really long post

Yesterday was my anniversary. 15 years of wedded bliss. I can not believe it has been 15 years. We got married in the 90's. Enough said.

I wasn't much in the mood to celebrate. I am emotionally and physically spent but we figured that while my mum is here we should probably go out for dinner since 15 is kind of a big number. I felt crummy during the day but went out anyway for dinner. I ate a huge steak dinner and slept all the way home. I am such a fun date. The man is so lucky.

We don't usually give each other gifts for our anniversary because at some point during the year we both spend too much money on something we don't need and blame it on the anniversary. This year the man happened to have a golf trip planned for this weekend. So for our anniversary I gave him a golf weekend away and he gave me a reno. What a guy!

Just kidding! He sort of felt bad that this weekend happened to fall on Father's Day weekend and also our anniversary (almost) so he told me he bought me a gift. I have been hinting (or more like begging) for something for awhile now and I TOTALLY thought that was what he bought me. I was so excited to get it all week. It was like Christmas.

I didn't get it.

I guess he didn't feel that bad. I won't say what it was because if he reads this he may give me a hard time and tell me my eyes are too big for his pockets. But he did get me something I wanted so terribly bad that it was the most lovely of second choice gifts I ever could have asked for and no, it isn't a reno. A gift card to Chapters.

Now this is special to me and if you don't know me very well I will explain why. I have a problem and it may or may not involve overspending on books. Okay it totally involves overspending on books. I get goosebumps at the prospect of buying books. I LOVE it SO much. I used to not be able to go to Costco without buying one. If I was down or blue I would veer towards Chapters on the way home and spend. If I was alone running errands I would always stop in. At the mall? Yep, Coles. Needed a moment to myself after a hard day at home with children? You get the picture....... The bookstore is my 'other' happy place. I have so many books on my shelves it would take years to read them all and unless I get hit by a truck prematurely I WILL read them all. (Not before my sister does though) Sometimes I go down stairs and stare at my books. Shhh, that's weird so don't tell anyone.

I decided to make a New Year's resolution this year and not buy books for one year. No one thought I could do it. I think I'll prove them wrong. When I get the urge to scrap the resolution I just go downstairs and stare at my books. I have so many I don't know where the need to buy more comes from but 6 months in and the urge is nowhere near gone especially when I go to Costco but then I just stay away from the aisle that has books. It's hard. Really hard.

I also stipulated in the contract that people giving me gift cards was not the same as me buying books. Everyone agreed so that is the out clause. But it's taken 6 months to get one. Come on people! I'm dying over here. I can not wait to go to Chapters and spend it. The man told me I was not allowed to go more that $5 over the gift card. Oh the challenge!!

I did sort of cheat when I bought my mom a book for Mother's Day that I really wanted to read and then asked her if I could borrow it when she was done. It is sitting on my book shelf now.

Okay. Moving on. For all intents and purposes the little brown house can no longer be called the little brown house. It shall here after be referred to as the little green house because it is little and GREEN! No rain today equals me painting. It did spit on me as I was finishing up but that doesn't count PLUS I was unstoppable. Now it isn't all green yet and this is why. There is a little corner in the back that I was too short to reach and my ladder sunk so much in the mud it was dangerous. I will not sacrifice my body for this stupid house. I will wait for the deck to be built. And there is a patio who's walls need to be painted but it has a roof on it that needs to be removed first and a whole lot of crap on it that needs to get cleaned up before I can get in there. Other than that it is done.



Tomorrow the trim gets started. That should be fun. I'll post more pictures when the trim is done. Today it is walls. Green walls.

(I wonder if the man is enjoying his golf weekend in Montana........)

Tonight my boys had another belt test for Martial Arts. Watching these two little men do their Martial Arts brings me an immense amount of joy. They are both good at it and they both love it and as a parent that really is somethin'!





Well done little men. Orange belts. Neat.