Through a Glass, Darkly

Years married: 5

Times I have been sad we didn’t have a wedding video: 0

Times we have listened to the CD of our wedding ceremony: I think 2

Times our vacation was almost ruined by forgetting the plane tickets (luckily one of us remembered them on the way to the airport): Just once. Because one of us is more careful and one of us asks a lot sooner.

Times our vacation was almost ruined by one of us almost leaving the oven on. For a week: Just once. (I actually think it was the same vacation as above, but I’ll have to double-check with Mike about that.)

Times that extensive power outages have forced us to go stay with friends or family: 2 times in one winter. The great ice storms of ’02 and ’03.

Times I have ordered lasagne: Mike says I “always” order lasagne, so . . . a lot.

Places we have lived: 3

Times I allowed Mike to move the TV into the bedroom: 3 (once when I had mono and once when I was just really really sick and this week because of all the painting downstairs)

Times Mike has asked me if we can keep a TV in the bedroom: 1,000,000,000

Time we were both working full-time jobs: About 9 months

Former bosses who sound like Smurfs: 1

Current bosses who sound like Smurfs: 0

A’s made while one or the other of us was in school: Too many to count (hehe)

Pets: 0

Plants Kari has killed: 3 or 4

Plants Kari has kept alive: 3

Churches regularly attended: 2

Vehicles owned: 4

Vehicles currently owned: 2

Deer hit: 1

Household members who are afraid of heights: 1

Household members who are afraid of spiders: 1

Hours Kari has spent complaining about the smell of Mike’s beef stroganoff creation (including Hamburger Helper Beef Stroganoff, sour cream, corn, and A1 sauce): At least 17

Times Mike has won at Yahtzee (a game of CHANCE): hundreds

Times Kari has won at Trivial Pursuit (a game of SKILL and KNOWLEDGE): also hundreds

Times Kari has won at Scrabble: 0

Times Mike has won at Book Lover’s Trivial Pursuit: 0

Discussions of whether we should stop playing competitive games: thousands

Times Kari has mowed the grass: 2

Times Mike has mopped our kitchen floor: 2

Years it took for Kari to convince him to mop it even once: 4.5

Counting Crows concerts seen: 4

Caedmons Call concerts seen: 0

Floods in our house: 1

Diet Coke drunk: Average 50 oz/day for 365 days/year times 5 years = 91,250 oz (which we believe is a low estimate) (and that’s just Mike)

Remotes in our house: 13

Reality shows we follow: 3

Hours past midnight we stayed up reading (out loud) a sappy book that made us cry that I shouldn’t mention here: 4

Harry Potter books read together: 2 (that’s since the wedding, mind you)

Sleeps until Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince: 0

Number of months after the wedding that Kari’s watch battery died: 1

Number of months that it’s been since Mike said he would replace it: 59 and counting

Scrapbooks filled: 3

Books read, hours spent laughing, tears cried: Too innumerable to count, but I can tell you the laughter outnumbers the tears by a long shot.

Regrets: 0