Winning

Here’s a recap of the past week…by the numbers.

2 = Number of enchiladas, and then pieces of carrot cake, I stress-ate on Wednesday. The last week of the month is always high-stress at work.

But then 90 = Minutes of a hot stone couples massage that I got at Massage Heights on Thursday as a late Valentine’s Day present.   [Score Matt +20 brownie points].

On Saturday afternoon, Matt met up with two of his friends. Before leaving, he guaranteed that he would be back in plenty of time to still keep our gym date and work out before meeting other friends for dinner. Well, he showed back at home only 1 hour prior to our dinner reservation time, so 1.5 hours late, just in time to get quite the earful after “ditching” me. I had worked out and showered without him. Didn’t he know that it takes me an hour to hour and a half to get ready?! How on Earth did he think it was possible to work out AND get ready in an hour?! My annoyance seemed to fuel some pretty hard core adrenaline during my workout. It also allowed me some time to rehearse in my head my talking points to Matt to prove he was in the wrong. Then in doing that, I realized this was no big deal to be mad about; I decided this was one battle I wasn’t going to “pick.”  But THEN when Matt did show, my mouth opened and insults ensued anyway. I think at one point I even called him fat (which he isn’t).  I don’t know. As I've said, sometimes I'm pretty ridiculous. After silently getting ready in opposite bathrooms, I said I was sorry. And I was – until I found a can of chew in his pocket during our make up hug. See, he used to chew all the time, but the past few years has reserved it, at my urging, for baseball season only.  When I asked him what he was doing with it, he said, “I just want to. It doesn’t affect you.” As if.  (-10 points for Matt).

The dinner reservations we had were with Matt’s friends who have been married 14 years. It was a surprise date for the wife, who was told to pack a bag and get ready for a fun night. Super cute, right?! They’re great.  And so was Piccolo Pete’s steak where we ate.  After dinner we went to celebrate my sister-in-law’s 25th birthday.  And then we had 4 shots. And then we “sang” like 4 karaoke songs. My apologies to everyone who had to suffer through that.

Then yesterday morning, in the previous night’s hair and makeup, I bought a $5 footlong for breakfast and proceeded to take a three-hour nap. I hadn't felt like that in quite some time, but good as new after that nap. 

Still, I wasn't feeling well enough to cross off most things on my to-do list, but I did manage remind Matt of a few things on his list. For instance, I’ve asked Matt three times so far to call and make an appointment to have our taxes done. I’m putting the line at 5 and taking bets for over/under on how many times I’ll need to nag to get results (or before I break down and call them myself, a la the garage door incident).  [-5 points].

But then today, Matt offered to donate blood to help me out at work (+5 points).

There you have it; the numbers don’t lie – Matt comes out on top.  While I do hate admitting defeat, his blood donation appointment gives me time to catch up on my TV shows tonight. Win, win.

[Looking forward to making it to 14 years of marriage ourselves:)]

'Cool' Coincidences

Last week at this time, my biggest worry was whether or not my crazy-creamy spinach artichoke would win the "Dip-off" at my hubby's work. (Note: Didn't win because Matt forgot to enter us, despite my reminders every day to sign up).

Flash forward to this week and I just got home from a 32-hour round trip road trip to Texas for a funeral. Last week Matt's uncle died. So sad.  In the process of consoling, I realized two things: 1) I'm selfish (irrelevant for today's point, but perhaps a topicc for later) and 2) I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be in life.

Example 1:  We got that new car last month. And now just had to go on a long @$$ car ride. So thankful we had it (and its OnStar & Sirius XM) so we could be comfy and safe.

Example 2: Calvin Coolidge was a clue in one of the crossword puzzles we did on the road. Let me back track and explain. Since before Matt and I had even said the "L" word to each other, we said we wanted a dog. And we wanted to name it Ted. Long story (I'll spare you), but it has to do with Theodore Roosevelt. 
::In an exciting side story, we are getting a dog this week! More to come on that later!)::  We filled some of our pre-crossword puzzle time discussing new dog names because since we're getting a female, didn't think Ted was appropriate. So we google "Ted" Roosevelt's wife's name--turns out he had two:  Alice and Edith -- no thanks. So I asked Matt, "who's another cool president?"  Because he thinks he's funny, he replied, "Calvin Coolidge." (Get it?)  While we didn't like either's wives' names (his was Grace), we did like reading their background stories. (We're lame and enjoy history stuff). Anyway, that convo soon became boring so at the next rest stop, we bought a book of crossword puzzles to pass somee time. Puzzle one, among the first clues, is "Pres. Coolidge's nickname."  "Cal!" we simultaneously exclaimed.  Such a coincidence. Or was it? :)

There are other examples, but the point is this:  maybe sometimes things DO happen for a reason. Both Matt & I are kind of people who often question if what we are doing is the right thing, on the right path. Well, perhaps Matt's uncle's passing is what it took to give us some perspective. Life is too short so maybe we (ok, I) don't have to worry so much. The universe taught us that lesson this weekend. Through all the funeral proceedings, the both of us gained not only a sense of comfort being surrounded by family but also the feeling that everything was going to be alright -- for them, and for us. At least that's what I'm chosing to take out of the situation. We're in the right places, doing the right things, at the right times. So for now, I'm keeping calm and carrying on. (Which I can still say since it's our last night dog-less!)