Serious Business
Bags of mulched leaves lie about the yard like hibernating bears as I lean back against the rake having a cigarette and watching new leaves descend blanketing the ground I had just cleaned with flashes of gold and red. “Oh well,” I thought. “At least the barren spots in the yard can’t be seen now.”
Raking leaves wasn’t the only task in the tsunami of home improvement chores and maintenance responsibilities on a list of odd jobs as endless as the falling leaves. My mother was flying in to Houston on a business trip and decided to take a detour through Virginia for the upcoming weekend for a visit, and my wife was determined to show just how good of a daughter-in-law she was, proceeded in an attempt at making our home the Taj-Mahal of our neighborhood for her visit.
My parents retired in their early 50’s and determined the quiet sedate life of the elderly too mundane, they took contract positions with a company laying natural gas pipelines up in the northwest. Selling their home off of Puget Sound, the job took them from Washington to Oregon, negotiating right-of-way for laying pipelines across ranches, farms and municipalities. While they swear that when this contract ends, they’ll finally “really” retire to their house in Montana, I remain skeptical and I’ll believe it when I see it.
Fragrant candles sending tendrils of caramel and cinnamon throughout the house, hanging curtains, raking leaves, arranging and rearranging the furniture, shopping for home decor, cleaning and recleaning (nothing stays truly clean in a house with two children) our house was transformed into a Mecca of comfort and convenience within a week of her arrival, a planned day and a half stay.
I believe I’ve recovered from the hurricane of activity and think that I’ve finally perfected my pumpkin stew; I can now relax and get back to the important things in life.
Anyone up for a Broncos game? I brought beer and chips.
Raking leaves wasn’t the only task in the tsunami of home improvement chores and maintenance responsibilities on a list of odd jobs as endless as the falling leaves. My mother was flying in to Houston on a business trip and decided to take a detour through Virginia for the upcoming weekend for a visit, and my wife was determined to show just how good of a daughter-in-law she was, proceeded in an attempt at making our home the Taj-Mahal of our neighborhood for her visit.
My parents retired in their early 50’s and determined the quiet sedate life of the elderly too mundane, they took contract positions with a company laying natural gas pipelines up in the northwest. Selling their home off of Puget Sound, the job took them from Washington to Oregon, negotiating right-of-way for laying pipelines across ranches, farms and municipalities. While they swear that when this contract ends, they’ll finally “really” retire to their house in Montana, I remain skeptical and I’ll believe it when I see it.
Fragrant candles sending tendrils of caramel and cinnamon throughout the house, hanging curtains, raking leaves, arranging and rearranging the furniture, shopping for home decor, cleaning and recleaning (nothing stays truly clean in a house with two children) our house was transformed into a Mecca of comfort and convenience within a week of her arrival, a planned day and a half stay.
I believe I’ve recovered from the hurricane of activity and think that I’ve finally perfected my pumpkin stew; I can now relax and get back to the important things in life.
Anyone up for a Broncos game? I brought beer and chips.
posted by zombie at
12:59 PM
8 Comments:
I'm up for a Bronc's game. They actually score points, which is what I understand a football team is supposed to do.
I don't know how you're a Broncos fan in the DC area, but I like it! Count me in.
Novel concept isn't it JACC?
Slave, I was actually born and raised in Golden Colorado...they had lynchings there if you were a Broncos fan.
C'mon over y'all...I'll get the chips and pizza ready! At this rate we'll have a good ole party.
Im still hung up on the caramel and cinnamon scent MMMMM.
All it really did was make me hungry :D
Ya, I totally want some sort of carmelly, cinnamony, appley desert now!! MMMM
aaah- the lengths we go to to impress the parents...
Too true Angel, fortunately I failed at that a looooong time ago. There's no where to go but up from there :)
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