Parenting: Do they sell a handbook for this stuff?

Kids:  God's revenge for every crappy thing you ever did to your parents.   

Kids: Your penance for every sin you committed in college.  (You know you did!) 

Kids:  Amazing creatures who look human but have no actual trace of human logic or common sense. 

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I swear if you think babies are hard try a pre-teen on for size.   Kids have the most unique and disturbing way of driving adults crazy.  

Invisible objects:

It amazes me how the dishwasher and dirty dishers are invisible.   It is a true and known fact in my house that I have the insane abilty to see dishes when nobody else notices them.   I stood there and watched one morning as my kid pulled open the already running dishwasher (on the dry cycle) and added a dirty bowl and spoon from her cereal.   I was shocked, not because she added dirty dishes to the clean but because she actually knew how to open the dishwasher!  

Sudden Child Deafness Syndrom:

It is also amazing to me too that a child can sit in the same room with you and be playing on their phone and you talk to them for 5 entire minutes while they are looking at your face at least part of the time and it takes them until you enter the 6th minute before they pull off their earbuds (disguised cunningly by their hair) and say innocently "What? Are you talking to me?" like suddenly they realize you are in the room.  It takes every bit of whatever God gave you to not say back "No, I randomly walk around the house talking out loud to myself for no reason what-so-ever because it's fun".  

The kid drop and toss: 

If you come to my house on any given night you will find not only a pair of shoes but a book bag and a jacket sitting in the middle of my living room floor.   Not because I keep them there but because they are dropped by the kid on the way to her room to play on her phone and text her friends.   Seriously, it's like my living room floor grows cloths.  When I asked her why she can't just put her bookbag in her room (Otherwise known as the federal disaster area) she says "Because I have to come out to this room to get to the car tomorrow anyway.   Ah, see logic.  Not sound logic but it is logic.   I, after all, leave my purse on the kitchen counter, or my bedroom, or the table but never do I plop it down in the middle of the floor.   Of course, I too take my shoes off and have to go around the house picking them up occassionally.  Again however, mine are in a corner somewhere where half the world isn't tripping over them in the dark, in the middle of the night. 

Human Garbage Disposal:

Also, have you ever noticed how MUCH kids eat?  I mean, I am not growing kids I am growing a bunch of hobbits.   First breakfast, second breakfast followed by snack, lunch and then comes first dinner (what is consumed just like dinner but happens almost right after the book bag is dropped in the middle of my livingroom floor) and second dinner, because that full blown meal at 5pm wasn't enough and kid must eat again before going to bed and turning into a gemlin.   We go through 2 loaves of bread, 3 lbs of turkey, the Lord only knows how much cheese, more if there is swiss every week.   Husband hates turkey.  I never remember to make a sandwich for lunch unless we are going somewhere on the weekend.   I don't know where all the cheese and meat go.   There must be ghosts in my house making sandwiches at weird times of the day and night.

Alarm Clocks: 

Does anyone remember having to set your alarm clock to wake up in the morning as a kid because one of the first things my mom did was show me how to use it and expect me to get myself out of bed and ready to go to school, if I wanted to eat first that is.   Well, the same kids that have cell phones and could probably redirect the government weapons of mass destruction from those phones, can't seem to hit the big button in the middle and say these words "Siri set alarm for ____" because that is too complicated and it is so much easier to make Mom or Step-Mom wake them up.   Easier for who? Clearly they have never delt with a grumpy, tired, sound sleeper who doesn't want to get out of bed in the morning.  It isn't easier for me. 

Because I said so: 

This is my favorite.  You tell them to do something and they spend 15 minutes explaining to you and negotiating with you why you not only don't know what you are talking about, but why they should do things when they want because it is better.   

Parent: Take a bath.

Kid:  I take my bath at 8pm.

Parent:  It is 7:58.  Start walking to the bathroom, it will take you 2 minutes and while you are going past, why don't you take your book bag in the middle of the floor to your room and put your dirty dishes in the dishwasher? 

Kid:  I want to see the end of this show.

Parent: it's a commercial and it's over. 

Kid: It's not 8 yet. 

Parent: go take a bath right now young lady, BECAUSE I SAID SO!

We all swore we wouldn't do it.  We would never pull the "because I said so" card out and yet, they force us into it.   It's some mass conspiracy that spans generations and creates parent-monsters.  We wake up one day and look in the mirror and see our mother/father and we sigh loudly, nod knowingly and get ready for work. 

Motor Mouth:

We share custody so every weekend we are getting kid on Sunday.  The minute she walks in she starts talking and doesn't stop until sometime Tuesday night.   I mean seriously, it is like her Corn Flakes are laced with speed.    God help you if you try to interupt either because the sudden deafness syndrom magically kicks in without earbuds and they can't hear you trying to tell them to slow down and take a breath for GOODNESS SAKE!!!!  I am so tired just thinking of it.  I then go in to parent self preservation mode.  I nod dumbly and say "Uh-huh" while I pretend to listen to why she is upset with her friend of the week. 

Loss of Human Contact: 

You know how everyone says you lose your friends when you have a kid.   It's true and it doesn't matter how old the kid is when you get them.  I can't talk to my single/no-kid friends because, well, first of all they stopped talking to me when I got married.   Second, if I do see them, (who has time for friends with kids sports, school activites, the odd moment of alone with said husband usually doing gardening and cooking and cleaning, and work anyway?) they want to talk about how horrible it is being alone when all I do is countdown to the rare weekend when I have a day off from being responsible for anyone but me.  (Sorry, but being alone, doesn't sound so bad when you haven't heard quiet in 9 months.)

So I turned to my friends that have kids in the desperate hope they will have some good advice.  You know what I get?  "It doesn't get better they just get mouthier as they get into High School."   "It is always going to be easier for them to drop their books on the floor and for you to wake them. "  They don't stop.  They just keep on keeping on.  It won't end until...well they have kid of their own, I guess. 

I am probably blocking out my childhood memories and I have some odd form of revisionist history happening but I just don't recall being so soundly illogical when I was 11, 12, 13.....and so on.   I am sure my mother would disagree however, kids today have way too much distracting them and not enough focus on things that matter, like putting away the stupid bookbag! 

Seriously, why do kids not come with handbooks?  I realize God isn't taking back the defective kids because they are all defective but couldn't they come with an Users manual or something?   Something to save my sanity when I feel like I am failing because there are dirty socks on the family room rug and they have been there for 3 days and I only just now noticed them because I was tripping over the shoes in the middle of the living room when I fell on my face, rolled into the other room past 5 dirty glasses left on the table and smack into the socks.  Of course, nobody hears my scream because you can't hear over the earbuds or the non-stop talking.  

I received so much positve feedback from so many people about this post that it has become one of my favorite posts.   It is definately my favorite this week so I am linking this up with Katherine's Corner Thursday Favorite Things Blog Hop.   If you haven't been to Katherine's Corner and all the lovely ladies who co-host the hop then please check it out.  They are amazing! 

Lunch with Uncle Si plus Baseball and NASCAR

Texas Rangers

Baseball beauty!

It was a busy weekend.  Friday started off early for me, getting ready for the Texas Rangers Opening day.  There was of course, the required trip to get tailgate supplies.

Ready to leave 

I tried to find a new shirt to wear because I always like to start Opening Day off fresh.

All blinged up 

I had my baseball bling all working for me and Don't tell my husband but the reason I insisted on a blue diamond was that it went with all my Texas Rangers swag.  Yes, I, a 44 year old woman used the term swag!

At the most beautiful place for baseball

Happily, after driving around in my season coupon lot forever, I found a spot and we were able to hike over to see my friend Travis and play for a little while....

Travis playing his bagpipes 

Make that watch him play.   Opening Day is like a corn hole party that doesn't stop.   Everything is shiney and bright and the season is new.

Tailgaiting with my beautiful friend 

Trish and I went in together on a mini-plan this season for a lot of reasons, we both got married last September and our lives have become a lot crazier more filled with blessings.   We both knew getting to a ton of baseball wasn't as possible as when we were single but we didn't want to miss out.   Sometimes the husbands will come with us, and sometimes, they won't.   Still, baseball friends are a good thing to have and Trish and Jan (who I saw on Saturday at the race but I forgot to get a picture with her)  are great and supportive friends both at the park and in life. 

Rangers Royalty...yes we have them. 

The ceremony for Opening Day was perfect as always.

Proud Americans 

Check out that grass.  How can anything be more beautiful than a sunny day at the ballpark?

Flyover 

And remind you of your blessings?  Freedom.

Think we were boring the guys behind us!

We had a great time with the Rangers and while I had a lot of other friends at the game, I didn't manage to see them for one reason or another (yet, but I will soon).   Mostly because I forgot to turn the brightness down on my phone and my charge was out by around the 2nd inning so I couldn't text anyone to go say 'hi'. (Also why my photos stop at the start of the game.)

My schedule collection from Opening days 

Every year on Opening Day the Rangers give away a magnetic schedule.   My fridge is full of all the Opening Day's I have been to.   I am happy to say this was my 6th year in row at Opening Day.  I even have one (see the one that says LITE in the bottom right hand corner?) from the 1st Opening Day ever at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington (then just The Ballpark in Arlington).  I have been to many games both in the old Arlington Stadium and Rangers Ballpark and have a lot of great memories.

Here are a few baseball favorite Memories over the years, most from Opening Day. 

I have made several 'Baseball Buddy' friends over time and spending Opening Day seeing everyone (when your phone doesn't die in the 2nd inning) is always a blast.  Oh by the way that picture 2nd from the right top is me with Chuck Morgan the Rangers PA guy.  That was a tailgate I went to a few years ago with some Rangers fan site. I don't recall which.   I met my friends Micah and Lacy that day, both had come in from other states. (Iowa and California respectively)  I am pretty sure that is one of my favorite memories....Chuy's with the girls and Colton our cute, young waiter begging me for my cupcakes.  (I made cupcakes people, what were you thinking?)

But this is my favorite memory ever, my honey asked me to marry him last Opening Day 3/31/14
I said yes! 

But nothing will compare to last year because I got engaged.   Hubby even remembered our "anniversary of sorts" this opening day.   :)

Duck Commander 500

Hubs and I-he is always so happy!

Saturday was my first NASCAR ever.   Okay truth time, take everything you think you know about NASCAR, if it was me then it was basically Taladaga Nights.... and throw it out the window.   It isn't all rednecks and most of the fans actually have teeth. I only saw one chubby guy without a shirt and not one pair of Daisy Dukes...sorry guys.   In fact, if you had taken the Jimmy Johnson/Jeff Gordon/Junior  hats and shirts off and put baseball shirts on I would have sworn I was at the ballpark....right up until the race starts and then OMG are those cars loud.

Hubs and kid

Texas Motor Speedway where the Duck Commander 500 was happening.   It is a nice racetrack with so much parking you wouldn't believe.

Texas Motor Speedway

Junior's Car

You walk around a lot...for hours actually and they let you bring a cooler in with ANY beverages you want.   Oh and you get to sit in race cars and meet your favorite driver.

Jeff and hubs

Okay, sort of meet your favorite driver. If Jeff Gordon actually walks around like that I would be tempted to pull some music out from the King and I and make him dance!

Finally he is smiling!

My family had a great time and everyone was all smiles.  We even decided that we will keep the 11 year old wearing the Danica Patrick shirt despite her questionable taste in drivers.

Gordon Shirt and Junior hat 

I changed about halfway through the day from my Rangers stuff (which there was plenty of at the TMS) to my Jeff Gordon T-shirt I got at the TMS and the Junior hat.  I have always been a fan of Gordon because I consider him a Indiana boy.  Okay, so his family moved there when he was a teen because of racing but that's good enough for me.    I picked Junior for the wise reason that, I graduated high school in 1988.  LOL that's logic.



Duck Commander

Willie Robertson 

So being the Duck Commander 500 means that your favorite Redneck family the Robertsons from Duck Dynasty were in full effect.   That's as close as I got to Willie, Korie, and Jessica (that's Jessica's head, Korie was to Willie's left).  We did however manage to get some autographs. 

Martin, Godwin, Si, Jase, and Reed 

Martin, Godwin, Si, Jase and Reed Robertson all signed my cap which I forgot to upload a photo of but I will include it later in my Favorite Things blog this week.

Reed, Jase, Si, and Godwin 

This is Si actually signing my cap...believe it or not.

The kid and Si 

This is Si posing with my kid.  We stood in line for over an hour and ate turkey roll ups waiting to meet Si and Jase!

Jase who is my favorite, except Miss Kay

And Jase who was really quiet.  Actually they were all really quiet except for Godwin and Martin who were very funny.

Gentlemen start your engines 

And then the race started...

The track is amazing 

I have video for this but the cloud is not wanting to import anything so you know, technology bites.

The long and short of it it, NASCAR is amazing.  Yes, there is a period of time in the middle where you feel like you are watching cars go around and around because, well let's face it you are.   The cool part is watching them pit and seeing who gets out first.  There is actually more to racing than having a fast car and that is something I learned by being there live

The other thing I learned is that it is a big party.   There are parties in the parkinglot that make Opening Day look tame.  There are bands playing all day both outside the concourse and in.   They have an opening act and everything, like a music concert.  Our opening act was The Casey Donahue Band which is probably right since it was a Texas race and a Texas Band.   They have these trucks full of souveniers and then there are all the give aways.  You would  NOT believe the free stuff you get at the races.   Truck loads of stuff from anti-perspirant to, BBQ sauce to spray caulk.  I am not even kidding.  I made the kid get me some free caulk.  That stuff is always useful!  

Okay, that's 2/3 of my weekend.  Sunday was relatively boring with me running erands and working in the yard.    I planted herbs in pots and I am really excited about that but that isn't as fun as baseball and NASCAR.

I would love to know if you have ever experienced something like NASCAR that wasn't what you thought it was going to be but was so fun you can't wait to go again?

Thursday Favorite Things: Farmhouse Table Makeover

Katherin's Corner Thursday Favorite Things Hop 184

Yay it is Thursday and I can finally share my Thursday Favorite thing with you!  Here she is.  My new/old table.

I find it so much easier to paint things for myself than try and decipher what someone else will love.  The only problem is my hubby, bless his heart, doesn't always understand why I am painting "A perfectly fine ____."  He's so cute.  He doesn't notice things the way I do.  He doesn't look at his old table from his prior life and think "It's got good bones but it needs a update." It's ok, I don't notice things fishing he wishes I would.  So this week I am sharing with you my upcycled farmhouse table.   

Dated but solid

The table had good lines but was stuck in 1999 so I thought it was time to bring it into this decade.  Confession time, I haven't started on the chairs yet.  We have been without the table for days and days so for now I am planning on working on one chair at a time until all 6 are finished.  

This started with a good cleaning and sanding.  I used liquid TSP alternative and a couple of different sanders.  My go to is an orbital.  I know, I should love a palm sander but I love my orbital.  I also used a belt sander to beat this baby up a little.  This is the rough coat on the top.  It took a lot of tweeking and sanding more here and less there to get the final finish. 

Jave top and base leg coat

For the legs I started out with a blue-green color I custom mixed from several paint colors I had.  Actually there are about 5 blues, greens, or grays that make up the legs and side and that's the bottom layer.  I did this knowing I was going to cover it with moss green but wanting to bring out a color that was close to my kitchen and dining room wall color and near the darker turquoise kitchen cabinets. 

This top took a lot of purposed distressing. 

Meanwhile I decided to distress the top.   I used the belt sander, orbital sander, dremel, and hammer for this process.  Like I said, I beat it up.  My kiddo came out to find me hitting the table with a hammer and she put her 11 year old body on the table and said "You are hurting the table!"  I should say, she was not at all behind this transformation.   This was her childhood table growing up and she was not happy that I was changing the table she and her parents used for years.   I think she thinks I am a little paint crazy but she keeps asking me to do her room next so you know, you win some and lose some.  

The stain is Java gel by General Finishes and the look I was going for was not a uniform stain but a loved look: used and a little abused but beautiful.  I worked and worked to get this top perfectly imperfect.  (Meanwhile hubs kept asking me why "we" needed to refinish the perfectly good table at all?" Between the boat and the table our roomy garage was  cramped!) 

Can you see the turquoise peeking out from the moss green?

Next the legs got 2 coats of Moss Green paint by Waverly. This was my first time using Waverly chalk but it won't be my last. I love that it is cheap enough that I can buy out my Walmart on colors and  I am pretty pleased with the coverage which was smooth and self leveled very well.  Are you designer paint companies taking note?  Inexpensive alternatives to $40 pints of boutique paint and home made chalk paint are the loves of my life.   I live at the miss-tint section of my local big box stores! 

Once the Java gel dried for 3 days...3 long days...3 incredibly long and torturous days...I hate waiting, it was finally time to put on the protection.  It is my table so of course I wanted really durable.  General Finishes High Performance top coats. The finish is satin but you can't tell.   Why? Because after the poly dried (all 4 coats) everything for a coat of clear wax and the legs and side panels for a coat of a light brown wax.   After buffing the top it was time to move the table back into the house. 

Trust me it isn't this dark in the house normally. Yes, I need candles for my center piece. 

Where the lights never cooperate with me but that is life!  See why the bottom coat was turquoise?

I am happily surprised that I love the top.  It had me worried! (see the chairs in the background? LOL)

The table top was polished to a high shine because...well look at it!  

After wax the moss was a little deeper. 

If you look close you can see the turquoise under the moss along with a little of the wood. 

And just enough turquoise peeks through to give my walls love!

And someday the chairs will match the table.  I have to make some time to work on those when the kiddo isn't around.  

Perfect---just ignore Sadie's bowl on the floor.  It was dinner time.  

I am in total love and even hubby realized when it was done that it was pretty amazing!  He asked me this morning, "Can we use the table?"  Well of course!  It wouldn't be good for much if we couldn't.   I protected it from us.  Oh, and once it was finished, the man could not stop bragging about how much better it looked.  One day he is going to learn to trust me on this stuff.   Even the kiddo admitted that it looks nice.  

Alright folks, that is my Favorite Thing this week.  It's Opening Week of baseball season so the fact that anything beats that really shows how much I love my furniture.   

Have a Pinteresting Wednesday 3 plus 10 Things I learned from my Husband

Have a Pinteresting Wednesday!

Okay all, because I didn't write a blog on Tuesday, I am giving you 2 blogs for the price of 1.  Try not to get too excited.  I would do the 2nd tomorrow but I have a special reveal planned for my Favorite Things link up tomorrow so let's check out what I find Pinteresting!

Most of my 'pins' each week go to my DIY section and I have pinned a bunch of China Cabinets that look something like this.   I don't know, but that may just be a project I am planning and Ideas taking shape.  You make what you will of it.

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I have to admit, I have been on a bit of a preaching mission lately with my friends....and in discussion with many people on my painting sites about this same issue...

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You see, there is this mega-furniture store that opened up with mass produced, pre-fabricated, cheap furniture and of course, the mice are flocking to the cheese.   I won't say the name but the place reminds me of Peyton Manning "Omaha, Omaha!".

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I simply have a hard time understanding why you would pay $1000 or more for a mass produced piece of junk when you can find a great low boy dresser and a good furniture artist to turn a quality piece of solid wood into something like this for about half that.   (Dressers in my area unfinished go for about $200-$300 depending on the detail.  If you are a friend of mine, I have even offered to paint it for free to get word of mouth out there for my 'business' in the making.  You simply supply me the paint and sealer, furniture, and the look you want and I will do it for you.  Now, I clearly am not doing this for everyone, just a few select friends but it is a pretty good offer.   However, if you want to go the Omaha route, have at it.  I prefer custom furniture that I can paint or stain the way I want and know that if I change my mind in 10 years, I can redo it because, it is solid wood and quality. (Rant over)

Baseball:  

It's time Rangers fans!  It's baseball time in Texas!  Well almost, Friday is opening day at the ballpark.  I will see you there!

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There is a really good chance that I am going to make both of these signs for my backyard out of pallets.  Stay tuned!

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Food

I am not going to lie to you, I am a pretty good cook but when it comes to making dinner during the week, a lot of times my husband and I turn to 2 things that make us happy and make us full.  One is bacon, eggs and toast.  I could eat it 3 nights a week and never get tired of it.   

The other?  Grilled Cheese.  We do the simple, velveeta on white breat with a little butter in a pan but my husband and kid swear mine is better than anyone else on the earth and my nieces came over for lunch one day and they admitted, I make a pretty darn good grilled cheese.  Of course, these 4 girls are also the same ones that argue over who makes better toast, my husband or my mother.  :)

I have this fantasy about opening a little place on a lake when I retire and selling nothing but different kinds of grilled cheese.  

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Rumor has it there is a grilled cheese burger at the Captian Morgan's Club at the ballpark.  I already told my husband and friend Larry, we have a date for splitting one.

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Who's hungry?

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Okay for the 2nd half of my blog I thought I would share 10 things I have learned from my husband.  I don't want to give him too much credit.  I have probably forgotten 10 times this many things he tried to teach me.  However, since we met 20 months ago  I have had several new experiences and these are a few of the things I have learned.


1. How to drive a boat.   Never needed to do this before hubs.  He isn't the most calmand understanding teacher but he teaches. I may be terrified to make a mistake but I learn. LOL! I can now reverse and go forward and I know how to move the propeller thingy up and down.  He made me watch a video about that but I forget what it is called but the jist is that when you have it one way more of your boat touches water and you go slower but when it is the other way, you go fast and only a few feet of your boat touches water.   It's pretty cool BTW, being in a boat and owning one.  Well, he owns it but it is really nice to have one to go out whenever we want.

2. How to back a trailer.   If you own a boat, you have to back a trailer.  If you want the trailer to go right, you turn it left.  See...I can do this.  I hate it, but I can do it.

3. Basic AC maintence like cleaning the outside unit and changing filters regularly.  Why?  It has nothing to do with your air quality.   It basically saves money.  Just do it.  Your AC runs more efficently, you have less chance of freezing over in the summer when a good AC guy is hard to come by (and my husband is out fishing on the weekend and not making house calls anyway because he does commercial)  and you are sitting in a miserable, hot house.

4. In that same thought, the lie about needing to change your thermostat to save energy.  Here is the thing coming from my AC guy hubs.  Your house, when you raise the thermostat when you are gone, gets hotter.  Makes sense right?  Well guess what, when you get home and turn it down it is now going to have to run twice as hard or more to get it cool again.  Now that seems logical but what it means in reality is this, your furniture, your counters, your appliances, your computers, your TVs, your floors and wall, all got hotter during the day so now to get them back down to a cooler temp, your AC is going on overload cooling.  If you had just left it at 72 or whatever all day, the house would have stayed 72 and cooled for the normal cycle and shut off but because you increased it to 80 when only Fluffy and Fido were home, your house is now going to be cooling half the night just to get it back to 72.

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5. Hunters get a bad rap by some bad hunters.  Much like bad cops give all cops a bad name and bad priests, well, you get my point.   Hunting is actually not only beneficial to the family it feeds but necessary to keep the animal population under control.  I know, I know, Bambi, but here is the thing, Bambi's mom, had she not gotten shot by a hunter, would have probably run out in front of a car and got hit by a driver during the rutt season and not only would the doe have died but also, possibly the occupants of the car.    The state of Texas strictly regulates how, when, where, and how many deer each year you can shoot You only have so many tags.   As for Ferel hogs, they are destructive, over populated, can't be controled no matter how many hunters eliminate each year, and moving into the city.  Don't believe me?  Take a look at what the Texas Parks and Wild Life Department has to say on them.  I was a tree hugging liberal most of my life and I hated hunting no matter what my brother the hunter said.   Joe showed me his land.  Then he showed me the way the hogs destroy and run rough shot over his land.   I saw how destructive and mean they are and I changed my mind.  Even though I don't like deer hunting because I think the animal is so amazing, I understand it.  People need to learn and stop speaking from ignorance.  I spoke from ignorance until my husband showed me the reality of nature.

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6. Fishing: I fished when I was a kid, but before Joe, there was no jigging for crappie in my life.  Before Joe, I had never caught a bass or heard catfish reels go off.  Before Joe, my fishing consisted of a bobber, a worm, and a lot of waiting.  I still like that kind of fishing, there is no pressure, but IF I have to pick which of the two I would rather spend time doing with my husband, it is fishing, hands down.  

7. How to use a chainsaw.  Never used one before hubs.  Never needed to use one before hubs.  Then we bought a house on an acre and a quarter with dead trees and I had to beg him to let me use his chainsaw.  If you missed it from all my furniture posts, I have a thing for the smell of wood so a sander, a saw, a ax, anything that gives me that amazing aroma of wood is something I am saying "I am in" for!

8. NASCAR:

I never watched a race before my husband.  I have since watched them (kind of) and now I am going to my first race this weekend, the Duck Commander 500.  I am so excited and only partly because I think Willie Roberston and clan will be there and I can't wait to see the Duck Dynasty guys. 

9.  Camo is cool.  No really, I took a look around the Racetrac in Princeton, Tx last weekend and I could not believe the number of guys that wear camo all the time.   Suddenly I realized, I like this kind of man.  He is strong, no nonsense, and when he makes his mind up (even when he is wrong and disagrees with his wife) he stands his ground.   That is what a real man is.  Real men wear camo and spit and make nasty sounds around a camp fire that they chuckle over.  

10.  The most important thing my husband has taught me is forgiveness isn't a one way street, saying "I am sorry" are not the hardest words to say, sometimes it is better to just not say anything so you don't have to apologize later and being right isn't as important as being loved.