Saturday, January 30, 2010

Worst week ever in the busy-business.

Kyle and I have happened upon this awful habit over the last week or so of passing out in bed without the usual preparations for bed...family scripture study has fallen by the wayside, it's a chore to get up and brush our teeth (thankfully I've managed to drag myself awake to do that every night, even if it's at five in the morning), and we can't even seem to make it to the light switch for a lights out! What's wrong with us? Are we really just that tired?

This week was a hard one for both of us. I've worked more hours than usual this week and haven't had a day off (until today...Saturday! Woohoo!), which means that it's been a scramble to get my assignments done on time, let alone get things completed a day or so in advance. I remember when I'd have my assignments finished a week or so early. Ha. That was before I was married. What a joke.

Lack of adequate amount of time to do homework has caused us some problems this week. I've failed the second night class quiz in a row because I couldn't get the reading done, and Kyle's opted to skip readings altogether in favor of getting sleep. One of the worst days this week was on Thursday when he realized he'd neglected to turn in an assignment online the day before. The jam-packed schedule has caused the house to turn into a disaster zone!

It's sort of pathetic to say, but we've got a system worked out for 20 hours of work a week apiece. If you do what happened to me this week (put me at 22 hours) things fall apart. You can't work us certain days, I think (Tuesdays and Thursdays). It gets to be too crazy.

So we're looking forward to next week for sure. I'm at 19.5 hours...it's a bit of a slowdown! You don't think that matters too much, but it does! And Kyle will have the typical 20 hour schedule as well. *Sigh of relief. This week is done.

Monday, January 25, 2010

My Sleep Talking Wife II

Megan: This is like a movie.
Me: What is?
Megan: Right now.
Me: What?
Megan: It's like 'Now Playing'...and 'Coming Soon'...Popcorn!

-Kyle

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

My Sleep Talking Wife

This is the conversation I had with Megan at about 12:12 this morning.

(The furnace clicks on)
Megan: Make sure you put away the toaster.
Me:(Just climbing into bed) Meg, the toaster hasn't been out since breakfast.
Megan: I just heard it!
Me: No you didn't.
Megan: I'm sure I did.
Me: Maybe you heard the furnace.
Megan: Just make sure you put the toaster away.

Another time:

Megan: Do they carry them?
Me: What?
Megan: Green beans?
Me: We already have green beans in the food storage.
Megan: I know, but do they sell them at Macy's?!

-Kyle

Monday, January 18, 2010

Boring MLK Day.

Right now I'm home alone with Tiger. Kyle went into work at 9 (you better believe I wasn't up yet. Although I did do the wifely thing and sit up to kiss my husband goodbye...) and now it's almost 11 and I'm totally lonely.

I think since I've been married I've become a needy person! It hurts to even be a few hours without knowing that Kyle is waiting for me somewhere...which is...weird? Friday night he went to Pokagon with the youth from our church and spent all night there and didn't get home til about midnight. Even though I had plenty to do (homework, read a book, movies rented from the library, dishes and laundry to do), I still noticed how lonely I was. I hate this part of it. Maybe I'm just spoiled :)

So my day consists of: homework--which is actually just a lot of reading and a few written responses, calling Biolife to see if they can get me in today to donate, calling my former roommate Heather about getting a haircut, showering, and going to work. Ugh. It's not eventful (which are the best kind of days!), but anything that entails homework and going to work, and I'd just rather go back to bed! I'm a lazy bum, and it shows. I wish I were doing something fun for MLK day--some people do service or have activities that they go to, but not me. I had too much homework build up this past week to even think about taking the day off. It's just not meant to be!

On the other hand, today has been good in that Tiger is being awfully snuggly today without Kyle here. Instead of waking up to Kyle, I got to wake up to Tiger licking my face and rubbing his head against my hair. He even buried his face under my chin for a whole five minutes. I get kitty love when hubby love isn't available I guess. I suppose it's nice having two men in the house ;)

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

First Day of Classes Are....

....exhausting. Boring. Uneventful. I already want out.

Is it a sad commentary that I want to be working in a school setting for the rest of my life? Maybe? I am consoled by reminding myself that it's completely different on the other side of the desk. Teaching students is way different than BEING a student. I'm just so sick of papers and portfolios and syllabi and discussion posts...ew. Three more semesters of this crap (but at least one of them is shortened because it's summer). And I'm OUT.

I can't wait to be a teacher. I can't wait until life is just....not crazy and hectic because Kyle and I can't get our school schedules to mesh. *Sigh. And I can't wait to be able to get to bed at a decent time every night (and not like 4 AM) because I'm not having to go to class, then go to work, THEN come home to do homework and other crap like that.

I'm having a bad day. An awful first day. I was just too spoiled by the break, I think. And the wedding made it go by so quickly so that it seemed like it wasn't even really a break. It felt like it never existed! Where did it go?

Sad, sad day :(

On the plus side, I think we're going to try some peppercorn something-or-other hamburgers tonight. I'll let everyone know if they turn out well! Grocery shopping tonight AS WELL AS a library card for the Muncie libraries! This will be good in the renting movies :)

Saturday, January 9, 2010

The Untitled Novel.

So today I have off work and decided that it was absolutely necessary to get the rest of the house in order before school began...which means pretty much it must get done today! The reason it's taken a week...other than the fact that Kyle and I have been relaxing most of the week and enjoying our time together (which includes watching loooooots of movies)...is that I've been doing some thorough cleaning/organizing. Like arranging all the wedding stuff in a box and preparing it for a scrapbook. Cleaning out the hall closet (we have entirely too many board games now). Even wiping off the top of the refrigerator (found Kyle's scholarship paperwork up there, so I'm glad I did).

I was cleaning out the dresser that we use as a buffet in the dining room (the drawers are neatly stuffed with wrapping paper, pencils and other supplies, batteries, my crocheting stuff, etc.) when I came across a pleasant surprise. Underneath the empty picture frames and in between sketchpads was Kyle's novel! It was so inconspicuous-looking in a black binder with his name written in marker across the front, and I almost threw the binder on the "unnecessary" pile of his stuff that would have just gotten stacked on his side of the bed (with a reminder before bed that it wasn't allowed to be stuck anywhere randomly again and must be put away correctly before he's even allowed to pull back the blanket).

I was shocked to see it again. You see, the novel was one of the ways Kyle got me to get so involved with him--he'd say, "Meg, I need a beta and I really respect your opinion!" For those of you who don't know what that is, it means that when someone's a writer, they need someone to do a second reading of their work--catch any loopholes, flaws, or make sure the characters don't act out in a way that's uncharacteristic of how the writer's built them thus far. This person is called a beta (which denotes the second in something). I'm sure not every writer needs them. But I know the good ones do. Orson Scott Card's beta is his wife. J.K. Rowling has hired someone to be her beta (this is because her work is so big and popular and she's actually only reread her books a few times that it's easy to forget what she's made a character say or do, so someone is actually hired to just continually read her books to catch any discrepancies before the new ones were published).

Anyway, Kyle would ask me to read his book a chapter at a time--he was working on it steadily then--and use what skills I developed in classes from analyzing literature (English majors do too much of this, I think) and characters to help him. I also fixed his grammar, which he didn't particularly ask for, but I did anyway. I remember reading a chapter at a time and feeling like I was getting to know him better because of his character construction (he based them on real people, or at least parts of them). It was interesting to see things how he saw them.

Then we began dating. We were occupied doing different things over the year(s). School consumed us both. Then work. Then the wedding. I haven't heard about his novel lately, although I've read plenty of short stories and flashes. He keeps getting better and better the longer he's in school--one of his professors from last semester wrote to him expressing hope that he'd attempt to publish some of his stories from class, but as far as I know, he hasn't. It makes me a little sad.

I mentioned the other day that he should work on his writing more often when he's not working or doing school work. I want to help him get excited about editing (and re-editing) so he can get a short story published instead of just poetry here and there. He's got plenty of material...just hasn't entered them in very many places. I worry that I've taken him away from that despite the fact that I support his writing more than anyone else ever has. It seems like a two-edged sword.

I think I'll keep his novel out. Maybe after I finish cleaning today (if that EVER happens) and before I make dinner (which promises to be time-consuming tonight because I'm trying something new), I'll beta a few more chapters. And then I'll leave it on the coffee table. And I'll not say anything else about it. The book is good--he just hasn't touched it in about a year and a half. Maybe that'll change now that we're married?

We'll see....

Friday, January 8, 2010

Man shall not live by Banana Bread alone...

So....yesterday was a good day in that:

(a) I got a massage
(b) I went to work and no one really came in to shop because of the snow so we mostly stood around and talked and did shipment
(c) Kyle made a pizza for when I came home
(d) We watched a movie!

My massage was given to me by my wonderful friend from church who does massages on the side. Best of all, it was FREE as a wedding gift! I haven't had a massage in awhile--I typically average one a year and the last one was like this past March. It was sooooo relaxing. I like to talk during my massages though (I'm realizing more and more lately that it's hard for people to get me to shut up), so I had a fun time chatting with my friend about her family, how the wedding went, how married life is, school, all kinds of things.

After that, I came home and got ready to go to work, and it was completely DEAD. Seriously, I think we had maybe ten people the whole time I was there (the last five hours). I did maybe four transactions on the register. It was ridiculous! We got kind of upset at customers who did come in, though...who shops in the crazy snow we had yesterday? How dare them butt in in the middle of our conversation and make us have to look like we're working hard? Just kidding! (Except seriously, why?)

Pizza and movie! I love pizza, so that was easy. Kyle went to the grocery store twice this week...we let our groceries dwindle before we left for Christmas and for the wedding that way we left like zero things to go bad. Only bad thing about that is that when we got home, we had nothing to eat! I sent Kyle to get some groceries while I was at work on Monday, and sadly he came home with only the necessities like milk, breakfast juice, cereal, and a few other silly odd and end things. When it came to making dinner on Tuesday, I opened up the cabinet to figure out what to make while Kyle was at work and there was NOTHING! Unless we wanted to eat cereal for every meal for the rest of the week, nothing! We have meat that we could thaw out, but nothing to put it in, nothing to have it with...even if I got creative (like I was planning to) and full-out making a meal instead of cheating and using something from a box, we didn't have ingredients enough to make ANYTHING (and I know because I went through all of my cookbooks). I could make banana bread, but man shall not live by banana bread alone, you know.

So after Kyle and I "discussed" our grocery situation, he went back to the store on Wednesday and picked up some more groceries to last us the rest of the week. Our menu thus far has been: coney dogs, pizza, Mexican (tonight), and chicken-fried rice (tomorrow). Definitely not the healthiest, but surely very yummy. I give him points for trying to make up for the first time, though!

So the pizza was very good. And we got to watch a movie of my choice! We take turns picking movies for our movie nights, and tonight I picked the Egg and I.


Such a great oldie! Kyle was unsure of how he would like it (when I read the description he thought it sounded silly), but as part of the rules, we cannot complain about the other's choices and at least have to give it a chance. And guess what? He laughed and was definitely entertained...and when I asked him if he liked it, he answered with a shrug and said "It was okay."

In boy talk, this means yes!

So it was a pretty good day, I have to say. Maybe today will be just as good? We're supposed to be hanging things on the wall today and maybe finishing putting up the blinds (only two sets left but they're a weird size so we're still trying to find some). And after blinds, who knows? Hanging things on the wall, possibly moving my antique trunks in to decorate, getting some area rugs, getting my furniture shampooed...the list goes on and on and on....someday our house is going to look like a real home instead of a temporary living space! And I can't wait!


Wednesday, January 6, 2010

My Wife is a Turd: An In-Depth Study on Why Megan is Such a Butthead

OK, so I might not be the easiest to wake up in the morning, but Megan also didn't mention that I went to work last night. Or the fact that she's taken two or three naps a DAY these last two days and this is fairly typical of her. She doesn't mention the days when I have to kick her out of bed so she'll be ready on time (yeah sure she gets up before me, but only because I make her).

Basically, Megan sleeps a lot more than I do. She just does it during the day. If I were to even try that I'd get an ear full about not being productive, but of course it's OK when she does it. Plus it's not like there's anything important to do today...

So there you have it Megan is a turd...case closed...

My Sleeping Husband

Kyle is so ridiculous in the morning--or, actually, it could be afternoon. What I meant was Kyle is so ridiculous in the hour or so right before he rolls out of bed (which, when I have anything to do with it, is the morning). Mostly I like to wake up a little earlier than planned on leisurely days so I can just laugh at him as he tries to convince me that he's awake.

It always starts when the alarm goes off. The alarm's on his side of the bed until we get the bedroom furniture finished (which will hopefully be soon since the wedding plans are done), so I have to always ask him to shut it off for me. Since he's also deaf in the morning, this entails me lazily not moving and shouting "KYLE! Could you get that?" Typically the first time he offers no response and dutifully hits snooze.

So then I get up, go to the bathroom, go get a drink, and come back to the bedroom to give Kyle his Adderall (if you don't know what that is, check this out) because there is no way we can depend on Kyle taking it himself--you'll understand why in a minute. I've learned that gently prodding Kyle won't necessarily get a response from him when administering Adderall, so again I have to raise my voice slightly while maintaining cheeriness: "Kyle...Adderall time!" Still asleep, today he only opened his mouth a little wider instead of holding out his hand. So I added the (gentle?) nudge in with it and he dutifully held out his hand. It's very important that you watch him take the Adderall. I've heard stories from him before that when left to his own devices, one Adderall pill has been stuck to his face upon waking while the other lay lost in his bed. His mom also told me about the time Kyle sleepily "forgot" to sit up when taking the water to wash the Adderall down and literally just poured water all over his face. Humorous.

So I wait for the alarm clock to continue to go off. I figure it's helpful in Kyle's waking process to have to shut off each one of them. The first one goes off and of course, Kyle's too tired to hear it. "Kyle! Alarm clock." He never asks me why I never just roll over to shut if off since I'm obviously awake. I don't think his sleepy brain even realizes I'm up. He hits snooze again (which is the biggest and closest button to him). Great! I get a re-run in ten minutes.

"Kyle. Could you get the alarm?" He tries to shut it off with his foot.

"Kyle...the alarm's going off." He rolls over away from me toward the clock, even reaches out for it, but he falls short and just continues to sleep.

Then this, three times: "Sweetheart. The alarm. You could turn it off instead of snoozing it" (it is only a button higher and would stop this nonsense). The first time he completely ignores me and just hits snooze. The second time he sat up exaggeratedly, making it look like he was planning to stay awake (didn't happen). The last time he just hit snooze and waved his hand and said "Pshaw". He does get a little crazy when it's time to get up. He would never in real life actually say that.

And, again, right now: "You could just shut it off." He mumbles something. "What?" More mumbling. "One more time?"

"I said....(deep breath)...WHATEVER DUDE!" Then, realizing he yelled at me without meaning to, he scoots closer and lays his head on my arm in apology. Opening one eye, he sees my blog open, and says jokingly, "You can quote me on that."

I laugh and tell him I will. He probably doesn't remember that now as he's asleep again. Poor, poor boy. I guess the only way to get him up is to dangle breakfast in his face...

...which is how I got him up yesterday.

Monday, January 4, 2010

We're married now, so we share a blog.

Mostly I like to think that since we're married, we're good at sharing everything. Right? Right! Since I have a blog that I keep, I'll share it with Kyle. And since Kyle has a blog that he doesn't keep (no updates since May), we'll throw his away! Just kidding (kind of).

So I've done some major renovations here on my existing blog and have changed it to be a blog about Kyle's and my life together. Even the title has changed! It's now Byards' Bywords. Let's get a definition of that for everyone, please:

Byard-- our last name. Pretty self-explanatory.

Byword-- a condensed but memorable saying embodying some important fact of experience that is taken as true by many people

Very fitting for a blog, if I do say so myself.

So, onto other things. The reception went very well and is now officially OVER (thank goodness). As of right now, the to-do list consists of cleaning the house and making it worthy to live in again (which means getting rid of all the wedding junk laying around), changing my last name with the Social Security and all that jazz, working on my FHE lesson for tonight, and other various small activities that aren't too taxing. Kyle and I have just decided to mostly be bums and enjoy our time together this week before we go back to class.

Married life is a good time! I love being married and I don't know that there will be a time that I won't love it. Kyle and I were married in the Lord's temple, so that makes it even better because we know we're doing the right thing. We got many wonderful gifts from our friends and families, and we're so thankful that they could come help us celebrate! It was an amazing week, which leads into an amazing life.

Yeah, it's kind of a big deal :)