I know it's never convenient when the second refrigerator goes out (1st world problem, I know!!), but this week? Really? When I'm cooking for 60+ people and trying to leave town?
Thankfully we're almost out of regular food, so there's room in the main fridge for the time being. And if things get too tight I can just take stuff down to mom and dad's fridge a couple of blocks away. So really there's no problem, is there?

Forgive my temporary panic. No biggie.

I'm checking off lists and trying to help people understand what's happening when.

Meanwhile Mike and I celebrated our 24th anniversary last night by going to Jacob's eighth grade recognition night. He looked sharp and got to stand and be recognized at least four times. Once for his grades, once for a leadership award, once for participating in after school activities and the choir got up to sing a couple of times...and then there was the whole walking across the stage and shaking hands thing. He didn't "get why they make such a big deal about this." But he was consoled by the fact that he would be getting cake afterwards. He's excited about high school and being able to take classes he really wants to be in (Art, Graphics, yearbook, etc.)

Our anniversary celebration took place quietly in our room as we opened gifts. Some years, we don't do gifts, sometimes one of us gets something and the other doesn't, but this year we were on the same wavelength and each had a gift to open. I got Mike some running socks (no cotton...he says they're better), some Chips Ahoy cookies and some peanut M&Ms. The socks were very much appreciated, while the snacks seemed to sabotage the workout he had done for an hour previous to opening gifts. I got the socks at Famous Footwear. It was buy one get one half off. They were $9.99 a pack. And I had a $10 off coupon!! But then the socks rang up as $7 for the first pair and $3.50 for the second pair and I ended up owing 54 cents!! Woo hoo! That's when I decided to get some snacks to go with the gift.

I knew Mike was trying to find me a new nightgown to wear. What? He's tired of seeing me in a t shirt and pajama pants?! I opened the box and there was a white cotton sundress. Very pretty and it was only $2.99!!! He also found a "nightgown" for me. He said he couldn't find anything in the lingerie dept that didn't look like his grandma so he went to the teen section and got what we can only figure is supposed to be a beach coverup (less than $6). Such a sad reflection on our society when we go to the lingerie dept to find something modest and go to the teen dept to get something sexy for the bedroom.

So we shared our cookies with the kids and high-fived each other for making such frugal purchases that we actually liked! He says next year we'll spend a little more. :-) This year, all our money is going toward the wedding.

It is wild to me that I can make a list of everything I need from the store, go get it and immediately start a new list of things to get at the store.

Compound this with a "Things to Do" list and I look like a mad-woman trying to do everything.

Someone video tape me please.

It all depends on your perspective as we count down the days until the wedding. The wedding isn't until the 8th, but we are leaving to go to the wedding on the 6th, and I will spend the last 24 hours before we leave, double checking lists in fear of forgetting some vital element we need for the wedding. Meanwhile, as I collect and do and make and whatever, I'm trying not to forget any vital part of the everyday life we are living, paying the real estate taxes (due June 3rd), getting another roof estimate, going to kids' end of the year stuff, making dinner, brushing my teeth. Yes, lists are my best friends and sometimes my worst enemies. Today, I hope to cross a couple of sewing projects off of my list, along with making something for dinner besides frozen pizza and chicken nuggets. :/

Update: Got so many things today. Only a couple were on my list. But got some good ideas for decorating.

I feel like I'm in the fire swamp. Always some fire popping up to be put out, drowning in stuff that makes it hard to breathe and then there's those ROUS's that keep attacking. It's not all that bad, but I'm looking forward to a week with nothing on the docket. Do they exist?

We are headed to my sister's house this evening for our annual family reunion, which lasts the entire Memorial Day Weekend. Lots of fun and laughter but usually I'm so exhausted by the time I get there that I just want to find a bed and sleep. Really, there's not so much to do in preparation. Pack, cook a little and get everyone loaded up. The boys are going down a little earlier than the rest of us, because Mike has a client in the late afternoon. But once again the list of things that I need to get done before we leave seems monumental. Yes, I've written out the list and I'm crossing stuff off (writing blog was not on the list).

It's not only the list of stuff that I need to do before we leave, it's the stuff that needs to get done in the next two weeks before the wedding. I still have white shirts to buy, vests to alter, find matching black socks for everyone, and figure out all the details for the rehearsal dinner. I know, I know...it will all be fine.

I gotta go take a shower...next thing on my list. :-)

I have enjoyed the last two days very muchly. My neighbor and one of my very BFF's threw a wedding shower for Hannah. She and her husband worked to make their home ready for a bunch of ladies from the church to come and honor Hannah and Justin. Carol made lots of delicious food, while Todd arranged it beautifully on color coordinated plates and such. They make a good team. To start the shower, she had all the ladies tell how they knew me and then she asked them to share a "Justin memory." We heard about his request for filet mignon when he broke his leg, his propensity for hiding in the rounds of clothing when mom and I would go shopping, climbing up on a shelter at a rest stop and not being able to get down, and his loud yelling and pacing during hockey and baseball games, and how Cracker Grandma was given her nickname. I left out all the stories of potty training and the like. :) We played some non-competitive shower games, such as, "How Well Does Justin Know Hannah?" and Match the Famous Couples. And Carol told us how wedding traditions originally started. Then we ate and Hannah opened presents. This shower was a "pounding." So besides our gifts, we brought pounds of things to fill the pantry and recipes for her recipe box. She got sugar, flour, brown sugar, powdered sugar, pasta, pudding, spaghetti sauce, coffee, etc. Some were very strict about making sure that the container held just a pound while others gave 5lb. bags of flour and such.

Then the next day, we headed to NW Indiana for a shower with Mike's side of the family. We had a nice gathering at a restaurant in a room which had been beautifully decorated. My sister in law, Cheryl has quite a knack for decoration. Each of us had a pot of flowers with white popsicle sticks forming a picket fence around it. And the cake was a wedding dress made of GIANT cupcakes. (I had done the similar idea for the shower at Carol's house, but mine paled in comparison to this beauty). Everything was bright pink and green and very pretty. Hannah opened her presents and a round of applause went up as she opened Natalie's gift. Plates! They had not yet received any plates to eat off of. :-) She got some beautiful stuff and I think the two families got to know each other a little better.

The only downside of the two days was not getting to see the handsome groom. I know all the women would have enjoyed that! :-)