What It Takes To LICK 1500 Envelopes

More patience than I have. Luckily I married the world's best man, willing to come home from a 10-hour workday and dig into a job he didn't know he'd signed up for. 

The Holiday Open House for the Rockingham County Arts Council will be held Sunday, December 13th and invitations go out this week. That means 1500 brochures that must be folded, then stuffed, along with printed invitations, into envelopes, which must then be sealed shut. 

I figured Blair and I would sit in front of the TV for about 2 or 2 1/2 hours and get the job done. 

HA.

Four hours into the task and we were about two-thirds of the way done. My lower back was screaming from being hunched over, folding and stuffing, and I fear Blair may have depleted his saliva stores for life. 

I stayed in a good mood for the first three hours, at which point I started muttering about how my volunteering days were over. Blair, cheerful as always, tried to humor me out of it.

"We're a team," he said. "Isn't it nice, working together? Hasn't this been nice, spending time together?"

"Shouldn't you be licking something?" I said, glaring at him. 

I'll try to adjust my attitude for tonight. Another 500 envelopes await us...

Why The Simple Life Is Simply Beyond Me

I just finished reading The Gift of an Ordinary Day: A Mother's Memoir by Katrina Kenison and it's left me feeling out of sorts. The premise of the book is one we've all heard before: Pay attention to the small moments that make up life and you'll be a happier, more content person for it. 

Unfortunately, and probably through no fault of her own, Kenison's writing had the opposite effect on me. After reading the tactics she uses to simplify and appreciate her life, I'm left feeling like I'll never measure up. Kenison, an editor who for sixteen years worked from home while raising her two sons is, by her own admission, put on this earth to nurture. Plants, people, flowers... it would not surprise me to find out she and Martha Stewart share a blood lineage or a telepathy link.

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May The Force (And the Geek) Be With You

Yes, we're geeks. We get it. 

Saturday we went with my niece and her family to the Carolina Renaissance Festival, complete with jousting tournaments, everyday spectators who arrive in full Renaissance regalia, and  disgusting 2 lb. roasted turkey legs that everyone walks around gnawing on, leaving a trail of dripping grease behind them. (Shockingly, medieval times weren't vegetarian friendly.)  

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My Life As A Sitcom

I really think I missed my calling in life. I should be the head writer for some prime-time sitcom about a married couple and the wacky exploits they get into when the harebrained wife does things like forces her long-suffering husband to go vegan, forcefully brings stray cats into their home, and, oh, I don't know... pours a bottle of olive oil on her head? 

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The Married Life: A Moment

We're in the car this morning, pulling into the Wal-Mart parking lot. I'd been flipping through radio stations and started to punch past one when Blair said, "Oooh, that' Steely Dan," so I let it play. For about 1 minute. That's all I could take. Twang-twang-screech-twang-screech. I reached over and changed stations.

"Sorry," I said. "That just goes to the base of my spine." 

Blair heaved a sigh. "I know, sugar," he said. "Anything that brings me happiness goes to the base of your spine." 

♥ The dude cracks me up. ♥