When Your Spouse Gets A New Hobby.......

Andy got a new camera this year, and once in a while there are odd "go stand over there" moments, but most of the time it's just very cool.  He took this picture of the living room looking festive,

and, of course, Theo:

who is nothing if not a ham.  I take pictures of things, but while I can manage not-blurry and actual-representations-of-things, that's as far as I go.

George

Did I sound at all freaked out that there was a mouse under the bed?  Well, it got worse--he got into my closet!

I am not a bold or exhibitionist sort of person, but if it came down to getting clothes out of a closet containing a mouse or going naked, going naked would win--believe me.  I made an unsuccessful dive (which will NOT be mentioned to the physical therapist) to head him off, but I am not the mouser I once was.  Andy stopped what he was doing and we went ON THE HUNT.


Armed with a cardboard box and a plastic lid to slide under it, we found he had taken refuge by one of my old tennis shoes, so Andy slammed the box down over the shoe, slid the lid underneath it, and we hustled downstairs and outside only to find that we'd captured a sheepish-looking old nylon.  Gathering up the shoe and the old nylon, we tried again.  He darted into another part of the closet, where we caught an old hanger.  And the petticoat to my wedding dress got a lovely airing out on the front lawn.  Finally we changed tactics and boxes:

and finally captured George, who is obviously an Olympic athlete of the rodent set.  We opted to skip the fanfare, but it took us so long to catch him that Andy and I both walked out into the nearby field to introduce George into a new vole colony.  I'm sure I'll be spending subsequent years trying to drive George's offspring out of my garden, but at least the house is rodent-free...........for now.

What Happens When Andy Is Home Alone During the Holidays........

Jersey Boys!

To celebrate my new ability to sit for longer periods of time, Andy and I got season tickets to the Broadway in Boise series this year.  The title is a bit of a misnomer as the first show was "Flashdance," which has never and WILL never make it to Broadway because it really isn't that good, but Saturday afternoon we saw Jersey Boys, which made it all worthwhile.  

This

 

is possibly the best sign I've ever seen at a show.  Other states might have accents, but to my knowledge, I don't believe any other state has had its accent classified as a "special effect."

I don't know if it counts as "date night" if it's a matinee, but we spiffed up for it anyway,

 

 and we even (sort of) took a "selfie!" 

(Seriously, there are no "small" technology achievements when one is over 40)

The show was wonderful.  Really, the entire center was packed and you could feel the excitement and the "buzz" as the show went on.  I only vaguely knew who the Four Seasons were and couldn't have named a single song of theirs, but everyone recognized almost every song and the performers were flawless.  

Not bad for a "date afternoon."

Autocorrect--Keeping Life Interesting

(tonight, via text messaging)

Andy:  Greg said Frank is in town, and will bring him along to your body party, if you would like.

Toni:  I didn't know it was a body party.  Toning or burying?

Andy:  Which goes best with pizza?

Toni:  Probably burying, since I think pizza is Sicilian...............

Thank You, Amazon.........

Andy turns 50 this year, and because I want it to be really, really special, I have already started thinking about gifts.  I have a few ideas, but always looking for new ideas, I pulled up the Amazon website and searched for "gifts for men."  My personal favorite suggested gift is

Not that there's anything wrong with a man wearing pink monster slippers with hearts all over them..........I just don't think I actually know any men who would wear them.  To be fair, they would indeed be "special" and they certainly weren't something I would have thought of on my own, but I'm just not seeing it.......

However,

I am rather tempted by the flying screaming monkey idea, but only if I got one for me as well, which then makes it less appropriate for a birthday gift and more of an anniversary sort of gift, don't you think?

Better Late Than Never

Every anniversary, Andy and I exchange perfume and cologne.  Some years we've picked it out separately, some years we've gone shopping together.  The scent industry seems to have survived the economic downturn without a hiccup, as last year our selections cost almost twice what the ones we bought in 2006 for our wedding.  I understand inflation, but not even gas and oil have increased at THAT speed.  So we've been kicking around ideas for a new place to shop or a new way to pick out scents, and time got away from us.  As it is now the Holiday Season, the mall and just about every retail establishment has descended into crowded and obnoxious trials of patience for both of us, so this year we decided to pick out scents on-line.

That was more fun than we ever dreamed.  We started looking up scents we already had, then looked at things that people had also bought.  The reviews were almost worthless, but the descriptions were delightful.  I was sorely tempted by one described as "a sexy fruity fragrance you wear at your discretion," but eventually picked Amarige by Givenchy, which has notes of "Neroli, Mandarin, Violet leaves, Rosewood, Gardenia, Red fruits, Ylang-Ylang, Acacia Farnesiana, Tonka Bean, Woods, Ambergris."  I have no idea what most of those things actually smell like, but I liked the sound of "ylang-ylang."  I don't know how it is actually pronounced exactly, but it looks fun.  

For Andy we looked up some of the male versions of perfumes we've bought for me.  One of our favorites has always been "The One" by Dolce and Gabbana, which has a male version.  We thought we were ordering the original, which was described as "The One for Men perfectly reflects the Dolce Gabanna man: charismatic and seductive, elegant and sophisticated, he loves taking care of himself. A modern hedonist who never passes by unobserved."  Without realizing it, however, we ended up ordering "The One Gentleman," which is for "a man who is multifaceted and knows how to treat a lady,"  I have no idea what either of those descriptions have to do with smells, but I love the descriptions. We've never gotten odd descriptions of fragrances at the fragrance counters--just a lot of cards with scent on them.  They're nice in themselves, but the descriptions are less prone to giving headaches.

Our new scents arrived this week,

and quite wonderfully, we like both scents and yet they are quite different from anything either of us already have, making it a total surprise.  No free gifts with purchase, of course, but last year's umbrella doesn't work very well, the matching scented deodorants tend to give Andy a rash, and we already have at least 5 or 6 free bags piled up around the house.  And we're celebrating another year of smelling absolutely fabulous...........

And We're On To Christmas!

I am not going to gloat or anything, because it was this week last year when I managed to sprain my back while doing physical therapy, so there are no limits to what I can do, but we are hosting our FIRST party in two years on Sunday.  I almost feel human again.  Or I feel like a human who still has to take muscle relaxers, take breaks, and who can still have random days of pain.  So maybe I need to work on my concept of "human," but as it's now been over two years, it's exciting to just be mobile.  AND GETTING READY FOR CHRISTMAS!!!!!!

I love spending Christmas in my own home.  We're always invited to different relatives' homes, of course, and for the first few years of our marriage all we DID was travel all over for Christmas.  But I'm 43 years old, Andy will be 50 next year, and frankly we are old enough to have our OWN Christmas traditions in OUR OWN HOME.  The thing is, I don't like to travel for Christmas.  Your house is more likely to be broken into, it's harder to find someone to take care of our pets, everyone on the planes are spreading cold and flu germs to everyone else, flights are expensive, weather conditions can cause delays and flights are overbooked, and December is so busy with parties and events and everything else that I'm tired by the time Christmas rolls around. I don't want to have to be gearing up to travel anywhere.  And, while I appreciate it when people DO invite us for Christmas, until I got married I never ONCE hosted or had Christmas in my own home because of family expectations, but now we're married, we're adults, and have a life together to create. So, we have big plans both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, and an Ugly Sweater party on Sunday.  Let the holiday season begin!

Seven Happy Years and Counting

Today is our seventh wedding anniversary.  Time flies when you're in love and having fun.........................:)

What a Creative Spouse Does When You're Not Much of a Cake Person

Six Years And Counting

Sunday was our 6-year wedding anniversary.  Obviously, this is kind of a tough time for us, so we had gone shopping for our annual perfume/cologne exchange early this year so we could do it one of the days my mother was in town as a break for all of us.  This year, I got THE most elaborate bottle ever:

The clerk said that some people bought it just because of the bottle, which sounds spontaneous but risky as there are scents I truly dislike.  Because this is our 7th exchange (one for the wedding), we were looking for things very different than what we already have, and I had narrowed it down to this one or another one in a much tamer bottle--both were sort of spicy, which I don't already have.  I think the clerk thought I picked the cutest bottle, but in reality this one was $30 less than the other one, and considering 6 years ago we were only having to spend $50 each in total, there was no way I was picking such an outrageously overpriced scent.  We are going to be tweaking this a bit for next year, but in the meantime, I think I might need to display this baby somewhere.............

Some Of Us Carry Warning Labels.......

I am--and always have been--extremely squeamish, so I keep having to explain myself to medical personnel during all of this (and any time I'm around a hospital in general).  I was saying to Andy this morning it would have been nice if they had sent Dad to the same floor as before so I wouldn't have to explain myself to an entirely new group of nurses, so I found this on my car as I set off:

Is that love or what?
 

They're Wrong

Pick up any magazine or watch even 5 minutes of television, and you're going to see some sort of ad telling men what gifts women will appreciate--and it usually involves a few hundred to a few thousand dollars.  And maybe there are a few women out there who would agree, but frankly I think every woman I have ever met would rather have what I got last night:

Shelves for my sewing room, made for me by my loving husband, Andy!  There are even going to be lights in those upper curves.  Can you imagine anything that one could buy being a better gift??????  I certainly can't.

It Is A Wise Man Indeed....

....who knows how to woo his wife with the Muppets.....

And Even a BETTER Reason To Celebrate.........

Seven years ago tonight was our first date and the day that Andy and I actually met.  Time certainly flies when one is having fun!

Happy Anniversary - Finally

So, through one thing and another (meaning "canning" and "back injury"), we had never yet gone to get our anniversary scents to celebrate our 5 year anniversary (September), so we went to the mall last night.  For Andy we found:

Cologne with a belt clip!  Does it get more manly than this?  They should have called it "Tool Belt."

In my closet is a fine selection of bags that I have received as free gifts for purchasing perfumes.  Somewhere I even have a desk clock, which conveniently stopped working right about the time I ran out of perfume, which I think was planned.  They're all nice, I guess, and as a knitter I've put a few of the bags to good use, but this year

I got martini glasses!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Now THAT is a good free gift!  Score!

On Being Married..........

"Why not paint all the walls at once?"

I think in every relationship, one person is going to be better acquainted with reality than the other one.  No matter HOW many times I have regretted my optimism, I never seem to get any smarter.  What could possibly make more sense to anyone spending 2-3 hours a day doing physical therapy and exercising?  Packing up and moving the ENTIRE contents of her sewing room--that's what.  

Andy, the smarter person in our relationship, wanted to get started on the shelves for my sewing room this weekend.  Great, I said, and we can paint the wall first.  (By "we" I of course mean "him").  Then, because the idea is to have 2 walls be one color and 2 walls be another, I decided to get enough stuff moved to allow him to paint 2 walls.  Then (and can't you just see the instant the brain completely snapped?), I said, as long as I'm moving that much stuff around in the sewing room, why don't we just do the whole thing and get it over with?  Bless his little heart--no matter how tempting it was to respond "Because you just got out of physical therapy two days ago and this sounds like a colossally stupid idea," he said "sure thing."  If that isn't love, I don't know what is.

Married to Mr. Hoover

Last night I asked Andy to remind me to put a chicken in the slow cooker for dinner tonight. 

This morning, he brought me coffee with this attached to it:

Life is never dull with a spouse who can make you laugh.

I Have To Show You These

Over the last three weeks, I have been finding these

stashed around the house (thankfully in quite obvious places, as much of that time has been spent under the influence of pain pills).  They're little bottles of perfume, and usually when we hide such things for each other, we try to be really tricky so it will take a long time to find, but Andy said that the Perfume Fairy thought I needed a little cheering up during all of this.  How sweet is that?

Of course, since the whole back saga has meant Andy has been doing double duty with work and nursing and hosting parties, I recently ordered this,

for some knitted socks as a big THANK YOU for everything he's done.  It would have been a sweater if that wouldn't take so long (though I admit it's still tempting).  As soon as I am back to fully functional, I think we'll need to arrange a week with NO chores for Andy as well. :)

Overheard Today At Chateau Sutton-Goar

Toni:  "Hm, there's no water coming out of the kitchen faucet"

Andy:  "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAEYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!"

Toni:  "Oops"

And the lesson LEARNED at Chateau Sutton-Goar today:  The spouse who is getting hosed down by the kitchen sink spray nozzle will find the situation significantly less funny than the spouse who isn't..........