Reminiscing About My Valentine: The Nyun Nyun Man

I have had the same Valentine for over 23 years! And...I am happy to say that in yesterday's day of reflection, I am still happy he is my Valentine!!! Oh let me count the ways...

There are the great days when he is full of humor and fun, teasing the kids, the dogs and the bird. Yeah, he is a big tease.

He has this thing we call the "Nyun Nyun Man." We have two long sets of stairs in our house and we are often terrorized and chased up the stairs by the "Nyun Nyun Man." When I was young I used to have this nightmare about a crazy-black-skinny monkey with lots of arms chasing me up the stairs. To my dismay, and the dismay of my children, we have the Nyun Nyun Man who is instantly behind us with a deep voice yelling, "NYUN NYUN NYUN NYUN NYUN..." all the way up the stairs as we flee, taking two steps at a time! I relapse back to when I was a child having my multi-armed monkey nightmare. Instantly sweat pours out including shivers up the spine with a flight or fight psyche all induced by the words "Nyun Nyun" being called out as we go into panic mode running up the stairs. Poking and pinching are not even involved.

This occurrence has stricken us with the need for Nyun Nyun therapy. We are physically unable to go up the stairs at our home with someone behind us. Let alone at the Mall or any other public place with stairs, or escalators.

Clearly there is no sane reason behind this intense response we have to the Nyun Nyun man! But, he keeps things fun at home and we love him for it.

Another addition to the Valentine counter would be not having to sleep alone! When we first got married I looked forward to being able to cuddle every night! Of course reality stepped in and (I have been told that this is the case with most men) this lasted only during the honeymoon. After that I was TOO HOT! Apparently men enjoy an internal temperature that measures everything in polar regions and women measure by the temperatures along the equator.

I am ok with this turn of events since I found out he (like many men) picks his nails while watching the news in bed. I discovered this one morning when I awoke to find toe nails stuck in my knotted morning hair! It was disconcerting to see the nails hanging in my locks, randomly situated in my hair after he had been unable to sleep and had turned on the TV during the night. Apparently, immersed in the headlines and unaware of where he was casting his picked off toenails. But, he will make the bed occasionally and I love him for it--even if he does it because he is brushing off the abandoned nails!

I recently saw an interview with the actress, Julie Andrews where she mentioned that her husband was "delicious" including his irritations and all! This must be a British phrase, but I picked up on it immediately. How wonderful to view everything about the love of your life as "delicious" even the idiosyncrasies. I have used this term on occasion as I found myself miffed by something that my Valentine did and have found it to be a positive way of lifting myself above the "pricking" at him.

There are so many ways that I am grateful for my Valentine that I could go on and on! Mainly I'm thankful that he makes me laugh and feel loved and that we can continue to grow together, even during those "delicious" moments!

In 2010: Just Go For It!

If I don't keep writing something in my posts I am going to lose those few followers I have! My problem is I'm somewhat of a perfectionist and often write something and don't end up posting it because I think it isn't entertaining enough or worth taking the time to read. But, this is a new year and a more informed me--I have discovered, to my relief, that blogging is not meant to be a perfect medium. Whew! So here starts 2010 A year of possible mishaps in my blogging with an attitude of "just go for it."

Let me summerize the end of 2009 for my family and I: In October my dear husband brought home a dog, another female wirehair pointer to be friends with Sadie our other wirehair pointer. But, two weeks after having them together we needed to separate them because Maggie was very mean and we discovered we had purchased a pregnant dog who was very hormonal! The puppies would whelp right around Thanksgiving. Great! We had the whole family coming to our house to eat! All 42 of them!

The first part of November, my girls and I went to Germany to stay with a friend who was absolutely the best hostess ever! We traveled southwestern Germany visiting castles and the Black Forest and took a four day trip to Paris and saw the inspiring artwork, fashion and ate a lot of crepes! On our plane trip home I sat next to a German guy and we talked about our dogs. I told him about our "German Wirehair Pointers." He said he had never heard of that breed!

Two jetlagged days after we returned home we had 6 puppies! The week before Thanksgiving!

Five days after having the puppies our kids wanted to keep all of them! Including the puppies we only have 10 pets! We're not talking fish here--we are talking 9 dogs and 1 large bird! And all 10 of them bark!

Three weeks after having the puppies, our kids were alright with giving up a couple of them.

Four weeks after having the puppies, we needed to feed them four times a day, the older dogs needed fed 2x a day, the bird 1x a day, the kids (including second breakfasts and second lunches--they are growing teenagers) 6x a day. This didn't count the cleanup after everyone! The kids were ok with just keeping one pup.

Six weeks after having these puppies they didn't like staying in their whelping box anymore. The large wooden box was pretty gross and they wanted to explore. We had cornered off a section of our garage for them. During this time my husband was fixing some decals on his and my sons motorcycles. The motorcycles were placed right next to the, now disgusting, whelping box making a very tightly crowded area. As my husband was getting off the bike he slipped and landed in the whelping box, which was more like a litter box, very gross! Pups were ok--husband was sore & dirty--he discounted the ad he had run and we had them sold within a week!

We are now back to normal with only 4 barking animals. And my husband can tinker in the garage without fear of what he may land in! He threw that whelping box in the back of our trailer to take to the dump--I guess we won't be recycling that one!

Now! I'll just not be afraid, press Publish and Go For It! And--may you "go for it" too in this new year and not be afraid to do something you keep putting off!