I Am an Anomaly...

I am not most girls. (Note: "girls" here refers to all of the female sex...not just young females.) I never really have been. I don't drool over shoes. I don't have a craving for name brands. I don't feel that I need expensive (or numerous!) purses. I almost never wear makeup. And I am quite satisfied with the jewelry I can get at Wal-mart. (Multiple pairs of earrings for $15? Yes, please!)

A large part of that is due to how I was raised, and I'm aware of that, but it's also significantly due to the fact that I'm pretty low maintenance and tend to be logical. (Told you! Not the typical girl!) I just don't see the sense in spending that much on pretty baubles, things that will get scuffed and dirty, taking the time to apply powders to the face that might last one day, or "needing" someone's name to be able to tote around the necessities. I just don't get it.

I don't often wear jewelry. I wear my wedding and engagement rings all of the time, and I've only just recently begun to wear my watch again. (I didn't wear it when the boys were little because it would hurt their little heads when I laid them down to sleep...and got out of the habit of wearing one until recently. I don't have a cell phone up here in Germany yet, so I have to have some way to tell the time!) For my fourth wedding anniversary, The Instigator got me a beautiful necklace that I adored. I wore it so much that the chain broke (which made me cry), and I nearly lost the pendant. And then I did end up losing the pendant. I still tear up every time I think about that, because I really did love that necklace. It was perfect. It was a gift for our anniversary, and I lost it.

The perfect necklace that has since been lost.

It actually matched my engagement ring perfectly!

   My engagement ring

Now, before any of you freak out over the size of the stone, know this: I picked this ring out myself. I love it. The Instigator wanted to get me something bigger. I refused. I wanted this one. Usually it's the female vying for a bigger rock, but in our case, the roles were reversed. He has threatened to upgrade it, and I just get mad at him every time he says he's going to. (Misha says I'm "a poor man's wet dream." LOL) I don't want a bigger stone. I don't even like bigger stones. Both The Instigator and Misha have gotten me to try on rings with bigger diamonds, and I just can't stand to even have it on me.

I am a simple girl. I just am. 

So this morning, after coming home from PT and showering and on his way out to work for the day, The Instigator comes up behind me and give me a one-armed hug as I'm sitting at my computer, and my first thought was "What's behind your back?" I didn't even get a chance to ask him, though, as he started speaking first. Today is nothing special. Not an anniversary of anything, not a birthday, not a holiday. Just another day. And he tells me that he loves me and appreciates me (which I will never argue with hearing!), and puts this on the desk in front of me:

And he then promptly gives C hugs and kisses and runs out the door (I was already standing up to come after him, and he handed, nay, nearly threw C at me to give himself escape time). So all my insisting 'til I was blue in the face was for nothing. Here's what is inside:

Yes, is inside, not was. It's still in the box. lol I love my husband, but he can be so frustrating! (And how many women do you know that complain when their husband gives them jewelry?!...Yep, I'm an anomaly...)