Those boys can play!

I have three brothers.  Three amazingly intelligent, incredibly gifted, and supremely artistic brothers whom I love and don't get to see enough.  They're great.  They have names that start with the letter "B" and sometimes they have facial hair, but sometimes they don't.  

My brothers play music like it's in extension of living.  They have to make music.  At night, in the morning, on the weekends, in the car, at the dinner table, they make music.  And it is beautiful.  

I have never been able to maintain the patience it takes to play a musical instrument.  They all taught themselves to play guitar, drums, keyboard, bass, ukulele, synth, you name it, they probably have had a hand at trying to play it.  I guess, as a dancer, I use my body as an instrument...but we all know that's not really the same as actually playing an instrument. 

Here are the brothers:

  Brother Eldest, Ben

 Brother Middlest, Bryan

 Brother Youngest, BJay (who will only be seen wearing black suites in honor of Johnny Cash)












All the brother's bands are great, and you dear blog reader, faithful follower and enjoyer of our earth saving marriage, should listen to and love their music, just like Hubs and I do!
Check out the following:
Brother Eldest Main Project
Brother Eldest Second Project, these guys tour the STL!
Brother Middlest Project, touring this summer! 
Brother Middlest Other Band, he's so prolific 
Youngest Brother... 
Okay, youngest brother is still in school, bummer, but SOON he'll be making waves on the music scene, once the days of cafeteria french fries are over. 

Rock on Brothers Thrice.  Rock on.


~the wifey

What Dreams May Come

Before I married Hubs, I never woke up angry at someone from a dream I'd had.  I heard of people who had experienced this phenomenon, but I was never one of them.  

Until now.

Last night was not the first of married dreams involving me and the hubs, that had me waking up deeply annoyed or resentful, but last night was a set of very vivid ones that I thought I could share here for everyone's enjoyment.  

Let's call these dreams, My Hunky Hubs.  

Hunky Hubs Dream #1:  Steve is playing a live concert on SNL!  How exciting!  Except for the fact that he's doing an acoustic duet with Uncle Kracker (gross).  He had to wear a disguise too; bushy Amish beard (think Bearded Boy), and dark Emo glasses, the disguise was hiding the fact that as a worship leader he couldn't be seen playing a performance not related to God.  
(Okay, all of that is pretty run of the mill dream land, this next part is why wifey got a little angry in her sleep.)
Women were throwing their panties at my hubs!!!  YES.  Lots of them.  

I was livid, dream livid and then real life livid when I woke up around five...this was before the shouting match in our awesome back alley.

Hunky Hubs Dream #2:  We were at a Christmas party in our neighborhood, and everytime I looked for hubs, he was surrounded by women!  They were flirting with him and touching him and laughing at him.  Angry sleeping wifey take two!

Now, I have to say, that in all of this dream land debauchery, never once did my hubs do anything to reciprocate these hussies advances.  So, even in dream land he's my faithful Love.

: )

When I woke up to say 'bye' this morning, I needed to get a good hug and some reassurance about all this crazy dreaming.  I told Hubs about all the women who were throwing themselves at him all night, to which he replied, "It's because I'm so hunky."  

geeze.

~the Wifey

My Hunky Hubs, doing what he does best, hunking things up!  Take that Botanical Gardens, the Hunk is in the HOUSE!

We Live in An Apartment in the City...Which is Fun...Right? Isn't IT???!!

I roll over this morning to check the clock, see how much time I have before needing to wake for work. Nice...only 5:30, half hour more...I roll back over. 20 minutes later my alarm goes off. Wait, wha? My alarm is set for 6:00am, not 5:50...what gives??!! Oh wait, that's not my alarm at all...that's...people shouting??! Wha? Who is shouting and what are they shouting about??? Janele is right next to me and she's not shouting...plus she usually doesn't start her daily yell until around 9:15 regardless. Is something wrong?! Is someone being attacked? By an urban cougar??!!! Oh wait...nope...that's not it. It's just our neighbors...drinking Budweiser and listenting to mariachi music in the back alley at 5:50 in the morning. And yes, they are shouting...of course. Perfectly normal. Oh wait, no it's not.

I took this picture from our window...this is looking west down our alley. They got a little out of hand...

Happy Memorial Day weekend everyone! Be safe!

- the Hubs

What, Hubs?  You didn't like that early morning wake up call of "HEEEAYYYYAYAHAHAGFOISD!!!!!"  I thought it was kind of nice.  Blocked out all those stupid chirping birds.  I guess to each his own...
~the wifey 

Someday We'll Have Kids - Reason #189

I was made aware this past weekend that in children's brains lay all of the secrets to earth's mysteries. However, it must be so that somewhere between 3 year old innocence and 13 year old puberty, those secrets are turned to mush, thus rendering them useless to society. This is why I chalk up another reason to have a child...to get to that little guy or girl early on before all of that knowledge gets sucked away. Short version...children know how to save the world. They just don't know that they know and adults think they're just being darling but also dumb, so we pay no mind. I'm going to start taking these kids seriously...really listening to the knowledge they have to share.
     We took our nephew Lukas to the Magic House this past weekend...and that is when I realized that this kid and many others hold the key to the universe. He fell in love with the recycling exhibit (for some reason...I for one thought it was booooooring). There's a little game there that teaches kids how to recycle things...put the metal stuff in the right spot, plastic in the right spot, etc. That's when the kid has the audacity to start putting produce (fake produce) into the recycling bins, all the while exclaiming, "We don't need cabbage! We don't need lettuce!! We don't need tomatoes!!!" Whoa. Genius. Why in the name of burger meat haven't we thought of this sooner? We've been recycling the wrong things! Why CAN'T we 'recycle' our veggies into something else, say...pie??! Put in a celery stalk...out comes a rack of lamb. Don't want that eggplant? Give me that junk...here, now it's a chocolate mousse. The kid's right, recycle that crap! Down with the vegetables! Viva de revolution!

-the Hubs

Happy Birthday Sister!!!

This post is going to have nothing to do with marriage at all...instead it's a giant shout out to one of the coolest people we know..............JONATHON TAYLOR THOMAS!!!

Ok, not really...and no, we don't really know JTT (as Janele refers to him). This post is a giant shout out to the one and only...JESSIE OROS!!! (SOON TO BE STAROBA!)

She's pretty cool, huh?? Look how she plays that guitar! And look how she sits on porch swings! And wears red pants!! Awwwwwwwesome!!!

Well, tomorrow is Jessie's birthday...she's turning 24!!! Man, where has the time gone, eh sis?? To celebrate...we got you a gift. A HUSBAND!!! You may think he's pretty attractive...as he looks a little like Jesus. You can marry him in 16 days...not any sooner. Here you go:

See?? And he comes with some wierd kid too!! YAY!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!

-the Hubs

Fun Things a Hubs Does

• Calls you cute when you wear pigtails in your hair
• Buys you cupcakes : )
• Plays nonsense games with your nephew
• Dances in the living room
• Tucks his sleep pants into his socks (yeah, I don't know why either...)

I love hubs!

~The Wifey


Ok, I need to play a little defense here:
A) 'Dances in the living room' may be taken the wrong way. Don't picture little girls dancing at a slumber party...rather, picture those huge rugby players in New Zealand doing their war dance (the Haka) to signify how manly they are. It's like that.

B) As far as tucking my sleep pants into my socks. I did that, but I don't do it every night. I was doing it to show how I would look in knickers. So there.

- the Hubs

David Bowie Does It Again

(There were so many great pictures of David Bowie as the Goblin King, it was very difficult to choose only one.)

When you marry someone there's this cosmic connection that happens.  You start to say the same thing, accidently coordinate your clothes, and every once and a while even stranger things happen.

Like this:

Two nights ago, Hubs and I are relaxing at the apartment, just lounging and reading and such.  I get up to brush my teeth.  Mouth full of toothbrush I yell to Hubs who is in the bedroom, "Hey!  Do you want to watch Labyrinth?"  To which he proclaims, "Holy #$%&!!!"  (seriously, he did..and he never, ever curses)  Into the bathroom runs Hubs.  "I was JUST thinking that!!," he shouts. 

So, we watched the Labyrinth in bed. 

That's marriage for ya.

~The Wifey


PS: Believe it or not, The Labyrinth holds a special place in our hearts. It was while watching this movie three years ago (ish) that I made my initial moves on Janele. David Bowie and his tight pants inspired me to love.

- the Hubs

Where's Wifey????

Oh, you know, around.  Catching up from being out of town last weekend...wifey has lots of domestic type responsibilities that are better suited to her skills than to Hubs' skills.  Can all my other wifeys dig it?  heehee, I said 'dig it'...

I have a new fun post in my head, it just shouldn't be done while I'm working.  I'll be back soon!!

Dinner with the Bearded Boy #2 - Preview

We think Bearded Boy is pretty neat, so I guess we'll have him back in a couple of weeks for another edition of 'Dinner with the Bearded Boy.' His first video was a smash hit...people from all across the county are sort of talking about it. We know of at LEAST one family that is already quoting Habanero. If people aren't talking about it, well they should be...or the least they could do is think about it now and then. Due to this critical acclaim and big box office dollar of that first film, we're excited to see what he's got next for us. I know in the Bearded Boy dinner post from last week I said Italian would be the next theme...well I lied, we've changed our course. The next theme will be straight from the Land of Smiles...Thailand! It's Thai food folks...which also means that Janele and I are going to try and redeem ourselves and attempt Pad Thai again (we failed pretty bad at it awhile back, but have learned lessons that should improve our chances greatly). Additionally, there will probably be other Thai delicacies as well...as we just love their food so much. You can't just have one dish!!! :) SO...Beard's question for next time, which he will creatively answer:

"Who put the 'Pad' in 'Pad Thai'?"

Good luck, brother! Looking forward to another installment of greatness!!

- the Hubs

Someday We'll Have Kids - Reason # 32

Kids are like elves, tiny greedy little elves. If offered anything that remotely seems of value, your kids will do anything for you. Example...

Parent: 'Come here my child. I'm going to need you to do this which I am about to present; take the ladder, that rusted one that's missing three rungs, out of the garage. Then use said ladder to climb up to our very high, extremely steep roof. Once atop our very high, extremely steep roof I will need you to kindly remove all matter from the gutters. What is in the gutters you ask? Well, there are some leaves, a variety of deceased rodents, a few knives, some contaminated needles, and my Adventures in Babysitting DVD, I threw it up there last spring, but now I would like it back.

Child: 'But dad, I'm only six and a half.'

Parent: 'I'll give you a pack of Smarties and a coupon to Popeye's. If you do it quickly, I'll throw in 40 dollars worth of Monopoly money.'

Child: 'What's the coupon for?'

Parent: '50 cents off a ragin' cajun bucket of chicken when you buy three buckets at regular value.'

Child: 'Deal. Where's my toolbelt?'

Circa 1986-ish:  Sister and I are bribed to perform a stage adaptation of

'Superman IV: The Quest for Peace' at a dinner party.

 We are a hit...you're welcome parents.

Kids will also run errands for you. You still have to drive, mind you, but upon arriving your child will run into store/gas station/pawn shop to do your bidding, rather excitedly. I was witness to this genius last Saturday at Blockbuster. A rather hyper and energetic young lad was commissioned with the task of running a DVD up to the drop box while his dad sat in the car. The child was having a great time sticking his arm in the slot, faking out the employees inside into thinking that he was stuck...this went on for awhile. Though not efficient, the exuberant child got the job done...and Dad could eat his Ted Drewe's in peace if only for a few minutes. Well done Dad...and well done son.

-the Hubs

Happily Ever After

This week I, the wifey, am away from home, and back at 'home.'  When you get married, all the sudden home has dual meaning.  Home is our little apartment in the city, 'home' is Western Kentucky with the parents.  This time around, I'm blessed to be here not only with my parents but my grandparents as well.  They live up North, and I see them maybe once a year.  

So, here I am at 'home' with two examples of happily-ever-after; and I like it.  I see the nuances of friendship mixed with love mixed with responsibility mixed with history mixed with comfort mixed with the commonality of day to day life.  I can dig it (as my dad would say).

(These are not my grandparent's.  But they are dang cute, am I right?!)

Hubs' entry below made me reflective.  How joyous to know we were made to meet, marry, and love for the rest of our lives.  Some people are intimidated or opposed to this lifestyle.  Or maybe they've forgotten how great it is to be with your best friend forever.  

I'll be home (city home, hubs home) soon!  And it's so good to know, my best friend will be there waiting for me.  

Love you, hubs.

~The Wifey

Seriously, just for a minute...

Earlier in the day, while plugging away at my job, I was suddenly overwhelmed. Not by stress, not by frustration or anything else that you would associate with work or ‘the grind,’ but rather with love. Love? At work? I know, I was taken by surprise too.


My headphones were in, pumping ‘Punch Brothers’ into my ears, when the overwhelming happened. For those of you that haven’t heard this band, do so immediately. Comprised of mandolin and composing genius Chris Thile (of Nickel Creek fame) and a few of his musician friends, the blend of modern bluegrass and classical styling always just floods me with joy…music was meant to be this gorgeous. Anyhoo, while working and listening, the wonderfulness of my life right now was spread out before me. There are times when everything at once comes into perspective, and this was one of those times. Here I am, working at a job that I’ve been so blessed with having, listening to beautiful music, and thinking all the while about how at the end of the day I get to go home and be greeted by an amazing woman, who is always excited to see me. I am still, 7 months after wedding, overwhelmed with the fact that I will be with this woman that loves me and cares for me for the rest of my life. There’s been things, mainly in my youth (teenage years can be a beast), that have led to some people insecurities in me…friends leaving me behind, people just up and deciding that they just don’t want to be friends anymore, things like that. God has done a miraculous work in healing those areas of my life, but still there is those times that my human nature wells up and brings some of those insecurities right back. That was happening this morning, but like clockwork, my Father is there to remind me that I have a person in my life right now that is devoted and faithful to me. A beautiful woman that trusts me, thinks I’m great, and that I equally feel the same way towards. It blows me away every time I think about it that for years to come I will open the door to our home after a long day and be greeted by a bright, shining, loving face…each and every day…until the day we die.

Thank you Lord for the years and years to come of hard work, music, art, love, and a compassionate caring wife that I can always come home to…and that will always greet me with a smile and a hug.

- the Hubs

Isn't it fun to know God works through the relationships we have in life, not just on us as individuals?  He's a pretty awesome Father!
-the wifey

Dinner With the Bearded Boy - Habanero's Revenge!

     So, after a few cancellations due to some scheduling conflicts, the bro finally came for some dinner and a 'movie' (more on that in a bit). See? There he is! Right below here! He came! Look how much freakin' fun we're having!

                                                       

Pretty sweet camera skills, wifey. How did you have time to take pictures while you were breaking  playing with Beard's nifty new iPad??

     So...Mexican night, how about some enchiladas??? Ohhhhhhh yeahhhhh...these babies were stuffed with ground turkey (because we try to be healthy), diced potatoes, and spinach...all blended with a delicate blend of herbs and spices. Wrapped in whole wheat tortillas and topped with HOMEMADE enchilada sauce and sharp cheddar. Baked to a golden brown goodness and served with love. (how about that menu description, eh?) 

      We had a great time cooking and laughing in the kitchen. Janele danced (as she does best), Chase acted really wierd (as he does best), and I made a complete mess (as I do best). The enchiladas were a hit...that sauce was kickin.' It was nice to sit down with just Chase, we don't get the opportunity to talk to just one member of our family at a time...so it's refreshing when a time like this can be had. It's going to be a busy month or so coming up (sis getting married!!) so this couldn't have come at a better time. 

     Alright, enough about dinner. More than dinner, these events are all about letting BB stretch his creative legs...and this first go around he certainly did 'stretch.' The challenge this week was for Beard to answer the question, "How did that pesky habanero start the revolution?" Well, he answered that question...with a short film! So, without further ado:

     Habenero Starts the Revolution from Steve Oros on Vimeo.

    
     Man, I was crying laughing...'do it...do it...trust...trust...' hahaha, classic. Well done, Bearded Boy. I'm proud of my brother. Like I said before it was great having him over to hang out, to talk, to be friends as well as brothers. As we watched this highly creative short film, I was filled with pride for my brother. He's so stinkin' talented, it's amazing and I for one am SO excited for what he comes up with next. For years to come. 

NEXT DINNER: Italian!! See you then. 

- the Hubs

Conundrum

Are you married?  Did you have a good wedding?  Was there a photographer with talent and artistry taking many, many, many pictures of you?  

If you answered yes to all of those questions than you understand how I'm feeling right now trying to decide what pictures to pick for our walls, albums, and LIVES.

UUUGGHHH.  Our photographer was amazing.  A little too amazing.  Look at this.  I mean, there are five hundred amazing pictures to choose from.  What's a wifey to do? 

Now that we've been married longer than we were engaged it seems fitting that there be a picture on the wall or end table celebrating that.  

 But no.  Not us.  Not in our household.  

Come on Hubs!  We gots to do this!  UGH.  

Does anybody feel me on this one????

~the wifey

p.s. Nikki, we love you.  This is a good frustration to feel.  You're a fantastic photographer.  Just too fantastic

This Just In: Poodles Make Better Husbands...

I was getting ready for work this morning, watching the morning news as I normally do, when a story came on regarding wives and their pets. According to a recent AP Poll - 1 out of every 3 wives say their pets are better listeners than their husbands (go here for the complete story).

Ummmm...this is dumb, and now I am sad. There are two things wrong with this:

    

     A) Pets are taking our place?? According to the wives that were polled, they were more likely to share with their pets because, I quote, "Pets look you in the eye and they don't talk back." True...but pets also sniff each other's butts and poo on carpets. Point being, pets are not a substitute for a husband. Husbands, listen to this...some of our wives are saying that animals otherwise proned to leg humping and drinking out of toilets are doing a better job than us in some areas of our marriage. They aren't just doing better in small areas either, they are doing better in one of the largest areas there is...communication. When Puggy Pajamas can communicate with our wives better than we can, a human being, than there's a problem. The quote above should tell us something about what our wives want...they want to be heard. Take some notes from Little Miss Raindrop Kitty Face and be a better listener. Lord knows I'm working on this.

    
     B) We can do more than pets. So, some wives are telling their pets more than they are telling their husbands, but why? I think it's because their pets are not judgemental. The wives said it themselves, 'Pets don't talk back.' I think what is really being said here is, 'Pets don't act like they know everything or try to force some crazy opinions on me...they don't try to fix me.' Oh my cuss (see: the Fantastic Mr. Fox)...I am a chronic 'fixer.' I think a lot of us husbands are...it's just what we do. It's the 'carpenter' inside of all of us. Ummmm, but wives hate that...not all the time, but most of the time. Wives don't want to be fixed, they just want to be heard. So here's the thing with this...and here's why we're different than pets. Are you ready? We're different because...we're HUMAN!! Whoa!! Shut your face...what's going on here?? What are you getting at Steve??! I'm getting at this, Mr. Questions...we can listen, but THEN we can also do human things. Like give our wives a hug (hard for a dog), make them dinner (also hard for animals with paws), show them more love than just a lick on the face (which we should ONLY reserve for pets, by the way). Crazy thing is, that when we act like our pets and do a good job of listening, we may actually be able to figure out what our wives need through said listening, than trump those snotty pets by acting on those needs...something no pet can do. Take that, Mr. Cuddles!! I just schooled your stupid dog face! This is something that I'm not good at all the time. I'm working on it...and probably will be for the rest of my life.

I'm no expert...and I'm not even close to giving advice here. Actually, I think it is more a reminder to myself...and if it happens to speak to other husbands out there than that's great. Let's do this guys...remember, we're better husbands than our iguanas.

Until next time.

- the Hubs