Married Life

It involves a lot of housework. A lot.

Not being a super organized -- or super energetic -- person, the amount of housework that I do is probably a little more than it necessarily needs to be if I would simply pick up after myself a little better. Something I'm working on.

Smoky (my man, Dana) and I live in a two bedroom duplex right near the college he is attending. We got a pretty good deal because the landlord liked renting to college students. Woohoo! I have my first kitchen complete with a pantry, even. Something I was informed by both my mother as well as my mother in law that they didn't have in their first home. So maybe I'm a little spoiled?

We got tons and tons of stuff as wedding presents, for which I'm very grateful. I am reminded of exactly how many dishes and appliances we received because most of them are sitting to the right of the sink in the kitchen waiting to be washed. See, I come from a family of nine kids (yeah, I was the oldest), so when there are dishes by the sink, someone does them at some point. But here in this shiny new apartment, the only other person I can look at to do the dishes is my dog. Along with height and hygiene issues, there's that little matter of not having opposable thumbs, so realistically the only person responsible for the dishes is me. If I go down with a cold, the dishes piiiiiiiile up. And no small child hops along to clean it on my behalf.

Granted, Smoky does a wonderful job picking up my slack when I catch a bug. He is very patient with me and helps out where he can, when he's not doing homework, or when he's not knocked out after a really busy day. This I appreciate very much. :)

~Penny

Four Weeks Until Forever

As I've announced other places on the interwebz, I'm engaged! Dana proposed to me in the rain under the awning of the picnic area in the forest we take walks through all the time. I said yes several times while he was trying to finish his question, and kissed him the moment the ring was on my finger. Been waiting a long time to be allowed to do that.

So now, for the past several weeks, I have been busy almost every single day with both work, and wedding planning. And I'm not even doing most of the planning. A friend of mine loves organizing, so she's come to stay until the wedding. She carries around the clipboard I got her for her birthday and has endless lists that she won't let me look at because she knows my mind will explode. I am not an organizer, and schedules make me coil up inside. There is a special list -- a very short one -- that she lets me see on an as needed basis.

But we have the dress, and the bridesmaids' dresses, and the invitations, and the venue! For planning a wedding in five weeks flat, we are doing a pretty good job. And by we, I mean Lynnae and my Mother. They're amazing. If it weren't for them, I totally would have eloped by now.

~Penny