Ole's Black Eye

Okay. I guess it's time that the truth comes out, huh? Ole got himself a great big shiner the night before the wedding - and there wasn't even any alcohol involved!! Or at least very little. We had both decided that this was not the time to imbibe. We both had too many things to keep track of and do and needed to keep our old age brain cells intact in order to handle everything. Got that now?



Friday night we hosted the groom's dinner at our house and it was a huge success. Lots of food and comaraderie, plus a bit of Ole's homemade wine for all those that cared to imbibe. It was Ole's job to keep the fire going in the fire pit. That's where the problem arose.

The fire pit is made up of decorative concrete blocks surrounding the fire pit. We have six adirondack chairs surrounding the fire pit set on a concrete foundation. As you know, the front legs on the adirondack chairs stick out in the front. As Ole was walking around the fire pit to get to the firewood stack, he caught his leg on the front leg of one of the chairs, tripped and went down onto the edge of the decorative concrete blocks. He's extremely fortunate that all he hit was his cheek and not his eyeball. But nevertheless, the next morning his cheek was swollen along with being black and blue and green. I made him sit on the davenport and put ice on his cheek for the entire morning. It helped the swelling, but not the ugly color.

May got to the church and saw his eye and about freaked out. She went home and got all her makeup and managed to hide the worst of the discoloration. So Ole looked pretty good for the pictures, but by the end of the evening all his makeup had either worn off or had been smeared on whomever he danced with, and he was looking a bit on the "discolored" side. But by that time nobody cared anyway!

Here's a few more pictures (if you're not tired of looking yet). They're in no particular order because I'm too tired to fight with that tonight. So just take them for what they're worth, K?

Here's some of the flower arrangements that May designed.

Here's Ole and I coming out of the church at the end of the rehearsal on Friday night. Cute couple, huh?

Kissing the bride at the end of the ceremony.

Mother in Law and Son in Law

Father walking the bride down the aisle.

Beautiful bride in our back yard.

Robert wanted chocolate cupcakes instead of a cake. He got them.

I thought the bridal table turned out so pretty.

I put Big Brother on the plane this afternoon - and I cried. I miss him so much. I do so wish we lived closer. He lives in New Mexico and that's a long ways from Minnesota. We're the only two left in our generation of our family, and he's such a wonderful person - I miss him terribly. BTW, he and May hit it off - there were definitely "sparks." I'll post pictures at a later time.

I'm still in recovery mode. I've been sleeping about 11 or 12 hours a night since the wedding and taking a nap of a minimum of an hour or longer every day. I hope that all the stress is over now and that all of us can return to our normal lives.

More pictures tomorrow - or are you tired of seeing pictures yet?

Love Lena

BTW, Yes, Meggie Lou, the outdoor pictures were taken in my backyard.

PS: See the new picture at the bottom of the page.

Just a few Preliminaries

They're married!! We're all in the process of coming down now. Tired - all of us. Ole and I went to bed last night at 9:30 and didn't wake up until 8:30 this morning. We needed it.

Everything went off without a hitch. Perfect with one exception - Ole got a black eye, but that's a story for another day.

Big Brother did all the photography, so here's a few preliminaries.

Things I have to do today

I'm off to the grocery store, and probably won't be writing much here until after the wedding. But there is an entry over in Sky Blue Waters. Same password.

Talk to you later!!

Love Lena

There's More

Go look - er - read.

http://skybluewaters.wordpress.com/

Same password.

Love Lena

Today's Fashion Show - or - Wedding Dressing

My friend, May, went shopping yesterday. She and Carol are the best bargain finders. I NEVER find good bargains when I go out shopping, but then maybe it has to do with the fact that I don't like to shop - not even for new clothes. I HATE trying things on in the dressings rooms, so as a result, if I'm going to buy something I hold it up, if it looks like it's going to fit I take it home, try it on, and you guessed it, I usually have to take it back.

To tell you how much I don't like shopping, I haven't been in our big mall for over three years until yesterday when I had to take Ole out to the men's formal wear shop and get him fitted for a tux. Good Gravy - it cost over $100 to rent a tux these days. May, who lived in NYC at one point told me that was a drop in the bucket compared to NYC prices.

So anyway, May went out to our big mall yesterday and was cruising around at one of our upper Midwest chains and truly found the bargain rack. Lars' mother has MS and is in a wheelchair so it's up to Lars and Lovely Daughter to find her something to wear for the wedding, which they haven't had time to do yet. May came across the most beautiful periwinkle blue organza dress with beading on the front - and get this - it was on the sale rack for $10!!! May looked and looked before she found what the problem was with it. Two little beads on the front of the dress were loose and ready to fall of. Her quick artistry with a needle and thread will put that back in shape in no time. So she brought it home not knowing whether Lovely Daughter, Lars and his mother would even like it. I told her if they don't I would love to take it. I don't know where I'll wear it ever, but a girl can never have too many beaded organza gowns, you know.

So the mother of the groom is all taken care of. Someone, I think Lovely Daughter, was going to find a pair of ballet style slippers for her to wear, and she's set. I feel so badly for Lars' mother - she's in a wheelchair and is at the point where she's lost the ability to speak and can't write to communicate because her arms don't work anymore either.

Okay - then there's MOB (mother of the bride). Some days I feel like a member of the MOB if you know what I mean. But anyway - that's another story.

Did I tell you that I hate shopping? I did say that didn't I? I hate shopping so much that I looked on the Internet to buy my MOB dress. (Al Capone would like my dress, I know he would.) It wasn't any bargain dollar wise, but at least I didn't have to traipse all over the maul and try clothes on and take them off and then try something else on. I hate shopping, did I tell you that?

So here's what I found - I ordered it and hallelujah - it fits perfectly.


The dress is covered with bugle beads, front and back and all around. It sparkles. I wish I could tell you that's my body in that dress but it's not. See how honest I am? If I hadn't said anything you would have thought, "My she's lost a lot of weight." But - it's some model in that dress with a skinny body. Not my fluffy one.

Then I went in search of earrings and found these on Ebay. I wanted something sparkly, but I'm not a long, dangle earring kind of person. Although it doesn't look like it in the pictures, the color matches perfectly to my dress.
And then there's the most important part of the wedding - the bride in her wedding gown. Here's ANOTHER bargain. My Lovely Daughter is a bargain shopper too, bless her heart. Just remember, she didn't inherit that gene from me. I hate to shop - did I tell you that?

She found this on a close out sale for $300 a number of months ago. It was last year's model. But who cares? She loved it, tried it on and it fit. When she tried it on now it needed altering but not because she had gained weight. She had to have it taken in. Now she looks like that skinny model in MY dress. Darn skinny people anyway.

And here's the back:

And here's the front:

And here's the back again (as though you smart people out there couldn't figure that out.)

So there you have it - today's fashion show. Hope you enjoyed it.

Now, I've got to get to work cause Lord knows I've got a ton of stuff to do.

A letter to sleep on

I've written a letter to someone. It's one of those that you need to sleep on before you send it off.

It's password protected, so if you think you want to read it let me know. I may or may not allow you in.

Love Lena

What's going on in my life right now?

Ole and I had such a good time last night. Bob & Carol's son and daughter-in-law had a belated housewarming party - you know - the barbecue and fire in the firepit kind of party. It was an absolutely perfect evening for it, too. Just a slight breeze, cooler temperatures than we have been having and a most beautiful sunset.

Lovely Daughter was there also, but Lars wasn't able to make it. He did a ride-along with the local police force last night. Apparently nothing exciting happened; nothing more than someone running a red light. But I'm sure it was an interesting experience and I'm anxious to talk to him about it.

Son and daughter-in-law are such a nice young couple. They're both in their mid 20s and have worked hard to be able to afford this new house. It's nothing extravagant, nor is it large, but very comfortable and nicely decorated. Bob & Carol and Ole & I were the "old timers" there. Otherwise it was attended by many of their co-workers and friends, all younger people in their 20s and 30s. But we didn't feel out of place at all as you could sometimes, when you're tossed into the midst of folks in that age group. Ole has a tendency to attract young people like a magnet - I think because of all his "extra-curricular interests." You know - like building and driving fast cars, riding motorcycles, etc. Not necessarily things that "old duffers" do, but things that interest young guys.

These guys were a hoot to talk to. They had obviously made a visit to the local Watering Hole before coming to the party, and were somewhat primed, if you know what I mean. Just a bit on the giggly side. They all played on the same softball team and had a tournament scheduled at 9 o'clock this morning. I'm sure glad I'm not in their shoes today - but then I guess at that age you recover more quickly than us old farts. Anyway, they had a designated driver (smart on their part), a young lady who decided to leave before they were ready to go. This kind of left them in a lurch, so Lovely Daughter and May, another older friend of Bob & Carol's gave the guys a ride home later in the evening. Lovely Daughter said it was quite interesting listening to all these young guys giggling in the back seat like a bunch of teenage girls.

Speaking of houses, Lovely Daughter and Lars have their eye on an old victorian in our little town. It needs a lot of TLC, but we're all so excited about the possibility of them getting into it. It's a beautiful old house, built in 1909, with all the wide oak woodwork, hardwood floors, gingerbread trim, 9 foot ceilings, and an attic that you could hold a dance in. I used to babysit the three boys that grew up in that house when I was a teenager. Things have changed slightly in it since that time, but nothing so drastic that it can't be restored back to the way it should be. Hopefully Lovely Daughter and Lars will hear something by next week - we're all waiting on pins and needles.

Lovely Daughter's wedding announcement was in today's paper. That made me actually realize how short the time is before the big day - and all the things that still need doing. She's having all fall colors for her wedding - with a fall leaves theme. It should be beautiful. The table arrangements for the reception are all done, but this afternoon we're scheduled to finish up the bridal bouquet, corsages and pew bows with the help of May, who used to own a flower shop and is quite the designer. I've ordered all the table linens - in gold - which should make quite an impact with all the flowers in orange, brown, burgundy, etc. Burgundy candles and napkins folded and fluffed out in each champagne glass, and little white lights hung to shine through behind all the table skirts. Don't worry - there will be pictures posted.

Well, on that note I've probably bored you long enough with this diatribe. It's time to get busy anway - or then maybe I'll go take a nap. Happy Sunday everyone.

Love Lena