Ham Time.

Eight days since my last post. Blech.

I feel a little bit boring lately. I haven't talked to some of my friends in a while and when I call them I feel like I have nothing. to. say. 

Jeff and I went to New York for Easter weekend to stay with the fam. We got there late Friday night and checked out pretty early. Saturday morning Jeff and his dad went golfing, practice for the morning of the wedding. I helped make dinner with Jeff's mom, and while I joked about gender stereotypes in my facebook status, it really was nice. Jeff's mom spends 75% of the time I'm ever at her house cooking or cleaning, so it was nice to help. 

Of course, Jeff's father does his part and has started working on our wedding arch. The story behind this grows and grows. The venue that we're getting married at has an arch they provide, but it's a super-cliche white latticed arch that just wasn't us. So originally I went to the florist, showed them what I did want, and they said "Sure, we can do that. It will cost $500." And that's $500 to RENT. When we were all together over Christmas, Jeff's dad said he thought he could make something similar, and I trust him and roughly 5,000 phone calls and e-mails have occurred since then :)

Jeff's mom has done all the research and they ordered bamboo from California, and got all the wrong sizes. So they re-sent it... and then never charged them for it. Both Jeff's mom and dad have called but apparently the woman at the front desk told them "I know how expensive it is to get married" and isn't making any efforts to correct the mistakes. So we might not be charged, which would be great!

The top bar isn't connected, I just had Jeff hold it up as a reference point, so it's a little crooked.

Jeff's mom will wrap the edges in twine, and they'll stick it in buckets of cement to make sure it doesn't fall over. My mom will sew up some fabric to drape over it and the florist will add some flowers to the joints. A collaborative effort... hours of work for 25 minutes of time! And here, hopefully, is what the finished product will resemble.

I was trying to convince the fam to sell it (as I'm sure there are other brides who don't want to pay $500 to rent something), but Jeff's mom thinks we should put it in our garden so it will be a memory for us. One problem: we don't have a garden. File under: More reasons to buy a house.

Easter lunch was very nice and Jeff and I headed off around 3 p.m. to get home. That sprung a marathon of Friday Night Lights that wrapped up the first season and started us into the second. Some additional thoughts to add to my last post:

1. I can't help but thinking I liked this show better when it was called "Dawson's Creek." Think: Dawson = Half Jason Street/Half Matt Cerasen, Joey = Lyla, Pacey = Tim Riggins, Jen = Tyra. It's all there, minus the football story line.

2. I was a little disappointed they had them win state in the first season. This was probably because they didn't know if they were going to be picked up for another, but I would have liked them to cause some additional drama there.

3. Re: Season 2: I also liked this show better when it was called "I Know What You Did Last Summer." Really?

4. I like the Lyla Garrity "I found Jesus" story line in Season 2. Really in line with her character and an interesting twist I think.

5. Jeff and I have bet a dinner on whether Matt hooks up with the in-home nurse. I say no, Jeff says yes. 

I was thinking where I'd rank this show in line with other series that we've watched on DVD. There are five categories of shows we've watched on DVD.

• Series we watched entirely on DVD and really liked. (Meaning, shows that were already over by the time we got to them): Six Feet Under, Arrested Development, The Office (British). Probably my three faves. 
• Series we watched entirely on DVD and was crap: Oz. I still can't believe we rented this entire series. It was garbage.
• Shows we started on DVD and liked them enough to catch up on the live versions: The Office (American), Extras, 30 Rock, LOST (yeah, we missed season 1 and caught back up in Season 2), Mad Men. Friday Night Lights will go here.
• Shows we started on DVD and didn't like them enough to catch up on the live version: 24 (sorry steve, couldn't make it past season 5), Nip/Tuck (OK, but not great).
• Shows where I didn't make it past the first DVD: The Wire, The Sopranos. Save your outrage for another place. These shows just didn't draw me in.

I also have to share one other tidbit from my time at the Schaibles. So often I find it interesting how another family interacts. They have different humor, different traditions, different roles than my family. Of course, Jeff's family will be my family soon, and I feel part of it already. So I feel OK showing you this picture I found in Jeff's room that cracked me up.

I'm sure you won't find this as funny as I did, but the randomness of this picture and the fact that someone actually purchased it at some point cracks me up. This has to be the poor-man's version of Dogs Playing Poker right? 'Dog standing in front of pool table with hat on.' I inquired about it, and no one remembered where it came from... in fact none of them even recognized it and it was suggested it be thrown away. Tragedy right? :)