I Am Jealous of My Husband's Wardrobe

Sunday is laundry day in the Coy household. I do all the laundry in the house and start by sorting everything into piles - whites, work pants, jeans, sweaters, etc. Lately I have noticed I am increasingly jealous of the impressive wardrobe Kevin has built over the past few years. 

Kevin enjoys dressing well and is not shy when it comes to clothes. His metro style has led to things like Vera Bradley ties and bright green pants. Kevin had to build up his work attire when he started teaching, but I am starting to think his clothing purchases have moved from satisfying a need for a decent wardrobe to a form of collecting. 
 

Dress Shirts

Kevin wears a dress shirt and tie to school most days (although less so now than he used to thanks to his "athletic" wear). I understand that he would want a variety of shirts to choose from, no one wants to wear a boring white shirt every day, but he now owns over 30 dress shirts in an array of colors. In fact, Kevin has collected so many dress shirts that they have been relocated from our walk-in closet to the closet in the office. 

The Dress Shirt Closet

 

The Great Wall of Ties

In need of a tie? I am pretty sure Kevin has one in every color, pattern and style you can think of. At last count, there were 50 ties hanging from 2 tie racks in our closet. Kevin actually has more ties than there are knobs on the racks but we aren't sure where to hang a third rack. 

The Tie Wall

The latest collection in the KMC line is athletic wear. What started as a couple of coaches polos from Pacolet has morphed into several Nike golf polos and pullovers... I refuse to let Kevin take over another closet!

Paying It Forward

On my way to work yesterday morning, I wheeled through the Chick-fil-A drive-thru for a little breakfast. I placed my order and proceeded to the window with exact change in hand. Much to my surprise, I was informed that my order had been paid for by the woman in front of me and I owed nothing! 

I had heard of people doing this, Kevin's even had someone buy his overpriced coffee at Starbucks before, but I had never experienced it for myself. What a wonderful act of kindness! Not only was it a great start to my day, but I have to think that the thoughtful woman in the gray Honda felt all warm and fuzzy inside as she drove off. 

Sometimes the smallest gestures in life can make large impacts. My breakfast only totaled to $3.89, not much at all, yet I felt like I had received a gift valued at so much more. It is things like this help restore my faith in others. It is refreshing to know that there are still kind, caring and thoughtful people out there that like to do nice things for other people just for the sake of doing it. 

The Liberty Mutual insurance commercials come to mind when I think about random acts of kindness. One act inspires another and creates a ripple effect, which is the goal of Pay It Forward Day - April 26, 2012. The hope is to inspire 3 million acts of kindness in one day. What will you do to celebrate?

And Then Something Came Up

I remembered today that I had started a blog early last week but never actually finished it or hit "publish". I then proceeded to rationalize to myself why this was and realized that this is the case so often in life. We may have great intentions with well thought out plans but then life can throw you a curve ball and something unexpected comes up.

While I do still intend to finish that blog from last week, I wanted to expand more on this idea. I find that I often feel like I don't have the time to do things around the house that I want or say that I need to do, yet I'm not really sure why. What happens to all my "free" time between 5:30 and 10:30 at night? I'd love to say that I spend hours cleaning my house or making fancy dinners each night, but we all know that is just not true.

I spend all day in super productivity mode at work and I think that I actually welcome distractions when I get home. Sure I need to clean out the "office" that should be on an episode of Hoarders, but the phone rings, the cat throws up, daddy comes by and nothing gets accomplished. One minute it will be 7 o'clock and I think that I have all this time to get things done and then I turn around, it's 10 and I haven't really crossed anything off the list. In the case of the unfinished blog, I started it on Tuesday evening knowing that I would have late nights with Junior League and the Circus on Wednesday and Thursday but got distracted and never returned to complete it.

Kevin has always said that I need to relax more and have more down time. Maybe, if my plan for the evening is to do nothing in particular, I will be much more successful at both completing my to-do list and following Kevin's suggestion!

10 Years Later

It was brought to my attention the other day that my 10-Year High School Reunion would be this year. I had thought of it before and knew that it was this year, but for some reason it just seemed more real when someone else mentioned it. 

Wow, it really has been 10 years! It is kind of hard to believe it has been that long, not to mention, that means I am getting old-er. I really did enjoy my years in high school - at least most of them. I started my first job at Carmike, visited places like New Orleans and Washington DC with the orchestra, was on the Homecoming Court my senior year and found my interest in marketing/advertising on the Yearbook staff all while making lots of great friends along the way. I am sad to say that I have not kept in touch with that many people from high school and wish that I had put more effort into staying connected after graduation. Thanks to the world of Facebook, I pretty much know who is married, where they live and whether or not they have kids - which is kind of creepy when you think about it - but I haven't actually talked to most of them since high school.

I am a little disappointed that reunions are just for one class. I had lots of friends that were in the graduating class the year before me and the year after that I would love to see again. I guess that is true for everyone, though. It would be fun to hold my own reunion, not of my graduating class, but of my high school friends. That would allow me to include my friends from other classes as well as other schools. A 10-Year Melissa Reunion would definitely be more fun!

The Home Phone Debate

Yes, it's 2012 and I still have a home phone line...

I know many people have long since cancelled their landlines and rely solely on their cellphones, but I get some sense of comfort by having a true home phone. For one, I like having a number other than my cell to give out to the various people/companies who "need" it. I consider my cell to be a personal line of communication and don't want just anyone and everyone calling me on it. 

I also feel the need for a house line for those calls where a 15-minutue wait time has you still waiting 45 minutes later. I don't want to waste all those cellphone minutes listening to bad elevator music and we all know that going over your allotted cell minutes costs a small fortune.

I say "I" have a landline because Kevin thinks we should disconnect it. He refers to the home phone as my parents personal line of communication with me because they are the ones who call it most often. He suggests we just connect 2 tin cans with a long string and communicate that way since they live so close.

I have been looking into switching to Vonage. They have a $12/month plan and can even transfer our current number. I don't know much about Vonage, but I see their commercials on TV a lot and I feel like they have been around for several years now. Does anyone have any experience with Vonage?

Channeling My Inner Mark

When I was growing up I watched my dad (Mark) spend countless hours fixing things around the house - the harvest gold wash & dryer from the 80's (which they only recently replaced), family cars, daddy's collection of Snapper law mowers... you get the idea. There wasn't much that Daddy couldn't fix (and still isn't). He is a very handy man to have around!

I have noticed that I am increasingly becoming handy, especially now that we own a house. Just the other night I took apart the drain in Kevin's bathroom sink. It has been draining slowly and Draino wasn't doing enough to satisfy me. I noticed the plastic pipes below the sink didn't even require tools to take apart, so I grabbed a bucket and started taking things apart. Sure I could have called Daddy, or maybe even a plumber, but shouldn't I at least try to find the issue? I'm happy to report that after a good cleaning out with some home-made tools, Kevin's sink is now draining properly. 

I like to think that I picked up a few tidbits of knowledge while watching Daddy fix various things around the house. I imagine my handiness is part "I can do it myself" attitude with some "I don't want to pay someone else to do this" with a little "I wonder how this works". My cell phone's touchscreen recently started freaking out and became almost unusable. I noticed that when I put pressure in a certain area the screen would work just fine. I really like my current phone and it became a personal mission to get more life out of it. I decided I didn't have much to lose, so I took a screwdriver to the screws inside the back case. Wouldn't you know that it did the trick and my screen is working just fine now! 

I hope to be able to continue channeling my inner Mark and show those malfunctioning somethings who's boss!

I Don't Want to be A Domestic Diva

When I first mentioned to my husband that I was considering starting a blog, he asked me what I was going to "blog" about. That was the big question - what would I write about and would anyone read it? 

Kevin (the husband) suggested I write about my trials and tribulations on my quest to becoming a Domestic Diva. I assured him I had no desire to become a master of the vacuum or queen of the stove and began thinking about what the purpose of my blog really would be.

This blog is just about me. My thoughts, gripes, suggestions and general ramblings. While my husband, my family and my cats can't help but be included in entries fairly regularly, my goal is to have a blog about the random things that come to mind and my adventures through life. I invite you to follow along as I explore the Melly State of Mind.