I'm Stressed About Mason Jars? Really?!

Every since my friend Stacey introduced me to http://www.weddingbee.com/ I've been in wedding-brainstorming-overdrive. Paul and I originally decided to do mix cds, a sort of wedding soundtrack, for favors. The problem with that is that the older family members, of which there are lots, wouldn't get a lot of use out of that. And don't even get me started on the amount of time it would take for the two of us to burn more than 100 cds on the dinosaurs that we call our laptops. I'd probably have to start burning them now to get them all done. Okay, maybe I wouldn't...but maybe I would! But then inspiration hit! You see, a couple weeks ago we decided that we're going to play up the rustic/chicken fried nature of our wedding and reception. We're going to have fried chicken, we being introduced to "Chicken Fried" by Zac Brown Band, our first dance is to "Wagon Wheel" by Old Crow Medicine Show. We don't have assigned seating or even a sit-down meal for that matter. We don't want stuffy. We want laid back. We want it to feel like a backyard bbq, just without the grills. So I decided that we could provide mason jars for drinks and they would double as favors. But I didn't just want to give mason jars. I thought we could have a candy buffet where they can fill their mason jars with treats before they go home. But then someone suggested that washing out jars would be messy and they wouldn't be able to dry them out enough to keep the candy from getting sticky. So I'm thinking that we can provide the mason jars and put a note on them (and possibly a clear sticker label with our names and the date) that gives instructions for use. For example:

How to Use Me

Enjoy a delicious beverage out of me.
or

Fill me with candy from the super-cool candy buffet.

or

Do both!

What do you think? Does it sound cute or stupid? I need opinions, people.

After I had stopped obsessing AS much about the jars, I moved on to music. I've known since about 2004 that I want to walk down the aisle, or brick walkway, as the case happens to be, to "Jesu Joy of Man's Desiring" by Bach. It sounds like joy and love and warm days. But what do I want my maids to walk to? I think I figured it out today. "At the Beginning" from Anastasia is wonderful, even as an instrumental. I toyed with the idea of "Everything" by Michael Buble but it lacks a little something without the lyrics.

While I was on YouTube trying to get inspiration, I stumbled across father/daughter dance songs. I didn't want to end up there. It just happened. I swear! The one song that I really want is also the one song that I know I don't want/can't have. "I Loved Her First" by Heartland makes me cry within two notes and I am not a pretty cryer. Some people can look pretty and dignified when they cry. I'm not one of those peoples. My nose gets snotty and my eyes get freakishly puffy. Particularly when I hear this song, I start the gasping for air cry and I just can't have that. And I didn't want to go with one of those,"You always gave me the best advice dad" songs because my dad is much more of the strong silent type so one of those wouldn't be accurate. So now I think I'm going to go with "Daughter" by Loudon Wainwright III. It's about a small child of a girl but I don't care.

Lastly, I know I can't afford fresh flowers. So I was going to, hopefully with the assistance of Paul's mom, wrap my own bouquets of silk yellow roses. But I don't always like the look of artificial flowers. But then today I found a picture of a paper flower bouquet and, to be honest, it was awesome! It was just the right amount of crafty and cutesy but doesn't look cheap like artificial flowers easily could. They don't look like I'm trying to trick you into thinking they're real. But doI really want to try to make 6 different bouquets? Well, seven if you include my throwing bouquet.

So what do you think? Could they be cute or a monumental mistake?

Small Victories

This blog is about exactly what you would think. The small victories in life. Those "win"moments that make you feel better about any less-than-victorious moments. I had a few of those moments today.

Today was DDS Iron Chef. The secret ingredient was garlic and I made Spinach Dip Mac and Cheese. I fixed it last night and all I had to do this morning was bake it for half an hour. Somehow I managed to wake up, preheat the oven, pop in the casserole dish, get dressed, eat breakfast, and make it to work in time. Best of all, unlike the day I took Buffalo Chicken Dip to work, fresh out of the oven, my mac and cheese didn't spill out of my LIDDED Pyrex dish and into my handy dandy insulated Pyrex carrier. While I didn't win Iron Chef (that title went to someone with a crock pot full of piping hot chicken tetrazini, a feat I could not achieve with my casserole dish), everyone seemed to enjoy my dish and it was all eaten up. Victory.

I ordered my first consultative examination today. I had to do it in front of the whole class so everyone could see how it's done, but now one of my claims will be in some sort of progressive status instead of just sitting stagnate because I don't know how to everything that is necessary to do my job. And I didn't get to do most of it because the trainer hijacked the mouse from me, but still, victory.

I ran a 10 minute mile for the first time in months. I'm back to the pace I was before I put weight back on and before the DC-move and before I was engaged and living with Paul and planning a wedding. I didn't do it after half an hour of exercise like I used to, but I'm confident that I could. It just so happened that a treadmill was open when I left the locker room and it's easier to get an elliptical when it's busy so I took the treadmill while it was available. Victory.

My granny was and my mom is the champion of pan gravy. It was always just the right consistency, not too thick or thin, and never too bland like a lot of gravy. It usually had little chunks of chicken or pork or deer or whatever its base was and it was always delicious. And tonight, though I didn't necessarily join their whisking ranks, I made a mean pan of gravy to go with the equally mean pork chops, garlic red skin mashed potatoes, and green beans. It didn't have the little dripping chunks in it (that sounds about a billion more times disgusting than it should), it was flavorful and thick, but not overly so, and it was just good. Also, my potatoes, pork chops, gravy and green beans were all done cooking within five minutes of each other and nothing had to sit around and get cold. Victory x2!

What are your latest small victories? Or big ones for that matter!

Attempting to Work Hard for the Money

I’ve decided that I need to find a part-time job. I’ve been toying with the idea for a while but it wasn’t until recently that I decided it was absolutely necessary. Let’s start from the beginning (a very good place to start).

A few weeks ago I received a “We don’t really know where you’re living, please give us a call” postcard from the company that ran the thrift savings plan I participated in at the VA. I called them to update them and, purely out of curiosity’s sake, decided to ask how much money was in my account. Imagine my chagrin when the answer was not $500 or so, as I had assumed, but more than $3,000! I was thrilled. I thought, “Hell, I’m young, I can take that money out and pay my credit card down to a reasonable amount,” since I’m currently only able to make the minimum payment of nearly $100 per month since I’m saving as much as I can for the weddin’. After discussing all of this with Paul in what felt like one of the more grown up discussions I’ve ever had, I decided to do it.

Enter giant pothole-with-a-southern-accent in the road that was my plan.

I called to start the process of receiving my funds and found out that the penalty for taking money out was nothing close to minimal. There’s a 20% penalty for removing that money early and then a 10% penalty on my taxes. To do that seems to be even more irresponsible than racking up the credit card debt that I did during the 4 years that I spent in Roanoke’s hallowed halls. So I decided not to do it.

But I had already set my stubborn mind to getting that stupid card paid off as soon as humanly possible. That, my friends, means that it’s time to find a part-time job. So yesterday I hit the pavement. I went to Barnes and Noble and Starbucks and Ruby Tuesday and Target and was met with either lies or problems at every turn. Target had a “Now Hiring” sign on the door. Upon asking if they were still hiring, I was met with a “We’re accepting applications, but not hiring right now.” I got the same from Barnes and Noble. And then there was Starbucks. They said that there are Starbucks stores in the area that are definitely looking for help and that I should apply online since that application will go to every store in the area. But guess what boys and girls? An online Starbucks application doesn’t exist. I scoured the website, I Googled, hell, I even Binged (as in I used Bing, I didn’t eat an entire box of donuts), but all I found was a PDF of the paper application that I was to print off, fill out, and return to the Starbucks at which I’d like to sport a painted-on smile and prepare Caramel Macchiatos (a Starbucks invention, btw) all afternoon and night.

And then there was Kroger. Kroger seemed like a no brainer to me. I’m already an avid self-checkout user who has even mastered the art of looking up fruit PCU numbers, a skill which some Kroger employees seem to have trouble grasping. So I thought I’d go online and apply there. Little did I know that you can only apply to one store at a time and you have to do everything short of promising them your first-born-child before you can officially submit your application. Not only did I have to take a personality test, but I had to give them all my addresses over the past four years. Why do you care, Kroger? Is your background check really that invasive? I’d wager that it’s not.

So my agenda for the next few days is grudgingly fill out more Kroger applications, figure out where this elusive online Starbucks application exists, convince Barnes and Noble that they need me, and, if all else fails, charm the Ruby Tuesday manager and return to the miserable world of serving food and praying/begging/pleading for tips. Please world of retail, don’t do that to me.

Show and tell

I've been taking a lot of photos lately and now it's time to share.

First, some wedding business. Here is the bridesmaid dress I've chosen:

The only difference is that the dresses won't be orange. Three bridesmaids (Anna, Stacey and Megan) will wear seafoam green and two (Beth and Ally) will wear light blue.

A possible flower girl dress for Gracie that I saw at Target. The blue would match the bridesmaids PERFECTLY.

The AMAZING salad I had for dinner last night:

My birthday/middle name twin and I with our birthday crowns at work:

Speaking of birthdays, I rang in my 24th one at Magiquest in Gatlinburg. If you ever have the chance to play, do yourself a favor and do it.

You know how I mentioned a couple of posts ago that I got a new cubicle? Well here it is...

I have all sorts of wall space to cover with all my things. Perhaps the best part is that it's not the "Grandma's couch" color that I'm currently surrounded by (in case you can't tell, it's a mauvey pink). If you look close you can also see the giant gaps between the different desk panels, just to each side of the keyboard. The stellar decorations will go with me, of course.

Joey Potter Had Better Sense Than This

Can we talk about how disgusted I am by Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes? Not only are they whackos with their crazy scientology ways of thinking, but somehow they think it's a good idea to put high heels on their child. Their three year old child. Their three year old, unsmiling, mysteriously thought of as beautiful, probably miserable most of her life, child. If you haven't scene a photo Suri in her heels, I'll save you the trouble of googling.

When I first saw this picture, I seriously thought it was a picture from a new little people documentary on TLC called "Little Professionals" or "Little Business Women, Big Bags" But no, it's just Suri off for a busy day at, what, the playground? Preschool, perhaps? She's wearing her gold heels so it must be pretty important.

Crazy Katie tries to defend her decision by saying that they are simply ballroom dancing shoes for children and that Suri loves them. When I was three I would have loved eating ice cream at every meal with a chaser of chocolate cake; however, my mother had the good sense not to let me do that.

Look at her teeny tiny pinched toes in those peep toe t-straps. No sane person can look at those pictures and think that those shoes aren't going lead to long term physical impairments either in her feet or her legs. Or hey, maybe she'll win the disability lottery and it will be both!

Little kids should be wearing mary janes and tights with ruffles, or grass stained jeans and sneakers, not silk dresses and heels. You can't play in a sandbox in silk. You can't climb a tree in high heels. You also can't play tag red rover or anything else that's and doesn't involve dolls or crayons.

R.I.P. Childhood.

Cubicle Sweet Cubicle

Work was pretty exciting today. We started the day by having the office version of a birthday party for a girl who turned the big 2-3 today. I baked her a yellow cake with chocolate fudge icing and dinosaur sprinkles, and another girl put a banner up in her cube and purchased a “Birthday Girl” tiara and ribbon for her to wear. I got rave reviews on the cake, but I’m not terribly excited by them because I baked it from a box and really, what kind of effort does that really take? Things quickly returned to the mundane, but we had no idea of the excitement that was waiting for us.

At 12:30 we received an email from a supervisor telling us that if we had any desire to move to a different cubicle, we needed to let her know by 2 and there would be a raffle to reassign cubes. Within seconds I had submitted my name and was looking forward to the great cubicle lottery that I thought was at the very least, days away. But oh how wrong I was! At 2 o’clock we were released for our break and told to gather in one of the only open areas left to have the raffle.
I should probably note the location and description of my current cubicle so that you can fully understand the depth of the situation. As I type this I am sitting in a Grandma’s-Couch-Pink colored space that is located our of site of a window and 1.5 feet from a supervisor’s door. In fact, mid-sentence my supervisor popped in to ask if she could throw some items away in my trash can. I’m that close. Additionally, the three different portions of my desk do no come together as one. There is a gaping space between the right and the middle and then between the left and the middle. Also, I only have a key for one of my drawers, even though two more of them should have locking capabilities. It’s pretty tragic as far as cubicles go.

But as they are having to accommodate lots of new people in this building, lots of beautiful new gray cubes have been installed over the past couple of weeks. And some of those are right by the window. And they all have keys. And the desks come together. And the supervisors are a good distance away. Needless to say, I have to have one of those cubicles.

The first name they pulled was the Lex Luther to my Superman, but fortunately, she had decided that she wanted a cubicle on the other side of the office from where I had my heart set. And then the next name was drawn. And that name was Trista. You have no idea how excited I was. I was seriously even more excited than when I got the call about getting this job. It was a little ridiculous. So I marched over and stuck my name on a brand new window seat that is also conveniently located beside an aisle that leads to the outside world. It is, quite possibly, the best cubicle in this office. And it is mine. Cubicle life is sweet.