The Chocolate Anniversary?

Husband and I decided that we would not exchange gifts for our anniversary. We were going camping and figured that was enough. However, Husband felt compelled to do something, since it was our 5 year anniversary, so he got me chocolate (smart man!). Each type of chocolate corresponded with a year of our marriage and as he gave them to me, he explained how it represented that year. Now, without further ado, I share with you our marriage, according to Husband, summed up in chocolate:

 The first year was sweet.

 The second year: Something about Canada...not really sure what he was trying to get across. He was coming up with these things on the fly. Apparently his thought process ended with "get chocolate".

 In the third year, he orchestrated all the love in his heart for me.

 The fourth year was like a cool, minty breath of fresh air.

The fifth year was full of laughs and Snickers.

A little cheesy and lame? Yes. But very sweet!

Graduation day!

He's finished! He's finally finished! Husband completed his Master of Divinity and graduated! Oh happy, happy, happy, happy, happy, happy day!

With his happy graduation balloons and treats.

He got a really bad cold a couple days before graduation, which caused us to miss the church service on Friday night and the Commencement service Saturday morning. No worries, though: We watched the Commencement at home!

However, he got medicated enough to feel up to going to his actual degree presentation ceremony. Here he is getting congratulations from the director of the MDiv program.

The medal around his neck is for graduating with high distinction. The red, white, and blue cord is because he is a military grad.

With one of his professors, Dr. Roden. This is the professor who taught Husband the Hebrew alphabet song, which he then taught me. I hate them both!

Hooray for graduating!

I am so proud of Husband! He rocks!

Husband and our friend WVL, who graduated with her Bachelors degree! Way to go WVL! She was too lazy to get back into all her grad regalia.

He's pouting because now he has to get a job!

Impromptu Date Night

In an effort to eat healthier and save a little money, I am slowly making the switch from canned beans to dried beans. Of course, this means a little more planning and preparation on my part as dried beans take longer to prepare. I read online that you can cook a huge pot of beans, then divide the beans into bags and freeze them for later use. I liked that idea and decided to give it a try today, which meant the beans needed to be soaked last night. The hardest part of cooking dried beans for me is sorting through the beans and discarding the bad ones. So, last night as I getting the beans ready, I asked Husband to help me sort. As you can see by the picture, he was less than thrilled. In an effort to put a positive spin on a dull and time-consuming task, I said "This can count as our date night!" He was not impressed by my fast thinking, mumbling something derogatory (and probably unpublishable) about date night . I am guessing that my next date night idea - alphabetizing the DVDs - is not going to go over well either!

The Big Three-Oh!

Husband hit the big three-oh a few days ago. I wanted to make his 30th birthday special and when I saw this idea on Pinterest about a daughter filling 60 envelopes with memories from family and friends for her father's 60th birthday, I knew I had struck gold. I made a Facebook group, sent out emails, and basically nagged people to send me their memories. Thankfully, Husband's family and friends came through (despite my multiple "friendly" reminders!) and I was able to fill 30 envelopes with memories and birthday wishes. It was hard keeping this a secret, and at one point I thought Husband was on to me: I can't remember what we were talking about, but one night he made some comment about collecting memories for my birthday. Pretty sure my heart stopped for a second or two as my brain screamed "He knows! He knows!" Turns out, it was just some random comment because Husband had NO IDEA what I was doing. Whew!

All 30 envelopes, bundled and ready for reading

He sure was surprised

No knives here; I thought a letter opener was a better idea

Reading all those letters took awhile 

There was a lot of laughter as he read through the memories 

I love this picture! 

My little secret

Now that Christmas is over, I can let you all in a little secret that very few people have known about. I'm very proud of myself for keeping this secret for so long (since about September). There were some days I thought I would burst if I didn't tell people, and I had to stop myself a time or two from posting on this blog. Before you get all excited, let me remind you of what I said in my last post: This is NOT an announcement! We do not, nor will we in the near future, have kids. Stop reading babies into everything! (Okay so I can see how what I just wrote could lead you to believe that babies are involved and for that I am sorry. No babies here.) I have been dying to tell everyone about the present I got Husband! I don't want to brag or sound all "Look at me! Look at me!", but I gave Husband THE perfect gift this Christmas. Have you ever given someone THE perfect gift? If you have then you know the excitement I've been feeling over the last few months. And I want to share that excitement with you!

In September, I got this brilliant idea that I would try to find Husband's ancestors. I knew that a few years ago he had made an attempt to figure out where he came from, but he didn't get very far and gave up. I knew that it would be a lot of work and that I might not get very far either, but I wanted to try it anyway. So, I emailed one of his aunts and got basic information (names of grandparents, birth dates etc). The project took off from there, thanks to the Family Search website and Google. I have no idea how much time I spent on this gift, but I can tell you it was hours and hours! It was pretty difficult to find time to do it because Husband was always home! A few times, I thought he was on to me despite my best efforts to keep it a secret. One day, I wanted to go to my church's family history centre so I told him I had some errands to run. Husband never wants to come with me when I run errands but for some reason he offered to go that day. I had to make up some story about taking a long time and doing a bunch of stuff so he would take back his offer. Another time, I accidentally left one of the charts on our photocopier and he found it. I told him it was something for church and quickly ran away! Despite the close calls and his always being home, I was able to find a lot of information and thankfully he had no idea. On some of his lines, I made it to the 1400s before I hit dead ends and I got one line back to the 1300s! I was also able to find some wikipedia articles and cool stories about some of his ancestors so I put those in the book as well.

As with all great ideas, I didn't do this alone and I want to thank a few people in particular. Thanks to Husband's aunt for providing me with enough names and dates to start the search. Thanks to Husband's sister who was sneaky-sneaky about getting information from their mom. Thanks to my mom for answering my never-ending questions about how to verify names and dates, how to organise the information and how not to lose my mind when I came to a dead end! Thanks to Husband's friend who kept him out for 4 hours just days before Christmas so I could try to get as much information onto charts as possible. And lastly, thanks to my dear friend Alicia for assuring me that it is was definitely okay to lie to Husband about what I was up to, because it was for a Christmas gift! *Disclaimer, Neither Alicia nor I condone lying to your spouse, however there are some exceptions and this definitely counts!*

Husband sat for over 30 minutes just reading over the information I had collected. I really should have given this gift to him last, because I still had a gift to open and I had remind him about it. My gift definitely derailed our gift opening! Husband says we shouldn't exchange gifts anymore because nothing I give him will top this present. I say "Challenge accepted!"

First day of school!

Husband had his first day of classes today. He has been doing online courses for the past 2 years, and today was his first day at the actual campus. With everyone posting their back-to-school pictures, I wanted to get in on the action: Look at him, all grown-up and ready to earn another Masters degree (he already has a 36 hour Masters. He is now working on a 96 hour one)!

The Cookie Jar

A couple Christmases ago (Is that how you pluralize "Christmas"?), Husband bought me a snowman cookie jar online. When it was delivered, Husband realized that the jar was broken. He thought he would be funny and wrap it up anyway (When he phoned the company, they said they couldn't send a replacement, and gave him a refund). Christmas morning found me opening up a broken present. To be honest, I thought it was pretty funny, but I pretended to be sad.

My wonderful present

Our own Humpty Dumpty

Over the next few days, Husband painstakingly tried to glue the pieces back together. He spent hours on it. Then, Christmas break was over and he had to go back to work. The cookie jar was put in a box, and Husband promised he would finish it.

Trying to glue it back together (I think he inhaled too many super glue fumes before this picture!)

Fast forward 18 months: We are in the process of clearing out some of the clutter in our apartment. Last night, I came across the cookie jar, still somewhat broken and still in the box (you may recall that we moved about 18 months ago. That means that we hauled a broken cookie jar clear across the country. You may be wondering why we didn't throw it out. Well, I wanted to toss it, but Husband insisted that he would and could put it back together!). I pulled the box out and showed Husband. He started laughing and said "I can still fix it, you know." I gave him "The Look" and said "We are throwing it out." But before I tossed it, I had to get a picture of Husband's hard work from 18 months ago! I think he gets an A for effort.

"I can still fix it, you know!"

I'm not known for my subtlety

The other day I was at the Mall and I decided to have my wedding rings cleaned. While I was waiting, I noticed signs all over the jewelery store advertising a promotion they were having. When I asked about it, the salesman handed me a few fliers to take with me. When I got home I decided to place the fliers around the house so Husband would find them and get the hint that it would make a good gift. I also plan on putting one in his lunch and one in his work bag this week. I guess only time will tell if he gets the hint.

On his laptop.

On his thinking chair.

In his underwear drawer.

What's the point?

I hate pumping my own gas...hate, hate, HATE it! I will do everything possible to avoid it. Thankfully, my car can go about 420 miles (675 km) on a tank of gas (thank you Toyota for making such a fuel efficient car!), so I don't have to fill it very often. However, I have come up with a few clever ways to avoid pumping my own gas. My favourite trick is this: When Husband and I have to go somewhere and I know my car is low on gas, I will convince him to take my car. Once in the car and driving, I will casually look over to the gas gauge and exclaim in surprise "Oh, looks like we will have to stop for gas". I am sure he knows my little trick by now (I've done it enough times!), but he just sighs and heads for the gas station. After he pulls up to the pump I always look at him sweetly (while batting my eyelashes) and say "Would you like me to pump it?" He, of course, always says "No, I'll do it" and gets out and does it (If he ever answers "yes" to my question, I'll send him divorce papers!). Well, yesterday, I took Husband's car to run a couple of errands and I noticed that he was low on gas, so low that he would have to stop on his way to work (at 6am) to get gas in order to make it. I thought I would be a nice wife and get gas for him. Now that you all know how much I hate to pump gas, you can understand that it is a big deal for me to stop and do this for Husband. This is definitely going above and beyond my wifely duties, but he has been working long and hard hours and I wanted to let him know I appreciated all his hard work. So, I stop, fill his tank (in 100 degree heat) and then go home. Later that evening, we get in his car to go out, and I am sitting there, hoping that he will notice the gas gauge is on F. He doesn't notice. I was a bit disappointed, but I didn't say anything. The next morning (Sunday), he had to go to work. After he left, I waited about 20 minutes (I figured that was enough time for him to notice his tank was full! Have I ever mentioned I'm not very patient?), but he didn't call me, so I called him. I say "I left you a surprise in your car". He says "Where? I don't see anything." I tell him to look at the instrument panel, and finally, he says "Oh, you put gas in the car....thanks." That was it. No mention of how great I am, or how I am a wonderful wife and he is so happy/lucky he is married to someone who is willing to make sacrifices and to go above and beyond the expected wifely duties. That's the last time I do something nice for him! If I have to tell Husband when I do nice things and make huge sacrifices, what's the point in doing them?

Husband's mid-life crisis

A few weeks ago, Husband started ordering LEGO off of Ebay. I don't know if it was an attempt to recapture his youth or if he was bored, but regardless of the reason, my house has been overrun with LEGO creations! Pirate ships everywhere: on our bookshelves, on our sofa table, on our kitchen table, in our bathroom. Wherever he could find room, there was some sort of LEGO masterpiece. During his buying spree, in attempt to save us some money, I found someone on freecycle who was giving away a ton of LEGO! Three big boxes of LEGO pieces. Husband was in little boy heaven! He has been sorting and organizing LEGO every night. He keeps promising me that one day I will have my house back, but to be honest, I see no end in sight to the LEGO take-over. *Sigh*

Some of his creations. I want to have a big pirate battle with them!

The LEGO we got from freecycle

Maybe he should get more sleep...

I don't think Husband was fully awake when he dressed for work this morning. Those pants don't look like Army issue to me...

Taste test anyone?

What happens when I ask husband to make and frost a German Chocolate Cake while I am at work? I come home to find the cake I was planning on taking to a party missing a piece or two. I took it anyway. You can never go to a party empty-handed; that's just rude. But taking a cake that is half-eaten? Totally acceptable!

Christmas tree of memories

Husband and I put up the Christmas tree last night. We got the tree in July from someone who was giving it away on freecycle. Last night was the first time we had opened the box. I was a bit worried that the tree would look horrible, but to my surprise, it wasn't that bad. For the price we paid, I am happy with our tree. After all, you can't beat getting something for free!

As you can see, I still need a star or something to put on the top. I spent hours last year looking for one, and this year has been no different. I just can't seem to find something that is satisfactory.

Decorating the tree is like taking a walk down memory lane. Over the past few years, I have collected ornaments from various places I have travelled to. As I unwrap each ornament, the memories of that place wash over me. I think of the people I was with and the things we did there. Here are just a few of the ornaments and the memories behind them. This tradition started on my first visit to New York City. It was New Year's Eve, so all the shops still had Christmas stuff up. (Just a side note, I do NOT recommend NYC on New Year's Eve! It is so not worth it. Stay home, nice and warm with a bathroom nearby and watch the ball drop on your TV.) I bought this Statue of Liberty ornament to remember the day. Every time I pull it out, I not only think of that New Year's Eve, but I also think of the proceeding trips to NYC. Until I lived just outside the city, I only went once or twice a year. I would always go at Christmastime. There is something special about Christmas in NYC: seeing the tree in Rockefeller Center, the Macy's window displays, watching the Rockettes Christmas show, seeing people dragging Christmas trees down the busy sidewalks, eating roasted nuts from a street vendor. All the sights, sounds and smells of New York City come back to me as I place the Statue of Liberty on my tree.

A couple of years ago, when Husband and I were dating we wanted to go hiking in the Adirondacks. Due to poor planning on our part, we never did find an good hiking trail. Rather than turn around and head home, we decided to drive up to Lake Placid. What a great idea that turned out to be. The town was home to the 1980 Winter Olympics, and even in the summer it feels like a skiing town. We spent the day wandering the streets, popping in and out of shops, and visiting the various Olympic event sites (right in front of the high school is the speeding skating track!). This spontaneous trip to Lake Placid is one of our favourite memories, and we reference it all the time. Who knew that poor planning could end with such a great day?


Perhaps my favourite place to visit in Boston is the Habour right next to the Aquarium. I could sit for hours at the Harbour and watch the ships as I listen to the water. Anytime anyone came to visit me, I would make sure I took them to the Harbour. This ornament brings back more than memories of the Harbour, though. It reminds me of my years spent in Massachusetts. It reminds me of the trees, the ocean, the beach, the crazy drivers, and the wonderful people who I met there.

This New Hampshire outhouse ornament is one of my most cherished and favourite ornaments. It reminds me off my dear friends, The Willard's. You would be hard pressed to find better people than Alicia and Jon. They are two of the kindest, most caring people I have ever met. They would literally give you the shirts off their backs if you needed it. They are always there if you need anything, ready and willing to help. Jon's family has a small rustic cabin (complete with an outhouse) in New Hampshire. Alicia and Jon would invite me to go to the cabin a few times a year. Those weekends at the cabin were fantastic. There is no TV, no radio and very spotty cell phone reception. The weekend would be spent hiking, relaxing, shopping in the cute little towns nearby, swimming in the lake, skiing, and driving through the White Mountains. The cabin was where I found peace and solace. It was where time stopped for a couple days, where life became clear and centered again. It was wonderful to get away for a weekend, especially when life was bit stressful. I was at the cabin just a few weeks after my father died (and I might add, it was also about 5 weeks after Alicia and Jon got married. That's the type of people they are. They knew I was going through a rough time and they knew a weekend at the cabin would do me a world of good, so they invited me to go with them, even though they had been married less than 2 months!) It was at the cabin that I decided that I wanted to marry Husband. I miss the cabin more than I miss anything else about New England. That cabin was my sanctuary

When we went on our cruise last year, I wanted to find a nativity set to bring back. We searched every island we stopped at but had no luck. I was starting to give up hope. Finally, on the last day at the last island, we found one! Not only was it a nativity, but it was an ornament too! When I see this ornament I think about the cruise and about search for the nativity. Then I laugh a bit because I think of the craft market I went to here in Central Texas a couple of months ago where there was an long table full of these exact same ornaments! All that searching in the Caribbean for something that could be bought in a town just an hour down the road!

Although it wasn't always easy to find ornaments on my travels and I am missing a few (you try finding a ornament in Kentucky in July!), I love my tradition! It makes decorating the tree more fun. I am able to share stories with Husband of my life before him, and then we reminisce about the places we've been together. We laugh as we share memories then we hang those memories on our tree.

The heating war

When Husband got back from Iraq last year, winter had already settled in on our corner of Northern New York. Going from the desert to the frozen tundra of the north was quite an adjustment for my strong "I've been to war twice" ranger qualified soldier. The heat in our apartment was always turned up to the high 70s and even the low 80s. As I melted away, Husband went about his business as though we were not living in a sauna (Thankfully, heat was included in our rent. I still feel bad for our landlord!). I didn't say anything though, because he had just gotten back from a 15 month deployment and we were told by the Garrison Commander to be nice to our soldiers. This year, however, is a completely different ball game. We live in Texas. The coldest temperature we have seen so far this winter has been 36F (2C). I have yet to pull out my winter jacket, or any jacket for that matter. Mittens and toques (winter hats for all you Americans!) are still packed away. I am still wearing T-shirts, although my shorts have been replaced by jeans. Once in awhile I will wear a sweater. Husband, on the other hand, acts as if we are still in New York. I have lost count of how many times he has turned the furnace on. I come home from work to our very own greenhouse effect, all courtesy of Husband. We have now established a little tradition when it comes to heating our apartment. Husband turns on heat and when he's not looking, I turn it off. He gets "cold", wonders why, looks at thermostat and turns heat back on. Then he watches me to make sure I don't turn it off. So while he sits with the heat on, I turn on a ceiling fan and wait for him to get distracted so I can turn it off again. And don't even get me started on sleeping, because I sleep practically naked and still sweat like crazy! How can anyone be this cold? It's not normal! And here's the best part, he sits around the apartment in shorts and a t-shirt most of the time. Would it kill him to put on some pants so I can turn down the heat?

Why I got married

They say you should marry someone who makes you laugh everyday. Well, I think I chose very well. Husband makes me laugh often and sometimes even lets me document his antics. He's such a good sport!

The girl in the closet

Due to poor planning on our part, our apartment is next to a major road. Most nights this isn't a real problem. The sound of the traffic lulls us to sleep. But lately the major road has become a major problem. Because people travel this road at all hours of the day, it is next to impossible to shut down the lanes to do construction and repairs. Because the traffic is lighter at night, they work on the road at night, which they have been doing the past couple of nights. I get up at 5:30 every morning to go to work, therefore I like need to sleep, and this night construction has presented a slight problem. Last night, I had had enough. It was after midnight and I all I could hear was the constant "beep" "beep" "beep" of the construction vehicles. Husband kindly suggested I set up camp in our walk-in closet. I was willing to give it a try (I was also willing to drag my butt to a hotel, but Husband did not think that would be a practical solution). So there I was, at o'dark thirty, settling in to my temporary bed in our closet, hoping to get at least a couple of hours of sleep. Much to my surprise I had the best sleep I've had in weeks! I may start sleeping in the closet all the time. I could totally fit a cot in there...if I move all of Husband's stuff out! I'm sure he won't mind.

I've lost my husband to another woman...

...J.K Rowling to be exact. Earlier this week we saw the newest Harry Potter movie, and Husband decided he couldn't wait for the next movies to come out to find out how things turn out. So, off to the library we went to get the seventh book(He hasn't read any of the previous books. Usually he is content just to wait for the next movie). Now, he can't stop reading it! I go to bed, and he stays up reading. I get home from work and he is reading. He rushes through dinner so he can go back to reading. If I want to talk to him, I have to wait until he finishes his sentence, paragraph, page and/or chapter. It's hard enough to get him to do things around the house in normal circumstances, so it has been impossible to get him to anything now. And as for actually acknowledging my existence...well, I think I am going to have to invest in a wand and some robes, either that or hide the book, but then he would just spend all his time looking for it, and I would be back to square one. I guess I'll just hope he reads fast because there are some things on his honey-do list waiting for him when he's finished.

True Love

So as you know, Husband is going back to school full-time. Much to my frustration, he completely takes over our living room, spreading his books, notes and papers everywhere. He has lectures on DVDs to watch, so that means that he also takes over the TV and DVD player. When he is watching his lectures, he needs complete silence. If I interrupt him it better be because I am bleeding to death. I can't even be in the living room because I distract him. Sounds a bit neurotic you say? Well, I agree! For the sake of our marriage, and my sanity, we decided to designate our spare bedroom as his office. That way, when he is in his "school" mode, all he has to do is close the door, and I can still live in our apartment. We bought a cheap TV off of craigslist and then went in search of a DVD player. Standing in the DVD aisle of Target, Husband asked me which DVD player would be a good buy. Using all of my knowledge about DVD players, I said "Get the pink one. It looks cute!" Husband gave me that look that I've seen before: the "you obviously have no idea what you are talking about, so just stand there and look pretty" look. Needless to say, he did not choose the pink one. I was a bit disappointed, but whatever. It's not my DVD player, and I won't be the one using it. A couple days later, while setting up the DVD player, Husband realized that it did not have all the functions he needed and wanted. He went to Target to get another DVD player and returned with the pink one because he knew it would make me happy. Now he has a pink DVD player perched on top of his TV in his office. That, my dear readers, is true love.

The issues in my brother's head

Recently it was discovered that my brother William has some pressure being exerted on his brain by some sort of fluid build-up. You will notice by how specific and medically descriptive that last sentence was that I really have no idea what is going on! I don't know how serious it is, but I assume it can't be too serious because his appointment with the specialist is still weeks away (if it was serious they would have got him an appointment immediately right?). Anyway. Every night we pray for William and his medical condition, even though we aren't sure what to call it. Last night, it was Husband's turn to pray. When he got to the point of asking God to bless William he said "Please bless that the issues in Bill's head will be resolved." I couldn't help myself: I started laughing. Husband quickly realized what he had said and starting laughing too! I know God is a God of miracles, but asking Him to resolve the "issues" in my brother's head may be bit a much! He's a teenager for goodness sake! And boy does my brother have issues! (P.S. We love you William!)

Gears of War...is that what they call it now?!?

We were at a friend's house the other night, and at one point the conversation turned to talking about our neighbours and how they like to express their love to each other in the middle of the night. As Husband was talking about what we have experienced having them as neighbours (without actually coming right out and saying it), I realized that there was a 10 year old hearing our conversation so I gently suggested that the topic might not be appropriate for the boy. Husband quickly covered his tracks by saying "I am talking about her playing a video game. I think she plays Gears of War a lot." The boy got really excited when he heard mention of the video game, and said "Really? Do you watch her play?" Given the conversation just seconds earlier, this comment caused everyone, including the boy's mother, to bust up laughing. Husband responded "I haven't seen her play, but I hear her play, and she gets really excited about it." I am pretty sure we will never be invited back to that house!

*Thanks to Alicia for coming up with the title for this post*