Aimee, I'm sorry Michigan is being less than ideal for you guys. I remember how much you had looked forward to moving back, and being near family, and raising Em near family. Does that help at all? (The being near family, that is?)

Aimee, I'm sorry Michigan is being less than ideal for you guys.

Thanks, babe.

Does that help at all? (The being near family, that is?)

It truly does. Most of the time. It's nice that Em can ask to see Grammie and Poppy and I can take her there. It's great that She knows her extended family.

But where we had the money to fly to Michigan to visit before, we don't have the money to fly back to California to visit. Which, to us, is just as important.

Aimee, can you hop on IM for a minute?

I can't. I'm at work and don't have IM.

aconat @ gobeal dot com is my direct email though.

Sorry to always be bringing the depressing but I have 2 icky questions:

1.) Has anyone heard of the Neptune Society? They apparently do cremations for less $$ than mortuaries, but we want to make sure they are a legit business.

2.) We will (eventually) need to arrange for a memorial service that is not affiliated with a church. How does one go about that?

Has anyone heard of the Neptune Society? They apparently do cremations for less $$ than mortuaries, but we want to make sure they are a legit business.

I have and they have a pretty good reputation from what I hear.

GC, we had the memorial service for Rob (Z's dad) through the mortuary - they took care of everything. I'm sure there are other service providers - if you like, I can poke around for you. I remember for a memorial service in Fairbanks for a pilot, they just rented a hangar and put photos of the pilot up everywhere.

Aims, insent.

Mortuary would probably be fine. GF was talking about this stuff this morning and I told her I'd look around. She's at the hospital again today. Her dad is doing the same (bad off, but not worse than before), but he had a seizure yesterday. They did a CAT scan and there wasn't any damage, but it was traumatizing. And now I'll move to happier topics.

Co-worker brought in vanilla/orange cupcakes with chocolate frosting. What a yummy breakfast!

Welcome to the world, Frisco! He's super cute, Stephanie as is Ellie!

{{{GC & GF}}} I'm sorry that things have been so difficult. I do love the picture you posted of the two of you.

Aimee, it sounds like the smackdown was well deserved.

I think TCG and I are most definitely going to go with eloping (unless we change our mind again) and let Mom throw us a small party after. The idea of being the center of attention all day really freaks me out to much and the cost of a big wedding is crazy (for us) considering what we really want are kids and a house sooner rather than later.

So now I need to find a wedding dress that will not look out of place for an inn wedding or for a brunch party afterward, but is still fancy enough to fulfill my childhood dreams of a pretty, white wedding dress.