A little bit of sap...

4 years ago today, at this exact time of day...I was dressed in a white dress...smiling through many pictures...cursing my hair, and my undergarments...and nervous about the fact that I had to walk down an aisle and stand in front of many people...and about to marry the love of my life.
Yes, that's right - it's our 4 year anniversary today.
I simply cannot imagine being married to anyone else - hubster just GETS me. We have the same weirdo sense of humor...the same quirks and smirks. We can laugh and laugh and laugh together...and yet, we can be very serious and have long talks about our hopes and dreams and the future. He is without a doubt, my best friend - and I'm so blessed and lucky that Amanda insisted we meet and tried so many times until we FINALLY got together. She knew before I did...which just proves that sometimes your friends know you better than you know yourself.
Some of the things I love about my hubster:

I love that we can lounge around all day in our Pajamas watching movies and eating junk food
I love that he understands why I love kitty toes
I love that he is excited about being a father...to something that's not furry...more baby-like
I love that no matter where he's going, how long he'll be gone, or what kind of mood he's in - he ALWAYS kisses me goodbye and tells me he loves me....even if he's just going out to get the mail.
I love that he likes to bake pies and cakes and cookies...because that means that I don't have to - but I still get to eat them
I love that he helps me with the laundry and the dishes without even asking
I love that he's not a picky eater...and he'll eat whatever I fix...even if it sucks
I love that alot of times, I don't even have to cook - we just have "do-it-yourself" nights - where he eats what he wants...I eat what I want...and it's all good.
I love that he lets me sleep in on the weekends...even if he's up and bored
I love that he doesn't mind when I spend money on books, books, and more books....even though I have stacks of books I haven't read yet
I love that we both love the rain...and fireplaces...
I love that we can get in the car and take a roadtrip for days and days...and not have even one single arguement - we just laugh and sing and go wherever we want
I love that he is such a good uncle to our neices...that he'll get down on the floor and play games with them...and that he'll make them cookies whenever they want
I love that he's got such a weird sneeze, that it still makes me laugh 4 years later
I love that he loves his family...and mine
I love that 99% of the time, he's in a good mood....and when he's not, I can tell him so, and he just agrees and says "you're right, I AM in a bad mood"...instead of getting all pissed off
I love that he doesn't mind ironing, and will always iron my clothes when we're going somewhere nice
I love that we both enjoy reading before we go to sleep at night
I love that we can be somewhere and we can just sit quietly and serenely enjoying our surroundings and people watching...without saying a word to each other
I love that one day, I'm gonna be wrinkled and gray haired...and perhaps a bit of a crotchety
old lady - and I know he'll love me anyway

Yup - I think I'll keep him :)

Behold the Pinz!

Last night, hubster and I had just finished dinner, when the phone rang. Hubster picked it up and even I...sitting way over on the couch....could hear alot of noise from the phone. I then hear my brother's voice shout "HEY! I'M COMIN OVER!"
hubster said "I can barely hear you!"
and my brother said "I KNOW! THAT'S WHY I'M SHOUTING! JUST WAIT...I'LL BE THERE IN A FEW MINUTES!"
So we're just sitting watching the news, and all of a sudden, we hear this rumble. I told Hubster to mute the TV, and the rumble gets louder and louder and it's pulling into our driveway. We come out of the house and see THIS: (on the right)

That would be a PINZGAUER - a swiss army vehicle from the 1970's...made by Mercedes Benz if you can believe it.

My brother has been wanting one forever...and finally found one for a good deal. It's one of only TWO in the entire county - ha!

It totally looks like a refrigerator on wheels...it's hysterical.

It carries 8 people in the back with 2 bench seats that go along the sides of the vehicle...except I rode back there, and you could probably fit alot more than 8 back there...here's a peak:

My brother was incredibly giddy and excited last night, as was hubster...new toy!

Of course the first thing we did was hop in for a spin around town...which was funny because see this?

These would be the controls...which are all in GERMAN...hee! It was kind of a "learn-as-you-go" process...

It's super loud - which explains the yelling...and there is a metal gate that seperates the front from the back, which kinda made me feel like a prisoner. There was a moment of me hanging on the gate and screeching like a monkey...but only a moment.

We got some LOOKS driving down the street in that thing - it was pretty darn funny. The top rolls up and latches to the frame...it's kinda like a old swiss version of a hummer.

And see this?

That steel rail means that this thing was built to go over anything and everything in it's path.

LOVE - IT

If there is ever a nuclear disaster in this town, we'll all be heading for my brother's...because who needs roads when you have a Pinzgauer?

He's so excited - and so are we because it's fun and hilarious to ride in...hehehe

Behold the Pinz!

Brrrrrrrr

Check it out... know what this is??



That...my friends...is ICE - found this morning on the roof of my car:

I was ten minutes late to work - because it took me that long to get all the ICE off my windshield...

It's almost like it was wet...then froze....then got wet again...and froze again....very thick sheet of slick ice...not even frost - but ICE...

notice I keep saying ICE....yeah, because we live in GROVER BEACH....it's just not right I tell you...

When you step out our front door, we look over a garage/studio building (empty) between our house and another house...

USUALLY - the roof is a really dark gray - but not today!

*shiver* - it's cold - that's all I'm sayin...

Day Trip

A couple of weeks ago, Hubster and I lounged around the house on a Sunday morning - and decided to drive to Morro Bay and have lunch. It was a GORGEOUS day, not too cold - not too hot...very crisp and clear. We drove down the Embarcadero and decided to eat at the Hoffbrau and sit out on the patio.
I had clam chowder - which wasn't that great because I'm spoiled by Splash Cafe in Pismo.
I got some great pictures of Morro Rock though - and the harbor as well:

That last picture cracks me up because it reminded me of when I was younger and some friends (I think Elizabeth and Mylissa?) and I used to joke about flashing Gang Signs for Morro Bay by holding up 3 fingers....you know....for the 3 stacks, yo.

So Hubster and I cruised around and pretended to be tourists...we went into this one souvenir shop and hubster found a t-shirt that he wanted. It was black, with a white skull and cross bones...the skull had a patch over one eye, and at the bottom it said "Gimme yer Booty". He HAD to have it - which makes me think that perhaps I should do a "hubster's silly t-shirt" entry one of these days.

Later on at work - I guess hubster was telling his co-workers about the shirt...and they said "so...you bought a PIRATE t-shirt that says GIMME YER BOOTY?"

as you can probably guess, hubster's new work nickname is now "BUTT PIRATE"

(that'll get some google hits huh?)

Men - sheesh!

Anyway, as we continued on our way, I found my new favorite store called Southern Port Traders. They had so many beautiful clothes - long flowy skirts and pants and shirts that I could have gone crazy in that place. I settled on a purse - or actually, it's not a purse - but more like a BAG...sort of a messenger bag style:

I made sure to give hubster a business card from that store - a reminder for birthday's, anniversary's, etc....

From there, hubster said he wanted to go to Cayucos for cookies. Ha! Sounds like a fundraiser or something..."Cayucos for Cookies!"

I was in an agreeable mood, so I just nodded and said "let's go!" - without asking any questions.

So we get to Cayucos, and hubster goes "okay, now look for a Chevron station"

???? a CHEVRON STATION?

I said "you're kidding me right?"

and he goes "nope, I've heard it's a bakery in a Chevron station"

And I said "really...hmmmm...allrighty then - and you don't know WHERE this Chevron station is?"

and he said "nope, but how hard could it be?"

So we drove and drove and finally found the Chevron station - and lo and behold...a bakery! Inside a Chevron Station! With Cookies! The size of my HAND!

Dang those things were good.

Arrrrrrrrrgh

Apples of my eye...

Tonight, while I was cleaning up after dinner, the phone rang...and when I answered it - I heard this tiny little voice say:

"Auntie? When can we come spend the night?"

and my heart melted into a puddle at my feet...
Before I could answer my sweet six year old neice, I heard her say:

"how about Friday? Mom says it's okay!"

And I said "of course - Friday sounds good!"

and then I heard a scuffle, and another little voice...a 4 year old voice...came onto the phone and said:

"Hi Auntie...are we going to your house on Friday?"

and I said "yes, if it's okay with your mom"

and she said "it's okay, we already asked her if we could spend the night"

and then she said "how long away is Friday? Is it far?"

and I said "no sweetie, it's the day after tomorrow!"

and she goes "okay, see you then...love you!"

Thump...down went the phone

My sister-in-law picked it up and we worked out the details...she said they'd been bugging her all day about coming to our house.

I hung up with tears in my eyes because it's been a while since we've had the girls over, and I'm looking forward to it.

How lucky am I to have neices that will pick up the phone at 6 and 4 years old and ask if they can spend the night???
Eventually, Gracie (who's 9 months old) will join them and we'll have a houseful of sweet little munchkins....to play with and give back of course.

I think about how much I love those girls, and our neices on hubster's side as well.....and my sister's kids...and I wonder how my heart is going to handle having kids of my own. Is it just going to explode in a million peices everywhere?

I think it just might...

All better now...

Okay, so I've been better for a while - but I've been BUSY dealing with year end and year beginning stuff at work.

Good news is that Hubster and I booked a trip to Washington DC for May!!!
We've always talked about going, and especially before we have kids...and so we're actually going to do it. Hubster's never been East of Colorado - so he's THRILLED...and I haven't been there since I was about 8 or 9 - and I LOVED IT...we're just going to have so much fun.

Hubster is a huge history buff, and former political-science major - the boy watches History channel incessently and it drives me insane. So he's really excited to go on tours through the white house and the capitol building...he got online last night and wrote to our local congressman to get tickets to some of the "special" tours. He was so into it that I practically had to lean over and wipe the drool off our desk...

I'm not especially into politics - in fact, hubster and I have pretty different opinions about most things political...but I still love DC - and he'll be in history heaven. He has a tendency to give me long history lessons complete with background information when he's excited about a topic - so I told him that he has to promise not to be offended if I casually slip on some headphones while he's talking...hahaha
I think that's the only way I'm going to be able to stay sane on this trip. Headphones...

Headphones and booze...ha!

Our 4th anniversary is coming up on the 26th - and I CAN'T BELIEVE it's been 4 years! so weird...
I went to a baby shower last night and got a million questions of "when are you having kids?" and "what are you waiting for?" and "you've been married 4 whole years and no kids yet??? Better get crackin!"

which is when I buried all those people in my backyard....

KIDDING!

I understand the question - I do....but I am AMAZED at how many people ask over and over and over and over and over again...and it seems like the longer I'm married WITHOUT kids - the more the question gets asked. After a while, it's just downright annoying...
and I get tired of saying "oh, I don't know...we will eventually"
or "soon enough...soon enough"
I'm not even going to GO THERE about family members asking those same questions - but on a consistent and persistent basis. Big....sigh....

There was one lady though who has a son (who I went to school with and never liked, because he was a punk little pompous brat) who married a friend of mine...and apparantly they have decided not to have kids and focus on their career and become body builders. Which is fine - more power to them...too many people these days are having kids that they don't REALLY want them...so if a couple decides that they don't want kids - then GOOD FOR THEM.
But this woman is SO BITTER about the fact that she's not going to be a grandma...my gosh - she was walking up to every woman at this shower and saying "well, how many grandchildren do YOU have now?" and then someone else "I don't have ANY grandchildren...you're lucky to even have ONE"
She even walked up to me and elbowed me in the side and goes "how many grandchildren have you given YOUR parents?" and I looked at her and said "none" and she goes "oh, are you one of THOSE who's decided not to have kids?" and I said "no, we just haven't decided not to have kids YET"
and she goes "well at least you'll have some eventually - MY son and his wife are too into themselves...they don't even care that I'm not going to be a grandma"
Which is when I hit her over the head with my wine glass and buried HER in the backyard...

kidding!

She started bitching about how her son and daughter-in-law called her once from the penthouse at the Bellagio in Vegas and she was so upset that they just took off spontaneously and didn't even tell her they were going...and my gosh, why would they spend that kind of money on a penthouse for 2 people?
and my mom piped in and goes "well, they don't have kids - so they can afford to do whatever they want with their money! Good for them!"

HAHAHAHA - I was laughing...go mom....

Gimme a break lady...get over it. She was driving everybody nuts...people were trying hard to just smile and be nice...but you could tell that most people were rolling their eyes and gritting their teeth behind her...

I've heard that this year is going to be a baby boom - which makes sense considering I know so many people that are going to be screaming in a hospital room sometime this year. Every month through September, I know someone having a kid...some months, I know TWO people having kids...
I read it has something to do with the war, and the disasters...etc, etc...hospitals are going to be busy!

That's allllot of baby showers...and allllloooooot of "when are you having a baby?" questions...

My backyard isn't that big...so I guess I'll have to pray for patience...and resist the urge to tell them that I'm barren and run off sobbing....

hehehehe - talk about a good way to avoid THAT question....