Monday, October 17, 2011

The silliness I enjoy

It was a good weekend. I went to my friend HP's house to hang out Friday night. She is Miss 2006 Arizona. I got to try on her crown.

Should have practiced the wave.

On Saturday a group of girls got together to visit our friend Jen who lives in Gilbert and just had a baby. This is my friend Deni, baby Alex, and me. Our friends Lottie and Renee were there too.

Then I went to Goodwill and found.....

A pogo stick!! I used to have one of these as a kid!! I tried it out in the store and it worked! I just had to bring it home.





The best part of this purchase was Joseph's face. He made that look that I love. The one where he shakes his head, smiles, and looks at me like, "I can't believe you just did that." It is a good day when he makes that face.

Sunday, October 16, 2011

How to replace an interior door handle on your truck

I like to fix stuff. I like to see how it works. I want to be a woman who can do things on her own. If something needs to be done, I don't want to have to wait or make a "honey-do" list.

I did this by myself.

Joseph broke the handle. It was comical, because I had to walk around and open the door for him from the outside. So I ordered a new part from Toyota.

I actually forgot the handle was broken until I drove with my friend Deni and she couldn't get out. After making a few joking/creepy references to her being my prisoner, I let her free, and then went to pick up the part from the dealership.

I should have taken photos during the event, but I was holding onto the metal bar making sure it didn't fall into the door frame where I couldn't reach it, so I didn't really think about photos until it was done. But you can see how I destroyed the old handle.

Although it was already cracked in two.

It helps to look at the replacement part to see how the old part needs to be taken apart. There was one screw to take out, and then I looked at the clamps and figured I needed to slide it over to the side.

This part was a little tricky. This is the part that holds onto the metal bar. It's so busted up because once you put the bar in, it really grabs on. I couldn't just slide it out, so I had to destroy it.

Too late, I realized the door handle I got is grey and my interior is blue. Oops. Can't exactly take it back out without destroying it. I've driven in my truck since I changed out the handle, and I can't even tell from the driver's seat, so I've decided it doesn't bug me.

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Changing Behavior

"Joseph! It drives me crazy that you NEVER put the dishes in the dishwasher! Can you PLEASE put the dishes in the dishwasher!"

This was after dinner. We had both worked all day. Joseph made a very nice dinner, collected the plates, and put them....in the sink.

I didn't really yell. We don't yell at each other. It was more of a whiny, "Baaaaaabe. Can you please, for once, put the dishes in the dishwasher?"

But still. It was rude.

He looked at my with his hazel eyes (at the time they were more brown than green) and said very quietly, "It hurt my feelings when you are always pointing out what I do wrong."

I was being mean to this boy, who drops everything to help me when I am having a computer problem (the freaking printer just WON'T print for me, no idea why). He will get me my towel when I am in the shower, so that it is available when I'm done (never remember to grab it for some reason). When I first wake up he will give me a very cheery, "Good morning!" and when I grunt in return, he laughs and tells me I am an adorable morning grump. He makes me lunch to take to work, and if I'm lucky he includes a love note.

I felt so bad. I immediately apologized, thanked him for the nice dinner and for the fact that he did clean up the dishes, and then asked him nicely if he could put the dishes in the dishwasher.

That was a few days ago. Since then, I've really thought about what he said. There are better ways that we can communicate. Requests instead of demands. Appreciating what is done instead of dwelling on what is not done.

Why is it that we are meanest to the ones we care about the most?

When Joseph talked to my dad about asking me to marry him, my dad said to Joseph, "Are you sure? She's difficult."

Ouch Dad. Very ouch.

But once I stepped back from the situation and examined it, I realized he was right.

It's a large reason Joseph and I don't have children (yet...if we ever get around to it). Who wants another Deidre? HA.

But what's interesting is that Joseph really knows how to handle me. When my temper flares up and I start being obstinate, he doesn't try to make me do anything. That would cause me to dig in my heels. He talks to me quietly, tells me that if I don't want to it's OK, but he would appreciate it if I would. It melts my heart, and I immediately agree to whatever he is requesting. It was quite the interesting piece of psychology I discovered shortly after we were married.

And I have a side note. Re-reading this, it looks like Joseph does everything. I want to point out that we take turns doing the dishes. It was his turn. He cooks and in exchange I clean the bathrooms (he has never had to scrub a toilet and he wants to keep it that way). Some people at work have a problem with the fact that Joseph makes me lunch, and to that I have to say...maybe you should re-think your sexism and get over it.

Oops, there I go being rude again.

Monday, October 3, 2011

My trunk

Joseph has put his foot down. He doesn't do it very often...hardly ever. When he does I kind of like it.

I can't plan any more projects until I finish a few that I have hanging out in the garage.

Fiiiiiiine.


The original trunk. Purchased from Craigslist for $35.

Trying to get the wallpaper out was really labor-intensive. I spent a few hours over the course of three weekends. Scraping. And scraping. and scraping. And it's really disheartening because it wouldn't all come off. So I came up with a plan...

I really appreciate this boy. Helping even though it's my project. And he didn't even say anything even though I know he was thinking it.

I'm not in love with the yellow. That's one thing that drives me crazy about painting. You don't really know what it looks like until you spend $12 on the paint and get it all on there. And I am too cheap and too lazy to try again...when it just might look worse. So the yellow stays.

The pieces of cardboard I cut out to fit in the trunk. (Thanks Mom, for letting me take your new dishwasher box.)

My fabric, wrong side down, waiting to be glued.

She was driving me crazy trying to play with the cord of the glue gun as I was trying to use it.

Gross.

The cat. Up in my business, like she always is.


I'm still not happy about the top. But oh well. And yeah, it's a toy box. The toys are for my little friends when they come over. Like my little Lily. Or my nephews.

Saturday, October 1, 2011

My birthday

This year was a little bit different than past years with regards to my birthday. Joseph didn't get the day off. He probably could have, if he didn't already need Friday off to go on his financial blogging trip to Chicago.

Yep, the hubby has been gone for my birthday weekend. Sad. I can't be too sad though, because I told him he could take the trip. I knew he wouldn't have asked me if it wasn't important to him.

It turned out to be a really good day. I drove out to Scottsdale and met my boy for lunch. I got to see his office and meet his coworkers. (Of course, I made sure to look super-cute just in case there were any women there who had their eye on him). He told me that he had called around trying to schedule me a pedicure and he was sorry he didn't have an appointment (they were booked) but he wanted me to go treat myself to one for my birthday.

Aren't these flip flops cute? Go so nicely with the painted toes.

I was driving back home after my pedicure when I notice a large van blocking my driveway. I got a little mad, thinking it must be one of the neighbors. As I got closer, I noticed that it was an Edible Arrangements van. The irritation turned into puzzlement. Until I noticed a man at my door, holding a bag with a floating balloon.

Gasp, for me?
Woot woot! I read the card and it said, "Happy birthday to my sweet sister Deidre! Love you!"

No signature.

But a clue. Unfortunately, it only narrowed it down to eight people since I am one of nine children. Although, I was pretty sure it was one of two sisters.


It turned out to be my sister Kristi. She laughed when I asked her if it was supposed to be a mystery; she thought she had signed the card, but apparently not.

These strawberries are yummy-noises delicious. I already destroyed them, but my mouth is watering just looking at this picture again.

Joseph ordered me some books and hair products from my Amazon wish list (the wish list is a beautiful thing).

Friday night was spent with just a few friends; it was such a good night. I prefer just a small group of people rather than a large party. When I am hosting a party where not everyone knows every one else I always end up worrying that not everyone is having a good time. But there was enough hysterical laughter that it was fabulous. For example, this gift from Katelyn:

Homemade sugar scrub! Love it. Katelyn apologized for the container, saying she thought it looked like a urine sample cup. I took a closer look at the container, and agreed, but admitted that I didn't see it at first. Then someone said it could be a sperm sample and the dirty jokes took off from there.

Tonight I am going out with a few sisters. We're not exactly sure what we're going to do for our sister night, but it will be good to get together.

And tomorrow, Joseph will be home!