Wednesday Hodgepodge…June 22

Joyce has once again provided us with seven wonderful questions for our mid-week “hodgepodge”!  Time’s a-wasting, so let’s get right to those questions, shall we?

1. Summer’s here-whoohoo! What’s your favorite sight, sound, AND smell
associated with summer?  That’s so easy for me to answer, because all of my answers are all rolled into one favorite thing…the beach!  Favorite sight- miles of sand and water,  sound-  the ocean waves crashing, and smell- the salty air! 

the beach...I love everything about it

2. Fireflies or lightning bugs…what are they called in your neck of the
woods?  We call them lightning bugs.  For some reason, we don’t have a lot of them around here, so it’s very exciting when we see one!

3. What is something from the past week that reminded you of your
childhood? A few days ago, I introduced our granddaughter to the call of the “Bob White”, aka known as a quail.  It brought back memories of when my own grandmother did the same for me–so many years ago.  I posted about the experience HERE. 

4. Define ‘the good life’.  To me, the good life means having a husband to love, who loves me equally in return…having children/families living nearby, and seeing them on a regular basis…having enough money to pay the bills, with a little left over at the end of each month… a warm/cool house to live in(that’s nearly paid for)…and last, but certainly not least, having the peace of mind that comes from knowing that I’m a child of God.

5. Tell us what we’d see if you took a snapshot of your desk/work
space?  A mess!  It’s a combination of sewing and scrapbook stuff–with a couple of odd items thrown in!  A picture is worth a thousand words–see!

my hobby area/work table...

6. Peaches or watermelon…yes, you have to choose.  Okay, that’s a tough one, but since I’m from Georgia, I’m gonna’ have to say “peaches”!

7. Ever been skinny dippin’? Is that too much for the Wednesday Hodgepodge?
Rest assured we won’t need details…unless of course you feel you must but
remember, this is a family friendly blog so keep it G rated.  Yes, I have, at night! Only because we live in a very secluded area, with no neighbors–and had our own pool!

Random Thoughts:

#It’s beginning to look a lot like a wedding around here!

#Ed’s tux is in, I have granddaughter, Madison’s, flowergirl dress hanging on the entertainment center, and Ed’s mom’s dress hanging on the bedroom door…

#That flowergirl dress is getting tight on Madison…she needs to eat light and not grow anymore between now and Saturday…
#Several totes are sitting around filled with rehearsal “stuff”…tablecloths, dinnerware, napkins, mints, candles, and more.

#More totes are filled with ingredients to make the rehearsal dinner…spaghetti, lasagna, strawberry trifle, death by chocolate, and more.  Still have to pick up ingredients for salad and some Italian bread…

#I’m just waiting for Thursday to arrive so I can decorate the annex, hoping my plans for how to do it work out.

#The soon-to-be-married couple are beginning to make me nervous…they just flew by here on their way to the courthouse to get the license.

#It’s 4 o’clock, the courthouse closes at 5–and Jennifer didn’t have her birth certificate with her.

#There’s no music for the reception, so far, Brad’s responsibility.

#Wedding programs are nearly finished–but not quite.

#The engagement announcement will finally be in this week’s paper–2 days before the wedding!

Two procrastinators, getting married…heaven help us!

Random Pre-Wedding News…

Only eleven more days until the wedding of Brad and Jennifer!  It’s time for an update of what’s been going on.

A few days after I wrote about the “bridesmaid’s dress dilemma” more things happened.  Just to refresh your memory, the bridal store neglected to order my daughter’s bridesmaid dress, after her original choice was returned.  This error wasn’t discovered until about 3 weeks ago–too late to order the dress.  Jennifer decided to substitute the missing dress with a dress of the same style, but  different color, which happened to be available for purchase at the store.  She brought the replacement dress to my daughter, Brandy.

Later, after talking with her aunt, Jennifer decided to talk with “David’s Bridal” again, and ask them to attempt to locate a dress in the appropriate color from another one of their stores–something they should’ve offered to do in the first place!  The store did manage to find a dress like the one that should’ve been ordered.  If you remember from my first post, the dress is the same color, but a little different style because of…well I won’t get into that again. They made Jennifer pay to have the dress shipped from the other store, and told her it should arrive by June 15.  The good news is…the dress arrived one day last week–a few days early!

There is some dieting going on around and about.  Jennifer is currently on the Atkins diet, which means no sugar or carbs.  She wanted to make sure her wedding dress fits properly.  No sugar and no carbs for Jennifer is life-changing!  To say ”the girl loves candy” would be an understatement.  I guess Brad is eating some of the diet foods with her, because they both ate a grilled chicken finger salad on Friday night.  Misery loves company, you know.

I’ve been doing the things that I can do ahead of time, in preparation for the rehearsal dinner–and praying for health and stamina to do what I need to do in the days ahead.  I’ve learned how to fold dinner napkins in a fancy way–from the internet!  Is there anything that’s not on YouTube?

All napkins are folded, the stickers have been put on the after dinner mints, the table arrangements are done, several photographs of the couple have been printed and framed for display, and the menu and grocery list have been written.  All that’s left is decorating, grocery shopping, and cooking.

One idea that we came up with, to greatly help me out with the supper, is to have the supper before the rehearsal!  That way, family members can help me get the food set out and ready to serve.  Otherwise, I was going to have to do it all by myself–and I was wondering how can I do all of this by myself…By having the supper first,  I’ll have help, then later I can watch the wedding rehearsal, too!

Ed and I are soon going on a quick get-away, prior to the wedding.  I have mixed feelings about doing this, but after much thought, I decided that we really need some time alone, to unwind and get ready for the whirlwind of activity that lies ahead.  Our anniversary is coming up, just a week before the wedding, and we need to make some time for us.  So…in the midst of all of the wedding preparation sits a packed suitcase!

That’s it for today.  Speaking of a “packed suitcase”,  today I’m riding the  Tuesday Train.  Just click the train for directions, if you’d like to ride along…

Many Similarities…

As you can imagine, Brad and Jennifer’s wedding plans are shifting into another gear these days.  As a part of those plans, Jennifer and I spent some time this week going through old photographs of her and Brad as they were growing up. 

While going through their old photographs, we discovered a few things.  Like the fact that both of them had baby photographs made in front of the same background!  I failed to notice that similarity, but Jennifer didn’t.  She noticed the stuffed dog in the background immediately! 

As Jennifer and I browsed through more of those old photos, we found more similarities–like these ”chair photos”.

 

A bit uncanny, don’t you think?  In fact, I was pretty much able to match every one of Jennifer’s childhood photographs with a similar one of Brad’s. 

Just look at these photos of two sweet little children at church.  One, at a church costume party, dressed like Samson, while the other stands in the front of the church dressed like an angel!

I also discovered that even as adults, the similarities continued…Both had college graduation photographs taken with their moms–and both moms were standing on the same side!

In case you’re wondering why we were gathering all of these old photos, Jennifer needed them for a slide presentation for the wedding.   If Jennifer’s uncle pairs the photos just right, I think it should make an interesting presentation.

It was fun walking down memory lane with Jennifer, but I couldn’t help but feel a little sad as I was looking through Jennifer’s photos.  I found myself wishing that Jennifer’s mom, Denise, and I could have sat together, compared our children’s baby pictures, and talked “mother talk”!  I think we both would’ve enjoyed that very much.  Her presence is missed by all of us.

*Denise passed away last year, at the age of just 49.  She would’ve turned 50 this month.