Brat Attack

I think it was sometime Friday afternoon that I realized we had nothing going on this weekend.  I was out having lunch with the ladies when it hit me that the boys were done with soccer and football.  We had no sporting events to attend to.  No Holiday.  No party.  No show.  It sounded really nice!  We could just relax, hang out with the neighbors, maybe take a hike.  Just family stuff.

The vision of Family Fun Time fizzled when I got home.  My house has been a wreck all week.  I've slowly chiseled away at the various Clutter Catchers through out the week but between Halloween, school activities, and my own procrastination, very little actually got accomplished.  Though I had repeatedly pleaded with my sons to put their Halloween candy away, it was still spread out on the pub table in the basement.  This same table was nesting in a pile of snow pants, coats, Halloween costume accessories, and candy wrappers. 

The laundry room had several baskets of dirty clothes needing attention which baffles me since I did at least one load a day.  Clean laundry was folded in neat piles on the laundry room counter waiting for someone to carry them up stairs and deposit them in their appropriate drawers.

The bathroom had another full hamper of towels and clothes waiting for me, (How?) and since the upstairs bathroom is under construction; my cosmetics, hair brush and Aaron's electric razor sat out on the counter.  Not to mention: toothpaste splatter on the mirror, in the sink and on the tissue box holder. 

"Boooooys!" I growled under my breath. 

This was just the downstairs.  Upstairs was another carousel of disarray as every place I turned and every room I walked into I found more mess to clean up.  The scene for my relaxing weekend with my family was certainly not set, and they were due home in a matter of minutes.

Actually, Aaron is usually home by now...  Aaron is often home early on Friday afternoons.  Typically he beats the boys home but sometimes he meets them at the bus stop. 

I worked on cleaning up the kitchen in the time that I had and had a thought that I had made no plans for dinner that night.  I checked the fridge and found there were plenty of leftovers but hoped that Aaron would want to take the family out instead.  Thinking of Aaron, I checked the clock.

The boys' bus will be here soon...where is Aaron?

I headed down to meet the boys. 

"Mom!  Why didn't you bring the car?!"  Drew greeted me in his usual way.

"Because the walk is good for us."

"Maybe Dad will pull up..."  Drew hoped.

But Dad did not pull up.

We went home and talked about the days events.  Then we talked about the condition of the house.

"Fellas, nothing is happening this weekend until that Halloween candy is put away."

"We are sorting it into categories!"  Gabriel explained.

"You can sort them into Ziplocs and then bring them to me.  Also, every wrapper on the floor needs to go in the trash.  All snow gear needs to go in the mud room.  That's what that room is for!  After that I want your room cleaned.  I am tired of not being able to walk through with out stubbing a toe or stepping on a toy."

"Why do we have to do everything?"  Drew groused.

"Boy, that is not the thing to say to me today..."  I warned.

I got the boys gallon sized Ziplocs and they set to work on cleaning up the candy.  I finished up on the kitchen and then got the dining and living room back in order. 

At least things will be clean up stairs.  I can start another load of laundry and then close that door, clean the bathroom....sweeping, vacuuming, dusting can be done tomorrow.

I got all of this done and then realized that it was very near dinner time.  Aaron was still not home.

He must've gone out with his co-workers.

I made the boys some leftovers and went to practice my piano.  Time was going by and still no husband.  I sent him a text, poured myself a glass of wine and sat back down at the piano.  I kept looking at my phone, waiting for a response from him.  I examined my phone again, this time expecting a call from the hospital. 

He must've been in a car wreck.  What will I do?  How should I tell the kids?  We would bury him in Texas...  Get a grip.  He's at a noisy restaurant and can't hear his phone.  It should be on vibrate!  Call him.  No.  Don't.  If he's with co-workers you don't want him to look like he's whipped.  Screw that.  If he didn't want that to happen then he should've called ME and given me a heads up on his plans.  I'm calling him.

And so I did.

"I just got in the car and am headed your way," he said.

When Aaron got home he greeted me with a kiss on the cheek.  Greetings and niceties were exchanged.

"So, you went out with co-workers after work?"

"Yeah, I took some of the younger guys out.  I needed to do some damage control for management.  These kids have no idea what it's like at other companies."

"Well, that's good."

Pause.

"I don't mind you going out after work, but you need to let me know.  Otherwise I start to worry.  Knowing is half the battle."

"Thanks GI Joe."

"I'm serious," I laughed.

"I know.  Sorry."

We put the kids to bed.  Aaron went down to watch something on TV and I played solitaire on the computer.

The next morning I was ready for our weekend of Family Fun to start.

"Drew has been wanting to go to the Aquarium or to Red Rocks.  I thought that would be fun for us to do this weekend,"  I told Aaron over breakfast.

He sucked in his breath and and looked at his food. 

Not what he had in mind...

"What sort of plans did you have for the weekend?"  I asked him.

"I really need to get my ski pass, gear and I still need to go and look at a 4 wheel drive for you.  The snow is already coming and you need to be able to get around."

I knew these were things that he's been trying to get off his To Do List for awhile.  These things would take up the whole weekend.  They would be most quickly accomplished if Aaron went by himself which meant I would be home with the kids.  Or we could all go together and I would try to engage and entertain the kids the whole time we tagged along with Aaron.  Basically, this sounded like a seriously crappy weekend to me.

"OK.  I know you've been needing to get these things done."

"First I'm going to work out."

"OK."

Aaron left and I started to get back to work on the house.  My heart was hardly in it.  I don't want to clean house on the weekend!  As I was berating myself for not planning better the phone rang.  It was one of Caren's daughters inviting the boys and I over for a tea party.

"We are on our way!" I chimed as I tossed the broom back into the pantry.

While at the tea party Caren invited me to go to her eldest daughter's volleyball game.

"I probably can't.  I really need to get my house in order and Aaron has plans to go ski and car shopping."

"Again?  How many times has he said he was getting a car?"

"I know but he's found one he wants to go pick up."

"Get the car tomorrow and he can do the ski shopping today."

"That's a good idea..."  I had already put the house work on the back burner and was scheming to see if I could get out of shopping.

Aaron was fine with the new plan and I ran off with my playmate.

Caren and I sat in the bleachers watching the girls warm up when she got a text from her husband asking her out on a date that night.  This totally bummed me out because I was hoping our families would hang out together that evening and also because I was not being asked out on a date.

"Call your sitter and then ask Aaron out," Caren suggested.

Easy for you to say.  YOU have a date.  I'm not arranging my own date.

I went home, put out with Aaron because Caren's husband asked her out on a date.  I totally knew how unfair and unreasonable this was but that changed nothing.  I had made no plans for dinner once again because in my imagination we would be going out.

That's not fair.  You can't be mad at him because you want to go on a date.  He has no idea and he can't read minds.  Don't be one of THOSE women.  But he should be missing time alone with me and WANT to take me on a date.  Of course it could be that you have not had a date in a long time because you've been singing and dancing in Evita for weeks.  He's laying on the couch, tired because you sent him to the store with the kids.  He took them out for lunch so he will definitely not want to go out now.

Emotions and Logic argued as I did the dishes.  Aaron came up stairs for a snack and bevvy. 

"You OK?"

"Yes."

"What's wrong...?" he asked un-fooled.

"Nothing."

"Right."

"Lot's of things but it's not reasonable and it's not all you," he pulled me from the dishes and wrapped me in a hug.  "Kevin asked Caren out on a date," I pouted.

"Ah ha..."

"It's been a long time since we've gone out."

"No it hasn't..."  We both started trying to figure out when we last went out.  "I took you to NY!"  Aaron exclaimed.

"You did.  That was our last date.  That was 3 months ago."

"Seriously?  Man!  You're right.  I need to do something about that."

"Yes you do."

"You're still out of sorts."

"I'm mad at myself because I'm mad at you and it's not all your fault.  My weekends were booked for a month with Evita and then again with the Beer and Cheese Pairing party and Halloween and stuff."

"That's right!"  Aaron smiled with vindication.

"And the house is a disaster."

"You need to elicit the help of the kids more.  They don't do anything except clean their room."

"Yeah!  I used to fold clothes, clean the bathroom, do the dishes...Wonder how old I was when I started all of that?"

I went back to cleaning the kitchen and then had an idea.  I found Aaron in his office.

"Here's how things are going down tonight:"  I told him, making it clear so he would not have to read my mind.  "Let's put the kids down ASAP.  Light a fire downstairs.  We will get in warm PJ's and watch the Netflix movie I've got."

"Sounds like a plan."

This morning I was still wanting to have a special day with my family.  I took a plum cake, that we made at Baking Day, out from the freezer and started it baking while I made a huge pan of scrambled eggs and a pot of coffee for Aaron.  The oven beeped announcing that the plum cake was through.  I took the foil off the top and drove a knife into the middle.  It was still a little moist in the center.  I put the cake back in the oven, uncovered.  We ate our eggs while the cake cooked a little longer.  I removed the cake again when I could smell a little bit of a burning smell...

"Dang it," I spit as I set the foil pan on the stove.  "I should not have left it uncovered."

"Looks good,"  Aaron said, looking over my shoulder.  Because the top was uncovered the edges had slightly burned. 

"Burnt edges...No wonder I can't get a date.  Messy house, unplanned dinners, burnt food....you are sooo lucky."

I stuck the knife through to check the center again but stuck it too far and went through the bottom of the pan!

"Arrrgh!"  I growled again as I quickly grabbed a cookie sheet and slid it under the oozing cake. "So lucky!"

"I am," he laughed.  "I think that every morning that I wake up next to you."