The merging has started…

Since I have to consolidate my cell phone and my wireless card for my computer to one plan I extended the opportunity to Alex to have our first merger and convert our two separate plans into one family plan. I reached out to Alex and worded this as our “first merger” but not to feel any pressure and saying no was perfectly acceptable. He agreed without any thought but corrected me that this wasn’t our first merger – as he has yarn at his place to prove it (not to mention shoes, clothes, bathroom stuff).

It’s so easy with Alex – easy to communicate, easy to get along, it just flows. We can talk for hours, cuddle for hours, spend a lot of time together and it makes us both so happy.

His weekends away are lessening due to some chaos on the gaming front but he did add that he loathes time away from me as a secondary reason. That was a first in him admitting that and it did surprise me.

Alex tells me he misses me now when I’m away instead of saying “you’ll be back soon”, he tells me loves me before I say it to him and he discusses our future in a lot more detail. Life is great – actually it’s amazing.

I’m leaving Boston in two days and couldn’t be more thrilled. I’m taking a week off and have many days already planned with house, car and life items to complete but I do plan on spending at least one day just knitting. I have the knitting bug again and am working feverishly on holiday gifts.

Small Miracles

Slowly things are coming together and small miracles are starting to happen.

The first miracle and I’m trying to not jinx myself – I’ll be leaving my Boston project next week. There are a few caveats and obstacles that could cause a delay in my exit but I’m rather confident that my time is up in Boston (at least for this client).

Another small miracle – I’m on vacation Labor Day week and have many fun house projects planned – mostly around painting rooms and I’m really looking forward to it. I’m feeling very bold lately in taking on house projects. The red room will be changing to a completely different color (yet to be determined).

I plan on reconnecting with my friends and family who have officially declared me MIA since dating Alex. I plan on spending time with everyone this weekend as Alex is out of town for a convention.

The last miracle will have to wait because it’s a biggie. It’s life changing.

You Will Be an Unconventional Bride!

You're probably the type of girl who never considered getting married - until you met *him* You're not a big fan of white dresses, church weddings, or cheesy DJ's That's okay - you'll do it your way... whether that means a Vegas wedding or guys as bridesmen While you may not toss the bouquet (or have anyone to toss it to), it will still be the most romantic day of your life!

What Kind of Bride Will You Be?

A weekend of going out.

Alex and I had the best weekend together and we spent every day out. Friday night after his long day of work he picked me up and we went out for dinner followed up by bar hopping. We hit about 5 bars, played putt putt golf (the scene of the first date) mid way through the night and just had a lot of great conversations.

Saturday I woke up with an ear infection and basically slept the day away. Neither one of us was moving too fast or too swiftly after our night out.

The big, long awaited dinner was Saturday night. Alex and I had dinner with my parents at Johnny’s. The food was only fair but the company was great. I put Alex next to my dad and I sat next to my mom knowing very well there would be two conversations at the small table. My dad and Alex hit it off very well. He’s been asked for a follow up coffee in a few weeks and Alex said he’s never had a call back with anyone’s parents before.

Sunday I went to the doctor and watched them flush out a big glob of blood from my ear and then they made my other ear gush blood. It was one of the worst experiences at a doctor’s office I’ve ever had. I went in with one ear infected and left with both really infected. I was manhandled by a nurse, told by the doctor to find things to suck on (which Alex found most humorous) and was told all the flying I do will eventually ruin my ear drums.

We spent Sunday afternoon at the IMAX watching Harry Potter and the Order of The Phoenix. The movie was great and the IMAX theater made it so much better. Alex is not a Harry Potter fan but endured the long movie nonetheless.

After the movie we went to German Hassen downtown and discussed the movie – I thought it was good but I read the book and if I hadn’t read the book the movie would have been challenging to follow.

We did our weekly bbq, found a late night Walgreens to fill my ear infection prescription, switched cars, and did household Sunday chores.

Life is more settled, our relationship very committed and we’re just very happy.

A lot can happen in 3.5 hours…

Alex and I spoke for over 3.5 hours last night and seemingly figured out life, our life. Time flies on the phone with Alex and it’s so hard to say goodnight most nights.

It’s been over two months now and I pointed out that in this time we’ve had no arguments, no disagreements, nothing. We just have fun together and laugh all the time. We have such similar morals and beliefs that we approach situations in rather the same mind set.

I’ve made some very big professional decisions lately that will affect my life and our life. I’m hopeful to share some good news shortly. Alex has been extremely supportive and has listened to hours of my rambling and offered up some great advice.

We started talking about living together and the responsibilities of owning a house since Alex currently lives in an apartment. He told me he’s ready for his “honey do” list which currently exists as a contractor list. There’s nothing extremely urgent left on my house to do list but I appreciated his willingness to accept the responsibility that comes with owning a house.

I had new kitchen floors and laundry floors put in my house a few weeks ago which took out the cat smell in the house. I have cleaned out the house, goodwill has 8 garbage bags full of clothes and my house is ready for guests. The only two rooms outstanding are the yarn room and the soon to be library. At least all of my yarn is in the same room which is a rather large accomplishment in itself.

Travelling is so hard these days – take out the concept of the crappy and unappreciative clients, the long hours, the endless flights and I just want to be home. Home for my sanity and home to be with Alex. He’s not the catalyst for my desire to change careers but the extra time with him is such a large added bonus. I’ve never experienced so much burnout, worked so many hours and wanted to change careers as much as I want to right now.

Everyone around me is supportive – my friends, my family and Alex. I’m fortunate to have such a great supporting cast.

On a random note – the platypus has been named – his name is Buster. Alex loves Buster.

A great Sunday.

We decided to sleep in Sunday after I arrived back in Iowa late Saturday night. No cell phones, no alarm clocks, nothing. After lounging in bed we decided it was time to get up as we were hungry and needed caffeine. I decided to take a quick shower and as I was getting dressed, Alex knocked on the bathroom door and said that his mom left him a message inviting us to an impromptu brunch. I asked him what time it was and what time she wanted to meet. I almost fell over when he said it was after eleven and she wanted to meet at eleven. I was still half asleep but said “just give me ten minutes”.

Panick then set in – I had nothing to wear, my hair wasn’t styling, I looked tired, etc. I went running out my front door to get my luggage out of my van to recycle a business outfit from my time in Vegas. As I was trying to figure out what would look decent enough for the second time meeting his mom, Alex realized I was a bit frazzled.

He calmly came to me and said “How can I help?”

Perfect statement. There wasn’t actually anything he could do to help but just the fact that he wanted to and was so calm about everything calmed me down.

He then went and switched the cars around so that we could be ready to go (and he would be out of the house for a few minutes to allow me to get ready and get the “freak” out of my system). He even told me in the car that I looked very nice.

Brunch went very well and I was much more talkative than the prior lunch with his mom. She followed up with an email about how much of a sweetie I was, which made my day.

This weekend Alex has the pleasure of having dinner with my parents and meeting them for the first time. Everyone is excited (or so they are telling me).

Barb's Red Hoodie!


For my sister's birthday this year I made her the Knitting Pure & Simple Top Down Hoodie using fabulous red merino wool.


Her birthday is the end of April and the sweater was delivered in June which by my account is the closest to delivery of a holiday/birthday I've hit in my 4+ years of knitting.


I was thrilled that it fit so well - as my dad says quite often, I never guarantee fit. I owed my sister something that fit well after last birthday's disaster which still needs to be fixed. I'm more thrilled that she wears the sweater - I'm not always sure when I make people stuff that it is well received or worn.


So here's my sister in her red hoodie:

We lost a beloved member of the family this weekend; my sister and brother in law's dog Jackson died on Saturday. He was thirteen years old.

He was the coolest chocolate labrador. He enjoyed scooby snacks, his own couch and the love of his family.

I remember when Jackson was a puppy and would jump to the top of the fridge where the scooby snacks were kept. I had never seen such a large lab before and he was a bit intimidating when running full speed at you for the first time.

He was a great dog - and will be missed greatly. He now gets to play with Alex (our family dog growing up), Otto and Custer (Debbie and Greg's dogs).

It's not a sweater...

In the tradition of not making the new boyfriend a sweater so that our relationship is not cursed - he gets a stuffed platypus. His favorite animal is a platypus so it suits him well.

He still needs a name but here's a pic: