Husband Meme

My friend Merritt tagged me for this Husband Meme. I've finally gotten around to doing it.

Where did you meet? On the steps to the dining hall just outside of Lee Hall.

What first attracted you to him? Seriously Merritt stole my answer. He's an incredible listener. I used to always tell him when we were "just friends" how amazed I was at how well he remembered things from our conversations. He always listened to me ramble on and on which made me feel special and I'd never met anyone who listened that well.

How long did you date? Four years and ten months by the time we married.

How old is he? 31

Who eats more? Sadly, me. Although if this question was, "Who eats more butter?" clearly Jonathan would win.

Who said “I love you” first? Is it sad that I don't remember? I know where and when it was and I know we both said it, but I don't remember who actually said the words first.

Where was your first date? dinner at Annabelle's and then off to see Scream 2

Who is taller? Jonathan is taller.

Who sings better? He does by far. I used to beg him to sing Barenaked Ladies anything.

Who is smarter? Another point for the hubs.

Whose temper is worse? Certainly me although he does have a little temper but never really acts on it.

Who does the laundry? Mostly me. Sometimes on the weekends he throw in a few loads, but I always end up folding it.

Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? Looking directly at the bed, I do. I like to have my left leg sticking out of the covers.

Who pays the bills? I pay most of them, but he makes the money to pay ALL of them!

Who cooks dinner? Me. And Mi Pueblo and Chick-Fil-A and Mellow Mushroom and Qdoba and K&W and wherever else we happen to go...

Who drives when you are together? Mostly Jonathan.

Who is more stubborn? Me. I'm as stubborn as a mule.

Who kissed who first? Jonathan kissed me.

Who is the first to admit when they are wrong? Jonathan does almost always. I'm stubborn, remember?

Whose parents do you see the most? Mine since I try to help them with work and they are retired. Jonathan's parents both work.

Who proposed? Jonathan finally did on March 9th, 2001.

Who is more sensitive? Me again.

What's his best physical attribute? That's easy! His eyebrows!!! (inside joke from when I used to say I could never pick a favorite part of him that I loved them all equally)

Who has more friends? In college, I definitely did. I was social and he was not. Now the roles are reversed and he has more friends by a landslide.

What are you most proud of him for? Being a person of integrity that everyone respects.

Who has more siblings? He does.

Who wears the pants in the family? Jonathan. He and I both love to act l like I do, but really he's the head of our house and I usually default to him.



Thanks for reading!

I'd like to tag Kelly B but I don't know her blog address! I'll get it up later.

two quick things

First, I want to say, "Happy Birthday" to the hubs. He's 31 today and now officially one year older than me (again) so if you see him don't forget to tell him "Happy Birthday!"

And Booger, I'll be home all day so if you need to call me for help when you've fallen and can't get up I'll be happy to come to your rescue. Hee.

Also, if you guys have a minute today, tomorrow, or the next day please go here and vote for my mom (Marilyn - with the butterfly picture). I'd love for her to win this contest and she only has to be one of the top five vote getters so it's a pretty good chance. I'd appreciate your vote! Thanks!

twenty-five months

Dear Julianna,

Yesterday you turned two years and one month old. I almost didn't write this letter, but I just couldn't help myself. I started thinking about all that you've done over the last month and I wanted to make sure I got it documented somewhere. It still blows my mind how much you can change in one little month!

You now ask to “draw” the ABCs often. This means that you want Mama or Nanna to help you hold the pencil and write the alphabet. You can recognize almost every letter now pretty consistently. I don't know how you learn so fast. You can be found reading your stories "to the class" almost every day. It's the most precious thing.



Jules, you're also officially a member of the Terrible Twos. I frequently think that your behavior could not get any worse. You embarrass me in public by thowing temper tantrums, grabbing things off the grocery store shelves (like that pack of gum you ripped open in haste the other day), and having meltdowns when I tell you it's time to leave. You slap at our faces when we tell you that it's time to take a nap. You disobey us pretty regularly by whining and getting down out of your chair or carseat when you know you're not supposed to. But we know that this is just a learning and testing phase. It helps to know that we will all get past it. We know that you are grasping for some control in your life and we cannot blame you. After all, your Daddy and I are probably THE biggest control freaks in the contintental United States. It also helps to know that we're going to be paying a friend to come spend time with you for two or three hours a week so that Mommy an get some sanity back work done.

You've become quite a little helper this month, Jules. You help mommy make dinner and you help mommy wipe off the counter. You even help clean the toilets! You love to swirl the brush around in the toilet bowl somtimes making a bigger mess than we started with, but helping nonetheless. If I could just keep you from "helping" when I'm not cleaning it would be so nice. And I need to figure out a way to keep you out of the baby wipes. I'm still working on that one.

Just the other day I noticed you going down the stairs without holding on to the railing. You jump and run all the time. You've come a long way physically. You're 37 inches tall and you weigh a little over 30 pounds. You're still waaaayyy off the charts for height and in the 95th percentile for weight. Your head circumfrence is staying in the 50th percentile. They say that if you double your height at 2 then you'll get your height as an adult. That would make you 6'4" tall which is kinda outrageous because I'm only 5'6", Daddy's only 5'11', and there's hardly many people in our families who are over 6' tall. Anyway, you're a growing girl

You are growing the most beautiful blonde hair. I keep waivering back and forth on whether to get it trimmed or not and I always decide not to. It's pretty easy to pull back. You've got the slightest little bit of curl and it's so pretty. When you wake up from your nap in the afternoon you have these two little wispy curls that stick straight out above each ear. I bury my face in them when I pick you up.

You have your Daddy's smile. Lucky me. I get to see it every day in him and in you. And ohmygoodness do you love to dance or what?


Untitled from c525600 on Vimeo.

You've made a habit of saying, “so-and-so’s my best friend I love him" and filling in the so-and-so with whoever happens to be nearby at that time and you're quite taken lately with your stuffed animal collection. Each morning you announce, "I wake up! Sun come up!" and then you bring all of your "friends" [stuffed animals from your bedroom] packed in your arms into our bedroom. You struggle to pile them up one by one and call them all your friends. Then later you insist on taking each friend downstairs with you and sometimes even in the car when we leave in the mornings. Your Mamaw gave you a giant stuffed Elmo as a gift one time and you sleep with that thing every night. Among all of your "friends" in your bed each night we sometimes have a little bit of trouble identifying which one is really you. It occasionally reminds me of ET. The funniest nights are those when we check on you and you're either laying right on top of Elmo (your head on his head, your feet on his feet) or when Daddy comes out of your room and announces that tonight you weren't laying on Elmo. Instead, Elmo was laying on top of you.

Doodlebug, although I would really, really, really, REALLY love to have you a baby brother or sister on the way, I stop to write letters like these and I realize all over again that you bring so much happiness to our lives that I don't know how we could have any more. You'll always be my baby. I love you.

Love,
Mama

and we have a winner!

Congratulations to Jerri on winning this game/contest/giveaway by a landslide! She obviously knows how to speak some Toddlerese as she managed to get 3 out of the 6 song clips correct. Here were the answers:

1. Up On The House Top (Reindeer Paws)


2. Let’s Clap Hands for Santa Claus (from the Wiggles Christmas Video)


3. Zacheus Was a Wee Little Man (for I’m going to your house today) and Pop Goes the Weasel (All around the mulberry bush the monkey chased the weasel). This clip was interrupted in the middle by some quick dialog about her two favorite stuffed animals, Big Lucy and Little Lucy, and then a quick demanding scream, “Turn my music back on, Mama!”


4. He’s still working on me (Over the mountains and over the sea, back where my heart is longing to be, please let the light that shines on me, shine on the one I love. Repeat.)


5. The Wheels on the Bus – two verses – First: the money on the bus goes clink, clink, clink all through the town, Second: the horn on the bus goes beep, beep, beep all through the town

Jerri, you can pick any item from my Etsy shop and I'll send it to you just for playing. Leave a comment regarding which item you'd like and I'll get it out to you as soon as possible. Thanks for playing!

Here’s to the weekend!

Yesterday was a really bad day. It started out with this sewage problem:




combined with a nice, official way for my body to point out that I'm not pregnant (AGAIN),

followed by a toddler who didn't want to nap,

a late trip to the park to meet a friend that ended up getting cut short because I was late to meet my MIL to drop off said two-year-old.

Not only was I late, but then I got turned around and went the wrong direction for about ten minutes

and then got caught in a five o'clock traffic wreck mess.


--------------------------------

At least my hubby loves me


(either that or he took pity on me)


and the day ended with this:



and this:



and even better still.... this:

still need free money?

Remember this?

Well, good news! They've extended the deadline to get $25 just for opening an account until May 15th. Plus you get $5 from me if you sign up from my referral button below. Go now! Hurry! You can always use a little free money!

facts of life

Me: I can’t believe it’s already the end of April.
Him: I can’t believe I’m already 31. I’m an adult.
Me: You were an adult ten years ago.
Him: Yeah, but I wanted to be then.

let’s play a game, shall we?

Let's see how good you are at speaking Toddlerese.

Below is a video (I'm a dork - I couldn't figure out how to do just audio without spending a lot of time on this). It's a variety of songs coming from Julianna's room during naptime. Please submit your translations in the comments. You can either give the song name or translate what she's actually saying (if you don't know the song). The person who gets the most guesses correct wins! Winner gets to pick a prize from my Etsy shop. And I guess to be fair, my mom and Jonathan are not eligible.

Hint #1: this post may help

Hint #2: There are a total of 5 clips with a total of 6 songs. Clip number 4 has two brief songs in it. (Yes, she begins one and then decides to later sing another instead.)

Hint #3: Some of the songs are from children's videos, some are from church, and some are from chilren's books that we read frequently.

Off you go now!


Untitled from c525600 on Vimeo.

All entries must be posted in the comments by Friday at 5pm. I'll announce a winner this weekend.

bloggy giveaway :: a williams-sonoma gift card!

The Clean Plate Club is giving away a $50 gift card for Williams-Sonoma! Go here for a chance to win! Hurry! You have to comment b April 30th!

new cards posted

I spent quite a bit of time this weekend creating and listing new cards at my Etsy Shop. I'll continue adding more throughout the day as I've got quite a few left to photograph. Check it out when you hve some time. I'd love to have a few special orders to work on this week!



Plus, you might want to stick around as I've got a contest coming up later this week where you could win merchandise credit to my Etsy Store. Just saying. That is all.

this is what i did yesterday

yet another difference between boys and girls

My daughter is barely two and she's already calling people (or rather the cat) her "best friend." I don't know where she gets this stuff. But I promise I don't make it up.

want a free area rug?

Go here to enter the giveaway! I love contests!

update your feeds

If you read A is for Beautiful through Google Reader, Bloglines or some other RSS feed reader then you'll probably need to update your subscription to http://aisforbeautiful.com/blog. Thanks!

patience is not one of my strengths

In case you haven't noticed, I've been playing around with the design of things around here. Please be patient with me as I clean up my mess. Thanks!

i suck

Ever since Sarahsouth posted this meme on her blog I've been wanting to re-design my blog and incorporate my six word memoir into a tag line. I haven't been able to do it yet, but I'm not giving up. It takes a lot of work to redesign this place! Anyway, I guess I better go ahead and do the meme since I was tagged.

Here are the rules:
Write your own six word memoir. Post it on your blog, including an illustration if you’d like. Link to the person that tagged you in your post and to the original post if possible so that it can be tracked as it travels across the blogosphere. Tag at least five more blogs...

My 6 word memoir:
making family memories one by one

I'd like to tag Amy, Emily, Ashley, Nester, and Beth.


**BTW there are bunches of new cards going up in my Etsy shop tomorrow pm.

Sometimes I wish every day was Friday

Yesterday we took a short trip to the NC Zoo. It was a lot of fun and for the most part Julianna was on her best behavior. We saw lots of animals (no kidding. really?) and got a little sunburned. Hopefully, Jules will take an extra-long nap today to make up for her lack of sleep yesterday. Here are a few pictures and short video clips from our day. Enjoy!


Untitled from c525600 on Vimeo.

short dinner conversation

Scene: A rambunctious two year old kicks, squirms, and climbs aound her high chair at a local greasy burger joint for a late (and I mean LATE) dinner with her parents and grandparents. She's exhausted from having to patiently wait out the duration of an exercise class after a cut-in-half nap and a long afternoon jaunt on the playground. She's throwing napkins and forks, refusing food and whining as she makes a disgusting mess of our table.

My Mom: She's so sweet.

Me: Yes, she's so sweet and I love her to pieces until she gets in between me and my food.

anyone need $30?

What would you do with an extra $30? I'd put it towards a new swingset for Jules. I just can't keep that darn toddler out of the ditch near the street and it's getting on my last nerve!

I read on Money Saving Mom about Revolution MoneyExchange. It's a lot like PayPal where you can send money back and forth online quickly and easily between RME accountholders. Right now they're giving $25 to customers opening a new account. This offer expires April 15th. That's free money.

Yeah, yeah I know you have to give them your social security number and yes, you have to link it to your bank account but it's the same with PayPal which has been around a while now and has gotten quite popular. Most banks these days are pretty good about protecting their customers in the case that this turns out to be a bust... anyway...

Here's the best part. If you sign up through the link below I get $10 just for referring you. If you'll post a comment once you've successfully completed the account set up, I'll send you half of that $10 referral fee. That's another $5 in free money just for signing up!

Obviously, the more accountholders RME gets the more places it will be accepted as payment for goods and services making it more valuable so a least go check it out. Maybe consider helping me buy that swingset. That's all. Thanks.

Appropriately I used to call her Booger Jr.

Despite the awful, awful sickness we've dealt with this weekend we managed to make it to Wal-Mart today for a few groceries and junk for the preschool class "Spring Party" tomorrow. I parked Julianna in the buggy and walked not ten feet away from her down the aisle to grab something off the shelf. Filled with a burst of newfound energy Julianna hollers (as only a two year old can do), "Mama! Maaaammaaa! My booger!!!" She then held out her finger for booger-removal. Seeing that there would be no less-humiliating way out of this one I quickly took it and muttered, "Thank you."

sometimes I’m just uneven, despite being so Type A

We've been hoping to get Jules a new swingset. You know one of those fancy wooden climbing tower swingsets, with the clubhouse kinda things on top and maybe with a rock wall or ladder, and a picnic table or sandbox sorta thing underneath. We've researched and researched and found that these things range from $299 to $43,999 (and no, I'm not kidding about that last number). We really don't have the money for this right now, but we do have a toddler with a lot of extra energy and the days are getting warmer so needless to say I'm trying to be the *good* wife and not put too much pressure on.

Anyway, my husband the engineer has been contemplating just building our own to try to save some money. He's come home from work a few days with a variety of AutoCAD drawings of swingsets similar to the ones you'd see in this week's Lowe's or Toys 'R Us ads. He did this with our deck too. I can't tell you how many plans I saw for that deck.

Now what was I saying? Oh yeah. The swingset. Right. Well, we've been cleaning our backyard up in general in anticipation for a place to put such play equipment and for sunny spring days to come. We've gotten some hand-me-down deck furniture from my parents (which was a hand-me-down from my great aunt) and spruced it up with new cushions. We've been raking leaves and digging dirt to make the yard more level. We've dug a shallow ditch all around the deck to plant flowers. I'd like to stop right there and point out the proff. There's DIRT. Beneath my fingernails. GAH!



OK sorry. It's just that I hate dirt. I hate it underneath my nails. It's weird because lots of people like it. My mom included. I would rather have wallpaper glue (another story for another day) under my fingernails any day than dig in the dirt with my hands. But the sad thing is that I can appeciate beautiful landscaping; I just don't like to create it. I long for pretty shrubs and bushes in my yard; I just don't want to have to get my hands dirty while putting them there. I don't mind the work, just can't stand the dirt. Last year I planted six rose bushes with the help of my mom, dad, and husband. I planted tulip and hyacinth bulbs in the fall and they were right pretty blooming last weekend. See:



So yesterday it finally stopped raining long enough for us to finish the ditch around the deck, dig the holes, and plant the flowers. We put down that weed control fabricy stuff and planted the first round of plants. Today will be spent putting out mulch (if it doesn't rain AGAIN).

As I was setting out the plants to gauge the spacing of the holes we needed to dig, Jonathan was inside feeding the little girl some dinner. We started digging holes before he came back out. When he did finally make it back outside, we'd already dug about six or seven holes and it turns out they weren't completely even. He was irritated. He was like, "Whatever you think. Whatever you want is fine by me, Sugar." Then later it was, "Don't you want to line that one up with the middle?"

When he walked around the house a bit later I looked over at my mom and said, "If I'd given him three more minutes he would've had it drawn out in AutoCAD for us."

This afternoon I'm going to finish up around the deck (planting a few more flowers, spreading the mulch on top, and placing the stepping stones throughout). Then all that will be left to do is find a spot for the Creeping Jenny that I got from my friend (thanks Malika!), rake the rest of the leaves, and put mulch out where we think the swingset will go. Homemade swingset or not still to be determined.

anyone up for some wiggling?

Julianna got a hula hoop for her birthday and she enjoyed several of the sunny days last week hula-hooping outside. Here's a short clip of her mad wiggling skillz.


Untitled from c525600 on Vimeo.