Deputy Ring!

So, about now, 10 years ago today, some bloke I'd met in college 12 years earlier and who I wasn't even going out with got down on one knee and asked me to marry him. I said yes since it felt right, and my granny had told me if it was right then I'd know, and this very cheap piece of costume jewellery (cost a couple of quid as I recall, and turned my finger green after a couple of days) was slipped onto my finger.

There was no lingering romantic kiss, no expensive surprise, just a mutual shouting of an expletive as we both realised the toast that was under the grill in the kitchen was burning. Fortunately, the toast was saved by scraping, and covered with strawberry jam, which was the celebratory food for our engagement, and was washed down with neat gin, since we didn't have any tonic!

Later on, we sat in the bath drinking Chateau Yquem, while the one animal we had at that stage (his black and white cat, Felix - who is, at this very moment, just requesting supper downstairs) pulled the towels off the rail and shredded them and then came and sat on the side of the bath in an attempt to join in! He still does that - although we now keep the bathroom door shut so he can't destroy all the towels!

Tonight there are plans for pudding wine (although not Chateau Yquem, since we're more realistic in our spending habits these days) and we have a duck to roast! Yummy! We can no longer bathe together unfortunately, since we are both too large these days!

Other than it being the tenth anniversary of our engagement, it's been a pretty normal Saturday. I'm getting better again and now have something approximating to a voice, although it's softer than usual.

I've LOVED being close to the hamsters again today. Cleaned them both out, had Laura out and about to play with, and also tidied up the ratties and had them both on my shoulders. I also did a rodent weigh in. The results are:

Robbie: 25 g
Laura: 150 g
Charlie: 550 g
Moses: 700 g

Oh my goodness, Moses has become a whopper of a rat. I think he might have to have enforced exercise once I have more time. He's quite lazy and really loves hanging out in the hammock, just being an old chap! He IS a pretty big rat anyway, but he's put on weight since I've had him. Can't find anything else wrong with him though, he's otherwise very healthy!

As for Robbie, at the other end of the scale, I knew he was little, but he weighs less than an ounce! However, that's perfectly normal for a little Roborovski hamster! Awwww!

While I was cleaning hamsters out, the Wonderspouse, Dexter and Pebbles slept on the sofa, while Felix, Tiggy and Smudge played in the garden. All very domestic!

We couldn't possibly have foreseen 10 years ago what our marriage would be like. We imagined home ownership, children, and being proper grown-ups.

Instead we've had 10 years of goodness knows what - much of it pretty tough going at times, but we've been lucky in that we've helped each other through whatever the world has thrown at us (often, by composing rude limericks), and, bizarrely for two people who know their own minds rather well, have hardly ever argued about anything. We have a home of tolerance, relaxation, lots and lots of stuff, and many paws and whiskers.

Long may it continue!

Oh, and I did get a real ring, exactly the one I wanted (he had a clue when I presented him with the Argos catalogue with the one I wanted circled), once I'd been paid and could therefore afford to buy it (he paid me back in installments over the following months since he couldn't afford to get it at the time). You can see it here, alongside my wedding ring, and, er, a nail!!!

My friend Scharwenka once said that I'd have to be very lucky to find an appropriate husband since I'm rather a "specialist taste"! I agreed, and imagined at the time that I'd be single for ever, and would become one of those "eccentric cat ladies" about which one hears from time to time!

As it turned out I was lucky, very very very lucky!

I'm still a cat lady though!

And rat lady!

And hamster lady!

And, one or two might say, a tad eccentric! ;-)

But the Wonderspouse somehow doesn't seem to mind any of it - WOW! :-)