Our Christmas

Very soon after we arrived home from being in Texas for Thanksgiving, I pulled out the Christmas boxes and started decorating.  I figure we're going to get the most out of our first Christmas decorations for the 3 weeks we're in Kansas before making the trek to Utah.  Here are some pics.  Notice Matt eating ice cream...

Elizabeth and kids visit

I finally pulled some pictures down from the camera and founds lots of cute ones from Elizabeth's visit in October.

Freshness That Stays Feisty

This is what Matt said describes me well.  He said this last Saturday after I praised him for having the house all clean when I arrived home Friday from a business trip.  He had his side of the room clean, his dresser clean and he even had all his stuff cleaned off the bathroom counter.  Plus, the kitchen was so clean.  Well, I got up the next morning, went down to the basement, saw that it looked messier than usual and I came up the stairs quite grumpy.  And I told him, "I was fine until I went downstairs."  It took awhile for me to get over the frustration that I barely had a walking path to our food storage.  I know I need to get over wanting to basement clean from all his boxes that cluttered up the basement in his other home.  It probably won't ever happen - in spite of his good intentions.  Anyway, Matt chuckled about my frustrations on Saturday and pointed out an add he saw for Downy "freshness that stays feisty" and said it's a good description for me.  I chuckled too - because it's true.

Our Backyard

Yesterday Matt was watching the hummingbirds fly through the trees in our backyard and decided to set up a hummingbird feeder on our deck.  He did and we have been quite popular.  I love looking out the window and watching the birds.  Here are a few pics of the backyard, deck, feeder and a bird.  This bird has been very territorial today...he chases off any other bird that wants to come "hang out" at the Bailey's.

The top picture shows the bird feeding.  The bottom two show the bird perched at the top of the hook.  It's hard to see, but trust me - the bird is there.

Pics from my iPhone

I found some pictures on my phone that I haven't posted anywhere yet.  I thought these might be fun.

Our Quilt

My cousin, Sue, took pictures at our wedding and sent us 2 CD's of images.  I'm embarrassed to say that I am just now looking through disk 2.  I found a great picture of Matt and me with our quilt.  We love this quilt!!  Thank you to everyone who helped to make it so special!  I'll post some more wedding pics in future blog posts.

Our home

The other night, Matt, Abbey and I were out for a walk.  Abbey is fun to walk with - she talks alot and it's fun to hear what's on her mind.  We were on the walking trail right behind our home and Matt looked at the back of our home and commented "I really like our home."  Abbey said, "I kind of don't like it".  Both Matt and I asked her why.  She started explaining that with her mom, they lived in a different home almost every year.  So, she didn't feel like she had a real home with her mom (and now step-dad) yet.  But she said that whenever she came to Kansas, she came to the same home that she lived in since she was born.  So, it was "home" to her.  And it's strange for her not to be at that home while in Kansas.  I can understand and I hope she'll come to feel that our home is as comfortable as her old Kansas home was.  I thought it was an interesting analysis of "home" from an eleven year-old who comes from a split family.

The Mail

Sometime I really wonder about myself.  I don't mean to do certain things - but I do...like throw things away that are important to someone else.

Have I explained yet that Matt is not the most clean, organized person?  I am on the other end of the spectrum...I always put my clothes away...I always make the bed...I rarely have paper piles.  Hmm, think I'm a bit OCD??? Well, I am so obsessed with organization that I will throw things away if they don't have a place or I don't see an immediate need.  This hastiness includes mail.  We have had a handful of experiences where Matt goes through the garbage to monitor what I throw away.  At first it was kind of funny...but now it's not so much.

Last week, our experience was with the mail.  I guess I tossed one of Matt's newsletters - completely not on purpose - but it happened anyway.  I walked in from work one day last week and Matt said, "So, I found some coupons in the paper you tossed.  I thought you might want those."  Me:  "Oh, thank you."  Matt:  "I want to show you something else I found."  Me:  "Oh, please, I don't want to do this right now."  And I was getting a little frustrated.  Well, Matt showed me the newsletter I'd thrown away and it turned into a big ordeal...mostly because I was ashamed of myself for not even looking at what I determined was "throw away".  Anyway we both got defensive and didn't speak to each other for awhile.  Then, we let it go...laughed...and everything was fine.  So, I've started paying more attention to what I toss and if there's any question, or it has Matt's name on it, I check with him before I toss it.

The funny/sad thing is - I did this same thing as a teenager at home.  I would get to the point that I couldn't handle the paper piles on the counter and would go through them.  It never failed that I would toss something that appeared as obvious garbage to me, but definitely wasn't to someone else.  You'd think after 25+ years I would learn.  :-/  I'm sure Mom is smiling about this one!  :)

Absolute Disaster

After being inactive in the blogging world for over a year, I've decided to give it another try.  I've recently married and for a first time marriage at nearly 40, this is quite the adventure.  I thought it might be fun to share some of my experiences and bloopers.

I had a funny experience with Matt the other night.  He has waking dreams and will do some funny things.  I just play along with him until he completely wakes up, realizes his momentary reality is just a dream and then goes back to sleep.  So, some background on our most recent fun.  <hee, hee>

One thing I realized about myself soon before getting married is that I'm OCD when it comes to having a clean, tidy, organized house.  When you live by yourself it's easy to keep things in order.  Well, imagine me marrying someone who is completely on the other end of the spectrum...someone who doesn't know the meaning of the words "throw away".  That may sound mean but it's not meant to be mean - it's just a statement of fact.  Anyway, I'm learning to accept that my house and it's cleanliness won't be at the same pre-marriage standards...but it can be better.  (LOL!  so far that mental exercise is working okay and the lack of tidyness has not a huge source of frustration).  So, now you have a picture of one difference between Matt & me - and now imagine this played out in our room.  My side is fairly neat and Matt's side is a mess - but, it's his side of the room and it's hidden from general view so I'm okay with it, though I'd like if he'd clean it up too.

The other night, Matt had one of his waking dreams and said "Oh man!  It's an absolute disaster here!!!"  And then he starts to get out of bed.  I'm thinking - yes, it is...not realizing that he was really referring to his side of the room.  So, I offered "would you like me to help you clean it?"  Then he comes to reality and climbs back in bed and instantly falls back asleep.

The next day I chuckled about this a few times with Matt.  He remembered the "dream", his reaction and explained to me that he really was referring to his side of the room.  I laughed!!  I guess recognition is the first step to "recovery".  <hee hee>