I love my husband...

...because he encourages me to go on weekend trips to see my Grandma getting married even when my youngest child is sick

...and he has a secret stash of chocolate for when I get cranky

...and he folds all the laundry while I do homework

...and he makes me bubble baths when he sees I'm stressed

...and he tells me I'm pretty when I haven't taken a shower for two days and have my hair in a ponytail with two day old makeup

...and he cooks with me

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Life is stressful and demanding, but he makes it easier.

Disclaimer: Format copied almost literally from Dixie DIY's adorable post which I loved so much I couldn't resist doing it myself!

Second Post from the Past

On a whole other subject.

Brando and I have been off the wall lately. Yes we've been married ten years, but that doesn't mean it gets easier. It gets harder in some respects. Things are more familiar, in my case more boring. It gets harder to keep things alive, fresh, and fun. It gets harder to be light and silly with each other. We still are, but it just takes more work.

When we do go on dates (which I very regrettably ALWAYS make because they're what makes me happy) they are a BLAST! We go see live music, go to free events and sometimes free dinners! In fact, I just won two $45 tickets to the Hill Country W*ne and *rt Festival this coming weekend (which I may not be able to make due to my weekend in Dallas - boo). We won a dinner to the Dr*skill which we are looking forward to using and we also have a free dinner at Z Tej*s. We leave home behind and enjoy ourselves when we do those things.

At home is another story - we have the stress of the home, location, boys, school, money, and way too much other things going on. We don't always agree on how to deal with them, yet we're both responsible for dealing with all of it. It's stressful.

Fortunately, every time I look at him, I see the man I married and I realize I REALLY want to be with him, even with all the crap that we have to deal with. My only wish is that we dealt with it better, nicer, kinder, quicker, and more succinctly. We'll get there. Maybe. Or not. Either way it's got to be done.

Because I can

And because I want to be a good blogger. Posting from the past11!

I am SO excited for next weekend! Dallas here I come! Goldilocks, and her good friends E and M, and I will be having a girls weekend! Even though I am in Arizona today to see my grandma get married and my cousin and sister are here I am uber excited to have an all girls weekend! It's been way too long since I've had my coveted girl time Saturdays, as illustrated by my way too many exclamation points. I can't wait to drink, relax, and girl talk, possibly not in that order.

Speaking of girl time, I so covet my Monday night girl's nights. Time with Li and M is the BEST unwinding and refreshing time. Ambs had a baby recently and Anie got a new job so lately it's just been Li, M, and I - just like old times. It's kind of been nice. I miss the other girls, but I love it being just the three of us, too.

I've been uncertain of my social life lately. After Hawaii and kicking back with Brando on the beach and in the sunshine I've been much more chill than normal at home. Hell, I'm home on a Friday night typing this for Saturday!! That NEVER happens. But I'm okay with it and strangely satisfied by it. We are moving back into apartments so the boys can go back to their school that they and I love next year, but in the meantime I'm enjoying this chill. I would hate it if I knew it was forever, but since it's not, I'm relishing it.

On another note I've been apologizing all over myself for not being my normal self to friends lately and I am DONE with it. No more sorry I didn't call yesterday, no more sorry I want to stay home, unless I've said I will do it and I don't, no more sorry! Live with who I am or don't. It's your choice and I don't care what you pick. Actually I do but if you don't live with it then I don't. I love what KT said the other day when I told her I need to learn to be more strong. She said, "You are." That's why she's my best friend. She believes in me. And I believe in her. Can't wait for her to be spending the weeks with her staying at my house, thanks to her parents strangely doing a 180 with their attitude lately!!

This post is all over the place due to my mojito and I'm about to go refill it.

Drama

So I thought my mother-in-law troubles were a thing of the past. I was wrong.

Before the Hawaii trip I was SUPER stressed about going and still studying for school. I vented to her a lot because she seemed to be a willing ear. I ended up venting WAY too much about B, which I realized I should stop, but I didn't. When we got back from Hawaii I got upset with B and she tried talking me out of it and I wasn't going to have it. B and I got in a loud fight that night. The next day she took us to the airport and everything seemed fine. I asked B to call her that night to let her know we were safe and he did.

Fast forward to the rest of the week - we call, we email, no response. She leaves a few fb comments for B - I leave a cutesy banter one back to B, then all of a sudden she's gone off fb. Fast forward to the weekend and she still hasn't talked to us. I apologize up and down and she responds favorably. Easter we text her and call her and say happy easter. She texts us happy easter. Next few days with calls, emails, texts on our part and no calls back from her and barely texts or emails. Next few days she gets back on fb but doesn't include B and I. For some reason, that hurts my feelings more than anything. She has B's brother, his fiancee, our friends, but not B and I. Call me sensitive but it feels like a stab in the back.

To top it off rewind to where I started talking to her more before all this started - after she called upset because we hadn't called her enough (not on purpose, because of the busyness of life). I started calling her much more often. Since she usually talks a ton when I'm on the phone she started becoming one of my sources to talk to. This is what I get for using her as a source I guess. I knew better, but I guess I didn't really know. I guess after five years of no drama by me walking on tip toes and egg shells I thought it would be okay again. I'm not sure what I was thinking!!

Good Morning Sunshine!

Things we/I are doing that's making me happy:

*The house is on the market

*Looking at apartments. Please, please pray we don't have to end up in a sh*thole apartment just to get the boys back to their school.

*Getting a 100 on my second art exam!! Totally blown away. Was not expecting it after the first 100.

*Getting along well with my hubbers, and actually being silly.

*With the fog from vacation and having to overstudy to work for it lifting I've gotten out more, but still enjoyed being at home just as much.

*A night of nothing this week. I literally wandered around the house and did nothing. Not even sit on the computer.

Some might say high energy

The first time I realized I was not a sit down and do nothing kind of person I walked two miles on blistering (literally) hot pavement to a payphone to get away from a do nothing situation. Guess I've been running from doing nothing ever since!

Bloglines

So behind on my readership... about to hit "mark all as read" on my bloglines again. Start fresh! I've kept up on my faves (probably yours if you know about this blog) and that's it. Now I want to get back into my daily reading, but am thinking a clean slate would be much less overwhelming.