Long Due

Life is not an exact science, it is an art. -- Samuel Butler

The past few weeks have been crazy. And when I get some downtime at night, I'm either spending quality time with Jesse, Lydia and Snow... or I'm falling asleep. I haven't even had the energy to post pictures. Lol. But I have some time today and I intend to use it for a number of things, catching up being one of them.

Lydia. She's moved down from Endeavour and is living at our house. She is working at the Pharmasave with me and (if all goes as planned) she's going to be teaching guitar lessons in the fall. It's been great having her around. (I'm not just saying that because she reads my blog. Lol.) Among her many attributes, she is pleasant, kind, smart, funny and a very hard worker. She cleans my bathroom. I like her. ;-) Since moving here, she has cut and donated her hair for cancer and bought an i-phone. Also, we have played and sung together at Will Elliot's 50th birthday party. I had forgotten how much fun it is to practice together. Our voices are very similar so when we do manage a harmony (we're just learning how those work) it's a little astounding. I hadn't realized how much I miss my siblings until she moved in. Now, it's better.

Hannah. And Daniel. :-) Bless their hearts. They're married and pretty happy about it too! What a beautiful wedding. Hannah's day was perfection. As you may know, it's been pretty wet this year. When Hannah said she wanted an outdoor wedding, none of us were sure if that was going to work out. Especially when it rained... and rained... and rained some more... right up until a couple days before the wedding. But the day of the wedding, so many prayers were answered!

It was gorgeous!

Hannah made her dress.

She ordered the flowers online and had them shipped to my folks' place. (Sun flowers, blue delphiniums and white roses.) 

Lindsey made the wedding cake. (I got to watch most of the process... such fun! Lindsey is really talented.) 

The end result was amazing. Lindsey spent a lot of time on that cake.

Lydia, Ellie and myself played the music for the ceremony. 

(Due to everything being really, really hectic, we didn't get to practice much at all, but we still sounded fine. I can't imagine how much better it would have been if we were a little more organized. Lol! The more I'm in the music world, the prouder I get of my siblings and their musical abilities.) 

Jesse and I got to meet Daniel's family finally. They are so great. Hannah is going to fit right in. :-) Oh. Fun fact! Hannah was a barefoot bride. Love! 

Our British Columbia, Washington, California, etc., etc. trip. It looms upon us with a raging speed. Hehe. I am astonishingly excited. I am looking forward to hours of Jesse and me time. I am looking forward to seeing my aunts and uncles and my grandparents and great aunts and great uncles and cousins. I am looking forward to staying in hotels and going to Disneyland and doing a little shopping, etc. I am looking forward to experiencing a beautiful coastline drive and San Francisco!!! I will do my best to take pictures and post them as we go.

Lindsey tried to visit us this past weekend but things came up in her life and she wasn't able to make it happen. Sadness. But we did have a wonderful visit during the wedding festivities and we will get together again. Someday, it will happen. The good part about this was that we got the house cleaned up. ;-) The state of the upstairs is such that we could (should!) get medals for tidiness and ingenuity. Lindsey, we miss you!!!

And besides all of this prittle-prattle, what have we been doing most? Working and living. Mostly working. Haha. :-P But Pharmasave always outdoes itself when it comes to being a great job. I love my bosses. I love the managers. I love having new runners so my feet don't hurt so badly at the end of the day. And I love having my sister working with me; having breaks and lunch with me; driving to and from work together. It is hard work in ways but it is a very rewarding job and I love waking up in the morning looking forward to a full 9 hour day at work.

What would be left of our tragedies if an insect were to present us his?

 -- Emile M. Cioran

Spiritually and emotionally? Lately, stress has been the biggest thing on my plate. Between dealing with some old memories and people I would rather not deal with, the wedding days were hard on me. But God got me through it and I was fine. I love Lydia living in our house, it's amazing having her around; but it's a change and change is stressful. God is getting me through this too. Beginning to work full time had me freaking out that I wouldn't be strong enough to pull my share of the load and that I would get involved in all the drama. I hate stabbing people in the back. It is almost worse than lying. Both make me feel unclean and my conscience kills me. Haha. But God has given me strength where there is weakness, on all counts. Have I forgotten to lean on Him at times? Oh yes. But He has never left my side. Not once.

Jesse has been there for me as well. The longer I am married to this man, the more I respect him. For instance, on our trip for Hannah's wedding, we forgot the video camera. It was a fault on both our part, but instead of getting extremely upset about it, he kinda blamed himself and got over it. We contacted my mother-in-law and had her meet us half way the next day with it (and our pillows). Point of the tale? He didn't blame me. He didn't even blame himself for long. He didn't yell about it or even get very frustrated. He was calm, understanding and at peace. What a guy. Oh and the other day, we got to his comic shop five minutes after it closed. He was so disappointed. We had missed it our last time through the city as well. But he didn't blame anyone and he cheered up shortly after. He just rolls with the punches and is at peace with God and man. I can't believe I married someone who is so beautiful. Jesse, I love you.

We've been watching a show called West Wing. As you may be able to tell from the title, it's about the happenings of the West Wing in the White House. Martin Sheen plays the president and he is marvelous. :-) But I mostly appreciate the portrayal of the government. They may not make all the decisions that we want them to make but they are not demons. They are people who have to choose which impossibility is the best probability for success. They're wrong sometimes but they are also right. For this job, they receive hatred from the people, because there is always someone who disagrees with you. The more important the decision, the more widely spread the differences of opinions. With greatness comes great responsibility... and suffering.

This show was taking place through 9/11 so they made a special episode in response. I thought it was well balanced. In fact, many of the views expressed were ones I could apply to my background, people I know, situations I get involved in, etc. But the best line was this one:  "You want to get these people? I mean, you really want to reach in and kill them where they live? Keep accepting more than one idea. It makes them absolutely crazy." -- Joshua Lyman (West Wing: Isaac and Ishmael) 


Do you know what makes extremists? They stop seeking. They stop searching. They get stuck on a couple of ideas and that's it for them: they don't move on. Extremists never reach their full potential. God created us to always learn and change. He loves a tender, meek heart. It has taken me years of tears and physical suffering to understand this. I used to be an extremist. If it hadn't been for God's grace and love, I have no idea where I would be today.

 Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:
For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. (Matthew 7)


Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts. (James 4)

God bless you today!

3 More Days!

Lindsey's here so we're going to be keeping busy all day. :-) Today: get wedding stuff to the Hall, go over a to do list that Samantha made for me, contact Laurette about potted flowers, try on my dress so Lindsey can bustle it, start making favors, getting spaghetti recipe from Shelly S., talk to the photographer, clean up around our house, get the trailer set up, wash beddings, and the list goes on and on... it's going to be a busy day!

Beauty

1930's style... simple, natural... yet so very elegant.

Dreams & Wedding Plans

Once upon a time, there was a young lady who took me under her wing for an afternoon and let me see her room. In it was old books, old quilts, old sewing kits... I looked around in awe. Then, I saw it. Hanging there, against the wall was an old wedding dress. The ancient satin caught the light and glowed. As a typical girl, I almost stopped breathing in the presence of it's beauty. :-) It really was a priceless treasure; it had belonged to the girl's great-grandmother.

For years, I had dreams of what I wanted to be like when I was older. When I was young, my dreams consisted of having the same room the girl had but with one exception: I had not just one wedding dress but millions. Plus I would have a room full of candy and books and movies. And china dolls. (Let us not forget about the china dolls.) But gradually over time, I began to realize what was important and what wasn't. Strangely, as I grew (not much) taller, the earth rose up to meet me in my old age and I became practical. I packed my china doll away. I moved from home. I got a job. There is denim in my closet. I'm trying to stay away from candy.

But I do have an old wedding dress hanging in my closet to remind myself about the sugar and spice side of me. It hangs in my closet, light melting into the satin and looking beautiful. :sigh: I have no idea if I will every be able to make use of it but that is okay. Everyone needs something impractical in their lives. :-)

Part of the plans for my wedding consist of old bottles for putting flowers into. I have been planning on looking for them at yard sales for several weekends now but hadn't gotten the chance. Finally on Saturday, Jesse and I needed to go to Redvers anyways. They were having their town wide garage sale day and I was really looking forward to it. Due to rehearsal for the recital, we ended up not getting into Redvers until 3 or so. Which is apparently when most of the sales happened to shut down. We hit two in town that were just packing up and were able to snag some things that we needed (salt and pepper shaker set that we both liked, etc) but I wasn't finding any old bottles.

We were leaving Redvers when suddenly, about 2 miles out, there was a sign for a yard sale. It said "moving sale". As we were walking towards the garage, suddenly all I was seeing were old bottles and jars. Lots of them. Jesse looked at me and said, "We came to the right place." Lol. These people were antique collectors and had so much old glass, it was unbelievable. I told the lady what we were looking for and she was completely thrilled. We picked out several different bottles and dishes and she gave us a deal. We bought some stuff for $85. It wasn't the 5 cents a bottle kind of sale I'd been looking for but, hey... paying more  now means I can sell later. These bottles aren't cleaned yet. :-)

Anyways. As we were leaving, her husband came running over to the car and asked if we were the ones who had bought his milk bottles. He then asked if we would come to the shed and take a look at what else he had to sell because he thought we might be interested. We decided we could and he set an entire crate of these milk bottles in front of us. "Make me an offer," he said. Jesse and I looked at each other. Judging by what the man's wife had charged us for the few we'd gotten before, we thought around $200 for this crate and I simply didn't want to pay that kind of money! "Go ahead! Make me an offer. Don't be afraid to insult me," he said again. Jesse and I kind of stuttered a little bit. Hehe. :-D "Ok! Do you have a $10 bill in your pocket? Just give me $10 for the whole thing." I think our jaws just about hit the ground. Lol. We definitely had $10 and we now have enough bottles for the entire wedding. Wow.

It was an interesting inner struggle to watch, actually. The man was a salesman, wanting to get the biggest dollar for his product but he was also a kind hearted man. He asked what we wanted the bottles for and when we told him we wanted them for our wedding, he was so pleased. He gave us a butter churn, a couple of plastic crates, a wooden crate and a piece of petrified wood. *G*

When we went back to the car, the lady met us there and asked how much he'd charged us for everything. When we told her how much (a little gingerly, I assure you!) she gasped and looked... surprised and... delighted? I'm not sure. She wasn't displeased, for sure.... just very happy about her husband's generosity. She then insisted on giving us another tea cup for free. He kept urging her on by saying, "Ruth, they're getting married." "They are looking for antiques for their wedding." "They're getting married, Ruth!"

As we were getting ready to leave, she came running back to the car and handed us back the $10. "We decided we couldn't take it," she said. Jesse and I were rather overcome by their generosity. We were not anticipating it. What an answer to prayer. Each step we have taken in preparing for our wedding and new life together has been so amazing. So many things have been due to people's generosity.

Thank you. You know who you are.

But I am working today and I really need to get prepared for leaving. :-) My hair still isn't done and I need to get laundry in the wash. Plus, I need to put socks on. :-) :-) Ya'll have a great day wherever you happen to be. 

Random Thoughts of the Day

The sun is out and the sky is blue. The snow is melting and leaving huge puddles everywhere. I am feeling quite happy about it. :-) The winter was strange this year; extremes on both sides of the thermometer. I couldn't get used to it! So, I will be glad when it's finally warm. :-) Then, I won't have to be bundled up while walking to work, I'll be able to ditch my poor, holey black leggings and run about freeeeee!! :-D

It has been interesting to hear the responses to my wedding planning. Such positivity, so many opinions, everyone being as helpful and sweet as can be. We are so blessed! Today, Jesse and I and his dad are going to look at some places to buy. Jesse, Lindsey and I had looked at them before but, obviously, only from the outside. It will be interesting if the places we thought most promises remain that way upon further inspection. I am actually very excited about this. Having a place to get ready to live in is something Jesse and I have both been wanting for awhile. One thing I hadn't counted on when I was thinking about my (future) wedding was the feeling of longing just to be married. :-) Planning the wedding is fun but sometimes it seems to be all so unnecessary and in the way of preparing for married life. Lol. However, the sensible part of my brain always knows how much I want my grandparents, family members and good friends to see Jesse and I exchange our vows. And goodness knows that as hermit-ish as the two of us are, we both love a gathering of people we love (i.e. party ;-)).

When we were getting the fabric for the wedding, the lady measuring it for us asked if this was for my wedding. She then said she could see a nice yellow or orange going with the green we had gotten. She is totally right, those colors would go really nicely. But as you all know, I have delphiniums in mind. "Actually, I thought blue," I said. Her jaw dropped and her eyes were astonished. "Blue??!" she queried. She was such a lovely, inhibited person. I love people like her. ;-) Lindsey and I kept chuckling to each other and saying, "Blue??!" ;-)

Of Weddings, Details and Stuff That Tends to Gag Guys

When I was younger, and there was no marriage in present sight, I used to spend hours planning all of the details for my wedding. I would think about it when I was weeding the garden. Washing the dishes. Folding laundry. Changing the baby's dirty diaper! Milking the cows.

Even though I knew from the first that marriage was down the road at some point, when I got involved with Jesse, I didn't even really think about the wedding. All I could concentrate on was my man and our relationship. But suddenly, one fine day, it hit me: we were going to have a wedding. That involved what? The more I thought about it, the more I felt overwhelmed with the prospect. So many details to think about! After I was sick, I hardly wanted a wedding at all. In fact, Jesse (among others) could quote me saying, "Let's just elope." Lol!

Thank God for good friends. Lindsey arrived on Thursday afternoon and the fun began immediately. First off, we made pasta and cream sauce for supper and Jesse came over to share it with us. We filled ourselves to contentment while watching "The Young Victoria" (which was mentioned previously in the post below) and an episode of "Due South" (which was not mentioned previously in the post below....), then had good conversation. These days, it seems that good conversation always turns to wedding plans. Lol! In this case, we decided that the fabric from the old wedding dress I wanted to use for my wedding dress was not conducive to the pattern I wanted. The pattern was not an option, so the dress went. I was sad but I had been coming to the realization slowly over the past few weeks (part of the reason I wanted to elope... haha!) (yes, I really, really wanted to use that dress...)...

Friday, we went into Regina and shopped until we dropped. Or almost. My favorite parts of the day happened after Michaels. I know, I know. Heresy. Especially from someone like me who usually can't be dragged out of the store for hours. The problem was that so many things were undecided and I didn't know what I needed or didn't need. Thankfully, Lindsey helped make a few decisions. Among my favorite purchases there were some small glassware which included a heart shaped and triangular shaped containers with corks. They weren't terribly expensive and we are planning on using them for... well, that will have to wait until I explain the after Michaels remark. ;-)

After Michaels.... :-) we went to The Bulk Barn. I had never even heard of one and I didn't even know what they carried. Lindsey and her mom and sister had shopped at one in Alberta, so she knew. We walked into the store and it was like heaven. I was feeling rather depressed when I first walked in. When we walked out, I was on top of the world. Hehe! Bins and bins and bins every bulk item you can think of. What we were interested in was the candy. Why would I, who isn't a typical candy person (hey! chocolate is *not* candy!) (well, some chocolate could be classified as candy but it should be banned from North America) like that detail? Because while searching through the internet for wedding ideas, I came across this lovely idea for the reception and fell in love with it:

There will be chocolate on my table as well as all of these wonderful colors and delightful vintageness. My husband-to-be loves the idea. I love the idea. I think there is a very good chance of it happening. ;-)

And now I can tell you what the small containers from Michaels will be used for: decorations on the tables. They will be filled with jelly beans. Believe me, they're absolutely adorable. :-)

Anyways, we walked out of the Bulk Barn with lots of candy. We only took a little of each. A little of 20+ varieties adds up. Haha! But I loved it. I mean, finally! I was able to get out of the cautious mode and throw myself into planning. Walmart was next. That was 2nd in line of things that happened beautifully. Candles. I left Walmart with some really nice candles. They're vanilla and cream colored and they smell really, really good. They also look like what I want them to.

Saturday, we traveled back into Regina and went to Fabricland. We had intended going the day before but they close earlier than we anticipated. Lindsey said they would feel her wrath someday. ;-) Actually, the next day after three+ hours of shopping, we both agreed as we were leaving the store that it was perhaps a good thing we had not been able to shop there the day before. It was pretty intense. And yet, I had not had that much fun in years. How can I explain the beauty of the greens we found? Yes, we got a lot of greens. It's my favorite color. :-) Lindsey's dress fabric is a lovely, lovely dark sage green. We found the fabric as soon as we walked through the door. It just leaped out at both of us and not only did I fall in love with it, so did Lindsey. Which is important because she has to wear it and I want her to feel beautiful and comfortable in it. :-) I mean, this fabric is my all time favorite shades of green. It's absolutely gorgeous. And Lindsey will look stunning in it. :-)

We also bought fabric for all of my sisters to have dresses... for the four oldest, a different shade of sage for skirts (cream blouses to be purchased for tops) (we also found a really nice pattern for the skirts... they're classy, yet cute... modern, yet vintage). For Cilla, Ruth and Sara, we couldn't find anything in the silks, satins and etc, etc, that leaped out at us. So, we went over into the cottons and found this really pretty print that is so pretty and cute. They will be little princesses. :-) My mom's outfit is still to be decided as well as my mil and sil, but we have time. :-)

I remember the exact moments the fabrics and patterns decided they were attending my wedding. Most became clarified when I saw them for the first time. But the fabric for my dress was a little different. I liked the shade of the satin when I saw it. But I have a hard time with satins. Usually, they're too heavy and stiff. I had never seen or felt a satin I really liked until I found that old wedding dress and fell in love with it. Then, I touched this really beautiful Cuddle Satin. That's what it's called! As soon as I felt it, I knew. It was so soft... not too shiny... it fell just right... in fact, it was perfect. It was what I had been looking for since I had first begun planning my wedding (about 20 years ago ;-)). And because I had no faith, I decided that there was not going to be a lace overlay there that would fit that perfect, perfect satin. Hehe. As it turns out, there was. It's just right. It's unique. It's beautiful. It's also perfect.

It was definitely a good day for fabric shopping. :-) Every little aspect I was concerned about with the sewing, the cost, the time has all been taken care of. Many thanks to good friends and a loving God who works in mysterious ways!

I hope this post hasn't been boring. This is all very fascinating to me and Jesse assures me that girls like talking about weddings, period. To the guys who are trying to get through this, my apologies. For I am now going to talk about chocolate.

After eating my supper tonight, I had Green and Black Caramel chocolate bar. I usually only eat a little at a time of those because they're so sweet and the chocolate sooo rich. But this evening, before I knew it, I had finished the entire bar! Lol! I was feeling quite pleased with myself beforehand, too. :-P Now I have a smashing headache... I never eat that much chocolate at once. Boy, did it ever taste good. Felt good too. Still feels good. Just headache. Caffeine and I are not the best of friends. Ahem.

Other points of interest from my weeks of silence:

 I am quite recovered from my illness though I am still taking vitamins and supplements. I feel so good. Every time someone asks me how I'm doing, I always feel like shouting, "WONDERFUL!!!" Hehe...

I am greatly enjoying my work at PharmaSave. Today, I worked most of the morning in the photo lab (which was very fun, once I got the hang of it), then spent the rest of the day dusting the Advil, Tylenol, etc. All those little boxes and bottles taken off the shelves... dusting/washing shelves... making sure I have all of the proper tags... checking expiration dates... all those boxes and bottles put back onto shelves. It's slow and tedious work but it's something I rather enjoy. I like cleaning. Rather, I like stepping back and seeing the results of my labors. I love that shining glow that emerges after you have cleaned.

Theatre is coming along well. I have been memorizing my lines and getting into character. Once again, I love, love, love working with the other people involved. Watching different aspects of people emerge as they become their character is amazing and often hilarious. One of the women in the cast took on a persona last Sunday that had us all in stitches. It was brilliant and very funny.

The orthodontist told me that April 7th would be the day my braces were coming off. I don't know if my bottom braces will be since my teeth are still not in place (they did some major adjusting... in fact, it was only a couple days ago they actually stopped hurting. They've never hurt for almost an entire month before... agh! I will be so glad to get them off!). As soon as my braces are off, Jesse's dad will take pictures of us and we'll be able to get to work on our wedding invitations. I'm really looking forward to those!

Today, on the way to work, I slipped on the ice and fell. I landed on my bad knee (of course), left hip, elbow and twisted my ankle. Then, at work, I accidentally smashed my thumb while working at the photolab. Yes, it was on accident. I hate smashing my thumbs. So painful. But I have survived with little swelling and no Advil. So far. I believe sleep may call for it. Add a headache to all of my aches and pains (incidentally, my big toe on my right foot hurts the worst right now and I don't recall doing anything to it) and it kind of makes sleep not an option.

Speaking of sleep, I really should shower and get to bed. Another day of work and teaching tomorrow. You know, in spite of all my complaining, I am so happy. I feel so incredibly blessed. Thank you, God. :-) I had a really good day.

Good night, everyone! Sweet dreams.

I Didn't Say This Unique

Today I spent some time seriously researching for ideas regarding wedding planning.  So many things to sort through and choose from... wow! September is going to be here before we know it. And since I have a million and one things to do besides wedding planning, I figure I should get on with it. This evening, my friend Lindsey called and we Googled and Googled... and Google-d some more. 

She's a really good friend. I'm glad I have a friend like her. :-) 

The first thing we discovered is that there are quite a few options out there. The second thing we realized is that when you type in unique (because, once again, conventional just doesn't cut the bill for me...) you can get some interesting stuff. Google takes you seriously when you ask for something. For instance: 

The wool wedding gown. I think this was from Australia.

 The one with the very long train on top of the sunflowers. 200.8 meters, I believe they said.

The one made from peacock feathers (?). I think this girl has stolen all of the attention at the bridal show. Hail the illustrious... the fantastical... the amazing... wait. IS that a beak? :-P

Did you think 200.8 meters was good? Just add color, some height, a couple of pink trees that clash with that lovely red, 798.2 meters and... 200.8 meters just got blown out of the pretty sunflowers. Imagine dealing with a 999 meter train. The impressive thing about this dress is that it is "purely handmade" and took "three months to be completed". http://niceweddinggown.com/999-metre-long-hand-made-wedding-dress-in-china/

I know. You don't have to say anything. You always wanted a dress made out of balloons, too. Imagine how comfortable! Every move you made... squeak. Squeak. SQeAk! I'm already shivering and I am just imagining it. I need to sit down. (Pop!)

And lastly, just because it looks so scrumptious (literally) is every girl's dream dress made of nothing else but 1,500 cream puffs by the Ukrainian baker Valentyn Shtefano for his beloved fiancée.

If that doesn't take the cake... er, cream puff... I don't know what would..