I should totally be sleeping right now.  Instead I am wrapping up the playlist for the reception.  Now I have to burn the whole thing onto CDs and then I might clean my kitchen because I am just not tired.  At all.  I was at around 11:30 when I was finishing up the favors but now? Not so much.

People, I am getting married in just a little bit more than nine and a half hours.

And everybody said “make sure to get some rest.”

Ha. ha hahahahahahahahahaha.

Ha.

One week from right now? I will be married.  MAR.RIED.

In six days.  Six.

Just sayin’.

I had two goals:

1.  To bring in enough money that we could survive comfortably through the month of September without having to stress out about getting the bills paid or buying groceries.

2.  To get all of my work projects compeltely finished by Friday so that I will be able to drop everything and entertain Will’s Dad when he gets here (for the record, we do not know exactly when he will be arriving.  He isn’t one for pesky details like that).

It is quite possible that, in an attempt to accomplish the first I have over extended myself and might not be able to accomplish the second.  I wrote out all of the things I have to write over the next few days and, um, might have had a tiny panic attack.

Obviously these are self imposed goals otherwise this would be a wholly different blog post.  But still.  Too much to do!

And I haven’t even let myself think (much) about the stuff that I still need to do for the wedding (hello putting favors together I’m looking right. at. you)!

Over the last few days I have felt the onset of some sniffles.  Now, I spend most of my days sitting directly in front of a fan (hello summer, won’t be sad to see you give way to fall) so I do now know if this is an allergy/dust being blown at me 24/7 kind of sniffle or a gross “ha ha! you’re totally about to get sick!” sniffle but I do know one thing: I CANNOT GET SICK BEFORE THE WEDDING.  No no no.  See–I don’t get sick like normal people do.  I don’t catch the sniffles, feel lousy for a few days and then move on.  I catch the sniffles for a few days, have a week or so of “oh my god I feel like I’m dying” aches/pains/inability to breathe while lying down/cloudy headedness and then a month and a half of bronchial barking cough.  No. Good.  So I have been doing what any sane person would do when confronted by the fact that a cold might be trying to latch on.  I have been shoving Vitamin C down my throat and taking Sudafed.  I might have tossed back a couple of ecinacea and I was definitely eyeing the Benadryl and Nyquil the last couple of nights.  Not because that’s how sick I feel, but that is how badly I want to kick the ass of whatever this is, even if it is dust.

Which means that it is entirely possible that my brain is not having trouble concentrating because its Friday but because I keep taking otc meds when I might not need to.

Anyway.

All of the Vitamin C has had an…um….well….. would it be tacky to just set up shop in the bathroom for a day or so? I can’t seem to go an hour without needing to…..you know.  It is not comfortable.  It does not smell nice.  The cat will not come within arms reach of me.

But you know what?  If [bleep!]ing whatever this is out of me through the back door is what it takes? Then that’s what it takes.

Which is totally a lovely thing to write about on a Friday afternoon when I should be writing things that will actually make me money.

Have a good weekend!

Yesterday we spent the afternoon and early evening at Will’s Company’s annual Family Picnic and can I just tell you that spending four and a half hours outside in 100ish degree heat and pounding sunlight? Was so fun.  Only, you know, not.  Though I am pretty sure I lost a few pounds when I sweat them out of me.  I shouldn’t complain too much, though, because going to the picnic meant that I didn’t have to cook and that we didn’t have to pay for our dinner (it was provided).  Free food is a pretty strong draw, no matter what the temperature is outside.

When we got home we closed ourselves (and the cat) in the bedroom and turned Bert on full force and spent the rest of the evening sprawled out on the bed and watching movies–30 Days of Night and Kung Fu Panda.  I can promise you that the second was chosen as a direct reaction to the first–nothing like watching some guys head get blown in half right before you are supposed to go to sleep for the night to make you say “you know what? I don’t mind staying up an extra 90 minutes if I can replace the icky with something fun” and seriously? Kung Fu Panda was awesome.  We might buy it (when we have the money) we liked it so much.

Honestly? With all of the work and wedding stuff and money issues that we’ve had swirling around our heads for the last few weeks, it was nice to take an evening off to just relax and not think about all of the rest of the crap that burdens us during the day.  It was not a surprise that I slept much better last night than I have in a while.

Today, my nose is back to the grindstone and I am planning on working all day to try and this evening Will and I will finalize the schedule of events for the wedding with our venue/reception site and put together a working budget for fall.  I might not sleep as well tonight but I am glad to have had last night to lie around and just enjoy each others’ company.

I have been awake since six this morning and, all things considered (not going to bed until almost midnight last night) I think I am doing remarkably well–especially considering the fact that I did not finish my to do list today.  But! It isn’t my fault! I had a dress fitting this morning and we are being visited by Will’s sister (who has come to trade cars back with Will, halle-lu-freakin-jah) who is spending the night. She got here in time for the fitting and then we spent the afternoon walking around the neighborhood and chatting.

Right now she’s playing on Facebook and Will is trying out the Batman game demo on the PS3 so I thought I would take a moment to update this blog.  The wedding is in twenty six days.  Which means that I have 21 days with which to earn enough money to keep us covered for this month and next month–and, hopefully, to have enough funds to do some fun stuff during our “honeymoon” (a week long staycation that we are very much looking forward to).  So. Um. Yow.  That’s a lot of head down and buried in work – ness (while also finishing up wedding stuff).  But it will be worth it when I am able to sit down and relax with Will for a whole week after our wedding.

But still. 26 Days!

Have you ever wondered if you were ever taking part in an exercise in futility?  I did today.

Today I renewed my driver’s permit.  Yes.  That’s right.  I am thirty one years old and I do not have a driver’s license.  I got my permit for the first time when I was fifteen, like a normal person.  I went through driver’s ed.  I learned how to drive (on a manual transmission no less).  I even managed to conquer parallel parking.  All when I was fifteen.  But, due to circumstances beyond my control (Mother, I’m looking right. at. you), I was never able to practice enough or take the test to get an actual license.  So my permit lapsed.  And when I went to college I went with an ID card.

I went to college right outside of San Francisco.  The public transit system was awesome.  Plus I was too busy and too poor to do anything that required a car.

After college I went to Las Vegas where, to be honest, the public transportation system kind of sucked.  But it was liveable and it got me where I needed to go without too much of a hassle (except for the middle of the summer transit workers’ strike.  That was no fun).  And, again, I was too poor to afford to do anything that required a car.  So I kept renewing my ID card.

After Vegas I moved back to Southern Oregon where the public transportation was a joke.  But it got me to work and, often, I had my Mom and then Will to drive me around when I needed it (nothing makes you feel more like an adult than calling your Mom for a ride home).  Will, however, was insistent that I learn how to drive and that he would teach me.  So I got my permit again. Will and I were not well matched as teacher and student–but I had the basics down and when Will got the (automatic) Subaru I proved that I could transport us from Roseburg to Sutherlin without killing us or anyone else. But I was not confident enough to try freeway driving or to actually go take the license exam.  And then we moved up here to Portland.

Portland’s transportation system rocks.  Seriously.  I heart it.  And at some point I have turned into a driving (and passengering) wuss.  I have not gotten behind the wheel of a car since we moved up here.  And I am kind of okay with that.  And sometimes I feel lame that I am thirty one years old and cannot drive myself around.

So today I renewed my permit again.  And I will learn to drive because I’m about to get married.  And I want to have kids.  And I want to be able to drive the kids to the doctor’s office in case there is an emergency.  And I want to  not have to live within a mile of a transit station (which is so much more expensive).  But mostly because I do not want to deal with “you’re how old?  And you don’t have your license yet? What is wrong with you?”

I have to say though, that the whole thing felt like an exercise in futility.  I went to the DMV Express in the Lloyd Center because when Will and I walked by it a few days ago it was absolutely not busy at all.  But today? At eleven AM on a Tuesday?  There was a long line.  Of course.  But I stood in the line.  And filled out the wrong form.  And learned that even at eleven in the morning after only having been open for an hour, the DMV people have no sense of humor and do not appreciate my patience or good attitude.  But the right form got filled out, a new picture got taken and my new permit should show up in the mail within a week or so.

I had to do this a month before my wedding–after which my name will be changed.  So I get to go back and do it all again.  Because? I have to have a valid ID to get a marriage license.

So, essentially, I had to renew my permit so that I could get my marriage license so that I could get my name changed so that I could go back and get another new permit. Suddenly my life is like Main Street in Pleasantville.  All roads are leading back to the DMV.

Today I managed to last until 6:30 or so in the evening before I caved to the heat and Poppy (who spent the whole day hiding from the heat in the bathroom cabinet)  and I retreated into the bedroom to let Bert the air conditioner cool us off.  Right now Poppy is sacked out on the book case and I am looking at my all crossed off to do list and feeling mighty proud of myself for getting everything done that I needed to get done. I might spend an hour or so working on some of the things I wanted to get done today so that tomorrow won’t be work-packed or I might just crash in here and watch television until bedtime.

I kind of need an evening of just vegging out.

And can I just say that a certain monthly issue is almost over and I haven’t been this relieved to see it go in a long long time.  Seriously.  I thought my head was going to spin around until it freakin’ flew off this week.

Though…the week is not yet over…

I am fairly sure that I can say, with authority, that it is TOO DAMN HOT.  As evidence I offer up my unhappy face at being too warm:

And I’m going to follow that up with the makeshift office that I have created in our bedroom:

That is the foot of our bed (likey the ikea bedspread?) and one of the end tables from the living room set up in front of Bert (the portable air conditioner) and a fan.  Bert is set at 70.  I am only just now starting to feel cooled off.  Incidentally that is West Wing on in the background though I feel that I should be honest and tell you that, while it will always be one of my favorite shows, it is just not doing it for me today.  That might have something to do with the fact that I am tired and cranky and retaining water and too hot.  Aaron Sorkin himself could show up to perform soliloquoys from his show and I think I would still be like “duuuude.  Go awayyyy.  I have no patience for you!”  (after I finished  freaking out at Aaron Sorkin teleporting into our apartment of course.)

Next week the temperature is supposed to go down into the mid seventies/low eighties and I am beyond ready for this.  I know that I complain every winter about how much I want it to be warmer but I do not mean “over 100 degrees” warm.  I mean “high 60s/mid 70s warm.”  The kind of warm where you can still wear jeans and oxfords with a regular t-shirt and the sun feels happy and cheerful, not “I am going to shine on you so hard you feel like you’re being pushed through the concrete while your brain catches on fire with my forcefulness!”  So yeah.  I’m a picky S.O.B.  And right now, I’m okay with that.  Seriously folks, part of the appeal for Will and I about the Portland area was that it was supposed to be milder weathered than Roseburg.

I have been trying to get work done all day since I spent Monday (and yesterday as it turned out) doing wedding stuff and Will’s sister is going to be here for at least part of tomorrow.  It looks like I will be working through the weekend, but that is okay because our plans are to camp out here in the bedroom and wait for the temperature outside to lower back down to something more reasonable.

In other news (possibly the most abused phrase on this blog), I have decided that I am going to redesign this site after the wedding.  I’m not going to relaunch it like I did last summer but I am going to overhaul the design and the sidebars and I am seriously considering doing the entire design by myself.  From scratch.  From my brain.  Which is kind of terrifying because I? have no idea how to do that.  This comes mostly from adopting blog templates and having to tweak them within an inch of their lives to look and behave the way I want them to.  So… does anybody know of a good “build your own WordPress theme” tutorial that I can start looking at once I’ve gotten caught up with work?

I had a longer post planned but seriously?  I really need a break from wedding planning.  The wedding planning has turned into this:

“It’s whatever you want.  Its YOUR day.”

“I really want this.”

“No no, you should do this instead.”

“But I don’t like that, I want this.”

“Be reasonable.  This is better.”

or

“The decisions are entirely up to you, just tell me where to stand.”

“I really like this.”

“No, I don’t want that.  Choose something else.”

“This?”

“No.  It isn’t traditional.

“But I’M not traditional.”

“But I want a traditional wedding. So we’re going to do my thing instead.”

*sigh*