Pampering the Jess
Mood:  smelly
I ran out of cleanser for my face a couple of days ago, and ran out of moisturizer yesterday. I've been using Biore, but never was really happy with it. Well, yesterday was payday, so this morning, I decided it was about time I bought myself a little present. Last time I did that was about 6 months ago. I bought 15 pairs of earrings from Claire's. Today I went to Clinique at Herberger's, and got the full treatment. I used Clinique years ago, and liked it, but got into financial turmoil and couldn't afford it anymore. While Jim and I aren't exactly rolling in dough, my check this week was a little bigger than usual (thanks to some overtime). So, I decided to get the 3 step skincare kit, which set me back $57.25. Jim was rather alarmed that I had spent so much on stuff to wash my face with. But, I explained to him that it will last about 6 months. That breaks down to less than 50 cents per day, as compared with his $2.50 per day smoking habit. He quit complaining after that. The only redeeming factor of his continued smoking is it gives me a way to justify spending money on me that I probably shouldn't. I did not, however, splurge on the $17 makeup remover, though I wanted to. Had to draw the line somewhere. :) I don't think I went overboard. I feel kind of bad about spending that much money for skincare, but I look at it as a wedding preparation. I want my skin to look as good as possible, and it's not going to happen if I keep using stuff from Walmart. :)

Am reading the third book in a series of 10. The series is "The Wheel of Time" by Robert Jordan. It's good, if you're into fantasy. He doesn't use the typical words like troll, ogre, that sort of thing. He has those sort of characters, but changed the names of them. It's refreshing. :) Check it out.

Bloggity blog blog
Blog. There, I've done it. Will blog again when something newsworthy happens. Until then, you'll just have to be patient. I don't see the point in reporting that we did laundry yesterday. Because unfortunately, that's the most exciting thing that's happened to me this week. So like I said, you'll just have to be patient. Rest assured that if something happens, I will post as soon as is practical.

Sorry, sorry sorry
Unplanned moratorium, I guess. Not much news. Have Rendezvous with the Boy Scouts this weekend. The very last one. Ever. They're selling Camp Butterfield next spring. I don't know what the reasons behind the sale are, but I'm pretty sure there are politics involved. Other than that, just work eat sleep repeat, with a change up now and then. Trying to stay out of trouble. :)

Dum de dum
Topic: Wedding Plans
I had a stroke of luck, or something. Went to the library last week, and they have a couple of short shelves in the entryway where they have books and magazines that have been taken out of circulation for sale or giveaway. There was a stack of outdated Bride's magazines from 2000 in the giveaway pile. I, of course, grabbed the whole stack and ran, giggling wildly. I have since pored through 6 of them, torn out pictures of dresses I like, and read articles until my eyes crossed. No wonder the dishes are stacked all the way from the counter to the bottom of the cupboards! heh heh (grimace) In the course of said perusing, I have realized that the pattern I bought intending to have made is no longer really what I want. I'm not changing my mind drastically. I'm just considering the practicality of a 2 layer dress. I've found several with the elements I want combined into one dress. In fact I found what is most likely the PERFECT dress. Unfortunately, it was in one of the 5 yr old magazines, and by one of the designers that is no longer as widely spread. (Or so I presume by the fact that there are about a third as many dresses by this company in the current issues.) Today I returned the movies we borrowed on Saturday, and borrowed the 2 most recent issues of Bride's, just to see how the styles have changed. As expected, the things I like are no longer very popular, which will make finding an inexpensive dress off the rack that much harder. But, I still have hope. I plan to go through the David's Bridal website again, and look for something close to my current ideal, which is both similar and different than the picture previously posted. (whee, a bit of alliteration for you poets out there...) If I find another picture that's closer to what I'm looking for, I'll try to put it on here for all o' y'all to look at! :)

I want bells to ring, a choir to sing...
Topic: Wedding Plans
a white dress, the guests, the cake, the car, the whole darn thing. But, unlike Shania, I think EVERYONE needs to know right now. Well, maybe right now is a bit of an exaggeration. Tomorrow would be ok. :) James Ashton Vaughn and I will be joined in holy moley on June 3, 2006. The irreverent event will take place at the Group Lodge in Niobrara State Park. I have a dress design figured out, but have yet to decide the most cost effective route. I have three options: 1. buy off the rack; 2. buy a base dress and make a jacket to go over it; 3. make the whole thing from scratch. Still don't know who is going to do all this magic sewing. I have Andy's phone number, but I am uncertain whether I should trust him. He seems a little flighty, and this is important. It's not a costume for a play, it's a wedding gown. Then again, I guess a wedding is a play of a different kind. Anyway, I digress. We have very few details figured out at this point, but are discussing things on a daily basis. Will update this as often as possible.

Huh, something I just realized. He still hasn't actually proposed...hmmm. Hope he doesn't forget! :)

It's me again, Margaret
Mood:  chatty
Sorry I haven't posted anything in the last two weeks. I've become highly addicted to Neopets, and am spending far too much time doing that than anything else. But, at least I'm staying out of trouble, right? Let's see, what's happened since the second...
On August 7th, Jim and I attended the Vaughn Family Reunion at TahaZouka Park in Norfolk. It was good to see some of the more distant relatives, and some I hadn't met yet. The food was good, but we didn't win any of the door prizes. Oh well. Some excitement when it came to picture taking time, as Jerry's girlfriend tried to decide whether she was welcome in the picture. Maybe she's starting to get the hint that the rest of us don't like her very much.
August 8th, Jim has moved to third shift with me, saving us at least $150 in gas each month because we only have to drive one vehicle. Yay! The prodigal employee Mandy has returned and taken over Jim's former shift.
August 9-14, work, eat, sleep, repeat.
August 15th, Jim's 11yr old son Robert comes to visit for a couple of days. Jess gets burned out of the mommy scene after 4 hours. (Thank God I'm not pregnant. That on top of preteen trauma would probably drive me over the deep end.)
August 16th, bad news from the East Coast. Jim's adoptive father Steve Roy has colon cancer, and it's spreading to his liver. Keep him in your prayers.
August 17th, Jim takes Robert to his first day of 6th grade in Wayne. Jess and Jim meet back at home and collapse into a 5 hour long power nap. We did a couple loads of laundry, had supper, then took a drive out to Grove Lake. Saw an elderly gent there who was on the tail end of a 5 day camping trip. He'd caught 30 decent sized crappie yesterday. He said that should be enough fish to last him and his wife through the winter. I like fish now and then, but not THAT much... :)
Well, that's about all the news that is news up here in Lake Wanahakalugi. See ya next time.

New Quiz
I put a new quiz on my quizzes blog. Not that it matters, because it looks like nobody's done any of the other ones on there. But, if for some reason you're so bored out of your mind that you feel like taking a look, here's the link.

stupid blogger glitch

Short n sweet
Mood:  mischievious
Slept in the new house yesterday. Took a shower too. That's about the most exciting thing that's happened in the past week. Well, that I can talk about anyway. :) Point is, I'm alive, we're moving. Nuff said.

Curses, foiled again!
Well, I called the lady at Camera Concepts on Friday. She said she'd been doing some thinking, and would probably be restructuring the open position. As a result, she won't be making a decision for a couple of weeks. She said she'd call me. Yeah, sure. I'll call her if I haven't heard from her by Aug 1.

On a more positive note, a former coworker of mine will be coming back to work soon. This is very good news, for a couple of reasons. First, I miss the girl, she makes me laugh. Second, she'll take over second shift, so Jim and I will both be on third. This means we'll be able to use only one vehicle, and will be able to afford things like...food...lol. Or an occasional night on the town. The manager says she'll try to make sure Jim still has at least 35 hours a week. So, our budget should stay about the same. The best part about this is that if we're both on the same shift, we'll see a LOT more of each other. Right now, I get home from work at about 8:30am. Jim wakes up (sort of) and talks to me for a little bit. He gets up, and I go to sleep. Later that day, Jim wakes me up to tell me he's going to work, and I get up. I putter around for a while, and I usually end up calling Jim at work. Sometimes, I go and pick up (or fix, God help us both) dinner, and take it to him. Then, at about 10:45, I go to work. Jim comes home about 11:30. So, on a typical day, we spend about an hour together, sometimes up to three. We rarely have days off together, when I have a day off, Jim works my shift. On his day(s) off we see more of each other, but still no more than about 5 hours. How on earth we can call that a relationship, I don't know. But, we're doing the best we can. Things are bound to get better before too long. God willing, they won't get much worse.