look at the calendar. it’s already 2013.

my job requires me to look at the calendar.  a lot.  I have to set dates for meetings, events, deadlines, and so on {as I’m sure a lot of people’s jobs do …}

and the more I look at the squares that symbolize a brief 24 hour period of time and the lines that encompass the 7 day periods … the shorter the year becomes.

for instance:

it is currently the end of month number 2.  in 1 week I have a fundraising dinner.  2 days later, I’m throwing a bridal shower for my best friend.  a week after that, we are at a wedding.  4 days after that, we celebrate the big ol’ numero tres. the  next day, we jet ourselves over to the southern dakota {praise the Lord}. and just a few short days later, it’s the 4th month of the year. 

and I can do that with every month, it seems.  I already feel like I’m running behind on erik’s 31st birthday, and it’s still 6 months away.  oh, but that number 6 is deceiving I tell you. 

I am not in a rush.  and neither should the calendar be in a rush.  so come on.  slow down.  take a deep breath.  enjoy the day.  embrace the minute why don’t you.

ok, that was a good pep talk.  thank you.  I needed that.

a perk of loving a contractor

well, he’s more than a contractor.  he’s a carpenter.  he’s a wood worker.  and he’s extraordinary.  (remember, I’m allowed to brag.  that was part of the whole “let’s exchange vows in front of everyone we know” day).

anyway, erik has been talking about building us a bed since we got married and we’ve been throwing design ideas around for a while .  he’s been collecting pieces of wood from different  jobs that have helped add to our our idea book (by “book”, I mean, the verbal check marks we make next to ideas that come to our brains) … and once he brought home the perfect wood, we got inspired.

last year, I stumbled upon this picture that had made it’s way around the world of the wide web:

source

with this picture and the wood from a fence he had just torn down, our minds began to race.  ahhhhh!!!! 

we both fell in love with the old, gray wood, sprinkled with green moss.  we are both suckers for that beefy, rustic look.  and the creativity began to sore.

but alas, life took the time away. 

until a few weeks ago, when he became determined to make it.  at least to point of being usable.  sleepable.  and comfortable.

after a rather relaxed morning/early afternoon, he decided he was going to put it together.  we had dinner plans to bid farewell to a friend at 7:00pm.  and then we had friends staying over that night.  and the house wasn’t cleaned.  if we started the bed, then we’d have to finish it, at least enough to sleep on it.  that night.

so we debated.  do it?  or don’t do it?

erik had already framed the head board and foot board, so the work was really just the assembly (although this type of assembly isn’t exactly like putting an IKEA bed together).  so what did we decide? 

do it.  and don’t stop until it’s done.

since our garage was too small to fit the gigantic cal-king masterpiece, we started hauling the wood upstairs.

 

  
we still have some work to do, like painting the frame and filling in the holes from the screws.  but you get the overall idea from these pictures:

our room is kind of small, so the bed takes up most of our walking space.  to give you a frame of reference as to how big-slash-tall it is:  when erik sits on the bed, his feet hang about 8 inches off of the ground.  he says he’s going to cut it down a little shorter, but we’ll see!  I’m not entirely opposed to having to jump on the bed. some kids never learn, right?

next step.  charcoal grey bedding with green pillows.  someday.  but until then, I’m thoroughly enjoying this masterpiece.

that boy in the glasses

erik benson, the boy that I talk about a lot, is … well … blind.  ok, maybe not blind exactly, but he certainly can’t see the clarity that my brown eyes view the world through.  he sees more of a blur.  and has thus, spent most of all of our togetherness {over 5 years, that is}, squinting and straining.  I must say, though, he’s pretty lucky that he’s able to “squint-it-out”, which must mean he’s not as blind as I think he is.  however, in an effort to relax the poor muscles in his face, we did what we said we would do {years ago}, and we took him to the eye doctor.  and not just the walmart kind of eye doctor {not that their doctors of vision are any less legit, but their selection of frames isn’t as, let’s say, sturdy, as my contractor-man needs}, but we went to the real, get-your-eyes-dilated, kind of doctor.  and they promptly signed him up for a nice new pair of specs.

and I must say, he sure does look cute:

lame picture I know, but it’s the best I could steal without him protesting

I wanted him to get something along the lines of these:

but he went for the traditional black frames instead. 

probably a smart move.

musical surprise

as usual, this christmas, I did my very best to conjure up a new and exciting surprise for mr. benson.  It had to be something he wouldn’t expect {hence, calling it a “surprise”}.  something that would blow him out of the water.  spoil him.  and totally throw him off guard.

as usual: my mission was accomplished to perfection.  I must say, I’m a really good surpriser.  maybe I like surprising so much, because I like being surprised.  but whatever the reason, I’m a total pro.

hence, when I told my other-half to close his eyes while I pulled his over-sized, brown-paper-bag-wrapped gift out of the closet, he was a little confused. 

you see, I hid the gift, so he wouldn’t try guessing.  if he just saw the little packages under the tree, receiving a gigantic gift would be totally unexpected.  {I even hid the gift at my office for a month so I wouldn’t have to freak out if he took a step near the surprise-filled closet.}

while sitting on the couch that christmas eve morning {we started our tradition of opening gifts to each other on christmas eve morning, so we could do the whole shebang with the parents on christmas … I love our own traditions!}, he looked up and down that large, rectangular shaped box, wondering what it could be.

a new set of irons? but why would she think of that?  that would be awesome, but, hmmmm …

nope.  much to his pleasant surprise, the box was filled with an instrument meant for strumming by his rough, contractor-like fingers. 

and it was love at first sight.

hence, I am good at surprises.

I had the counsel of some good musician friends on which guitar to get … out of all the potentials submitted to the all-knowing guitarist {within my price-range of course}, this was his choice.  it’s been over a month, and I still get compliments by all the guys on the gift I got my hubs.  score.  home run.  touch down.  and so on.