My cup overfloweth

Sometime, I'm struck by how lucky I am. This morning was one of those mornings.

I have all the necessities in life - Love, laughter, security, support and my health.

I hope to always honor those in my life that bring me happiness.

The people have spoken-all five of them

So the votes are in and 60 percent of you want to hear about wedding planning. I’m curious about the identities of these three people, because day-to-day, I talk way too much about the wedding.

But here goes – The plans are coming together. We progress through the multitude of lists that I produce. We cross off one item at a time, when we aren’t inturrepted by life. By life I mean, our jobs, broken cars (shi shi), fantasy football (for both of us), Monker’s wedding (big sister), and birthdays (one of us is turning the big 3 0 and its not ME).

I am a big list-maker, always afraid I’ll forget something important. At Monker’s wedding I’ll probably be taking notes. She is a great hostess. Without a doubt she will have thought of things that I never would havel.

The next things on the list are:
Registering – Tried to do this once but ended up in a fight, making a scene at Macy’s.
Finding a DJ – Fiance is working to find a band but I don’t think we have the budget.
Honeymoon Plans – Tickets are purchased, now need agenda and hotels. Costa Rica here we come.
Guest list – have to hear from the parents who they want to invite. This was one of the hardest parts. We want to invite everyone we know but it all comes down to MONEY.
Invitations – have to go to the paper store to find the least expensive way to produce
Wine/Beer – Monker’s is helping us secure the drinks so after she gets back from Spain, we’ll sit down to figure out what to order.
Bakery – We aren’t into the whole cake thing. Too practical to spend that much money on something that looks good and we shove in each other’s face. BUT I have a fierce sweet tooth so we’ll serve sheet cake.
The list goes on and on but those are the next steps to get done.

My biggest stress about all of this is that I’m going to forget something very important. Case and point is the dream I had last night. In the dream, I was going to get ready for the wedding and I had forgotten to get my dress altered. We drove around frantically looking for a seamstress that could fix it in under a couple hours (yeah right). No one could believe I was that stupid – forgetting something like that. Not to mention the dress size I ordered is huge because my waist is so big (this is true and part of the dream).

Its a lot of pressure planning a party this big. Sometimes I go on tirades about how much things cost but at the end of the day I am so excited to be married.

Oh by the way, Fiance said he is most exciting about running around shouting “where in the hell is my wife”.

Republican Roots

So I knew my parents were working on a vegetable garden this year, but I was surprised by the communal experience they had created.

My parents, along with their two neighbors, sectioned off a plot of land where all the property lines come together.



By the time I saw the garden, it was thriving. My initial thought was “they’ve become communal hippies."
That is until they started showing off the plants – That one’s Larry’s, oh and those aren’t our tomatoes, ours are over here.



Maybe not communal but sustainable – Go Mom and Dad.

So Proud

The other day I pulled into the driveway and something in the tree caught my eye. I squinted, trying to figure out if it was one of Sammy's balls or toys stuck in the tree. Suddenly I realized what I was seeing - PEACHES. I exhaled in pride, got out of my car, and ran to inspect.



All summer long, our baby Burt was working hard to produce his first batch of produce. We overlooked the fruit all summer until they were bright orange and bursting from the tree. They looked so cozy, nestled in the green leaves. I almost didn't want to pick them. But I'm glad we did.


Right away we picked the peaches so the critters didn't get them. Burt did good. The peaches were soft and fuzzy, a beautiful color, and sticky sweat. They were the kind of peaches you have to bend forward when taking a bite so the nectar doesn't get all over your clothes. It still runs down your fingers and your chin, but that makes it all the better.

So proud.

Delight in the rain

We had one of those summer pop up storms last night. The kind where it is pouring at my office but not a drop of rain fell on my brown, neglected, dehydrated lawn.

I ran to my car, getting soaked on the way. After spending a half an hour to get less than a mile, I reached the highway. This was my view.



The rainbow put a smile on my face. It helped me forget the rain and traffic. Mind you, the other drivers were probably PISSED that I slowed down to stick my camera out the window. Instead, I'm hoping they took the opportunity as I was to take some delight in the rain.

Sunday Fun-day at the fair (LONG POST)

Sunday was a good day —

After a day of sunning ourselves and drinking wine – it was time for me to take a nap. I couldn’t go to the fair without replenishing my energy. Biscuit entertained herself with the kids while I “rested my eyes”.

After a couple hours, we were ready to go. A quick stop at Kroger to buy our tickets and we were on our way to the OHIO STATE FAIR.


We spend quite a bit of time wondering around. We are easily entertained.


By the time we were ready for food – I went straight for the corn on the cob. At the same stand Biscuit got her TURKEY LEG. We sat down in the shade to scarf down the food.


The corn didn’t last long – I devoured it. Biscuit was still working on the turkey leg so i offered to help.

Here is us eating the Turkey leg – It was surprisingly really good! It was smoked, messy, sticky, salty and fun to eat (Can’t you tell from the pic). We couldn’t finish it all but we made a pretty significant dent in that hunk o meat.


We spent all evening at the fair, a long night to run through the play by play. Instead, here are the hits and misses.

Misses –
Fried mac n’ cheese – too salty and dry and made of the kraft blue box variety. I was sucked into the hype, no good. You’re better off getting cheesy tots from Burger King.

Playing the game – why in the world did we waste $5 dollars trying to throw a ball in a basket. Oh well.

Fried Cheese on a stick – an annual favorite for me, this year it wasn’t hot so it didn’t have the right texture.

Hits
The turkey leg – I gotta be honest, I didn’t have high hopes for this carnivorous feast but it was great.

THE RIDES – Biscuit and I go straight for the rides that flip you all around and upside-down.
The first was one in which you sit in a metal cage (seriously) and the cage flips independently of the ride which also goes in a giant circle. The guy was sweet on the two of us and gave the cage a good spin before the ride took off. I had to take a break after that one.

The second one was the story of the night. This one was similar to the last in which they put you in a cage and it’s flipped and twisted all around. This cage however, was padded.


They were letting people off the ride and reloading it when Biscuit said, “Did someone get sick? I see something dripping.” Sure enough, they open the cage and an embarrassed girl gets out and says, “I got sick, sorry”. I didn’t feel so bad for her but for the guy stuck in there with her and her puke!

This means they had to get everyone off and clean the ride. I asked Biscuit if she wanted to wait. Her response “Hell Yeah, someone got sick on this ride, we HAVE to ride it”. Good point I thought, and we waited.

We waited patiently as they clean the number 5 cage – both glad that they do actually clean them.

FINALLY after 20 minutes of waiting, we go on the ride. This padded cage didn’t leave much room for movement. The cage was hoisted up to the top of the ride and everything began to shutter and shake. Biscuit – “I don’t think this is a good idea!” About that moment it felt as if we were being shot gunned out of a cannon.

She was screaming and I was laughing so hard, I couldn’t breath. To make things even more interesting, I forgot I had change in my pocket. I heard the clink of the coins banging around as we were flung around. Then I hear “OWE, that hit my head!!!” WHERE IS THIS CHANGE COMING FROM?” I was laughing so hard; I couldn’t get a breath to tell her it’s from my pocket. The change acted like bullets rebound on the surfaces, just added to the fun. I am still laughing about this now as I type it.

More hits -
The randomness of it all – Hot tubs to ADHD testing.

The conversation
Biscuit: “We should get a booth at the fair next year and deep fry something”
Me: “What would we deep fry?”
Biscuit: “I don’t know, what haven’t they deep fried yet?”
Me: “hmmmmm, I don’t know”
Long pause while we debate this important thought.
Me: “I KNOW, ice cream”
Biscuit: “they CAN”T deep fry ice cream!” It’s a liquid”
Me: “I bet they could if they got it cold enough”
Biscuit: “THERE IS NO WAY”
Me “Ok but I think Deep Fried Ice Cream Sandwiches would be the BOMB – with a graham cracker crust”
Biscuit: “You could probably deep fry ice cream sandwiches because they aren’t really ice cream, they are made of something weird”
Me: “whatever, that is what we should deep fry”

It was a great trip to the fair - I can't wait for next year.


PS – Voicemail message from Biscuit this morning– it IS possible to deep fry ice cream!