Great Accomplishments, Fun and Such

Wow, this was one busy weekend. But, it was a good kind of busy and it means the next couple of weekends will be a lot less frantic. So, what was going on?

Friday was the last football game of the season, quite emphatically so, as the other team trounced ours quite soundly, so no playoffs. I will really miss the band bus kids, and hope they are all getting along well enough next year to mostly reconvene on the same bus. It was really cute when Attention Hound raised his hand and asked what busy I'd be on next year, and I said, "Whatever bus you all are on," and they mostly seemed to agree to try to be "Bus 4 4 Ever" or something like that. One kid also asked, after I told them they were welcome to come to the wedding, "Who are you getting married to." So, I pointed to Lee, who had been on the bus nearly every time we went anywhere, but I guess was invisible because he didn't say, "Attention band students!" at the top of his lungs like I did. I'm glad I got to know these kids, and am happy I even made a genuine friend out of it!

Saturday was very, very long, but productive. I got up earlier than usual and headed off to Deana's house to pick her up for a long drive. We went to New Braunfels to get my wedding dress alterations taken care of (dang, the alterations cost more than my previous most expensive dress ever). But, it will be pretty. We were rather late because I took the "Seguin" exit and not the "Seguin Ave." exit. Close, but not exactly right. But, we lived and it got taken care of, and managed to eat an early lunch at perhaps the most clueless Dairy Queen ever. I did better finding the next thing, which was the Kid 'n Ewe alpaca, mohair and other fibers festival. I went on and on about it in my knitting blog, so read about it there if you wish. It was a lovely drive, though, and even though it meant no time to work on my sock, it was worth it.

After an equally lovely drive home, I actually had some time to relax and enjoy my yarn before Lee and I went on a genuine date. We saw the group Chanticleer, which is an a capella men's chorus from San Francisco. They are mind-boggling, to put it mildly. Not only are the harmonies perfect, the timing incredible and the songs beautiful, but the voices are unworldly. There are genuine male human beings with vocal ranges higher in the soprano range than anyone in the Live Oak UU Church Choir, that's for sure! It was really nice that Edgar from choir let Lee buy his tickets, since he couldn't make it. We may go to another concert in this series, which is at First Presbyterian Church in Austin. It's a really lovely church, with wood walls and a really nice feeling. All the Jesuses in it are kind looking.

Sunday started off with a bit of a challenge, because XH wanted to be fully briefed on Tuba Boy's college plans, since Tuba Boy had not been very forthcoming on this topic. I foresaw that he would not do the work needed for this, so I went to the websites for the five colleges I decided he's be applying to (well, someone had to decide) and found the links to how to apply as well as to the application forms. I then made a little bulleted list of the main points about applications. So, when we all got together in one big happy family at a coffee shop, Tuba Boy was able, after some prodding, to adequately address his dad's questions. To be honest, the man has every right to ask--it is HIS money that will be paying. So, now everyone is perkier on this topic, I hope. I also will be making sure the boy does not get distracted by his newly improved social life to the extent that he misses his deadlines. Stuff must happen this week.

Once that was out of the way, it was smooth sailing to church, where there was a nice sermon by the Good Young Minister followed by a very fun sale of interesting paper bead jewelry made in Uganda by women there. The organization is Beads for Life. You'd never know the beads were paper unless you were familiar with the process or someone told you. There were some very nice designs. I got some as gifts for my sister and stepmother, and I know they will both like that they go to help people feed their families. The great news is that you can buy some from their website, or host a party--it would be a great women's group activity. The beads are really pretty!

Following that extravaganza of spending, we headed off to Lee's least favorite spot, the mall. There we spent more money. But, it was on pretty wonderful stuff! Lee got new glasses so he can SEE better. The new frames blend well with his hair and are very unobtrusive. Next, we went to the lovely Men's Warehouse and got him a wedding suit. Actually, he got two, cause they were on sale. Certainly was more than the Penneys models we'd originally intended to get, but these are going to be tailored to fit him, just like my wedding dress. We will be recognizable as the people whose clothing fits perfectly, not the bride and groom! He has a beautiful shirt, new dress shoes and a nice gold tie, too. He will look fine, I tell you!

You'd think that shopping would have exhausted us, but no, we were on a roll. We next headed out to a brief, yet yummy, Asian-style lunch and then to Sam's Club and the gigantic Garden Ridge store near work. I wanted to get the odious task of buying serving items, vases for the wedding flowers, and the rose garland to mark off the parts of the labyrinth we are going to walk around OVER with. And we did it. Quite serendipitously, we discovered at Sam's sturdy paper plates in red and white, and dessert plates in a gold and white pattern. Whoa, our colors. So we got massive quantities of the plates, clear cutlery and clear drinking glasses (smaller, to hopefully save on soda/wine consumption). We also found a perfect base for a chalice and a really cool lazy susan thing that will be great for serving appetizer things and for Thanksgiving.

Garden Ridge was more of a challenge, but by the time we were finished, we'd managed to NOT buy bunch of Christmas stuff, yet get lovely gold vases, a red candle holder for the chalice, a blue/gold bowl to hold the water element, a satin thing to cover the altar, nice red napkins, a bunch of red and gold tulle and ribbon for decorating stuff...and stuff like that. In the end, I think we have all the decor items we can get until the last-minute Friday workday purchases (flowers, drinks, etc.) and the Saturday barbecue and such. What a tremendous relief to not have to worry about it all next week. I just need little things like name tags and disposable serving spoons and such.

I have all the speakers at the wedding lined up--Rev. Kathleen and my sister will do readings. And my sister and dad will be "greeters" (telling people where they can set their food down, and where the nametags are). I hope the kids will help with that, too, until just before the ceremony. Parker will cheerfully force people to sign the guest book. Katy will also be there to direct traffic, I hope. I am going to make signs out of our old political ones directing people behind the church for the wedding. That should help, too.

I am exhausted just from describing all this wedding planning. It is a good thing that we had a nice relaxing evening looking at guitar websites with Beccano, chatting with Tuba Boy's visiting friend, and yelling at football on the television. I wasn't up for much else!

Today I have been working on a confusing project, but making progress. And I had a nice lunch at an Indian restaurant with my new contact at the company I technically work for. She said they ARE having writing jobs come through, so not to be in too big of a panic mode. And I am not. Every time this happens my panic period is shorter! And lots of people are in the same boat. I am a little scared--I keep hearing about friends getting laid off or having to lay off staff. It's really a sad time. How come Obama hasn't fixed everything yet, huh? (Insert nervous laughter here--nobody can fix this quickly, Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, superhero or deity.)