Well, the wedding went wonderfully, the honeymoon was a dream, and the wifey and I are settling into the first weeks of marital bliss. Erin has been cataloging some of it, and wrote a fantastic post about the honeymoon
here. The best part about our trip to Cozumel? Erin loved it.
Who knew I would so enjoy spoiling mi amor? :D
But now, back to reality. Which can be rough sometimes. Don't get me wrong, it's SOOOOO much nicer having my best friend around all the time, and suddenly the little stressful things seem to melt away when I get to wake up next to
my wife, but reality has a tendency to hit hard when you're coming back from a vacation.
And in that reality I have observed some things. Here are a few of those nuggets I have observed about the immediate post-honeymoon.
People LOVE us. And People LOVE Pyrex. Why not combine those loves?
We feel so blessed and loved and appreciated by all those people who came to wish us well, send their love, and help us as we start our new lives. We will never be able to thank everyone adequately for what they have done for us, both in terms of gifts and financial support, but also for their friendships and their relationships with us.
That said... enough mushy stuff. That's not why you people read this blog, I think.
So, the love often came in the form of Pyrex. That magical glassware you can bake with. Think I'm kidding? Let me put it this way: we got a
lot of Pyrex.
To the tune of 40+ pieces.
We could open an industrial kitchen in our apartment with the cookware we've received.
Again, we're extremely grateful for it. We've already used it. And a lot of it. It's amazing to walk into the apartment and see our piles of gifts occupying their own corners of the living room: We have the "To Use" pile, filled with useful, creative, fun, and unique gifts. We have the "To Return" pile, filled with useful, creative, fun, but unfortunately not unique gifts (THREE sandwich makers. Someone was obviously receiving my Christmas Wish Lists as a teenager). And we have the mighty "Pyrex" pile.
I'm going to try to stack the Pyrex to the ceiling tonight. Just for fun.
Midnight's not so bad. It's 6:45 am that is the real "Witching Hour", a time of the day invented by Beelzebub, the Lord of the Flies himself in order to torment the souls of men.
That's why my alarm goes off at 6:40.
And only
later does it go off at 6:45.
And then again at 6:50.
And 6:55.
But at 7:00, I'm definitely up and out of the sheets.
And by 7:05 I'm climbing out of bed.
Who invented the work day that started at 8? "Grumble, mumble... sleepy tumble, bed is comfy, and in the mornings, I bumble."
Budgeting Software is AMAZING
YNAB has been, already two days in, a very impressive piece of software. And
very helpful in getting us on track towards getting out of debt (bless BYU for keeping us too far out of debt) and on the road to saving.
Geeze.
I think I just became my father.
NETFLIX is AMAZING
And now I'm back to me.
I think NetFlix is totally cool. Even more so now that you can stream instantly to your computer. This is especially convenient when your sole tv/movie media access point is your desktop computer placed conveniently in front of the couch.
For a few bucks a month, we can really save by foregoing a cable bill.
And now I'm back to my father again. I'm just waiting to start saying stuff like "When something's worth doing, it's worth doing well."
Which is true...
Gift Cards are Kind of Awesome
And by kind of, I mean EXTREMELY. There's nothing quite like the thrill of taking a pile of gift cards to your local super store and having the sweet (but somehow slightly cantankerous) old woman put their individual amounts onto one uber-gift card.
It's like having Excalibur bestowed upon you. The purchasing power in your hands has gone from middling or mundane to super-human. You feel as though you've been chosen. That you have realized your calling. And your purpose on earth, at least for the next two hours, is to buy
stuff.
Don't believe me? Try it.
Just remember to follow this advice: when walking through said super store, you are required to hold out the new uber-card and allow it to guide you to the items you need/want/desperately-must-have-or-you're-going-to-die-in-the-store-right-now-so-we-have-to-get-it-now-no-ands-ors-or-buts-about-it-Mr. If you follow the urgings and nudgings of the Card, you will find yourself in consumerism nirvana.
And then you'll have to unload all the stuff you got when you get home.
And wonder how the stuff you just bought makes it into the "To Return" pile...
YNAB has been, already two days in, a very impressive piece of software. And very helpful in getting us on track towards getting out of debt (bless BYU for keeping us too far out of debt) and on the road to saving.
Geeze.
I think I just became my father.
NETFLIX is AMAZING
7 comments:
Eeeeep! Still haven't found that blasted gift card, but I maintain hope. Email me your address so I can send it!
Oh, friend. Congratulations, and welcome to your new life as a team!
Is fall time for a warm sammich? Guess so. I suspect this varies by season. We got married in December and got 4 crockpots. My SIL got married in June and got 4 ice cream makers.
One of my professors at the U (maybe you had him too?) told me he and his wife got through grad school by living off of their wedding presents. They put them all in a closet and then would get one out and go return it when they wanted to go on a date.
Not a bad idea...
Gurrbonzo's professor has a wonderful idea!! Live off the Pyrex :)
So glad to hear the wedding went well, and the honeymoon. Thrilled that you spoiled your wife. Having that time together is something you will not regret.
(and isn't YNAB cool? We had Jesse come and speak at a convention I worked on and he's amazing. I'll love it even more when it's compatible with my Mac!!)
Congrats again Eric!
Keep the receipts!! (how in the world do you spell that) Oh, and by default anything with a gift receipt or clear place to return automatically gets thrown in the "to return" pile. No matter how much you need it, right? I think we got about 13 9x13 pans. I returned as many as I could find a home for, gave 1 to Tammy, regifted 1 to someone, and still have 2 in their complete packaging in the bottom of a cupboard somewhere 3 years later. On top of the one we used. We got a late gift from my mom's neighbor (like a year late, she found it in her shed????) anyway, we opened it up... a set of pyrex with a 9x13 pan included. It was very nostalgic. Knock Knock, who's there? Orange... Orange who? Orangeya glad we didn't give you pyrex? LOL (wait, can I laugh at my own comment?) Glad the honeymoon was great. Give us a call when you need a cheap dinner after work some evening. We'd love to have you around.
That was supposed to be ones we used. We use much pyrex in our house... not only one.
Oh, and one more thing... (hey, don't give me a hard time, it was a long post) Who needs a budgeting software when you have my brain, JP's creativity, my perfectionism, and xcel spreadsheet? OK, so we do use Quicken too, but that's more like a checkbook register. Oh, and I almost forgot, Dave Ramsey, he's our favorite. With a smattering of the automatic millionaire guy. But honestly, it has morphed a lot over these 3 years. The best part is that we talk about it AT LEAST every month. That's why it morphs so often. For our first year we were too cheap to buy Quicken, so we did the whole thing in xcel. That was enough to drive me to insanity, but at least I had the time for it, and it was pretty fun.
So good to have you back in the blogging groove, my friend ... keep that magic coming. It gives me a lovely way to break up a fantastic day of interpreting the law and fashioning equitable remedies.
And sorry about the eight-o'clock work day start ... bummer.
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