Marriage Confessions | Marriage Confessions Marriage Confessions

1. This week is a three-day work week for me. We had today off for MLK and Friday is a teacher planning day. Tuesday through Thursday are semester exams at my school, so I’ll have a pretty light work week even when I am working because my students will be taking exams all week. I’m mean and am giving them a two part exam. I have heard much complaining. Much.

2. Chris is at work until late and Gracie went to bed early tonight, so I let Bean Man stay up with me until way past his bedtime. We played with blocks and his train set for a long time. While we were playing, I had him help me organize all his toys. I found some plastic bins with lids and we made one bin for trains, one for blocks, one for cars, one for flashcards and puzzles, and one for figurines (Bean calls them his “guys”). He loves to sort, so he had a really good time putting everything into the right bins. I had been planning to go through his room and do this when he was gone one day because I figured it would be a real battle, but he really liked our cleaning “game.” I hope that helps him keep his room a little cleaner, but that’s probably real wishful thinking…

3. Today I took the kids to daycare even though I had the day off. I know. I felt like a jerk. But I needed to work on a writing thing (full confession: I’m working with my agent on my book again and it feels really good to be back at it…), so I took the kids to daycare to give me some quiet time. Later in the day, I met my friend Sarah for lunch and then a long, leisurely trip to Ikea for, basically, nothing. We came back to her house and sat on the couch and just talked for another hour and a half. I can’t remember the last time I had an afternoon with a girlfriend like that. No husbands, no kids, no plans. It was really great and it made me miss my friendships before I had kids.

(Is it wrong to say that out loud?)

4. My hair is longer than it has ever been and I am dying to straighten it to see how long it REALLY is. But it takes a long time to straighten my hair. It’s a whole process. First, I have to wash it and then dry it, which takes about half an hour. Then I have to talk nice to it while I load it down with product, before I finally start straightening. And the straightening takes half an hour to 45 minutes itself. I either have to have something really important to go to where I want to look like an adult and not like one of my students or I have to have a lot of time on my hands before I straighten my hair. Unfortunately, I have neither of those things right now and so my hair remains curly and feather-like.

5. I just found Glee on Netflicks and I am addicted. But it’s the same addiction I had when I read Twilight. I don’t think I even really like it, but I can’t stop watching it! It annoys me and I think the plot is stupid and I hate spontaneous singing. And, yet, I am on Season Two already in about three days! I can’t stop! I’m annoyed with myself! I seriously think that 90% of the reason I keep watching is just to see what Emma is wearing. She has the best clothes and accessories! Those 60′s floral necklaces she wears? To die for!

6. Gracie is cutting three teeth right now and you would honestly think that she was eating her own arm off. She has learned how to screech and scream and she now randomly screams out like she’s dying. I feel really bad for her, but GOOD LORD, GRACIE! Settle down, woman! I’ve learned though from surviving Bean’s teething and now going through Gracie’s ear-piercing screams that the best soothing cure for teething babies is to get them out of the house. So, this afternoon after I got the kids home, we took a blanket out to the backyard and sat in the sunshine for a while. All that stimulation helped Gracie forget that giant teeth were bursting through her little gums. When Chris got home for an hour dinner break, he came home and played with us, too. It was a great afternoon and we were all hungry and happy by the time we came back inside.

16 comments | posted in Around the House, Family, Fun Things, Just for Fun, Marriage Confessions, Random | tags:

Chris’s job isn’t like most other jobs. He is the general and production manager at a regional theater here in Orlando and a large part of his job is overseeing the technical aspects of the plays they produce. Normally, this job can be done in a typical 9-5 work day. When he was in grad school, he was the one who did the actual designing and building of scenery. And that job is time intensive. Lots of working through the night to get a set ready to for actors the following day. As a manager now, though, Chris doesn’t really have to put in those kinds of hours anymore. That’s actually the reason he took the job he has now. With two little kids at home, we were looking for a job where he wasn’t tied to the theater at all hours of the day and night and this position was the perfect fit.

But once a month, Chris has to work technical rehearsals. It’s called “working tech.” At these rehearsals, they aren’t running through the play itself, they are running through the play from the technical aspects. They go through all the lighting and sound cues, all the set movements, all the costume changes, etc. And that takes a LONG, LONG time. As the production manager, Chris is at most of these tech rehearsals, just in case there are problems with anything technical and to make sure everything goes smoothly. On those weekends, he works “ten out of twelves,” which means that out of twelve hours, he is working ten of them. And that goes on for two, three, sometimes four days. It’s a long process, even when things are running smoothly. But for the show they are working right now, things aren’t going so great and so an already long process has become grueling. He didn’t come home last night until 3:00am and then he was back up at the theater by 9:00 this morning.

It’s hard on all of us when he’s working these kinds of hours. I miss having him around, to help with dishes, to help put the kids to bed, to cozy up on the couch with after bedtime. The kids really miss having him around, too. Even though it’s just for a couple days, they only get to see him once or twice a day for half an hour or so. Bean asks about him when he’s gone and Gracie…well…she gets so excited when she finally sees him that it’s like she’s just been sitting there waiting for him to walk in the door.

But out of all of us, it’s Chris who has it the worst during tech. Not only is he working really long hours, but he really misses us, too. He calls and texts me all day, asking what we’re doing. He comes home any time there is a chance, even if it’s just for 20 or 30 minutes. Sometimes, it takes him longer to get home than he has to stay. Basically, he’s just beat.

(Look, they have the same cowlick!)

Chris has one more day of tech left and I think we’re all ready for him to come home. When he’s working like this, I try to make things easy for him at home. I bought some of his favorite snacks at the grocery store today – pretzels, Barq’s Root Beer, Velveeta and chips for cheese dip. I make a lot of plans for me and the kids, so we’re not just sitting around waiting, because when I sit around and wait, I get pissed. Even when I have no reason to get pissed. So, we stay busy. My mom came down and spent all day with us Saturday and then she babysat Saturday night while I went out to a jewelry party with a new friend (post coming soon about my new awesome jewelry and my attempt to make friends…). Then, today we made rainbow rice and went for a two hour walk around our neighborhood. Tomorrow we have a play date. Busy, busy, busy.

Sometimes, marriage is about love and passion. Sometimes its about going through things together, side by side. And sometimes, it’s about being the safe place to come back to after life beats you up for a few days on a theater stage.

29 comments | posted in Around the House, Communication, Family, Husbands, Jobs and Careers, Marriage, Marriage Confessions | tags: Family, life, Marriage

Welp. It’s been ten days since my New Years resolution to get healthier. So far, I have surprised myself with how dedicated I have been to the no soda rule. I thought that one would kill me. But I really haven’t cheated.

Okay. Except last Tuesday when we had an emergency Chinese take out night. But that one doesn’t count. Everyone knows that you have to have Diet Coke with Chinese food. It’s, like, the law.

Other than that one time, though, I haven’t cheated at all. Even better than not drinking the soda is that I am drinking so much more water instead. Now, I have a big glass of water on my desk all day instead of a can of Diet Dr. Pepper. At dinner, I drink another glass of water instead of tea or another Diet Dr. Pepper. And at night when I start to crave a late night snack, I pour myself another glass of water.

At first, I was pretty miserable. Especially around 2:00 in the afternoon. I’d hit the wall and start to really miss that caffeine. But that lasted about a week (which felt like the longest week of my life, incidentally). Now, I actually seem to have more energy now than I used to have drinking my afternoon diet soda.

I’ve also stopped eating sweets.

Except for that football party I went to the other night and I made those killer Reese’s Cup brownies. Oh, and that dinner party we had last week when I made these awesome chocolate and peanut butter crescent rolls. And except for that time…

No, I think that was it, actually.

So, except for those two times, I’ve done really good with the no sweets thing. I’ve started having fruit or yogurt when I need a little fix (did you know vanilla yogurt tastes just like cake batter ice cream?!?!). And just the other day, I walked into a room with THREE UNSUPERVISED CANDY BARS and I turned around and walked away. I had to. Because if I stayed, I would have eaten all three. But I didn’t. I walked away and sat at my desk in my classroom, gulping water with lemon and trying to convince myself that it was just as satisfying as that Snickers bar.

(Which is a total lie, by the way. I don’t care what diet you’re on or how long you’ve been on it. Snickers bars will ALWAYS taste better than water. Even LEMON water. Period.)

I also switched all our rice to brown rice and all our pasta to whole wheat pasta and I stopped eating bread.

Except for those bread sticks I had at Olive Garden the other night. But those don’t count because they were APPETIZERS and everyone knows that appetizers don’t count. Duh.

Overall, I think I’m doing pretty good. I’m feeling better and I’m proud of myself. I’ve decided to celebrate small victories (like turning down unprotected Snickers bars) and overlooking small mishaps (like the fact that I haven’t exercised yet). Although, no matter how many baby steps I take into this world of health, my philosophy on food will always be…

****
Have you cast your vote for Marriage Confessions for the Parenting/Family category in the 2012 Bloggies? No? Well, get movin! Voting ends Friday!

25 comments | posted in Around the House, Changes, health, Just for Fun, Marriage Confessions | tags: dieting, healthy living, resolutions

Saturday night, in the middle of the night, I was woken up out of a dead sleep by what I thought was a gunshot. I sat up in bed, listened very intently, and within two minutes, I heard two more shots back to back.

Now, we live in a very safe neighborhood in a very safe part of town. I mean, it’s the suburbs, for crying out loud. Our neighbors drive Volvos and recycle their newspapers. They have Tupperware parties and exchange Christmas coookies.

But I was positive of what I heard. So, I kicked Chris and whispered violently, “Wake up! Go see what that was!” To which he replied sleepily, “You’re being ridiculous.” And then he rolled over and went back to sleep.

BACK TO SLEEP, I TELL YOU!

Clearly, I was the only one who wanted to defend and protect our household (which consisted that night of Chris and I and two dogs because the kids were at my parents). So, I crept down the stairs in the dark to peek out the front door. I was convinced that if I turned on a light, the person or people who had the gun would come to my house. This is how my brain works at 3:00am.

After seeing nothing, I crept back upstairs and went to the window to peek out. As I did, THREE police cars drove by. They didn’t have lights on or anything, but they were booking it down our street, one after the other.

Now, I went back to Chris.

“CHRIS!” I whispered loudly. “Wake up! There’s police in our neighborhood now!”

“No,” he said, from under the covers somewhere. “There’s not.”

Let’s pause in this situation so that I can tell you just how much I HATE IT when Chris just blatantly denies something that I am ABSOLUTELY certain about. It makes me want to flick his ears. How are you going to sit there and tell me I didn’t see what I just saw when YOU ARE SLEEPING UNDER THE COVERS WHILE OUR HOME IS UNDER ATTACK! Gaaahhhh! I’m getting mad all over again just thinking about it. Now I want to flick his ears again!

“YES,” I shouted in a whisper. “THEY JUST DROVE BY!”

“Katie, go to bed,” he snapped. At this point, Chris was getting really pissed off. And I was terrified. I was 100% certain that I knew exactly what had had happened, somewhere in my neighborhood. In my head, someone had shot someone and was now running around our neighborhood, looking for somewhere to hide. And I just KNEW they were going to try to hide in our house. And when they broke in, I would defend our home with honor while my lazy husband slept through the whole thing.

I spent the next hour sitting next to the window, listening for sounds. A few times, I could have sworn I heard voices and intense shouting, but I couldn’t be sure. When I turned around to Chris and whispered, “I THINK SOMEONE’S YELLING!” he responded, “Just close the window, Katie.”

Close the window? As if closing my window is going to make the PEOPLE WITH GUNS just disappear????

I saw the police drive back by one more time and so in my head, I continued the imaginary scenario I had created and I now envisioned that the police had apprehended ONE of the people, but that there might be another creeping around. And so, I stayed up all night long, running to the window to peek out at the slightest noise or car that might pass by.

And through it all, Chris slept soundly.

I woke up this morning, groggy and foggy headed after only an hour of sleep since 3:00am. I searched our neighborhood for any signs of anything strange that might have happened in the night, but couldn’t find anything. Nothing. Nada. Zip. Not a car out of place or a shrub that had been disturbed. For about three seconds, I thought, “Maybe I did imagine it all?” But when Chris snapped at me this morning, “I’m exhausted because you kept me up all night with imaginary crime scenes…” I adamantly insisted, “I know what I saw and heard and shame on you for not making the effort to PROTECT AND COMFORT YOUR WIFE, YOU JERK!”

Inside though, I’m still not quite sure what I really saw and heard that night… Just don’t tell my husband.