17 posts tagged “matt”
My husband is not a morning person, and he'd never be mistaken for a vegetarian.
After three whole nights of not having red meat as part of our supper (I'm so cruel!), I decided this morning that I'd go ahead and start up the slow cooker with some beef stew ingredients. It would be a nice little surprise for Matt because I feared he was going through red meat withdrawal symptoms.
I typically wake up at least an hour or so before Matt, and then when he does wake up, he takes a really long time to actually make it out of the bedroom. Waking up is quite a process for him, which I don't completely understand, but I do know he's easier to deal with when he wakes up in his own time, so I give him lots of space in the mornings. It's actually nice for me as well because I get my own private time while he's waking up.
So I'm up and about this morning, and I start browning the beef for the stew. Within about 10 minutes, I heard Matt moving around in the bedroom, which is a little early for him. About 5 minutes after that, he was in the kitchen going on and on about how good something smelled. The power of beef drastically reduced his waking-up process.
He looked a little disappointed when he realized he was smelling supper and not breakfast, so I surprised him with steak and eggs for breakfast when he got out of the shower. He practically bounced out the door on his way to work with some steak already in his system and the promise of more beef waiting for him when he comes home.
My grandfather, who raised Angus cattle, died before I met Matt, but I know he is looking down and giving me the thumbs-up for picking a steak-lover. My own bout with vegetarianism as a teenager had him a little concerned that I'd end up with one of those crazy hippies. ;)
I've gotten up at 5am two days in a row, and it feels incredible to have so much done before I even eat lunch! Seriously, my mom and the pope could invite themselves over for afternoon tea, and I wouldn't panic a bit. The apartment is the cleanest it's been in months, and I walked to the store this morning to stock up on all the items I need for this week's meals.
I'm back to doing a weekly meal plan, and it's kind of crazy how happy that makes me even when we don't stick to it 100%. Structure is such a good thing for me. I know it suffocates some people, but having structure gives me a nice solid base from which I can do the things I want to do without so much worrying. Knowing that the basic things are definitely taken care of is such a nice feeling, and it keeps my afternoons free for all my other projects like organizing all my domains, putting together a portfolio for my grad program, and adding the rest of our books to LibraryThing.
We're also planning a couple of trips in the next month or so. One is just a short trip to hang out with my grandmother and give my mom and dad a chance to take a breather from spending so much time at her house. Her health is actually fairly good, but she gets a little nervous when she's by herself, so she likes having company. She likes card games, so I'm taking my Star Trek Uno and Fluxx to try those out with her, and we'll definitely be playing a lot of rummy because that's her favorite. Then next month, we're going somewhere for our anniversary. We're trying to decide between somewhere along the Blue Ridge Parkway and Charleston, SC.
And I'm also finishing up my second summer session course and looking forward to my fall schedule. I'm signed up for courses in human-computer interface design, multimedia instructional development, and a seminar on virtual reality and education right now. I might add a media literacy class in there too, but that depends on if my advisor can get it added to the schedule this week. Lots of good stuff going on!
I started craving a tuna sandwich on 7-grain bread with provolone, sprouts, and cucumbers from our local deli around supper time, so I thought I'd give Matt a call to see if he was heading home from work yet. I got his voice mail, which is typical when he's driving because he knows I'd rather him wait until he's somewhere safe than be scrambling for the phone while he's driving. I figured I'd missed my chance to get the sandwich, which wasn't a big deal.
He called a few minutes later to see why I'd called him, and I told him that I'd just been wanting a sandwich and that it wasn't any big deal. We got off the phone, and he walked through the door about 5 minutes later with a tuna sandwich on 7-grain bread with provolone, sprouts, and cucumbers. He'd actually been in the deli ordering sandwiches when I called. He had a feeling that I'd be in the mood for a sandwich, and he even picked the right one out of a selection of likely possibilities.
Being married long enough that you develop super powers is a really good thing! Maybe we'll get some more powers when we celebrate our anniversary next month. :D
Audio: Share a song that reminds you of a current or past relationship.
Matt and I have so many songs that are little touchstones for us that it's hard to just pick one, so I'm not. :D
Eleven years ago, I didn't even know Matt existed. I posted several penpal ads on some websites, and at the end of February 1996, Matt responded to one of those with an email.
Virtuality - Rush
Net boy, net girl send your heartbeat 'round the world
We emailed and chatted constantly, and within just a few weeks, I was smitten. One Tuesday afternoon in April, we chatted and typed those three little words to each other.
Tuesday Afternoon - The Moody Blues
I'm looking at myself, reflections of my mind.
It's just the kind of day to leave myself behind.
So gently swaying through the fairyland of love.
If you'll just come with me you'll see the beauty of
Tuesday afternoon, Tuesday afternoon.
I finally heard his voice a week later. We sent each other photos of ourselves and our families and lots of letters. He sent me a mix tape that I played constantly. I imagined him singing each song to me and looked forward to the day I could see him and hear his voice at the same time.
You Better You Bet - The Who
When I say I love you, you say you better
You better you better you bet
When I say I need you you say you better
Let My Love Open The Door - Pete Townshend
Come on and give me a chance to say
Let my love open the door
It's all I'm living for
Release yourself from misery
In May, I lost internet access when I went home for the summer, but we consoled ourselves with the thought that we would soon be together in person for the first time. Matt had gotten a ticket to fly from Alaska to Tennessee, and we would have 10 days together. I met him at the airport, and being with him was beyond anything I could have imagined.
I Knew I Loved You - Savage Garden
I knew I loved you before I met you.
I think I dreamed you into life.
I think I found my way home.
I know that it might sound more than
a little crazy, but I believe.
I drove him to one of my favorite spots in the Smokies, and we sat outside all night long, just talking and holding each other.
Moondance - Van Morrison
All the night's magic seems to whisper and hush
And all the soft moonlight seems to shine in your blush
The rest of our days together went by in a blur. We spent a lot of time in my car, singing to each other, as I showed him some of my favorite spots in eastern Tennessee. Any doubts that we might have had about us vanished during that first night. By the time he left for Alaska, we were engaged and planning to get married later in the summer, but I still didn't want him to leave. Saying goodbye at the airport was tough on both of us.
Don't Cry - Asia
Don't cry now that I've found you.
Don't cry. Take a look around you.
Don't cry. It took so long to find you.
Do whatever you want, but little darling please don't cry.
My parents were shocked at how quickly things had progressed with Matt and me. Thankfully, they really liked Matt. Sometimes, I think it didn't really sink in for them until Matt and I got married in August. A week after the wedding, I moved to Alaska.
Suds in the Bucket - Sara Evans
Now don't you wonder what the preacher's gonna preach about Sunday mornin'.
Nothing quite like this has happened here before.
Well he must have been a looker, a smooth talkin' son of gun,
For such a grounded girl to just up and run.
And life goes on, and now we've been married 10 years and living in North Carolina. Life certainly hasn't been perfect, but the roller coaster is a lot more fun with him along for the ride. :D
In Your Eyes - Peter Gabriel
Love I get so lost sometimes.
Days pass and this emptiness fills my heart.
When I want to run away,
I drive off in my car
but whichever way I go,
I come back to the place you are.
One Hundred Names - The Nields
I have known you all my life.
In fact, I knew you long before.
A hundred years or so of you,
and all I want from you is more.
Show us something weird that's on your desk.
Submitted by Alex.
To me, this is one of the most normal items on my desk, but in every office I've ever worked, people ignore all the interesting toys to comment on this little photo frame.
Post a screenshot of the videogame you've been playing. Bonus points for capturing it yourself!
Submitted by przyklenk.
I'll be coming back to this Vox Hunt later today, but for now, I'll share one of Matt's screenshots from World of Warcraft that I absolutely love. Lothar queues are really not fun these days, and I know other servers have it worse than us.
I happen to love the color pink, and I think we need to start a petition to call "pink eye" something else because it's really not deserving of the word pink. Let's call it icky eye or something. I guess we could call it conjunctivitis, but then you'd have to deal with explaining that to people, and they'd just say, "Oh, you mean pink eye."
So in case you didn't pick up on it in that last paragraph, I have pink eye. And the pink eye brought a little friend in the form of a lump at the corner of that eye that I'm told is a backed-up gland. Doesn't that all sound sexy? ;)
I woke up Saturday morning with my right eye swollen, which freaked me out. I have a great-aunt who suddenly went blind around my current age, and no one knows why it happened. Of course, that was my first thought, which sent me straight into panic mode. My doctor's office has special Saturday walk-in hours, so I spent most of Saturday morning there trying to avoid all the other germy people. My own germs were more than enough for me at that point.
The doctor (not my usual one) then proceeded to make me even more anxious by saying I really should have come in as soon as I noticed a problem and that I'd let it go on long enough that it had gotten worse. I finally got him to understand that I was fine Friday night and then woke up Saturday morning with a problem, and he seemed so shocked by that. Doctors really shouldn't act shocked by your symptoms. It's not good.
Things turned out fine though, and I have some eye drops that take the gritty feeling from my eye, which is good. And I've been using hot compresses that seem to be reducing the swollen gland. The doctor mentioned that I'd probably need to take a few days off from work because I'm considered contagious. (So is Matt supposed to move or something? LOL)
I would be so irritated to use up my sick time when I'm still perfectly capable of doing my job (though I would to keep someone else from having to deal with this), so that's yet another bonus to working from home. I get to work and save my sick hours for when I really need them, and no one other than Matt has to deal with my germs and gross eye. We all win! Well, except for poor Matt.
For the first half of yesterday, Matt and I were annoying each other. I was trying to get some work done, and he kept bugging me. Then he got annoyed because I got annoyed. He finally got my attention when he carried a suitcase out to the car. LOL
Once we were in the car, I figured out we were going to the beach because there isn't much else that direction, but I didn't know what Matt had planned. We ended up at Sunset Beach just in time for the sunset I posted yesterday. Typing a post on Matt's phone was not very fun, but it's cool that it's so easy to post. The typing was the most bothersome part.
We spent the night at a beach house owned by the parents of one of Matt's friends. They usually rent it out by the week during the summer, but November isn't prime beach rental time, so we got to hang out for free. They have an amazing whirlpool, which is where I spent most of yesterday and today. It's huge, and the warm water with all the little jets shooting on my back was incredible.
He made me leave the laptop and most everything else other than some clothes and a book at home, and it was definitely the right call. The chance to just turn off and try to get my brain to shut up was very nice.
I managed to get most of my school stuff done before we left, and I still have a few more weeks until everything is due, so I'm trying to relax about that as well. I'm not so good at that whole relaxing thing, but I'm working on it.
I've been enjoying Willa's haikus, so I decided to write my own today.
Autumn leaves falling
and then caught in spider webs
never hit the ground.
I don't hit the ground
because I'm caught up in love.
I thank God for that.
I think headaches and a lack of sleep combine to make me a bit melancholy, but I'm going to spend the rest of the night watching cartoons with Matt, so the world is looking better. :)
What did you think you would never ever do... but did?
Submitted by Murky.
I wasn't planning on getting married, but that's worked out well for the last 10 years. :)
I was 20 when Matt and I met and when we got married, and I wasn't even interested in dating until I met him. To go from having no interest in dating to being married in the span of 6 months or so was more than a little strange, but it was truly the best decision I've ever made.
