Tomorrow is going to be fun!

Tomorrow I'm skipping class to help out at the daycare's Halloween party. I hate my history class (it's just really long and not very interesting AND my friend takes AWESOME notes). I can't wait to see all my kids dressed up in their costumes! I'm going as Thing 1 (my friend Jessica is Thing 2) from Dr. Seuss's The Cat In The Hat. I already had a red sweatshirt and I just put a piece of white material with the words, "THING 1" on it and fabric glued it on the sweatshirt. It's going to be pretty cool. We're going to hairspray our hair all crazy too. I'm pretty pumped.

I bought a peacoat yesterday! I'm soooo excited. I have needed a coat for the past couple years but I've just been reusing the one I've had since junior year. I'm excited for it to arrive.

A bit of bad news. My grandad's cancer has gotten worse. The doctors seem to think he's only got about a month left. Of course, that's the diagnosis that we got for Jack's dad and he lived for another 8 months. I'm thinking that he won't make it that long though, mom says he's incredibly weak and they've already got hospice in. It worries me, but I just want him to be out of pain. I know he's in pain a lot of the time...I'm going to go visit him this weekend when I get home.

Anyway, say a prayer for him.

I really do love my life

despite all the shit I have to deal with....liiiiike:

*the people who think it's a really good idea to booty dance/scream/laugh loudly/run up and down my hallway at one or two in the morning.
*all the damn assignments I have.
*the lack of cool people to hang out with.
*the fact that my fiance is in another state.

I really do enjoy my days in class (most days) and at work (minus a few of the kids). I get to come home to my comfy room, get on my laptop and relax all night. It's quite nice. I get to call my honey and visit with him about what's going on in our lives while we're apart, and it's just so much easier than when he was in boot camp. I get to tell him stuff right away instead of writing it to him in letters.
Last night, I was telling him that I was going to order the flower petals. Here's our convo:
Him: Won't they die before June?
Me: SILK petals, honey. Much easier, much cheaper.
Him: Ohhhhh. Are you going to get all silk flowers?
Me: probably. Real flower bouquets are very expensive.
Him: What about your bouquet? You're getting silk for that too?
Me: Yeah.
Him: You should get a real one. It's your special day. Don't worry about the cost.
Me: Really?
Him: Yeah. You should be able to do that.

Isn't that just the sweetest? I mean, he just keeps saying stuff that makes me giddy. I know he knows that I want it to be the most special day but will cut costs even if it means I don't get something. He WANTS me to have everything I want. It's pretty cute.

He loves me.

The weekend

What a fantastic weekend!

Honestly, the only thing that would have made it better is if Ben would have been here to spend it with me.

Friday night, I went to a show with Chip and Chelsea, all dressed up and it was awesome. My friend Sonny's band played and we enjoyed happy hour. Went to a party later on, but it was full of totally lame people, so we left early. We ate lunch together the next day and just hung out.

Saturday I spent the day laying around and doing homework. That night, my friend Jake came out again and we went out to eat and saw Saw IV with Andrew, Travis, Ashley, and Matt. It was a lot of fun.

Today I spent the day watching movies and visiting with Ben on the phone. It's been nice.

Frustrating

I really don't like my brother all that much. I'm pretty sure he has some form of bipolar disorder. He'll be super nice, and then he'll just snap and be a total jerk. I was trying to call my mom tonight and he hung up on me 4 different times because he was using the house phone and didn't want to let me talk to her. She wasn't answering her cell, and he didn't give a shit. It's like this all the time. Does he ever get in trouble for that shit? Nope. Not at all. She "can't punish him" because "nothing ever works". What does she mean, "nothing ever works"? Ground him, make him stay home and not hang out with his friends, don't give him money everytime he asks. I didn't get that kind of treatment, even though I was a good kid. I never messed up in school or got into any kind of trouble...and I didn't get even half the stuff or privileges he does. It's just ridiculous. He's being taught that he can do whatever he wants and get away with it. Someday, that's going to backfire, and he's going to be in a lot of trouble.

Anyway, in happier news, I bought invitations, a matching garter, AND a matching photo album today. The invitations are really pretty and I'm able to print them off at home and they look professional. Everything was pretty inexpensive too! I'm quite happy.

My friend Jake is coming to town tomorrow evening for costume karaoke. I'm glad, I love hanging out with him. It's going to be fun tomorrow, I'm pretty pumped. Probably not going to go to class on Friday. It's pointless because we're not doing anything and my teacher really pissed me off on Monday. I've got all of my assignments done, and early, so there's really no need to complain about one missed class.

booya.

The weekend

Ahhh, what a good weekend!

Came home on Friday, stopped at Hobby Lobby on the way back. Got some stamps, embossing gun, and embossing powder. I've been practicing using the stamps and getting the design of my invitation JUST right. So far, so good. I need to get some better red ink though. Justin met up with me at my house and had dinner with the family. It was fun, my family just loves him. He's a good friend to have, always helping me out with stuff.

Saturday I worked for 9 hours. It was boring, but at least I didn't have to work with my stupid manager and his creepiness/rudeness. He was out of town for the weekend, and told Michael that he had gotten a hotel room up in the city and was spending the weekend with his significant other. Ok, that means my district manager. Michael saw them kissing outside the store one day when he was in Subway. My district manager is definitely married. She's done this before, I'm surprised she's actually still working there. Maybe she's sleeping with her boss too. I think once I quit I'm going to report it. I don't like either one of them, they treat me like crap.

After work I went to hang out with Chip for a bit at his house. Got to see Chelsea and Chip's dog Bogie. VERY cute. Chelsea didn't stay, she had plans with Beth. It was OK though. Justin and Jenna ended up coming out and hanging too. We went and got Chinese food and watched Transformers. It was fun, but Transformers is definitely not as good as everyone was saying. It was pretty cheesy. Redeeming factor was the special effects...but that alone does not make a good movie.

I'm doing laundry today, probably should go get in the shower so Mom and I can possibly go run some errands.

<3

*EDIT*
You know, I always heard that guys don't want to have any part in the wedding planning process. I've always heard that it was the brides who made all the decisions. To me, that sounds daunting. I don't like making huge decisons by myself. I'm so thankful that Ben WANTS to be involved. I told him that I was going to send him some wedding poses, and that I know he may not want to go through them, and he said, "It's important, Danielle, and I want to!" It was very sweet.

This week is almost over!

It's almost Friday...and I couldn't be happier.

I'm leaving for home tomorrow after work. I'm hopefully going to stop by Hobby Lobby and get the stuff I need to make the invitations. I wish I could do it on Saturday, but I've got to work, unfortunately. It'd be nice to go with my mom, so I suppose I have to make some sacrifices.

Yesterday at the daycare, I had just got snack out for the school kids (they hadn't arrived yet) and the tornado sirens started going off! Luckily, I only had one kid! Everyone came out and got by the wall in the hallway. We had infants through age 6 all together. I was terrified, one touched down in the town next to our's and it was supposed to come to us next. I remained calm though and sang songs with the kids to keep them calm. I was so glad when it was all over! The school kids started showing up and Brandy (co-teacher) left me in the room by myself while she went to the front door to wait for students. You're supposed to wait in the classroom. Anyway, she left me there, and I was unable to begin cleaning the bathrooms (I did clean the classroom-her job). Even when the other kids showed up, she didn't come back to the classroom! At 5:30, it was time for me to leave, and I still hadn't done the bathrooms, so I left them for her to do. She can finish up stuff sometimes, she only works 2 hours a day! I guess she complained to my boss though and my boss called me and told me I shouldn't have left. Umm, I have places to be and I ALWAYS end up getting stuck with other people's jobs. It's ridiculous. I had places to be, and I COULDN'T stay. Why isn't she getting upset that me, Mandy, Sarah, and Anna C. are constantly getting left in the infant room by ourselves with 8-10 kids for periods of 1/2 hour or more because Anna B. can't seem to stay in the room and do her job? Why isn't anything being done about that? Hmmm?

In other news, I got my Halloween costume yesterday! I am borrowing it from a friend, which is nice, because costumes are EXPENSIVE! Here it is:

Tired and a little cranky

Yeah, my title pretty much sums it up.


I work a lot, I go to school, I'm no where near being done with my online portfolio, many of my close friends live far away, Ben is in Mississippi...things are just crazy right now.





I'm trying to stay positive, but this lack of sleep and dealing with the movie store boss is really grating on my nerves. I called him to let him know I couldn't work the weekend of the 27th because of a mandatory school function and he was really rude. I'm debating just quitting right now. I'm not happy. I want to spend my weekends relaxing. I work/go to school from 8am until 5 or 6 at night EVERY DAY. It's a little hectic.





Anyway, I've been searching for grass green colored stuff for my wedding, and it's almost impossible to find. Everything is sage, mint, forest, or whatever. I am thinking about just doing a classy black and white wedding. I think it'd be pretty and it'd be a lot easier finding stuff for that color. I could add in accents of green or hot pink if I find them...black goes with everything. Ben is fine with it, I'll just have to talk to Mom and check out the selection at the bridal store where I got my dress.





I'm trying to figure out when Ben is officially going to be home for Christmas so we can schedule our marriage counseling and engagement photos. He's also been given the opportunity to choose his base preferences again. We're picking 2 close to home, one in MA (possibly), and England is our choice for overseas. Pretty exciting!





Some girls are getting together tomorrow evening for dinner at Applebees. It's really hard planning something like that without certain people in the daycare finding out. The majority of us get along and love to visit and hang out, then there's a certain few (ok, one) that we just can't stand. We're meeting over at Applebees so that no one will be suspicious. Hopefully no one that wasn't invited shows up that night!





I found a couple pairs of shoes that I really like for the wedding:

I really like both of them. I wear flats all of the time, and I definitely don't want to wear heels and be uncomfortable all day.

Ahh well, I'm going to get to bed.

Looking!

I've got to find a new job in my hometown. My old boss is gone and the replacement is a total tool. I found out today that my friend Michael, the ONLY person that I enjoy working with, is putting in his two weeks tomorrow. He's going over to another store in town....working with our old manager. I think I'm going to try to get a job there too. There's no way I'm going to be able to put up with this guy for much longer.

I'm home for the weekend, and am watching movies with Mom and Jack. It's nice being here just relaxing.

Almost had a freakout today at work (at the daycare). There's this baby there who is 6 weeks old. His mom is a CRACK HEAD. She puts rice cereal in his bottles. This baby can't suck the formula through the nipple because it is so thick with that stuff. He can eat MAYBE 1/2 an ounce at a time and that's a 30 minute period. It made me cry yesterday because he was so frustrated and was crying and hungry. Today, it was happening again, and I made his bottle without the cereal. He at a whole ounce at once. He started crying again and we realized that he had white bumps all over his mouth. We called his mom and she came and got him, but was pissed. I was called outside and she's like, "Where are the bumps?!" while sticking her dirty fingers into his mouth. I said, "On his gums...and on the roof of his mouth." She just kept sticking her fingers in his mouth. She took him away, and was pissed. She's supposed to bring in a doctor's note for the rice cereal and this Karo syrup she wants us to put in his bottle for constipation. He is NOT constipated. He has bad diareah. When we told her that he needed a doctor's note for that, she's like, "I don't think he'll approve." Ok, then why are you giving it to him?! Honestly, I don't understand how some people can keep having kids (this woman has 3). She has smoked when pregnant with all 3, and all of them have some kind of problem. They all have health issues and are always dirty. It sickens me, parents who don't give a shit about their kids. There are people in this world who absolutely deserve to have kids, but can't, and then people like this woman who keep popping them out like they don't understand what birth control is!
WTF?

I'm done ranting about that, for now.

Still working on wedding plans. I've come up with a design for my invitations. I'm going to draw it up, scan it, and send it to Ben. I love that he wants to be involved with the planning of this wedding! He really does care about the little things, and I just love it!

I'm off to draw up some stuff to send him!

It's all coming together

This week has been such a whirlwind of wedding planning....

So far, I have a photographer, invitation (design), dress, bridesmaids, groomsmen, color, and if it works out, a wedding/reception site! It's all been relatively cheap so far. I'm a thrify lady.
My photographer is charging me for her time. She's bringing her laptop and at the end of the reception, she's going to burn me the pictures right onto cds so I can have them right away! Isn't that awesome?! I asked my bridesmaids last night, and they all said yes, of course. Jenna will be my matron of honor, Bekah, Ashley, and Nikole will be my bridesmaids. Ben has chosen (in which order, I'm not sure yet) Landon, Chip, Eli, and Falco. I think it's going to work out juuuust fine. I've even found little bridesmaids gifts already! It's all coming together so easily, and that just makes me realize how this is actually meant to happen.

I'm going out tonight. No class tomorrow, and I'm soooo thankful! I absolutely HATE my teaching science strategies class. The teacher really has no idea what is going on half the time...and if you're not doing something his way, then you're not doing it rght...even though he never specifies how he wants things done. It's really frustrating getting these passive agressive emails about him thinking our group isn't getting things done. I can't wait to be done with this semester.

Going home this weekend. I have to work on Saturday with the new manager (the one who is actually making me look for another job come December when I go back to student teach). I'm definitely not looking forward to that. He has me scheduled with him and someone else from 9-6 and then there's only one person closing that night. That makes NO sense. There only needs to be one person on days and 2 at night. I don't know why he's acting like a fool. I also think that he's sleeping with the district manager, and he majorly sucks up to her. She's horrible and has run out every manager that's worked at the store for the past 4 1/2 years. He was really snotty to me when I went in to rent movies last Friday, and I was like, "nope, not having this during my student teaching semester!" I'm going to try to get a job at Goodwill. I think that'd be a nice job to have for awhile.

Alrighty, I need to go get ready. I get to go have fun with my friends tonight without leaving early to get rest! haha

<3

I found it, I found it, I found it!!!

Today after the Cass County Living Festival mom and I were heading to Wal-mart to get some frames...

She suggested that we check out the dollar store for frames too...and then I saw the bridal store. I asked mom if we could stop in and look around. We went in and looked around a bit...we were the ONLY people in there. The lady in there asked us if we needed help finding anything. I described the dress that I had in mind and she pulled a dummy out of the window and took the dress off that one. I went and tried it on and...

it fit.

Perfectly.

Like, no alterations needed. Amazing.

I had her hold it for me and then went home to wait for Ben to call so I could talk to him about it. (I already knew I had to have it though). He called, and I told him that I found a wedding dress. He was excited for me and said, "If you don't mind me asking, how much did it cost?" I said, "It's perfect, Ben..." Before I could finish my sentence, he said, "Then it doesn't matter how much it costs." He told me that he wanted me to have my perfect wedding dress. Isn't that so sweet?

After a little bit, I asked mom if we could go back up there so I could try it on again...I did and ended up buying it.

When I walked out in it the first time, mom she held her hand over her heart and sucked in her breath! She loves it and even teared up!

I'm posting a couple pics...

I'm paying for the dress!

Here it is...pictures do not do it justice!

I've been neglecting this....

I know, usually I write in here EVERY day, but I've been so busy since last Thursday, there hasn't been a spare moment. All of my spare time was spent with Ben until Sunday and since then, I've been playing catch up with sleep and homework.



9/28/07-Friday:

• Woke up early and got to the base reception center early. I drank a cup of cocoa and talked to my mom for a bit, then I caught the shuttle bus on base to the graduation site.


• Picked out the closest seat possible to where his flight would be and sat down to wait. Took off my shoes because they were KILLING my feet. (I definitely should have worn panty hose...blisters are no fun.)


• Watched the graduation ceremony, got chills when he marched by and took his Air Force oath with his fellow Airmen.


• Ran down to the field when it was all over and threw my arms around him. I'm so proud!


• Went back to his dorm to see where he had been sleeping/living for the past 6 1/2 weeks. I got to meet his T.I. who was friendly, but VERY intimidating.


• Walked back to the Mini-mall and had lunch with his friend Sawyer. We also went and picked up his pictures in his dress blues. I wish I had a scanner to put them up!


• Waited around until the rental car was ready and went back and hung out at my hotel for awhile. We watched some tv, visited, and listened to music. He wanted a nice relaxing day, and that's what he got!


• We had dinner at Jack in the Box (first time we'd eaten there), and I then had to take him back to the base :(

9/29/07-Saturday

• Woke up early and went to the reception center. I was walking around by myself and one of Ben's friend's families was there and grabbed me and had me come and hang out with them. They were really cool. Parents from Ireland and now they live in NY. It was nice having someone to hang out with.


• Ben showed up a bit late because he had to get his dry cleaning, and we went back to the hotel to make some phone calls before we headed out for the day. After we left the base, we realized that we had to go back so we could buy tickets for the museums we were going to visit that day! We bought tickets to Ripley's Believe It Or Not and Louis Tussads Wax Museum. It was a combo ticket. Without his military discount, it'd be about $19 per person. With it, we payed $12 total. Isn't that AMAZING?!


• We managed to drive to downtown San Antonio without getting lost (how did that happen?! People in Texas drive like bastards) and we went to the Alamo. It was really cool seeing all of that.


• We walked around for a bit more and then went to the 2 museums. I loved both of them. Wish the wax museum would have had more!


• Went down to the Riverwalk and ate at the Hardrock Cafe. It was very expensive! At the end of our meal, we were waiting for the check, and our waiter informed us that someone in the restarant had paid for our meal! Ben insisted that he know who it was so he could thank them, and our waiter pointed over at a man who was getting up to leave. He was going to do it anonymously! Ben thanked him, and the man said, "Thank you for serving our country." I had to put my sunglasses on quickly so I could hide my tears.


• We left downtown San Antonio and headed back to the hotel for awhile. It's nice to hang out there because we could hold hands or hug! When he's in uniform out in public, we can't show PDA.

9/30/07-Sunday

• I got to the mini-mall early that day, the reception center was closed. I met up with Ben outside and we went in with a couple of his friends to get some Starbucks and visit.


• We went to the graduation grounds with a couple of his friends to get some pictures (we weren't able to on graduation day because of all the commotion).


• The rest of the day was spent on base going around to the Base Exchange, the Mini-mall, Burger King, and just driving around. It was a lot of fun!


• The good-bye was incredibly hard. My stomach was aching and it was like someone was taking part of myself away. He was beginning to cry, so we said our "see you soons" (we don't like to say good-bye) and I left. I cried and cried and cried on the way to the airport. I couldn't believe how fast the week had gone by, and I didn't want to be separated again.


• To make matters worse, I got stuck in stand still traffic for an hour and every exit to the airport was blocked off. I had no idea how to get there and managed to get lost. I called the airport and they finally got me directed to this little access road that had no signs about the airport on it.


• Dropped off my car at Enterprise and got slowly shuttled to the right terminal.


• Ran inside, went to the wrong ticket counter...ran across the hall and got to the right one. I heard my name paged to come back to the other ticket counter, but when I ran back, they acted like they hadn't just called me. I thought, "screw it, I'm late" I ran back to the correct ticket counter and realized that my flight was delayed. Thank goodness! I would have missed my flight had it not been delayed!


• I got all checked in with security and got to my gate. Figured out that my connecting flight to KC was delayed too, so hopefully I wouldn't miss it and have to spend the night in the airport.


• Got on my flight and it took FOREVER to take off. It was a long flight too...like 2 and a half hours. When we landed, he took his time getting us to the gate. It was very frustrating. Got off the plane and realized that my connecting flight was leaving in 10 minutes from the other side of the airport. I booked it and RAN. Made it, got on the plane. Landed at like 1am.


• Justin and Jenna picked me up. I was going to spend the night there, but I decided to just go home. Definitely missed class the next morning, but oh well.

Now I'm just trying to plan our wedding for next June....there's sooooo much to do!