I actually can cross a whole FLOOR OF MY HOUSE off the list of shit to do! Yay! Well, it’s the third floor attic, so maybe that’s not so impressive. But - it’s all ready for houseguests! I vacuumed tonight and put fresh linens on the bed up there and blew up the air mattress and put sheets on it as well. Woot! I even vacuumed up the dead moths in the window. Don’t you girlies feel special? I vacuumed just for you!!

And I ran one of our wedding invites down the street to our neighbors - been meaning to do that for a good month now. They had good ideas about how to keep the mosquitoes away, too - hope we can get rid of them for the wedding so we’re not all slap-happy during the festivities!

And! I dusted every square inch of our formal living room today - all those damned dining room chairs - all the furniture - the china cabinet and curio cabinets - all the picture frames, etc. etc. etc. The itty bitty babies kept me company. We’re getting there, people - we’re getting there!!

Well! The attic is still uninhabitable, but I HAVE cleaned out my silverware drawer and washed the cutlery tray, dammit. You have to take what you can get sometimes when you’re tied down by all these children. One step closer to being Ready For The Wedding. Clean silverware drawer. Go, me.

I know you're all dying to see pictures of our yard, after I've bitched about it all summer long!

The girls wore jeans and shoes for the first time yesterday!




My boy on his trike - guess I don't take them outside often enough, huh? I never could get him to turn around!




The big girl swinging:







...And walking across the grass. Both kids really liked walking in the grass!




This is my new favorite plant. It's called Agastache. (Ag-uh-stah-chee.) It's very drought tolerant, looks pretty, and the blooms smell like rootbeer!




The yard from the back corner:



And from (almost) the opposite corner. There's still yard behind me, but I was trying to get a picture of both the arbor and the trellis.



The patio, with our furniture - we ate out there last night for the first time!




The boy playing in the sand in the one part of the yard that still needs bark:




Swinging makes you all tuckered out!




All the girls on the swingset:










My whole family!




And here is the back fence - you can see the man's trailer back there.




Neat, huh? Everything you see there - everything - and lots of stuff you CAN'T see - was done by That Man of Mine. He did the sprinkler system, put in all the fences, did 100% of the landscaping, laid the walkways, built the trellis - everything.

Because you know what I’m going to post? Pictures of my yard! Lots of them! Complete with pictures of my children playing out there! It’ll be spectacular! You’ll laugh! You’ll cry! You’ll say, “I want to come to your wedding and hang out there, Laura!” and then I’ll send you my address and you’ll come. You might have some cake. It’ll be fun.

So, guess what? Our backyard is done! I mean, done! Did I say it was done? I meant, it was DONE. Honey still needs to finish building the steps, but hey, the kids can go out and play! The fence is finished and the window wells are covered. We have grass! Big wheels! A sand and water table! A swing set! He finished the last bit of fence about ten last night. I was looking forward SO MUCH to taking the kids out to play in their beautiful backyard for the first time, and now it’s raining. Ha! Thanks, Mother Nature, you big fat bitch!

In other news, I took the kids to a petting zoo. There was no petting, as I wouldn’t let go of either toddler’s hand. Miss M was scared to death by a pig chasing a goat, which was kind of funny. And I didn’t get any decent pictures, because it’s hard to take a picture when you’re holding onto two toddlers. Oh well. Next time!

Hey, guess what? The yard is basically done. Honey put the lattice up on the fence and built little covers for the basement window wells. If he hadn’t miscalculated how much lattice he needed, the kids could go out and play. But - he was short two pieces and some of the fence is still open. Maybe it’ll get all fixed up tonight. I hope? I think going outside in the sunshine would help these kids run the bugs out of their butts! I’m loving the yard, though. I mean, from inside the house anyway. No that I’ve spent any time out there. But from in here, it looks really nice. The trellis over the patio is beautiful, and it makes it so much nicer inside - it creates just enough shade that the sun isn’t in everyone’s eyes at the breakfast table.

Well. Three weeks from today, I’m going to become Mrs. Laura N. I’m trying to work on the attic a little, and get it to where people can sleep up there comfortably! My dad and I went shopping for a ceiling fan today and he’s installing it for me. We have central air, but a third floor with vaulted ceilings just gets hot and stuffy, even with AC. I really hope the ceiling fan helps. I also bought curtain rods for the three tiny windows - now I need to find something to put ON them. It’s very bright up there, which makes it hard to sleep. One of the ladies from playgroup said she has a couple of air mattresses we can borrow. I have a twin size air mattress already, and a double bed up there. I’m sure we’ll figure it all out!

It’s rainy and cold here, which isn’t really conducive for getting yard work done! Honey took yesterday off and got a fuckton of stuff done, so he’s not feeling too badly about the wasted weekend. Today he’s at the rental unit doing a walk-through with our new renter, and tomorrow he has to go meet with a friend of ours who is getting married the week after us, because he’s DJing their wedding. Always something!!

Guess what I did yesterday? I actually bought some stuff for our BEDROOM - the one room of the house that has never been decorated in any way whatsoever. Well...we did paint it before we moved in, which is the only thing keeping it from being just horrid. We have our computers in here - tons of CDs and computer equipment - BOXES of office supplies...It would be terrific if we had a home office! At the same time, though, I like having our computers right here so we can get online right before bed. I never liked being online late at night in my living room when I lived at my townhouse. Anyway. The bedroom has looked like total shit since we moved in. We even had honey's old, comfortable, UGLY comforter on the bed. Well, it's not UGLY - it's just - plain. So, I bought a new comforter, some curtains, and some candle holder/sconce thingies for the wall. It looks pretty! The man was so impressed! Here it is:



(If I had a heart-shaped headboard, it could be that bed from The Sims!)

I'm getting antsy about the wedding. I feel like I am so disorganized about the whole thing, and it's bugging me. I need to make final plans for the food still. My, uh...stepmother-in-law offered to make a couple of big lasagnas and a big salad, but I'm not really going for that and neither is the mister. First of all, it seems like messy food to be eaten at a party. Secondly, I'd like to get it all catered! LOL! It IS our wedding; I don't want it to resemble a potluck TOO much. I'm still leaning toward trays from Sam's Club. I'm trying to remember waaaaaay far back in my memory, about twelve years or so, when I had my ex-sister-in-law's wedding reception in my backyard. What food did we fix? I can't even remember! I guess I've blocked that little memory out. Just as well, she was such a little twat and her wedding day was a pain in my ass. I do remember that.

Speaking of the wedding, I'm having a dilemma. I need a song to have for the "walking down the aisle" part of the wedding. You know, the "Here comes the bride" song. Except I don't like that song. Any ideas? I want something more...summery, y'know? Maybe reggae-ish? I would love any ideas - or even MP3s! Thrown my way. Let me know, people. Help a girl out.