What yours is mine?

Another habit I probably should break before he comes home:

Our conversation today.

Him- When are you heading over to Leslie's?
Me- Probably around the time the trick or treaters show up since I forgot to buy candy.
Him- Haha, what? Are you going to hide from them?
Me- Yes that will be easy. I'll just hide in my room.
Him- Just hide in your room, huh? By any chance is that next to OUR room?
Me- Dang it!

I have been so use to saying my room, my house, my dogs and I do not mean to!

In other him news, I finally started the infamous "Donut of Misery" today. It read: 94% DONE! What a glorious time to start it :)

No Superwoman Here

While on the phone with him the other night, I mentioned the infamous lawn. I have been insanely busy the past few days (I am not complaining). He said..."Babe, just pay a lawn service". To me, I thought this was so sweet, but I responded with a I'll get to it tomorrow after subbing. I could handle it.

You see I thought I only worked Monday and Tuesday at Curves so Wednesday would give me a exactly 2 hours to cut the grass before heading to my weekly pot luck.

I walked in the door yesterday while talking with my MIL and let out a loud, "Oh no". I smelled poop. I looked into her cage and saw it everywhere. On the wall, cage, bed, rug, kitchen floor. As a few too many other times this deployment, I spent the next hour cleaning, scrubbing, and hosing.

I also received a phone call from my boss. She forgot to mention to me I work Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday evenings too.


I didn't even flinch when I called the lawn service immediately following the phone conversation.

And then sent him an email:

When you come home, I will not deal with poop, vomit, or bunnies for the next entire year.

He emailed me back and said "Deal". I forgot to mention the lawn in our new contract. Dang it!

In the family

My mother did call today and told me that the lump is not cancer, rather a bundle of breast tissue. I probably shouldn't have worried until I heard something more definite, but its my mom. I know a few of you said prayers and I appreciate it greatly.

Moving on to him...

As much as I LOVE talking with him on the phone and as much as I know its a rare occurence to hear his voice, my 10pm phone calls throw off my bedtime!

I can never fall asleep, no matter how tired I am, after I talk to him. I get this sudden burst of energy and it doesn't wear off for hours.

Case and point: 12:13am, wide awake and blogging away.

We had an interesting conversation about power of attorney.

An interesting side story. His mother is his POA and his father is mine. Weird, huh? We were discussing tax returns and the POA subject came up about possibly changing it when he returns.

I do not want to change it to him and he does not want to change it to me.

Its not that we do not trust each other. Goodness, I hope after 10 years we can trust each other. Its more along the lines of stubborness. That is all.

He does not want to be the first to change it and neither do I. He says his mother knows where all of his paperwork is and I smile and agree and say his father knows where all of my paperwork is. He's been doing my tax returns and FASFA since we started dating in 2000. We might be the only married couple who are not each other's POA simply because of pride. His mother often says we act like 5 year olds and this is a very good example of our immaturity.

I think it keeps our relationship young and fun.

Blessings.

Tonight I am feeling rather blessed so I immediately grabbed my laptop to type away. Considering my last blog consisted of dead bunnies and broken legs, I felt to the need to share.

First of all, Super Jeni welcomed another life into the world! She delievered a 9lb baby girl. Everyone is doing fantastic. I was able to visit just hours after her arrival. I loved sitting in the room with her little family.

I called to check on her tonight and the first thing out of her mouth: "How is Dak Dak?". Um, Jeni, you are lying in bed, in a lot of pain and you ask me about my dog?! One of the millions of reasons why I love her and feel incredibly blessed to call her my friend.

And oh yeah...there is this:

On our 9 year anniversay (plus a few days), he begged me to go to the movies while at home. I wasn't particularly feeling the movies so I fought for ice cream instead. He pulled his camaro, his first car still being stored with his parents, out of the garage. I sat inside and turned to him and said, "This feels like our first date". 10 seconds later, he handed me the blue box above. I really don't remember what he said next. The only thing I remembered..."No one deserves this ring more than you. You have made me so proud during this deployment". Apparently he wanted to "propse" at the movies, the site of our first date, but I ruined it. Well not entirely...

And the best part about this ring?

He goes along with it. That is all that really matters.

Back to the Basics

This week and last week I feel I have gone back to the "basics" on a few things...

Him

The past week I have been working on a grocery list for him of his favorite beer, dinners, snacks, etc. And this might sound absurd for someone who supposedly knows him better than anyone, but I find myself trying a little too hard to remember what I use to buy for him.

My friend Leslie mentioned "everything" bagels the other day. I could not believe I forgot his FAVORITE breakfast. See I use to eat bagels all of the time, but stopped buying them once he left.

I hope more come to me in the next week.

My girls

If you follow me on FB, you noticed some of my updates reading "walking the girls" instead of rollerblading. While rollerblading tires them out super fast and we have rollerblading down to a science, they are acutally AWFUL walkers.

My poor mom. Whenever she puts them on the leash to walk, they think they are rollerblading and go darting down the driveway. This past week I rollerblade them in the morning and walk them in the evening. I have seen quite a bit of progress.

I also realized my forearms are ridiculously strong as when I rollerblade and walk my two 60+ puppies, I have no problem controling each of them.

Anyone have any tips to get your big dogs to stop pulling?

Studying/Career

I came to the realization a few months back, I needed to find a "portable" career. While looking ahead at our future, I realized we are going to move 3 times in just the next 5 years. Lovely for someone who wants a perfect sports business related job.

After talking with my parents, his parents, and of course him, I decided to go ahead and get my personal trainer's license and start up my own business. I am actually quite excited about it. I already picked a name, blog, website, and started on my business plan. My family always told me I should go into it since I constantly train them whenever I get a chance. I also have to thank P90X for so many things including new workouts and noticing results after a certain amount of time.

We decided for me to not try and find another job since we were so close to R&R and for me to spend my time studying. I also plan on subbing in the fall for some kind of additional income for this household.

I take the test August 3rd, just a few short days before he is suppose to arrive. I figure it would distract me and I really wanted it all said and done before he gets here.

I am a little nervous and was hesitant to post it on my blog. Afterall, you are suppose to take 3 months to study and I am knocking it out in 1.5 months. I just finished outlining the book and now will take this week to review. So here goes nothing!

The real deal

From the beginning I refused to follow the infamous "Donut of Misery" the first half of this deployment. Seeing such a small percentage would probably depress me.

However, while looking at my calendar today I noticed I am six weeks away from R&R. To make it even more real...tonight I received an email from my best friend and love of my life.

The email? An itinerary for the two of us. We're heading to Coronado (San Diego) for four days.

It is finally starting to feel real. And you bet your little butt I am very much excited!

Looking up...

I swear he is my good luck charm. Today I heard his voice for the first time in about 2 weeks and we spent the entire 20 minute conversation laughing so hard, my mouth started to hurt.

After our conversation, I gained another client at a time where I needed it the most.

And nine years later, our fighting/arguing is at a bare minimum because of honesty and laughter. Before he left, we talked about communication. I said:

I do not care about emails, flowers, or phone calls, just make sure you write on my FB wall once a week to let me know you love me and/or you are alive.

Seems simple enough. Oh its been over a month and of course I let it slide until I saw him writing on one of our best friend's wall for his birthday.

Our first conversation in two weeks started like this after our initial greetings:

Me: So I saw you can write on Brandon's wall, but not mine?
Him: (loud eruption of laughter)
Me: Do not laugh at me. I only asked for one thing before you left (I start laughing)
Him: (continued laughter)
Me: (me yelling his FIRST, MIDDLE, LAST name)
Him: I just wrote Happy Birthday
Me: Well you know you can write that on my wall every once in awhile too

Well he wrote Happy Birthday on my FB wall. We're still 4 months away from my actual birthday, but boy did it make my day.

The laughing did not stop. I shared how Daisy brought a dead bird into the house on Thursday night at 1AM. And how I always kill flies that get into our house with our kitchen towels and now Dakota likes to grab the kitchen towel out of your hand and bury it in the backyard. We think she's confused on whether the towel is the bad guy or the fly.

Or how his dad forgot to pick me up for church on Sunday. And when I walked into church 10 minutes late, he let out his infamous chuckle. No worries, he bought breakfast afterwards to make it up to me.

So after an amazing weekend of laying out at the beach, hanging out with both families, and visiting my alma mater, an amazing phone conversation, and a pretty good day at work, things are definitely looking up.

I hope this lasts for awhile.

Can we laugh now?

So after pacing in my office this morning, I saw my dad's number on the caller ID. He gave me the news...

Her diagnosis: A cat scratched her eye.

Not just any cat, my cat at home. Now before you all laugh at the very crazy dog lady, the doctor did tell my mother and his mother the scratch could have been fatal. Apparently cats carry quite a bit of gross, disease like things in their claws.

The doctor told them it was a blessing we treated Daisy for a UTI (you didn't loose a week and a half of sleep lady) because my dad religiously fed her the antibiotics since Saturday. The medicine pretty much killed all the bacteria and infection from my cat's claws.

I couldn't tell you the relief and thousand pound bricks lifted off my shoulders when I said out loud, "She's going to be OK".

Moving on to the good part. He hates...no, no, no hate is an understatement...he loathes our cat at home. I do not care much for our 15 year old cat because of my allergies. But everyone knows how he feels about the cat.

I will edit the love of my life's response to my news on Daisy. I laughed so hard at work. And I promise you he will not hurt the cat. They are all threats.

We all know I am a avid F.R.I.E.N.D.S. fan so I will replace any swear words with the word candy.

"I am going to kill that mother candy cat.I cannot believe that candy cat hurt Daisy. If she is not dead when I get home I am going to candy put that candy cat in the candy microwave"


That is all folks.

Week Thirteen

13 weeks down on Friday the 13th.

After three days of feeling just down right lethargic and miserable, I do not think I am going to run the half-marathon tomorrow. My tailbone, believe it or not, hurts a lot when its cold outside. Temperatures should reach the high 40s with showers all morning.

I do not feel like pushing it especially since I start work on Monday.

I hate, hate, hate that I am not going to run. I also hate sitting around doing nothing, but even standing for awhile makes me tired.



This week, after 13 weeks, I am starting to "forget" what life with him is like. When he left the walls echoed his name and our memories together filled the air in the house. I hate saying this, but our house now feels like my house. I am falling into a steady routine of life without him.

Not to mention, my current reading selection: The Day After He Left for Iraq by Melissa Seligman

I never thought I would pick this book up and read it, however, with subbing, reading became an addiction. I read two other books (Celebutants by Amanda Goldberg & To Have And To Hold by Jane Green) in less than 3 weeks.

Some chapters I want to shake her and tell her to get it together and other times I think to myself, you poor, amazing Army Wife, trying to survive deployment with 2 young kids and living at Drum with all that snow. Either way, this book really makes me think...

I am glad I am reading it. It shows everyone handles deployments differently. The author writes honestly. However, I think she concentrates more on "poor me" instead of "thriving".

Here I handle deployment with denial and numbness. And to be honest, in 13 weeks, only 2 days stick out in my mind where I thought to myself "I do not want to do this". Seligman, on the other hand, does not deny her feelings, her loneliness, her pain, or her anger at her husband. Her emotions and energy pours over into developing her 2-year old daughter's attitude toward her daddy being at "work".

Oh so many thoughts on this book. I hope to finish it in the next few days.


Besides reading, I did manage to cook something new for our pot luck this week. I love how I force myself to make new things every month. This week our theme was "Soup and Sandwiches" and I volunteered to make the sandwiches.

Instead of the traditional sub sandwiches, I found a recipe for Awesome Grilled Cheese Sandwiches. I finally used my panini press and the sandwiches consisted of mozzarella, roasted turkey, red peppers, and Texas Toast slices.



Being sick does has its perks. I managed to have a two hour conversation with him over Skype, our longest conversations since he left. Sometimes I forget how sweet he is or how lucky I am to be falling in love with my best friend. My best friend who always makes me smile.

While talking about my new job.

Him: I just don't think you understand how good you are
Me: Ha, what do you mean?
Him: You have the body of a porn star, the attitude of a Midwest girl, the drive of a CEO, and more passion than anyone I know and you don't even know it.

I may not get flowers or sweet emails all of the time, but that's ok...

Imperfect persons

You come to love not by finding the perfect person, but seeing an imperfect person perfectly

If we both sat down to write a list of each other's imperfections and then exchanged the lists for the other person to see, we would laugh and agree 100% with what the other person wrote. I guess that is what I love about us, we know each other's "flaws" and actually embrace them or laugh at them.

Well right now, even though he currently lives in a war zone, I could strangle him. You see the love of my life never feels any sense of urgency, whatsoever. He gets to things when he gets to thing.

While looking at houses, I NEEDED a fence for the dogs. He repeatedly mentioned more than once he could build a fence. Of course I laughed in my head and just tuned him out completely. After eight years together, I know him better than anyone. You see it took him nearly six months to unpack the clothes in the corner of our room.

We are slowly learning this whole "joint decisions" mumbo-jumbo. He loves being involved and I absolutely love that about him. However, everything I send for his opinion/approval takes forever. I sent him an email about a month ago to edit, waiting on paint colors, waiting on tax information, etc. Now I am sure his "honey do" list overwhelms him so I refuse to nag.

God really did put me on earth to be his other half because He certainly blessed me with out of this world patience.

The worse part about the distance is my foot cannot reach his rear end to get him moving.

Tomorrow's blog entry...my imperfections :)

A very personal entry.

I do not think I opened up this much before in my blog, but I never, ever want to forget this moment...

After months, no probably years of begging him to start a blog, to write all of his emotions down and reap the benefits I do of expressing all of yourself, he sent me his first entry.

He, like no one else can, put tears in my eyes, tears of happiness.

He is such a beautiful writer, not for the things he writes about me, which I will share, but the way he describes things and truly speaks from the heart. He wrote a long entry, but I picked out bits and pieces to share here.

From the beginning.

I am not exactly sure how to begin. Someone very close to me finds refuge in her words online and the support of a community that I don't really understand but probably should. So therefore I promised her that I would write down some of my thoughts and experiences while I left everything I know and love to go somewhere far away from home and far away from anything I could ever imagine.

So I did the academy thing. Made some great friends, have a ton of memories but that is entirely a whole other topic by itself. So I go back to my decision in high school.

There is someone very important i forgot to mention. MY FIRST, MIDDLE, LAST NAME. Who believe it or not is the basis for many of the decisions in my life. She is beautiful. She is smart. She is emotional. She loves sports and looks great naked so for any man not to be in love with her would be a crime. And as much as tough, bad ass, high school me would like to deny it I was in deep. I don't know why but I was and still am today. But I think I'm doing alright. So anyways she put more thought into my future than I did. I would call it more our future. I didn't think much about my future let alone our future but I did know that she was special and I did know that I was going to do all that I could to make myself happy and not lose her. This was a tough decision but I told her I was going to wp. I don't think either of us knew what it meant or that it would be the decision that kept us together.

So we were part of the two percent and I graduated WP. Like I said before tons of memories, nothing but good times, and countless friendships that would re manifest themselves in the most trying of times. So here is the basis for my story. A few years back I made a decision that would change my life forever. And now I will try to tell the rest of the story.

I arrived at FC about early July with a girl that I was not happy with. I was getting ready to go to war and had so much bitterness and anger towards her. She knew it, I knew it, and I was tempted to say fuck it and just leave it all behind. But, after months of "living the dream" on my own, which was not bad at all, I realized that there was only one thing in this world that made my happy. And no matter how much anger or resentment I had towards her, it could never defeat the love and memories and connection that we have. The reason this is important is because that day I regained my clarity, my good luck charm, my best friend, and my smokin hot girlfriend.

So I let my anger go and focused on the future for us and for me.

Now for the Afghanistan part.

Nothing can prepare you for that day. No matter how many times you pack your stuff you always think you are missing something. You always wonder if you are prepared, are you ready, do you know what to expect. The funny thing about it is you know exactly what to expect but you push it to the back of your head. You prepare for the worst and at the same time hope for the best. You take everything you know and love, everything that makes your life worth living and put it on hold. You say goodbye to everything you know and love, pet your dog one more time, and go to war. Why do you do it, I don't think anyone knows. It sounds great to say you do it for your country, or that you do it for 9/11, but the reality is you just do it. Less than a tenth of a percent of Americans will ever deploy to a combat zone. They will never feel what it is like to say goodbye to something to know that they may never return. Or that next Sunday they wont be able to have a beer and watch the football game. I am not saying this is something they miss out on, but it is something you cannot replicate. I cannot describe the feeling of having your entire family at your house and then driving with you to drop you off. Its almost a sick feeling, you think of everything you are going to miss. All at once you ask yourself what the hell am I doing, why am I doing this. There is no answer but you go, draw your weapon, take your pictures, hug your your family and tell them goodbye, and get on the bus.

I havent talked to Brandon in years and unfortunatly was able to talk to him the other day when a helicopter we were escorting made a "hard landing" and burned to the ground within seconds. What do you say to a guy that you knew for years and stood next to in the huddle while you circle overhead and watch him pickup the pieces of a burnt helciopter hoping that their patrol doesnt get ambushed. In 45 hours I have come to realize a few things. My generation is fighting the so called war on terror. The wp class of 2006 is bait for terrorists. They live on mountain sides trying to fight for a people that they have no interest in. Handcuffed by ROE and an enemy that has no rules. We fight the best that we can and sometimes we lose but we come back everyday bring the fight so that we draw them to us. So that is all I have for now, more to follow, keep doing good things for the country and I send all my love back home for friends, family, corkyshell, dak, and daisy.



He really helpd me gain an idea of what he goes through over there besides the "good day" or "bad day" conversations we carry on weekly. God bless him, he is definitely my hero.

Cleaning Adventures

My parents arrive tonight and my mom is way too excited, which makes me excited.

I clean everyday. It is inevitable with two dogs, but when parents/company come over, I do a lot more cleaning than normal.

A few things I noticed:

- I absolutely hate cleaning the bathroom, actually I loathe cleaning the bathrooms. I love cleaning, its a sense of accomplishment, but I usually make him clean the bathrooms. If I ever make enough money, I am hiring someone just to come over and clean the them.

-I need the Dog Whisperer to come to my house and explain to Dakota, my very protective dog, that the vacuum is not a monster, it is not attacking me, therefore STOP TRYING TO BITE MY DYSON!

-I still have my Christmas tree up and really have no problem with it.

-Received a "STOP MESSING WITH MY DESK AND TRUNK!!" message from him this morning after I informed him in a email that I cleaned out the bonus room. Whoops! Actually those were not his exact words, I try and keep this blog PG-13.

Nothing we can do about it now. I told him this is the woman he chose to be with and he laughed.

Declutter

Oh, this word comes up in many coversations as of late. Several of my friends began "decluttering" their house either to sell it, prepare for another baby, or simply to follow through on one of their deployment goals.

There is a possiblity I might work from home so I invaded the bonus room, otherwise known as his AO (area of operation) or the only room in the house where I allow anything ACU/BDU. Before he left, I managed to take over a corner and since my honey will not return until the end of this year, I am now in the process of taking over the entire room.

Poor guy.

Today I started with the evil WP trunk. Some of you may know what I am talking about. You know the coffee table, TV stand, garbage disposal, and crap holder all rolled into one clunky, gold and green piece of furniture.

I did not get very far. In it I found letters and cards from me. He kept over 60 cards/letters over the years and of course I read through each and every one of them.

Somedays I simply do not comprehend or realize how much the two of us went through in order to get to where we are today. How do two very immature 15 and 16 year olds turn into a 24 and 25 year, surviving deployment while planning to start a future and family together? Days like today make me smile. I love our history, both the good and the bad.

Most days I skip the obvious in this blog...I am so lucky to be in love with my best friend.

Poo Poo Pants

This is his infamous nickname for me. It all started a few years back and whenever I appeared on the verge of crabbiness, he would pull me into his chest and go "Poo-poo Pants". I would immediately giggle and all of a sudden feel better.

It has shortened over the years to "Poo-poo". If anyone is around when he yells for me, they kind of look at us funny. Yes, a strange nickname I know.

And today, I am sure I would hear "Poo-poo" out of his mouth.

You see, as the days go on, I continue to grow more and more frustrated with job hunting. My problem? I want to do everything, but do not know specifically, same as my senior year in college. Thank goodness my former boss emailed me out of the blue in January of my senior year to offer me a position. I never sent out a single resume until now.

And apparently since I do not have a Masters Degree, I am not qualified for 80% of the jobs that are of interest to me. I want to stay on my career path of anything related to sports or college support staff. We will see what the future holds for me.

I shared my frustrations with Jeni on the phone. After a few interviews and resume drop-offs, I headed over to her house and my wonderful friend pulled a delicious piece of chocolate cake and glass of milk out of the refrigerator for the two of us. Just what I needed.

God bless my friends.

2008

I have no problem saying good-bye to 2008. I felt the year was a tale of two halves for me. I looked back at pictures and my old Live Journal to help me write my year in review. And what did I find...

January-June

I never thought it would happen, but I became a dog person. I fell in love with Dakota. In January I visited him down at Fort Rucker. This would be our last good weekend together for over 6 months. One of my favorite pictures from last year:

I did not realize how freaking much I worked. Looking back at my journal from last year, I updated 7 times in 6 months! I commuted one hour to and from work everyday. I worked at the office from 7am until 8pm every night. When it came to tournament time, I worked Friday-Sunday 6am-1am.

I loved every minute, however, I failed to notice how much I pushed people out of my life. I fought with my sister the first 2 months over her wedding. She wanted a better Maid of Honor. I wanted to work. As a result, I also fought with my mom. I didn't have time for her or him...

We fought and fought and fought some more through January and Feburary. By the time I finally reached out to him at the end of March, it was too late.

For the first time in 8 years, my whole body became numb towards him. I didn't care about losing him, his family, his friends, our relationship. We had the exact same relationship for so long...Visiting on weekends once a month then heading back to our "regular" life. I gave up.

He didn't...Thank God.

We dated other people. Dating for the first time since 15, I found someone completely opposite of him. While fun at the beginning, the newness began to wear away. One month into the relationship, I sat on the stairs and cried telling my mom I just missed my best friend.

However, with work, I didn't have time to reach out.

July

On July 2, 2008. He called and wanted to meet me. I had not seen his face since early Febuary. I drove to Wendy's parking lot, our favorite hangout through high school. He sat on the curb. I headed over to sit next to him and put my head into my knees and just bawled. He placed his hand on my back to console me and I felt my entire body melt.

I missed his touch.

7 days later, I found out about my boss. I immediately quit my job and drove 6 hours to Campbell from Chicago and he drove 6 hours from Rucker. We finally met in the middle.

August

We bought a house together. We bought another beautiful puppy together.

I absolutley loved living with him and our girls.

September-October

I wanted to work again. It defined who I was for so long. I started to define myself in other terms, as a friend. Our Saturday volleyball gang

Instead of being negative about my situation, I embraced it. I decorated and painted our house. I landscaped with his parents. I became a better cook. I took Daisy to obedience classes and worked with both of them every night. I began to blog more frequently. I reconnected with friends.

November

Whether I liked it or not, I threw myself in the Army. With his Pathfinder and Air Assault slot and block leave. November was definitely our Army month. I began preparing myself for his deployment. Every day I told myself I was going to kick ass.

His Air Assault graduation.

December

Our 2 weeks before he left, everything I could ask for and more. It helped tremondoulsy with the hustle and bustle of D-Day. I knew I did everything I could do to make it easier.

This month in this year was a memorable year, both good and bad.

Alone and smiling on Christmas next to his stocking.

I always feel the way I spend New Years Eve serves as a metaphor for how my year will turn out. Last year, we went outside our comfort zone to a fancy club. It was not us. We spent most of the night complaining. After midnight, we left. We left hand and hand in beautiful downtown Chicago and walked 2 miles in a breath taking light snow fall.

This year, I headed over to Jeni's. Her mom made an amazing Korean dinner. I played with her babies, played Scrabble, and rang in the New Year with a glass of wine and a hug from an amazing friend.

I smiled at her after our hug and said, "Our boys come home this year".

So see you later 2008 and bring on 2009. I am ready for it with a whole army of support behind me :)

My best friend

Missing his touch is obvious...

Tonight was the first time I actually talked to him since he left. I felt my mind race 100 miles a minute because I missed my best friend and just wanted to spill my guts. I've sent him probably 10 emails in the 5 days since he left, I continually feel I am going to forget to tell him something. He told me to keep the emails coming.

And this is what might make the next year somewhat difficult. I've been turning to him day in and day out for the past eight and a half years. But thank goodness for technology.

And we ended on this:

Him: I love you baby
Me: I love you too, probably more
Him: That's true, but only because your heart is bigger

Countdown

I finally cried. When we left our families on Sunday, my dad turned to him and started crying. I have not seen my dad cry...ever I think. And then he said, "Come home safe for my baby girl, she loves you and I love you".

Oh thank you dad.

In typical Army fashion, they moved his D-day up 2 days. I expected this, but his family who planned on coming down two days earlier, now will arrive the day he leaves.

And now? We are sitting by the fire, watching One Tree Hill, our favorite, while drinking coffee on this cold rainy day.

I am so blessed.

::Sidenote:: I hate the ferrero rocher commercial where they ring the doorbell. It is not sensitive to people who own dogs. Dakota goes crazy EVERY single time the commercial comes on TV.

Your eyes are the size of the moon.

He bought Rockband 2 last weekend and we have played almost every night since.

If you can picture me singing Panic at the Disco, The Who, and Modest Mouse, you will realize my amusement as I glance over and watch him rock out on the drums.

Losers?

Probably.

Fun?

Absolutely.

He probably should be studying for the massive amounts of work provided by Pathfinder, but he chooses video games with me instead.

Thursday

I woke up early this morning to use the washroom and noticed a much larger man in be my bed. McSteamy was sleeping next to me.

I immediately woke from my dream. I am more of a McDreamy kind of girl anyways.

I realized tonight is Thursday and Grey's Anatomy is on TV. Kind of weird? Yes, very...


He also noticed last night during Daisy's puppy class that she listens a lot more to me.

NO KIDDING!

People always assume Dave will be the disciplinarian if we have kids since he is the disciplined, calm one and I am more of a free spirit. I laugh when I hear this since I picture my kids running to daddy to escape from "mean mommy".

I guess nothing bothers me more than kids who lack discipline.

What Baby Wants...

He always says this to me and sometimes it just drives me crazy...Although.

It's funny because as 1 of 3 kids in a household where we lived paycheck to paycheck, being spoiled was not in the cards. I started babysitting at age 11 and began working in the "real world" at age 14.

But oh does he spoil me.

I fell in love with a house. Out of our price range for sure, but here I am sitting in the very house I wanted, but both thought was too expensive.

I have been eyeing a desk at the local furniture store. I am the queen of shopping around. I visited every website known to man and several other stores. Yesterday afternoon I sent him a text saying I knew which desk I wanted. Last night he walks in the door from work with a very heavy box in hand....My beautiful desk.

He got an electric start lawn mower that pushes itself for himself, but who are we kidding. He laughs hysterically when I try to start a regular lawn mower (stupid 5 foot nothing) by myself.

I have always, always wanted a husky since the day we met way back in 2000 and here she is, running around at my feet, lighting up every room she walks into.

He fixes the toilet, the pool, chases after the dogs when I just can't do it anymore, hung every single picture in our house exactly where I wanted, and still manages to love my very crazy self.

I guess he is right.