Corn Festival

Friday night Dave and I went to the Millersport Sweet Corn Festival to meet up with our friends Stacy, Jimmy, Robin, and Michelle. Stacy goes every year and Dave and I went a few years ago and had a great time. It’s a small town festival and all of the money the food vendors make is going for some charity/community organization. So the prices are reasonable and you don’t feel bad about where your money is going!! We got there a little after 7 and finally met you with our friends a little after 8 – we where late because of rain and traffic dang it!!

We had some corn of course and the fresh made doughnuts - still warm - yummmm-o!!!

The ride home was the not so fun part. As soon as we got out of the field aka parking lot it started to rain. As soon as we got out of traffic it started to POUR!!!! I hate driving in the rain - but yet again for the 2nd time in a week I was driving in the pouring rain. L But after some slow driving me made it home safely!!!!

Ice Cream By A Fire

Yea I know it sounds weird, and I have to say I think it was a first for me! Tonight the Hilliard Jaycees had their monthly social but instead of going to a restaurant we had a cookout at Stacy and Jimmy’s place. I was soooo excited for this. We haven’t done something like this in awhile, and in years past we did this kind of thing all the time. It is a nice and relaxing time! So we started out with a cookout, and when everyone was done eating and it was getting dark out we decided to have our ice cream social part of the evening. While we were setting all that up someone started a fire in the fire pit since it was starting to get a little chilly for an August night. Wow did we have A LOT of ice cream toppings. Really it would have been ideal to have like different bowls to try a different item each time!! I had a great time just hanging out and eating yummy food!!! I can’t wait til we do it again!

Yea Me!!!

So Monday night was Gahanna’s Jaycee meeting. I’ll be honest I was tired and wanted to go home instead of going to the meeting, but I went. And it was a good thing I did! At the end of the meeting we went over awards given out at the All-State that I missed because of my family shower. And I was given an award….one I am very excited about - Community VP of the Quarter!!!! Yep I’ll admit it…I am somewhat competitive in a kinda quiet at times way. So yea…I was rather excited - I was kinda bummed when Jimmy from Hilliard got it the 1st quarter.

The award was kind of a kick in the butt. It’s over half way through the year, I am rather busy with life and wedding planning. I have started to slack in my duties…I need to STOP that! So I hope that this will set me back on track as much as I can be with everything else going on.

Another nice weekend

Wow I am not doing very good at this! No updates since Saturday, what a slacker!!! So I guess I’ll do a few catch up updates.

Friday -
Dave and I went to Cheesecake Factory; he is on a fish kick and likes the variety there. Then we went to Costco - where we went in for one thing, didn’t find it and still spent tooo much!!! But I did get a new geek stick to replace my injured one. Then to Bed Bath and Beyond because I wanted to register for some picture frames - I didn’t even THINK about it the first time.

Saturday -
We did next to nothing allll day! We finally left the house at 7 PM to go to dinner. Hoggy’s just opened up Delaware last week so Dave wanted to go there. I hadn’t eaten all day, there was a 45 minute wait, I said nope lets go somewhere else. We walked down to Ben’s and only had a 10 minute wait so that is where we ate. Things went well there and dinner was yummy so I was happy! Then off to the car wash for bath time for my car, it was very needed! It was 8:45 and we decided to go get ice cream. Now I know my favorite place quits serving food one hour before the close…no biggie, I would have thought they would be open til 10 since it was a Saturday night and it was 84 degrees out, nope - they close at 9…again no biggie it’s 11 til when we place our order - or ATTEMPTED to. They turn the shake machine off at quarter til. Okay - really, you are an ice cream place - I would THINK that would mean you serve ice cream and take orders for ice cream until you close. Soooo we had to go to the other ice cream place in town. Lucky for us they had later hours still!!! So I had a yummy shake with marshmallow fluff and choc syrup!!!!

Sunday -
We decided to go up to Mohican for the day. It was pretty relaxing day. Dave went walking in the water taking pictures, I wondered around land, we walked the trail for a little, drove around to different parts of the part, and I sat and watched kids play while Dave went fishing. It’s very fun to people watch at places like that. The variety of people, how they interact, how the kids interact. It was enjoyable til the rain came. We got in the car JUST as it started to POUR! Of course when we got out of the part I needed gas, so we go to the gas station and as soon as Dave starts to pump the gas the electricity went out. It wasn’t out for long and then we where good to go!

We got home and went to Hoggy’s for dinner, only a 15 minutes wait!! It was OK, the service wasn’t very good, I was over-charged, but they did try to make it better we got free cornbread and a $10 gift card to go back!

Addicted

I am addicted to TV. Yes I know, it’s not a good thing. Busy or not - my shows must be DVR-ed. This is a time of year I don’t care for. Summer series are over but it’s still a month until the fall shows come on. I keep seeing ads for The Amazing Race while I am watching Big Brother. But it doesn’t come on for a month, I don’t think that is fair!! I just end up taping odd shows like Clean House, Deal or No Deal, old Cold Cases, whatever it takes to have something to watch.

I have always been one to NEED a TV on. For background noise, to fall asleep, to waste time, you know the drill!

This all stems from me freaking out about the noise my TV in the bedroom is making. I KNOW it’s on it’s last leg, one of these times it just isn’t going to turn on. I am worrying myself about how I am going to fall asleep with no TV when it dies. We want to get a new TV for the bedroom, just not yet.

Long time no update

Wow! What a busy week we’ve had!!!

Friday -
I worked half a day.
Went to the “nerve” dr.
Came back home to pack and get Dave.
FINALLY got everything together and headed to Ada around 4.
Got to Ada a little after 5. Bun and Lucille weren’t in town yet.
Mom brought home 2 BBQ chicken dinners that she had already bought tickets for. YUMMO! I haven’t had one in years and was really wanting one!
Then we put in pre-bake pizza’s from Fat Jack’s. Another thing that I like and we haven’t had in a LONG time!!
Bun and Lucille got to town - YEA!!
Sat around for a few hours doing this and that.
Ended up making mint s for the shower – which involved up needing another trip to the store…opps! I had never done that before – was much easier than I thought it would be!! And we got the recipe (somewhere) for Dave.
We ended up going to bed around 12:30. Dave and I set up our tent in the back year since my mom was going to have a full house.
Julie, Ron and Allison ended up getting to town around 1:45 AM….I found out Saturday morning!

Saturday -
The fun begins!!
We got up rather early - it was COLD outside. Which worked out well since we started the shower rotation. 9 people are a lot of people to get through 1 shower!
After mom got up we started helping getting breakfast ready and as always shipping Dave off to the store. (Mom used the you are such a great SIL line)
Julie and I went uptown to drop balloons off to get blown up and picked out some flowers for the cemetery.
When we got back the house was in craziness!! Stella came down and her and Allison played. The boys where trying to figure out what they needed to go shooting. The rest was a blur to me!!
The girls headed down to Aunt Debbie’s to set up for the shower. Stacy joined up there.
After setting up Stacy and I decided to skip more craziness at mom’s house and went to Padrone’s for lunch. Yea!!!
Of course we ended up running late so I was running around the house like a crazy woman to get to the shower on time.
Went to the shower - it was a great time!! We had a good time visiting with people, had some nice low key games, and got a lot of very nice presents! Thought it was brought to everyone’s attention that Dave is the cook in our family!
Afterwards we went back to mom’s house – and the boys weren’t home yet!! So we put dinner together and sat out back to chill. Jenn came over and give me a shower gift - towels!!! Yea I am such a dork! Bath Sheets!!!
After dinner and more chilling and the boys coming home and Stacy and I worked on my Thank You’s. We got them all done!!!
Then we had a fire and some s’mores.
Whew!!! Went to bed around 11:30 - I was exhausted!!!!

Sunday -
Again up rather early cuz of the cold.
Everyone left for Iowa around 9 AM.
Stacy , Dave and I got the tent down and got ready to go.
We went to Indian Lake and my Uncle Mark took us on a nice fun, relaxing boat ride!!! It was great!!
We left there around 3 went to Dad’s for ice cream and headed home. I had a nice nap!
Went to Boston Pizza for dinner.
Came home and I was asleep by 7:15!!!

Monday -
Back to work - BLAH!!
Went to Stacy’s - Printed invites and RSVP’s for the wedding - Had a it’s reallllly happening moment!!!!
One step closer to having them done!!

Tuesday -
I was VERY productive.
Called and made an appt to get the car looked at
Called and scheduled another drs. Appt
Ordered a battery charger for my camera
Ordered labels for popcorn bags and address labels
Ordered an address stamp for RSVP’s and Thanks You’s
Ordered direction cards for invites
Went to Spaghetti Warehouse for mystery dinner with Jackie and Bethany

Wednesday -
Made a to do list and actually got a few things done!
Dave didn’t get home til after 10 L

Today -
Mailed the contract in to the new photographer!!!
Bought stamps for RSVP’s
Trying to get some things done again tonight….but not feeling to motivated now!!!
At least this entry gets one thing off my to do list!!

Doctors!!!

I am sooo frustrated tonight! I had an MRI last month, when the dr. sent me for it she said she would review it and then tell me what kind of specialist I would need to go to. So I get the results in the mail – everything on it was fine but to schedule an appt to come in. So I called in and scheduled the appt. I went in this afternoon for a 5:15 appt. and didn’t see the dr. til 5:45 and then it was for all of 5 minutes to give me a name and number to call and schedule an appt. So an hour of my time and $20 of my money for what she could have told me over the phone!! And she doesn’t even know if she is in my insurance plan. So tomorrow I call to see if she is in my plan and try to schedule an appt with the specialist.

When I got home Dave went through the freeze and we made a list of all the food we have so we can try to make a meal plan for the next few weeks. We have a lot more in there than I thought we did!! Which is a good thing. We have dinner defrosting for tomorrow and we will pick meals for the days we are going to be home and go shopping for the finishing touches. A step in the right directions – now for a little more follow through.

I tried to watch the DVR of Sunday nights Big Brother….and it was 60 minutes!!! How annoying…good thing you can watch whole episodes on-line!!

Overall a pretty good and a semi-productive evening. I hope tomorrow stays in the same direction.

Christmas and a cookout

Last night the Gahanna Jaycees held this project. Kristi had wanted to have a cookout on her new deck all year and last night was the night! We all gathered there for some oh so yummy good - hot dogs, hamburgers, mac & cheese, fresh green beans, shredded potato casserole, strawberry dessert, chocolate cake, and some froze cakes. Anyone who knows me or has heard me talk about food much knows how picky I am. I ate some of allll of this…yes way to much! And it was all yummy!! After dinner we made some Christmas bulbs for the chapter to sell next month in a flea market. We had clear balls that we put paint in and swirled around. It was a pretty fun time!!! Thanks Kristi for having us out!!!

I also picked up our tables runners last night too - another check!!!

Checks and Half Checks

What a busy weekend we had!

Friday -
After work Dave and I went shopping and out to dinner. We started at Kohl’s; we went in looking for shoes for Dave and ended up with clothes and toys for Stella and socks for me. Then to Bath and Body Works, a store I am not overly fond of and Dave likes to spend money at, to get gifts for shower hostesses. We got that all finished up so that is check number one! We went to dinner at Cheesecake Factory at Polaris. The one at Polaris just opened in the last month and I don’t think people realize it’s open yet! Normally when you go to the one at Easton on a weekend you have an hour wait. We went at 6:30 on a Friday night and waited less than 3 minutes!! The service was great, the food was yummy, and we had strawberry shortcake for dessert - VERY YUMMY!!! Then we went to Target - where we got more stuff for Stella for her b-day and wrapping paper, gift bags, and cards for Stella and the shower gifts! - A little side rant here - the cost of wrapping paper, cards, gift bags, and tissue paper is INSANE!!! Now I remember why I normally do very BLAH wrapping. But for a girls 3rd b-day you have add a little Dora fun!!! Then with less than an hour til closing we headed to Jo-Ann’s to pick up bubbles and candles for the wedding. We had enough coupons for Dave and me to each get 2 items for 40% off so I took advantage of having him out and about! Last stop was Petsmart for cat food - ECK! Dave has decided to start giving the “kids” a special cat food for urinary tract issues….OUCH - that stuff is NOT cheap!!!

Saturday -
Let the fun start!! We where up and out the door by 9 - man where did all this stuff come from to take to my parents?!?! We got to the Old Barn Out Back a little after 10:30 and waited til 11 to meet with Rev. Jerry and go in for lunch. He was very nice and seemed easy to work with. So we booked him - Check number two!! After lunch Dave and I went to Faurot Park so he could see where I wanted to have the ceremony - he approved. Yea!!! Then off to Kohl’s to get shoes for him, Walgreens to pick some stuff up and Wal-Mart to get a few more things we forgot. I think we finally got to my parents house around 2:30-ish. We unloaded the car and Dave started putting together Stella’s dollhouse from my parents. We have found it is much easier and less stressful if we just put the stuff together for them and before she sees it! We napped a little and then helped mom get dinner ready. Aunt Debbie and Rodney came down to have dinner and cake with us. Once Stella got there all she wanted was presents. To stall we took her out to the pond to feed the ducks and then came back and opened presents and had cake. She was more interested in the new toys than cake so she played and played….for hours!! Then she got in the bath and went to bed and Dave, Mom and I went and sat by the fire and had pizza pies and s’mores! Overall a productive, busy, and fun day!!!

Sunday -
We bummed around, played with Stella, and got ready to go. We left around 2 in the afternoon to head to Dundee Michigan to get round 2 of engagement pictures taken. On the way there Dave realized the town we where going to was the home a Cabela’s…he was sad we didn’t go up earlier!!! We met with Kelly and quickly started on the pictures since it was threatening to rain any minute!! We got about an hour of pictures in finished up and then it started to rain. Kelly is working on out pictures this will and will be sending us a CD of the images this week or next. I really liked her and the way she worked with us and took a millllion pictures!!! Here is the half check - we got pictures taken, now we have to make a decision! We got done in time we got to go to Cabela’s for about 45 minutes before they closed - that store is HUGE!!!! We stopped at Applebee’s on the way out of town and got home around 10:30 PM. We where both BEAT!!!!!

Grumpy!

I have been very grumpy the last few days! Dave has been working late the last 3 nights. This will be great when the OT comes in on his check!! We can really use that money at this point. But that means I have been hanging out at home by myself the last few nights. I have gotten some stuff done around the house. But really I don’t have much go to get anything done when I am home alone. I would rather watch TV and waste time! But then later I feel bad because I got nothing done.

At lunch today Io went out to waste some time…and a WASTE of time it was! I went to the Goodwill store - the selection and items where BAD, the worst I have ever seen really. I want to Payless - they only have 2 styles in stock of dyeable dress shoes - both with over 3 inch heels. That isn’t going to work! Then off to Bath and Body Works - I forgot my coupon (the ONLY reason I was going) and then I looked and they don’t even have any kids stuff available right now. ARGH!!! What a waste of time. So all of the and I still had over 30 minutes left…so I went to Arby’s and hung out there while eating lunch….GRUMPY Carrie

Tonight we are supposed to go do some shopping and run some errands. That will be nice to get out of the house and attempt to have some fun for a little bit.

I want to go to JoAnn’s and use Dave so we can use more coupons to get a few small things. I would rather us both go and get 40% off two times than 20% of the total order. We have time and there isn’t anything we really need RIGHT now so it’ll work.

It’s going to be busy weekend - Meet with possible Reverend, Stella’s pre-birthday party, family fun time, more engagement pictures. But that will be a good number of checks off our list.

WHY?!?!

Are things so difficult! I am having major photographer issues. We had our engagement photos taken the end of June. We got them back the first week of July. I didn’t like them. And it was JUST because of them being of Dave and me. They had bad lighting, one was blurry, there were only 10 to pick from, and they all looked the same! So I went back and forth for almost a month. Everyone I talked to said they didn’t turn out very good. I e-mailed the photographer last Friday with our concerns. I got a response on Saturday, but I didn’t think it was overly professional and she was a tad rude in it.

I have been looking for a different photographer for a few weeks. I think I might have found one. Dave and I need to go over things tonight and might be meeting her on Sunday! I am concerned about my wedding pictures if we stay with the current photographer. I looked at a new wedding on her website and again see blur and light issues. So we will see what we come up with. With our budget we can’t afford a lot but I do think this 2nd photographer has some good potential from what I have seen so far!

Last night Stacy and I went to our first fitting for our dresses. I think it went very well and I am looking forward to seeing my dress again in a little over a month!! I do need to buy some under the dress garments before we go back and see if I can find a bra that I like to wear and that doesn’t show when wearing the dress!!

I also got an e-mail from my aunt yesterday that she has started getting RSVP’s for my shower that my aunts are having for me in Ada on the 16th. I am getting excited to see everyone!! But I am kind of nervous. I don’t like to be the center of attention and having people look at me!!! I need to figure out what I am going to wear!!

I am currently working on the wording and stuff for the invites so Stacy and I can start printing them soon….time is going by TOO quick!!!

I Survived!!

The camping trip that is! It was overall a good weekend.

Friday Night - Dave didn’t get home till about 6 PM so we finished packing up the last of our things - things I forgot or where to heavy for me to lift! And we headed off to Delaware State Park - which is only a few minutes from home. The longest part of the drive is from the main road BACK to the campsites - on average 10 minutes! As we started unpacking it started to rain - not sprinkles, not pouring - just a nice steady rain. Of course I forgot me pop up canopy so back on the road I went to get that from home. On my way back out of the park I did get to see 2 deer on the side of the road - which helped to calm me down SOME! I get the tent and sides and head back out. Unfortunately it was 7 PM by this time and I was HUNGRY, all I had to eat all day was sweets so I was shaky and not happy. So I ran through Mickey D’s for a light dinner. I get back to camp and I was in charge of dinner - pizza pies. This turned into a disaster (i.e. - Carrie’s breakdown of the weekend) and I was about to leave but my co-worker was camping next to us so I went and talked to her for most the night. I calmed down, had a s’more and headed back to our site to clean up the mess from dinner as the raccoons started to come out! And off to our tent I went. I slept OK - it was rather chilly/damp and we didn’t have a very big blanket.

Saturday -
We’ll Dave and I got up at 6:30, so we headed on home to shower and get this stuff to go to the range in the afternoon. We ended up being gone longer than expected going to Wal-Mart and Mickey D’s! We got back to camp around 9:30 and sat around and talked and cleaned up and then Stacy, Jimmy, Dave, Michelle and I headed off to the range. I hate guns!! But I did it - after Dave trying to get me to go for YEARS! We overall had a good time though. We enjoyed some yummy food - including some very yummy corn on the cob!!! And finished the night off with some Jell-O Shots, s’mores and drinks. Again - chilly and damp - but I survived!!!

Sunday -
We slept in til almost 9!!! Time to pack up - YUCK! I hate to pack up, it’s always HOT and who likes to pack up when you just get to look forward to going home! I had some bacon and sausage for b-fast. Dave and I packed up the car and where on our way hoe by 10:30-ish. We went home and napped for a loooong while and then when it started to cool off unpacked the car and took everything thing in the apartment.

Overall - a pretty successful and fun trip!!

Second Guessing

AHHHHHHH...I am second guessing our choice in photographers. Okay I have been for a month. Since the day we got out proofs from our engagement session. After a month I have calmed down and sent an e-mail to her about my concerns.

Everyone who sees out engagement pictures sees something wrong with them. Many mention concern that she is the one doing our wedding photography. I keep hearing you can retake engagement pictures but you can’t re-do wedding pictures.

So now we will what her response is. I have been looking into other photographers and seeing about availability and pricing. Dang decisions!!!!

The Tent is Up!

Yea!!!

We went to the campgrounds last night and set up our tent!! And we didn’t even argue, who know that could happen!

We also ran to Wal-Mart to pick up a few last minute things that I didn’t think of - batteries, bug spray, small flashlight for me, etc.

I picked up all the food we are supposed to take yesterday at lunch. All we need to do is load up the car when I get home and we are off! Yea!!! Hopefully this will make it a little more relaxing - until time to take it all down and bring it home.