So this is what Honey looks like this time of year. Poor Honey.
In between driving him crazy with all the purchases—Have I mentioned that I’m not a shopper normally? This means that Honey lives pretty much stress free of going broke 90% of the year, but during the holidays? *Side eyes you* I make up for the drought. Just sayin’…
And with our current remodel in full swing? Well, it’s good I made those crib notes on my wedding day about why I fell in love with him. Also just sayin’… *Shakes head*
But then, there are those times I don’t need the notes. Lately there’s been more than a few occasions and I thought I’d share them with you. 
The first instance came when I was doing the last load of laundry before Honey moved our washer and dryer out to the garage so he could do the floor in there. If you’ve been following my blog for a while you know I hate doing laundry. (<-You may want to come back to this link. It’s a good one!) Meh, hate is such a mild word for how I feel about the topic. Loathe. Detest. *Looks right at you* I’d rather slam both hands in a car door than be chained to those machines for the day, but I digress.
Imagine me in the purgatory room emptying his pockets. I found the standard items, a screw, a nut, a bolt, a couple of tile spacers, and…? Five purchase slips for a needy family’s holiday dinner. *Sigh* It wasn’t so much that he’d bought them. Honey frequently does stuff like this. It was that we’d just gone grocery shopping and he reminded me to add a couple to our purchase. He never mentioned that he’d already bought some. Is it wrong of me to find that extremely sexy? Probably, but don’t judge me. I do worse things than that. *Thinks* Like eats peanut butter out of the jar with a spoon *gasp* several times in succession and I wear slipper socks *leans in to whisper* the ones that have the toes. So worse, right? 
But back to Honey and the remodel…
There he was swearing up a contractor storm. I mean, like frying my ears off type deal, and then he finally goes quiet all of a sudden. In the next breath he’s leaning into my office with a contrite expression on his face, and says, “Sorry, babe. I’ll tone it down a little, okay?”
I didn’t miss a beat. I smiled at him and said as clear and strongly as I could, “You filthy talking, Mother %$#$! I don’t give a ^%$%# what you $#@#!@ do as long as you do your %$%$#!! job and do it well.”
He nearly fell through the doorway before he’d manage to catch himself. Then he all he did was laugh before he went to work. That had me smiling for the rest of that particular afternoon.
Then there was the Monday night. That would be the 14th and also Honey and my anniversary. So we did what we usually do on our special day/night. We went out to dinner and I did what I usually do. I ask him the same question every year. Propping my chin in my palm, I asked, “So gorgeous, what do you love about me?”
Normally he’s pretty dirty with his answer and his words are focused on *cough, cough* more than just my witty conversation, ya know what I’m saying? But on Monday? He surprised me. He went down a list of some very, very, heartfelt and wonderful things, but you know? The one that stuck out to me was when he said, “You never put anything away. It’s like you leave it there on the counter, or tipped up against the cabinet for me to take care of and all I do is shake my head, and say, that’s my Riley.”
*Sniffle* It wasn’t even the words. It was the massive shrug he affected afterwards, as if to say he didn’t understand this himself that had me all teary-eyed. *Blows nose and then looks at you* Now I feel guilty purposely trying to drive him crazy by leaving that sh*t out all the time. No worries either. Right after this he delved into the dirty stuff.
*Sniffles again*
Oh, I almost forgot to tell you about what happened over the weekend. After we worked really hard on moving things around so he could tile a portion of the family room – it was late and we took the poochie out. I’d read somewhere that there was going to be a star shower or something, so I mentioned it.
“Tonight there’s a celestial event. You should be able to see shooting stars.”
Of course Honey loves this kind of stuff. Remember him and his documentaries? So what did we do? We both stopped and looked up. Poochie there doing a double and triple take, thinking we’ve lost our minds, and it isn’t until I remember what day it is and how long ago I read that article that I realize I might have made a mistake.
I hate admitting mistakes. I don’t know why. So there I am debating on telling him I got the dates mixed up.
We’re still standing side-by-side staring up.
I’m still hedging…and then I say, “Meh, it’s cloudy we’ll never see anything.”
“What do you mean? It’s as clear as glass.”
“Milk glass. Seriously. It’s no big deal.”
He gets really quiet and then he sighs.
Keep in mind we’re still staring up at the sky.
He says, “Am I to understand by your backpedaling that there’s no star shower happening tonight?”
“Yep.”
“Okay, so you want to point out the constellations or should I?”
“Go for it.”
And he did.
The poor poochie thought we were nuts.
But then…
*Cue the Dun-Dun-Dun music here*
When we got back to the house Honey went right to the hall closet and pulled out a shoebox. I recognized the look on his face right away.
“What did you do?”
He cringed a little and said, “I was going to tell you tomorrow, but…well, here.”
I took the box and looked inside. I didn’t see anything but a mish-mash of broken bits. I shook it a little and then asked, “What is it?”
“Your lion off that top of that wooden box in the spare room. It fell after I bumped into it.”
I nodded. It was okay. I liked that lion, but accidents happen. “That’s okay.”
“Babe?”
I knew what that meant. “There’s more?”
“The frog. You know the glass one the boy brought home from Europe ?”
Oh, no. I didn’t want to make Honey feel bad, but that was a memento. A glass piece my son carried in his backpack all over Europe to bring home for me after he graduated high school – all because he knew I loved frogs. I swallowed my disappointment. “I’m sure it was an accident,” I said.
Honey cleared his throat. “And your angel. The one that was over the door.”
*Tilts head to look at you* Seriously? Honey bought me that angel when we moved into the house! It sat over the door frame for so many years it had become a fixture. Who the hell was this guy? Attila the contractor?
I stared up at him. “Anything else broken?”
He nodded and there I was thinking this better be good because he was going to get it, when he whispered, “My heart when I broke them. I’m sorry.”
Yeah, I know. I was throwing my hands up in the air too. How can you get mad at that? You can’t. So I gave him a great big hug and told him he better become twinkle toes around our place from now on. But then I had to ask. “You didn’t feel bad about the lion?”
“I can buy you a thousand lions to replace that one. But the frog and angel? They were attached to one of a kind moments.”
One of a kind moments…
So true.
Then he said, “We’ll have to make some more of those.”
And we did. 
So all in all? It’s been an interesting few weeks with Honey – to say the least.
*sigh and then perks up*
Oh! Don’t forget about tomorrow. I’m doing that guest post. It couldn’t have come at a better time, right? I’ll post the link here as soon as I get it.
Update! I have the link to Rebecca Zanetti’s blog. . Here it is. Click here!
How’s everyone holding up coming so close to the holiday? Good? Bad? Do you find yourselves having more wine than usual, or are you just whining more than usual? I know I’m doing both.
Thanks for stopping by!
Riley