Post #300

How awesome is my Nan?

Not only is she an incredible woman, but has an incredible faith in the Lord. She is just... amazing.



I know she won't read this, but I want to put out a very heartfelt thanks to Nan, who knows and trusts that I am protected.


Thank you also to my brother and to my fiance, for loving me unconditionally and being there for me at a moment's notice.

the boys next door

So as I may have mentioned... no one lives in these apartments. Of my four floor building, there is one other resident who lives on the floor below me, across the hall. It is like a ghost town.

I was going down to my car to grab some pictures when two boys popped out on that boys' balcony and asked me if I lived here. I said yes, introduced myself, they said hi, and disappeared. This was around 7 or 8.

At 9:30, I get a knock on my door. To put this into perspective, I have eaten dinner, proceeded to spill it all over the couch (okay, I did that first, then ate it), cleaned up dinner, put away various odds and ends, organized the desk, looked over some bills and paperwork, and have been scanning pictures in my pjs. As I mentioned in my last post, no bra. I am currently wearing a pair of Jon's boxers and a navy tank top.

So there is a knock on the door and I look through the hole and see it is the boys. Two have beers in hand. Classy.

I answer and proceed to half-cover myself with the door so as to not show my tribal-side. I also strategically place my other arm on the door to cover up the other breast. I think I managed to look comfortable, despite feeling totally awkward.

They are all "hey" and I am all "you guys look like you are in high school". It made me laugh.

They introduce themselves. The first one is "Jimmy". But say it as if you own a pick up truck with a confederate flag on it and go deer spotting for fun on the weekends. I laughed in my own head over his strangely hickish accent and did not catch the rest of their names. They remarked about how no one lives here (I know) and that they are bored (obviously, they are knocking on my door at a time when most decent people are winding down their evening). They ask if I live here by myself. I *thankfully* said, well, I am getting married in a month, and my fiance is moving in then. Am I imagining the crest-fallen look behind their eyes? SWF?! I think not!

They ask what I am doing, I say I am watching tv. They marvel over the fact that we have cable... apparently they have been trying to get it for weeks now. Shrug. I tell them my fiance took care of it and the Comcast dude came right away.

Over and over I am silently thanking God for Jon in a way I never realized I would. It is such a pleasure to know who my future lies with. It was so comforting to be able to tell these boys that I was getting married. Its 24 days now! Holy cow! (I should also mention that my incredibly awkward position by the door put my ring on prominent display!)

Anyway, they say we should hang out because all they have done is watch movies since moving in. Part of me feels a bit moved to say yeah, hang out... there is wii, there is game cube, there is cable, and there are probably movies you have never even heard of here.


But I was not that nice.


I laugh and ask how old they are. Turns out 18, 20, and 25. Giggle. They ask in return. Giggle. I tell them I am a lot older than I look. I am tempted to tell them 30. I don't though, I am not that evil. I tell them I am 27 and one of them manages to pick his jaw off the floor enough to concur that yes, I do in fact look younger than I am. They ask me if I get carded. I say yes... because I assume I would if I ever went to bars and attempted to buy a drink.

They go to UTI. I think it is UTI. It is basically an automotive school. And an acronym for urinary tract infection. Do they know? I doubt it. They say if I ever need car help, to let them know! I tell them I may take them up on it.

I tell them I teach Biology. They all tell me they hated Biology... but, the 18 yr old says, it was because the teacher was, like, 45. GASP! ANCIENT! I laugh on the inside again, but it is stopped by an appraising look that says to me, if my Bio teacher was a young thing like you, it would have been a different story. Gag. Time to make my exit.

I explain to them that I go to bed at like 10. Which is true. In fact, its 3 minutes past my bedtime. They tell me they will be up til like 3. I say well, its been nice to meet you, I will see you around. They take the hint and realize that they will not get into my apartment for my cable or for any other reason. Ew. Ha.



I promptly called Jon, thanked him for being my "fh" and begging him to come home soon. I dont know what it is about being engaged, but ive had more guys approach me in the past 6 months than they EVER have. No clue whats up with that. But it can stop. Seriously.

Breaking the sweet addiction

So I have been living in the apartment for 4 days at this point.

Just yesterday, I went to buy food - not much, but enough to survive until I could *really* shop. The problem is that I did not buy any snacks. No cookies. No crackers. No ice cream... and let me tell ya, the ice cream is the worst. I have been absolutely craving ice cream.

Through this, I am realizing that I am totally addicted to sweets. For example, right now, I am totally wanting to go to Sunoco and get some Chubby Hubby. Mmmm... But, frankly, I am too lazy to do that, it would mean putting on a bra. Which is another thing in and of itself - why do women feel compelled to put on a bra, even if they are just going to a convenience store, even if they are wearing their pjs, like I am? Strange, that.

Anyway, I am addicted to sweets, and I maintain that it is not my fault.

My father eats bowls of ice cream that probably take two weeks for a cow to produce enough milk to make it. We always have oreos or marshmellow cookies in the jar at home. I like chocolate, especially those Andes mints. Mmm... Ive grown up in a house that has sweets around all the time. So far, all of those extra calories have not affected me... which is quite possibly the only benefit of IBS... but still... I should not eat horrible.


And so, my short shopping trip ended with some kashi granola bars, bagels, pb and j, rice, broccoli, and some butter. Oh, and brand x frosted mini wheats. Gotta have the mini wheats. Yeah, I suppose most of that has sugars in it... but they are healthier kind. Right now my sugar craving is being sated by a Dannon Frusion... which has a healthy 33 g of sugar (JOKE). But at least that is healthier than an oreo. Mmm oreos.


We shall see how this eating healthier goes. I know that if I do not buy it, I won't eat it, so I guess that is a good start.




By the way, I still plan to do the kinoki foot pads, but ive been a bit distracted.

oh me oh my

Well... it has been a whirlwind of a week.

On Friday I found out that I need to take one more class to get my masters at WCU. I thought I was done. Yeah.

In the meantime, I have been trying to sign up with PSU so that I can take a course online. It has been a HUGE PAIN IN MY REAR.


On Sat, I moved into our new apartment. Thank the LORD for great friends in our life who are willing to sweat it up for us!!!! Wooooonderful. :)

I spent my last night at home on Sat night and on Sunday, made the jump. There is still so much stuff at home... and lots needs to be done here. Jon was here Sunday and Monday night... last night he was at home doing laundry and things... and right now, he is en route to Alabama. Sigh. I guess I will be setting up things around here by myself.



Tomorrow, I go back to school. Sigh.

I think I am going to start looking into opportunities to teach abroad. I think it would be an amazing experience for both Jon and I... and it would hopefully help a lot of people. We shall see.... bottom line is that I GOTTA get back to teaching kids face to face... I know my place is with kids, in person. I think I have done well for my online community, and I have enjoyed it. Yet, it is time to move on. I make more of a difference when it is hands on. Yup yup.




Other than that, there is a million things to do... if I am a bit absentee.... its understandable, no?

The Kinoki Experience

Day 1:

In accordance with my love for all things scabby and disgusting, I got very intrigued by the commercials for Kinoki Foot Pads. You know, the ones that talked about all of the toxins in your body and how they can magically be removed while you sleep? Well, I have been rather fascinated so for my bachelorette party, Leslie got them for me. She had opened (and discarded) the box... and then I lost the directions... so it took me awhile to actually use them. Jon and I were walking through Sears one night and they were selling them so I opened the box while Jon pretended to look at shoes. I daresay he was embarrassed by me!

Basically two things come in the box: little packets with writing on one side and sticky pads that look like gigantic Biore strips. The directions are fairly simple ~ put the packet writing side down on the sticky side of the pad... attach the pad to your foot... sleep.

The claim - toxins, parasites, even cellulite will be sucked out THROUGH YOUR FEET, while you sleep. Right.

Having the foot pads on is not so bad... like a really big band-aid. I fell asleep more or less right away and was looking forward to what I would find this morning.






When my alarm went off this morning, the first thing I smelled was bacon. I got excited... except that the more I sniffed, the more I realized that it was a bit smokier than bacon... and much less pleasant. I also noticed that it was coming from my BED.

Upon further investigation (lifting up the sheets, actually), I realized that this rankness was actually coming from my feet.

Ew.

I pulled off the foot pads, which released an even stronger bacony/earthy/smoky/yucky smell... and proceeded to be REALLY grossed out by what was on the pad. Just like the commercial, they were kind of amber-dark-brown. One was worse than the other. You have two options... switch feet every night or wear two and then skip a night. I went for the latter.

Anyway, I kind of poked at them to find that they were hard. Not sure what is up with that.

I should also note that I did not follow the directions about cleaning your feet before you put them on. I admit, my feet were pretty grey after spending the night barefoot, packing up my stuff. So I guess I sort of figured the pads would be nasty... in fact, my feet were really clean where the pad was.... and there was a line of grime where it wasn't.

I took a shower and made my way off to class...




Now, I was at WCU for a good 8 hours today, and I did not feel any different. I was tired when I got up, tired at class, my back hurt from hunching over a computer in a lab in a hard plastic chair... My feet, however, felt warmer than usual... and kinda tingly. However, I am chalking that up to the fact that the pads DO NOT BREATHE... they make your feet sweat, and it feels freeing to take those pads off. My poor feet were probably crying for air all night.

I noticed, while I was sitting, staring at a computer that was way below my eye level and therefore extremely uncomfortable, that I would occasionally get a whiff of that balcony nastiness. I thought that perhaps the smell was just stuck in my nose.

When I got home this afternoon, I took my shoes and socks off and realized that no, my feet STILL SMELL. I took especial care to clean my feet thoroughly in the shower... but it still stinks. I should also tell you that last night was the first night in WEEKS that my cat has not slept with me. Coincidence? Methinks not!



While I was at school today, I did some research on Kinoki. They are (not shockingly) a scam... but on the other hand, there is no scientific study that proves or disproves it. Themockdock did a "study", which then ended up on 20/20.

As much as I think it is a scam (if it wasn't, why isn't everyone using them?!) I think I will keep doing it... as long as I can stand the smell. We will see how it goes... if nothing else, I will at least have the intense gratification of the disgusting foot pad upon waking and that brief moment when I think someone is making me bacon for breakfast.





By the way: one month til the wedding!

Dear family: you suck

For those of you who were unaware, I have a really large family.

My mom is one of 8 children.

Check out the family tree:




Yep, rather extensive. Since I created that tree, my cousins Matt & Jake have gotten married (not to each other) and my cousin Carin & I still have our weddings coming up. My Aunt JoAnn, in the meantime, found out that her husband has two children from a previous union. The Wolf family keeps growing and growing.

So of course, I understand that some of my relatives will be unable to attend our wedding. It makes perfect sense - even statistically it is very improbable that they would ALL be there.

I also have taken into consideration that my family is a bunch of deadbeats. I have never met a family that whines more about money issues than they do.

Still, I have to say, my family rather sucks.


I have never ever missed a family wedding. I went to Jack & Kerry's, to Jen & Bobby's, to Colleen & Paul's. I trekked down to Florida for Drew & Kim's, for Aunt Jo & Sal's, and again this year for Jake & Andrea's. I suffered the 97 degree weather at Matt & Kezia's the other week! In fact, Jon and I BOTH spent the money to go to Jake's and sweltered at Matt's.

The first family wedding I am going to miss is Carin's, which happens to be the exact same day as my friend Kelly's (in RI, which I am sadly missing) and Lauren & Dave's, which is here, and the one we are going to because Jon is a groomsman and I (might?) be singing in it. Plus, hello, I definitely want to be at that one!


So despite the fact that my family is large, it is statistically improbable for them to all be there, and they are deadbeats... I thought that maybe the fact that I have been to EVERY ONE would count for something.


Guess not.


All of my aunts & uncles are coming, with the exception of Jo and Sal, but that is understandable because, as I said, they just found out about those kids and they are in some real financial trouble. But the rest are coming, I think, under pain of death from my mother.

Out of all 10 billion of my cousins, only Pam is coming.

Now, I know she would not miss it for the world, she knows Jon pretty well... she is also reading in the wedding.


But, family, you totally suck otherwise. I am really surprised that none of my cousins are coming. It is a mixed blessing - our bar tab will be much lower - but still, it sucks that they are not even making the effort. Trust me, Jon and I know what a financial hardship it is to go to weddings. Did I mention that this year we not only flew to florida for a weekend, but also traveled up to Mass. for a weekend for Kris & Krista's wedding, but also flew to Chicago for Brian & Suzanne's wedding?! We (okay, I) have also made sure that if we were unable to make a wedding or shower or whatever due to scheduling conflict, we still sent a present! We WANT to celebrate your special days with you, we WANT to be there and have made every effort to do so.

And so I cannot help but feel that they do not really care. And maybe they don't. It is just a bit sad. I totally understand not making the showers and stuff like that (actually, some of my cousins did come for an hour) but like... the wedding day? I HATE that we are missing weddings this year. We are missing Brandon's, which is this weekend, because it is in DC and we have another wedding to sing in. As I said, we will miss Kelly's & Carin's because we are in another wedding. We will also likely miss Lauren & Josh's wedding because it is in Asheville, NC, on Black Friday... and we will be getting back from our honeymoon then. But sheesh, we WANT to be there.




Anyway... I do understand. I am really not as upset as I actually seem. It sucks, but oh well. Nothing I can do about it. It is what it is, as my Dad says.


I *think* our grand total for our wedding will be approximately 115. A good sized crowd, and a LOT of our friends are coming (you guys are AWESOME!!!). There shall be dancing. :) Still, we invited, oh, 250ish? Less than half are coming! Again, oh well. We will have lots of fun with those that are there. And darn it, I am going to look hottt in my wedding dress. So there. :P

Some Favs

Here are some of my favorite pics from the weekend...



Mike, Jon, Jason, Nick



Me, Jon, Chris


Me, Jenny, Jenn, Paige, Kathy!!!, Les



Michelle, Amy, Jen, Me, Lauren



Jon, Me



Ne, Chris
(We love you, mom!)



Mom, Me
(Shocking, I know, but I really don't want to hear any details relating to the sex life of my parents.)



Me. Rawr.



Lauren, Jen, Jenny, Sus, Me, Les, Paige, Jenn, Mary, Michelle




Thank you again for an awesome weekend!

weekend madness

This weekend was busy busy busy!


It kicked off Friday night with the Project Philly concert at LMHS. Things went really well. I think purple pretty much kicked butt and we had no major collective brain farts, which is always nice. Another wonderful thing about the concert is that so many of our friends came! That was amazing!

Mom, Dad, Chris, Uncle Jim, Maureen, the Nicols, Jason & Michelle, Mrs. DeRemer were all there... along with them Lauren, Les, Ben, Yassara, Val, Sarge, Kris & Krista, Laura, a bunch of other 'tooners.... it was so great! Thank you all for your support!

Jon did a great job on his solo. I mean, everyone did, but I am a bit more concerned with Jon's. :) I am really proud of how he did!!! I get the feeling that sometimes he feels like he is in the shadow of my accomplishments, but he really shined, and I was so happy for him. :) It was awesome to see him doing something that he likes doing and doing well with it. :)



Sat welcomed, of all things, the trickling start of my period. Perfect timing, naturally. All said and done though, I would rather be miserable than pregnant. :)


On Sat morning, we went to play paintball. Yay for fun!
The combatants were me, Jon, Josh, Datsko, Bill, Jason, Dave, Ben, Mary, Mike, my DAD!, cousin Matt, cousin Matt's friend, my bro... and I feel like I am missing others. It was GREAT! I think everyone had a really fun time. I have a nasty battle wound on my leg. It looks like someone beat me with a bat. Jon had a couple of nice ones on his back. Bill was the worst though, since he went all kamakaze / Rambo in the last round. Ben hit me in the neck, of all places, which left me instantly crying. It was just not a good spot to get hit... fortunately that just looks like some kind of rash or hickie. Doing better today though, and it is more scraped up than anything else.

We came back home to meet up with the women-folk, who were busily prepping for my shower. :) We had pizza, sat by the pool, and rested!!!

The guys then left for Jon's bachelor party. They went to Shaving Grace, then to Jim's for cheesesteaks, to Dave & Busters, and then to see nekkid chicks. Ew. Jon said that they cleaned the pole though, for those of you who were wondering. (And on another note: no, I did not have a problem with him going, but yes, he did the right thing when he said that no one compared to me.)

The girls went off for my bachelorette party, which was much more low key. We went to Fiorello's in West Chester, which I highly recommend, and had a nice dinner. I have to admit, it was kinda fun not paying for stuff all weekend. :) Anyway, we had a leisurely, girlie dinner. I felt a little bad because whenever a bunch of girls (at least, my girls) get together, talk always turns to sex. That is the last thing I want to talk about around Jon's sister... not to mention probably the last thing she wants to hear. Oh well.

Speaking of which, Bill proclaimed excitedly on Friday that Jon and I would be "having sex on Sept 14th". He knows from a long way back that I wanted to be a virgin when I got married. He said he hoped it did not suck. Sigh. Thanks Bill. I am really not worried.

After dinner, we came back home and did our nails, played with hair, watched movies, and just talked. It was really great. We played a little "jericka" trivia game that Sus came up with. Leslie won! And they gave me some sexy lingerie. :) My tummy was not too happy (see above for why) and I am really glad that we were at home and just chilling. My mom was around a bit, but she mostly left us alone.

I think the last of the girls went home around 11:30 ish? I was exhausted at that point... I tried going to bed, but couldnt sleep. I was in some sort of strange trance-like state. Every time my eyes drooped shut, I saw paintballs flying at my head. Post-traumatic stress syndrome?! Maybe.

I slept fairly poorly, which sucked, because on Sunday, the flood gates opened and I felt out and out awful.



The girls showed up around 11, and I kinda just stayed out of their way and tried not to cry. It worked out. The shower was fun... it was mostly just great to catch up with all the girls. AND!!!!! KATHY CAME!!!!!! I was SO EXCITED! :) That was an excellent surprise bc I have not seen her in quite awhile. Yay!



Overall, the girls did a fantastic job on the weekend. The shower was wonderful, I loved the flowers and the decorations and the ice cream and the favors! Everything was so nice, and the day turned out to be perfect. My bachelorette party was exactly how I wanted it... full of female bonding time and face masques. :) Thank you all SO MUCH for your hard work... it was really just great. :) The BEST part is knowing that in 6 weeks, I get to see everyone again!!!!!!!!!!

I also realized something - for those of you who did not make it, it actually does not bug me that you couldn't. For for those of you that did, I am extra pleased that you made the effort to spend the time with me and to make that time special. It means more than I can express, and I am so thankful to have wonderful memories to look back on. You ladies are amazing and I am so blessed to have you as a part of my life!!!!!!!!!


xo!

woo

Today is a good day, and a good way to start the weekend.


First of all, yesterday was my last (horrid) class with Dr. Hsu. He brought as donuts, as if that would make us like him more. My overall appraisal of him is that he is a positively brilliant, knowledgeable man... who sucks at teaching. It is a shame that nearly all of the teachers in the college of education are pretty awful. Do as I say, not as I do, I suppose. Props to Dr. Morgan, who was one of the only teachers I had there who actually was a model teacher. Dr. Haggard is not so bad either, though sometimes I feel like she knows that education classes can be total bs, so she does not bother to try to make them any different or better.

Another grand point about finishing with Dr. Hsu is that I am basically done. I have one more class which is a week long, 8 to 5. That is with Dr. Haggard and it is entitled "on-line curriculum building". Giggle. As if I do not do that for a living. I am really looking forward to the class. Aside from it being the last one, it will give me more or less a week, 8 to 5 every day, to work in Moodle on my actual Biology classes... which, umm, I have not done all summer.

By the way, how did summer slip away so quickly? It is August 1st! A month and a half til I get married!


Speaking of that brings me to the other good points of this weekend...

Tonight is the Project Philly concert. It is at 8 pm at Lower Merion. Go HERE for details. You should come. My wonderful fiance has a solo, and I am really excited for him. He sounds great, and I am pretty sure I blush with pride every time I hear him. Or it could be the fact that everyone in the group looks at me because I cannot stop smiling.

A bunch of our friends/family will be showing up right in time for the show, which is very awesome.

On Saturday, the morning starts with Prenuptual Paintball. I think we have about 20 people now, which is good, because Jon and I were worried about the turnout. After that, I think people are coming back here to hang out by the pool, and then we are whisked off to our bachelor and bachelorette parties. The guys are doing a lot of stuff... I think the ladies are going to be a bit more sedate, grab some dinner, have girlie time, relax, things like that.

On Sunday I have my "friend" shower. Yay! :) Fun times had by all. Let's hope for no rain.



There is really only one thing to worry about... that little feminine issue I have been having. Well, its coming... likely tonight into tomorrow. This means its a good chance I might feel like utter POOP tomorrow. Not such a good time to have a busy weekend... but I have hope that it will be okay... and I have drugs if its not. Sigh. We shall see.