The more I complete on my "to do" list, the more there seems to attach itself. I have been running myself ragged since the pain from the infection site stopped. Wedding stuff. Lots of wedding stuff.
The girls and I spent eternity tying little silver twine & poem cards on scores of little celebration bells (you ring them for the bride & groom to kiss and also to send them off instead of messing with rice/bird seed). After that was tied on, little blue ribbons had to go on.
We also stuffed scores of navy blue organza favor bags with silver and blue M&Ms. Here's the amazing part -- we didn't eat any! You have to either have remarkable willpower OR be stressed to the gills to resist 25 lbs of M&Ms.
The reception is going to be in our church's fellowship hall. Yesterday, we had to go to decorate the sanctuary and the hall. We were there for about 5 hours...and I have to go back and finish this morning...after I make a Wal-mart run for two more strands of icicle lights. The tables alternate between silver-grey tablecloths with navy napkins and navy tablecloths with silver napkins. Blue & silver snowflake confetti and wedding bell confetti are on each table, which we already set with silverware. The buffet tables, finger food and drink tables, are all covered and skirted with the silver-grey. The head table is opalescent white skirting and cloth with a lace-look overlay. Each table with have a 7" cake (decorated like the wedding cake) in the center - with two candles in brandy sifters, one on each side. Those are tied with silver-grey organza bows.
The room will be lit only by candlelight and twinkle light (it looks awesome). We had to remove all of the swags (boy, were they dusty). Encircling the entire room are twisted blue and white twinkle lights, with icicle lights above the head table and food tables. Also behind the head table is an arched trellis woven with white chiffon and flowers. I plan on running twinkle lights through that this morning.
The snack table will have cheese/cracker trays, with little pepperonis and other mini-meats, fresh fruit and a chocolate fountain with a variety of dipping items. The main buffet consists of salad, au gratin potatoes, green beans something-or-other, and chicken cordon bleu. We will be serving Sutter Home Fre White Zinfandel (dealcoholized, it *is* wine), along with coffee, tea and soft drinks. This is, after all, a dry wedding....we're a Baptist church. :)
The sanctuary is already decorated for Christmas, huge trees, twinkle lights, garland, poinsettias. All we had to do was put out the candelabras and put bows on all of the pews.
Today, I have to rush through decorating, be home to meet my sister by noon, then go to pick up the center-piece cakes. The rehearsal is at 6pm, so we're going to have to be at the church by 5:30pm. After that, the rehearsal dinner will be at a very nice Italian restaurant.
Tomorrow we have to pick up the bouquet and boutonniere. I was clueless that it was the groom's family's responsibility to pay for these. Good grief. All they are paying for are the tuxedo, the photographer and rehearsal dinner.
The dreaded hair-appointment I was too much of a wimp to cancel for good is also tomorrow. I don't even have a clue what I want done with my hair, all I was thinking about was the bride. As for my other girls, one knows what she wants and the other doesn't. I guess the clueless should go last, meaning Erin and me.
Wednesday I almost fainted in the afternoon. I got very dizzy and light-headed, my mouth went all dry. I had felt exhausted and sat on the sofa when I got a phone call. We were talking away when I needed to get up and write something down. I got up, whooshed into another room and WHAM! It hit. It scared me, which sent my heart racing. I feared I was going to go into a panic attack. A half-banana and 15 minutes or so and it hit me: because of the queasy way antibiotic makes me feel, I had forgotten to eat since my morning workout when I'd come home and had a mini-yogurt. It was about 6 - 7 hours since then.
Yesterday, I tried to remember to eat small things frequently, but it didn't work. I had my protein shake, got carried away running hither and yon, had a quick light omelet and then...nothing. I tried to save myself with some dark chocolate and drinking lots of water, I was really dehydrated. It worked - I was tense, but I wasn't going to pass out from low blood sugar and stress.
The likelihood of getting in a workout today is non-existent. I didn't workout yesterday, but I was climbing up and down ladders, carrying boxes, moving tables, etc. Tomorrow, I think I'll head to the gym first thing in the morning. If for some reason I can't, it's no big deal. Bill Philips, Lee Lebrada, Tom Venuto - they all recommend taking a few days off in a clump a couple of times a year. I should do it, but I'm addicted to my own adrenalin and it's hard.
My decaf must be done brewing by now, I thought I heard the beep the pot makes when it's done. Time to start this day's insanity!
~o~
A prayer of blessing by one of my favorite poets, Robert Burns:
O thou who kindly dost provide
For every creature's want!
We bless Thee, God of Nature wide,
For all Thy goodness lent:
And if it please Thee, Heavenly Guide,
May never worse be sent;
But, whether granted, or denied,
Lord, bless us with content. Amen!
Robert Burns life reminds me so much of Romans 7 - doing the things you know you shouldn't do, not doing the things you know you should. His works show that he understood the nature of human failure and divine redemption. When Jean Amour became pregant, he went before the congregation for forgiveness, without coercion. In spite of that humiliation, he worshipped at that Kirk for all his life. Anyhow, I love his works and while some may bash him as a reprobate, I see his humanity and his struggle. From Cotter's Saturday Night:
The priest-like Father reads the sacred page...
Perhaps the Christian Volume is the theme,
How gultless blood for guilty man was shed;
How He, who bore in heaven the second name,
Had not on Earth whereon to lay his head:
How his first followers and servants sped;
- - - - - - - - - -
Then kneeling down to Heaven's Eternal King
The Saint, the Father, and the Husband prays
Hope 'springs exulting on triumphant win
