The rollercoaster

The past few months have involved a lot of ups and downs for me. I may have talked a little about these things, but my heart is so heavy I need to let them out.

The biggest down is my grandpa and his battle with lung and now brain cancer. There are days when he seems better than others, but now he's on a really hard core four treatment chemo and seems a lot worse this go-round. The only place he has hair is on his arms, which strikes me kinda funny since his legs, head and face are totally bald. He's thin, but not nearly as thin as he was and he's developed a syndrome where it feels like he is walking on marbles. Its a side effect of the chemo that may or may not go away. I can tell my grandma is really worn down, both physically and emotionally. I wish I could help her out more, but my work schedule just doesn't allow me to be there as much. Thankfully my great aunt (my grandma's sister) is here to stay with them for a month and help out a little. She was a nurse in the Air Force for 35 years. My biggest fear is that he won't be here to see me get married. I know that's selfish but things just won't be the same without him there to share in my special day.

I've also been down about my career path and lack of a good income. Sure I have good benefits and what not, but things are tight and everything just keeps getting more and more expensive. I'm also going to need a different car to drive this winter as mine does not have anti-lock brakes and doesn't do well in the winter. I do have some hopeful leads for new jobs, but I'm trying not to get my hopes up too much right now.

The biggest ups are everything I've been able to accomplish this summer. I've done a good deal of canning (pickles and tomatoes so far), I've been keeping my house fairly in order, until my aunt came and gave me tons of stuff and Andrew and I have had a lot of fun. We've been to the state fair, the Hartford County Fair (Ohio's biggest small town fair) and we've also been able to take some fun walks and bike rides. We've got a campsite reserved for Labor Day weekend at Clear Fork Reservoir near Mansfield, Ohio and we're going to see the Ohio reformatory where Shawshank Redemption was filmed. The wedding planning is coming along nicely and I have lots of wonderful DIY ideas that I'm hoping to share soon.

I'm trying really hard not to let the bad things get me down and to focus on the good, but sometimes that's really hard for me. I'm happy to have this place as an outlet for some of my emotions.

summer weekend and why I adore my daddy

This weekend was a good one! I had to work till 11:30 on Friday night but that didn't stop me from having lots of fun on Saturday.

In the morning we went to an auction about 25 minutes from our house, there was something for me and Andrew (tools, guns and glassware). I was able to score some great finds including one complete set of vintage Pyrex refrigerator dishes, a pressure cooker/canner and a folk art picture. Andrew got some tools and various box lots of what I would call junk. We headed home afterward and I got ready to head to my church festival. I was in charge of taking pictures for the festival website and Facebook page. My dad is in a band and they played at the festival, so I was excited to get some pictures of him as well. How many average girls can say their dad can really jam on the guitar?! My dad is pretty much the reason that I love music so much


Sunday I was hell bent on cleaning and reorganizing my kitchen, but then making another mess by starting on my canning. I did manage to get my cleaning items, pots and pans and food storage containers all moved into more suitable cabinets. I also got the floors cleaned but that was about it. I made two batches of pickles, one dill and one bread and butter. I've also got today off so I'm going to get the rest of my house cleaned up, and maybe made some home-made salsa.

What did you do this weekend!?

3 1/2 years and many more to come

Today is our 3 1/2 year anniversary. No, we're not doing anything to celebrate but I just feel like that is a really outstanding milestone for a relationship. Well, for my relationships anyway - this is now my longest (consecutive) relationship to date and I'm very proud. I'm so glad that I finally found someone who understands me, listens and completes me in ways I never thought possible. By this time next year, we'll be a little over a month away from our wedding, which is really hard for me to believe. We'll also be engaged for four months at the end of this week. Time really flies by when you're falling in love!

About a month after we officially started dating on St. Patricks Day. If you can make goofy faces like that together it must be love!

And all this time later, here we are finally engaged to be married.

one of my favorite bands

As long as I can remember I've loved the Goo Goo Dolls. I've seen them open for other bands before but this time they came to Columbus as the main act and I just had to go! My good friend from college Sarah came along too, since she's also a huge Goo Goo Dolls fan.

Before the concert with Sarah (it was about 100 degrees out last night too).

Johnny Rzeznik, my crush forever! My first AIM screen name even had his name in it :)

Playing Iris towards the end of the concert, I'm pretty sure everyone who's anyone knows that song!

It was really good to get out of the house and do something fun. I've been feeling really bummed out about my job and how we can never seem to get ahead. My work schedule at the end of this month is going to be totally insane since we're learning a new computer program. This means that on my days off I get to spend 4 hours sitting in a classroom.

Since I'm off this weekend I'm hoping to relax and get my mind wrapped around this crazy month.

You Might be a Catholic

So I'm totally sort of stealing this idea from my friend Caitlyn who wrote about "You might be a Mormon if..." I also got this idea from Andrew and his family, who are always joking with me about being a Catholic. So here goes!

• If there's beer at your church festival, you might be Catholic.


• If you've been drunk in the school cafeteria at your church, you might be Catholic.


• If your church is more crowded on Easter and Christmas, meaning you have to get to mass almost an hour before it starts, you might be Catholic.


• If you dressed like a bride for first holy communion, you might be Catholic.


• If someone's asked you, "How's the pope doing these days" you might be Catholic (Andrew's dad asked me this when we first started dating, love it!)


• If you've ever gone to CCD or PSR on a Monday/Sunday night, you might be a Catholic. (We called it Catholic Childrens Dungeon)


• If you find nothing odd about getting an aerobic workout on a Sunday morning (sit, stand, kneel, sit, stand), you might be a Catholic.


• If people in your family were offended when you didn't ask them to be your Confirmation sponsor, you might be a Catholic.


• If your wedding was over an hour long, you might be a Catholic.


• If you're at a gathering and someone says a blessing over the food and you're the only one doing the sign of the cross, you might be a Catholic.


• If you have at least one rosary, gold cross necklace and Precious Moments bible, you might be a Catholic.

I'm sure I could go on and on for days about this, but I think you get the humor and the point! If you've got any to add, leave me a comment or let me know which one is your favorite!