Mary, Mary, quite contrary

I'm not sure I have ever heard my mother ordered around more in my life. It was quite amusing. "Get me the teddy bear. Unlock my car. Get my purse. Bring me some lemonade." It was a real hoot, especially since I was sitting in my chair doing pretty much nothing at the time. I could see the irritation on my mother's face and it was increasing with each demand being made.

If you have read my mother's blog, motherofbridebyjan.blogspot.com, you know exactly what I'm talking about. Mary is the elderly woman who came to the garage sale we had last weekend. She is the epitome of the old lady who is set in her ways. To me Mary was, at the least, hysterical and at the most, a nudge to look for a new job. While most everyone else stood around with their jaws hanging out at the absurdity of this eccentric woman bossing my mom around, I was thoroughly enjoying myself.

Mary and I talked for quite a long time. She told me her husband died so that probably made her a widow. I said she was probably right. I asked if her husband died recently or a while back. She said he died in 1991, or 92, or 93...she couldn't quite remember. We talked about their marriage for a few minutes before moving on to how she organizes (or DOESN'T organize) her finances.

Mary made me think back to my days when I volunteered at the convalescent home. I almost always enjoyed being there. I always left feeling like I had been given more than I gave. With my current job, I feel like I give and give and give and give and never ever ever get back. With no emotional supports at the school, it is a lonely and unfulfilling job with rewards that are only found after extensive looking and a really good attitude.

During a recent meeting at work, everyone listened to the book Who Moved My Cheese. It was administrations way of trying to assist us with all of the changes going on.

I have come to a few conclusions which will only make sense if you have also read Who Moved My Cheese.

My job moved my cheese.
It took me a while to figure out my professional cheese was gone because so many other aspects of my life where my cheese hadn't been moved were great. By the time I realized my professional cheese was missing, I was close to starving. Then Mary came along. Mary took a big hunk of yummy cheese and waved it under my nose. I have put my running shoes back on and have started my way into the maze again. I am ready to find my new cheese and I know it will be bigger and better than it was before.

Bossy or not, Mary made a different that day. Thank you, Mary.

Feline friends or foes?

We have two cats, Moses and Mijo, and we love them dearly. For now, they make great substitutes for children. They need to be fed, loved, and have their litter box cleaned daily. If they fail to receive any of the following, they become irritable, crabby, and will leave unnecessary surprises on our new to us carpet. Overall they are wonderful cats. They are lap cats and enjoy nothing more than sleeping on Chris' chest when he is lying on the couch. They would sleep at the foot of our bed if we let them which we don't because I'm allergic. What was thought to be a simple request from our allergist, "Don't let the cats in the bedroom!" had turned out to be a problem that is only becoming more difficult.

As I think I have mentioned before, I sleep like a rock. Nothing bothers me. Noise? Not a problem. Lights? Never an issue. Obnoxious meowing and pawing at the door at 2:30 in the morning? Don't even notice. What makes it a problem is that Chris does not sleep like a rock. He is a lighter sleeper than my mother which I didn't think was humanly possible.

Has anyone seen the commercial for the cell phone where the kids throw a party, one piece of confetti drops on the floor and the mom hears it on the other end, knows it was confetti, and says she is headed home to break up the party? That, my dear friends, is my husband.

Going back to the cats, the meows and pawing used to start around 7:00 in the morning. Other than weekends when we like to sleep in, this was never an issue. The 7:00 quickly became 6:00 which became 5:30 etc... Last night was a new low. I didn't realize it until I woke up and saw the large sheet of tin foil on the guest bedroom. Apparently Moses had been pawing at the door at 1:30 to be let in/fed. Chris had had it. He got up, got the tin foil, spread it across the entrance to our bedroom door, and went back to bed. Cats aren't supposed to like the noise of tin foil so it makes them go away. Our cats are no different. They too hate the sound. What is different is that our cats are smarter. They moved the tin foil. They must have picked it up in their teeth or pushed it with their paws but it was no longer where Chris had placed it.

I'm not sure what happened in the remaining wee hours of the morning but Chris said that if it happens again, the cats are going in a closet. Any ideas?

Before and after shots

Here are a few before and after pictures of a few places in our house. It doesn't look like the same house.

Random thoughts on life

For the record, my husband chose this picture to post. Not exactly my first choice but there will be more to come. For the most part, I painted all the trim in the house and Chris did the roller brush. I didn't take us long to determine which of us is better at certain tasks. After 40 hours of painting, I don't think I can muster the motivation to even write about it. Moving on...

We will have been in our house for two weeks as of tomorrow. We have done little else than work on the house and work at work. I think we were getting in a rut so we decided to go on a date. It was refreshing to get out of the house at someplace other than Lowes, work, or the grocery store and have a sit down meal that neither of us cooked and neither of us had to clean up. We rented a few movies for the cold and rainy evening and settled in to watch what turned out to be a Christmas movie and drink hot chocolate. It was very funny having a perfect cold winter's night in mid-May.

As the rain continues to come down, I feel that there is so much to be thankful for. Chris and I have been married for almost 6 months and it has been the best 6 months of my life. We live in a beautiful home. My dad was able to nail down a job. We have a new niece who is cute as a button. Our families are healthy and my parents are more amazing than imaginable. I am very blessed.