It's Payback Time!!!

If you've been following our blog, you'll know by now that Linds tends to do the bulk of the blogging and that I do my part to fill in an anecdote or two when I get the urge. Due to this unbalance I seem to have been revealed more fully to our friends and family then Lindsay. I was carefully planning different ideas in order to poke fun at some of her quirks, and tell some stories of my adjustments to living with her, and I truly hope that you enjoy the following...

1. Our conversation about our "Passions"
Though Lindsay and I have been together for quite some time now, we are still able to reveal new things about ourselves during our chatter before bed. We got into a discussion about the things in life that we are "Passionate" about the other night, and I wasn't surprised about her love of arts & crafts, or her desire to teach, or even her need to own 5,000 scarfs (one for every outfit she has). I doubt she was thrown too far off when I discussed sports, coaching sports, watching sports, and reading about sports as my passions. After she playfully poked fun at my lack of diversity in what I had chosen, I threw the complaint right back at her! "Well, what else are you passionate about?" I asked, eagerly awaiting her to be caught out of sync by my clever trick. Imagine the utter shock I felt when Lindsay shot back "Break Dancing, I'm passionate about Break Dancing!" with a straight face and fierce eyes to boot. Now let me tell you that not only have I never witnessed Lindsay engage in the art of Break Dancing, I've also never observed any behaviour that could ever even be considered a hint at an interest. Confused by her response, I pondered about what next to say... "Give me a taste of this passion you speak of Linds, name two examples that support your claim!" She twisted her head to the side, buried her chin in her fist and worked hard to show me that her new nickname should be "LL Cool Hoit". She decided that because she had seen the movie "Step Up" and the thrilling sequel "Step Up 2" this qualifies her to try out for "So You Think You Can Dance". She's currently working on spinning on her head in the living room.

2. Oscar Discipline
The day of Oscar's birthday party a friend of ours was talking with Linds and I about disciplining Oscar, and after I rambled on about "The Dog Whisperer" and other methods, she asked the following question. "How does Lindsay discipline Oscar?" "Oh, Lindsay is unbelievable dealing with Oscar when he misbehaves" I answered, "She only needs one word to solve any problem at all that he gets into". "Wow" she said, "What word could possibly be so effective?" "Well, anytime Lindsay is doing the disciplining she simply yells (Phiiiillllllllllll!!!!) and all is taken care of," I said with a coy smile.

3. Sleeping Arrangements

When I was younger I was lucky enough not to share a room with my brother Steve. Now, I'm not saying I would have hated to have my older bro always around, but it was nice having my own space. I could stretch out, roll from side to side, start sleeping on the left side, then head over to the right side when i was feeling hot, etc... I was also in charge of opening or closing the window and controlling room temperature. Lindsay and I currently share a one bedroom apartment that has its own air conditioner / heater with a queen sized bed. I don't know the exact dimensions of a queen sized bed, but I'm pretty sure it's meant to comfortably fit two people (especially two people our size). Let me describe a typical nights sleeping arrangement. It begins with Lindsay declaring that she is "freezing" (Yes I'm aware we live in Egypt). "Can we put on the heater?" she asks with a grin. Then I head over to the heater, and do my best to fake her out by yelling out numbers like "28, or 27 degrees" when really I'm setting it to 23 or 24 degrees. She then usually catches my sneakiness and the heater is adjusted accordingly. I begin sweating, and have to sleep without blankets or sheets, dodging mosquitos, while Lindsay sleeps like a baby. It's also worth noting that Lindsay is not good at sharing. The division of area on our bed is between an 80/20 and a 90/10 split with Lindsay dominating the square footage. She sleeps in what I like to describe as the "Snow Angel" position, while I am confined to praying that I don't fall off the edge once I fall asleep. I can only laugh each morning when the alarm finally goes off and Lindsay smiles over to my corner of the bed and asks... "Did you have a good sleep?"

4. The Dreaded Morning Question

I have lived with Lindsay since around November 1st. Now for the sake of argument that is approximately 120 days or so. I have been asked the following question each one of the mornings we have woken up beside each other and I'm sure I've yet to sufficiently answer her correctly. "Does this outfit look good?" She asks me, eyes big, expecting a certain answer that apparently I'm not aware of. I begin to stutter, my words are twisted, my heart is racing, and I respond with something like "Yeah babe, it's good!" "Well good isn't great now is it Phil", Oh Lord I'll never win!

I better end this blog before I get into real trouble! And besides, there's laundry to be done!