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Two Days

We’re now two days away from the big day. I’ve spent most of the day fending off a tension/migraine headache, which is so lame. Hopefully, it will be gone by tomorrow. In the meantime, I’ve been alternating between cold and heat to loosen up my neck and shoulders. Fortunately, I’ve still managed to be somewhat productive. I got the pictures ready for the rehearsal dinner and wedding. And I got the cookies under control. I’ll be baking a double or triple batch of butter cookies tonight.

I binge-watched Netflix’s Decameron as I alternated between the heat and ice. The Decameron, by Nicholas Boccaccio, is one of my favorite books. It follows a group of friends who leave Florence for the countryside to try and avoid the plague. While in the countryside, they spend their time telling short stories daily. The stories are amazing. It’s said that the Decameron inspired Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales. The limited series on Netflix doesn’t follow the book per se but follows nobles taking refuge in the countryside. I have quite enjoyed it.

Tonight I’ll have all three boys under one roof. What a gift! They’ll be playing video games and eating their favorite snacks. The Hubby is making jerk chicken with black beans and rice. One of Jake’s, and all of ours’, favorite meals. While they play video games, I’ll be mixing up more cookies and binge-watching a different show. Poor Ani will have to sleep in his cage tonight since he can’t be trusted with visitors. Before I forget, I have to say thanks to my dear coworker Sherry for the beautiful happy hanky. Two Days!

What’s the story behind your nickname?

My great great Grandfather’s name was Andreas. He was born at the Trandem farm in Romskog, Norway. We were lucky to visit the place where our ancestors were born in 2017. The doctors thought I was going to be a boy, but I surprised them all. My folks named me Andrea and my nickname became Andie because they thought I was going to be a boy.

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Three Days

Three days until the wedding, I can’t shake the feeling that I’ve forgotten something. I’m sure we covered our bases, yet the anxiety is real and present. Anyway, we march on. The boys’ tuxedos arrived yesterday, so the Mayor and the Hubby will try theirs tonight. Goalielocks and Jake will go tomorrow to try on their tuxedos. My dad just picked up his and it looks amazing!

Yesterday we headed to my brother’s AirBnB to have dinner and cake for my dad’s birthday. His air conditioning went out over the weekend too, so they got a place to stay for the week. They didn’t know how long it would take for the AC to get fixed. Moreover, they have my parents brother, and sister-in-law staying with them for the wedding. The HVAC guys are insanely busy, so the wait can be long. Truly, we lucked out with our A/C guy. We had BBQ for dinner and another tasty cake from Nothing Bundt Cakes. Three days!

What strategies do you use to maintain your health and well-being?

Self-care is super important for living a healthy and balanced life. I use a few strategies to stay on top of my physical and mental well-being. First of all, I go to bed every night at the same time. Also, I turn off my phone at least 30 minutes before I go to sleep. I wind down by reading, which usually prevents the wheels in my mind from turning in overdrive. I work out six days a week and include spin, run, Pilates, strength training, and yoga in my routine. Lastly, I make sure I always drink enough water.

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Four Days

Four days until the wedding! The excitement and stress is palpable in our house. There’s a lot to do before the weekend to ensure everything goes off without a hitch. Both families have been working overtime to ensure Jake and Melly’s day is extraordinary. It’s such a gift that he’s not only marrying the girl of his dreams, but he’s marrying into a family that loves and supports him fully. I’m beyond grateful for the Burrage family.

Jake and Melly will head South tomorrow night after Jake gets off work. Goalielocks should be heading down either tomorrow night or after his final on Thursday. I will have all my babies under one roof for one last time as a family of five. It’s a bittersweet moment as one chapter ends and a new one begins. I’m so excited that the next chapter includes a girl since I’m completely outnumbered by males (including the dogs) in my house. I’m looking forward to having more girl energy in the family.

In other news, also super exciting, the AC guy is here to install our new central air unit. It’s way more money than I was hoping to spend, but much less than I expected for the size of the unit. We lucked out because the AC guy was picking his son up from a playdate at our neighbor’s house when my hubby got home from work. The hubby struck up a conversation, gave a brief interview, and arranged to have the AC work done today. Today is also my dad’s 71st birthday. Much like my mom, he continues to age in reverse. Fours days!!!!

What are your future travel plans?

I have lots of future travel plans, but my bank account (especially this week) keeps vetoing those plans. It’s honestly quite the buzzkill. There are only a few places on this planet that I don’t want to visit. Those places are only on that list due to war or government instability. The world is big and beautiful and I long to explore it all.

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Five Days

Five days until the nuptials and we’re roasting. We are roasting since our air conditioner gave up the ghost yesterday. The South Florida heat was too much for it to handle. It has served us well over these last eighteen years, but its timing couldn’t be any worse. As if we don’t have enough to do or enough things to pay for this week, why not add a new air conditioner to the list? We may have to go a bit hillbilly and Jerry-right an air conditioner for the upstairs.

My hubby helped me out big time today by taking the food ordering out of my hands. It was nice to have one less thing to worry about. He ordered a plethora of food for Friday’s party. We’re finally all set with the food. Melly’s mom volunteered to bring a salad, which is amazing. First of all, she makes the best salads. Second of all, I’m glad someone else wanted vegetables at the party. Five days to go!

We also got some very sad news yesterday morning. I didn’t include it in the blog because I wasn’t sure everyone that needed to be told had been told. Sadly, my dad’s sister Sheila passed away yesterday from cancer. We were all hoping and praying that she’d make it to August to see the birth of her first grandchild. The fact that she didn’t make it to August adds salt to a very open wound. My aunt Sheila was an absolute doll. She was generous, kind and supportive of all her nieces and nephews. I’ll always cherish our walks up to the Dairy Store along with many other happy memories. It’s hard to be 1,500 miles away when things like this happen. I’d like to thank my cousin Holly for always keeping me in the loop. The updates were so appreciated.

What would you change about modern society?

I’d change how we interact with each other. The internet has empowered a lot of folks to be the worst version of themselves. Unfortunately, keyboard warriors are quite brave when they can hide behind the keyboard. They’ll bully and troll someone mercilessly, but would never have the guts to say any of it to their face.

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Six More Days

Six more days until Jake and Melly get married! This morning I crossed a couple more things off my list, which felt good. We needed a few things for the bar and then photos for the in-memoriam table. Tomorrow I’ll pick up the photos and frames for the table. I still have a few more items to go. Honestly, the list seems never-ending just like it did when I was preparing to get married. Nonetheless, it will be here sooner rather than later and I can’t wait.

Yesterday I baked mini chocolate chip cookies with great success. Today I attempted sugar cookies with cookie cutters in the shape of birds and Daschunds. Unfortunately, the sugar cookies were an unmitigated disaster. The birds look like overcooked blobs, while the Daschunds look like dicks. Perhaps if you were hallucinating, you could see they’re birds or dogs, but probably not. They were so bad I threw them all away. I’ll be making the sugar cookies for Friday in their regular, boring, circular shape. Oh well, there was no harm in trying. Six more days!

What do you listen to while you work?

I like to listen to heavy metal between calls at work. If it’s not super busy, I’ll watch a live Wild Life Safari filmed in South Africa instead of listening to music. While on a call, I mute the safari but keep the closed captioning on so I can still watch it live. It’s amazing!

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One Week

One week from today Jake and Melly get married!! There’s so much to do to make sure the evening goes off without a hitch. The Mayor and I picked up a few more items for the rehearsal dinner today, so it’s good to check a few more things off the list. We also added some stuff to the list. That will happen when you’re trying to make sure there’s something for everyone. The Mayor suggested adding Shirley Temples to the menu, which is a fabulous idea.

I started baking some mini chocolate chip cookies this afternoon. They turned out good, but I think they still might be too big. Tomorrow I’m going to experiment with the sugar cookies. The Publix cookie platter had four varieties of cookies, but for time and simplicity’s sake, I’m going to make two. Our Publix doesn’t carry the buttercream frosting, but I was able to find one nearby that does. I’ll pick that up later in the week and make it pretty with some sprinkles. I enjoyed a nice interlude from baking when my friend sent a reel showing a bunch of hens tittle-tattling like hockey moms.

I tried on both outfits this morning. Both dresses fit and the shoes are perfect. Although, my legs are way too pale. I’ll need to fix that before Saturday. I did, however, misplace the dust bag. Honestly, I have no idea when I put it. Consequently, I put the shoes in a different dust bag to keep them pristine. The heels don’t have a reputation for being super comfortable, so I’m buying some blister bandages and a cushion for the ball of my foot. I bought the 85mm heel instead of the 100mm because I thought they’d be more comfortable to wear over an extended period than the higher heel. One week to go!

What’s your go-to comfort food?

I love chicken noodle soup and saltine crackers when I’m not feeling great. It’s always tasty and usually settles my stomach. I prefer the original Campbell’s chicken noodle soup over the healthier versions. My other favorite comfort food would be bread. I love the taste of bread, but it also keeps my stomach happy. I’ll never be able to be on a strict Atkins diet.

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Eight Days

Eight days until the wedding! I’ve now got most of the mixers for the rehearsal dinner, which is awesome. I still need to get a few accouterments for the old fashions, limes, and Diet Coke, but otherwise, we’re pretty well set. Tomorrow I’ll finalize the catering with our caterer, which will take a big load off my shoulders. Also, my rehearsal dinner dress came today! Yay!

As of right now, I’m at work fantasizing that it’s 5:00 pm. I’ve had enough for the day and am looking forward to the weekend. This weekend I’m going to experiment with a few cookie recipes. Jake wants a cookie platter for the rehearsal dinner, so Mama is gonna make it happen. Publix has a cookie platter, but it has tree nuts and my cookies are better anyway. However, I will buy their buttercream frosting for the dip because it is amazing. Eight days!

What’s your favorite game (card, board, video, etc.)? Why?

My favorite game is Phase 10, which is a rummy-like card game. It’s fabulous because a lot of people can join the game. I think, however, the main reason I love it is the memories I have that are associated with it. We’ve played the game at many family get-togethers and holidays, Jacob’s BMT graduation (where we introduced Melly to it,) and while visiting Jake in Utah including right before his deployment. A close second would be UNO and for similar reasons.

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Eleven Days

Eleven days until the wedding?!? Can you believe it? I checked a few more items off the list this morning! Now I only have the caterer picking up things like ice and borrowed cooler to pick up. The dress I ordered for the rehearsal dinner should be delivered early next week. Thankfully, the shoes I ordered off of eBay for the ceremony should be here by tomorrow afternoon. This gives me plenty of time to buy another pair if they don’t fit right.

Eleven days is a short space of time to get everything done and for everything to change. It seems like science fiction that next week will be the last time our family of five will be under the same roof. I’m still trying to figure out where time has gone and how the kids got so old without us aging. I think my mom might be aging in reverse. Eleven days from now our family will embark on a new and exciting chapter.

Got to celebrate my mom’s birthday with her yesterday!

In other news, the shoulder is getting better daily. It hurts most of the time, but both my range of motion and pain level are steadily improving. In light of the injury, I’ve been modifying my Apple Fitness + plan to protect the shoulder. Honestly, I don’t love walking on the treadmill, but it was significantly less jarring to the shoulder than running. I enjoy running Apple’s treadmill workouts. They always draw the best out of me,

Which activities make you lose track of time?

I lose track of all time and space when reading. If I didn’t pay attention to the time, I could read all night. The bookshelf I bought earlier in the year is already filled up with new books. My pocketbook can’t wait for the new library to open up this fall.

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Thirteen Days

We’re now thirteen days away from the wedding. Yesterday, we checked quite a few items from our rehearsal dinner to-do list. Goalielocks went to Men’s Warehouse yesterday and they fitted him for his tuxedo yesterday, which was a relief. He’s the last one to get equipped. He has finals the week of the wedding. Hopefully, his finals are early in the week, so there’s no interference with the wedding. Fortunately, we can pick up his tux on Wednesday, so he won’t have to worry about it. Meanwhile, Jake is at the Reserves this weekend. He was greeted at his hotel by a nice, big black bear.

A couple of big items on the to-do list remain. Namely ordering food for the rehearsal dinner, picking a dress for said dinner, mani/pedi scheduling, buy shoes and a handbag to go with my dress. I’ve found a couple of options on The Real Real and Poshmark. I guess I’ll have to decide on it soon. Since I won’t wear the outfit outside of the wedding, I decided to buy the items consigned. After the wedding, I’ll consign the items again. It’s a lot less wasteful and much more practical. Anyway, I’ve been managing the event in a project planning document, so it wouldn’t turn into a giant cluster.

Unfortunately, I did have a bit of a setback yesterday when I sprained my shoulder or tore the rotator cuff. My range of motion is a lot better than it was yesterday, but I still can’t completely raise my arm laterally. Consequently, I’ll have to heavily modify my workout plan to work around the injury. I have my shoulder in a compression wrap that has a built in ice pack. It’s been a godsend. I’ve been icing the shoulder pretty consistently to help with the inflammation, but I’d love to take a nice hot shower with a lavender shower steamer. The urgent care doctor said to avoid heat for the first couple of days. Anyway, I have thirteen days for it to heal!

List 10 things you know to be absolutely certain.

  • My family is my world.
  • I will never not have a dog. I’m a dog person and can’t see myself living without one.
  • My boys have grown into amazing adults.
  • The Florida Panthers are Stanley Cup Champions! Watching them win was surreal!
  • Dogs should live a lot longer than they do. It’s cruel that they leave us way too soon.
  • Traveling and exploring the world is the best gift you can give yourself or your loved one.
  • I love getting lost in the mountains of the American Southwest. Hiking in Utah with my boys was one of my favorite experiences.
  • Attending concerts is an absolute must!
  • In summer, it will rain in the afternoon.
  • Take pleasure in life’s small moments because life is fleeting.
  • After reading social media responses to yesterday’s events, it’s clear we’re being given the options we deserve. People are terrible and our candidates show it.