BUSY BUSY BUSY

Ms. Jane has come and sadly gone. We had a wonderful, very productive visit. As you can see, Bruno adores his Nana! Boy did she spoil him! And boy did he let her! Jane and I spent a day out shopping over in Boise and Nampa, looking for envelopes for the wedding invites and a dress for the glamorous Miss. Maria, my junior maid of honor and assorted wedding stuff.



I was a little nervous that Ms Jane would be one of those shoppers I hate, you know the ones...oooh look at this....oh look at that...oh let's go look at that. Nope she's like me. Go in scan the store, go to what you want, grab the right size, pay for it and get out! I was so relieved! 



Nick's sun flowers have grown about a foot since this photo was taken! We think Ms. Jane brought some of that magic Tennessee pixie dust fertilizer with her. Everything has really gone a little nuts since she's been here.My rose bush must have 300 buds on it right now! I can't wait to see what they look like!



The week Ms. Jane was here was sort of like a long slumber party, I don't think we went to bed before 2 am. So we slept in a little, here's Ms. Jane with Bru. He really enjoyed having her here and sharing the bed with just one person instead of two.

When she left, he spent the whole day waiting by the front door for her to come back. We all had such a great time and we all miss her.

Time for dinner! Oh, Nick's job at the theater...going o.k. He's working a lot of long days but not alot of days, which is sort of nice since there is so much to get done around here for the weeding. We'll now it really is time for dinner!

Have a wonderful evening!
xo

BRUNO-GUEST BLOGGER

My name is Bruno-sometimes they call me Brubles or Bruby Doo, but my name is Bruno. I live with Nick and Tig in the coolest house in the world! I know my mom writes about me alot but she doesn't really know what I'm thinking all the time, so, I stole her camera and I'm hijacking her blog!

The first thing I see in the morning.

Today I want to tell you about my world. There is so much going on around here, Dads trying to make Brunotopia look really good for our wedding. Yes, it's my wedding too! I'm going to officially be a Reeves!

Opps that's my paw!

Mom has a bad case of O.C.W.D. and spends alot of time trying to find things for our wedding. I can't wait till it's over. Well, till the reception anyways, the food is going to be yummmmmmy! I know it's all going to be nice and fun. I think she got everything figured out as of today.

Dad



Mom

My life is really good, I get really great food, I have tons of people who love me! People tell me all the time I'm a handsome boy and I'm a good boy, people I don't even know!

Froggy my friend



My toys, I have lots of them!

I'm a real good soccer player! My dad played soccer a bunch, even in England, he's pretty good but not like me! I beat him all the time like 30-0.

My favorite place to nap.

I'm just the luckiest dog in the world, when I think about when I met my mom, at the Humane Society, that was the best day of my life. 

My other favorite nap spot.

In one week my NaNa will be at my house. I have her whole trip planned out, Cuddle cuddle cuddle!!! She is a really special lady. When she came to see me the first time she slept in Mom and Dad's bed all by herself, I thought she might feel lonely in there alone so I jumped up there and snuggled her. She snuggles real good, we've been in love ever since!

The best treat ever!



Mom is going to bake these for breakfast when NaNa gets here. Uh oh Mom's coming! Gotta go. This was sort of fun!
Bye-
Bruno

EVEN PUNK ROCK GIRLS GET THE BLUES

Even well intentioned comments can hurt, and well, this last week has been a tough one. That's my excuse for being away for a week. One of the girls at work keeps commenting on my appearance, I've already been feeling ugly, since we moved my hair and skin have gone completely hay wire, and though I hope she means well, right now I don't want to hear confirmation that what has always worked isn't working any more and I can't afford to fix it right now. So I've spent the week having pep talks with myself, watching Youtube videos about "mature" skin care and makeup and trying to feel better about how I look. Normally I have pretty high self esteem, so feeling insecure about something so trivial seems to make it worse!

It's raining here today after three days over 85 degrees, and the scariest wind storm I've ever been in. I was hoping to get a pair of ruby slippers out of the deal, but no. The plants are finally getting a good, deep drink of water and the dust is settling. I have a ton of dusting to do before Ms. Jane gets here in just a couple weeks. I also went out to the Quonset today and boy...I need to do some work out there cleaning and decorating.

living room

bedroom

kitchen




I have my work cut out for me. I do love having this space for my friends and family, a place where they can stay and not feel like their under our feet and we're not in their way.

back windows

I don't think I'll need to spend much money, well, famous last words. Thanks to Ms. Jane though I wt need to buy fabric for the windows. Just a few dishes, some bar stools a couch...o.k. it's adding up! and I almost forgot, I have to stock it with Mystic Mint Cookies! for Dad!!! We got rid of so much on our last two moves, things we didn't have room for in our studio, things that we didn't think we needed, now we could use them, oh well, no use crying over it now.

Nicks latest raised bed

On the wedding front...we finally found the Basque! and no Dad it did not involve throwing a lamb in the middle of Main Street and yelling here Basquey Basquey! I can say that I'm Greek and pretty sure there is some Merino in my DNA! The Basque Club owns the train depot and we want to make sure there isn't a problem standing outside saying I DO! The flower seeds I planted for bouquets are finally coming up and the grass is really filling in nicely! I can't wait to be Mrs. Nick! To officially be Corbin and Maddy's step mother and Caydens Yia Yia! That reminds me I need to find and fill a toy box for Mr. Cayden to have at Papou's house.

Who knows, maybe my rose will be in full bloom for the wedding! I can't wait to see what color it is!  I just found out that my brother Stefan will be taking photos for the wedding! Score! Free good photographer who I can black mail to make sure I get the photos I want!! Bet you didn't think of that did you Froggy Bottom? How do you know it's right? Everything just seems to fall into place. Even my hair and skin are starting to get normal again!

Well, guess that's about all. I'm going to try and be better about posting, it makes me feel better when I do.
Have a lovely evening!
xo

OH, WHAT A BEAUTIFUL MORNING

My surprise garden is going nuts with tulips and grape hyacinth! I didn't know you could put sooooo many bulbs in one small bed. I get excited to go out there every morning to see what else might come up, so far just tons of red tulips.



I can't wait to see what this little white one looks like! All this is sort of a bonus to buying our perfect little dream house.

The front of the house looks very naked with out that big, ugly, dead locust tree, but it's so nice not getting scratched up by the thing. Nick's "lawn" is starting to thicken up, I think it's about 60/40 this morning-60% grass that is.

I really hope we can get the inside of the fence painted before the wedding, speaking of the wedding...I'm done stressing! Things are coming along quite nicely, I'm organized, cool, calm, collected and busier than I want to be. I don't think Nick really understands everything that needs to happen in such a short time but...oh well.

Now if I can just figure out how to make this 46 year old face of mine look 26 again! Shoot I'll take 42! Anyway, that doesn't really matter so much as, Nick loves my 46 year old face, and I'm very fond of his! I think I'm most looking forward to seeing all of my family and friends and being able to spend some time relaxing and enjoying them all.

Nick has planted watermelons in one of the raised beds he built, we're hoping that by July we can walk out there and pick a couple for the reception. I can't wait to see the sticky mess my grand baby Cayden will make with one!!! Speaking of Mr. Cayden, he's crawling! He should be into everything when they're here. Yia Yia better get busy Cade proofing everything!  

Farmer Nick is working hard on our empty lot, he doesn't like to let on but I know he can't wait to show it off to the dads and his mom. I'm really proud of all he has done too. Hard to believe we've only been in the house for two months yesterday!

It's a beautiful day and I'm going to go enjoy it!
xo

OH HAPPY DAY

Today is a very good day indeed. The "damned locust" tree is coming down as we speak! I couldn't be happier! Bruno is a little upset by the noise, poor guy, yesterday the new vet told him he's still too fat and now all this noise!



Fat and can't get a nap.The vet wants him to lose 10 more pounds, she should have seen him 32 pounds ago! Now if I could just lose 32 pounds!

I've spent a very good two days with the boyz, working on wedding stuff and getting things accomplished. Baby steps! Research! Action! Now there's a plan. We have finalized our guest list and put together an information letter, I even got them all printed and addressed! As soon as the tree guys are done we can head to the post office. Two big items off my plate.

I even found the perfect diy invitations online last night and the perfect wording! People say that knowing exactly what you want makes everything easier, I disagree. When you know exactly what you want, that's it. I don't want to be a Bridezilla but I know what I want...I just don't know where to get it! I'm figuring it out though and things are looking brighter.

I have to admit that I am the one getting in my way. I love blogging, I hate cruising the web. Searching endless web sites looking for things is torture! I'm also not really good about asking for help, again I know what I want, I just can't put it in words sometimes. So...this is really hard for me...does anyone know of a good online resource for quality paper and envelopes? Phew, I did it!

And the tree is down! It's only 101 days until the wedding now, two days ago that would have sent me over the edge, not today. Today I can take it.

I hope happy things are happening in your world today!
xo

OHM-OHM-OHM-OH-OH-OHM-OHM

I'm much better today. I sat myself down and had a serious talk, I listened to the advice of some very wise people indeed, thank you Ms. Jane, Natasha and Auntie Lis. I think it was the Hokey Pokey this morning that finished my transformation from crazy  to cautiously calm. I even listened to my own advice, which may prove to be a mistake, and started writing things down, and made myself a calender so I can break this all down into little chunks of stuff to get done.







Today this goof ball gets to go meet his new vet. I get to work on getting our guest list together all in one place and putting together a mailing for everybody about things to do and places to stay. I think I will include my friend John's family motel down in Vale...yes..really...The Bates Motel! John's Aunt and Uncle own it now and the family name is really Bates. From what I've been told there are fresh homemade cookies everyday.

I guess the reviews of motels here in Ontario aren't so great. I'm not surprised, customer service is a joke out here! Most of the decent places are right off the highway on the east end of town. My best advice is if you can't find anything here, try Baker, or over in Idaho. I don't think there is anyplace in Payette or Fruitland, maybe Caldwell or Nampa?

These two guys can't wait to see Ms. Jane! It's less than a month now! I need to stop procrastinating and get on that guest list...so many scraps of paper...baby steps...breathe...put your left foot in...

xo

A LITTLE EASTER MORNING PORN

I have come to expect some things to be a certain way. Like Easter for example, it should be a day of peace, relaxation and joy. A day of contemplation, a day for family. A day for...



homemade, all the way from scratch, with love in your heart and a song in your soul, cinnamon rolls! I have really been craving a good cinnamon roll, hot out of the oven, but getting up three hours before breakfast, on a holiday? Not happening!! The answer Overnight cinnamon rolls! I'm so happy I found this one! A little crunchy on the outside, soft and gooey on the inside, just right, and the smell. On an Easter morning, the smell of bread, sugar and cinnamon. What could be better?

A man who does the dishes! Man am I lucky! He doesn't even mind the pink curtains! Since we've moved things have changed, Nick is still stressed, but not like he was in Portland, he's not nearly as angry. I'm not as stressed either. We get to spend more time together doing "normal" couple things, like the dishes or puttering in the yard. We talk more, about the future, the past, mistakes and blessings.

We laugh more. We decided to spend our lives together because we enjoy each others company, in Portland we didn't really have much time to enjoy, we were both so exhausted from just trying to get by. Here, well, I can only speak for myself but I've fallen in love with this big silly goof ball all over again. Nick and I don't really argue, we don't always agree but, life is too short to worry about little stuff like the toilet seat or the cap on the toothpaste or dirty clothes on the bathroom floor or clutter on the table. Maybe it's because we have both been in "bad" relationships or maybe, because we found each other later in life, I'm not sure, I do know that, all my life I have wanted a relationship like my Mom and Dad's and now that I've found it I'm going to hold on to it, and appreciate it.

It's a beautiful day in Ontario and I think I might just go plant some seeds. Maybe I'll just go sit in the yard with Bru and enjoy another cinnamon roll, oh and work on wedding plans.

Happy Easter-
xo

WHAT EVERY GIRL WANTS

I am a very lucky girl indeed. My Nick, my knight in tarnished armour, treats me like a queen. He does little things for me that I would never expect, like the berry plants. Hopefully they will be loaded with berries for the wedding!





I mentioned to him the other day that some planter boxes would be nice on the front porch, what did he do? He went to the garage and made me planter boxes for the front porch! He just does things like that for me. I think I'm going to plant some chamomile in them.




 That brings me to my point, every girl wants to marry a prince. I get to. I don't want to trivialize what we have by calling him my "best friend" he is so much more. He really is my life partner, I spent most of the last two days working on wedding plans, and Nick was right there with me, giving me ideas, and telling me to relax, everything is going to be wonderful.

I was stressing out, to say the least. My biggest stress? Who would preform our wedding. I didn't want some judge or justice of the peace who would just read words off of a page. Nick and I are quirky, and we need a little pluck in our ceremony. I was about to melt down when I checked my email. My Auntie Lis, is ordained! We have our officiant! Someone that I know has personality, who I know will understand if we want a reading from Calvin and Hobbs or Winnie the Pooh. Thank you Aunt Lis! Now I'm a little less stressed about the whole wedding thing.

Every little girl wants to have her wedding be the perfect day. Mine thanks to my Aunt and my Nick is well on it's way to being awesome!!!

Now I have to go to work and make the money to pay for the whole thing!

Have a fantastic day-
xo

MY HOW TIME FLIES

It's hard to believe that we left Portland two months ago, one day short of two months. So much has happened, it feels more like six!

In two months, we've sorted and packed all of our belongings, driven completely across the state, bought a truck, bought a house, I've gone back to work...WOW...



Both Nick and I have remembered lessons learned as children, lessons from parents and grandparents. We have truly been able to slow down a bit, relax a little, and enjoy time together.

We've seen snow that doesn't cripple a city, sunshine, and yes even rain. We've looked to the sky and seen more stars than I've seen since I was a kid on the beach.

We've seen snow covered mountains...

and majestic buttes...

it hasn't been easy...we've had our bumps...but through it all we have all been able to keep in sight what really matters most...we are together, and we are in love. We might not be rich, but who cares!

Well, it's off to work with me.
I hope your day is filled with love, wonder and beauty.

xo