Before I tell you the story of the First Crazy Person I’ve Talked to in Ages, I need a bit of sanity check.

Let’s say you ask a sales person at a local Best Buy if they will have any, oh, I don’t know, Nintendo Wiis anytime soon and the following conversation takes place:

BBguy: Yes, 6 am Friday Morning!

You: 6 am?

BBguy: Yup, we’ll have a whole bunch of them at 6 am on Friday.

You: So we’ll be back at 6 am on Friday, thanks.

Would you then assume that they are opening at 6 am for some big sale, and that if you show up at 6 am you’ll be able to enter the store and make purchases? Because we sure did. But maybe he just meant that he had to work at 6 am on Friday, and was scheduled to unpack the Wiis and place them on the shelves or something.

I’ve got half a mind to complain. If it weren’t the fact that I had not even gone to bed yet, so it’s not like I had to crawl out of a warm bed to come down to a dark shopping center at 6 am, I would. What we found were 3 other shoppers and two security guards. And a big huge sign on the building saying “Grand Opening Sale. Friday Nov. 30th and Sun. Dec. 2nd. Best Buy Presents Avril Lavine.” ( I don’t know how to spell her last name, and I don’t care enough, about her, to look it up.) So we assumed it was for the big Grand Opening that they were opening at 6. It was 5:52 and the security guards told all five of us how to line up and then went back inside where it was warm. That should have been our first clue.

Here comes crazy! Third in line, all decked out in Canucks gear, he seemed to be unaware of societal norms of personal space. Namely mine. Sometimes its a fine line between “crazy” and “just really drunk.” But something about this guy just screamed “perfectly sober.”

Crazy: Hello! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Me: to you too!

Crazy: are you with that guy? (points to Wil)

Me: Yeah, that’s my husband.

Crazy: Oh. I want to get married. Let me ask you something…

Me: What?

Crazy: Is he CRAZY?

He was referring to the fact that Wil was wearing a sweater and shorts, and it was very very cold out. But he had a cup of coffee in his hands and it was almost 6, so I’m sure he would have survived. I might be selling Crazy short, and he could have been referring to the fact that the sweater was striped but the shorts were plaid. Something I, too, thought was a bit odd when he put the ensemble together.

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Now comes the time of Christmas shopping. I have purchased one present so far. I actually purchased it months ago. I was so proud that I told everyone in the store IT WAS A CHRISTMAS PRESENT!! Can you believe that shit, I asked them. They could not.

I don’t want to give away all our secrets, just in case. Now is a time of keeping secrets. Good and wholesome secrets that are revealed on December 25th. Or in our case, December 22nd, because that’s when my family will be here. Suffice to say that Wil and I, WE are on the hunt for a particular present for his daughter. WE have looked everywhere where one would find this particular item. It’s gotten to the point where WE have started asking various stores if they will ever have this item again. Best Buy said yes, come back Friday, at 6 am. And so WE shall.

But, if I see this item all over the place after I make a special six am trip down to Best Buy on Friday, I’m going to be seriously annoyed.

You know, WE aren’t the ones who really need it. Santa does. WE are just doing him a favor. (Can I quit all capping WE now? Do you get my subtle hint?) Wil was teasing Jackson about what kind of presents she was going to get when we last visited her. She gave him some sass back that can only come from a child who has recently made it to double digits in age, and who knows full well that Santa doesn’t exist (probably) but CHOOSES to kick Christmas old school.

“DaaAAd, YOU don’t bring presents. SANTA does.”

Awesome.

With the arrival of Christmas marketing in the stores, comes the sad realization that some of my xmas shopping traditions will not be met this year. Chief among my favorites is the Gift Wrap Wonderland at the Container Store.

The Gift Wrap Wonderland at the Container Store is my Happy Place. Ever since it opened, shopping for my wrapping paper has become my favorite holiday shopping activity. It can take me a long time to chose the overall theme. You need to get two or three rolls in a corresponding theme and color scheme. Are you going to go bold and modern? Perhaps Bright red, white and silver? Perhaps you feel more renaissance era jewel tones? They’ve got it. Along with many matching tags, ribbon, bows and accessories.

It’s wonderful!

Since I can’t travel freely to the states right now, I’ve kept my eye out for this year’s wrapping theme. Lo and behold a new Michael’s opened up just down the street from me. Yesterday, I found three complimentary rolls of paper in muted, somewhat countrified, colors. Cute reindeers on one. Along with bows and ribbons, etc. It was no WONDERLAND, but I liked my selections. I showed them to Wil and told him he had to pretend to be interested because there was no one else around to admire my choices until my family comes to visit in December and sees their presents. I’m afraid he has to do that a lot.

I had quite the migraine last night. Worst I’ve had in a while.

I tried all the tricks. I tried ice. I tried drinking glasses of water in case there was an issue of dehydration occurring. I tried excedrin. I tried tylenol. I tried taking a shower. Which works, but only for about 20 minutes. The secret is, you have to make yourself fall asleep right after you get out. That was where I failed. I couldn’t go to sleep.

I tried and tried to sleep. I was nauseous and shaky, all the migraine fun. I was a sad pathetic sight, all curled up alå the fetus, whimpering. So I tried crying, because my insane headache logic told me that would somehow crying would lesson the pressure in my head. A particularly loud siren woke Wil up, but he refused my request to chop off my head. He said he lacked the proper tools. His suggested snuggling, so I curled up tight against him.

Now, I don’t know if you know this, but the best headache soother in the world is a purring cat. The trick is, you have to get the cat to lie on, or around, your head. That’s tricky. When Pru was a young cat, she used to love to sleep on my head. Which is how I know this works so well.

Wil fell back asleep almost instantly, and was making soft snoring noises. From my vantage point, it sounded rumbly. I wrapped my arms tight around him and squished my head against his back.

Maybe I finally achieved the necessary saturation point of tylenol in my blood stream. Maybe my crying had actually reduced the pressure in my head. Or maybe I have discovered the human equivalent of Cat Purr Therapy, but darned if it didn’t help. It didn’t get rid of my headache by any means, but it gave me a bit of relief. I was able to loosen my hold and move my head back to my own pillow. But I stuck pretty close for the rest of the night.

I’m officially adding “snuggle my sleeping husband” to my list of headache treatments. It might be my favorite.

Today is my one month wedding anniversary. I don’t think there is an official gift for that one.

You might be asking, “so… how’s that married stuff working out for you, Jodi?”

Well, I’ll tell you what, yesterday I was sitting around, wishing I had some double stuff oreos. I might have mentioned that once or twice. So Wil gets up, walks to Safeway and BUYS ME SOME.

Marriage ROCKS!!!