Well it wasn’t an overly exciting weekend which is good. I needed some time to get things done. I didn’t accomplish everything but that is okay. I am thinking about taking off on Friday. I still have some name change stuff to do and I can’t get that done on the weekend.

I did step on the scale Friday and I have lost 2lbs.  Part of me was excited the other part of me was disappointed that it wasn’t more. But I didn’t gain all this weight in 2 weeks so it is going to take longer than 2 weeks to lose it. Only 18 more pounds to go. I am hoping I can keep myself motivated.

I looked back at what I eat and for the most part I am not an unhealthy eater. I RARELY eat fast food and usually that is an Arby’s Roast Beef Sandwich. I don’t drink soda (haven’t for years) and I don’t eat a lot of white bread. I do have a few weaknesses like shortbread cookies and ice cream but I am trying to force myself to grab and apple or yogurt instead. When my mom was here she bought some Blue Bunny Banana Split Ice Cream which is my Favorite and it sits in the freezer mocking me. A smart person would through it in the trash but I kind of like having the temptation and feel proud of myself when I resist and eat something healthy instead.

Saturday I cleaned the house and then ran a few errands. I came home in the afternoon and grabbed Potter  to go to  the dog park. It was such a lovely afternoon. It was warm and sunny with a slight breeze. We stayed at the park for almost 2 hours Potter was having so much fun playing with a little boxer puppy, I just hated to break it up. At one point Potter went over to play with a black lab. They were getting along well and were not playing rough at all. They would run with each other and then stop and take turns knocking the other over and standing on them. Everyone thought it was cute except for the owner of the lab. Every time Potter would knock her dog down she would quickly run over to separate the two. She then started yelling at Potter to stay away and to stop picking on her dog. WTH!!! They are just playing. I walked over to get Potter and smiled and said that her dog wasn’t hurting Potter. They were just playing. She said, “That type of play isn’t appropriate!”  She then eluded to Potter being a tad aggressive. Potter aggressive? Are we talking about the same dog? He doesn’t have an aggressive bone in his body. I pulled him away got his attention on something else. Her dog attempted to play with two other dogs and she had the same reaction. I guess it just became too much for her in the end because she left quickly. She had everyone talking about how neurotic she was and how sorry we felt for the dog. People bring their dogs to the park to play with other dogs. It isn’t just so they can run around without a leash. Potter often gets playing with a dog and I normally just let him go I figure he will let me know he has had enough. The only time I will step in is if I see he is being ganged up on by several dogs.

Sunday morning I got up and went over to the gym. I didn’t do much…just the elliptical machine. I came home and grabbed a shower and was about to get ready to go out and do some shopping when Maria called and asked if Potter and I wanted to try the dog park downtown. I met up with Maria and Dempsey at 2PM and we headed to Oakwood. Maria took her dog to the small dog side and Potter of course went in with the big dogs. He seems to be freaked out by trees. He just can’t seem to get the lay of the land. He walked around a bit but no one really wanted to play with him. He then spotted Maria and Dempsey on the other side of the fence and demanded that they join us. Once Dempsey came over it seemed to give Potter the courage to explore more. We stayed about an hour or so until poor little Dempsey got sick. We headed back to Maria’s and let the dogs out in the back yard so they could run. Potter just loves to have open space. He and Dempsey chased the ball for awhile until I saw he was getting tired so I loaded him up and went home.

Don’t really have too much exciting planned for this week. Maria and Todd are having a St. Paddy’s Day Party on Saturday and I have been asked to make mini versions of my famous red, white and blueberry pie. So I guess I will have to start looking for the berries. .

Mood:  hungry

I rushed home last night so that I could change, walk Potter and get to my doctor’s appointment on time. If I missed this appointment I would have to wait till April. The appointment itself was quick but I had to wait 2 hours to get my prescription filled. I got home around 8PM and noticed that the house was a tad chilly. I went to increase the thermostat when I saw that it was set to 70 but read 63. I turned off the system and turned it back on but nothing happened. My heart sank. My HVAC repair guy is in Iraq, what the hell was I going to do?

I crawled up in the attic and looked at the big metal box in the middle of the room. After searching for a few minutes I found the pilot light and noticed it wasn’t lit. I also didn’t smell any gas coming out. Not wanting to mess with something I knew nothing about (my luck I would blow up the house) I called the gas company to see what they had to say. They had a man come and check to make sure the gas was indeed on. It was so he gave me the number of a guy he knows that might be able to help me. He was a really sweet Hispanic guy with a strange name I can’t remember. He worked on it for two hours and said that unfortunately he would need a part to fix it and he couldn’t get it till morning. The temps were suppose to dip into the 20’s last night so I moved all the animals into my room and set up a space heater I bought from Target just incase something like this happened.

The guy was supposed to call me this morning at work to let me know when he got to the house so that I could come and let him in. I haven’t heard from him yet. I am starting to get a little worried. I don’t want to have to go another night without heat.

Lennie called this morning and I told him the situation. I contemplated whether I should tell him about the heat becasue I knew he would worry but I had gotten on him for not telling me and his family things so I went ahead and told him. He feels helpless that he isn’t here to take care of it but I tried to reassure him that I was handling it and it would all be fixed…I hope.

Don’t have major plans for this weekend. It is suppose to be back up in the upper 60’s this weekend so it is likely I will spend a lot of time at the dog park with Potter. All I really want to do though is stay in my pj’s and lay on the couch. I have such bad cramps that I just want to curl up in a little ball and cry. I forgot to take my Midol this morning. *sigh*

***UPDATE Well the guy called and I went over to let him in. He was there 30 miutes and had it fixed. I did have to laugh though because for some reason Fenwick the cat decided he wasn't going to like the repair man today (he got along great with him yesterday). Fenwick hide under the kitchen table and growled and hissed at the poor man in the next room. At point point I noticed it got very queit. Then I hear this "Mrs. Thomson?" from the attic. Fenwick had moved to the bottom of the ladder and the repair guy was afraid to come down. Made me giggle that a gorwn man was afriad of my little kitty. Fenwick is much more of a guard dog and Potter is. Potter wanted to play and have the man pet him all day. Spolied puppy!!!!

Mood:  caffeinated

If you are wondering about how to break up with someone that you might not care all that much about...don't follow the example in this story. It is better just to tell the person that you want to break up.

 I have been following this story since last week and every time there is an update it just gets stranger

I will warn you...you might have the read the story more than once for it to really make sense. I will give you some background information to help you out a bit. A solider meets a pretty girl online through a mutual friend. The solider is then deployed but comes home in July for a bit of leave and the girl surprises him with a visit. They "fall in love" and get engaged and the solider goes back to Iraq. When the solider comes home the girl, who lives in Oregon, rents a car and sets out for NC to be with her fiancé. That is where the story takes a bizarre turn. If you click on the names of the solider and the girls I have hyperlinked a picture.

Search for Soldier's Missing Fiancée Takes Bizarre Turns

RAEFORD, NC — The search for a woman who claimed to be lost in the woods of Hoke County is still on, but by this time searchers aren’t too concerned about trying to save her.

Capt. John Kivett, the county’s chief of detectives, said deputies are looking for the woman who sparked a daylong search by federal, state and local agencies. The woman is believed to be safe, but she may be in trouble with the authorities, Kivett said.

On Tuesday, based on bad information, Sheriff Hubert Peterkin told a reporter that the woman had been found in a Bragg Boulevard motel.

That turned out not to be true, and the story of Jollyn Sue Silver’s questionable disappearance has grown stranger since.

Kivett said the story began Tuesday about 9 a.m. when Randall Dabbs, a 28-year-old soldier fresh off the plane from Iraq, called the Hoke County Sheriff’s Office in a panic. Silver, a 28-year-old woman from Oregon, who he said was his fiancée, was lost somewhere in the woods.

Dabbs told deputies Silver had called him on her cell phone: She was coming in from Oregon for his homecoming when she crashed her rental car somewhere in Hoke County.

Silver had just called Dabbs from her cell phone and told him the wreck had happened about 3 a.m., but that she been unconscious for several hours. When she came to, she began wandering through the woods, presumably looking for help.

But Silver got lost. She told Deabbs she was disoriented and scared.

The last thing she remembered, she said, was seeing a sign for the Raeford Inn and Silver Street, both located in Hoke County.

After Dabbs called, deputies began scouring the county, looking for a car wrecked on a road, but nothing turned up.

They talked to Silver directly a few times. Each time she was crying and scared, Kivett said.

“We were making an all-out effort on this thing,” Kivett said.

The Sheriff’s Office soon enlisted the help of Raeford Aviation, which volunteered a private plane so a detective could search the woods and roads from the sky.

Fort Bragg and the Highway Patrol also got in on the action, offering up helicopters for the search.

In the meantime, Silver was still in contact, mostly with her fiancée, but also with lawmen.

Once, she said she heard the sound of traffic. Deputies immediately advised her to walk toward the noise, thinking she’d find a road or at least a landmark. But she never did.

That’s when it started feeling weird, Kivett said.

“Everything we told her to do didn’t work,” he said. “Nothing worked.”

So deputies tried to find the location of the cell phone, but calls to Verizon, Silver’s service provider, and the 911 dispatch office that Silver had called resulted in nothing. Silver’s phone was too old and didn’t have the technology to allow police to trace its location.

There was something else that was strange, as well, Kivett said.

Enterprise, the company from which Silver had supposedly rented her car, had never heard of her. Neither had the employees at Knight’s Inn, the hotel where Deabbs believed she had been staying.

Kivett continued to dig and found that the calls Silver was making from her cell phone were hitting off a tower in Oregon.

So Kivett called police in Grisham, Ore., where Dabbs said Silver was from. Kivett asked them to go to the address Silver had given Dabbs to see who answered the door.

That’s when police met the other Jollyn Sue Silver. They described an overweight, 38-year-old, balding woman who didn’t look anything like the picture of Dabbs’ fiancée.

The woman said she knew nothing about the other woman using her name. The information the woman had given Dabbs matched the woman in the home in Grisham in every respect — name, address, phone number, even birthday.

A check of state files showed no record of the woman Dabbs’ knew having attended high schools or college where she told him she had. There was no record of her owning a business, though she told him she had owned and sold one.

“Everything I checked out came to a roadblock,” Kivett said. “It all came back to this woman in Oregon.”

So Kivett continued to dig. He spoke with a person identified as a friend of the younger Silver. She told deputies that Silver had left Oregon four days earlier and was on her way to North Carolina to see her fiancée.

Kivett wondered whether the soldier had been taken for a ride.

But Dabbs was adamant: Silver was his fiancée. He saw her several months ago when she surprised him with a visit during his leave. She was beautiful. She had never asked for any money from him.

At 9:30 p.m. Tuesday, Kivett heard from the missing woman for the last time.

She called, crying. She was cold and lost, she said. Even though she had found a pay phone and was only 75 yards from an open convenience store, she didn’t know where she was or even the name of the business.

“I told her to go into the convenience store and call 911,” Kivett said. “Ask the clerk where you are.”

But Kivett never heard from her again.

He’s not surprised.

Since then, her cell phone has been disconnected. So has the one belonging to the friend in Oregon. And the other Silver isn’t answering her door or phone back in Grisham.

“Basically, right now we don’t know what we’ve got,” he said.

He’s hoping that someone who knows more, someone who recognizes the missing woman’s picture, will call the Sheriff’s Office.

It’s time, he believes, to end this weird tale.

Mood:  not sure

When you suffer from a caffeine headache at 8AM.

I had a physical planned for this morning. If we fight fires we have to have a physical every 3 years. My appointment was scheduled for 9:30 and according to my instructions, I couldn’t eat or drink anything prior. Which meant I couldn’t have my 2 cups of coffee this morning. I started out okay. I was a little tired and hungry but I was fine. I get into work and went into our staff meeting and the ranger across from me was eating and I just got very crabby. That is also when the headache started.

I got to the clinic and they set me up with my favorite nurse, Diane. She is from Africa (Liberia actually) and I just love to hear her talk and she has always been so nice to me. She asked me how I was doing and I told her not great because I couldn’t have my morning coffee. We both laughed at my addiction and I told her that I had plans to swing by Starbuck on my way back to work for a huge Café Mocha and a chocolate donut. . 

It came time for them to take blood. As most of you know I HATE needles. The nurse remembered my flu shot and laughed that she would make sure this time…I was lying down. She put the tourniquet on me WAY too tight. It brought tears to my eyes. She searched and searched for a vein but really couldn’t find one so she was just going to try to see if she could hit it. I told her she has two tries. She poked me twice and no luck. By this point I was crying. Not sobbing just tears running down my face. Mostly from the pain but also from the fear of the needle and the fact that this wasn’t going well. Diane finally called another nurse to stick me while Diane sat there and held my hand. We talked about Lennie and her daughter going off to dental school and before you know it, I was done. My arm is still a little soar so I am sure it will be bruised tomorrow. Thank God I only have to do that every three years.

They took me into an exam room where I waited for the doctor. Who I swear looks like Professor Umbridge. She was short with short curly hair and round figure. She looked like a toad. I am not being mean, I swear that is what she looked like. She was very nice though. When I finished with the doctor they took me in to get my chest X-ray. That is when Diane showed back up with a cafe mocha and a chocolate donut. How awesome is that? I think she felt a little guilty about the whole blood incident.

They said that everything looked good and my lung capacity was off the chart. I am a great breather. LOL I just have to wait for the blood work to come back and I will be all set to burn the forest down.

I still have a headache and my arm hurts like hell so the plan right now is to go home, change into my PJ’s, make a hot cup of tea and snuggle with Potter and Fenwick.

I have got to start thinking about Mom and Anne’s visit this weekend. So excited I am getting visitors. I just love having company especially since Lennie is gone and the house is so lonely. I am hoping that Justin will be able to come down in May for the big reptile show. We always have a good time. He will be leaving tomorrow for CA for two weeks. He is going to be touring around and then helping a friend on the red carpet for the Hollywood Make-up awards (I think that is the show) He said he will get to help escort celebs down the carpet. I told him if he sees Mr. Butler he is to get his autograph and a pic. As my best friend I don’t think that is too mush to ask. LOL

Mood:  vegas lucky

Today I came into work in a black pant suit. Why the change from my ordinary outfit of the lovely green and gray uniform? Well I have a job interview today. Sometime back, I posted an entry about a job opening here at the lake. I put in for it back in Oct and hadn’t heard much about it until this week. I came into the office Tuesday and had an email that said that I had made the list of candidates and that they would be conducting interviews Thursday. There are 3 applicants and my interview will be at 12:45 (I am the last one to go). I am not too nervous yet. Although I am sure I will be when the time comes. I am lucky it is just my Manager and Assistant Manager doing the interview. Everyone keeps saying I am a shoe in but I just get this bad feeling that I am not going to be selected.  

So what will happen to me if I don’t get the job? Nothing other than I will be a little upset. My boss knows that I want out of my current position so if I don’t get it, my mood and enthusiasm will be much lower than my normal .level. Don’t get me wrong, there are days that I LOVE my job, but lately I have had so much admin work to do that it has taken time away from the programs I really enjoy.

If I get the job I will be a Natural Resource Specialist (basically a glorified park ranger). It would be a promotion for me which would mean more money. I would go to an alternative work schedule which would mean I would be off every other Friday. Most importantly I would get away from the desk. I would get out in the field more which is where I am most happy. There are some downsides to the job like the fact that I would come in as an intern for 2 years and hope that at the end of 2 years the job still exists. I would also have to sign a mobility agreement that would last for the 2 year program. My boss has reassured me that the job isn’t going anywhere and the likely hood that I would be deployed would be very slim. But these things still need to be considered when asked if I will accept the job. I was concerned that being an intern that I would loose pay but personnel assured me that I would actually get more money.

Lennie just called me to wish me luck and just hearing his voice has made me feel a little brighter. Monday was a rough day for me because I was missing him so much that I just ended up bursting into tears. Luckily I had taken Monday off to go and get my name changed at Social Security, the DMV, and my banks. I only managed to get two things done.

Because I had a rough morning of non stop sobbing I didn’t make it over the SS office till 11AM. When I pulled into the parking lot I noticed a line of people at the door. I walked up and inquired about what was going on. The woman in front said that so many people showed up at one time that it became a security issue so we had to stand outside until chairs opened up in the lobby. Thank goodness it was warm out. I finally made it inside and got my number…272. I sat down and heard the woman call 265. I thought well I won’t be here long. We got to 270 and then all the sudden I heard…number 35.” WHAT! Someone obviously doesn’t watch Sesame Street. 35 does not come after 270. About an hour later they finally skipped back up to 271. I was lucky that I had gone online and printed out the form I needed so once they called my number I was in and out. So now it was off to the DMV.

I walked in and stated what I needed and the officer said I had to wait 48 hours for the name change to post in SS. I was a little pissy but I was able to go back in this morning and didn’t have to wait. My new picture isn’t too bad, I no longer look like an angry Hispanic woman.

One of my banks allowed me to change my name Monday but the other bank said I had to wait till I got my new license. Hopefully next week I can go to the bank and then to the vehicle registration and I should be finished. Well except for the work stuff but that is going to take forever.

This weekend I am helping the Wildlife Commission and the Boy Scouts build fish habitats. Should be fun. Other than that I am just going to try to get things ready for my Mom and Sister’s visit next weekend.

Oh speaking of my sister. Some of you already know but for those of you who don’t. My sister is pregnant She is about 10 wks along so that should put the baby here sometime in Sept. I am so excited that I am going to be an aunt. Anne also told me that she and Jimmy went to the courthouse and got married on Jan 23^rd (1...2...3 so Jimmy can remember). I had started to make a garter belt for her wedding that was supposed to be this spring or summer.  It was going to be cute with a little crab charm on it. Thank goodness I didn’t start sewing it and I was able to cancel the order for the crab charm. LOL I was also worried about what I was going to do for her bachelorette party. Would she want it in OC or Baltimore? Would I be able to take time off from work to go? Would I even be able to afford to go? Well I don’t’ have to worry about that now. LOL But in all honestly I am happy for them both. I have already started to look at baby stuff.

I probably won’t have a chance to post tomorrow so I hope everyone has a great weekend.

It is hard sometimes for the public to understand that even though I work for the Army I am in fact not “in” the Army.

I decided the other day to go to Jason’s Deli for lunch. They have a GREAT salad bar. After paying I went over to collect my salad plate and as the woman hands it to me she sees my uniform and the patch with the word “Army” on it. She smiled and said she was so grateful for everything we do and wanted to thank me personally. I was shocked but with the current drought most people hate us because we won’t shut down the dam to save their water. I smiled back at her and said “You’re Welcome”. I then headed over to the salad bar to create my lunch. The woman comes over to me and passes me a business card and tells me to check out the website. I glance at the card and see it is for the “Rolling Thunder” organization. Crap! This woman thinks I am in the Army. For those of you who are not familiar with this organization…it is an organization of Harley Motorbike Riders who are Military Veterans. I looked up from the card to tell the woman that I am not in the Army but by that point she had vanished and I was holding up the salad bar line.

The one thing that gets me is not the fact that she thought I was in the military but the idea that she thinks I look like the sort of person that would ride a Harley. Although I think Harley’s are cool, I am not a biker chick. I think I am the kind of person that would be more comfortable on a Vespa. Do you think they would still let me join their gang? I can picture it now…Rollin’ up on my pink Vespa complete with glitter streamers and bike bell.

*Ching Ching* LET’S RIDE BITCHES!!!!

In all seriousness…Rolling Thunder is a great organization which brings awareness to service men who have been MIA or who are POW. So woman at Jason’s Deli….Thank YOU for everything you do.

Mood:  don't ask

Lennie called from Iraq on Tuesday. Somehow the internet and phones had been knocked out. Well all except one phone which was very staticy. That combined with the delay when you talk made the conversation very difficult. I did manage to get that he was doing fine except for a having a cold. He said that they finally moved into their barracks and got everything organized. He stated that after doing some calculations he figured that each guy gets 32 sqft of personal space. There are six guys to a room. There are 3 sets of bunk beds and each person gets a locker and a desk. Cozy! I love hearing from him. Hearing his voice lets me know that he is okay but it also makes me miss him more. He is hoping to have his internet hooked up soon so hopefully I will hear from him more often.

He had called me last Friday evening to tell me that he needed some items. One of which was bed linens. Can you believe we aren’t providing our solders with bed linens? We spend all this money providing the Jordanians with uniforms, tanks, HumV’s and weapons but we can’t give our guys sheets? I finally got the package together yesterday and mailed it off so hopefully he will get it soon. I just need to try to find a way to smuggle him some Whiskey.

I was supposed to go Irish dancing last night. Not the riverdance type. This is more like Irish Square Dancing. Maria called me about 6pm and said that she still wasn’t feeling well and didn’t think it would be wise for her to bounce around the dance floor (she is recovering from Bronchitis and asthma) instead she wondered if I wanted to go see the new U2 live 3D show at the IMAX. Not a huge U2 fan so I declined to stay home and curl up on the couch. I did manage to take Potter for a VERY long walk which I think both he and I really needed.

Work has been a little stressful this week. My boss forgot to tell me that I was going to be subject to a financial review. He has known about it for some time but just forgot to tell me. I printed out the review checklist which was 30 pages and it is due by the 31^st. I informed my boss that it was highly unlikely that it would get done by then. He stated that I had to make it a priority and I lost it. I have about 20 other things that are also a high priority and maybe if he had given it to me back on the 10^th I might have been able to get it done. I think he is avoiding my desk now. I got a little reprieve this morning when I got a call from the District to tell me to wait until they had better instructions. So now I am going to use this time to go see one of eagle nest.

He did give me some good new yesterday. Some of you may remember me talking about a vacant ranger spot here and that I was going to apply for it. Well I made the cert and my package had been submitted for review. So maybe soon I will be a “real” ranger.

Mood:  caffeinated

Well I was hoping for a snow day but no such luck. They were calling for a wintery mix this morning then turning to rain by noon. I was hoping that when I woke up that I would see a blanket of snow and that I could go back to sleep. I got up at 5:30, looked out the window and saw NOTHING!!!! WTH! I grabbed a shower then got Potter ready to go outside. By this time it had just started to rain. I got excited that maybe it would be freezing rain and I could just relax this morning and go into work about noon. When I turned on the TV the weather girl said that temps were above freezing so it looked liked a pure rain event. L So now here I sit at work in front of my computer screen with little enthusiasm to actually do any real work.

The writer strike has really messed up my TV viewing. I was looking forward to Heroes coming back on but it turns out that it will not be on till after the writer’s strike. I have Supernatural tonight which is a repeat but with the lack of anything else good on I will watch it. Plus I will get to see Jensen which is always a highlight in my long week.

With the lack of TV it appears I will actually have time to get some reading done. My sister gave me a bunch of books and a girl at work gave me a couple, so I have a lot to keep me busy. Not to mention that I need to finish my Thank You’s and work on my wedding scrapbook. I am also working on a special gift for my sister so I have to find time to finish that.

I got an email from Lennie on Tuesday from Kuwait. They got there okay but I don’t think he is too happy that 16 of them and all their gear are shoved into a hut the size of a hotel room. They will only be there for a few days before heading into Iraq. I still miss him and every once in awhile I find myself tearing up but it is getting better. I know you all have been after me to get you his address and I promise I will get it out soon.

My sister is still under the weather. So for those of you who read her blog and have been wondering where she has been….in bed sleeping and just feeling like crap. Mom talked to Jimmy the other night and he didn’t have a clue what wrong jut that she was sick. Hopefully she is on the road to recovery or making an appointment to see a doctor.

Speaking of appointments, I really need to make one with Will at the gym to start my work out. I also need to go through my kitchen and take a serious look at what I have been eating. Last night it was Sloppy Joes. Not very healthy.

Well I better get some work done although I really just want to go home and curl up on the couch with Potter and Fenwick. Only 2 days to go and then I have a long weekend.

Mood:  blue

Well Lennie is on his way to Iraq. I don’t think it has fully hit me yet that I won’t be seeing him for 6 months.

We had a great weekend in VA Beach. Lennie always jokes that when I married him I became a member of the Scottish mafia. Don’t worry it isn’t the real mafia. It just means that I now belong to a group of people who look out for one another. Take this weekend for instance. Lennie’s friend Jerry is a builder in VA Beach and knows the owner of the Hilton so he was able to get us a great room on the beach for about a 3^rd of what we would have normally paid. It was a beautiful hotel and the customer service was by far the best I have ever seen.

Friday I arrived at the beach at about 1:30. I met up with Lennie in the hotel bar where we sat for a short while until our room was ready. After getting into the room we came back down, parked the car, and then headed out to find a bite to eat. I love the beach in the off season except for the fact that a lot of places close up for the winter. We decided to come back and have lunch in the hotel. After lunch we headed up to the room for a nap then got up and headed to Captain George’s for dinner. After dinner we met up with some of his Navy buddies for a beer and then it was back to the hotel to crash.

We slept in till about 8AM on Saturday. We took our time getting ready before heading downstairs for breakfast then it was off to the VA Aquarium. Since I have been to the Baltimore Aquarium so many times every other aquarium just pale in comparison but this one was actually very nice. It was small but the exhibits were very well done. I loved the otter exhibit and could have sat there all day and watched them. They also had an Imax theater where we ended up seeing a show called Sea Monsters 3D which was awesome. We headed back to the beach and grabbed some coffee. Lennie walked out along the beach and I headed back up to the room to get ready for dinner. When I finally got changed for dinner Lennie presented me with a gift. It was a heart shaped box that was engraved with, “Now that I have you in my life, what more could I possibly ask for. I love you.” I opened it up to find a gold heart shaped locket that he had also engraved with the words, “Yours until the end of time”. It was so sweet that I just wanted to cry. I went to put on the locket only to notice that the chain was all tangled. LOL We sat in the room until almost 9PM trying to untangle it. No luck. Starving, I put it back in the box and we headed downstairs to eat at one of the hotel restaurants. The food was amazing!!!! I only wish I had saved room for dessert. We headed back up to the room where Lennie had a bottle of Champaign chilling and we….well lets just say we had quite and enjoyable evening. J

We got up early on Sunday and headed to the base. Lennie had to muster at 10:00 even though their bus wasn’t to leave until noon. They released them at 10:30 and we headed over to Starbucks for some coffee and to wait till the bus arrived. I tried hard not to cry. The sides of my mouth are raw and tender from where I kept biting them to try not to cry. I knew that deploying wasn’t easy for Lennie so I didn’t want to add to it by sobbing all over him. At about noon the bus arrived and they started loading up. He gave me a last hug and kiss goodbye and that is when I couldn’t hold it in any longer. Tears starting streaming from my eyes and I couldn’t get them to stop. When I pulled away from Lennie I saw the tears in his eyes. I told him to get on the bus and walked away, knowing that any second the flood gates would open up. I got in my car and headed towards the main gate. I stopped at the McDonalds just inside the gate, parked my car, and had a good cry for about 20 minutes. When I got myself composed I headed back onto the road. I did pretty well. I only had to pull over twice when the tears got so bad I couldn’t see the road. It seems to come in waves. One minute I will be fine then the next I see the image of him standing by the bus in his uniform with tears in his eyes and I start crying again.

I picked Potter up from the Doggie Hotel Sunday night and when we got home, Potter grabbed one of Lennie’s t-shirts and curled up with it on the bed. I curled up next to him and cuddled until Lennie called to tell me they had made it to BWI. He told me he loved me and tried to assure me that these 6 months would fly by. When we said goodbye and hung up the phone I laid my head back down and looked over to Lennie’s side of the bed noticing some thing dangling from the head board. Lennie had attached his extra set of dog tags to the bed.

For those of you who have asked I will try to email you Lennie’s address so you can send him cards and packages. I don’t know yet what he will need until he gets over there. He will try to call me from Kuwait but I may not hear from him till he gets to Al Kut, Iraq.

Thanks to everyone for the kind emails and cards and just continue to keep Lennie in your prayers.

Mood:  caffeinated

I walked into my house last night and was immediately hit with a horrible stench. When I walked in to let Potter out of his crate I saw what was causing the horrible odor. Potter had had diarrhea at some point yesterday. It was all over his crate, his fur, the wall and the carpet. I just stood there for a moment not knowing what to do or where to start. I finally decided to start with Potter. I took him outside to use the bathroom and he still had the runs. I then brought him back in and tried to give him a bath. It is hard to get 70lbs of dog in the tub and keep him there. I was finally able to get all the crap out of his coat and sent him off into the living room to dry while I tackled the rest of the mess. I bleach his crate and scrubbed the carpets and walls. Amazingly everything came out. Potter seemed to be feeling better and played most of the night. I took him out about 11PM and his stool wasn’t hard but it wasn’t like the watery stuff that had come out earlier, so I thought he was okay.

At 1AM Potter came in and got me out of bed in a panic so I rushed him outside. He still had the diarrhea but this time there was some vomiting. So I packed him up in the car and headed to the Doggy ER. I don’t know if it was the vet or my lack of sleep but I was a little snotty with the doctor. She immediately accused me of giving him table scraps. My dog ONLY eats dog food. He might get an occasional egg but Dr. Darth said that was good for him. Don’t assume I am a bad pet owner just because my dog is sick. She sort of looked at me like she didn’t believe me. She said, “Well something is making him sick.” You think? Maybe you should do your job and figure out what the problem is instead of standing there staring at me like an idiot. They ran some tests which took two hours and wasn’t really able to find out much. He had a slight temperature and some tenderness in his stomach but said the x-rays and fecal didn’t show anything abnormal. She said he might just have caught a stomach virus at the dog park. They gave him some bland food, a shot for the vomiting and told me to give him some Pepto Bismal every 6 hours and to watch for dehydration. We got out of there around 4AM and headed home where I crashed for an hour before having to get back up and come into work. I brought Potter with me so I could keep an eye on him. So far he seems okay. He is sleeping now but was walking around the office playing with everyone.

So with only about 2 hours of sleep I am not focusing very well. I have a stack of stuff on my desk and I just can’t get organized enough to start on anything. I feel useless and if I wasn’t taking off Friday I would just go home. I leave today at 3:30 so I am hoping with 7 cups of coffee and 3 chocolate chip cookies I will be able to make it that long.

Mood:  caffeinated

Okay enough with the emails. I am sorry I haven’t been posting but I decided to take a little break. But I am back now so here is your long awaited post.

Christmas “vacation” went very well although I felt like I was on the go all the time. We finally got to see Annie and Jimmy’s adorable new house and Potter and Bilbo got to meet and play a bit. It tool Potter awhile to recover. He was so utterly exhausted that he slept for two days.

I got most everything on my Christmas list and I think Lennie enjoyed the day as well. He loved is Ipod and has already downloaded 2 CD’s onto it. He has borrowed some of mine to load and he got almost $200 in Itunes gift cards so he should be set for awhile. Some of you have asked me what I got from Lennie. They were a bit unusual but they make sense if you know us really well. I got a toilet repair kit so that I can fix my running toilet and a gym membership. Don’t worry ladies I asked for that one. See Lennie wants to get pregnant sometime after he gets back from Iraq so I decided that I would use the time to get myself in shape. I seriously need to lose like 20lbs and I need to strengthen my back muscles so I don’t suffer major back strain from trying to carry a baby around. My Dr. actually recommended this because of my age and says it will make the pregnancy a little easier as well as help me lose the post baby weight.

Okay back to the trip...We had to head the day after Christmas because I had to be back at work. We started out a little late because Lennie wanted to install Mom’s new thermostat. We got to Fredericksburg and it started to pour down rain which made for a lousy ride. The Doctor had put me on Prednisone before I left to help fight the allergic reaction I had. The reaction has subsided but the medicine has caused me to retain water and feel very bloated and caused some heartburn. So being in a truck for 6+ hours was VERY uncomfortable. All I wanted to do was get home and relax. No such luck. We stepped inside the house and it was freezing. I went to see if the house sitter had turned the heat back. Nope…everything was set to what it was when I left. Lennie climbed up in the attic and discovered that the flame on the furnace wouldn’t light. He was able to manually light it but said we would only have heat until the system reached 74 degrees and then would shut off again. Apparently the igniter had gone bad which he managed to fix the next day. I guess it is good that I married an HVAC guy. LOL

New Year’s Eve was a lot of fun. We met up with two other couples at Michael Dean’s for dinner. The food was okay but not the best I have ever had. We had a great waitress who tried to keep us at the table as long as she could so she didn’t get sat again. We finally headed over to the bar about 11:30, got are party hats on and our free glass of Champaign and rung in the New Year at midnight. Feeling exhausted we quickly called a cab and went home. New Year’s Day was filled with home projects like installing my new toilet system and two dimmer switches which I installed myself.

This past weekend was Lennie’s last weekend in Raleigh for 6 months. I had been okay with the deployment up until now. We took Potter to the new dog park in Wake Forest and watching Lennie play with Potter knowing that this would be the last time he saw him till July made me tear up and then when Lennie left last night o drive back up to VA I cried for about an hour. I am usually not this emotional. I am hoping it is just PMS. I am going up to VA next weekend to spend a couple of days with Lennie before he deploys on Sunday. I am going to try my best not to cry but I can’t promise anything.

I have been trying to reassure Lennie that I will be okay and not worry about me while he is gone.  I would rather he focus on himself and be alert to what is going on around him so that he can come home safe and sound. I have great friends here who have all told him that they will check up on me to make sure that I am doing okay and Annie has even offered me a few shifts at the pub to try to take my mind off of him being gone. It isn’t the days I worry about because I will be busy with work. The nights will be tough because I will have plenty of time alone to think about him being gone. But I know that if we make it through this we can make it through just about anything.

Well I should get back to work. I have a lot of pictures to post but it will take me awhile to get them all up so please be patient. Hope everyone had a great weekend.

Mood:  lazy

Lennie was suppose to come home to NC last night but he called me at work to tell me that his leave was cancelled for Wed and Thur. because the person who told them they could take off wasn’t authorized to give them leave and the person who is authorized said they had to stay because if they were released early they would be cheating the military out of money. Apparently that guy is the living embodiment of Scrooge. What a meany to not let my husband come home a couple days early so we can spend some time together alone before heading to WV for Christmas. I hope that guy gets a wade of coal in his stocking this year.

Lennie thinks his deployment date will be the 13^th of Jan so right now the plan is for me to take off work the Friday before and drive to VA Beach to spend a couple of nights with him before he deploys.

All of the stress with the wedding, holidays, and Lennie’s deployment have wreaked havoc on my body. The other morning I woke up again covered in hives which in turns seems to have cause a flare up in my dermatitis which I have had great control over for the last two years. I ran to my medicine cabinet to grab my medication only to notice that the tube was almost gone. I called my dermatologist to see about getting a refill and she said that it has been over a year since she saw me last and needed to see me before she could give me the refill. I told her I just didn’t have time and that the plan she put me on two years ago was working great until I had this flare up and needed more meds. She said she would review my chart and let me know if she felt comfortable giving me another prescription. I haven’t heard from her since. So now it looks like I will have to spend Christmas with what looks like patches of sunburn on my face that itch like hell. Thank God for good make up.

Have I told you that Lennie has single handedly ruined Christmas for me? The other night we were sitting in the big chair looking at the tree and listen to Christmas music when we had the following conversation….

Lennie: I am going to have to make a copy of this CD

ME: Why?

Lennie: Because I bought myself an Ipod and it would be nice to have some of this music to take with me to Iraq

ME: Why did you buy an Ipod?

Lennie: To take with me to Iraq

ME: *Angry Sigh*

Lennie: What is the matter with you?

ME: I am just a little pissy.

Lennie: Why?

ME: Because I bought you an Ipod for Christmas.

Lennie: I KNEW YOU BOUGHT ME AN IPOD!!!!

ME: Well if you knew I bought you an Ipod why did you go out and buy one?

Lennie: I didn’t buy one I was just trying to figure out what you bought me.

At this point I started to cry because now the whole surprise was ruined. I was so pleased with myself because I had gotten him a great gift and I couldn’t wait to see the look on his face when he opened it up Christmas morning and how every time he used it in Iraq he would think of me.  He of course couldn’t understand what the big deal was and I told him to think back to the time we went to Wilmington and how please he was with himself with surprising me with a stay at the Dragonfly Inn. I asked him would it have been as special if I had known that was where we would be staying. I think now he realizes that he screwed up which I plan to continue to bring up a little while longer so that next year he will think twice about trying to discover his gift.

We have made our plans for New Year’s Eve. Actually the guys planned it all which was a shocker. We will be joining Roisin and Locke and Marie and Todd for dinner and dancing at Michael Dean’s. I am looking forward to it…I think it will be a blast. I have even purchased this cute little strapless dress that is Bing Cherry Red.

I hope after Christmas I will have all the pictures back from the wedding and I can post them online for all to see. So stay tuned….

I hope everyone has a great Christmas and I will talk to you all after the New Year!

They are both involved in this past weekend's activites.

Feeling a tad bit under the weather this morning. I woke up covered in hives and a tight throat. I don’t think I ate any coconut yesterday so I am sure it is just stress related. I took 2 cold showers to tame the hives but my voice is almost gone so I don’t know how long I will stay at work.

The reception on Saturday was fantastic. We had such a fabulous time. I only regret that I didn’t get to talk to more people. Lennie and I almost made it onto the news. Apparently there were some reporters at the pub from a local news station and when the saw us in our outfits and heard our story they thought about getting a camera and interviewing us. Thank God they didn’t. Lennie would not have been amused. Many of the patrons that night came up to congratulate us. Even some drunk girl who I think was rather taken with Lennie. She was talking to him and me at the bar and we kept trying to break away from her so that we could talk to other people. After tossing the bouquet Lennie and I had a dance together. Well drunk girl comes up to us and says that she believes this is the point where she cuts in. Lennie looked at her and said, “No, I don’t think this is the point.” and then spun me around in the other direction. I looked over and drunk girl was still standing on the dance floor just staring at us. We danced till my feet could no longer take the strappy shoes I was wearing (about 11:30pm). We then loaded up in our big white chariot (Phoenix Transportation Shuttle Van) and headed home.

Sunday morning we woke up feeling the effects of WAY too much Champaign. We got ready and went to brunch then headed to Lowes to pick out my Christmas tree. Lennie is kind of a Grinch when it comes to Christmas but I am going to force him to love it. J I don’t think he realized what was really involved in finding a tree. To him every tree he picked up looked fine. I would have him stand it up and twirl it around. I would mess with the branches and then stand back and study it and then say nope that isn’t the one. We must have gone through 10 trees before Lennie started insisting that I tell him what was wrong with every tree I rejected. He just couldn’t see the differences. MEN! I ended up with a 9ft Frasier Fur. It wasn’t the perfect tree but I could tell he was starting to get annoyed. But bless his heart he tried to stay chipper through the whole thing. We then went to Target to pick up some more lights and Lennie went into the bathroom to wash the pine sap off his hands and forgot his wedding ring on the sink. Luckily it was still there when he went back. I can’t really say much. I forgot to put mine on yesterday all together. I get a weird feeling when I realize I don’t have it on. Sort of feels like I am naked.

My mother-in-law heads back to Scotland tomorrow and even though I am sad to see her go and I just excited that next weekend Lennie and I will finally be able to spend time ALONE!!!!!. I am also hoping that next weekend I can get my Christmas shopping finished.

Mood:  caffeinated

Lennie has this friend named Andrea (Andie for short) who I have tried to like since I met her but the truth is she is an alcoholic and I really can't stand to be around her. But for Lennie's sake I put up with her. She is usually at the pub every time we go out and she ALWAYS gets trashed and makes a fool of herself…falling all over the place and telling everyone they are cunts. It just isn't pleasant.

When I sent out invitations for the wedding Lennie asked me if I sent one to Andie and I said no. I didn't want her there because I knew she would get drunk and embarrass herself and us. Lennie argued that she was his friend and should be at least invited. I continued to say no. Well Lennie took one of the extra invites and gave it to Andie without me knowing it. One night at the pub she came up and gave me a huge hug and thanked me for inviting her and how touched she was and how she was definitely coming. I smiled but on the inside I was thinking that I was going to have to kill Lennie. Well luckily she flaked and didn't show at the wedding.

Well we get back to NC and start planning the Raleigh Bash and Andie offers to make all the food. That would be her gift to us. At first I didn't think it was a good idea. But she assured me everything would be great. I honestly thought that she wouldn't back out of this because it would mean so much to Lennie. Well Annie called me Tuesday night to say that Andie emailed her to say that she would prepare "1" dish for Saturday. Both Annie and I were furious. I feel bad because now Annie has taken it upon herself to make all the food.

Annie said that apparently Andie doesn't care for me because I took Lennie (her drinking buddy) away. I also believe that she is jealous of mine and Lennie’s happiness. Andie’s fiancé (also named Andy) is from Scotland but unlike Lennie he isn’t a US citizen. Right now he is stuck in Scotland until they can work through the legal stuff to get him over here. They were engaged before us so I am sure the fact that we are already married has upset her to the point that she hopes that backing out of the food will ruin our evening.

It doesn’t bother me that she doesn’t care for me. What bothers me is that she is screwing over Lennie…someone who has always stood up for her. I am hoping that this incident combined with her recent drunken tirades will show Lennie that she truly needs help. I have never met someone who has a total lack of self respect like she does. My only hope is that she gets herself straightened out before she hurts herself or someone else. If I was sure Lennie wouldn’t be upset with me, I would email Andie and tell her not to bother showing up.

I am not worried about the reception. I know Annie will make sure we have some great food and that everyone has a great time. I only hope that Andie decides not to show. That would be the best wedding present she could give us. 

Mood:  hungry

I still can’t believe that I am married. I don’t feel any different and nothing about our relationship has really changed. There is just a piece of paper now that binds us together legally.  I guess somehow I thought I would feel “different” in some way. Maybe it would be different if my husband was at least in the same state. He won’t be home until Dec 7^th and our evening phone calls just make me miss him more. I don’t know how on earth we are going to survive a 6 month deployment.

The wedding was beautiful and everything I hoped it would be. It was small and quaint and everyone I love most was there to help me celebrate. I did get a few laughs at the reception when they told me about Lennie entertaining the crowd. See thanks to the Mothers I was late for my wedding. Only about 10 minutes but still enough time for some awkward silence in the chapel so Lennie decided to tell a couple of jokes to the crowd. Of course they didn’t understand a word he said but they all laughed anyways. Then Eric (the bagpiper) took out his flute and played a little until I arrived. I basically walked in…said my vows…and walked out. I didn’t take notice to who was in the chapel which I regret now because there were a few people who made the service but not the reception and I would have loved to have seen them. Although my bossy Aunt Pat probably wouldn’t have allowed it. She took charge after the ceremony and quickly got me back into the chapel to take pictures before any of the guest had time to speak to me.

The reception was also nice. The food was great although I didn’t get to eat much of it. While most people ate we finished taking pictures and then I grabbed a plate of food. I tried to get a second plate but I kept getting stopped by guests. When I finally got free I turned around and saw them taking the food away. I managed to only cry once and that is when my sister Anne gave her speech. There was lots of laughter and smiles which made the evening so fantastic. At the end of the night the lodge gave Lennie and I a free room and a bottle of champaign. I hated to leave the next morning because I knew that that would be the last time Lennie and I would be alone for a few weeks. We are both just looking forward to a nice quiet evening at home...just the two of us.

My current tasks are planning the big Raleigh bash which I think is going to be awesome. Hercules Mulligan will be playing that night and I believe the Irish dancers will also be performing. We will have a buffet of finger foods and each person will get two free drinks and of course there will be cake. I am sure I am coax Eric into playing his pipes and other musicians but come out to play. Should be a great time.

Next on my list is changing my name. I don’t even know where to start. It all seems so overwhelming. I have decided that I am going to go with Rebecca Gayle Thomson instead of Rebecca Warren Thomson. That just doesn’t sound right.

Mood:  hungry

Several of my married female friends here in Raleigh have told me that prior to the wedding I will experience wedding dreams/nightmares. I don’t know if it is because they planted the seed in my brain or not but I have been having wedding related dreams for about the last two weeks. Most of which contain an ex-boyfriend or two.

The other night I dreamt that Lennie and I had to complete a Wedding Scavenger Hunt prior to taking our vows. In my dream Lennie was not amused at all and thought about calling off the whole wedding. When the preacher explained that all couples had to do this…it was the law in MD… he reluctantly agreed. Part of the scavenger hunt was to get signed permission slips from 5 of my ex-boyfriends stating that they were over me and I had their permission to wed. WHAT?!?

Then last night I dreamt that Lennie and I were going to have our wedding at this mountain resort in a VERY small town somewhere. When we got to the resort my dress and Lennie’s kilt had not arrived which meant we were going to have to get married in jeans. We also didn’t have the tartan sashes and the manager of the resort gave us these cheap Irish/Scottish Expat’s Pins to wear instead. We went into the rehearsal and I tried to be happy but inside I was upset that we spent so much money to make this wedding perfect and everything was falling apart. Then my mother came in and announced that the guest decided they were not going to attend the wedding and preferred to actually spend the day at a local craft fair. She said we welcome to attend the fair but that it looked like we would have to do the wedding another time. We were headed out of town in this crappy green pickup truck when we pulled up to a traffic light. In the car next to us was an ex-boyfriend of mine. He asked if we were going to the fair and when I said no he stated that I shouldn’t be bitter and be the bigger person and make an appearance at the fair.

I know that this week is going to be VERY stressful for me. I have a lot of little things to get done before I leave on Saturday. I am supposed to pick up my dress tonight. I haven’t heard that there were any complications so I am assuming that it will be done on time. I know that I am a control freak when I can’t trust other people to do what they say they are going to do. I have to follow up behind them just to check. Like with the rings. Lennie said he would call the jeweler to check on the status of the ring but I ended checking with the jeweler myself just to make sure he knew it had to be done Thursday. Apparently after I hung up, Lennie called him and they had a good laugh about how stressed out I had become.

I have to find time to finish my cape. It is all put together I just have to hand sew a seam and put on the clasp. I also need to find time to dye my hair (need to cover the gray), clean the house, find something to cook for dinner on Friday, and pack. I got my eyebrows done last night and I started on my list of things I need to take. Oh I also have to find a ribbon for the handfasting ceremony. I will be so glad when this wedding is over. LOL.

Mood:  a-ok

I know this blog has gone from Ramblings of a Ranger to Ramblings of a Dog Owner to Ramblings of a Bride to be. Sorry about that. You will just have to bear with me.  

Well Aunt Flo show up this morning and for once I am very happy to see her. No it isn’t because I thought I might be pregnant (see that is how rumors get started) it is because I was afraid that she would show up the day of my wedding and ruin everything.

With all the stress I have been under the last few months my monthly cycle has been a little off. Sometimes it would be really early and sometimes it would be a little late. So I feared that with the added stress of having to plan a wedding in 30 days it would cause the cycle to go haywire. Lennie and I have been sick and so our love life has suffered. Sunday was our last night together till the wedding night and I was so tired I went to bed early. I know he was disappointed but I honestly felt like crap. Now that my period is spot on I can relax a bit knowing that we will be able to be together on our wedding night. BIG sigh of relief.

I finished registering yesterday. What an ordeal. I thought going in that this would be fun. I mean I get to check out all the cool stuff and hope that people will buy it for me. But it actually takes a lot out of you. The scanner at Bed Bath and Beyond was WAY complicated to use. There were all these buttons to push and things to remember. I much prefer the one at target which was just point and shoot. Lennie was against registering because all he really wanted was cash. We do have a wedding to pay for after all. But I told him that most people were not going to give us cash, that they would insist on buying us something and this way at least we could get some things we wanted. Well in the end it was all stuff I wanted because he refused to help. So if he doesn’t like what he gets…tough!

I have been corresponding with his Mother through email for the last two weeks. She is such a sweet woman and I am looking forward to her visit. She laughed when I told her that Lennie wasn’t helping much with the wedding plans. She said that was typical Lennie that basically all he wanted to do was just show up and everything would be done. But I do have to say that when he saw that I was getting overwhelmed he offered to take on a task or two. I didn’t give him anything hard. He just had to find a kilt, pick up the rings, book flights and hotels for the piper and his best woman. I had asked him to pick a song but when he came back with “Hot Legs” by Rod Stewart, I took that item off his list. I calculated last night and when added up the wedding came just under $3000.00 Which is not bad considering that the price of an average wedding is around $30,000.00.

I have had a couple of commitment phobia freak outs. Major one hit the other night when I found out that Lennie had opened up a joint account for the two of us. I don’t know why I freaked. We still have our separate accounts and will keep those. This one is just to pay bills but I was still like OMG! What the hell am I doing.!!!! I am getting married!!! I am not ready for this!!!! I have calmed down since. I love Lennie and can’t imagine him not in my life. Everything will be good.

I am feeling like CRAP!!!! I have been feeling ill since Friday but hoped that with the rest I got over the weekend that I would feel better. NOPE! I went to the Dr.’s this morning and she said I have a sinus infection. I was worried I had strep throat. Poor Lennie has been able to sleep because I apparently snore when I am sick. I came out into the kitchen this morning and he said, “California called!” “What?” I replied. “Yeah they said they registered some seismic activity in the area and wanted to make sure it was just your snoring.” He laughed I told him to shut up and grabbed my coffee.

The weekend was pretty much filled with wedding planning while Lennie was off leading “Wee Lennie’s Fat Camp” out at his guard unit.

Friday night we headed downtown and met up with some of Lennie’s friends so that we could hear Eric play his pipes. Eric will be the piper at our wedding. After working 9.5 hours at the park I headed home early to crash.

Saturday I cleaned and ran a few errands. I even managed to find a tiara and a veil that was on sale. I came home and started making chili for dinner with Lennie called and said he was bringing Eric (the piper) over for dinner. He is such a nice guy. He just moved to Raleigh so Lennie and Annie have taken him under their wings to show him around.

Sunday I went to the fabric store to get material for the cape. I was standing in line to pay when all the sudden I got light headed and almost passed out. The woman behind me caught me before I fell. I guess that is what you get for being sick and not eating. Later that night Lennie called and asked me to meet him and some of the other Navy guys down at the pub. They were having Celtic Christmas and there was all sorts of music being played. At one point they passed out raffle tickets. Annie pulled me up on the stage to pull the winners and the first 3 tickets I pulled belonged to Lennie. LOL I swear it wasn’t rigged. We gave a couple of the prizes away to the couple sitting next to us. We had gotten tickets to the Tartan Ball on the 16^th but because Lennie’s mom comes that day and it is the day before we leave we decided to give them up. The couple then gave me a head/ear warmer thing she knitter herself. Awesome! We headed home around 8pm and quickly went to bed. It is like was are an old married couple all ready.

I have so much to do tonight but all I really want to do is curl up on the couch in my pj’s. Hopefully I will feel batter soon.

Mood:  hungry

Okay some of you have been asking about the Halloween party at Tir Na Nog.

I arrived about 8PM. It was a bitch trying to get in and out of the car with wings on. I was meeting Maria and her husband Todd who were going as and outlet and a plug. When I approached the door I got many compliments on my costume. I paid my $3 and went in. I immediately saw some friends and walked up to them Because I had on a blonde wig no one knew who I was so I got looks at first like, “who the hell is this girl and why is she talking to us.” Then it dawned on them who it was and they all started laughing. Stating that I should go blonde and perhaps wear my costume for the wedding. I looked around and noticed the place was FILLED with Harry Potter characters. These were not store bought costumes either. These looked like movie quality. When Annie approached I told her how create the costumes were and that they put in a lot of effort for Halloween. She informed me that no they just don’t wear these for Halloween, but that there is apparently a Harry Potter meet up group that meets about once a month. There is apparently a Fairy Meet up group as well because later on in the evening I was approached by another fairy and asked if I was “Fairy Folk”. I informed her that no I just do this for Halloween. She gave me her card and said that I should think about joining there group because I made such a great fairy, I am half tempted to join just so I can see what they talk about in their meetings. Safe frolicking perhaps? Or maybe wing maintenance? Proper use of fairy dust? I swear there is a group for everything. Annie informed me that there is even a pen collectors group and we all joked that we should join and shoe up with a Bic. LOL

Anyway…around 9PM they had the costume contest. There were 10 of us on the stage and the audience got to vote for the winners. 1^st place went to a woman dressed as Professor Sprout and 2^nd place went to a woman dressed as Mrs. Weasley. No big surprise considering the number of Harry Potter freaks in the pub. 3^rd place went to yours truly I think just because Annie announced I had just gotten engaged.

What did I win? A plaque, a $25 gift certificate to Tir Na Nog , a $25 gift certificate to Camelot treasures,  and a t-shirt.

After the awards I paid my tab and headed home. For those of you who were not at the party and have not seen the pictures on Myspace…here is my costume.

Mood:  don't ask

I used to laugh at those Bridezilla shows and thought I would never act like that but after the last couple of days I can see why most brides go postal. My idea of a small informal wedding has totally been blown out of the water. I had to pull the reigns in on my mother who started inviting people I have never met. The other day she sent me a name to add to the list. I asked who this woman was and she said it was someone she worked with who had rescued some cats. WHAT!?! She apparently wants to help with the wedding and is also a photographer. I appreciate all there people wanting to help but these are just extra mouths I have to feed.

I had hoped Catoctin would be able to accommodate the reception but they are all booked so we had to find someplace else to hold the party. Every place we called was either booked or too expensive. I had found out that the local fire company owns a building at the fairgrounds and it was available but mom shunned that idea stating she didn’t want to hold the reception in a fire hall. I tried to explain that it wasn’t a fire hall but she wasn’t hearing it. Well finally yesterday we found and book at location. It is a little more than I wanted to spend but mom has offered to split the bill. I told Lennie last night that I wanted a cash bar because I didn’t want people to get drunk on my dollar which I don’t think he was too happy with but oh well. We have got to save money somewhere. He also commented on that fact that he wanted to put out a donation basket at the party in Raleigh so people can help out with the cost of the wedding. I commented that it was tacky which didn’t go over well. But anyway here is where the reception will take place. The Lodge at Blue Ridge Summit

Now to add to the stress was trying to find a wedding dress. I went to David’s Bridal first. Even though I had heard bad things about them, they are close to my house so figured I would give it a try. My friend Maria went with me for moral support and to help me decided if I needed a tie breaker. When I first walked in they were all over me but when I mentioned my wedding dress budget everything changed. They proceed to treat me as if I had the “poor people” plague and abandoned me and Maria for close to 30 minutes. The woman arrived and stated she didn’t think she could really help me but I was free to sort through the clearance rack. WHAT!?! We headed over and I pulled a couple of dresses I thought might work. One I tried on was okay but I wasn’t really feeling it. I told the woman I would think about it. She proceeded to tell me she couldn’t hang onto the dress and that maybe I should try Goodwill. I threw the dress down and walked out. Maria and I tried a few more places but without much luck so Wednesday I decided I would head to Burlington to scope out Bridalmart.

I got up Wednesday morning and started out and noticed the speedometer on my car wasn’t working. I pulled into the Toyota dealership and proceeded to wait 4 hours before they came out and told me that they would have to order a part and it would be at least 3 days. I refused to drive my car because with trying to pay for a wedding I couldn’t afford a speeding ticket. So after an hour of arguing with them they agreed to give me a rental car. It is a piece of crap Chevy Cobalt but it will do. I miss my car!!!! I hate having to manually roll down my windows.

After getting the rental car I drove to Burlington. It is about an hour outside of Raleigh but it was worth it. The people were so friendly and helpful and determined to find me something to wear. I must have tried on close to 10 dresses and had managed to narrow it down to 2. One was very sparkly and I was afraid it was a little too ornate for me. The second was an A-line gown that had beading on the torso that stopped at the waist. In the back, the dress cut away to expose the train underneath. The sections that are cut away have beading down them and then the train at the base has some beading. It was comfortable to wear and other than needing to be hemmed a little and the bust taken in some it didn’t need a lot of work. The train is a little long for the size church I am going to be in but they didn’t have anything shorter. The girl put a veil on me and lowered the blusher over my face and I started to cry. Everyone started yelling, “WE FOUND THE DRESS!!!!” Since it was a sample and I had to buy it off the rack they gave me a discount for some imperfection and some dirt which can easily be fixed. So I managed to get a $600 dress for $295. $95 over my budget but it is beautiful. Now I just have to find time to make a cape.

On the way home I stopped to get gas and when I inserted my card it declined it. It said there was a hold on my account. Thank God I had another card. When I got home I checked my account because I should have had plenty of money left. When I looked it said I was $80 in the hole. WHAT!?! I looked at the transactions and found the culprit. I had been to a Mexican restaurant one night with Maria and I picked up the tab which was $24.86. They had charge my card for that amount and then charged me $250.44. I got in my rental car and headed up to the restaurant. I asked to speak to a manager and the guy behind the counter pointed to a man and said you can talk to him. The guy acted like a manager until I told him my problem and then laughed and said he wasn’t the manager and sent me back to the guy behind the counter. Both of them chuckling. Wrong move!!! Doesn’t he know it isn’t nice to piss off an already pissy bride? I went off!!! I threatened to call the cops and file theft charges against him. He asked to see my ID and when I pulled it out he saw my badge and immediately changed his tune. I am sure he has illegals working for him and when he found out I worked for the govt, feared I might bring attention to him. He said it was all a mistake and he would refund my money quickly. I checked this morning and the money has been refunded and he put 25 extra on it to cover the overage charge.

That night I grabbed a glass of wine and handed out candy to the kids while I assembled the wedding invitations. I am making them myself so I had to print off the announcement and then attach ribbons and beads. They look simple but elegant. Now all I have to do is print off the reply cards and I can get them in the mail.

This weekend I am going to take my dress in to the seamstress and finish the invitations. Other than that I am going to just relax. I am told everything now is downhill. That I have all the hard stuff figured out. We will see.

Hope everyone has a great weekend. Maybe once they dress is altered I can post some pictures.