"You're not a gentlemans gentleman, you're a bums bum!" Red Skelton

That's me, a bums bum. While I wouldn't say I've been lazy over the past week or two, I'd say that I am avoiding wedding planning at all cost... and believe me, it's starting to haunt me...literally! I keep having dreams about the wedding, some go really well, others make me want to wake up and cry.

So, if I can't be openly productive, I might at least write about being openly productive!

I've started on my wedding bouquet. I've been painstakingly embroidering, hand-cut, felt flowers for the job. Blues and greens are embroidered on white flowers, and white is embroidered on the green leaves. Believe me, it's not walk in the park. In my next post I plan on giving a tutorial on Do-it-yourself felt flower bouquets. But, if you have a wedding in less than six months, and you plan this feat alone, then you are brave... unlike me who was just dumb and thought "Hey, I could do that!" Someone rescue me? Please?

I've also decided that I am wearing a hat to the wedding. A 1940's white felt crown cap hat, and attatching my great-grandmothers antique, silver thread, chiffon shawl as my veil. I plan on this being a smashing success, and everything will turn out wonderfully! ...And here's the sticky part. Sam and I decided that we would set a budget for the wedding for clothes. He and I would each have $400 to dress, both ourselves, and our respective party. My father payed for my dress, Sam payed for my shoes and under things for the gown, and his mother payed for the dress material for the girls. So, to be precise, Sam and I have only spent $142... But the grand total for my party adds up to $519. Do I bend the rules? I'm a very thrifty person, and I found ...not the hat, but close to it, for $19 (the hat was $145, and I'm just too cheap for that!). Besides, I've already spent (completely unknowingly) $119 over the budget... This matter is still up for debate. Whatever the matter, either I buy the $19 hat, or I use the blue trimmed straw hat of the same style and era that I picked up for $12 just a month ago. To say the least, I really like hats.

Other than that I've been staying home, occasionally going out to work on the house that Sam and I are moving into, once married; and daydreaming about things that I cannot afford for the wedding, due to the fact that Sam's paycheck seems to go just as fast as it comes, and my paycheck is non-existent, as is my job. But, school still exists, which is part of the reason I can't get a job, since my GED isn't finished, and no one in their right mind is going to hire someone who is both uneducated, and attempting to finish their education. It's official, GED, job, and more wedding money, and less wedding time. Why does this not seem like a solution?

From the DIY Bride to the DIY Wife...

Okay, whoever says that marriage starts after the kiss at the wedding, has never walked in my shoes! Marriage started last October when I committed myself to one man, promising him I'd be his for the rest of my life. So, here's the Do-It-Yourself Wife, and the biggest excuse I have of ignoring the bulk of wedding planning for the past two weeks.

Sam and I are renting our first home from his mother, who just bought a beautiful second home in the country. Now here's where the dream bus drops us off, and hard work really comes into play. This house was a foreclosure when she bought it. It's been sitting empty for the past year. And a house sitting empty for a year can gather more dust and grime than anyone can imagine.

So here I am. Three months and counting to the wedding, and instead of focusing on the wedding, I'm looking at the bigger picture. The wedding lasts a day, but a marriage lasts a lifetime.

When we first decided to take the house, I wasn't thrilled. This was my dream house, but, it now belonged to my Mother-in-law (no offense Jane). The living room was a very different shade of pink, and the dining room was a shade of green that I've never seen before. The rest of the downstairs was renter beige. This house needs an overhaul.

Chore #1: Kitchen

No house is complete without a kitchen. Where will your guests visit with you? How will you feed your husband? When the whole world is falling apart, and you want to watch P.S. I Love You, where will you make the brownies? So, this was my first project. Kitchen. I love kitchens. I've been cooking for my family since I was 12. I started learning how to cook when I was 3. I love food. If I didnt have a wedding to plan, believe me, food is what this blog would be about!

You are now looking at my kitchen. I dont really like the color in here, and I like white trim in the kitchen, so Sam and I went out and bought paint in my favorite kitchen color, yellow. It's such a sunny warm color, and it makes everything look better. Fresh paint, the smell of pinesol in the air, all the windows open for a fresh breeze, doesn't that make yellow sound good?! So, the cupboards are done, all there is left to do in here is paint the walls (simple!), purchase the appliances, and start cooking!

The other rooms, not so simple. I'll just let you see for yourself, because I can't figure out words to describe these colors.

This is our dining room. And next you can see the living room.

Here is my mother-in-law on the left, and my sis-in-law Lana on the right. Dont you just love the color? Not my cup of tea.

So, here was my list. Cupboards washed, painted, and new shelf paper. Walls washed, primed, and painted. Not a very long list, is it? Well, when the rooms are 15x15 each, the cielings are 10 feet high, and the house has been sitting empty for a year, we've got our work cut out for us.

So, my progress has brought me to painted cupboards, and primed walls. And later this week I should have more wedding projects for you to read about.

The Wishing Jar

The Wishing Jar is a lovely sentiment. It allows your guests to write their many wishes for you i.e. health, life of love, happiness etc. Well, I found the idea from an invitation catalog and they wanted $30 for a boring square vase that said "wishes." Hmmm. No? So, I went down to a second hand shop, and I found this wonderfully eclectic jar, costing me $2. That, coupled with a band of tulle, and a felt flower, all told, it cost me approximately $2.25.

It's not such a big post, but I thought you could enjoy it. It's a good saving, and a lot more fun to look at than a square vase with "wishes" stamped on the front. Along with this jar, I'm purchasing blank buisness cards that can be found at any office supply store, and leaving instructions for peoples well wishing cards next to my wishing jar at the reception.

To Top It Off...

Here is the cake topper tutorial I promised! I'm going to take you step by step through my process for making my perfect cake topper.

First things first, know what you want! Stick with your theme! I am planning a vintage eclectic wedding, so I started browsing antique shops. What I found were a pair of pink and blue parakeets made in pre-war Japan. I purchased them for $5. My mother-in-law-to-be, Jane gave me the cake toppers stand. I purchased the tulle in at a local craft store, and I made the flower out of wool felt, embroidered with our wedding colors, with a pewter button in the center.

This is what I had to start with. It used to be a 25th anniversary cake topper. I love the look of lace, but it was giving me too much of a 1980's vibe, so I turned the lace under to give it a more vintage look.

Using a hot melt glue gun, I gently pulled the lace around to the back of the heart, and glued it in place.

Next came the extras! I tied on a bit of tulle and positioned it front and center of the topper, then applied glue and folded the ends up and secured them to the platform of the topper.

Next came the love birds. I knew what I wanted, but had to make sure their heads wouldn't touch, because the slightest bump could mean a catastrophe!

Next, I traced the spot on which each bird would stand and glued them in place.

I glued a felt flower at the birdies feet.

And Voila! My cake topper is ready for it's public appearance!

Between two love birds, this one definitely flew over the cookoo's nest!

I hope you enjoyed my cake topper tutorial, and I hope it will help you with your wedding, and learning how to do it yourself!

Our First Date

Last night I went on my first date. You're probably wondering how I have been with a man for a year and been engaged for 3 months without ever going on a date, but, it is possible.

On, what was supposed to be, our first date, my mother and step-father came with to chaperon us. We rode in the back seat of my mother's car, and we had a table just across the restaurant from them. Afterwords, he and I walked over to an antique shop, and talked a little bit while mother and step-father walked over to the coffee shop across the street. We all drove into the city together, and went shopping. Then we were driven back to mother and step-father's house where Sam got in his car and drove home.

After the first few chaperoned dates, we decided that we couldn't count it as a date unless we were alone. Well, last June, Sam, in secret, took me on our first date to McDonald's in the afternoon, unchaperoned. It was great. He took me down there, and we sat and talked until it started getting late, and I got nervous about my parents catching us. Then he drove me back to his parents house, and we finished out the day together. This went on about twice a week, but we soon decided that McDonald's wasn't a date. We'd have to step it up a notch.

In October I moved in with Sam and his parents, and he and I went on our first date. He took me out to the mall, and we watched a movie, and picked up some groceries at Wal-Mart. When we got home his mother made the comment "No date's complete without a trip to Wal-Mart!" Said in sarcasm. Soon after, I told Sam that if we were going to go on a date, it would be an evening that didn't involve Wal-Mart or McDonalds.

So, last night, Sam took me on our first date, and what better time to go on your first date than your first anniversary! We got very dressed up, Sam in a suit, me in an evening gown, and we went to the Olive Garden. He ordered something he couldn't pronounce, and half way through the meal he decided that he really didn't like what he ordered. So, we switched plates, and he was happy eating my ravioli, and I enjoyed his shrimp caprese. It was a wonderful evening. Later we walked around the mall and found a wedding band for me that we now plan on purchasing. The other reason for the mall was to walk off our food! We got home and stayed up until 1:00 a.m. talking. We talked about our wedding plans, and plans for our marriage. We talked about the future and the past. And that our love was the kind that would last forever.

Lazy Daze

I'm sure you've had one of those nights where you toss and turn for about an hour, then get up and do some cleaning, go back to bed, clean, bed, clean.... That was my night! Sleep was a hopeless endeavor until 2:15 a.m. struck on the clock chimes in the living room. Until then, I was blogging, organizing, cleaning, debating whether or not to just get up and enjoy the morning, and wishing for the sleep I so desperately needed.

Then, just like clock work, my morning started at 6 when I drag myself downstairs to make Sam's lunch, and drive him to work so I can have the car for the day. Now, my original plan was to take him to work, sit in the college parking lot for an hour and read, then head in for open morning classes, then go to the antique shop for a brooch for my anniversary dress, and the local thrift shop to pick up a chiffon scarf. Then a little job hunting, price wedding bands for Sam, go to the junk shop and look for wedding decor, check to see if the job position I applied for was still open, pick up Sam from work, take him to look at the rings, purchase the 1920's buffet at another second hand shop, we go home and live happily ever after.

Here's what really happened. I didn't go to sleep until half past two, woke up at 6, made lunch for Sam, drove him to work, and turned around and headed back home for a two hour nap. Woke up at 9:30, didn't leave the house until noon (school was out by then), and went to go about the rest of my ideal day, although we came home with no ring, a down payment on a buffet, no wedding decor, no chiffon scarf, and no job (for me, that is). But, we had Sam's ring ordered, which takes one major thing off of my to-do list. By Saturday or Sunday, I should have my cake topper tutorial up for you. Then it will be one project down, ten million to go.