What a blast!

Cody and I had our very first wedding shower yesterday and it was amazing - we had a blast and it was so wonderful to see everyone! Yes, I mean we both had a had shower - how many guys can say that? :) We had almost decided not have a Tallahassee shower because the only time to do it would be the week of Christmas and we figured everyone was just too busy (and broke) with the holidays and everything, but Cody's mom and sister thought it would be a good idea. Boy, was it ever a good idea! We decided to do a couples shower so we could both catch up with friends/family instead of just the female ones and it turned out great. His mom and sister (who both should be nominated as saints for putting up with me during both Christmas AND wedding season) put together the whole thing and it was a blast.
We had the shower at Dorothy B. Oven park in Tallahassee, a beautiful park in the middle of the city (sort of the middle at least) and had both sides of my family, his family and friends too. We had great food, some hilarious games (a newlywed sort of game where we both had to answer questions by what we think the other would say) and of course, cool presents. I hope to have the pictures up shortly (when we get back home). Thanks everyone for coming - we really apprectiate it! And of course, a special thanks to Sara, Rick, Donna for all their hard work putting it together!

Merry Christmas!

Wow! What a crazy and hectic last few days - I couldn't even remember what day of the week it was today! Well, here's the condensed version (at least condensed for me):
Thursday: Well, we were planning to leave for Florida on Friday so Thursday would have been our last full day in STL to get all the rest of our shopping, wrapping, cleaning, packing, etc. done before the trip. So our plan was to come home, do all that jazz, go to soccer and try to get some sleep - until we came upon some hockey tickets. :) A friend at work couldn't go to the game and of course we can't pass up sports tickets of any kind, so we ditched our Christmas "duties" to go to see the Blues v. Kings. Well I guess the Blues got an early Christmas present because they actually won a game! Yes, the Blues, arguably the worst team in the NHL, actually won a game and we got to see it! So that was exciting. Then we had a soccer game at 11.15 pm (of course we'd have to have the super late game the night before we were supposed to leave), which was fun and amusing (especially after Cody had a few beers at the hockey game). We lost, but it was fun. That night we stayed up super late working to get stuff done for the trip, only to fail miserably at accomplishing all our tasks. :)
Friday: By mid-morning on Friday we both realized there would be no leaving that day. So much to do and just not enough time. Once that decision was made the day was fantastic - we felt like we had all the time in the world - and since Cody had off work, I got off early and everyone else was out of town we had time and we had it to ourselves. So while I was at work, Cody got his hair cut, got the oil changed in the cars, and did some errands. Then we actually got to hang out together, go to dinner together (a sit-down dinner, not even Subway) and have a relatively easy going evening together. We took all the pictures I wanted to with the tree (to be posted on the website shortly) and went to bed early.
Saturday: Cody woke up at 3 am (yes, Cody waking on a Saturday in the AM!) to build the kitties a little kitty condo for their borrowed carrier (thanks to Marissa and Cassidy the cats no longer roam the car when we drive them to FL, they sit in their huge dog carrier) - it was out of an old milk carton - he turned it upside down and cut out a side of it so one cat could sit up top and another could sit underneath - like a bunk bed system - how nice of him. After he was done doing that and loading most of the Jeep, I got up, helped with the loading and then we got on the road around 5am. Since I DO NOT do mornings, Cody had to take the first shift. He drove until about 9.30 (while I slept) and then I took over for him to sleep. I then drove until about 1.30 and then it was his turn - so we stopped at a gas station to get gas and switch but Cody accidentally closed his door hard and the power window fell into the door. Well then we had two crummy seats - the driver or the passenger with the window stuck down. So I chose the driver (I got to chose because he broke the window) while Cody tried to hold a pillow up in the passenger window to reduce the noise from the wind. We even had to cover up the cats because all the wind was really bothering them. So I got stuck driving the rest of the way into Tally. So we finally arrived Saturday evening in Tally Town. Cody went to his folks and I went to my moms - he helped bake cookies and I helped my mom START her Christmas shopping (yes, my mother put off her shopping until December 23 - apparently she did not get the memo that Christmas is on the 25th EVERY YEAR). So we shopped and hung out and had a nice evening of wrapping presents.
Sunday: Christmas Eve! More shopping with mom for me. We pretty much ran until the stores were all about to close but we got most of it done. :) We always spend Christmas Eve with Cody's family so we all went out to eat and then went back to his parent's house to hang out. Because we all have so much already, in leiu of getting each other presents this year we each chose a way to donate to charity. Cody's parents adopted a family from a woman's shelter and bought those kids presents. We donated money to both CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates), an organization that assigns an advocate to abused, neglected or abandoned kids stuck in the court system (similar to Guardian ad Litem in Florida, for which I worked in law school), and the March of Dimes -they're the ones that help premature babies and birth defects -and they send out rocking address labels. :) So that took a lot of stress and pressure off of Christmas. While it was nice, I think next year I would like to do a bit of both - a small present exchange - either pick names or keep it under $20 and then still donate. Anyway, we had a great time hanging out with them and playing with the kids. The kids got a ton of toys, including Hubabaloo, a really cool game that I loved to play with Baylee. Unfortunately, poor Baylee got sick and had to end her Christmas Eve early. :( Nonetheless, we all had a great time hanging out and spending time together- and eating lots of sweets.
After the Raffensperger Christmas (of which I will officially be a Raffensperger next year), I went back to my moms and wrapped presents all night. Yes, all night. My brother was supposed to come over and help decorate the tree but never showed up so we actually had a tree up with absolutely no ornaments on it - not one light or ornament - maybe a few pieces of tinsel that didn't come off from years past, but that was it. That of course bugs me since I'm all into Christmas trees, but I guess that's life.
CHRISTMAS: This morning Cody woke up early (at his parents - not sure how we're going to do this sleeping/living arrangement in Tally when we're married or have kids) and did Christmas with his family and his niece and nephew and then came over to my mom's. We did Christmas at my mom/grandma's house and had a great time - always a riot - in all senses of the word. Always good fun. Then we drove out to Sopchoppy to my dad's house to see that group (my dad, stepmom, David, Kim and the kids). Again, a great time. Kim is actually pregnant again with their third kid and we all couldn't be more excited - they've got two (absolutely gorgeous) girls now and they find out on Jan. 3 if the next one will be a boy or girl. We're pulling for a boy but will adore whatever they have, of course. We had a great time playing with the girls and catching up with everyone. We missed seeing the Fountains (our grandparents- Dianne's parents) and Aunt Frances Ann, but hopefully we'll get to see them shortly at the wedding - they're always good people to see and hang out with. After my dad's Christmas we went back to Tallahassee to my aunt and uncles for our third (Cody's fourth) Christmas of the day (yes it was exhausting)!
:) Always a riot there as well. My Aunt Cookie was there so we got to see her - she's fantastic and funny as hell (hi Aunt Cookie if you're reading this). We had a great time laughing hysterically and hanging out - let's just say my family is pretty insane. :) After all the fun was over we came home and have just been cleaning up and hanging.

Hope you had a great Christmas!!!

My Newfound Christmas Spirit

In case you haven't clicked on the link in the last email already, do it. It's hilarious! But you need to have sound on to make it work properly. Not sure where Cody found a picture of me at work, but I guess he has one on the computer.

Anyway, today was Day #1 of my newfound Christmas spirit - okay, so I'm sort of late for this bus considering Christmas is in 6 days, but better late then never, right? Anyway, tonight I was a total domestic godess and finished Cody's Christmas stocking - it turned out 100 times better then I thought it would (with my sewing skills). I'll have to take pictures and post them on here. Then, even after I decided I just couldn't do baking this year with all my stress and hoopla, I decided to do baking. Christmas just isn't Christmas without obnoxious amounts of baking. :) But I figured out a way to make it easier this year - enlist the help of the significant other! Yes, it actually works if you give very specific instructions. So while I mixed, he got out the different ingredients I needed and measured things. And then while I was mixing another batch he would clean the utensils from the first, so in the end when all I had to do was drop cookies onto the pan, the kitchen was relatively clean because he had been keeping up with that while I did the mixing part. Works wonders and goes a ton faster! So I guess Cody was a domestic godess today too!

Hope everyone has found their Christmas/Holiday/Chrismukkah spirit!

The FUNNIEST Thing EVER!!!

This is an email I got from Cody this evening:

You look happy! Looks like your real life dance moves!!
http://www.elfyourself.com/?userid=4d3619a1c408bdd5f6b0cccG06121916

Cody's Stocking

So, tonight I was a little Susy Homemaker. I actually sewed - not hemming pants or fixing a shirt cuff, but actually sewing. When I was younger I used to sew a lot more - I could make an entire dress or something pretty complicated but I've been out of it for a while. Well, when we were in Florida for Thanksgiving I got my Grandma Flynn's old sewing machine from my mom (my folks are divorced, not sure how my mom ended up with my dad's mom's old sewing machine - I suppose my dad doesn't sew much :) ) because I had some things to mend and fix and I wanted to cover some pillows for our couches. But most importantly I wanted to make Cody and Erica (my brother Bo's girlfriend) Christmas stockings. My mom made Bo and I stockings when we were little kids - his was red, mine green and hers red and green. So I wanted to make Cody a green one to go with mine and Erica a red one to go with Bo's because they're both part of the family now. So Cody and I (yes, I actually dragged him to Joann fabrics - twice - poor boy) looked everywhere for similar fabric to make these insane stockings - no luck. My aunt actually ended up having some left over fabric that was identical to the stockings so she mailed it up for me (next day air - thanks Aunt Barbie!!). Unfortunately there wasn't enough red for Erica's (I'll have to find her some other fabric) but there was plenty of green for Cody's. So tonight I got out my sewing skills, polished them off and began the sewing of a Christmas stocking. It's a neat adventure, a cool production and a great story, but I think when I have kids we're going to buy them stockings. :) The picture is me at the sewing machine (I'm pretty confident it's older then I am).

Flowers

I may have left the card at work (to help me through the next few days) but I didn't leave without first taking a picture of the flowers. Check them out - GORGEOUS! And they make my office smell like Christmas tree - who wouldn't be more cheerful and less stressed smelling Christmas tree???? The files behind the pretty flowers are just a taste of what I have to do the next few days. Oh, and note the silly putty on the left side of the photo -that also gets me through the day. :) I love my pretty flowers!!!!

Why I Love My Future Husband #863

I know this really isn't in his control, but one of the reasons I love him and find him so incredibly easy to get along with is his wonderful family. And I don't just mean that they're nice people and tolerable. They are seriously wonderful. Seriously. Just listen to this story . . . .
For instance, they say a guy with a good mom is going to be a good husband. If that's true, then I have myself one of the best men to ever walk the earth. Yesterday (and the day before and the day before and the day before, pretty much backing up to when we lost our power for FIVE days - yes, I'm still bitter) I was incredibly cranky. I seriously have a million things to do - all before we drop everything in our lives in four days to drive ourselves 13 hours to Florida to be away from home for over a week and run around like chickens with our heads cut off. Okay so maybe I get a bit worked up. :)
Anyway, with Christmas, the wedding (this next week is our last chance to do everything that needs to be done in Tally for the wedding because we likely won't be back until right before the wedding), work (I have a HUGE trial on Thursday - my biggest since I've started this job), and everything (the stress of whether or not we're getting bonuses at work and what our raises will be), I was a bit over the top. I even gave up baking this year because "I just couldn't do it all." Yes, I am "that person" who stays up to 3 am doing Christmas stuff only to wear herself down so much that she is sick all through Christmas because she's been so stressed.
Anyway, back to my story - I was stressed - and Cody's mom knew it - from talking to Cody, I'm sure, but also talking to me. So today at work I was sitting there stressing about how late I would have to stay (along with the other dozen things to stress about) to get everything done with I got a call from our front desk - I had a delivery. That makes even the most stressed person happy, so I bounded upstairs to find a flower delivery! I thought it was Cody sending me something (no such chance), but an even bigger (and better) surprise, his mom had sent me flowers at work!!! I left the card at work (to show off to everyone - and remind myself of her message all week), but it basically reminded me that we should all enjoy the holiday season, remember what is most important (not cookies or presents or gas prices or ornaments or lights, but family and friends) and good luck on my trial! HOW INSANELY SWEET!!! She is by far one of the nicest, sweetest, most thoughtful people I have EVER met. Seriously - I thought I was just raging stress at everyone and no one even really noticed - but not only did she notice but she took time to listen to it and totally made it melt away.
Just ask Cody - I'm a new person this evening - I forgot about wrapping presents (because if worse comes to worse I can do that in Florida) and worked on making a stocking for him (long story) for my family (actually this is really important to me) and sang Christmas songs all night (maybe I switched some of the words around to include Mr. Pickles but they were still songs with Christmas tunes). :) We had such a nice, enjoyable evening because I really kept reminding myself that this "season" isn't about being stressed, doing everything, or making our significant others scared of us, but being together, laughing and enjoy all the season brings. I know that sounds incredibly cheesy and corny, but it's oh so true - just ask Cody who's had to live with me the past few weeks. :)
Anyway, one of the many things I have to be thankful for is my future husband (only about 3.5 months to go!!) and his wonderful, thoughtful family. I really couldn't ask for a better gift then that. Thanks for the flowers- they're gorgeous!

It's that nutty time of year. . .

Wow - a week has gone by already since I posted last! Almost a full 7 days! I swear there is some cosmic force that actually makes days in December last less then 24 hours - I just can't seem to ever keep up in December - the days are seriously shorter (and not just the daylight part - though that's certainly short enough living in Cold Corn Country where the sun sets at practically 4 o'clock these days). This past week seems to me to only have lasted about 2 days, but instead I find almost a full 7 have passed.

Anyway, enough whining about how short the days are. I have finally finished almost all of my Christmas cards, gave up on Christmas baking (I usually like to bake and deliver baked goods to friends and family - not this year - too much going on), finally started Christmas shopping on Saturday night, and still have about a month's worth of stuff to do before we drive to Tally in a few days. :) Fun fun. Add to that I have my biggest trial of the year on Thursday! Oh, yes, I could have had this huge trial any day of any month this year but no, it's four days before Christmas! This should be fun.

I feel like I'm rambling but not really saying much (like that's unusal or something), so I'm going to go back to doing some work for work tomorrow.

Happy 10 Years (plus a day)!

Yesterday was Cody and my 10 year anniversary from our first real date. Our first sort of date was to a movie that Cody had to see for extra credit in English class, but we don't count that one. Our second date was also to a movie, some movie about a lion or tiger or something - it was a horrible movie but a good date - hense we're still here 10 years later. :) Anyway, to celebrate our 10 year anniversary we went and bought Cody's wedding band! It was actually easier then we expected - aside from the jewelry store being packed with Christmas shoppers - but we did good, especially since both of us hate shopping in general and really hate shopping around Christmas. It's a nice simple titanium band - it's more gray/matte then the white gold ones so he really likes it - he even wore it around most of the day yesterday. So it was quite a fitting tribute to our ten years to get a wedding band.

In other events, we've just been busy busy busy. Friday night we went out with friends to celebrate a friend getting a job in California. Aside from shopping for a ring yesterday we also worked on our registry (that's a whole other post - registries are nightmares) and went to my work party. All is all it was a pretty nice weekend - with power.

New Website Photos.

I've been so awful lately about keeping the website updated - sorry. I'd blame it on the power outage, but I hadn't updated any pictures since October. Anyway, tonight I got the rest of the October pictures up. Hopefully I can get November and December up by the end of the week. Enjoy - most of them have to do with either Halloween or the Cardinals World Series.

Christmas Tree

Here's our Christmas tree!!! We're not quite done tying all the orange, blue and white ribbons on but we got a good start last night. Lots of stories behind all those ornaments.

Ice on Tree

I tried to take a ton of pictures of the ice on the trees but most didn't come out too well. Here's one where you can see how thick the ice is on the itty bitty branch.

This is why we didn't have power.

Note the power poll with transformer on the ground. Yeah, usually that's up on the poll with the rest of the wires. Then comes wicked winter storm, weighs the trees down, they snap and take my power lines, power poll and transformer all with them.

House Pictures

The picture on the right is what our house normally looks like - check out the nicely shapen tall bushes on the outside of the photo. On the left you have the house after the wicked winter ice storm. Note my large front bushes and how they are pulled over onto the ground by the heavy ice.

It's Back - Again.

What a whirlwind of a week we've had. We have power again - hopefully this time for good. I just can't take this whole no power for 5 days, on for one, then off again, and now on again. At least we're in the "on" stage now. That at least makes me very happy.
So I guess life is slowly but surely returning to normal. We're still down to one car because mine is in the shop, but at least they think they figured out what is wrong with it (the fuse box - go figure) and can now fix it. It's the lovely holiday season so we've already been inundated with events and parties. We had one Saturday, Monday, Tuesday and today with others scheduled for Saturday and next Friday. At least it's free food and booze. :) So far they've all been pretty fun.
Now that we have power again, we're just trying to enjoy it (before we lose it again) - we've done a zillion loads of laundry and dishes, set up the Christmas tree and actually slept last night without a hat. :) When I get over the being angry about not having power, I'll have to blog about all the funny things that you notice and/or do without power.

Don't even ask.

We got power back yesterday. I was the happiest I've been in ages. Then we lost it again this afternoon. We had power less the 24 hours before it went out again. Obviously, I'm in no mood to blog. Plus, I'm sitting at work at 7pm because at least it's warmer then my house.

Power outages suck

Well, I haven't posted since Thursday. Wanna know why? We've had no power since Thursday evening. Yup, that big "winter storm" in the papers that beat up on the Midwest, hit us square in the chin. We got a massive ice storm, leaving everything beautiful winter wonderland - for about five minutes - until you realized that ice was incredibly heavy and was bringing down trees and lines all over the area. So as of Friday there were 1/2 million people without power. Obviously, we were one of those. This morning there were still 300,000 without power - we're still one of those. The house was a balmy 38 degrees this morning. We're done staying there - it's just too damn cold and it's already killed all but 3 of my fish. The turtles and cats are okay for now. As for when we'll get it back, no telling. The tree in our alley that was covered in ice took down all the wires, a transformer and an entire utility poll so it's not looking promising. Forecast low for tonight is 11 degrees. I've written some other random musings about this whole ordeal on the laptop but until we get power back and internet back they will have to stay on said computer. I'm really tired of being cold.

We're still alive.

So as most of the world knows by now (with my big mouth), my stupid car doesn't work. The damn thing won't start. So today I spent my entire day calling auto shops, to finally decide to take it to the dealer, 15 miles away. But then I called my insurance (who by now hates me and will probably drop me) and found that my "emergency roadside assistance" will only pay to tow my car around 5 miles in the city because there are shops everywhere - too bad a lot of them are ghetto and you don't want to use them. Anyway, so then I search for a closer shop - only to find one but they're booked until Monday and have no where to store my car. So I have to chose whether to pay to have the car towed to the dealer (all but 5 miles which the insurance will cover - hopefully before they drop me) or sit over the weekend in the garage where it was just broken into - just what I need it to leave it there and get stuck with another $500 deductible when it's robbed again. Cody said I should just leave the windows down (then they can't break them) or put a note up that the car is unlocked (they can't steal it because it won't start) so they won't bust up everything.

Anyway, we decided to pay the extra and have it towed today. So I called to have it towed - only to then have work cancel before the truck got there. So I canceled the tow and got a ride home from work from a co-worker. Unfortunately this co-worker, who I will not name because this whole thing is not his/her fault, had rear-wheel drive and it was insanely icy outside, not to mention we have to go over a significant number of bridges to get home (for those southerners, bridges are bad in the winter because they ice really bad really quick). So, as we were pulling onto the interstate and go to accelerate the car starts spinning and spinning and spinning. The whole thing probably took about 30 seconds but it felt like minutes. Anyway we spin all the way from the right lane, across at least 4 lanes of traffic, into the far left lane of traffic, heading the opposite direction and plow into the bridge wall. Everyone is fine. We're all okay. No one is hurt. It was just scary. The worst part of it was spinning and then knowing we were going to run into the side of the bridge on my side. I swear I thought we were going to hit the bridge wall and go over the side of the bridge - and then we'd really be dead. But the bridge wall held up and we didn't go over the side - it was just a bit scary for a while.

So, now we're home for the duration. With any luck work will be cancelled tomorrow and I can do even more wedding planning - but that might be just a bit too optimistic. :) Tonight we might try to run out and get a tree once/if the traffic dies down and we can have a cozy night setting up our decorations. I love Christmas time, but man do I hate snow/ice/etc.

Three years running - pretty impressive!

November 30th 2006

November 30th 2005

November 30th 2004

Check out these weather pictures above- note the dates, specifically the years. This is my third winter in St. Louis and every year since I moved here we've had our first snow on November 30th (which also happens to be my friend Mike's birthday - happy birthday). Kinda weird, huh? Not first real snow or first big snow, but every year we have had the first snow flakes on November 30th. What a coincidence. I really think this is incredibly strange.

We're in the white now.

Yes, I am obsessed with the weather. I seriously check weather.com at least 15 times a day - less so in the fall and spring when the weather is nice and relatively predictible - but at least that in the winter when I need to see exactly how freezing it will be each day. So today the "winter storm" finally arrived. See the white stuff over us now? Around lunch it was just freezing rain. Then they told us all to leave work at 2 pm (the ONE perk of living where the weather sucks - you may just get to leave work early - but then you can't do anything because the roads are a mess and well, the weather sucks) and there was funny baby hail coming down everywhere. It really stung when it hit your face but it was cute baby hail. By the time I got home from work around 3 pm (yes, I only live 5 miles away but see next post for an explaination) it was full fledged snow and the roads were a mess - really a mess - slushy and gross. We're supposed to have soccer today (at 10:30 pm) but hopefully they cancel it so we can just stay in - though I would like to go get our Christmas tree so we can put that up while we're stuck in. :)

The pink stripe has arrived!

We're right in the middle of the pink stripe now. Nice and icy outside - they're already putting salt on the sidewalks outside our building. The white is coming our way now - the forecast says 8-10 inches of snow tonight. Maybe they'll cancel work . . . . not a chance.

The pink stuff is coming our way!!!

Yup - that's ice! Rain is okay. Snow is annoying. But ice is horrible. You can't walk, drive or do just about anything with inches of ice everywhere.

Today I purchased a wedding gown.

Yup. Everyone thought it would never happen, but today I FINALLY purchased a wedding gown. One more thing off the list of wedding-crap-to-do. :) Too bad I'm not telling which one it is. :)

In other news, I have my car back, again, and now the dumb thing doesn't work. Yup, that's right - we took my car in yesterday because it wasn't fixed right from the break-in and got it back last night - yippe - until this afternoon when I got to the garage (in a rush to make my wedding dress appointment) and found that the stupid thing won't start! AGGGG!!! Stupid stupid stupid car! I HATE this car! I can't wait to get a better job so I can afford a better/different car! I'm so tired of dealing with this thing breaking on me all the time (so far this year - O2 sensor, new battery, 3 new tires (thanks to nails), clutch slave cylinder and now random thing wrong causing car not to start (it's NOT my battery)). I'm so tired of dealing with this car. Oh well.

So much to write about -Thanksgiving trip, wedding dress, etc. but not tonight. Tonight I sleep and try not to have nightmares about my broken car and it sitting in the same garage it was broken into last week.

Why boys are like cats - or vice versa.

So tonight I cleaned the cat litter boxes since we're leaving tomorrow and I noticed something I've noticed a hundred times that I always forgot to blog about. Boys are like cats - or vice versa. We have three cats and thus three cat boxes because one of them (The Fat One -that's not an insult to the cat, it's her name) decided that she got angry when we only had two. Anyway there is one "igloo" one with a lid (they walk in and you can't see them) and two open ones. Sure enough, just like boys, they have no problem peeing in front of each other, or us, but they always go poop (yes, I just said "poop" in a blog entry) in the igloo one - apparently they like their privacy when they poop - just like guy bathrooms. Hmmmm.....
I'm not saying I spend a lot of time in male restrooms, this is all hearsay. :)

Car is back - sort of. . .

So yesterday evening I was FINALLY able to pick my car up from the repair shop. $500 later (that's my deductible) I was on my way home in my own set of wheels again. I was thrilled - finally I can drive again and not have to hitch rides all the time. Until this morning . . .
So this morning I was on my way to work and I kept feeling this cold draft in my ear. Seeing that it was about 32 degrees when I went to work this morning, that was not a fun feeling. So I put my hand up to where the wind was coming from, only to realize that while they replaced all the trim and sealants around my window, they apparently didn't do a wonderful job of it because I could practically stick my finger out the window from inside the car - with the window up. Why can't anyone these days do anything right the first time?
So as if that wasn't annoying enough, I later discovered that when you shut the passenger side door you can hear the broken glass inside the door. Yup - not only did they mess up the sealant but they forgot to vacuum all the glass out of the door when they put in the new glass. So, we were considering taking my car to Florida this weekend (better gas mileage and it goes faster - at least when I'm driving) but it looks like instead it will be going back to the shop tomorrow. I just don't get why places can't just do good, guality work the first time around.

On another note, we're going to FLORIDA tomorrow! Growing up in Florida you don't think much is special about the place - Disney is no big deal and you see the ocean enough to love it but also find the annoying things annoying (like sand and wind). But now that I live in Missouri, Florida holds this almost mystial quality that I never apprecitated before - it's Florida. Sort of like Hawaii is Hawaii and California is California. Sort Nebraska just doesn't hold the same mystical quality. :) Anyway, in addition to it being Florida, and thus at least theoretically warm (at least warmer then our frozen tundra), there's family. It's funny how as you age you appreciate your family more. When you're under the age of 13, family is everything. Then you hate family and want nothing to do with them for several years. Then you move away and realize that you're really lucky and you were a selflish brat back when you didn't appreciate them more. And then you get even older and move even farther away, and realize that when it all comes down to it, family is really all that matters in the world (and when I say "family" I also include close friends that you consider "family") and that if you lost them or even lost touch with them your life would never be the same ever again. Oh, and somewhere in there you meet a boy who you fall in love with and you become part of his family too. Bonus points if he also has a family that you cherish and love - and miss when you're away (like me!).

Anyway, we head to Florida tomorrow - a long, relatively boring 13 hour drive. I bitch and moan about the drive for weeks ahead of time - I bitch about how our entire "vacation" is spent running around and not sleeping and then we just have to drive back - I complain about how we always end up sick when we come back because we're so run down - but you know what? I wouldn't trade it for anything. Absolutely nothing. The mere thought of getting to see our families makes it all worthwhile - because there will come a day when we won't be able/willing to make the drive anymore (I assume we will probably never end up back in Tally -sorry to burst anyone's bubble) and we'll be happy for the memories we make now, visiting our families and seeing our nieces and nephews as they grow and visiting with our folks.

Can't wait to see you all!!!

Music Download Question

Okay, I'll admit - I have about 5000 songs on my computer and the vast, vast majority of them (okay, all but about 15) were downloaded for free. I'm not specificially admiting to downloading to pirated music for fear that those psycho record labels will one day use my blog against me in a civil suit. Anyway, as a maturing adult, I've decided I want to at least make an attempt to get some legal music downloads. The only problem is it's driving me crazy.
So I downloaded a few songs from Walmart.com since it was the cheapest I could find (88 cents), but then I discovered the songs downloaded as WMA (Windows Control Monger Format). So I figured that wasn't the end of the world - even though my ancient cheap MP3 player doesn't support WMAs, only MP3s - I would just convert them to MP3s - then I could use them in my MP3 player and burn them on CDs to use in my car (as WAVs). Nope - can't do that either - there is some stupid anti-piracy lock on the song (DRM or something) so I can't convert it to MP3 or WAV! Okay, so I OWN this song -I PAID for it - but I can't use it except on a new MP3 player or on Windows Media Player (which I hate and had thus deleted from my computer and had to reinstall just to hear my song). I want to listen to it in my car - but I can't because it won't convert to WAV. I want to listen to it in my crappy MP3 player - but I can't because it wont' covert to MP3!
So, my question is, after incessantly babbling, is there a music service where I can download songs that I OWN onto my computer that I can then convert to either MP3 or WAV for personal use on other devises other then Windows Media Player??? I looked around and could only find sites where you could get WMAs -but do they all have this lock on them? How can I just download my song for a buck and do whatever I want to it??? Any ideas? I don't want to stream music or listen to the radio - but actually download and own a song that I can then burn to listen to in my car. Thoughts?

Happy Anniversary!

One year ago today, Cody proposed. We had decided to go paddle boating at the lake in Forest Park since it was actually above 50 degrees (which it was not near today) so we rode our bikes up there to get some exercise. We paddled around the lake, all the way to the Art Museum and Grand Basin and were on our way back, checking out all the bridges, when he leaned over, got the ring out of his pocket, sort of got down on a knee, and asked me to marry him. It couldn't have been more perfect - outside, on the water, having fun. So, here we are a year later, still planning this damned wedding. :) We've made major strides though lately - we have the officiant down, got the engagement annoucement in the paper in Tally, I think I picked out invitations, I got the first round of Save-The-Dates out (if you don't have yours yet, don't sweat it -but let me know because it may have gotten lost in the mail or I have a wrong address), we're working on a photographer and DJ, and I'm down to two dresses. :) Hopefully we'll get some final details worked out with the hotel/reception site over Thanksgiving - menu, rooms, etc. Fun fun. I think I would enjoy wedding planning a lot more if my life were not already totally full with fulfilling things I enjoy (besides work -don't even get me started on this mess), but alas, we do what we can and then the next day comes and we do some more. :)
So, yes, it's official - we're going to Tally for Thanksgiving. We're hoping to leave here by 1 or 2 pm on Wednesday so we get to Tally around 3 or 4 am. Then on Thursday we hope to see my dad and his family in the morning, then Cody's family in the afternoon, and my mom's family in the evening - what a day - good thing we don't have kids to drag around to all this - they'd be even more exhausted then we would. :) Friday I hope to look at dresses, meet with the hotel/reception guy, work out some more wedding details, and work on registering - I still have to blog about what a disaster that was. :) Saturday is FSU v. UF which we hope to find tickets for and Sunday we drive back. If you're reading this and either live in Tally or will be visiting, please let me know where everyone is planning to go out or meet up - I'd love to see everyone!!!
In other news, we did a great job this weekend of getting the house cleaned pre-Thanksgiving. One of my biggest pet peeves is leaving for a trip and the whole time knowing you're coming back to a dirty/messy house. If we can keep it up for two days we'll be comign home to a pretty clean and tidy house - for once! :)
And no - we still don't have my car back - it still wasn't ready on Friday.
Have a good Monday!
p.s. I still think I like green on the blog.

Why Women Rock

I think women are amazing beings - and not just because I am one. They manage to juggle careers, homes and self seamlessly day in and day out. Tragedy hits, crisises occur and more often then not women take the hits and keep moving forward. Anyway, today one particular nugget occured to me.
Women can stand at the top of a set of basement stairs and can tell from about 40 feet away if the washer is running, even if the dryer is loudly spinning - we can tell the difference between the way the washer and dryer sounds from 40 feet away and can even tell, on occassion, what cycle the washer is in. I think that's amazing. Sorry, guys, but there's not a chance in hell you can stand at my basement door and tell me if my washer is running over the sound of the dryer. Pretty cool.
We can also tell you, while standing at the grocery store, just about how much milk and bread and cheese we have left, even without going home to check first.
I'm not being sexist, I'm just sending a props to all the women out there that manage to take care of everything in their lives so wonderfully - and I'm not talking about me, just all the ladies in general. :)

Still no car.

Yup - still don't have my car back. Supposedly it should be ready tomorrow afternoon after 4pm - the only problem is they're only open until 5pm - which gives us an ever-so-inconvenient ONE HOUR in which to pick up the car or miss it until Monday - oh, and add to that we only have one car right now for the both of us and I will have it in Poplar Bluff until about 7pm (I have to go there to take a deposition tomorrow afternoon and it's 3 hours away). Ahhh... the joys we go through just so some dumb thief can get a kick out of breaking into my car.

In other, not so bitter news, not much is going on. Yesterday I was in Mexico . . . . Missouri. What a place. I was up there for work and got to drive Cody's baby, the Jeep. It's odd driving an SUV when you're so used to a tiny car. And boy does it blow with the wind. I was quite concerned that it might tip over, but it didn't and I made it home safe and sound in our one remaining vehicle . . . because the thief messed up our other one, leaving us with one. Lest I digress.

It was supposed to snow yesterday - 2-3 inches at least - but it didn't. Just lots of cold rain. For the past two years I've been here the first day of snow has always been November 30th - we'll see if that holds true again this year.

Yesterday I got to babysit the most amazing one-year old (almost one - next week). My friends were going out so I got to baby-sit their adorable one year old daughter, Elizabeth. We had a blast. I seriously had a great time with her - and no, that does not mean we're going to be popping out babies any time soon - it just means that I got very lucky to be able to spend a decent amount of time with such a great kid. I have no pipe dream whatsoever of having a kid half as good as she is, as I'm convinced I'm going to be cursed with the worst demon child ever - since I was one myself - seriously, ask my mom, I was a serious demon child. Anyway, Elizabeth was wonderful. We hung out on the couch playing with cloth letters and books for about an hour. Then we crawled around on the floor a while - playing hide and go seek (sort of - the one-year-old version) and chase. Things were going great and she started to get a bit fussy - not bawling or anything - just fussy. It took a few minutes to figure out what she wanted since at first I thought she was just getting tired - but then she didn't want to lay down - her diaper was clean - and she didn't want any juice. But then I hit the jackpot -Cherrios. She was in love - and happy. She had the greatest time eating those Cherrios - it was almost the most fun part of the evening watching her pick them up one by one and shoving (not placing, but shoving) them into her mouth. Then she would debate putting one in my hand for me but would always take it back and eat it. She was adorable. I had such a great time with her and could only imagine how great it must be to have a kid that good (again, I will never know because my kid will be a demon child). But again, no we're not having kids any time soon - too much to do first!!!

In today's news, we had our second soccer game of this "season," or better termed, "session." We lost 5-1, but it should have been 5-2. The other team was good and we had a good time playing. Cody really rocks - I wish I could play 1/2 as good as him or the other folks on the team - but I'm learning. It's fun nonetheless. Unfortunately I thought it would be a good idea to get in a quick work-out before soccer so I rode the stationary bike for a while - bad idea - my legs were like lead weights during the game. :) That was the lesson learned today.

Well, off to bed to wake up, take Cody to work, go to work and then to the metropolis of Poplar Bluff. :)

Tuesday's Gone.

Well, I got my CDs back today from the parking garage. Sure enough, the moron thieves didn't take any of them. So today at work I listened to Peter, Paul and Mary Campfire Sing-Along songs all day - needless to say I got little work done because everyone kept stopping by wondering what in the world I was listening to. Apparently "Puff the Magic Dragon" isn't on the popular radar these days. Maybe it should be. :)
In other news not much happened. I FINALLY mailed a portion of my Save-The-Date cards. Not all got mailed - because not all addresses have been compiled and not all cards have been made -but I got at least some made. I've been majorly stressing over this wedding thing lately, thinking about Vegas more and more every day. My biggest concern is keeping the guest list within reason and keeping the amount of people within the space we have - this is much tougher then one would think because so many of our guests are from out of town. It sort of goes like this - anyone who wants to come I would love to have - nothing would make me happier then to have everyone I care about want to be there and for us to share the day with them - on the other hand, I don't want anyone to feel obligated to come and make the trip if they can't afford it or don't care to make it. I'm just guessing it will all work out. :)
In even other news, we're forecast for snow tomorrow. I hate the winter. Snow is beautiful but it's a pain - not to mention cold. I hate it getting dark at 4:30. I hate feeling like my eyeballs are going to freeze. I hate not being able to dial my cell phone because my hands are covered in mittens. I hate the way my hats/caps mess up my hair so it's not even worth it to bother to do my hair. I hate getting into my car with 10 lbs of clothing only to crank the heat and be burning up in five minutes and trying to wiggle my way out of hats, gloves and a huge coat while drving down the interstate. I sure can't wait until spring -and this wedding is over.
In other news, I found out today that Cody really hates buggers. I mean, really hates them. Just news for thought.

Green.

Ask Baylee (our cute three-year old niece) - I really have no favorite colour. She's very into whose favorite colour is what and has memorized the entire family's favorites. Very impressive since I certainly couldn't remember that. Anyway, whenever she asks me mine, I always tell her "the rainbow." I really do like all colours - they all have their purpose and place. I'm not sure I ever had a favorite but if I ever did have one it would have been blue or black. I tended to like groups of colours - like earth tones. But lately I've been attracted to green. I've never really particularly liked green before - certainly no more than any other colour - but lately I have a thing for green. I even bought my first real green shirt last week. I'm experimenting with green lately.
The reason for this green tirade? I'm trying out a green blog to see how it fits. We'll have to see.

I'm a statistic.

I'm now a statistic in the lovely City of St. Louis. They say St. Louis is the "most dangerous" or "least safe" or something like that, city in the US. Okay, I can buy that if you're in certain parts of the city - parts we don't live, work, play or travel into - so that has never been a huge worry for me (knock on wood).
We're also number 1 for car related crimes. This I totally buy. Until now, Cody and I have been lucky - we have not had our garage/his car broken into, nor mine messed with while parked on the street (I park on the street because I drive a clutch and they are less likely to be stolen). That is, until this weekend.
Friday night we had a rousing happy hour after work, one in which I drank the better part of a caraffe of maragritas. Being the responsible citizen I am, I called Cody to pick me up. So we left my car in the work garage downtown and he drove home. We never quite made it back downtown to pick up my car over the weekend(we only live 5 miles from my work/downtown but we were just never heading in that direction) - usually this is not a big deal. I leave my car in the work garage when we go to Florida for Thanksgiving or going out of town for a long weekend - it just seemed safe.
So this morning Cody drops me off at work at 7:45 and I sit down for a long day at work. Then I get a call. It was our garage saying my car was broken into.
So I rush down to the garage (only 1.5 blocks away) and find my car completely assaulted. The moron thieves had apparently tried to break in the front driver window but didn't manage to actually bust out the entire window - only tear up my weather stripping and chip at the window all along the top. Apparently the geniuses then moved to my back driver window which, in a sporty car with two doors, is only about a 1.5x1.5x1.5 foot triangle. They busted it out, only to discover there was no way to unlock the door from that window - left glass everywhere though. Moron then moved to the passenger front window and finally hit the jackpot - glass everywhere, car open. The thief person then ransacked my entire car, thowing everything around, emptying the glove box and console, climbing into the back seat, messing with the trunk, etc.
All in all, he remained an idiot. The two most expensive things in the car where my new jacket (the warm one I blogged about) and Cody's Gator coat - together over $200, though not a ton of street value, I suppose. Next was my parking pass which could have gotten him in and out of the garage whenever he wanted - nope, left that. Then there was my building pass - he left that too and that would have given him unlimited access to a 22 story office building 24-hours a day. He really blew that one. He DID take my owners manual to my car (go figure) and all my non-burned CDs. He left the four packs of ripped/burned CDs and took the one pack of real CDs I had. His only problem was he robbed the wrong car - my CDs have ZERO "street value."
For instance, all day we were joking that some thug is driving around St. Louis listening to the Peter, Paul and Mary Campfire Sing-Along Songs (yes, I really own that CD - it has "Leaving on a Jet Plane" on it and I really like that song). We were joking that he was riding around singing "Michael Row your Boat Ashore." And then he's going to try to sell my Alladin soundtrack - good luck with that one buddy. And he's not going to know what to do with half the CDs in there - a ton are obscure bands no one in STL has heard of so the only person he could possibly sell them to would be ME! Then there's the entire collection of Bad Religion and They Might Be Giants CDs - good luck selling those on the black market too! What a moron thief!
Anyway, so after the police reports were filed and the insurance was called and the half dozen body shops were compared, Cody picked me up in his car (I had a doctor's appointment so I needed his car) and he took mine to the shop. The thing that really gets me is that he might have gotten $20 worth of stuff but did $1200 worth of damage to my car to get it! No one wins here except the body shop - thief dude loses because he got a bunch of lame CDs, I lose because I pay a ton of money and have no car now and the insurance loses because they pay out (though I'm sure they'll raise my rates for it).
I think I'm going to either (a) put a note with $20 on the car and just say to take this rather then break in since there are no guns, drugs or cash in my car - EVER or (b) leave the doors unlocked and windows down so if they want to fish around they can be my guest but it won't cost me a week with no car and a ton of money for breaking all my windows - good luck finding anything of value in my car.
So of course now I have to file a claim, because my back window alone is over $500 (which also happens to be my deductible). This is now the second claim I have ever filed and NEITHER were my fault - the first is when my car flooded at FSU parked in the bowl during a heavy rain. That's insane! Not only do I have to pay $500, my insurance will have to pay $1100 but my rates will go up - all becasue this moron wanted some CDs. . . but it gets better.
So, after all day joking about how this guy is a moron for stealing the worst street value CDs ever, I got another call from the garage and apparently the guy broke into another car and left my CDs in that guys car! So the theif figured out that my CDs were so bad that he wasn't going to get any money for Peter, Paul, and Mary and Aladin that he LEFT them!!!! So I get my CDs back tomorrow! All that damage to my car for what? An owners manual??
So what a Monday! Now Cody and get to carpool for the rest of the week and I get to deal with the body shop to get all my windows replaced and the weatherstripping fixed. AGGGGG... This week had better get better.

Sorry to offend any male readers for refering to my thief as a "he" but no woman would be that stupid to break into a car as messy and dirty as mine - she would have known I had nothing in there - just a bunch of shoes and trash. :)

God hates the Gators.

So here we all, good Gator fans, patient and loyal, but this week I'm done being patient. As everyone knows we have a RIDICULOUSLY hard schedule. And thus far we have managed to make it through with only one loss. So we fell in the polls after our loss and have slowly been working our way back up.
The week before last we made it up to number 4 - only Ohio State and Michigan (who still have to play each other and since one will lose presumably the other will drop below us) and West Virginia were above us. And then West Virginia lost! Yippee - we got to number 3, right? Nope. We won our game vs. Vandy and stupid undefeated Lousiville jumps us to #3 (they were the team that beat West Va.).
Okay, so we pouted a week but moved on. Then Louisville losses on Thursday! Yipee- we should go to #3! And to top it off, #5 Texas, #6 Auburn AND #8 Cal all lose too! We should be set for #3. So we play South Carolina (coached by our old ball coach, Spurrier) and barely sqeak out a win but a W is a W. We should be set!
Until we checked the polls today and we're number FOUR! What??? Who in the world does these things? USC (last week #7 to our last week #4) JUMPED US!! That's insane! I swear God hates the Gators.
So now we need to win big, need Cal to beat USC and then USC to beat Notre Dame (just in case some pollsters vote them to jump us next!). Football season. Gotta love it. Gotta hate the voters.

Dedicated to Chris

What a weekend - and it all started with a great night out with our friends Chris and Rachel. Yup, that's them in the picture at our party a few months ago - unfortunately I forgot my camera Friday night or I'm sure I would have had more photos. :) Anyway, Chris mentioned that for some reason he has never made the blog so I promised that I would put him and Rachel on the blog and rave about how great they are and how wonderful they are as a couple and as people. Good things it's all true because I'd really hate to lie on my own blog. :) Anyway, we went out to the Central West End, which is lovely, in addition to being close to our house. We had a great time hanging out with them and had fun meeting Rachel's sister and her gang (her sister's getting married in January in Key West - only a few more months to go for her). Can't wait to hang out with them again.

Insane.

It's been a while since I last posted. As usual, things have been insane. I won't bore you with details, but we did have a great trip to Nashville last weekend to watch the Gators beat up on the SEC whipping boy, Vanderbilt. I swear there were more Gator fans then Vandy - it was almost like a home game. Good fun was had by all - pictures will be up soon.

Upon returning to STL it was time to get serious on this wedding. When we got engaged I thought I had all the time in the world to plan the best party of my life. Then we spent the entire spring planning the Germany trip. Then we went to Germany and I came back crazy sick so that took almost a month. Then it was full blown summer which you just can't let slip by you here - you have to enjoy every sunny moment of it. Then it was fall and trips. And now it's winter - and less the FIVE months from the wedding! Needless to say I'm freaking out. But this week we've gotten quite a bit done. Cody has been working on the DJ situation and the officiant and I've been hard at work on the photographer and Save-The-Date cards (which I thought was funny has an acronym of "STD"). The cards are almost done but I still have to finish up some addresses, put on stamps and get them in the mail. It's coming along slowly but surely I suppose. I made out a master list of things to do so that should streamline things a bit hopefully.

In other news, we had our first soccer game tonight of the new season. We have some really nice (and good soccer player) new people which is always nice. I'm getting better - slighty- still not good but just not as crappy. I'm enjoying it though.

We decided we are going to try to make it to Tally for Thanksgiving this year. It's an insane trip - absolutely insane - 13 hours on Wednesday night/Thursday morning, three Thanksgiving meals in one day, a super busy Friday, hopefully FSU v. Florida on Saturday and then drive back on Sunday. And while it's insane and I bitch and moan about it there's just somethign about being home at Thanksgiving that just can't be replaced. Plus there's wedding stuff we need to do there. :)

Sorry for the break in blogging -blame it on the insaneness - now that the internet and computer are all working great I should be back to normal with blogging. Take care.

It's Alive!!

We finally have internet back! I haven't been able to do any blogging, emailing or looking up of websites all week because our stupid cable internet has been down. When I talked to them yesterday they actually admitted that "It looks like the problem might be on our end." Wow! Amazing - the first time I've ever heard a cable/tv/phone/internet/water/electricity/gas/etc. provider say anything was THEIR fault! I was shocked. Anyway, they sent someone out and we now have internet back. Yipee.
Now that I'm home from work to wait for the cable guy, I should go pack, as we're leaving for Nashville in a few hours to go watch the Gators play Vandy! It should be a blast! The Music City Gator Club puts on a huge party tonight for a pep-rally type thing. It's quite a good time - I'm sure I'll have lots to post about it on Sunday. :)

Halloween in the CWE

As usual, we headed down to the Central West End for their annual Halloween party this year. Great times were had by all. I have a BAZILLION pictures to put on the website (Halloween, World Series on Friday, parade today, etc.) but I wanted to post this one of the crew about to leave our house to walk down to the CWE. I was, of course, a pumpkin - again. Everyone else's costumes were way more creative. More pics to come on the website. 

Finally, our engagement announcement.

Yup, we've been engaged close to one year. Actually it will be one year in 20 days - we were engaged on November 18th. So you'd figure we would have put the announcement in the paper in December, or January, or possibly even February. But not us - we wait until 5 months before the wedding and almost a year after we got engaged. :) But at least it's done. And here's the link to the Tallahassee Democrat.

CARDINALS WIN THE WORLD SERIES!!

Cardinals win The World Series! Cardinals WIN The World Series! CARDINALS WIN THE WORLD SERIES! Wow!
Contrary to what the picture below might suggest we did not have tickets to the game (unlike the last time the World Series was in STL in 2004 when we got to see Game 4 where the Red Sox won their historic World Series). We did however leave the party we were at during the 8th inning and get our happy butts downtown to watch the festivities afterwards. We got to see the crazy fireworks go off and we even made it into the stadium afterwards where I took a MILLION pictures (reinforcing my conviction that digital cameras are the best invention EVER). I can't even describe the atmosphere! It was just amazing. I am seriously so humbled and feel so priviledged to have the opportunity to witness something so cool. Even if you hate baseball, having the opportunity to celebrate in a town that just won their first World Series in over 20 years is magical - especially when they win it at home. Looks like this may just be our lucky year for sports - our basketball team won the NCAA Championship, our baseball team won the World Championship - now if only we could get our football team in line (we'd drive pretty much anywhere if the Gators made the National Championship). The cool thing is we were there for the NCAA Championship and there afterwards for the World Championship - and we even got to see the World Cup this year - what a sports year we've had. Not to mention next weekend we're heading to Nashville to watch UF v. Vandy. Maybe we're a bit obsessive about sports.
BUT THE CARDINALS WON THE WORLD SERIES!!!

Tomato Harvest

Since we live in the Artic Tundra, opps, I mean St. Louis, our low the other night was 29 degrees! Yes, not only is that freezing, but it's freezing and then some! Well, my tomato plants have been doing fantastic lately so I hated to just have it freeze and lose them all, so Cody and I bundled up and went outside and picked all the tomatoes we could find of suitable size (we left the smaller ones hopeing they would make it and eventually go big so we can make salsa out of them). Here's a picture of all those tomatoes we picked off our plants! Pretty cool, huh? They're green now but a few days of sitting on the counter and they'll be perfectly red. Can't wait.

Oh, and those curious creatures in front of the tomatoes? They're elephants (at least we're pretty sure they are). Our wonderful niece and nephew sent them. We're assuming there's a story behind them, but just don't know it yet. In any event, we love them, they are super cute and are currently gracing our kitchen counter to keep our tomatoes safe from Mr. Pickles.  

Mr. Pickles watching the Cardinals v. Tigers

Here's Mr. Pickles watching the Cards lose to Detroit in Game 2 of the World Series. She was so disgusted she couldn't even watch any more. Luckily they won Game 3 and she's much happier now.  

Scaredy Cat

Here's a picture of Wiggles with her pre-Halloween costume on. It's her bandana that says "Scaredy Cat" - it's more fitting for Mr. Pickles but you're risking life and limb if you try to put a bandana on Pickles. In case you're wondering, her real Halloween costume is her nice pretty red dress.  

Radar Love

I think I've watched more weather radar in this postseason then I've watched baseball! I think I know every weather man this side of the Mississippi better then I know our pitchers!!

Today the THIRD postseason game was postponed - and that's just for the CARDINALS! I swear - we get all set to watch a game and then have it delayed . . . delayed . . . delayed . . . delayed . . . and then three hours later they finally postpone the stupid game. Like they didn't know it was going to continue to rain! It's rained all day! There's a HUGE green blob over STL on the weather radar map and it extends all the way until the end of the screen to the west. Now, I don't have a degree in meterology but that leads me to believe that it's raining now and it's going to continue to rain for quite some time. Too bad they also said it's supposed to rain for the next 36 hours straight - right through game 4 (should have been game 5) tomorrow!

HA! Forget stupid FOX and their stupid ratings and their stupid insistence of getting the games in on time so The Series will finish this weekend (weekend Series = good ratings) and not have to compete with Monday Night Football (which might happen if two games get rained out). :)

In any event, with all this mix-up with game times (now the people with Game 5 tickets will now be watching Game 4 tomorrow and the Game 4 people who had tickets today will be watching Game 5 on Friday) we may try to go downtown tomorrow and pick up some cheap tickets. We saw the Series two years ago - Game 4 when the Red Sox won - but it would still be a cool experience to see another one. Yeah, we're hopelessly obsessed with sports. . . even boring baseball. :)

Happy Anniversary, Pumpkin!

Happy 10th Anniversary, Pumpkin! 10 years ago I was working at Bruno's (a grocery store in Tallahassee) as an office manager/customer service person. Cody and I worked together and were in the early stages of our flirting. We may have even gone on our first date by this time, though I think that was in November. Anyway, our manager said we could wear a costume if we worked Halloween (which of course I did), but the problem was I had no costume - nothing. So I went to the fabric store, bought some cheap orange fabric and black fabric paint and sewed up this lovely costume. Just stuff it with newspaper and bam, you have a pumpkin. I have now worn this costume for 10 straight Halloweens. I even made it in the Tallahassee Democrat one year when I wore it to work at the mall (I was working at Victoria's Secret at the time) and was handing out candy to the mall trick-or-treaters. The hat was added in law school when my friend Virginia convinced me I needed something more to the costume. It works great! I even have candy corn earrings I wear with it, circa 1985. It's become a classic costume for me. It always works and I'm alway the only fat pumpkin at a party. So this year I got to pull it out of the closet early for a Halloween party we went to Saturday night. Fun fun fun. I've decided next year I might pass the pumpkin on to Cody - yeah he can fit in it too - and for now on I'm going to be a bride. Yup, I figure I'll just wear my wedding dress every year after the wedding. After all, what else would I ever do with it and it has the added bonus of encouraging me to fit into it year after year. :)

Thursday's Big News Items

I meant to post this on Thursday but got busy. . . .

1) The Cardinals made it to the World Series!! This is my third post-season in St. Louis and the second time we've been in the World Series. Pretty impressive. As you may already know, by the time I got around to posting this tonight, the Series is already underway and we're up 1-0. Game 2 is actually on right now, as we sit in the Boy Room with the space heater and all three cats, watching the Cards as they're down 2-0.

2) I scored my first goal in soccer on Thursday! Wow! Okay, actually it wasn't that impressive since the other team didn't show up (Game 7 of the NCLS was on) and we just split up our team and played Us v Us. So both of our teams were playing with 4 or 5 people and I scored the ugliest goal EVER! I think I actually tripped and fell into the goal and managed to take the ball with me. :) I was proud nonetheless.

Stupid Cardinals!

Way to blow a 3-2 lead! Now we have one more chance to win in New York for a chance to go to the World Series. Not that I think the Cardinals DESERVE to go to the World Series, but this town goes nuts for the Cards and I like the atmosphere.

For Cody's Dad

Hey Rick - Cody wanted you to see the pictures of his brake job last weekend. Just click on this link. I think he wants to show you the calipers - something about how there's no where to lubricate them. Enjoy! I hope all is great with you guys!

Why I Love My Future Husband #893

When I get stressed I can be a beast to deal with. A real beast. I've learned in my years not to take out my stress (at least the stress that's not Cody's fault) on Cody as it doesn't really get anything accomplished. Instead I just vent. And then vent some more. And then sometimes some more - I vent "with" him, instead of "at" him (at least that's what I tell myself). Anyway this week has been the worst week known to man. First, Monday our power went out because it rained all day. Yes, it rained, the wind must have blown and we lost power. So I came home from work to a cold and very dark house. So I packed my crafting stuff and went to the craft store to work on my Save-The-Date cards - I'm STILL trying to design them. Anyway, I figured the power would be on by the time the store closed at 9:30 pm. No luck. So Cody props #1 this week: he was nice and calm as I bitched constantly about how cold and dark it was as we sat in the kitchen with all the burners on the stove. We even made rice krispy treats as we sat in the kitchen trying to stay warm without dying of carbon dioxide poisoning. Anyway, he's quite the trooper. At 1 am when we went to bed, still no power. By the time we woke up the next day, still no power. We didn't get power back until sometime Monday during work. To make a long story somewhat shorter, Tuesday sucked. And then today sucked - it rained all day and I had to drive to Jefferson City. So last night I was at the end of my rope - I hadn't done laundry, dishes, I still didn't have Save-the-Date cards done, I had a million things to do for the wedding, work was a beast, etc. - so I went on and on about how stressed I was to Cody. Being the patient person he is, he was encouraging and patient and just listened to me and all my stress. And I really went into it - just on and on and on about my "to-do" list (a list that would scare most CEOs). So we went to bed, woke up late to start another crappy day. Then this evening I went running while he was heading home. While running I debated what to make for dinner, another thing on my eternal list. But when I walked in the door the house smelled like food. Sure enough Cody the Wondeful had gone to the grocery store and made us dinner. Sure it was just frozen pizza and salad with chicken, but it was dinner and I didn't have to make it. AND he even bought me a cookie and some Amaretto (I know it's a wussy drink, but I'm on an Amaretto and lemon juice kick - I think I just like adding the cherries)!!! Just when I was at the end of my rope, he goes all sweet on me. I am so thankful to have someone who listens, understands me and my needs, and is so good to me! And he's cute to boot! :)

My New Coat

I look like an eskimo! But at least I'm a very warm eskimo! :) This is a picture of my new winter coat. Last year my "winter coat" was a wool peacoat - it was nice, looked cute, but seriously underinsulated. Then I saw my friend Melanie's coat - it was fabulous - she looked like an eskimo but she was warm. I asked her where she got her jacket - Lands End - but it was too late in the season and I couldn't find it on their website. So I ordered their catalog and waited - past the spring, then summer, then fall and finally a few weeks ago I got their winter coat catalog. And there was the coat! So I promtly ordered it. The only problem was the sizing. I would have picked an XS (coats are always sized huge) but they only had XS in petite and while I may be able to do petite height-wise, I can't with my arm length. My arms are too long for petite stuff, so I had to order a regular small. The arm length is perfect but I can fit me, Cody and the three cats in the coat part. But who cares because I will be warm!!! This lovely thing is rated for -40 with warm clothes on and -20 with light clothing!!! Super! I've already worn it a few days and even wore it around the office one day when it was freezing in my office - it was fabulous!!! I'm going to be so warm this year! I'm sick and tired of being freezing! Oh, yes, I had my pajama pants on in that picture - and you can see my dining room paint job in the background!

What a weekend.

Not often do we have weekends like this one. A nice mixture of getting "chores" done, relaxing and having fun.
Friday night we decided to just hang out at home, as I was beat after my week and Cody wanted to get his contacts out as soon as possible. So we hung out together, made dinner and shamelessly watched television. First we watched "Grays Anatomy," a show I am ridiculously addicted to. It comes on Thursdays but since we were out Thursday (viewing for our friend's mom who passed) I missed it, but got to watch the replay on Friday. Then we watched the Cardinals beat the Mets in the second game of the NLCS. That tied the series 1-1. Then we watched "Walk the Line" which Cody had rented on his way home from work. Actually a pretty good movie. That was our shameless TV night - a lot of time in front of the TV for a couple that barely gets the watch the news on a regular basis. :)
Saturday Cody did the brakes on the Jeep, while I ran 17 miles. Yes, that's 17 miles. It was tough but I think I'm getting used to these longer runs because it wasn't half as bad as my 15 mile run - not to say it was easy, because I still felt like I had been run over by a truck. I napped for a while after that, as that much running really takes a lot out of me. Then we went to a friend's party/fish fry over in Illinois. It was a pretty fun party. The crowd was happy as they watched the Cardinals beat the Mets to take the lead in the series to 2-1. Cody and I, however, were on the verge of tears as Auburn managed to beat the Gators. It was awful - I could write pages on the game but will just say that I honestly think we were robbed. First, we were dumb enough to hold someone in our own endzone, giving them a safety - this is critical as much of the second half they were only up by 1 point - without this moronic move, we would have been up 1. Then in the second half they called a fumble on our QB when he was making a FORWARD MOTION!!! WHAT IN THE HELL!!! I'm not a NCAA rules nut, but my understanding is that if the QB is in the process of throwing, i.e. his arm is moving forward, then if the ball comes out it's an incomplete pass, not a fumble. We challenged, the fumble call stood, we lost the ball and our last time out. It was all downhill from there. Sad night in Gator Nation.
Today I let Cody sleep in while I worked around the house - cleaning the kitchen, living room, doing laundry, etc. When he woke up we decided to go bike riding in the park and play some one on one soccer. We had a great time biking around in the fall weather and he taught me a lot of cool soccer moves (I still really really suck but am getting better, slowly but surely). When we got back we ran our errands to the grocery store and Cody made dinner! Yup, Cody made dinner. His special spaghetti. Yum! I made desert - frozen eclairs from Smart Ones - they're really good and not terrible for you. :) Then we did our Sunday evening chores - cleaning, bills, etc. while watching the Cards get their tail kicked by the Mets. We were getting beat so bad we stopped even watching the score.
So, all in all a nice, relaxing, yet productive weekend. Makes you hate going back to work tomorrow!

I hate wedding dresses.

I really do. I thought I would love them and have a great time searching for one and when I found "The One" I would cry and laugh and just know it. Obviously that didn't happen. But while Cody's mom was here I thought I found one that would work for me. So today I went back to try it on with the proper bra and undergarments. I really loved the dress. It's really pretty and I love the feel of it. But then Marissa brought up that it looks like a prom dress. I don't necessarily think it looks prom-dressish but more evening dress-ish. So then I started to feel like it wasn't "bridal" enough and felt more like I had on an evening gown with a train. I tried on a few more and they were okay and then I went back to one before - a lace one. And I loved it too. Everyone asks which I like better and there really isn't a way to compare them - they are TOTALLY different dresses. One of these days I HAVE to get a dress! By the way, if you go to the website, click on August 2006, I've narrowed it down to Dress #6 and #4.

Thoughts and Prayers.

A friend's mom passed away yesterday. She emailed today and I was at a loss for words. What do you say in that situation? I cannot even fathom what she is going through right now. I would not wish that on anyone in the world. It just has to be the worst feeling ever - especially when it's unexpected. So I did the best I could and offered to help in any way we could. The viewing/wake/memorial service (depending on your religion or traditions) is Thursday and Friday. We'll go hoping to offer her the tiniest bit of consolation and in the very least let her know she has a friend to lean on.

It sucks getting older - a rather unfortunate side effect is that it's less of a shock with a friend's parent dies. We're still young enough for it not to be happening on a regular basis - as a matter of fact I think I've had more friends die young then friends I've known whose parent has died - but we're getting old enough that it's becoming more and more a fact of life. Ten years ago if a friend's parent had died it would have been totally and completely tragic and unfair. It's no less tragic now but as we get older we accept the fact that those around us do as well - and our folks just happen to have a big head start on us.

So, as you read this be thankful for those in your life still alive, be blessed by the ones that aren't and please keep my friend in your thoughts and prayers - whichever you believe in.

"Safety Violation"

This past weekend we went up to Wisconsin to see some of Cody's family - most importantly, Grandma Raffensperger (aka Grandma Raff) - though she is actually Cody's GREAT-Grandma (making her Baylee and Brandon's GREAT-GREAT-Grandma). She is 97 years young and is such a great woman. The last time I saw her was the family reunion in 2000 and she seems just as good now as she did then. She has more family then most of us can ever imagine and they all care about her more then I can explain.
Well, other then our guest of honor, we also got to visit with Sara, Larry and Baylee and Brandon this weekend, which was simply wonderful! Brandon is one now and walking around like mad. He walks sort of like a drunk person and just will run into anything in his path. This kid seems fearless. And boy does he love to walk. Walk walk walk. No holding or sitting or stopping - just walking. He's adorable though - I can't wait to see how much he changes in the next few months over the holidays. And then there's Baylee. This little girl is smart as a whip and cute as a button. She's really amazing. And she is actually the subject of my story.
So, on Saturday afternoon we were heading to Trish and Joe's for a gathering/BBQ. Since Brandon was sleeping we took Baylee while Sara and Larry waited for him to wake up from his nap. We put her car seat in the middle seat in the back of the Cruiser between Donna and I. Well, about 15 minutes into the trip, she looks at me and says, "Missy, your knob is up." I was terribly confused and said, "My what is what?" Well, she pointed to more door lock and said "That's a safety violation." Sure enough I had no locked my car door and the door lock (aka "my knob") was up. And Baylee was observant enough to issue me a "Safety Violation." I felt like I should write my name on the board or get a sticker taken away. :) So we joked about that for a while until we got to Trish and Joe's.
We were having a great time at their house, playing with the kids, catching up with everyone, when Baylee walks right up to Joe (who had just finished smoking a cigarette) and says, "That's a safety violation. You're going to die." Everyone CRACKED UP! It was hillarious. At least my Safety Violation wasn't accompanied with a "You're going to die." :)

In a funk.

There are some days when you're just in a funk. Today is one of those. First, I'm horrible at good-byes. Cody's parents left this morning and I managed to hold it together just long enough for us to wave them good-bye. Then I just broke down. As Cody closed the door, I just cried and cried and went on and on. Going on and on about how it's so hard to live so far away from family. And it's not fair that everyone in St. Louis (okay, I was exagerating here) lives near their family (because most of them never move away). And why do we "have" to live so far away (knowing all the while that living far away is just as much my decision as Cody's). And on and on. All day I was just bummed. I know that sounds dumb, especially since they're my in-laws and most people jump for joy to get rid of their in-laws, but I have REALLY great in-laws. And we had a REALLY great time with them. Even walking around the house this evening with Cody at work seemed lonely since they weren't here. I wanted to walk into our spare room and see them there. I wanted to sit and drink wine with his dad and beer with Cody and his mom. I wanted to just chat some more and pick their brains some more. I can't even explain how smart these people are! And how "together" they are - they're just so pragmatic and give such great advise. They are able to just put so much into perspective in such a non-assuming way. For instance, we were talking about us living far away from family and I how I sometimes felt guilty for not living closer and helping out more with the family and they just casually explained that Cody and I will be each other's families soon and that has to be a top priority. There's something about the way they said that that just made sense and made me feel better. There's no on thing I can ever put my finger on and no particular specific quality that's so great, they're just all round good people. And now I miss them.
So today's kind of been a funky day. I pouted and whined to Cody all day and he, like the great guy he is, has come to be patient with me on days like this - especially when it's good-bye days. I know he's got to be missing them too, but he manages to just put that aside and deal with my much more emotional, outward display of missing them. What a guy!

Soccer.

Well tonight I had my third consecutive start for our indoor soccer team. Yeah, I guess I didn't mention that we only had three girls (which you need three to play) so there were no subs, thus I had to start. :) Actually we ended up with four girls total so we did have one sub between the three of us.

I'm getting better. I'm not good, but I'm getting better. Tonight I worked on being more aggressive on defense and actually getting to the ball instead of just standing a few feet away from my mark. The only problem with this is I feel bad about invading someone's space or hitting up against them, so I constantly apologize every time I bump into someone. But it's a fun game and I'm learning.

Finally Maybe?

Finally. Maybe. This afternoon I managed to somehow talk Cody's mom into going wedding dress shopping with me - actually we didn't so much as go shopping as we did just go look at the ones I had narrowed it down to. Poor lady didn't know what she was getting herself into with the beast that is me and dress shopping. :) She's quite a trooper though - and she's not even MY mom! Anyway, we went and looked at them and for some reason whatever she said to me resonated and I think I've picked a dress! Not totally yet, but 75% sure. Remember how I said how wonderful his parents are and they have a way of saying things that make sense? Well this is one of those instances. I can't remember exactly what she said or how she said it but she listened to what I was saying and watched my movements in a way that when she did give advise I really understood it. She basically picked up on my actions in a way I can't and pointed those out to me. When we were done looking at them and discussing them, I just felt more comfortable with one of the dresses in particular. She pointed out that I just kept saying "But I love this dress" over and over whenever the salesperson or I would notice something about it. So even though it's the least forgiving dress in terms of body forgiveness and it might wrinkle a bit more then others and it's not as dressy or fancy or lacy or sparkly, I just kept coming back to "I love this dress." Anyway, I really have no idea how she just makes you feel at ease with decisions but she doesn't push one tiny bit but rather somehow paves the way for you to feel comfortable in your own decision. I really need to learn that skill. I sometimes tend to give a bit more then my two cents worth when most times both I and the person I'm listening to would probably be better off if I had the skill to just point out observations about their choices and make them feel comfortable in their own decision making. Anyway, for what it's worth, I think I made a decision about my wedding dress. Now if only I could move forward with all the other planning and decision making there is to be done!!

Bumble Bee, Baby and Biopsy

It's "B" Day! First up: Bumble Bee.

On Sunday we took Cody's parents to the wineries out in Augusta, Missouri. Wineries in Missouri? Yup, that's right we have wineries right here in Missouri. And they're not just glorified beer halls that serve wine. They're actually pretty nice and have decently good wine. Yeah, we're not Napa Valley or France, but it's still gorgeous scenery (especially this time of year when the weather is great and the leaves are changing) and good wine. Anyway, we took them to Montelle which has really good white wine (and fruit wine - raspberry, strawberry and blackberry) and a great view of the Missouri river - they have a great multi-level porch/deck system for tons of great seating. So we sat outside in this beautiful weather and this bee starting buzzing around me. Well, I tend to talk a lot (a bit of an understatement) and this bee actually flew into my mouth! Yes, Marissa (my friend with a serious irrational fear of bees), the bee actually FLEW INTO MY MOUTH. So naturally I shut my mouth, felt the bee and then promptly spit it back out. Lucky me it didn't sting me or anything! He just flew away on his happy little life. A friend of his came back later and almost got into my nose, but you can bet I kept my mouth closed!

Second: Baby!

Yup, Cody and I have a new baby!! Bet you didn't even know we were pregnant! Just kidding! Our fish was pregnant and had babies! We were sitting with his parents in our living room/reading-fish room yesterday and his dad noticed a little baby fish. It looks about a week old and he managed to live this long! The others were most likely eaten by the other fish in the tank but this little guy managed to live and survive the wrath of the big fish! So we scooped him up and put him in his own little mesh area inside the big tank so we can feed him special food and have him not eaten by other fish. So we have one more animal in our house - a new baby fish. On another, much sadder note, our big Bala Shark died in the same tank. Circle of life I guess. I got Cody that baby shark with two others for Valentine's Day back in 1999. I put them in a 10 gallon tank with all orange and blue rocks. When I went to clean the tank a few months later I put all the fish in a bucket and when I went back to put them all back into the tank two had jumped out of the bucket and killed themselves - this one was the only remaining from that first batch. So our 7 year old fish finally died - he survived many moves and a lot of crazy fish situations but was always a trooper.

The final "B": Biopsy.

This one the guys may not care much to read about. Consider yourself warned. I usually don't talk too much on here about deeply personal stuff - unpleasant medical situations, arguments with Cody, ugly family situations, bad work events, etc. - but I figure I might as well give it a try. So, today I had a second biospy of an area which I'll just call "a very sensitive girl area." I had the first two years ago and have continued to have problems, so my now THIRD doctor decided to do another one. So not only do they cut a large piece of skin out of a very sensitive area but then they put in THREE stitches. Yes, stitches. You can't even imagine how stitches feel there, unless, I suppose, you've had a child. Then maybe you can understand. Anyway, I came home crying, half because of the pain and half because I just want them to figure out what in the hell is wrong already. How many damn doctors does it take to diagnose things these days?!!? Not only is this my THIRD doctor but she's also referring me to yet another specialist - yes, that's doctor #4! So, that's today's issue. I'm in pain and I want the doctors to be miracle workers - is that too much to ask? It's just I hate not knowing things and then I start thinking that Cody and I will at some point want to have children and I don't want to do that without being totally positive that I'm 100% healthy. I just want this whole situation to be over - it's been going on for too damn long. Speaking of kids, in case you're dying to know, the answer is no - we're not having them any time soon.

So those are the "B"s for today.

Go Gators!

Today was another great day with Cody's folks. I ran 15 miles this morning while they hung around the house (see other blog for more on the running). It was a very hard 15 miles but I'm glad it's over with. Then we went out to Ozzie's and watched UF beat up on Alabama in the Swamp. Great game.
Tomorrow we've got outdoor soccer in Creve Coeur and hopefully the wineries. :)