Wedding Video!

I know there were a number of you that live way too far away to have come to our wedding, so this is for you!

You can see our ceremony, hear our vows, watch me cry, get a tremor, and try not to fall on my face! It'll be like you were there, without having to leave your pajamas.

But in all seriousness, we're pretty adorable, and our ceremony was beautiful. 

Not that I'm partial or anything.

Also if you're researching handfasting ceremonies, this is a great example! I composed our ceremony from lots of pieces of other handfasting ceremonies I found while researching, and made it so that family could be involved which I think made it much more special. Feel free to message me with any questions about handfasting!

It's Alive!

Today was a quiet day. We slept in until eleven-ish. We were up late last night discussing whether or not the toaster from The Brave Little Toaster was alive, or a robot. Chris is convinced they were all robots. The argument carried over onto Facebook. The majority of people agree with me, yet Chris still refuses to be swayed. He insists that since it's a inanimate object it must be a robot with artificial intelligence. By that theory though that would mean all the toys in Toy Story were robots too. He's silly. I'm so glad that this is the type of arguments we have in our marriage. If you want to check out the fun on Facebook feel free to here:

So Chris and I lay here talking about the lamest shit at night. Settle our argument Facebook! Are the appliances from the Brave Little Toaster robots or alive with consciousnesses??

Posted by Trisha Amanda Archeval on Sunday, January 3, 2016

Google+

I've been putting it off for awhile, but I finally set up my Google+ profile. I never really felt a need for it, as Facebook satisfied my social networking needs sufficiently. There's lots of advantages related to my blog that spurred me to take the dive.

It was a bit tricky to get figured out at first, but I think I got the hang of it. This blog is exciting to me in so many ways. It helps me save memories, share with friends and family, keep my vocabulary and writing skills fresh, contribute to the household financially, share my fiction, connect with people, and so much more. The crazy part is that it hasn't nearly hit its full potential yet.

I'm excited to see where this year takes us. So many amazing things happened in 2015.

Having trouble sleeping tonight, not sure why. Chris is in bed for work, but I got up for a bit because my tossing and turning was just keeping him awake.

Today went by really quick. He worked nine hours instead of his usual ten, and when he got home we ate a New Year's dinner with my family. We hung out for a bit and watched Burn Notice and then hit the hay. We were both really tired and crashed early, but now for whatever reason I'm awake.

Bubba Wubba Wha?

Today has been very busy already, but very productive. I got up when Chris got up for work and started on things around the house. Straightening up, dishes, cat litter, garbage & recycling, freezing some extra holiday treats, etc. I've been running around most of the morning doing something. Finally took a break and sat down, and I find myself tinkering with my tablet now instead.

Downloaded Picasa on most of my devices and I'm figuring out Google Photos. It's pretty handy. It let's me easily upload images from any of my devices and share them between devices effortlessly, and it makes it really simple to upload them to my blog. Which in turn makes it easier to share with you guys.

Chris just came home from work about ...seven hours early.

I was all who's in our house? And he walks into the room looking like death warmed over. Apparently he threw up everywhere at work and got sent home. From one sympathetic puker to a potential-nother, I'll spare you the details. He needs a doctors note now to go back to work since he's in food service. He doesn't have health insurance yet so we'll be making a trip to the hospital later.

Having to use the hospital like a PCP is one of the many things wrong with our broken healthcare system.

I'm surrounded by sick people.

Doom.

Seriously though, my immune system gets regularly nuked, and is about to get nuked some more tomorrow. Everyone around me is acutely sick with a petri dish of crap. This does not bode well for me.

My Uncle Keith gave me a DVD of our wedding ceremony when we were at their house on Friday. I have plans to upload it to YouTube so that I can share it with those of you who would have liked to been there but were too far away.

I have to go see my regular rheumatologist today for a follow up, and then I suppose it's off to the hospital with Chris. Later I'm going to make a homemade chicken noodle soup. I can always go for a good hearty soup, and it's good for what ails you apparently.

Last night, it was hilarious, I snatched Chris' pack of cigarrettes away from him and I was holding them behind my head. Suddenly I got a spasm in my hand (yay MS!) and dropped them behind the couch. Hahahahah. I laughed so hard for about twenty minutes. Chris was far less amused, but it was funny. I guess you had to be there.

Our family likes to have fun.

In example, these hilarious pictures from Christmas 2014:

And this hilarious picture of my grandmother from Sunday:

Playing phone tag currently trying to get ahold of my dysautonomia medication. My pharmacy put in a new prescription request to my doctor last Wednesday because I ran out of refills and never got a response, and I am out of meds. Fun.

It's not like it has warnings all over it not to suddenly stop taking it or anything. *cough*

Anywho, time to get ready to get out of here!

Yikes!

I've been seriously slacking in the blogging department. In my defense life has been crazy. Shortly after my last post Daisy was attacked by another dog. She had to get emergency stitches. She's healing up nicely at this point. Chris was also in the ER for kidney stones.

I've taken up some major redecorating and reorganizing projects in our house that have had me pretty occupied. While I should be documenting and sharing them with all of you, it's been pretty exhasting just getting it done.

My rheumatologist is switching me back from Rayos ($12k+ a month) to prednisone (a few bucks a month) at my request so I can once again try to cut my ties with steroids. It's not easy, and I've found that now my sugar is crashing again in the middle of the night. Nothing can ever be simple.

I'm Back!

Finally back to blog-land. I've been a busy girl. We've been redecorating our apartment thanks to some starter surprise help from our family while we were on our honeymoon. They painted our bedroom 'bridal flower' (light lavender) for us. It was a major project on my 'to do' list, so it was a nice surprise. Our wedding ceremony was fantastic! I'll share some details and pics as time goes on, so stay tuned!

Chris starts his new job today which we've both been eagerly awaiting. He's been unemployed since my near-death/blood clot experience. The time with him has been a valuable gift, but finances have become uncomfortable. Weddings aren't cheap and what not. And my disability claim is a hope, a prayer, and light years away from being approved yet. Bah. Blows my mind that it's so difficult considering MS is on the governments list of qualifying disabilities. A little less than ten hours still until Chris is back home and I've already finished all my basic chores for the day except taking the recycling out when it's light. Good thing I have a long project list and Netflix queue. 

I've yelled "Tuxington!!!!" about twelve times today already, starting with when I went out to set the GPS in the car for Chris. He's not good with the GPS and he has to go over an hour away to a different store to get hired in. Thank goodness he doesn't have to work at that one daily. Anyways, I went to put my shoe on and he put a PIN in my shoe from my jewelry case. He has this obsession with putting sparkly shit in my shoes. Ow. He's like a spoiled toddler when Daddy's not home. You know what they say.."when the cat's away..." wait...that's not right. You get the drift though.

I slept for shit last night. My brain doesn't adjust well to scheduled sleeping. It's more of a 'let's stay up until we pass out' fan. Now that I'm back on Tysabri I at least can sleep again, but depending I still don't sleep all that well. I've debated going back to bed for awhile, but I'm worried that will just set me up for failure when it comes time to sleep with Chris again later.

So, instead here I am! Debating what is next. I'd love to brew a coffee to up my current motivation level, but much to my dismay my Keurig took a crap. I monkeyed around with it for a bit, but considering I've had the thing for about five or six years I'm pretty sure it surrendered. Apparently Bed Bath & Beyond gives you credit on a trade in of your old/broken one towards a new one. Valuable information that was. So I think I'll box it up until the time comes we can afford a new one and keep an eye out for coupons. I have some powdered cappuccino nonsense in my cabinet I may boil some milk for and try. Desperate times and what not.

The growing readership of this blog is pretty exciting. It's cool to see my Adsense income jump from pennies to dollars. Being able to contribute to the home in even a small way is nice. Especially by doing something I enjoy.

I believe I shall finish tackling my kitchen organization today. I started it with Chris the other day. Pulled a ton of things out for yard sale. I mean, it's just the two of us and we easily had fifty cups. Granted they were varying types of cups, but still excessive. I have this new found giant collection of tupperware I needed to find a home for as well. My upper cabinets are impeccably organized now, but I still need to do my lower cabinets and pantry. That'll kill some serious time. The upper cabinets were pretty much an all day project, and that was with help.

I trimmed Daisy's toenails the other night, and surprisingly enough Tux let me trim his last night. He's a good cat. I used to be convinced they were murderous beasts, but he's definitely changed my opinion. He's still a bastard though. Time to take on the day!

Five Days!

Today was crazy and zipped by so quick.

I got up and worked on chores. Got a bunch of pictures uploaded to our account on the WedPics app. Chris went out with his brother Clyde to see his new house.

Janelle and Clyde came back with Chris afterwards and hung out at our house for awhile and chatted. They're going to take part in the hand fasting ceremony at our wedding so we were explaining that to them and catching up since it's been awhile. Chris also asked Clyde to be one of his groomsmen. He wanted to ask him months ago but they lost contact for awhile. It's a bit last minute to work out, but at least the groomsmen don't need to know anything too complicated for at the wedding.

Oo-de-lally, oo-de-lally!

Today's the anniversary of the release date of Disney's Robin Hood. This is my favorite movie. Has been since I was a kid. I watched the VHS so much as a child I burned through it making parts of the tape unwatchable.

It seemed appropriate to give it a watch today. I was pleasantly surprised to find that it's on Netflix.

B's Sip & Paint

The girls threw me a bachelorette party at B's Sip & Paint.

It's this cool business in Hamburg where you can take an art (painting) class with your friends and have snacks, wine, and what not. It's a good time.

Boy did we ever have a blast!

My grandmother drove me, so of course we were late. But I have to make Kelly panic at some point. I got to meet Chris' groomswoman Nikki finally!

Find Your Center!

After we all ate it was time to get down to business.

I'm pretty sure the absolute hardest part for us is making sure we're centered. When you're right on top of the area, finding the perfect centered spot is much more ambiguous.

Being properly centered makes for some prettyyyy cute pictures though.

Rehearsal Dinner

Today was a super exciting day. We had our wedding rehearsal, which made everything feel really real. We did things a little unconventionally and had our rehearsal the week before the wedding, and boy am I glad we did from the viewpoint of someone who's chronically ill and only has so many spoons in a day. I'm trying my best to enjoy all aspects of our wedding and planning, so I try to plan things according to my energy level. Traditionally the rehearsal and decorating is done the night before the wedding, but I knew both in one night would be too much for me, and it really would have been. Seriously, take my advice and split it up if you can.

It's a decent drive from our house, but I like car rides with Chris. We generally wind up in some type of interesting conversation. Today was about us, and our relationship. I went on about how I partly think we're so successful together because we love each other for who we truly are. We don't try to limit or change one another. Chris announced that he knew we were going to get married before we even started dating, which I think was absolutely sweet/romantic/whatnot.

This is a Stick Up!

Had my final dress fitting today. It's really pretty. I'm hoping Chris likes it.

His Mom came by and dropped off the centerpieces. They're gorgeous!

We ran some errands. Grabbed some clearance Halloween mini-Tootsie Roll pops. Stopped at GameStop to pay off Chris' strategy guide for Fallout 4. Stopped at the liquor store to pick up a bottle of rum for on our honeymoon. Neither of us really drink anymore. I have to be careful because of my liver with all of the medication I'm on. Chris has drank two glasses of wine in over the year we've been together.

When we got home I took a nap for a few hours because I was really tired for some reason.

Engagement Shoot!

We got our engagement photos and they're gorgeous!

Only ten more days!

+Tania Colamarino from Ama Photography took our pictures, and I could not be more pleased.

Thanksgiving!

Someone thinks they're clever and put a chick peas cartoon on our fridge. (Why does fridge have a 'd', but refrigerator does not?) This is a testament to my observation skills (lack thereof). I have no idea how long this has been here, hah! But now I want more chick peas. If you missed my blog on chick peas you can read about them here.

Got my Thanksgiving decorating done, almost!

Corpse Bridezilla

Today has been much more eventful already than I expected it to be. My hair has gotten really thin from chemotherapy and my other medications. What isn't falling out, some of it is breaking. My side pony tail isn't as long as I'd like it to be for the wedding, and this is my princess fairy tale day after all.

So, I decided to do something I never saw myself as being girly/diva enough to do. Get hair extensions. It'll make my hair extra pretty for the wedding, and whenever else I feel like being a princess.

Happy Sammich Day!

Today was as busy as expected, if not busier. Started off the day being sabotaged by the stupid time change. Forgot to change the time on our alarm clock, so we got up an hour too early for my infusion. Considering how late we went to bed, I tried to go back to sleep for an hour but was not successful.

Started undecorating from Halloween. Ran up to Hamburg and stopped at Dietrich's Men's Shop. We lost our ring bearer very last minute, and we had paid for his tuxedo rental. Thankfully it wasn't so last minute that we couldn't cancel the rental and get our money back. A day later and we would have been screwed and I would have been mad. I really enjoy Dietrich's. The owner is very nice and helpful. The shop is well kept, well stocked, and reasonable. If you're looking for something nice for the man in your life it's a good place to look. They carry lots of interesting things on top of nice clothing.

No matter how well prepared and organized you want to be as a bride, chaos will ensue as your wedding gets closer.

It Feels Like Midnight

Well, we never did get our pumpkin carved yesterday. Sometimes that's just how it goes. It will live to see another holiday and hang out for Thanksgiving now. Tomorrow I'll probably start taking the Halloween decorations down.

Our chicken got really good yesterday. It was probably the best chicken I've ever made, and I've cooked quite a few chickens in my lifetime.

We slept in super late today. I actually got the handfasting ceremony done for the wedding though. So that's a plus.

Chris was a prince and made dinner. Hot dogs with chili and mac & cheese. He's now lost in Fallout 3. He's gearing up for Fallout 4 to come out apparently.

Everything feels so weird today between how late we slept in and the time change. By the time we woke up it was pretty much getting dark again.

Woo Girls

Yesterday turned out to be a fairly lazy day. I got some things done, but at a very slow pace in between a lot of slacking off.

Finished our seating chart for the wedding, and it looks pretty damn professional if I do say so myself. Which, is admittedly pretty unnecessary considering it's for me. It's not like I'm making it for a client, but hey, it's pretty! We have roughly 95 guests coming to our wedding, roughly twenty of them being children.

It's a bit higher of a count than I expected, and it doesn't seem like that many people looking at the list. It is though; I double counted.

Got a letter in the mail from Geisinger today that they're cancelling my insurance as of 9/30 for non-payment, and to call by 10/31 to avoid cancellation.

Wedding Hair

Wow, today has been insanely busy. There's so much more that I would have liked to get accomplished, but just not enough time or spoons in a day.

Woke up about a half hour before the alarm would have went off and did some things around the house. Tinkered around with the blog a bit and discovered all types of cool features I didn't realize existed. You'll be seeing the layout and features here gradually changing, and a great deal of things under construction until after the wedding when I have more time to really dedicate to making everything look fabulous. I'm really excited about it. It lets me share more with all of you even more effectively while simultaneously making this endeavor even more enjoyable and profitable for me. Win/win!

The day started out with my bagillionth wedding dress fitting. My dress is getting really pretty, but they weren't nearly as far with it as I expected them to be by now. They don't have much to get done yet though, so I expect to get it shortly after my final fitting next week. It's pretty. I just hope Chris is wowed by it. Every girl wants that 'Oh my gosh' reaction from their husband when they walk down the aisle. I mean, I can't exactly certify that fact, but I'm running with it.

My poor Mom, they altered her dress and put the shoulder straps together wrong totally flipping the angle of the dress and making it look terrible. I don't know how they did it. Luckily they still had the same dress in another size that I think fits her perfectly fine.

Due to cold weather by our wedding day everyone's breaking out shrugs for their dresses, but they're busting them out in the wrong colors. Mostly white ones are appearing. I haven't been bridezillay about much, but I don't want my wedding party looking like a purple and white mismatched Easter basket. Go shopping for gray peoples! Gosh! Hahah.

Turtle Power!

We've only been awake for about four hours so far and today has already been crazy. We stayed up pretty late last night, and I actually slept really good for a change which was nice. We got up at about one, Chris helped me do some chores around the house, and then we had to scurry off to my rheumatology appointment.

I love having Chris with at my appointments. He remembers things that I forget about. Also I have a bad habit of downgrading my symptoms and pain for some reason. While I might tell the doctor that I've been okay, Chris is quick to jump in and say that I've been struggling to wash dishes all week because my hands hurt.

The doctor was actually running pretty on time. He's usually running extremely late, but we never mind because he's one of the few doctors that runs late because he actually spends time with his patients. They really should schedule his appointments differently though, but oh well.

Anne was his nurse today and I haven't seen her in ages. He usually has Ashley, she must be on vacation or something. Anne was excited to hear about the wedding. She checked my vitals, my BP was great, 110/70. My temperature on the other hand was 101 for some reason. Not sure why because I feel fine. Well, no worse than usually that is. Haha.

Griffin came in and we talked about Jefferson and how I was feeling. He agrees with their erythromelalgia and fibromyalgia diagnosis. We played the 'does this hurt?' game. He's keeping me on the Xeljanz, upped my Rasuvo dose to 25mgs. I told him how the longer I was down to 10mgs of steroids the worse I was starting to feel instead of getting better with time. He says I've been on steroids for years so as the dose starts to get lower it's going to be harder and harder. He said I should wait until after the wedding and start doing 15mgs two days in a row, and then 10mgs, and then 15mgs two days in a row, so on and so forth. Then starting the new year start doing every other day switch between 15mgs and 10mgs. I'm determined to get off of this crap, and I'm glad he's supportive of it. Chris brought up what a jerk Kolva was about us getting married, Griffin was like well that's not very nice. He was like I think that just shows just how meant to be you guys are. He gave me some scripts for the next two months so I don't have to worry about stopping in until my next appointment. And some samples to hold me over until he gets some things put through and changed with the specialty pharmacies.

Griffin was amused by my Ninja Turtle Band-Aids I had on.

I love wearing fun Band-Aids. People can be way too serious. Why not make something sucky (a booboo) more positive?