Life after snits

I tried to remember what I did before when I had to pick out flooring. Well, let's see. Neither apartment required my input as the flooring was old in the first one and while the second one was new, I didn't get to pick anything. Our first house had new, very dark wood flooring in it - the old kind that required that I drag the kitchen table and chairs out every week, scrub the floor, and wax it. Anyone else remember waxing floors? Waiting for it to dry? Chasing the cat and dog away so they didn't leave footprints on a floor just washed and waxed?

Then we moved to this house. I let my ex pick out the linoleum because I couldn't. I had it replaced in 1991, and I had a friend who is a decorator do it because - I couldn't. I finally ended up back and forth many times between stores and finally told the salesman that I hated all flooring, that I am really a guy, I just want someone to make the decisions and hand it to me and I will install it. He laughed. I didn't. I told him not to let me out of the store until I made a decision. He did well, I have to admit, since I left with about half of the flooring I need. I will go back for the rest once I get 20 boxes of linoleum out of my car. That salesman was, of course, the Mr Nice Guy who was too busy on the phone originally. I could have saved myself hours of driving around if he could have just finished that call in less than half an hour.

Then yesterday child and I went out again. Second time this week. We had gone either Monday or Tuesday also, and didn't finish our shopping. I told her that under no circumstances were we to let me go home without paint, and that I wanted to get it before dark. That was a problem with the flooring - the colors looked all wrong to me in artificial light. I had even tried to return to the independent paint store earlier this week, but they closed at 5:30 pm and I got there at 5:45 pm. Blame traffic. I did.

So we went to the bank first. Then to Secretary of State. Only Michigan has Secy State - every other state in the union has DMV. I have no idea why. Child was one day past risking a ticket for expired plates, but was lucky. After that, we had to return to Restorration Hardware and return the very expensive duvet cover she bought. She washed it, and it looked so crappy that she took it back. I agree with her on that one, since she followed the directions. That done, we stopped in to see her friend who works in the mall.

By this time my feet were getting sore. I was also doing the driving. She just had to go to Linens and Things to get the bedding set that she and I had looked at earlier in the week. I had tossed a phone book in the car the other day so I could look up independent flooring companies if necessary, and I am so glad it was there. LNT was not where I thought it was and she had no idea, so in about 5 miles there would have been blood shed. We got there about an hour before dark, and I reminded her of the only thing that was important to me. Several hundred dollars and over an hour later, it was dark and she had some bedding but told me we had to go to another LNT about 10 miles away.

We went to the second LNT and got more of her bedding. They still didn't have the pieces she wanted so she wanted to return to the first one. They didn't have what she thought they had. She decided maybe the set I had picked out was better, but they didn't have the pieces she wanted, so we had to back to the second one.

On the way to the other LNT, which was on the way to Home Depot where I could get paint but was not happy about it, she started to waver about the bedding set she bought. She decided maybe the one I picked out was better. I had a small snit and declared that we were going to go to HD first and get my paint. She started to whine that she had to work the rest of the week, double shifts, and needed her bedding now. This was true, but I had to sit home and wait for the washer and dryer delivery, plus I needed her help with paint decisions. She is the artist, and besides, I had the car keys and was doing the driving. I told her to think about the bedding while we picked out paint.

She showed me very carefully that the color I wanted would not work. She was right, which is why I wanted her there. I suggested a slightly lighter color for the laundry room than the kitchen. She loved that idea and we bought paint. Oddly enough, the guy behind me bought the same color (out of how many hundreds?) as the kitchen paint. The lady next to me wanted the store to "lighten" the color of the paint she bought the day before. And how were they going to do that?

We went back to  the first LNT to get the rest of the bedding. I think that is the right order, but we went four times. 10 miles each way. My gas. I decided we were having dinner at Fuddrucker's, which she agreed to. I also told her she was buying me a beer. She acquiesced, but once we got there I decided I didn't want one.

After dinner, we had to stop at CVS so she could get some makeup. By this time, the dogs had been home alone for 8 hours. Molly takes prednisone. When Molly has to pee, she really has to pee. She is now used to me usually being home within 3 hours. Molly knows she is not to pee on the floor.

I found 3 spots of pee on my BED. Maybe once a year or less Molly pees on my bed. I think I finally figured out why she does it. I always assumed it was a dominance thing, maybe a dog outside she saw, and she needed to mark. Now I think it's because she knows she isn't supposed to pee in the house on the floor. I think she gets so desperate that she pees on the bed. Does that make sense?

Have you ever tried to change the mattress pad alone? Mine are waterproof, and I have two. The part that goes along the edges is very soft elastic. I usually end up with one foot holding one corner of the pad and my body draped along the edge of the bed trying to get the second corner to stay without the first popping up. I think the fastest I have ever done it is 20 minutes. I made child help me and it took us about 20 seconds.

However, I was unable to wash the bedding because the delivery guy woke me up yesterday at 7:15 am to tell me they lost my dryer. I had gone to bed at 3 am and was not happy. I did not reschedule. He asked me if they could bring it the next morning, and I told him I had scheduled it on Wednesday because I was going to be in the hospital Thursday morning. I was too, I had that ultrasound this morning.

I called them today, and they are hopefully bringing the washer and dryer tomorrow, although they haven't found the dryer yet. It got lost coming from Chicago. I just don't get that. Don't they use some sort of tracking system? I have over two weeks of laundry here.

Luckily, I have several sets of bedding. I have experience with pets. And children.