So today was one of those SAHM days where I wonder why. Why did I throw away my expensive four year college education to take care of a house, to become a chauffeur, and to work even harder at taking care of and pushing two daughters so that they too can have that expensive four, perhaps ten, year college education. It started off with me deciding once again to skip the gym because I needed to get on the stick with putting my house back in order cleanliness-wise. First stop? The kitchen.
Since we put in the tile it has driven me crazy. Spots are more pronounced. Stickiness is such that I am literally stuck in one area for hours. The grout is never clean. The kitchen floor had to be cleaned, but I know that one does not start with the floor and work herself up, and so I started from the top. The top right which is where my refrigerator sits. I took out all the food, cans, jars, containers, jugs, and cardboard rolls of cinnamon and orange rolls (on sale this week), and then I washed down the inside of my refrigerator. I removed shelves and cleansed them with antibacterial cleansers. I wiped down sticky residue on bottles, door handles, and walls. I threw away expired salad dressings, marinades with less than two tablespoons of liquid, and my collection of fast food condiment packets. Then I put everything of importance and use back into the clean refrigerator and rubbed down the outside with my stainless steel handy wipes.
Then I got a personal phone call which took up quite a bit of time dealing with, and because I needed two hands to clean with and couldn't tuck the cell under my chin as it always disconnects, I had to stretch out on the couch to take the call. Which made the call longer as such. By the time it was finished and I had completed wiping down counter tops, started the dishwasher and scrubbed the sinks, it was time for me to do the high school car pool pick up. And right on cue my daughter called to tell me she had to stay late for play practice which meant I had to make two trips.
Off I drove to pick up Maddy's friend who we car pool with. She had missed the past two days of school because of a fever and a cough. She was white as a ghost, and I mean that when her face appeared in my passenger window I jumped. She got in the car, spoke little, but coughed, and coughed, and coughed the entire twenty minutes it took for me to get her home. She stumbled to the door and couldn't get in. Her father, who works from home, had forgotten about his daughter and was out to lunch. So back we went the same way we had just come so that I could drop her off at the restaurant where he was eating. As I drove away from there Madison texted me to pick her up in ten minutes.
Since it would take me longer than that to get back to the school I went immediately. I texted her upon my arrival, but did not receive a response. Forty minutes later she called, apologetic, but low and behold her teacher had called her back up on stage sans phone. Oh, and she couldn't leave yet. I went home kid-less. Upon that return I found that in my absence while my dishwasher and laundry machine were hard at work my kitchen sink was clogged.
I tried plunging. I ran the disposal. I called the hubby. I called the plumber. The woman answering phones and setting up appointments had a screaming baby in the background. She apologized. I empathized. She asked my situation. I told her. She offered a plumber for tomorrow. So much for that mom to mom thing. I demanded a plumber today. She agreed to send one between 3 and 7. As I hung up the acting daughter called and assured me she was finished for the day.
I drove back to school, dropped off that daughter at home, and drove to the other school to pick up the second daughter. I got her home and stared at my clogged sink. No point in making dinner. I walked the dog instead, stopping for awhile to sit and chat with my neighbor Chuck. We discussed happenings in the hood which included an attempted, but thwarted, robbery and a suicide by gun shot.
Chuck: "And I just heard that some man stopped his car at the Seven Eleven on 58th and killed his wife and then himself."
Me: "Jeez, what is happening? That's like the third husband to kill his wife this week. Did you read that in the paper about the man who killed his wife yesterday and then shot himself? And three days ago some husband put a pillow over his wife's face and killed her."
Chuck: "I understand it. I can see it. Has to be done."
Me: "Nice."
Chuck: "I'm just saying a man is working his butt off while his wife is clogging up sinks and costing him money."
The plumber arrived before seven and worked some time unclogging the sink. Damage: $157.50. But he also ran the snake down the other side of our house where our toilets reside back to back...just in case. I paid him, cooked dinner, helped Darcy pack for her field trip the next day and gladly stumbled to bed. As I lay in bed thinking of tomorrow and what was on tap, I realized that the kitchen floor still had yet to be cleaned. Good thing I have tomorrow.
your job sounds harder than mine, at least on this day.
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