Happy Birthday to my favorite person!!

Long before this ridiculously good-looking guy and I ever said "I love you," I started telling him "You're my favorite." Basically it was just my little way of saying "I like you a lot!" So, I just wanted to repeat that message to Joe today - on his 28th birthday!! When I met Joe he was only 22, and we went on our first date 2 days after his 23rd birthday. I even called him on his 23rd birthday even though he had just asked me out a few days before and we hadn't even gone out yet. And now here were are 5 years later! Since it the first time I've been a blogger on October 30, I thought I would take advantage of the opportunity to share a few (28, maybe) fun facts about Joe. (I stole this idea from Andy.)

1. Joe would probably spend the rest of his life at Lake Powell if he could.
2. Joe can fall asleep at any time, any place.
3. Joe gets an estimated 40% of his total sleep napping on the couch before going to bed.
4. He is really really funny (we both think so at least).
5. He loves teeth and flaps and drilling and sewing bones and gums, respectively.
6. He sings a lot but always the wrong words.
7. He is good at making up nicknames for me (usually not ones I like).
8. Joe lives for flag football (and I hope he'll live through one more year).
9. Joe is the hardest working person I know.
10. Joe is awesome at finding good deals.
11. He loves sports center.
12. He loves gatorade.
13. Joe has a steel plate in his arm.
14. He has had knee surgery, shoulder surgery, and 3 broken arms.
15. Joe wants to live on a lake someday.
16. Joe is scared to pick up frogs and snakes.
17. He has not embraced his role of family bug-killer very well.
18. My favorite part of his good looks are his adorable facial expressions. ;)
19. He is a nicer person than I am (= he is really nice).
20. He is a problem solver, not a complainer.
21. He puts up with a lot from me and handles it quite well.
22. He likes apple pie.
23. He gets in comment fights on blogs (watch out!).
24. His name was almost Pedro and he has previously been mistaken for a Mexican (watch the grown out hair and beard and deep summer tan).
25. He is almost a doctor!!
26. His wife is almost a lawyer. :)
27. He has placed a strict limit on the number of times I'm allowed to tell him "happy birthday" which I think is just plain rude.
28. He is my favorite person in the world!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOE!!! (Take that!!)

Worst. Thing. Ever.

So today my mom called me (returning my previous 3 phone calls) and I was like, "Mom, the worst thing EVER happened to me today," and she responded, "What, there was a spider in your shower?" Well, not quite. I guess it wasn't the worst thing ever because obviously, the worst thing ever would be a spider in the shower with you. I would probably scream bloody murder, pass out in sheer terror, and then be eaten alive by the spider. All in all, not a good way to go. Anyway, what DID happen to me today was coming across a huge, nasty, disgusting, dark brown spider in the middle of my kitchen floor. I screamed bloody murder and wanted to die, but knowing I had to kill it I summoned all my courage and killed the dang thing with Joe's flip flop (sorry, babe). I would have used the bug zapper (shaped like a small tennis racket with metal bars instead of strings that send electronic currents through bugs I come across) but the spider was blocking the closet where the zapper is located. Ahhh! The first squish didn't work and the monster started scurrying away but luckily I got it with the next whack. And look at the mess it made!!!! I told you it was BIG!!!So then I was hyperventilating for about 15 minutes, trying to call my mom for some assistance in calming down, and just plain trying to cope with this sanity-suspending terror called arachnophobia. I eventually cleaned up the guts, cleaned off Joe's shoe, and even made my way into the scary unfinished laundry room to change the laundry (I know I didn't find the spider there but it is like a spider breeding ground and my phobia was on edge at the moment). When my mom called I had to tell her the story and relive the utter terror all over again while she laughed and laughed at me. And now, here I am again reliving the horror of this terrible episode for no apparent reason except to entertain my blog readers. I am telling you, my throat is closing up and I am shaking. NO JOKE. I am soooo scared!!! Tears are forming. I need to leave and go calm down somehow. If I have to see another spider that size before Joe comes home I think I will die. I talked to him today on gchat and he promised to spray for bugs when he got back. Thank goodness!

P.S. If you leave a comment, please make sure it is constructive given the situation. The last thing I need is more horrific stories for me to lose sleep over (like my mom telling me that she had a spider in the shower with her recently). Ahhhh!!

Our Car Situation

So we seem to have found ourselves in a bit of an unexpected predicament! A week and a half ago, our trusty '96 Honda Accord broke down at 2:00 in the morning while Joe was on the 695 on his way to pick up his family from the airport. Luckily, Nate & Lori were also on their way to the airport since we can't fit the fam in 1 car, and they helped push the car off the freeway. The next day, Nate's Xterra towed the car to a repair shop ... only for us to find out a couple days later that repairing our little Honda would be cost prohibitive based on what the car is worth. Whoa! We knew we needed to buy a second car next year when we graduated, but weren't exactly prepared to purchase a replacement vehicle at a moment's notice.

To complicate things a little more, Joe left for his dental school externship in Mexico City the next day (although we are grateful the car didn't break on me a few days later while I was here all alone!). Now that the Honda has been successfully towed back to its parking spot, this is what it looks like in front of our house: To the right, the worthless Honda Accord. And to the left: the LIFESAVER car I borrowed from Jeremy Skinner! (He went on the same externship so he wasn't going to need it for a couple weeks.) The 88 Acura is a "metro car" and can't be driven much further without completely overheating and scaring you to death! The warning lights start going on one by one as soon as you turn the car on, but hey, it works! So far I haven't had problems getting it started so I am keeping my fingers crossed. I am so grateful to have a car to get me to and from the metro while Joe is gone because walking just doesn't sound like fun. Thank you so much Jeremy and Hannah!

Anyway, here I am at home without Joe wondering what car we are going to buy when he gets back. It can't exactly be a leisurely process because you can only bum rides for so long, especially with our schedules which are all over the place. I told Joe I'd do some research and figure out what I liked, but it's really not much fun. It would be fun if he were here. HE is the one who looks at cars on ebay 4 times a week - although usually at luxury cars that we can't afford just yet (or ever).

So what to do? I can definitely say that I'm not going to miss this paint job ... (for some reason our car starting getting a whole lot worse-looking after we moved to Md.)

But even though the 88 Acura still drives, I'm afraid this paint job isn't any better.

So wish us luck on figuring out what to do. And wish me luck getting through another week without Joe. 6 days down and 8 to go. This is the longest we've been apart since being married and I really hate it. I miss my hubbie ... plus the fact that we haven't even had a phone call yet (except for a 60 second one the day after he left) has been kind of a bummer. We have gotten to chat online a couple of times so that has been great.

So PLEASE Joe, come home SOON and buy me a CAR!! :) Thank you dearest.