Seeking Imperfection

This week's Unplugged Project theme was rocks. As usual, I thought a long time about what to do for this project, looked online, found some different ideas but nothing I was really happy with, and then today I realized I'd been making it too hard. As usual.

For Easter my mother-in-law gave Paige a set of Disney Princess Flashcards.

They each have a number on one side, and the corresponding number of "jewel" outlines on the other side. When I saw them I thought it'd be fun to find some fake jewels, and have her match - putting one jewel on each of the jewel outlines. Suddenly I thought, why can't I use rocks? We have a fountain in the bathroom, and a bowl with river rocks and little candles in it. I grabbed a handful and showed her how to put them on the cards. She liked that for a little bit. She was actually more interested in just moving the rocks around. She kept saying they were "seashells from under the sea." She's a Little Mermaid fan, so anything that's from "under the sea" is pretty cool. She started referring to the handful of rocks as her "collection." Later I stuck them in the box of rice and macaroni that she hasn't played with for awhile, and showed her how to scoop them in and out. She liked that.

I looked online for a recipe for "rocks" and found a few different varieties of cookies. My friend Michelle then went and found her own version after seeing that the one I picked out had coconut in them, which she doesn't like. So she actually joined us this week - we went to the grocery store while Paige was napping, and then the girls all donned aprons and made cookies this afternoon. The name of the cookies are "Space Rocks." I told Paige we were making Space Rock cookies and she changed the name to "Rockstar Cookies." Lately it has all been about being a rockstar!

The cookie recipe called for a "German chocolate cake mix with pudding added." We couldn't find that at the store, so we ended up just using a "moist" chocolate cake mix. As a result, our cookies were really dry. I think the recipe might be ok if we could find something to add to make them more moist. Paige took a small bite of her cookie and didn't like it - although she's not much into cookies anyway.

Michelle knows I'm a perfectionist, and told me, "the important part is that she had fun cooking with us, not that the cookies were perfect." I am fairly proud of myself because I wasn't even that upset that the cookies didn't turn out perfect - I didn't even need her reminder this time. That's progress for me!

One of the blogs I enjoy reading, Forever Daisies, has been posting a Friday Fill-In every week. Of course I was curious about it and had to go check it out for myself. However, I didn't get around to it until now, but here's my attempt at my first Friday Fill In - #65. The words in bold are my answers to fill in the blanks.

1. Some relationships are meant to end.
2. Celtic Women is the last concert I saw; it was amazing.
3. Spring should be cold in New England.
4. Oh no! I forgot to do this on Friday!
5. I've recently started reading a new book.
6. Paige never fails to make me smile.
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to sleeping, tomorrow my plans include learning about my credit and Sunday, I want to do the weekly Unplugged Project!

Michelle, Roland, and I have been renting the same place for about ten and a half years. It is a "condex" which is similar to a "duplex" as there are two living units, although here they don't connect on the inside - both have separate entrances. Michelle and I had been in a little condo together, which got put on the market and sold quicker than expected. At the last minute we found where we are now, and moved here in November 1997. Roland and I had only been dating a couple of months at the time. A few months later, Roland needed a "temporary" place to stay, for a month or so. Well, ten years, a marriage, and a baby later, here we all are. A lot of people have told us that we shouldn't all be living together. I'm not sure why they care. Living together has helped us to be able to have a decent place in a good neighborhood, instead of struggling for a horrible place in a sleazy neighborhood. I've often wondered why other people care so much about what we are doing.

Of course, this place isn't the greatest. When it was built, a lot of homes were built at the same time. It went up quickly, and I think the emphasis was on how fast we can build it, not how well. Therefore, things break or fall apart all the time even though the place isn't that old. The house is really too small for us - Paige has shared a room with me and Roland her whole life. Sometimes I've felt guilty that she hasn't had her own room, but then I remind myself that she has a warm place to sleep, toys to play with, food to eat, and three people who love her very much to live with. Who needs more than that really? I have joked that I'd hoped that she would be able to have her own room before she was a teenager, but all in all, even though the we've had all kinds of problems with things here, and have been a bit cramped, we were getting by. That is, of course, until this past Thursday.

I came home after a boring after school meeting, and noticed that there was a phone number out for someone Michelle and I used to work with who now does real estate. There was also a library book on the couch about buying your first home. I asked what going on, and Michelle and Roland asked me to sit down. They told me that the landlord had come by earlier that day, and told Michelle that he had SOLD our section of the condex to our neighbors, and that we have to move out by May 15th.

When we first moved in, an older couple lived next door. They were really nice, and we enjoyed living near them. The husband was a great guy, always outside playing with the neighborhood kids and working in his yard. Sadly he had a stroke and then past away. His wife died not too much longer after that, shortly after Paige was born. Their children put the place on the market, and a couple moved in. They just had a baby themselves not too long ago.

Shortly after Christmas, our landlord's wife called and told us that our landlord had had a stroke several weeks before, and that she and the new neighbors wanted to come and take a tour of our unit, as they were going to be "sharing" the insurance on our place. Our house has always been what the Flylady would call in a state of CHAOS, or "Can't Have Anyone Over Syndrome." I had just started reading one of her books and realized my perfectionist problem, and was getting ready to work on my attitude and my house one small step at a time. However, this meant we had to go crazy cleaning and organizing. It needed to be done, but it was stressful, and not in the slow baby step process I'd imagined. They came over, took a look around, and were gone quickly. Over the last couple of months, they've wanted to come in and "look" at things once or twice. Roland asked our landlord's wife once if she was going to sell the place, and she told him no. We'd had our suspicions, but we were hanging in there. Now, as it turns out, they went and sold our place to the neighbors, who have plans for it, so it isn't even like we can stay and rent from them instead. Even though we've talked a lot about moving, this is sudden and a little frightening, and we are all very mad that we were basically lied to about their motives for looking at the new house.

I talked to the person Michelle and I used to work with, and found out today that although my credit is "excellent" the fact that I have student loans and a car payment (we just got Roland a new car in October - his wasn't going to make it through the winter) hurt me, and I am not approved for enough to buy a home. He said that "next year at this time" I might be in a better spot. I guess this means that we are on the hunt to find someplace to rent. We are a little freaked out about what is going to happen to us from this point. I truly believe that things happen for a reason, and that it will work out in the end - we will probably even end up better off, but the going through the process of everything is stressful, exhausting, and there are tons of emotions for us all to work out.

If you wouldn't mind, would you all please put in an offering to the house gods that we find a place in the near future?

Well, with the holiday, it has been a busy week, so this is a short list, many of which are courtesy of this week's Works for me Wednesday at Rocks in My Dryer.

How cool is this? I think I'd like an ice cream trough for my next birthday!

Someday when I have a dishwasher, this would be a good tip for washing bath toys.

I know it is after Easter, but these cool eggs have been popping up on everyone's blogs. Here are some more, and more! And a tutorial here.

Check out the children's photo contest here. And while you are at it, check out the egg paint.

I think I might need to cube Paige.

Hey, something I can try to use those clothespins I bought a couple of weeks ago for my Unplugged Project!

Roland's mother gave Paige some plastic Easter jewelry. This morning Paige put on the bracelet, and then asked for help putting on the necklace. After I put the necklace over her head, she said, "I look like a rock star!" and pumped her little fist in the air.

One of the nurses in my classroom keeps saying that your personality is determined at age 3 - that what you are like at 3 is what you will always be like.

Should I star saving for rehab now?

I have always been fascinated with sign language. When Paige was little, I taught her sign language. Actually, Paige and I learned a lot of it together from watching Signing Time, which I highly recommend. It is one of the best things I ever did - one of those, "what couldn't you live without" Mom things. Paige doesn't sign as much as she used to, as she has words now. However the signs still come out here and there, especially when she's frustrated with me. When she thinks I'm not getting something, then she signs it...like, "duh, Momma, this is what I want..." and there's a sign thrown in there.

Tonight I was doing my "5 minutes" lying down with Paige, (we share a bedroom and she always wants me to lie down with her when she goes to bed. We've been trying to limit this to "5 minutes") when she said, "Are you sleeping Momma?" I said no, and she told me she loved me. I told her that I loved her too, and that I was getting ready to go take my shower. She kept saying, "but I love you!" I looked over and her little hand was sticking out through the bars of her crib, doing the sign for "I love you." It's the first time I've seen her do that sign correctly, and initiate it. I told her she did a great job and signed "I love you back." She was saying, "I can do it!" as I left the room. :)

Here's a clip from Signing Time if you want to learn some "love" signs. :)

For some reason every time I'd tell Paige to tell someone, "Happy Easter," she'd say, "Happy Easter Bunny!" I thought really liked that, and I started saying it myself. :)

We don't do too much for Easter, but it was a nice day. My mom decided to forgo the big dinner she normally has and had Easter Brunch instead. I really enjoyed that. Normally we have a breakfast, then pretty much sit around all day until we have a big dinner in the evening. I liked having brunch instead. This year my dad and his girlfriend also decided to have an Easter egg hunt at their house, as her grandkids were going to be in the area, as were my brother's son and Paige. So it worked out nicely that we could do brunch at my Mom's with my grandparents, and then go to my dad's, and then head home. My family lives about 1 1/2 - 2 hours away, depending on traffic, so I liked doing everything during the day and then getting back home at a reasonable time.

This weeks Unplugged project theme happened to be eggs, in the spirit of Easter. We basically did the typical dying and hunting.









I did decide to try making an art project with the shells, such as these. My family thought I was pretty funny collecting all of their shells off of their plates and putting them in a Ziploc to bring home to do art. Paige didn't seem to enjoy it that much, saying, "eeeww..." to me wanting to put egg shells on the glue she was having a great time spreading around with a paintbrush. Give her a paintbrush and something she can spread with it, and she's a happy girl. But we gave it a shot anyway.

It seems like a lot of my "great ideas" don't turn out to be so great. But, we try to do something together, which I keep trying to remind myself is the point, right? Next week's theme is "rocks." I hope some of you will join us. I've really enjoyed participating in these themes every week. :)

I also wanted to let you know about a website that has technology projects to be done in classrooms, and asks classrooms around the country to sign up and participate. One she seems to host every year is The Great Egg Roll. I've never done it, but I thought some of you might enjoy reading about it.

I'm too tired to type much more tonight - but sometime remind me to tell you all about the butter lamb. :) Hope you all had a Happy Easter Bunny!

I've been really busy the last two weeks at school - lots of IEPs, progress reports, report cards, and other such fun. So, the list is a little small this week.

This looks like it might be a fun activity for Paige.

I found a new blog that has tons of adorable ideas!! Thank you Amy - I love your blog. :)

Another adorable kid's art room.

S'More Cupcakes

I like the idea of Family Movie Night.

And the posts that inspired the above movie night. Did that make any sense at all?

I want to make these apple dumplings.

And maybe these too.

Perhaps I'll feel brave enough to try these bath tub paints at some point. I'm sure Paige would love them.

I was thinking it'd be fun to hear about if anyone ever does any of the things they found on the Thursday list - maybe it'd encourage me to actually do some of these things too, and not just collect them. :)

I have always loved this commercial.



(I am really excited that I not only found this commercial, but that I figured out how to put it in here. I really need to get a life.)

I've always wanted to be this kind of crazy Mom, even though it makes Roland shutter. (He's the cook around here and has told me several times, including right now when I showed him how proud I was that I got the commercial in here that he'd kill me.) It looks like fun, and it shows that it is ok if we make mistakes. And I suppose it might just sell paper towels too, but that's not really the important part here.

Tonight I had my chance. Paige was in the tub, and I was sitting on the bathroom floor. She was playing with Dixie cups in the tub, and the next thing I knew, she grabbed a cup of water, and threw it at me. I looked at her for a second, and I think she was momentarily worried about how I was going to react. But I grabbed a cup and threw water back at her. She was so excited that it was ok for us to splash each other. She then wanted to wash my hair, so I leaned over the tub and let her pour cup after cup of water on my hair. As you can imagine, the bathroom and I ended up soaked. But when I asked her if she was having fun, and she said yes, then I figured that was worth it.

When it was time to get out of the tub, I wrapped a towel around my head like a turban and asked her if she liked my towel hat. She did, and wanted one just like mine. So I got her out of the tub and gave her her first towel hat. She made sure that her towel was even the same color as mine. We then looked in the mirror together and made silly faces. I was a little disappointed that no one was around to take our picture. I'll have to get a picture of us with our silly hats sometime soon.

Roland just came upstairs from the bathroom and I asked him, "how wet is the bathroom?" His response? "You are lucky it isn't the kitchen."

Paige has been sick and not acting like herself since Sunday afternoon. Every time she would fall asleep, she'd wake up screaming and we figured out that her throat was bothering her. Last night we talked to the covering doctor and he said to take her in to see her regular doctor today, so I took her in. The doctor looked at her throat and said it was "impressively red." She said that most of the time, children Paige's are too young to have strep, and that it is most likely something viral, but they'd test just in case. Guess who ended up positive?? I looked at Paige and told her that she was too young to have it. Guess she's an overachiever.

In any event, seeing as I was dealing with my little sicky yesterday, I wasn't able to post about the weekly Unplugged project. This week's theme was wood. I have been reading about Montessori methods lately, and have been enjoying the blog Chasing Cheerios. I thought this week would be a good time to try out this activity involving clothespins.

The gist of the activity is to put the clothespins around the border of a bowl, and have the little one take them off and put them in the bowl. This works on fine motor skills, and hand/eye coordination. I tried to help Paige squeeze them open and put them around the outside of a container, but that was very difficult for her. So I put some on there to see if she could pull them off. She had a hard time with that too. She did try really hard - although she kept pinching herself with them. She kept muttering, "ouch" while she was playing with them, and I started to wonder what kind of mother gives her child things that can hurt her to play with? Next thing you know I'll be teaching her to run with scissors. Sigh.

So the next thing I did was I brought some rhythm sticks home from school.

She seemed to like those and played with them for awhile.

This afternoon I got out her wooden blocks and we built a tower for a few minutes. I also found it oddly amusing that most of the toys in the doctor's office were made of wood. It is interesting how when you start thinking about something, you start seeing it everywhere. :)

Lessons learned from my three year old this morning:



Sponge painting is fun - once you stop trying to do it "the right way."

You can paint with a bean.

You can paint with a stress ball shaped like a brain.

You can paint with a plastic shovel. (It actually comes out pretty cool. I never would have thought of it myself, but it was a great idea.)

You can have a lot of fun playing with the paint if you aren't stressing out about wanting to put a bean, a stress ball and a plastic shovel in the paint.

Cleaning the sponges in the sink is even more fun than painting with them.




Playing in the sink is fun.

Anything left near the sink, including a dish towel, is a toy and will go in the sink.

If you do not notice that Michelle's purse is on the back of the chair used to play in the sink, it gets very wet.

If you leave your glass of milk on the coffee table, Michelle's cat, Sadie, will drink it.

Playing in the sink makes a big mess. But, the kitchen is messy anyway, and it keeps you busy and happy for a very long time.

You don't care that the kitchen is messy. You are too busy having fun with the bubbles in the sink.

And as Paige said while watching me fill up the sink, "And there you have it."

For any of you who may be new visitors to my blog, a couple of weeks ago I started posting a list every Thursday (very creatively entitled, "The Thursday List" of things that I find online that look like something I might like to keep track of, try some day, or just find to be generally cool or of interest. I have ADD, and can very easily get lost in internet world, where all you do is click on this link and then that link and the next and then everyone has great ideas and pictues and fun shiny blinking things to look at - and then I can never find the wonderful ideas again. So, I decided to compile them all in one place. :)

I've been busy at work this week, and busy checking out everyone's party posts, so the list is a little small this week. But here we go:

Scroll down a little bit to see the snowflake toast!

Scroll down to see the little bottles of sand and shells. I want to do this. I'd also like to do some posts about things that make me happy.

I want to make an area for Paige like this someday. Or heck, maybe one for myself! :)

Isn't thisColored Glass cool?

A possible treat for my class to make for Easter.

I've been seeing lots of posts lately about ideas for what to do with your kid's artwork.

This looks like a cute idea too - everyone likes to get mail!

This week's Unplugged Project Theme was shiny. I had a few ideas of what I wanted to do with Paige, but they fell through for various reasons - and as a trying to reform perfectionist, I'm working on being ok with that - they'll go back into the ol' bag of tricks for another time.

So Paige and I attempted the Tin Foil Festive from Scrumdilly-do! Please check hers out for very nice detailed instructions, and much better pictures. I'm still learning how to take decent pictures! :) Also, you can check out this blog - and see the same technique used for Christmas cards! :)

This weekend Roland hurt his back and has been very sore and uncomfortable. Michelle isn't feeling great either. So, I've been trying to entertain Paige all weekend. I do have some pictures of a fun project that we did, but I'm too tired to work on posting them right now. Let's just go for cute comments, ok?

Yesterday Paige put a tiara on my head and said, "I command you, Princess Momma!" Roland and I thought that was too funny. Then she wanted me to do the same for her. So I put the tiara on her head and commanded her Princess Paige Girl.

Today in the bath tub, Paige said, "Momma, I want some scream." What?! I looked toward where she was looking - at Daddy's shaving cream! I often let her play with shaving cream in the bath tub, so I said, "oh, you want some shaving cream!" (You know, sometimes I don't like to correct her - I think her way is cuter.)

Today we had quite the temper tantrum. Lately she's been putting EVERYTHING in her mouth. I think it is partially because I'm slowly trying to ween her off of her pacifier, and also because she knows it gets to me. So this morning we were doing a puzzle, and she put a piece in her mouth and looked at me. I told her to take it out, and that if she put it in her mouth again, I was going to take the puzzle away. Next thing I know, she's sitting with her head practically on the floor, with a piece of puzzle in her mouth - all hunched over so I "couldn't see her" and with a mischievous look on her face because she knows I'm mad. I had to tell her, "ok, I'm taking the puzzle away." I pack it up and she is screaming. I eventually have to take her down and put her in bed, and she's freaking out. Much later, I hear a little voice, "Momma? I'm sorry about the puzzle piece. I won't put it in my mouth again." I told her it was ok, and I loved her, and figured I'd done a good job. Fast forward to after her bath when I am juggling a bunch of things and put her comb in my mouth. "Momma, you shouldn't put the comb in your mouth. It isn't food." Damn. Sometimes they learn the lesson too well! But I guess that means I made an impression today. That's good, right? So why am I so worn out??

Welcome to my blog party, hosted courtesy of 5 Minutes for Mom, Welcome! Please make yourself at home.

In case you are new, here's a bit about me: My name is Michelle, but online I usually go by an old college nickname, Michie. I am very eclectic and am often told I would have been a great hippie.

I am mom to a 3 year-old little girl named Paige.




I am married to Roland, (aren't we cute?)


We live with my best friend, Michelle. Here she is with Paige a year or so ago.


I am a severe special education teacher and I work with very medically involved students with multiple disabilities in a public elementary school. I absolutely love elementary school, and I think I have more fun there than the kids do. I am also a perfectionist, which brings me to the point of this blog - it is my journey of learning to let go and just be me, learning to live a little more, without worrying so much about if things are "right" or what I "should" or "should not" do.

That being said, let's party! I am a big Dr. Seuss fan, and as his birthday was March 2nd, a lot of schools are doing Dr. Seuss themed activities right now. So why shouldn't I join in the fun?? (I told you I love elementary school!) So, let's get started!

First, print and decorate your own Cat in the Hat hat.


Second, Go to Kidthing and download your free computer version of Horton Hears A Who!

Third, after reading your book, you can make these yummy Green Eggs and Ham Breakfast Pizza.

I made this batch with my students at school today.


Fourth, Make a Cat in the Hat Parfait for dessert: Create a red & white parfait for each student in a clear plastic cup by spooning in red jello, then white Cool Whip. Continue the pattern. End with white Cool Whip and you can top with a red cherry or sprinkle with miniature red M&Ms. Idea from The Virtual Vine.

Fifth, after dinner, enjoy making Oobleck.

Yesterday Paige looked at herself in the mirror, then turned around and told Roland and me, that she was going to "Rock this town." I asked Roland if he'd been listening to the Stray Cats, but he said he hadn't been. I wonder where she gets this stuff?

Anyway...here's some stuff that interested me this week in blog world.


I came across Ali's website. She has some great looking projects, and I like that she gives creative inspiration for each weekend. I really liked the Punch Collage

I thought this was a cute idea for coloring book Storage.

I have been trying to organize all of the pages I pull out of magazines (something I do a lot) in a binder, - and then I found a "tutorial" on how one person did it: Organizing Binders

I wish I had enough room in my house for this.

I've made snowflakes out of spaghetti before, so this looked fun: Playing with noodles.

This looked like it could be an easy and fun project too. Egg Carton Bird Feeder

Here's another little craft project that looks like something I could do but probably won't ever actually do if I'm honest with myself: Wooden Block Puzzle

I think Paige would have fun with this. I'm going to have to make one. You need to scroll down a little to see the Alphabet Sheet

This looks like a fun gift: Cookie Cutter Fudge

And there's this weeks Thursday List. I hope you find something new and fun to check out. :) I'm off to rock this town get ready for work.

Last night when Roland brought Paige home from Grandma's (she stays with his mother during the day) she came over, hugged me and said, "Pleased to meet you." I smiled, hugged her, and said, "Pleased to meet you."

Later Roland told me he was amused that she'd said that to me - apparently they'd been listening to "Sympathy for the Devil" in the car. Pleased to meet you...hope you guess my name..."

This is my first try at participating in Unplug Your Kids' Unplugged Project. Every week, a new theme is given, such as red, toothpicks, or fabric, leaving readers and their children to interpret anyway they want. Everyone then signs up at the Unplugged Blog, and you can see everyone's different ideas of how to do the theme. We are far from Unplugged in our house - in fact, Paige is watching Little Einsteins while I type this. But, I do like attempting to do projects with her, and I love the idea of a theme, and seeing what everyone comes up with for that idea. I've always found the idea of giving a group of people the same items interesting. They always come up with unique ideas.

This week's theme was music. First, Paige and I danced. However, seeing as I got the music by turning on the TV and using one of the all music stations that my cable company provides, I figured that it probably didn't count as being Unplugged. I had a great idea though - to make a rainstick with her. I used the directions from Enchanted Learning, but then I also consulted a video of the project from Sprout's Good Night Show. That girl made it look so easy! However, I found out that it wasn't so easy for perfectionism.

First, Paige and I decorated a paper towel tube with stickers. They were alphabet stickers, and I let Paige pick what letters to use and stick them on. Next, my directions said to cut out a circle of paper to cover the ends. Easy enough. One set of directions told me to glue the circle on, one said to tape it. I figured tape would be easier and less messy. However, no matter how much I tried, I could not tape the paper on! The tape would not stick! Michelle helped me out, and we tried a couple different kinds of tape, and nothing worked. Now I was starting to get frustrated and mad at myself. How come nothing ever works right for me? I started to think. Michelle went and got some Saran Wrap and my rubber band ball. She had Paige pick a colored elastic and helped her put Saran Wrap over the first end. Paige and I then followed the rest of the directions, and put Saran Wrap and elastics over the other end. This seemed to work well, but when I shook it, a lot of the rice got stuck in between the Saran Wrap and the end of the tube, and you had to push it back in. Also, the tube wasn't keeping it's shape at one end - the rubber bands squished it shut. This was really irking my perfectionism.

I have a hard time when things don't go the way I planned for them to go. It is often hard for me to "change gears." This makes it hard for me to do things with a 3 year old sometimes, because things almost never go the way I had planned, and I want to make sure she doesn't become a perfectionist like me, so I try to go with the flow. But during this project I'm sure she saw I was frustrated that it wasn't coming out the way it was "supposed" to. Michelle then reminded me of the motto I use for my classroom, taken from Maryann Kohl's books - that it is the "Process, not the Product." (Darn her for being a logical friend.) She's right. I know she's right. The finished product doesn't have to be "perfect." It doesn't have to look just like any picture. The important part is that Paige and I did it together, and that we had fun. I just wish that wasn't so hard for me to remember sometimes. I just wish I didn't immediately get all stressed out about every little thing.

How do you deal with things when they don't go as planned? Anyone have any tips for how I can "let go" of having Paige and I do "perfect projects?"

Last week I was walking by the preschool classroom and was admiring their artwork. The teacher invited me in to show me what the kids had made. (I love working in an elementary school). The kids had made suncatchers using wax paper, glue, and tissue paper. You glue the tissue paper inbetween two pieces of wax paper, and it makes a stained glass effect when hung in the window. I've done that before with my kids at school, and with Paige. But the preschool class had made them special for St. Patrick's Day, with a cute black shamrock frame placed over the wax paper. I decided to try this project with Paige - and I have it planned to do in my classroom too.

What do you think? :)

March 1st is an anniversary of sorts for us. Eight years ago, on March 1, 2000, Roland proposed. As I mentioned a couple of days ago, it was pizza night for us, which he did intentionally so that my friend Kelly would be over. He had Kelly and me go pick up the pizza that night, so that he and Michelle could get the ring ready.

When we returned with the pizza, Roland asked me to get the bottle of Coke out of the refrigerator. I opened the door, and there, tied onto the bottle with a piece of purple curling ribbon, was my ring. I stood there frozen for a minute as my stomach dropped like I was on a roller coaster. We'd talked about getting married, and I knew that the time was coming, but he still surprised me. I, ever the romantic, said, "What the hell is on the Coke?" After getting the ring, I went into the living room, where Roland was doing his best not to look at me. I think he was a little nervous. He told me later he was sure I'd say no. So, seeing as he is also a romantic fool, he said, "So what do you say?"

The funny part is that later he told me, "it was supposed to be tomorrow, but Kelly could only come over tonight. (It was a Wednesday night, not our traditional Thursday night pizza night." I said, "why, what's tomorrow night?" to which he said, "it's the seventh." See, our dating anniversary is September 7th, and so March 7th is the sixth month point, and that's when he intended to propose. Unfortunetly, I had to tell him that it was March 1st, not March 6th. He kept insisting it was the 6th. Finally he said that he'd been dating things the 6th all day. He was disappointed, but I was amused, because it was the thought that counts. :)