Stella and Shooter

I'm back - Sitting amidst piles of boxes, but with Internet! Seems all my new blog news is old news to me. It's been a long week. We moved into the house this week. Little by little every day I brought boxes over. Why is moving without movers a good idea? It's never a good idea. Never again. So, almost everything is in the house, just not put up. This is going to take forever.

Probably the biggest news of the week is two puppies we adopted - Stella and Shooter. Their mom was found on the side of the road pregnant and the animal shelter cannot accept pregnant dogs so the trainer at PetsMart was fostering the mom until she had the puppies. Now the SPCA was adopting out the puppies and we just happened to be there on the very same day. The SPCA suspects the litter of 6 had 2-3 different dads (apparently that is possible. What a slut mommy.) and the pups looking hardly anything alike except their ears.

Well, we adopted two of the six - a boy and a girl. We named them Stella and Shooter. Why is getting two puppies who are not potty trained and chew constantly a good idea mid-move? It's not. They've been a handful. And of course, now would be an appropriate time to insert a picture in this blog, but guess where my camera cord to upload photos is? Oh, in a box somewhere....My life is in boxes right now! Hopefully as I sort through stuff today I'll find it and get some pictures.

Well, the puppies are waking up and need to go out..I feel like a mom of twins lately. Blogging is cut short. More later tonight...

Snakes in the Country

If you haven't seen my reply to Kristina's comment of Facebook just a bit ago...Bo, Nick, and I were out at the house working on the yard and some of our neighbors stopped by to introduce themselves. So nice. Turns out we have quite a fun little group down the street that hangs out together. Anyhow, they told us they moved in in February and have killed two snakes in the 3 1/2 to 4 1/2 foot range. Yikes - one copperhead and one cottonmouth. Lovely. We will now have to get a cat and I will have to learn to shoot the shotgun better.

P.S. I finally spoke with AT&T and there are no DSL lines running to our area. We'll either have to get dial-up (Hello 1990!) or an aircard which is basically wireless. So, the internet problem has been resolved. Unfortunately, it'll cost $60 bucks a month to keep my blog updated. Choke me. People better be readin' this thang.

Whew

OH MY GOODNESS GRACIOUS...cancelling and setting up new utilities is a nightmare. My first hiccup with the country/living outside county lines - internet access. Whatever would I do without it? We set up satellite dish since we can't get digital cable, which went pretty smooth. However, internet is a different story.

I called Charter yesterday to cancel my service since I thought we couldn't get it in our new house. The service man says no, they service my area and gives me an approx cost. Hmm. I call AT&T today to compare rates since I am told by our builder that they're our best bet. I speak with a rather unhelpful service lady who rattles on for 10 minutes only to tell me AT&T won't service my area. Great. I call Charter back thinking the decision has been made for me - I'll just renew with Charter. The service lady I am put in contact with says, nope, Charter services the areas in city limits near me, but not my physical address. We go downhill quick from here....

I get on AT&T's website to check any alternatives I have and come to find out, they do service my area with Broadband via Satellite - excellent. I call up AT&T and am put on hold for ONE HOUR AND FORTY MINUTES! I actually fell asleep on my couch with the phone to my ear listening to the elevator tunes. I keep thinking if they are this busy and I'm waiting this long, my endurance must be bumping me up the list over irritated people who hang up. Nope. I start searching around AT&T's website to find out if there's another number I could call. So, I get on my other cell phone and call only to be put on hold once again - more elevator music. I sit through 15 minutes of both phones singing when someone picks up on the second call I had made - excellent again. He proceeds to start looking up my address to ensure service when his computer acts up and the issue cannot be resolved quickly. What the heck? He takes down my name/number and promised to call me back tomorrow. So, we'll see. What a waste of an evening.

Weekend Shopping

I am here to tell you, it matters not how long you have dated someone before getting married. You will inevitably be bombarded with new finds about your significant other once you begin the merging of assets. One year, two years, six years...it matters not.

Ten months ago, I caught alot of grief for my loveseat wannabe couch. You might remember previous posts. (Here's a reminder if not -- Loveseat, Not so Loving, The loveseat is now a loving couch .) Problem fixed - new couch. Well, it seems my lovely fiance does not share my approval of the replacement piece. Or the squeaky side chairs. Or the coffee table. Etc... There is a comment about every piece I own. I ask, "Just what do you like in my apartment?" His response was "Your tv and blu-ray player." Excellent. He is willing to marry me for my tv and dvd player.
I can just see his face at this point reading my post. :) It is likely he will want to create his own blog just to tell his side of every blog story I write about from now on because he'll say, "That's not true...you don't listen to me." Ha

So, today I found myself shopping for a new everything to our new house. Agh. We actually ended up with a cute leather couch and leather recliner. It has finally happened - the recliner will be coming in within the week. An online picture is not available of the recliner so you'll have to imagine...

We also got a new refrigerator today. Turns out those things are NOT cheap. Our appliances are stainless and black so we got a new side by side stainless one from Home Depot. I don't know how interested anyone may happen to be in this kind of thing but I added a picture below. Here's an interesting fact though - steel fridges come in true stainless steel and what is called clean steel. A true stainless steel fridge will not hold a magnet. Clean steel will however. I turned out to prefer the true stainless steel. So years down the road we will not be able to hang kid's artwork on the fridge. Who knew that would be a heavy consideration. It's un-American to not hang bad artwork on the fridge, right?

Bridal Shower

Whew. What a day. My bridal shower was Saturday and turned out absolutely wonderful. Bo and I have awesome family and friends who were overly gracious with the gift giving! It was tough fitting it all in the car to come home! My aunts sure made good food and threw a great little party. Oh if every weekend could be spent the same way...

My Thoughts On Weddings

After work and running errands, I am finally sitting down for a minute to relax while my laundry and toenails dry. I started thinking...it's June 12th, tomorrow is already my shower, and the wedding's a month and a half away. From there I started thinking I have been so busy going in a million directions, I haven't really stopped to enjoy much of the blessed chaos yet. My pointer to the brides - the chaos doesn't stop until after the wedding - get use to it.

I have also learned a few other things --

• First off, you can't please everyone so just give it up.
• Flower are hella expensive. Who knew?
• You suddenly pick out items - that in all the weddings you have ever been to - would have never noticed until now.
• Having a black and white wedding doesn't make planning around an ivory dress easy.
• Don't skimp on a few things for the sake a budget, they're worth it and your budget will inevitable go out the window a few times over anyhow - i.e. champagne toast, bridal portraits, videographer, full meal, invitations..
• The first thing people will notice you skimped on is the bar - cash bar is a no no in my book. Liquor 'em up and watch them dance.
• Narrowing the guest list to 250 people can be alot more challenging than you imagined. Pick your venue wisely to accommodate your desired number of attendees.
• You may think it's exciting to register for gifts with your soon to be. However, before you leave the store, your fiance will inevitable forget half of what is now on the registry. (This also doubles as a great opportunity to go back and add items you want without concern. And if you're good, even convince your fiance he was present and agreed when those items were added.)
• The truly exceptional people in your life will step up to make this time no less than sensational. The truly self-centered will stir the pot and walk away unhappy the attention is not on them. The difference will be obvious.
• It is no one's wedding but your own.

7 down, 40 to go.

Well, I'm about 7 boxes worth packed. Not a great start. I honestly cannot figured out how I aquired so much junk. I only have 600 square feet of living space. Every time I go to IKEA I think, "Man, I sure would love to live in one of these 300 sq ft apartments." And then I remember I have 200 pairs of shoes that have to go somewhere...

Update

Where to start? Well, I'm exhausted so I'll got with bullets.

• I have forgotten the feeling of working 40 hours a week. I'm averaging 13 hour days. I have no life, but I can say working late helps me spend less money and I even miss rush hour traffic. It's an unfortunate evil that there's night construction on my route home right now so I still sit in traffic.


• Bo and I got the house referred to in previous posts.


• I only have 2 weeks to pack my apt to aforementioned new house.


• I went to Target to buy packing tape to start filling some boxes and realized all the boxes from my previous move are not in my patio closet as assumed. Rather, they are in Dallas at my parent's house. I now have 13 days to pack my apt.


• Yard work is a B-I-T-C-H. Bo and I have started prepping the house for our move with weed and bug repellents. I think all yard work will be left in the capable hands of my future husband.


• I have my bridal shower this weekend which makes me ecstatic to see family and friends I have unfortantely not seen enough.


• We've had 2 co-workers leave our office within the last week meaning I got to eat cake twice. =)


• I prefer Jay Leno over Conan O'Brien.


• Bo and I should try out for Here Come the Newlyweds. =) Has anyone seen this show? Somewhat entertaining. If that doesn't work out, we should go for I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here. If Spencer Pratt is a "superstar", we are too. Get over yourself.

Here's a shot of the new house...more can be seen on Facebook.

I Want Magenta

I ran across an old favorite from Mr. Mayer. Makes me want to flip through old yearbooks while packing my apt to his tunes.

"Life is like a box of crayons. Most people are the 8-color boxes, but what you’re really looking for are the 64-color boxes with the sharpeners on the back. I fancy myself to be a 64-color box, though I’ve got a few missing. It’s ok though, because I’ve got some more vibrant colors like periwinkle at my disposal. I have a bit of a problem though in that I can only meet the 8-color boxes. Does anyone else have that problem? I mean there are so many different colors of life, of feeling, of articulation.. so when I meet someone who’s an 8-color type.. I’m like, “hey girl, magenta!” and she’s like, “oh, you mean purple!” and she goes off on her purple thing, and I’m like, “no – I want magenta!”- John Mayer

60 Days

It's been six years in the making but in exactly two months, I will be a Mrs. with the last name Rickner. I will live in Weatherford, own a recliner, a brand new refrigerator, dishes and spend my weekends gardening.

Hmm =).

Weekend Recap Cont.

A picture from the previously mentioned Weekend Recap posting. Just to give you perspective on the tiny chapel from Reesey's baptism. =)

And the lovely Reese...