This weekend was a relief from the recent struggle to complete our Save the Dates (STDs for those of you following along at home).
Haley and Brodie (MOH and CL, respectively) made the trip into town to take Jeff and I out for lunch to get our minds off the wedding stress. We began the day at Noodles & Company before touring Oak Park Mall in a slow, relaxing manner. After seeing all that OP had to offer, we ended our excursion at Sheridan's, where we were able to eat a deliciously healthy dinner of ice cream (who knew I could get a "pothole" in my ice cream filled with nothing but caramel and pretzels?! Haley did!)
It was truly great to be able to catch up with them. I remember living in Ottawa just around the corner from their house, spending summer evenings grilling out, having pajama movie parties, and talking philosophy until the sun came up. Life intervened, and soon the warm winters at their house turned into me moving up here and I slowly stopped being able to "pop around the corner." They moved as well, and now I don't get to see the beautiful ladies I have adopted as my family away from home nearly enough. It was great just to be around them, cracking up at old jokes, putting new spins on the meaning of life, and seeing the man that I am going to spend the rest of my life with fitting in perfectly with the people who are my chosen family.
After relieving much of this stress, Jeff and I got back to the process of completing our STD cards. This time, our battle was not labels printing in the printer, but with EVERYTHING on the addresses printing. For instance, about half of our labels were printed with no zip code or combined zip codes. Therefore, instead of all of our labels being printer printed, some of our guests will be delighted to find that our STD cards are handwritten (and a few even a combination of both the printer label with the zip code written in). Overall, most of them are completed and were mailed at this morning (WOOHOO!!!). Our living room is now our living room again, not an amateur post office look alike with stamps and envelopes strewn about.
I also got to attend a fascinating DBT training for three days last week. I am very excited about incorporating these skills into my practice. I already used a few on Jeff, and he did not even know I'd DEARMAN'ed him (number 8).
Overall, it was a very productive weekend for us. We were able to begin the end of our STDs (we still have a few more to go) and relieve a lot of the stress (thanks H&B!). On top of that, Mom is still at home doing well. Hope your weekend was just as good, and that all is well with you and yours. :)
Monday, June 22, 2009
Monday, June 15, 2009
Save the Dates
Ok, so we've been working on our Save the Dates (or "STD Cards," as I call them). Here is a tale of our weekend adventures with the STDs...
Friday: I returned home from doing errands to see a UPS truck about to pull away. After rushing to the door, I saw there was a notice saying I had a package come in. I chased down a very unimpressed UPS driver to sign for the package.
Saturday: We bought hundreds of dollars in "wedding stamps" to ensure we could mail our STDs, invitations, and thank you cards in style. Spent a few hours figuring out how to print of Return Address labels. Found out the 3,200 labels I spent $1.20 on at Office Depot were honestly too small to double as both return address labels AND address labels as was intended with the purchase (but hey, if anyone needs any return address labels, we will end up using less than 1000...). Spent around 2 hours stuffing envelopes with the STD cards and putting return address labels on them.
Sunday: Asked Jeff to print envelope seal stickers with our full names on them. Our STD cards do not have our full names, as we were intending to mail them as postcards to save on postage. They are too long to send as postcards, and our return address labels do not have our names. It was suggested that we put our full names somewhere on there for relatives out of town who maybe want to do some sort of "name play" for gifts.
Went to Wal-Mart at 1 pm to purchase actual Address Labels while Jeff printed envelope seal stickers. Weekends at Wal-Mart are definitely adventures in and of themselves... my calves are now bruising from the large number of carts rammed into me during said adventure. Returned home to find us unable to import/export Outlook contacts into the version of Word installed on my computer. Spent the next hour uninstalling, re-installing, and re-merging lists.
Address label template for purchased address labels could not be found or installed via new software. Had to crawl the internet and download shady template compatible with labels and version of Word.
2 hours down. Finally got compatible software. Word would not recognize printer. Spent next hour finding printer. Merged list would not show correctly so anyone with a significant other would be listed as "John and Smith" or "Smith John and." Spent next hour trying to fix this.
Printer was critcally low on Yellow Ink. Even though trying to print in Black. Printer shut down. Went back to Wal-Mart to get Yellow Ink. Got rammed once while in printer ink aisle.
Installed Yellow Ink. Printer now dangerously low on Magenta Ink, which was at medium levels before second trip. Back to Wal-Mart. Rammed twice in line to check out. Cashier called me a "frequent flier" and asked if I had everything this time.
First page of merged list printed outside margins. Stopped printing, which confused the printer. Now critcally low on Blue Ink, which had previously been listed as near full. Back to Wal-Mart. Nobody came near me, I'm guessing because of the steam coming out of my ears.
Address label paper stuck in printer. Jeff and I both trying to get paper out without ruining printer. Re-started printing. 1 page printed OK out of 5. First page down. Second page stuck again in printer. Stopped and fixed. Third page labels came off onto printer roller. Stopped and fixed. After another hour, another page printed ok, the rest had address labels stuck to the roller. Jeff threw in the towel and requested we postpone until next day. I was still determined. Back to Wal-Mart for different brand of labels.
Come home, realize the labels were the same ones I bought the first time. Scoured the kitchen for ingredients for a night-cap. None to be found.
Decided I refused to let the rest of the day waste (at this time it was 9:30) and spent the next 2 hours sealing, sticking names stickers, and stamping envelopes.
We will resume our address label print-off tonight. Wish us luck. Our printer may just get "Office Space"-d.
Friday: I returned home from doing errands to see a UPS truck about to pull away. After rushing to the door, I saw there was a notice saying I had a package come in. I chased down a very unimpressed UPS driver to sign for the package.
Saturday: We bought hundreds of dollars in "wedding stamps" to ensure we could mail our STDs, invitations, and thank you cards in style. Spent a few hours figuring out how to print of Return Address labels. Found out the 3,200 labels I spent $1.20 on at Office Depot were honestly too small to double as both return address labels AND address labels as was intended with the purchase (but hey, if anyone needs any return address labels, we will end up using less than 1000...). Spent around 2 hours stuffing envelopes with the STD cards and putting return address labels on them.
Sunday: Asked Jeff to print envelope seal stickers with our full names on them. Our STD cards do not have our full names, as we were intending to mail them as postcards to save on postage. They are too long to send as postcards, and our return address labels do not have our names. It was suggested that we put our full names somewhere on there for relatives out of town who maybe want to do some sort of "name play" for gifts.
Went to Wal-Mart at 1 pm to purchase actual Address Labels while Jeff printed envelope seal stickers. Weekends at Wal-Mart are definitely adventures in and of themselves... my calves are now bruising from the large number of carts rammed into me during said adventure. Returned home to find us unable to import/export Outlook contacts into the version of Word installed on my computer. Spent the next hour uninstalling, re-installing, and re-merging lists.
Address label template for purchased address labels could not be found or installed via new software. Had to crawl the internet and download shady template compatible with labels and version of Word.
2 hours down. Finally got compatible software. Word would not recognize printer. Spent next hour finding printer. Merged list would not show correctly so anyone with a significant other would be listed as "John and Smith" or "Smith John and." Spent next hour trying to fix this.
Printer was critcally low on Yellow Ink. Even though trying to print in Black. Printer shut down. Went back to Wal-Mart to get Yellow Ink. Got rammed once while in printer ink aisle.
Installed Yellow Ink. Printer now dangerously low on Magenta Ink, which was at medium levels before second trip. Back to Wal-Mart. Rammed twice in line to check out. Cashier called me a "frequent flier" and asked if I had everything this time.
First page of merged list printed outside margins. Stopped printing, which confused the printer. Now critcally low on Blue Ink, which had previously been listed as near full. Back to Wal-Mart. Nobody came near me, I'm guessing because of the steam coming out of my ears.
Address label paper stuck in printer. Jeff and I both trying to get paper out without ruining printer. Re-started printing. 1 page printed OK out of 5. First page down. Second page stuck again in printer. Stopped and fixed. Third page labels came off onto printer roller. Stopped and fixed. After another hour, another page printed ok, the rest had address labels stuck to the roller. Jeff threw in the towel and requested we postpone until next day. I was still determined. Back to Wal-Mart for different brand of labels.
Come home, realize the labels were the same ones I bought the first time. Scoured the kitchen for ingredients for a night-cap. None to be found.
Decided I refused to let the rest of the day waste (at this time it was 9:30) and spent the next 2 hours sealing, sticking names stickers, and stamping envelopes.
We will resume our address label print-off tonight. Wish us luck. Our printer may just get "Office Space"-d.
Update on Mom
I want to thank everyone who has said prayers for Mom. She was released yesterday morning from the hospital in Dodge. They think they are ahead of the infection and are still closely monitoring her enzymes and other levels. It was truly very scary for awhile, but Mom is a fighter and is now back home.
We love you, Mom.
We love you, Mom.
Friday, June 12, 2009
Update on Mom
Hey all, for those of you who don't know, Mom had to go to the hospital. She was taken by ambulance on Wednesday morning after she collapsed. It's been a crazy couple of days, but she has been fighting and is making a recovery.
She had an infection and the Dr put her on antibiotics she was allergic to... TWICE. This caused her infection to go into overdrive and her diabetic meds and sugar levels to go nuts. They think at this point the infection is under control and are now just trying to regulate her blood sugar level, which continues to skyrocket and bottom out.
A big THANK YOU goes out to the EMTs and First Response crew in our hometown, as well as the families and neighbors who have been visiting, calling, sending cards, and showing support. Thank you to many of the nurses and nurse aids who continue to care for her long after they kick us out at night and before we arrive in the morning. It is difficult to entrust the care of such a special woman with a group of people we don't know. You have all been instrumental in her recovery. Thank you.
She had an infection and the Dr put her on antibiotics she was allergic to... TWICE. This caused her infection to go into overdrive and her diabetic meds and sugar levels to go nuts. They think at this point the infection is under control and are now just trying to regulate her blood sugar level, which continues to skyrocket and bottom out.
A big THANK YOU goes out to the EMTs and First Response crew in our hometown, as well as the families and neighbors who have been visiting, calling, sending cards, and showing support. Thank you to many of the nurses and nurse aids who continue to care for her long after they kick us out at night and before we arrive in the morning. It is difficult to entrust the care of such a special woman with a group of people we don't know. You have all been instrumental in her recovery. Thank you.
Sunday, June 7, 2009
Engagement Pictures!
Hey all, we have been running around like crazy doing wonderful wedding things. This weekend we were able to finally decide on Bridesmaid's dresses, Candle Lighter dresses, tuxes, official color scheme for the wedding, and get our engagement pictures back (taken over Memorial Day weekend).
The day we took our pictures was very hot and humid, but Stephanie was truly a trooper! She followed us around Loose Park and the Nelson-Atkins art museum looking for photo opportunities (seriously, email me if you want to give her business... she was GREAT!). We had dinner at her place this weekend with some other friends and were SUPER pleased when we got the pictures back!!!! :)
Here are a few of our favorites:
Also, this weekend brought an end to the ultimate dress search. My parameter for BM dresses and CL dresses were that they covered in a modest fashion and did not make my friends and family look like street walkers. It was definitely a far more difficult task than I could have ever anticipated. However, with a few deep breaths and lots of support, we were able to put a style number with the vision in my head (trust me, it is usually pretty difficult to match reality with my ideas). :)
The wedding plans are definitely coming along pretty well... I would have NEVER anticipated this much going into them!! What an awakening I have had these last 7 months!! :) So far all seems to be working out, and I hope you enjoyed our pictures!! :) Hope all is well with you and yours!! :)
The day we took our pictures was very hot and humid, but Stephanie was truly a trooper! She followed us around Loose Park and the Nelson-Atkins art museum looking for photo opportunities (seriously, email me if you want to give her business... she was GREAT!). We had dinner at her place this weekend with some other friends and were SUPER pleased when we got the pictures back!!!! :)
Here are a few of our favorites:
Also, this weekend brought an end to the ultimate dress search. My parameter for BM dresses and CL dresses were that they covered in a modest fashion and did not make my friends and family look like street walkers. It was definitely a far more difficult task than I could have ever anticipated. However, with a few deep breaths and lots of support, we were able to put a style number with the vision in my head (trust me, it is usually pretty difficult to match reality with my ideas). :)
The wedding plans are definitely coming along pretty well... I would have NEVER anticipated this much going into them!! What an awakening I have had these last 7 months!! :) So far all seems to be working out, and I hope you enjoyed our pictures!! :) Hope all is well with you and yours!! :)
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