It must be good karma...

Some of my old coworkers and I are talking about getting together for a dinner/drink some time. I promised not to whine about work issues. My friend said "but Laura, what will we talk about? I've never heard you complain once about your husband" And it's true. I really don't complain much about Chris. I can't commiserate about the normal husband things I hear other women say. Now if you hang out with us this may be a surprise. For instance, if we are going some place we've never been and I've written down the directions, you'd think we were auditioning to be the next John and Kate with the amount of passive aggression and snippiness. We are definitely trying to be better about this. How else will we win the Amazing Race? A dream of mine that Chris won't add to his "must do in my life" list.

Chris's boss told to take today off as an extra vacation day since he has been doing such a great job at work. I wasn't sure what he was going to do, but it was his day he earned so I wasn't going to nag him to do anything. The house was an absolute disaster. By nature I am not a neat person. Sure, it feels nice to be in a very clean, organized place, but I often find something better to do (i.e. blog, read a book, try new recipes etc). Then by the time it gets out of control, I feel overwhelmed. My cleaning tends to consist of hours spent organizing a bookshelf, while total disaster reigns around me. I've gotten better with Penny here, and now we both clean about the same amount. Chris's college roommates can vouch that he can be messy too, but he often is bothered by the messiness before it annoys me. This is what I came home to:

Chris had gone grocery shopping and cooked the penne alla vodka with shrimp recipe I've been dying to try from the pioneer woman cook book. Of course, if you know Chris, he does most of the grocery shopping and cooking around here, but I'm trying to pitch in more.

The living room was completely clean, dusted and vacuumed. When I left there were piles of Penny's old clothes that I've been "sorting" through for weeks. One of those projects that kind of became a monster. He set up a table in the basement and piled the clothes there so I can work on it there. Oh, and he sorted and organized the obstacle course of clutter in the basement. Now I don't worry about breaking my neck walking from the stairs to the washer machine.
Then the bathroom. This is usually my duty, but he did the entire thing. The counter did not look like that when I left!
And last but not least, the hurricane that was Penny's room. Every book was on the floor and toys were everywhere. Doesn't it look great? Now we just have to find a real place for all those toys on the rocking chair.

Here's the crazy thing...he did all of this and still had time to play video games, watch a movie, and pick Penelope up a little earlier from day care. I was thanking him profusely and he said "You don't have to keep thanking me. I kind of did it for me so neither of us would be stressed out over the weekend and we could just enjoy it together"

Remember in my last post when I said my mom used to compare me to a pig? That was often followed by the sentence "You better learn to take care of yourself now because no one will do it for you when you are older" Yes, I have stepped up to the plate. I do a lot more cleaning than my pigsty 15 year old self would do, but I will say I'm utterly spoiled by marrying Chris. I must have done something extremely awesome in my past life to deserve this guy!

Well, now I'm off to enjoy a piece of chocolate cake he made from scratch.