Husband Appreciation

An oldie, but a goody...My husband is so cool, isn't he?

I can give DOH a hard time...a lot. And while I don't feel like I ask much of him in terms of housekeeping (basically, "Just pick your crap up," is my request), when I do ask...it's not really asking, it's a demand.

Which, in a marriage, isn't necessarily okay. It's a partnership, not a dictatorship. I'm not his overlord (as much as I might try).

However, when I wake up in the morning, long after he's left for work, and I find his clothes at the bottom of the stairs the go up from the basement, I can't help but smile (which might surprise you, since, technically, that's not picking up AND it's a hazard, since, in my morning fog, I could trip and break my neck--just sayin').

You see, DOH is a habitual clothes-dumper. Meaning, he basically walks in the door from work and strips down. Whatever he's worn that day sort of lands in a clump by the coat rack and shoes. The same deal in the morning when changes in the living room (he doesn't do it in our room, since it wakes me up...he is very considerate). He'll simply leave whatever he wore to bed in the middle of the living room.

This has always driven me nuts, since we've always lived in small spaces (small apartments, small house, etc.) and therefore the laundry facility (or pile) was literally about three feet away. When we moved into this house, I explained, "Dude, just throw your crap down the basement stairs, AT LEAST." (Yes, I do frequently refer to my husband as "dude.")

Well, he listened. Actually, he's been listening and doing this since I asked him to make the change. So, this morning, in my morning haze, I decided to recognize his efforts. As I stumbled upstairs I pulled out my cell phone and sent him a text, telling him how much I appreciate what he did. We can't call each other while he's at work, but the text message will be the first thing he sees when he gets back to his phone after work. And, of course, I'll let him know in real life how much I appreciate what he did, but I don't think we can tell our spouses too much how much we appreciate what they do, and my husband, my Dear Old Hubby (DOH), does so much that I am thankful for.

Where We Stand

Schools over. I'm not currently employed (which may change soon, not sure). We're moving in two weeks. What the hell am I going to do with myself?

Well, the obvious answer to me would be to plop myself down in front of my laptop and/or T.V. and watch Real Housewives episodes and flip through some sort of crap magazine or book.

Unfortunately, I have this naggy side of my personality that prevents me from becoming a vegetable and I guess I'm going to have to something.

Other than send out as many job applications as I can, possibly substitute teach in our school district, take care of my daughter, and take on a few projects at the new house, I have two major things to do: organize (something I'm very bad at) and pack (something I'm very good at, via experience, but not exactly an activity I enjoy, especially when spread out over a couple of weeks).


As of last week, this (see above) is what I had done. I was busy, okay! Today I have a bit more to show for my efforts, having taken Friday as I scrambled to pick up our apartment for my parents' and BFF's arrival to put away a few nonessentials. It's funny, as you pack, you really begin to realize how much crap you really have and how much of it you do actually use. I have to ask myself: Am I actually going to use this within the next two weeks? In a lot of cases, the answer is yes.

So, in addition to trying to get as much packed and put away as possible, I'm attempting to get organized and get rid of some stuff. One of the biggest things I need to clear out are my magazines. I have...a lot of magazines.

The plan had been, oh so long ago, to go through these magazines and pull out articles and recipes that I wanted and then file them way. It never happened, mostly because I never had the time. Somehow writing papers about dead guys became more important. But now I have the time and I've got two seperate magazine-related projects going on.

First of all, I'm taking all the recipes I had pulled previously, but hadn't done anything with, and computer-itizing them (inspired by my cousin Kate's efforts, seen here). I'm using the site Say Mmm (which is great, but the name inspires really immature thoughts, likely because I've spent far too much time around adolescent boys in the last few months). After I'm done with THAT, I'm going to go through the rest of my magazines and put in more recipes that I like/want to try.

The other bit I've got going on is my notebook (I haven't figured out a clever name for it). This is where all my micellaneous magazine clippings go. I paperclip them in and attach the occasional note.

I like this idea, because it keeps all  my stuff readily accessibly and I can consult it quickly and easily. I sort of foresee, however, a time when I accumulate a lot more articles and things and need to find a better way to keep everything. Maybe nice big binders with page protectors organized by subject. Because I'm a loser.

Weekend Goals

Friday: Clean up the apartment and get some packing done. Load as much as I can into my car. Read some work for one of my students and e-mail her a response.

Saturday: Drive down to the new house and get some yard work done. Unload some of those boxes. Check out our new public library. Maybe get out on my parents' boat, weather permitting.

Sunday: Celebrate Mother's Day with my mum!

I Have a Problem

I'll be the first to admit I'm no housekeeper. I never seem to have the time, energy, or attention span to sustain any sort of cleaning regimen. It gets done when it gets done. My goal the last couple of years has been to at least keep things sanitary, clean, and smelling...not gross, if not nice. It may be cluttered, but at least you're not going to catch some sort of bizarre disease if you come into our home. I know that's not a very high standard (you neat freaks can feel good about yourselves as you read this :-p), but that's just how it is at the moment.

Actually, at this very moment, our aparment is not only not disgusting, but is relatively organized and clean, as it should be, because I've spent the last three mornings working on picking this up and organzing them (I still have a couple of sinkloads worth of dishes to do--for realz--but that takes forever, because our hot water runs out so quickly). One of the big projects I had on the list was laundry.

Of all the chores I have around the apartment, laundry is the least painful. I can start up the washing machine or dryer, let it go for an hour, then come back and fold the laundry while watching T.V. or listening to the radio. It's relaxing and I don't have to dedicate an extended period of unbroken time to it (unlike washing all our dishes, which I have to do by hand). However, since we live in an apartment building that has a shared laundry facility, we don't just pop our clothes in the washer or dryer and let it go. You have to have quarters. $2.75 worth of quarters to be exact.

For whatever reason, we've always been bad about remembering to get quarters. While DOH sort of collects change (he doesn't ever really use it for some reason), he never seems to remember to bring in quarters for me and I never seem to remember to ask. Like a lot of my housekeeping duties, laundry gets shoved to the bottom of the list. This has resulted in a literal mountain of laundry. I'd show you a picture, but honestly, it's a little embarrassing. Admittedly, some of the clothes in our launry "pile" have been sitting there since we lived in our old apartment (which we moved out of in July 2009).

So, my goal for this weekend, in addition to to just getting some of our clothes washed so I had something to wear at home besides pajama bottoms, was to organize what we had and decide what could be packed up and sent to the new house. Now, don't think I'm starting that horrible cycle of leaving clothes to sit and never be washed after a move. Because I can finally (FINALLY) wash clothing without having to have an absurd number of quarters on hand, my intention is to get ALL of that laundry done and to have it organized even further (donate, keep, chuck or upcycle). So, once everything was said and done yesterday, this is what I had:
Okay, there was supposed to be a nice little example picture here, BUT for some reason I'm unable to upload it :-/ Maybe later.

The picture would show you a sizable amount of laundry still yet to be washed, BUT it was all neatly organzied into baskets, just waiting to be hauled off to the laundry room. And then I had a shot of my bed, where I had piled five (six?) trashbags FILLED with laundry that's heading to the new house this coming weekend. All this laundry will be done at the new house (maybe in a new washer and dryer?). Where are we going to put six bags of dirty laundry for a week in our insanely tiny apartment? Oh, they're still hanging out in our bedroom, piled up by myside of the bed. That's fun.

So, with all this wonderful access to my own laundry facility and even a line to hang laundry so it can dry outside in addition to using the dryer (I love the smell of laundry dried outside), my assumption is that more laundry will get done. Clearly, if that's not the case, then I really do have a problem.