Frustrated

 For the past 2 days or so, our internet connection has been wonky.  


Things will load ok for an hour or two, maybe.  Then they won't load at all.  Very limited on what we can do.  I've found it frustrating (& have much more empathy for you, Amrita - this happens to you all the time?).  Don't know what is going on.  Had a tech to the house yesterday & they are doing "maintenance" in our area, but they say our house isn't effected.  ???


I tell you, anyone really wanting to screw with this country doesn't need to use all the scary things the media talks about.  All they have to do is go thru a major area/city with something that will send out EMPs (electromagnetic pulse) & whooey!  Most cars won't work, traffic lights, phones, probably no cell phones or computers or anything else we use to stay connected these days.  Can we live without our technology?


Of course, i don't know the first thing about this really.  I don't know if it could be done like i'm outlining, but my fears are not so much about explosive stuff, but about messing with our technology in place & limiting our ability to function.

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We sent a letter, well more than a letter, to the pastor, G, & to the three elders of the Lutheran church.  Have had no response yet, but didn't expect to so soon.  Duane thinks we probably won't get any response at all, but i think they will respond.  If nothing else, probably an official letter stating that the elders are upholding the pastor's decision & maybe some gobbledy-gook on why it was justified.  
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Duane is off the hill.  He planned to be gone all weekend, first with a SAR training & then some race in Holcomb Valley.  The SAR training was postponed as they have a real search to conduct today.  (Five months & no searches, to his disappointment, then this one happens the same weekend as a planned training.)


It looks to be sad, however.  A 58 YO man was reported missing on Wednesday, but no one knew where he was or where he'd gone.  Yesterday his vehicle was found in the desert.  This may not be pleasant for Duane's first official search.


He is gone next Saturday, too, as he has a Karate tournament he is responsible to help with in OC.  


In fact, the whole summer seems to be filled with weekends where he is doing training or something.  I'm not complaining, not really.  I miss him, of course.  But with my own functioning so limited, i often feel that i'm preventing him from being more involved & doing fun things he would enjoy.  So i'm glad that he's got something to do that he feels so strongly positive for.
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I've only got Rebecca one more week!  AARRGG!  I'm going to miss her a lot.  


I've appreciated her so much for the past couple of months.  I enjoy her.  She "gets" me.  She enjoys doing the work i have for her.  She's been responsible & i could depend on her.  


I've some ideas on what i plan now, but Duane & i need to re-assess having someone here so often.  Rebecca is worried about me & had a friend come to see what she does.  I appreciate that & that friend really wants the job, but i kind of wanted to take this next step on my own.  I'm not even sure exactly what i'll do. 
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One of my knives was broken this week.  I think a cat probably knocked it off (while we were down the hill) & it broke at the first screw/dowel-thingy.  The blade comes cleanly off.  It isn't a knife i use often, but i checked into the warranty of the thing.  It is only covered for "manufacturing defect" so i don't think broken counts.  So i looked at the replacement cost of this knife - $70 - ON SALE !!!  


This knife set was a wedding gift, so i had no idea that the giver spent something like $300 for the set.  I'm shocked.  I don't think i adequately appreciated it before, & can't share my appreciation with the giver as he died a couple of years ago.  (Yes, i do remember most of our wedding gifts & who gave them.)
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Going to town in a little bit.  I've ordered 2 books & they've come in.  One is Sally Fallon's Nourishing Traditions, which i have so wanted.  I don't remember what the other one is.  Guess i'll find out when i go to get it.  :)  I don't often buy books anymore, & rarely buy them new.  If Duane complains, i'll tell him it is my BD gift for my BD this week.  :)



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The Story of my Dress

Y'all are so sweet!


I did love my dress. Its story is rather mundane, but i was proud of it.

I have blogged about this before. In fact i had to spend some time searching for it. I've not used labels - i'm finding that was a mistake. At some time in the future i may go back & add them. If i do that, you can disregard the notification. I think if you are notified about things, it alerts you to edits, too. So you might end up with a lot of old posts in your box.

I did post on our wedding, mostly back in March. Most of these pics are the same as those i just used. But i had to post again for our anniversary, for this is the first since i've begun blogging! Anyway, i did about 5 posts with pics. This one with some details is the most extensive. (If you're interested, you could just go back to the March archives.)


My sisters shopped for the dress with me. We found it at an outlet store for $44. It was just a rather plain, strapless dress but the back with the gold roses was so pretty. They tried to talk me out of it, for it was a little tight. But i was SURE i could lose some weight before the wedding. I talk about that in the "confession/TMI" part of the "some details" post.




I had seen a dress a i fell in love with online, but it was more than i wanted to spend, so i set out to make this one similar. It had deep, long lace over the bodice & arms. So i purchased some lace & beads. Spent about as much on them as i did for the dress. I tea-stained the lace to match the dress, & then hand beaded the lace. I did it at work in "down time" of which i had quite a lot in those days. The beaded fringe is mostly cream beads with a gold one to match the train at the end. And the rosettes of the lace are outlined in beads. Then i put a braid of gold & cream over it to use to attach to the dress. I did the same for my shoes, too. I tea-stained some simple white ballet slippers & beaded them with lace & embroidery. They are not visible in a single pic. They did have a silver sixpence tucked under the lace to fulfill the " . . . something blue, with a silver sixpence in her shoe."

Sis #2 attached the lace to the bodice of the dress for me the AM of the wedding. I had been working & planning for months, but a lot of things happened at the last minute. The dress also did not have a train. But it was too long for me, so Dear Friend Brenda hemmed the front of it & that created the train in the back.

My sisters were right (thus the TMI story) & i didn't realize how this dress would look on. We had a lot of pics not for public view because of the amount of cleavage shown, & so sometimes i remember our wedding with some embarrassment because of that. But hey! It is long over, we had a good time, & we're MARRIED! The wedding is only a day. An important one, but only the beginning of a life together.

Sadly, that dress is no more. I wasn't careful in its storage, & the kitties evidently used the smooth satin as a ladder to the top shelf in our closet. So i decided there wasn't much i could do for it. I removed the hand beaded lace & the lace with gold roses at the back. I think i saved the buttons, too. And then the dress was discarded.

A couple of pics of handsome Duane for good measure. And one of the wedding flowers. My bouquet was daisies with baby's breath around them. The bride's maids were daisies with Michaelmas daisies (purple asters).



I did push myself really hard when my family was here. And then went to work for a couple of days. Sadly, i've spent most of today recovering. But we are planning a dinner out together tonight. Duane is treating me to horseback riding for an anniversary present, & he created the most beautiful & thoughtful card. I didn't do much. He bought something he wanted & we're calling it an anniversary present. (Well we DID do something . . . :P)

I keep editing this! Just a post script . . . daisies are delicate. They last a long time in water, but as a boutonniere they looked sad at the end of the night after Duane had been hugged over & over!

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Our Wedding/our anniversary

Today is our 5th anniversary. It is hard to believe! If you could see me - i'm glowing. I feel like a bride. God has blessed me so with this wonderful man. Here are a couple of my favorite pics from our wedding. Think i've posted some of these before, but here they are again.




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Grateful

I'm thankful i've a place to rant. Thanks to those who are so supportive, too. Most of that post will soon disappear.

Amrita in North India said from my wedding post that Praveen sounds like an Indian name. And so it is. Here we are with him after the wedding.

We love Fr. Praveen. He is warm & delightful. He no longer is at that church, & we miss him.

Here is another pic of Praveen during the service, one i already posted. (Click on pic, it will enlarge.) I think it is blessing the ring. And here is one of the church. St. James in Newport Beach. I had attended there since 1990, until we moved to BB two years ago. Isn't the church beautiful?

As an aside, isn't the internet wonderful? It is putting folks who never could have met otherwise in contact. Amrita has a little cartoon in her sidebar that says, "I love my computer because my friends live in it." I've now friends all over the place. I saw a poll recently asking if the internet is a good thing or a bad thing. I was confused by that until they explained "bad thing" as pornography & online gambling & other things that destroy people's lives. So, i guess it depends on who you are & how you choose to use it. But i'm certainly grateful.

Oh, check out Bobkat's blog with a post on smiling. It will put one on your face! So much to be grateful for in this wonderful world God created.


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Saturday !

My dear friend Dawn checks out the blog, but doesn't comment here. She loves the pics! Thanks Dawn! And requests Duane & i together on our wedding day. I've a bunch. It will be hard to stick to just a couple. (If you click on the pics it will enlarge to see details. It doesn't work on the sidebar pics.)




Ok, i held myself to four, no five. Duane & i didn't do the traditional "don't see the bride before . . ." I'm glad we didn't. See, the wedding was at 6 PM. Father Praveen promised a short service, but it didn't work out that way. And nearly everyone took communion to our surprise, so it was dark when we got out, & several of these pics wouldn't have been possible.



I didn't intend to do a veil, but i had saved the baby's breath from the first flowers Duane ever gave me. It dried nicely & i planned to put it in my hair. It was forgotten & left in a cabinet at home.



I've a confession to make. (This maybe TMI, but it is kind of funny.) I was disappointed i'd not lost more weight before the wedding. When i'd tried on the dress, i'd always done the bra/corset on the outter hooks. But the day of the wedding i was so disppointed i used the inner hooks, trying to be thinner. This did two things i didn't realize. One, it pushed up my considerable bosom making that part of me look a lot larger. Second, it allowed the dress to slip slightly . . . see where this is going? I was mortified at a number of the returning pics, for it showed much more of me than was . . . er, kind or appropriate. I like the pics where i'm holding up my bouquet. Still, we had several turn out nice.



This is one of my favorites. I did "something old" - my necklace & earrings, "something new" the dress & shoes, "something borrowed" - a bracelet from my friend Brenda, in the pic below, "something blue" - my L pinky nail (i always have it painted some color, story for another time), & "with a silver sixpence in her shoe" - i had it slipped into the lace i added to my canvas ballet slippers.



Our wedding was 10 September 2004. So we're coming up on 5 years! It seems like only yesterday, & it seems like we've been together forever. Both in the nicest ways, of course.

Now, if only blogger will accomodate me. Friend David (thanks David!) said that you can move the pics around by dragging them. Which is true to a point. Maybe because i've the posts set to wide, they rarely publish where i put them in the draft.

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Picture Day third pic

Duane talks with his hands. I've often wondered what he was telling Joseph & Greg in this pic. He doesn't remember.

Our wedding day.



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Picture Day seventh pic

Our wedding day! All the girls & women wore inexpensive ballet slippers. I was trying to get the little girls to pirouette, but they wouldn't, so i did!

I hand beaded the lace that we added to my dress.









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Picture Day ninth pic

I think our church (down the hill) is absolutely stunning. I don't think i really appreciated how beautiful it is until we got these pics back.






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