Wedding Update Info

So, only 7 weeks to go until the end of the semester. My goodness...will it ever end? I'm so tired I can barely stand it. And the grading...oh the grading that never ends. Just when I get a large stack done, another comes in. Seriously, the UNI classes on top of the newness of the Hawkeye classes is really doing me in. Add to that the gradiose task of thinking about planning a wedding and I've been one grouchy cookie. I have to give some serious props to my sister Melissa who is working as my wedding coordinator. She has been wonderful: calling places, people, asking questions about pricing, and just plain keeping things organized for me. If you can think of any good gifts that I can give her for doing all of this, please share! I owe her big time

Regarding wedding: things are going slow but steady. We think we've settled on Saturday, March 14 for the day. Consider this your early "save the date" blog. (Official cards to follow in the future.) It will be at the beginning of my Spring Break, but I'll deal with it. We've been working on finding a reception hall, and I think we may have finally scored on getting the Slife Ballroom at the UNI campus. BEAUTIFUL!!! I am so happy with this! Now that that is almost set (see a couple of paragraphs below), I think we'll be able to book the cake lady, set the flowers with my flower lady, get the photographer and then get the invites ordered.

The good news is that I found a dress! Can you believe it?!?! The one major thing I was freaking out about took less than 2 days to settle. The weekend before my birthday, Holly and I did a marathon shopping day around Hudson, Waterloo, and Cedar Falls. I am not crazy about shopping for such a dress and a strapless gown is so not me, but that seems to be the ONLY thing that bridal stores carry these days. I was freaking. Anyway, at the last store we went to, I found one that has straps, but is essentially sleeveless. It's really beautiful. The best part...it fit as is and was actually half off because the store was trying to reduce some of it's inventory!!! I took my mom there the next Tuesday to show it to her and we decided to go for it. So that's the dress. Check that off the list!

Ok - so what does it mean to be "almost set" Well, we're still dealing with the possibility that Ken will have to go overseas again next year, hence the fast planning for the wedding. He is in Atlanta right now at a military conference hopefully learning more about dates and timelines if in fact he has to go. We've been hesitant to plan anything (and put deposits down on anything) until we know for sure if/when he'll have to go. We're hoping March will be safe. Anyway, so that's why the rush on wedding planning.

Egads. I better stop writing. It's getting late and I have to get some things ready for class tomorrow. More later!

Early Frost, Soup and Grading

So it's freezing cold in our house! Yes, really. The thermostat in the hallway said 60 degrees this morning, but it felt like it was 20...probably because it was only 35 or something outside. I forgot to bring the plants in last night, but I think they're ok. They seem to still be green at least if that is any indication of their health.

I spent the morning making soup for a potluck we're having at school today. Like I needed one more thing to do, seriously, but I felt bad because I haven't taken anything in lately and boy do people in my department like to eat. I think that should have been one of the questions during the interview: can you cook and how often can you bring food in? So I made the Zuppa Tuscana that I made for the open house in July. It seemed to be a big hit then, so I thought it might score me some points with the department people too. I may even make some breadsticks to take along. We'll see.

Not much new otherwise. Tomorrow is our midterm break for students. This means students don't have to go to class and we don't have to teach (thank goodness!). However, all faculty have to go to in-service meetings all day. Poop. So much for my day off. Oh well, at least there's a free lunch and I don't have to teach.

I have been swamped with grading lately. I forgot how much time grading actually takes. I should be working on it now, but I was taking a break to respond via email to students' drafts for my classes this evening. I'll get back to it soon. In the mean time, here is a picture of Ken doing his sword line at a wedding we went to last month. Sharp huh? Can you find Ken? He's wearing green. Actually, he's the third one back from the front on the right. Did that even make any sense? I have no idea.

Here's shot of the cat perch Ken hung up in the basement for the cats. It used to be in my apartment in Normal where Tucker would lounge on it constantly. We don' have a good place for it upstairs right now, so he hung it downstairs. The cats now get to sleep downstairs each night because their knocking on doors at 3 a.m. was starting to get a little annoying. They can get to this perch by jumping on the Rubbermaid totes which are located beneath it. It's an adventure. Tucker likes it already, as you can see. It's amazing to me that he can even fit on this thing anymore.