Busy Summer

I haven't posted in quite a long time...So here's what's been happening:
-I quit my morning job.  My body just does not want to get up at 6 AND keep going until evening anyways.  I was also not really qualified to provide care for a special needs child.  I can change diapers, but only when I'm stronger than the child!
-I've been translating quite a bit.  This was also another reason to quit the other job.  I really need to keep up with vocabulary.  I'm hoping that I continue to receive a lot of work!
-The baby I nanny is now crawling at top speed and can pull up on things.  He also has object permanence and eats a TON.  He's only 6 months...The toddler's favorite word is 'no', and his favorite activity is to lie on the floor, talk to himself, and push a car back and forth.
-I'm getting extremely tired of living with my parents-in-law.  Rent may be low, but if I put something down, it gets moved by 1 of 3 people, we fight over tv's, the fridge is packed with leftovers no one eats/expired food, I 'get in trouble', I had to pack away almost all of my bridal shower and wedding presents 'cause there's no room for them...you get the idea.  We've only been there since the end of March!

Here are some more wedding pictures, with DIY ideas and projects:

We had the reception in a historic building, using their tables and chairs, with added padding.  

The tables had lilacs in mason jars, plastic silverware that was actually silver, plastic champagne flutes for sparkling apple cider, borrowed table clothes and runners...The place settings also had wedding mad libs, a sheet with information about the historic church we had the ceremony in, and a wildflower seed packet with our picture, names, and the date.

It was catered by the Celery Stick Cafe.  Great food, great prices.  And they are a co-op!

The church was old, and also very cheap to rent.

We rode in a family friend/distant cousin's antique truck.

With the help of several friends, I made this cake.  There are violets from my backyard on it.  There were also 9 small sheet cakes that we handed out to the tables for the guests.  It was delicious!  The cake mixes were only a dollar each at Walmart, and I made the frosting with some friends.  The piping came from tubes with decorative tips already on them.

Small guest book, basket for the wedding mad libs, and box for cards.  The ring bearer's pillow that my mom made from leftover wedding dress fabric is on top of the box.

Pictures were done for free by an old roommate's father and my cousin.  This one is taken in front of my favorite mountains!  Bridesmaids' dresses were bought on clearance from David's Bridal.

I made my dress, got the veil from Veilubridal.com, got the slip and underthings online, and my shoes were from Payless.  The flowers were extremely simple and cost a total of $330.

(I'm not that heavy!!!)

With a tiny bit of altering to make it fit properly (still ended up needing double sided tape and safety pins...), I used this pattern to make the dress.  It was easier than the prom dresses that I had made with boning and multiple layers.  I was able to have the wedding dress of my dreams, for a price that I could afford!  With all of the fabric and notions, this dress cost me a little over $100.

Yes, I finally did finish the shawl...a week after.  Thankfully, it was far to warm to even think about a shawl for the wedding day.  Its still beautiful and an heirloom to keep!

That's all for now.  I'll write again soon about my garden's progress!

Done!

After lots of stress, last minute errands, tons of frosting, and some safety pins, its over.  We're married!  Everything was almost perfect =)  I got lots of help making the cakes, and despite some of the centers not baking all the way and having to take those out and replace them with good cake, as well as the frosting piping equipment not working so that we had to out last minute and buy cans of frosting that piped out, they turned out beautiful!  I even had the idea last minute to decorate the ceremony cake with violets from the backyard (violets are edible).  I had lost weight from when I had made the dress, so we had to safety pin me in it, with a little double sided tape for good measure.  It was hot, but not too hot.  The bugs were awful, though.  The ceremony was perfect.  We rode in an antique yellow pickup to take pictures at my grandparents' old house, then to the reception.  We had a lovely lunch, then some dancing!

On another note, today there were tornadoes that went by us.  We are so thankful that we are safe, but many people around us lost their houses or cars, and the church that we used to live across from had the front taken off of it.  The grocery store in the town over is now leaning over.  There is just so much damage...I'm so glad that Jon was able to get home from work early and got my warning call, or he would have been right in its path.  The victims of this disaster are in my prayers!

Last Post Before Wedding

I've been super busy with work and getting last minute things ready.  The shawl still isn't done, but I only have 13 rows left.  I think I can do it.  4 days to go!  I'm leaving to go stay with my parents tomorrow early, so that I can meet up with my bridesmaids and get a bunch of stuff done.  I'm going to be crazy busy.  I am making my own cakes, too!

I went last Saturday to get contacts.  I tried them out for a couple days, but ended up ripping one trying to get it in yesterday.  They never did feel right when they were in, I felt a little fuzzy, and they bothered my eyes quite a bit.  So...back to glasses.  I won't be wearing them for the wedding, though.  I'm not that blind, and my cheap college glasses just wouldn't go!

Last night, Ruby got out of her cage and was running around Jon's studio.  We started the hutch last weekend, so hopefully after the wedding we can finish it!  I saw a wild rabbit just now outside in the yard =)

I'm exhausted, I forgot (wouldn't have had time anyways) to pack a lunch, so I'm starving, but I have so much to do tonight.  I need to pack everything so I can leave as close to 6am tomorrow as possible.  The good thing is that if I forget anything, Jon can bring it up =)  I hope we get some awesome thunderstorms this afternoon!

The peas and beans are getting quite tall now.  The greens are taking it slow.  We need more heat.  The cukes, zucchini, summer squash, and sunflowers haven't germinated yet.  I've been hardening the tomatoes, eggplants, watermelon, and peppers outside.  We need to start having some sunny weather, though!

So this is my last post before the wedding, because I will be super busy, and because I'm not sure when I will have internet.  This is exciting!

Getting stressed

Ok, so my wedding is a week and four days away. Time to really start getting stressed! My shawl is getting there...I figured out that I need to do at least 12 more hours of work on it. I'd take a picture right now, but its all bunched up on a circular needle so you can't tell what it looks like. I think I have everything all set, except:

-bridesmaids' gifts and my jewelry are in the mail
-still waiting for sample of seed packet wedding favors (http://www.etsy.com/listing/57220949/wedding-favors-25-wildflower-seed)
-need to buy double sided tape and safety pins
-last minute makeup purchases
-maybe make a wedding mad lib for the guests? (http://community.theknot.com/cs/ks/blogs/wedding_style_file/archive/2010/01/30/new-wedding-ideas-mad-libs-inspired-guest-book.aspx)
-get nails done, not filled, but looking decent
-get drinks

and then the last minute things:
-make sheet cakes and a small pretty cake, and frosting
-cut lilacs and maybe other wildflowers

There's probably more. I have 5 more work days and 2 weekend days before I go to my parents'. It will all come together, but until then, I need to distract myself. The toddler is sleeping, and the infant is rolling and crawling around the floor, growling and chewing on a cloth book happily. I'm going to knit for a while and watching some hulu to get my mind off of things.

Oh, and my seeds outside are germinating! I just planted some cukes, zucchini, summer squash, and sunflowers in a freshly plowed plot, too. The rosemary never germinated, so Jon's mom got me a nice plant all ready to go =) Everything else is growing nicely!

Why I haven't been posting:

Money is tight.

I just sat down and worked on a budget.  I need another car, and I realistically don't have the money for it.  I can't really cut anything out of my budget- its all pretty much gas, food, rent and wedding stuff.  And of course, rabbits, but they will always have plenty to eat and be comfortable.  I love them!  When my garden gets going, they will have plenty of veggies, and when my future father-in-law starts haying, I'll get hay from him and not the pet store.  Wedding spending is almost over, though, and I will be very thankful for that.  I still have a few more things to pay for.  This is going to be a beautiful wedding!  Its coming up so soon...19 days, I think.  I'm getting nervous, but I guess that's good.  Waiting is the hard part.  If I can finally save up for another car, then I'll need to save up for a house and future children.  It never ends!

This last weekend went by very quickly.  I knit quite a bit, and am now on row 99 of the shawl.  I babysat Saturday night with Jon.  We stopped at the Russian grocery and got dinner food!  We had potato and mushroom perogi, real Russian sour cream, kvas, cake, sushki (sweet crackers in the shape of rings), kolbasa, an apple, and Challah bread.  Lots of lovely leftovers.  Очень вкусно! (Very tasty!)

I'm about ready for a nap.  I spent all morning outside with the kids.  The baby is already starting to lift onto his hands and knees...at 5 months!  The toddler ran and ran and biked and slid and giggled for hours.  =)  The kids are napping now, so I might just catch up on some hulu and think about knitting patterns!

Back to work...

I had a wonderful weekend!  Saturday, I had my second shower.  I got quite a few dish towels, and lots of lovely things.  I'm even getting 7 volumes of family recipes that were just collected for me!  I'm going to have to do a lot of running...Speaking of food, I'm trying to eat healthier.  After going out to eat twice this weekend, I was pointed to the fact that I pretty much eat what I want, which is usually something fried or salty.  I love salt, but too much.  Its unhealthy.  I ordered buffalo wings for the first time ever (I usually just make them) and had the beer that Jon didn't want, and the next day I had a blt and onion rings for lunch.  I also had chips in the car on the way...Yes, I was keeping chips in my car.  That was mostly because I have so much time to kill between jobs and eating chips keeps me very busy and is sort of a breakfast.  I'm not really a sweets person, so I've already got that down.  I just need to cut out as much salt and fat as I can.

For my first shower, I got a Ninja blender/food processor, so I broke that out yesterday and made a strawberry and banana smoothie.  It was the best smoothie I ever had:
6 frozen strawberries
1 banana
4 oz orange juice
two spoonfuls raspberry sorbet
Even Jon drank it!

I've been experimenting with my morning shake recipe, and that is what it has turned into:
1 serving soy protein
1 cap of vanilla sugar free flavoring
2 squirts of amber agave nectar
1/2 cup hazelnut milk
6 frozen strawberries
1 banana
1 tbsp yerba mate steeped in 1/2 cup warm water
1/8 tsp xanthan gum

Its actually really good now!  I need to work on figuring out how to blend the protein in without having chunks of it stick around, but I think that I just need to spend more time blending it with the liquids before adding fruit.

I planted two raised beds yesterday with greens, beets, carrots, peas, beans, onions, and scallions.  It was very cold this morning, but I'm hoping that its warm enough to get things moving.  My father, back home, has already planted some corn!  I can't wait to start getting these fresh veggies!

Last night, I stood by with the hose as Jon tried to cast his ring.  It didn't work (the spruing wasn't right), but it was an amazing show.  Pictures to follow!  Jon was in an iron guild, so he's used to pouring molten metal, but I thought that he was going to explode something!  He's going to try to machine it later.  I need to keep reminding him to work on it, or we won't have a ring for the wedding for him...

Update: Pictures from the casting.  Also, Jon , after another attempt which broke, successfully machined a ring!  Its beautiful!

First day of new job

It went pretty well.  I mostly just had to watch and start learning the routine.  I'll gradually take over responsibilities as he gets used to me.

I'm really not used to getting up that early, but give me a couple of weeks and I'll be fine.  Today I spent the extra time between jobs in a mall parking lot playing Angry Birds.  My coffee was really gross this morning.  I think I was half asleep when I made it so it must have had way too much water.  I wanted to buy another one very badly, but I have to remind myself that I'm saving up for very important things.  That's why I didn't actually go into the mall.  I want new spring clothes.  I might just end up making a new skirt and knitting a sweater.  That will, of course, just means that I need more fiber!

I really want to try a bolero next, but this shawl is going to keep me busy for a long time.  I spun up another bobbin yesterday and plied one.  I'll ply up the rest today and hopefully that will make 1000 yards, with only 500 to go!

Yesterday was Easter, and Jon and I went to a different Baptist church in town.  I loved it!  The service was pretty much just like the ones I grew up with, the pastor prepared a good and thoughtful sermon, and the only problems were the laughter and talk of a couple of teenage boys behind us.  We will definitely go again!

Jon's Gramma came over and we all had ham, potatoes, carrots, salad, and bread.  Dessert was a lemon curd cake, which was amazingly good.  Jon and I took a walk though the newly green fields.  We even had an Easter basket full of chocolate waiting outside the bedroom door!  We didn't work on the rabbit hutch because of the off and on rain.  I'm not sure when we will be able to start.  He's hopefully finishing up a job today and starting another that will last at least the rest of this week.

This weekend I have my second shower!  I'm looking forward to catching up with my side of the family and some good friends.  I really don't need gifts, but I am excited to get nice kitchen things.  I love baking and cooking.  Here are some rather funny photos of me and my face opening gifts at the first shower, and a Whole Foods raspberry chocolate ganache cake!:

Bread Day

Today is bread day.  I have some white bread rising, using this recipe:
http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/walter-sands-basic-white-bread-recipe

This morning, Jon, his mom and I went to pick out Jon's tux for the wedding.  It was rather more complicated than I had expected.  I had no idea there were so many options.  We did figure out a rather nice black tux with a grey vest and wisteria tie to match my bridesmaids' dresses.  The package even comes with shoes.  After that, we stopped at Olive Garden.  Olive Garden is my favorite restaurant.  I could and usually do eat an entire serving bowl of the salad.  We got calamari as a starter, and I had seafood alfredo with only scallops because I can't eat shrimp.  Jon's mom and I shared a tiramisu for dessert.  We had a gift certificate, so it was nice to just order anything that we wanted.  There's plenty leftover for dinner tonight, and probably beyond that.

Tonight is the season premiere of Doctor Who!  I can't wait.  I saw the trailers for the season, and even though I miss David Tennant terribly, I'm very excited!

Jon shouldn't read this post (wedding stuff inside) Apr 15th, 2011 2:25pm

Working on spinning up yarn for my wedding shawl!  

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/evenstar-shawl

(image taken from the author of this lovely pattern, and can be viewed at the link above)

It takes 1500 yards of yarn, though, so I'll see how much I can get from these two rolls of mohair/wool/silk that I have.
I have some grey wool that I dyed drying in the shower:

It took up hints of red and purple, and actually looks quite nice!  Now to spin more yarn!