Thursday, January 29, 2009

Not Fair

My husband is gone. A lot. For example, he's been gone at least three days of each week since we returned from Minnesota.

He just got home tonight. We met at Cheeseburger in Paradise, because our big three-year-old wanted to go to the beach tonight to celebrate his birthday. (Possible where we live, but waaaaaay too cold. Cheeseburger was a good comprimise.)

We ate dinner, came home, and I carried things in. He served Mark cake.

And then he fell asleep.

I'm planning on lodging a formal complaint in the morning.

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

I do things the hard way

My friends tease me. I can and freeze my own made-from-scratch food. My husband loves it-- peach barbecue sauce for on top of pork chops, tomato salsa, strawberry jam, apple butter, chicken noodle soup-- he enjoys it all. The toddler is not so excited-- Mark would much rather eat radioactive orange mac and cheese from a blue box. Sometimes when I come home, I'm tired and wonder if the effort is worth it.

Then I remember. Tonight, there is a blog post about mercury in high fructose corn syrup. And a peanut processor didn't like the positive samonella test results they got, so they lab-shopped until they got the result they wanted.

I don't care if I get teased. I want my son to grow up healthy.

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

It Wasn't Me

Oh my.

When we went to Minnesota for Christmas, we told DH's family that we were heading to Germany. They were excited for us and happy that we'd be seeing DH's brother, just back from Iraq.

But DH's only sister immediately decided that she wanted to go too. She kept going on and on about how fun it would be to meet up over there and explore. Which was fine with us.

Then we got an email a couple of days ago. It was from DH's sister and had all of her flight information. DH and I looked at each other and both stated that we hoped that his sister had cleared this with his brother in Germany.

Fast forward to tonight. She called us to talk to us about the trip and ask if we'd noticed that she was flying over. To which I responded, "Sure. So what did your brother and sister-in-law say about you coming over?" Cue silence. Then she said that she sent them an email once she bought the ticket.

Which basically means that they had NO IDEA that she was even thinking coming over until she sent them her flight information. And her dates coincide with ours.

Wow. If nothing else, our Deutsch Marriott awaits.

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Dry

Just a quick one tonight.

The laundry room is now dry.

We're thinking about replacing the lineoleum (now gone) with ceramic tile.

Sometimes it stinks being a grownup.

Sunday, January 04, 2009

The One Where I Break Down and Cry

When DH and I built our house, there was one area where I went around and around with my construction-savvy father. Out of practicality, I wanted the laundry room on the second floor, right by the bedrooms. My father basically told me that I was crazy and that I'd regret the decision. He didn't give up the issue for weeks. I was smugly confident that I had made a fantastic decision that would save multitudes of trips up and down the stairs, hauling laundry.

Then our laundry room flooded yesterday. (I love the men in my life, but they aren't supposed to be right when we argue, doggone it!) It all started with the water stains that appeared on our living room ceiling. Which led to the discovery of standing water on the lineoleum under the washer. Then came the moving of the gargantuan washer, which left marks on my hall carpeting. And DH cleaned up the mold from the wall. This morning, we pulled off the trim and discovered more mold/mildew. We cleaned.

And then my husband left. After he gave me a verbal 'to-do' list.

However, I do understand that he needed to go. An engine test has been scheduled. For a long time.

It still stinks. It stinks as much as the pants of my child, who decided to do some attention-getting-pant-soiling today. Yay.

It was as my son sat on the hallway potty, with smears of 'number two' all over the toilet seat, that I thought I was going to lose it. (Uh, I cannot do any laundry until all of this has been solved. And it is not solved yet.)

All topped off by a phone call from my mother-in-law. Who tried to make small talk by discussing how a family in her town lost their home in a fire. I attempted to sympathize by saying that I know how horrible that is-- my apartment in college burned down, and I still miss my hand-embroidered baby quilt and the yellowed photos of my great-grandmother's high school graduation that I lost. To which she replied, "Well, that happens."

Uh, I feel a little better about my day now that I've had two glasses of wine. But not much better. I'm now tivo-ing Waitress so I can get a good cry in before I go to bed.

P.S. We have cleaned the laundry area as much as we can and are using fans to dry out the closet. I've ventilated upstairs so we're not recirculating mold spores in the air. I'm watching my child very closely for any respiratory symptoms. We're now in the drying process.