The past few days

It’s been a strange few days around here.  We spent a long 4th of July weekend out of town and that seems like ages ago.  In actuality, we’ve been home less than a week.  You see, the Hubs was actually working in town this week, wahoo!  Except, the week has gone about like all the others when he’s home in that we cram entirely too much into those precious days and he leaves town feeling exhausted and drained and I’m left alone feeling like I just can’t catch my breath.  The strange part is that it doesn’t feel like we actually plan all that much.  It just…happens.  Things I normally handle myself with little to no input from the Hubs instantly become life-changing decisions that require numerous, in-depth discussions.  I sometimes find myself wondering how I manage on my own at all!  Even I recognize my psychopathic tendencies.  Let’s take this weekend for example.  Here was the schedule:  Friday night included an overnight stay of my sister and her new (very serious) boy toy.  The Hubs hadn’t yet met him and well, his stamp of approval was needed.  Saturday was reserved for routine lawn maintenance and a birthday party which I knew we would be late for due to nap schedules (I’m a Nap Nazi).  Sunday meant church and a tentative plan to meet a girlfriend and her kiddos for some swimming.  Sounds simple, right?  RIGHT?  Let me tell you how it ACTUALLY went down.  It will leave you breathless and exhausted too.

Friday

The Hubs usually gets home early on Fridays, and finishes up his day in our home office.  It’s a nice end to a week when he’s generally been on the road.  It feels like we’re able to ease into the weekend.  Except this past Friday when he didn’t leave the office until almost 5.  I’d spent the day preparing for our guests and was feeling edgy since I kept expecting the doorbell to ring.  It didn’t.  Until 6:30.  And they had offered to bring steaks.  Great, except when they showed up at 6:30 (instead of 3ish, like we had discussed) the steak was still frozen.  THE STEAK WAS STILL FROZEN.  After a little calculation I realized we wouldn’t be eating until roughly 8:30.  My child was now wired (given her new guests) and hungry.  And she went to bed late.  So now I’m pissy and tired.  I was ready to thrown in the towel, head to bed and leave them to fend for themselves.  But I didn’t.  I made it until midnight before I bailed on the beer drinking party taking place on our patio.

Saturday

I got up before 7 on Saturday and tried to keep the kid quiet since we had guests that had no intention of getting up before 7.  Too bad.  I made a yummy breakfast (hello french toast!) and we had a really nice morning.  I finally got them packed up and  ushered out of my house around 10am.  It was about this point I decided I needed a few things from Target.  I do this a lot.  And I actually really enjoy running a few errands on the weekends with the Hubs and A in tow.  And since we don’t have enough unfinished projects on our home improvement list, we decided our outdoor faucets needed replacing so a trip to Lowes was also put on the agenda.  You see, our outdoor faucets were installed around, oh say, the same time the dinosaurs walked the earth.  The were rusted and the hose never attached properly leaving water spraying embarrassingly every direction whenever the hose was turned on.  Plus, one of the faucets was dripping incessantly and needed to be replaced anyways.  No home improvement project we’ve ever done has been easy, simple or straight forward.  NOT ONE.  So, Target, Lowes, back home for A’s nap.  The birthday party we were supposed to attend was from 1-4.  I was hoping to leave our house around 2:30 or so after A’s nap.  Hubs went outside to change out faucets.  Now, you have to turn off the water to the house before you do this, so we had the water off at about 12:00 that day.  Faucet 1 was a breeze.  No issues, beautiful new faucet and no leaky hose, yay!!!  Faucet 2…not so much.  To make a long story short; due to some rust and corrosion and a lot of twisting and turning by the Hubs, a pipe busted, broke, whatever you want to call it.  When the water was turned back on, it was pouring out from underneath the foundation on our front porch, flooded our master closet and a good chunk of our bedroom.  I had just, just told A we were going to a birthday party and it broke my heart to have to tell her we couldn’t make it.  A frantic call was made to our plumber (that we’re on a first name basis with) who agreed to come by in a few hours.  But we had to leave the water off until then.  Repairs were finally complete around 8 that evening.  We then had to clean out the closet, remove the carpet and padding to let it dry, and pull back a good chunk of the carpet and padding in our room to let it dry.  We still don’t have the carpet replaced in our closet…that’s already on the list for this coming Saturday.  Replacing outdoor faucets should not be this complicated.  Or expensive.

Sunday

We got up a little early on Sunday with the intention of going to breakfast before church.  It actually worked!  And we had a nice time, made it to church on time and everything.  Came home, put A down for her nap and did some stuff around the house.  The only plans for the day were the yard work (that didn’t get done Saturday thanks to a pipe explosion and flooding) and maybe some swimming.  Our room was still a disaster and the carpet still wasn’t dry so we couldn’t do anything about the mess.  We made plans to meet my friend around 3 thinking we’d swim for a few hours and be home in time for dinner and yard work.  Well, friend didn’t show up until 4 (WHAT?!) and we ended up not leaving until close to 8.  We had a wonderful time, but no time for yard work.  After we get home, get A fed and into bed it’s almost 9…and Hubs still has to replace the (now dry) carpet in our bedroom.  Sigh.  Never a break.  Never a relaxing moment.

So, Monday morning Hubs left the house around 7 to make it across the Metroplex for an early meeting.  Worked a full day and didn’t get home until after 5.  He then spent the evening doing the yard work that didn’t get done over the weekend.  He came inside about 9 where I was finishing up his laundry so he’d have clothes to pack.  You see, he boards a plane this afternoon to San Francisco and won’t be back until almost midnight on Thursday.  He finished packing around 11 last night.

So, you see?  Are you tired yet?  It always seems to happen like this.  An innocent, normal few days (with a few fun things sprinkled in) turned into an exhausting whirlwind of events.  It happens ALL.THE.TIME.  The thought that scares me about this is that it seems we do better apart than together.  That Hubs being gone is the normal and when he’s home it’s abnormal.  That we function better as a family when he’s gone than when he’s home.  On one hand that helps us be successful (as a family) since his current job requires extensive travel.  On the other hand, it seems that we need to make some SERIOUS adjustments when he is home so we don’t feel so over-whelmed.