Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Fall and Rain...

It's raining today in Portland...
I LOVE it.
I see these hills out of my window at work. The closest ones point at the Willamette River, and the ones in the distance point to the Columbia River. Right now, their tops are clinging to these gray puffy mist clouds. Pretty soon, it will become too much and the rain clouds will slide down the foothills' sides and drench downtown.

It is cozy and exciting.

The leaves are beginning to turn colors, but only their tips. Soon it will be a full explosion of color.

I have plans to save some leaves this fall. Last fall they were gorgeous reds, purples, oranges and yellows. They looked like butterflies when the wind swept them up.
We have these gigantic windows at home. The couch and fireplace are right inside. I can't wait for the rain to come down and to bundle up with my sweetie on the couch, all cozy and indoors.

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Dog door bell

I love this idea, and I'm wondering if it will work...
I've heard of putting a rope with bells on the door so that the dog bonks the rope, bells ring, and you know the dog needs to.. ahem... go outside. My friend does this with her dog with good results.

But my worry is that it will get annoying, having that bell ring every time we go in and out the door. I wanted something only Maddie would do, so she could really associate BELL with OUTSIDE (though she may associate it with WALK, and then we'd hear BELLS all the time).

Then I found this little bell. The idea is adorable.



Too cute.....

Monday, September 28, 2009

Sister update!

Good news-- she's better!

They determined that the initial symptoms were a severe migraine. She now has a neurologist, and they get to determine if something in particular triggers her migraines. I didn't know a migraine could cause body numbness and slurred speech, but apparently, they can. And even temporary blindness (yow).

So that was the cause of the morning ER visit. The afternoon ER visit was caused, most likely, by a torn back muscle. Again, didn't realize one could be in so much pain from that... the pain was likely amplified by the back procedures done earlier in the day. I've never seen anyone in so much pain though, and it was truly terrifying.

Monday through Thursday, she was unable to sit upright (or get beyond lying down) without dizziness, nausea, and a thumping headache. Cause? A spinal headache, which is rare, but can happen from a spinal tap. Basically, your body didn't patch the hole created when the spinal fluid was taken, and spinal fluid leaked as fast as your body made it. Your brain, as a result, does not have as much spinal fluid around it, and your brain sits lower, causing the dizziness, nausea, and thumping headache.

They took blood from her and put it by her spine around the leak. The blood clotted, stopped the leak, and she's all better! Well, she said she felt like a horse kicked her in the back... but otherwise fine.

Damn that horse.

But now, she gets to deal with a friend of hers (whom she's in the past said "no" to being her boyfriend) who thinks because he helped her out during this trying time, that now he has possibly the opening to be her boyfriend. Oy!

Have I mentioned I'm glad I don't have to date anymore?

Thank you for all your worries. I'm so glad she's doing better! It was really a horrible week for her last week.

Sunday, September 27, 2009

Mom, meet Granddog

My mom with Maddie...
Let's just say the dog was almost smuggled home with my mom in her sweater. She didn't want to let her go. :)
And Maddie? Um, based on the photo above, she was very content with her new friend.

Saturday, September 26, 2009

Judgmental Cat


Judgmental Cat... is judgmental.


Friday, September 25, 2009

Cat mob

I'm beginning this post in the bathroom this morning because I am classy like that. As in, I'm talking about the bathroom, I'm not writing this in the bathroom. Sigh.

So I'm in the bathroom this morning and what do I see? A little gray fur paw under the door. It was moving around, back and forth and wrapped around the bottom of the door (so the paw owner must have been on his back to do that acrobatic stunt).

What was he thinking? That'd he'd catch me? We've done this trick before... paw under door, and the moment you touch it WHOOOSH! paw gone. He's been on the other side of the bathroom door lots of times, so what does he think he's going to find? It's like an odd fishing expedition.

So I open the bathroom door and I find....

three cat monsters staring. I felt teamed up on. Like I had no choice but to offer food and abide by cat mob wishes. Really, I knew they were hungry, but the cat mob... and they all were looking at me like a human would with one eyebrow raised.

"Oh really? Have you REALLY not fed us yet? Tisk tisk tisk..."

My life in the mornings has become an exercise in agility. Avoid dog crate. Step over pet gates. Lift food, don't spill. We have the cat set-up in a room with a small pet door on it because Fluffybutt loves to scarf down cat food. Seriously. Scarf down. WOLFS that food down. I wish they could put whatever's in that cat food in her dog chow. I'd have the largest pup on the block.

So I grab the cat food scoop, walk into the cat set-up room, pour the food in and get fresh water for the monsters.

When all is said and done, do you think they are eating? Nope. They look smug, the beasts, as if they're thinking "boo ya, told you we could get her to do it."

Cat mob: 1, Me: 0.

On an unrelated note, I ate too many pear tomatoes that one of my secretaries brought in yesterday. Gurgle gurgle stomach is not good. But they were oh-so delicious.


Thursday, September 24, 2009

New addition! Meet Maddie!

I had to wait until I told my sister. But, now that she knows...

Meet Madeline "Maddie" Fluffybutt (that name changes) Kaiser! Maddie is a tri-colored fluffy corgi, and we just love her. Very smart. She understands "NO" (whew), she has about an 85% success rate with the bathroom, and she Looooves her tummy scratched. She's 11.5 weeks old.
Right now, one ear is up but a little floppy. The other ear has some uumph to it, but hasn't quite gotten up.

Her head will eventually be all red, and there will be some red on her legs as well. She'll look like a german shepherd (color-wise and ears) but with short legs and no tail.

And, of course, she has a CORGI BUTT! Love it.

And she's a ham. And very curious. This is also a good shot of the one ear up, one ear down.


"Why you lock me in heres? I'm in the car... I can ride on your lap, right?"


Asleep, in the car, on her back, on the ride home. No sweat for this little puppy.

LOVE the tummy scratches!


If her water bowl is more than half full, she will plop her front paws in it and dig. It's really funny to watch. And, since she doesn't mind being wrapped up in a towel afterwards, it's fun and non-messy.


She LOVES Rumpole. LOVES him. That cat has the patience of 1000 monks. Seriously. She will run across the room and TACKLE him. Full-on tackle. Bite his toes, chew his ear, lick his face. And he puts up with it. If he bats her, he's playing and there are no claws. We have heaped praise on this cat because we are SO impressed with him.










Sister news

She's doing a little better, but still not at work. Poor thing! My folks are still there with her, so she's in good hands. :)

Thank you all for the thoughts and well-wishes!

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Oy.

What a last couple of days.

Minor thing: Whacked my foot against the wall by accident. Two very bruised, very sad looking toes. I don't think they're broken, but ouch.

Major thing: My sister was in the ER twice on Monday. Early monday, just after I had carpooled work, I got news that my sister was in the emergency room. She woke up at 3am to a headache that felt like someone was stabbing her head with a knife. She gets migranes, and she said this was 1000s of times worse. She called the advice nurse, who said for her to go to the ER immediately. She called a friend to drive her, and then called my parents while she waited because she was freaked out.

While she was talking with them, her left side went numb and she started to slur her words together. She got off the phone and immediately called 911.

The ER did an MRI, CAT can, and a spinal tap. That's when I got the news, and I immediately hopped in a rental car and drove up to see her. She was released before I got there, but then, in the afternoon, new symptoms presented themselves and we had to rush her back to the ER again.

Her pain for the headache was listed as a 9/10 on the pain scale, and in the afternoon, she was a 10/10. This from the kiddo who had teeth pulled WITHOUT anesthesia (she has a HIGH pain tolerance).

On Tuesday she could not walk-- the moment she went from horizontal to even sitting up she'd get dizzy and throw up. This made the trip to the neurologist and doctor interesting on Tuesday. She's still in a lot of pain and the nausea and dizziness have continued. She's on a lot of vicodin and IB profen. My parents flew up on Tuesday, so I was able to get back to work. But I am so tired. They're continuing to update me.

I now have a little understanding of how husbands feel when their wives are in labor. Yes, the wife has the physical pain. But it is tolling, exhausting, and horrifying to have someone you love in immense pain and not be able to do ANYTHING about it except to be there with them.

So keep her in your prayers. She's a bit better today then Tuesday, and a bit better on Tuesday than on Monday, but she's still not herself.

Friday, September 18, 2009

Heidi Klum...

My husband does NOT like Heidi Klum. I've never heard someone describe someone else's attire so much as "hookerish." I'm not quite sure what brought on this dislike, but he does NOT like her.

We watched Project Runway last night and the discontent was obvious. Her hair, her dresses. This is a common occurrence when we watch the show, much to my delight. And the comments he has on the pieces created range from "that's butt ugly!" to "that's quite lovely." The ugly ones get many more curse words, as do the contestants that are annoying.

My favorite though last night? When Heidi gave the two cheek goodbye kiss? B says "ugh. If i were a contestant I wouldn't let her kiss me. I'd get a bunch of diseases."

Hilarious.

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Rationalization

I just told myself that if there was a fun new blog post to read on one of my fav blogger's websites, then that would justify getting a lunch burrito.

That is sad.

But, there was a new post, so now I'm telling myself it's ok... but it's still really not. But they're suuuuch good burritos!

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Clean home and student debt.

Our house is clean. It's an amazing feeling.

Quite honestly, the living room and bedroom are a bit empty, but I'm certain they'll eventually find things and become less blank.

But blank, in it's own way? Quite fabulous.

Everything has its place. Yes, some kitchen items have yet to find a home, and yes, the office needs organizing. But overall... if I need to find a drill? I know where it's at. Pencil? Check. It's blissful.

Now that things are slowing down, I have time to think about other stuff. We're trying to balance our expenditures versus having fun. We're trying to increase our safety net cushion while paying off our sole debt: Student loans. And we're tryign to save up for a future home while making sure we're investing properly.

So far, so good. Sometimes I think I get too caught up in the SAVE! SAVE! mentality, and it morphs into "we can't have fun." Luckily, I married B, who is very good at having fun but not having it cost a lot of money. Really.

I know we're more fortunate than most. I konw people who have triple the amount of student debt that B and I have COMBINED. Oy. I worked hard in grad school to only take out the minimum, and B got a couple scholarships, so he's about in the same boat.

If B keeps his job for 9 years, his student loans will be forgiven. So we've put him on the lowest payment option and we'll see how the next year or two goes to determine our desired path. I'm on a 10-year plan.

I didn't consolidate because I have two loans at different interest rates; one low and one high. The monthly payment covers part of each loan (spread out over 10 years). But, if I want to make more than that monthly payment, I can direct a check towards the higher interest rate account ONLY. Wooo!

I'm trying to be better about things and make those additional payments. It takes effort to remember things and plan things, and, well, my money is B's money too. So, it's a joint effort.

But I'm always wondering... is this normal? Do others fret as much as we do about what our money is doing for us and where it's being placed?

Luckily, with the wedding over, the moves over, one rent payment a month, our cars recently fully checked out, and our upcoming trips out of town paid for, the only big expenditures for a while should only be pleasant ones (fun purchases and trips, not car mechanic fees). But still, I wonder... are we doing all we can?

Monday, September 14, 2009

Staying busy and paying people

B's car ended up not costing us a TON, mostly because we went to a different mechanic. Note to self: always take notes on what needs to be done and then get quotes from other people. Wow! Our total cost went from a quote of $800 to a final bill of $325. The mechanic we ended up going to is awesome. I've taken Goldie there before. He spent over 30 minutes with us going over how we can be checking our own systems at home, saving us time and money. He says yes, other mechanics would charge for things, but their idea is that if they go over things with their clients, then their clients will know they're not getting ripped off, will know when others try to rip them off, and so will return to the good mechanic. I like that philosophy.

Saturday I cleaned cleaned cleaned. B came home around 3:30 and then he cleaned too. The garage, which a few days ago we could not easily walk through, is now passable! In fact, we can almost park BOTH cars in there, although we plan on parking only one.

I discovered I have a lot of shoes. Some weeding needs to occur.

We created these massive laundry piles, partially because we just needed to get organized, and partially because we weren't quite sure what was clean and what wasn't.

And then, halfway through the laundry, the washer refused to drain and rinse.

NOOO!!!!

After some quick researching revealed the fix was outside of our expertise, I managed to get a repair guy out on a Sunday afternoon. It wasn't that expensive of a fix, whew, BUT!!! he also checked out our AC system.

If you recall, we were having some difficulties with our AC... and we wanted to get it fixed, but we were worried about 2 things: 1) the cats, and 2) calling the landlord out for possibly a situation that was stupid (ie: oh, you forgot to flip a switch).

The technician found the problem: the motor in our furnace was a goner. Which means nothing was working the way it should. No hot air going out, no cool air going in, etc etc.

Our LL, is super happy that we have already diagnosed the problem (go us), AND we avoid him having to come over for a visit. The technician is getting me a quote today, and then I'm forwarding that to our LL for approval. So, the whole problem could be fixed by early this week. Which is great, because it does get stuffy. Yes, I can survive without AC, but heating, as it turns into fall... that'd be nice to have. And, well, we agreed to rent this place becuase it has AC! It should work. :)

So yea, all in all, it was a boring weekend. But we feel a lot better since the place LOOKS a lot better.

I'm still not sure why it's taken us so long to get things together in this place. Maybe it's because we're TRYING really hard to be organized? EVERYTHING I unpack is analyzed to determine whether to keep or send to donationville. I like that we're not just stuffing things places. But, it does certainly take time. I also like that we're taking that time because that's a good indication that we like it here.

Sunday, September 13, 2009

The man I'm married to...

borrows my car for the day and leaves an uneaten box of biscuits and gravy in my back seat. 

and

when I leave to go to the grocery store and he stays home to meet a repair man, he takes a shower. Glad I got home before the repair man.

But oh, I love that husband of mine so!

Saturday, September 12, 2009

Dog pic

We're looking at various breeders. The thought is, find a good, non-puppy-mill, non-backyard breeder, develop a game plan, and then approach the homeowners association and our landlord. 

There are other dogs in the neighborhood, so we're not too worried. But with our landlord, we'd like to have more than 3 months of rental history with him. 

So, we're trying to wait. But, when you receive pictures like this one from a breeder, oy. Waiting is hard. 
And by the way, we are also looking on petfinder. Our cat monsters are all shelter or abandon adoptees, and we're very much pro-humane society. But, we're limited in many ways. The dog has to be a certain size, since we don't own. The dog has to have a pretty predictable personality, since we're renting and since we have work schedules. I know puppies don't always live up to their breed or parents, but it's a good indicator. Finally, it has to be young so we can give the best shot at him/her getting along with the cat monsters. Anyway, just to make sure I don't get any hate mail about humane society dogs. Believe me, our house woudl be full if we could.

But, to be certain, we're also being very careful with the breeders we look at. We'd prefer to get dogs whose breeders only produce a litter or two a year. We want breeders who are first looking for themselves, and then for maybe selling. We want breeders who know about their dogs and love them. No lets-try-to-make-a-buck-and-be-backyard-breeders. We met one of those last weekend and were disgusted. A breeder who loves the breed and breeds rarely only to improve the breed will not be making money on the sale of pups. So, while we may not get a society dog, we also don't want to be supporting the "evil" side. 

And with photos like the above? My heart melts. 

Thursday, September 10, 2009

Bagels.

B: We should get a bagel cutter.

Me: What? Why? What a waste! 

B: Oh sure. Just because it's ME who likes bagels...

Me: You can't cut a bagel?

B: I'm sensing a dislike for bagels. Because I'M the one in the relationship who likes bagels...

Me: ok, we can get a bagel cutter.

B: Oh really? I don't actually want a bagel cutter. A knife's perfectly fine.

Mechanic results-- sleazeballs!

HA!

The good news is that B's car is mostly ok. There are a few things though that he'll need to get done sooner rather than later since he's passed the 60k mileage mark on maintenance (the car has 65k).

So the mechanic B took the car to said to replace 2 belts and change the fluids. They said the one belt and labor woudl cost $600. This isn't unheard of, but still, choke cough. But, if that belt breaks, it would cause massive problems and expense. So, the belt, recommended to be replaced at 60k miles, needs to be changed, especially with B getting to 75k miles by the end of 2009.

On a whim, I called my mechanic up here, explained what needed to be done, etc. The cost (including labor) quoted by him? $300. And, he will throw in the other belt and replace that one ($35) for free. They're also REALLY reasonable on fluid changes (changed my transmission fluid for $30, whereas other places wanted $120). And, they do a good job.

Really? I immediately called B and told him to put a hold on ordering ANYTHING from his mechanic. I don't know if it's the economy or what, but he's jacked up the price. Jerk.

So tomorrow, we'll be gettin' B's car taken care of up here. It works out well; B has to come to my work town anyway for a presentation. Hurray for ease.

And super hooray for second opinions.

Waiting for the mechanic...

B TOOK HIS CAR INTO THE SHOP!

I'm so happy. Granted, I may not be happy if the mechanic comes back with a list of things wrong, but it's so much better to have the MECHANIC say that rather than for B to discover that after his transmission fell out on the freeway.

I know earlier in the week I sounded pretty grumpy. It was just a rough day or two. I'm trying to do thinks at work so that I have more energy when I get home. And that seems to be helping! Plus, there are fewer and fewer things (logistically) that have to get done. The name change is about done, the move and old apartments are about finished, we've combined phone plans, etc etc. For a while there was so much that HAD to get done.

So keep your fingers crossed that all goes well at the mechanic!

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Quick TY to blogger friends...

Thank you for living in other time zones or getting up earlier than I do. It is so lovely to have all your fabulous  posts on your blogs waiting for me to read! 

I really do look forward to this. 

To do: Spaghetti sauce...

I just realized that we're almost out of spaghetti sauce! And with fall quickly approaching, the crock-pot season (for me) is about to swing into full gear. Eek!

Oh, so delicious. B is gone on Saturday, so maybe, while cleaning the house and organizing, this can be simmering on the stove.... With no oil and enough acidity, waterbaths will be in order, not the prolonged pressure cooker. Excellent!

Movin' forward!

I'm ok! PROMISE. It's just an adjustment phase. We've been doing pretty darn well on the overall adjustment from single to married. Just small things catch you by surprise. Like one of us unpacks a box and then the other is left clueless as to where anything's at. Oh, that's right... two of us now live here!

On other news, I can't plug in my memory chip into my computer. Darn, I know. But I love my camera, so it's ok. I need a cord. My memory chip is about 1"x1", and my computer just won't support that. My means of connecting is a cable to the camera from the computer. And I don't know where that cable is. I may sneak up and borrow one from tech support at work...

Almost a massive scare! our photographer's computer crashed and she lost all our photos. THANK GOODNESS she send us the CD last week!!! I think she may need another form of back-up.

We went to Ikea and got some things for the house. A new coat stand , a plain white rug for in the office/craft room, a pot rack, and some CHEAP pillow covers for the couch and shams for the bed. Oh, and a new chair for me to use in the home office!!! I love that it doesn't have arms. Arms on desk chairs are overrated unless you do a lot of LEANING back and contemplating. My office desk chair has arms which bump my table. So, my chair sits lower so they don't bump... and my back hurts. This chair? Awesome.

Our AC is confusing. This morning I walked outside and the fan was on! What? I thought you were broken? So it may just be the AC.... Idon't know. The cats are going to go stay with a friend sometime this week and then folks will come over and check it out. I'm worried about the cats getting outside.

So, we're moving forward. B has a class all day Saturday, and I'm looking forward to getting things taken care of. Blissful.

Sunday, we may be visiting a breeder. No, we're not buying anything. We're just visiting....

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

In a pit.

First off, let me say our short trip away was wonderful. Photos to come when I get the camera cable cord (have the camera but not the cord, doggone it).

But yesterday, the closer we got to home, the grumpier I got. I had been rested, but suddenly, I felt exhausted.

Home recently has meant tiredness and frustration. Up early, home late, then too tired to do much of anything before going to bed and repeating.

I'm in a pit. A rut. A hold pattern. And I don't like it. It's made me mopey, sad, and just depressing to be around. B is baffled, and despite his attempts, I still remain gloomy in the evenings.

Any suggestions?

I think I just need to suck it up and finish the jobs at hand. Make it so the garage is not a pit. Clean up the house. Open blinds and let the light in.

I'm not upset with B. I love him dearly and I love my life with him. So, that's not it.

I think I have the habit of building up expectations. Things will be a certain way! I know it. And then B does something different or things don't turn out or we don't finish a project. It leaves me having to adjust my expectations.

I'm just sick of being a mope. It really makes me no fun to be around.

But what did come abundantly clear this weekend is: It's not B. It's something we've done near home. It was the most fun of weekends. I am so in love with my husband. But as we got closer to home, the grumpiness returned.

So new goal: this has to get turned around!

Thursday, September 3, 2009

Cereal and Procrastination

B's picking me up from work tonight in the already-packed bigger car. Which meant that last night, we had to pack the car, prepare notes for the person checking on the cat monsters, clean up a little, and pack.

The night started off with no leftovers looking good. So we had cereal. Apparently we had been flung back to college years, but I'm not complaining. I was not going to cook when we would be gone for 4 days!

7pm rolls around. 8pm rolls around. 9pm rolls around...

B's asleep. I'm tired. The cats found some ridiculous bell toy and are batting it around.

Need to pack....

So I woke B up. He unloaded the car (which had been packed with stuff from his place from over the weekend... yes, we're SO on top of things), I packed.

He lives dangerously-- he let me pack for him.

I packed the little suitcase for both of us. Decided to plop all our shoes in a box. That's simple. The few things we had picked up for our friends we put in a rubbermaid container.

I think one of our problems is we get the attitude of "I'll get that in the morning." B said this a few times.... It worried me. We both do NOT like to get up early in the morning and I know that procrastination (I mean, look at us, we're packing at 10pm) would just result in a LOT of things getting left behind. No sweetie, let's get those now, please?

So now I'm sitting here at work, going through lists in my mind. What did we forget? Poor B is getting emails about camera cable and cell phone chargers soon.

Besides the wedding (I took off 3 days, he took off 2), the last place we went away to was last Christmas to see his family in Cincinnati. While that was fun, the blizzard of the NW hit as we were flying out, resulting in a 1.5 day stay at the airport, hurridly packed bags, a broken car chain, 1.5" of ice on the car, and two VERY VERY cold, grumpy people. The wedding was wonderful, but there was chaos before of must-get-SO-much-done and then finding a new place to live.

This is a vacation. Well, a 4-day one, but nonetheless, a vacation.

Bliss.

Many, many photos to be posted. And yes, I do have my camera. I've checked three times.

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Broken AC...

Drat!

It's not like we live in Phoenix where we would DIE without air conditioner, but doggone it, it's sure awfully nice to have an AC house. But then last week there was a power outage. And, well, the unit has not worked since then.

It does NOT help that the control panel was made by someone with a SICK sense of humor. It is the most confusing instrument panel I've read. I finally pulled instructions up online last night, and really, it's HORRIBLE. Circle A says push panel B. WHAT?

I almost killed myself several times last night as I messed with the panel and then jumped up on the bathroom counter to feel the AC vent. Nope, nothing. Run outside to see if the unit's working?... nope, nothing. Drat.

I was in the middle of a complex series of buttons, trying hard to focus on the programming. And B comes over and pushes a button. Hell hath no fury like a woman whose AC programming has been interrupted.

"Do you really think pushing a button in the middle of my series of buttons would make this work!?" I asked. "Um, no, but I was trying to help..." Sweetie, this is not a nuclear missle silo where (I imagine, at least from cartoons) the two separate keys need to be turned at the same time and buttons pushed simultaneously. AUGH!

SO I was frustrated, and forgot to say "hey thanks B for unpacking the office." Geez, I'm a lovely wife.

I should add that I had just come from Walmart, so I was already in world-brace-yourself mood. I was really annoyed that the woman with four children under the age of 7 could not GET OFF THE PHONE. Instead, she was shopping, and her kids were running around wild. This was not a quick phone call; she was on the phone for at least 35+ minutes because I saw her a few times. And then, insult to injury, as I was standing in line for 30+ minutes (no joke), I saw that she made it through another line before me.

Karma, where are you when I need you?

Then I had to wait again to pay for my car's oil change (in preparation for our upcoming weekend). I think if you go into a store and you spend more time in line than you do shopping, your purchases should be free. Or at least a percentage off.

Regardless, I left WallyWorld hating a significant portion of humanity, missed a meeting that B ended up handling with the person who will watch our cat monsters while we're away, and the AC? Broken.

Drat.

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Please don't (or do?) touch my clothes.

I dreamed all day yesterday of going home and washing our light comforter, bedsheet, and sheets. Blissss, right? Clean sheets!

Step 1: Spot treat. But there's no stain spot treater. "B, where's the stain spritzer?" He has no idea, which, I admit (or maybe the girl admits) is mind-boggling since he just did 2 loads of laundry. Did he not spot treat first? Gasp.

Spend 30 minutes searching, in vain, for the spot treater. Resort to using detergent and rubbing in by hand on spots.

Step 2: Load into laundry. But there is laundry in the washer. Wet. Well, more like warm moist. Ew.
Me: B, when did you last do a load of laundry?
B: Um, a couple days ago...
Me: Well you forgot to um, load it into the dryer.
B: Oh crap!
Me: I dont' think you ruined your clothes... but we gotta remember because we don't want to leave the water on.
B: Oh, I turned off the water.

What? He turned off the water? If you turn off the water, isn't that acknowledging that the load was ready to put into the dryer?

So confused. Go to unload the warm moist clothes and put them in the dryer when...

Step 3: There are clothes in the dryer.
Me: B, why are there clothes in the dryer??
B: Oh, those are clean.

Ok.... I had to bite my lip from saying the closet is not in the dryer, but we all forget right? So I go to grab the laundry basket to pour the wrinkled clean clothes in there when...

Step 4: There are clothes in the laundry basket.
Me: B, what are these clothes in the basket?
B: Oh they're dirty.
Me: What's the pile in the bedroom?
B: Oh those are dirty too.

Frustrated at this point that the comforter is not halfway through its wash cycle, the dirty bin of clothes gets dumped out on the floor, much to the delight of the cats who immediately burrow in the socks. Ignore the fact that they also apparently have another play apparatus of clothes in the bedroom.

Bin dumped, clean clothes in.

So long and the short... comforter finally goes in. B's clean clothes are drying, and clean clothes are also in the bin. Cats are playing.

Then I look AT the clothes that B cleaned. They range the fantastic spectrum of clothes, from my underwear to his nice dress shirts, from darks to whites, delicates to roughs. At least 2 pieces of plastic. All wrinkled.

Now, I don't want to rain on the parade that is B DOING LAUNDRY. This is a habit I want to encourage, truly. I do not stake claim to the laundry. It is not a "girl task" or unmanly. I think it's very manly. But really? No dividing clothes by type or color? And no spot treats?

Still trying to figure out how to work this out.

On top of all this, B got it into his head two days ago that he wanted to organize our clothing in the closet. Or, also known as, let's unpack all the winter clothes that my wife painstakingly separated, that way there will be fewer boxes.

Result: I can't find any of my clothes. I have two skirts I wear a LOT to work, and those cannot be found anywhere. Half my cardigans are missing, presumably having escaped this season-smushing wardrobe event in our closet. And now there are coats intermingled with my summer dresses. And those clothes that don't quite fit that I painstakingly separated into a separate box? Those are now hanging up in my other clothes too.

We had a chat. It involved CAN WE PLEASE TALK ABOUT STUFF??? YOU'RE IMPACTING ME TOO!!!, but of course in a less yelling tone...

I question how he survived before me. Or why all his clothes are not grey tones...

But this too we will overcome. Meanwhile, the cats play in the laundry piles. The non-spot-treated, non-separated, non-color sorted laundry piles. And me? We slept in sheets and the bedspread last night because all the clothing drama resulted in the comforter not drying on time.