What's goin on people?

Casa AmyMay

Hey, everybody! It's been a little while since I posted, and other than work, I really don't have a good excuse. So sue me.

However, as I Tweet on Twitter, Fraternize on Facebook and Bombard on Blip, I find myself with "Blog Guilt." I feel I have neglected my poor little sliver of the internet world. I'm a bad mama. Still, Blog Guilt and all, I'm struggling with finding a topic. So, work with me, people. I'm not promising genius here, just a post.

Okay, my chosen topic....

The bathroom... or why I haven't finished a single project in this house for four years.

First, some back story...

My mom was really, really sick for the last years of her life. When she was at the point of needing a lung transplant, I was pregnant with my son, and about to be a single mom. At that time, my parents and I decided it would be mutually beneficial for me to move in with them. I was able to be there to care for Mom during her final illness, and she was able to have the peace of mind knowing I wasn't raising her grandson in Mt. Vernon. Well, my son was just over a year old when Mom died.

That's when I inherited my father.

Don't get me wrong, I love my dad, but he makes me nuts! My mother was a much better woman than I will ever be. She put up with a lot, and I'm sure prevented many a disaster in her day by simply putting her foot down!

So what has this got to do with the bathroom, you ask?

Well, once I inherited Dad, I couldn't very well leave him all alone and pitiful. So when I decided to start saving for a house, it was with the understanding that Dad was coming too. And Dad has poor impulse control, so when one of the women at our church was talking about putting her house up for sale, I found myself signing papers before I really knew what hit me. I love my house. It's a nice house in a nice neighborhood in a nice town in a nice cornfield. But it's an older house, and as such, needs work from time to time. Like now, it needs either painted or siding... one or the other.

However.... I can't even let myself entertain the thought because of THE BATHROOM!!

The bathroom on the main floor is just the latest in the long line of stuff that has gotten started and never quite finished. Like the living room... new insulation, drywall and paint, but no baseboards, window/door trim or light fixture. Or the basement family room.... half tiled, half bare concrete. Or the pile of bricks by the driveway which have yet to turn into a walk way....

Poor impulse control. To use a golf analogy, Dad's great off the tee, but his short game sux.

That said, I shouldn't have fallen for the next proposition:

"Amy, if you peel that ugly ass wall paper in the bathroom, I'll sand the walls smooth enough to prime and paint."

But I did. And today, after 6 months of waiting, I realize....

If you want it done (regardless of right or wrong) do it yourself.

not your mama!!!!

now, all my friends and coworkers know this, but i feel the need to enlighten the random reader with this background info, purely in the interest of context.

i had a simply amazing mother. she died just about 5 years ago--Jan. 17, 2004. (oddly enuf, my boyfriend's birthday. . . . ) but when she was alive, and healthy, she was the queen of our family. there is no doubt of that. now, she and dad were married for 37 years when she died, and she took care of EVERYTHING!! house, bills, insurance, all that shit.....dad mowed the grass, went to work and handed over his paycheck. period.

i have a younger brother. he's zero for three in the marriage department. i love him coz he's my brother and i hafta, but he's a fathead. he likes harleys, beer and chicks. preferably all simultaneously.

mom took care of everyone's everything. then she died. now, the fathead and my dad think that I have some intentions of taking care of them like mom did. ummmm.......no. i'm not my mom. and i'm fasho not tryna be their mama!! here's where we go from the context to the meat n potatoes of this posting.

dad lives in the basement apartment of the house, and fathead is currently occupying my guestroom. fathead returns whenever he's between chicks. i let him come back because i'm secretly still afraid that my mom will retun to haunt me if i don't take care of her baby boy. meanwhile, i have my own six year old son, Eli, whose "daddy" has not seen since he was four weeks old. so, admittedly, i derive some benefit by my dad being in the same residence, and when sober and home, my brother has the potential to be an adequate backup babysitter.

but here's the bump in the road. these people honestly think i'm fittna clean up after their asses!!! they think imma work 12 hour shifts on a fairly busy medical unit (i'm a registered nurse), keep the bills paid and keep the house clean, schedules arranged, grocery shopping done, laundry washed, etc. weeeeeelllllllll......... they're only wrong. now, my mom did it. she did. she did hair 12 to 16 hours a day, 5 and 6 days a week, then turned around, made dinner, cleaned up, helped us with homework, bathed us, got us to bed, then stayed up til midnite or 1:00 in the morning doing laundry and housework, got up at 6:00 and did it all again. she was either a more dedicated woman than i will ever be or she was a martyr or just a sucka!! i choose to believe she was more dedicated, coz she's my moms and i love her. point is, tho, I AM NOT THAT!! she was a better person than i will ever be. i'm ok with that. honest.

and here's my logic: we are all adults. we all live in the same house. we all have jobs. we are all able to clean up the house. if we all do SOME of the housework, no one has to do ALL of the housework. i think the simplicity of the solution is elegant and beautiful. everyone does something, no one does everything.

but these clowns want a mama. well....... I AM NOT YOUR MAMA!!! (except for Eli, and I am his mama). therefore, although it is killing me, i am on strike. let this bitch pile up, let the pile fall around them and let them know, i am done. help me or live in it like you leave it. i am patient. i can outwait them. game on, boys.....