Dirty Little Secrets...are hard to keep

If you read yesterdays post you saw where I mentioned giving my husband back control of our finances.

Now, I'm not going to air my dirt laundry here...but we needed to button up. We've needed to do it for awhile. My husband knew this...but not to the extent he should have. I knew it too, but you see...if you are really only answering to yourself with your spending it's easy to buy a book here or there. Or decide you don't want to cook the kids lunch and head to Chick Fil-A. Those things add up, and faster than you think. When I shared with my husband the whole situation it was a relief. His words were, "Okay, but you can't spend even a penny without us discussing it."

Now, to some of you that would be a "WTF?" moment. Well, maybe at one time it would have been. But right now it is a weight off my shoulders. It is accountability. It is partnership. It's direction.

We have a plan. We are a team.

My husband doesn't realize it, but I secretly do the same thing to him with my writing. I casually voice what's going on to him. I know many of these things he really doesn't care about. But, when I voice them...I'm sharing my plan. It's not just in my head anymore...it's out there. I've said it to the universe. I do the same thing here on this blog. When you put your intentions to the world, you want to keep them. You want to work harder.

That being said, my intention was to not read another book until my two main characters kissed. I haven't read in almost a week. I'm tempted to throw a kiss in and edit it out later...but that would be lame. And weasley. No more.

Often I think my husband isn't listening when I talk about writing and kissing and blah, blah, blah. Well, last night as he was drifting off to sleep I cracked open a nutrition book. It was NON FICTION FOLKS!! That certainly doesn't count right? Well...I did feel a little guilty. About three paragraphs into protein and legumes I felt his weight shift on the bed.

"Have you written a kissing scene? Are you reading?"

"Pshhaaa, it's a diet book!"

Silence.

"Ugh."

Dirt little secrets...it's best to share.

Able to breathe....

What a weekend right? Well, beyond the news...it was a big one for me.

Saturday night I had a surprise 40th birthday party for my husband. OH THE STRESS!! This past month I have been a wreck preparing for it. I'm so glad it's over!! Not because it wasn't fun, it really was. But because it was very stressful keeping it from my husband!!  AND, he is not a surprise party kind of guy. I was prepared for him to hate me for a minute when we walked in.

If you've ever held a surprise party you know about the paranoia. The whole week before I was just SURE he was onto me. I knew he was picking up clues, that he was looking for them.

He wasn't. He was shocked and horrified at the same time. :) It was a beautiful thing. As we walked into the game room at a local "pubish" restaurant and 15 people yelled surprise (at which was supposed to be a couples shower for one of his closest friends- I even sent us an invite in the mail!!) he jumped in surprise.

I instantly turned and hugged him, laughing in his ear. "Do you hate me?"

"A little bit," He said with a chuckle. It was a great night!

A-Z Challange SKIPPED R - Shyness - Special Day

Yesterday was incredibly busy! I had an early morning shoot and then my youngest son had an Easter Tea at Preschool. (Then grocery shopping, community dinner...blah,blah,blah.)

But back to that Easter Tea. My youngest son is 5 and VERY shy, and self conscious. He doesn't even like to joke around too much because he gets so embarrassed. (I joke with him anyway, because he laughs and smiles before he gets angry....and he has 2 big brothers and I think he better toughen up now!)

Anyway, part of the Easter Tea was the cute little classes getting up and singing a few Easter/Spring Songs. My son had been worrying on this for days. I finally told him, "You don't have to sing, but you do have to just get up there with your class."

My thought was that once he was up there, he would be fine!

WRONG. He was stone cold silent up there. Not a hand movement, not a clap. Not a smile. In fact, his signature look in these situations is to suck his cheeks in so he doesn't smile. Because he WANTS to like it. I know he does. He's just too embarrassed to show that he likes it.

Sadly, I sort of remember being like this as a child. I didn't want to draw attention to myself AT. ALL.

Well, luckily those preschool things only last a second, so he came down to have snacks with me and all was good after he got a cheese stick and grapes. I guess the only bright side to this shyness is that he keeps him my baby a little bit longer. :)


In unrelated news, my husband is off today for Good Friday! How awesome is that? I'll take it. I'm going to take a day off from editing and just chill out at home.
It's storming out, I may make cookies. How great does that sound???

A-Z Challange LOVE

It's been a stressful couple of days round these parts. I'd like todays challange to be easy. I can't do a lot of thinking right now. (On a side note...does your wip ever leave you in a funk?? But, it's almost like you need to be there? Ok, moving on.)

Things I love.

My Husband.
My Children.
My Mother
My Sister, My Sister in law(happy early birthday!)....and all my other family.
Writing
Reading
My morning Coffemate
Roald Dahl
Annie
Fried Pickles
Traveling
History
The North and South miniseries from the 80's
Johnny Depp(it started with 21 Jumpstreet!)
Photography
Museums
Mail
Birthdays
my laptop
My bed when I've just changed the sheets
Roasted Asparagus
Shopping with no children
Good deals
blogs
meeting friends for coffee
Pad Thai...or any asian food for that matter!!
Drinking milk after something really sweet
Farmers Markets
Ratatouille
Redbox
Libraries and Bookstores
Teachers
Online bill pay
Historical romance novels
The smell of grass in spring
Vanilla
Cooking
Going to the pool
New purses


Okay, I've got a kid to get to school so I must stop. I suggest everyone stop right now and make a list like this. It felt really good. It reminds you of all the little things in your life that are really, really good.

Happy Thursday!

All over the place!

My mind is going a million different directions today.

I'm okay with that usually, but today it's stressing me out. I really want to be writing, but I have work to do. But oh what sweet work it is....have a peeky.

How can I not enjoy that? I always listen to music while I edit photos, I must, and often I daydream about my wip. However, something about newborns is not jiving with my wip. Go figure. So, on I go, editing away. It's okay if I don't get any writing done today. It happens. I can't wait to show this family these images.

Which leads me to what I'm thankful for today!

 I skipped last week but now I'm back on track. I'll be extra thankful this week!!  Join the "Thankfulness" over at Oasis for YA.
I'm thankful to be able to work at home for my family. I'm thankful I have a job in which I get to witness the most amazing reactions to images like those above. These are priceless memories and I love giving my clients this gift. It is amazing.

I'm also thankful that it is a beautiful day out. Finally. I'm going to ignore the fact that my husband saw on the news this morning the possibility of snow this weekend. I'm in denial. I'm thankful for today.

Last but not least, I'm incredibly thankful for itunes and ipods. Steve Jobs, if you were more handsome I would have a full on crushing obsession with you. Fortunately, you look exactly like a computer geek should. My husband is thankful for that...he likes me to have eyes only for him!! :)

Thankful for Thursday

I decided it was important for me to participate in this meme from Oasis for YA BECAUSE I've been feeling so sorry for myself.

So, here it goes.

Today I'm thankful for the obvious, albeit very important things. A roof over my head, food, healthy (relatively speaking) children.

But, today I'm also thankful that I have many wonderful friendships in my life. Family, friends, internet friends, far away friends.

Last, but not least, I'm very thankful for my husband. He loves me even when I'm a total pain. Even when the dishes don't get done, even when I do some really ridiculous things! (There are many!) When I look at myself thru his eyes all I can see is failure...but he doesn't seem to see it...or if he does he just keeps on loving me anyway!! :) For that I'm very thankful.

Now- my body is telling me that a few more Tylenol are in order. Ugh!