The Shopping List

I am self-admittedly the worst homemaker in the world.

Thankfully, I have other talents, and no desire to stay at home.

I therefore rely on my husband to take care of the house. I’d say we split things 50-50, but in reality, he does more. He does the laundry, the dishes, cleans the kitchen, puts the kids to bed, etc. I’m pretty much in charge of cooking dinner and doing the grocery shopping. And, I only do the grocery shopping.

My husband is in charge of doing the other shopping, for things like diapers, toilet paper, paper towels, cat food, kitty litter, and everything else in the house. However, I am supposed to keep track of what we need on a list. I slack off on this ALL THE TIME. So when it gets to the point where he calls and tells me he’s doing the Walmart run, and asks for the list, I just make things up. This has led to situations in the past where we have over 100 rolls of toilet paper in the house (and nowhere to put them) and no shampoo. Just this past March, the toilet paper got to the point where I couldn’t hide it anymore, and he caught on to my ruse. My punishment for making up fake lists, and sending him out for no good reason at all is that I now have to do the Walmart runs.

I shudder.

Bullies Aren't Always Kids

A Facebook post on Wednesday brought out a whole lot of responses from varied people. It turned out that other people besides me had issues with a certain science teacher from high school. Now this man could be classified only as a bully. Clearly picking on people he judged as weak. Favoring those that he viewed as strong. A sexist pig as well. I had him for Chemistry in 11th grade. I started the year in the honors class, but due to a serious inability to understand what the honors teacher was teaching, I was bumped down to academic. I moved into a class where there weren't any more seats, and had to sit at the lab tables or in seats of classmates when they were absent. This teacher made it clear that he did not respect any female intelligence. I was constantly being yelled at "Damn it Harrington, why are you so stupid?" and having things blamed on me for being blond. Fantastic motivation from a teacher. Another friend in another of this man's classes was nick-named "Ditzo." Mind you, neither of us were stupid, we were just unfortunate to be born female and natural blonds. This teacher favored the male athletes. Sitting them next to the smarter students, and allowing "Extra Credit" that the rest of us didn't have access to.

But I showed this man I was better than him. Better than he ever expected. Come finals time, he made a big deal out of the math portion of the final. Saying that no one ever got more than an 80 on it. Saying that the scale- for all classes, not just ours- would be based on the math portion, meaning that if no one got more than a 70 on the math, we'd all get a 30 points scale on the final. Well, I got a 97 on the math part of the final. He was enraged. He called me into his class after school and asked me how I did it. Now, I'm someone who writes out EVERYTHING in a math problem, so all of my work was right there. He could see every painful step of my logic. He berated me for "ruining the scale" for my classmates. Didn't I know that by scoring so high I was wrecking the score for everyone else? I told him that I deserved an A in the class, and I didn't care about the scale for everyone else, so long as I got my A. I'm still not sure what he did for everyone else, but I did get my A+ on the final, and my A for the final semester in the class (the only one I got from him that year).

It was the first time that I felt that I really bested someone in a position of authority. It was a skill that really helped me my senior year of high school. I had a new-found confidence in myself. An ability to just say "fuck it, these people mean nothing to my future" and really mean it. I got the best grades of my high school career. A little bit of antipathy plus a little bit of knowing you know more than a person of authority is a fabulous confidence booster.

My Mom Moment of the Day

This morning I was frantically searching my bag- a huge bag, because after all, I'm a Mom- for some cough drops. I realized that my bag has become yet another place that the kids have taken over. Here is a partial list of things I found in my bag:

1. A zip lock bag of Doritos, mostly crushed, age unknown.
2. A "bracelet" made from pipe cleaners, complete with elastic charms.
3. Dum-Dum lollipops. Some half-eaten, some still wrapped, in various condition, stuck in multiple pockets
4. A strawberry shaped eraser that I remember taking from them when it was starting WWIII in the backseat of the car, about three weeks ago
5. Ketchup and Mustard packets, because you never know when someone will NEED to have fries, and McDonald's will forget the Ketchup.
6. Children's cough medicine- I swear, in bad weeks, we go through a bottle a week
7. A "license" from an amusement park for one of the kids, so they could "drive" the cars there

I eventually did find a cough drop, but not until after I decided to clean out the whole bag. I wouldn't mind, but I only bought this one in November, so it's not even 6 months old.

The One? Soul Mates?

My husband's birthday is next week, he'll be 32. We are rapidly approaching a spot in our lives where we've been together for longer than 1/2 of our lives. That's what happens when you marry the person you start dating at age 17.

I don't like the term "soul mates" but I have a theory of "The One." Meaning that there's one person in the world out there for everyone, the person that completes you. However, sometimes that One person isn't meant to be your spouse or significant other. This is the person that when you have your first conversation with them, it's like you've known them your entire life. It's the person who, when they're not around, it feels like you're missing a limb. Yes, this is about as treacly as I get, so forgive my Hallmark sentiments. And, I'd like to think that in my case, my husband is my "One."

Does this mean that my husband and I are perfect? Not at all! We fight, but we fight reasonably. We don't dredge up the past, and we don't hold grudges. I've never kicked him out of our bed just because I'm mad at him, and I think that if you do that, you've got bigger problems than just an argument. We also aren't ones for dramatic, excessive romantic gestures. I don't need hot air balloon rides and dozens of roses, getting clean laundry put away for me is a more romantic gesture.

My Review of Cleaving by Julie Powell

I finished reading Cleaving by Julie Powell last night- it's the follow-up to Julie & Julia. The book was difficult. Not difficult reading as much as the subject was dark and tough to get through. Julie & Julia was light and hopeful, this book was the opposite. She's in love with her husband, doesn't want to leave him, yet she's carrying on a long term affair, and having sex with random strangers. Eric, Julie's husband is also having affairs. She's just flat out miserable the whole book, and it's wrenching. I liked it, but it wasn't the normal read for me.

There were two main themes running through the book. One theme was Julie learning butchering, a typical "Man's Job" in this part of the world. The other theme was addiction. Julie is addicted to her lover and to alcohol. She has been spurned by her lover, and spends most of the book thinking about him. I am totally opposed to cheating. If you are going to be unfaithful. at least have the decency to end it with your current significant other before you enter into anything with a new person. I do think people are monogamous, and that being in a sexual relationship with more than one person at the same time is just wrong, and maybe that's why this book was so hard for me. It was someone who I liked in an earlier book, who I now dislike.

There is so much pain in this book, emotional pain, physical pain (various body aches brought on by butchering) and mental pain (Julie torturing her husband by downloading a song he sent her to their shared computer comes to mind). Julie and Eric are in this mind-fuck (sorry, but I can't think of a better term) of a relationship. They bring nothing but pain to each other, and yet, neither one of them can end it. That could be another issue for me. Julie and Eric got into their relationship at a young age, and really became adults together. They don't see a life outside of each other, which may be similar to my husband and myself. Maybe that's why I had problems with this book. Are my husband and I also destined to come to misery like Julie and Eric?

Why Me?

A week or so ago, my FIL calls up and says that they're going to be coming out here (well Vegas) for a week or so, and will be in town for a few days. Sure, no problem, they'll be here midweek.

Then on Wednesday, he calls to say that Mr Keen's Uncle is dying (throat cancer, diabetes, etc, what drinking and smoking non-stop for 40 years will do to a person, added to the fact that the cut off most of his right hand with a band saw last year, but I digress), so they won't make it. Mr Keen and I decided that since they won't be here, and since he actually has a weekend off, we'll go up towards Payson, rent a cabin for the weekend, and let the kids play in the snow (the got 3 feet over the last weekend). We get that set up on Wednesday, Mr Keen cancels the hotel that he reserved for his Dad in Vegas, etc.

Then YESTERDAY, on Thursday, at 8:30 at night, they call again to tell me that they ARE coming out, but now will be flying directly into Phoenix, and will be here on Wednesday through Monday. Not only is this a LONGER trip than the original, but it's over the weekend where we actually have plans now. Mr Keen's of the opinion that we tell them sorry, you can stay here, but we're going to be gone. And I totally agree with him.

Gingerbread Houses

Adeline & Anaya working on the house, and eating frostingAnaya, adorable as usual.

All three working on the gingerbread tree. It was mostly Avery's project, but the other two helped.

Adeline, she lost her two front teeth, just in time to sing "All I Want For Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth"

Avery, dumping an entire bottle of sugar on the tree

Anaya "helping" Avery

Adeline "helping" Avery

Happy, sugarfied kids

The finished products. Ignore the messy countertops, I know that I do!