Deck the Halls

Still working on that Christmas spirit...Bo and I put out Christmas lights the day after Thanksgiving. We got the 9 foot blow up snowman, some reindeers, a twirly Christmas tree that lights up...we haven't turned them on once. The snowman remains deflated on our front lawn and I don't seem to give a shit. Seeing as how it is 7 days til Christmas I could probably plug them in. But it seems much more ok to me to leave them turned off.

War of My life

There is no holiday that stands a chance next to Christmas. This year though, it seems a little harder to find the anticipated Christmas cheer. So much unhappiness, tension, and general anxiety around every corner. When did we lose the childhood oblivion to bickering relatives and financial strains of gift giving. What year did I forget to pull out the Toys R Us ad and make my list for Santa.

I wish I could say 103.7's 24 hour Christmas music relieved me of my lingering Scrooge-iness, but it's the non-Christmas songs that have the best effect...

"...I'm in the war of my life, at the door of my life. Out of time and there's no where to run..."

When did life get complicated?

"...All the suffering and all the pain never left a name..."

Turkey Day

This year, I get to say I'm thankful for a few new things I hadn't imagined one year go. First, my HUSBAND. I'm a pretty lucky gal to have a man who loves me, takes care of me, and supports me. For the last six Thanksgiving I've been thankful for my boyfriend, but this year it's a little extra special to have our first married holiday. With may more to come.

Second, SHOOTER and STELLA. A year ago, they weren't on the agenda, or even born yet! But Bo and I couldn't imagine our house without them. They had an exhausing first Thanksgiving. Plenty of new people and even got a few bites of turkey! They've gone into an exhaustive coma now and better sleep in tomorrow.

I'll also mention the family and friends that make each year better than the last. I hope each and every person had a wonderful Thanksgiving and takes a short second to see the day as half-full.

Black Friday

Anyone who is planning their Black Friday routes right now for doorbuster deals is crazy. There is not a deal so irresistible that I am considering a wake up call at 3 to go stand in 40 degrees of cold. I value my sleep and more so my life. Those Walmart folks show no mercy. So, good luck to my fellow shoppers. I will be one less person standing in your way for the cheap electronics and toys. May the force be with you. :)

Perfectly Lonely Love Song

John Mayer's Battle Studies and Miranda Lambert's Revolution are on the top of my music chart lately and I'm quite convinced anyone who agrees is my soulmate. Fantastic new music lately...now if only some good movies would come out....that have nothing to do with New Moon, sci fi, or horror. So, a romantic comedy please. A Christmas one would be nice.

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Well, I owe my small blog following an update. This is likely the longest stretch of silence since I started writing. It always seems hard to start again if I go more than a few days. And not so much because I have less to write. If anything, maybe more to say that usual.

I put up our first Christmas tree this week. This year seemed to beg for a little early cheer. Christmas is my favorite holiday after all so why not enjoy it a little early. I'm not typically a seasonal decorator. Holidays come a go so quick it seems pointless to put up decorations I have to store the remaining 364 days of the year. But Christmas is the exception.

Shooter and Stella's addition to the tree. They destroyed one of their toys and a piece was found hanging on the tree. :)



A few holiday decorations.



Our living room with some Christmas cheer.

She's In California...missing the babies.

You never miss home until you leave it. And I miss it.

I always think Shooter and Stella are barking too much and won't be still, there's dirty dishes that never seem to end, same goes for laundry, and I don't think I ever realized it until now.

AA afforded me the opportunity to travel constantly. I did it without even thinking. Since I joined Parsons, travel hasn't been such a large portion of my job. This is my first trip as a married with puppy children and I can honestly say I miss them to pieces. When it was just me in my one bedroom apartment, I spent alot of time by myself. I was very use to it and whether I was home alone in my apt or alone in a hotel room didn't matter. Fortunately, since Bo and I moved to Weatherford, I never have those lonely nights by myself. Never quiet puppies. Never clean dishes. Never clean laundry. And it was comfortable.

So, my dear loves, I'm gonna try and stay busy until Friday. Can't wait to see you!

All for Career Advancement

I have to go to Long Beach today. Ever have to do something that just makes you sick to your stomach? The situation seems so unbearable that you bargain in your head - you would be willing to trade said situation for an alternate situation which under normal circumstances would also be an unbearable option. I feel that way today.

Garage Sale

Well, finally got around to searching through my house for garage sale items that no longer match our decor. Mom, Grandma and I put together the garage sale for Saturday only. The weather was so terrible we decided to skip Friday and do a one-dayer. We always have excellent luck at Grandma's and usually end up with no more than a box of leftovers. This year - not the same story. We sold only about half of our stuff and it was seriously cold. Oh well - not great.

Funny story though...my Grandma put a few things out, including current bedding off her bed. She had a really nice King set with sheets, comforter, shams, pillow cases...the works. She put $45 dollars on it I think...said she really wanted some new bedding and decided if hers sold, she'd be forced to get a new set. Didn't sell, but made me laugh. She bundled it all up the night before and had to sleep with a blanket Fri night. :)

Another Trip Around the Sun

Saturday was my birthday. Birthdays are always a let down. While the individual sees this day as the should be holiday, everyone else considers it another day to pick up dry cleaning or do laundry. I'm convinced more hearts are broken on birthdays than Valentine's. At least the majority of the population peps up for that cupid babies in diapers day. You only get the true friends to set aside themselves and whatever superficial plans they had for the evening to come out and buy you a drink. So, on that note, thank you to the few folks who went out of there way to make my number 24 extra memorable. I'll be your number one birthday fan when your day comes around - especially my husband and a special friend in Austin.

There's an App for Just About Everything, Except Cheap Jenny

I'm the cheap iPhone user. I have 7 pages of apps on my phone and not a one of them have I paid for. I scout the newly released apps via my free Pandora Box app and no matter the ingenious features, if it costs money, I let it go. Now, I frequently purchased songs on my iTunes, yet can't get over the "pay for apps" concept.

One of my periodic evening pleasures is seeing a new iPhone commercial on tv. This is because I play the commercial in slow motion until that fraction of a second when they show the iPhone screen with theoretically downloaded apps up close. I then pause the tv to get a clear view and scout the apps Apple is subliminally advertising. Now, I've always thought this was my sneaky way of find apps that are probably of high star quality. Otherwise, would Apple put them on their iPhone? Doubtful.

Well, for my birthday Bo included an iTunes App Gift Card in my presents. Hello floodgates - this could be dangerous. I am actually going to buy some apps. Usually, I just browse apps on my phone when bored at work or sitting in the doctor's office. So, imagine my surprise when I found this little spot on iTunes while browsing from my computer - "iPhone Apps from TV Adds". Really, who knew? I no longer have to pause/play/pause/play my tivo to find out what Apple recommends. Now, of course, I'm stingy with my $25 iTunes credit and have been searching all night for the prefect apps to spend my money on...with no luck. I'm too picky - I need suggestions - help!

Sickly

Sickness is knocking on the door of the Rickner house...Bo started going downhill last night and didn't make it to the end of the day before coming home. My throat, ears, eyes, and bones are feeling the same effects...blah. FLUs, COLDs, SWINE FLUs - STAY OUT!!

I'm attempting to scare the blah's away with the couch, a blanket, homemade taco soup, and a side of cornbread. I tried a new recipe and it's fantastic. :)

Brrr

Yesterday I was taking a shower minding my own business when Bo comes into the bathroom with a pitcher of ice cold water. He reaches over the shower and I'm helpless at this point. He pours it all over my head/face and I squealed a little while huddling under the shower water to warm up. Where he comes up with this stuff I don't know...jerk.

No Emergency

Last night about 9ish I was taking the dogs out to potty. Trying to get them inside making some high pitched ridiculous squeal to make them run in when I hear the doorbell. Now, we never have visitors so you can imagine I was spooked. We can't see who's at the door from inside the house so I ran to get Bo. He says "I heard nothing" so I just let it go. Then, comes the LOUD bang on the front door. Oh shit. Bo definitely heard that one. So, he goes to the front door to be greeted by a Sheriff. What the hell?

Apparently, our home phone had been making silent 911 calls. ??? Interestingly, we don't have a handheld phone hooked to the line and it is just for the Directv. He asks us the typical questions to ensure we didn't call for domestic dispute (Bo better watch out :D ), any kids who could have called, etc...

Weird.

This morning Bo was getting ready for work and I'm still sleeping (day off - wooohooo). Well, 7:30ish Bo comes in the room and says another Sheriff is here. What?! And I have to get up and greet him to ensure I'm not harmed. Sheesh. I looked lovely. They both tell us maybe the landline got wet and calls got crossed.

Since the pups got up at 7:30 this morning and haven't slept, I spent the morning informing AT&T I do not like to be thought of as a house that cries wolf making the Sheriff's come and they need to get their shit together. Then I canceled our service. Hopefully, we haven't been 911 blacklisted. Fun.

Lucky

Do you hear me
I'm talking to you
Across the water across the deep blue ocean
Under the open sky, oh my, baby I'm trying
Boy I hear you in my dreams
I feel your whisper across the sea
I keep you with me in my heart
You make it easier when life gets hard

I'm lucky I'm in love with my best friend
Lucky to have been where I have been
Lucky to be coming home again
Ooohh ooooh oooh oooh ooh ooh ooh ooh

They don't know how long it takes
Waiting for a love like this
Every time we say goodbye
I wish we had one more kiss
I'll wait for you I promise you, I will

I'm lucky I'm in love with my best friend
Lucky to have been where I have been
Lucky to be coming home again
Lucky we're in love every way
Lucky to have stayed where we have stayed
Lucky to be coming home someday

And so I'm sailing through the sea
To an island where we'll meet
You'll hear the music fill the air
I'll put a flower in your hair
Though the breezes through trees
Move so pretty you're all I see
As the world keeps spinning round
You hold me right here right now

I'm lucky I'm in love with my best friend
Lucky to have been where I have been
Lucky to be coming home again
I'm lucky we're in love every way
Lucky to have stayed where we have stayed
Lucky to be coming home someday
Ooohh ooooh oooh oooh ooh ooh ooh ooh
Ooooh ooooh oooh oooh ooh ooh ooh ooh

Neglected Blog

Ahh, I owe my blog so much updating...wedding pictures, trip to Austin, dog school...where is the time? The last few nights I've been frantically trying to complete ridiculous hours of defensive driving to dismiss the ticket I got right before the wedding. My appearance deadline at the court house is quickly approaching and it takes a long time to complete hours of video watching. Whew. But I have finished and am obligated to say I am now a highly educated, alert passenger of the roads. Ha.

On a more exciting note, I survived the hell holes of the social security office and DPS to officially become a Rickner. They really should provide hand sanitizer every 10 feet in those places. I'm sure I walked out with swine flu it was so muggy, stinky, and germ infested. Eww. Who knew it was such a process to change your name...so far my social security card, driver's license, and bank account is converted..now on the the personal accounts and work files. Maybe I'll be done by 2010..

Craig's Ridiculous List

I often peruse Craig's List, usually in search of furniture, or most recently my disastrous lawn mower purchase. However, I was looking just to see if there were any buffet style pieces for my dining room and noticed the 'personal' section. Why have I never noticed this before?? It's absolutely absurd. I started reading these posts women put up for men...pathetic. No wonder they're looking for men. Most solicited a kind, funny, outgoing, stable man looking for more than a one night stand - a true love - along with the obligatory picture of you holding a camera in the mirror. Can you at least find a stranger to take a picture of you?? But I did run across one from a 35 year old in Dallas ..

"Looking for nothing else but sex. Recording would be prefer."

Haha. First off, "preferred" would be a better way to end that last sentence. You're begging me to believe you have no education if can't proof your posting correctly. Second, who solicites sex on Craig's List...really?

Or is this better..."Lonely girl looking for man....I'm 19 have a beautiful 2 year old daughter...want a latino..not required to take care of her I can do that on my own...please have a car that's your own and a job."

HAHAHA. Good luck ladies.

Scary Country Bugs

So, you may remember shortly after we moved into the house, Bo was out taking the pups to potty and almost put his hand on a black widow. Well, we have another one. In our garage. Bo called me out to "look at something" last night and by time he grab the bug spray and I made it out, it was gone. I uneasily request him to spray several spots and the back door to our garage to put my mind at easy.

A storm was coming through this evening so I ran out to pull my car in the garage and I peeked over towards the terrifying corner only to see the mysterious black bug of poison chilling in his web. As if he was laughing at me for escaping the bug spray last night. I tiptoed backwards for the bug spray because there was no way in hell I was swatting it with a flip flop. That thing could bite me and require an arm amputation or poison dug out of my skin. Sick. So, I sprayed half the bottle its direction and it ran, but I'm pretty sure I made contact. We shall see.

Funny story...as I am writing, I'm half watching the puppies run circles through my house. Next thing I hear, Shooter is eating his leftover dinner. Fine, right? Except earlier I put his dog bowl on the kitchen table so Stella wouldn't eat it. He's on the kitchen table! I make a running leap for him followed by a BIG spanking. Bo and I have to be careful because he's been getting in the chairs if we leave them out and apparently he decided he was hungry tonight. I couldn't help by laugh. Oh puppies.

Puppy Photos

A few pictures of the pups... :)

Stella's new favorite place to hide and sleep...the laundry basket.

My babies going for a ride in the truck to meet my co-workers on Friday.

The puppies after surgery on Thursday. Stella was so sickly and Shooter was just tired.

Big man chillin' with daddy.

Right after we got back from the honeymoon, Stella kept getting in my suitcase!

Puny Puppies and a Broken Mower

I'll attribute my lack of posts lately to too many hours at work. After 12 hours a day at my desk, I avoid the computer when I get home.

Well, we're finally getting settled into the house. We bought some ladder shelves for our living room, nightstands for our bedroom, and a new bed is on its way tomorrow. It's nice to finally be done with planning and enjoy our new house and puppies.

The puppies had a rough day today. It was finally time for fixing. They're just under five months so we went ahead and had them both taken care of. I thought they'd be knocked out when I went to pick them up, but they were suprisingly alert. I got them home and onto there pillow where they proceeded to pass out for a few hours. I could tell Stella wasn't herself - couldn't even get a tail wag out of her. Shooter hasn't been as mopey though. He was up trotting around for a little bit and just recently sat down for a good sleep. I'm off tomorrow, which works out nice so I'll monitor them and their stiches. The man came to deliver our lawn mower (which is another story in itself) this afternoon and I had just arrived home with the puppies. I had the drivers door open and they were scared of the stranger and Stella tried jumping back into the floorboard. Between Shooter's lesser pain and her trying to jump around, I'm glad I'll be home tomorrow.

As for the lawn mower...our new house came with an acre of land and a requirement for a riding lawn mower. Rather than buying a brand new one we might not need down the road, we bought a used one from Craig's List. I did quite a bit of research and found one from a guy in NRH who fixes old lawn mowers. I spoke with him and he seemed reputable so we went ahead. The bonus was he offered a 60 warranty on it to assure buyers he did good work. Well, about 4 mows into using the new mower, Bo noticed it leaking a little gas in the garage. We called Mr. Mower and he assured us he would come out to take a look. We made contact with him a few times and he always had an excuse.

Well, last week Bo was mowing the yard and had I not been watching him, I would have accused him of hitting something. As he made a turn, a black object went under the deck. Turned out the be the muffler mangled by the blades consequently causing additional damage under the deck. We called Mr. Mower several times with no luck. We followed up with a few emails - no luck. Turns out a warranty is worth nothing if your Mr. Mower won't call you back. We contemplated legal action - but he's a questionable man of hispanic orientation who knows where we live -and I really didn't want to piss him off and have him come after us.

Meanwhile, our grass wasn't getting any shorter so we called a few places in Weatherford and found a mom and pop place to work on it. $300 bucks later, our mower was returned to us today. Bo has been at work and yet to test it out so hopefully we'll be relieved of the problems and get our yard trimmed again. What a pain.

Oh Baby!

This post is for Kristina... :)

I went to get my nails filled yesterday..I hadn't been there five minutes and a woman walks in....with her baby in tote. Now, this baby couldn't have been more than 6 weeks old, maybe closer to 4 weeks. I kept thinking "Kristina would have a fit!" At a glance the woman was well dressed and didn't appear to be Weatherford white trash. So, she gets in the pedicure chair and set her baby in the carrier on the floor next to the foot of her chair, which in my opinion was too close to feet water.

Of course, he's not too happy inhaling that god awful nail smell and starts crying. So, she picks him up and tries to appease him with no luck...she whips her boob out and starts feeding him. I thought...lady, the pedicure isn't worth it. Go home.

I tried to keep my staring to a minimum, but I just can't believe that tiny baby was in the nail salon. Sheesh.

Beer Chairs

So, I was really dreading my first day back to work. And not because I dislike, fear, or hate it, but mostly because it wasn't a beach in Antigua and I would have a pile of work waiting for me. I get there and find the set up below ... from two guys I work with.

Allow me to explain....the jokesters I work with got me beer cooler chairs. The arms each hold 6 beers with ice...kinda hard to tell from the picture. If you notice if the next pictures the right one is mine and the left is Bo's. They blew up pictures of Shooter and Stella at our feet (notice the high heel Stella is after). My koozie says "Caution: Blonde Thinking" and Bo's said "Heck! I'll do anything for a beer!". Fitting.

My "Just Married" and wedding bell decorations. Notice they're wedding colors... ;)

Well, everyone I work with has heard the saga of Stella and Shooter mishaps (i.e. shoe graveyard on our mantle..). I had previously told them about finding the toliet paper roll in shreds under our bed. Well, I was in a meeting and come back to my desk to see the puppies had made a mess in my cube. =D


Not long after they made the toliet paper mess did I come back to find cardboard Stella sitting my desk pretending to each my chips. I didn't get a picture of that one, but you can imagine they ended up in various places of my cube getting into trouble! Excellent way to come back to work - I couldn't have laughed harder and been more grateful that they thought of me!

Sleepy Bell

Cute little story from this morning....

The usual battle with the puppies is keeping them in the playpen at night to sleep. Especially since they're getting big and can easily jump out. Well, this morning I let them sleep a bit longer instead of waking them up to go potty then putting them back in the pen for a 20 minute nap. So, I take them out and immediately they both run back and sit in front of the pen. I didn't put them in right away and Shooter realizes it's play time and runs off. Well, Stella wasn't having any of that and wanted to go back to sleep. She just kept sitting there, eyes glancing between me and then pen. Finally she started trying to jump INTO the pen! Who'd have thought. She wouldn't stop so finally I put her back in and she curled up and went to sleep.

I had to leave for work so I woke her up to eat breakfast and go outside. I put their food down while I made my lunch only to turn around and find Stella back in our room sitting by the pen. I call her out and shut the door only to have her go back to sit outside our bedroom door wanting back in to sleep. Poor baby. She was so tired. I picked her up and took her outside. She immediately crawled into her doghouse and I assume slept the rest of the morning. =)

Good To Be Home

A few things I missed while in Antigua (And made time to enjoy today):

• Food Network
• Taco Bell
• Coke Zero
• Southern Blackberry Cobbler Blue Bell Ice Cream
• Stella and Shooter

P.S. Still no luggage...

First Post as a Married

Well, the wedding festivities are over as well as my blogging hiatus. There's too much to blog each detail...but I commend Kristina for her detailed posts of the weekend....:)....so I'll try. Everyone always has little imaginative dreams about how their wedding will be, but I didn't realize it would go by so fast I wouldn't have time to breathe. I never made it to the foyer bar, had a full piece or cake, saw the buffet or a complete spin of the photo slide show!

For the most part, all went as planned. Our biggest hiccup was my bouquet...we had requested our florist use the bottom pieces of fabric that were left over when I had my dress shortened to cover the stems of my bouquet as well as a broach from my grandma as my something borrowed. Well, wedding day, a substitute fabric was used and the broach was missing. Seems there was not enough fabric so they scratched the whole idea and misplaced the broach so it was missing as well. Not cool. Pretty irritating, but the wedding went on and turned out beautiful.

The weather threatened to interrupt the weekend as well...it rained everyday for about 5 days up to Saturday. A terrible storm came through Friday just as we were finishing the rehearsal so by time I made it to the rehearsal dinner I was soaked along with all the guests. No big deal though we had an awesome time despite the weather. It rained the morning of the wedding while we were getting ready but cleared off by evening and the wedding went smoothly.

We stayed at the Omni Hotel downtown the night of the wedding and it was awesome. The rooms were really nice and we had a top floor room with a view of downtown at night. Awesome. Sunday night Kristina was gracious enough to hook us up at the DFW Grand Hyatt since we had to be up so early for our flight to Miami. Well, in between hotels, we went home briefly to pick up the pups and meet Kristina and Nate at our house. The aforementioned storms that went though had apparently done more damage to our house than the wedding. A few sections of our fence had blown down and our garage door was inoperable. Seems the storm had bowed out of garage door and it wouldn't open more than a few inches. Not 24 hours into marriage did reality hit. Fun. Luckily, everything was taken care of when we got back, but not cool.

So, on to the honeymoon. =D We stayed at the Sandals Resort in Grande Antigua and it was AWESOME! The food was to die for (and luckily all inclusive)! We ate and ate and ate. We had a nice honeymoon room with a fully stocked mini bar that was replenished daily. ;) They actually had full bottles of rum, gin, vodka, whisky, red wine, white wine, and champagne! Between that and the swim up bar, we were buzzed to drunk almost everyday! We met the most wonderful couple from England and hung out with them for about half of the trip. So, if you come over to our house, it is likely Bo will be speaking in a British accent or repeating phrases they said. We decided our 1 year anniversary trip will be a tour of Europe based on recommendations from them.

Sadly, we're back in Texas and even sadder is that we arrived last night about 11:30PM....and our checked luggage was still in Miami. Along with about 30 other people's. Cool. Apparently, it never made it on the flight so they assured us it would be delivered to our house sometime today....we shall see. I didn't like AA as an employee or a customer now. We were exhausted and just wanted to finally get home. Now I have no makeup, hair dryer, straightened, medicine, toothbrush....I had to brush my teeth last night with my finger. Not cool. So, I have nothing to get ready for work with tomorrow - AA better come through.

Well, my puppies are getting antsy in my lap now so I guess I'll cut this one short and pick up with some more later. Plenty of pictures to post so stayed tuned to Facebook!

Rain Rain Go Away!

Could the weatherman be any more cruel? I'm getting married in 6 days and they're predicting thunderstorms for the next 9... =( Let's hope they're wrong. What a bummer than would be. Oh well. Only 40% chance on Satruday. Let's hope this prediction improves. =)

Puppy Overload

I must say, the new dog pin is both a blessing and a curse. I'll start with the positive first -the dogs are not forced to stay in the tiny cage scrunched together. Bo and I can come and go a little easier knowing the pups have room to play during the day. However, the negative - the dogs don't run enough and they wrestle and run around the house at 100 mile per hour speeds for HOURS once we get back. And they don't stop for anything in their way. It's enough to drive me crazy. I think we're going to have to begin a nightly walk to get them over this new energy that is extra irritating.

I put the dogs outside for a bit tonight while I went to dinner with a friend, got back at 9ish. It is now midnight and the pups are finally sacked out in my lap in the recliner. Whew. I even took them out for a few runs in the backyard to blow off some of that steam and it's just now taking effect.

Unrelated to the pups...I'm getting married in 7 days. Eeek. So much to do before then. Actually less than 7. This time next week my reception will be winding down and it'll just be Bo and I headed to the hotel. Weird to think so much planning was put into this one day and it'll all be done with this time next week.

I must say though I am very excited at the though of being a Mrs. Almost unbelievable. For so many years you go from one day to the next thinking you'll get married someday. Then all the sudden it's that day and you're Mr. and Mrs. with a house, yard, puppies, and a recliner (which I actually really like!).

I've learned a lot these past six years - and finally grew up. I'm delighted to think Bo wants me for the rest of his life and I don't think I could be complete without him. I'm a lucky gal.

**I have just had to interrupt this post to hunt down a missing puppy. She was found under the bed with ANOTHER high heel. I'm going to seriously need some shoe shopping when I return from the honeymoon. This is getting ridiculous. All of my shoes keep surrendering to puppy teeth. How do they know my most favoritest possessions are shoes?? Can't they find a pair of jeans that no longer fit?**

That interruption reminds me of another story I haven't posted yet. A few days ago I noticed my glasses were missing. I only wear them at night so they never leave the bedside or the bathroom. Both locations checked - missing. Two little mouths and one location immediately become the suspects....puppies under the bed. I jumped down on the floor, lift up the bedskirt and if there had been someone under my bed with a camera ready to capture my face, I'd have probably won a million dollars. Shreds of toilet paper...EVERYWHERE. It had apparently snowed under my bed at some point. The little sneaks had stolen a roll of toilet paper and proceeded to decapitate it right under my feet. If only I had a picture. This story does have a happy ending though. The glasses were found, although under the bed, in one piece with no teeth marks. Caught a break on that one. Extra care has been made to ensure the glasses are not so easily accessible from now on.

**Second interruption - she has flipped out of the pin again only to be found under the bed with a plastic hangar. Where does she find this stuff? It seems I am making this too easy on them. This means war.**

Well, now that it is 1AM, I am tired of writing cute stories about the dogs because they're pissing me off and don't seem cute at the moment, and I have a full list of errands tomorrow, I think I'm done for tonight.

P.S. Bo politely reminded me he was not in San Antonio and my previous post stated. I did not know this until he returned from coach's clinic. Hmm, and I'm always such a good listener..and apparently keep excellent tabs on my fiance.

A Fabulous Weekend

I've been pretty non-stop lately with less that two weeks til the wedding. Add on the fact that my internet SUCKS and blogging becomes a tiny priority..

Let's start at the beginning of the weekend. I was off Friday so Bo and I got up earrrly and headed to the courthouse to get our marriage license. Now we just have to get it signed and it's a done deal. We did our final reception planning session Friday morning which turned into three hours worth of changes. We also met with our florist and picked up my bouquet for Sat morning's bridal portraits.

Kristina came into town this weekend and stayed at the casa. It was a blast to catch up and see her and Ashley. =) Unfortunately for Kristina, I had her up at the crack of dawn Sat morning for the bridal pictures. We had to leave Weatherford at 6AM to be in Dallas at 7AM for hair, back to Ft Worth by 830AM for makeup and pictures started at 930AM! It was quite exciting to see everything put together at once like it will be on wedding day. We did most of the pictures at the Marty Leonard chapel where we're getting married and finished up at TCU. The campus has changed so much it was really nice to get some pictures with the new buildings. Yay exciting. The proofs will be ready by Friday and Kristina even took a couple shots with her camera. Unfortunately, there's a certain probability Bo's going to read my blog and he can't see the dress yet. Therefore, everyone will have to wait a few weeks to see those pics. Sad.

As if bridal portraits wasn't enough for one day, we had my bachelorette party yesterday too! I'm pretty sure that was the best part of getting married. I have the most wonderful friends who made it an AWESOME night. We started with the lingerie shower (Bo's gonna be a lucky man.. =D ) at the hotel room, dinner at Cantina Laredo, and out in downtown Fort Worth. If you happen to see the pictures on Facebook, you'll see what a great time it was.

I just realized I wrote quite a bit already and haven't even mentioned the dogs! Well, Bo left this morning for coach's clinic in San Antonio so I'm holding down the fort with the pups for a few days. It wasn't that long ago I lived by myself, but so quickly have gotten use to Bo being here. Kinda puts me in a bad mood to have to be home alone. Anyhow, since Bo's gone and the puppies are still babies, I can't leave them in their cage while I'm at work all day. Their max lately is about 3.5 hours. We decided they needed an outdoor pin they could roam around in. I got a 10X10X6 cage at PetsMart and set it up over the weekend. I tested them out for a bit while a ran out this afternoon and they did pretty good. We'll see how tomorrow goes...

Stella's hiding place

Stella found the fireplace again...and I just happened to have my camera handy. =)

I May Not Have a Face at the Wedding

Ahhh wedding problem of the week - makeup. I had a girl lined up to do all the makeup and she's decided to not call me back. Fabulous. Why would some one do this? I don't understand. There are parts of this wedding that I believe could go not as planned and be unnoticed. However, I'm pretty sure if my makeup looks like crap or I look like a clown, everyone will notice. So, I'm less that three weeks away from the wedding trying to find an available and reasonably priced makeup artist. This is going to be a challenge...

A happier note - it's almost bachelorette party time! Drinking with the gals is overdue. I'm pretty pumped about our little outing.

The Twins

This is turning into my pet blog! Anywho, Stella and Shooter got their shots yesterday. Sad. Bo said Shooter was a tough guy and didn't move, but Stella let out a little wimper. They were kinda a puny for a while, we'll see how long it lasts. They've been sleeping non-stop lately - growth spurt. Although they're outgrowning puppy stage, at least I get some peace and quiet at night.

They're finally starting to learn their names. However, that just means they turn their head when I call them not that they actually come. We're starting pet training as soon as we get back from the honeymoon. The girl who fostered them until we adopted them will be training them (and us). Hopefully, I can teach them some good tricks. For the most part, the listen and don't run like crazy dogs. We'll taken them out front without a leash and they never run off, but we need to refine this skill. I had taken them out last week and a cottontail rabbit ran out from the side of the house. They chased it about 15 feet and barked, but thank goodness didn't run clear across the yard or the street.

Stella's newest little trick - Bo had set some shot glasses on the widowsill in the bedroom when we were unpacking. She now likes to steal these (glass I might add) and play with them. Heavens what would we do if she broke one and started playing with the glass?? =/ The shotglasses have been moved.

Pictures

Finally found the camera cord. Just pictures on this post...

However, one comment - Shooter was confirmed to have ringworm. Gross. We had to put medicine on it every day for a MONTH!

Shooter Man

Stella hiding under the reclinder from Shooter

Bo and Shooter the day we got them

Cute little man in his bandana

The pups

One last cute one... Bo mowing the lawn on his new riding lawn mower :)

The Pups Update

I'm not normally such a lazy blogger, but lately any free time I have I want to sit on the couch in the peace and quiet. I sound like a mom of twins, huh?

• First, still don't know where the camera cord is, which is very disappointing at this point. I have lots of pictures and a cute video of the puppies I'd like to post. Very soon my friends.
• I'm down to about 4 or 5 boxes - great progress. Of course, most of them are thrown in the office so that room looks like a tornado. BUT, I can just shut the door.
• Shooter caught a frog the other day. Pleasant. I ran in the house screaming for Bo and the frog was no where to be found when I returned so he remains a mystery.
• Stella somehow got in the fireplace the other day. I can't go put her in there or it will turn into a game. The last thing I need is her covered in ashes if we ever use it again. If it strikes her again though I'm getting a picture.
• The pups are creating quite a collection of destroyed toys and shoes. Everytime I look around they've chewed up something.
• Stella had an upset tummy for the first time last night and we had the joy of her throwing up (twice). Lovely.
• In the last day Shooter developed what looks like a ringworm on his back?? It's definitely in the shape of a ring and his hair fell out a litte. I immediately got on the phone at 8AM sharp when the vet opened and made an appt to get it checked out. Kinda gross and subconsciously making me want to not pick him up.
• The pups are momentarily sleeping and I'm tired so I think I'll break for a nap...then hopefully find my camera cord.

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...

The Rickner Residence

The folks at work have been giving me a hard time about finding a place to live...especially since I'm down to three weeks. Well, I kept thinking I'll start looking and find a place soon?? We'll have to make a decision quick anyways right? And that's just how it happened...

I researched a few places and found two houses we really liked. We weighed both and were set to pick the second house based on a few calculated set of criteria. =) Turns out in hour 11 we found out a few things that swayed our decision. When all said and done, we picked the first house, which I am in LOVE with. Everything seems to turn out for the best because looking back I am so much more pleased with this house than I think I ever would have been with the other house.

Anywhoo, it's 4 bedroom, 2 bath, 2 car garage in the middle of NOWHERE. You think I may be kidding, but Mapquest doesn't know where it's at. We'll be about 3 miles south of I20 in Weatherford. I have officially hit domesticated country wifey. Exit off the freeway, pass some cows, horses, barns, hay and a few churches, take a left, another left, go aways and you're there. This should be fun...two enormous spiders down and more to come I fear. Just when I thought my blog was out of interesting content...

We have decided one bedroom will be a guest bedroom, one will be an office, and the third will be a "man room". Just to make sure it doesn't become an empty-looming-over-our-heads-baby room. =D Luckily, we have lived on our own long enough to accumulate quite a bit of stuff and will have no trouble filling every square foot. Pictures will come soon.

Weekend Recap

Going into this weekend I had intentionally tried to avoid planning morning, noon, and night of every day. Somehow, we turned to be be busy morning, noon, and night of every day. Starting out, Friday was suppose to be my day off. Instead, I topped off the week with a full day of work bringing my one week total to close to 60 hours. Not a good start.

Saturday, I had a 9AM wedding dress fitting in Dallas. Earlyyy. Turns out my dress fits like a glove waist up. Unfortunately, five months ago when I ordered the dress, I hoped it would require taking in...no such luck. But that is changing, read below. My wedding dress fitting was followed up by some fabulous news from Holly - her San Diego trip turned her into the soon to be Mrs. Cole. Yay exciting. Just as I am finishing up months of wedding planning, she'll kick off. Oh what fun she's in for... :/

We spent Saturday night having old-fashioned date night - Dutch's hamburgers, putt-putt, and ice cream. Unimportant is who won, but that we had a great time. haha =D Bo and I are very competitive so that's only my response because I didn't win...

Sunday we took a drive down to Bremond, Texas for Reese's baptism (Kristina's baby girl). It turned out wonderful. We all packed into a small (and I mean small) hand built chapel at a bed and breakfast in town. So cute. Pictures are still on my camera to be posted soon. Then, you'll understand small. :)

And finally, Monday. Today we spent with Bo's parents eating much better food cooked by my soon to be mother-in-law. Much better than if I had been in charge of cooking. :)

How could I forget? Bo is my new personal trainer. I made the enormous mistake of suggesting Bo help me tone my arms for my wedding dress. He is now on work out police control overdrive. He kicked my butt with a million weight drills. And worst is the tone he takes with me when I'm out of breathe all too close to passing out.... "Keep going!!" Argh. Nothing makes me what to punch him in the head worse. Angry blogs on this topic will follow I'm sure.

Here we are, soon to start another week. Of work. Blah. Bo's almost done with school and he'll start his relaxation hiatus. It always puts me in a horrible mood the first week too. No end in sight for me at work and he usually sits around, plays golf, etc and it just grates every nerve I have. It usually takes a good week or two for me to get over it. I have no doubt a few blogs of my frustration are soon to come on this topic too. This summer, he's not getting off so easy though - wedding honey do's are coming... And even better, every summer following this one, you know what he'll get? Wifey honey do's...heh heh heh. That is my evil witch laugh. :)

AI

I honestly have no freaking idea what the big deal is about American Idol?? I haven't been dedicated to following each season. Truthfully, I haven't even been dedicated enough to tivo it and follow. So, there may be some true talent on the show but it doesn't seem that addicting to watching the tearfully awful acts. I don't get it.

Home

So, pre-occupation with my twelve hour workdays and evergrowing list of wedding to-dos, casued me to forget I must be out of my apartment in less than one month. I gave my two month notice at my apt, but it doesn't seem that long ago. I guess it was a month to be exact. Bo's lease won't be up until July 31st, the day before the wedding. I think he might have planned that. ;)

Unfortunately, Bo and I have quite a wish list for our newlywed home. Weatherford is number one. Second bathroom is number two. Yard is number three. (Bo might argue that is number one.) Extra closet space is four. (I would argue this is number one.) Extra bedrooms is number five...I could go on.

First, Weatherford is the most central compromise between city and burbs for both our jobs. Approx 30 minutes for both of us. I find it kinda funny that I started in Dallas, moved to Fort Worth, now on to Weatherford. Does anyone else realize these cities are getting smaller? I have settled for a domesticated married life yes-siree.

Second, I am tired tired tired on blow drying my hair in the bathroom with the door closed and sweating. Dry my hair in another part of the apt you might ask? No mirror. Therefore, I have to keep the door shut since I wake up before Bo and the dryer is loud loud loud.

Third, I have been away from Molly entirely too long and my dad is tired of replacing fence pickets Molly destroys.

Fourth, shoes shoes shoes. Enough said.

Fifth, Bo and I have acquired quite a bit of junk from the years and we have no where to put it. Most is not anything we want to throw out, we just don't have room for it once we combine everthing so extra bedrooms will make great storage! So there's more room in the closets for shoes!

My plan is come up with a place to live this week...hmm. Otherwise I will be moving into Bo's little one bedroom apt with has none of the five requirements above. Except it's in Weatherford, so four. And the other four are veryyy important to avoiding immediately marriage annulment. =)

=$ to =D

On Friday I hoped to just survive the busy weekend, but it turned out to be quite a great time. Saturday Kristina and her crew came to town and Reese is just absoultely adorable. Bo fell in love and held her all morning. Quite a cute sight. I'd even be brave enough to say I look forward to a little one in our future. =D

Holly's graduation party turned out awesome - plenty of food, friends, family, and drinks! I have to admit I'm a littel jealous Holly's headed to San Diego. I'm going through travel withdrawl lately from being stuck in the office!! Honeymoon get here now....

Oh Baby

Whew it has been a weekend of apartment cleaning so far. Kristina, Nate and and their half pint are coming to stay! haha Three and a half people in a one bedroom, 600 square foot apartment! I do believe the last newborn baby I was in the presence of is now 2 years old. Should be quite a time. The trick will be keeping Bo away so he doesn't convince me we need one of our own. ;) We need to get this wedding and the next three years out of the way first.

Comeback

So, I'm back. And plenty of life has gone by that would have made excellent posts. For starters, I'm fianced to be wed. Shortly after I went on my blogging hiatus and we got back from New Years in Vegas, Bo popped the little question and the conversation went a little like this:

"Do you want your Christmas present?"

"You have it?"

"Yep, but you have to close your eyes"

[Enter pretty diamond ring]

"Ok open your eyes"

"Are you serious?"

"Dead serious"

Haha. So cute. Well, at this point I'm even 5 months into planning the blessed matrimony. Dress - check. Locations - check. Flowers - check. Minister - check. Photographer - check. Nothing would make me more excited then sharing a picture of the dress, but since it is quite possible Bo reads this blog, it'll have to wait until after the wedding.

There's so much that could be posted about the wedding, but I will spare you the novel! Anyhow, I'm back on the blogging circuit so stay tuned.