Messy Ramblings

Do you remember the last time I invited people over? That entire day was so much fun. It has been a rather isolating summer as far as getting together with other people. Kellen hasn't been able to handle it. Yesterday was only the second time all summer that we've been brave enough to have a get together at our house. The occasion? It was my turn to host my book club.

The night before I mowed and watered the front lawn. Yesterday morning I was sitting in the backyard eating a bowl of cereal...a serene moment before the madness of getting everything ready for real, live guests. I'm sitting there in the sunshine when next door I hear the distinctive sound of a pressure washer cranking up. I was a bit annoyed by the noise, but no big deal. Next thing I know, a fine mist of water from the north side of the neighbor Charlie's house is caught by the wind and sails over the entire length of the Charlie's house, over our fence and all over me. A little while later the man Charlie hired to pressure wash his house is knocking on my door. He wanted to let me know that the "mess" he is making will be cleaned up tomorrow. I walk outside with him and there are paint chips all over the north half of my front lawn.

Painter Guy explains that Charlie has hired him to paint only the north and south sides of his house as he can't afford to have all four sides painted. (Huh?) He further explains that he will be back tomorrow to vacuum up the paint chips and paint the house. I'm thinking, "Tomorrow? But my book group is tonight? All of the ladies will think I live in the ghetto."

I get over my disappointment with my trashed yard and walk back into the house to make Kellen some grape juice. There is a can of concentrate defrosting on the counter. When I start to open it flies out of my hand and spills all over the counter, cutting board, side of the refrigerator, floor, and my socks and shoes. Have you ever tried to clean up concentrated grape juice? A whole can? I think my world is permanently stained purple (not a bad color, if you can only pick one).
I try to clean it up as best as I can and then grab the mop. All the while I am explaining to Kellen that "Mom didn't mean to say the 's' word and even parents make messes at times." His response? "YOUR FIRED!"

Have you ever tried to mop a floor while someone tickles your armpits? You should try it some time. I'm not complaining though, it was great to have Kellen in a good mood yesterday. His humor and fun personality are slowly coming back.

After cleaning up the grape juice, I went out to the backyard to use the hose to rinse the juice out of some rags. I put what I thought was a dry rag between my legs while I manipulated the spigot on the hose. When I got all done with the rinsing, I look down at my shorts and it totally looked like I had recently had a "potty accident." I guess I had not been holding a dry rag, but rather, a wet one. I was so tired of cleaning up messes, that I just went ahead and left the house without changing my clothes...I knew my shorts would dry eventually.

Kellen and I drove up to the high school to pick up some papers. He chose to go inside with me and exhibited no anxiety at all. It was great! We kept the visit short and then it was time to drive into the city for his psychiatry appointment.
We had a good opportunity to chat about mood, meds and the big question..."What to do about school???" We all came to the agreement that it will be better to go very slow and plan for success rather than just throwing him into a situation that will cause him to have so much anxiety that we will lose ground.

After the appointment, we feverishly cleaned house, backyard and shopped for food and drink. I went to purchase my groceries and the first question the checker asked me was "When is your birthday?" I thought to myself, "What kind of question is that? Is this a new thing stores are doing like asking you your zip code?" I said hesitantly, "Umm...July 28th?..." He looks at me and holds up a bottle of wine expectantly. "OH!" and then I gave him my birth year. What is this? A type of semi-carding me? Couldn't he tell that I've had that birthday twice now? Oh...so funny.

To make a long story longer, the book group went just fine. We sat outside under the stars and talked about the book for 20 minutes and our messy lives for the other two hours.

Anyone else have a mess to share? Come on, make me feel better.