kt bonecrusher

For the most part, I will be updating my blog on my domain from now on:  http://www.ckrobinson.net/katie

We came back to Farmville to an 87 degree apartment and a broken fridge.  Luckily, Sunchase has 24 hour emergency maintenance so a guy came over within an hour.  I guess our auto defrost in the freezer quit working so the cool air to the fridge stopped.  Hopefully that will all get fixed tonight so we can buy some groceries.  We have nothing to drink.

Our wedding pictures came in today, but they are too big for our mailbox.  Tomorrow we'll have to pick them up from the office.  Also we broke down and subscribed to Netflix.  We don't have cable and since we graduated, we can no longer get movies from the library.  I'm not sure if they'll even let me check out books since I don't have a Farmville address on my license.

I'm glad to be back in Farmville.  The apartment is cozy and lots of nice memories run around here.

Wednesday is another job interview for Chris!

Today
has
been
exhausting.

Two hours in the social security office cramped with people that looked like they were either a. drunk or b. suffering from crack withdraws.  Both may have been true.  It was kind of entertaining at some points and other times very sad as I heard the stories of people's lives.  I feel very blessed after today.

Then we took Mr. Rufus to the vet for her annual check up.  The vet said everything was fine.  I figured that she was okay since she hasn't had any problems, but it's good just take her in to make sure.  Abed-nego's annual check up is coming soon as well.

Final good-bye dinner with my parents...  Christopher and I met Patrick at Starbucks and then bought some things from our registry at Bed, Bath, and Beyond.  We didn't have to get much, just some dishes, pots, and towels.  Now Christopher and Patrick are playing with Word Press.  We have put together a domain and will be moving our livejournals/blogs over there within the next handful of days.

Tomorrow:  back to Farmville!  There we will be doing lots of reading and writing and running and walking around town and watching movies (maybe) and webpage editing.  Now that all of our errands around Tidewater are taken care of, we can start feeling like an actual married couple.

Christopher and I deposited all of our wedding present money today and of course the same day we had an unexpected, large expense.  My gas light came on a couple of months back and went off a few hours later.  It happened twice.  I couldn't take it in right away, because the closest VW dealership in Farmville is over an hour away.  I took my car to a local place once when my window fell off its track in the snow (great night, let me tell you) and they ended up screwing up the air bags.  Everyone kept telling me that the gas light was probably the weather change or moisture, but I wanted to get it checked it out anyway.  You know, just in case.  Good thing, because it was a heat censor in my engine.  $428 later, things are fixed.  It sucks to save and save and not buy little things that you want and then lose money on what seems to be nothing.  Cars cost money to maintain and I'm glad that I don't have more problems with it.

Other than that, I spent the day helping people order wedding photos.  My mom had a lot to order for people and then Chris and I helped his mom order over the phone.  Natchez showed us a site to order prints through instead of making a profit off of them himself.  We are getting 4 x 6 prints for 19 cents from mpix.com.  We have about 250 photos up that were taken by Natchez and some of my relatives.  The only downside is that I can't make the album public.  However, I can send email invites to people who want to see the photos.  If anyone is interested, then leave your email address as a comment and I'll send it.

Last night Chris and I felt too cramped for too long so we went out.  We walked around Target and bought some more thank you notes.  Then we headed over to Barnes and Noble where we used a gift card to buy Kent Haruf's Eventide, which is the sequel to Plainsong.  We read Plainsong in Dr. Challender's Contemporary American Lit class and it was one of Christopher's favorite novels from the semester.  We were able to get Eventide in hardcover for $5.  I wasn't as big of a fan of Plainsong really...  It was trying to get you to say, "That's cute and funny."  I'm a little too heartless for all that so it kind of failed in sorts for me.

Leonard Cohen's first book of poetry is being reprinted for its 50th anniversary.  I wanted to get it, but it was $20.  I'll see if it comes to paperback or maybe I'll check amazon.com.


Tomorrow is Mr. Rufus' vet appointment.  Then Friday morning we're heading back to Farmville until we move.

Christopher's interview went really well, he said.  A lady in the office said he looked like Ashton Kutcher.  He gets that a lot.  It's strange.  I'm trying not to get excited about anything until it's final.  Moving to Richmond would be kind of nice.  Chris really wants to teach and it would be the quick way of getting him there.  At the same time, it would be better if Chris could get a teaching job around Lynchburg so I could go to school and that's where we want to end up anyway, but the Bedford position doesn't close until late July.  We really can't wait that long.

I feel so lame these days.  I have to stay in Chesapeake for another few days, because
       1.  my car is being a little strange and there is no Volkswagen dealership in Farmville.  I need to get that taken care of here.
       2.  Mr. Rufus needs to go to the vet and her vet is in Virginia Beach.  Nothing serious, just her annual check up.  There isn't a bunny specialist in Farmville.
       3.  I need a hair cut.
       4.  I need to go to social security.

Chris and I are rather inactive these days.  We think of going places, but everything costs money.  We have a good amount saved up, but he doesn't feel right about spending it on entertainment until we have at least his job set up.  I hating worrying about money.  It feels like combating with nature since at this point I don't have much control and I clearly have a history of not doing well with battling the elements as I lost the weather battle on my wedding day.

Back in Farmville for the night...  Walking up the stairs to my apartment door with sleepy eyes reminded me of this past year, all the sleepy nights with my hair unattractively pulled back.  I graduated a month ago and I've been too busy to really take it in.  I feel so nostalgic already.  I miss having 7 professors to impress and a GPA to maintain.  I have had a lot of good times in this apartment and I don't mean drunk night wahoo kind of fun.  I mean good conversations with friends, realizations, and late night essay writing and book readings.  Our lease expires August 8th.  I don't want to let it go.

We came up, because tomorrow we plan to get up early and drive to Bedford county (30 minutes west of Lynchburg) so Chris can personally drop off some applications.  Then drive back through Lynchburg so Chris can personally hand in a form that Liberty lost.  Then drive out to Hopewell High School (about 25 miles from downtown Richmond) so Chris can interview at 2 pm.  After that we will drive back to Chesapeake to stay for a few days.  Chris' mom mailed his Praxis scores to my house and he needs them for more interviews.  Today we picked up our marriage license and next week I need to go by social security to get my name changed.

Man, I have missed this apartment.  It smells funny, because somehow we left a fruit or vegetable in the fridge.  This fruit or vegetable is now liquid and I have no idea what it used to be.  I can't wait to get back to living here again so I can clean it all up and organize the random things that are sitting around.

It has been a crazy past couple of days.  I canceled my Monday interview with New Kent, because there was only one position and Chris really wants to teach.  I'd much rather him get it than me...  I am not so much into the idea of teaching and so there's no use in competing with Chris for a job I don't want and he would love to have.  He also has an interview this Friday with another school system.  We're finally getting calls back!  So where will we live?  I don't have a clue anymore, but I guess it's probably down to Richmond or Lynchburg.

I'm so confused about life right now.  I have no idea what is going to happen.  Things are no clearer than they were a year ago.  I must seem so unrealistic.  I thought when we got back from the honeymoon that we'd progress in the direction we had planned.

Well, I got the Graduate Student Assistantship and all, but things came up.  Trying to live off two stipends would be just too tight.  We don't want to have to take out more student loans if we can avoid it.  I don't have any loans and Chris has very few at a very low interest rate.  We're very blessed in that area and I want to get out of debt as soon as possible.  I had been excited for Liberty to work out, because it was such a great deal.  I love school and learning, so it would be good to go ahead and get my masters degree.  I didn't know if I'd ever be able to go back to school once I started working full time.  Plus in Lynchburg we'd be able to live off of one income eventually so I could stay home with our kid[s].  It could still work out so I can go to grad school, but we have to wait and see.

After being pretty disappointed with that, Chris and I both got phone calls from New Kent Middle School wanting to offer interviews for a teaching position.  I'll be interviewing on Monday.  That was a surprise.  We had submitted our applications at a job fair back in January.  I thought that job fair had been rather futile, but I guess not.  New Kent is about 25 miles from down town Richmond, so we could commute rather easily.  It feels so strange, because it was unexpected and a totally different direction than what we were planning.  It would be interesting to not be a poor college student anymore and Chris really just wanted to teach in the end anyway.  I hope he gets the job.  I really, really do.

I hate getting excited for things and then having them not work out.  I'm incredibly frustrated right now.  I've been feeling this for so long and I just want to fast forward a couple of months so I could know what to expect.  I'm glad we have options, though, even if nothing is completely solid at this point.  At least there are options.

UPDATED JUNE 11:  I added more pictures under the section that my Uncle Doug took.  Sorry if I'm being obnoxious.  I'm just pretty excited to have pictures and some people were unable to make it and I think they'd like to see.

Christopher and I are sitting in a Hampton Inn in Florence, South Carolina watching some cheesey program on MSNBC.  You know, the "documentary" on good boy gone psychotic.  This is something my grandma would watch.  We have stopped here on the way back from Florida in order to break up the long drive.  The honeymoon was really nice.  We stayed in a nice place with a kitchen, den, and bedroom.  The resort had five pools and a lake that we went swimming in.  Chris has some pictures from the honeymoon on his photobucket.

Now the honeymoon is ending and it is time to get back to real life.  We are in the process of setting things up for our new life together, which is quite exciting.  I don't really believe that we're married yet.  Maybe after I filled out some paperwork to change my last name then it will be more real or perhaps seeing more wedding pictures will help.  Our photographer is still working on the official  photos, but my dad emailed me some pictures my Uncle Doug took...



After three years of dating, Chris and Katie are finally married.  I am very blessed to have met the boy whom I didn't think could exist...and then he decided it would be okay to marry me.

I had the most chaotic wedding ever.  Well, the evening before the wedding we had to change the ceremony to the Lesner Inn so we called everyone on the guest list to let them know.  Darn that tropical storm Barry.  I had no idea what to expect when I arrived the morning of the wedding.  All I knew was that Chris was freaking out when my dad called him in the morning and the general manager at the Lesner Inn asked for permission to modify the floor plan as she saw fit.  Everyone kept trying to comfort me, but it kind of made me freak out more.  When I walked in the room and saw Chris waiting for me, everything felt better.  They managed to set up an aisle and almost everyone was seated.

Things were going better until AJ forgot to have my dad sit down and so he ended up staying there too long.  Then Patrick (a groomsman) passed out and landed on the amp that was microphoning the banjo and guitar played.  This caused it to sound like thunder and someone helped him up and took him away to eat some crackers.  All I could think was, "Is he having a seizure?  Is he alive?  What else could go wrong?"  He said he felt bad, but I didn't care really.  It will make the video seem rather strange, but I was mostly just concerned about him getting hurt.  Then during communion I guess I was supposed to say "Body of Christ, broken for you," when I gave the bread.  Instead I said variants of "Here you go," while Chris said, "Blood of Christ, poured for you."

So, it made for a very memorable wedding.  Afterward we got a lot of pictures and I had a lot of fun.  Lindsay put some pictures on facebook of the wedding, so if you have an account then you can go look.

We planned this thing for a year and went over every detail.  After all the arguing with Botanical Gardens, we didn't even end up using the garden aside from the rehearsal.  I think that is rather funny.  Everything was different than we had planned, but it ended up very nice and I don't think it could have been more perfect even with all the funny mess ups.

Thanks to Tropical Storm Barry we had to move the ceremony to our reception site instead.  The Lesner Inn is beautiful, but they won't be able to set up chairs with an isle and all.  Instead everyone will be seated at tables or standing.  Kind of sucks, but that's the risk you take with an outdoor wedding.  Oh well...  The important part is the fact that I am marrying Christopher.

Happy birthday to Abed-nego!  Our puppy is a year old today.  I'd like to take him to visit his mom or something.

Chris made it back alive from West Virginia, but I have to say good-bye again as he goes to stay tonight and tomorrow night with his parents.  Someone at his dad's church let them have their condo on Shore Drive for the weekend.  Today we are running some final errands and picking up the tuxes.

Yesterday Chris spent most of the day helping my dad fix the pool pump.  Then he, my cousin Tony, and I went to the beach at night.  The moon was huge and full.  I hadn't seen the beach look so nice in a long time.  Abed-nego chased the crabs and we drank Slurpees.

The TA thing is taking a lot longer than it was supposed to.  They said it was fine to fax our applications, but then a week later Human Resources wanted our originals before they began the background check.  It's taking a while.  Arg.

The chance for rain on Sunday is down to 30% and the scattered thunder storms are now isolated thunder storms.  I'm really happy about this.  I had dinner with Truly and Liz at Olive Garden around 4:30 pm and then we went to a couple of stores.  After that we came back to my house to be girls...  We showed Truly how to curl her hair since I'm having all the brides maids wear their hair down and curly.  Then Liz and Truly experimented with my make-up, because I'm really not too good with it.  Truly stayed until about 10:00 pm, which was great.  I haven't seen her that long since...well, probably a year ago when we went to visit her in Richmond.  This past year whenever we were able to make it to Richmond she always had to work and we couldn't stay long.

Liz stayed until a little after midnight and we had some good talks....  about relationships, different churches we've visited, God, the past both good and bad.  All that.

Well, I have a lot of cleaning to do, errands to run, and I must pick up my wedding gown.  4 more days.  Unreal, but I think it's starting to feel a little closer.  Not like 4 days close, but more real.  Before I couldn't believe it at all.

Chris left early this morning for his bachelor party....  A three day camping and white water rafting trip in the mountains of West Virginia with Jake and Ryan.  He called when they got there and I guess they were playing a game where no one is allowed to say my name.  And they say bridal showers are silly....

Liz and I had dinner at Panera and then went on a hunt for a guest book pen.  It was incredibly too hard.  I just wanted a kind of fancy little pen, but not a feather pen.  We went all over the place and finally found one that would do.  Tomorrow Liz, Truly, and I are having dinner.  It's not too often that I see them, especially not together.

Tomorrow will be one week until the wedding.  We went to the garden to see if the wild flowers had bloomed yet.  Two weeks ago they hadn't.


However, the bad news is that weather.com is calling for scattered thunder storms.  That can change, right?  Pray the rain away!

It is 5:25 pm and I just got out of the shower about 10 minutes ago.  I have spent almost the whole day outside being yard assistant for my dad and Chris.  My dad was fixing water pipes that some hooligans broke.  I guess random kids ran through our backyard one night, jumped our fence and in the process cracked some pipes?  Chris mowed the lawn and then ripped up some holly bushes so my dad can plant an herb garden.  I will do my best to never own holly bushes.  They are painful and mean.  My job was to make sure that the dogs stayed away from Chris while he was using the ax, help change trash bags, wash the pool slide, and help restore our water system.

I tried to stay in the shade as much as possible, but I got a nasty sun burn on my shoulders anyway.  Katies do not tan.  It is impossible.  I am in search for some aloe, but no success.  Burns are no good when you are getting married in two weeks.  Plus my face is broken out awfully and it is making me feel not so pretty.  I got on birth control about a year ago, because the doctors couldn't find anything else to help my acne.  It worked great, but for some reason every now and then it explodes.  This makes me sad, because I should be out of this phase.  I'm almost 21 and no one else in my family has this problem.

My room is almost completely packed away.  I threw out things I had been holding onto for no reason other than memories...  Things like my Monkichi tee shirt.  I've had it since I was 10, but it just sits in my closet.  No real reason to keep it....  I'm not a little Katie anymore.

I got my TA application in today.  The guy said my application looked good, but I won't know for sure until my background check goes through.  That could take up to two weeks--but I know nothing is going to get messed up due to the background check.  I'm a clean Katie.  Christopher is going through this whole process as well and applying for jobs at the same time.  We could make it on two stipends and working part time jobs, but it'll be tight.

I hadn't planned on going to graduate school originally, because I knew we couldn't afford it.  I wanted to get my masters eventually and thought maybe I'd go part time while working later on.  At the same time, I didn't think I'd actually be able to do it in the end.  Then this came out of no where and really is a great opportunity.  I'll get a free education plus experience teaching.  I plan on taking my time with this instead of plowing through like undergrad.  I'll take 3 classes a semester and then TA for 2 sections.  I'll graduate in 2 years.

This has really been a big blessing.  Nothing else felt quite right.  Chris and I have felt a great deal of peace with this so I ended up turning down an interview a month ago for a tech writing position.  We both believed that God wanted us to try this route instead.  I'm glad it has all worked out.

An update on school stuff...
I received an email from Longwood urging me to buy photos of myself at graduation.  The photo of me accepting my degree came out nice, but then when I posed after I got off the stage, I looked like I was falling backward.  Weird.  I think I was on a hill...  Here is the good shot.  They wouldn't let me see it bigger.



I never reported my grades...  Five B's and two A's.  I worked darn hard and I'm pretty happy with myself.

On the way to Farmville for graduation, we had this discussion in the car.
Chris:  Farmville is nice, but the land that would be good for parks is privately owned.
Chelse:  I don't get how people can own land.
Katie:  That was very native American of you.
Chelse:  But really, I don't get how you can be like, "I own that rock."
Katie:  Well, Chelse, you can own the earth and still all you'll own is earth until you can paint with all the colors of the wind.

One more school update...  Today I got accepted to graduate school.  Next I apply for a TA position, which means I would teach two college freshmen composition classes a week and in exchange get free tuition and a stipend.  Hopefully we'll know within a week.

My family from Minnesota will begin arriving next Wednesday.  I am trying to clean up and pack away things in my room.  I'm sort of a pack rat as in I don't want to throw away things that might mean something later on.  I'm holding onto my letters and photographs, but trashing little things that don't mean much.  It is quite hard.  I looked through an old photo album that my grandma gave me.  It contained photos from my aunt Lela's wedding, my aunt Wanda's wedding, and my mom's wedding.  Both Lela and Wanda died young.  I wish that I could frame many of the photos--especially one of my grandfather standing with my mom, aunt Wanda, and aunt Pam.

The lady who cut Chris' hair kind of left the back looking funny.  For some insane reason Chris gave me the scissors to fix it.  He trusted me and I really did a good job.  I guess it's not too hard to do a normal boy cut, but I've never cut anyone's hair before so I was happy with it.

I've been told that my uncle Bunky (who is actually my great uncle) bought me fancy French perfume for my wedding present.  I was then told that I wouldn't like it and that it smells like old ladies.  Uncle Bunky is married to a French lady that he met when he was in France during World War II, so they like to give things like perfume for weddings.  He worked for the CIA and likes to preach the importance of education.

I hate waiting for jobs to call back.  Gaaah.


Uncle Bunky with his wife Andre and their two kids.


My grandpa with my mom in front, aunt Wanda in back with aunt Pam in front.


Chris squinting with his new hair cut.

I had a rather pleasant Mother's Day--of course, it doesn't really matter since I'm not a mom.  My mom wanted to have my grandmother and sister over for french toast and fruit.  My mom always put everyone before her and at times people take advantage of that, so I wanted to take care of things for her.  The night before (at about 1 am since the concert ran so late), Chris and I bought the food supplies, left a potted flower on the counter for her to find, and I made all the food in the morning.  I also gave her a So Doku book, because she has been getting into those things lately.  I wish I could give her something better, but I don't have an income so everything I buy comes out of my savings....which is dwindling and that is not good.

Chelse had to leave a little early so she could sleep for work and my grandmother ended up staying until 3 pm or so, just sitting around and talking.  Sydney also stayed since Chelse had to go, so my grandmother was able to spend a good amount of time with her.  After she left, we called my grandmother in Minnesota and put her on speaker phone.  Chris kept trying not to laugh due to her thick Swedish accent.  He said he hadn't expected that even though her maiden name was Hans and her husband also came from a family of Swedish background.

We all stayed up until 11 pm (unheard of for my mom) going over a budget for Chris and I.  Looks like it will be tight, but we plan to tithe so I know it will work out.

Yesterday Chris got all his hair cut off reluctantly for a job interview.  He was pretty sad about it, but I guess it had to happen eventually.  We met Liz for coffee and then Truly and Jason for dinner at Plaza Azteca.  I love that I am able to eat there for $3.50.  We came home and I fell asleep on the couch.