We've Created A Monster

Our little furry baby has been with us for almost a year, this is true.  My boss warned me.  We went to lunch the Thursday before Easter and I said, "We are going to look at Golden Retrievers on Saturday."  He responded by saying, "Yea, you will have a dog by Monday."  Even though I didn't believe him, we walked out the door with our little, fuzzy ball of fur.

We have never stopped being amazed as Colby has grown.  I am still convinced he thinks he is part human.  After all, he loves to ride in the car with his front paws on the console making sure we stay on track.  He truly believes the couches and the bed were made for him.  He loves to snuggle with us every night, and, as Drew indicated, he loves to crawl between us every morning (and sometimes at night).  He also loves beer.  Whenever we come home with a box, he is right there, trying to grab at the bottles.  We have strongly indicated to him that he will not drink until he is three years old (21 in dog years).

Now, I'm pretty sure that when Colby was baby, I told Drew not to let him on the couch.  "He's not on the couch, he's on my lap," Drew would say.  Clearly, that backfired.  He chews his bone on the couch, crawls on the top of the couch, and licks the fabric to create a disgusting crusty feel.

I am not entirely innocent.  I take him to work (My boss, who has a Golden and loves Colby, just adores him.) and let him sit in my chair.  On his first birthday (the day after Drew's), I let him pick out a piece of cake at the dog treat store and then put a candle in it.  Plus, we took him sledding this year.  He is our baby.

Still, he is there when I get home, snuggles with me in bed (and snores) when Drew works on the weekend and we decide to sleep in, and waits patiently as I get ready in the morning (hoping he gets to go wherever I do).  Golden retrievers are the sweetest and I can't wait to go through another summer with ours!

Who needs an alarm clock?

Hard to believe, but it has been nearly one year since we went out and picked up our new alarm clock.  Not at Bed Bath and Beyond or one of the 300 other chains located on the west side of Flint, but just down the road from our house at a dog breeder specializing in Golden Retrievers.  We walked in the door, and less than 30 minutes later were walking out with the newest member of the family.

It's been a year full of discovery for both him and us.  Plenty of moments where we said to ourselves "I can't believe he just did that."  Definitely plenty of laughs.  He also reminds us of what he looked like when we brought him home as I continually pick up puppy-sized tumbleweeds of fur that accumulate daily next to the walls.

It's been a lot of fun having him around the house.  I also think he's responsible for helping keep things structured for me as I've taken on a full-time class load while maintaining the full-time job.  Many mornings I've had to make sure I was up in plenty of time to get to work early because I'd have to put in a 12-14 hour day, but the only time I've had to set an alarm clock in the last year is when I've had to be up prior to 6:00am.  Otherwise, Colby takes care of it.

The routine is down pretty well now.  Between 6:00am and 6:15am, he'll jump up on the bed and immediately lay down at the end of it.  At 6:30am, he'll stand up and look to see if either Erin or I are awake, and lay back down if neither one of us acknowledges him.  This happens again at 6:45, however, this time he'll lay down in between us.  At 7:00am, he's standing over me waiting for me to look at him, at which point he licks my face and let's me pet him.  It's then time to let him out and feed him breakfast.  This timeline rarely changes.  Even when the clocks moved ahead an hour a few weeks back, there he was, at 7:00am, hovering, ready to pounce on me the moment I opened my eyes.  I was certain that the difference in daylight would garner me an extra bit of sleep.  Wouldn't you know it though, instead of the dog who fetches well or plays "dead" on command, we got the one that can read a clock.  Lucky us.  :)

Here's to another fun year of seeing what other talents Colby develops.  Happy 'anniversary' buddy!

Will You...Eat Sushi With Me?

As Drew and I were enjoying sushi yesterday, the young man at the table next to us proposed to his girlfriend.  After, Drew said he was going to walk over to give the couple advice, beginning with- "Don't leave any hangers out." 

Drew's sarcasm aside, I began to think about what advice I would give newlyweds as they start their married lives together.  Now, I am not expert and I honestly don't know if anyone is.  Also, I know that I have only been married for three and a half years and there are no children in our lives (at which point I have no doubt I'll have different advice to give), but I figured there are a few things I have learned along the way that I would offer to new couples.  So, here it is:

Have your own lives.  Obviously you want to have lives together too, but what I mean by this is to have your own friends and hobbies to go to when you want to be alone.  Drew made a funny (yet accurate) comment at the end of February as I headed to Florida with a close friend and he headed to California to see his childhood friend.  He said, "I have never traveled alone as much as I have since I've been married."  I commented back and said, "That's because we live together, we don't need to travel together."  The fact is, sometimes you need that girl (or boy) time.  Plus, it keeps conversation in the marriage fresh when you have different things to talk about and discuss.

Keep it light.  I am the queen of breakdowns-- sometimes I'll even warn Drew if I'm close to having one, just so that he is prepared.  Normally, he replies with a witty comment and most of the time (but certainly not all) the humor is enough to keep me out of a meltdown.  Now, there are times when I get angry and lash out at Drew (which I always apologize for), but instead of bringing it up over and over again, he turns it into sassy joke and we end up laughing about it.  We like to laugh with each other and I think that is one of the things that I enjoy most about our marriage.

Each day brings a new challenge for us (and I'm sure all married couples), but each time we get through it, it brings us closer together.  For the newly engaged couple at the sushi restaurant, I hope they are very happy.  Also, as I told Drew yesterday, I hope the woman isn't as mortified as I would've been that my boyfriend proposed to me in a crowded sushi bar in the middle of the afternoon, but, hey, maybe they both love sushi.

The Devil is in the Details

First things first, I'm glad Erin is OK after her minor accidient this morning.  I think when she's up for a new vehicle, we go for the one without the bulls eye on it.  And now, on with the show...

All this uproar over a hanger?  I would think making sure I iron my own clothes would more than make up the 1 in 4 chance that a hanger gets left on a door knob.  Hard to believe that my Husband of the Year nomination is already threatened, and it's only March!  I guess it's to bed without dinner for me, although after my 12 1/2 hour day that may not be the worst thing.  And after stepping on the scale this morning, maybe missing a meal couldn't hurt either.  Having trouble losing weight guys?  Try the Hanger Diet!

Speaking of dropping some pounds, I was signed up yesterday to do the Warrior Dash and the Crim 10 Mile Training Program.  Should be a fun summer of getting into shape all in the name of a cold beverage at the end of each session.  While I may use some colorful language during some of the longer runs, I know it'll benefit me in the long run (no pun intended) which is why I secretly am looking forward to it.  Don't tell my wife, though... 

The Hanger

Today has been a rough day.  It started out with a fender-bender on the way to work and ended with a ten and a half hour day.

In the middle of the day, I decided I would visit the chiropractor to make sure the car accident didn't cause any damage to my neck.  Then, I stopped at home to let our golden retriever, Colby outside.  I walked up stairs and there it was-- a big, blue hanger.  It was hanging on the door of our office.

Why is this an issue, you ask?  Each and every time I find a hanger on the ironing board, in the chair in the office (our ironing board is in our office), or on one of our many doors upstairs, I bring it to Drew's attention.  Always in my sweetest voice I ask, "Dear husband, would you please make sure you put away the hangers from your shirts after you put the shirt on your body?"  Always in response, he sneers at me.  It's not like I'm asking him to drink motor oil!

Now, I understand that time is rushed in the morning, but really?  How long does it take to pick up the hanger, walk into the bedroom, open the closet door, hang the hanger in its proper place, and close the closet door?  If I can put away my blow dryer (which takes just as many steps as the hanger-- unplug blow dryer, replug in night light, open drawer, put blow dryer in drawer, close drawer), why is it so difficult for Drew to put away his hanger?  ...especially knowing just how much it bothers me and that I will probably bring it up to him which will cause him anger and frustration. 

I know that he will respond by saying that when he wakes up before me, he doesn't want to wake me up by opening the closet door.  So, I will answer that by saying that he could hang it in the office closet until a later time...that way I don't have to see that it is not put away.

Maybe I should start collecting the hangers that I find hanging out by themselves and see what he says when he is out of hangers...

Giddyup

Now that you've heard from Erin "Peggy Lee Cletus" Lamb, time for my voice.  I agreed to the blog concept because there are just too many good stories that come up in simple day to day experiences that cannot be expressed in 140 characters or in a status update.

Tonight seemed like one of those times.  Since winter decided to slap spring upside the head and give us a nasty storm tonight, it was time to catch up on some TV that we'd missed over the past few weeks.  Somewhere between episodes was when my encounter with my wife's "southern roots" occurred.  She quoted me accurately, and if our previous neighbors hadn't walked away from their house last fall, we just may have seen either a car on blocks or some semblance of a Confederate flag.

As for the creation of the blog itself, if my name was going to be a part of it, I wanted it to at least be creative.  A great title, URL, and description were at my fingertips, I just needed to figure out the wording.  My wife wanted me to get on with it so she could post her eloquent tale.  No patience, why do women have to be like that?

Alas, my empty beer was replaced with a fresh one and magically the creativity began to flow.  We were done and she was free to post.  And now here we are.  Enjoy the insight, and more specifically, the equal opportunity to present our sides of those stories that make married life, well, colorful.

You're Riding Me Like The Kentucky Derby

At the advice of my mom, Drew and I have decided to join the blogging world!

While we were sitting on our couch this evening, I farted (I'll admit it-- I'm a woman and I fart) and sucked through my teeth to try and get a piece of food dislodged. Drew looked at me and said (with complete sarcasm), "You are so attractive." He went on to comment about the bowl of peanut shells on my lap and the Bud Light in my hand. As we both looked over at our dog, he (the dog) sat down and rubbed his butt along the carpet. Drew started to laugh and said, "I'm surprised that instead of snow, we don't see a car on blocks outside." I told him that he brought me into the country (I moved from the suburbs to a rural area when Drew and I became engaged) and what happens now is out of my control.

I started to laugh and told him that we should be sharing experiences like this with everyone else.

So, we began the process. After I attempted to sign up for a blog, Drew took control to look for a blog that we could both author. THAT was the easy part.

Coming up with a name for the blog took significantly longer than I thought was necessary. Instead of vocalizing his thoughts about a name, he just stared at the computer. Why do men do that?

I asked him what he was thinking so that I could help. He became frustrated with me. Why do men do that?

At some point, our ideas magically clicked and everything came together.

Then, came the description of the blog. For some reason, that was easier than the name... Oh, wait, I know why... I walked away to get another beer. Of course, that was after Drew told me that I was riding him like the Kentucky Derby.

We hope you enjoy our thoughts about life and marriage filled with ups, downs, humor, and wit.