First Trimester Woes

Anyone who tries to make you believe that being pregnant is "beautiful" is lying. It's the worst, and most of the time it's REALLY gross.

Baby Murphree

The Wedding Countdown has officially begun!

August 7th is now just 39 days away. 39 measly days until I'm walking down the make-shift aisle on a beach in Costa Rica. I can't believe it. I still have so much to do!

Etsy.com Crazy!!

So, the past two or three days I've been doing a lot of wedding shopping at Etsy. The site can be a little difficult to navigate because there's SOOOOOO much stuff on it, but I LOVE IT!!

I've been going crazy trying to find a guestbook, cake topper, fascinator, and a billion other little things. I want things that really reflect my taste as well as match my whole wedding theme or whatever. Etsy.com is a global community where people can buy and sell handmade items online. Artist (or artisans, as I suppose some of them are) get their own "shop" on Etsy where they can peddle their wares.

The really cool thing is that not only are the things that I've bought from Etsy.com handmade, the artists have all agreed to customize them to fit my exact needs. Which is freaking awesome. So I'm getting exactly what I want instead of settling for something that sort of kind of looks a little like what I had in mind.

Etsy.com. Go there. Buy stuff.

Happy Memorial Day!

We're spending the day catching up on chores around the house. And not normal chores: the REALLY bad ones. For instance, we're dusting all the ceiling fans and wiping down the baseboards. AND going though the closets and books and drawers and cabinets and picking things to donate to charity. It's going to be a hell of a day! I just hope it doesn't rain so we can do some work outside as well.

Something weird is going on with my bank account. Every place I've used my debit card in the past week now has a temporary hold for $1. I guess it's my bank that's screwing up since it's EVERY place. Good thing I only used my card 7 times. But still... who knows when I'll need that seven bucks?

We groomed the dogs ourselves recently. It was quite the experience. Scout came out looking much, much better than poor old Buster. I'll try to get some pictures up soon. Our thought process was this: grooming the dogs ourselves requires a one time investment (in clippers) that is less than half of what we pay to get the dogs professionally groomed every 6 weeks. So even if we only do it this one time, we will have saved money. I think we'll probably continue to groom them ourselves, though. It's an all afternoon deal, but I think it's worth it. And I'm sure we'll get more efficient as we go.

OOOH and my brother graduated from high school last Thursday. It was pretty exciting. Nelso was in Tulsa for work so he missed all the fun. My mom and dad had a huge fight that afternoon, then didn't speak to each other for the rest of the night. Which could have been awkward since they were hosting a post-graduation party, but I don't think anyone noticed. They don't talk to each other that much even on their good days haha.

So that's pretty much all that's going on over here.

Calligrapher's Elbow

I've been practicing calligraphy for a good portion of the afternoon. I'm planning to do my own wedding invitations, which promises to be an exercise in masochism. I made Nelso help and it turns out he's better at calligraphy than I am, which really really pisses me off for some reason. But, I think I'll probably get over it when he gets to do the lion's share of addressing next week when the invitations are finally in.

Which reminds me, I FINALLY GOT TO SEE MY WEDDING INVITATIONS! And I love them. They only put together one sample for me last week, but the rest of them should be ready by next week sometime. If we get them all addressed and sent off as soon as possible there's a very good chance we'll only be about a week behind schedule with all this wedding planning nonsense. And a week is much better than I thought we'd be doing after the invitation thing drug out so long.

That's pretty much all we've been doing around here lately. Hope everyone is well!

Iron Man II

We went to see it last night. It was pretty good, as far as comic book movies go. Mickey Rourke has a crazy good Russian accent.

Why can we all just get along?

The last few days around here have been pretty crazy.

My dogs, Buster and Scout, have always had some issues with each other. But, over the past week or so, things have exploded. They fight ALL THE TIME. They're fighting right now.

The thing is, I'm pretty sure Scout is playing, or at least trying to play. But Buster is PISSED. Buster is also a teensy bit crippled so all Scout has to do is rile him up real good then jump on the couch. Buster can't get up there, so he just sits on the floor and barks and growls and stews until Scout gets brave enough to jump down again.

It has seriously been like World War III around here lately. I don't know what to do. We usually let them fight it out. Separating them doesn't do any good, Buster has a memory like an elephant. He just waits for his next chance to pounce on Scout. And sometimes they get along so well, you never know what's going to set them off.

Maybe I need Caesar.

Why do Mondays have to blow so bad?

That is all.

Good for me!

MyFitnessPal - Nutrition Facts For Foods

WHOO HOO!! I feel like a winner.

I've been using this website called Myfitnesspal.com to track my calories. I've been using it off and on all year, but since I've been to the fat clinic I've been using it pretty religiously. Counting calories blows, but it's the only thing that really works for me (that and prescription weight loss drugs, but that's a horse of another color).

My goal weight for the wedding is probably a teensy bit unrealistic, (I'd like to lose about 30 more pounds) but if I can lose even 10-15 more pounds I will be THRILLED.

Wedding planning is going well. I'm waiting for the lady to call me back to come look at a proof on my wedding invitations before we print the whole batch. I bought a set of caligraphy pens. I'm going to try to address them all fancy by myself. Hopefully it works. I need to have the invitations sent out by the beginning of June so it's really getting to be crunch time.

Nelso bought a new video game where you slaughter zombies with a chain saw. He let me play it for a few minutes one night. I think it gave me PTSD.

My brother's team won their game. They've got the second round of the play offs starting tomorrow. Wish them luck!

That's pretty much it for now. Hope everyone is having a great week!

Busy Busy Busy

So, I started work this week, which was lame. And I have finals next week, which is lamer. Plus I still haven't made my schedule for next summer/fall, which promises to even lamer.

I spent a good chunk of tonight writing thank you cards for wedding gifts. A truly enthralling way to spend a Friday night. I've got to wake up bright and early tomorrow morning to make it to Slidell in time for my first follow-up visit with the fat clinic. Hopefully they'll have some good news for me.

After that, I'm going to watch my little brother's baseball game. They're currently in the first round of the playoffs, and as of 10 minutes ago they lead the series 1-0 (it's best 2 of 3). If they lose the first game tomorrow, they immediately play the second game. So HOPEFULLY by this time tomorrow we'll be making plans to attend round 2 of the playoffs. HOPEFULLY. If not I plan to be totally inconsolable.

We've also got Samac's going away party at Keg and Barrell tomorrow night, which should be fun in a sad way (if that makes any sense).

Hopefully my weekend will be more eventful than my week and I'll have something interesting to way sometime in the next few days. Until then, au revoir

Sad Week

So, I've been AWOL the last several days because Nelso's grandfather passed away last week. We spent a few days 4 hours north with his family.

It was a pretty sad time, but we made it through. The day after the funeral, we decided to go see a movie. Without thinking, I suggested 'Death at a Funeral' (which is hilarious, by the way). It didn't occur to me until much later that this may have been insensitive, but Nelso says he didn't mind.

Oh, and today is my birthday. So there's that.

"P-word" Wagon

I've never had any strong ties to any particular nationality, other than American, of course. When I was in high school, my grandmother and some of her cronies traced our geneology back to some poor guy who came over from England in the 1600s. So, we've been American 400 years, give or take, and it's all I've ever known how to be.

So, I'm marrying an Irishman. Or, anyway, an American guy with Irish ancestory. So far I've really tried to embrace my soon-to-be heritage.

Last night, while watching some TV show about firemen, I heard a man of Irish descent referred to as a "Mick." This led me on an internet search of other Irish racial slurs, just for kicks. What I found was kind of disturbing.

"Paddy" is a derogatory term the English use for the Irish. From what I read, it has serious, SERIOUS negative connotations. Paddy wagon, as in a police van, is said to originate from the vans' most common use, picking up a load of unruly, drunken, Irishmen.

To be fair, the origins are disputed. Some say it's called a paddy wagon because so many Irish men were police officers (yeah right). But most sources believe it came into being after the Draft Riots of 1863. Rich people were allowed to buy their way out of the draft, and this really pissed off the poor, mostly Irish, population. They rioted and were picked up in "paddy wagons."

I was a little outraged at first, especially since I use the term "paddy wagon" whenever applicable. And I'm really upset that I've been ignorantly hurling racial epiteths.

So you can consider this blog my first act as self-appointed president of the Hattiesburg chapter of the Irish Anti-defamation League.

FINALLY got plane tickets

We're going to Costa Rica! I'm very, very excited.

We're leaving New Orleans at 6:00 AM on August 4th, which is going to be pretty hard (think waking up at 3 AM, at the latest). But we're getting into the Liberia airport at 11:00 AM, which should make it all worth it. Then we don't have to leave until 5 PM on the 11th, which will give us the morning to enjoy Costa Rica.

VERY very exciting!

Couch to 5k

So, yesterday Nelso and I started The Couch to 5k Running Plan. It went pretty well. My legs are a little sore today, but nothing too bad.

In case you're not familiar with the plan, it helps non-runners prepare for a 5k in 9 weeks. You start off really slow, then work your way up. Week One is a five minute walking warm-up, intervals of 90 seconds of walking then 60 seconds of running for 20 minutes, then a 5 minute cool down. Nelso and I wore ourselves out a little early so we shaved off 5 minutes of the running/jogging intervals. We might have to spend an extra week on Week One before we're ready to move on, which is perfectly ok according to the plan.

I think this is a great program for anyone interested in becoming more active. The first few phases are not intimidating at all, I don't see why they wouldn't work for anyone.

Has anyone else tried this program? What did you think?

Also, a weight update (like anybody cares)

So, this was a pretty hard weekend. We went out to eat 3 times in two days.

On Saturday we went to Mugshots. They're famous for their delicious, fatty, gigantic hamburgers. According to these huge banners they have hanging over the bar, they've been voted best burger in the state 3 years running. I just munched on appetizers there and limited my calories to about 225, not a bad lunch at all.

We went to Outback that night. I had 1/4 a loaf of their bread (50 calories) and the seared Ahi tuna appetizer for my meal (260 calories). So I got out of that having consumed only 310 calories.

Sunday after church we went to Olive Garden. I had 1/3 of a calamari appetizer, which was about 440 calories! (I couldn't believe it either!)But my meal was their minestone soup, which only has 100 calories per 8 oz bowl.In a true testament to my new found will power, I skipped the bread stick. However, I still left there with 540 calories, which is kind of a hell of a lot.

Still, it could have been much worse. And I was a pound lighter after the weekend than I was when I weighed in last Wednesday. So I'm still moving in the right direction.

My Little Brother

...turned 18 on Saturday.

We celebrated by watching him play baseball for 9 hours, then going out to eat at the Outback Steakhouse.

It was kind of a miserable day. Despite putting on SPF 85 sunblock, Nelso still got a funny sunburn on one side of his face (the funny part is that he was wearing sunglasses, so he has a white line across his face).

BUT my brother did hit home run, which was pretty fun to watch. And I think he was pretty glad we came.

So all in all maybe it wasn't such a bad day.

I HATE EVERYBODY!

That is all. Thank you for your time.

Bible studies for engaged couples

I've spent the better part of the morning looking for a Bible study or devotional that Nelso and I could do together. I've specifically been looking for one that is geared towards engaged couples.

I keep hitting walls on my search. First of all, Nelso and I have lived together for quite some time, and most of these books are about how hard it's going to be to live together for about the first six months. A lot of it is about money, which we already discuss frankly and often. I think we've already reached the milestones these books are trying to prepare couples for, and that they lack relevance to our relationship.

I know that a relationship, especially a marriage, is something that you have to work at. I really want us to start working now, before our relationship actually needs work. But I'm not sure where to turn for guidance.

What doesn't kill you...

Might just make you thinner.

As terrible as the fat clinic was, and as terrible as I've felt all week, I lost 6 lbs since last Friday. So even though I've got a long way to go, I'm definitely moving in the right direction. And moving there much more quickly than I had anticipated, which is a plus. Maybe I will be a skinny bride after all :)

Nelso and I watched a guy die at church yesterday.

That's a bit of an exaggeration. We just watched his heart stop.

Mr. Terry, the guy who's heart stopped, was sitting in the row behind us with his family. Suddenly, his wife started wailing. I turned around and saw him sitting with his head lolled back and his eyed rolled up into the back of his head. Seriously, you couldn't see anything but the whites of his eyes. It was really creepy. His wife and his son were shaking him and his wife was screaming his name the entire time.

My mother is amazing! She hopped right up and started CPR. I know CPR, but it never even occurred to me. I was just sitting there frozen. His wife was SCREAMING the entire time. It was blood curdling. Mr. Terry started breathing again after the first round of CPR, and by the time the ambulance got there he was sitting up and talking, but it was still pretty scary. I think I was still shaking three hours later.

So that was our Easter.

The Fat Clinic was awful!

But they did give me some prescription appetite suppressant thingies that seem to be working. Turns out modern medicine agrees with my mother, I am fat.

I'll tell you guys more about it later after I'm out of this shame spiral.

Weight Loss Clinic this afternoon!

So, as you could probably surmise from the title, my mother and I are going to the weight loss clinic this afternoon to see what they have to tell us.

I would seriously like to lose 30-40 lbs before the big day, which is like 120 days away. So that would be one pound every 3-4 days. Is that healthy? It seems like it might be healthy. But maybe it's not. I guess I'll find out today when I talk to the doctor and the nutritionist and have blood drawn and do a stress test just so they can tell me to eat less and exercise more.

Nothing to blog about...

But that's not going to stop me.

Nelso and I were going to go to my brother's baseball game but instead we're going to eat take out and cuddle on the couch and watch The Sopranos.

In case you didn't know, The Sopranos is awesome.

I've had a very busy day doing nothing productive. I had to send about 20 wedding related emails, organize a bunch of wedding related stuff, then I did some mind numbingly boring school work. I washed a load of Nelso's clothes and now I'm blogging.

On a brighter note, on Thursday afternoon at 3 PM my mother and I are going to a weight loss clinic to help us get in fighting shape for the wedding. It should be interesting, I'll let you know how it goes.

I wish I had more followers.

I'm seriously considering going out and following a crap load of random people just so some of them will follow me back.

I think it would make me feel much more interesting.

Pictures from the wedding planner

The wedding planner sent me a few pictures on Friday to use as a guideline in planning my ceremony/reception. I thought I'd share a few of them with you guys so you can get a taste of what we're in for.

I haven't decided if these pictures depict any elements that are actually going to be in MY wedding, but these are a good jumping off point. Plus they would only let me upload 5 pictures so this is just a taste of what I've been looking at. The first picture is obviously one of our cake options, the second and third picture are two of our options for the ceremony decorations, and the last two are two of our options for centerpieces at the reception. What do you guys think?

We went to church today.

It was very...um...."churchy." Nelso spent the majority of the time drawing caricatures of the pups in their cone heads on his bulletin. I think we're going to continue the search for a "church home."

Pups are doing much better. Scout is now allowed short, supervised periods without his cone. Buster still has to wear his the whole time. By Wednesday we should be able to do away with them altogether (the cones, not the pups). They took the last of their pain medicine this morning. I'm a little anxious to see how they do without it.

On the plus side, we get to watch Life and Breaking Bad tonight. Sunday is my favorite TV night.

I ordered wedding invitations!

They're wonderful and they're ordered and I don't have to stress about it one more minute. So hooray for me.

You can take our balls, but you can't take our freedom...

Actually, yes, I can take their freedom. That's what the baby gates are for.

The dogs are doing ok with the whole neuter-ation thing. They have to wear the cone hats. I was going to take pictures to post with my blog, but I didn't feel comfortable exploiting them to that degree. Nelso has lots of pictures AND video, though, if anyone is interested.

The last couple of days have been pretty slow around here. The dogs are supposed to take it easy, and Scout gets horrible separation anxiety, so I've been home pretty much the whole time, except for a two hour reprieve on Wednesday afternoon when I went to class. I skipped my classes yesterday to play nurse. I'm getting pretty stir crazy. We're planning to go out to dinner and leave the dogs home alone tonight. I'm looking forward to seeing how they react.

I STILL don't have wedding invitations... Tomorrow I'm going to go to my brother's baseball game in Picayune then my mother and I are going to continue shopping. Hopefully we can find something soon.

Wedding planning is for chumps

I swear to a higher power, if I don't get invitations ordered soon I'm going to have a massive coronary.

Tuesdays are the worst...

I got up early this morning to drop the pups off at Castration Station. They both looked as if they felt so betrayed...

I just hopped out of the shower and now I've got to RUN off to class, when all I want to do is crawl back into bed. Tuesdays are the worst.

Castration

Ok, I know that's not what they're calling it these days, but it's what I'm doing to my dogs tomorrow. Nelso has been pushing for it for weeks, and I can't put it off any longer. I know lots of dogs who have been fixed who are just fine, but I hate the thought of doing it to my poor little guys. Their lives are so sad... but at least they have their balls. Until tomorrow, that is.

BUT on the flip side, they have picked up some bad habits that this will supposedly stop. So maybe it won't be so bad. Maybe they won't feel hurt and betrayed and mutilated for no good reason but my own convenience. Maybe they'll understand their natural dog instincts, which they can't help any more than I can help breathing, were cramping our style and they won't hate us for turning them into sluggish eunuchs.

Poor pups.

Puppies Love the Beach

At least, mine do. We had a lot of fun. The dogs got really sandy and exhausted. Buster's favorite part was defecating in the sand and Scout really enjoyed terrifying the little black children.

TAKING THE DOGS TO THE BEACH

That is how we're planning to spend our afternoon. They have never been to the beach before, I hope it goes well. The last experience we had with a large body of water ended with Buster nearly drowning in the pursuit of geese.

On the plus side, Nelso is wearing shorts in public, which I love love love.

BURN OUT!!

I'm ALMOST done cleaning the house, and I've hit a wall. I've got the carpets shampooed, the floors mopped, and the guest bedroom and bathroom in pristine condition. The kitchen, the living room, and our bedroom still need some major work, and I know I've got to not only do it but do it FAST, but I'm totally unmotivated.

I know Nelso has gotten pretty aggravated with me today. I sent him to Winn Dixie to get a Rug Doctor so I could shampoo our carpets and the upholstery in my Jeep. I mopped the floor in the kitchen this morning and it was still wet during his lunch break so he had to go pick up take-out for both of us. Then, when he finally got home for the 10 minutes left of his break, I was in a bad mood. Now, I've taken the vacuum apart so I could vacuum out the Jeep with one of the attachments and I can't figure out how to get it back together. So he's going to have that to deal with when he finally gets home from work. Bless his heart... He can't catch a break today.

I'm really excited for Heather to get here, but I've kind of lost sight of that in all this cleaning nonsense. Now I just want to be finished so I can relax.

I bought a wedding dress!

Oh yes I did! And we got a bridesmaid's dress for my sister too. And I just finished sticking stamps on Save the Dates and stuck them in the mail. So, after I track down a few more addresses, that part will be done as well. Plus we finally set a time for the wedding so I can order invitations. I didn't send Save the Dates to everyone I'm planning to send an invitation to, so I still have to get that crazy list into order. But I don't think it will be too too bad... At least I hope it won't.

I'm really on the ball with all this wedding planning nonsense. If Nelso will get his stinkin passport and find something for himself to wear to the nuptials I'll finally be able to breath easy.

On the other hand, Heather and her husband are going to get here in 24 hours and the entire house is still in complete disarray. So I guess I know what I'll be doing this afternoon...

SIMS 3

I just got it. I think I'm going to love it.

If only it didn't take so dern long to download...

a quick look at my week

This is my spring break, but it is by no means a vacation. Here is a look at my upcoming week:

MONDAY: I had a job interview at 12, then I went to the grocery store to buy laundry detergent and contact solution. Now I've got several hours of cleaning ahead

TUESDAY: Job interview at 9:30 AM, then wedding dress shopping with my mother and sister, which is going to be hell on earth. We also have to start shopping for invitations and wedding favors. After that, I'm going to go to my little brother's high school baseball game. I'm going to spend the night in Picayune with my parents so we can catch up on all our wedding planning stuff.

WEDNESDAY: Job interview at 1 (for a job I don't actually want, no less), then finish cleaning the house, especially the mess Nelso will make when he's home alone on Tuesday night :)

THURSDAY: My friend Heather and her husband are coming to stay with us for a few days. I'm hoping to have the house clean and some sort of refreshments ready by the time they get here. It doesn't look promising.


What does everyone else have going on this week?

"SPRING FORWARD" Sucks

That is all. Thank you for your time.