It's the weekend, woohoo!! Well if I had any doubts about winter time blahs, the past few weeks have broken routine. Valentine's weekend was super cool. That Saturday Chuck and I went into CR for a surprise 80th birthday party for my Grandma Dee. (The Grandma I lived with.) I could not believe how many people and family members were there. It was very special for her. After spending the afternoon with family at Grandma's party, we went to see a Monster Truck show. I've never seen one before, so it was something different to do in the middle of winter. Parts of it were kind of cheesy and they could have done a lot more outside, but I still enjoyed myself. Sunday was V-day, and we had a nice day with just the two of us. Chuck got me a really pretty necklace. It is rubys shaped into a heart. Fancy!
    The following week I did a lot of work with Will Call at work. Sometimes I like working out there a lot better than being in the office. My days go faster and it's not quite as boring. I also had my blow up with Grandma Wilson that week. Still not talking to her. If time does heal the hurt, it's going to take me a very long time and a lot of space. Whatever.
       I got home from work one night that week and Chuck had two strangers in the house who vacuumed and shampooed our carpet for free - the catch was they were selling Kirby vacuums and we had to listen to their sales speel. We were doing a great job holding our ground until they offered us a payment plan that was too good to turn down. So we are now the proud owners of a Kirby vacuum cleaner and carpet shampooer in one. (it even has a leaf blower built into it!) It is worth more money than my car currently is. I also learned I can get Chuck to agree to anything given enough alcohol. Lol... Omg, I'm officially turning into a wife, getting all kinds of excited about a new vacuum cleaner!
      A week ago Coralie and Gina were visiting us on Friday night. Gina was having severe, severe cramps. She ended up having a miscarriage on their way home. She was only six weeks along. I felt really sad for her. Even though Chuck and I both talked about it and we know it was the best thing. The last thing Gina needed right now was a baby. But still I felt sad for her. Hopefully very good things will be headed into her life in the near future.
     This week went by fast. One night I called Chuck after work and told him I was headed to Kohl's specifically for a purse I saw in their add. I also wanted to look for a few new pairs of jeans for the honeymoon. As it turned out, they were sold out of the purse I had my heart set on. None of the jeans fit me right. I was bummed out. But I found a new pair of boots for Chuck and 2 new pairs of jeans. Go figure. He ended up meeting up with me at Red Lobster so at least I got something out of the deal. It was a fun night.
      Thursday I had the day off of work for working on Sunday. It was a really exciting day. Joni went with me and I had my final wedding dress fitting. I have only lost about 18 lbs since I bought the dress in Aug, but much to my surprise they are able to take it in a few inches! I was really happy about that. I took my engagement and wedding band in to get them soddered together. Now I keep having mini panic attacks everytime I realize my ring is not on my finger. Joni and I went to Hacienda for lunch and then I went back to her house and she helped me put together some crafty things for the wedding. I haven't had a girls day a really long time, so it was great. On my lunch break yesterday I bought an airbrush tanning package. I can't wait to try it. I can't get a real tan since I have lupus and I want to look tan in my wedding dress on the beach. I'm very excited about it! I deserve to be tan, just once in my life! My first session is Wed night after work. 61 days until our wedding!! I can't wait!!
     This weekend Chuck and I are just loafing around the house. It's nice to not have any plans sometimes. Next weekend will be Chuck's birthday and our 1 year mark together. That is going to be a wild weekend!! That's about it for now...

Here's a few pics...

Grandma Dee's Immediate Family

Mom and I, One of my Best friends

Me and Chuck

Mom and Dad

Just a fraction of the 'Hunt' family...

    How do you politically correctly tell your Grandma she is a bitch?? Not the Grandma I lived with, Grandma Dee is the greatest person since sliced bread, but my Mom's Mom. The problem has been going on for far far too long now. Over a year. It did not start with me either. She has bullied and mulnipulated family members around for years, and few have the balls to stand up to her, and when they do they become the black sheep. She thinks because she has money she can control everyone. Well her $100 dollar birthday cards are not going to make or break me. My Mom called me up a few nights ago and suggested it is time I confront Grandma rather than having all of this silent tension lingering. There was no right way to go about it. She would not have listened to me if I called her. They spend the whole winter in Florida so face to face was out of the question, so that left me with sending her a letter.

The following is a copy of the letter I sent her on Facebook...

      Conclusion... Obviously, I'm very upset right now. I can't sleep. My parents knew what was going down step by step and they read the letter first and encouraged me to send it, since noone else has the courage but everyone else feels the same way. Our hope was that maybe Grandma would think about it and want to turn things around. After getting Grandma's response I called my Mom crying. I expected my Grandma to get upset, but I had no idea what a cold person she really is. If she had any maturity at all she could have gracefully handled the truth of my letter, instead of sending back a 7th grade reply. Mom was angry at Grandma too. Grandma has chased both of my brothers away, and now me. Mom said they may not come back again for the holidays, and I said Chuck and I would gladly meet them in Missouri. Dad's response was, "Well they defiantly are not coming to your wedding now, and that's really good because we will have a hell of a lot more fun with out them there!" Dad can always make me laugh, even if I'm crying. Chuck is upset that they have hurt me so much. I decided it would be easier to not have someone in my life than to have someone in my life who is always hurting me. I'm done. Tonight I deleted her from Facebook. I don't ever plan on calling her again. I now know what people mean when they say, "You are dead to me." I feel like if she died at any given point, she's already gone and I would really feel no emotion. It's her loss. Time is going to pass and she won't get the chance to know her great grandkids. I hope she dies old and alone.
       The only hard part about all of this is Grandpa. Grandpa has been nothing but the best, but because of this with Grandma, Grandpa suffers too. I know he knows what is really going on, but he can't stand up to her either. I also had to delete him from facebook because of my Grandma, I hope he understands that. I proceeded to delete my crack head aunt Linda who I have never cared for anyway, and I deleted Aunt Jodi, because her head is so far up Grandma's ass she will report anything on my facebook to her. That was hard for me to delete Jodi because at one time I thought I was close with her. Actually she is another one I never hear anything from. I deleted half of my Mom's family off of facebook. I'm tired of the drama.

Hopefully I can get to sleep now that I have vented. I have been busy working will call all week and I need my energy for tomorrow.

   Sunday was Chuck and I's 11 months together mark. I had to work but he sent me this text message, 'I love you with all my heart and soul baby and I can't begin to tell you how happy it makes me feel just knowing I get to spend the rest of my life with such a wonderful person.' I about cried! I love having such a romantic man that constantly surprises me and never takes what we have for granted. How did I ever get so lucky?? I also arrived home to a candle light steak dinner that night.

   Snow day from work today. Since I worked Sunday it is ok that I'm gone today instead of Friday. What should I do today?? I think I will call a bunch of old friends. And call bakeries in Myrtle Beach and arrange for the wedding cake. That should be enough for one day. I'm so sick of winter!!

Ok, I have a few free minutes... Finally, Pics of our home. We are blessed.

Our Bedroom, After we painted it.

The "L" Shaped Living room

Upstairs, a squaty lofty area we turned into a guest room.

The bathroom. I kept my rubber ducky collection, but we will be repainting. I think maybe a dark blue and light blue accents.

The kitchen. We will probley paint this last. We have not decided on a color yet.

The computer room. Chuck built the wrap around desk.

    Bored today. Not gonna lie. Chuck and I are both feeling a little bit of cabin fever. I just got done picking up branches out of the yard from the ice storm a few weeks back. Chuck is watching some Walking Tall movie. I tried to give it a chance, but my ADD got the best of me. I work tomorrow so this weekend is shot already.
    Highlights around here lately? Hmm. Last weekend we went into CR for Chuck's Mom's birthday. His Mom is always messed up on pain killers so we really weren't looking forward to it, but it turned out to be a pretty fun day... We found out our friend Gina is pregnant, and Kelsey just had a baby, so everyone started giving everyone else a hard time after that about who the next to get pregnant would be. Chuck and I are hoping to wait a year and catch up on some bills first. But we also have to keep in mind, I'm 26 and he is 35. We don't have forever... Chuck has been busy putting together pics for a slide show DVD of our first year together. I can't wait to see it!! I love being with someone who is as creative as I am...I went through the McDonald's drive through on my way to work one moring. When I got to the window to pay the lady said, "The car in front of you just paid for yours, you can drive on to the next window." I was so shocked and touched that a random stranger would do something like that. I took the act of kindness to be a 'pay it forward' type situation, so I turned around and made a donation to the Children's Hospital in Iowa City. This world is in desperate need of kindness. I often wish there were more I could do... And then I think of Karma.... And then I think of Chuck's ex-wife. To recap, we got to move into this farmhouse because she met a man in Tama and ran off and got married. (Her 6th marriage.) We got a voicemail from her about a week ago, and her marriage ended after only a month. She is back in Wellman working her old job and living in a crappy apartment. Chuck was laughing so hard. A part of me wanted to feel bad for her, and then I realized, it's karma. You can only treat people a certian way for so long before it catches up to you.
    I guess that's about it for now. Really not much to blog about. I think I will post a bunch of pics with this blog. Then I think I will go through my t-shirts and find old ones to give to the T-shirt drive they are doing at work for people in Haiti. Chuck told me to enjoy my day off and relax, and he will do dishes when I'm at work tomorrow. Yay, cool!!

This was a hillarious pic! (You had to be there.)
 Chuck, his Mom Karen, Myself, and our niece Faith.

Our Babies...

Miley...

Cocoa

  Back Online yay!! We finally got our DSL hooked up yesterday. I'm so much of a nerd and blogging is so much my hobby that I typed up 2 blogs in the month of January so that I could post them now... Lots of pics to post too!!

Sunday, January 10th, 2010
The Farmer and the Dell...   

     It's been a long time since I updated. One week before Christmas we woke up on a Sat morning with a wild hair. We had a few drinks in us and we went to an animal shelter. We came home with a 65 lb pit bull / American terrior mix and we named her Cocoa. She is a really sweet dog. She was found as a stray, and they think she is about 2 and a half. We think she was mistreated because she is so timid. Originally we were thinking of an out door dog, but her fur is short, so an indoor pet she became.    
     The cat Miley, and Cocoa did not take much time at all to become friends. They are buddies. One minute they are chasing each other all the way around the house, the next they are snuggled up next to each other sleeping. Sometimes I feel like I'm baby-sitting the two of them! And yes, we still have our bearded dragon, Spike-O. He is like the wise old lizard, watching everything from the inconspicuous corners of his aquaruim.    
     Our first few weeks of adjustment with Cocoa were a bit rough. She tore up our house the first few times we left her alone. We quickly realized we needed to kennel her in the kitchen. Now we padaloc her in there when we go to work, and we even had to screw the kennel to the floor! She is getting used to the routine now though.     In the past month we had the dog, she ate a few Christmas gifts we had to replace. She destroyed my peace lilly plant. I have witnessed her eating cat poop numerous times. The dog eats all the cat food, and the cat eats ANYTHING, including the dog food. We can't convince them differently. I lost one pair of shoes to the dog. Chuck lost his gorilla slippers, and some electronic cords. The dog has ate all the cat toys. The dog is doing much better now, and at the end of each day it is so great having our furry friends waiting for us.    

    Our first Christmas came and went all too fast. I did not even have a chance to decorate this year... The pets would have destroyed it anyway. Christmas wasn't too shabby. Mostly just a pain having to juggle in both of our families and please everyone. New years was a lot more special for us. It was just the two of us in our Wellman farmhouse. We scraped together about 70 dollars for alcohol and that lasted the whole weekend. I really had fun with the butterscotch schnapps.   
     Iowa winters really suck. It's been about 15 below zero for the past week. There are snowdrifts outside our back door, 3 and a half feet deep. Cocoa loves playing in the snow! I got one paid snowday last week from work and I rather enjoyed it. I can't stop thinking about our sunny Myrtle Beach wedding. 109 days to go!        
     Meanwhile, we are filling the days inside. We finished decorating the computer room, and then I had Chuck hard at work decorating our bedroom. I choose a red paint for two walls and a grey paint for two walls. Then I have black decorating accessories. Chuck was nervous when he first opened the red paint, but then he did end up telling me it looks really good. It has a stand offish and sophisticated look. We were joking around about our bedroom being hooker red. I think we will redecorate the bathroom next. Probley in a really dark and light blue with my yellow rubber duckie collection. We have some faucets in there that need fixed too.    
      Guess that sums everything up for now. Can't think of much I'm missing. Think I will snuggle up with Chuck and a movie now and make some popcorn too...

Wed. January 20th, 2010
January in Iowa...

      January blahs here... They hit me every year. I'm home from work yet again today... Bad ice storm. This is the 3rd day I've missed since December due to the weather. I think the pets are happy to have company all day. It's cozy at home here. I have candles lit, I can hear sleet hitting the house, Cocoa has her chin in my lap, Miley is watching me type. I just finished a long chat with Angie, my BFF in Georgia.
     When I am at work this time of year, I'm just not feeling it. That goes with january in Iowa. Same old Same old. But I have a job, and I'm good at it. I can't afford to stay and I can't afford to leave. That's America.
     The past few weekends Chuck and I have stayed home and done absolutely nothing. A lot of being stoned and a lot of sex. Some of the best times originate out of that. Once again, what else is there to do in January in Iowa? I trimed my hair over the weekend and saved $15 on a haircut. I kind of look like a 5th grader, but it will grow fast. I also buzzed Chuck's head. We are watching countless movies and trying food recipies... OK Chuck is the cook. I can't take credit for the good food we eat. I have been calling a lot of old friends to catch up. I planned a birthday dinner for my Grandma Dee at our house in Feb with my brothers. Grandma will be 80. I don't miss living with her, but I do miss her company. This weekend is my company winter party. An open bar, a fancy dinner, listen to a few speeches and awards ceremony, chance to win $1,000 door prize and a discounted hotel room. Chuck and I are very excited about going to it. I remember a year ago, going alone and vowing I would have someone special with me for it this year. I never dreamed that someone special would be my husband to be in 3 months! It still amazes me how much can happen in a year.
    So the countdown is on, 3 months to our wedding day and I couldn't be happier or more excited!! I actually started packing a half a suit case four Myrtle Beach last weekend. Chuck thought I was crazy. Angie is getting married in 2 months, (March 20th) and she asked me to be her maid of honor, but there was no way I could make it to Georgia so close before our wedding in Myrtle Beach. She was really understanding about it. It has been really exciting and helpful having someone to walk through the process at the same time with. I feel relaxed though. Not much left to worry about, except finances. Chuck and I weren't going to register for gifts anywhere, because we thought it would be rude since we are having such a small wedding so far away, and there isn't much stuff we really need... But Target bribed me into it... Seriously, I got a coupon in the mail that if I registered there, I got a free $20 gift card. How cool is that!? So it was a really fun experience, I just don't have to tell many people we registered.
    I suppose that is it for now. I should do a few productive things while I am home today, like the dishes and take care of some phone calls... And then when Chuck gets home... You guessed it, sex, beer, stupid movies, drunk card games, followed by dinner, repeat cycle... Once more that's January in Iowa for you...

Pics... Hundreds more on Facebook, check 'em out... Especially the ones of Miley and Cocoa. I'll post pics of our house later.

New Years Eve...

Miley and Cocoa...

At my company winter party...

    1st blog for the month of December, and at this rate it may be the only. Craziness.  We still don't have internet hooked up in the farmhouse. For now it is just one less bill to pay. Right now I am on my lunch break at the Coralville library. 
    We are still putting the computer room together actually. The walls were a really dark blue with light blue doors and aqua shelves. I wanted to paint it green and Chuck wasn't wild about that, so we compromised with a purple room and a light green trim and shelves. It looks so cool! Then Chuck came up with the brilliant plan to do away with my computer desk and his, and build one big wrap around desk instead with drawers and shelving. It is taking him awhile to complete but it will look sweet! So yes, we are getting settled into the farmhouse quite nicely and loving it.
     I can't believe Christmas is next week. I did not even decorate this year. There was just no way with us still settling into the house. That will make Christmas next year that much more special. I'm giving Chuck a turntable for Christmas among other things. I'm really excited to give it to him, he's been wanting one for a long time. 
      I love my kitten Miley, we have had her a month already and she is part of the family. We are worried about Spike-O our bearded dragon, he seems to be really non active right now. Hopefully it's just because it is winter time. We hope he's not dying on us.
      This month I have been running around like a chicken with my head cut off. So many errands to take care of. Work has been crazy too. One snow day last week. I was frustrating missing a day's pay. I'm thankful for my job.
    The count is down to 4 months until our wedding. I am SUPER excited, but it is also starting to make me really nervous financially. A lot of money to save in a short amount of time!!! Thankfully my planning is almost complete. Just a few tweaks left. I can't believe how fast our whole engagement is passing by.

    I guess that's about it for now. Maybe next time I will try a wifi connection on my laptop and then I can post pictures of Miley, and the house and Christmas, etc, etc. The nerd inside me was going crazy with out my Xanga though. Same with Facebook, I felt really disconnected. Nooone in my generation calls each other on the phone anymore. When I got on today though I was relieved to see it was all the same old same old.

Merry Christmas everyone, and a Happy New Year too!!!

   Whew! Life is spinning by. I'm going to try to make this blog quick, but so much happens in a short amount of time! Life is great! Let's see in a nutshell...

      We got all moved into the farmhouse, and I love it! I love how huge the house feels and I love how peaceful it is. The most noise we hear is the occasional 'moo' of a cow. The move was really exhausting because we lost so much time in between loads. Chuck was able to borrow the company van from his job, and I drove his truck, but in between each load we had an hour to Wellman, and an hour back to CR. We had next to nobody helping us either. At the end of the weekend we calculated that we drove over 600 miles for all of the trips. We still don't have internet hooked up at our place. I'm at the Wellman library right now and they have the slowest connection ever! Small towns. We halled ass arrranging furniture and unpacking all week and we have almost everything done. Now we can start the fun stuff like painting.

      Chuck got me a kitten for my birthday and I love it! I named her Miley. I don't think she is any older than 3 months old. She is super snuggly and playful. Seems to be a really good cat. She is mostly black with white paws and a white tummy, and a little white diamond spot just above her nose. That was a huge sacrifice for Chuck because he hates cats.

     Thanksgiving was Thursday and we survived. I hate all the family drama.

     My 26th birthday was Friday and it totally rocked!! I went into Cedar Rapids during the day while Chuck was working and all of my Mom's friends did a minature bridal shower for me. It was super thoughtful! My favorite gift was the waffle maker! That night Chuck to me to the casino in Riverside. We had the seafood buffett and then I had $30 to spend in the slot machine. I was down to my last $10 and I won $146! Happy Birthday to me!!!

     Saturday my parents came and stayed with us for the evening. We loved having the company. Chuck made a really good lasagna for all of us.

    I'm on vacation from work this week and really enjoying it. I went into Kalona this morning and checked out the gift and antique stores. That was fun. Now I'm running errands. Hopefully we can do something with internet soon so I don't have to come to the librabry. And hopefully I can post pics of the house and cat soon too. For now I'm doing good galncing at facebook and catching up on my precious blog.

Adios Amigos.

    I'm tired this morning. I was wide awake in the middle of last night tossing and turning. I think I was thinking too much about the move and stressing out. It has been an incredible month. On Facebook yesterday, I posted that so far in the month of November Chuck and I have, put new tires on my car, traded in my cell phone, packed the apartment up, opened a joint checking account, went to an attorney about our lease, dealt with fevers and flu, pulled off an engagement party, and in the remaining 2 weeks we still have to move our stuff into the Wellman farmhouse, squeeze in Thanksgiving, blow out 26 b-day candles and I have a week of vacation time! Hall-ass baby. I told Chuck I don't want to move again for a very long time. He was ok with that. I was frustrated with his ex, because her end of the bargain she was suppose to be out of the house by Nov 15th. We paid the Nov rent at the house and she paid the utilities. Now she won't be out until the 20th, on Friday. AND she tried to stick us with the gas bill for November... I guess it's the little details like that, that are why she is Chuck's EX-wife. If she wasn't that way maybe things would have worked out differently between them? People were asking me at the engagement party Sat if I was stressed out over the wedding. I said no, not at all. I'm actually a lot more stressed out about this move than I am the wedding. I feel really happy and laid back when it comes to the wedding planning. (163 days to go!)
    So we had an engagement party on Sat night, and we had a blast!! We sent out an open invite and a lot of people said they would be there, but then they never did show up, but the people that came were really incredible! It was so great to see everyone. I was surprised at some of the thoughtful things our friends did for us too. Jen gave us a really pretty photo album, and Christina and Erica went in together on an I-Pod for us and our honeymoon roadtrip!! :) Chuck's Dad helped us buy a keg of beer (That's 30 pictures) and we went through the entire keg that night! I think Chuck and I probley covered a good 15 pictures just the two of us. A few of my coworkers showed up and a few of Chuck's. Chuck's Dad and StepMom were there, Coralie, Mike, Gina, Donna and her old man, Mandy, Kelsey, Jen, Christina and Dustin, Erica and her man Jeremy, Plus people who knew us from the bar and a handful of other people. My mind got really blurry by the end of the evening. We did kariokee and someone tricked us on stage to sing, "I got you Babe" we weren't so into that. A few beers later we were both up there again singing, David Allen Coe, "You never even call me by my name." By then we were having a blast and committing social suicide. Lol. Christina busted out kariokee moves I never even knew she had. It was a very very fun night. We will remember it for a long time. Sunday was a really rough recovery. I'm too young to be getting this old. Lol.

      Looking ahead I may not be on Xanga again for a few weeks. The internet company is going to disconnect my internet on Friday and Chuck and I will be moving over the weekend. Living in a small town, our internet options are going to be more limited. We can get dial up (No way in Hell!!) DSL (Also a slap in the face compared to what we are used too.) Or we can get high speed internet through companies like Dish on Demand but we might have to get a satellite TV package to go with that. I think we are leaning in that direction, but we need to figure out prices and talk it over, so yeah it could be a few weeks before I have internet again. Don't worry I'll fill you all in after I get it back.

Here are some pics from our engagement party...

A party Chuck and Kristen Style...

Singing Kariokee. Something was really funny...

Christina and Erica, singing 'The Roof is on Fire'

I guess we danced at some point. Cute picture.

James and Joyce. Chuck's Dad and Step-Mom

Chuck, Christina, Me and Erica.

    Last week felt like one of the longest weeks of my life! My fever started on Tuesday afternoon and did not break until Friday! Tylenol would not bring it down any below 101 and the highest it got was 102.8 I was so miserable. I went to the doc on Thursday and they weren't very helpful at all. They checked me for the regular flu (Not the H1N1) and that came out negative, plus they said it was unlikely since I had no respitory problems. They also checked me for urinary tract infection and that came out negative. They did not prescribe me anything and Tylenol did nothing for me. They did take blood work to check for a viral or bacterial infection, but said they would not have the results until yesterday or today. Maybe they will call today. Not that it matters anymore. I was literally bed ridden all week. Walking across the apartment wiped me out and my muscles hurt so badly. After the fever broke I was still really sluggish Saturday and Sunday. I also broke out in hives Sat after the fever broke. That happened to me one time last spring to and I researched it, it is a effect from having Lupus when I break out in hives after a fever. It looks so ugly though. Saturday night I had another high fever out of the blue. Sunday I was schedualed to work and I was glad it was a short day because I was still really messed up, and left with a really, really sore neck. Thankfully, I still had enough sick days left at my job to cover the time I was off last week, so I will still have a full paycheck coming next week. I stepped on the scale yesterday morning and in 6 days I lost 8 pounds while I was sick! I just had no appetitite, I'm sure burning a fever probley takes a lot of energy from your body too. I really hope Chuck doesn't get sick now. That's the last thing we need.
     In the midst of all that, I got the mail on Friday, and I have been summond to jury duty here in CR in Dec. I wasn't amused. The problem being, I will live in Wellman by then. Chuck and I got adding it up and it is 55 miles from Wellman to the edge of CR, and if they pay 40 cents a mile in gas, thats a minimum of 110 miles (Over $40) plus they pay $30 per day that they make you be there. I think I can get out of it because I don't think they will want to pay that gas money when I write that on the sheet. That had to be the worst timing ever. Go figure. Lol.
     Yesterday I was so thankful for everything. I felt so good and my mood was so good. Hopefully the rest of my work week will be that way. I got a lot of packing done yesterday. As soon as I got sick last week, all that got put on the back burner, and it was driving me crazy!
    Food day at work today for Courtney (the new girls) birthday. So I'm rushing around at 4:30 am to bake frozen cookie dough. Who bakes cookies at 4:30 am? Apperently I do. Choc mint ones. Better get going. I may have time to pack another box or two as well!