Target

Bed, Bath, and Beyond

Pampered Chef

Amazon.com

We don't mind gently used items.  If you have an item that we've requested and you wouldn't mind getting rid of it, please feel free to give that instead of a store bought gift. 

A couple of other notes:  my mom purchased an almost-complete set of Lenox Temperware Fancy Free dishes at a thrift shop for me.  They are in great condition; anything gently used would work nicely with them. To complete the set, I need:

7 cereal bowls
1 dinner plate
2 cups

We're also hoping to find the following pieces of furniture, listed from most needed to just "nice to have":

- table and chair set.  Four to six chairs would be perfect.  We bought two solid dark wook 24" chairs a few weeks ago, so a tall table and two more 24" tall chairs would work great too.
- bookshelves.  We're going to need several... preferably 2 or 3 tall sets to save space, and perhaps one or two shorter ones for bedroom and/or living room.
- a pantry of some sort, as most apartments don't have even a tiny closet anywhere near the kitchen.
- a kitchen island thingy on wheels.  Something like this, but hopefully not that expensive. 

Life is crazy.  I had no idea how much went into planning a wedding.  I thought that if the bride wasn't picky about things, that it'd be easy to get everything done.  Ha.  Haha.  Whatever.  Even if I'm not that picky, I still have to make decisions about what I want.  I think I finally figured out my flowers a couple of weeks ago, and I found quite a few pictures of cakes to give me some good ideas.  I think I want my cake to have three square layers... I'm unsure about the exact design on the layers though.  I know I like drape-like things, latticework, and horizontal or vertical lines.  We'll see what happens with that.

The bridesmaid dresses are nearly done!  I'm getting to help make the buttons.  Covered buttons, I mean.  You make them using a neat little kit with button fronts, button backs, a rubber "miracle holder," and a plastic "pusher."  There's a pattern on the back of the package to tell what size circle of fabric you'll need for your button size.  You place the circle of fabric on the rubber "miracle holder" which has a hole just the size of the button front.  Then you place the button front on top (make sure the fabric is facing the right way) and push it in.  Make sure all the edges of the fabric are folded in toward the center and not sticking out, then place the button back on top.  Use the plastic pusher thingy to get the back in and voila!  nice covered button.  There's a demo with pictures on this blog... though she's actually making fabric-covered pushpins instead. 

Let's see... what else have I been doing?  Working a lot, of course.  Last week was my six on... which means I worked six twelve-hour night shifts in a row.  Ouch.  This is the fourth time I've worked six straight, and the first time I haven't wound up feeling depressed toward the end of it.  I finally figured out that toward the end of the six on my body is worn out and I start to feel down physically.   As long as I'm aware of it I can deal with it rightly, but otherwise I sit at work one full night moping and feeling like crying for no good reason. 

The guest list is almost done-- yay!  It looks like we'll be inviting about 300 people and sending Facebook invitations to at least 150 more.  I think we know way too many people... haha. 

I had my first Pampered Chef party this past Saturday... lots of fun.  It wound up being very small (nine people including the consultant), but we had a nice time.  (I also had online orders from work, which helped.) I found out that Pampered Chef's salad chopper is really cool-- it has two blades and cuts whole romaine leaves really easily!  Pretty sure I've gotta have one of those.  ;o)

Robert and I bought a used couch at a yard sale on Saturday.  :o)  The seat cushions are quite soft, so I'll need to buy some slightly firmer padding to go inside.  And the outside has huge pink flowers (definitely not Robert's type, but he was the one that said to buy it!) so we'll use a slipcover.  Robert's mom actually has a slipcover in a nice dark olive/hunter green... she says it'll probably need some adjustment to work for our couch, but she doesn't mind us using it.  :o)  I think the color is great.  It's not such an olive green that it's disgusting, and it's not so hunter green that it's too dark. 

We also got a couple of chairs/stools at Big Lots yesterday.  They were having a 20% off sale, and these chairs were already on clearance.  They're solid dark-colored wood.  I think they're lovely... and they were $24 each!  That's hard to beat.  :o)

Well, I think that'll be all for now.  Hope all three or four of you are doing well.  ;o)  Have a great week!

I’ve seen the “Pay It Forward” contest going around, so when I saw my BarbaraH at Stray Thoughts (great blog to read, btw) hosting one, I joined in and won. Here is how it works:

1. Anyone with a blog can join.
2. The first three people to leave a comment on this post will receive a handmade gift from me.
3. I will send the gift in the next 365 days.
4. In return you have to pay it forward by making the same promise on your blog.

Please do share a favorite color or colors in your comment so I can try to make something you'll enjoy.  I most enjoy knitting or crochetting dishcloths, but I've also made scarves, so if you have a preference, please do let me know.  :o)

International participation is fine as well.  :o)

Yeah, it's probably due to a lack of exercise too...

Friday before last I flew to Kansas City Missouri to visit my second best friend, Susana, and her husband Chris. (Robert is my fbest friend.) Some pictures from their June '06 wedding are in my gallery.  The trip went very well except for minor exhaustion, due to the fact that my body is used to night shift and didn't want to sleep the night before I had to fly.  Driving 3 hours on 3 hours of sleep is a bit crazy.  Driving through downtown Atlanta on 3 hours of sleep is more crazy.  Thankfully I got to stay on Interstate 85 the whole time, so I didn't have to worry about one-way streets and everything.  But anyway, the trip went well.  :o) 

I discovered the following day that when I want to shop but still save money, it's best to shop at places where nearly everything is too expensive for my budget.  Thus I come home with only three silver pens that write in sparkly ink.  Pens that cost less than $2 each.  This is happy for my budget.  I believe this kind of shopping is generally known as window-shopping, which is a misnomer in below-freezing weather.

On Sunday I attended church with my friends, which I enjoyed very much.  The people at Tri-City are very friendly, the preaching was great, and the music was well done.  And I got to play the piano for one song for primary church.  (I should clarify: that part of the music was not so well done.  I've barely practiced piano since being put on night shift 6 months ago.)  The normal pianist called the night before to tell Chris (who leads primary church) that she couldn't come.  Of course he turns to me and says, "You can play piano, right?" and then tells the lady on the phone that he'll be okay since his wife's friend plays.  Lol.  Thankfully another pianist showed up while I was playing and stepped in for the remainder of primary church.  He probably knew the kids' ears needed relief and came to the rescue.  ;o)

Monday was my last full day with Susana.  We did some more shopping, but this time at less expensive stores so I actually spent some money.  That evening we watched Remember the Titans (which is a very good movie) while I kind of taught Susana to crochet.  :o)

I went back home on Tuesday morning... again, the trip went quite well.  Susana and I got one picture together the whole time-- at the airport right after I dropped off my luggage and right before she said goodbye.  I had my camera there the whole time, but I'm awful about remembering to take pictures.  :(  Oh well. 

Anyway, I very much enjoyed my time in Kansas City with my friends.  I'm so thankful for their hospitality.  Chris took time out of his studies to spend time talking with Susana and me on Friday night, and again on Saturday night to take us shopping at the Plaza.  Susana taught me to cook a couple of great meals.  They made sure that I had time to talk with Robert on the phone, and Susana worked it out so she and I could have lunch with another dear friend in the area named Amy.   Overall, they gave of themselves for me and just made me feel at home.  :)

And they both helped me see what a practical Christian marriage is like: not perfect, but growing.  It takes a lot of openness and a lot of kindness.  And it can be a lot of fun.  :o)  I'm very thankful for my young married friends who show me that marriage can work and work well.  With my own wedding approaching I can be anxious at times about all the changes, so it's comforting and encouraging to see friends who've been married recently and survived.  ;o) 

Thanks for everything, Susana and Chris.  I hope we can do it again sometime soon!  :)

We finally got all the bridesmaids fabric!  I had no idea it could be such a mess to find the right fabric.  Perhaps I am just too picky... but then again Kathleen (my lovely and very talented sister-in-law to be) said that if she were getting married she would go to every good fabric store in the area (i.e., within 2 or 3 hours, probably), then go back and get the best fabric after she'd looked at everything.  I went to two stores, then went back to the first one.  So... perhaps I'm not so picky after all.

We are getting some of the music for the wedding nailed down.  The three vocal pieces are pretty much decided.  As for the processional and recessional, SoundForth is coming out with a new wedding book this week and I've been told it has a great processional/recessional in it (written for our friends Craig and Sophia).  Hopefully they will work for us... we may have another friend (one of the groomsmen, actually) arrange them for us to work with the instruments we plan to have (violin, cello, guitar, and piano).  If you have any suggestions for prelude and postlude music, I'd welcome them.  We're looking for a classical/sacred feel.  I'm hoping for an elegant and classic feel to our wedding (with the occasional unexpected element)... not too plain but not ridiculously fancy either.   So hopefully the music will complement that general mood. 

Robert and I are trying to decide between house and apartment.   As of this morning (things change daily sometimes), we will probably stick with an apartment for a few months at the very least.  We'd rather not owe an immense amount, and it's very hard to pay closing costs without some extra cash (which we won't have with a wedding coming up).  So we may live in an apartment for 6-12 months while we pay off debts and save for a downpayment.  We'll see.