I’m afraid I need to interrupt Love Thursday to bring you a much more pressing matter. (Pssst! Do not fret! I am likely to give you Love Friday, instead.)
Otto and I are having a small disagreement. I would like some input on our dilemma, and to make it fair I won’t even tell you which side of the argument each of us is on. It will be TOTALLY BLIND, because there’s NO WAY you’ll be able to suss out who is who. What? Oh, look over there! Something SHINY!
This is a matter of great importance—I mean, it must be, as it represents the first real argument of our nearly-year of marriage—and since both of us have extremely hard heads and each believe our own personal positions to be correct, I just feel like it’s imperative that we open this up to the floor.
After all, if you can’t use your readers as your moral compass (provided that they say what you want them to), WHAT IS THE POINT OF SOCIETY? (more…)
Otto had a “work thing” this weekend, and by that I mean that I said goodbye to him on Thursday morning and other than the occasional in-the-wee-hours mumble of “what time is it? did you just get home?” we didn’t see each other again until last night.
Well, that’s not quite accurate—he called late yesterday morning to say he needed to bring some folks over for a late lunch, and could I get to the store? The kids and I ran over to Publix for cold cuts and supplies to make banana pudding; the former so that we could all have sandwiches, and the latter because when it comes to embracing Southern hospitality, my children are ALL ABOUT pudding and Nilla Wafers. Then I got to have lunch with the group before Otto left to take everyone back to the airport. So there was some meaningful conversation inserted in there, sweet nothings like “Hello, I remember you! I think!” and “Dude, why did you take out the ketchup? Do you think people want ketchup sandwiches??” to round out the day. (more…)
(I like how that word can be used to mean… pretty much whatever you’d like it to mean. It might be great! It might be terrifying!)
The other night as we were finishing up dinner, I leaned over and kissed Otto. I don’t remember why. Probably just because he’s kissable.
Monkey saw this and responded with delight, because he’s going to grow up to be a perverted voyeur. Er, I mean, because he is a little ray of sunshine. “Again!” he demanded. I raised an eyebrow at him. “Kiss AGAIN!” So we kissed again. Hey, there’s no need to beg or anything.
And then we had to part ways (again!) and later, when it was time for me to move down here, which involved a long drive and then mortgaging ourselves into submission before the children arrived.
My point here is that it’s possible that Otto and I never really had a good stretch of time to just hang out, just the two of us, and enjoy our newlywed bliss. (more…)
This Love Thursday, I’d like to acknowledge that I married the sort of man who will tell someone “we just ordered my new computer and I’m dancing!” and then—when they say “I’d like to see that”—makes a video and posts it to the internet.
Truthfully, I wouldn’t have it any other way. Laughter is good for the soul, and Otto will be nourishing my soul with his utter dorkitude for a long, long time.
Chickadee was sitting at the breakfast table this morning, trying to finish the homework I’d cruelly sent her to bed before completing, last night. She was to bring in a list of at least twenty idioms and what they mean, and was on number eighteen and struggling to finish.
Monkey was spinning in circles, being a general distraction, and Otto had retreated to the office to get away from it all, I think. I was trying to help, but running out of expressions. Plus, it had taken entirely too long to get her to understand what the “can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear” saying means.
Of course, I was also sort of busy mediating the bickering that was happening.
“Otto!” I called into the other room in exasperation. “Do you have any ideas?”
Me: I’m taking out a loaf of beer-cheese bread to bring up with us later. Otto: Wow! Me: What? Otto: That’s awfully generous of you! Me: Um. It’s BREAD. Otto: No, it’s BEER-CHEESE BREAD. Me: Yes. Well. I thought I should bring them something. Otto: But it’s BEER-CHEESE BREAD. Me: I WILL MAKE SOME MORE FOR YOU. SHEESH. They’ve had our children for an entire day and night! Otto: You’re sucking up so that they’ll take the kids again. Me: Yes.
I was working along, yesterday, quite happily. Mondays are always excellent work days—I’ve had just enough family togetherness to make those hours after everyone’s left the house feel serene and calm and full of possibility. I’m incredibly productive on Mondays. (It falls off during the week. By Friday? I’m useless.)
It has become my habit to do several hours of work in the morning before showering. If I’m going to be completely honest, I guess the truth is that I often work until lunchtime, then take a break to eat and shower and, you know, get dressed. Until then, I’m just here on my own, so what difference does it make?
Well, it makes a difference when I forget that the Bug Guy is coming. (more…)
“Oh, it must be awesome being married to a photographer!” I hear, over and over. Yes. Completely awesome. Especially in light of how I hate having my picture taken. I’m not complaining about him, you understand, but sometimes I do wonder how blind love must be for me to have done that.
[A common scene in our house: Otto, trying to take my picture. Me, hiding behind things, wrapping my arms around my head, or just pulling a monstrous face. Otto eventually throwing up his hands in disgust while asking, “WHY DID YOU MARRY ME?” Me, running away, calling over my shoulder, “You’re cute and I wanted more pictures of the kids!”]
The truth is that I love seeing the world through his lens. I wish we could do that without him trying to snap ME quite so often, but whatever. Details. (more…)
Remember Love Thursday? I was thinking the other day that I sort of miss it.
And then some fine ladies brought it back, because Love Thursday will not be denied, man. It’s a powerful force that will not just go away. Let’s face it—in a world where the news is topped by supposed adult politicians bickering like children, famous actors overdosing, and any other number of tragedies, I dunno about YOU, but I could certainly use a little more Love Thursday. Just sayin’.
So I started thinking about it, and first I thought that love is my husband saying that yes, sure, let’s have a dozen small boys over to the house to run around and eat pizza and popcorn and leave greasy fingerprints on everything. And that led to me thinking that actually, love is me telling him that yes, I would dearly love to spend a day looking at campers we can’t afford. But that was before last night. (more…)
