A Dozen

Today is our 12 year wedding anniversary. A lot of what they say about marriage is true. The first year was very hard. We had no money and lived in a tiny OLD duplex apartment in the absolute worst part of town. Eddie and I had different expectations about how we would spend our time once married. He was either working one of his three jobs or drinking beer out on the front porch with our neighbor. While I respected his determination to work and pay off his sizable credit card debt, I frowned upon the constant hanging out with the troubled neighbor.

Fast forward to now, and things between us are much more settled. We occasionally disagree on money... he has a penchant for buying project cars, but never has the time of funds to complete them. But I have to say.... we really rarely ever disagree on anything else. His working shiftwork has been hard on us since we've had children. But for the past 6 months or so, he has been helping with the kids a lot more on his days off.

He has been so supportive of anything I do... whether it was working part-time again at the clinic, running my stepmother to medical appointments in Houston, and now my starting a degree and always studying or obsessing about studying. He also doesn't make fun of my Duran Duran obsession, and is even taking a night of vacation in December so he can go to a concert with me.

I am trying to be more supportive of what he enjoys. We still don't have the money for him to buy cars as he likes. But I try not to roll my eyes too much when he buys parts for his current toy, a 1966 VW Bug. I would like to see it in prime driving shape someday soon. I make fun of his geek model airplane club friends, but am actually pleased he has joined. I keep nagging him to go ahead and get his gun club membership, because he likes collecting guns and needs a place to actually shoot them.

These days we hang out with friends some, but also enjoy time alone. Last week we spent the night at the condo in Galveston and had fun. OK, so he spent half the time sleeping, but when he was conscious he had me howling with laughter.

It is good to be married these days. I enjoy our friendship, love, and partnership more and more each day. Happy Anniversary, Eddie!

Above is a pic of us drinking the controversial champagne wedding toast. Eddie's very churchgoing grandpa was not pleased we had alcohol... and was worried we would have a wreck on the drive to the Houston hotel.... on SIPS of champagne.

October

It has been so long since I've written anything that I decided it was time for another "What The Heck Has Amanda Been Doing?" post.

1. Evacuated with the kids for Hurricane Ike and spent a week at my brother's house.

2. Came home to no electricity for eleven days. Provided meals for my family from an ice chest and gas grill. It was kind of like camping, except that it was not fun at all after about two days.

3. Got back into school routines for kids and self, all while STILL with no electricity.

4. Took a day off from all of the powerless fun to go to Raquels' husband's 40th birthday party in Houston.... a paintball playing party. The bruises on my body actually made my female teammates gasp.

5. Came home that evening to lights and AIR conditioning. The next day I joyfully filled my refrigerator.

6. We spent the night in Galveston of all places in honor of our 12th wedding anniversary, which is tomorrow. The San Luis condo is up and running fine, as are a few of the nearby restaurants. But, the waterline and wrecked boats from Ike's storm surge comes inland about five miles on I-45.


7. I have taken two tests in A&P lecture, and have a biggie coming up again this week. I have also been spending extra time in the lab preparing for lab quizzes.

8. Last night I took the kids to the Fall Festival at the girl's school, and also worked the tatoo booth.

9. Today Dad, Charlene, and I took the kids to the pumpkin patch and out to eat at Fudrucker's.

10. Big stuff coming up includes Halloween and a birthday party for both kids at a pizza/jumping place. I could not figure out how to slash the 24-kid guest list. I hope it is not too chaotic and everyone has fun.