I know the time comes every year right around now. And I know that without it, we would have no money to live on throughout the year. But in spite of all that knowledge, I still hate harvest.
I'm selfish I guess, and I feel like Hubby has to work much too hard, and I rarely get to see him. I know, some of you are thinking, "well get your lazy butt out there and help him." I would, but on top of awful allergies this time of year, I have 3 kids who are involved in a ton of different things. I don't want to deprive them of those things. If we were at the farm 35 miles away, they wouldn't get to do as much. I missed out on those things when I was a kid, and I don't want the kids to miss out as well.
Still I am here whining about it. I feel like a single parent for at least 6 weeks this time of year. When school starts (in a mere 3 weeks here) it gets pretty crazy as well. I should feel lucky, I get to stay home while the kids are in school and get caught up. Sometimes I work (substitute teacher) but usually I don't get too busy until cold and flu season kicks in. Hubby goes to work in the a.m. and if we are lucky he is home by 10:30 p.m. That's an early night for him during harvest, usually I'm in bed and he doesn't get home until 11:30 or so. It doesn't make for much of any husband/wife time.
So for a while I am going to sit here and feel sorry for myself and selfish, and wish that he had a 9 to 5 job, even though it would make him miserable. But I'll also hope for all the good weather and few breakdowns that he will need to finish. And I will pray for a good harvest this year, we'll have to start paying for college in less than a year for Mr 17. Yikes!
Am I right about this, or is it just my teenage boy? Here are a few questions, redundant and perhaps not needing actual answers but... whatever...
1. Is it really impossible for teenage boys to shut their dresser drawers? Out of 6 drawers why must 5 of them be left open with clothing hanging out of them at all times?
2. Why are keys constantly lost? Why, every day, do I hear, "Has anyone seen my keys?"
3. Are wet towels on a bedroom floor a fashion statement for teenage boys?
4. How many times can a teenage boy step over a pair of their own dirty socks without picking them up?
5. Must a teenage boy's bedroom have dirty laundry, garbage and an unmade bed as decorative objects in them?
6. When a teenage boy says, "Can you pick me up a _________?" does the item always have to be expensive? As though I can run out to the store and just come home with a $200 item and not think twice about it.
7. Does leaving open cereal boxes out, cracker bags strewn on the counters, dirty plates, utensils, and glasses make teenage boys feel more manly?
8. If I post more of this will I bore you? Because this list could go on, and on and on...
What in the world have I done wrong with this spawn of mine? Miss 14 picks up after herself. Miss 9 knows she should pick up after herself, and she does, 80% of the time. What the h*$% is up with Mr 17 and his inability to see the mess that apparently just flies out of his rear as he walks through a room?
I finished! Although Mr 17 beat me by a day, I was able to finish the newest Harry Potter in less than a week, not my usual time to finish a book, but life was busy this week.
Who's ready to discuss it? I can't discuss with Miss 14, she hasn't read it yet, she is reading The Tale of Two Cities for her honors English class. Mr 17 doesn't discuss much outside of Nascar and Hubby hasn't read it yet.
Who's ready to discuss it with me?
Thank goodness there is AC and God bless whoever invented it! Here in Smalltown, UpperMidwest, USA we managed to hit triple digit heat. Add to that the fact that the dewpoint was 75 and if felt like you walked outside into a sauna. If you wanted a sauna it was good, if you had yardwork to do... not so good. We managed to survive the heat and today gave us a brief respite before we head back into the 90's again. It's nothing new for our area. I don't mind it like Hubby does. But he does have to work outside, and for the most part I get to choose when I go outside. Yesterday we had the pool up in the backyard for Miss 9 and her friends. If I sat really still, in the shade, wearing no shoes and lightweight clothes, I didn't feel too bad. I was the lifeguard for the afternoon. Although since Miss 9 and her friends are all on the local swim club, and have been swimming on the club team since they were all 4, I wasn't needed all that much. So I got to read. Yay! My favorite pastime. The only bad news~ Mr 17 managed to finish the new Harry Potter book before I did, that has never happened! I'm feeling a bit irritated by that fact. But in my defense, he spent 5 hours on Monday and ALL DAY yesterday reading. I had the regular Mom chores to fit in between chapters. Please excuse me now while I wave my wand and the dishes magically clean themselves.
Seems I am the luckiest woman in the world. When Miss 9 was younger, those words frequented her vocabulary. She would wander over to look for me, and just blurt them out, or I would walk through a room, she'd peek over and *pop* there were those wonderful words again.
This week Miss 9 started doing that again. It is the sweetest thing. For a while I was moaning to Hubby that she never did that anymore and I really missed it. Yay, she has started again!
A bonus to our vacation was the loads of people in Cali creating a little anxiety in Miss 9. She didn't go anywhere without being more than willing to hold my hand. I missed that too, and I know it is a brief phase again, but I still loved it.
On the less sappy note Mr. 17 is mad at his mother, yes again, because I won't let him and a friend (is that proper English) drive a separate vehicle this weekend as we take a 2 hour trip to visit some family. We are bringing the friend with us, isn't that enough? Why in the world does he need to drive separately? His reason: so we can go rollerblade somewhere downtown. Since adding more fuel usage and pollution to the environment doesn't suit me, I said no. I'm in the doghouse again.
Miss 14 hasn't pushed too many buttons this week, so I won't complain and jinx it. It's a touchy age.
The weather has decided hot and humid is the way to go for a while, so we have had up the pool. We emptied it last night so as not to kill the grass, but I think we'll set it up again in a new spot next week. Miss 9 loves it! My back doesn't love emptying it though. Who knew 38 would feel so old? Every little extra bit of work seems to lay waste to my back. What a wimp, huh?
We made it home! After a wonderful trip we finally have arrived back home and I have surfaced from underneath an ocean full of dirty laundry. We had an amazing time in Southern California. The picture is view from our hotel room, which wasn't really a room at all, but we were upgraded to a suite: 2 bedrooms, 3 full baths, living room, dining room and kitchen. Who can complain? After our first few nights in 1 room with a fridge and only a pull out chair for Mr 17 to sleep on, we felt like we had gone to heaven. We managed to do Disneyland, Universal Studios, the beach, the San Diego Zoo and Sea World. We put many, many miles on our shoes. Mr. 17 even managed to run for Cross Country while we were gone, although I wasn't comfortable with him running alone in Anaheim. In San Diego he had a beautiful sidewalk that ran along the beach to run on. Miss 9 was the best behaved of the kids. That was a shock, we expected her to be so worn out that she would really be a pill, but she waited until we came home to be a pill instead.
Short version of our vacation:
Pros:
Disneyland
Sea World
The Beach
some of the restaurants: MiMi's, RedBrick Pizza
my first Trader Joe's visit (is it wrong to love a grocery store?)
Garmin's in rental vehicles
seeing the kids faces when we entered Disney
seeing Mr. 17's face when he skated at Vans Skate park and took surf lessons
the backpack we carried everyday full of waters for all of us and granola bars, it must have saved us nearly $200! Seriously!
Cons:
the horrible traffic from Universal Studios to our hotel (how do people live there?)
arguing about directions with Hubby and Mr 17
Miss 14 getting incredibly upset because she was "starving" and we weren't making supper fast enough
flying... just flying, all of it, I hate it
the lines for everything after 1 p.m. pacific time at any theme park or zoo
We have many happy memories from the trip. I'm glad we spent the money to take the kids. Now it's just to agree on a trip for next year. Yikes!
