Marriage Meme

*NEW AND IMPROVED POST, NOW WITH PICTURES AND 10% MORE VITAMIN C*
Snagged from Swami...

1. WHAT DATE IS YOUR ANNIVERSARY? September 9th

2. WHERE DID YOU GET MARRIED? Methodist church in Richland Ctr, WI. It was my hometown and where Chris's family lived for about 8? years.

3. WHO PROPOSED AND HOW? We were in our early 20s, living together in an apartment (and housing Chris's brother). We had just completed a weekend of car shopping. To get the car he wanted, we'd have to apply for the loan together. I agreed. Later that night, after a lot of liquid courage, Chris came up to me while I was doing dishes and asked me to marry him. He apologized for not having a ring, but it was something he wanted to do then and there. His brother was in the other room and yelled "Say no!" A few weeks later, I had a ring.

4. HOW LONG WERE YOU ENGAGED? 2 years. We knew we needed awhile to plan because I was working full time and was in school with 3 classes/semester.

5. WHAT WAS YOUR FAVORITE PART OF YOUR WEDDING DAY? (AND IT CAN'T BE YOUR HUSBAND) . Hm. Our recessional music was a favorite...U2 does Endless Love. It's a super fun version. But then looking around at the reception and realizing everyone was there to celebrate YOUR MARRIAGE...it was overwhelming.

6. WHAT WOULD YOU CHANGE IF YOU COULD? I would've had a different dress. I didn't really dress shop, just got dropped off at David's Bridal one day, tried some stuff on, found one I liked well enough. I then had a dressmaker family-friend recreate it. In retrospect, it wasn't really what I wanted and now I have to live with it in photos.

7. WHAT WAS THE COLOR THEME OF YOUR WEDDING? A shimmery tan (darker than champagne, but not gold), black, deep red and white. Girls dresses were the shimmery tan color. Guys wore black tuxes (black ties), I wore white (quit laughing) and flowers were deep red. I made all the bouquets and boutineers/corsages. It took forever to find flowers that didn't look ugly and plastic-ish. It's fun to still have my bouquet and his boutineer in pristine condition.

8. REMEMBER ANYTHING SPECIAL ABOUT YOUR WEDDING CEREMONY? Saying my vows to the minister instead of my husband. It's on video for us to remember. :-)

9. WHERE YOU CLEAN OR MESSY WHEN YOU CUT YOUR CAKE? Clean and it was so quick, I barely remember it. We literally posed for the camera, cut one piece and were off.

10. WHERE DID YOU GO ON YOUR HONEYMOON? Three months after our wedding we went on a Caribbean cruise to Aruba, Tortolla, Curacao and St. Thomas. We waited because I was in school. In late November, I developed mono. I truged through work and finals barely alive. The week before our honeymoon, I recovered. Was feeling much better by the day we left. Was worried Chris would get it, but didn't.

This is the photo I keep in my office. It doesn't show much of my hated wedding dress. I think that's why I like it.

Summer vacation

First off, I'm in a better mood today. Must've been Swami's rainbow sherbert.

What a busy summer it's starting to be. This always happens.

This weekend: flying lessons 3 hours away, MIL's retirement home to move some things, Furthermore Shitty Barn Party (local beer brewer annual party at their converted barn offices), going away dinner for Korean visiting professor/welcome party for Thai visiting professor.

July 4-6: Friday and Saturday at BIL's house for annual party

July 11-14: Vacation in Michigan. We are visiting:
Lawton: Old Hat Brewery
Marshall: Dark Horse Brewing
Battle Creek: Arcadia
Kalamazoo: Bells, Old Peninsula Brewpub
Grand Rapids: Hideout, Grand Rapids Brewing, Schmohz Brewing, B.O.B.s House of Brews, Founders Brewing (and a Breezy peep meet!)
Spring Lake: Old Boys Brew House
Holland: New Holland Brewing
Benton Harbor: The Livery

I was able to use hotel reward points, so lodging will be free!

July 18 & 19 free!

July 26 & 27: A group is coming down and staying at our house and we are going to American Player's Theatre

August 1-3: Camping with my sister and BIL

August 8-10: Madison Mallards game (Baseball, Boo!), Brewery cruise in Milwaukee with friends

August 12-18: Boston for fun and for 3-Day (this also means Boo-time and maybe some Monsty-time)

August 22-24: Dinner lake crusie

August 29-Sept. 1: Chicago Peep Meet

Then, it's back to school for me. *pout* This summer is going too fast.

Something that really bothers me, Part II

Because I'm on a rampage today...
It really bugs me when I want to read something online when I see a teaser, but then it will only give me a video clip of the story. I want to skim an article, not wait for a video clip to load and watch the whole thing. Grr.

Starting on a bad note

I was in a decent mood this morning. Then I came into this message on my machine at work:

"Hey Kim, it's S. I was wondering if you could arrange a lunch order for tomorrow (today). BB (my boss), BL, BH (two former grad students in town visiting) and I are meeting over lunch (they are old colleagues getting together to catch up, not work) and we only have a short time. I'm worried about coralling everyone at the cafeteria, so maybe we could order from outside? I'm happy to chip in money. Thanks! Talk to you tomorrow!"

Um, why the eff would I order lunch? I'm not any of their secretary's. I'm a research program manager. Nowhere in my job description is arranging social meetings and meals. My boss has a secretary, and I'm sure even this isn't a real good use of her time. Order lunch your d*mn self.

Update: After I wrote this and vented, I sent an email to S & my boss (BB), telling them they can call Panera, gave them a number and menu link, told them they'd deliver and you can pay by credit card over the phone. Hope they get the hint this isn't my problem.

Weekendy randoms

1. My sister and her hubby are going on our cruise with us! They just have to decide if they are bringing the kids.

2. Our 3-Day crew boss called last night (and surprisingly he didn't sound Bostonian). Boo and I are working a team of 9-12 on a morning pit stop. This is where peeps get water, Gatorade, snacks and go potty. I'm excited to help motivate the walkers and thank them. Apparently we have to choose a theme for the pit stop and it appears it will be pirates. Yaaaaaaaaar!

3. Are there some items you don't recycle, but should? Like I don't recycle peanut butter jars. I'm not cleaning that out.

$300

Chris and I each get a $300 allowance per month. That is meant to cover going out to eat/drinks, clothing purchases, etc. For him, he also uses it to save for things like his flight lessons. For me, I also use it for makeup, hair & lotions type products above and beyond standard $3-4 bottles, LUSH stuff, books, etc.

I usually use mine up by the third week of the month and am broke on the last week. I have about $30 left right now, due to buying make-up, books and a trip to Victoria's Secret semi-annual sale this week.

Could you make it on $600/month as a couple, given the types of things I said we spend it on? Is $300 more or less than you'd need? I thought $300 would be plenty. It's turning out to be tight.

On another note..I requested Boo as my tentmate for the 3 Day and she hasn't responded. Do you think I pooted in the tent, or maybe drooled on her pillow, last year? UPDATE: I must have bullied her into accepting. :-)

Thomas Paine, eat your heart out

*climbs to the top of hill to shout* I can print again! It's been about a year since I bought generic printer cartridges for my home printer/scanner/fax machine. They didn't work so well. I haven't been able to print since them. I kept forgetting to buy new cartridges. I happen to run across an add while on Amazon.com the other day. My cartridges arrived yesterday, and all is well. I'm very excited about this.

In other news, we have been watching The Muppet Show and also watched Michael Clayton the other night. I was disappointed in MC. The Muppets, however, have not disappointed. I'm looking forward to the season with Alice Cooper.

Oh, I also have a fancy new phone in my office. It's a tiny cordless with a headset. I'm not trying to be cool, I just do a lot of phone interviews and needed something more comfortable. But yeah, now I look cool. :-)

Misc.

1. We are drying out. Nothing major ruined. The basement is unfinished (other than some drywall we'd started), so it was just stuff that was stored and mechanicals we were worried about. I'm so tired of talking about water and weather, so I'll leave it at that.



2. Blogger isn't getting the date of my posts right. I can't find where to fix it permanantly. Thoughts?



3. Here is a graduation pic for Swami. I couldn't find the one of me and my dad, which upsets me a bit. So this is one of me and a friend.

F.U.C.K.

We have over an inch of water in the basement. All the basement. That's about 1800 square feet for anyone drawing a mental picture.

I'm home tomorrow and we are dealing with this mess. Wahhhh!

Kim Almighty

Move over Evan, I've got an ark to build.

The rivers haven't crested yet (will tomorrow), and our sump pump is going off every two minutes. Yesterday we were worried the motor burned out. I think we got home just on time. We put some fans on the motor and bailed out a lot of the water from the pit by hand. Somehow I got stuck with the job of haulilng buckets of water up from the basement. *holds aching back* So, I'm home today, watching the pump like a hawk.

BIL called last night. He was sitting at a restaurant bar patio overlooking the former Lake Delton. The entire lake spilled over and emptied into the Wisconsin River. Gone. That's where you saw a lot of footage of homes washing away on t.v.

In other related news (think religion, peeps), my MIL was in town and we had dinner last night. She actually grabbed our hand at the table and said grace outloud at the table. It took every ounce of my will to NOT yank my hand away. With my extra hand I drank my iced tea and looked around the restaurant while she prayed. Next time i'll be more prepared and just say, "I'll leave you alone while you say grace" and go to the bathroom to scream.

Weekend Wackiness

Update: Holy carp, flooding is awful around here. Up by BIL (about an hour north of us), a lake has spilled over (dam failed) and is emptying into the Wisconsin River, taking four houses with it. This is not going to be good for our area (five miles west of us an area was evacuated this morning before the dams started failing). We are about a mile from the WI River banks, and back waters run behind our house. Ugh.

What a weekend!

Friday
We wanted drinks after work and tried a new spot. The rooftop bar atop Sundance 608 theater (Robert Redford owned cool theater showcasing indie films, but also has a few mainstream ones). Many women were meeting before Sex & The City for cosmos. We later talked to the bartender who said he was about ready to kill himself if he has to make another cosmo. I had far too many cocktails, and nothing of substance to eat, and passed out on the bed at 8:00. *snort*

Saturday
Holy storms. Tornado weather was everywhere. Downpours, 100 mph winds, funnel clouds, etc. throughout Wisconsin. We had to go downstairs once, and the kitties were angels. They refused to go in their carriers, so we sat under the basement steps with them on sleeping bags (and a baby gate up) and they napped. Goofs. Luckily, our house was in about a 5 mile area that wasn't impacted on Saturday at all. The storms went south and north of our house. It was cool to watch.

Sunday
It was still raining meow-meows and bow-wows. However, we still schleped out to the county dairy breakfast with our friends. It was a flooded mess at the farm, but the food area was fine! Then it was off to Chris's fly-in event at the airport. The weather cleared RIGHT as the event was starting and stayed nice for about 3 hours. I got to go up in the ultralight Chris wants to buy. It was weird. Like being in a roll cage with nothing around you. The wings are all that are covered by material. Everthing else is wide open.

On our way home we visited the neighboring small airport. Runways were flooded, roads were flooded.

Today
Roads are closed all over the place! Counties are closing major highways. It's bad. Luckily, our sump is doing a good job and we have no problems. I've talked to five coworkers this morning that are cleaning water from their basements.

I'm Moody

I haven't felt good for a few weeks (allergies, I think). This is starting to impact my mood. To top it all off, I put The Muppet Show dvd in and it wouldn't play. *cries* I had my in-laws all pumped up to watch it and we were all disappointed.

Speaking of in-laws, why does everyone think I hate being at home? My BIL & FIL both make comments about coming up to their places to "get away." Ok, they live in the middle of nowhere, have small houses where everyone has to be together all the time, and sure, there's a lake about 15 minutes away. However, I have 5 acres, a big (ok, not that big) house that I've barely lived in for five years, a daybed on my patio and a great view of the woods. Oh, and a big tv. I also have a pond (but the mosquitos are bad) and the Wisconsin River is about 3 miles from my house. I LIKE staying at home and relaxing. I never make the assumption coming to our house is a "getaway" for anyone. It seems absurd to me.

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENTS!

Well, important to me, anyway. :-)

1. My Muppets Season 1 DVD will arrive from Netflix today. I might throw it in while the in laws are visiting tonight. P.S. I hate mid-week overnight company. It's hard to work, rush home and entertain. I threw a roast in the crockpot that is being cooked especially for french dip sandwiches. Seemed like a quick and easy thing. Bought some fancy flavors of Kettle Chips and am making a strawberry/spinach salad. Quick dinner to make, in theory.

2. 30 Days is on again! The new season has started on FX. I ran across an ad that said it premiered last night at 9 CST, so we tuned in on time. Morgan was a coal miner in West Virginia for 30 Days. *insert inbred/Dick Cheney joke here* Unfortunately, we were both beat-dead tired and had to go to sleep before it ended.

3. Zombie is helping me book our winter cruise. We are going to the Mexican Riviera in January. Acalpulco, Ixtapa, Cabo San Lucas and Puerto Vallarta are the stops. It's again an uber cheap cruise. Zombie probably wishes we were picking the 2 week south american or something a little pricier. However, with me in school this coming year, we decided to keep it cheap. Anyone that's been to these places, we'd love your tips.

Indiana Jones and the Big Pile of Crap

Went to see Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. From the opening, I could at least appreciate we were getting typical Indiana Jones cheesy stunts. It's part of what's endearing about this franchise.

Then the Ukranian Dr. Mrs. Evil shows up, and immediately reminds me of a contestant on The Next Food Network Star.

Then we have a treasure map...with a riddle! Ooooh, I like where this is going!

Then we have a giant swarm of giant ants. I couldn't watch that part.

Then nothing quite unfolded in the direction it should have. There are aliens involved.

They had the option to go somewhere else with the script. They didn't.

What a waste.

Weekend recap this-or-that

Can you figure out what I did this weekend based on my this or that?

Friday
Grill out or Pizza out?
Yard work or house work?

Saturday
Boat or Beach?
Semi-sweet or semi-dry?
Sharp cheddar or Mild brick?
Pina Colada or Rum Punch?

Sunday
Perennials or Annuals?
Flowering bushes or variegated leaf bushes?
Deer or Rabbits?
Nap outside in the warmth or inside in the cool?
Next Food Network Star or 30 Minute Meals?