D.C. Sans Kids

Last week, Jon was in Boston. He drove--all 13+ hours. Uggg. I was in North Carolina. He was supposed to leave on Saturday morning, but ended up delayed until about 11am. That meant that he wouldn't be home that night. I hung up the phone, sighed, then picked up the phone again. I called a good friend who agreed to watch all my kids overnight. Then I talked to another good friend. She would take them the second night. Then I called Jon, booked a hotel, and headed north.

That night, Jon and I arrived at the hotel only 10 minutes apart. We went to a wonderful Chinese restaurant. The next morning we got up and went to a great place for brunch. The servers all wore suspenders and bow ties and there was more Mahogany trim and paneling in that place than I have ever seen. Gas lights, original paintings, gorgeous flower arrangements and a crowd even on Sunday morning. Lovely brunch.

Then we bundled up, braved the elements and headed down the street for the Smithsonian museums. We went to the National Archives and the National Museum of Art--both things we wouldn't dream of taking the kids to. I lugged that big camera everywhere and only took one picture the entire trip. Actually, Jon took it for me.



You would think that I would choose the Washington Monument or something iconic, but this painting was a must take. It is the painting that is depicted on one of our timeline cards that the kids study--St. Benedict and Monasticism. They had to see me standing next to the original. Of course, I couldn't use the flash, so even this picture isn't good. But, there it is.

That evening we headed back to the hotel and ordered pizza and a Philly cheesesteak. I asked the concierge where to find a good Philly cheese and she laughed. She is from Philly and used to work at a hotel in Philly and was always asked that question there. She hadn't heard it in years. She named a place that almost gets it right and we ordered delivery. She was right--almost right, but not quite. I love the real deal.

Then we got up the next morning at 5 and left at 6. Jon had a lunch meeting.

So, that was our whirlwind excursion without kids to D.C. It was lovely.

Jon's 35th!

Yesterday was Jon's 35th birthday!

Here he is with the kids right before opening his presents.



Here he is excited about opening socks.



Here he is excited about opening underwear.


Good sport. He also got a wallet that he'd been admiring on our trip to Tennessee. We went out to a late dinner at a nice Italian place. Lovely evening celebrating the life of My Love!

Impromptu Living

My hubby is spontaneous. To think is to do. Examples: "Hey, why don't we go camping." Two hours later we're on the road; "Let's look at trucks." We drove one off the lot; " Erin, can you clean up things at the house? I'm bring 20 employees over for a cookout." I picked up and mowed a patch around the picnic table in the back yard. By then (6 years married) I was used to this; "I think I'll rototill the garden." But the sun just set. "It won't take long." He had to work under flood lights for 5 min, but got it finished.

There have a few times that this made me nervous. "Hey, maybe I should quit my job and get a traveling one, sell our house, buy a big motorhome and tour the U.S." Still have the job.

There have been many times that this benefitted me: Nikon D-60, Laptop, iMac, countless flowers and treats.

He's spontaneous, I'm not. I get my planned way of life from my Dad. It once took him two years to buy a lawn mower.

Case in point: right now I'm facing buying a new printer/scanner because Mac OS isn't compatible with my old ones. I've researched the market and narrowed my focus. After two weeks of studying and reading reviews I've determined that the most economical choice for me, that doesn't take up as much room, still gives me the quality that I'm after and doesn't cost an arm and a leg for ink replacement is an HP laserjet black and white and a separate flatbed scanner. Two weeks!!!! Actually, I've been considering my options since we bought the computer in December. 4 months!!! In the meantime, I've been using a thumb drive to transfer documents to my laptop in order to print.

So, how should I resolve this? I'll either get up my gumption and buy the thing, which may take another two weeks, or just make Jon work at home for a day. He will have that printer bought before I can blink.

Rototiller

Jon went thirty minutes south of town to pick up a rototiller for the campus. He can thank his mom for his love of yard/garden work. The rototiller conjures up all kinds of memories for him because he had a big one like this when he worked with his mom in her garden.



Now he's bringing this sentimental contraption to the college where he will put it to good use. They just put in a community garden, and a few weeks ago he started a kitchen garden for the food service provider. The provider is very good about buying from local growers, but the on-campus plot will grow herbs and a few veggies for seasonal use.

Next year, Jon is planning on plowing up a field that the campus owns and putting in a large organic plot and a greenhouse for growing hydroponic veggies. Should be a fun adventure for him since he loves it so much. He is, of course, excited about the benefits he will "harvest" for the college too.

My Surprise

Jon told me to be ready to go to our friend's house in 30 min. I got the kids ready. Jon got home and told me that he had to take a shower (he was filthy) before he joined us, but that I should just go on ahead because they were waiting. Then he backed the van out of the garage, turned it around, and parked it in the garage tail end first. Odd.

I forgot something so I dashed inside. When I came out, the kids were running all over the place. As I gathered my flock, Sinatra kept pointing to the side yard and yelling something. Finally I made out the little guy's words, "We got a Jeep!" I went to the side yard and there was a Jeep with a tarp thrown over it. They were not supposed to have discovered that. The surprise was ruined--just a little.

Jon came down and we loaded kids in the van, but my slightly dejected sweetheart took Sinatra and drove off to the friend's house without saying a word about the Jeep. Now I was wondering if I would forever associate the memory of getting a Jeep with the uncomfortable passive aggressive anger of my husband. We had talked about the possibility of this for years, but had always come to the conclusion that it would be way too impractical. Odd--he's not the passive aggressive type. I pulled out of the garage FORWARD, so as not to see the hiding spot, and joined Jon at our friend's house.

We dropped the kids because Jon had arranged for the two of us (and Sugar) to go Jeeping and to dinner while our friends babysat. We loaded in and took off with the wind in our hair. He still wasn't talking. I asked direct questions about the Jeep. It had 132,000 miles on it--how much did you get for your truck and how much did you pay for this? No answer. Did you buy it from a friend or somewhere else? Do we own this? No answer. After 5 min. my anger reached ticked off level and I told him what I thought of his silence. He didn't seem angry though. In fact, he seemed rather pleased with himself. He smiled at me and didn't say a word--smug little rodent. Odd. Odd. Odd.

I tried to calm down and enjoy the ride. It was, after all, a Jeep with the top down on a beautiful evening. After 10 min. of this, he finally broke. He laughed and told me that the Jeep was on loan from a friend who wanted to sell it. "Was that so hard, Jon?" I asked. "Why wouldn't you answer my questions?"

"I just wanted to see how you would have taken it if I had really pulled something like that--you did pretty good," (Unedited...I would have corrected that last little word).

Glare. Sneer. Laugh. Really enjoy the ride.

We went north of town to a Mexican restaurant. When we got out, Jon was going to leave his duffel bag in the car. He said that it would probably be okay. "What? No way. Take it in," I insisted. Towels and swimsuits aren't too expensive, but why risk it.

We sat down and ate. When I had finished eating, Jon opened the bag and started rummaging around--crinkling plastic. Odd. He pulled a box out and set in in front of me. It took a moment to register, then I dropped my jaw and was speechless. When I found words they were so eloquent--"No way. No way!! No way!!! I can't believe you got me one!"

Okay, let's cut to the chase. It's a Nikon D60 Digital SLR. It's a really nice camera for an amateur. I've wanted one for so long, but never could justify the price tag. Feed the kids for two months or buy a camera? It had always been a tough choice, but we'd always chosen the kids. Apparently, my husband thought that we just might manage to do both.

The camera came with a 18-55mm VR lens (nice and basic), but Hubs added a 55-200mm VR (telephoto) lens too.

I actually cried--no boo-hooing, but watery eyes and emotion. Then I smiled the rest of the night.

Of course, they don't make it so that you can play with the toy right away. I had to charge the battery overnight. And then the next day was one that I am glad I will never have to repeat. So I finally got out my camera tonight and started taking shots. The light had faded outside so these are all inside in the fake light. What an upgrade!!! I can't wait to snap away in the daylight.

About the Jeep--we're considering it. I think it's horribly impractical, but wonderfully fun.

What a nice, non-passive aggressive husband I have.



Macro setting.



Picture using pop-up flash--notice harsh shadows. Have a plan to remedy all that.



Picture set to no flash and high ISO (kind of works like the speed of film you would buy). A bit of blur, but really sharp compared with what I've been using. You can really see the difference between the flash and no flash shots if you click on the picture. Also, you could take my fingerprint from that macro shot--without a macro lens even!



Here's what Popcorn thinks--two thumbs up. He just can't wait to see the shots his mom gets when the sun pops up tomorrow.

Best Hubby in the World

He often brings me flowers--doesn't have to be a special occasion--though this time it falls especially close to our 13th anniversary (Aug. 7). He bought me a mountain bike last year. Today he outdid himself. Let me just say that the man is generous. I have wanted this for years but have not found a way to justify spending so much when what I have already will do. You'll have to wait until later to find out what he did. This is just a teaser. Full story to come. I will tell you that when he gave it to me I dropped my jaw and was speachless, then cried, then smiled...the rest of the night.

Dressed for Success

Jon has taken up wearing clogs to work. With the everyday polo and dress pants it's not too distracting, but this????...



These are his shoe of choice. Forget dress shoes. Not even loafers are good enough for him.



He must have the versatility of being able to garden and hold a meeting. Yes, he actually went to work like that--even after I made fun of him. At least he didn't wear the white ones.

Dig It!

My hubby likes to garden/landscape. He makes things look beautiful. Here is an example of a job half done. It gives a great idea of what things look like before Jon gets ahold of them and then after.





He helped out a friend who lives on the campus the other day with mulch. They needed some for a play area under a tree and the tree service had just come through and left behind piles and piles of wood chips throughout the woods that run along the road that winds into the back part of the campus. (big breath) So...Jon ran up to the facility building and grabbed a toy. Wow! How we wish we had one of these at our house--well, maybe a mini version.

Popcorn had a fun ride with his daddy.

This year, Jon has really outdone himself. He has redone the entire front and back walks of the house in addition to planting a garden. He has transplanted, spread mulch, planted bushes, uprooted bushes, built stone walls, and in general, has thrown dirt around all day long (and often into the night--even with a flashlight) until everything is green and beautiful. He comes in filthy every night, but happy. He loves the work. I think he would do well in landscaping if he wanted a different career.


Sinatra adores anything on wheels, but goes nuts over big things on wheels. He loved the front loader.

The Big One

On Thursday, Jon was invited to go trout fishing at a friend's private property about an hour from here. They left in mid-afternoon and fished until they couldn't see anymore. The first fish to be caught was the big one on Jon's string. That's a BIG trout--24in. and about 5-6lbs. So, here's the big one that didn't get away.

Correction, Correction

Jon's Brick Breaker world (not national) ranking is somewhere around 32,000.
Jon's high score is 26,240.

Brick Head

My husband is a Brick Breaker addict. It's on his phone and he plays it all the time. I've learned to distinguish between the clicks that denote him reading email and the clicks that indicate a heated game of Brick Breaker.

It's the game where a little ball bounces from your "paddle" at the bottom and eliminates a pattern of bricks as it runs into them at the top of the screen. Thrilling, I know.

The game is even connected to a national database and lets you know your placing at the end of the game. Jon is in the 400,000 range. I can get to level 7. Jon can get passed the last level (32 I think) and go back around (only at a faster pace) and get to level 17 again.

I've caught him playing it in odder places.

The Bat and the Traitor

My cousin is hosting animal stories at her site every week until she runs out of things to share. She told a horror of a mouse story a few weeks ago and a funny story involving a name misunderstanding this week. It got me thinking about my own animal story...

Gem was only about 5 months old and we were living in a rental house. It was a tri-level (becomes an important detail later).

Jon and I had gone to bed and were finally settled in and warm when we heard something on the outside of the air conditioner unit in the far window. "It's those morning doves walking on the outside. They do that a lot in the morning," I commented to Jon. Annoyed, I rolled over on my side and closed my eyes again.

The sound continued. I thought about getting up and scaring the doves away, but wanted to stay in my warm covers. I couldn't sleep because of the sound, and before long I began wondering about it. It was 11 at night. The doves shouldn't be out this late--maybe a squirrel? Scratch, tap, scratch, tap. Sleep was not coming. I rolled onto my back and opened my eyes. In the stillness of the dark, there was a small shadow moving in circles over our bed. I grabbed Jon's arm--death grip style. "Open your eyes!"

He saw it too and we instantly flopped the covers over our heads. We had a quick strategy session, in which I shuddered and made pitiful noises to show my distain for flying rodents, then we slipped out of the covers and onto the floor, crawling for the door. I closed all the upstairs bedroom doors, grabbed a towel from the bathroom, then we turned on the bedroom light. The bat darted out of our room and down the stairs to the living room. Step one, check.

In our strategy pow-wow we had decided that we would use towels to flush him out, directing him out the front door. The brilliant plan had been mine, hailing from my childhood where we often had birds down our chimney and "waved" them out the door using towels.

I have a very impulsive and ingenuitive husband who varied the plan a bit. He came out with a tennis racket, ready to clobber the flying rodent. When that failed, I was annoyed and told him to take his post at the top of the stairs so that the bat couldn't get back upstairs. I stayed at the bottom of the stairs, opposite the open front door, waving my stupid towel. It did absolutely nothing. The bat kept circling.

About this time, Jon disappeared again and came back with the comforter from our bed. If a towel is good, a comforter is better. He waved it a few times, then used all 6'3" of his God-given height to hold it over the entire opening, leaving him on the upstairs side and me all by my lonesome self with the bat.

I may have cursed at him. I hope I didn't. All I really remember doing is screaming wildly and screaming even louder every time the bat came near. Every time I screamed Jon would laugh. Pretty soon, the comforter was shaking with his laughter--the traitor. After a while I laughed too. Laugh, scream, laugh, scream.

The bat finally gave into my masterful plan and sailed out the door. My wonderfully brave and protective husband abandoned his safe zone, came down the stairs and hugged me. I punched his arm, but not too hard.

We still laugh about it.

The Way It Works

Lately, I've found myself explaining to many people about how we do meals at our house. I use the term "we" loosly because it's mostly Jon. He does all of the grocery shopping, meal planning and actually fixes many of the meals (he also brought me flowers again this week).

I've never really been a fan of cooking, and Jon likes to do it, but that's not the reason for our shift. Over this past year we've been eating much healthier and sometimes even juiced carrots in the evening instead of eating a larger meal. Eating better means eating more fresh fruits and vegetables. That requires shopping more often. Jon just hits the grocery store on the way home from work.

Jon is also a deal shopper and can't resist a buy one, get one special. When it's on sale we load up. When it's not, we eat what we already have. I'm sure it's saved us lots of money, but it also a far cry from how I function.

While my hubby can glance in the pantry and refrigerator and come up with 15 meals, I struggle to scrape together one after studying it for an hour. It's a source of stress for me.

Over the years, I've coped with it by entering all of my recipes in a meal planner program that lets me map out a meal plan, print the recipes, and create a shopping list in about 10 minutes. Then I get online and shop for my groceries. Then I pull through the drive-in and have them loaded into the back of the car while all 4 kids are buckled in. That way I have the food to make 15 meals, and I didn't have to take 4 children through the grocery store.

But now that Hubby Man is shopping all the time, my shopping would be overkill. So, in order to keep our marriage peaceful and healthy, Jon does the shopping, meal planning and fixes many of his "Jon specialties". We eat a lot more Mexican and grill a lot more when he's running the show. Sometimes I just long for meatloaf, but mostly I'm relieved. It helps that he's a good cook.

It works.

Unbloggity

Perhaps Shakespeare is rubbing off on me, but I think it's a good word. Unbloggity, of course, refers to the mood that sometimes hits bloggers for a short season. It's not that things haven't happened. It's just that I haven't felt like writing about them. So here are some of the thrilling events that have taken place over the last couple of weeks:

Sinatra woke up one morning and had matching bruises on his cheeks. I think Gem pinched his cheeks too hard (though the accused denies it). The next afternoon he did a face plant over the handlebars of his scooter bike onto the cement and had a bloody nose and lip. Then he fell with a matchbox car in his hand and gouged the corner of his eye. On top of that he has a runny nose that is all mingled with his healing lip, so I can't wipe it like I normally would. He looks horrid--has a scabby little Hitler mustache.

I've instituted P.E. in our homeschool. One sad disadvantage of homeschooling is the lack of P.E. dynamics. There is no large group to play kickball or dodgeball, so we've resorted to basketball. I played (debatable) organized basketball in 8th and 9th grades and at least learned the basics, so we've been drilling those. Shakespeare is getting much better at dribbling and Gem's shooting technique is beautiful. I act just like a coach and make them run more if they complain. We use the driveway lines as baseline,free throw and half court lines and I make them run suicides. They have loved it. We'll do baseball next, but I'm not touching soccer with a 10 foot pole.

In history we made paper viking ships and are going put them in a diorama, complete with ship, house and little viking people. It will be a long project. I'll update pictures as we go.

The Michigan OSU game was a miserable experience. The rain was as depressing as the final score. But we still say, "M Go Blue".

Last night Jon went to a Casting Crowns concert with his friend, Rex. Rex and Mark (the lead singer) were childhood best friends, so Rex got backstage passes and they all got to meet for a brief moment before the performance. How fun!

Sinatra has been routinely waking at 5 A.M. I have had to go to bed by 9 P.M. at the latest to keep up with the little ball of energy. We've had some wonderful mornings though. And last night when I put him in his toddler bed he hugged and kissed me by his own initiative. Then he wouldn't let go, so I snuggled up with him and we both fell asleep. When Jon came home from the concert he found me asleep next to Sinatra with his little arms still wrapped around my neck. So, so sweet.

Well, that's my laundry list. I hope I have redeemed my unbloggity moment and will henceforth strive to blog as events happen.

Birthday Man

Today, Jon is 32! Happy Birthday, My Love!!!

He is exactly 2 weeks younger than I am. I always tease him about snagging an older woman.

I get to rub in that I'm older until we get to 40, then he can rub it in for the rest of our lives. But I don't think people are old until they're 80 (sorry Mama Jo and Grandma), so it won't bother me. And by the time I'm 80 I don't plan on caring.

When my dad turned 50 I asked him how he felt--"Beats the alternative," he said.

I'll just be happy that today my hubby joins me at 32.