Thursday, February 05, 2009

Status Update

You can learn a lot about people, from their Facebook status. Mine, at the moment, says "Lisa is heading for the nation's capital this afternoon, with three teenagers. Pray for us!" Yeah, we're doin' it, and you'd better pray. My status before that said "Edit
Lisa LOVES LOST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!" because man, last night's show was GOOD, and I was beyond sad to see it end. I can't wait till next week.

Some of my friends' statuses are as follows. (Insert random name before the status, cause these people gotta be anonymous:
  • has no water because somebody(initials are MT) left the garage door up after taking out the trash!
  • would appreciate some prayer: my dad may have had a stroke and is current in icu.
  • forgot my speakers were turned up and I almost karate chopped my PC because it spoke to me.
  • is wondering..."Am I the only person in the world that hasn't ever watched LOST?" {mental note from editor: enlighten her}
  • is feeling virtuous after doing the laundry.

    Like I said, you can learn a lot from people's status. So imagine how sad I was today to see that one of our "adopted" sons is now single, after being madly in love for the last year and a half. Jill came in and informed me, and promptly started singing Air Supply's "All Out of Love." When I pointed out how wrong that was, she switched to "All By Myself," and was promptly interrupted by Dan's hardcore version of "Love Stinks." Yeah, my family + empathy. Not happening.

    So now my status is that I'm loading up soon to go, and Dan? He's packing for cold weather, wearing Thomas' shirt and jacket, and probably my socks, cause that's how he rolls. But that's a story for another day. Meantime, don'cha just love this red lace confection, from Couture Allure Vintage Fashion? I love it seriously, and am so sad it's sold. But, as Dan would sing, "Love Stinks." I'm outta here till Monday, folks, so that's it.
  • Wednesday, February 04, 2009

    Things learned about the husband during inventory


    Dan hates winter, not because of the cold, but because people don't do as much painting in the winter, so he's not crazy busy. I like winter, in part because of the snow, but also because when he's not busy, he does laundry, cooks (a little), and cleans the house. Since my primary job is usually busy in the colder season, I like having the help. It's the whining that makes me want to put nail through someone's head.

    So I took two weeks of vacation from work, to go home and do what? Work, of course. On the websites. Meaning it's time to do inventory. We did it last year for the first time, and Dan bailed on me halfway through. That was when I had one website, and now I have two. I kept reminding him of his promise, just so he couldn't pull that "you didn't tell me" stuff that men tend to do. I got started on one website the night before last, after he was done for the day. We've also been moving everything around, and the poor boy was tired. But now I have an actual workspace, complete with shelves and table, and all the shipping in one place. And we've discovered that our sunroom has a floor. Go figure.

    We finally got going on inventory in the afternoon, much to Dan's chagrine. He had finally run out of reasons to NOT help me with it, so we settled in to get the books straight. I've always said that if you want to really test the strength of your marriage, wallpaper with your spouse -- which, I might add, is something that we will never do together again. He is not even allowed to mention the word wallpaper to me again, but that's another story for another day. What I did discover yesterday is that another way to test the strength of your marriage is to do inventory together.

    Things I discovered about my husband during inventory (which is still in progress -- we got one site done, and are now working on the other, which will be much more difficult to do):
    1. The man has ADD. He cannot stay on task for more than maybe, if I'm lucky, ten minutes, before he's off on a tangent, asking what the boxes way on the other side of the room are for, why can't we label the boxes yet, do people really buy these things, and oh, I need a drink. Or something to eat. Or anything to get him away from the inventory.
    2. The man is completely obsessed with painting. I asked him to put up the shelves for me, and when I went down to ask him something, he said, in a not too patient tone, to be careful on the steps, because he had just painted the edges of the risers. Who, I ask, paints the edges of the risers? The answer: a man evading doing inventory.
    3. He has an almost sick relationship with his shop vac. The man will shop vac anything. He bought me a wonderful Dyson for mother's day a couple of years ago, and what does he use? His little shop vac.
    4. He missed the listening skills part of kindergarten, but he's great with organization. I may have to tell him something three times, but once he gets it, he gets it, and it's all fabulously sorted out.
    5. He's got a thing for labels. I mean, he LOVES labels. Constantly wants things labelled, even after I've pointed out that we can't label until we know what is going into the boxes.

    That said, he's a great help, and I am well on the way to organization in my workspace. Of course, the kids are nowhere to be found, because they hate everything to do with sewing patterns, because that means I might ask them to do something tedious and boring. Not to me, mind you, but to them. Even the dogs stay away, which is no small feat. But I will say, Jill made some Oreo snow ice cream, which was a big hit with the help. She and Dan have ditched me for now, and are at the Y, whilst I take a little break to rest my back.

    Why rest the back, you ask? Because as they were going out the door, Jill said "hey, do you have some tennis shoes?" "Yes, they're on my feet. I think they used to be yours, and you gave them to me." "Well give them back to me. I don't have any laces in mine." So the girl not only distracted the help with food, she took him completely away, and left me barefoot in the kitchen. Oye and vay. On the good side of inventory, I found this cool nightgown pattern that I thought was listed on the site, and wasn't. Well, it is now, so click the image to go there.