The Twinkle in my Lights

A few weeks before Thanksgiving I suggested (more like announced) to Ken that we should just do a big act of service for each other instead of presents. Afterall, I couldn't really think of anything to get Ken or anything I really needed/wanted. Normally we like to get each other things the other person would love but also has a practical purpose. And the only thing I could think of that we both desperately wanted was TIME.

Ken agreed (what else can he do when I am so sure of myself and my brilliant ideas) plus what I wanted for Christmas was for the lower half of the trees in our backyard to be trimmed. So he immediately bought a chainsaw. Hmmmm that's more like a present for him now, isn't it?!

I asked him what he would like, and he said that he wanted his work area in the garage cleaned and organized. However to get to that you would have to clean the whole garage. And to clean the whole garage we would need to create more space and get all the lawn tools out. And to get the lawn tools out we would need to build a shed.

So in my overly optimistic brain I thought: "Fantastic, I will get him a little lawn shed, and me and the girls will sneak out in the mornings and put it together and on Christmas morning I will tie it with a red bow and show him what I have done for him!"

Nevermind the fact that he works from home so he would know I was up to something, or that his cutting the trees for me would make him see it on that side of the house, or that his office is right on the other side of where I would be building it. I had grand plans.

Then reality set in along with a number of cold fronts that made it freezing during during the day. Then kids got sick, I was busy with a number of projects, and so on.

Then I was notified of an awesome sale on airline tickets from AUS-CUN. I asked Ken if he wanted that for Christmas instead? We daydreamed and hyperventilated (mainly about leaving Ginger at home) about it for a couple of days. My mom was more then willing to watch the kids for us.

So finally we decided yes, but then I was too busy wrapped up in parties and kids activities to purchase them all day long. And Ken was waiting until I got home to do it. So an hour before the sale was going to end we finally went online to purchase the tickets and they were sold out. Ken was devastated, the ticket prices were raised to outrageous prices, and that was the end of that.

Anyway, so for Christmas this year Ken gave me exactly what I wanted...

The kids really like how it has opened up the backyard, behind the trees isn't quite so scary anymore. And I love how it makes our yard look neater.

And then he used his "hubby's prerogative" and thought I needed something for pure fun!

He knows my tastes very well. My favorite snack is popcorn and he also bought me the last 3 seasons of Gilmore Girls (previously he has given me the other seasons). Which is my favorite show and will now get me through at least 3 months of workouts on the treadmill (that's when I love to watch it!).


For Christmas I was able to surprise Ken with this...

Three days after the tickets sold out there was another sale on the airline tickets but for a little bit later in the year and for a little bit more then the 1st sale.

So, I spent a whole day figuring out when we could use our reward points for the hotel, when the airline tickets were cheaper, and when Ken would not be in the middle of delivering a release. And finally found one at an appropriate time, and booked us a Premium Ocean Front Suite at the J.W. Marriott for 3 whole nights in Cancun.

So March 5-8th we will be lounging on the beach together without our kids!


For all of my plans to do service I didn't even lift one thing to organize his tools. But this week while Ken has been off we have been taking it easy and spending a few hours here and there cleaning up the garage. It was awful, I should have taken a picture but it would cause us utter humiliation. Let's put it this way, we found several mouse nests, and things were piled 4 and 5 feet high.



So far I have finally put together the sports organizer that we bought a year ago. And Ken has gone through his tools, we took out his work area and washed it down with soapy water, and now all he has to do is put his tools away in the proper place.

And we threw away 4 trashcans full of trash from the garage. Lucky us, borrowed my parents trashcan and we filled theirs and ours until it was overflowing and the lid couldn't close and put it out on the street. Then we filled them both again and put them on the other side of the street. Our garage was awful which explains why I haven't parked my car in it for the 3 years we have owned our home.