Week 3: Cohabitation

This has become one of my favorite topics to share with you here in this space because I feel like my life has really changed since Dan agreed to live with me and began the move in process.

I've been getting a little flack about how I've called this series "cohabitation" - so I checked out the official definition and think we are closer to "living together in an intimate relationship" than "to dwell with one another, as different species of animals". I'm always happy to clarify!

We are beginning to see so much progress toward un-boxing his possessions and rearranging mine to make everything fit. We don't yet have complete access or ability to walk around the garage which is fine because it's too cold but we are planning to make great strides this weekend with hopes of inviting friends over to see the place on Superbowl Sunday. Countdown: 9 days.

First of all I think you'll get a kick out of this Bed Cartography that I spotted while browsing the internet this week - this is completely what Dan says that I do. While I'm a little embarrassed, I'm happy that it at least shows how much I enjoy being close to my sweetheart while I sleep and also how much I think sharing = caring.

It's been frigid here in Portland and I'm so thankful that Dan is from Chicago and knows his way around an ice frost covered car. I'm the person that will sit in my car and sacrifice being late to allow the defrost setting in the car to work magic. Dan prefers a hands-on approach and not only volunteers to do the scraping but he also upgraded to a better scraper and some anti-freeze spray for the next time we see these conditions.

No cold is too cold for the two of us and our ice cream habit though. We took the time over the weekend to sort bottles and cans to take into get our 5 cents per accepted container and walked away with almost a cool seven dollars. He volunteered to cash in the reward and assured me that he'd return with something that was worth our time spent in the claustrophobic can-smacking room. I have to agree - and he even had some loose change to spare! #NotCleanEating

We are even evolving with our communication skills regarding household chores! He started the laundry and while I was making dinner and I realized I could no longer hear the whirl of the washing machine in the garage. I put on 3 sweatshirts and risked getting frostbite to go swap the clothes into the dryer and even cleaned out the lint trap while I was at it. Is it just me or do boys not know about lint traps?

This weekend we made big strides in getting the "Beat Lab 2.0" set up for his entertainment pleasure. I never realized how much work went into setting up the audio/visuals for the man room but apparently 7 speakers requires 14+ separate cords and next time if we ever leave this setup will need a level and a tape measure because just eyeballing it is apparently an acquired skill. He's happily in here most of his evenings and encourages me to spend as much time as I need to write posts for the next day. It gives him more time to play!

In typical fashion we've been cooking up a storm even on nights where we didn't make it home until 9pm Why, intramurals, why? The new interchangeable plate grill I got us him for Christmas from the Sharper Image has really came through in some tough times and we're happy to have a fast acting grill for meats, panini's and hopefully pancakes this weekend!

^ Eaten while watching this week's Biggest Loser^

Another major project that we both worked on this past weekend and I still have more to get after this weekend was purging and donating gently used clothing to Brooke local middle school students as a base for the beginning of a wonderful clothing closet. It felt so good to get rid of things that were taking up space in my home and set them aside for others who will get great wear out of them. Even after packing up two boxes each we feel that we still have more than anyone really needs - we're especially sensitive to the amount of "stuff" after moving so much of it. Time to clear more space for pieces I truly love and continue to define my style even further.

We even stopped into the local pet store to see what Betta fish were there, but got sidetracked by oh-so-friendly Jackson who's taken a particular liking to my Dan. What is it about him that cause the ladies animals of all species to swoon?

And that commute I was worried about Dan hating? He's found ways to cope via use of his Slingbox app to watch local Chicago sports + ESPN coverage. We both have enjoyed our passenger time more than our driver time. That should change once we start to see more daylight on our commute!

I'm still pinching myself about how happy I am over this new step forward in our lives. I'm a lucky lady.

<3 JE