Some questions and some answers...

One of my favorite blogs DOOCE posted a meme today about her relationship with her hubby. She invited her readers to post their own answers to the questions and I decided to go ahead and do it just because it gives a little insight in to who we are for readers who do not know us personally in real life. So here goes...

What are your middle names?
Mine is Lianna (my Mom made it up) and Billy's is Nelson. He has a fancy New England-y family name.... William Nelson McLane III. OOO la la!

How long have you been together?
We will celebrate 8 years on this coming March 23rd.

How long did you know each other before you started dating?
We didn't know each other.... he came in to the the gourmet shop where I worked on Nantucket for lunch. I took his sandwich money.

Who asked whom out?
He asked me to come to an art opening at The Nantucket Artist's Association Gallery... then we went out to a bar after the show with the other people from the gallery.

How old are each of you?
I'm 37 and he is 33. I had to ask him to confirm this because I can never remember how old either of us is. And I can't do the math. I am a math retard.

Whose siblings do you see the most?
I guess being that I have none we would have to say his no matter what right? We see Coco and Lauren more often now that they are in California. We have not seen Doug (in Massachusetts) in almost two years.

Which situation is the hardest on you as a couple?
I think the hardest thing we have on the table to deal with is me trying to make a sufficient living while we are on the road. Billy has his painting no matter where we are but it is tough for me to find things to generate dough while we are moving around so much. Billy has vast amounts of patience and is incredibly supportive of all my hair brained ideas.... so it is not really "hard on us" it is more so hard on me.

Did you go to the same school?
Nope. I went to school in Illinois and he was in Massachusetts.

Are you from the same home town?
I grew up in what used to be a rural farm town, Roscoe, IL and he was in Swansea, MA eating quahogs and perogies in Little Poland.

Who is smarter?
I don't think one of us wins out over the other on this one.... We are a great couple because we balance out each others weak points. Billy is better with math, I am better with English etc. etc. So it works out. We can usually pull our shit together in such a way that does not make either of us look too idiotic, I think. I hope.

Who is the most sensitive?
Probably me... or, I am more verbal about it anyway.

Where do you eat out most as a couple?
This is hard to answer because we are always in a new locale every few months. I would say ethnic food is a huge draw. We tend to be loyal to whatever great local Thai, Greek or Indian places we can find.

Where is the furthest you two have traveled together as a couple?
We have logged thousands of miles all over the country in the Airstream and before that in our VW vanagon. We also have flown from Chicago to Hawaii. I think driving cross country in a van you also happen to live in is a pretty good test of stability in a relationship.

Who has the craziest exes?
Oh Gawd... that is me for sure. Unless Billy has some deep dark secrets he has yet to unveil. Since he did have a pierced belly button at one point in his life I can never quite rule it out that wild secrets could be revealed at random.

Who has the worst temper?
Ummmm, yeah. Ha Ha. In nine years I have seen Billy raise his voice or show something akin to "anger" exactly three times. How many times have I peeled off a bitch streak in that time frame? Ohhhh how many drops of water are in the Pacific Ocean? How many grains of sand in the Sahara? Get it?

Who does the cooking?
We both do. Billy really digs cooking which is one of the things I love about him the most. He can really kick ass in the kitchen and has the ability to totally show me up from time to time. I do more baking and I tend to make stuff up where he seeks out recipes and executes them to a tee.

Who is the neat-freak?
Neither of us. We are pretty messy. I am worse than he is. We seem to get along just fine this way though. Once every few weeks I freak out and try to "get organized" but it never seems to stick.

Who is more stubborn?
Definitely me. I can't say that stubborn is a word you could ever pin to Billy McLane. I am not really too stubborn though.... or leat I don't think I am. I think I may be too lazy to be stubborn.

Who hogs the bed?
Billy disappears in the bed. Our bed in the trailer is a wee small one by most people's standards and I can somehow sprawl out like a starfish with no problem every single night. I don't know where he goes or how he does it but it works out great for me.

Who wakes up earlier?
Billy. I can sleep for like ten hours. He usually gets up at least an hour or more before I do. When he gets up he lets Rudy our of his crate and he gets in bed with me. I use this as an excuse to go back to sleep. Rudy needs snuggle time in the morning... I cannot deny him of it.

Where was your first date?
At the gallery opening as I mentioned above...

Who is more jealous?
Huh.... neither of us. I guess I have the potential to be the more emotional one on that level but with Billy it just would not ever happen. I think at this point if one of us witnessed someone hitting on the other one it would just be funny to watch it play out. It would be dumb.

How long did it take to get serious?
About two hours. I think more than two years passed before we spent a day apart after our initial first date.

Who eats more?
Hey! It would be interesting to find out! Who knows?! We both can put a serious hurt on some grub. Billy can eat more in one sitting but I probably snack more than he does. And if one of us is eating something the other one has to have it too. So I guess there is where the jealousy lurks... "Do you have a cookie? Well dammit! You'd better give me one too!"

Who does the laundry?
Mostly me. I usually do it while Billy is painting. I HATE going to the laundry mat though so when we are somewhere where the laundry mat is the only option he usually comes with me just to sheild me from the luandry mat weirdos.

Who's better with the computer?
Billy because I tend to want to smash my laptop with a sledgehammer at least 5 times a day. Again.... it is the fact that he is SO patient. I can't hang with glitches or programs freezing up. He always has to fix it for me while I pace and grit my teeth.

Who drives when you are together?
It depend on where we are. Right now here in Illinois I do all the driving because he does not know his way around here. When we drive cross country we take turns and try to keep it equal. In normal every day life he probably does a bit more of it than I do. I am an aggressive driver (go figure) and he of course is much more mellow. When we are towing the trailer I am the one who backs the truck up to the tow hitch. I am somehow really, really good at this. I can nail it in one try a lot of the time. I have no idea how or why.... it just happens. Billy however is the one who has to back the trailer in to campsites. I would smash into everything if I tried to do it.

Ok. That's it. I'm sure you are on your feet wild eyed and reeling with excitement after reading this post. Try to contain yourself or you will embarrass me.