Grace-ful- knowledgeable about Grace Fullnot or msgracefulnot.com
On Saturday evening, I mentioned that there would be a contest today. In case you did not see the previous post, let me explain the terms here.
Please do not post any answers to the questions until Sunday, September 6th between 9 and 3pm central time so that more people have a chance to enter.
When answering a question, please include information as to where you found the answer (post name, guess, etc) *If you have the time, this part is not necessary to win.
Here are the questions:
How old am I?
Why did I select msgracefulnot as the name of my blog?
How long have I had MS?
What is the “address” of my advice to those diagnosed video?
What is the name of the disease modifying drug I am on for Mulitple Sclerosis?
How do I refer to my daughters in my blog? Can you tell me why?
Which of those sweet little demons did I leave at the store?
Name at least 3 places I have traveled to via plane in the last 2 years.
How many times have I been in a boot for a broken foot? (this is a trick question, even I don’t know the answer)
What is the most annoying symptom of MS that I deal with? Please list at least 2 treatments I have tried.
Do you remember my German Shepherds name?
One of my happiest memories from 2018?
What do I call my significant other?
What are my grandsons names?
Do you remember how we met or how you found msgracefulnot.com?
What is your favorite post that I have written?
What 2 three letter words, or acronyms, internet slang do I use the most? Can you tell me what they mean?
Bonus points if you share this post on social media, and share the location you posted to!!!!!!
This is a “freebie”… If you are a blogger, can you create a post with links to past posts you that you have written that you feel would give a new reader a good sense of what your blog is about? If you do I will share the hell out of it….FREE ADVERTISING HERE!!!!
If you are the winner, which rose would you like? With or without stem?
The winner will receive their choice one of the above pictured roses that I printed with my 3d printer mailed directly to their home or office. (more about 3d printing to come)
If I told you that I don’t worry about my daughter, you would probably think that I was a monster, but I don’t. I honestly, don’t “Worry” about her at all. Now LOVE her?. That is a completely different story! Of Course I do!!!
TO THE ENDS OF THE UNIVERSE and then some.
Have you ever gone to a wedding and felt like YOU were the guest of honor? (Your own wedding doesn’t count) I’m still not sure HOW she pulled it off, but I think everyone who was there that day will agree that it was an honor to be included in HER DAY.
I think I have to try to “stick to the facts” when I talk about Thing One’s Wedding. My usual words like Fuck, Shit, and Damn have no place in this story, …..yet WONDERFUL, MAGICAL, FAIRYTALE, and PERFECT, really don’t scratch the surface. To say I am Proud would be an understatement. Honored seems hollow, however, MY HEART IS FULL!!!
Friday, March 9, 2018
Einstein and I arrived at Thing One, and her fiancee’s house at 10 am. The hotel and venue were two hours away, and we told Thing One that we would be her “beck and call people” for the day. “Just tell us what you need kiddo, and it’s done.”
She handed me the schedule for the next day to look over, and the book that would be used to hold the officiant’s notes for the ceremony, asking me to remove the sticker from the cover. Truly, trying to get that damn sticker off with fake nails was the most difficult thing I had to do. I called the hotel, and asked if we could check in early because we were so ahead of schedule. The coordinator said, “Yes we have yours and your daughter’s room’s ready, Come on in.”
Because so many people were coming from out of town, Thing One had reserved a block of 25 rooms for her guests. She didn’t tell us that she had used hotel points to upgrade us to a suite. Believe it or not, our suite was not even half the size of the kids suite!!!
The guys made quick work of unloading the cars, and then the four of us went to lunch at the hotel’s restaurant while we waited for the venue to open so we could start decorating.
We ate lunch, drove the mile to the venue, and began carrying the totes full of decorations inside. When we opened the doors to the banquet room, everything froze. I looked at my daughter’s face as she saw that The Banquet hall had not even begun cleaning up from prior evenings event. It only took ONEtear rolling down my daughter’s cheek for me to launch into Lieutenant mode.
Wait a minute Grace, I thought you said EVERYTHING was perfect?
No, I am not a masochist, but I am a “fixer”!!!!
FINALLY, something that I COULD DO to help!!!!!!
My daughter has her own army
The entire bridal party came to help clean and decorate. Within a couple hours, the hall was mostly decorated and we were able to begin the wedding rehearsal. I’ve never lead a rehearsal before, so it did take a couple of “run-throughs” before I got that part right. But all in all, it was ALOT of fun. We all left the venue and headed to a local pizza place for dinner. Hours of good food and company!
When the evening was over, Einstein and I were sitting in our room talking about how proud we were of Thing One and her fiancee. They are both incredibly strong, intelligent, and outgoing people. They have both put in a lot of hard work to achieve their dreams, and the love and respect they share for each other can be felt for miles. As we were getting ready to sleep…. Thing One texted me….
“Mommy, open your door?”
I looked at the clock, sure enough…… 11 O’ clock on the dot!!!!!
I know that I said I was going to stick to the facts and leave emotions out of this story, but here’s the thing… For as long as I can remember all of the “heartfelt, tearful, world changing” conversations that occur between THING ONE and I have always begun at 11 pm. Her choice, not mine. She had told me a couple days prior to this that she had a letter she wanted me to read at the rehearsal dinner. I gave her 10,000 excuses why we didn’t need to do THAT, and thought I had managed to avoid it.
But here they were at 11 O Clock, using the word, “Mommy”…..
For all you sadists out there…..
Yes I read the letter. NO not on video. Yes I do cry and here is the picture to prove it…..
Saturday, March 10, 2018
The morning started with Breakfast in Thing One’s Room. The make up ladies, showed up to her room soon after.
Thing One, let me go first so I could make a “break for it” ( I don’t do good with a room full of girls being girls), no matter how nice they all are. I also do not sit still very well.
Thing One..BEAUTIFUL
So I got to go first and then was tasked with making sure everything was “Fixed” at the venue and making sure everyone was were they were supposed to be. YAH “busy work”.
I spent the next several hours running between our hotel rooms (the guys were in mine and Einstein’s suite and the ladies in Thing One’s) and the Venue. FTR I only knocked on the wrong room door one time 😛
I took pictures and video to “report back” that everything looked perfect… You tell me?
The Ceremony
Banquet Room
The 3d printed centerpieces and table numbers we made, turned out beautiful as well
As Five O’clock drew near, Thing Two helped Thing One with the finishing touches…
The Bridal party took the shuttle to the venue.
Einstein and I loaded Thing One AND her dress into the car and headed to the ceremony.
(I don’t have any pictures of this yet, but I will share some pictures that have been shared with me from the remainder of the evening below)
This slideshow requires JavaScript.
Now, I hope you can see why I can’t find the words to describe just how perfect the entire weekend was.
Dearest daughter of mine,
As I mentioned before, I do not worry about you. I don’t have to!!!! You are smart, beautiful, caring, determined and independent. You’ve Got this! You posted the picture that I used as a featured image on this page to your facebook page with a caption stating that I was the greatest woman you know. You wrote me a letter that made me cry. (and bought me an awesome “mother of the bride” coffee mug.) In your marriage, you have also given me a “son”. I am so sorry that I’m not good with words, but please believe me when I tell you…..
YOU are the Greatest Woman I know!!!! and having you as my daughter is the GREATEST GIFT of all!!!!
A few months ago, the LAST time I almost had a “mini mental breakdown” from trying to be superwoman ( GRACE, the damn costume does NOT fit) a really great friend of mine said, “Damn it Grace, will you just slow down?!?!? Focus on ONE THING, just one thing at a time!!!” “Yeah, yeah” I replied. ” I got it. (as I added 20 more things to my to do list)
We finished our conversation and she said, “I’ve got it! I am making something for you.” Ok? I didn’t really think much more about it…..
A month later, a box arrived from Florida, ( I live in Illinois)…..hmmmm Not medical supplies, (they come from Texas)…. Not my prescriptions…(THOSE came LAST week) too big of a box to be more bills ( besides that, medical collectors like to use big flashy envelopes so that all your neighbors know you are a slacker)
Duh, Florida! Bones is from Florida!!!!!!!!
She said she was sending you something…..
My mind went back to what I THOUGHT was our last conversation in which we had talked about going thrift shop shopping for an ugly “tiki like” statue.
The side story behind the “Tiki statue”.
Although I have “known” Bones for almost 3 years, we have only ever “hung out” (in person) two times. I live in Illinois, she lives in Florida. We “met” playing an online game on facebook, and it was over a year of talking on the phone, skype etc before we actually met in person. She was supposed to come stay with me for a week in Sept. of last year, even had purchased her airline ticket, but Hurricane Maria hit the day she was supposed to fly out. 😦 So the trip was cancelled.
We tried to find time in our schedules to pick another day, but with the holidays coming and my daughter’s upcoming wedding, we decided to wait and try again next year. To hold ourselves “accountable” we agreed to purchase the ugliest statue that we could find to be left at the other ones house. The only way you could get rid of the statue was to “deliver” it in person to the other one.
So back to the package…..
Why was she sending me the Tiki package? That wasn’t our plan. We were going to pick one out together….. 😦 and it was supposed to be HAND delivered or retrieved…. Hmmmm well I’m just not gonna open it! 😛
The box sat by the door for 2 hours before Einstein pestered me enough to open it.
I’m glad I was sitting on the floor when I did. Fucking tears came out of no where. When I opened the box this is what I saw…..
ONE THING
She had HAND MADE me my very own “One Thing” box to remind me to….. SLOW THE HELL DOWN!!!
Who knew that this woman that lives more than 1000 miles away from me, that I met playing an online game, would become one of the best friends anyone could ask for?!?!?
The box is not only a box to collect my to do lists. Bones did research on why I use the ORANGE ROSE as my blog picture. (Orange is the color for MS awareness and I printed the rose on our 3d printer, when I was feeling especially blah one day to remind myself that there is still beauty in the world) I know….. cheesy, but it works for me. She found images of butterflies, which I didn’t know also represent MS awareness.
Inside of the box she taped the picture of me skydiving that I had posted on my newly created blog’s welcome page. She included cut out One Thing “tags” with a letter explaining that how I was supposed to use this box. She said, ” This is for your LONG list of To-do’s, but…. BUTyou can ONLY place ONE task on each piece of paper.” Of course there were more “rules”, but you get the gist?
Well I’m still doing it wrong……
I THOUGHT I was doing it right, but I was writing tags like the ones on the left, when I probably should have done more like the ones on the right.
Just because the words fit in the box, does not mean they will fit into a day!!!!…smh
Plan BOSTON?!?!? Seriously what the hell was I thinking?!?!? Yep I’m gonna plan a trip with 3 other people all by myself in one day! Doh! I tried, I reached out to everyone to confirm airline selections before booking. I couldn’t reach anyone, but outgoing messages were sent. So let’s start with cleaning the house. I probably should have chosen to vacuum OR dust OR laundry instead of tackling all of the rooms and all of the chores at once....but but…the tag said ONE thing…. and I only wrote ONE THING!!! CLEAN THE HOUSE!!!!!
I did manage to make a lot of progress on the lists on the left, but didn’t actually finish anything except for cleaning the house. ALL OF THE LAUNDRY washed, dried, folded AND put away!!!! All the dishes, vacuuming, dusting, and I even washed the floors and cleaned the bathrooms. As I laid down, (passed out) on the couch, utterly exhausted, I looked at the vacuum cleaner that I had neglected to empty or put away, and started the next day’s list….
The next day…..
I laid on the couch all damn day and most of the next….I was in so much pain.
WHEN will I learn?!?!?!?
I really don’t understand why I push myself so hard. smh I’m sure it has something to do with no longer being able to work outside my house, and self worth and all that, but I KNOW I will PAY for it later, yet I keep doing it.
As Five O’clock drew near, Thing Two helped Thing One with the finishing touches…
Duh, Florida! Bones is from Florida!!!!!!!! 
MS Graceful...NOT! 