7/28/11

Team-Building Exercise

This is my carpenter boyfriend. Who doesn't let me paint, hang pictures, or do anything, because I will do it to just a centimeter off.  Which is great, except it took us four days to hang the new mirrors in our room.  Even when he had time this morning to do them, I had to hound him to do it. Finally later today, we did it 'together'.  Which means I stood there and supervised, even when he was the one who suggested we do it together anyway, because it would be a good 'team building' exercise. 

How about this?
 No, something is off.
What do you mean something is off? What is off?
I don't know, Steve, the spacing, or something...it looks too seventies.
Looks too seventies?  How?
I don't know, it just does. Try doing it the other way.
....What other way?
Put them together.  Like, Horizontal.  Here, no, like this.  Go look.
Had I known you wanted them like that, I would have just kept them all on one piece of backing instead of cutting it.
I don't know how I want it, babe.  How does it look?
Okay, I guess.
Just okay?! I don't want it to look just okay, I want it to look spectacular.  What do you think?
What if we did it like this?
Put a bit more space in there....yea, there! Stop!
Like this?
Yea, let me hold it and you look at it.
It's hard to imagine what it'll look like when you hold them all crooked and lopsided.
Those mean the same thing, babe.
*big sigh* Kristen Renae.  Do you like it like this?
Yes, hold on, let me look again...Yes, I do.
Are you sure?
Yes.
Is my baby happy with it like this?
Yes.
Okay.  If you're happy I'm happy.
I'm happy. *pause* Yes, I'm happy.


That's how that project went this morning.  You know what? I'm totally okay with that.

One month and 1/2 months in, and we're making the bedroom, 'our' bedroom. Translation? I've made it girly. We now have this bedspread, pictures, a bedskirt (which he can't even begin to understand the necessity of it), and these mirrors (they come in a pack of 4 for $5.00 at Home Depot, we bought two). Plus the candle holder with the decorative beads. Here's what I'm talking about:


Those are Sand Dollars in the bottom of the vase, what we decided to do was collect them from the Texas Coast and use those instead of the decorative beads, so we have memories of our trip!


 
Painting is next.  The room will not be complete without painting it.  I've already told him that he can have the rest of the house (in this house), I just want the bedroom.  Since we don't have a proper living room, this is where I spend most of my time, and I wanted it to look nice. 
We also need a new bed.  My back is hurting more and more from sleeping on that monstronsity he's had forever.  Our next project: our DIY headboard.  You can check out my dreamroom here, and join pintrest if you have an interest, because it's an amazingly addicitng site where I get a lot of my ideas from.  Check it out :)
Our next project? Building a headboard.
Oh boy.

7/21/11

I've survived a Month.

It's been a month.  One month since I started living with a boy.  One month ago I said goodbye to tucked-in sheets, dishes always being put in the dishwasher instead of in the sink, and not being ragged on for wanting to watch the Bachelorette. 

I don't regret a thing.  One certain person laughed at me when I told them I was making this move.  Said I'd never make it and this was the stupidest decision I could ever have made.  That's when I was just considering it.  Well, in your face, stupid person!  I'm the happiest I have ever been, minus the being on your own and having to be an adult part. 

It's the 'I love you's' every night before bed, the surprise visits at work, the nightly walks and cooking dinner together that make it all worth-while.  It's the smiles, the laughter, the poking fun, the adventures and the companionship.  I'm very lucky to have this man in my life, let alone to know that I want this to last a very, very long time.  We're going on 8 months now, and yes, we've had our ups and our downs, but nothing major.  They've all been stepping stones, distinct growing points in our relationship.  Whether it's to make me more mature, or him more understanding, they've had their purpose and we've learned our lessons from them and I've never once questioned my feelings for him.

So, even though the dishwasher is dirty and there's still room fore dishes to be loaded into it, I'm going to go curl up next to my boyfriend.  I'm going to look at him all adorably, which even I admit is completely sickening, but I can't help it.  Maybe we're still in the Honeymoon Stage.  If so, I hope it doesn't go away.

7/8/11

Death

Death is a curious thing. No one knows for certain what happens, if there's a bright light at the end of the tunnel, two doors that you have to choose between, or if you're greeted at the pearly gates. No one knows,and that makes it an uncertainty, and sometimes a scary thing.

My grandmother died, at 82 years old, on Wednesday, July 6th. Grandma Pat was the keeper of the flintstones push-ups, the nasty wafer cookies in the middle drawer, the old percolating coffee maker and the rotary phone.The bringer of the olives, pickles & cherries to Thanksgiving & Christmas dinner, she had gumption, and I like to think I got mine from her. Completely honest (that woman never told a lie, I swear), a great judge of character, she told it to you how it was. She was a 1950's woman through and through. Skirts and bathrobes she was the fun Grandma, who knew what "What's up Dog" and "pulling a Britney" meant. Her collectors Barbie dolls always stood in the curio, and there was always a new one for me to oggle.

Rembering these things make me smile. Then I feel bad for smiling, because I feel like I should miss her, and at times I do. I miss her 50's radio station, I miss walking into their house and being greeted with the smell of coffee and cigarettes smoke. I miss sitting on the couch complaining about how unfair my dad was, and having her tell me "He wasn't perfect in his time, and he's a first-time parent. He's going to make mistakes just like you do." I think about how there won't be any pickles or olives or maraschino cherries at Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner anymore, then I say 'Pashaw, I'll bring them'. I remember Grandma in her rollers, nightgown & robe at night, watching her old 70's program that I thought was uber boring. I remember laying on the floor the night Jay was born, waiting for the news of my baby brother who I so badly wanted to be a girl. I remember being so annoyed that Grandma slept on the couch and kept the TV on until she was ready to go to sleep.

Then there's times that I'm happy and completely at peace, because I know. I know that there is a Heaven and I know without a doubt that my Grandma is up there. I know she's back to looking like she was in her 20's, and I know she gets to see her brothers as well as her mom and dad, and I'm happy for her. I got to have her for 23 years of my life, and I'm going to miss her deeply, but she lost her brother earlier than that, I think, and now she's seeing him again. This means that now, when I get married, she can be at my wedding. She can be overlooking it, wherever it may be, because when she was alive, she wouldn't have been able to travel. She gets to watch every single one of us now, instead of waiting for phone calls, and I'm happy for her. We get eternity together later on, and I'm okay with that.

This may be way too spiritual for some people, but certain events in my life have made me believe in God more than I ever did before, and I have complete faith in Him. I know he has my Grandma now, and I know she's happy. As sad as we may all be, Grandma lived a great life, had 4 children, eight grandchildren, and three great grandchildren. She's golden, she's safe, and she's making sure we all are as well. Grandma said to my dad before she died, "Jack, I'm not scared of death. I'm not looking forward to it happening, but I'm not scared of it. I had a strong Lutheran upbringing and I'm going to put it off as long as I can, but I'm not scared of it."

If Grandma isn't scared of it, than neither am I. I'm not excited about it, and I'm sad she's gone, but I'm at peace with it, and I still love her with everything I got.