Month: March 2009

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Dad Blogs DIY Family Fatherhood

Hey, I ain’t runnin’ no ark over here!

image I’m a handy kind of guy. It’s not that I’m just sooo good with tools and all; more like, I’m just not afraid to try. And believe you me, I’ve screwed up enough stuff in my life that I have learned a bit about homebuilding humility and I know when to call in the experts versus trying to do it myself. Because home ownership is nothing, if it isn’t rife with constant projects that need your attention, I normally spend a good deal of my time at least walking through my basement, even if I’m not actually doing anything there.

As I’ve blogged about ad nauseum lately, I’ve been busy. I haven’t done much around the house. Plus, it’s winter. I mean, seriously…

But this weekend, what with the weather being perfect and all, I found myself with time on my hands to work on a couple of small projects (shelving in a closet) that afforded me the opportunity to spend time in my basement.

And that’s when I discovered that we have a little visitor.

Poop here. Poop there. Poop and torn insulation everywhere!

The little bugger–dare I say RAT-bastard–has apparently made himself quite at home this winter in my absence. I first found his spoor over in the corner after moving a tarp that was lying on the floor. I then tracked his movements around the wall and under the toxic waste dump plastic shelving where I keep all of my chemicals. Which wouldn’t have been so bad, except he completely ignored the 20 things up there that would have killed him, and instead ripped into a 15lb bag of grass seed. He/it also apparently wallered in it like a Sumo wrestler at a Denny’s Breakfast buffet because it too was full of poo!

So now I’m off to the hardware store to try and find something yummy that will kill the thing so that I can, in a week or two, stumble upon his little dead body while tracking down some awful new stench in the house. Good times.

Categories
Dad Blogs Family Fatherhood Life in these United States

Today is my son’s actual birthday, and I forgot to tell him Happy Birthday…

Romi’s comment prompted me to at least make a small effort to blog, so here goes.
BTW: Yes, the title is true. But in my defense, we had a family party last Sunday and he\’s having a dual-party with a bud of his next weekend, so cut me slack for forgetting that today is his actual birthday!!

Day 3: CareerMom comes home this evening sometime around dinner. Her flight lands around 4ish and then she has to trek all the way up through Atlanta to the burbs. So, figure around 5:30-6 p.m.

I looked around the house with a critical eye this morning and it was NOT pretty. Normally when she’s gone, I have time to work, take care of the boys AND clean, but this time around, the cleaning part fell victim to work that I had to do after putting the boys to bed. I had not swept. I had not vacuumed. I DID turn on the dishwasher and a load of clothes (no folding…), so yay me!

One thing I will say though, is now that the boys are 5 and 2 years old, it is WORLDS easier than it was when I had an actual baby to deal with, which is ultimately why I have been looking upon this pending baby in August with such dread. CareerMom’s job is not going to get any easier, nor will it involve less travel as long as she\’s with this company. So this time next year, I’ll be blogging about doing this all over again, except this time I\’ll have a 6-month old to deal with!

What’s a guy to do? My job is important too, but just because I don’t travel, then by proxy, it’s less important. It means that when she DOES travel, that extra hour or two I usually gain by not having to take the kids to daycare, or pick them up, when she’s here working from home, is now built into late night work while everyone else sleeps. I mean, even though my boss is a mom herself, and she understands what I’m dealing with, she’s also still my boss and my deadlines are her deadlines.

I’m sure CareerMom would balk at the mere suggestion that her career is more important than mine, but each time she goes out of town, leaving me to do my usual duties, plus hers…then we really see what’s #1 around here. Cuz, when I told her that this was a BAD week for her to be gone, I don’t remember her saying, “Really? OK, I’ll get out of it.”

I submit, clause 7 from a random Partnership agreement:

Management Duties and Restrictions
The partners shall have equal rights in the management of the partnership business, and each partner shall devote their entire time to the conduct of the business. Without the consent of the other partner neither partner shall on behalf of the partnership borrow or lend money, or make, deliver, or accept any commercial paper, or execute any mortgage, security agreement, bond, or lease, or purchase or contract to purchase, or sell or contract to sell any property for or of the partnership other than the type of property bought and sold in the regular course of its business.

Restated for Marriage
The partners shall have equal rights in the management of the partnership household business, and each partner shall devote their entire time to the conduct of the business. Without the consent of the other partner, neither partner shall on behalf of the partnership make decisions to increase the capital expenditures, increase the net assets (either human or inanimate), or dissolve third-party relationships with other partnerships. In the event that either partner stays absent from the partnership for a length of time that detrimentally affects the performance of the other partner, upon said partner\’s return, the partner who faithfully remained and carried out the duties of the partnership, shall have the option to immediately disregard any and all provinces within this partnership; thereby, freeing the partner to spend money flagrantly, drink heavily, and generally act in a manner that might normally be deemed inappropriate.

The sad truth though, is that upon her return, though she will immediately “set me free,” instead of going and doing something fun for myself, I’ll probably just sit down and do more work.

Yeah, I’m THAT behind.

*sigh*

del.icio.us Tags: marriage,partnership,CareerMom,spouse travels,wife as breadwinner,stay at home and work dad
Categories
Dad Blogs Family Life in these United States

The Bachelor Pad Diaries – Day 1

image Day 1: Yesterday was tough because CareerMom left at noon, and while I was at the office, I received a call from Daycare that MLE had suffered another bout of mystery “bites” whilst napping. This was twice now that while asleep, he was apparently eaten up by bugs. I had already spoken with the daycare and he was the only one on both occasions affected. They sprayed down all the cots; verified that all sheets had been washed, etc. Honestly, it looked like flea bites, but fleas are pretty obvious so I figured it wasn’t that.

Since they had done their due diligence, I figured it was my turn. So, I left work and scrambled to Daycare and got him to the Dr.’s office by 4 p.m. After giving him a complete examination (minus a body cavity search), the doctor proclaimed, “Hives. He’s got ’em and chances are you’ll never figure out why. Give him some Benadryl and that should settle it down in a couple of days.”

$35 later (deductible + some new paperwork fee????) I ran back to daycare to pick up MLI and then we headed home. My “plan” had gotten messed up though (I was s’pose to be able to go to the gym before picking them up), so I was in a “not too great mood” and I might have yelled once (or twice) that evening. I tried to do some work after putting them to bed, but good old Lotus Notes had somehow boogered up my password and it required that I get a new one.

Now check this out:

If you want a new e-mail password, you have to request one either by telephone or Web form. Then, they send it to your manager–nope, not to you–and your manager has to give it to you. It’s as if they want your manager to know how inept you are.

So anyway, rather than spending my time getting a lot of work done last night, I spent half of it trying and retrying various passwords.

LOVE ME SOME LOTUS NOTES DAWG!

Would you believe that after all that, I DID NOT have an adult beverage? Gold star for me!