have disliked from the moment we saw it - but it was a very reasonably priced, large 4 bedroom home.   So, we bit! 

My laundry was caught up yesterday and I sprinkled the carpet with Glade carpet freshener (Peaches & Petals) but never got around to vacuuming it up.  Poor dog has been rolling in the carpet and then sneezing!  We need to run a Swiffer duster over the furniture, etc. and clean the bathrooms today.

Oh!  The bathroom!!! . . .   The toilet kept running in the girls' bathroom and I knew the ball cock had to be adjusted and I even tried to bend it up to stop the flow of water.  No luck.  But Jesse, being stronger than me (and having NO handyman skills), bent it last night and the metal holding the rubber ball broke - so we are a one bathroom house until someone can go get the replacement parts.  I hear it's an easy job, although I've never replaced one before.   

Isn't life just full of glorious opportunities to learn???

Don't ask me about dinner, I can't even decide what to pull out of the freezer, and it's already 11am!  A decision will need to be made soon, or Wava the Wafflemaker will be pulled out to "do her thing" - which no one will be disappointed in eating!