I Dub Thee the Longest Day Ever.

Today started just fine.

Got up, got ready, packed my suitcase, ate some food, sent a text to my fiance... all pretty much the same old.

Got to work, keyed claims for two hours and then everyone from the 4th floor made their way to the Manor House in Mason, OH. Today was "EyeMed's Got Talent!", also known as the mandatory off-site event. My friend Sara and I squished ourselves into my jam-packed-full car and headed over together, and then sat through two hours of some of the most hilarious skits I think I've ever seen, ate some wondrous food, and then listened to Dessie Williams, a famous motivational speaker, for two straight hours.

Get.
Excited.

Just kidding, he was actually really fun to listen to. Oh, and the room we were in was frigidly cold and Sara and I shivered through everything and were super excited to get outside in the warm.

Anyway, so, I drop Sara off at her car after this shindig ends and head off to my apartment, where I was going to check the mail for RSVPs. (We have finally hit the 100 mark out of ALL the people we have invited). I waited for, like, half an hour because I saw the mail truck at the other end of the lot and I figured he just hadn't made his way down to my end yet.

Waited.
And Waited.
Still didn't move.

So I got fed up and checked and guess what? He had already been to my end, probably before I even got there. Epic fail on my part. Speed off from my apt because I needed to get out of Cinci before rush hour.

Driving up the interstate and I'm nearly to an exit for Mason where I was going to get gas when suddenly my car won't accelerate. I stomped down on the pedal and nothing happened, so I slowly pulled over to the side of the road and stopped. Turned off my car. Tried, and it wouldn't turn on. Tried again. Nothing. I called Johnny, called my Dad, tried to turn the car on again, it turned on. So I, in my infinite car wisdom, immediately turned it off again, not feeling safe driving it anywhere, even if was just to head down the ramp to the Speedway. Dad thought it could be the oil so he had me check and it was low. So I start my trek down the ramp, heading for Speedway. Dangerous place to be on foot, let me tell you, but I made it. Found oil but realized I couldn't remember what kind I needed. So I guessed and decided I'd ask when I go to the counter.

I also bought Twizzlers.

Just go with me here.

Get up to the counter and I ask the guy if he knows anything at all about cars and told him I just wanted to know if I got the right thing. The guy in line behind me knew, so he helped out, and I tell them that I'm that car up there that's broken down and suddenly everyone has advice, none of them think that it's the oil, etc, etc.

The guy behind me, however, was very helpful and said that it sounded to him like the alternator and then was going to offer me a ride in his big moving truck but there wasn't room (I wouldn't have accepted anyway, I've seen too much SVU and NCIS for that...) so he starts talking about figuring out where the police station is when the Sheriff pulls in. This man has no fear and just really wanted to help a damsel in distress so he approaches the Sheriff to ask him if he'd give me a ride.

Next thing I know I'm sitting in the back of the cop car (the passenger seat had a box of stuff in it) and he's making his roundabout way back to I-71 North to my car. I told him he didn't need to stick around so he dropped me off and I put the oil in and try the ignition and wonder of wonder it starts! However, the battery light stayed on, so I once again turned the car off and called my dad and he wanted me to look up AutoZone so I could have them check my battery. Well then I try the ignition again and... no dice. So AutoZone is no go.

All this time I'm calling Johnny and my Dad alternately to update them on the situation and I'm on the verge of tears but hold it back. Call my friend Dave, who knows cars and lives nearby. He makes his way to me through rush hour traffic. Checks my car, decides it's not the battery, the oil, the alternator, but that it could be the fuel system or the electrical. But he wasn't sure, and we couldn't get the car on, so Allstate Roadside Assistance was called and I called Johnny and my sister to arrange my rides north considering the whole reason I'm going is because my third bridal shower is tomorrow and I kind of need to be there...

Forty-five minutes later the tow truck appears and tows my poor Penny over to a dealership that Dave recommended. Left my spare key in the night drop with the necessary information and now I'm sitting at Dave's house writing this while waiting for my sister to come get me. She should be here at any time.

This whole ordeal began around 4pm. I got to Dave's at 7:30pm.

*sigh*

SO the last thing I need right now...

and still trying to figure how I'll get back...

Aaaaannnndd....

Time just keeps getting shorter! Only 17 days till the wedding now, the RSVP deadline is this Saturday, as is my final shower. My bosses are leaning towards a "yes" for me working from home (um, can you say 'score!'?) and there's only a couple of trips left for my apartment to be empty. Every night this week will be spent packing everything up room by room. I've already done my bedroom and the living room. Tonight I tackle the bathroom and the kitchen, since the bathroom won't take long. I bought bubble wrap for my breakables and Johnny and I have spent time trying to figure exactly what pieces of furniture will fit in our cars so we can get it up to the house without having to drive the truck all the way down here. However, I have a feeling that the truck will be in my near future...

Be that as it may, on my drive home Sunday it suddenly struck me that the boys are wearing brown dress shirts and Johnny is wearing a brown tux... but what if the two shades don't mix well? What if Johnny's tux isn't a warm enough brown and they just clash when standing next to each other? And what if I don't have enough flowers? Who will start the fire before everyone gets to the reception? We need to make a playlist! And buy bubbles, where did Anne get her bubbles? What if the flowers and other decorations for the reception don't look good and it just looks like my crazy brain exploded all over the inside of a tent? What if no one has fun because we're not having dancing?!? On and on and on and on and ever since then I've been a crazy person. I was so wired by the time I got back to Cinci that I couldn't fall asleep and had to read a book to calm myself down.

I've been running every day I can because a.) the weather is gorgeousness and b.) it helps to de-stress while giving me energy and motivation to get stuff done. This whole wedding thing is stressful. As is moving without a moving truck, waiting to hear whether I have to quit my job, and knowing that in 17 days this will all be over and everything will calm down. So I'll just take this one day at a time...

26 Days

That's it.
Only 26 days till I'm standing at the altar with my Johnny, and I have SO MUCH to get done. I don't think I have ever been this stressed, and honestly it's not stress about the wedding. Whether the decorations are done and perfect and the sanctuary looks nice and we actually get around to getting a guest book or not, the wedding will happen. Nothing will stop it.

No, my stress is due to my job, and to moving.

As boring as it is, I'd like to keep my job. I very much dislike job hunting so keeping the one I have would be ideal. However, to keep it I have to prove I can work from home and finish enough claims and do them all correctly. They're giving me two weeks to prove this, and it started last week so there's only three more days to prove I can. I'm trying very hard to think positive but there's a big part of pessimistic me that believes I'll be job searching this time next week.

And the keeping my job thing is due to my big move north to the house Johnny and I are renting. I'm slowly packing up my stuff and filling up my car and driving everything north weekend by weekend until it's all gone but the furniture and my clothing. As I own what Johnny considers to be a ridiculous number of books, this moving thing is going to take awhile. And then I have to figure out how to get all of the furniture north as well, since it definitely won't fit in my car. So the stress of moving on top of wondering if I get to keep my job on top of trying to get everything done for the wedding and trying to work out daily so I don't gain a million pounds from the stress...

I am very, very tired.

All of the stress compounded with not enough sleep and a job where I sit on my butt for ten hours a day means I am exhausted. Almost all the time. This time last year I was running up to two miles a day and working out daily and not driving as much and I lost a bit of weight even while sitting for 8 hours a day. The difference between then and now is that then I worked evenings and slept till I naturally woke up, giving me plenty of rest, and I made a point of working out every day (It helps to live in a small town where everything is in walking distance) and I rarely drove. Really I'm just looking forward to the end of this stress and the start of a new chapter. In 26 days everything changes, and not driving 7 hours every weekend is a major perk.

Okay. Now that my stress and exhaustion rant is over, I'm going to do a workout, update the RSVP list, and clean up the kitchen. Then, if I have enough time, I'll be grabbing boxes from the car and filling them up with books and stuff.
Wish me luck!
Ready, Set, Go!

Shower Madness!

This past Saturday, July 30th, was the first of three showers being thrown for me. My bridesmaids took care of this one, and it was a literary shower!! The invitations were those little cards that used to be used at libraries when you checked out books, and everyone was given the option of bringing me a book along with whatever gift they got for me. I left with nine books, only two of which were books I already had so I'm REALLY excited to start reading! Of course, I left all the presents at my Dad's because there is absolutely no space here and no point in dragging everything here when I'm moving out in a month.

Eeee! I'm moving out in a month! Panic attack....

Anywho, I was unable to take any of my own photos for this shower so I had to steal from Facebook. The party was so much fun that neither girl took many pictures but you'll get the basic idea.

One of the games we played was a kind of story-telephone game. One sentence is written at the top of a piece of paper to begin the story, and the first person writes a sentence or two to continue it. Then, before passing the paper on, they fold back the top of the page to hide the original sentence, leaving only the sentence they wrote so the next person has only that sentence to go on. The results are hysterical, and therefore I will now post for your enjoyment the winning story of the day.

"Emily gets to the church for the wedding and the church door is locked.

Emily decided to break the lock with a hammer she keeps in her boot. The spider that was hiding in her boot-top crawled onto her wrist. Sinking its venom-filled fangs into her skin the spider took a last breath before his life was brought to a bitter end by Emily's hand. Quickly, Johnny knelt beside her and sucked the venom from the wound. At the sight of her own blood, Emily fainted. Forgetting that he was a prince, Johnny quickly picked her up and placed her tenderly in the glass coffin which conveniently was waiting in the next room. Unfortunately Johnny accidentally tickled Emily's foot and she kicked the glass with her heel and shattered the coffin. A circling group of bald eagles, alerted by the tinkling of broken glass, began dive-bombing Emily. Thunder crashed; lightning flashed across the sky! "Oh no!" said Johnny, "My temple underwear is showing!"

The End

 Me and my lovely bridesmaids! Much thanks for the two girls at either end, who were the main planners of this shindig!

 This is a little tradition my older sister picked up in Columbus and she has brought it to our family!

Jessie was kind enough to lend her living room for decorating purposes. I recognized it the moment I walked in!

Other than the story game we did a word search (first to find ten words yells bingo and gets a prize!), and "Who Am I?" where everyone has a character name taped to their back and can only ask yes or no questions to find out who they are. My friend Lindsey was Harry Potter and got hers in about three questions. I was Alice in Wonderland and was the very last to figure out who I was! The whole thing was great fun, and now I have two more to look forward to, one for each side of the family. 

But for now I get to type out labels, buy some stamps, and send out the invitations I went to pick up yesterday! Supposedly you're allowed one big mistake or every wedding won't be successful without one big mistake or something, and my one big mistake was originally telling my brother in law we needed a certain number of invitations and then when he called to confirm with me I told him that was the wrong number and we needed an extra hundred! Well.... he was right, I was wrong, and now we have a hundred too many invitations and are out about $100 of our budget. But it could be much worse! So! Five weeks to go!

Well it's about time.

I"ll start by telling you that yesterday was a terrible day all around. I won't make you miserable by listing all of the crappiness, but it was made a little better by eating a lovely dinner with my sister and brother in-law in Columbus last night. And then getting a great night's sleep. So!

Remember the exciting news I hinted at in my previous post? Well here it is. Are you ready?

Johnny and I are renting a house in Massillon, OH.

We have the keys and everything! Finally, after so many months of answering "We're not sure yet" we can give people a real, honest to goodness answer when they ask what our plans are! 

Really this house just fell into our laps at Johnny's family reunion a few weeks ago. His cousin's wife walked up to us and said, "Hey, heard you're looking for a place, I can hook you up, yo!" ... or something like that. Basically they own a house, they've rented it before, it has brand new carpet and cabinets and linoleum and a claw foot bath tub. It's not air conditioned but so what? It's only 10 minutes from Johnny's work and, as his cousin's wife is a bailiff, she's got major connections and said for me to shoot her my resume and she'll pass it around at work. There's a chance that I could keep my current job and work from home, but it's nice to have other options in case that one doesn't work out. 

No pictures of the kitchen because it's a giant mess right now. 

But that's my exciting news!! And the fact that my dad didn't make 'The Face' and start questioning my budget, the wisdom of this idea, whether we had really thought about it before making the decision, and then telling me I'm 25 and almost married and can make my own decisions (all of which usually tells me he thinks I'm making the wrong one) tells me that we have his blessing in this and I'm SOO glad! 

And now comes the work... over the next six weeks I will be packing up my apartment into boxes, filling up my car and driving to Massillon to toss it all into the house so that when the wedding comes all we have to get is my furniture and then most of the wedding money we're given will go to buying out my lease. But it will all be SO worth it!

I'm a Lazy Bum.

A. Okay, once again I suck at posting regularly. Life is just so much of the same right now that I really have nothing to post about and besides,
B. this ridiculous heat has made me extremely lethargic and I tend to come home and just lie on my couch watching stuff on Netflix after
C. my TEN HOUR workday. Yes. I now work 4x10s, at least for the remainder of the summer, and for some reason it has me completely whooped. However, it gives me Friday's off for cleaning unless I'm not home on Friday like this past weekend when I
D. drove up to Canton on Thursday to spend the weekend with Johnny because his aunt is literally in a coma on her deathbed. It's very reminiscent of my own mom's passing, everyone just sitting around, talking about old memories and just watching and waiting. So far they've been watching and waiting for almost a week and a half now.

This means that my apartment is a disaster, I'm tired, I admit I'm a bit lazy, and I'm seriously stressed. I'm just really good at hiding it.

One good thing that has happened lately is all the headway we're making with this whole wedding thing. Johnny and I finally hired a photographer, the invitations will be sent VERY soon, I'm in the middle of typing an address list for labels, I bought more fake flowers and a pair of shoes this past weekend, I've found a dress for the rehearsal I just need to buy it, I have my last fitting with my sister probably this weekend before my first of three bridal showers! Whoosh. That was a long sentence. There has also been an exciting development, but I won't share about that until all the details have been ironed out. :)

As I just said, my first shower is this weekend! Lately there have been all kinds of little things that have made this whole thing more and more real to me. In six and a half weeks I will become Mrs. Johnny Cross, move in with a man, eventually become a mother (not for a long while, though...) and it's all happening so quickly! Starting this weekend I have a shower every two weeks until the end of August, after which it is then only two weeks till the big day. There is still a lot to be done, I have to order flowers, figure decorations, budget for s'mores, find someone who will donate wood for the bonfire, get the invitations printed, labeled, stamped and sent, all of this not necessarily in that order. Then I get to handle the RSVP list and pray that only 150 of the 250 we're inviting respond! But in the meantime I sit here in my too warm apartment avoiding turning on the AC so I don't have an exorbitant electric bill and, I admit, putting off typing out addresses because it's just so much easier to be lazy!

I assume you've all heard The Lazy Song, by Bruno Mars? Most annoying song on the planet.

Ciao!

Most Likely to go on an Adventure.

I have become a total lameface in terms of posting. My most sincere apologies! I honestly don't have terribly much to write about, though, so for this post I will tell you about my adventure last Friday.

At my job, claims processors have two monitors. It's just the way it is. But when you're a temp you generally don't get two monitors (although the other two temps on my team had two...) so I still have one. And it's an ancient dino of a computer and monitor that I affectionately named Norman. On Thursday last week, someone from the Network Services Group (NSG) appeared looking for me to give me my new monitor! I was so stoked! They showed up just as my work day was ending so I made sure it was okay and then left.

Fast forward to Friday morning. I arrive to find... one monitor. A new, pretty flat screen monitor, but still only one. My dino was gone. So I go tell my coordinator, who tells the boss, who tells my coordinator to have me call my boss at a certain number. I do, and then my boss tells me to hike down to NSG and find some guy named Jason who is bald and supposed to give my monitor back. He gives me directions and off I go.

NSG is located on the far west side of the building on the third floor. I'm on the fourth floor on the eastern side of the middle section of the building... if that makes sense. So I hike down there with knees that are protesting loudly with each step and eventually find myself in a really sketch part of the building. It was dark down there, with no drop ceiling so you could see all the pipes and beams like you would in a warehouse. The walls of the cubicles are all taller than me and I have no idea if I'm even in the right place because we don't exactly label our departments.

So I'm standing there looking lost and confused and this girl is a few feet away from me holding a clipboard. She sees me and says, "Can I help you?" Not in a nice way, either, but rather with the look on her face that said "Who the heck are you?" I told her I was looking for Jason.

"Is he expecting you?"

Like he's the president or something. Seriously.

I tell her yes, because it's true, and she walks towards me and points down the aisle I'm standing partially in front of to a bald guy down the way. As I start walking down this dark aisle toward the four men sitting at the other end I take in my surroundings: there are computers and wires and techie stuff everywhere. Literally. But as I start walking down the guy called Jason looks over, points and says "You!" I'm startled, but just keep walking. "You're the monitor!" he says.

Why yes, Jason. Yes I am.

He gestures to the desk area to his left once I reach him. "There's your monitor." I look down to see a slightly older flat screen. My Norman was NOT a flat screen.

"Well, that's not my monitor," I stammer out. "I had an ancient big monitor, like from 1998. But I'll gladly take a flat screen."

He just sits and stares at the monitor for a moment, then asks "That's not your monitor? Was yours a flat screen?" I answer his questions and then he stands up, says something like "Hold on", and then walks away holding the monitor, leaving me alone in this big creepy aisle feeling awkward and trying to figure out if he wanted me to follow. A moment later he reappeared and motioned for me to follow.

So I follow him over toward the window where there is a huge cube of ancient monitors like Norman stacked on top of each other next to a stack of older flat screens, which is where he sets "my" monitor. Turning back toward me, he holds up one finger in the "one second" motion before disappearing into a room behind me.

Once again, me standing awkwardly where I clearly hear him having a perfectly normal and pleasant conversation with whoever was in that room. Seconds later he reappears holding a monitor identical to the one he had just tried to give me and says "Do you know how to hook it up?"

I stared at him stupidly. "I can't hook it up because I need a dual video card - "
"Yeah, but once you have that can you hook this up?"
"I think so - "
"Well if you need help just call down here and I'll come help."

And he walks away. Well, kind of. He takes a few steps and is then joined by the girl who was apparently an executive assistant in another life and they proceed to have some kind of conversation as they walk. stop. walk. stop. in front of me the whole way out of Mars - uh, I mean, NSG.

Then I made my escape before it became necessary to make like ET and phone home.

When I made it back to the comfort of claims-land, I went to talk to my coordinator.

Me: so, I went to NSG.
Her: What happened. (she said this very knowingly and somewhat cautiously...)

So I tell her the whole story and we laugh about how in NSG they apparently don't need to actually be able to talk. It was like being on a whole other planet.

And after all of this excitement I came to work on Tuesday and had to call NSG because for some ridiculous reason I couldn't log into my computer. It made me lose an hour of work as I sat on hold for almost a half hour playing games on my phone to pass the time. Thankfully the phone etiquette down in NSGland is significantly better than their in-person people skills.

I guess the moral to the story is, if you're getting your computer monitor back and they offer your a newer one, just take it and don't ask questions. Simple and classic.

So anyway, that was my adventure. Here's hoping sometime soon I get that dual video card so I can finally have two monitors! It'll make my day SO much easier.

Happy Belated 4th of July, folks!

Update: by the way, in reference to an earlier blog, Johnny's house now has water, thanks to Johnny and all of his hard labor. :)