We've Got A New Way....

I honestly had to search my brain for a blog today.  Sometimes, I have to weed out all of these different things that I want to say and choose the best one.... not today.  My brain woke up as mush.  R and I had to tip-toe around the apartment and barely even breathe to keep things super quiet.  You see, Kin has been becoming quite the early riser the past two weeks.  I'm talking 6:00-6:30 a.m. early riser.  Now this will work perfectly next week when I start student teaching and she has to go to day care at 6:30, but this week, is momma's last week of "summer break" and she would enjoy just a tiny bit of "me time" in the morning before jumping into her mommy work. 

So here it is 6:48 and I have my cup of coffee sitting next to me and I'm feverishly pecking at the keyboard and praying that the clickity clack won't wake her.  I'm not asking for a 10:00 wake-up (although wouldn't that be awesome!) but maybe an 8:00?  That would be cool.  Maybe I could even get a shower without the crying toddler holding the shower curtain open and soaking the bathroom floor.  Cause, yes, that is what she does when I shower.

I finally got word back from Zales about my ring.  The manager said that following a conference call with the diamond bond guy in Texas and then his regional manager, they conclude that it is "our" diamond and that we're basically SOL.  But!  If we want to fork out $325 they'll upgrade it one level on the clarity chart.  Sooo many things that I could say here.  But I took the info and told him that my husband would be contacting him.  Which he surely won't want....I promise.  Cause when I get mad, I cry.  When he gets mad, he causes a scene.

First of all, why would you even offer to upgrade our stone if you are certain that the stone in the ring is our stone?  Why is the process that you claimed would take a couple of days, taking almost two weeks.  And I still don't have my ring back.  It is stranded in Texas until we decide what we're going to do.  Who knows what will be coming back to us at this point.....the guy in Texas probably switched it out yet again.

Second, if you didn't screw up and switch the diamond in the first place, you shouldn't be offering a "super great discount" on a better stone.  You should  be confident in your decision and tell us that you're 100% certain that it is our stone.

Either way, I'm feeling ripped off.  Zales, you fail.  Big fail.  And I pray that I see "Zales" being searched in my stats.  Cause I have their new slogan:  Zales, we'll steal your diamond and make you pay for another.  Screwing you for a lifetime.  Buy our lifetime care and guarantee for your diamond to ensure that we can play the switcheroo game any time we want!

Okay, I am done complaining about them.

We had a couples session last night again.  Neither of us really wanted to go but it was too late to cancel without being charged for a no-show.  So we went.  It's kind of funny to sit in the waiting room.  You are surrounded by other couples.  And obviously we are all in the same boat.  Some sit in silence.  Some have casual conversation.  Some seem so tense and mad that you could cut the tension with a knife.  Us?  We were in the silent scene, then.  Now?  We walk in and are laughing, giddy, happy.  I think that we look like that couple.  You know, the one that you can totally pick out in a restaurant.  They walk in all lovey dovey on each other and happy and you look over at them and totally peg it as they are in the dating stage.  That's us when we walk into the office now.  I think that our counselor is sort of confused.  She's not sure what to make of the 180.  But the longer we go in this new way of our relationship, the more I believe that it's real and not just a honeymoon phase.  Are we really happy?  Are we really, truly making this work?

I think so.

In our session, we were going to pick up on the "What Makes You Feel Loved" worksheet again but after going through one question, it was brought up how a major hot spot of stress in our relationship is when I am in school and a stress freak.  Cause let's face it....I am a total freak when I get overwhelmed and stressed out.  So we used this session to talk through some things that will be overwhelming and cause friction in the relationship during this semester.  Mainly, Kinley responsibilities.

During the discussion, my stress was already starting to rise and I was getting all anxious and freaked out just thinking about how hard this is going to be.  And how risky it is to ruin how great we have made our relationship, but then I realized that he's not the same person he was last semester.  And I'm not the same girl that I was last semester.  Strangely, I have confidence that we will get through this.  We will succeed and survive this last semester of school.

She gave us lots of tips and talked us through morning procedures, pick-up procedures, dinner procedures and then my homework time procedures.  We are both on the same page and have the same expectations for how our lives will flow during the next 15 weeks.  If we stick to our plan, we shouldn't have many bumps.  Shouldn't.

Is dinner time stressful for all families?  Cause that is where we have most of our issues.  Her solution:  R takes two nights and I'll take three.  On his two nights, I don't get asked about dinner, I don't make anything, he does it all.  Whether it be grabbing Portillo's or getting pizza or making something.  It's all him.  And for my three days, it's all me.  And then, on Sunday, him and Kinley have the grocery shopping chore.  They go and get gas in the vehicles and grocery shop so that I have a couple of hours of uninterrupted homework time.  On Wednesday nights, we sit together and plan the weekly menu.  That way there should be no issues about what we're eating on what night and the whole decision making is taken out of the equation.

Sounds like it may work, and work well.  He is also taking the responsibility of dropping Kinley at day care in the morning.

Talk about a weight off of my shoulders.  Just knowing that those few things are things I don't need to worry about make such a huge difference.

I'm almost excited to start this next phase in our relationship:  surviving school.  If we can survive this, I will be certain that it's a real change and not a honeymoon phase.

And now I have realized that this blog has gone on way too long.  My apologies. 

Have some Kinley cuteness:

Her bestie, Carder.

This is the cutest thing.  I think she needs a tractor for her birthday.