Lately I have been having a hard time with sleep. Either I get too much of it or not enough. I just have not been able to find a happy medium.
I am sure that the majority of it is related to my CFS (chronic fatigue syndrome), but I do believe that my 3pm-12am work shift is not exactly helping much either.
Two nights ago I didn't sleep at all. Finally around 6am I was able to crash out for about 6 hours. I got out of bed only because I didn't want to sleep the entire day away and accomplish nothing.
Last night I was feeling really tired and thought I'd finally be able to get a decent nights sleep. I took my sleeping pill in hopes of sleeping solid through the night.
NOT!!!!
I woke up around 2:30am from a really messed up dream with a pounding headache.
Sadly it was the headache that woke me up, not the dream.
I figured what the heck. I'm awake so why not share my warped dream.
Keep in mind that I didn't do anything out of the ordinary to spark this odd dream. My dreamer's dictionaries and encyclopedia don't even fully cover any of its meaning.
All I did yesterday was eat, put some stuff in my storage shed, watch some True Blood, and watched "The Hulk" That is IT! Nothing at all dealing remotely close to my dream.
So here it is......
I dreamt that I was in some sort of alternate universe that was very much like the reality that we live in. A few things seemed slightly off the normal radar. Bananas were orange in color, my house was blue instead of cream colored, my hair was long, my boyfriend was skinny and pale, and my parents were no longer living for some reason.
One day I was sitting down at my kitchen table dissecting a broad-band radio trying to figure out what was wrong with it. I managed to figure out that one of the resistors in the circuitry had blown and when it did part of the traces on the circuit board were damaged. As a result it took out the crystal in the radio and damaged it.
I went to Radioshack (The sign was blue instead of red) and grabbed a pack of resistors. (Ever try buying one separate? It's basically almost impossible) I then remembered that I had seen a special diode that wad damaged and grabbed one of those off of the nearby rack. I then went over to the giant catalog of special order parts and looked through it ti try to find a crystal that operates at the same frequency to replace the damaged on. I could not find one, but I did find a crystal that could be de-amplified to get the right one. I wrote down the stock number and went back to the little gadgets second and got a little tiny black chip known as a "gate" to alter the signal enough.
I paid the clerk and went home.
That day I went to work as usual. Same job, same everything.
That night when I got home though I decided to work on the radio and began installing the parts.
I soldered on some solder to fix the damaged traces on the board so that it could jump to where it needed to go to finish making the connection. Then I went to work with installing the parts where they needed to go and attached the "gate" near the crystal.
Finally I was done and went about testing it with a multimeter. I noticed that the signal coming out of the "gate' was a positive value instead of a negative one, but curiosity got the best of me.
I put the cover back on the radio just to keep it from getting damaged and turned the switch and tried to tune to a particular channel.
All the sudden my TV and satellite TV receiver turn on. Some late night cartoon on Adult Swim was on the screen and the image began to flicker.
Next thing you know my tele is going bonkers and the screen filled out with lots of different codes. Some of them were binary and some were in hexadecimal.
Wondering what the radio did to my TV I sat down in from of the set with a notebook and a sheet of paper and began writing down the codes looking for a pattern.
I found one.
It translated to "Saturated fat's are a myth"
What the hell? I figured that couldn't be right. I must have messed up a part of the translation.
I began to write down more codes as the showed up. I translated what I had.
"Sex is for everyone" , "Child labor made items rock.", "Drugs are the new hip."
I went at this for quite a few hours.
Then all of the sudden the screen flickered and
"We know who you are. We will get you." Showed on the screen.
Scared and confused I quickly turned the radio off, yanked my receiver from the wall and unplugged my TV.
I wasn't sure what kind of mess I had gotten myself into, but I was sure it wasn't good.
I ran into the bedroom and began backing my backpack. I grabbed another set of clothes, my Swiss army blade, and some granola bars. My boyfriend woke up hearing me cussing and screaming and asked what the heck was going on.
He laughed at me. Told me I was being ridiculous and that someone was playing a joke on me. I tried to convince him to get dressed and grab what he needed and to come with me.
Instead of agreeing he rolled over and went back to sleep.
All the sudden I heard jets flying closer and closer. I didn't have time to stay and to convince my love to come if I wanted to live.
I grabbed my keys and darted out the from door. I got in my car quickly and sped off. Just as I hit the highway I heard a loud boom and the ground shook valiantly. I pulled over to look and right where my house would have been was a giant plume of smoke heading into the heavens.
I began to cry and collapsed to the pavement. I regretting leaving and not staying to die with my love.
It was too late now. There was no turning back.
My survival instincts kicked in. I got back in my car and sped off heading south,
When I finally reached a small town I pulled in and looked around for a different vehicle. I figured if these crazy people know who I am they then could easily find out what I drive.
A ranch hand got out of his pickup and went into a small grocery store across the street, He left his vehicle running.
I darted across the street and quickly got in and drove off. 'Hey!!!" I could hear being yelled as I was pulling out of the gravel parking lot.
I am not sure how long I was driving, but I had completely ran out of granola bars and the tank was running low on gas.
I pulled off to the side of the road. I was in the middle of some strange Forrest. People not looking anything like they do back home were making their way up the tiny isolated road. With them were a few goats and donkeys.
Somehow I realized that I had driven so far south that I was in Mexico or at least somewhere near it.
I wanted to the travelers to come my direction and asked them where the nearest village was.
They didn't know English, but motioned for me to follow them.
What felt like many hours later we arrived at a small town.
The goats and donkeys were put into some sort of barn type building. One of the older men who was amongst the travelers motioned for me to come with him.
I followed him across a few streets and up a narrow alleyway to the back door of some building. He knocked said something and the door opened.
He lead me in and this friend of mine that I haven't seen in years was sitting at the other end of the room.
We exchanged hellos, and what the heck are you doing heres.
We talked until the wee hours of the morning. By which time I had explained what had happened that had me on the run. My friend was kind in her words and said she has heard of such things before, She offered me a place to sleep and her help in the morning.
I didn't sleep.
Next day she took me out on a hike winding through a vast canyon. She stopped in from of a crack in the side of valley wall, smiled and walked inside. i followed.
The crack got darker and darker, then all the sudden lighter and lighter. As we approached the light i realized the walls were no longer rock, but metal, then I noticed the light was coming from a single bulb hanging down from the ceiling. We reached a door.
My friend found a keypad nearby and entered some code. The door slid open and we walked inside.
The rest of the dream is a bit of a blur here. It's a lot to remember! What else do you expect?
All I remember is that it looked like some sort of secret factory and they were manufacturing "gates" and taking apart radios and putting them inside.
I was introduced to some man I've never seen before and he took me on a tour of the facilities and explained the chips and radios.
Bottom line..... The government was working on a top secret project to brainwash Americans using subliminal messages.
First they were testing it out trying to get people to buy certain products, then they had stepped it up to telling people how to act and what to do.
I asked how this all was being done. The strange man told me that Satellites in space used for satellite TV are carrying the messages down to earth and the codes are being encrypted into the programs people watch.
I just couldn't comprehend it all. Why me? What's so damn important that they felt it necessary to try to kill me?
I was then shown into what looked like some sort of laboratory with humans witting in padded cells with one side being glass of some sort. Some were curled up into balls on the floor shaking in fear. Some were reading books or sleeping. One looked at me. His eyes scared me. The muscles in his neck bulged. He ripped his shirt off and ran at the glass. WHAM! He we down was out cold. I asked what was with the people. Why were they being held.
The government had experimented on them. using the strange technology and had programmed the as unstoppable solders.
They had escaped and seeked refuge. Over time some of them began to loose their minds. The ones that seemed fine agreed that all of them should be locked up for observation as to not hurt innocent people.
At that point one reading a book got off the floor and walked up to the glass and began telling his story.
Right as he was getting to the most crucial point the ceiling shook and began to collapse. A piece of debris hit me in the head.
Sorry to leave you all hanging, but this is where I woke up with the headache. *shrug.*
What can I say? I want to know what else happens too, but apparently the imaginary debris had
to wake me up with a headache so I don't know if I'll ever find out the rest.
Stupid imaginary objects just have to ruin it for everyone. Geez!
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Monday, June 6, 2011
CRAZY BUSY, CRAZY WEDDING!
Oh My! Where to start?
I have been trying so hard to adjust to my new work hours (3pm-12am) that I feel like I have not had much time to write, breath, eat, or much of anything else for that matter.
I have spent the last few three or four weeks adjusting and I am just now feeling somewhat normal.
I still am having some problems with sleeping though. Either I sleep to much or not enough. I just cannot seem to find the required balance. Someday, perhaps I will.
Besides adjusting to my new work hours I have been so busy with other projects that they ate up all my time to write. The biggest thing was my best friend's wedding which was on May 29th.
The wedding preparations were long and took lots of consideration. Why? She decided to have a Steam punk wedding. Steam punk is a mix of a few different things.
1) Victorian vintage dress
2) modern symbols and titles. Such as: aviator, chemist, and engineer
3) the use of antique items like old typewriter keys, old skeleton keys, and old watches.
4) Inventive creations that look like really old Rube Goldberg machines
and ...
5) Make believe you are a fictional character.
I started preparing about a year and half ago. First I had to find all the pieces I needed to make
my random jewelery, pins, and adornments.
That was the hardest part. Do you have any idea how much it can cost to buy anything old and antique like especially when this fad just keeps growing. Well let me tell you. HARD. VERY FREAKING HARD!
Around Christmas time I finally had everything I needed for that category. I spent the first part of April getting my necklace assembled and creating my pins.
Around November I felt I had enough trinkets that it was time to look for clothing. This is usually very difficult to do and most people spend a ton of money or make their own. Well I am neither rich nor a sewer so I did the next best thing I could think of.... thrift shopping.
I spend quite a few days looking around until I finally found a perfect skirt to use and a jacket to wear if with the outfit if I get cold. I was very lucky to find them both at the Goodwill store.
During the first part of the New Year I spent a lot of time trying to figure out what title I would have and what kind of character I would be. I could not think of anything that seemed to be in budget.
Eventually my best friend suggested and aviator. She said she thought it would be the most cost effective thing to do.
I then had to start over with some of my pins and had to turn them into rank pins that could be attached either to the jacket or my blouse. Then Crap!!!! I realized I didn't have a blouse. In April it was back to thrift shopping again. I found a kind of antique yellow looking western blouse that was short sleeved and and it looked perfect. Finally the blouse was out of the way.
Around the same time as the pin crisis and blouse hunt I then discovered from the other bridesmaids and my best friend that I also needed spats. For those who don't know what spats are.. They are fabric decorative covers that go over a person's boots or shoes.
I couldn't find spats in my budget and one of the bridesmaids was kind enough to give me a pattern to use.
I asked my mom if she could make them. I even offered her money and she declined. I was without choice but to sew them myself.
Finally after about 14 hours or more of trial and error attempting to stitch, by hand, I successfully made my own. The stitches thank goodness are something you have to put your nose up to in order to see. No one would be able to tell how sloppy the stitches are.
I finally got to the point where it was time to through everything together and see what I had. This was around the middle of April. I noticed then that I needed gloves for my hands, some aviator style Goggles, and some sort of flight patches for my blouse sleeves.
Thank goodness for ETSY! I was able to get my gloves at a reasonable price and same with the goggles.
Then... I discovered that with my boots the hem of my skirt was riding to high so I had to buy a bunch of lace and sew it around the bottom. That didn't take as long as the spats since there was not a pattern to follow, but it took long enough to make it look decent.
May finally came and I was in crunch time. I was busy working my new job, trying to adjust to the hours, and still have time to finish my outfit as well as trying to get everything cleaned up that I no longer wanted for a rummage sale my boyfriend's mom was planning on having towards the end of the month.
I thought I was going to yank my hair out. Nothing seemed to be going as planned.
My outfit was complete. I thought. I realized I was missing a bustle of some kind and couldn't find one in my budget. Also the Bride (my best friend) decided the whole bridal party needed to wear waist cinchers or partial corsets. UGH! NOOOOOO!!!!!!! I thought.
After talking with the maid of honor (not me since my work hours didn't mesh with the bride's) we finally figured out what to do. Luckily she CAN sew! So we measured me up for a waist cincher and for a slip with the bustle on it. I went and bought the required materials and met her for tea to give her the materials needed for the bustle. She had everything she needed for the cincher.
Disaster struck. Somehow the cincher was missing. She had no idea what happened to it. She had to re-measure me for a new one!
It got worse. She couldn't find a pattern to use for the cincher and ended up having to make me a corset. It took her so long to assemble that the slip with bustle didn't get finished.
WHAT WAS I GOING TO DO????
Luckily the maid of honor is very sly and creative.
She found an olive green ruffle skirt that would work in it's place.
In the midst of all of this my boyfriend needed to be suited up in costume as well. We struck it lucky and found him a newsy hat and suspenders he could use and his shoes already were perfect. We found a pair of slacks and a shirt in his closet that also worked. We got lucky.
Meanwhile it had been raining so much that the boyfriend was unable to get an of his stuff moved around and sorted out for the rummage sale to go on as planned and the date of the rummage sale was moved up to the end of June. I felt like I had been crunching for no reason. Go figure.
Finally the day before the weeding I had to wake up at 8am after getting off of a midnight shift to go help decorate the reception hall and to squeeze in a rehearsal all before being to work by 3pm. It was pure havoc and worry. My best friend looked like she was about to loose her mind and
I felt quite certain that I was already out of mine.
around 1:40 pm the decorations were mostly up and to the safe point where we could leave everyone else decorating without having to worry about disaster.
The maid of honor measured me for the final adjustments to the corset she had to finish before tomorrow and gave me her ruffle skirt to use.
Then the person who would be performing the ceremony called. HE WAS LOST!
He missed the turn off into Black Hawk where the rehearsal and wedding were and ended up in Piedmont, SD with any empty gas tank.
NOOOOO!!!!! I thought. This cannot be happening. How am I going to make it to work on time and not get in trouble for being late?
Well luckily the Best Man has a foot of iron.
Around 2:00pm everyone was ready and at the proper location for rehearsal.
By 2:40 pm everything was pretty much settled. I sped off to work and made it there with barely enough time to pull up my programs I needed and to clock in.
I was safe.
Wedding day
I got up at 8am again and did one of the wedding guests hair, got myself dressed (which was kinda tricky), got everything organized and in the car. I maid it out to the site 1 hour before the wedding was set to start.
Then I realized my army bag of important party essentials was no where to be found. It contained things I needed for both the wedding and the reception.
I had to send my boyfriend all the way back into Rapid City to get it.
The bride began to freak out because my poor friend couldn't find her foundation or face powder anywhere.
I told her not to worry, because I had some in the bag that my boyfriend went to get. Slowly the rest of the bridal party began to show up and the basement of my best friends parents house filled up with women trying to help dress each other with the garments they were unable to get on by themselves.The other two bridesmaids and myself helped get each others corsets on. I helped pin on their bustles.
The maid of honor didn't realize how tight her bustle and skirt were and almost fell over trying to put on her own shoes and spats so I had to do it for her.
Finally everyone was dressed but the bride and the bag of necessities was finally delivered by my boyfriend.
My best friend got her makeup on and we helped her into her wedding dress, which by comparison was 10x easier than everyone else's outfits.
At that point my knees and feet were killing me and I realized that I was not going to survive the wedding in my boots. I had to run to my car and crab my chucks and throw them on. To the best of my ability I put my spats on over my sneakers.
It was pouring rain! We had to rip out the umbrellas. Not good for an outdoor wedding.
BE FOREWARNED... I DON'T HAVE ANY GOOD PICTURES OF ME AND MY BOYFRIEND TO ADD IN THIS BLOG AS OF YET.
I had barely gotten into the house when I was rushed back outside to wait behind the shrubs to make my entrance. One of the bridesmaids told me they changed where I was suppose to stand and to look for the decorative circle of rocks to stand over. I was the first to go up the isle. I tried to space it out as I was suppose to and made my way up to the front. THE ROCK FORMATION WAS GONE! Someone had moved it thinking it was in the way.
I stood stupidly off to the side and waited for the next bridesmaid and had her guide me into place.
After a few moments the maid of honor took her place and the bride came up the isle.
The ceremony started and I thought I was going to sneeze. I grabbed a handkerchief out of my corset and held it to my nose. Sike! no sense. Instead my left eye that had been acting up off and on from my allergies began to water.
The groom's mom looked at me and grabbed her handkerchief and began to cry. Partially because her son was getting married, but also because she thought I was crying. *great*
The ceremony was about 10-15 minutes long and very beautiful and also themed with Steam punk type poetry. The rings were exchanged, A hand binding ceremony was followed and the bride was kissed.
I was escorted out by the third best man,who just so happens to be a police officer and the groom's father. He 6 foot 5 inch height compared to my 5' 1" caused a few problems. I almost poked his eye out with my umbrella. That is probably the closest to assaulting an officer I will ever get and be able to get away with it. Oh... Come on! it's funny and you know it!
THAT'S RIGHT THE BRIDE HAS HER VERY OWN TARDIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We packed up our belongings from the basement and separated into two parties. The groomsmen and groom party took the Bride to The Brass Rail for a drink and me and the rest of the bridal party took the groom to Patty O'Neil's which is inside the historic Alex Johnson Hotel in downtown Rapid City, SD.
We sat, chatted and made conversation with the groom. He admitted I looked lost when I was trying to take my place. I told him about the rocks. He snickered. I believe his mother might have moved them.
I had been in the outfit for over 3 hours and needed to pee and knew I was not equipped to hold my skirt up on my own. One of the other bridesmaids went with me to the restroom in the hotel lobby. I opened the door and walked in on some poor tourist taking a squat. Oops......
We closed the door and waited in the hallway for her to finish. Another tourist was standing there waiting for her. Her husband or boyfriend I assumed.
He looked at us strangely and became rather excited. Apparently he had been trying to explain what Steam punk is to the women in squatter for quite some time and she just couldn't understand what he was saying. He begged us to stand still when she came out so that he could have her look over our outfits.
It definitely made an awkward situation even more awkward. There really is no way else to describe it.
Finally after being relieved I realized everyone else had their drinks except for us. Me and the other drink less bridesmaid made our way back into the lobby to the ATM and got me some money to use.
Walking back towards the bar we came across some more tourists at the front door coming in. German tourists who were laughing at our outfits and commented about the beautiful rain. At least that's what we "think" they said.
Finally we got our lemon drop shots and clinked glasses with everyone and drank.
Before I knew it; it was time to leave and head up to the reception hall off of Catron Blvd.
I called my boyfriend and told him to make sure everyone at The Brass Rail knew it was time to go and to come pick me up so we could ride together. While I was waiting for him we had one of the front desk ladies take our picture in the Alex Johnson lobby in front of the mini grand piano.
While sitting on the bench I fought the urge to jump out of my skirt. The Alex Johnson has a reputation for being haunted. The 8th floor specifically and I had not been in the main part of the hotel since before I quit working there after having to clean rooms on the 8th floor for a week by myself.
I made it through the pictures and got out of the building as quickly as I could. I shook the tingly sensation off.
On the ride up to the reception hall I discovered from my boyfriend that my best friend (the bride) was given 4 very nasty shots, but that he thought she was fine.
OH NOOO!!!!!!!! I thought. I explained to my boyfriend that she is not okay and that she's gotta be trashed out of her mind.
Sure enough.v We barely got inside and the rest of the grooms party hauled her in. She was seven sheets from the wind. The groom's mom was in a rage and so was the groom.
One of the groom's aunts helped the drunk bride to a bench to sit down while another made her a sandwich and brought her coffee to help bring her down. The groom stood by carefully not to get in his aunts' way.
The groom's mother had the groomsmen in the corner and was giving them a royal ass chewing.
I eventually made my way over to the bride and was beckoned to sit down. I sat with her and listened to her ramble happily for awhile and finally helped her up and sat her elsewhere.
The first guests to arrive got to see her completely hammered. Finally about and hour later she was fine. Instead of drinking wine for the toasts she filled her glass with
Mountain Dew.
Everyone ate and speeches were made. I excused myself from the bridesmaid table and went out for a cigarette. I smoked as quick as I could and made my way back inside only to be caught up in the middle of the largest Nerf gun fight ever! I quickly put my goggles on and searched for a weapon.
I found one, but it didn't want to launch correctly.
I finally gave up and let everyone fire upon me with out shooting back.
Eventually the fight ended. *phew* I was safe.
The rest of the night was pretty standard. The bouquet was tossed. The guarder was flung. Dollar dancing pursued.
Around 7pm I was so burnt out and couldn't handle anymore.
I helped back up the wedding gifts into the brides car. Wished everyone well and me and the boyfriend went home.
......About an hour later......
My cell phone went off. The maid of honor was calling. I answered.
Apparently the brides cellphone and wallet which she had given me was missing.
*great*
I explained that the wallet was sitting next to my purse on the bridesmaid table. She looked and didn't find it.
I told her to check with the groom and everyone else in case the bride in her drunken state had given it to someone else to hold or to put in her backpack.
........10 minutes later.........
My purse begins to vibrate. At first I thought it was my phone. Then I realized it was sitting next to me.
*CRAP*
I opened my purse and found the brides wallet and phone.
Someone must have thought it had fallen out of my purse and crammed it in there. *lovely*
So I called the maid of honor back to let her know that I have it.
"It was on the table not in your purse. I saw it sitting there. Someone must have thought it was yours and shoved it in there." She said.
I agreed. She said she would contact the groom and let him know where it is. I turned the ringer on and set the phone down just in case someone would call it.
Next morning the bride called it with her husband's phone.
I answered and explained what I could to her. Her only gripe was that
the maid of honor didn't call telling them where it was and she thought someone had stolen he phone and
wallet.
WHAT AM I DOING NOW ?????
I am still trying to adjust to nighttime work hours while fighting off some pretty wicked seasonal allergies.
The other day I had to stay home from work because my fibromyalgia flared up so back that I couldn't walk.
The boyfriend and I are trying to sort through his stuff as much as possible for the rummage sale and are trying to find a storage unit to but his things in since he is no longer able to keep his belongings in his friend's shed.
Instead of writing or playing Halo at night I have been getting caught up on TRUE BLOOD season 3.
I finally finished just the other night and have started watching season 1 again.
I am also trying to get things done around the house so that my television can be moved into a different location so that I can get my satellite TV vendor account through my work set up in time to catch the first episode of season 4, which airs June 26th.
Busy, Busy like a Bee.....
My name means Honey Bee.
and...That's all she wrote :)
I have been trying so hard to adjust to my new work hours (3pm-12am) that I feel like I have not had much time to write, breath, eat, or much of anything else for that matter.
I have spent the last few three or four weeks adjusting and I am just now feeling somewhat normal.
I still am having some problems with sleeping though. Either I sleep to much or not enough. I just cannot seem to find the required balance. Someday, perhaps I will.
Besides adjusting to my new work hours I have been so busy with other projects that they ate up all my time to write. The biggest thing was my best friend's wedding which was on May 29th.
The wedding preparations were long and took lots of consideration. Why? She decided to have a Steam punk wedding. Steam punk is a mix of a few different things.
1) Victorian vintage dress
2) modern symbols and titles. Such as: aviator, chemist, and engineer
3) the use of antique items like old typewriter keys, old skeleton keys, and old watches.
4) Inventive creations that look like really old Rube Goldberg machines
and ...
5) Make believe you are a fictional character.
I started preparing about a year and half ago. First I had to find all the pieces I needed to make
my random jewelery, pins, and adornments.
That was the hardest part. Do you have any idea how much it can cost to buy anything old and antique like especially when this fad just keeps growing. Well let me tell you. HARD. VERY FREAKING HARD!
Around Christmas time I finally had everything I needed for that category. I spent the first part of April getting my necklace assembled and creating my pins.
Around November I felt I had enough trinkets that it was time to look for clothing. This is usually very difficult to do and most people spend a ton of money or make their own. Well I am neither rich nor a sewer so I did the next best thing I could think of.... thrift shopping.
I spend quite a few days looking around until I finally found a perfect skirt to use and a jacket to wear if with the outfit if I get cold. I was very lucky to find them both at the Goodwill store.
During the first part of the New Year I spent a lot of time trying to figure out what title I would have and what kind of character I would be. I could not think of anything that seemed to be in budget.
Eventually my best friend suggested and aviator. She said she thought it would be the most cost effective thing to do.
I then had to start over with some of my pins and had to turn them into rank pins that could be attached either to the jacket or my blouse. Then Crap!!!! I realized I didn't have a blouse. In April it was back to thrift shopping again. I found a kind of antique yellow looking western blouse that was short sleeved and and it looked perfect. Finally the blouse was out of the way.
Around the same time as the pin crisis and blouse hunt I then discovered from the other bridesmaids and my best friend that I also needed spats. For those who don't know what spats are.. They are fabric decorative covers that go over a person's boots or shoes.
I couldn't find spats in my budget and one of the bridesmaids was kind enough to give me a pattern to use.
I asked my mom if she could make them. I even offered her money and she declined. I was without choice but to sew them myself.
Finally after about 14 hours or more of trial and error attempting to stitch, by hand, I successfully made my own. The stitches thank goodness are something you have to put your nose up to in order to see. No one would be able to tell how sloppy the stitches are.
I finally got to the point where it was time to through everything together and see what I had. This was around the middle of April. I noticed then that I needed gloves for my hands, some aviator style Goggles, and some sort of flight patches for my blouse sleeves.
Thank goodness for ETSY! I was able to get my gloves at a reasonable price and same with the goggles.
Then... I discovered that with my boots the hem of my skirt was riding to high so I had to buy a bunch of lace and sew it around the bottom. That didn't take as long as the spats since there was not a pattern to follow, but it took long enough to make it look decent.
May finally came and I was in crunch time. I was busy working my new job, trying to adjust to the hours, and still have time to finish my outfit as well as trying to get everything cleaned up that I no longer wanted for a rummage sale my boyfriend's mom was planning on having towards the end of the month.
I thought I was going to yank my hair out. Nothing seemed to be going as planned.
My outfit was complete. I thought. I realized I was missing a bustle of some kind and couldn't find one in my budget. Also the Bride (my best friend) decided the whole bridal party needed to wear waist cinchers or partial corsets. UGH! NOOOOOO!!!!!!! I thought.
After talking with the maid of honor (not me since my work hours didn't mesh with the bride's) we finally figured out what to do. Luckily she CAN sew! So we measured me up for a waist cincher and for a slip with the bustle on it. I went and bought the required materials and met her for tea to give her the materials needed for the bustle. She had everything she needed for the cincher.
Disaster struck. Somehow the cincher was missing. She had no idea what happened to it. She had to re-measure me for a new one!
It got worse. She couldn't find a pattern to use for the cincher and ended up having to make me a corset. It took her so long to assemble that the slip with bustle didn't get finished.
WHAT WAS I GOING TO DO????
Luckily the maid of honor is very sly and creative.
She found an olive green ruffle skirt that would work in it's place.
In the midst of all of this my boyfriend needed to be suited up in costume as well. We struck it lucky and found him a newsy hat and suspenders he could use and his shoes already were perfect. We found a pair of slacks and a shirt in his closet that also worked. We got lucky.
Meanwhile it had been raining so much that the boyfriend was unable to get an of his stuff moved around and sorted out for the rummage sale to go on as planned and the date of the rummage sale was moved up to the end of June. I felt like I had been crunching for no reason. Go figure.
Finally the day before the weeding I had to wake up at 8am after getting off of a midnight shift to go help decorate the reception hall and to squeeze in a rehearsal all before being to work by 3pm. It was pure havoc and worry. My best friend looked like she was about to loose her mind and
I felt quite certain that I was already out of mine.
around 1:40 pm the decorations were mostly up and to the safe point where we could leave everyone else decorating without having to worry about disaster.
The maid of honor measured me for the final adjustments to the corset she had to finish before tomorrow and gave me her ruffle skirt to use.
Then the person who would be performing the ceremony called. HE WAS LOST!
He missed the turn off into Black Hawk where the rehearsal and wedding were and ended up in Piedmont, SD with any empty gas tank.
NOOOOO!!!!! I thought. This cannot be happening. How am I going to make it to work on time and not get in trouble for being late?
Well luckily the Best Man has a foot of iron.
Around 2:00pm everyone was ready and at the proper location for rehearsal.
By 2:40 pm everything was pretty much settled. I sped off to work and made it there with barely enough time to pull up my programs I needed and to clock in.
I was safe.
Wedding day
I got up at 8am again and did one of the wedding guests hair, got myself dressed (which was kinda tricky), got everything organized and in the car. I maid it out to the site 1 hour before the wedding was set to start.
Then I realized my army bag of important party essentials was no where to be found. It contained things I needed for both the wedding and the reception.
I had to send my boyfriend all the way back into Rapid City to get it.
The bride began to freak out because my poor friend couldn't find her foundation or face powder anywhere.
I told her not to worry, because I had some in the bag that my boyfriend went to get. Slowly the rest of the bridal party began to show up and the basement of my best friends parents house filled up with women trying to help dress each other with the garments they were unable to get on by themselves.The other two bridesmaids and myself helped get each others corsets on. I helped pin on their bustles.
The maid of honor didn't realize how tight her bustle and skirt were and almost fell over trying to put on her own shoes and spats so I had to do it for her.
Finally everyone was dressed but the bride and the bag of necessities was finally delivered by my boyfriend.
My best friend got her makeup on and we helped her into her wedding dress, which by comparison was 10x easier than everyone else's outfits.
At that point my knees and feet were killing me and I realized that I was not going to survive the wedding in my boots. I had to run to my car and crab my chucks and throw them on. To the best of my ability I put my spats on over my sneakers.
It was pouring rain! We had to rip out the umbrellas. Not good for an outdoor wedding.
BE FOREWARNED... I DON'T HAVE ANY GOOD PICTURES OF ME AND MY BOYFRIEND TO ADD IN THIS BLOG AS OF YET.
I stood stupidly off to the side and waited for the next bridesmaid and had her guide me into place.
After a few moments the maid of honor took her place and the bride came up the isle.
The ceremony started and I thought I was going to sneeze. I grabbed a handkerchief out of my corset and held it to my nose. Sike! no sense. Instead my left eye that had been acting up off and on from my allergies began to water.
The groom's mom looked at me and grabbed her handkerchief and began to cry. Partially because her son was getting married, but also because she thought I was crying. *great*
The ceremony was about 10-15 minutes long and very beautiful and also themed with Steam punk type poetry. The rings were exchanged, A hand binding ceremony was followed and the bride was kissed.
I was escorted out by the third best man,who just so happens to be a police officer and the groom's father. He 6 foot 5 inch height compared to my 5' 1" caused a few problems. I almost poked his eye out with my umbrella. That is probably the closest to assaulting an officer I will ever get and be able to get away with it. Oh... Come on! it's funny and you know it!
THAT'S RIGHT THE BRIDE HAS HER VERY OWN TARDIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We packed up our belongings from the basement and separated into two parties. The groomsmen and groom party took the Bride to The Brass Rail for a drink and me and the rest of the bridal party took the groom to Patty O'Neil's which is inside the historic Alex Johnson Hotel in downtown Rapid City, SD.
I had been in the outfit for over 3 hours and needed to pee and knew I was not equipped to hold my skirt up on my own. One of the other bridesmaids went with me to the restroom in the hotel lobby. I opened the door and walked in on some poor tourist taking a squat. Oops......
We closed the door and waited in the hallway for her to finish. Another tourist was standing there waiting for her. Her husband or boyfriend I assumed.
He looked at us strangely and became rather excited. Apparently he had been trying to explain what Steam punk is to the women in squatter for quite some time and she just couldn't understand what he was saying. He begged us to stand still when she came out so that he could have her look over our outfits.
It definitely made an awkward situation even more awkward. There really is no way else to describe it.
Finally after being relieved I realized everyone else had their drinks except for us. Me and the other drink less bridesmaid made our way back into the lobby to the ATM and got me some money to use.
Walking back towards the bar we came across some more tourists at the front door coming in. German tourists who were laughing at our outfits and commented about the beautiful rain. At least that's what we "think" they said.
Finally we got our lemon drop shots and clinked glasses with everyone and drank.
Before I knew it; it was time to leave and head up to the reception hall off of Catron Blvd.
I called my boyfriend and told him to make sure everyone at The Brass Rail knew it was time to go and to come pick me up so we could ride together. While I was waiting for him we had one of the front desk ladies take our picture in the Alex Johnson lobby in front of the mini grand piano.
While sitting on the bench I fought the urge to jump out of my skirt. The Alex Johnson has a reputation for being haunted. The 8th floor specifically and I had not been in the main part of the hotel since before I quit working there after having to clean rooms on the 8th floor for a week by myself.
I made it through the pictures and got out of the building as quickly as I could. I shook the tingly sensation off.
On the ride up to the reception hall I discovered from my boyfriend that my best friend (the bride) was given 4 very nasty shots, but that he thought she was fine.
OH NOOO!!!!!!!! I thought. I explained to my boyfriend that she is not okay and that she's gotta be trashed out of her mind.
Sure enough.v We barely got inside and the rest of the grooms party hauled her in. She was seven sheets from the wind. The groom's mom was in a rage and so was the groom.
One of the groom's aunts helped the drunk bride to a bench to sit down while another made her a sandwich and brought her coffee to help bring her down. The groom stood by carefully not to get in his aunts' way.
The groom's mother had the groomsmen in the corner and was giving them a royal ass chewing.
I eventually made my way over to the bride and was beckoned to sit down. I sat with her and listened to her ramble happily for awhile and finally helped her up and sat her elsewhere.
The first guests to arrive got to see her completely hammered. Finally about and hour later she was fine. Instead of drinking wine for the toasts she filled her glass with
Mountain Dew.
Everyone ate and speeches were made. I excused myself from the bridesmaid table and went out for a cigarette. I smoked as quick as I could and made my way back inside only to be caught up in the middle of the largest Nerf gun fight ever! I quickly put my goggles on and searched for a weapon.
I found one, but it didn't want to launch correctly.
I finally gave up and let everyone fire upon me with out shooting back.
Eventually the fight ended. *phew* I was safe.
The rest of the night was pretty standard. The bouquet was tossed. The guarder was flung. Dollar dancing pursued.
Around 7pm I was so burnt out and couldn't handle anymore.
I helped back up the wedding gifts into the brides car. Wished everyone well and me and the boyfriend went home.
......About an hour later......
My cell phone went off. The maid of honor was calling. I answered.
Apparently the brides cellphone and wallet which she had given me was missing.
*great*
I explained that the wallet was sitting next to my purse on the bridesmaid table. She looked and didn't find it.
I told her to check with the groom and everyone else in case the bride in her drunken state had given it to someone else to hold or to put in her backpack.
........10 minutes later.........
My purse begins to vibrate. At first I thought it was my phone. Then I realized it was sitting next to me.
*CRAP*
I opened my purse and found the brides wallet and phone.
Someone must have thought it had fallen out of my purse and crammed it in there. *lovely*
So I called the maid of honor back to let her know that I have it.
"It was on the table not in your purse. I saw it sitting there. Someone must have thought it was yours and shoved it in there." She said.
I agreed. She said she would contact the groom and let him know where it is. I turned the ringer on and set the phone down just in case someone would call it.
Next morning the bride called it with her husband's phone.
I answered and explained what I could to her. Her only gripe was that
the maid of honor didn't call telling them where it was and she thought someone had stolen he phone and
wallet.
WHAT AM I DOING NOW ?????
I am still trying to adjust to nighttime work hours while fighting off some pretty wicked seasonal allergies.
The other day I had to stay home from work because my fibromyalgia flared up so back that I couldn't walk.
The boyfriend and I are trying to sort through his stuff as much as possible for the rummage sale and are trying to find a storage unit to but his things in since he is no longer able to keep his belongings in his friend's shed.
Instead of writing or playing Halo at night I have been getting caught up on TRUE BLOOD season 3.
I finally finished just the other night and have started watching season 1 again.
I am also trying to get things done around the house so that my television can be moved into a different location so that I can get my satellite TV vendor account through my work set up in time to catch the first episode of season 4, which airs June 26th.
Busy, Busy like a Bee.....
My name means Honey Bee.
and...That's all she wrote :)
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