The good (and the bad) after one year of living together
Yesterday marked two years since Korri and I had our first "date", and I moved into his place a year ago after finishing my PhD and while I was frantically job searching. To mark the occasion, I thought it would be fun to put together a lighthearted post about the things we love about living with each other and the things about each other that annoy us. We wrote our parts separately, so it was fun to read everything and put it all together! Please chime in if you have similar experiences living with your significant other, or if you agree/disagree with any of our quirks! I'd love to know that we aren't alone. ;)
Extreme temperatures
When I was growing up, the house stayed at 68° in the winter and 72° in the summer. In the winter, my dad would shut the heat off around 10 pm every night and it would come back on around 6 am, making the rooms toasty warm when waking up. I thought this was all normal, of course. It felt comfortable!
Now I totally understand wanting to save money, but Korri takes that to a new level. He got a Nest thermostat a few months into home ownership and set it to be about 76° in the summer (80° when we aren't home) and 65° in the winter (when we aren't home, and it doesn't warm up until he gets home because the Nest is connected to his phone). The point is that our house is quite warm in the summer and quite cool in the winter. Cue me wearing almost nothing in the summer and all the layers in the winter! Also, we both woke up in a sweat the other night because our room was so hot. Ha!
Cat food
Kimi recycles every single wet cat food can, so these end up in the sink, sometimes for days becoming their own science project by the sink. Also, dry cat food can remain on the floor near the cat dish for days, attracting ants.
Dishwasher disagreement
ME: My dad taught me how to load a dishwasher starting at a young age, and I know that silverware is supposed to be loaded with the handles down so the parts we eat off can get clean. Spooning spoons will never be clean! Well, Korri loads them with the handles up. It's because he doesn't like touching the part we eat off when he grabs them to put them away, but if you just lean down a little farther it's not so hard to grab the handle. ;) That's what I say at least. We've argued multiple times about this hahaha! We definitely agree to disagree when it comes to loading the dishwasher. I try to get it all loaded and running before he notices anything!
KORRI: We always disagree on how the dishwasher should be loaded. I have more faith in the dishwasher cleaning everything than she does. I like to put silverware handle side up so that I don't touch the spoon or fork when unloading. She likes to put everything handle side down, so you end up poking your hand with knives or forks, while touching every single piece. Ack!
Paper, boxes, receipts everywhere!
Kimi loves to keep every SINGLE receipt, and they pile up everywhere. Over time the receipts accumulate across the house. She also keeps boxes, and the same thing happens.
Holy clothes and sneakers
Korri has more clothes and shoes than I do, and I'm the one that blogs about what I wear! I'd show you a photo of our room but it's pretty embarrassing (on my end, too, since I tend to pile things on my clothing rack). I'm honestly amazed at how many clothes he has. He keeps everything in random piles everywhere so I can't ever tell what's clean and what's not. His half of the closet is full of clothes he never wears (I turned all the hangers backwards to figure out what he actually wears). There's also boxes and bags of Nike sneakers in almost every closet in the house. It's truly something else.
Every night is like a slumber party with my best friend.
I know it sounds cheesy and cliche, but it's true! If we're not dead tired, or if he doesn't fall asleep before I get into bed, we lay there and talk and giggle like we're in grade school having a slumber party. Some nights we have to actively remind ourselves to stop talking so we can get a few hours of sleep. Even when it's a struggle to wake up the next morning, it's worth taking that time to relax and laugh with each other since it doesn't happen that often during the day.
Are we the same person?
I always look forward to coming home and spending time together. It's hard to be apart. We have so much in common that we may be the same person. Sometimes, I think she can read my mind. I like how she lets me be my own person. I can play Xbox, do my own thing, watch baseball, and she doesn't bat an eye. She also watches sports with me, and I have enjoyed watching some of the shows she likes on TV as well as some of her music tastes.
We are on the same team.
I love coming home from work knowing that Korri is there, excited to see me. I love making dinner together (and not only because it usually means the meal will be done sooner, haha). I love watching TV shows together and munching on freshly popped popcorn; our current favorite shows are The Bachelorette and Younger. I love when we surprise each other with a drink from our favorite coffee place (Dutch Bros, but we have also been frequenting The Human Bean). I love that he loves my cats almost as much as me. I love decorating our place with a mix of both of our things. I also love shopping for new things for our place even though he doesn't like that as much. I just love doing life with him!