the girl who has loved a guy for ten years

Today is my ten year anniversary. Much has changed, much hasn't. We're a few pounds heavier, a few hairs lighter. We've added four children to the mix and taken away so many preconceived notions of parenting. We've discovered new things about each other and taken comfort in the familiar that never changes. After ten years, we don't finish each other's sentences, we finish each other's stories. We've been through sickness, we've been through health. We've been through good times and bad. We've been through poorer...I'd love the opportunity to go through richer. We love each other. I know that. Even on the days I want to strangle him, or pick a fight just to have an excuse to blow up, or when I feel like he just doesn't get it...I still love him and I know he loves me. And that makes it all worth it in the end.

So today, no renewal of wedding vows with a ceremony (as I had planned when we eloped ten years ago) but I will make my hubby breakfast in bed, and I will let him sleep him, and we will go out tonight for some grown-up time sans kids.

And we will keep on loving each other.

Here's to more to come.

the girl who watched history

So this weekend was what might be the last night shuttle launch. sigh! Knowing the momentousness (is that a word? Must be, spell check didn't ding) of the occasion, I set the alarm and herded the boys out.

This is what we saw:


The boys whooped and hollered and generally got excited over the light in the sky. I will miss the funny quotes from the kids on the shuttle launches. (Zack, "Someone's drawing in the sky" and Matthew, "Buckle up!) All good things must come to an end.

the girl who is a stealing the stealin's

This little post is courtesy of Princess who stole it from Jen who stole it from...well, you get the idea. Any potential thieves out there, post this list and bold the items you've accomplished.

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland (and DisneyWorld!)
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice (I'm not sure about this one. I've been to Venice as a child, I can't imagine we didn't ride a gondola while we were there, but I have no memory of it)
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors (I'm a mutt, so too many places to go, but my Mom's side is mainly German and I lived in Germany, so I'm counting it!)
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelos David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted (I did art modeling a couple times in highschool, I don't know if any of the sketches made it into paintings, but I posed for another artist when I moved to Florida and I know he was doing a painting from the sketches. I never saw it finished though. :( )
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check (not that I'm proud of it, but I have)
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Read an entire book in one day

Lots more to do. Although #90 might be closer than I think, since I got my jury summons!

the girl who welcomes the weekend

Saturday

crisp air
cleaned house
did laundry AND put away
took some pictures
some scrapping done
all and all, a great fall day

My Sunday plans

a little more cleaning
a little more laundry
I'm going to make some of my mom's stew and bake some bread to go with it
I'm going to cuddle up with hubby and watch "Hang 'em High"
I'm going to make the boys play outside
and right now, this very second, I'm going to go make some Pupkin Spice coffee


********************

and unrelated to *this* weekend, but I wanted to share...

there was a pumpkin carving contest at work and I was chosen to be the carver for my department. (Selection process went thusly, "You picked the pumpkin up, you carve it!")

So I made this little beauty right here:
Isn't he adorable? A little owl in a cage! I was awfully proud.

But the contest went on for a week, and well, there's not much left supporting that pumpkin. So the inevitable happened. the pumpkin decayed. Fortunately for me, it decayed artistically...


Unfortunately, Hedwig did NOT win. That dubious honor went to the cliched "Vomiting Pumpkin" However, I don't bear grudges. No, not I. I'm above all of that.






bastards!

the girl who voted

and I took Zachary with me.

Five minute drive to the polling place with a brief discussion of the classroom vote. (Apparently his school is Democrat heavy, Obama carried)

Brief discussion on how voting is private and how he was not to discuss Mommy's choices with anyone in the polling place.

A step-by-step introduction to the voting process, "This is where they verify that I am registered and this is my polling place. This is the ballot. this is the voting booth. These are candidates, these are proposed amendments to the state constitution."

And then, as I was filling out my (four page) ballot with neat little ovals like I was taking an SAT for America, the inevitable...

"Mommy, are you done yet? I'm bored!"

And let me just say this about that...

I am incredibly thankful that we live in a country where voting can be considered boring. It is not a life or death choice to go submit your choice for your leader. There is no danger in deciding who you feel should be given the trust and responsibility of running the country on behalf of the people.

And the very fact that I can inflict this boredom on my child gives me the responsibility of doing so. Not only MUST I vote, I am obligated to pass that sense of civic minded duty onto my children.

Watch out, Ian. In 2012 it will be your turn to be bored.