• A 13 minute “recap” of the night. A highlight reel, if you will. (There is sound)
  (You do have to download a small program to run it, but I promise, it is ok. (It also doesn’t like Macs, so beware Mac users))
• Wedding Pics (Professional)
• Wedding Pics (Non-Professional)
• Disposable Cameras
• Honeymoon Pics

I have started to flip out about our caterer.  She seems vaguely crazy, and controlling.  I just figured out tonight, that when she wouldn’t let me round up when I asked, she actually rounded down, and I don’t know if we are going to have enough place settings for everyone.  I spent most of yesterday flipping out about how I had 18 spots of bridal party and family to seat in 16 seats, and totally missed this one.  This also messed up our table decorations as we got enough for 6 tables of 10, and she has given us 7 tables of 8.  I also forgot to decorate the sweetheart table for Jason and me.  These are the kind of things I hate because you can’t really know until the very last minute exactly how much you need.  I’m super frustrated because we have some “definite maybe” people that we still don’t know if they are coming or not, and I hate to say this, but I hope they don’t because we will be screwed if they do.  I’m sorry, but don’t wait until we track you down almost 2 months after the RSVP date, and then tell me you may be coming, and that you’re still not sure.  I am pretty sure bridezilla will come out on October 3^rd, and she will not be pretty, and heads will fly if I see someone who is not expected to be there.  Just sayin’.

I finally got my test results back from my MRI, and that was also not good.  It wasn’t “bad” just not good.  I have a 4mm tumor on my pituitary gland.  Sure, 4mm isn’t big, but when my pituitary gland is only 9mm, it is pretty large in comparison.  Jason and I have seen my regular doctor, who couldn’t (or wouldn’t, I’m not sure) tell us much; but she referred me to a neurosurgeon to discuss options—the appointment isn’t until the 14^th of October, but it just adds to my list of worries.  She also stated that there is a likelihood of having to be rescanned and several more tests.  Not what I am looking forward to.  I do not want another MRI.  If you have never had one, they are horrible.  I felt like I was in a lighted coffin with jackhammers on top of me.  It was so close, and so noisy, I seriously felt like this device was meant to drive people to insanity.  Mine took 45 minutes, and it felt like hours or pure hell.  I left with one of the worst headaches that I have ever had.  There are a few things that bother me about this entire situation.  My insurance denied this claim.  Why?  They went through my records, and found out that I was on a specific drug that can elevate levels of prolactin.  Fine.  They did not go through my records enough to see that I hadn’t actually used this prescription in over a year.  Not fine.  They did not notify me (and my doctor) until a month later, at which point, I had already had the MRI done, and paid out of pocket for it.  Also not fine.  The original denial was just that I was on a specific drug, not which drug, so I didn’t know to stop it, for how long, anything.  Neither did my doctor, or the facility that I was going to get the MRI at.  I called them last week to see if I could get reimbursed, and they basically told me to screw myself.  I am glad this is not life threatening, because they honestly expected me to wait a month, and wait for them to tell me the drug, then schedule with my doctor, then wait for my doctor to write a note that I wasn’t on this drug (or that I had stopped it for a week) and to resubmit the referral, then wait for them to approve or deny it again, and then wait for my actual MRI to take place.  Thanks for being a quality insurance company.  No thanks.  Another scary thing was that the list of drugs was long.  Some of it included anti-depressants, anti-psychotics, stuff for bi-polar people, stuff for people with ADHD, etc.  I’m sorry, you’re an insurance company and you want people to stop taking drugs that they (sometimes) need to survive their life, and function in society as normal people for a WEEK?!  Are you kidding me?  Seriously, I’m not one for naming names, but Aetna is a JOKE.  Now, here’s the kicker.  I finally found a doctor who examines every possible angle in every situation, and I really like her.  She may have found the solution to many of my health problems, including the massive weight gain over the last 4 years… and if I drop my insurance to go to Jason’s insurance (which is beyond awesome) I will lose her.  If I take Jason’s insurance, most of my medical procedures are covered with a small fee; surgery would literally be like $75; if I stick with mine I have something like a $3,500 deductible before my insurance kicks in.  I’m sure with all of my doctors visits, blood draws, and tests I have at least half that covered, but it is still so frustrating.

I have three days of work this week, and then a week and a half of freedom from it.  I wouldn’t say freedom from work though.  Freedom from the 8-5.  This week is still going to be a ton of work I am sure.  I am going to try and see if I can maybe get Wednesday off as well to tie up some loose ends here and there.  We have people coming in starting Wednesday.  I am so excited, and so nervous because there are so many things still up in the air.  Eeek!

Lastly, on a note not about Jason and I:

If you like to eat, and you like to feel good about doing good in your community, I would like to offer you this:

Monday, September 28^th, 2009, is St. Jude’s Day at Chili’s.  One HUNDRED percent of your food and drink bill goes to St. Jude’s on this day.  Please eat, not only to fill your bellies, but to help childhood cancer research at this wonderful facility.  Just think about it.  For two people you could be making a $30-$50 donation, and you’re getting a meal out of it!  Please eat out at Chili’s today, Monday, September 28^th, 2009.  There is seriously, no easier way to donate, and you have nothing to lose, but your empty stomach!  You can read more here:  St. Jude’s.

*Last year, Jason and I unknowingly went, and sadly the restaurant was empty.  We ended up racking up close to a $70 bill, all of which went to St. Jude’s.

Bleh.  Maybe later, when I’m a little less pissed off.

I am still laughing about it.  :P  Thanks John.

As for me, Enigma Girl,  I went to the doctor twice this week.  The first time was to get an ultrasound (no, I’m not pregnant, thanks.) of my bladder, and kidneys, which appear to be fine.  Then I went in for a cystoscopy (fun!) which I thought I may die at.  I did survive, and nothing is wrong with my bladder.  This sucks for so many reasons.  First, I have obnoxiously high co-pays for specialists, which I have now paid three times, for absolutely nothing.  Second, there is something wrong with me, I still have to pee all the time, and sometimes I think I have to pee, and I don’t.  It’s really more miserable than it sounds.  Another medical condition, not found, and undiagnosed, and another doctor saying , “Sorry, don’t know what’s wrong with you, try again.”  On a happier note, the inside of your bladder looks pretty nifty, although the places where your kidneys drop fluid into it, are sorta creepy, if I do say so myself.  : )

As for Enigma Dog, (Jason said he takes after me) Landon, he had a punch biopsy last week, which left him with one stitch in a quarter sized hole about 1/4 inch deep, with no wound covering.  He had to be in an E collar so that he wouldn’t chew it.  The vet didn’t get the results until Wednesday, and didn’t have a chance to review them and call us until late Thursday (we were told we’d know by Tuesday.)  Turns out Landon doesn’t have cancer (yay!) However, that leads to either bug bites, or self mutilation.  Either way, we figured it was self mutilation because if he went after the bugs, he’d more than likely bite himself more than the bug, until we came to one realization: the way his tail hits the inside doggie door.  This sucks for a ton of reasons.  One, we’re pretty sure that this is it.  He hasn’t gone in or out a doggie door in almost a full week, he was without the E collar all day, we put them in the kitchen, gated up, with no doggy door access; tail was fine when I got home, and he had all day to chew on it if he wanted.  As soon as I opened up the laundry room door, allowing them access to the garage, his scab mysteriously went missing, and a few more in-and-outs, and his skin was torn, and bleeding.  (Albeit, his tail as a whole looks SO much better.)  We can either get a new, larger doggie door (which stinks because we just forked out $600 for these two to be installed) or figure out some way to rig this one so that it doesn’t scrape his tail.  This also obviously is a pain in the ass financially because of how much money we have spent trying to figure this out, as well as putting this poor dog through a myriad of painful tests and procedures.  Ugh.  We are such bad parents.  : (  This is like letting your child stick it’s finger in a socket and not being able to figure out why he’s smoking and his hair is all crazy.  His stitch gets taken out tomorrow.  I guess we could ask the vet for suggestions as well.

Pre-biopsy and stitches :(

The main difference between a contract and a covenant is the enduring commitment between two people, while a contract is based on convenience.

“A contract is convenient as long as the agreement is lived by. A contract in a marriage is nothing more than a non-binding contract between two people sustained only by emotional feelings. It is easily terminated through a no-fault divorce. When things and feelings turn sour, it takes the easy way out rather than working through the problem,” he explained.

“But that’s not what the Bible tells us our relationships should be based on. Our relationships are to be based on a covenant. It is based on an oath spoken between two parties and a covenant is a blood-bond for life. It says no matter what happens, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, that nobody leaves this relationship. A covenant marriage says ‘I’m yours by covenant, you’re mine by covenant, and that means that neither one of us is going anywhere.”

Who’da thunk marriage was supposed to last forever? Hrm. Anyway, we have to go through marriage counseling in order to obtain a covenant marriage license, and we have to have an affidavit signed by our “representative” stating that we have gone through the counseling, and that we understand the ”rules” if you will. So there you have it.

In bad news; Landon had two scabs on his tail on Memorial Day. We waited a few days, and when they didn’t get better, we took him to the vet. Originally thinking it was a bite; she shaved the area, and found another lesion on him. She sent us home with antibiotics, and a wash that we had to do twice a day. After 9 days, we went back, and the problem was not better (just the swelling was down) and now the 3 had grown to 4 lesions. Her first thought was either Valley Fever or Cancer. Both of which would possibly lead to amputation should the infection be bad enough. We got the Valley Fever test done on Saturday, along with a Blood Panel. Monday, we hear back that it is not Valley Fever, but no word on the rest of the stuff. Today, Jason hears back that everything checked out normal. Next step: Punch Biopsy. This is where they will basically knock him out, and take a punch of tissue out and go from there. She is not certain what to tell us, except that it is probably something in the bones since the lesions line up with the vertebrae in his tail. I hate this, it is so heartbreaking. He has been through so much, and I feel like we have let him down. :( We also took Lucy with us the second time we went so that she didn’t think we were neglecting her, and she FLIPPED out when they took him to take his blood. Like howling and whining flipping out, looking at us like, “What are you doing!?! Why are you letting this happen to him!?” She loves him so much… I think she’d die of a broken heart if anything happened to him. :( So sad. I can barely stand to talk about it.

That’s all.  Goodnight.

• Target (If you go into the store, make sure you choose Club Wed, we had a registry with them when we first moved into the townhouse, which was a looooong time ago, and it won’t let me delete it.  It will automatically default to that list if you don’t choose Club Wed.  :( Boo)
• Bed, Bath & Beyond

I guess I could give these their own tab, eh?  Also, I think it’s funny that someone bought us shower curtain rings… and we haven’t even given this list out yet… I wonder if it is a mistake?  :P

And, I think I’ll type up a breif trasncript of the dog whisperer thing, for Lucy and Landon too, I remember a lot of Lucy’s and some of it is kinda hard to hear.   I know you’re as excited as I am.  :)

So I shall start off with an amazing story: Jason constantly teases me about how creepy I am because I “stalk” people online.  I don’t see it as stalking as most people have their information on there, put there by themselves for other people to read… I mean there are some specific cases where I may be seen as creepy… but meh, we’re not talking about that right now. Anyway, when I was a wee one, I had this best friend named Sharifah, we hung out, and did little kid things like play with Barbies, play on the swings, run around like maniacs, you know, that kind of stuff. Well, she moved away when I was in first or second grade, back to Kuwait. I was heartbroken. She wrote me letters, well letters as far as little kids can be concerned, and we kept in contact for what was probably a short while and then the letters stopped. I didn’t really know what happened to her after that point. I never heard from her again. To this day, a good nineteen to twenty years later, I wondered about her.   I looked for her online, on MySpace, on Facebook, and just google-ing her name to no avail. Disappointing to a pro like me.  Anyway… SHE FOUND ME!  After such a long time, I was so amazed that she even remembered who I was, especially since she is still living in a country so far away from her life back then.  It was great to know that she was not only still alive, but that she missed me as much as I missed her.  I love hearing from her, and although her English isn’t perfect, it’s pretty good, so I can understand all of what she says to me.  She got married, and has a 3 year old daughter, and she looks completely different, but I think this has been the one friend reunion that I have been looking forward to all my life! (Almost literally!)  Ah, I love the powers that the internet has to bring people together, who have been lost from each other no matter how long.  

Next up:  Tax Money!
Tax money is quite a confusing and exciting topic.  First off, we got a lot of it!  So much, that we have spent most of it!  We love it!  Money, money, money!  What sucked for me was that when we bought the house, they told us to lower the percentages taken out of our paychecks because of the interest write off.  So we did, well, they forgot to tell us, that only ONE of us should do that since we can’t file jointly.  Since Jason had more deductions, it was more beneficial for him to take the home credit, which left me owing the government (state) $57.  Not bad really… except I haven’t paid it yet.  Today I get a notice from the Arizona Department of Revenue.  Thinking they are mad because I was supposed to have mailed them money by some unknown deadline, I started flipping out, only to find a nice $420 check saying I had overpaid.  Overpaid what, I am not sure, since I haven’t paid anything, but a nice little reward nonetheless.  I’m not going to do anything with it until Monday when I can call them, and find out what the heck is going on, because while the extra money may be lovely now, when I don’t have it, and have to pay it back, it will not be so lovely.  As for the rest of the money, we paid off ALL our high-interest loans / credit cards, and our “big” debt is now the house, and car.  The only outstanding credit card we have is my David’s Bridal card, which is soon to be paid off anyway.  It is so nice to be free.  We also got caught up on our house payments since we had fallen a smidge behind with Jason pretty much being jobless for two months.  The remainder of the money went towards some down payments for wedding stuff, invitations, doggie doors, and hopefully replacing our fence.  Unfortunately, we didn’t really think enough when we first got the money, and didn’t allot the practically half we would need for a block fence, so we are getting some estimates on new wooden fencing instead.  Disappointing, but new wood fencing will hold up better than what we have now.  

Wedding Stuff
I still don’t have my dress, and although David’s Bridal is an “on the rack” store allowing you  to walk out of there with the dress you want that day, I have had to order mine.  And then another one… and then ANOTHER one.  I am sure glad I did this early.  My third order will hopefully be the last and that is just because my hips and chest don’t match classic measurements.  (Heh, imagine that.)  Luckily, the order time they have given me so far has been about 2 months too long, and the dress comes in about two to three weeks after it is ordered.

A few weeks ago, we met with a photographer, and liked her from the moment we met.  She is an odd-one, oddly similar to Jason, so of course they hit it off right away.  She also seems very meticulous, and anal about her work, which I think is a good… even a great thing.  She also does PhotoShop (Hurrah!)  And uses a Canon (super hurrah!)  You can check out her work at JenniferWeems.com

We ordered our invitations, and letting a very limited number of people see them (2) they were proofed, and perfected, and should be in my little hands on Monday.  Our RSVP date isn’t until August, but I want to send them now, I don’t want to wait for June!  I’m sure we will have to assemble them though, which will put a halt to my over-zealousness.  We are also waiting on a few more addresses from people.

As for the rest of our life:
Jason is back to normal.  Being his annoying (yet loveable) self again.  He has been told to stay off the salt, soda, and red meat for 6 weeks, and then he gets to pee in a bucket for 24 hours, and then they will see where his kidney stones are coming from.  He has been a trooper so far, but I will admit, I am taking pleasure in all the steak and burgers that I get to eat in front of him while he gets stuck with chicken or fish.  He has eaten the greasiest, unhealthy, delicious foods in front of me when I have been on diets, and now, I finally get my bittersweet revenge.  When I asked him if he would change the next time, now that he is on the receiving end of it, he still said, “no.”  Can’t win them all.

Speaking of chicken, Monday I made some chicken wraps, Tuesday (like right when Tuesday hit at midnight) I woke up sick as a dog.  I am pretty sure that I got salmonella (again) which is odd because the other two times I’ve had it have been right around this time of year.  So I ended up staying home Tuesday.  I went back to work Wednesday, and felt miserable most of the day, and was mediocre by Thursday and ok by Friday.  I have been having some trouble with my hearing though, and I have been super sensitive to smells lately (which sucks working at a mortuary.)  I hate being sick so much.  It was really cute though, I got up because I knew something wasn’t right, and was sitting in the computer room so that I didn’t wake Jason up.  Well, Lucy heard me puking into the trashcan and tried to wake Jason up.  When nudging and licking him didn’t work, she actually bit him to wake him up.  She didn’t leave my side the entire day Tuesday, and she was a bit protective on Wednesday.  My puppy loves me. ♥ 

As for school a few weeks ago Jason and I both knocked out a few of our classes with finals, so the schedule got cut in half, which is nice school wise, but life wise, I swear our schedule just got worse.  I am so looking forward to being done before mid-April.  Unfortunately Jason started the majority of his classes after I did, so he ends closer to (and maybe even in) May.  Sometime in April we hope to take a much needed camping trip.  We have tons of new gear from Christmas, and we got some cooking stuff as well as a portable toilet, and some water canisters to take with us so that we can camp in more remote areas shall we ever run into a holiday weekend again.  Jason says that he is pretty sure we got everything on our camping “needs” list, but I am sure we will find something once we are out there.

This weekend we got our doggie doors installed.  We had to get two, one through the laundry room to the garage, and one from the garage to outside, or we’d have to go through a wall.  We figured their new-found freedom to come, go, and bark as they please would be an incentive for the dogs, but they just don’t get it.  Well, Landon kind of does, but Lucy, the wimp is scared of the flaps, and basically has to be shoved out, or have the door opened for her.  I hope they get it soon.  We got these so there would be less work involved… not more.

I hope to keep on top of the updates once again… but you know how it gets you get behind, and then you mean to catch up and then when you try to more stuff gets piled on… but I think I have really caught up to where we are at at this very moment… so hopefully you will be hearing from me soon!  : )

Wahoo!  We’re so excited.

In other news, all of my bridal party has accepted their invitations to watch me gracefully turn into bridezilla, and I have picked out and ordered my gown.  It’s soooo pretty.  Jason went with me to go look at them, and he liked it too.  (Blah blah blah, we already got yelled at enough at the store because he was there… but he is the only one who will tell me if I look bad, if I actually do!)  We also picked our DJ (did I mention that before?)  So now we have cake, flowers, and invitations, and then I think we are done.  Oh yeah, and registries also.  It’s crazy how many people have asked us when we are going to get one up.  We still have 8 months to go!  Yikes!  :P  We will get one soon.  We both love going through stores and zapping things ;).

This afternoon, after I worked Jason like a horse to get our garage organized and clean, we headed off to a movie.  It is crazy how expensive they are.  For the two of us, at a matinee, with a small popcorn and a medium drink we spent almost the full $25 gift card my mom gave us for Christmas… we have a whopping 50¢ left over.   Anyway, we saw Taken, which was surprisingly good, and suspenseful.  I love me some Liam Neeson (and his accent!)

Anyway, I tried to jam a whole bunch of information in here because I haven’t updated in like, a week or more… but I need to go to bed!  More later.

Sunday we drove to Tucson to get the kids, who were less than thrilled to see us.  That took up a big chunk of the day and we got a whopping two loads of laundry done and were completely exhausted.

Monday was back to work, which was just wretched trying to figure out who did what and what went where etc.  After work we went to Sprint to look at new phones because I am sick of constantly exchanging mine, and it not working.  Then we headed to IKEA because Jason bought a desk with the money his dad gave him for Christmas / Birthday and I bought some lamps for my desk because I can’t stand dim light; however, the lights we bought didn’t fit my desk, they only fit one side of desk (they were clamp lights) and so we had to return them.  We get to IKEA, and Jason grabbed the wrong receipt.  We toss the lights back in the car, and go get different lights and head home, crash pretty much as soon as we get there.

Tuesday night we head out to IKEA again, because light set number two also didn’t work because my desk is very thick, and the clamps opened up about 1/4 inch too little, so now we have 4 lights to return.  Go us.  We head upstairs, measure the desk that I have, and went on a mission to find lights that could clamp on.  No luck.  Ended up setting on a swing arm lamp with a 12 lb base to it.  :P  The light is amazing with such a tiny bulb.  It’s literally about half of my thumb and lights up my desk perfectly.  Once again IKEA, you impress me.  Our house is slowly becoming IKEAized… one day all of our furniture will probably be from there.

Wednesday we had an appointment with the stationer.  Sad to say we will not have the invitations we want, and will probably end up doing them ourselves.  Wow, it is crazy how expensive things are.  CRAZY.  Unfortunately, it took us 50 minutes to get to the stationer, 15 minute appointment, and 50 minutes back.  Again, there was not much time left to do anything once we got home, and we pretty much went straight to bed.

Thursday morning, both doing our own thing at work and Jason gets a call to remind us of our appointment tonight, and if we can change places where we were going to meet.  Uh, appointment?  What appointment?  Heh.  It was with one of the DJs that we met at the bridal show, and let me say that I am so glad he called to change, because we were really impressed with this guy and the services that he offers / provides–but we totally forgot we even made an appointment.  (Hell, we haven’t even had a chance to look at briday show information yet.)  Once we get paid next week, we will be placing the down payment with him.  We really need to buckle down and get back to the wedding business though because we still haven’t purchased my dress (which I have been told can take 4-6 MONTHS to get in) and we still haven’t picked a photographer.

I created a gallery, since I don’t have a paid Flickr account anymore, and therefore am limited, and I have uploaded all the pictures from our trip to  Oklahoma.  Still working on some of the descriptions, so bear with me a bit.  But you can check it out here: fendiandemo.com/gallery

Alsoooooooo, a co-worker of mine has planted a little seed that is slowly growing.  She told me that I should seriously think about opening up my own business selling dog treats since her dog goes nutso over them.  If everyone else hasn’t been lying to me, than I know that other dogs besides mine also love them, and sometimes even prefer them over their regular treats, and I have been talking about it with Jason.  I think the inittial start up would be kind of rocky, but I think it would be a fun and beneficial hobby.  I’ve brainstormed a ton of ideas with Jason and he’s being very supportive of the entire idea, and even offered to help, but I am wondering about other opinions out there… anyone?  Anyone!?