Ron and I were in the kitchen, working at our own tasks and staring at the walls a bit. I broke the silence.

“I was just thinking how I need to finally paint the kitchen walls.”

“Yes, you do. ” (My husband. So agreeable.)

“Actually,” I continued, “What I really thought of was saying how you needed to help me finish up the rest of the walls and get started on the painting, but then I figured you’d say something about how I was the one who wanted to do it, therefore it was my job and you have too many projects on the go already and don’t need me adding to your list any more than I am already and then I would have said you have a point and I really need to get at this.”

He dried off his hands. “I’m glad we had this chat.”

Today is Ron’s birthday, and since he’s too modest to mention it on his own blog (where the comments are semi-broken anyway), you can wish him a happy day here.

I’m gonna try and spoil him as best I can.

It’s Easter and also our 18th wedding anniversary. How cool. We had chocolate and roses, but most of all we had each other. The girls made pizza for supper and formed Ron’s into a heart. (Mine already had stuff on it before they came up with that idea.) How sweet of them.

We don’t really do much for easter in our house. It always struck us as worse to have presents and things at this time of year than at Christmas. We’re all for chocolate and candy, just not boatlods.

When Mom did her usual Sunday call, she asked if we had anything special planned. Not really, I told her, just installing the new pellet stove that showed up on Wednesday. “See what I mean?” she asked. At least we didn’t go on a date to the tractor store this time. (He just said he still hears about this… year after year.. OKAY we went to the fabric store too.)

So yes, we putzed around the house and installed a new pellet stove, getting quite dirty in the process and there was even a little bickering. I’m sure it would have taken less time without all that kissing though.

The day we got married, it rained. It was warm enough Ron wore a suit jacket. I don’t remember wearing a coat. It was very cold out today, and the snow is stiil there. Two hours south of us there’s none.

At this point I guess we’re too poor to get divorced, and it’s too much work to re-train a new husband, not when he’s almost perfect. I’d better keep him.

My husband, to the clerk, “Oh, I renovate old homes for fun!”

Something must have struck us lately, for most of the week we’ve been somewhat zombie-fied, tired andlethargic. No other sick symptoms than a runny nose, which I chalked up to allergies or reactions to all the dust from the fields. One night we even just lay there watching a movie in my bedroom - with no sound but the subtitles on.

It wasn’t until I tried to scrunch lower down under the covers that I realized someone short-sheet my bed. I leaned over and smacked Ron on the arm. “WHAT?” he laughed. Sarah came in while I was still ranting at Ron, and she was grinning. You’d think with her birthday around the corner she’d wouldn’t be up to no good like that.

Otherwise, it’s been quiet. Ron did redo the dryer vent to the outside. I wanted to take pictures of the before and after, but he said it’d require too much explaining and was too head-shaking. We also stood around in the basement looking at the plumbing. It is a spectacular example of how to use as much pipe as possible. One section even does a u-turn, and anothe, instead of going straight across, goes left then two rights to get to the same point. Pictures when we get to fixing that who knows when.
We had weird weather too. It was cloudy, darkly overcast, sunny and hot, gale force winds then rain. And that was just YESTERDAY.

Fall colors are starting to get really bright here, so I think we may go on a photo hunt soon.

With the cold, we’re thinking about how we’d like to heat the house. There’s a sorry looking oil furnace down there, so we’re weighing the cost of gettign that running and a tank of oil (ew) versus something like a pellet stove.

And Thanksgiving is next weekend, so I have to cook for whoever is going to show up.

I know, I’m boring today. I had tons of ideas that all fly away when I open the “write post” window. *sigh* I bet a million little things will happen now.

We took an impromptu road trip today, and wound up in my favorite huge fabric store. One I don’t go to very often (like once every couple of years) because I’m either not sewing or I know I’d spend money. I’ve got a few sewing projects coming up - namely, heavy window coverings for our old and draft single-pane huge windows. So we went looking for suitable fabric.

I actually like taking Ron into a fabric store. He’s got a good eye and good taste and he piles on more bolts than I would. He was the one who found the *quilted* burgundy fabirc just wide enough for the windows and 3.5 meters left for $2. Yeah, that said TWO DOLLARS a metre.

I was rifling through a bin of discounted flannel when I mused out loud how great he is. The lady next to me said she wouldn’t ever get her husband in the store unless they sold guns. I confess I gushed a little about Ron, and right when I grabbed a bolt and fawned over this *cute* retro pinup girl stuff, he popped his head around the corner with another bolt of the same fabric in hand. She turned to me and said, “Oooo, he’s gooood.” I know.

More pics and stuff later. I’m still recovering from the constant chatter all the way home.

Edited to add pic: