And today? I feel SO much better. Dan went to work this morning, and I slept like the dead (a common occurrence since switching to a Tempur-Pedic Cloud pillow ²), so I didn’t get the opportunity to gauge his mood, but I’m sure he’s in a good one.

In other news, today is my baby brother’s 13th birthday. I gave him a penguin-themed board game and a copy of Super Mario All-Stars Limited Edition. I need to get un-lazy and go out to the grocery store if I have any intention of making triple chocolate chip pancakes for dinner. I’m dressed, my hair is done and my makeup is on, but I just don’t feel like going anywhere at the moment. Eh. I’ll do some work and watch some TV and then head out this afternoon.

P.S. I’m digging the footnotes plugin, FD Footnotes, that I just installed. Hopefully this’ll cut down on my abuse of parentheses.

Thank you for subscribing to Jenn.nu's RSS feed! ♥ Jenn | Flickr: kiss-my-kitty | Twitter: @kissmykitty

After we leave here we’ll head over to the library, and then it’ll be time to head home for quiet time. While the kids are quietly occupying themselves in their bedrooms, I’m going to brainstorm ideas for tonight’s Eden Fantasys Twitter party. Want to participate and get a chance to win prizes? Follow @EdenParties and join in on the fun from 8pm to 10pm EST!

Right now I’m really missing Dan. Today was his first day back to work after a ten day vacation. Poor guy. He probably spent half of his vacation doing stuff around the house, including cleaning out the gutters, putting up new downspouts, and installing a garbage disposal (!!!). He also danced his cute little butt off last Saturday night, and I put him to work after that, bwahaha. ;)

Speaking of Dan, and sex, and intimacy and marriage in general, I think it is SO important to, for lack of a less cliche term, keep the passion alive. I would never want our marriage to deteriorate to the point where we would be more like roommates than lovers. We’ve been together for almost ten years now — we’ve been married for the last five and a half years. We do our best to keep the excitement there, though to be honest it isn’t all that difficult. We both get wrapped up in the day-to-day things, and with both of us working so many hours (45-55 a week for both of us) and being so busy with the kids and everyday tasks it can be easy to lose sight of each other. We spend a lot of evenings just cuddled up together on the sofa, doing separate things but still being physically together. And that means so much. We have sex 1-2 times a week — I’d love for us to have a more active sex life than that, but we have to sleep at some point! And with our work schedules we’re not always together at optimal times. Thank god for porn, sex toys and fantasies. Heh.
Most importantly, we find little ways to be together and excite each other every day. Even if it’s just a raunchy text message, a suggestive look or touch, or a silly prank, Dan and I always find ways to reach out and connect at least once a day. And you know what? It’s often the little things that keep us going!

Hey Dan? If you’re reading this, I love you! (And I know you will read it at some point, since you subscribe to my feed! *mwah*)

Thank you for subscribing to Jenn.nu's RSS feed! ♥ Jenn | Flickr: kiss-my-kitty | Twitter: @kissmykitty

Here’s a summarized timeline of our relationship:

Mid-July 2000 – Dan and I initially met at Burger King, when I was sixteen and he was eighteen. We introduced ourselves to each other, and would often say hi or converse briefly, since we often worked together at the same station, or at adjoining stations (example: I’d work specialty, which consisted of all of the chicken, fish and side products; and Dan would work the fryers, which meant we’d communicate often because he would need to fry up chicken, fish and side products for me).

August 16th, 2000 – We went on our first date together. This was exactly one month after I broke up with my ex. I never considered my liking Dan or our first date to be a “rebound”, since I was the breaker-upper, not the breakee.

August 23rd, 2000 – Dan left for his first year at college, which was 250 miles away.

August 2000 – August 2002 – Dan and I saw each other for a few days every few months, a week in November, a week in January, two weeks in March and then all summer.

August 2001 – Dan proposed. I accepted, obviously (my engagement ring). I was seventeen years old.

August 2002 – I moved with Dan to Pittsburgh, where we lived in a small efficiency apartment for sixteen months.

December 2003 – Due to financial issues, Dan and I moved back home to our families. I took what I could and stored it in my old bedroom, but most of our stuff and all of the furniture was put into a spare room at Dan’s parents’ house.

January 2004 – I got pregnant with Alyssa (but wouldn’t figure it out until March). I was nineteen years old, and Dan was a few months shy of turning twenty-two.

August 2004 – After a few months of working and putting aside money, we found and moved into a small rented house.

October 2004 – Alyssa was born. We also got married on October 1st, because I was adamant about being married before Alyssa was born.

July 2005 – Our paid-for car was totaled in a car accident, so guess who got their very first new car and car loan?

November 2005 – Ryan was conceived. He was planned, though Dan calls it a “planned accident”, heh.

December 2005 – we purchased Dan’s brother’s car from him, since he wanted something new. So now we each had a car!

July 2006 – Ryan was born. We also moved into a 3-bedroom house right around the time he was born (literally).

January 2007 – We were evicted from our 3-bedroom house due to personal issues with the landlords (who are still cocksmacks, but that’s a story for another day). We found a small 3-bedroom house, secured a mortgage, and moved in March.

And that brings us to now, 2010. We’ve been together for nine and a half years, married for the last five and a quarter, we have a beautiful five year old daughter, a handsome three and a half year old son, a house that we have made into our home, and a love for one another that has only gotten stronger and deeper as the years have passed. I love you Daniel, and I can’t wait until we can celebrate being together for ten years! ♥

Thank you for subscribing to Jenn.nu's RSS feed! ♥ Jenn | Flickr: kiss-my-kitty | Twitter: @kissmykitty

I’ve been rather preoccupied with television lately. I’m usually not a TV person. I’ll set our DVR to record shows or the occasional movie that catches my interest, but I won’t get around to watching anything until weeks or months (yes, months) later. Case and point: this morning I finally got around to watching The Notebook. The DVR recorded it in August.
I really liked the movie, even though it was poignantly sweet and sad. I started tearing up towards the end, when Allie and Noah were having dinner together. When they were dancing and she suddenly forgot who she was and subsequently who Noah was, and was screaming and nurses came and Noah started crying, I seriously bawled. Dan was in the living room then and he was teary-eyed too. I can’t imagine what it would be like to know that the love of your life doesn’t know you, doesn’t have any recollection of who you are, the memories you created, the things you did together. It must be so heartbreaking. Alzheimer’s scares me. It’s a disease I hope to never get, and I hope to God Daniel doesn’t either. It’s one thing to break down physically as you get older. But to lose your mental faculties, your memory? No thank you.

But if that were to happen to Dan, or to me, we swore we’d be there for one another, as heartbreaking as it would be. That’s what love is about. It isn’t the novelty and infatuation that initially brings couples together. I remember and wax nostalgia over the initial thrill I felt when Dan and I were first together. Our first flirt, first date, first touch (ask Dan about the first time we rode the log flume together…), first kiss, etc. That initial “spark” is gone, but, and excuse the mushiness, that spark set the fire ablaze, and nine years and a handful of months later it still burns strong. We know each other so well. Daniel is my best friend, my lover, my soul mate. I go to him for everything. He has my back and I have his. No matter what may be going on between us, petty squabbles or stupid arguments over stuff that means nothing at the end of the day, I love him, he loves me, and we have each other and would fight to the death for one another — and for our children.
I love our relationship, how far we’ve come, what we’ve accomplished, and what we mean to one another. I love that we’re still so in love with one another. The passion is there, but our relationship is about so much more than sex. We’re intimate with one another in so many ways, far beyond sexual. We crave each other’s company, and just enjoy being in the same room with one another. Going shopping for groceries, running errands, laying in bed together, cuddled under the sheets watching Hell’s Kitchen or CSI (two other current obsessions of mine), running out for medicine or comfort food when the other is sick, just being with each other but not necessarily doing anything “exciting”, like the kinds of “exciting” things couples in the dating and early relationship stages do.

I love our love. ♥

Thank you for subscribing to Jenn.nu's RSS feed! ♥ Jenn | Flickr: kiss-my-kitty | Twitter: @kissmykitty

I love you Daniel! Happy Anniversary! ♥

Thank you for subscribing to Jenn.nu's RSS feed! ♥ Jenn | Flickr: kiss-my-kitty | Twitter: @kissmykitty