Are we really Monica & Chandler?

Curiously, Ben & I seem to carry a lot of the same character traits as Monica & Chandler on Friends. Not only are we both amazingly hot like TV stars, but our weird quirks seem to resemble them as well. Let me explain... The obvious ones are things like me being a neat freak, Ben not being able to show emotion or shed a tear (even if I died & left him a note from beyond the grave), me talking loudly & saying the phrase "I KNOW!!" & Ben with the comic relief & his infamous 'grandpa jokes,' as we like to call them.


But even though cleaning turns me on & Ben secretly likes to take baths & use a poof, we do have our differences (which is probably why we didn't get a $1 million/show contract from NBC). For instance, I am the farthest thing from a professional chef, & Ben does all the cooking @ our house. Also, although Ben started out as a business major, he ended up getting a Bible degree, unlike Chandler the business/advertising professional. He decided to take the intellectual road & be a preacher or a professor & write smart people books someday. I just can't see Chandler writing a book. I'm pretty sure that I'll be bringing home the bacon just like Monica for quite awhile until Ben gets that Ph.D. after his name. Even then, his Ph.D. will not be in an area that brings home much bacon.


One thing that's the same for sure is the unexpected love that we found in each other after several years & the truly fun couple that we have become!
p.s. We also have the same shower curtain as them which I discovered on Episode 502 where Chandler starts taking baths - look @ these pics of our shower curtain vs. Monica & Chandler's shower curtain.

Grandparents visit

We, as in Bill & Kathy, Joel & Rachel, and Monica & me, went to Wichita Falls, Texas on Saturday for a quick trip. A good time was had by all & Grandmom & Granddad were doing great. Since a lot of you don't know our grandparents, we won't go into too much detail... but they are incredible people.


So, I drove the grandparents to Piccadilly for some fine cafeteria dining. I am surprised my granddad doesn't have his own private dining room named after him. Anyway, we drove back to the house & as my grandparents were getting out of the car, I put their car & house keys in my pocket. Then, last night at our apartment, I took them out of my pocket. I stole keys from my grandparents!! Yes, shame on me. I called them & they hadn't even noticed yet, & it made me want to drive to their house & give them their keys back & eat at Luby's, but the mail will have to do.


I am going to post this before Monica sees it because it's kind of boring. The exciting part of the weekend was when we argued for 20 minutes over whether it was worse to cuss or call somebody a non-cussword name. No verdict yet, & we refuse to chicken out & say they are both equal sins.

I Like the Country Better than the Plates...

A few days ago we decided that we wanted to take our China back to JCPenney because we only received 2 place settings, which doesn't help much if we have company. First, let me explain how we accidentally bought WAY too expensive China in the first place... we were encouraged to register for a set of China that we both liked before our wedding, so I finally dragged Ben into a department store to make a decision. We found a set that we both agreed on & saw that it was $100 for 5 place settings which seemed more than reasonable (those of you that know how much nice China costs @ department stores are laughing right about now). Come to find out our China was $100 for a 5-PIECE place setting, meaning a complete set of 6 would be $600 & a set of 8 would be $800 - holy cow!!


I know what you all are thinking... leave it to the newlyweds to pick out the most expensive China in the WORLD, how ditzy could we be?! The story doesn't end there though. We went to JCPenney to try to get store credit thinking that we could pick out a less expensive, less formal, more contemporary China that we wouldn't have to wait 10 yrs. to own a complete set of. Little did we know that after 6 months JCPenney deletes any record of your wedding registry out of their system & unlike Wal-Mart they won't take just anything back.


We left the store with our heads held low wondering what we were going to do. Sell it on eBay, give it to the homeless guy on the corner of Memorial & Penn? So we did what any sensible newlywed couple would do... Ben made pasta primavera last night & we ate on it! No more sitting in those boxes with all that padding & bubble wrap. I've adopted a policy about buying clothes from my best-friend Bobbie that for every dollar you spend you must wear that article of clothing that many times (an $18 shirt = 18 wears to get your money's worth). Therefore, we only have to eat on the China we now own 198 more times - we're on a mission!

Gascott

We started a gas boycott today, or gascott, & it proved as difficult as the South Beach Diet. Yes, we're out. Instead of fighting the gas prices & starting a worldwide fiasco, we decided in order to handle the increased cost of gas, we are going to have to adjust our lives in certain ways:


1. No eating breakfast on Thursdays
2. Experience the joy of Sam's Cola
3. Keep our thermostat at a cool 90 degrees... Celsius
4. Take part time jobs as lounge singers at the fabulous Super 8

5. Take showers with our clothes on, scrub them, & hang them up to dry
Things we will never stop doing no matter how expensive gas gets:
1. Drink Oklahoma tap water
2. Give up our 6 channels of cable

3. Take Palm Tree or Coffee Table back
4. Ponder the thought of getting a little dog instead of a big dog just because it eats less
5. Take money out of our savings account that makes a whopping 1.25% interest
6. Make up ridiculous excuses (like Monica put diesel in the car again, or we have no idea why the antifreeze is filled with lime Kool-Aid) so we can drive a car from Bill's used car lot

The Newest Additions to our Family

We would like to introduce the two newest members of our family... Palm Tree & Coffee Table. We have a way of naming things after their proper names (which is especially funny to those of you that know our pet names for each other). Palm Tree weighs 10 lbs. 9 oz. and Coffee Table weighs 200 lbs. 2 oz. Now, I have determined that blogs are more exciting the more personal we get. So, Coffee Table originally cost $196 and we got it for $88. Whenever we go to furniture stores, we go straight to the scratch and dent section. We found this one at Factory Direct (the "other" Mathis brother, Roger, owns it). We bought some stain and a wax pen, I fixed it up and it looks as good as new.


Palm Tree hails from Dillard's Department store at Penn Square Mall. We had some gift cards there and determined that a palm tree would be awesome. Plus, it is a good-looking palm tree, better than those you find at other stores. We are proud of Palm Tree and we determined that on our budget it would be a long time before we go on vacation, so we brought vacation to us. If you're in the same boat, you are welcome to vacation at our house--we'll buy some sand and decorate the porch in fine Caribbean style, complete with Palm Tree.
In other news, we contacted our realtor in Memphis and she is the nicest lady in the world. She helped out a lot of other couples going to Harding Grad as well as the Harding Grad recruiter, Mark Parker, and his family. It just made us more excited about the move. I mean getting a house would solve "all" of our problems, right?

Apt or House?

Which one will it be? We are wrestling with this great dilemma in life. When I calculate 3 years of rent @ $655, the number $23,580 pops up on my calculator & makes me want to vomit. I would really like to have that much money going towards a house, or more realistically, to the interest on the mortgage of that house. It is really just the principle of the matter--no pun intended.
Okay, so that is probably boring, but it is the confusing part of life that needs to be on a blog. We don't want you to think we just live this fairy tale life in fairy tale Edmond & everything is perfect. We have problems just like you. We have fights over who is the better driver. We discuss important political problems, like why there isn't a reality show for picking the next President. We all know reality shows are the best way to make important life decisions. We have to make the critical life decisions like choosing between Abuelo's & Olive Garden. Life is tough, people. I'm sorry we haven't always presented the harsh reality of living as a postmodern couple in the rough 21st century.

Moving Tip #23

Just as Monica & Chandler had to move out of their New York apartment on Friends, Ben & I are making our tentative moving arrangements for our move to Memphis in August. Boxes - check, bubble wrap - check, a plan of action on how to move everything as anal & organized as possible provided not by Monica Geller Bing, but by Monica Thompson - check!


I found this funny cartoon on the Budget Trucks Web site & it made me laugh - who knew there could be humor in moving?! Do any of you have any moving tips for the newlyweds?

Ben the Bum

Summer is supposed to be exciting & fun, but I have come to hate it. I like most of it, but I hate looking for that summer job. It's hard enough not going on a mission trip to Brazil--although I could get tickets for $950... I suppose I could take a summer class & continue to neglect time with my wife, but I still need a job.


I know what most of you are thinking. You are thinking I am such a bum & should just go out & get a job. I think you're right, but I wish you weren't. I'm not one of those that feel like I have no purpose if I don't have a job, I just have no money. Also, when you don't have a job, everybody related to you wonders what is wrong. And we don't have cable any more, so bumming around the apartment just stinks. Just so you know, I am subbing in high schools still, so rest assured, I am pulling in $50/day for teenage babysitting. Also, I am still on the preacher's circuit in Wellston.
So, wish me luck on my job hunting adventure. Barnes & Noble have received an application from me, & Lowe's & Home Depot might hear from me soon. If all else fails, I will just go outside & get really tan. This entry might seem a little pointless, & it kind of is, but it had been a while since we posted anything. For some real Ben & Monica news: I think we might still be planning on going to Memphis. Or as we say in Oklahoma, we are fixin' to get ready to plan on going to Memphis.

Walking In Memphis...

Marc Cohn isn't the only one walking in Memphis. We finally realized that we had to make this decision so that we could get on with our lives. Being under medication and lying around all day, Ben has had plenty of time to think about things. We've talked to everyone about it, prayed about it, thought about it, and we've finally arrived at a conclusion.
Next semester we will be attending Harding University Graduate School of Religion in Memphis, Tennessee. We will move sometime in August (probably in several stages) and school begins August 23rd. Ben's scholarships should cover the cost of tuition plus a little and he will be working as a Graduate Assistant for two professors. Monica has a job lined up as a travel agent for Carson-Wagonlit Travel.


Thank you to everyone who has helped us in making this decision. We knew that whatever decision we made, everyone would be happy for us. That was so encouraging, but it also made the decision hard. So, please pray for us and our future!!

The Best Sport EVER!!

I've never even watched a horse race before today, but due to our decision to drop down to limited basic cable ($6.81/month) it seemed to be one of the most exciting things on Saturday afternoon TV. Apparently, the Kentucky Derby is quite an ordeal! The pre-show is on all day long, only leading up to the actual race which lasts approx. 2 minutes. How amazing is that - a 2 minute long sport?!
Of course I was making comments like, "Look, all the horses are the same color" & "I wonder if the horses like to race?" I also like all the cute names they give them. Ben had to explain to me that sometimes after racing horses are done with their careers they are 'put down' because they have no purpose anymore to their owners. Besides that, I think I've found my favorite sporting event - congratulations Smarty Jones! Wes, aren't you proud of me for writing about sports on our blog? Did anyone else catch the race?