Three More

Bet you thought I forgot about the "30 Posts" project I gave myself. Well...you're right. But I'm back on board. Until I most likely forget again.

A Piece of Artwork

 

This is Maddie the Coonhound. There's a guy who is traveling the country and taking pictures of his dog standing on things. It's hilarious/amazing to see what she will stand on.

Also, if you want a daily dose of amazing, go here. Seriously, people shouldn't be allowed to be so creative/talented.

My Celebrity Crush

 

duh. Who isn't crushing on him right now? I don't even like blonds, you guys.

Something I Bought Recently


You know it. I can kind of do a really good shuffle step thing.

Boo Hoo

You know what really, really sucks? Saving a lot of money for a down payment on a house and having to pay pretty much every last cent of it to the stupid government in taxes. Guess who will have to stay cramped in a tiny, dark cave/apartment for a lot longer than planned?

Here's The Thing About: Valentine's Day

We don't celebrate Valentine's Day. It's not that we're anti-Valentine's Day (wait, maybe I should switch to "I" instead of "we"; I'm not sure of Jake's thoughts on the holiday). It's not that I'm anti-Valentine's Day, it's just that we have chosen not to celebrate it. I think the main reason I suggested it while we were engaged was because we were dirt poor, and we were getting married within two weeks, so it seemed kind of dumb to do anything for it. So we decided, in the car, driving in Provo, Utah, that we would not celebrate it.

I kind of have a love/hate relationship with Valentine's Day. I like how it used to be. You know, back when I was a kid. I liked making those mailboxes in school to hold all our Valentines. I liked giving and getting Valentines from classmates. I spent weeks making Valentine cards for every member of my family. I liked eating heart-shaped food. I liked decorating for Valentine's Day. And I still like all those things. A lot.

What I don't like is how couples take this holiday way too seriously. But then again, maybe it's retailers and restaurants that take it way too seriously. Or maybe both. I don't like that it is basically a holiday where a man has to stress out about creating the most romantic evening ever for his lady. And how he has to buy her some super expensive, frivolous gift. And how he has to spend $200 on a single meal (mainly because restaurants jack up their prices on V-Day). And how she only has to show up, looking pretty, and can get away with giving her man cuff links she bought at Things Remembered.

I may or may not have had a few Valentine's Days like that. Did it feel super romantic and perfect and lovely? Kind of...? Did it cause stress (what to wear? what to give? what to do?) and guilt (he spent so much more than me! he's paying for this really expensive meal! I wish he hadn't bought me diamonds!)? Absolutely. Do I like not having to worry about any of that? Hell, yes.

Today I heard a radio commercial for a jeweler and the tagline for the ad was "We'll help you recreate the moment you fell in love." It makes me barf and it makes me angry. The barfing is for obvious reasons. The anger is because "falling in love" doesn't happen in an instant, and the fact that anyone is saying that that is how it works, is just plain stupid. Also? If the moment your lady fell in love with you involved a piece of jewelry (which one can only assume it did if you need a jeweler to recreate it), maybe you should find a new lady. One that does not require precious metals and semi-precious/precious stones to fall in love.

But seriously, "falling in love" is so silly and false. Jake wrote an excellent post on this awhile back. I won't repeat what he says because he says it much better than I. But to expound just a bit: Love is a process, not a moment. And if I could boil it down to a moment, it would most likely not be a moment that could easily be recreated with the help of a jeweler. It would be a moment when my husband is doing something rather mundane, and I let my thoughts wander, and suddenly I realize that this man is truly committed to me, and we get to share our lives together. Or a moment when he is showing me something he created, and he is proud, and I am proud and amazed by his abilities. Or it would be the moment I was at a party I was so excited about (so many new men to meet!), and shortly after arriving, wishing to myself that I just wished that Jake was there and not hundreds of miles away at college; apparently I liked him much more than I realized. It is the building up of these small moments that forms love.

I don't need a holiday to re-experience "falling in love". I just need everyday moments. Moments where I realize that the man whose face is as familiar as my own will be beside me forever.

But I do need a holiday for heart-shaped pancakes.

Laughing = Love, In My Book

I don't remember what brought it on, but the other night I was telling Jake a story about my dorkiness in my adolescence that started with "Well, according to my teen magazine, 'Sassy'..." We then laughed (quite hard) for about a minute straight. We were in the parking lot at midnight, taking Popcorn out for one last potty break before going to bed.

These are the moments I want to remember. These are also the moments that I realize I don't laugh enough.

Playing House

Jake and I just spent the last week and a half babysitting three children. As in, we lived in someone's house, had to feed the children, bathe the children, make the children sleep, and take the children to school. It was almost as if we, ourselves, had children. Except we got to take the weekends off. Which was our saving grace.

Here are some things I learned this week:

1. Strollers were invented by short people who don't like to walk properly.

2. I am no longer my worst critic. Children are my worst critic.

3. Children not only maximize my weaknesses, but they also minimize my strengths.

4. If I ever want to feel like a celebrity, I will just invite a couple children over. They're excited to see me, and then they give me a play-by-play of what I'm doing at the moment, and criticize/demand explanation for every decision I make.

5. This last week and a half, 8:30pm has felt like "late night" for the first time since I was 10.

6. The desire to look at other people's poop is apparently an inherent need for small humans (not a need I indulged, though).

7. Children are gross and dirty, and it is by teaching them how to be gross in private that deems a child "grown up". Because, really, we are all gross, we just hide it better as adults.

8. Little dogs get wound up much more easily when squealing children are around.

9. People take my requests for changing lanes much more seriously when I'm in a minivan rather than a Honda Civic.

10. Popcorn loves: napping in sunlight on the floor, going potty in a grassy backyard, and scavenging for crumbs after a meal.

All in all, it was a successful week and a half. The children were all alive when their parents got back home. But let's just say that Jake and I will be glad to add babies one at a time to our family.

Advice, Please.

If you know me at all, you know I am not spontaneous. At all. I wish I was, but it makes me nervous to be spontaneous. I like to be able to weigh all my options and think everything out. I am deliberate in my decisions. Well, that's not true. I'm pretty spontaneous at Target. Like, last week, Jake and I went there to pick up a handful of things. We left with a lot more than a handful of things. Maybe like four or five handfuls. So, I guess I can be spontaneous sometimes.

Since I have this affinity for lists, planning, and being as careful as I can about anything and everything, I've been preparing to buy a house for the last year or so. And we won't be buying a house for several more months still (at the soonest). I have kept my eye on the market to see how it's faring. I have checked our credit to make sure there are no surprises or mistakes. I have had a lengthy talk about homeownership with a current homeowner in the part of town we are looking at buying in. We have been saving like mad so we have a sizeable downpayment (no "creative" financing for us!). We are trying our best to prepare for one of the biggest decisions (financial and otherwise) we will make. But, as usual, I'm still feeling unprepared and scared. I'm worried that we'll find a house that we think we can afford, buy that house, and then we will find out there was some hidden variable that we didn't see coming, and BAM! we'll be in the poor house and/or get foreclosed on. I don't want that to happen.

So, here is where you come in. Well, only if you are a homeowner, or have ever been a homeowner. What are some things you wish people had told you before you bought a home? What are some things you did before you bought your home, and you are so glad you did? How do you pick a lender you can trust? How do you pick a realtor you can trust (I know of a great, trustworthy realtor, but he lives in Chandler, AZ; Hi, Darrell!)? Any other advice you'd like to pass along to someone eager and willing for some?

I know people will have thoughts on this, and are just waiting for the chance to dispense advice, so here is your one invitation for such an occasion!

An Amazing 'Feet' (Promise That's a Pun)

This week has been an interesting one to say the least. Saturday it started to snow. Just a very light sprinkling. Sunday, the same thing. By Monday morning, there was an inch or two, which obviously isn't a lot, but the forecast called for more snow that afternoon, so Jake decided to stay home and work here, so as not to repeat a similar experience from 2010 that involved a four-hour commute home from work. It didn't really snow much that day, and we went out one last time that evening to stock up on food since there was an inevitable snow storm headed our way. Tuesday brought a little more snow, but not much. But sometime between 1:30 am on Tuesday late night and 8:00am on Wednesday morning, about five inches of the white stuff fell. The city ground to a halt (and before people start pointing their fingers and laughing, let me remind you that since it snows maybe once a year here, there is no infrastructure for snow maintenance here; pretty much any city would grind to halt if none of their streets were plowed. At all.). Jake stayed home from work again. The streets were eerily quiet. We made national news (my mom told me; I don't watch the news). It snowed all day today, but it only added another inch or so. Tomorrow is supposed to be significantly warmer, but we'll see. There's still so much snow on the ground right now that Jake will likely stay home again, regardless.

Couple with this unusual weather with the fact that our sleeping schedules are all off. We took our weekly Sunday nap this past Sunday, but we didn't start our nap until 2:30, and instead of our usual 3-hour nap (that's right, three hours; we prefer to nap a complete sleep cycle), I took a four-hour nap, and Jake's was 4 1/2-5 hours. So our internal clocks were off that night and we didn't end up going to bed until close to 4:00. Oops. And our schedule has been all wacky ever since. And with this weird weather, we've been sleeping in super late.  It's like we're hibernating or something. I'm kind of over it. We decided to go for a walk to Fred Meyer today to "get a movie from Redbox". Really, though, I think it was just to get out of the house. I think we're going a little crazy being cooped up in 680 square feet for an entire week.

Anyway, my main point in telling you all this is to talk about my dog. I know, right? So random. Popcorn has really enjoyed the snow. She was unsure about it at first, but she really loves it now.  But with all our hibernating lately, our favorite thing to do is let Popcorn sleep up on our bed with us in the morning after she's gotten up to do her morning business. If we put her back in her crate, she would just cry and we wouldn't be able to sleep at all, so we just bring her on up and she snuggles into the duvet and sleeps with us.

I've been worried about her sleeping on our bed since we got her, mainly because I don't want to smother her by rolling onto her by accident. So far, it's been ok, but I still worry.

Well, this morning, I took her out for her morning walk around the parking lot, came back inside, and we curled up and got cozy. All three of us were fast asleep in no time. A little while later, I felt a tap,tap,tap on my arm. I opened my eyes and was confused because Jake was laying on his side, away from me. There was no way he tapped me on my arm. But then I looked down and saw Popcorn wedged between Jake's back and the mattress, and was just about squished! She had tapped my arm to wake me up to save her! Ok, ok, she was probably just wiggling around, and my arm happened to be right there, but still! I pulled her out and put my arm between her and Jake, so he wouldn't roll over onto her, and we fell back asleep, safe and sound.

On a related note, I'm ready for the snow days to be over. I'd like to run errands. I'd like to stop feeling trapped in my apartment. I'd like to be back to normal.