Shoulda, Coulda, Didn't Feel Like It.

I SHOULD be preparing the few final invitations that I have recently gotten addresses for. Or planting the last of the new plants. Or doing laundry or putting it away.

Instead I am watching American Idol (I've actually been impressed by several of the top 12 tonight), eating Ghirardelli chocolate with raspberry filling and considering having pizza for dinner, all the while wondering what that smell is and feeling sorry for myself because the scarlet macaw at work bit my lip today.

My wedding is 32 days away.

I'm taking the night off.

Not As Dumb As I Look

The date on my RSVP cards is March 1st.

I am still sending out invitations.

Sorry... I intended to have them out by Valentine's Day and it just didn't happen.

:)

Last Little Bits and Pieces

We only have a few things left in the kitchen at the condo and then it's CLEAN time.

I'm looking very much forward to being able to focus all my energy (ha ha ha) on the new house instead of splitting it between the house and the condo (and the wedding and the refinance, and doing my taxes and and and and).

I need to go to the post office tomorrow and trade a bunch of 26 cent stamps for some 41 cent stamps. Apparently I miscalculated the size of my outer envelopes and the RSVP cards.

The skunk has taken up residency behind the washing machine. At night she is coming out and helping unpack boxes and trash cans.

Absence Excused?

Sorry for my absence, in the last week my In-laws came and went and we decided to move. No, we didn't move this week, we just decided to.

The three of you that read my blog may remember this. The friends in the house ended up staying and breaking up, getting back together, breaking up, and then getting engaged this last Christmas. They got married yesterday and are moving to DC for real this time on the 19th.

Sooo... we'll be starting moving in to the house on the 20th. This is, of course, in the middle of trying to get married in April. I'm making our invitations by hand, which is involving a lot of cutting things out and putting them together, etc.

I'm also refinancing my house in Washington. I'm really excited about this for several reasons. Firstly because when we bought the house we financed 100% of it and had a first and second mortgage. The first mortgage is at 6.9% and the second is at 11.25%. We're rolling it all into one mortgage at 6.875% and the payment is going to be about $250 less than the total of the 1st and 2nd payments. The other reason I'm ecstatic about the refinance is that I HATE my current mortgage company.

I really don't hate many things or people. I don't believe in holding on to anger and hate because it will ultimately make me an angry and hateful person. But Option One Mortgage Corporation sucks big time. I worked in the real estate industry for about 8 years before moving to Key West, and am familiar with many different mortgage companies and programs. On the closing end I was a big fan of OOMC, there loans were very easy to close and their funding department was very easy to work with. Their "Customer Service" however, leaves MUCH to be desired. Moving to Key West was complicated in the home-ownership category. I didn't want to sell the house, so I managed to find a couple of renters.

With landladyship comes the assumption that there will be a late rent paid once in awhile. In the 2+ years that we've owned the house, I ended up making my mortgage payment on the 16th ONE TIME. That was in February 2007. In the year since, beginning on the first of the month, I get at least 3 phone calls a DAY from OOMC "reminding" me that my payment is due on the first and late after the 15th. EVERY DAY. And then when I try to tell these people I am well aware and remind them that I have made every payment since February 2007 well before the 15th, it turns out I'm talking to someone in India that doesn't have any control over ANYTHING.

Needless to say I am totally sick of the harassment. This is why I'm willing to deal with the stress of refinancing my house from across the country at the same time I'm getting married.

Today is my one day off until next weekend, and I'm going to try to do some packing and cleaning and invitation-ing. As soon as I'm done watching Rock of Love 2.

What's That Mean?

I have always wondered what the "M" on RSVP cards means. I looked it up.

The idea is that everyone's title (for the most part) begins with an M. Mr., Mrs., Ms., etc. Apparently whoever invented the RSVP card format decided that it would be most helpful to provide the first letter to save the respondent some time.

Aren't you glad you asked?

Varied Accomoplishings or Not So Much

Apparently I ordered cardstock from which to make the invitations about a week ago. I did not recall this fact until I was looking at my wedding budget spreadsheet and saw, sure enough, that I have pinked-out (my code for something being paid for) the "paper" row and put in "$66.55" as the cost. Fortunately I noted a website where I assume said paper will be coming from, but as to when it will arrive, I have no idea.

I managed to run the dishwasher yesterday and complete addressing about 80% of the remaining invitation envelopes. My goals for the evening are to finish all the envelopes we have addresses for, do some laundry, and start clearing out the guest room/junk room/bowflex room.

I'd also like to get our rooms reserved at the hotel in Portland so we have one more line "pinked-out".

Expensive Time

I don't think that there is ever an increment of time in my day that could actually be termed "free".

There are merely moments in which I am choosing to do one thing (or two or three or six) instead of something else.

I have worked at the pet store the last 6 days straight. The ensuing exhaustion probably contributed to the fact that I gave a baby hamster mouth-to-mouth on Thursday and ate nothing but a Snickers bar and a LOT of iced tea today.

I have addressed about a quarter of the outer and inner envelopes for the wedding invitations, but still don't actually have any invitations made because I: A) don't have the paper I want to print them on and B) don't have ink for my printer. I can solve B by going to Office Max. But A is proving to be more difficult as Key West is not a booming metropolis of paper craft (or much else besides bars) variety.

I have this evening and the next two days off and am starting off by taking a good long nap until I wake up. Then I will likely eat something.

Tomorrow I will clean and organize and hopefully address some more envelopes, although I am already bored of that, and maybe even spend a little time at the pool. Tuesday I am being completely self-indulgent and getting my nails done.

Somewhere in the next 60 hours I hope to build a jewelry frame to hang on my bathroom wall and finish my dad's christmas gift.

Free Time? Hardly.

BRIDEZILLA!!!!

Today there are 100 days until the wedding.

I couldn't sleep last night and finally got up at about 2am and took a sleeping pill. I suspect I'll have to take one tonight as well, considering that I've been stressed out about wedding stuff nonstop for the last 24 hours.

This morning I got a phone call from the bridal boutique that is handling the purchase of the bridesmaids and groomschicks dresses (also where my dress was purchased). Between Scott and I there are 8 ladies total to get dresses ordered for. Scott's ladies will wear a black version of the same dress my ladies will wear in red.

The phone call started like this:

Boutique Associate: "Hi! This is xxx with Bridal Exclusives, may I speak to Marisa please?"

Me: "speaking..."

BA: "great. It looks like we still need measurements for XX, XX, XX and XX."

Me: "Actually, you should already have measurements for XX and XX, I mailed them at least three weeks ago along with a check for the remainder of XX's dress. Did you not receive them?"

BA: "Really? I don't see anything about that."

Me: "Well, it went out well before Christmas and I'm concerned that you don't have the check!"

BA: "Would you like me to double check?"

Me: "Yes, that would be very helpful."

She placed me on hold, which turned into being hung up on. I called her back after a few minutes and asked if they have a fax machine (I already know they don't have email) so I could just fax them. Apparently their fax machine is located at the storefront that holds their alteration department. Not helpful. I let them know that I was at work and really needed to get back to the store.

About 10 minutes later I received another call from the boutique:

Boutique Associate: "Hi! This is xxx with Bridal Exclusives, may I speak to Marisa please?"

Me: "speaking..."

BA: "I just wanted to let you know that I found the measurements for XX and XX."

Me: "And the check for XX's dress, right?"

BA: "Yes."

Me: "Great. Thank you so much for calling me back!"

BA: "No problem, we just need measurements for XX and XX now."

Me: "Right, I know. I'm pushing them both as hard as I can to get that."

BA: "Ok, just get those to us as soon as you can."

Me: "Thank you!"

I was a little frustrated, because I would rather not trust giving them important information and money by snail mail, and whenever they call me they speak very quietly, so I can hardly hear them at all. My original associate doesn't work there anymore, and ever since she left I have gotten calls monthly telling me that they don't have all the measurements yet. Granted, I'm sure that they have many brides don't have a clue as to what is going on, but I am not one of them. I have a spreadsheet of all the info and details and know exactly who has done what, etc.

About an hour after that final call my phone rang again.

Boutique Associate: "Hi! This is xxx(a different BA) with Bridal Exclusives, may I speak to Marisa please?"

Me: "speaking..."

BA: "great. It looks like we still need measurements for XX, XX, XX and XX."

Me: "hold on a second. I spoke to someone there earlier today and we went over all this."

BA: "Really? I don't see anything about that in your file..."

Me: "You're kidding me. We talked three times today and I had sent XX and XX measurements in the mail along with a check, which she just found today. That's not in my file?!"

BA: "Would you like me to double check?"

Me: "YES! I know who I need measurements for and deposits and everything, this is really frustrating! I can't email you, your fax is in a different building, and apparently if I mail something, that's not reliable, not to mention that whoever I spoke to this morning didn't bother to mention that they already spoke to me THREE TIMES today!"

She was offended. I was mad. I was very polite but explained that my faith in their business was wavering quickly and I was not happy. She responded in the fashion of a teenager who is being forced to apologize for breaking their parents lamp during a big party.

BA: "Well, I'm sorry. We'll do our best to make you happy for the rest of your wedding and just not call you anymore."

I took a deep breath and explained that I was not trying to be a B**** I was just frustrated at the lack of communication on their end. I even apologized if I had hurt her feelings or made her think I was trying to attack her or the business. She didn't even accept my apology.

We hung up and I called my cousin/coordinator. She is going to deal with them from now on, I can't handle talking to them again. They should be very thankful that they are as far away from Key West as you can get and still be in the contigous US.

My next hurdle is trying to figure out how to get the invitations printed in Miami and get them here.

As the New Year Begins...

It is 11:28pm here in Key West, Eastern Standard Time. I am at home with my fiance, two dogs (one we are just dogsitting but considering purchasing), three cats, pet skunk, hamster and betta fish.

There are many things I wanted to accomplish before the end of the year: have my house clean, finish the calendars I make every year for my friends back home, register for school, get my Florida driver's license. I'm hoping to get all those things done in the next two weeks, the less I have to stress out about on top of wedding plans.

We are thinking about buying the chihuahua. It was hard to take him back to the pet store last week, and when I took Buster in to be groomed on Friday, the chihuahua went crazy when he saw him. When I brought him home tonight, he was just as excited to see Buster and leapt up and kissed him. Buster has been so good with the puppy, making sure not to step on him, letting him bite his ears, climb on his back, and generally harass him.

It's a tough decision. We're falling quickly for him and he's obviously bonded to us. Scott made the point the other day that we want a human baby and we keep bringing animal babies into the house. I think to an extent that all these animal babies with different schedules and dietary needs are good training for parenthood, not that I think parenting is or will be easy, I know better than that. Anyone who thinks they are fully "ready" for children is nuts.

Hopefully this year will bring us a chance to move to a more cost-effective home, more time with friends and family, and the chance to make some happy memories.

Clarification

I realize that there is a possibility that some of my readers may think that I don't want them to come to my wedding. This is not the case.

For those of you I've never met, I doubt you're expecting an invitation in the first place. Those people that read my blog that I actually know, will not only be invited but expected to come (unless you live too far away and can't feasibly attend).

I think that the problem will probably fix itself, considering the number of yes and maybes in my database totals 260 at most. More than likely 50% to 75% of these people will attend the wedding (130 to 195) and 80% of them will actually attend the reception (104 to 156).

Dilemma

I am getting married in April (I was going to say "We are getting married in April" but didn't want any of you to think I'd gotten you into something you're not ready for...).

Scott and I both have a large number of very close friends and family.

We chose our reception location and it will only hold 120 people (Yes, it is a separate location from the ceremony, but the same day). I even asked if they actually count the guests and the answer was yes.

Is it remotely tactful to invite some people to the reception and not others? If so, how do I choose?

HELP!

Drawing a Blank

I haven't had much to say these last three or four days, I've been getting lots of wedding stuff done. I found dresses for the flower girls and ring bearer (yes, a girl) at Ross for $9.99 and $24.99 when I was prepared to spend upwards of $50 on each!

I've also been going ahead with plans around the house since it looks like we won't be moving anytime soon.

List This!

I am a list-maker.

At the moment I have countless lists going. I have an Access database of all the movies I've ever seen complete with the year they came out, lead actor and/or actress and director.

I have another Access database of our guest list for the wedding. An Excel spreadsheet for the wedding with several pages - budget, wedding party, locations, etc., a wedding planning book/filer with more lists and magazine cut-outs, and still another blank book for making random wedding lists off the top of my head that I don't think are ready to commit to the computer.

Over the years I have started several databases to catalog the books and cds I own, having to re-start them from time to time as I have had new computers.

In order to accomplish anything on my days off I have to make a list of things I want to get done. If I don't, I will wake up in the morning and honestly have a blank mind as to what to do for the day.

Awhile back I made a list of things I wanted to accomplish in my life. I've actually crossed many of them off, and such progress caused me to add to it.

I have to have a grocery list, or I will go to the store for lasagna noodles and come out with cheese, veggies, ice cream, toilet paper, milk, bread, garlic, veggie crumbles and no noodles.

I have a blank book for budgets, which I've also found easiest to keep my checkbook register in as well.

I have lists of all the states I've been in and all the states I have yet to visit. Last night I actually wondered if it would be possible to list all the people I know, personally, as aquaintences, whatever - just because it would be interesting.

When I'm at work I'll make lists of things I want to make sure get done before the end of the shift. I make lists from other lists. A list of books people have requested that we carry, a list of dogs people would like us to get, a list of things to go back later and make more lists from!

If I go on a trip, I start about a month before hand making a list of what I need to take. On two occasions I have decided to skip the list and pack "on the fly" and have forgotten underwear, socks, toothbrush (although I remembered the toothpaste!) and other various necessities.

I even have a list saved on my desktop of things to blog about.