Bedroom curtains

I finally got around to putting up the last curtain in the bedroom last week. The third curtain rod didn’t come with hardware and I was being lazy about taking it back to exchange it. I’m still debating if I want to put any photos on the wall. Maybe a few blown up vacation pics in nice matted frames. It’s a process. I also want a more decorative bedding set but we’re all about the comfort. Hence the down comforter which isn’t exactly attractive, but sooooo comfortable.

Updates

Champ’s surgery last Friday went fine. Sure it looks like it had a lobotomy but he was only out of it for the first day, when I found him staring at the bookshelf as if he were contemplating if he wanted to read Harry Potter or a John Grisham novel. Decisions, decisions. He’s been on antibiotics and anti-inflamatories but is otherwise pretty normal. Until Monday night when he kept shaking his head in 10 second intervals. I checked his ears and noticed one was red and had a foul smell to it, which is a sure sign of a bacterial/yeast infection. I’ve heard of antibiotics causing yeast infections in women, but not dogs. I guess it’s not entirely out of the realm of possibility. And as much as I hated to see him fidget, I also hated the constant shaking sound, so we made an appointment with the vet for the next day after work. Sure enough, ear infection. So not only does he have a deep gash across the top of his head, but he also has an earache which I only seem to make worse with the ear drops they gave me and the now-daily ear cleanings, which require squirting steroid-laced liquid into his ear and wiping it out with cotton balls. I’m not sure which he hates worse, ear cleanings or having his temperature taken, but I’d probably say ear cleanings.

And of course, I’ve been so worried about him that I find myself waking up in the middle of the night to check on him. I know he’s in pain even though he can’t really communicate with me, and it makes me scared to think of how stressed out I’ll be when we have a baby and he/she gets sick or has an earache. You just feel so…helpless. I hate it.

Know what else I hate? Neglecting to blog about cool stuff. Like the awesome time we had with Nora and Irish at the Dave Matthews Band concert a couple of weeks ago. (You can read her recap post and see a pic of us on her blog here). I always love seeing Dave live but the hubs had never been to one of his concerts, and was subsequently not a big fan. I think he could only name one or two songs, if that. And now? Big fan. He borrowed all of my DMB CDs so he could listen to them in the car. And, I caught him singing one of my favorite songs (Satellite) just yesterday.

Which reminds me of the greatest thing to happen in the last couple of weeks…My husband is home every single night! It sounds weird when I say it out loud like that, as if my husband is usually out every night traipsing around with hookers doing blow. I mean, I guess he could be, but that’s not what I meant. Since last September, he’s been out of town Monday – Friday with the exception of vacations and a few random Wednesday nights for work. He’s essentially a traveling salesman and he hates it. I haven’t talked about it much because I didn’t want people knowing that I was home alone most weeknights (correction: home alone with a mean ferocious dog and a high tech security system. Ahem.) But he’s home now and life is good. I think the traveling was hardest on him because he missed home so much, but his mood has improved significantly and he’s actually HAPPY when he gets home from work instead of moaning and groaning to me on the phone about how much his job sucks.  This is his second week home and he STILL grins from ear to ear each evening when he gets home from work. “I’m HOME! On a Tuesday!” he says. It’s cute. I missed him greatly and weekends were cherished, precious time together, but now things can return to normal.

The only downside to all of this is that I now have to make REAL dinners. Apparently popcorn is not considered a meal to my husband.

Bedtime

This is my precious pup, the day after his head surgery to remove a giant lump and teeth cleaning (since he was already unconscious), telling me it’s time for bed. Even though his bed is just outside of our bedroom, a storm was rolling which means he heard thunder and thought he would just sleep in our room tonight. He is just too sweet for words.

Too awesome not to share

Behold my husband’s 1980s Michael Jackson doll circa 1984. We are so meant for each other.

There Are No Words

I’m sure by now everyone has heard the news. Michael Jackson, an American icon, and in my opinion, THE American icon, has died.

And I? Am devastated. Which should come as no surprise to most of you after hearing me confess my love for the 80’s multiple times.

When I was little, my mom would sing to me, but she only had two songs she liked to sing. One was a lullaby – I called it the pretty horses lullaby. The other was ABC by the Jackson 5. As I grew older, I would listen to Michael’s music on the radio, but it wasn’t until I was 14 and we finally got cable(hello MTV and VH1) that I fell in love with MJ. I remember back in the mid 90’s, VH1 played a 48 hour Michael Jackson marathon. For the entire weekend it was nothing but Michael Jackson music videos, concert footage and short movies that he had made. And I recorded every video and the full concert from the Dangerous tour in Bucharest (’92). I shamlessly practiced the moonwalk and other dance moves, namely those to Thriller and Smooth Criminal.  Sometimes I would just watch in pure awe and amazement that so much talent could exist in one human being. It was around that time that I saved up enough money to buy the History album – a two-disk greatest hits-type album that was about $40, more than I had ever spent on a CD or on much of anything at that time. Eventually I bought other albums. Bad, Dangerous, and The Jackson 5 greatest hits. When Invincible came out, I bought that too.

All that to say, I’m a fan. And despite all the rumors and lawsuits, I truly never believed he was guilty, and still don’t. It’s not a popular belief, but neither is dancing in your basement to old Michael Jackson videos. I’ve always considered him the most talented entertainer to ever live.

I always thought he would make a comeback. Do a sell-out tour somewhere, put out a couple of new songs and eventually another album. I had high hopes and expectations and never in my wildest dreams did I imagine today would come so soon. When I heard about the London shows, I tried to get tickets. I was willing to fly to London JUST to see Michael Jackson perform. But, they were sold out. I was a little bummed but I assumed there would be other chances. Like I said, I never thought today would come. He was larger than life in my eyes. Death was not an option.

But apparently it is. And it’s strange to feel this sad over someone I never knew, but I do. He was more iconic than anyone else living today. A living legend, who is now, just a legend. I’m sad. I’m heartbroken. It’s more than just the death of a man. It’s the end of an era. The King of Pop is gone forever and I just can’t quite grasp it, or maybe I don’t want to.

I also don’t want to forget the other legends that passed away this week – Ed McMahon and Farrah Fawcett. RIP you two.

I read something on Twitter that made me smile this evening, so I’ll leave you with this:

Somewhere in heaven Johnny Carson has a great show tonite. His sidekick back, an angel for a first guest, and a thriller of a musical act.

Out of Office

I’m on my way to Atlanta for meetings and it is WAY too early to be up. Yes, this post was written at 5:20 am which means I’ve been up since 4am. The good thing is I’ll be home by dinner. I love day trips for that reason.

If you’re going to San Francisco…

Did you really think I could go an entire month without talking about another vacation? Me neither.

This time, we’re planning a trip to California. More specifically, San Francisco…

(photo credit: Oldvidhead)

Napa Valley…

(photo credit: lightchaser)

And the giant redwoods…

(photo credit: rybczynski)

We haven’t nailed down specific dates just yet, but we’re thinking September or October time frame. My husband has never been to California (other than our Hawaii layover at LAX) and I’ve only been to San Jose for a work conference. Any tips? Must see places or restaurants we should try? Favorite wineries or hotels?

Guest room

Hung a couple of sconces, bought a new lamp, but still in need of some curtains. I think I might be anti-curtains and just didn’t realize it.

In which I consult the blogosphere for financial and marriage advice

In an attempt to be more frugal and financially responsible in these “tough economic times,” I’ve been toying with the idea of trying to live life on one income. This would simply mean that we pay all of our bills and take all of our spending money from one person’s paycheck each month and the money from the other  paycheck goes into a savings account as if it never existed. Now that we’ve paid off both of our cars and have no credit card debt or school loans, I think it’s possible for us to survive on just one income, though it would be tough.

The only issue we’re having with this scenario is, whose paycheck do we spend and whose do we save? I’m salaried and my husband is largely commissions-based. My paycheck is the same each month whereas his fluctuates, sometimes by hundreds maybe thousands of dollars. It would be easier to determine and follow a monthly budget if the income was consistent, so that would mean we try to live on my salary alone.

Now here’s where I admit that we don’t share a checking or savings account. GASP! Yes, it’s true. I get mixed feedback anytime I tell someone this. It usually starts with the questions. “Really? Why?” and “How do you split the bills?” Once I explain that we just both like having control over our own finances and that it keeps us from ever fighting about money, I usually get a response along the lines of, “Oh how unconventional of you!” Yeah, and we’re swingers too.

Having separate checking and savings accounts really has kept us from ever fighting about money. I don’t get pissed off when he drops $20 on lunch rather than opting for the $5 foot-long deal and he doesn’t flip out every time I walk into a Target and walk out $100 poorer, wondering where it all went. That alone is probably enough to credit our separate accounts as one of our secrets to a healthy marriage. Plus it makes birthdays, special anniversaries, Christmas gifts and little surprises easier to hide. (to those of you with joint checking accounts, how do you ever hide surprise gifts?) I’m truly a big advocate for maintaining separate checking accounts, but the thought of my account just barely keeping a positive balance month to month while his account keeps adding dollar signs, well it just makes me ill.

So is this where we cave and join our accounts? Do we open a third account that’s joint and just keep separate savings accounts? Or do I suck it up and just hope that my husband doesn’t meet a pre-baby Halle Berry and run away with her and all our money leaving me broke with all the bills?

After talking it over, I think we’ve decided to keep things the way they are – separate – but whatever money he puts toward our mortgage and/or the cable bill, I’ll match it by depositing the same amount of money into my savings. Everything else gets paid for out of my account already, so nothing will really change. We’re just pledging to be more conscientious about our finances and hope to save up enough money for a nice emergency fund, build some equity in our home, and set aside some money for a down payment on a new car. We don’t NEED a new car, seeing as how we just paid off both of our cars, but in a couple of years we will. Better to plan ahead now. And of course, we need to have enough money to indulge our travel addiction.

What are your best budgeting/money saving tips?

How i feel

This is how I felt Friday. Sick as a dog.