Halloween rantings...

Happy Halloween! No, this isn't my dog - but isn't it adorable? The dog in the photo looks like my dog from childhood - Mindy - though. Maybe that is why I liked it so much. (I'm going to add a couple more pics for your amusement!)

Yesterday I finally decided I have 3 children instead of 2 kids and a husband. Seriously! I walked into the living room last night to find my husband and son on the carpet "rigging" our Halloween fog maker to a long dryer exhaust hose with holes in it. Apparently this will allow the fog to spread out more evenly instead of just coming out in one big poof. Okay - until he started to turn it on INSIDE the house! What the hell?! I made him stop...and my 7 year old smarty-pants says, "Geez Mom, you don't have to be so unreasonable." ME? Unreasonable?! My husband was about to start up the fog machine inside our house and I'm the kill joy. Nice! I made them go outside - and it did work. They were very happy. I was just glad I caught them in time.

It has been a trying week. We didn't have enough money to pay our gas bill in time for them to not disconnect, so we have been without gas since 10/22. That pretty much sucks - no hot water and no heat. We've been boiling water to wash the dishes and take bird baths. I've been shuttling my kids over to my mom's to take showers. The worst part is the heat - in the early morning hours it gets in the mid-60's in here...which is tolerable, but cold. We keep heating the house with the help of our stove. So that was another reason I did not want Brian to set off the fog maker - we would have had to open all the windows to air out the place and there would have went all our heat with it! At least tomorrow is payday.

Last night, I was really trying not to be pissy with my husband but I couldn't seem to avoid it. He has to mess with everything. One of the lights in my indoor pumpkins was flickering. I tried to fix it but decided to just leave it be since the other light was working. Brian picked it up and was "fixing" it and within 30 seconds neither light worked. So now on Halloween it is broken. I was really mad. Plus, I've been asking him all week to finish putting up the lights outside, and he decides to do last night...so the front door and garage door was open and shut for over 45 minutes - there went our heat! I finally had to ask him to stop before we lost anymore. Where is his brain?!

I think it was latent hostility though. Monday I went to Mansfield to do a marriage panel...I was gone from 4:30pm-10:30pm. I left him with specific instructions on dinner, homework, baths - they whole thing. He didn't do crap! He got mad at Brandon and didn't even make him do his homework - so I had to do twice the amount last night to catch him up. Then he promised me that he would help Meg study for her science test. I even asked him when I got home how she did - fine, was the response. I then learned from Meg that her science test was actually on Monday - so he never even helped her AND lied to me when he said he did. I was really very angry. When I asked him about it, he literally walked away from me and said nothing! I wouldn't let him off the hook though - I said, I asked you a question! He didn't even apologize for lying. How can I not feel like his mother when he lies to me about doing his job as a parent?

I am so stressed out over all the balls I must juggle every day...without his help. He goes out everyday and works. He brings home a paycheck - but that is about it. I do everything else...yet, somehow I get the critical glances for not having a job. He doesn't know anything about our kid's schedules, permission slips, tests...let alone that they have a doctor's appointment (or need one) and that the phone bill still needs to be paid. Hell, he doesn't even know when bath night is or if the kids need clean socks! Forget about him helping me care for our animals too - no one but me remembers to clean the cages or tanks. I'm the one who does all the holiday prep too - every holiday, every year. He just glides through life - paycheck to paycheck. It seems very unfair.

I want to be with a grown-up.

Well, it is unlike me to piss and moan about my husband - but I hope you will allow me this one venting session. It just grates on my nerves how he is sometimes. Plus I am at my wits end with my daughter. She is all drama and angst - at the age of (almost) 11. She rolls her eyes, pouts and stays locked in her room. She's a total pig and refuses to clean up her room or even take a shower unless I force her too. She decided this week that she HATES her costume - so I tried to appease her by running around last night (on the EVE of Halloween) for a new costume. It was terrible...and she ended up having to stay with her original costume (which is a very nice one which originally cost $35! but we got it for $17.) She will just have to deal with it. She hates me everyday anyway...

Well, enough of my whining. I'm going to go downstairs and sew my son's costume for him.

Have a safe holiday!