Still nothing really worth blogging about, but I noticed that it was 2:30 and I hadn’t said anything yet today. Let’s see… I went to a website meeting last night that was essentially a waste of time, except that it meant some people put a face on my name, and I gave them my email address, and they picked a logo and color scheme. We could have done most of that by email, but oh well.

And then I made my way over to Target. On the way, I called my Grandma (’s stepmom) to tell her the news, and it was a very funny conversation. Very similar to when I called my other Grandma.

I got those Hefty storage bags that they’ve been advertising. I am realistically trying to put some stuff into storage that I won’t use this semester, like all my knitting stuff. The bags seemed like a good idea, and worth the shot. I’ve got to say, they’re much cheaper than Rubbermaid totes. It was $3.99 for 4 bags. You could probably put all 4 of them together and store the same amount as a medium-sized tote (they’re not as big as you would think). However, they were quite handy for what I wanted to pack up, and they’re clear, so you can see everything in them. I can almost use my chair, or least I will be able to by the end of the week.

My flower bloomed over the weekend - there are 3 large blossoms in full bloom, and another one on the way. But I didn’t have time to take a picture of it.

We blew several circuits in our house last night. That was fun. We lost half of the kitchen and half of my bedroom. Strange. Hopefully the landlords fixed it today, because the fridge was one of the things on the blown fuse. And since it’s such an old house, we have those round circuits that you can’t just flip back on. I should probably call them between work and class tonight.

That’s about it.

popularity: 12%

I know, I know, I’ve neglected this blog as of late. Sorry. But, you see, there hasn’t been much interesting to report, and I didn’t want to put you through my whining. Work has been relatively busy. Plus there’s homework and wedding planning. And this other website I’m working on (which will not be nearly as crappy as this blog is right now).

That’s not to say that I haven’t been enjoying life lately, because I have. It’s just been full of stuff you’d rather not hear about.

I almost killed ’s dog Lucy on Friday morning though. I fed for the whole weekend that morning, and then hopped in the shower. And while I was gone, 10 minutes tops, she ate all of her food! Not , but Lucy, who was sitting smugly outside my bedroom door when I got back from the shower. As much as always insists that she’s starving, it’s not physically possible for her to have consumed that much food (3 bowls full) in that short a period of time, and even if she had tried, she would have yakked it up. But no, the bowls were spotless. usually picks around the pieces that she deems unworthy. I could have hurt Lucy. There will be a talk with the roommate about this, because that’s ridiculous. Lucy knows that she’s not supposed to come in my room, and she gets plenty of her own food, so I don’t know what the deal is there. I refuse to lock in my room all day, or all weekend, or… I just can’t come up with any solutions to this problem.

Grr.

So there - that’s almost a whole post for today. I have a website meeting tonight that hopefully won’t be too long, since I need to stop at Target and/or Cub to get food for me and .

popularity: 20%

1. Limit :: speed
2. Voice :: control
3. Change :: of seasons
4. Expression :: -less
5. Tailor :: made
6. Lemonade :: stand
7. Thought :: persuasion
8. Phoebe :: Friends
9. Impression :: first
10. Sister :: Act

popularity: 24%

I am like in many ways. Many frightening ways. (And like too. Also frightening. And then throw in the fact that my parents can’t live together, and you kinda see the craziness that goes on in my head sometimes.) Anyways. was the manager of a lawn and garden store for some 25-odd years. And he still works in lawn care. We always had the best looking yard on the block, and a fabulous garden, and awesome flower beds… you get the idea. I even worked in ’s store during the busy season for a couple of years. Alas, I did not inherit his green thumb. I really like plants, growing, living things. I’m actually pretty good at vegetable gardens as long as they’re actually in the ground - potted plants do not work well for me.

I’ve never been able to keep a plant alive, successfully, for very long.

All that has changed, recently. Look what I’ve got:

The poinsettia was a Christmas gift from a co-worker. The three… others were from a plant sale at work that I got for 25-cents each.

And then, there’s this…

This is the amaryllis that I got at ’s family Christmas gift exchange game thing. It’s getting so tall!

Isn’t it beautiful? I can’t wait till it fully blooms!

So, perhaps I have turned this black thumb thing around. Or… they’ll all be dead in two months. It’s a toss-up.

popularity: 15%

I’m saving the best for last…

This one’s my favorite of the ring pictures.

Judge for yourself: how are my new glasses?

titled this one… “Feeling OK.” Isn’t he just adorable?

popularity: 18%

Off-site meeting today. Took lots of minutes. Was very tired, but not as bad as I have been before. I was not tempted to doze off.

Class last night was alright - much better than the reading I did for it. That was awful. I am not enjoying that textbook. And I did some homework when I got home. And drank some wine.

Now I just want to go home and go to bed. But… I should really do some homework. Like some reading, and the quiz for this week…. If I am diligent enough and get ahead, I bet I could see my friends this weekend. Wouldn’t that be amazing?

Question - if no one (and I mean no one) has said a word yet about my glasses… does that mean they can’t find anything nice to say, or that they didn’t realize they were new, or… ? Just curious. The only feedback I’ve gotten has been from , who helped pick them out, (who said they were nice), and (who said they matched my fiance’s).

Because I’m highly suggestible when it comes to food… I am going to the co-op after work to attempt to get artichokes for dinner. Because talked about it on her blog.

popularity: 18%

There is no more hustle and bustle here at work. We met our new commissioner this afternoon - he seems nice. Our budget increase made it into the governor’s budget, so that’s good. Nothing’s official, of course, since the legislative session just started and the budget is by no means a fixed thing, but the idea of having more money is nice, even if it won’t affect me personally.

And… yeah. Someone else is bringing all the stuff to the off-site meeting tomorrow, so I just have to get myself there. And I don’t have to worry about lugging the laptop and other case of stuff to class tonight and then walking home with it, blah blah blah. Hopefully the laptop will work this time, and there’ll be stuff to take minutes of in the morning, so I don’t feel like I skipped class for nothing.

Just a little bit of homework tonight, only because I slacked last night and was too tired at 1:15 to start reading the lecture. I tried not to schedule homework for Tuesday nights, since class is 6-9, other than studying for exams.

Well… almost time to leave work and head on over to class. I know, so boring. But look, a whole post without even mentioning wedding planning!

popularity: 12%

Let’s see if I can do a (relatively) quick recap of the last several days….

• I’ve done a lot of homework, which so far has consisted entirely of a lot of really boring reading. Lots of duplicitous reading, actually. Last night I read a loooong chapter for my Contemporary History that was essentially a re-reading of the last two weeks from my US History 2 class last semester. And I read a chapter for my US History 1 class that had just about the same content as the chapter I read for my World Civilizations since 1500 class. Hopefully this duplicity will end soon, and is only the result of needing to have the background information.
• and I celebrated our engagement on Saturday with dinner at Buca - my first non-church-that-shall-remain-nameless experience at Buca.
• We went to church on Sunday, the same one we went to a Christmas Eve service at. They have a beautiful sanctuary (it wouldn’t be hard to visualize a wedding there), and the pastor seems to be genuinely happy, and the congregation as well. But, there wasn’t much to get out of the sermon, and people weren’t terribly friendly (though, to be honest, most churches aren’t).
• Last night I was up until 1am doing homework.
• However, I did spend about an hour on the phone with and .
• And I took an hour-long break to look at bridesmaids dresses. I probably shouldn’t have done that.
• I unofficially decided on colors and flowers for the wedding. Or, that is to say, I know now what I want. We’ll see what actually comes to fruition.
• I got glasses on Saturday. I’ve been trying to wear them as much as possible, but it’s also been conveniently easy to ease myself into them, since I can’t wear them while doing computer work (so the whole work day, basically) or homework. So, at this point, that doesn’t leave much, I suppose. But I put them on when I went for my coffee break today. And I’ll wear them to the staff meeting this afternoon.
• I did not ask about making my dress yet. She returned my email this morning and said that she’s busy teaching a class until the 31st, so I’ll ask her after that. I can be patient. I’m afraid that she’ll say it’s too big of a job if she’s overwhelmed with grading papers and stuff. was very surprised that I was going to ask her to do that.
• also said she would try to work into her next conversation with our mom that “Kelly is independent…” so that will hopefully get the idea that we’re doing this our way.
• I haven’t received any unsolicited wedding advice for… almost 24 hours. My grandma suggested when we should get married, but in a cute way, and we’re actually looking at something around then.
• That’s right, yesterday afternoon and I threw a tentative date on the calendar. VERY tentative, since we have… nothing planned. So no, I’m not telling you what it is.
• Yeah, I haven’t really done anything that’s not related to the wedding or my classes. I’m not even sure I’ve had a conversation that didn’t involve one of those things since… Thursday night. Because that’s all my life is about at this point.
• I do remember there being other aspects of my life, like eating and getting together with my friends and that adorable nephew of mine. I miss them.
• Speaking of which, I need to attempt to actually eat my lunch before this staff meeting. Because having it sit here on my desk doesn’t actually help at all.

popularity: 15%

That bridal shop right by my house, the one I wasn’t going to shop at anyways but thought I should check out their website? Their website clearly states that the dresses they carry start at $2000. Oh, for the bridesmaids it starts at $200.

Now I really won’t even cross the door of that place.

That’s ridiculous.

popularity: 12%

With your host…

We have this type of position here in my organization that is kind of like middle management. They’re called “specialists,” and what they do, no one really knows. Seriously. It’s a problem. Not like that… it’s hard to explain. But basically these are the people between management and support staff, that middle layer of people that aren’t in charge of anyone but are “more important” than support staff.

So Specialist A just walked by Specialist B who was taking a ream of paper over to a printer that was apparently empty. Specialist A says, “Ah, good to see a Specialist doing important work!” Har har har. How many ways did he manage to offend me by saying this in my presence? Bonus points for each “way” left in the comments….

popularity: 17%

There are so many geeks in the world.

An instructable on creating a ring for your “geek girlfriend,” with Valentine’s Day in mind. Now, I’d like to put this out there clearly… while I think it’s a very cute project, I in no way actually want one. (It really doesn’t match with my new ring that’s very shiny.) But can’t you picture some geeks in high school being all cute? Everybody together now: awwww…….

Anyways.

I think I’m going to have to (at least temporarily) get over my hatred of unsolicited advice. Because people seem to have lots of opinions about weddings and want to give free advice all the time. People who have had weddings, people who’ve planned weddings, people who’ve been to weddings… basically everyone. Sometimes about things that I haven’t even thought about yet, or could care less about.

But, if I don’t want to be an angry, frustrated b*tch for the next… many moons, I may just have to let that go, let it roll off me like water off a duck’s back.

Also… I’d like people to stop asking me for details that I (we) haven’t figured out yet. No, we don’t have a date picked. It’s been… less than 100 hours that we’ve been engaged, and there was some sleeping in there, and work, and normal life stuff, as well as just attempting to enjoy the moment. No, I haven’t decided what color my bridesmaids will be wearing (though, in an odd turn of events, I think I decided what I wanted the flowers, mine and the bridesmaids at least, to look like - who knew?). Heck, hasn’t even decided on who exactly is standing up with him.

But… ever since ’s wedding-planning, I have known that I do not want to be Bridezilla. I want to be relaxed and happy, on that day and on the several before it. I do not want to be running around with last minute details, I do not want to have to check up on people to make sure that things are getting done “the way I want them.” Basically, I don’t want to have to care about anything other than looking cute and saying the right things and not crying (too much) and not tripping and falling on my patookus. It’s a celebration, a happy, momentous occasion where we get to tell everyone else that we love each other and are committed to this relationship. And even if everything totally went wrong, as long as at the end of the day we were married, then that’s really all that matters.

Of course, that could mean an obscene amount of detailed planning (of which I am fully and obsessively capable), which could just frustrate anyone else who’s involved in the planning (namely , who, I’m sure will wonder at some point, “I always knew she was crazy and obsessively organized, and I love her and all, but… can I really live with that insanity for the rest of my life?” So… balance is the key, I guess.

You know, if things weren’t so crazy at work right now, I’d be much happier. Mind you, they’re going to be crazy until about Tuesday evening at 4:30, and then I’ll probably be bored Thursday and Friday (Wednesday I’ve got an off-site meeting). It’s because we have a new commissioner, and the Governor’s budget came out, and we’ve got an all-staff meeting tomorrow (that the new commissioner will be at), and some of the higher-ups are meeting with other higher-ups so they want reports and details and data… all at the same time due the same day. Blah. I hate that. Whatever. It’ll be over soon enough. Until then… I’ll just share at the something shiny on my hand. (Isn’t that part of the required… something old, something new, something borrowed, something shiny? No?)

popularity: 16%

1. Audition :: Nervous
2. Urgent :: Memo
3. Lunch :: Meeting
4. Adult :: Bag (I’m currently in the market for a bookbag)
5. Mug :: of Coffee
6. Awful :: Funny
7. Comics :: Dilbert
8. Damage :: Irreparable
9. Kicks :: Route 66
10. Experience :: of a lifetime

popularity: 15%

I bought textbooks this morning. And they were expensive - only one of them was available used, and so I saved a whopping $3. OK, one of the others was available used, but it was a different edition, and I did that last semester and it wasn’t cool. So I coughed up the extra $20 for the new version. There went $280 in 3 minutes. Ouch! However, since I bought them all at the college bookstore, I can include them next year on my taxes. So I’ll get… about $50 back. Woo-hoo.

Already, I’m going back to happier things, like staring at the shiny thing on my hand. Anyone have any cute ideas on how to ask if she will make my wedding dress for me?

popularity: 10%

I am slated to be the future Mrs. . He asked me to marry him last night, and I said yes. It was cute and a surprise and no one else was there - exactly what I wanted. My ring is gorgeous too, but my camera is broken again, so I’ll have to post a picture later. But for now, I’m just going to revel in the joy of it all.

popularity: 12%

But I’m kind of waiting to hear back from . I looked at my calendar this afternoon and saw, with alarm, that we had tentatively scheduled a meeting for this afternoon to talk about the website. I quick emailed her to confirm, and then checked through all our old emails to get her address so I could figure out a bus route. I also checked and saw that we had only said “afternoon” for the meeting, and that she had another meeting this afternoon as well, and was on vacation until yesterday. Also, she didn’t send me the stuff that she said she was going to. So… it’s pretty much confirmed that there won’t be a meeting today, especially since Wednesday is church night and I’m pretty sure that she’s got youth activities tonight. However, just in case, I have a bus schedule and I put everything I have onto a CD so we can look at it from wherever. Yes, I could post it on my host, but then it’s possible that she could find the blog, and no good can come of that. She’s not really that internet savvy, so I shouldn’t worry, but it’s just not worth the risk, ya know?

So I’m sitting here in my cube, watching for an email. I got into work late this morning because I had class, so I owe work some time anyways. Not that I’m working, per se. Whatever.

Today has been boring, but more so, painful. I worked at my computer all day, mostly on stuff for school, and my shoulder is very unhappy with me for this. It was yesterday, too. So, the heated neck wrap will be coming out as soon as I get home, again.

I don’t have any homework yet. Probably because I don’t own any textbooks yet. Yikes - I calculated up how much it’s going to cost me on Friday, and it’s more than I’d originally figured. Hopefully the on-campus bookstore still has some of the ones that the online bookstore says aren’t in stock, otherwise I’m in trouble. Also, I’m hoping that I can get a used copy of the only one that’s also available as “new.” All the rest are only available used, surprisingly.

The chart I have to organize my semester would make very happy. It’s color-coded and everything. It became clear quite quickly that I will not have any more free time until the semester is over. Except for Spring Break and Valentine’s Day and Easter weekend (the latter two only because I intentionally scheduled it that way). And there’s a few random Fridays that I don’t have homework, but every Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday night, as well as Saturdays and Sundays, have something assigned to them (Tuesday nights I have class). Three classes is a lot. I may never sleep again, there’s so much reading to be done. Really, the worst part is the online class, because there’s way more “stuff” for that one since there isn’t any class time required. It’s understandable, but I think I’d rather carve the time out of my schedule for class instead. I will keep that in mind for future semesters.

All that being said, if you are used to spending time with me, or think you’d like to at some point in the future, you should probably let me know so I can schedule you in. At this point, I feel that I’m going to have to be psychotically diligent in order to stay on top of things, which means having to choose studying over fun with friends. So… if you had things in mind, let me know. I can’t think of anything I’ve promised to do this semester, outside of my Thursday afternoon trysts with your mom.

Bah. No email yet. I’m considering this meeting rescheduled, and going home. My coffee is gone, I finished eating lunch… that means it’s time to leave.

popularity: 25%