Archive → September, 2010

2 Years in Review pt. 2

20 September, 18:23, by Kim Toomey
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Today marks our two year anniversary – which means apparently I’ve learned a thing or two about being married. Although, I could probably count the number of actual days we’ve spent together since September 20th, 2008 – I’m guessing somewhere less than half of 728 – maybe a quarter of that number. All that really means is that we work harder at some of the bigger things like figuring out how to make a long distance marriage work, and less time arguing about things like leaving half eaten bowls of popcorn around (that’s my equivalent to Dylan’s drawer situation). Its easier to overlook the small things and move on with life when you have only 48 hours together on the weekends. So in honor of surviving two years, and the plenty of good friends I know staring down the path of marriage themselves – here is my advice, in no particular order. (The blind leading the blind as some would say.)

  • Don’t get so drunk on an anniversary that you miss your dinner reservation. Your spouse will probably forgive you, but you will still never hear the end of it. This is an especially bad thing to do on  your FIRST wedding anniversary.
  • Make time to do the things you love doing together, like hiking or going to Las Vegas, or whatever. But also take time to suck it up and do the things you don’t want to do but your spouse does.
  • If you don’t have a dishwasher, invest in a large quantity of cheap glasses/plates etc.
  • “Dude, Whatever” is a perfectly acceptable response to “what do you think of these new curtains/bed skirt/pillow shams?”
  • A good hers to his shoe ratio is at least 3:1, maybe 4:1. Boys, please accept this fact and move on.
  • A well trained dog = a happy marriage
  • Go on vacation
  • Sometimes the best days are the ones where you stay in your PJ’s all day and lay on the couch with a small zoo of animals on top of you and your hubby all day long watching TV
  • Everybody cries at some point – just remember to make up as well
  • Flowers are always appropriate gifts to bring home for no reason at all
  • Don’t buy a house unless you love being at home – it will own you and if you’re a wanderer this isn’t going to work out well. I say this as a total homebody.

So that is what I have to share for now. If I think of something later, I might add to this list. But most importantly, I was lucky enough to marry my best friend and we’re figuring this all out together. And in true Toomey fashion, it’s never a dull moment.

Here’s my post from last year too.

xoxo

2 Years in Review Pt. 1

13 September, 22:01, by Kim Toomey
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We’re officially a week away from celebrating our two year anniversary. So in honor, I thought I would share some of my favorite memories over these past two years. The thing about having D away from home most of the time, is that our weekends and vacations are jam packed. And then once a quarter we’ll find ourselves with a weekend with absolutely nothing to do and we hole ourselves up in the house, turn off the phones and spend lazy days on the couch, napping, eating. Just not doing anything. Our lives are exhausting, but we wouldn’t have it any other way. I guess its a Toomey thing.

We installed a furnace!

Ok, so this was probably a very trying thing to accomplish within the first three months of marriage, as we didn’t have heat in our house until Thanksgiving. However, now I am very happy that I have heat anytime I need it.

We got a puppy.

She has since turned into a whackadoo but she was cute back then.

We went on vacations, camping trips, hot air balloon rides (this is the part I was telling you about where we always have stuff going on)

We just barely survived our first wedding anniversary (more on this later in a post titled “what not to on your first wedding anniversary”)

We almost lost Cat-man-do (aka Starsky) but he came back and is good as new.

I cooked my first full Thanksgiving dinner. (At my mom’s house of course – only four people can eat comfortably in our kitchen)

We went on more vacations

Seattle

Hawaii

Las Vegas

And in between all that we spruced up the backyard.

With another Las Vegas trip on the books and several weddings to attend in the next year and a half, I’m sure the next two years will bring no change of pace. For now the plan is to spend year three in Europe!

Cheers babe, you keep me running in a million different directions.

A Case of the Crazies

01 September, 20:45, by Kim Toomey
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I have a dog. She is a great dog. She is almost two years old and finally starting to calm down a little bit. But every now and again, she has her moments.

Now when we got this sweet little puppy, I swore up and down that dogs do not belong on the bed. I had always grown up with cats, and they only slept on the bed because they’re impossible to train or control. But dogs take up way too much room and belong on the floor.

However, this sweet little doggy started out as Dylan’s pet. And so while he was working in Corvallis, Tele was able to go to work with him during the week and hang out in the trailer. And at night, Dylan let the dog sleep in the bed with him*.

At home however, Tele knew that she wasn’t allowed on the bed and needed to sleep on the floor. But she had tasted the good life. She knew what it was like to snuggle up to another warm body, and sleep on the warm, soft blankets and a mattress instead of her doggy bed.

Time went on, Dylan got to work where he could stay at home for a few months and the dog adjusted to her full time schedule of sleeping the night away in her doggy bed. But eventually, Dylan was sent to another job where he couldn’t bring the dog with him and it was doggy and I on our own**.

And what can I say to this.

And now the dog thinks this is where she belongs when its time to go to bed.

So I have resigned myself to the fact that the dog now sleeps on the bed during the week until Dylan comes home. And the dog seems to comprehend this relationship of people vs. space and ability for dog to sleep on the bed. However, last night it was kind of chilly when I was going to bed. Tele hopped up onto the bed and I tried to stick my cold feet under the warm little doggy. She growled a little bit. And I scolded her because obviously she does not realize that I am the superior being in this relationship and she should be so lucky to be laying on my bed with the ability to warm my feet. So after some more shoving of the dog, she got up and stared at the blankets, wondering what on earth could be disturbing her ability to sleep.

Now – I also have a crazy cat, who LOVES to pounce on your hands/feet under blankets. This is a great game to play if you are a cat.

However, if you are my dog, this is not a game. This is a terrifying monster. So while I’m scooting my hands and feet under the blankets “attacking” the dog, she is getting more and more concerned about her safety on the bed. And eventually surrenders. I have been trying for months unsuccessfully to get the dog to stop sleeping on the bed and last night she was finally freaked out enough by my own feet that she refused to sleep on the bed with “the monster”.

Well, for a little while. This kind of just backfired on me because when she did decide it was safe to sleep on the bed, it was only safe if she slept right next to my face instead of down by my feet where she usually sleeps. And let me tell you, waking up to dog in your face isn’t really all it’s cracked up to be. So now my dog is just scared of my feet and wants to be even closer to me at night.

Please send help.

* In Dylan’s defense, he only had a mattress on the floor, so the dog just assumed that this was also her bed.

** For the record, despite the fact that I have now portrayed my dog as a HUGE wuss, she is very ferocious and will eat any attackers. She is always hungry.