For The Man Of The Hour

It's Monday. It's Labor Day here in the US of A. And most importantly it's my hubs birthday. Whoohoo! Let's discuss. I mean let's discuss more than I have already discussed him on the blog over the past sixteen years. 

Have I been blogging for sixteen years? It seems so. 

Anywho let's celebrate the hubs with a list of my top ten favorite things about him.  Coming up with list of things I love about him sounded familiar so I looked back at my trusty blog and yup. I found a list from 2011 which is like a hundred years ago, so time for an update. There's some overlap but he's still that guy and I love what I love, which I think is a good thing.

1. He's funny. Always quick with a comeback, comment, humorous observation. Makes me laugh when I want to cry. Makes me laugh when I'm mad which, let's be honest, can sometimes make me madder except it's hard to be mad when you're trying not to laugh. 

2. He's neat as a pin. If you know him you're laughing, especially my girls. I'm not sloppy, but he is something much more than just not sloppy. He vacuums, cleans the showers, washes windows when the dog's nose prints become too much, and picks up pinecones in the yard when he's got nothing better to do. He's also in charge of the floors, the granite, and cleaning the stovetop, so what's left for me? Still plenty, but it's nice to know he will happily do his tasks and anything extra that needs doing and they will be done perfectly.  

3. He's a wonderful grandfather. I always knew he would be. He's so crazy about our crew and he shows it, lives it, loves them with words and actions and humor. They all know he's funny too. 

4. He's reading through the Bible with me this year. I've done this many times, but he's never read it cover to cover, and y'all it's September and we're still in the Old Testament. It can be a bit of a challenge to stick with it, but he's stuck with it and I appreciate the commitment. He keeps his word. 

5. He makes the icky phone calls and deals with repairs I'd prefer to handle by pretending if I can't see it then there's nothing that needs repairing. Who's with me? He's always one step ahead of whatever needs doing around here and I know he'll find the right person to do the job and will call said person at least three times to make sure they didn't forget, they're really coming, and also they definitely have us on their calendar for Tuesday at ten, yes just checking. He is the squeaky wheel and nothing is left undone, half done, or badly done. 

6. He's the mayor. Not the actual mayor, but he never met a stranger and makes everyone feel welcome wherever he goes. He draws people out and helps people who aren't comfortable in a group feel comfortable in a group. If there's a microphone he's happily behind it. 

7. He's an excellent dancer. Seriously. This made my first list too but it's still worth mentioning. 

8. He watches out for me. Thinks of me. Cares for me. Opens doors, tells me to watch my step (more so in recent years because let's be honest here, I've missed a couple), walks on the traffic side of the sidewalk, drops me off when the weather is yucky, brings me coffee, knows when I've had too much motion and not enough Dramamine, gives me his jacket when I'm cold, says let's eat out when I've had a full day, understands my need for space and words and books and a long hot bath. 

There's more. Lots more. A thousand little things that are meaningful and thoughtful and that fill up the well I'm always talking about in marriage.   

9. He encourages me to write more, to try something I think I won't like before I've ever tried it but he knows I will, to step out of my comfort zone, to give myself credit when credit is due, to let go of hurts I tend to hold on to, to not dwell, not panic, not overthink. 

10. He thinks he's the lucky one. 

Happy birthday hubs...you're still a cutie xoxo

Hodgepodge Questions-Volume 186

Welcome to this week's edition of the Wednesday Hodgepodge. Before I get to the questions I have a couple items of business to mention-

I was on vacation last week, so did not get around to read everybody's answers. I'm catching up as I can, but here we are again with another HP so I may not get to all of last week's entries. Aaaaand...I'm also away this week so likely a similar scenario. I'm spending the week with my girls taking care of all sorts of fun wedding tasks while hubs is stuck in NJ manning hearth and home. Manning hearth and home is code for working and keeping the dog company.

An-y-way...all that to say I'm going to take a little HP break next week.  I need a week to catch up and hopefully you all need that too. So...HP questions today, link tomorrow (August 13th).  NO HP August 20th, but we will return to our regularly scheduled programming the following week-August 27th, which if you can believe it, will be the last HP in August.

Now on to our questions-

1. The best part of waking up is____________________________________.

2.  Given a choice, which animal interaction would you most like to experience (or for those non-adventurers...which would you dislike the least?)- Swim with the dolphins at one of several locations in the Florida Keys, a lion encounter ten minutes from Victoria Falls (Africa), or a day at a remote base camp high in the Big Sur wilderness via the Ventana Wildlife Society helping track California condors?

3. What is something you fear about 'old age'? What is something you look forward to?

4. Hot sauce...are you a fan? If you answered yes, what's something you make/eat that must have hot sauce? On a scale of 1-10 how hot is too hot?

5. It's been said that children learn what they live. What do you think children learn at your house?

6. What's your favorite movie with a number in it's title?

7. Saturday (August 16th) is National Tell a Joke Day...share one here.

8.  Insert your own random thought here.

Hijinks and Hilarity in the A-Z

We think we're funny.
And we are.
At least to us we are-ha!

To people outside these four walls maybe not so much, but it's what happens inside these four walls that's important. I knew in writing about the topic of marriage I would want to say something about humor, but what?

Hi Girls-

Marry men who have a sense of humor.

Love,
Mom

There. Done.

Okay, not really but pretty much. I mean if you have a sense of humor you understand this sentiment, and if you don't, well then it's likely you're scratching your head in bewilderment at this entire post.

As you live out the years of a marriage, you'll discover that some days are pure magic, and others are something less than that. The boy you adored on your wedding day? Well he's going to irritate you every once in a while. The good news is, if he's able to interject some humor into moments where the air is thick, then it's likely your irritation won't last. You might wish it would, but it's awfully hard to stay angry when laughter is bubbling to the surface.

Humor helps you remember why you loved him in the first place. 

In life there are situations that come up where we all take ourselves just a little bit too seriously. Having a spouse who helps you laugh at your own ridiculousness is a good thing. That isn't the same thing as one who laughs at you, which I don't believe is ever a good thing. But one who makes you laugh when you're overly tired, stressed, put upon, or hormonal? Yes that is a good thing.

Humor helps you regain perspective when it feels like the world is against you.  

It's safe to say that nobody leaves planet Earth without feeling hurt or disappointment from time to time. Humor can lift a road-weary spirit, make you smile when you feel like crying, remind you that even in the middle of something hard it still feels good to laugh.

Humor helps soothe life's sharp corners and rough edges. 

Then there are your children. Little beings you love more than life itself who occasionally do something requiring your super serious-I mean business-mom face when you confront them, but whose words and antics you and your spouse will laugh out loud over once they've gone to bed.

Words and antics you'll tell and re-tell through the years, around the dinner table, at assorted family gatherings. Where you'll say 'remember that time...' and everyone will nod and laugh at the memory of a shared experience.

Humor is bonding. 

Who else in this world can love and appreciate the funny little people who grow big under your roof besides the co-contributor to their DNA?

H is for Sense of Humor

Don't get married without one! 

A Fragmented List of Thirteenish Randoms

It's Thursday, and I'm feeling like a list is in order. You can call it Friday Fragments on a Thursday or Thursday Thirteen, although I haven't thought it all out so it might just be Thursday Ten, but whatever...it's Thursday and it's time for a list.  An unnumbered list, so really let's just call them fragments.

I hosted a brunch at my house on Monday for a group of about 30 women who volunteer with a club I'm a member of.

Side note-I always thought "never end a sentence with a preposition" was a hard and fast rule of grammar, but I just checked and it's not.  You're welcome.

Now back to my brunch....several women contributed food, and I made punch and provided the coffee along with a sinful sour cream coffee cake and a loaf of banana bread topped with a lime glaze. I'd also gotten up extra-extra early to make mini caprese skewers, about 40 of them.  These-

Which are still in my frig, because I forgot to put them out at the brunch.  Bother.

Actually this is what's left after I doled them out to the hubs with his dinner every night this week. He noticed last night that the toothpick dye is making the mozzarella 'colorful', so I have to toss what's left.  I really hate it when I do stuff like this, which sadly is kinda often.

How 'bout something happy?

We've seen lots of baby deer in recent weeks. It's hard to get a photo, because when they hear me open the front door they stroll on outta here. And also because it's me attempting the picture.

Where's Waldo?

He's there, but you have to look hard to see him amidst the camouflage of my shrubs. Hummingbirds are amazing little creatures, aren't they? We love to sip our coffee on the patio in the early morning hours, and be entertained by the hummingbirds that frequent our feeder. Hubs makes fun of how many pictures I've snapped of these little birds, but they're fascinating.  

There is someone in our house who has no interest in the hummingbirds, even when they are furiously flapping their wings right above her head.  She prefers to stick her nose in here-

My pup is obsessed with catching bees, and bees love my hydrangeas.

I love my hydrangeas too.

In other pretty news...there is a ginormous field of sunflowers blooming nearby, and when Daughter1 was home a couple of weekends ago we stopped for a look-see...

It was a little bit too close to sunset to make the light work, plus I only had my iPhone with me, plus I have yet to master the art of snapping a quick photo with my phone, but still...you get the idea, right?

See that speck in the middle?  That's my extra petite girl trying to snap a picture just like me.  Well, not just like me, because when it comes to picture-taking she's got skilz her mama is lacking.

When our girls are home, they always catch us up on Internet funnies. With football season gearing up, I thought I'd end this list with one of our new favorites here. 

Was that thirteen things?

Somehow it feels more like thirty.

May your Labor Day weekend be light on labor and long on R & R!

If you've got fragments of your own, why not add them to the party by clicking here on Fridays. 

L is for Laughter

One of my favorite sounds in all the world is laughter, most especially the spontaneous belly laugh of a small girl child.

Or a big girl child.
That's good too.

We value humor in our family. We like to laugh and we crack our own selves up on a regular basis, which I think is healthy.  Every family has their own sense of humor, things they find funny that would leave someone else scratching their head.  That's okay.  I think your own brand of humor is a big part of what makes a family a family.

The world is such a serious place anymore, and America in particular seems to have lost her ability to laugh.

It.is.so.tiresome.  

I think we can look at life in one of two ways-either the glass is nearly full or it's almost empty, so I choose A.  Bad things happen due to poor choices or for reasons we can't see or know in this life. There's pain and heartache and hurt looking for a place to land because this is planet earth, not heaven.

Laughter is healing. Laughter can ease a tension, lift a sad spirit, or soothe a weary, wounded soul. I feel certain God has a sense of humor...think of baby giraffes, the platypus, belly buttons, and dogs that can count.

While I recognize there is evil in this world, there is also a lot of just plain rudeness. So much whining and complaining and mean-spirited stuff out there and for what purpose?

Much of life is beyond our control...

...how we respond to it is not.

"A cheerful heart is good medicine..."  Proverbs 17:22