“There’s a special on flowers for Valentine’s Day!” said the local florist. We were walking by his shop, going home from the subway, and he was standing in the doorway. “$65 for a dozen roses!” he crowed, as if that was a great bargain. “Maybe I’ll see him in here for Valentine’s.”

Rob smiled and said, “Maybe,” and then when we were out of earshot, “You would kill me if I came home with $65 flowers!”

“I really would.” I said, and I wrapped my arm around him. I’m so glad he “gets it”.

Even if I had all the money in the world, I wouldn’t be down with spending that kind of money on something that will die in a week, and besides, roses are way too easy. I do love flowers, but not roses, really; I’ll take my flowers quirky, unique, wild and un-sprayed with pesticides.  Cellophane-free.  Real, natural grown, and not given out of obligation.  Inexpensive, always, and presented with love.  Like these.

photo by abby. $11  buy a print of this and other beautiful photo prints by her here.

photo by sarah norris, $30 for a set of four mini-prints. buy here.

My in-laws keep kosher, and kosher = no butter near the turkey, and by “near” I mean “in the same meal, anywhere”. So everywhere you’d normally put butter at Thanksgiving: on potatoes and veggies and so forth, there was none. Just lots of margarine. Both Rob and I forgot about this and stuffed ourselves at Thanksgiving, and then again last night, with leftovers.

It’s not pretty around here. Scientists are going to discover a hole in the ozone over Brooklyn and pinpoint it right above our apartment. Universe, I apologize.

Rob is worse than just gassy, he’s full-on sick. All he’s been able to accomplish since last night is sweating, moaning, and sleeping. In between, he’s making this house almost uninhabitable. The dogs have started to run out of the room after catching a whiff. That’s bad; I once had to physically restrain them from rolling around on a dead frog.

The recording booth is up; it fills up the entire office save for a thin sliver of space between the wall of it and the wall of the room it’s in. Rob has been running all of the wires in this space, and tonight he had to squeeze his entire body into it to get a cord in the back. He was able to get in alright, but not out.

My heart sank when I heard his voice calling for help, and I sprinted up the stairs expecting to see blood or, worse, expensive equipment accidentally broken. Thankfully there was neither, and when I realized what had happened, I ran and grabbed my FlipCam.

Enjoy.

Rob Stuck from theambershow on Vimeo.

I don’t think people are supposed to be so attached to one another that being apart for a few days is painful, but I am, and he is, and we miss each other terribly.

I stayed home because of the money, because he would be busy anyway, and because Matty has a horrible ear infection that needs daily attention, and I don’t trust anyone else to do it properly or without causing him panic and pain. But I wish I was there, and not just because he’s in a city I want to see, either, but because every single person that he meets this weekend, that he has a beer with and that gets to hear him give a presentation has no idea… NONE… of how lucky they are at that moment to be in the company of the most wonderful person in the world.

I’m bummed out.

I’ve been living with Rob for over 3 years (I know!) and during that time I’ve gone through phases where sometimes I’m like, “Okay, It’s time to go out drinking with your buddies!” as I’m shoving him towards the door and flinging his wallet out onto the sidewalk, and sometimes I’m like, “Oh, you’re taking a shower?  Me too!” and I climb into the tub after him because being apart long enough for him to get clean would make me sad.

I was in the middle of a “clingy” phase when he left for San Francisco on Friday, making it one of the more painful times we’ve been apart.  He was, too, and we were both mopey about not being together.

He just got home this morning and has been sleeping for hours at this point (it’s almost 6pm).  I am resisting the urge to wake him up to talk to him, because I am a Nice Wife, although if he keeps sleeping his schedule is going to be all off and he’ll be up all night bothering ME.

With him being out of work (the newspaper he worked for closed) we’re anticipating a lot of “together time” as he is planning on doing a lot of work from home.  Sounds good to me!

I’m nervous about this suddenly-thrust-upon-us turn of events, but I’m excited because we, as a duo, tend to take weird, unconventional life events and rock them out beautifully.  Sometimes I wish that we’d just have a six-month period of SAMENESS, but that doesn’t seem to be in the cards for a good long while.  No matter.  I think we’re going to rock this out, too.