Ramblings

In a slow room at work, and I'm running out of computer based things to do.

So I'll ramble.

Today marks three weeks until my wedding. In the middle of the controlled chaos of the prep work, I've found myself in a reflective mood from time to time.

First off, it seems strange beyond words that I'm actually getting married. That is just weird.

I don't think I ever was one of those girls who dreamed and schemed about the type of guy they would marry. There was a few years where I didn't know if I would get married. I never thought about what he would look like, what color his eyes would be, all that girly stuff.

But I do know I didn't expect to marry someone so different from me. I never pictured him a home schooler from MN. Not that I have anything against homeschoolers, I think it is great for some people, maybe even my kids one day. But it was never an option nor an interest in my own home, and homeschoolers always had a greater potential to be weird in my mind for many years. As did people from big families. And the MN thing? I didn't even know where MN was for sure until my junior year in college when I applied for an internship here. And now I've lived here 3 years and say my O's funny and eat lefsa. When did that happen? Now no matter when we go next, we'll always be tied to this strange place.

I didn't expect to marry someone who knew more about Abbott and Costello than baseball or football. It never occurred to me he'd be SO tall. :-)

I'm not surprised we met at church. I like that. I'm not surprised he wants to be a minister. I'm not surprised that he's happy with PB&J, and me in no makeup, because I really couldn't handle a high maintenence guy.

I never imagined what type of wedding I'd have either. Though I did think to myself, "I'd really like to get married here" the first time I saw the Cradic's little farm, I never debated outdoor-vs-church wedding when I was growing up. It just never occurred to me to plan these things. I was probably out playing basketball or digging up stuff out of the yard instead of playing princess. It was incredibly difficult when I started shopping for wedding related stuff, and salespeople would say, "Well, what kind of wedding do you want? What's your look? What do you want??" And I would just blankly stare back at them and say, "I don't know, I've never thought about it before." I'm the type of customer they hate.

The roommates moved out last week and we've been moving Bob's stuff in, setting up house, planning out rooms. It strikes me as funny to do that sort of thing with someone. I play well with others, but I've been so incredibly independent for so long it is odd to think of things as "our house", "our dishes", "our lawnmower." It has been SO fun though, and we've both had a blast getting things set up like we want it so we can come back from our honeymoon to a furnished, comfy house. I can't wait to hang up the Welcome to the Blanshans', Est. 2009 sign I made him for Christmas.

I suppose that is more than enough. Surely there is something else I can cross off my to-do list while stuck in a patient room.

What I'm Doing These Days

You know those all-day-Saturday workdays you had as a kid? The ones where your dad comes and rips the blankets off of you while you're still sleeping at 7am, yelling, "It's time to work!" You smell the bacon already cooking, and you get no sympathy for being tired or cold or anything else that might keep you in the bed. You work hard, maybe taking a midday break for an ice cream float before going back to work all afternoon.

At least, that's what we did at my house. I've had a lot of those farm workdays recently. And that's how I've been living every day for the last little while even when I'm not at the farm. Go, go, go, with the occasional ice cream break.

The wedding count down has begun, and the farm is.....still getting a facelift. I am dumbfounded by the amount of brush, metal, garbage, and unidentifiables we have uncovered from those few acres. My back is sore, my legs are sore, but there is no better feeling than taking a hot shower when you are filthy dirty and have worked hard all day outside in perfect weather. We have made significant progress, and I'm grateful to all who have helped and to the Cradics for letting us use their farm as a wedding location. They're getting a pretty good deal with untold hours of help to get their place spruced up, but I'll leave it up to them to say whether it has been worth the stress of a deadline and the all-at-once monetary investment or not.

When I haven't been at the farm having flashbacks of my childhood every few minutes, I've been running around mad doing other things. The regular wedding planning takes time. I'm almost finished with our super-fun slideshow, (which you got another sneak preview of today). Bridesmaid dresses are shipped, my dress is in, tuxes and flowers are ordered, favors/decorations/tablecloths have arrived, honeymoon is booked, reservations are rolling in, etc, etc.

In sad news, one of my nursing school friends was killed this last week. By her husband. The whole scenario is shocking and mindboggling. All I really know is that she is gone. While I haven't seen her for 3 years, we were close in school and partially trained for a marathon together. Another painful reminder life is short.

I also managed to get in a tiny little fender bender. Except it didn't bend anyone's fender or do anything else, for that matter. Yet it still got reported and my insurance is getting taken for a paint job. Sigh.

Whoopwhoop! Today I officially finished this semester of grad school. I defended my thesis proposal (and got approved) and took two finals this week. The thesis project will continue throughout the summer, but we get a break for a while, and there's no more deadlines, persay. This makes me happy.

In my attempt to get my own place spruced up before it is invaded in June, I planted grass, got some planters and filled those with bulbs, purchased a used lawn mower so I don't have to borrow my friend's anymore, and mowed for the first time this year.

Ok, now to the next thing....