Calling the Marriage Refs....

A very small part of Mr. Neat and Tidy's music collection.

Oh, where to start....

My husband, Byron, LOVES movies, music and books. We have literally thousands of these forms of entertainment. He is a methodical, neat, ultra organized guy. He alphabetizes his possessions and puts them in height order. Our books are very neatly put away, all the same distance from the edge. His movies are alphabetized. His CD's are organized by genre and then alphabetized. He likes to clean, which elevates him to a god-like level to most women. (He also loves to shop...I know, you're jealous.) Our house is neat and tidy and the dishes always done. He vacums, he puts away things When he had to retire from one career - he joyfully went to school to embark on a new career. He takes care of us, doesn't mind how many pairs of shoes I own, buys me purses for gifts, doesn't complain about my width, how much my hair costs and my monthly pedis....what? you ask...what could I need a marriage ref for when, obviously I am married to the perfect man?

THIS......






Yep, this hangs in my bedroom directly across from my bed. It's the first thing I see in the morning (after I put on my glasses) and the last thing I see at night. THIS is why I need a referee.

So, how did it get there...the focal point of the part of my bedroom, the room that is supposed to be a sanctuary? He says I'm lucky, he really wanted to hang it in the living room! Oh yeah, lucky me.

The story of how this came to be...

For years there hung a picture in my room of Byron and his friends on a white water rafting trip. The picture was taken at a class 5 rapids, you could see the terror and joy on all their faces. This was the pinnacle adventure, man vs. the wild! It was a little bizarre having Barry, Jeff, Kent, Brad and Howard all staring at me while I was dressing, but I got over it and just lived with it.

Then, that picture was replaced with this one:


The Avengers, ah....Byrons' favorite TV show as a youth. He had a mad crush on Diana Rigg and her alter ego, Emma Peel. I even bought him the collection for Christmas one year, feeding the fire as it were. Obviously I am as good of a wife as he is a husband. He then found this little mini poster and stuck it up in our room. Whatever. It wasn't worth the effort of fighting over.

Then he tried to hang this vintage poster of his favorite 60's horror movie. It hung for about a month and I threw a fit. Um, no.

I'm a loving patient wife, actually, no, not so much when it comes to this. There's a limit.



About a month ago Byron discovered this book:





He LOVED it. The best book he had EVER read,which really is saying quite a bit. He was engrossed, mesmerized...read it during his prep period, read it in the bathroom, late at night, in the car while I drove. The guy LOVED this book. He drove right over to B&N's the night he finished to buy book #2 which picks up exactly where #1 ends. Same drill, read and read and read. Byron was bummed out when he read it all and the #3 doesn't come out for a month. Sad, sad Byron.

ANYHOW...Byron found out this was a movie made in Sweden. He looked until he found it playing in a little art house theatre. He and his sister went to see it and loved it, truly loved it. So, Then he ordered the movie, in Swedish, (because we speak so much swedish around here...)

AND THEN...he found the movie poster. AND ORDERED IT. AND HUNG IT UP IN MY ROOM....WITH THUMBTACKS.

Just in case you missed it the first time....

Seriously, it's the first thing you see when you walk in. The girl lurks over your head if you are sitting watching tv. When I wake up and put my eyes in....there she is, menacing, daring me to have a good day. Some chick with piercings and tattoos bidding me farewell every morning. Jeesch.

So marriage refs....what say you?



PS. He says it's staying. We'll see.