What a Good Husband

For my birthday, Rob got me the Singers and Songwriters collection from Time Life. A 19 CD set of all those 70s songs I love best. Then the day after my birthday we took a trip up to Guitar Center, and I got to pick out a new guitar. It's a huge change from my Ovation, it feels and plays much differently, but I absolutely LOVE it. So, I give you Takamine, name yet to be decided.

They say it's your birthday...

It's my birthday too! Yes, folks - tomorrow is the big day. And seeing as how Rob probably has the ENTIRE day all planned out for me, I figured I'd write a bit about it tonight. So, in honor of, well, me - here are 26 facts about me that you may not know:
1. My middle name is Anne - but for some reason in high school I told everyone it was Atkinson. I then went on to say that all of my siblings had the same middle name, but it had no significant meaning...I just had weird parents.
2. When I was four, I almost drowned in Lake Maxincukee, in Culver Indiana. A man had to dive in and save me - he was fully dressed.
3. I am a proud Coke Connoisseur. I cherish it like others cherish wine, and often plan my meals around it.
4. My brother Dan and I are 18 months apart - but used to tell everyone we were twins - but I was held back a grade. When the excitement wore off, we then began saying we were telepathic twins.
5. I love video games.
6. I only use five fingers to type: pointer and middle finger on both hands, and I press the enter button with my right pinkie. I'm not slow either - but Rob says it looks like uncontrolled spider legs running all over the keyboard.
7. I graduated high school with a C- cumulative GPA. Perhaps it was because I spent so much time making up stories (ie #s 1 and 4) Or perhaps it was because of #8.
8. I took almost every Wednesday off from school. Reason? None. Just didn't like school. My junior year, second semester, I missed 27 days of school.
9. My favorite color is green.
10. I have the best husband in the world...(thanks Rob, I was running out of ideas.)
11. My right eye dilates itself randomly. This freaks out my mom because it is apparently a major indicator of a brain tumor - but not in my case, just a freak eye.
12. I LOVE to go out for breakfast at ANY time of the day.
13. I had a crush on Davey Jones (from the Monkees)
14. I truly believe that the greatest music EVER came from the 70s.
15. I made sure that at my wedding reception in Chicago only 70s songs were played.
16. I started playing guitar when I was 18, but haven't taken enough time to become REALLY good. I still love to play - but not on demand.
17. I can clasp my hands behind my back, and bring them (still connected) all the way over my head. I can then step through them and do it all over again. I'm like a human jump rope.
18. I expect my husband to take August 24th off from work.
19. I LOVE to get my back tickled, and ask Rob almost nightly. He's FABULOUS at it!
20. I have two favorite smells - Rob and rain.
21. I love to write, and if I were to go back to finish out my degree, I would switch from Behavioral Science to English. I would LOVE to be an author some day.
22. I have a REALLY great memory. Sometimes if is embarrassingly good. I'm that,"hey - weren't we in Preschool together..?" person. I'm always bringing up memories with friends that have been totally forgotten.
23. I share my birthday with my best friend Mary. Happy Birthday Murr!
24. I look forward to getting the mail everyday, and used to fight with my brother Greg over whose turn it was.
25. I am a borderline insomniac. I spend several hours awake every night.
26. My favorite days of the year are (in order) 1. Christmas, 2. My birthday, 3. 4th of July

Well, there you have it. Now, when people ask you why August 24th is a National Holiday, you can give them 26 mediocre reasons. I hope you all have a great day off tomorrow. I'll post in a few days with some more birthday updates!

Happy Feet

About a month ago I bought a double jogging stroller and decided to take up running again. This is an activity, that at my very best, I am horrible. I've never been a good runner, yet for some reason - I always go back to it. My first day, I LITERALLY ran past three houses, and decided it was time to walk. The second day, I think I made it past five houses. (Thank goodness I live in an area where street blocks are about six houses long.) I've gradually worked up to the point - and feel free to laugh, that I can run about .65 of a mile, walk for a minute or two, and finish out the mile. I realize that this is not much of an accomplishment, but hey - it's better than three houses. Getting to the point...after yesterday's run, my knees were really sore - and I couldn't decide if it was the muscle or the joint. I did however, decide that it must be because I needed new shoes. (I also tried to explain to Rob that a new guitar would also fix the pain - but he wasn't buying it.) So, I went to Sports Authority and picked up these babies. Although a bit of an eye sore, they are the best running shoes I have ever owned. It felt like there were mini trampolines in each heel. They EVEN came with polka dotted shoe laces that say, "Nike - Shut up and Run" all over them.

Money, Money, Money!

This is getting a wee bit ridiculous. If you all recall, in my last post, I mentioned that we were having car drama. Today is the fourth consecutive week that one car or another has been in the shop. I'm going to give you all the run-down:

Rob realizes that it's time for a tune-up on his car. They find that the distributor cap and ignition wires need to be replaced. Although it sounds very minimal - it was quite a hefty bill.

Three days later, we head up to Rob's work party at Snowbird Ski Resort. The jeep starts to overheat, but we make it back - no problem. The next day, second gear is totally out.

We take in the Jeep (to the FIRST mechanic) who after 4 days, has still not even called with an estimate/problem. We pick the car up and take it to the second mechanic. Six days later - the car is finally "fixed." We had to replace the TRANSMISSION.

Rob's tires are completely bald - so we go to get the front two replaced. The alignment is off - so we need to realign them so as to not repeat the same wear on the tires.

The next day, the jeep begins to make some odd noises, so we once again take it back to the second mechanic. Four days in, and we still have yet to hear what the new problem is - and NEEDING A CAR, we go to pick it up again.

The reason we NEEDED the jeep so badly was because Rob was getting the windows tinted on his car. It sits in the sun all day, and is super hot by the time he heads home from work.

So, now we are at today. Rob dropped off the Honda to get the wheels alligned, and I was supposed to pick him up. I start the Jeep, and the engine is so loud, that it startles me. There is a rattle and a buzzing that I've never heard. As I drove down our street, people were staring at me...it was THAT loud. I pulled into the mechanic, and he even came out to see what all the noise was.

Needless to say, we picked up the Honda, and dropped off the Jeep - where tomorrow they will begin to work on wheel bearings, thermostat (the reason it was overheating to begin with) and whatever is making the rattling noise.

I think as soon as we get the Jeep back, we'll be putting them both up for sale. I'm starting to realize that when you read an ad for a used car that says, "new this," and "just replaced that.." that you're probably not getting that great of a deal. So - with that said...any of you suckers looking for a new car? I've got a great 2002 Honda Accord (with new tires and tinted windows) and a 2001 Jeep Grand Cherokee (new transmission, wheel bearings, and thermostat).

I know, I know, I KNOW! It's been almost three weeks. It all started with the transmission going out on the Jeep, and Rob and I being stuck with one car. Most people would assume that I would then be spending a lot of time trapped at home, but instead I chose to keep the car, and cart Rob's fanny to and from work, lunch, school, etc. It was a long two weeks. YES, I DID say two weeks. Let's now discuss how great it is to have my car again. Oh wait - I don't have my car, it's BACK IN THE SHOP! Somehow in all the "fixing" another problem arose. Drama, drama, drama. Anyway, seeing as how I don't know how long I'll be out of comission this time - I give you, "Wilson Family Overload" to tide you over. Enjoy.



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Madelyn has started a new obsession with numbers and letters. She knows all of her letters and can count to twenty. And when I say count to twenty, I mean get up to fourteen, and then say "unteen, nnnteen, unteen, nnteen.." until I stop her with twenty. My favorite part is that she says, "one, two, free, four, figh, sick, segen," and then eight, nine and ten, are said with a southern accent and high pitched. I have NO idea where that came from. Whenever we're in the car she points out all the letters on signs and stores. I guess if she's got an obsession, this is a good one.



Untitled from makopp47 and Vimeo
Jude is hilarious. He is not a Momma's boy, or a Daddy's boy - he's a Maddie's boy. He thinks she is by far the funniest person that walks this earth. He crawls everywhere, and is starting to pull himself up onto things. He sure has one heck of a laugh.

I'll wrap up "Wilson Family Overload" with some pictures from this evening's photo shoot(and a few random - not yet posted pictures). Please forgive me, and know that I'll get back on the ball soon.