Ahhhh the Guilt!....okay time to fess up.

Do you remember in the not so distant past....as in my first February post, where I mentioned that I was going to start seriously training for a traithlon that I foolishly decided to do this summer. Remember? Yeah I had forgotten too....okay not really, but I have forgotten to start training, that is for sure. In fact in my successful neglect for all things besides studying, I have quite a back log of things to do. BUT I did tackle the heaviest one last night by filing our taxes. Woohoo. AND this is the first year in forever where instead of going in thinking "yay we're going to get a ton of money" and ending up finding out that we owe the government somethin', I decided to use reverse psychology and it worked. I went in thinking "ah crap this is going to really hurt". And I came out at the other end thinking "Well at least it is not a negative number". That is right! we are actually getting in itsy bitsy teeny weeny refund this year. It isn't much, but it is something. That little something is going into our "Texas Spring Break Shooting Extravaganza" fund...ooo wait have I told you about that trip yet? Proof again that I am neglectful even to my blog. Well yeah, Andy and I are taking a little Spring Break road trip for his 27th Birthday (YAY for March 23rd the day when we are the same age and I get a six-month break from Andy telling me what a cradle robbing cougar I am....seriously I am only six months older. Of course he only continues to do it because I am obviously bothered by it). Since it is for his birthday we are headed to Austin and Waxahachie to see two of his best friends from the Marines, Stotts (aka. Andrew) and Eric (and his wife Shelly, one of my besties). We went out to see Eric and Shelly um three or four years ago, but we haven't seen Stotts for 6! Stotts and Andy were like two peas in a sniper's pod? Or would it be a viper's nest? I am so out on the lingo it isn't even funny. Well since this is an Andy-centric trip, we've decided to spend a good portion of the 8 days or so, "training" aka. shooting. Which means the next week and half for Natalie is going to consist of some major drill running and brushing up on some skills so I don't make a complete foo' out of myself. I mean, as you can imagine, my "skills" in comparison to theirs are laughable anyway, but I at least gain a teeny grain of respect from them when I put forth a real effort to not look completely incompetent. So that's the goal for the next 10 days. Gun fighting. Sounds ridiculously funny doesn't it. If you knew me you would be rolling on the ground right now. I am such a pacifist. But I do like me some paper target killin'.
In fact our date night activity this weekend is to go stock up on a few more boxes of bullets, awww and you thought your "together" activities were romantic. Don't be jealous ladies. And when the tax refund rolls in next week, that is going towards brass too. You know if it is any relief to anyone else in America, the one industry that isn't seeing any type of recession is the ammo industry that is for sure. Have you tried to find bullets these days? It has gotten to the point where we're going to be doing our own reloading the costs have skyrocketed so much.
Alright admittedly this post was not intended to be a dialog about guns and bullets, I swear these things have a mind of their own. What I was trying to tell you was it is time to get my butt in gear for the triathlon. And I am planning to start today! Seriously I can't believe the entry took this turn. You all are hearing banjo music in the background and thinking you are going to stay away from any river trips anytime soon. Reel it in Natalie, reel it in.
As for other things I have been neglectful about during this past 12 months of hell, at the top of the list sits Andy. That poor fellow. Someone should seriously adopt him... I am not sure why spousal social services has not taken him away from me. BUT in an effort to right my wrongs against him, I am making him my top priority. From now on I am going to live and breath Andy....most likely to the point where he asks me to leave him alone. I have decided to take a vow to start being a good wife and keeping up with my half of the cooking and cleaning...I mean come on this isn't 1950, I am not going to put on my pettiskirts and start vacuuming in my pearls.....wait actually that kind of sounds fun. Does anyone have a pettiskirt I can borrow?. But I definitely need to start picking up my end of our life and really start being the supportive spouse that he was to me when I was in school....although technically I am writing this past year off because he did leave me for 9 months to go play in the sand box. Ha we're even stephen on neglectful....and yes I am evil because I did just say that he neglected me while he was fighting in a war. Okay okay that was a low blow, even for me. But you don't understand the guilt I have for being a terrible wife and partner while i have been pursuing this silly "career" of mine. I know that "technically" it is for both of us that I was taking these exams and I know he is pleased as pie (I am obviously in the rhyming mood...just come along with me people) that I have worked so hard on them. But that doesn't alieviate the guilt. So my only relief is to right these wrongs by jumping feet first back in. Here I come honey!