I was tagged on
Facebook to write a note with 25 random things on it about me. I figured it would also work for here. On
Facebook though I didn't include the explanation because we weren't supposed to.
1. I have been married for 8.5 years; we've been together 12.5.
We met at the Fremont County Fair in July of 96. For the next 4 months or so we talked to each once a week and wrote letters back and forth.
Two days after my 16
th birthday I drove to
Ames to a hockey game and the rest is history. Really old history because we didn't really have email. As I said we mailed letters back and forth and talked on the phone 2 hours a week. I can't imagine we would be together right now if we had had cell phones. Just a feeling.
I still have all of our letters. The ones he sent me and the ones I sent him. I didn't find out until a couple of years ago that he kept them. What a wonderful surprise that was.
2. I like to cook... just not supper.
I hate having to decide what is for supper. If I had my way we would have hamburgers every night. I do a lot of my experimenting at lunchtime.
3. I wash my bedding every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
I don't know why. I just do. It isn't even that those same sheets are going to go back on the bed. We have something like 11 sets. The comforter and all gets washed. We also have a lot of comforters. Enough that I don't want to count them.
Austin used to think that this needed to be a couple's joint decision. After all it is about decorating. He no longer thinks that because I refuse to get his okay every time I want to change the blankets.
I have a new one in the closet that I got on clearance and I don't feel one bit guilty about that at all. It would be on the bed but it is more of a summer theme one and just looking at it makes me cold this time of year.
All the comforters have a light brown color in them somewhere so that every one that I get blends right into the colors in the room.
4. I might be
OCD on some things.
The bathroom must always be clean. Sink washed out and the toilet scrubbed. Floor swept and mopped. Mirror wiped down. Everything clean.
Sheets get washed on schedule. If I am gone on one of those days and get back the next it is okay I just change sheets and they still get washed on the next scheduled day.
The blankets on the bed must be centered. They all have to be pulled up to the same evenness at the top. No exceptions. I have been known to safety pin them together. My husband just realized this quirk last year. Crazy.
DVDs must be alphabetized according to the first letter of the title not including 'The'. DVDs with numbers in the title go at the end in numerical order no matter what the title is. Unless it is just a second movie in which case they go alphabetically.
Glasses in the cabinets go one right side up, one upside down, etc to prevent chipping.
5. I like to go grocery shopping late at night by myself.
I think this one is self explanatory.
6. We have one too many houses.
We have a second home in Indiana that has been on the market for a really long time. It will be a miracle if it ever sells. We have an accepted offer on it right now but I am not holding my breathe. After 3 years we have had more than one failed offer. Nothing to do with the house but with buyers financing going bad.
I am really glad that we bought the house we are in when we did. There is no way we would have qualified for another loan in the current credit market. Not that we can't pay it but because the banks are a little more skittish now.
7. I count the steps in my house every time I go up or down them like I expect there to be a new number of them. There are 14. That isn't going to change.
If I happen to lose count on the way up I will usually trip. If I lose count on the way down I have to stop and check myself because I have been known to fall down them. Thankfully I usually lose count on like number 12 or 13.
8. I hate when people talk about nothing or try to monopolize the conversation and will often change the subject to better suit myself. ;)
I don't like when people just talk about themselves and don't let anyone else in on the conversation. That or they just talk to hear themselves. That just doesn't fly with me. I also don't like when people have to think about what they are going to say. Like they are reading off of a teleprompter or crib sheet. Don't get me wrong if they have some kind of mental problem or disability that is something else entirely. But most of the time it is just people trying to keep their lies straight. I might be a domineering conversationalist but I let everyone in on the conversation.
9. I am a morning person that for some reason likes to stay up late.
Just call me stupid. Thankfully I don't need a whole bunch of sleep. 4 or 5 hours a night is enough.
10. I kept Mason rear facing until he hit the limits of his seat.
It was and is so much safer to have little kids in rear facing. He hit the limit of his seat and I have reluctantly switched him over to forward facing. I did look around at other seats and decided for the extra inch I would have gotten out of it was just too much. I really struggled with this decision because I do drive a lot. Now when I go somewhere I am more likely to find a route that isn't traveled very much. I don't worry about my driving so much it is more those other stupid bastards out there talking on their cell phones playing with the radio while trying to light a
cig that make me nervous.
11. I am scared of snakes... really scared.
I have always been scared of snakes. I used to have nightmares about them, they would be climbing the walls and coming out of toilets. As I got older I realized how ridiculous it was to be that afraid of snakes. That was until we moved here. Most snakes in the state of Iowa won't bother you. Once in a while you will run over while you are mowing the yard but that is the extent that you might see one.
Here at my house though we have a more aggressive bread of bull snake I believe it is called a fox snake and they will follow you around striking. I currently have one in the basement and have caught
others down there.
12. There is an unwanted snake living in my basement.
Here is a pretty good of what it looks like. It is bigger than this though.
13. During the colder winter months Hyde can usually be found under my sweatshirt with just his nose sticking out of the neck hole.
We started this when he was just a cute tiny puppy. Whenever he is tired or cold he likes to get on my lap and he will worm his way under my sweatshirt. He cuddles up and then sticks just his little nose out the neck hole. He is my own portable heater.
14. I am a closet smoker...
SHHH don't tell.
Yep, been a closet smoker for many many years. I know your wondering how in the world do I hide this from the husband. Easy he just associates me with the smell of smoke. He can take something of mine out of the dryer and say it smells like smoke. It could be something that I have never smoked in.
And he said I would never be able to brainwash him.
15. I go to the mailbox everyday but don't always check it...(refer to #14)
I make it look like I checked it if there is snow on the ground or it is muddy. Really anything that will show my foot prints.
16. Most of the time I just bring the bills in and let the junk mail pile up in the mailbox.
All I care about are the bills. I just let the rest of it pile up out in the mailbox. My mailman thinks it is hilarious. We get a lot of magazines every month and I don't even bring them in. We can fit 3 months worth of junk mail out there.
I have tried to train Austin that on Mondays to just empty out he mailbox when he takes the trash to the end of the driveway but he won't go for it.
17. I love to sit and watch my son play 'trucks' on the dining room table.
He will line up his cars and trucks on the edge of the table and push them around for house. They have to stay in line and it is just fun to watch him try to get them all moving and keep them in line. Sometimes he gets frustrated and starts to grumble and sounds like his dad.
He does the same thing in the window sills.
18. I like sweet tea with a bunch of ice and don't understand how people can drink it unsweetened.
My family has always had sweet tea with a bunch of ice. Austin's not so much. I don't know what they drank I have a feeling it was probably pop. I buy no pop. Austin will not drink sweet tea. He likes it unsweetened and at room temp. So wrong, so very wrong.
I have given up and make it unsweetened but only because I have figured out that if I add two sweet and low packets it taste almost the same. There are some days though that I just don't care and add sugar right to the pitcher. Those are usually the days that Austin decides to drink some. He is very aggravating some times.
19. I love the aftertaste of black coffee but I drink mine with enough sugar and creamer to qualify it as candy.
There is nothing like warm candy to get me going on the weekends. I don't generally make coffee during the week. I don't know why I just don't.
20. I love to read. I always have a book in my purse.
Perfect for those times when Mason falls asleep in the car and I know that transferring him will wake him up and it will still qualify as a nap. It never fails he falls asleep during the last 5 minutes of the drive.
I have finished many books in the driveway sitting in my car with a sleeping child in the back.
21. I talk to my little sister everyday on the phone. She truly is my best friend. I just stay on her good side...
My little sister is a bitch. There is no other way to put it. When on her bad side she can become vicious. She is my best friend though. We fought like no other all through high school.
There aren't very many days over the last 10 years that we haven't talked on the phone.
She is a very protective mother with two of the naughtiest little boys. Smart naughty boys and a protective mother is not a good thing.
22. I wish I had more time for photography... time to myself for photography.
This should be easier this summer when the sun is out later. I used to feel guilty when I would need some time alone because that meant leaving my husband with a crying baby but i don't feel guilty anymore. Why? Because he gets the crying side from his father and I totally believe Austin should know how to take care of his own child. I shouldn't have to be afraid every time I leave them home alone.
I have taken this so far as to get a job. I love it. Adult interaction and it doesn't involve me asking them to bring down their dirty clothes or cooking them supper. Wonderful. I will only be working about 12-15 hours a week but that is perfect.
23. I have decided to paint my office a pink color; I just need to find a way to tell my husband how it is going to be.
My husband spends no time in here. I let him have an opinion on every other room in the house and I am claiming this one as mine. I have already bought the paint and am just waiting for a weekend when he isn't in the house. It might have to wait until summer when he is helping his friends hay.
24. I can survive on very little sleep.
I found this out because my husband cannot. I have had more than job where I had to close and then open. Casey's specifically I would close Friday nights, get home about 12 and be back up there to open on Saturday mornings. I had to be there at 4:30 to get the paperwork done before we opened at 6. There is a very good reason I don't work at Casey's anymore.
25. I DON'T drink. Like at all. Cost too much to get tipsy and taste bad too boot. No Thanks.
I have way too high a threshold. When I would go to the bar with my siblings I would usually drink my own drinks and finish off everyone
else's and didn't even get buzzed. It has been years since I have tried that. Mainly because it taste bad. Sorry don't like the taste.
More recently when we have friends over they will bring over different alcohol for everyone to try and I keep up with the guys and so I just get to sit there and watch them get trashed. There has been more than once that one of our friends has had to have help getting to the car and yet I am clear headed and sober. Sucks.
Well those are my 25 random things. If you follow this blog I am sure you knew some of them but I know you didn't know all of them.
This is Buddy. He is a little scatterbrained but so loveable.
Here he is again.
This is Red. He is the more serious of the two.
Here he is again. I don't think there is a playful bone in his body.
I picked Buddy and Austin picked Red. I know hard to imagine I would pick the playful one and Austin would pick the serious one.
Here is my husband trying to get this post out of the ground.
I know he is trying really hard.
Can you see the vein in his forhead bulging?
Now here is Mason trying really really hard to get the same post.
He is pulling it towards himself with all his might.
Now he is pushing on it with all his weight. Such concentration!
Now he is trying to pull it again.
He is trying to pull it up. He is huffing and puffing so hard I am afraid he is going to pass out.
And now he stops everything because I couldn't hold my laughter any longer and am caught taking his picture.
He takes these little cars from window sill to window sill all day. It is so cute he will push on one end and make the little car sound. Then when they are to the very edge he will go to the other end, push and make the little car sound. Over and over and over. 
I know who wouldn't love the tacky wallpaper. We would have taken it down sooner but we were afraid at what we would find behind it. As it turns out we were afraid for good reason.
I loved this long counter. However I didn't even remotely like what it was made of. You know the spray that makes things look like stone. Yep! On a counter. In. A. Bathroom.
This floor was disgusting. I could never get it to look clean. It was almost as if they used two different colors of grout and just swirled them on the floor. Some places had almost white and other places were almost black. 
Austin and his dad taking out the old cabinet.
We took it all the way down to the studs. There was no insulation in the outside walls.
It looked so much bigger when we got all the walls down and the floor taken out.
Mason wore himself out and put himself to sleep. I know another bad mom notch but I honestly didn't know he was that tired it was only about 7.
The makeshift tub. We only have one bathroom so we made sure to get the tub and toilet back in fairly quickly. I am not fond of the bucket method and it was so hot while we were working on it. It got old very fast having to go to his parents house to shower every night.
The pocket door. We gained 26 inches going with the pocket door.
Unfortunately that meant we had to tear out plaster in the stairway also.
The test spot for the paint. I had to approach it slowly because Austin was soooo against it.
The spot for the washer and dryer. My favorite part of the whole bathroom.
I went ahead and got the primer tinted so that I could ease Austin into the green. I was afraid going from white primer to tree top green paint would have been too much. After we got all the walls primed in the lighter green it wasn't such a jump to the darker green.
Washer and dryer in and working.
My husband's beautiful tile work. 
It is so wonderful having a bathtub again. It really makes bathing Mason so much easier.
I changed my mind on the paint color but Austin didn't believe me. I told him I went with a more subdued green.
I lost a closet in the bathroom due to the washer and dryer so Austin put up some shelves behind the door in the stairway.
The new window that opens.
One of my decorations. I still have to get a couple of other things put up. We have finally decided what kind of trim and crown molding we are going to put up. I wanted to just put up a shelf so I could put some of my pretties on it and Austin didn't want to. We are currently still arguing about it.
This little dent totalled out my car. Wow.
