Revert to Comfort

I sat down, after a day of house work – laundry, cleaning, getting the yard ready.  It was a long day.  When I sat down, I knew I was done, but we needed establish an online account.  My husband had already established his and made his choice, but I needed to create an account before I could make my choice.  As I do this, I am annoyed that I have to create a separate account.  I don’t understand when things won’t allow you to have a family account.  Anyway, I put in my normal stuff which includes an email that was made under my maiden name.

I press “submit.”

Moments later, my husband gets an email that says, Amy Cusumano has added as a guest on your reservation.  This is my maiden name, and I didn’t even realize that I had written it in, until my husband, said, “Great.  Amy Cusumano added to my reservation.”  As soon as he said it, I knew that I had done something wrong, and then I realized that my mistake hurt him.  I quickly apologized and changed it.

As weird as it was to change my name after marriage, I’ve been doing pretty good remembering to sign and say it.  But, given my tiredness and mood, I revert back to comfort.

Laughing and Landscaping

We are in the middle of landscaping at our house.  When I say, middle, I mean, I am standing in a 2 foot hole of dirt or rather clay in front of my front porch where we have removed 12 yards of woodchips, rocks, clay soil, and dead shrubs.  The boys, my dad, father-in-law, brother-in-law, husband have been working for 2 weekends to remove all of this debris.  I have done what I can to help by feeding and cleaning up around them.

 

Sunday, though, I looked at the pile, and my husband’s words, “I’m done – hire someone” bouncing in my head, the girls (me and my sister) got to work.  We decided that we would turn the dirt, so that we could bring the bigger pile to the lower pile.  We would start the grading process, so the water runs away from the house.  Sweaty and about an hour in, we have piles, but no usable soil.  Once we removed the debris we found heavy, wet clay which is typical in this area.  We decided that we had to add it to the special pickup pile which the boys started the day before.  So, we began to fill the wheelbarrow and dump the contents on the pile.

 

We quickly realized that while useful, the wheelbarrow might be one of the hardest to use tools.  It wobbles on its one wheel and you have to support all of the weight with your arms.  Then as you maneuver the debris onto the pile, you have to get it high enough that you can keep adding to the pile.  Doing just this, I heard something.  I turned to see my sister struggling with the wheelbarrow only to watch it tip on its side.  She squawked, landing in the dirt.  Before I could inquire about her well-being, she triumphantly held up one wooden handle from the wheelbarrow and declared, “I broke the wheelbarrow.”  Realizing that she was fine, I started laughing and she started laughing.We could barely continue working as we giggled in between shovelfuls of clay.

Well, I guess this was girls and landscaping.  However, even writing this, I’m still laughing at my sister sitting next to a toppled wheelbarrow, holding up the broken wooden handle.

Good Intentions Gone Awry

I went to the grocery store.  I had planned on this trip.   I had my list, and I was ready.  I also had the added benefit of escaping the mess at my house with this trip.  The boys were ripping out the old landscaping at my house and for some reason, though I was told explicitly not to help or be around, I was very “needed.”  Well all I really needed to do was go to the grocery store, and so I did.  I’d be back by lunch when I actually was needed to provide sustenance.

 

I love to cook, so with my list was also a plan for the week’s dinners.  A bit ironically, though, I I don’t love grocery shopping.  I think it’s too crowded and I really feel like you have to be on your game or you’ll get something you don’t want like “Everything Triscuits” or “Reduced Fat Ritz Crackers” when you wanted original of both, and I never feel like I have the time I want to spend on the task. So, when I’m overwhelmed or something else is on my mind, grocery shopping is hard.  Today, though it was a welcome release from anticipating the needs of the friends working at my house.

 

I started at the back with the milk and eggs like I always do.  I grabbed the few items on my list and started to weave through the aisles. I was in the aisles to pick up some pantry items that needed replenishing, and had to go back to get some an item that was overlooked and forgotten. Frustrated, though, that I had to go back, I bought the wrong version of the item.  Who knew that there was baking soda boxes for baking and for your refrigerator?  Anyways, onward I went.  Knowing that I had an extra savings coupon for my whole cart purchase, I also bought some extra items, things that are not on my weekly or biweekly shopping lists since I had the savings.

I got up front and pulled into a check-out lane.  I got out my phone coupons and my credit card only to realize that I left my total purchase coupon in my other purse.  So, I had a cart full of items and no savings to be had.  I bought everything anyway, but was not happy that with all that planning I had overlooked my coupon.  Well, at least I have some chocolate from my grocery purchases to contribute to my mood.