Sunday Widow

For years now I have had to come to grips with the fact that as soon as the American football season begins, I become what I have aptly termed a Sunday Window.  To be honest, it has never been something that really got under my skin.  In fact, I embraced the fact that every weekend I had a day when I could make plans and do whatever I wanted.  Dave was more than content to see the back of me as I left to do my own thing. Or so I thought.


This was the beauty of the Sunday Widow lifestyle.  That is, until this season.  You see, for whatever reason, Dave entered me into the football pool that he participates in every year. In order to humor him, I gracefully participated and made my picks after being brought up to speed on what "the spread" meant.  Frankly, my modus operandi was to use my third eye and psychic powers to define a winner, then place my bets on how strongly the universe called the winners out to me.  The result... The first week I was # 1 out of 70 some-odd participants. Thank you Sylvia Browne.


Now, you would think that my husband would be joyful, nay, maybe proud?  But no, I was told that he was just happy we didn't share the same last name!  How sour one can become when one places poorly!


Alas, the weeks of the 2010/2011 NFL season are passing and I have begun to take this darn thing seriously.  In fact, I find myself yelling at the television set and making sarcastic comments towards the players as they fumble and punt their ways to my victories and my losses.  This week I am doing poorly and Dave has finally passed me in the standings. His wins now grate on my nerves and his hourly status reports have become a toxic fume that invades my once glorious Sunday Widow euphoria.


Today, I caught him smiling as I criticized a play by one of my chosen teams.  Then it hit me!  I've been bamboozled! This was his plan all along; lure me with my fierce need for competition. Without knowing it, my beloved husband has managed to have me spend my Sunday Window time with him! Don't get me wrong, I am glad to spend this time with him.  I love him with all my heart and I think it is lovely that we can carve out time to simply enjoy a lazy day together. However, mark my words... if he finishes in this pool ahead of me there will be hell to pay.  I just need to decide on a fitting revenge; ballroom dancing... here we come!

And Now We Begin....

A Curb Appeal Shot at Sunset

Before I start this blog entry, I would like to thank our friends Daniel and Lisa who, by proving me right and going to our blog as soon as they got their change of address card before I updated my entries, have given me a wonderful chance to say "I told you so" to my husband!!!


Welcome Friends and Family!!!


By now I hope that you have received your lovely change of address cards that were my excuse to feed my lust for stationary and 'snail mail'.  It has been a month now since we have moved in and we are finally starting to get our home in order.  Though we managed to get ourselves relatively unpack at a brisk pace, the act of actual organization was, and still is, a nightmare.

Oh that's right... navy blue!

To add to our woes was the fact that our washer, dryer and fridge turned out to be lemons!  The fact that we were lured into thinking that they were part of our final sign-back purchase amount kills me even now! However, boy oh boy, do we have new appliances that would make even the most non-domestic person drool!!  Dave even had the audacity to say we were turning into  Yuppies!  Can you imagine?  I went to the closet and broke out my Converse as a protest!


The most important addition to our family was made a week after moving. Humphery 'Le Fluff' McNiece was picked up after a week of setting up the house.  She made the longest car ride (40 mins) of her 18 years in my lap.  Many of you have asked about her, and we thank you for your concern.  She is doing incredibly well with the change, especially considering she has never before been in any other home!   It helps she is with two of her favorite humans in the whole wide world.

Miss Le Fluff having a nap

As the threat of snow looms here in the snow belt, we have managed to weed and turn our front garden, set up our office (somewhat) and scrub away most of the heinousness that the former owners left behind.  And let me tell you, I have had many an eye-opening moment into the standards of the general public's cleanliness in the past few months!!  We look forward to having a house warming / Christmas party in the near future so that we can finally share our home with those who mean so much to us.


So, without boring you with the details... which I aim to do in the coming months, welcome to our new home.  Though we miss our old lives, this one is shaping up well. We thank God everyday for how blessed we are and that we can share it with those we love!

It's Go Time?... More Like Panic Time!

What was I thinking starting a new program at work?  For those of you who have been left out of the loop, I am now the Head of Dance at my school. I am building the Dance program from the ground up, and I am so super overwhelmed! However, that is the least of my problems!

To add to the insanity further, we are moving!  In fact, my lack of posts has been because I have been packing like a mad woman trying to get everything in order before this Saturday!

They say that a wedding, a renovation, and death are the only other moments in life that are as stressful as moving; I believe it!  We have been through all of them and this one is brutal.  My biggest point of contention lately has been the carpets.  I know, I know, this really does not seem to be that awful of an issue, but getting a person in to clean the carpets has been the struggle.  You see, although we closed the deal two months ago, the previous owner of our home has felt the need to hold on to the keys of the home until the very last minute she could.  The home is vacant, she even made a point of saying that if she were out early she would let us know. But no, she has held on and will hold on until the last moment.  And although our carpet man could have come anytime this week, he will be forced to come two days after we move in because, in grand Erica and Dave style, the local home show he is participating in is on the same day as we move in.

It is no surprise to those that know me that I am totally OCD.  So if the next two weeks do not lead me to insanity, nothing will.  I must look on the bright side though, it has been a very long haul for Dave and I.  We spent this past Sunday in my mom's driveway enjoying a little moment relishing the fact that it would be the last Sunday we would have to part to start our weeks alone.

Here's to next Sunday... we may not have clean carpets, we may be sleeping on the floor, but at least we we will not say goodnight to each other over the phone!  Here's to progress...

A Rose By Any Other Name...

What is the big deal about last names?  Why do we get so caught up with identifying ourselves with them?  Think of the names Hilton, or Vanderbilt, or Trudeau. Why do we associate anyones actual personality with these inherited titles?

The truth is, I am guilty.  Though I am married I do not have my husband's last name legally. Yes, yes, I see the name we use for the blog, and the name on our personal stationary (Oh, how I do love personalized stationary!) We even go by Olden when we make dinner reservations.  In polite company, to our friends and family, we are the Olden family. However, when I step into my classroom or the doctors office, or the MTO,  I am not an Olden.

I am the last of my family to be a McNiece. My brother, the only male namesake surviving beyond my father, has three girls.  I am the last of the last.  So, for the many people who ask me, "why don't you change your name?" I must confess, for 31 years I have been a McNiece and I have been more proud of that name than I could ever explain.  Do I associate my personality with my inherited title? You bet I do. Both good and bad, I am part of an awesome legacy.

So, my business cards say Ms. E. McNiece.  I am still the proud wife of Mr. D. Olden.  And that rose smells just as sweet!

Where Does The Time Go?

It really doesn't seem like so many years have passed since Dave and I first began dating.  However, when I look back upon how full the last eight years have been, they really have been chock-full of wonderful memories.  Beautiful places, wonderful people, and a shared history that has been built as a legacy of our life.  


Now, to be clear, that's not to say that we have not had our challenges.  In fact, we have also shared some of our most difficult moments, both personally and as a couple, in the past years.  However, through it all, we still managed to stay in love. These moments of trial and loss are also part of the amazing fabric of our new family.  They too must be appreciated for what they have brought to our relationship and our marriage.

Now we are embarking upon the next phase of our life together.  We are now husband and wife and, come October, we will move into our first real home together.  I say 'real home' because there is something different about this house than the house Dave purchased while we were still in our Undergrad.  Sure, that house is part of our history as well; Lord knows that with all the renovation we have done with our bare hands it could be nothing less than a full chapter of our lives! But to be honest, I never really felt that it was ever my house.  It was simply a representation of all the high and low moments and fierce challenges we have faced before becoming a married couple.


While contemplating the massive undertaking it would be to pack up our lives and relocate, I stopped upon a trio of pictures that I had framed for Dave a few years ago.  The one above was  part of the group. It was taken in our first summer of dating.  We were guests at Dave's cousin Jenny's wedding.  I had to laugh.  Oh, how young we look!  

That picture got me thinking... where does the time go?  Certainly I can look back upon the chronological documentation of our life and see what we have done to fill the years.  However, I don't really feel much older really.  Save perhaps the aches and pains I didn't seem to have once. I suppose that's what years of dance will do to you!?

 

The most amazing depiction of how the time flies is when I look back at pictures of Beans and Peanut.  I see how small they were and I truly realize how time flies. I can't imagine how fast time will go if we are blessed with children of our own! Peanut is starting her first year of high school and I still remember her being so small we practically lost her in blankets; now she towers over me.

 I would be remiss if I didn't say that there is a bit of sadness that comes with the photos of past. As if, there is something that we have lost that we will never regain. However, it only takes me looking at pictures from the present to realize that we are so blessed and life continues to become more and more rich. I find joy in continuing to count our blessings. 

The Journey Is The Reward

I never figured in a million years that I would be a blogger.  In fact, the extent of any form of journaling in past began and ended in the first five pages of the beautiful notebooks and dairies that were constant gifts when I was a child and young adult.  But alas, perhaps all I needed was a muse. Joyfully, it is my life that has become my muse.  

In the year and a half that Dave and I prepared and saved for our wedding, we had many conversations about the excitement that we shared for the new life we were about to begin.  We often reflected upon how magnificently blessed we are to lead the life that we lead; so much so that we even had a chance to sneak away from our wedding reception for a short walk to count our blessings while we watched the sun set.  

And so, here you find us.  We have been married just over a month and are now taking the next steps together into the future. I can only imagine how we will embrace it, but my hope is that we will greet it with joyful abandon.