Yesterday I drove all four hours home. Lion offered to drive, but I was doing fine so I kept going. On some of the longer trips he drives about halfway because, let’s face it, highway driving can be a big snore. Later in the afternoon Lion took a cat nap. I watched him sleep. He looks so cute when he’s softly snoring away. A little later it was my turn for a nap. And, of course, he had his Jeopardy nap.

I finally sat down and wrote out some Good Lion coupons. One was for deleting one punishment from his list. I knew he needed that coupon last night because it was 8:30 when I handed it to him and he hadn’t reminded me that last night was punishment night. Yeah. I probably cheated with that one, but I did give him one for his choice of orgasm on his scheduled night. And he got two for restrained play of his choice. He liked them all and immediately redeemed the punishment one. He had forgotten what day of the week it was and didn’t remember until I’d pointed it out to him. Oopsy.

When I asked for the Lion weather report he said he was pretty horny. What a pleasant surprise! I like having a horny Lion. I was able to successfully edge him a few times. Then I decided, since he was horny, he should have a real orgasm. Not the ruined orgasms that I’ve been giving him by accident. A full orgasm. I probably should have teased him a little more, but I didn’t want to risk going too far before I was ready to go all the way. I’m pretty sure it was a surprise to him. It wasn’t his scheduled night, but I figured with everything that’s been going on, I had to strike while the Lion was horny. And he doesn’t know when his scheduled night is anyway.

The wild Lion has been successfully captured and re-caged. Maybe tonight I will unlock him again and tend to his manscaping. It’s been quite a while since I’ve done it. He’s pretty unkempt. He doesn’t like it that way. I tease him that I will have to get out the hedge clippers. I think it’s ironic that he likes me hairy and himself bare. Many men prefer their wives/girlfriends bare and wouldn’t dream of manscaping. I don’t mind if Lion is hairy or bare. I’m just glad he doesn’t expect me to go through all the trouble of making myself bare for him.

My poor unhorny Lion is still apologizing for not being horny. The only reason it bothers me is because I know he’s stressed and there’s not much I can do about it. I mean, I’m here for him. We can talk about it. We can snuggle. But I can’t fix the financial situation. I was thinking about actively looking for another job myself, but I think that would just add another element of stress to the mix. We don’t need any more stress right now.

What I’ve been trying to do is maintain a sense of normalcy. I ask him every night if he is interested in playing. If he says no I don’t push. There’s no stipulation that we have to play every night. The only rule I had was that I had to play with him at least every other night. That was my rule. Not his. Eventually we started playing every night, but there was never a rule put in place that we had to. There should never be any pressure on him to play. I’m not a fantasy mistress who insists that her toy be ready, willing and able when she says so. I know if I was horny and I asked him to give me orgasms, he would do it whether he was horny or not. I wouldn’t dream of forcing him to be ready to play when he’s not interested, anymore than he would do it to me. First of all, physically it wouldn’t work. And we’re not in the habit of forcing each other to do anything. (Although he does guilt me into things like going to the doctor, etc.)

I need to sit down and write out some Good Lion coupons for my pet. He’s been doing so much around the house since he’s been home. I need to do a better job of recognizing his efforts. I think giving him coupons is the best bet. I don’t want to just decide tonight he gets reward X. What if he’s not up for it tonight? He can use the coupon whenever he wants to use it. And he can have the fun of anticipating that specific reward. I know he loves handing the coupons to me. He does it with such flourish.

Most of all, I want a happy Lion. I’ll do whatever I can to make that happen.

Today I’m a little excited. My ex and my daughter are heading cross-country and I’ll get to see them. Well, her, I don’t care about him. It’s been a few years since we’ve seen each other. Airfare being high, school and work schedules, our camping trips, all managed to keep me on the west coast and them on the east coast. They’ve decided to get in their RV and head out. I have few details about when they’ll get here or where they’ll be exactly. Last time they headed this way I drove seven hours each way to be able to see them (my younger son was along for that trip). While I’m not looking forward to another trip like that, I would do it in a heartbeat if a seven hour drive was all that kept me from seeing her again.

Lion is used to being the only “child” in the house. In the past, he’s acted a bit like a toddler when my kids came to visit. I didn’t pay enough attention to him and he got grumpy. Fair warning, my pet, I will not tolerate grumpiness, especially when she’s only going to be in the area for a short time. Of course she will get my full attention. He gets my attention all the time. I think he’ll manage for a few days.

Yesterday I realized that our spare bedroom is a disaster. Well, it didn’t just happen yesterday, of course. It’s sort of our junk room and catchall. Whatever we don’t know what to do with winds up in there. Needless to say, the bed is under a pile of crap. I started to clean it last night. There are toys everywhere. They’ll need to be squirreled away. Lion offered to help today, but I told him between tonight and tomorrow I’ll have it done. As I said, I’m not even sure she’s staying with us. I may need to go to her. This morning I think Lion has started cleaning. He admits he’s not very good at finding places for things that don’t have homes. That extra comforter, the extra towels for the camper, pillows, etc. I’m not really even sure what all is in the pile. It’s sort of a treasure hunt.

Lion will definitely get a reward for tackling the room. I’m not sure how much he’ll get done, but any help is appreciated and I know how difficult it is for him to do. When we moved he told me he was horrible at packing an unpacking. Holy cow! He wasn’t kidding! He had trouble putting things away in his own home office. I figured he should at least be able to put pens and pencils away. Nope. So I definitely know how difficult this is for him. Since he hasn’t been super horny lately, and I gave him a ruined orgasm by accident last night, I don’t know what the reward will be but I’ll come up with something special for him.

He also changed the beds in the house and camper yesterday, and washed all the sheets and towels. He was a busy boy. He needs a few rewards. Maybe some time in the sling. When he made the bed in the camper he installed his restraints. I think he needs some time in those restraints. I can do that whether he’s horny or not. That will give him something to look forward to for the next trip.

Tonight is punishment night and he’s gone a few times without any punishments. I thought I had him the other night for forgetting to remind me of maintenance spanking night, but it was me who forgot. He’d told me in his first email to me that morning. Silly Mrs. Lion. Of course, then I forgot to give him the maintenance swats for the second time in a row. Maybe I should get some sort of punishment for being forgetful.

Lion was a very good boy yesterday. He reminded me it was punishment day. He had nothing on his punishment list. He did the laundry. He ran some errands. He cooked dinner. It was only fitting that I give him a reward for his hard work.

I wasn’t sure what his reward would be. Should I give him an extra play session last night? Should I give him a get-out-of-jail-free orgasm? Should I make breakfast on the weekend? So many choices. As is usually the case, it came to me in the shower. And the more I thought about it, the more I thought he should have two separate rewards. One for doing all those chores and one for not having anything on the punishment list.

Reward number one, for the chores, is an extra play session. This is not a play session of his choosing. I may ask him what he wants, but I am not bound by it. He gets to choose a non-play night that he would like some Lion attention. This coupon expires August 1 for no reason other than the fact that I thought it should expire.

Reward number two, for not having anything on the punishment list, is an opportunity to subtract one item from a future punishment list. Maybe he has only one item and he wants to avoid punishment that night. Maybe he had nothing on the list, but forgot to remind me about punishment night so now he has that on his list. Maybe he was very bad and has six things on the list and wants to avoid some of those swats. Whatever the reason, he can eliminate one item. This coupon also expires on August 1.

He was very happy with his Good Lion coupons. He filed them away in the Lion coupon hiding place. I don’t know how many he has now. I tear them up as he uses them. Not that I think he’ll try to reuse them. I just think it makes a statement. This coupon is gone. Rip. You have received your reward. Rip. I don’t know if he even notices when I do it. It may be more for my benefit.

It’s still easier for me to reward him than punish him. That doesn’t surprise me. I know he wants me to add items to his list. It’s just so difficult when he does so many things for me already. Generally the only time he gets a punishment is for doing something I told him not to do. Stubborn boy that he is. I’ll have to step up my game and start noticing more.