He's a Little Bit Country, I'm a Little Bit Rock-N-Roll

The Sugar Daddy and I have been ball-and-chained for almost eight years.

Count 'em. 

EIGHT! 

Some days it feels like we've been together for two decades and other days it seems like we just met; not sure what that means but feel free to psychoanalyse. 

I was recently talking to a girlfriend of mine that just realized Seth and I eloped four seconds after meeting each other and she was blown away, saying she would've never guessed we jumped into marriage so fast. But as corny as it sounds I like to say, "when you know, you know." And we knew. Quick.

Here's the thing, he really is my best friend. And not only do I love him and am in love with him, but I like him too. That might sound silly but ya'll, I know so many couples that don't seem to truly be friends as well as lovers and its amazing the difference you can see in their relationships.

I know eight years isn't a 53 but I can tell you this...

You can't stop doing what you did before you were married. The easiest way I know how to explain it simply is this: I call Seth my boyfriend. It became a joke in our family after a while because when Owen was about three years old he heard me refer to Seth as my boyfriend and he said, "Mommy! I thought you and Daddy were married!" Oh my sweet boy, we are. But I treat him like my boyfriend; I strive not to become complacent. I strive not to take him for granted. You have to keep that spark there. You can't let it die out. 

We're opposites but we're alike. 

Seth is organised. A perfectionist. Schedule-oriented. A rule follower. Neat. Orderly. Likes predictability. Realist. Analytic.

I'm so disorganised. Perfect is not worth my trouble. I couldn't stay on schedule if I was paid for the most part. I don't bother learning the rules unless its to make a point to break a few. Chaotic. Like certain things orderly...sometimes. Change does me good. Dreamer. Creative.

We're both homebodies. Have a dry sense of humor. Curse like sailors. Are open-minded. Aren't easily offended. Don't sweat the little things. And have similar dreams and goals for our family. 

It helps. It does. And man have we grown together. We use each other's strengths rather than fighting about them. He's good with money and it bores me to tears so he deals with it. I think I check our account like twice a year and it's usually because I'm trying to find proof I paid for something because I need to return something and I've not surprisingly lost my receipt.  

I'm good with Mary Poppins type shit, so Seth doesn't know things like where detergent goes in the washer. Nor does he know where anything in the kitchen is located. We have very tradition roles in a very not traditional house. He takes care of the outside. I take care of the inside. He makes the money. I make the babies. It's a win-win, folks. It's how we like it and what our personalities drift toward. We make each other better. 

If I married someone like me we'd be starving artists. Living on our deep passionate love for each other and a prayer to a God we weren't sure (but secretly hoped) existed. Our kids would have names like Tulip and River and our mothers would ask us constantly for updates as we'd always be planning our next adventure. 

If Seth married someone just like him they'd be a career-oriented power couple with 2.5 kids name Catherine Elizabeth and Michael Robert David whom they put in daycare the second maternity leave was up. The paperwork to their investments would be filed neatly in their home office and their mothers would call once a month. On the 3rd. At 12:30. Simply to say Hi because they'd already know what they were up to otherwise because, well, they had a plan and they'd stick to it. 

See? My life would be chaos. Seth's, mundane. We need each other. I give him the right amount of wild and he gives me the right about of responsibity. 

One day, years ago, after dragging him to do something he initially only did because I insisted, we were laying in bed that evening and he was saying how much of a good time he had. It made me smile. "What would you do without me?" I asked him teasingly. 

"My life would be very boring." he said. 

And without him, mine would be a mess.
Here's to many more years of yinging and yanging in the most perfect of amounts. And here's to choosing each other every. single. day.

Xx, Lor

What Women Want

It seems that everyone's shit is going down the toilet lately. Which I guess is what you typically want, but when it comes to relationships it ain't. Can we agree on that? Thanks. Anyway, my girl and I were talking about what men do wrong. Now before you come at me with pitchforks and torches let me say that I realize we women do things wrong too. Rarely, but we do. Back to the fellas though…

Hey guys, bros, dudes, fellas, pimps, whatever the hell you wanna be called…here goes:

• After a certain age, playing games is no longer cute. In fact, it's downright confusing and frustrating and after a while, no matter how much we care about you we will back off because games are mentally draining - like a vampire sucking the brains out of our head. I know they typically like necks and blood but just work with my analogy - aight?!

• When she's upset or sad, just hold her. She will feel that all is right in the world with your arms around her. I promise.

• Don't take her for granted.

• If you love her, tell her. If you want to talk to her, phone her. If you think she looks beautiful, let her know.

• If you're unsure of how to even approach her, grab your cajones and man-up for pete's sake. She'll dig it if she digs you. And if she doesn't dig you then eff it - right?!

• Fuck sleep. You can sleep when you're dead.

• It's not gonna be perfect. But you're gonna feel this connection that you just can't explain in words...like, when someone asks you about her you're not gonna have words straight away, but you'll definitely have a smile on your face instantly, and it'll linger, that smile. 

• Who cares what others think of your relationship. If she makes you happy - go for it. Life is too short to not be with the person that makes you feel alive.

• Waiting for the perfect time? It's now:

I could keep going but I think ya'll get my point. Or at least I hope you do. And if not, then there is no hope for you and you'll never be truly satisfied in your love life. Ha. Just kidding. Buuuuut seriously.

Happy New Year's Eve, ya'll!

Seth Nolan, Be Mine...

Forgive me, I've been off the grid for the last week or so, hence the lack of posts. So let's go back, shall we? Waaaaay back, back into time...


Okay, before I go all Blackstreet on you I'll only take you back 15 days ago to Valentine's Day. What? What's that you say? Valentine's Day was only six days ago? Well, it may have been for you lucky bastards that get to have your significant other by your side everyday, but for us Rumbargers Valentine's Day was on Saturday, the 10th. That’s because we have a crazy schedule in la casa de Rumbarger and we knew we were literally going to be on opposite sides of the country come 14 February. So naturally, we simply choose to make the best of our situation, which I suppose is the life of any mil-to-mil couple.

I tend to be a bit of a romantic. Lovey dovey. All the while slightly dorky, therefore I make or buy things that are sentimental and mean something special to us. Where as Seth tends to be…well…a guy. He’s oblivious as to what to get me for any holiday and requests a list from me the day before he needs to produce said gift. He’s getting MUCH better, however.

We went to dinner – our thing is sushi, but we had just eaten sushi the night before, so naturally we went to Olive Garden (my personal fave) and then hit up a movie. 

And as far as gifts went, well, he won’t ever tell me what to simply buy him so I’m stuck coming up with something on my own. And since I’m a mush, I went all lovey dovey. First, I got three balloons (I should've gotten four because they were supposed to represent each year we’ve spent a Vday together but I obviously had a brain fart and only got three), I wrote a memory on paper and tied a memory to each balloon. I snuck the balloons into our bedroom when he was still asleep that morning so that he’d wake up to find a few of my favorite memories of us.

He was sorely lacking some décor on his new nightstand we built so I took it into my own hands to make this scrabble-inspired art.

The significance? Seth had never, ever, ever, ever, never, never played scrabble until he met my grandmother for the first time. Scrabble was a staple in my house growing up so I was blown away when I learned Seth had never played the game before. And anytime we visit my grandmother you can bet she’s gonna break out the scrabble board. So when Seth met my Grandmother for the first time he also met scrabble. The first word he played was ‘sad.’

Yep, I took a picture of him making his first move of his first scrabble game because I’m a total sap like that.

And let’s just admit that Vday isn’t Vday unless you’ve got some chocolate consumption on the agenda. And since my man probably would wince at a heart-shaped box filled with choloclate I decided to simply buy him some of his favorite candies and write silly notes on ‘em. I also made him two little scratch-off cards instead of getting him a typical Valentine's card.

Lastly, I made this lamp shade, which may seem silly because, well, it’s a lamp shade. But I actually wrote him a love letter on it. So all that messy handwriting you see is actually a letter to him. I got the idea from, you guessed it, Pinterest. The talented gal wrote her son a letter on his lamp shade and I, being little Miss Sappy McGee, absolutely loved the idea. I also printed a copy of the letter for him also so that he could easily read it. 

And what did he get me? Well, a cute little stuffed animal and a coffee mug, because he knows that I'm a coffee addict, although I have gotten much better and have significantly reduced my caffeine consumption. He also bought me loads of chocolates and hot pink roses like any awesome hubby would. And he knows that I have a totally unhealthy obsession with white ceramic animals so he got me this horsey! 

Isn't he a stud? I named him Vladimir. I've never named any of my animals, instead they just end up getting called Mr-so-and-so. Example, my owl on our living room built-ins is simply called 'Mr Owl' and my stately giraffe is just 'Mr Giraffe.' 

I'm just now realizing that I've got some unconscious sexism happenin' because none of my animals are 'Mrs' or 'Miss.' Anyhoo, my horse just needed a name, I mean, look at that face, how can you not name him?! 

He just looks like he commands that I name him. And Vladimir just seemed to fit. Seth thinks it's weird and awkward that I named an inanimate object but think of it this way, guys name their cars - right?! I rest my case.  

Last, but definitely not least is this way cool coffee mug. 

Yeah no, that's not a lens to my camera, it simply looks like one, it's actually a coffee mug but I decided I needed a little greenery in our room so I'm using it as a planter.

Is it not the coolest thing you've ever seen? I must say, my man did goooooood. And then of course he finished things off by giving me a love note he wrote and it made me bawl my eyes out two sentences into reading it. I went in to full-blown ugly cry, people - it wasn't pretty. I had to do the super fast hand wave in front of my eyes to dry my tears so that I could continue to read. Yeah, I was a hot mess. 

So there we have it, the most amazing Valentine's Day to date. I hope ya'lls went just as well. And please tell me I'm not the only one with a weird obsession! Or at least tell me that Vladimir is a fitting name for my shiny, ceramic horsey!

Much Love,

Lor