My Marlboro Man

No, I'm not stealing Ree Drummond's affectionate term for her husband here... I just happen to think that every single one of us married women has a "Marlboro Man"... you know, the guy who fixes things around the house, keeps the yard all mowed and looking nice, and keeps your car tires all full of air... he slings the hay bales from the trailer to the barn/shop (oh sure, I could do it if I HAD to), repairs the chicken coop so you can finally purchase your first flock of babies, starts a compost pile for the garden that he's going to till for you... and on and on and on I could rant.

{If you don't know who Ree Drummond is, and I would hazard a guess to say that almost all my readers do know who she is.... then you need to go here to read more about the Pioneer Woman, and right here to find out about her Marlboro Man.}

Let's face it... my Marlboro Man is my go-to guy. Not just because I love him and I have so much fun with him, but because he's good at everything he does, and his mind is chock-full of knowledge and wisdom. He's one of the smartest guys I've met, and just the best when it comes to problem-solving.  Sometimes I feel like such a duh when he comes up with solutions that should have been obvious to me!  He's so good at making stuff out of stuff... he's a green kind of guy and probably doesn't even realize it.  He's uber-patient with the animals (and me!), and he's the epitome of calm in a panic situation... call me melodramatic and DON'T come to me in a panic situation!  I can calm down (eventually) but calm is not my normal operating system. I have utter respect for the way he handles our horses... he's mega-matter-of-fact and down to earth and REAL.  Yep, he knows how to keep everything real on the ranch.

Maybe those are some of the reasons we work so well together.

Our 2nd anniversary was March 14.  Since we don't eat out much... I mean, there's no restaurants within a 15 mile radius of our house... we splurged and went to PF Chang's in Wichita.  He loves Chinese, me not so much, but I can stomach Chang's.  He was the only cowboy in the restaurant that day.  He remarked that no one else wore their cowboy hat to lunch at Chang's... I replied that the other cowboys could be found across town at the local barbeque.  How many REAL cowboys eat Chinese?!

Trust me, he looked good in his cowboy hat in that Chinese restaurant.

If you haven't read "our story", you'll just have to click here and find out how we met.  Sometimes life does hand us something better than just lemons... we don't always have to make lemonade. 

But it's always good to know HOW to make lemonade, just in case... 

I won't lie.  I can honestly say that from the summer of 2004 to February of 2007 when I finally met my husband, the guys I met were the worst, the scariest, the most devious and scheming, disgusting ... need I go on?  After the guy who was a compulsive dating site lurker and king of chat with zillions of girls (I dated THAT one for a year, shame on me) to the suicide-threatening goob who stalked me by watching my house and questioning my every move (I went to the grocery store for tea, ass-wipe...I wish all my girls coulda been there when I practically THREW him out my front door after that ludicrous scene), I had decided that the online dating game was no longer for me.

Am I ever glad I gave one more website one more chance, else I would never be where I am today.  Jobless or not, I still believe that I am in the best place I've ever been in my life, and I'm truly thankful and grateful for my Marlboro Man.

How about you?  Is your hubby your Marlboro Man?  :-)

Oh, to be In Beautiful Venice!

My sister and her husband are celebrating their 10th wedding anniversary in Venice this week. Doesn't that sound like the most wonderful way to celebrate an anniversary?! Here is her email to family yesterday:

Hello all! So! I just captured three pairs of shoes at a very reasonable price by Venetian standards, where shoes are crazy expensive. Well, everything is expensive, you just have to get used to it, and enjoy the experience. Actually, all the shoes were in the 50-100 euro range, so it wasn't bad. And other than my glass ring, it's the only thing I've bought for myself. Italian women are very skinny, and I feel like a moose and won't even consider trying on any of the styles in the windows. I even skipped gelato yesterday. Plus, they're just not my style, a little too la-ti-dah.

Yesterday we did a day trip to Padua and Vicenza. Doug rented us a little Fiat, and we set out with a rather limited map from the rental agency. Fortunately, driving is on the RIGHT side of the street here. But by the end of the day, I still was completely FRAZZLED with the hard-to-read street signs, all jumbled up together, displayed at the point of decision making, and in a smaller font than American directional signs. So many times we were having to scan this big display of signage at the point of making the choice of direction. AGGHHH!!! We lunched in Vicenza at a spot that has had a restaurant in operation since the 1200's. Doug had the specialty, which was a type of salt-cod. I had a steak, because they didn't have chicken on the menu (wink, ha!)

Afterward, things went a bit awry as the guy ringing us up insulted Doug to the Italians behind him, not realizing Doug could understand the gist of what he was saying. That stung my tender-hearted sweetie a bit, and I worked hard to cheer him up. But then, we realized we'd misplaced the parking ticket, which meant a mandatory 26-euro fee! So we had to retrace our steps all the way back to the restaurant and there it was next to the table. I waited outside, but when Doug came out with the ticket in hand, he was cheerier, and he must have had a friendlier conversation with the guy.

But truly, yesterday in the car was the low point for me. Remember (mom and Susan) when we were in Puerto Rico and we ventured out that one day in the car? And though we enjoyed San Juan (oh, the tres-leches!), it was nice to get back to our beautiful little resort? That's how yesterday was. And plus, with the rainy weather yesterday to boot, I bottomed out yesterday evening and spent the evening in the hotel in tears feeling miserable. *sigh* only I can go to Venice and be depressed and miserable.

But after capturing the shoes this morning (after thinking about them for the past three days), and heading off to buy some final souvenirs today, I think it will be a better day. Plus, the sun is shining. Yay!

Wednesday night, Doug found a local pub owner who was broadcasting the most important Manchester United/Portugal UEFA game. His name was Oscar, and when we got there, he recognized Doug from Doug's earlier reconnaissance discovery of the place, and in all seriousness said to him at the door as we tried to walk in, "sorry, we closed." Tee hee, I loved his humor! We had a table right in the front of the big-screen tv, and had fun watching the game with Portuguese fans. When we went to leave, Oscar insisted we stay while he made us a special dessert, which was basically flambe'd strawberries with a scoop of vanilla gelato, and oddly, peppercorns. I assumed they were little bits of chocolate and the first one I bit into had my eyes watering and my uvula screaming. But it was good, and we were so grateful for his warmth. We all hugged goodbye and I gave him the double cheek kiss.

Wednesday afternoon we/I spent in San Marco square at the oldest music cafe there, sorry, name escapes me WAIT, the Florian (I bought two little glasses from there with their name/logo etched into the glass). I stayed for three (four?) hours (to maximize my 6-euro music fee charge) and enjoyed the afternoon sun, the people watching, and the beautiful music. Doug left to go make a phone call and do a few quick things, and several hours later he finally returned, having made a wrong turn from the hotel back to San Marco Square (a very simple 5-minute walk that we've made at least a dozen times now!) Oh my, bless his heart, I think we've finally, tacitly, settled the question of who is the better instinctive navigator. Left on his own, he's gotten completely turned around at least twice now, and comes back all sweaty and panting from having run all over Venice trying to get back to the hotel. *giggles* that's my little Norwegian.

Well, I'm down to 3:45 on my computer here, so this is my final missive from beautiful incredible Venice. Pictures to come soon.

Love,
Me

Pondering Our First Anniversary and a New Giveaway!

Our first wedding anniversary is next Saturday, March 14. This date now holds more historical significance than just being our wedding anniversary, because several months ago I scheduled a girls' weekend trip to Arizona, FORGETTING IT WAS OUR ANNIVERSARY. So I now have the dubious honor of being the first FEMALE to forget a wedding anniversary - this has always been the husband's job, do we all agree?! It has been brought to my attention by my loving husband that he will NEVER let me live this down ~ thankfully, he sees the humor in this situation.

So while I am in AZ with my mom, my sis and my sis's BFF next weekend, hiking in Sedona and wolfing down mexican food with a margie, my doting and understanding husband will be at home taking care of all the animals, and my two girls (aka dogs), on our anniversary day, most likely eating a frozen din-din and some of the home made macaroni salad I will make before I leave.

Go ahead, call me a bonehead, ream me out for ruining the good reputation of womenkind everywhere!!!! I was stunned when I realized what I had done. It was rather convoluted -- we knew my mom would be in AZ during Feb and Mar, and we were all trying to coordinate the best time for everyone to go out there and mid-March seemed a good time, and of course I just clean forgot it was our first wedding anniversary..... me, the most thoughtful, kind, considerate, always-thinking-of-everyone-before-myself kind of gal. I know, it defies logic, doesn't it?

I think it must be early onset Alzheimer's.... scary, huh?

So, finally, in honor of our first wedding anniversary that I won't be here to celebrate, I decided to have another giveaway ... why not?! It was so much fun the first time, I want to do it again already. :-)

So keep an eye out, I plan to post the giveaway items in the next 24 hours. Still figuring out what they should be this time around, but I promise it will be fun, and hey, even if it's something you can't use, freebies are always good for regifting to someone who can use them!!