Is PMS a valid excuse?
12-12-06, 9:34 PM

�According to the data, drinking a moderate amount of alcohol -- up to four drinks per day in men and two drinks per day in women -- reduces the risk of death from any cause by roughly 18 percent, the team reports in the Archives of Internal Medicine.�

� at my rate, I�ll live forever...

Tonight however, I drink to soothe the nerves after witnessing my soon-to-be brides pms moment. Last night, a warning shot fired across my bow with a declared announcement of a headache and entering the cycle. Just before noon, I received a panic phone call because either the bank or she screwed-up in transferring funds which has far reaching implications other than bouncing a check or two but causing a delay in our closing. What concerned me was the screaming at the barking dogs followed by sobs. Instead of running during my lunch hour, this outburst was a sure sign that I needed to drive home to comfort her and solve the problems.

Just as I was turning the corner, her car was passing me until I honked the horn. Meeting her in the drive I said, �Do you need a hug?� as she walked toward me out of her car when she began to cry. �Let�s go inside and figure some things out and do a little math. With money problems, all it takes is money and a little bit of time to solve things.�

Inside, I calmed her regarding the mistake and that �...it will all come together...�. Grabbing a pencil and logging-on, I wanted to check bank balances which is a small issue because she buys into her mother�s and media�s hype about identity theft. With a little persuasion, we established pass words and finally logged into her accounts to determine what went wrong. Due to the bounced checks, thank god, I didn�t pay everything off and saved some extra money for the closing!

Aside, when single and dating, you aren�t exposed to this side.... Take what you will from this.

Last night after a week-end of appliance research, we purchased our first major appliance together, a side-by-side refrigerator with ice making and water dispensing in the door. Trust me, this was a struggle convincing her about the convenience in the door versus the perceived Energy Star savings of top or bottom freezer refrigerator combo. I must admit my college finance course came in handy as I calculated the time value of money.

Next issue is hiring a mover to transport our furniture from Louisville to here. It�s an issue because we need three quotes in order to get reimbursed from my employer and the last quote is way out of line with the first two. The difference between the estimate and actual would come out of pocket, however they could get the furniture here by the 23rd� a nice Christmas present.

This Friday is her birthday. I need to be clever as we�re out of money. I don�t think the refrigerator is romantic enough� but then again...

Our week-end running was phenomenal! Once again, we ran outside Sedona but this time ran routes which took us to Indian ruins and cave paintings. My imagination was rampant with visions of living in such isolation and off the land. I thought of how peaceful it was 900 years ago.

Later in the evening, however, we saw the movie �Apocalypto� which gave me second thoughts... In highschool, I loved learning about the Aztecs and Mayan cultures and was quite happy that later in life I actually saw the temple ruins. I�ve come to learn that my imagination, rather reality, is better, well, at least better than Mel�s or Hollywood�s vision. Yet, the movie was an above average movie with the exception of a couple of hoaky parts. I did dream about being chased though...damn house cats.

Back to my 4th glass of wine and being healthy....I suppose I have to go to bed sometime tonight... is PMS a valid excuse?

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