Hola!

Guess who is home all safe and sound just in time for Game III of the NBA Finals?!

Alley is very happy.
She was pretty sure Trevor had fallen victim to a rabid octopus.

At least they both cover his ears...

Trevor mocks me from abroad for nagging him about his hat:

Normal.

Mockery.

If someone would just throw me a (freakin') bone, I'd be completely fine...

Thanks to my blog’s Live Traffic Feed (complements of Feedjit) I am well aware of the FIVE visits my site has had in the last twenty four hours from Arequipa, Peru. While it is possible that my blog is the cat’s meow in South America, it is more likely that Trevor has been spying on me. I say “spying” because it is not like the boy is commenting, emailing, Facebooking or making any effort to otherwise communicate with me.

Well, I take that back. He DID Facebook me. Once. On Tuesday. The message? “How are u doing? Things are going good here. heading to the orphanage to watercolor with the kids.”

For those keeping track, that is a total of eighteen words. Nineteen if you count the subject line which read, “Hola!”

Meanwhile, I Facebooked Trevor back a total of 272 words, and then updated my blog with another 705 words about how I was doing and whatnot. That is a total of 977 words! 958 MORE words than Trevor has written me!

(Wow. That last paragraph makes me sound whiney, neurotic, pathetic, somewhat obsessed and more than a little wordy.)

(All of which is more or less true.)

But I digress…

Last Saturday, I drove Trevor to the church to meet the other mission team members before they all piled into a van and headed to the airport. While in route, Trevor turned to me and said, “Oh, and will you pick me up at DFW next Sunday?”

Me: “Sure. What is your flight number?”

Trevor: “I don’t know off the top of my head. I will email it to you.”

We then proceeded to arrive at the church, and I had to ask – nay, BEG - Trevor to kiss me goodbye before he hopped in the van for the airport. He was so eager to go, he nearly closed the door in my face.

All this might have something to do with why I am refusing to miss him publically.

As for the flight information? Well, as of TODAY, I have only received one meager attempt at correspondence from my husband on Tuesday, which (again) read: “How are u doing? Things are going good here. heading to the orphanage to watercolor with the kids.” Please note that none of that has any bearing on air travel. Unless it is written in code. If so, Trevor should already know that I am not that observant or clever.

Granted, I was able to ascertain his return flight information by emailing one of the other mission team spouses. But then she wanted to know why Trevor didn’t give it to me, and I had to explain to her that he probably thought he DID…psychically.

We had a good giggle.

(And I cried a little on the inside.)

Meanwhile, this same mission team spouse has been forwarding her husband’s emails around to the rest of the “Prayer Team”. There have been several emails from him to her, containing MULTIPLE paragraphs, each more detailed than the last, with loads of information about the trip, what they have been doing each day, etc. To say I was jealous is a complete understatement.

This same mission team member also has time to upload photos of the group to Photobucket and – here’s the kicker – he just happens to be Trevor’s roommate in Peru. So, if HE has time to send his wife paragraphs and photographs, why doesn’t Trevor?

See: JEALOUS! I didn’t lie!

The worst is that I am fairly sure Trevor hasn’t missed an opportunity to follow the Mavericks in the NBA Finals on the internet. And he obviously has had time to check my blog FIVE FLIPPING TIMES in the last twenty four hours. So, why, why, WHY hasn’t he written me anything else? People keep asking me how he is doing, and all I have to share is that he went to watercolor with the kids sometime on Tuesday. As far as I know, he is STILL watercoloring. I know nothing else!

Next year, if Trevor returns to Peru, I’ve already decided that I am not going to blog, Facebook or otherwise communicate with my husband. Except, of course, for one random wall post midweek that says something to the effect of:

“How are you? I am fine. Gotta’ go to work now.”

HRMPH!

Uh-oh, Trevor! Uh-oh!

Trevor is the one on the right leaning on the shovel in the photo.

Dear Trevor,

You are wearing a not-wife approved hat in the picture above. Where is the one you bought in Lampasas? The one with the wide brim that will protect your ears and the back of your neck from the sun? Don't forget what happened in 2010! I had about all I could take of Nicholas Sparks last summer!

Just because you can't see me doesn't mean that your roomie has stopped uploading trip pics to photobucket site or that I have ceased to pay attention. You aren't the only one with the power of the internet, you know! I'm watching you, too!

Love,
Person who worries about you and your oh-so fair skin

GO MAVS!

Yep, that's right, Tevo. I am actually watching the NBA Finals voluntarily.

I know you are proud of me.

And, just in case you were wondering, I am watching it in non HD on purpose to prove the point that what happens in HD also happens in non HD simultaneously.

Well that and I didn't want to make you TOO jealous.

Dear Trevor...

Yes. This is a letter for my husband.

No. We didn't break up. Yes. I am still speaking to him.

He is back in Peru on another mission trip. Last year, he told me that he would have no way of communicating with me while he was down there. So, I updated my blog with several posts about my sans-Trevor diet, which mainly included eating popcorn or cereal for dinner for the better part of a week while watching his doppelganger, Peter Krause, in episode after episode of Parenthood on my DVR.

Yes, I was that kind of weepy newly wed. [Shakes head]

So, basically, he lied about not having internet access while in South America. And then he sicked his mom on me.

Lesson learned, Trevor. Lesson learned.

This year, I was prepared, and even thought about not updating this little piece of the internet for the entire time of his trip. Take that, Tevo! But then he Facebooked me this afternoon, and I decided to throw him a bone:

Dear Trevor,

My eating has been fine, thankyouverymuch! I went out to lunch with Ah-Knee on Saturday after you left, and then saw the movie Bridesmaids. Dinner was a yummy salad from Whole Foods. I briefly considered buying salad fixings at the store and making it at home, but that seemed like a lot of effort with a perfectly good and fully stocked salad bar just down the street.

On Sunday, I had lunch with Rachel and then headed to City Arts with her and the Q (after a brief stop at Bert's house to care for Jack who, for once, didn't bite, scratch or otherwise draw blood from yours truly). Memorial Day was spent having one last meal with Mimi (who was leaving for London today), followed by swimming and dinner out at The Resort at Pamelot.

Yes, I have eaten cereal since you left, but mostly for breakfast. But I haven't had a single kernel of popcorn. Oh, and because I know it will make you sad, I finished the last of the cottage cheese in the fridge.

The dogs, on the other hand, have had kibble for every meal since Saturday. I actually went to PetCo after work today and bought some Greenies to mix it up a bit.

Haskell has stepped up now that he is the "man" of the house, has a full time job where he lounges on his bed for 23.5+ hours a day and is now speaking five languages fluently. Alley is pretty sure that you have abandoned her, and is sucking up to me BIG time. I am not sure that Gypsy has noticed you are missing.

I have steered clear of anything starring Peter Krause, but have cleared almost every single episode of Dateline off the DVR. You can imagine how this has effected my mental state.

I heart you. You better be wearing your hat and sunscreen.

Sincerely,
The Wifey

P.S. It is possible that I miss you, but I would never admit it over the internet. ;P

Trevor's Mission Trip to Arequipa, Peru...

A slideshow of Trevor's mission trip experience in Peru. The team was primarily there to help build a church in Arequipa, but they also spent afternoons visiting local orphanages and doing crafts with the kiddoes.

Trevor is already talking about going back next year…

Trevor is alive and well (whew!)...

For those who have asked about Trevor's mission trip to Peru:

A picture of the building site
(taken during the 2009 mission trip)

From: Trevor
Sent: Tuesday, April 27, 2010 10:08 PM
To: Deals
Subject: Peru

Hola!

I was thinking of you and wanted to let you know everything is going well here. Here is a quick breakdown of the week so far:

Sunday - We arrived in Lima at 5am and caught a flight to Ariquipa and arrived around 11am. We are staying in a Hostel that is run by a member of the local Anglican Church (it costs $12 dollars a night!). Anyway, we went to the Church that is being built on the outskirts of town to see the Church service. I wasn't prepared to see the level of poverty in this region and I understand now why the people on this trip want to be a part of it. When we arrived at the Church some of the walls are about half way up with re barb sticking out of the top. I was amazed to learn and see for myself that 75% of the congregation were neighborhood children. Most came to service by themselves, some bringing their brothers and sisters, while some brought their parents. After the service father Juan Carlos and Maria (The couple you met at St. Mathews when we saw the Mission Trip presentation) handed out bread with thinly sliced meat in between to the kids. I later learned that for most of teh kids this was the only meal they would have that day.

Monday- We started the day working on the Church, mostly we shoveled sand and rocks, adding it to the foundation of the Church. The second part of the day we took the picture frame material (minus the paint, we used the colored popsicle sticks) to the orphanage for the younger kids (3 thru 10 years old). They absolutely loved making the frames and adding the stickers. They photo maker worked great and they were very excited to see the pictures come out.

Tuesday - We started out the day again by working on the church, more shoveling among other fun things, but the Church does have running water now. In the afternoon we visited the orphanage for the older kids. We brought the rest of the materials for the picture frames as well as the paint this time. Another great success. We even made a picture frame for the dog they have adopted, his name is Bolt. He kinda looks like Haskell but has light brown hair instead of black.

Everything is going great and I only wish you were here to experience it with me. Miss You!

Love-

Trevor


P.S - Feel free to forward to GP (and anyone else). She wanted to hear how things were going when I wrote to you.

Score 1 for Team Cheerio!

Yesterday, my mother in law called and asked me if I wanted to have dinner with her this week. I was all, "My mother in law is the sweetest person on the planet," until she ruined it by telling me that Trevor had asked her to call me periodically and make sure I'm eating something other than Cheerios and air popped popcorn while he is in Peru.

Then she quizzed me on my diet since Trevor left, and I was so happy that I had had lunch with Melissa on Sunday because I got to say, “I had lunch with Melissa on Sunday!” and she didn’t press me for further information about the other two meals I ate that day. Because, while I was perfectly content eating Cheerios twice on Sunday, I am sure others might be quick to judge.

I also glossed over THIS INCIDENT.

Luckily, I had dinner plans with Mandy last night, so my mother in law is now convinced Trevor was exaggerating about my tendency to eat nothing but Cheerios and air popped popcorn in his absence.

I win.

Missing Mr. Winkel...

Trevor left today for a mission trip to Peru. He will be helping to build a church and visiting children in orphanages down there. I wanted to go, but this time of the year is the busiest for the museum. It just wasn't feasible for me to take the last week of April off and leave the country. Maybe next year.

So, here I am. Without my husband for the longest stretch of time since we tied the knot back in September. Just me and the dogs. And what did I do tonight? Ate popcorn for dinner and watched five episodes of PARENTHOOD in a row. In my defense, Peter Krause (thanks to RR) reminds me of Trevor.

I mean, they aren't identical, but you can see the resemblance, right?


Anyway, I am now out of PARENTHOOD episodes on my DVR, so I am sure true Trevor withdrawal will set in tomorrow.

Sigh...