Company Clean...

But first, an apology, a heads up, and a heads up... erm...

M.I.A.

I am SO SORRY for my absence from blog hopping this week! I didn't really realize I'd fallen behind at work, but realized yesterday I only had THIS WEEK to get two posters and a presentation ready for a meeting next week. I decided to keep my nose to the grindstone until they are DONE, but sadly, that means no breaks for blog checks (even my own, mostly) until I get home from work... THEN, today's topic will tell you why my evenings have ALSO been commandeered...


Heads Up

The Squeaky wheel seems to be lined up for a greasing. This is related to my Hewlett Packard rant last week, my friend Janet (who works for them) and her trusted and fabulous colleague Jeff, who may indeed come through... More one way or the other will come when I know how it goes...

Heads Up Again

A week from today I leave for a work conference. I think last year I scheduled posts ahead, but this year, I'm not feeling the available time... I get to go to AUSTIN (YAY!) and have dinner plans with my good friend Stacy (YAY!). I plan to head over and see if Carol might be able to have a coffee or something, too... any of the rest of you in Austin? I have a tightish schedule, but coffee or a glass of wine would be FABULOUS if you want to give a shout and we can look at my agenda. I am there through Saturday. So there will be a blog break from the 18th-22nd... and a Mall in Miami is spreading the word the world ends the 21st, so if I don't make it back before that... smooches all around. I love yibus!




And Now for the Blogging portion of this Blog *cough*



Company Clean

So you know I'm a hermit, mostly, right? And our family is nearly all on the west coast? We have visitors (neighbors, parents of our kids' friends) as far as our table sometimes (it is 4 feet in the front door, in case you wondered what that means), and once in a while the Childings have a friends sleep over (but not often, they have shoebox rooms and the basement is 'public space' (meaning my computer is there, so so am I) so there is really no privacy for them). Who am I kidding, most of my socializing is HERE.

Also, my mom and I had a bit of a disagreement two summers ago, that resulted in the acceptance that probably she and my husband should never be in the same space again... so that was the last time we had FAMILY visit.

Well yesterday, my mom called... they'd gotten home from a cruise and she'd called to thank me for the Mother's day stuff... and she said, 'you know Jeff called me, too, to get your number. He is going to be in Michigan.'

Jeff is my cousin—I don't have a LOT of cousins, and growing up they all lived in proximity, so I was fairly close to all of them. Jeff and I probably have the most common personalities (which is a little funny, as they are very different from our common family—we had DADS who were very alike, though it is our mothers who are sisters). Jeff and I, in fact, are UNBEATABLE at Pictionary, because we process symbolism the same, so can very quickly arrive at answers like 'thick' (as simple as two lines, one of them thick, eh?--but you need to have a partner thinking EXACTLY like you do on the subject to get a partner shouted response in 4 seconds).

So I called Jeff to give him alternate numbers (because AT&T SUX ROCKS), and so he is coming for dinner Thursday (YAY!) I haven't seen him in almost 3 years, as that was the last time I got to my home town... SINCE then, he and his family have relocated to Texas, so they currently live CLOSER than my other family, but too far for... you know... birthdays and such... (and I'm not quite convinced, if we had the money for a road trip, that the kids would accept Houston over Orlando, or even DC... but never mind, there is NO MONEY for any road trip anyway)

So I told HWMNBMOTI Jeff was coming, and that was fine, but I got the question I think I'd been blocking. “So who is cleaning?”

*dies *

Clean? GADS, I'd forgotten about the cleaning for company thing! Because frankly, our house has not been CLEAN for two years... I don't have anything AT ALL against a clean house, but I've got issues all OVER the place about CLEANING a house.

I work full time. I write MUCH time. I have children who seem to think I am the only one who can... for instance help with Geometry (last night) or take them to the store. NO, I am not primary parent (and am thankful to have a partner with a better head for appointments and such), but I am still the favored parent for a fairly significant portion of things when I am home...

HWMNBMOTI is a decent homemaker. He cooks WELL. He shops inefficiently but I can hardly complain, as I don't have to do it (though I have thought recently about trading him in for Lisa Golden... I think I'd make enough to get by if she were my spouse... Oh, sure, there would be some sexual relation issues, all four partners being straight and all, but at least she is an efficient shopper—and I suspect she and I wouldn't stop laughing, so that is pretty much as good as sex most days) *cough* Anyway... HWMNBMOTI and I have some cleaning issues... Namely, I STACK stuff, and he won't clean AROUND my piles. My choices are get rid of the piles so he can clean, or clean it myself... so there is stuff that doesn't get cleaned... lots of stuff... like... we'll call it the basement... (though we could call it the bedroom or the laundry room)

(Jeff is the baby)

So anyone thinking my day job interference might be made up for through my evening time, should probably accept my EVENING time for the next few days is booked, too. Last night I dusted (wet and dry+ WASHING the knick-knacks), swiffered, and vacuumed (even the stairs, which was surely a whole cat worth) and tonight I clean the bathroom and wash windows and mirrors... I'm really looking forward to seeing my cousin, though, so it's worth it!

Happy Hing Day, all!  And I really will TRY to catch up on blog reading, but I suspect it will be slow until after my trip.  Sorry!