Not a very good summer so far (L-o-n-g)
Moms View Message Board: General Discussion: Archive June 2007:
Not a very good summer so far (L-o-n-g)
I have resisted the urge to whine about my problems until now. But today was the last straw. Do you ever get the feeling that if it's gonna happen to somebody, it's gotta happen to you?
To begin with, as soon as school got out 2 weeks ago, dh, ds, and I took a trip to Akron, Ohio. Yeah, not a big tourist town. Summit Racing Equipment, which is a catalog supply company, has a warehouse and a retail store located in Tallmadge, Ohio, just about 14 miles from Akron, and dh has been dying to go visit the store. He had the intention of purchasing the wheels and tires he needed for his hot rod, and they will also mount and balance them right there for you. (Hey, we saved on shipping costs, right?  )
We arranged for my MIL to stay at our house with the dog and the cat. She needed a lot of instructions for how to feed them and how to work the satellite TV and the new stove. I printed everything out on the computer so she could read it.
Ds has been wanting to take a family vacation to a hotel with a pool, and we thought this would be the perfect opportunity to do that, too. We found a hotel on hotels.com and booked a room for the 3 of us for 2 nights. The hotel was fabulous! (Courtyard by Marriott Akron-Stow, right off of highway 8, just a couple of miles south of the Ohio Turnpike.) A tad expensive, but the entire place was spic n span. The floors were sparkling and the mirrors and windows were streak free. Since I used to clean hotel rooms, I know how important it is to do a good job, and our room was as neat as a pin. (We even had a chocolate on the bed!) The service was fabulous, everyone was kind and helpful. There was a beautiful garden patio in the back and a 5 foot pool and whirlpool spa inside with a workout room as well. And since it was still off-season we had the place pretty much all to ourselves! (And we stayed on Sat & Sun nights, when most people leave on Sunday.)
It was a 5 hour drive, but it took us 6-1/2 hours. My legs kept cramping up and we had to stop 3 times so I could stretch. It was a miserable ride there. However, the ride back was fine. (I had taken several dips in the hot tub!)
When we got there, I realized that I had forgotten to pack dh's deodorant. Me, with my packing list that I had printed off the computer, that I had gone over item by item with ds as he helped me pack, still forgot something so important. Thankfully you can get those items complimentary at the front desk.
The first morning I woke up with HORRIBLE allergies. My allergies haven't been that bad in a couple of years. There is so much more farm land in Ohio than in my part of Michigan, and I hadn't thought about it, but I am sure that must have been why. But they continued to be bad for a week after we got back. Until just last night, I hadn't had one good night's sleep.
I had forgotten to unlock the parental codes on the satellite before we left, and MIL panicked and called us at the hotel thinking she had done something wrong. Dh talked to her, and he couldn't figure out was was going on, so he talked her through turning it all off and turning it all back on again. When the satellite came back on, it was automatically tuned to DISH101, a how-to-operate-your-satellite channel, so she watched that instead. We didn't figure out what went wrong until after we got home.
The night before we left the hotel, I broke my eye-glasses. I wear contacts, but I still need my glasses since it's not good to wear contacts 100% of the time. I am INCREDIBLY nearsighted, and am really useless without my contacts or glasses.
While I was packing to go, I broke the bottle of mouthwash I had brought with us. It was a brand new one, too, and it was only used for 2 days.
When we got home, MIL hadn't fed the cat. The cat gets her food at the bottom of the basement steps so that the dog doesn't get to it. She made it down the steps the first day, but couldn't get back up until she crawled up the steps, so she didn't feed the cat at all after that. She also never left out any water for them. The dish was bone-dry. She left a paper plate full of sliced tomatoes in the fridge, and by the time I got to them, the plate was soaked through. And she left a package of hotdogs open in the meat drawer, and the juice had run all over everything inside.
Father's Day was miserable. We spent it with FIL and his wife (his 3rd marriage.) They aren't getting along very well these days. They have only been married a year longer than dh and I, but we get along better than they do. All they did the whole time was bicker and argue. Whenever FIL wasn't in the room all she ever did was complain about him and how sick of him she is and how she is thinking of leaving him. He wanted to take us out for a ride on his pontoon boat, but he had trouble starting the engine and all she did was treat him like he was dumber than a box of rox, nagging him about how he can't get it started because he flooded it. All dh did was work the choke a little, and it fired right up. But then we couldn't get it away from the bank of the river channel (he doesn't have a dock.) She got so crotchety she almost decided to stay ashore while we went for our ride. I wished she had. Thankfully, my BIL and his girlfriend had left before the boat adventure. I would have much rather gone to my dad's for Father's day. I missed him.
Ds is stressing me out. He can't seem to find enough friends to play with, and the ones he is playing with now are all older than he is and he keeps asking if he can sleep over at their houses. (Rule #1, no sleepovers at older kids' houses.) I get the feeling he is trying to assert his independence, at 10 years old.
Oh, and I did the floors yesterday, and today ds spilled pop all over the kitchen floor. It got all over the drawers below the counter and on the trash can next to it. He wiped up as much as he could, but I had to redo the floor and wash the drawer faces and the trash can.
And earlier today I found out that my clothes washer (which is 27 years old!) is broken. The agitator doesn't agitate. After talking to an appliance repair person, it's possible that there is no way to replace the agitator without taking the entire machine apart. The shaft on which the agitator is attached may be all one piece with the transmission, in which case we will end up getting a new washer, like we can afford that right after vacation. And I haven't even gotten my new glasses yet.
Well, if you've made it this far, thank you for reading. I try to take life day by day, but I can only take so much before I explode. Today, I must have cried on and off for at least 4 hours. I am finally calmed down a bit, but I still can't stop thinking about the past 2 weeks, and the whole summer is still ahead of me. I hope I can get through it.
Lisa, what a summer so far! And just think, the first day of summer was yesterday! LOL
Whine away anytime! I hope things calm down for you.
I find that if I vent, I can get a new out look on the situation and regain some control.. I hope this works for you too.... Whine anytime as Annie said.. We have all been there done something similar... Big hugs and hopes for a better summer...
You sure have had some adventures. Hope the rest of the summer is better.
I'm so sorry your summer has started so poorly! I too have thought, if one more thing happens I will go crazy! And of course on more thing usually DOES happen and of course I live through it Yes, I get a little crazier daily it seems, but I make it through....you will too Just take a slow deep breath, lift your head and try to smile. I know, not the best advice LOL Hopefully things will ease up on you and your summer will improve!!
Hang in there!
Geez, when it rains, it pours!!!  I'm sorry you're having a rough start this summer. How can you see the computer when you're typing? LOL Just kidding... glasses and a washer all at once? Not fun... {{HUGS}}
Today I have been so exhausted that I haven't done anything but watch TV and mope. The stress must really be zapping my energy. Hopefully with a good night's sleep tonight I will be ready to take on whatever comes tomorrow. It's supposed to be hot next week, so I want to get ready and get all my work done this weekend before it gets miserable.
Thank-you all so much for your support.
Lisa, bad things always come at once at our house, too.
Hugs. I think it's good you took a break today. Things will get better!
|
Members
