D&^#$ TV

Got the new tea kettle and while it isn’t as sweet as the old one, it works fine.

I also picked up a new phone, or set of phones, I guess. This one is a vast improvement on our old phone. It is one phone with an answering machine, with two extra satellite handsets. The old one was starting to not work very well, and had always been crackly, and had a few features I didn’t like, and this one has corrected them.

I spent quite a bit of time this morning and afternoon working on leaves. I decided to open the new leaf blower, which was brand new as a result of the old leaf blower breaking before the warranty expired and they sent me a new one. Well, I filled one bag with leaves, and the new one started sparking and smoking a little. Granted, the leaves were probably wetter than they should be. I decided I should switch to blowing instead of sucking. But I couldn’t get the sucking attachment off to save my soul. I think I’m going to see if they will replace this one. I’m ready to give up on the whole thing, I really like the vacuum aspect but if it doesn’t work, or breaks if I get a little water in it, it’s really not going to work for me.

So I set to raking. Things 1 and 2 have been watching a lot of TV lately, and today was no exception. I am outside raking, and talking on the phone a little, and they are inside watching TV. My idea was to get to IKEA this evening, to exchange something I got in the wrong color, and I thought we’d just have dinner out there. But Thing 2 starts whining that she can’t read her homework, then whines even more when I tell her to stop whining while I work with Thing 1 for a while, then whines even more when I put her in time out for whining… Ye gods!!! The phrase “I’ll give you something to cry about!” keeps dancing behind my eyes. I told them I am NOT taking any whiny girls to IKEA, it took us about three times longer to do homework than I expected, and now they‘ve wandered back to the TV and I should be making dinner.

Sometimes I get a little resentful. As the mom, you take on just about every responsibility in the house. As the wife of a guy who travels, I take on most of the stuff he'd do. I can’t help but feel bad for women whose husbands travel for extended periods to places where they’re in danger, at least my husband isn’t in the line of fire, he’s just in offices, airports, and hotel rooms… but it doesn’t stop me from getting frustrated at taking on the typically husbandly chores in addition to all of the wifely ones.  I flat out don't get how single parents do it.

And keeping the girls entertained while I get these things done is the job of the TV. Which also chaps my hide. I hate that damn thing. Yet I find it completely helpful when I need them out of my hair. Sometimes I spend longer getting them involved in something else so I can accomplish something than I spend accomplishing the thing. Sigh. But right now I hate it.