Another Work Day Together

This time it went pretty well. 

We are going to be traveling a lot for the next 4 weeks---Kalamazoo next week, home a few days and then off on our Alaskan cruise. When we get back from that, there are exactly 5 days before a few of my friends and I host a shower here. Soooo, that means we need to pretty much get all the outside work done this weekend. Not really how we'd like to spend a holiday weekend, but ya' gotta' do what ya' gotta' do. At least we have fun planned for tomorrow night---barbecue and poker with the Potters and Blacks. And the patio, furniture, flowers and pond will be all spiffed up.

So Saturday starts off with us having to pick up Mindy's car at the airport. She left for New Orleans yesterday and nobody could take her. She flies straight from there to Orlando for business next week and then on to Kalamazoo for Mitchell's Confirmation. We go to drop off her car at her apartment and realize that if we put her keys inside, she has no way of getting in. We ended up having to drive her car to our house. When she gets home---a week from Sunday, late, she'll have to come here and pick it up. Not well thought out---and just to avoid a $35.00 cab ride.

When we got home, I realized that we missed a Fed Ex delivery that requires a signature. Bummer, it would have been nice if they'd let me know it was coming. Now I have to go all the way to their office this afternoon to pick it up. The call came at 10 a.m. saying that the delivery would be before noon---a little late now. Not starting the day off well.

Butch was ready to start working outside while I finished up a few things inside. Another of the things we needed to do was clean the rug from under the kitchen table. It wasn't a very good idea to have a light colored rug custom made for the kitchen. You'd think that with just the two of us it would be okay. But it turns out that it's not the two of us that are the problem. The very first week the rug was down, one of the grandkids flipped a plate of barbecue on it. That was just the beginning of the spills---not to mention the ground in brownie!

I rolled the rug up and hauled it out. Butch started with the pressure hose. It was really getting the dirt out. I was like a little kid---biting at the bit to do it---it looked like so much fun---I could hardly contain myself---"is it my turn", "can I do it", "please let me have a turn!"---were all going through my mind, but I resisted the urge to actually say anything out loud. Finally, I said, "Why don't you let me take a turn so you can have a break?" He handed it over, but not before giving me a demonstration---as if I hadn't already been watching for 10 minutes. "Here, you do it like this----bring it up and pull it back, bring it up and pull it back." He said it like 6 times in a row. I think he thought he was dealing with his daughters. I mean, hey, when it comes to cleaning, this girl knows what to do. So I take over. I'm not 30 seconds "in" to it when he tells me I'm doing it wrong. He takes the sprayer back and gives me another demonstration. I take over again. Another 30 seconds and he takes it away again---"why are you wiggling it around? Just do it like this." I take another shot---again it doesn't suit him. After the 4th time---and by now, I've only handled the thing a total of 3 or 4 minutes, but my back it starting to hurt and I'm starting to sweat---a cicada landed on me and I screamed. That was it, he took over for good. I was okay with that. It wasn't fun after all. Plus, this does qualify as "outside" work---which is his responsibility. Here he is working hard. Can't you just feel his back aching?

 He didn't seem to care when the cicadas landed on him. I kept saying---"ooooh, there's one on you." He ignored me---and them.

This is me sitting down watching. He's doing ALL the hard work. Then I decided to go inside and get him a cold drink and wet towel to mop his sweaty brow---you know---trying to be all supportive-like. I came out with the drink and was waiting nearby to give it to him. It was hot and I was starting to sweat again. So I took a swig of his drink and mopped my own brow. Then I went inside and wrote this.