five days to go, kids

We're five days from the big day, and I'm FAR less stressed out than I expected to be. I can certainly attribute that to the awesomeness that is Shanna and John. Not only did they come over on Saturday to help us get things accomplished, but it was their idea to come over because they are clearly made of awesome. (I should note that I have several other friends who also fall in this category of awesomeness, who've called people, looked into stuff, etc. And that my mom came up to help us this weekend, too. :) )

It's fall break here on Monday and Tuesday, so that means most of the kiddies are scattered - some went home, some are here in hibernation, etc. I've got my music up louder than usual. :) This certainly doesn't hurt my stress level.

I think we'll be at the peak of fall colors this weekend, but it looks like rain's in the forecast. Oh well. I accept that this is beyond my control.

And in crochet news, I made myself a winter hat yesterday, and it even got an endorsement from Anne, which never happens because--and this will no doubt surprise you (don't miss the sarcasm)--I like things to be a little colorful and crazy. ;)

Alrighty. Gonna take advantage of this quiet and get some things done.

various and sundry

I've been remiss in my blogging duties. Apologies, kind readers.

So, what's been going on...? The wedding is in 11 days, so it would be fair to say my stress level has been higher than I would like. Along with the rising stress level come the rising levels of depression and anxiety, which make it kind of hard to do the things that are stressing one out--go freakin' figure. Add in a dash of Anne having the final tax deadline of the year and zero time to breathe, and you've got our lives right now. Phew. I got tired just writing that.

I had a nightmare this morning about the wedding. No one was listening to me and taking my directions. Instead, they were all just goofing around, and it was really, really frustrating. We were there with guests and everything, and we tried to start the ceremony six times. Add to that the dj playing the wrong processional music and me having to hook my iPod up to his speakers to play the right song. Nothing was going right. Needless to say, there wasn't any sleeping going on after that. Instead, I got up almost 2 hours before my alarm and get some wedding stuff done.

Work's been feeling stressful, too. I feel like I never have any time, and then things seem so overwhelming that I don't know where to start. But, I do start, and stuff gets done, and I work late and come in early. Lather, rinse, repeat.

On the other side of all of the stress and planning is what I know is going to be an awesome day. I hope that my inner bridezilla can control herself on the day and just have fun.

So, let's quit talking about all that wedding business. How about politics? I'm having such a great time watching Tina Fey as Sarah Palin I haven't been interested in SNL for years, but poor Palin is so ripe for SNL-type comedy. Tina Fey needs to win a friggin' Emmy for this stuff. And, how about Queen Latifah as Gwen Ifill? Brilliant, folks. Bring on President Obama.

Did I tell you I got an iPhone? Did I tell you I'm breaking up with Anne because I'm so in love with this little piece of technology? Amazing thing. Truly amazing.

The only other noteworthy thing that comes to mind at the moment is that we're starting the first faculty/staff team for the College's Relay for Life in the spring. Our team name? The Itty Bitty Knitty Committee: We're Yarned and Dangerous. Why yes, we do think we're clever; thanks for asking. We're going to make/sell handmade goods to fundraise. When we get everything up and running, I'll likely hound you for five bucks to support our team. if nothing else, it'll be fun, and the student in charge of Relay this year was SO excited when I told her I had a faculty/staff team together.

my heart melts

I cried.

oh, the details...

I feel like my brain is swimming with all the little details we have to think about for the wedding. What shoes will my girls wear? What shoes am I going to wear? How much should we pay to get our hair done? Give that Anne's mom is the person who usually cuts my hair, where will we go to get our hair done? Then, there's things like out-of-town bags, updating the website, song lists for the dj, writing up the ceremony and program... *sigh* Why didn't I get this stuff done this summer?!

various and sundry

Feels like I'm due to write something, so here goes...

Piper has an ear infection. Squirting medicine in a cat's ear isn't as fun as you might think it would be. She's almost completely mended, though.

Which leads me to my grandfather, who should be mended, part 1, on Thursday when he has his Whipple Procedure done to correct his chronic pancreatitis. Following, my grandmother will be staying with us for several days while he's in the hospital. Conveniently, the hospital where he's going (and it's a great doc there, btw), is just down the road from a Metra stop, so I can take her to visit him and then hop on the train for a few hours of work. There's no reason to think anything should go wrong with his surgery, as he's got a doc who does these all the time, but if you can spare some good thoughts on Thursday morning, they couldn't hurt. I intend to work on my sweater crochet project while we wait.

And while we're on crocheting, I'll note that I'm going to participate in the Ravelympics, which involves a 17-day challenge project, mine being an afghan of 4' x 4'. I mapped out the design yesterday, which is allowed, though I can't start the crocheting till the opening ceremonies of Beijing. I hope I can do it.

One recent project is almost completely done: our wedding invitations. I just picked them up from the printer here on campus. The invitations, reply cards, and maps have, so far, cost less than $8 80 cents (I can do math, really) apiece, though I haven't yet purchased envelopes. Damn, that price is good, and I'm ecstatic with how the look. I want to walk around campus with them, going up to people and saying, "Look! Don't they look cool! I designed these! And they were printed on campus for super cheap!" I'm like a kid.

Finally, I'll note that I've embarked on a large project I'll be proud to finish very soon: uploading all of my cds to my computer. I'm nearing the end of the alphabet, and I broke 6,000 songs yesterday. Once I get everything on there, I intend to go through the catalog and mark the files I don't want included as fair game for my shuffle. Plus, I can't imagine my iPod, awesome as he is, is going to be able to hold all this stuff. This is a hell of a lot of music, friends, and I think it needs a little prioritizing. After all, I don't need holiday music on there now, so trimming the catalog a bit is worth it, especially if I don't have to listen to "Elf's Lament" until December.

the end of summer approaches

I'm back to work. The students will be back in 2 weeks (RAs and football players). Le sigh. What happened to all that time I was going to have to get things done, like updating my Ravelry? The summer didn't prove to be relaxing. Too many obligations, too many events.

I think maybe I'm in mourning for the summer's end. I can feel it in other folks, too, here at work. We're excited for things, like new staff starting, but that signals the approach of our busiest time of the school year.

I'm going to drop off our invitations at the printer this morning, which is exciting. I'm glad they're done; that's a weight off of me. I also got some importantly big work projects done this week (cleaning my office not among them), which also feels good. I think maybe I'll spend this morning getting my office into shape. Seeing less clutter always makes me feel more upbeat.

are you sure it's not Monday?

Today's been downright weird in the way that only Monday's usually are. For one, I'm in the office, which I never am on a Thursday in the summer. I needed to unpack, though, as they moved my stuff back to my old office in the library while I was in Reno. It's like coming home. :) I do miss my Thursday morning breakfast with H, though.

Instead, I got an interesting conversation with my pal O. You meet such interesting folks from the College when you ride the train, I swear. O became part of our train crew last fall, and I've always thought he was a cool dude. We talked very openly about his recent diagnosis of bipolar/borderline and subsequent medicating. It's funny how people change for you in only 30 minutes. I have a newfound understanding of O, and I respect the way he's dealing with the diagnosis, namely learning all the can about it.

In other news, I woke up at 4:30 and couldn't go back to sleep. I'm obviously channelling my girlfriend, who fails at sleeping after about that point. The downside for me is that I'm also having trouble falling asleep--both are so unlike me! I'm pooped.

And hungry. I left the house without any food, and I have none here. Poor planning on my part. I actually left sort of frantically, running around desperately trying to find my keys.

Which reminds me: I hate our neighbors. Still. I went out to water my flowers and nearly fell over someone's bike, which was left RIGHT in front of our door. WTF, people? That's gotta warrant a note or something.

I took the day off from everything else yesterday and got all the wedding paraphernalia done. We're talking: invitations, reply cards, and maps. Dear gawd, the maps took for-ev-er, but they look awesome. I'm looking forward to seeing them live and in print, and not just the poor-quality printing I did here in the office (to see how they looked).

Alright, enough break. Back to organizing the office.

two-month hiatus? ha!

I'm wondering when that two-month break I have off from work is going to start. For serious. I worked 2 days last week and 2 this week. I was supposed to be in today, too, but I'm home cleaning instead. My dad's coming to town for the first time since I've lived in Chicago, and I spent my cleaning day (read: yesterday) catching up on much(!)-needed rest. In the past couple of weeks, I've worked too often, seen the Indigo Girls and James Taylor (his show was in the rain), hung out with Merdie, bought a wedding dress, gone with Anne to buy her wedding dress, gone with Merdie to buy her attendant's dress, and probably done a bunch of other things I can't remember anymore. Upcoming events include: Dad's visit, camping with Jandyle's family, MBJ's wedding events (I'm in the wedding), a workshop at work on technology and teaching writing, Alison Krause and Robert Plant in concert, going with Merdie to get her birthday tattoo, and stuff associated with my grandfather's health. That ought to get its own paragraph, frankly.

So here goes. My grandfather (Opi, after Opa, which is German for grandfather) gets chronic pancreatitis, which you usually only see in people who are heavy drinkers. He doesn't happen to be one of those, not in the slightest. After several bouts of it that were primarily treated with antibiotics (I'm guessing) and lots of pain meds, he saw a specialist, who diagnosed a benign tumor on his pancreas, that clogs the pancreas with secretions. This is pretty serious, as the tumor could become cancerous. Serious, also, is the treatment for this condition, which is called the Whipple Procedure. It's an 8-hour surgery to remove parts of the pancreas, stomach, small intestine, and gall bladder. This is one of those get-it-right-or-your-patient-is-fucked sort of surgeries, so he's naturally going to see a top-notch doc. Consult is next week, surgery TBD. Right now, I'm just concentrating on the part where we finally know what's causing his health problems.

In other, happier news, I'm crocheting like mad. I made a cute drawstring backpack, and I'm working on a cardigan sweater. This is the first time I've crocheted into the summer months, and I'm still diggin' it.

Alrighty, back to cleaning. I've had a long enough break, and I can no longer put off the sweeping.

welp, a post.

Don't think I've posted in awhile. I've had plenty to say, I guess, but it's happened in comments or in person to somebody else. I've been reading blogs, just not writing.

I'm on my 2-month semi-hiatus from the College right now. And where am I writing to you from? My office at the College. :P Had some odds and ends I wanted to take care of, and I'm back up here tomorrow to meet with the academic appeals board.

So, what does a girl do in her spare time once she becomes a stay-at-home-kitty-mom? If you're me, you accept your honey-do list, add in a few other creative projects that need to be done, and call it a day. I'm home all day again on Thursday, during which time I'll be cleaning for Jennjer, who's staying with us Friday after our make-up Indigo Girls concert (she's allergic to cats). Saturday, Anne and I will accompany Jennjer to see James Taylor, which should be fun.

Merdie was here last week, and I'm going to go dress shopping with her next week--for her attendant dress for our shindig. Speaking of which, I bought my dress last Friday. I'm not telling; I want it to be a surprise to some people, at least.

I'm hoping to do a BIG Ravelry postfest this week. I took pics of lots of recent crochet projects, and I need to get back to cataloging them. Geeky, I know, but I do heart teh crochet.

I planted flowers yesterday. :) I picked up 3 vincas and planted them in the flowerbox my grandfather made me when I was in graduate school. They're going to look supercute once they really get going. I'll have to take a picture. :)

And, now that everything's done--for today--for me at the College, I think I'll wander to the train. Peace out, homies.

PS What is it about Ani's "School Night"? Dang, how deeply I feel (and love) that song.