Tuesday, May 29, 2007

Country Gal by Vanita Blundell May 23, 2007

This has been a good week- Jim and I have gained a new daughter in-law. We had a great time helping with the wedding- The Hucks were gracious enough to allow us to be a part of the arrangements. Chelsea is going to be good for our family as she is incredibly organized, and we are in great need of some structure. She has been planning this wedding for quite some time. She had told me that she would like to have lights on the ceiling at the Veterans Building, which is where the reception was to be held. I told her no problem. I had several strands of lights - but at Christmas I had to throw most of them away. But I was shopping the after Christmas sales and found net lights. Net lights are used on bushes and trees so you do not have to string lights in and among the limbs. The lights come in 4x 6 pieces. I thought that would work just perfect for the ceiling. I thought and figured - made a call to city hall and asked for the dimensions of the large room in the Veterans Building. Then I figured and thought some more. Since the nets lights were 90% off I bought all they had. The way I figured I had enough to cover the entire ceiling. Since math is not my strong suit I had made an error and I did not have near enough- but Chelsea being easy to work with said that she wanted just a portion of the room lit up and what I had purchased would be just the right amount of light.
Wednesday I thought that while Chelsea was out of town I would start on the ceiling with Jennifer’s help. Now I had planned this all out and the way I figured it would not take too long- after all- we had to do was to unroll the net lights and hook them together and attach them to the ceiling straps. It even looked good on paper- how hard could it be? Well, let me tell you- I did not know that the plugs were all on the same side and only three sets could be connected together. Now that does not sound so bad until you are there and trying to get everything to come out right. Jim was in Dodge with Jeff getting the Tux’s and they called late in the evening to see if we needed anything. I realized that we need a huge amount of extension cords. So they brought home as many as they could. By this time I had nearly destroyed my relationship with Jennifer. We gave up and decided we would have to do the lights another way and I was racking my brain trying to find enough lights for the ceiling-When Jim got home late that night I was telling him how hard it was and he said that he could do it- So the next morning he and Jennifer with the able assistance of our nephew, Jason Blundell, and about 8 hours later had it done- but not without several unkind glares and many unkind remarks. So here is a little hint if you ever want to hang the net lights. Plug them in and make sure that they work- not all of them do even if they are brand new and do not pull them to stretch them in the 4 x 6 rectangle that they are suppose to be and hang them with the lights on, even though they get very warm, they have a tendency to go out for no apparent reason. This may help save your marriage or maybe you will decide not to go with this brilliant idea. I was not sure that my marriage was net lighting proof. But we made it- barely.
Jeff had made plans early this past fall as regards to the rehearsal dinner and he was delighted to tell me that he it all figured out and I would not have to lift a finger- He had talked to the BBQ man and he was going to cater the meal. I was thrilled. Well, the BBQ man is from Greensburg and, well, you know the rest. The BBQ wagon had blown away and even if it had not, the man and his family lost their home- They had more important issues to worry about. We had burgers, hot dogs and chickens breasts on the grill. They were not nearly as tasty as the BBBQ mans food but it filled the bill.
When it was all said and done we were pleased with the results and all we had to do was to enjoy the wedding.
Being the Grooms mother is not as easy as it looks. I have been told that the job of the groom’s mother is to wear beige and keep her mouth shut- I do not wear beige often and I have never been able to keep my thoughts to myself. So what is a mom to do?

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