the frito banditos

Last week, Magnum was in Mexico for a few days for work.  While we were here, dealing with snow and subfreezing windchills, Magnum was in sunny, warm Mexico.  PFFFttt.

So he calls and talks about how sunny, how warm, how blah blah blah....  Yes, how nice.  *snark*

I went off to bed with my wool blanket.

Next morning, I turned on my phone and it quickly spills out a series of text messages.

"Our van was broken into..."
"Stole all the laptops..."
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Followed by a list of tasks for ME.  Change passwords, block online access, identity protection plans...  Oh, caca, hay chihuahua.

Oh, and also, could I meet him at the airport on Friday because he doesn't have a key for the Civic.  Anymore.

Well, I could meet him if he cared to wait around for a coupla hours.  But then Chaco volunteered for key dropoff duty.  All in all, it could've been worse.  And he still got all that sunshine and Corona.  And Karma will get the banditos.

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'twas the day before Thanksgiving...

"I'm with Dad at the butt scoping place"

I texted the above to Meego and Wolfgang this morning.  They were still in bed when Magnum and I left for Magnum's welcome-to-your-50s! procedure.  Boy, I am not looking forward to that.

Actually, he seems none the worse for wear.  From my vantage point, as designated driver,  I think the worst part for me will be that 24-hours of no solid food.  What?  That's Bar-BAR-ic!  Call me when you figure out another way!

But Magnum was good with it.  I would've been/will be a grump and shun social interaction.

Afterwards, the good doctor said he'd removed one polyp about 6 feet "up", and congratulated Magnum for gettin' 'er done.  Then he gave us pretty pictures he took along the way to "put on facebook or share at the Thanksgiving table".

Nope.

Then I go read over at ShadowRun's.  She was doing the same designated driver thing!  The same I-can't-go-that-long-without-eating thing!

It's always fun, these little coincidences with blogfriends.  Cold weather, bicycle mishaps, pet stories, colonoscopies...


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Silver Liningness Sunday

I haven't seen the sun since Wednesday.  That's not necessarily something I'm thankful for on this silver liningness day, it's just newsworthy because we get spoiled here and rarely go so many days in a row without sunshine.  If my usual sunny disposition is lacking, you've been forewarned.

AND I see it as a good thing if all I have to whine about is cloudy skies.  For starters, we won Magnum's office football pool last weekend.  That was actually our second win of the season, and since cash is committed up front, we are now guaranteed to finish in the black.  We're a whopping four bucks above break even!  Oh, it's gonna be a good Christmas this year!

Remember Meego's hair last week?  And my to-do list?  While other things have been added to the to-do's, Meego has about half the hair he had last week.  Yay!

Wolfgang and I hung out a bit on Friday.  He'd ordered a long board that was due to arrive at our house Friday afternoon.  I took him to the mall to get a helmet and he needed a couple of things for his dorm.  He stayed for dinner.  I'd forgotten how much that kid eats.  I think we got a deal on the university meal plan.

And, with this yuck weather, I want to express my thankfulness for the bus service.  I've mentioned the parking hassles at the university, in addition to my aversion to driving around town in general.  I rode the bus twice last week, and am finding it very convenient and reliable - even on the freezing-cold-traffic-mess day.  Riding the bike was out of the question as bike paths and lanes were covered in ice and road vomit on both of those days.

And oh yeah, there was my birthday last week.  Magnum's birthday is today, so I guess that whole "grow old together" is still on schedule.
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Silver Liningness Sunday

Well, first of all...

married twenty three years today.  We got it in writing and everything.  Happy Anniversary to Magnum!

This week, I got this e-mail from the mapmyride app on my new Nexus 7 tablet telling me I got a "QOM" badge.  So I'm wondering, "what the heck's a QOM badge??"  Anyone use the mapmy[thing] apps?  Anyway, one of my bike rides overlaps a course, so I got a Queen Of the Mountain badge. 

It so happens that it is the beloved Mouse Town section of that route.  I learned that this is just one of the fun things the app does.  I would ride my bicycle anyway, but I rather like being crowned a Queen of Mouse Town. 

So yeah, I'm enjoying my new Nexus 7 tablet.  So glad I finally got it for school and tutoring... *ahem*

Speaking of which, fall test prep has begun.  All of my students are nice kids, and I'm not taking on anymore, so that's a good thing.

The work season is ending for Wolfgang.  Recall that he works for a company that packs back-to-school supply kits.  End of work season = free stuff!  Nothing particularly exciting - antiseptic wipes, facial tissues, paper, paper, paper - but "free" is always good.

I mentioned we got Meego all jumpstarted for the new school year.  Chaco and Wolfgang are getting their ducks in a row too.  Chaco finally got his crap somewhat organized after I've been asking him to do so since June.  

Now to get my own rear in gear...

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there will be hills

I remember the first time I filed my taxes.  I was a mere teen and felt all grown up.  I had a W-2.  I had FICA!  I had no idea what FICA was, but I had it, and so I was somebody!

It didn't take long for the annual filing of taxes to lose its allure.

I think that Magnum has been the tax preparer ever since we got married.  In the early days, they were no biggie, but over time, they've gotten more complicated along with the tax laws.  Add some kids, add some investments, add some private tutoring biz, add some college...

Over the past few weekends, he's chipped away at them as the pile of documents seemed to spread like a virus on the dining table.  I did my part by staying out of the way.  Every now and then, he would announce, "Got another line filled in!"

Bottom line?  After accounting for postage, about five bucks in the black.  Gosh, what should we splurge on?!

I see that as quite an accomplishment.  We/he couldn't have hit it closer if we tried.  Sure, it's nice to get a big return check, but really that just means that the government is having to give back your own money that they shouldn't have had to begin with.

Yesterday, I went out to run some errands in the afternoon and that was the first I heard of the explosions in Boston.  At first, I thought the source was possibly one or more disgruntled American taxpayers, given the date.  Then there're the anniversaries of the Oklahoma City bombing and the Waco assault.  This is a volatile time of year.

Not surprisingly, my f_book feed had lots of "prayers go out to..." type posts.  I also saw a lot about runner solidarity.  Runners should go out and run today or wear race t-shirts - symbolically reinforce the runnerhood.  That's fine.

But I don't think this is a situation of runners vs. evil or even Boston vs. evil.  It's just more good vs. evil.  And I like to think that the good still outnumber the evil.





As it happens, I did run today.  I'd planned on running, terrorist explosions or no.



I don't often think about it, but I do feel a unity with other runners.  And when there's an act of evil against good, I feel unity with the billions of good people too.



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after day 1

Today's prompt over at NaBloPoMo is:

"When you are speaking with someone, do you prefer to look them in the eye or talk over the phone?"

And so I thought I'd use that as a sort of segue into my continuing Asperger wife sharing.  This prompt suggests that when two people are speaking, but not looking each other in the eye, they aren't in the same place.

One of the first things I noticed about Magnum is that he very rarely looked me in the eye when speaking to me.  I would guess that that is the thing most people first notice about him.  That, and how he speaks rather quietly and monotonely.   I chalked these up to shyness.  I'd always rather liked the quiet types, so this "shyness" was in no way a deal breaker.  After 22 years of marriage, he looks me in the eye a little more, but not a whole lot.

Magnum and I were both non-traditional students - not straight out of high school into a 4-year college program - when we met.  I had taken a couple of years off to work full-time to earn tuition money, Magnum served 4 years in the Army before going back to get his degree.

Yes, we had the same major - mechanical engineering, and we had plenty of other things in common too.  A common trait among Aspies is that they often obsess around certain interests.  For Magnum, one of those interests is politics (a common AS obsession).  Although, he is typically quiet and soft spoken, he can go on and ON expressing his political views.  Although he usually avoids conflict, woe be to whomever should oppose his political views.  I share his views if not the intensity.

We are also both "outdoorsy", enjoying hiking, camping, biking, self-sufficiency, etc.  So things were moving along quite swimmingly.  Although I was noticing some of his "oddities", there was nothing that made me want to turn tail and run.

Relationships I'd had prior to meeting Magnum had been more consuming.  Asperger traits include difficulty socializing and an unawareness of others' feelings.  As a result, people with AS  really need their alone time, and are not very romantic.  For me, that meant that Magnum was not "always up in my business" as previous boyfriends had been.  At the time I met him, I liked that.  I don't always like that (ooooh, forshadowing...), and it's that not-always-up-in-my-business that trashes many an Asperger/NT marriage.

I was also kinda sorta but not really seeing another guy at the same time I met Magnum.  Eventually, Magnum asked if he and I could be "monogamous" - using a rather formal speech pattern, typical of Aspergers.  I decided... okay.

Then came the inevitable meeting of his parents, divorced and both remarried.  I noticed a certain cordiality between his family.  They would greet each other with the, "Hi, how are you" "Good, how are you" types of greetings that usually pass between customers and bank tellers.  I don't do the empty-ritual thing, certainly not with members of my own family.  Later when I asked Magnum about this, he said he knew that his mother often didn't care to know the answers to her questions, but asked them out of routine, and he was fine with that.  Red flag, but I reasoned that his "oddities" were a result of his weird family.

We flew to California to meet his dad.  There was notable tension the whole time.  Additonally, there was clearly articulated tension between Magnum and his stepmother.  By then, I was sure the oddness stemmed from his upbringing and that he'd be fine with me showing him how the other half lived.

Still, we had a good time on our California trip.  I sent my parents, who had yet to meet Magnum, this photo of  "me and the boyfriend".  Poor Mom.








His family was a bit strange, he didn't look me in the eye much, he was a bit too serious a times.  Yet we were crazy compatible, looking forward to graduating. It was all good...

day 1

Last week, I mentioned how one of Chaco's dorm roommates has Asperger's and also reminded the blog that husband Magnum has Asperger's.

There are a lot of blogs out there.  There are parenting blogs, art blogs, running blogs, fish keeping blogs, knitting blogs, snake keeping blogs, bicycling blogs, teaching blogs,  Asperger-wife blogs... Mine is none of these, but all of these.

Except for knitting.  Did you see it?  I don't knit.

Lotta Joy commented on that recent Asperger post, "I wish you would give more details of the differences you and your husband adapted to after getting married."

 Okay!  I haven't been Asperger-wife blog for a while.

But firstly, let's put on the "trousers of time" (a term Rock Chef used today that I found cute, but it was better when he said it), and go back to the fateful day when I met my Asperger-wife-blog material.

It was January of 1988.  The first class of the first day of the winter semester at the university Magnum and I attended.  I walked into the classroom and sat in a suitable location.  The professor had yet to arrive so I did what seemed the natural thing to do.  I started talking to the person next to me.

I don't remember what I said, just something chitty chatty about classes starting up again.  But this guy I said it to seemed somewhat startled.  Like, why was I talking to him?  Yet, at the same time, he seemed pleased that I was.

Magnum, about the time of
his chit chat victimization

He was wholly focused on my every word, my every chitty chatty, just-killing-time word.  Then he said something in response like, "yeah".  Out of the blue, he then added, "My name is Magnum", which at the time took me a bit by surprise.







Think about it.  How many chitty chatty conversations have you had with people you didn't really know?  In a dentist's waiting area?  Standing in line somewhere?  Sitting and waiting for a class to start?  For me, it's usually been deeper into the conversation before names are swapped, if at all.

"Hmm.  I'm Abby.  Nicetameetcha", I replied.

And we were off.
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freeze!

For this week's Illustration Friday topic "Freeze", I'm being majorly lazy by just pulling something out of the archives.  I did this drawing of an Inuit woman about two years ago.  

Back-to-School time is a busy time for us tutor types.  Lots of seniors wanting to get their college entrance exams out of the way, hopefully with decent scores.  On the home front, Back-to-School time means that we scramble to fit in last minute summer adventures.  The combination has left me with very little time to play artsy person.  

So.  To the archives.

And speaking of old stuff... Magnum married his wife 22 years ago today! Whoop! Yikes, I wonder what the old lady's like now??

Oh wait...

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first things

"Love is being stupid together"  --  Paul Valery

I met Magnum in college (woo, real original...).  At that time, he lived in a garden-level apartment that was in a prime location in that very college town.  He often tells the story of getting that place.

He was fresh out of the army and looking for a place to live close to campus.  This apartment was part of a large house on "The Hill" - prime student housing locale.  It was the first place he checked, and he told the landlady he'd like to move in.  She told him to go look some more. 

"So you know how good this one is".

He did and did.

I sometimes think I should've used the same tactic as the landlady.  See, I was Magnum's first "real" girlfriend.  Oh, he'd had  a few prior "run ins" of the I-don't-want-to-be-stuck-home-on-Prom-night variety, or the make-my-ex-jealous variety, or the I-like-free-food variety, or just the plain old I'm-desperate-and-have-other-issues variety.  "Long term" is not a phrase that would apply to any.  "Relationship" is even quite a stretch.

As for me...

Like the landlady, I'd had a few prior "renters".  I'd had the teen love/broken heart drama.  I'd had the long distance drama.  I'd had 2 marriage proposals and an almost drama.  I'd even had one What?-Married?!-"open marriage"-WHAT?!? drama. 

Then there was the assortment of others that just didn't last out of bad timing or whatever.  Yes, I suppose I had enough relationship baggage for the both of us.  By the time we got together, nothing much fazed me.  And with him, it was easy.

I never feel unappreciated, but sometimes I remember that landlady's words of wisdom and wonder if I should've told him to "go look some more, so you know how good this one is". 

Contrast can be good... on Valentine's day.
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I did

Several years ago, a neighbor friend and I used to walk our dogs together. One day she told me that her 30th wedding anniversary was coming up. "Wow, thirty years", I commended her, "What's your secret?"

She pondered a moment and then, "Welp, every time I wanted a divorce, he didn't.  Every time he wanted a divorce, I didn't". 

Well... OKAY THEN!

Recently, I read an article by a woman advocating for term limits on marriage.  I should link it, but I don't remember where it was...   She cited the high divorce rate, and the fact that our courtrooms are already overcrowded.  Plus, divorce is expensive.  Why not just have term limits?

Her thought was, when the term is up, both can either walk away clean, or decide to "renew".  Much like we renew our driver's licenses, why not the same for the marriage license?  I don't recall what happens with property and children.   I thought it pretty outside-the-box. 

She posed an interesting question, though.  She pondered how many couples have stayed married because daily, they choose to stay married vs. couples who stay married just because they GOT married. 

Magnum signing his life away

In some ways, it seems like forever ago when Magnum and I got married.  And it's safe to say that we are in the "choose daily" bucket.  Today, I ran across another similar blog post asking if marriage was becoming obsolete.   I admit that I've wondered this one myself, partly because I've got a bit of a rebellious non-conformist streak.  I wonder, why do I need a government issued license for love?  Well, technically I don't.  I just need one for marriage.

We're in the midst of our 22nd year.  If someone asked me my secret to staying married, what would be my answer? 

(a) I love him

(b) He fixes stuff around the house for free

(c) He's warm and winters are cold

(d) Divorce was invented by lawyers, and I refuse to let them win!

(e) All of the above

What do you think?  Term limits?  Is it all obsolete?

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opposities attract?

Okay, I did one thing, I did start the running blog up again - more or less.  More as in it exists, less as in I haven't written anything over there yet.  BUT it's a start...  I checked on a couple of my running zealot friends to see that their blogs do still exist, but nothing's been posted for Looooooong Times. 

In somewhat related news, though, Magnum and Wolfgang went shoe shopping yesterday.  Wolfgang is the "other" runner in the family and was due for a pair.  Magnum uses the treadmill a couple of times a week too, and he's got weird feet, so he wanted to go to the running store with Wolfgang and have the full blown "gait analysis".

First, here are the shoes that Wolfgang got.  Aren't they pretty?  I swear the boys get the coolest colors! Plus he gets the all-important High School Team Discount. I've done the gait analysis too, and Wolfgang and I are pretty much in the same category...

But check out Magnum's shoes - resulting from his gait analysis.  Dude!  We all know that he has flat feet, it almost kept him out of the army.  Check the soles of these shoes, though.  They remind me of big baby shoes!  I don't mean to make fun, really I don't!  There is truly much science that goes into running shoe design, and I for one appreciate it.  I can't imagine trying to run in these things with my high arches.


So anyway, we're all decked out running-wise for the new year.  Me with the old/new blog, those guys with their shoes.  I will say that running's been good to me lately.  I haven't wanted to mention the fact that I have been injury free now for quite some time - no knee bursitis, no plantar fasciitis, no strained hamstringitis...  If I say something, it might wake them up!

And, according to my records, I've run 1408 miles to date in 2011.  I'm not really one to keep track of a bunch of stats, but I do keep track of miles because it indicates when my shoes are about to crap out. 

1408 miles = 4.7 pairs of shoes.  Mom would be proud. 
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a smart move

Yesterday I did this sketch of Magnum and then put it on my deviantArt page.  Another deviant then commented:  "Nice, did he sit for you, or is this from a picture?"

I had to laugh a little at that.  I could not imagine Magnum sitting with this contemplative gaze just so I could draw it.  I replied back:  "Thanks, it's from a photo.  He's not much of a 'poser'!"

In fact, the photo I used as a reference was a spontaneous "unposed" photo.  That's what I like about it.  I thought it captured more of his true self rather than a posed version.

Magnum and I met in college.  Actually met in the classroom - not at a bar or frat party.  One of the things I liked about him was that he was most certainly NOT a "poser".  There are up sides to Asperger's and that is definitely one of them for me. 

And now here we are, a good 23 years later.  It's not always perfect, but what is? I will admit that there are days when I don't have the energy.  There have been moments where I've said to him, "Don't.  I just don't feel like dealing with the Asperger's right now".  But I will add, that on the rare occassions when those moments have occurred, it was almost always during a certain week of the month ifyaknowwhatimsayin'. 

So yeah, I came across that photo, and to me, that was the Magnum I decided to talk to that day in class.  A nice, but shy guy who would probably like it if a girl struck up a conversation with him.  Did he pose for me?

Absolutely not.

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insulation

Welcome to December.  Ours is coming in like... well... December.  We've got snow, wind, grey skies, and c-c-cold. 

Here I am this morning at my crossing guard post.

Okay, not really, but close enough.  The only things missing are my (ratty and unfashionable) vest, stop sign, and the traffic.

So, yes, it was blustery cold, but I was toasty warm.  Warmer than my penguin friend, I bet. 

Twelve years ago, I was preggars with Meego.  I liked to go for walks in the evenings, and the evenings were getting chillier and chillier and my waist measurement was getting larger and larger.

I outgrew my own jacket and began wearing Magnum's for my nighttime excursions, which were just as much about "quiet time" as they were about pregnant-woman-walking.  I wasn't about to give those things up just because it was getting dark and cold.

So one evening as I was putting on the Man Jacket, Magnum said, "You should buy yourself a new jacket, you deserve it"  Translation:  I will pay you to stop wearing my jacket. 

Whatever, that was just the nudge I needed to go a-shopping!  This was back in the days of single-income-with-two-kids-and-one-on-the-way, and I rarely RARELY bought anything for myself without a thrift store tag.  And I wasn't about to skimp.  We lived in Utah at the time, and Utah winters can be c-c-cold too.  I went to Cabela's - "World's Foremost Outfitter" for my outfitting, and got me an ultimate women's parka, complete with adjustable waist drawstring. 

To this day, nothing I have ever worn has sheltered me from the wrath of winter like that parka.  I walked with Meego all through that pregnant winter, comfy and cozy the whole time, never foreseeing that someday I would be moonlighting as, of all things, a crossing guard.

As I was out there this morning, leading packs of bundled kids across the street, I realized that the parka and I are embarking on our 13th winter together.  And I was super warm and cozy.  And since NaBloPoMo for December kicks off today, asking us to write about a tangible gift,  I pay homage to the Cabela's World's Foremost Outfitter's Women's Ultimate Parka and to baby daddy Magnum.
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for Anita

Recently, Anita, in another thought provoking blog post, brought up the topic of embarrassment and candidly recounted a few of her own embarrassing moments.  I've noticed that, as I've gotten older, I don't embarrass as easily as I used to.  That said, whenever anyone brings up the topic of embarrassing moments, one such moment always stands out.  I told Anita that I was too embarrased to reveal it on her blog.  I will attempt to do it here...

This "moment" occurred several years ago.  Chaco was a toddler, Wolfgang was pretty much brand new, Meego was still floating around in the whole time-space continuum.  I vividly remember the kids' ages precisely because of what happened.

Magnum and I had gone out and ordered us a new mattress and box spring.  It was to be delivered by the mattress store, and as is customary, the old mattress would be hauled away.  So the time came and these two big burly guys showed up with the new stuff.  Step one was to remove the old stuff. 

I remember it was early evening.  I had just finished nursing newbie Wolfgang, and was cuddling him as I led the burly bed boys upstairs to the bedroom. 

Okay, so I've got this just-a-few-weeks-old infant.  Now ladies (and guys probably), you remember what the doctor said about having ______ in the few weeks after giving birth?  About how your ______, if that is your preferred _______ control method of choice, doesn't really fit the same anymore?  Since the ________ was our preferred  __________ control method of choice, and I hadn't yet gotten to the point of being fitted for a new _______, Magnum and I used ________.

Anyway, back to the bedroom.  There we were - Magnum, me, baby Wolfgang - Chaco was probably around somewhere eating paint chips or something.  The burly bed boys go to move the old mattress and out flutters a bright red ________ wrapper.

I was mortified.

Magnun was not.  In fact, I think he and the bed boys had a bit of a male bonding moment in those few seconds of words-not-necessary. 

All ended up fine.  We got the new mattress installed.  The old one was removed.  Somewhere in the fray the ______ wrapper was disposed of.  I never saw those guys again.

I hope.

Your turn :)
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a visit

I came home from class on Sunday afternoon to find my mother-in-law in the backyard with Meego. Apparently, she and her husband were here for a visit. The rest of the brood was out procuring some lunch for all of us.

Now, about my mother-in-law. Yes, she is Magnum's mom. She's also a bit loco en la cabeza.

A few years ago, when we confirmed that Magnum has Asperger's, he and I unprofessionally concluded that his mom has it too. It's interesting to watch.

I notice, for instance, that Mag and his mom share most of the core symptoms, but after that, they are at opposite ends of the psychological bell curve in most ways. I have read that Asperger's manifests different symptoms in men versus women, and this plays out with Magnum and the MIL.

I don't want to go into detail, but suffice to say that, we don't "socialize" with them a whole lot when they do visit. They are certainly welcome to come out and see the grandkids, etc., but we typically limit our activites to things that don't require us going out in public much - activities and places where there might be.. uhm.. other people.

This is not to say that I am anti-autistic -people. Heck no! But, we suspect that she's actually got more than just the Asperger's going on in there...

In the end, it was a nice enough visit. Nothing majorly inappropriate occurred, and if it had, we would have been the only witnesses. I do find it interesting to watch - from a purely psychologically geeky perspective.

I suppose that's better than "Crap, this is NUTS! I'm going home to Mother."
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what not to wear

A local radio station asks trivia questions on weekday afternoons. Listeners who call in with correct answers to the questions win things like movie tickets or passes to local funcenters and whatnot.

The questions usually involve something that a percentage of some population does, like "7 percent of people have done this before marriage!" Vague stuff like that.

So the other evening, I was driving home when the trivia was, "73 percent of women say they will not date a man who wears this!"

Calls were coming in with answers like, "suspenders", "speedos", "socks with sandals", etc. Eventually, someone called in with the correct answer and scored some minor league baseball tickets or something.

I, in turn, was feeling quite triumphant myself. I got home and asked the fashion challenged Magnum if he'd heard the radio trivia. He hadn't, so I repeated it for him. He began guessing, "suspenders?", "speedos?", "socks and sandals?". I was rather proud of him for at least knowing that much...

But no, none of those were the answer.

"Pleated pants!", I revealed.

See, just recently we had a conversation about just this thing. It was my assertion that men (women too, for that matter) should NOT wear pleats. He was puzzled. He owned some pleated pants. Pleated pants that I had probably purchased. A loooooooong time ago!

Back then it was fine. Things change.

One thing about people with Asperger's is that they don't notice when things change. They often have to be told. Once things are defined for them, the things stay neatly defined that way forever. Hence, the fashion disasters that can ensue.

So, I'd told him about the pleats, but it was the radio trivia that got him to discard the pleats. Seventy-three percent of women is powerful.

Now... about that 20-year-old rugby shirt...
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reminiscing

Him: "I still remember our first date, 22 years ago"

Me: "Yeah, I think it was on a Sunday that year too"

Him: "It was. And I remember what you were wearing. That white jacket, those grey jeans, your nice butt..."

Me: "Wow, you've got a good memory. Two of those three things are long gone."

Him: "Really? You've still got those jeans?"


♥ 

Silver Liningness Sunday

First of all, Happy Valentine's day! I hope you are all feeling the love!

On this thankfulness day, I should take a moment to say that I'm thankful for Magnum and our life we've shared for, like, a hundred years or something. Our very first date was actually on Valentine's day. No symbolic reasoning behind it. We were both in school, I worked a retail job, and he was in the National Guard. V-day happened to be the first mutual opening in our respective calendars.

Okay, enough mushy mush.... onward!

It was a not-too-busy week this work week as I'm in a lull between classes and just have my two tutor students until next week. I did attend a training session which was fun and informative and paid for. In the meantime, I cleaned house like a ninja.

My "create more art" resolution of the New Year is still full of steam. I'm managing to find time each day to do SOMEthing. I've been working on folds. Here's some... uh... yeah... Kleenex *YAWN*. (decided to post that rather than the jeans on the guy's butt of which I'm quite happy with how the folds came out...)

We had snow this week, but we also had sunshine and warmth. I'm feeling for those people on the east that got socked in. I was able to leave the car in the garage for the most part - a.k.a. get around on my bicycle.

I volunteered at Meego's class Valentine's party on Friday. Helped get all the little lovebirds off to a good sugar high and even got some free cheese.

This week's Netflix pic was Nobel Son which was dark yet fun! Very enjoyable group of actors. Probably not for everyone, but Magnum and I liked it.

Oh, what the hell... it's
Valentine's day. Kleenex?!
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smell like I sound

The following post is somewhat in response to Beej's many "What Did Dirty Larry Bring Me" episodes...


It seems that I'm beginning my emergence out of the dark ages. Looky what Magnum got me!

Yes, it's a precious little iPod shuffle.

I've mentioned here before that I didn't own such a thing. I'm not really the ubiquitous earbud type, and when I do listen to fed-straight-into-the-ears tunes, it's just when I'm using my treadmill.

But finally, FINALLY, Magnum's frequent flyer miles were worth something. Rather than just offering airplane tickets to someplace we weren't going to anyways (because we've got three kids that we would then have to cough up money for plane tickets for in addition, and who really wants to spend that money and travel on an airplane with three kids?), they've started offering other sweet treasures.

Such as my brand new precious iPod shuffle. And that's not all. Magnum got himself some sweet new binoculars too.

Just got it last night, so haven't used it yet. As usual, I plan to just use it on the treadmill. I'll be a downloading fool today.

I think it goes lovely with the loufah that Magnum scarfed from that hotel room for me.

And no, this is not a Christmas present so yes, I can have it NOW.
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putting the fun in dysfunction

Magnum's sister invited us over for Thanksgiving.

We're not sure if it was just a token invitation or if she actually wants us to show up, but we're thinking token.

See, Magnum and the sister aren't all that close. In fact, we have pretty much attained Black Sheep status with most of the family - a position I actually hold in high regard. They're all quite crazy in their own technical psychological issues sense. I won't go into details, but nearly 20 years of marriage have educated me in just about all things "dysfunctional family".

So we got the invite. This despite the fact that the last time she and Magnum spoke, it was a while ago, and the conversation ended with a rather abrupt, drama-queenish slamming of the phone. Her phone.

The whole family is notorious for sweeping things under the rug and pretending that the big lumps they make are not really there. Bring up a lump and you'll likely have a phone slammed.

So we were out walking the other day.

Me: Your sister invited us over for Thanksgiving.
Mag: *silence*
Mag: *silence"
Mag: Over the phone? (probably remembering that last conversation...)
Me: No, e-mail.
Mag: I wonder why.
Me: She's probably hoping we say no.
Mag: So how should we say no? Just "No thanks"? "No thanks, we'd rather not"?
Me: I dunno, she's your (mental) sister. *parentheses used to illustrate word spoken in my mind only*
Me: We could say we have other plans. (We really don't yet, but it's not technically a lie is it?)
Mag: Yeah, we have plans not to spend it with them.
Me: See, so that works?


At times this bums me out. I sometimes wish I had married into a family I actually liked. And anyone who reads here regularly should know that I don't necessarily have a problem with "crazy" per se.... It's just this family's particular brand of crazy that doesn't mix well with me. Seriously, it's a wonder Magnum survived childhood.

In fact, this particular sister - I used to really like her. Then she got all weird and did a total flip-flop thing. It's like a whole 'nother person in a Mag's-sister suit.

But, it is what it is. And now I know what we're not doing for Thanksgiving.
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