The big V debate

My husband goes back and forth on his opinion of the big V day. Sometimes he thinks its a capitalistic evil trick designed to make men look bad. Other times, he's disgruntled because he thinks that he should be allowed to do sweet things for me whenever he wants, and doesn't need a special day with "expectations" surrounding it. But other years, things are good between us and he's feeling laid back and romantic. Then I get stuff.

Chocolate, flowers, dinner, a movie, a massage, whatever he can think of. He sometimes gets original things, like a painting for the wall, but most of the time, I think he understands that a cheesy holiday equals cheesy things, like these pink gifts. Would I buy any of these things for myself? No way! But if he came home with something like this for me on V-day, would I be happy? You betcha! With our history, I'm happy for his thoughtfulness. Besides, everybody likes pink stuff at least one day out of the year. ;-)

Made with love

Somehow, (I'm still not sure exactly what happened) my SIL's offer to teach me to knit cost about $15. She claims she wasn't meaning for me to buy circular needles (straight ones are only a couple of $$$) but she did insist that I get a book in case I needed some help when she wasn't around. I don't really learn well from books, but it's there for emergencies. My husband was not thrilled about the whole knitting thing though. ("Let's see, you spent money we don't have to take up a new hobby that's going to take up time that we could either spend together or use to be productive.")

OK, so our house is trashed again/like always, and I never clean anything much. I realize this. But previously I spent the time that he was putting Ben to bed reading or on the phone, and he didn't object to either of those things. I guess that might be because they don't cost any money. I read books I already have or I get them from the library. I tried to tell him that knitting is not expensive ... you only need to buy the needles once, and the yarn is like $3 for enough to make a ton of stuff. AND, I can make stuff that we need so we don't have to buy it. Not to mention the awesomeness of homemade items vs. made-in-China crap that supports our disposable society. I want my son to own clothes (are scarves considered clothes?) that were made with love. It really makes a difference, just like buying whole foods and home cooking them vs. buying frozen/processed crap in boxes and cans.

So now its my goal to be sure and actually FINISH a scarf and have it be useable this winter so that we don't have to buy him one. Plus, I thought it would be really super cool if I was fast enough to get one done before Christmas, I could give it to my nephew Cameron and then do one for Ben and they could match. I would love love love to make my own gifts. It's not only less expensive, it's more personal.

Tool solutions

Every single time my husband works on a project around the house, he leaves his tool box out and our toddler gets into it. He pulls out nails and hammers and screws and the power drill and whatever else he can get his baby hands on. Then he runs off with it, hiding screws who knows where, so that later I'll be sure to step on one with bare feet. Ouch. I've been telling him that he needs to put the tool box back right away, but he never does. I know it's heavy, and that he goes nuts if he puts it back and then 10 minutes later finds something else that needs to be fixed, but this has got to stop.

I was browsing this Web site that features gifts for him and saw that they sell tool carts which would be perfect for our situation. That way, the tools would be not only high up, but also on wheels, so it would be easier to put them away. What a great idea!

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Say cheese!

For my 21st birthday, I'd asked for a camera. My husband bought me a digital one and I was disappointed. I thought I'd never learn to work the thing and that it was a passing fad anyway. I mean, how was I going to make pretty photo albums if my pictures were stuck in digital form? I was seriously upset with him about this for several months. A side note: He used the camera that he'd just purchased for me to take this shot (my avatar) of me while we were walking to the bar in downtown Bellingham. Once he taught me how to upload it to the computer, I decided to make a user-pic from it.

Well, that was almost exactly five years ago! I'd had my lj for just one month at that point, and no one really knew it existed. I was using it more as a personal diary than a way to communicate with friends and family. Now, I'd be lost without my digital camera! (We got a new one for the holidays last year.) How else would I share cute photos of my son with everyone I've ever met? Photo albums do still have their place, but in today's online world, I'm glad I finally let my husband teach me to work the camera. Sure I'm not an expert, and I occasionally still take pictures of my feet while trying to figure out if it's on the right setting, but my favorite thing about digital pictures is being able to immediately erase the bad ones. I can't even believe how many pictures in my childhood photo albums feature me with my eyes shut!

If you are one of the few people left on this planet who doesn't own a digital camera yet, you should check out these Nikon cameras. You can get a slender one like ours for about $120. I'm considering suggesting it to my aunt, who never knows what to get for her pre-teen daughter. Marissa will be 13 this November and is very interested in photography. I know it's a present she'd love.

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