I have a crush on my husband. How nerdy.

She's fine.

Pre-bloggy-blurby: For those of you interested in winning this toy, please please leave a comment on that post telling me how many entries to give you. I'm totally digging all of the votes and clicks, but I have NO way of knowing who's doing what, when and how. You can do one humongous comment on Friday that lets me know how many chances to give you, or you can do one comment daily. Whatever's clever. Just want to give you credit for giving me credit. I love you.

Okay.

We are entering a very exciting time in our household. This week marks the beginning of All Things Festive. First up, we've got Peej's birthday on the 27th. Followed by Nora's [first!!!] birthday on the 29th. And Halloween. Then it's just a hop, skip and jump to Auntie Kate's birthday, Nat-Nat's birthday, Mim's birthday, Thanksgiving, Pop-Pop's birthday, Christmas, New Year's...and on and on and (wonderful) on.

Started off quite nicely, with a Southport Ave Trick or Treat and a Raggedy Nora tentatively asking for candy. (Oh, she got the hang of it.)

And as Nora has fallen asleep in a pile of construction paper- with eyeliner freckles permanently etched into her head- I thought I'd take this opportunity to mention my husband.

In honor of my darling Peej's upcoming 29th birthday (yes, I am a cougar- hush), here are the summy-uppest reasons (that I can manage) of why I am SO lucky that he remains married to me/returns my texts/thinks I'm neat:

1) He keeps things 'wick' in the garden. More than once a year, which, apparently, is how you garden.
2) He knows how to break into our house.
3) That coupon thing actually saves money. Who knew? (Besides P.J.)
4) He can effectively argue with the neighbors in Spanish.
5) He can effectively argue with our contractors in English...and Spanish.
6) Peej has made room in his all-encompassing Netflix obsession for my childhood movies...for Nora, obvie.
7) He convinced me to watch fireworks on our garage roof even though I was scared. And it was rad.
8) He endures my sleep antics.
9) He tucks me back in, too.
10) With a humongous blanket and the heat on, even though he's usually on fire.
11) Even if he wanted to be Yoshi, he always allows me to choose him first.
12) When I suck at certain Mario Kart tracks, he blames the computer.
13) When we plays against worldwide players, he blames them.
14) He holds his tongue (and his breath) when I Feng Shui the house.
15) But he's always the first to genuinely complement the new room.
16) And this has happened seven separate times this month.
17) P.J. invents really nice stories to gloss over really yucky things.
18) He has exceptional taste in music. And a large collection of vinyl/mp3s/cassettes. (And plays them all!)
19) Every Sunday night he shoves me out the door for Pilates.
20) And feeds/bathes/tucks in Nora...and gets din ready for me, too.
21) This weekend he dressed Nora in brown velour pants, a red onesie, a purple hood and fuschia socks.
22) He thought she looked STUNNING. She seemed pretty pleased, too.
23) Even though he prefers the left lane and top speeds, he's amended his driving skills/habits.
24) I do not presume that this is for me.
25) Remember that rat shenanigan?
26) When he calls us from work, he actually has convos with Nora. He waits for responses, too.
27) Even though it is no longer dangerous to me, I have not cleaned cat litter in two years.
28) He will buy anything at the store, no matter how embarrassing for a guy it may be. Uses a coupon, too.
29) P.J. keeps a wooden baseball bat next to the bed. Just in case.

I love you, sugar. To quote Joe Esposito and the Karate Kid- you're the best around.

(Nothing'sEverGonnaKeepYouDowowowowowown.)

(Except maybe your chore list.)