5 Days: A Boring, But Stressful, Day

• Weather forecast: 62 degrees, 10% chance of rain. It gets better every day!
• Another day of the angry wisdom tooth keeping itself under control.
• Another frosty morning.
• On campus by 8:15 AM. Long gap between arrival and my first class, so I took another sociology test online. I really do hate that stupid class.

• Read How To Sew A Button & Other Nifty Things Your Grandmother Knew. That book is adorable. It seemed fitting, on the eve of the eve of the eve of the eve of the eve of the day that I become someone's wife. Why do I love this book? Paragraphs like this:

• My sister will be joining me at my grandmother's house on Friday night. Yesssss!
• Vending machine lunch with Eric.

• Anthropology class. Ran into my professor in the restroom before class and walked to class with her, talked about wedding stuff. Boring class on the social construction of identity.
• Psychology class...with a lab. Whomp whomp. I think that it was about some variation on identity, too. Taking four social science classes in one semester turned out to be trickier than anticipated. It all blurs together.
• Home, cleaning, stress, frustration, family members not playing well with one another. One time Eric's family had some general drama and his mother not-seriously said that she wanted a stiff drink. Still being fairly new to the family, I asked semi-earnestly, "Is it because your family sucks?" It became a running joke, and I've been thinking about it all day long. Then sorting out a quadruple-million booked Thursday, then a 1.5 hour final phone meeting with the DJ. He has a guest request thing on his website where guests get a login code and can request songs they'd like to hear at the reception. Some highlights: Gangnam Style. Uprising, by Muse. Motivation, by Kelly Rowland (my sister owned up to that one). Some of these songs...they got vetoed.
• Failed attempt at coordinating bridesmaid schedules for the day-of.
• Semi-failed attempt at figuring out who's coming to the rehearsal.
• Kind of a disaster overall, but I guess it's all technically settled.
• A walk with the dogs. Eric's idea. I protested it due to the freezing cold, but it may have been the best part of the day. Admittedly, the standards were not high today. Tomorrow's a new day.

6 Days: A Pretty Laid Back Day (Considering)

• Woke up to a very frosty morning, but no rain, which was nice. Forecast for Saturday is now at 60 degrees, 10% chance of rain. Better and better!

Frost.

• The wisdom tooth has held steady today! That is a major pro.
• Went to church. Today was technically our last new member class - there's one more on the 11th, but we won't be there, so this was both our last new member class and our last time at church as an unmarried couple. I had serious ants in my pants during church. Signed the fellowship pad and told Eric that it was the last time I'd sign it for us with two last names.

Our church had a pumpkin patch this year!

Heavenly Lutheran coffee cake.

I really love our church.

My grandparents.

• Used all of my persuasive powers to convince my sister to stay at our grandmother's with me on Friday night. Potential success! It lies in her boss's hands whether she can have the necessary day off. We'll know tomorrow. A slumber party would be way fun.
• Went to the store for more vases for the bridal table, and batteries for one rather complicated display.
• Watched Bridezillas and had lunch. Had been worried that I'd become one. Was reassured that I haven't.
• Put together our signature frame.
• Read my anthropology homework.

• Sorted out the vase/table "number" that goes at the bridal table. It says "mister and missus." Texted my sister a picture. She said, "Did you mean to misspell misses?" Googled it for the second time, since the best man said the exact same thing. Nope, it's missus. I hope everyone there doesn't think that same thing.
• Made beef tips and egg noodles for dinner.
• Played some Sims! I've been trying to for days. Stopped frequently to clean. There's no reason to be all stressed out in a messy house, especially this week.

One of my most recently married-in Sims. This gal is too cool. This part's for you, Lorelei!

• Watched The Walking Dead. Cried a little. If you watch it, you know why. Cleaned during commercials.
• That's all. For 6 days out, it was practically a leisure day. 

Eric's Toaster Strudel. Yep. It's like that around here. Do note Natty's spooky face in the bottom right.

Some snuggly dogs were scattered here, there... 

And everywhere.

7 Days: Ghetto Bubbles

Today, at the one week mark...

• Woke up in quite a bit of pain. My other wisdom tooth is now messed up. Really. Seriously. I cannot even believe this. I feel like I went through this exact hell yesterday, and here we go again. I'm beyond frustrated. I'm on antibiotics and pain pills to try to keep it at bay for just one more week. I can have it removed as soon as the wedding is over...technically, I could now, but there are a lot of issues with doing it now. Took some ibuprofen and stayed in bed while I waited for it to kick in. Watched Seventh Heaven. I don't know if you know, but I really love Seventh Heaven. Just as an aside. Eric has been sick with a nasty cold for a few days. Luckily, he woke up much better.
• Finalized the seating chart. If I do say so, I'm rather proud of my seating chart. I have family members grouped in good ways, and for friends who don't know each other, I have people seated with people that I really think they'll like. Finished that, sent it to the coordinator.
• Played frisbee with Java. This has become something that he requires on a daily basis.
• Had some miniwheats and took my sociology test online.
• Showered and up and at 'em. The wedding dress place gave me this weird deodorant - Dove Clear Tones. Apparently it makes your underarm skintone more even, maybe lighter, so that I can do the Miss America wave with pretty underarms. Truly, I never knew that this was an issue. But I've been using it for a while now, and actually, somehow, they do look nicer. Not sure how I feel about this. Have I been running around with ugly underarms all these years?

• And off into the cold, terrible rain. I was pretty excited at the 10 day mark, because it meant that the wedding day would be visible on the weather forecast. It's varied in its predictions from 58-61 degrees and from a 10-20% chance of rain. Not bad odds. Right now, it stands at 58, 10%.
• First stop: my grandmother's house. I have day-of timelines for all of the VIPs (wedding party, parents, vendors...) and I needed to give Granny and Gramps theirs. She didn't know I was coming, and her very cool neighbor was over and her bridesmaid dress happened to be out and being passed around. So our arrival seemed timely.

While there, I encouraged Eric: "Make a face like, 'Wooo! I'm getting married in seven days!' I will show these to our kids someday.'" This skeptical look was the best I got.

Apparently it is a Christmas cactus. Granny says that it blooms twice a year: Thanksgiving, and my birthday (in February).

•  I will be staying at Granny's house the night before the wedding. Gramps recently installed a  cute little lacy curtain above the sliding door. He said, "There, now you can have a little somethin' sheer. While you sleep." It sounded a little creepy until I realized he meant the curtain. Apparently he is kind of thinking heavily about the hospitality side of things. He says, "If you have a blanket, or a pillow, that you like, you can bring it. To make you more comfortable." He always pronounces "comfortable" like "comf'table." It is ridiculously endearing.

This was her face when she realized that the photographer would be shooting our hair and makeup preparations at her house. "I have to clean!"

We went over the timelines.

She showed me her pearls. "I figured I'd wear pearls, since I'm old."

Then said that she could, alternately, wear a Santa hat.

Picture of my sister's wedding in her bedroom.

Just one more fridge that we're on, along with the "bookmark" that I made Gramps when I was maybe 9 or 10.

My favorite pictures of my grand grandmother (Granny's mother), in her hallway. One day I will actually scan these in, the originals are pretty good quality.

Their dog, Chloe. Chloe will probably forget who I am and kill me in the night on Friday night. She's not particularly nice.

• Gramps said, "What's your favorite color?" out of the blue (he is famous for out of the blue questions and picking up conversation trains hours after the fact). I said, "Purple. And green. And brown. Why?" He motioned for me to follow him to his closet and said "What shirt should I wear with my suit?" I picked him out a nice sage green dress shirt, and a tie to go with.
• Next up: our final haircuts. Scissors near my hair always scare me, times a billion seven days before my wedding. My hair lady turned out to be amazing on several levels. My hair looks exactly like it always does, minus split ends, which is exactly what I wanted, and actually exactly what I always want, but somehow I end up losing an extra three inches every time. She gave me some advice that turned out to be, unexpectedly, extremely meaningful. I can't help but think that God put us in the same place at the same time for a reason. Fact is, I was supposed to get this haircut five weeks ago.
• On to the store for some hair supplies. Ran into Eric's cousin who I work/volunteer with at the daycare in the restroom. Talked wedding. What else? She will be there. Small world.
• Eric finished the kids' favors with some Goldfish and Skittles while I ate lunch.
• Had a little "discussion" about whether to have my wisdom tooth out today. He votes yes, I vote no. I see his point (if it gets worse in the next seven days, it will ruin my wedding day), but ultimately I am going to wait. I am on antibiotics to prevent any major health threat, and if I have it out today, I'll be down for days. I don't have days right now. I am going to have to hedge my bets.
• Went back out on another shopping errand and to mail out the last timeline to a bridesmaid and groomsman that we had hoped to see before the wedding, but every single time we make plans, one of the four of us gets sick.
• Finished up the venue's online "planner," submitted it.
• Attempted to pack up the entire load of stuff that will be dropped off with the venue on the 8th. Toasting glasses, ring bearer pillow, favors, centerpieces...all that stuff. We are having bubbles where there would traditionally be rice.

This is what the box looked like. Kind of boring, but cute enough, right? Nice jaunty little bows.

Just kidding. Turns out the bows were kind of like the strawberries on the box of Cheerios. A suggestion. These bowless bubbles looked pretty ghetto. I so badly wanted to just move on and say to myself, "You know what, they're going to get thirty seconds of use and then be in the trash can."

But. I just couldn't, not when I had some ribbon right there.

So, a million tiny bows later...

Better.

I was pleased to discover that they at least produce surprisingly great bubbles.

Java demanded neck scritches while I tied a million tiny bows. He seemed of the mind that my time could be spent in any number of superior ways. Hard to argue, but still.

I also had Pandora to keep me company. Looooove this song!

The Knot.

And now, I am exhausted. I had hoped to kick back with some Sims tonight, but I am too tired for even my most enticing household.

Semi-Failed Experiments and Why I've Been Absent, Plus 29 Pictures

If you've wondered why the regular hijinks of Violet, Java, Natalie & Co. have been absent but for Wordless Wednesdays for a couple weeks, allow me to explain.

For a couple of months, one of my molars had been hurting, a little and then a little more and then a lot. I was going through NSAIDs like they were M&Ms and frankly was very, very, very afraid for my liver. Ibuprofen, acetaminophen, naproxen, etc., had all gone from working for 6 hours to working for 4 to working for 2 to I was still waiting for them to kick in 3 hours after taking them. Dental insurance is one thing that I do not have, and while we could afford an extraction, a root canal was going to be into the thousands and that was pushing it. Also, I was afraid that I was going to have to have my molar pulled and look like a hillbilly, I won't lie.

Ultimately, it hit a point where I could think of absolutely nothing but the blinding pain I was in, enough was enough, I really didn't even care anymore if I did look like a hillbilly anymore, and Eric drove my crying self to get some emergency care.

Turns out I get an F on the "Identify the Painful Tooth" exam, and what I thought was a molar kind of toward the front was a wisdom tooth of all things. It had cracked and developed a ping pong ball sized abscess above my wisdom tooth that was so evil that it was putting pressure on the nerves of four of my upper molars, and radiating into my cheekbone, eye socket, jaw, everything. They said that it could've ruptured into my brain, which would've been a very, very scary thing. It had to come out then. It was excruciating, but hey, I don't look like a hillbilly and I don't want to die from the pain and we didn't bankrupt ourselves. Win-win-win.

I spent several days in a pain medication fog. Missed a whole day of classes, which I never do. It's been 8 days now and I am on the mend.

That aside - I had a bright idea to begin a relationship boot camp with my camera. I've fallen into a slump of "It's a birthday party/special occasion/planned photo shoot, bring the camera." My mom is sending me text messages of ridiculously cool pictures that she's taken with her phone of just any old thing that she sees, and that used to be my style, too. I'm over my lighting issues, I'm over my ISO issues, and I need to start bringing my camera everywhere again. So I decided - for a week, I'm going to photograph everydamnthing. Just anything and everything. Catch the cool, arty, unexpected, quality photos, and catch the moments that are going to take a flash that I just don't catch because they won't be "good enough." All of it, and go from there. I was set to start that the day after the wisdom tooth removal, and in spite of everything, I actually did do it that day (results to follow). I fell off the wagon after that (Vicodin...), but I'm starting it again soon.

So here you have...my life, for a few days. In pictures.

And can I just say - microsuede looks weird in flash photos. We recently got an essentially brand-new microsuede couch, and it does not look mottled and weird in person.

Shortly before the wisdom tooth expedition, my amazing friend Chelsea (more on her later), who is doing my wedding makeup, came by to do a trial run. I was in blazing agony, but I felt like a million bucks. She did the most amazing job. 

All I could eat afterwards, pretty much. And soup. No straw, of course. Smoothie with a spoon. Whomp whomp whomp.

Meijer haul.

Oh, look. It's my wandering house-taking-over jew. He's getting a little bit too big.

Violet's favorite time of the day: melatonin wrapped in bread time. It helps her be a normal dog.

My recovering nest.

Scariest nursemaid ever. Okay, okay, she was yawning for once, but still!

You think your tooth hurts, mom? Oh yeah? What if I crush your kidney with my foot? Take your mind off your pain? Ha, ha, ha.

Naptime in the E. house, at last.

The wedding shelf. One wedding shelf of several.

Flower girl dress and MOH dress, side by side in my closet.

The wedding to-do list and stack of reply cards. Oh boy.

Collie calendar!

He practices this look every day.

He sits like his a lot.

So back to my awesome friend Chelsea. Among all of the other awesome things that she does (professional makeup, anyone? Being mom of the year and general badass? Activism for several extremely worthy causes?), she also owns a successful business making nail polish. Amazing nail polish. You need to go check it out. Pretty & Polished - go ahead and click that. Look around. Buy yourself something nice. I'll give you a moment.

Back? Okay. Well, she made me this amazing custom polish in my wedding colors (purple and black, with some lavender and grey in there too). I've known this gal for about 5 years now, and she gets cooler every year. Truly, you need to be jealous. You wish you knew her and you wish you had my nail polish. But, take heart. You can go buy your own! It's Pretty & Polished if you need the link one more time.

Flea market find!

The only way that they allow Eric to watch TV.

Where Java lives when I'm on the computer. #1 Velcro Dog is what his coffee cup says.

Aww. They were sleeping like that before I picked up the camera.