Pausing a moment to catch my breath

Amid the whirlwind of wedding plans, I'll stop to let everyone know what's going on:

We're planning on an August wedding, here in Wisconsin. Don't have the exact date yet, but keep your calendars open for one of the Saturdays in August. :)

Right now am busy looking at dresses, and figuring out where to have reception, caterers, etc., etc.

Oh!!!!! I got a suprise in the mail for my birthday, that's what I was going to post about!!

Nick sent me an "Eternity Ring", which he informed me is the ring before the engagement ring. Its beautiful, and it says, "I love you," on it. It's even a perfect fit, and he guessed on the size. :P

Anyway, we have lots of cool ideas for the wedding/reception -- lots of work ahead, but while it may not be all classified as "fun", it will definately be worth it in the end.

We'll get there, one step at a time. Keep praying that a second job opens up (for me), and that his fiancee' Visa goes through without a hitch. Once that gets processed, my stress level will go down to zero, I promise. Actually, I'll be a whole lot happier once its been filled out and in the mail!!! It is rather quite complicated, if I say so myself.

Since he can enter the country only one time on the K-3 visa (fiancee' visa) which he needs to get here, then we obviously can't go on the honey-moon on the Queen Mary -- til' later. Alas, we shall have something to look forward to in the near and dear future.

So for our honey moon we are going -- wait!!! Why am I telling you guys? hehehehe... That's supposed to be a secret. Hmmmmmm... I'll give you a hint -- we're going camping -- in the wilderness somewhere, where I'm almost positve he'll see a bear, our campsite will be raided by said bear, and he will no longer think bears are cool. Perhaps we'll bring home a bear rug in that case, although I think not.

Aside from bears taking our food (or raccoons), I'm thinking we'll have an awesome camping trip -- well, we will if I can keep a fire going. :P

Well -- back to business -- will write more later. But don't forget to mark your calendars. Keith -- I hope you can make it to stand up for Nick, otherwise I'll have to go a-hunting -- and I may have to grab the village idiot that lurks about town and have him fill in at the last minute. Hehehe... if that happened, I have the perfect bridesmaid in mind... Oh dear, I just got a mental picture of him hitting on my bridesmaids. Which is scary (but also a little bit funny). Okay, okay, where did that come from??? I think I've had way too much coffee and chocolate and too much sugar in general. Toodles, people! This happy bride is off to conquer the snowy streets in her quest to reach home after fighting a battle of a hard days work (in the office).

blinker fluid, muffler cables, and drive shaft extenders

We had to go fix the car today. So it was that at 8:30 in the morning, I found myself standing in the arctic freezer of the great outdoors; shivering in sub-zero temps.

I know that dads like to bond with their offspring by working on cars together; but after standing by him doing absolutely nothing, I was shivering uncontrollably, and I decided that I was absolutely useless and sacrificed our bonding time for the relative warmth of the car, in typical girl fashion.

Despite the fact that if it was any colder, my father would have turned into a solid block of ice, he managed to discover that it was a leak in the radiator and not the head gasket as we had supposed.

While he is working, I"m talking on the phone, with staci, and she's trying to tell me she needs to add washer fluid to her car, but it comes out wrong:

"Josh needs to put some blinker fluid in my car,"

She starts to laugh at herself, and says something about yeah, and mabye some muffler cables too, hehehe.

So we get on the subject of the how some people don't know a thing about cars, and how some people have alot of fun with it. And it reminded me of a story my friend Steve told me once, about his uncle.

His uncle owns a garage, and one day an obnoxious guy (we'll call him Earl) that was really rude and annoying came in and demanded to get his car fixed as soon as possible. So his uncle looks at the car and a serious, concerned look comes over his face, and he starts shaking his head.

Earl gets a worried look as well and comes over, a frown on his face. "Well," he asks, "What is is?"

Steve's uncle, we'll call him Bubba, says, "Ohhhhhh, boy, you need alot of work here. We got a problem though. You need a drive shaft extender to get this here job done and we loanded ours out to the shop down the road. Why don't you run down there and see if they got it?"

So Earl drives on down the road, heading for the other shop. Bubba calls ahead, and tells them that he just sent the guy over there looking for a drive shaft extender. They laugh at him and when Earl shows up, they got a line for him too. They tell the guy that the tire shop across town broke their drive shaft extender and had to borrow the one Bubba loaned them. Why doesn't he try them?

They call that shop, and when Earl arrives, they feed him another line of bull. His brother in the next town (about 20 miles away) had borrowed it, and they knew that he would have it for sure.

Earl actaully goes there, to the shop. They haven't called ahead. HE walks in and says in his cocky, irritating manner that he wants to get that drive shaft extender that they got.

The mechanic looks at him for a long time and then says, "What in the @*#! is a drive shaft extender?!!!"

Red faced, Earl finally realized he'd ben had and showed up back at Bubba's shop, furious.

Bubba swore up and down that poor old Earl had heard wrong.

So if you need any drive shaft extenders or left handed screwdrivers, just call Bubba.

The Icewoman Cometh

Last night, on the way home from work, my car broke down. I suppose the steam billowing from under the hood when I finally managed to START the car, should have been a good indication that the rest of the night would be crappy. But the guys told me it probably just needed more antifreeze, which i put in before I left. That took like, 30 seconds, and my fingers were blocks of ice when I left the parking lot.

I managed to get my frozen fingers around the steering wheel and prayed for my car to warm up quickly. It did not. Instead, it chugged and sputtered rebelliously, and crawled forward sluggishly. Finally, it refused to move any further and died, right on the highway. Cars are flying past me. I'm standing out there, looking under the hood (and I realize I don't have a flashlight, so its pointless) and the wind is billowing my coat and plus its so cold my coat is getting stiff, so I'm walking like Frankenstien. My hood is up, but its not keeping me very warm.

Some guy comes out to help me finally, and tells me to start the car so he can see what it does, since it keeps dying. It starts. And keeps running. He says he'll follow me till I get it to a gas station about a mile away; I need to get it off the highway. I manage to get it to the gas station, and I tell him I'll wait for my Dad to come pick me up at a bar/restaraunt across the street, where it was warm. So the guy who helps me leaves, cuz I'm good to go, right? So I walk over to Four Corners. I can't wait to get inside where its warm, where I can have a steaming mug of coffee and thaw my fingers.

They are closed. This is NOT cool. And I am not thinking happy thoughts.

So I go back to my car and get out of the wind, where its about 2 degrees warmer than outside. At least there's no wind. I call my mom back and tell her I'll have someone from work pick me up and I'll wait there.

I call work. I get informed that someone can pick me up after patrols are done.

So I sit and wait in car, turning slowly into a block of ice. The coffee that I had taken when I left work is cold. So am I. My breath is coming out in nice little white clouds, and I can't feel my feet anymore.

Finally, a coworker shows up and he's got the heat up full blast and I start to feel human again.

My dad picks me up at work half an hour later, and then wants to go check the car out. Its only 1 am, and 300 below zero out. I tell him its too cold and he says, he'll be fine.

He does a very speedy inspection, comes back in and catches his breath. He takes off his fogged glasses and finally manages to say, "It's Cooooold out there!

So my head gasket is cracked, which is a pain to fix, and prolly more money than my car is even worth, so I get to look for an old beater to drive now.

I'm sure I'll be able to supply you with plenty of amusing and entertaining stories about the new car I get. As long as it gets me from point a to point b, I don't care.

Love is Patient

I think I rode into town today on a cloud of fury. I was tired, not feeling well, and in an all around bad mood, due to some difficulties I've been suddenly facing with some friends. I'm afraid I took it out on Nick this morning, and he wasn't happy about it; but he didn't yell at me, either. He's so patient and quiet and sweet.

(Thanks, Nick for putting up with me, even when I am louder than I am little. I thank God every day for you.)

Its not every day a guy comes along that loves you for who you are, even when you've gotten up on the wrong side of the bed, have a bad hair day (or month, even), and even when you worry too much (which drives him crazy).

I love his short little emails of encouragement and cheer when he knows that I'm down. Well... I could go on an on, but I'll save you from drowning in mushy sentiments. But for me, he's the guy who rides the white horse (the lone ranger/cowboy that girls dream about to rescue them from a life of certain peril and boredom). And he's mine; which is amazing and wonderful when I think about this fact, and the fact that he loves me too. I guess he came along on his horse snd swept me away, and its been an adventure ever since.

With all that, I couldn't help it -- I fell in love -- he just broke down all the walls I had up and melted the ice around my heart. I really didn't think I was gonna love again. I didn't want to love again. But I dunno, you talk to a person for hours and all of the sudden you know them. And then one day, you're talking to this person about something stupid and unimportant, like whether marmalade is worth eating at all (no); and you are hit with the realization that you are madly in love with this person. And you don't know how it happened, but it changes your whole world. And you want to burst into song for no reason and talk about him non-stop.

And here I am talking non-stop again...

Bachelors!!!

So we've got this honeymoon cruise planned, and I can't wait; I'm like this bubbly ... thing at work. Anyway, of course I get alot of questions. :) So I was talking to a co-worker, Gary, who's telling me all about this new truck he's buying. So, I tell him we want to buy a truck later. Well, Gary says something to the effect that if I had my priorities right, I'd forfiet the honeymoon cruise and buy the truck -- now.

"You have to sacrifice for the really important things," he said.

And that, I told him, was exactly why we were getting the truck -- later.

Later on, I was talking about the clothes I'd bring on the cruise to my husband-to-be. And Nick informs me, in all sincerety, that I don't really need alot of clothes, and one "frock" should be fine (We are required to wear formal or semi-formal attire for dinner). My mom was quite amused by this.

True to Bachelor spirit, Nick is positive that I could probably get a nice wedding dress at Wal-Mart for around $30. HE and my Dad must have gotten together for a chat. That sounds like something my dad would say. :P

And so a toast tonight, to bachelors everywhere, who value the simple pleasures of life, like wearing jeans all the time and spending money on trucks instead of cruises. And another one, to a bachelor who won't be one for much longer...

But I don't think he's too bothered about that. :)

the joys of life

Ahhhh, such are the simple pleasures of life. So today I have to leave for work and Monty was clamoring for my attention; he thought he was going. As I started the car, I thought I saw my mom standing by the window waving. It looked like she was holding Monty, but I thought, no, my mom would think that holding the dog so he could watch me leave for work was ridiculous; he's a dog, not a kid, right? But I forgot there was some dog food in the car I had to bring into the houes, so I ran it in and sure enough, Mom WAS by the door, holding the dog and -- waving!!! When I opened the door he wiggled frantically in her arms trying to come to me, and I felt awful leaving.

Mom made me feel even more guilty when she said, "Oh, but when you walked out the door he started crying, so I had to hold him and let him see you leave."

*sigh* Is this preparation for Daycare? Hopefully me and Nick can work something out so one of us is home.

Ahhh, me and Nick. Now there's something to smile about. If everything goes according to plan, we are going to have a quiet little wedding this spring, like in May. There is a possibility we may have to postpone the wedding until until June, but right now its a flurry of applying for the his visa and getting all the paperwork filled out so its done in time. Ohhhhh, I'm so excited!!!! We plan on going on a cruise on the Queen Mary II for our honeymoon. I can't wait. Oh boy, I have four months to get ready for a wedding!!! Its gonna be simple, yes, but it will still take alot of planning.

Since its gonna be a simple ceremony now, because of time, we want to renew our vows on our one year anniversary and have a big shindig then. We'll see.

I'm getting married!!!! Whoo-hooooo!!!!

blah

It's been one of those weeks, where there's nothing exciting to write about. However, I've accomplished all the un-fun things I was supposed to do last week, like clean the fishtank. I also managed not to create any small disasters when I did it.

My aunt was attempting to teach me how to knit. I may abandon the project I started, I think chimpanzees could do a better job. However, it may turn out, and if it does, I'll have one rather belated Christmas present done. Perhaps I should send a card and aim for next year -- it would be a lovely on-time surprise. :P

I promised my sisters I'd get the kid's Christmas presents out (this year would be good), but the trip to England kinda postponed that. It may turn out to be a Valentines day gift. :P

So that's been my week. Will write more later.

a quick update

It's been a long week. It was good to be with family, but why we had together (a funeral) wasn't great, so what is there to say about that?
The funeral was nice, except the organist played so badly that it literally hurt my ears. I hate organs, anyway; its a horrid instrument of clanging dissonance that drowns out any hint of singing. No one better play the organ at my funeral.

I hope I don't sound irreverent or disrespectful. I wish my aunt had been there to make the comments herself, or laugh at my description. But of course, if she had, we wouldn't be there at all, would we?

Everyone was all red eyed and puffy from crying, but the horseradish on the sandwhiches was VERY fresh and not only cleared our sinuses; it felt like all the membranes were ripped out of our nasal cavities and upper palates, and our scalps were peeled back from our noses all the way to our backbones. My eyes still water thinking about it.

I'm going into automatic shutdown tomorrow; I need to re-charge. I'm tired, and I got more sleep than my Aunt Deb who slept like 2-3 hours a night last week. There was of course, a constant stream of people in the house (her house) and endless phone calls.

Somehow, in the hustle and bustle of things, I lost the chain to the necklace Nick gave me for Christmas. I found the heart in my purse, but no chain. I've looked everywhere, but I can't find it. I had the necklace sitting on the table, so I wouldn't lose it (I took it off to go to bed). Of all the things I would lose, why did it have to be that?

Hopefully I'll find it.

Yes, I know dying is a part of life, but it doesn't make it any easier. I still can't believe she's gone. I was gonna show her my book when I finished it, you know, and get her input. She wrote, too, was my big inspiration for writing. But I wanted her to see it; she was excited that I was writing. I would have spent more time talking to her if I had known; we all would have. Who cares about the book though, you know? It maybe doesn't matter now, though I have a feeling she'd want me to finish it. Well, I know she would. Life goes on, I guess. If that's one thing she showed us, it was to carry on, no matter what.

Well, gotta go for now.

Will try to catch up on everything later on.

sad news

Just found out my Aunt (mom's sister, Joy) passed away. Still kind of not believing it, but I'm sure it will hit me soon. Won't be posting for awhile, thought I'd let you all know what was going on.

jet lag and the packers

When I'm not busy trying to stay awake, I'm rejoicing in the fact that the Packers won, and are still in the play-offs. Next Sunday they face off with the Eagles. Hehehe... I have friends from Philly. I'll be there to console them when the Eagles lose. :P

Ohhhhh, it was a good game today!!!! I was biting my knuckles though. It had gone into overtime *groan*, and the other team had the ball. But da boys in green came through. Yes!!!

And enough of sports. Nick is talking of coming in time to be here for the 4th of July. As in coming here permanantly. :) That makes me happier than the thought of the Pack winning the Superbowl. And yes, that better happen.

I realize how WARM it is in England compared to here now. Everywhere it is freezing cold. I'm sitting in the office, wearing my Carhart jacket, and I'm still cold. In the office!!!! This is because the computers need to have a constant temp to keep them running at optimum performance. Yes, I can tell you, the ice box theory works; I'm always having to re-boot. *sigh*

But you can't wrap up in a big warm quilt at work; they frown on that. So I sit huddled up to the comptuter, typing like mad to keep warm. I look not unlike those crazy ice fishers you see that sit out on the lake all day, pretending they are not cold at all, and bragging about the fish they have (or will have) caught. I like being WARM. The only sport I even will consider, aside from snowmobiling, is skiing/snowboarding, and even that is a cold and (sometimes painful) endeavor.

But now that I think about it, the last time I went skiing, I ended up on my back and they wanted to take me down on a sled. I went down the slope marked "DIFFICULT", because I didn't want the guys to show me up, and THEY were going down. At the end of which was a jump. A really big jump. And I didn't slow down at all *sigh* Let's just say, I didn't impress anyone when I flew off the jump and went about 20 feet into the air, fleet flying straight out in front of me. There was absolutely NO chance of landing on my feet, and my skies were gone . They were so gone. Basically, I had 3 seconds to decide which part of my body would be the least painful to land on and so I picked the fattest part (which wasn't much, then) -- and turned a little sideways so as not to smash my tailbone and the Concord herself landed. Okay, so I didn't break anything, but I had a bruise the size of Texas on my posterior. I lay there like a ragdoll, not moving, it hurt to even think. And I can hear my friends talking in low, concerned voices.

"Is she okay?"
"I don't know"
"Nora, are you okay?"

(I don't know, either). I can't answer, because I'm afraid if I open my mouth to tell them I'm fine that I'll either scream or cry, neither of which is acceptable with guys around.

Now they are really worried. "She's not answering!"

Echoe starts laughing -- they must not be too concerned. "You guys, she's probably playing a joke, she loves practical jokes," she says.

Kevin is not amused. "It's NOT funny," he thunders (which is completely uncharacteristic of him to yell at all), and Echoe stops laughing. Then, he runs, UP the hill, to check on me. If you have ever seen someone try to run up hill with skis, its good for comic relief.

I moan, and try to say something rude to Echoe about having the last laugh, but I just moan like a drunk cow.

Then the emergency ski patrol comes up on their snowmobiles, with the great medic sled flying on the snow behind them. They want to take me down for a little ride. Um, NOOOOO, people are staring at me already!!! I try and convince them that I am fine; and then move all my extremities and try to sit up to prove it and they wince in alarm. Then they conlclude that since I'm moving, I must not have a broken back/neck. No, but my butt made a crater when I landed, I'm sure of it. Now they have a new kiddie ski area.

So, I limp downhill, and decide that skiing isn't my thing. So the next year, everyone gets the bright idea to go again. Do you think I was smart and stayed home? No -- I lost all sense of reason and rationality and tried snowboarding. *sigh* Those fiberglass babies aren't like the cheap little plastic inch thick boards you get for Christmas when you're still in grade school -- those are easy. The fiberglass ones make staying on your feet and balancing about as easy as hiking in platform shoes (don't ask... please don't ask). But I swear, my jeans and the snow on the ground had a magnetic attraction; I could NOT stay on my feet, I would fall over and slide downhill on my butt, but by golly, my feet were still securely strapped to that confounded board in front of me. I left the ski hill that day very, wet, and very humbled.

I might attempt it again some day, if I'm feeling really indulgent and have had loads of caffine to hamper my judgement. I'm sure if I do, I'll have loads to write about in my blog. It just so happens that our church is having a skiing outting for the young adults (and those that are young at heart) next weekend. Do I dare go? I guess the real question is:

Have I completely lost my mind?!!! :P Hey... I'll go if my friends go. :P

Back to Normal... or at least back to Reality

I can't say my life is normal, but is anyone's? But really. I still haven't recovered from jet lag, but I managed to get my core corse eligibility form turned it; this means that I am no officially on the waiting list. yay.

Having the day off, I took the dog with and decided to stop at Becky's for a quick visit. Nick was texting me, so I called him, and while I was talking to him, the dogs were chasing each other and Monty ran into a bench really hard. Pretty soon he came over to me and lay down. When I went to pick him up later, he yelped. I set him down again to see how he was walking and he wasn't limping so I thought mabye he had gotten nipped and was tender. So I put him in the car and headed over to Deanna's to pick her up. So when I got him home, he wasn't any better; he just lay about and didnt' want to play or eat or anything. This is NOT normal for Monty, and he won't even let me touch his side now; he must be pretty hurt. Beth and Deanna had come over (we had plans to go to Staci's), so we all piled into the car and took him to the vet, who comfirmed our suspicion that he had a broken rib. And he'll be fine, but I'm informed that I have to keep this puppy as inactive as possible for the next four weeks so that he can heal. Right. This is gonna be great fun.

We finally get to Staci's house to see the baby (who is soooo cute, by the way), and Becky calls me. Her idiot neighbor has shot her dog because it wandered into his yard (they share a property line). The dog, who's a lovable labrador/Akita mix, came home in pretty rough shape. He looked like he'd been shot in the face and was pretty messed up. Becky rushed him to the vet and he suspicions were confirmed (he'd been sot with a .22). However, as painful as it was for him, it went in the nasal tissues and missed the palates, so he didn't have to have reconstructive surgury. He's a tough dog, though, he's pulling through, and was very happy to see Becky today when she picked him up from the vet.

But anyay, prayers would be appreciated for the dog.

The sherrif came out to talk to them, but who knows if they can prove it - hopefully they'll be able to charge the guy with something. That's just not right what he did.

Anyway, will keep you posted.

I WENT Abroad, I'm not A Broad...

Well, I don't want to be called one, anyway, lol. And so I think my last update was on cooking supper and on Nick eating heartily.

England is very cold and wet, so one needs to have alot of extra padding on ones bones to stay well insulated. Thus, you could never eat too much. Good cooking is essential to survive the winter; I almost froze to death as it was. :P

Although Wisconsin is much colder, like I said, England is wet; so it seeps into your bones. Nick can't understand how I am cold in a country that is a good 30 - 50 degrees warmer than my own country, but I am. Or was. But my allergies weren't as bad. So damp and cold is apparently better for my asthma than dry, stuffy, and frigid. I suppose air that instantly crystalizes your lungs would be considered bad. Just a bit.

Anyway, we went to Wales; my great grandmother is Welsh, so I have roots there. We went to Llangolen, a town I can't pronouncel, but it was very neat. Lots of old shops and streets on hills and quain't bridges. I loved it. I even found a tiny little thrift sale and bought some dish sets for a pound each. They are very lovely, too. We also headed up into the mountians, and I climbed up part of one, to the top to see the ruins of an old castle. The view was amazing, and I think I used up a whole roll of film just on that.

Except Nick was waiting at the bottom, and I wanted to get good pics of the ruins of the castle; he was sure there was no road. However, we discovered a footpath. Upon this discovery, I wanted to explore, and he told me to go up as close as I could to the thing and get pics. I took the man literally and climbed to the summit. I got to the top maybe an hour later, huffing and puffing like the big bad wolf. But the fact that I reached the top and have asthma is amazing in itself. Perhaps my asthma hadn't changed a bit; perhaps everything feels better when you are close to someone you love. :P

But I got to the top and got some amazing pictures, and it was quite a view; I could see for miles. I could also see a tiny red speck which was Nick's car, and decided I'd better make my way down. When I reached the bottom, I got an exasperated look. He didn't realize I'd actually climb all the way to the top, or he would have gone with me. lol.

Oh well. I'd pay for it later - when I went through customs in Chicago a few days later, I had to get my shoes specially cleaned. I might have been carrying dangerous soil from foreign pastures on those shoes, and there's the whole horrid foot and mouth disease scare. Yes, the precautions are probably necessary; but, I felt like a fool sitting stockingfooted at the airport customs line. *sigh* Do these things happen to other people?

But, aside from handing out incorrect change when I made purchases, I had a fun time; but as everything comes to and end, so did my trip. And so I am, home again with about 6 rolls of film to show off. Since pictures are worth a thousand words, perhaps I don't have to write anymore. hehehe...

I'll have to write about my adventures in the airport later. At least, I am happy to report, I was NOT one of the hapless passengers stranded at the airport with a cancelled flight. Wait... what am I saying? I could have had more time with Nick!!!! Oh well...