Back and barely alive

I'm baaaaack!

Okay, that took all of the energy I have. *g* I supposedly was going to have Wednesday through Sunday to just play and have fun. Yeah right. Between the new part time job and wedding stuff, it was all a bit nuts.

Wednesday

I was supposed to spend a couple of hours at the salon getting trained and meeting the hair dressers, and then class that night. With time in between to lounge.

I ended up pulling a 10:00-5:00 at the salon (at least I get paid) and then heading to class. So much for my day off. But it was easy and uneventful.

And of course, with all the work, no time for lunch. Just dinner.

Thursday

Joyful Thanksgiving. I spent the morning lounging (yay! I got lounging time!) and then turned on the National Dog Show at noon. That was entertaining, except for the part where I'm pretty sure the Doberman Pinscher got robbed. Hey, that poodle won the Westmeinster. Give the Doberman at least one major title.

Then came fixing the apple pie for dinner. I sliced my finger, then promptly managed to get lemon juice in it. But I was very mature. There was pain, and all I did was stick my finger in my mouth and utter "mmmm, lemony." No cussing at all. A sign, I'm sure.

Dinner was...the usual. Funny. A couple of moments where I was sure somebody was insane. There was much recounting of kitty-cat exploits (as everyone in the family has a cat except me). My cat story contribution was recounting the Kirk and Cat Kirk storyline from Gilmore Girls on Tuesday. (And wasn't that just *the* funniest moment, with Kirk recounting how he got scratches over 60% of his body? *G*)

There was laughter, and eating of monumental proportions, and a few moments where we were pretty sure somebody was going to throw up.

And I informed my parents that their cats like turkey. They weren't happy I fed the cats turkey. Ah well. It's poultry and they're cats. Do the math.

But my grandmother had to do her thing. My sister is supposed to show up any minute. She called saying she was on her way. She hadn't told my grandparents or my aunt and uncle that she was engaged yet. So they have to wait until she gets there, but not know why they're waiting (and my grandmother really, really wanted to leave).

So grandmother puts on her coat. I tell her to take it off, she can't leave yet. She says to just tell Katie hi. I tell her she's not leaving, Katie will be there in just a few minutes. Arguing ensues. I come close to physically planting myself between her and the door.

Luckily Katie arrives, shows off the ring, and grandmother leaves 2 minutes later. Let it be known that when my grandmother decides to do something, not even her newly engaged granddaughter can stand in her way.

I love my grandmother, but she is very highly selfish. Maybe that's where my sister gets it from.

Again, no lunch, as I'm saving up room for dinner.

Friday

Going to see my best friend and the baby, so I headed out the door early. I adored spending time with her and my dear little Buglet (new nickname, among the 50 or so we have for her). She's a sweet thing, except if you stand between her and food. When that child gets hungry...we're talking decibels rivaling a rock concert. My ears were ringing when I left. But such a sweetie.

And tons of red hair.

Oh, did I mention again no lunch? Just a dinner consisting of a burger and tons of leftover apple pie.

Saturday

First day flying solo on the job. So what goes wrong? The credit card machine isn't transmitting. So the boss asks me to call and see if we can fix it.

And the woman on the other end starts telling me what to do. Which she figured out quickly (or so I thought) that I had no clue whatsoever how to operate that thing. So she takes me through many steps, has me punch a bunch of buttons, then asks me to find the receipts from the day before. After much searching, I found them. She asks me to find the account numbers (credit card numbers) on the receipts. Um, well, they're a bunch of stars and the last four digits of the card number.

And who wants to guess what problem came out of that? Seems that in that big bunch of button pushing she had me doing, she had me deleting every transaction from the day before. All $600 of it.

When the boss got on the phone to figure out what was going on (he managed to get free about then), she tries to blame it on me. Um, lady? I *told* you I had no clue what I was doing, you didn't ask for any receipts until *after* all the transactions had been deleted, and you're trying to blame it on me?

Grrrr.

Oddly enough, that didn't bother me. I was very calm all day.

And then when I got off, it was time for another Thanksgiving dinner. Yay! With my favorite dressing ever. Nummy, I tell you.

So I ate way too much, took home way too many leftovers, and went to bed by 9:30, because it's been proven turkey makes you sleepy.

And oh yeah, still no lunch that day.

Sunday

I skipped church (bad me, I know) because we were going wedding dress shopping with my sister. Now, my sister has a $5,000 limit for spending. My mom told her that the photographer is probably going to run around $1500. My sister picks out a dress (which does look fabulous) that costs $549. We're looking at just under $3000 now left for a location, food, flowers, etc. And she was looking at a location that would cost $1300.

My sister is not doing so good with the budget right now.

But her dress is fabulous. The first one she tried on (out of about 9) was magnificent. Simple and elegant and very her. And the alterations will probably only cost about $75, it fit that well.

Then we moved on to bridesmaid dresses. After resolving that their idea of sapphire blue was what I called cobalt blue (and thank God for that), we realized that nowhere in the store was there a dress in that color of blue. We had periwinkle and navy, but no cobalt/sapphire.

So I tried on a few dresses. A pale lavendar one that fit hideously. It was nasty. At least on me. Then a red one (a two-piece dress) that looked really good. The color was nice and it fit me perfectly, except for the spaghetti straps, which never work on skinny-shouldered me.

I then tried on a black and white dress, and it became immediately apparent that dresses weren't going to happen. The two-piece numbers fit, but the dresses were bad. As evidenced by the next dress. It was very pretty. Navy, strapless, A-line skirt. Another girl was trying it on right before me, and it looked fabulous on her. Of course she was tan and curvy (actually, plus-size curvy) and this was a dress made for a woman's body.

Not someone who is flat-chested, as evidenced by me when I put it on.

So we get to the last option. And all I can say is, I want that outfit.

Black satin skirt, A-line skirt. Floor length of course. It's the top that I love the best. Strapless, with a bit of a fold over at the top. And the fabric? Black and silver plaid.

I want this dress. My sister wants this dress. My mom wants this dress. I'm thinking we're getting this dress. *g*

And now I need to get back to working on my death penalty presentation for tonight. Joy of joys.