June 26, 2005
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SUMMERTIME, AND THE LIVIN’ IS…JUST LIKE THE REST OF THE YEAR. Yes, I’m still here. No, I haven’t jumped ship and fled to LJ or some other blogging universe. I’m just here in my 850 square feet of squalor, faced with three children (usually plus an extra niece, nephew and my step-daughter) in the throes of summer vacation and wondering how to make it fun for them and bearable for me (you know, trying to come out at the end of August with the same number of living family members we started with in June). In my dreamy-time-fantasy world, summer with my kids would be a relaxing lemonade and sunscreen picnic with swimming and bonfires and lazy days filled with whatever captured our butterfly fancies, maybe reading on lounge chairs in screened-in porches by a lake, perhaps road trips with stops to taste/converse with local oddities and specialties. Instead their boredom and frustration is amped up, my childcare and patience is dialed down, and my workload has remained unnervingly steady. In other words, we are all horrifically askew, with sunburns. (and strep throat, on a rotating basis.)
I LIKE GRILLS. (or I KISSED A GRILL.) We made the jump and bought an LP grill, the kind that can be turned on with the turn of a wrist. The kind with a burner on the side for what, maybe heating your sauces? (I’ll keep you posted on that one.) It has a cover. It has essentially taken grilling food out of Mike’s realm (fire! coals! tending!) and into mine. (on! off! done!) I knew this was an issue when he wanted to place it on the front porch (see my fire! burning fire!) and I wanted it outside the kitchen door (um…I’m coooking). He had fought the purchase for quite some time and I wasn’t sure why, but at dinner last night three husbands discussed the release of power that comes with buying a grill of this type. No more poking fires with sticks. I am sure this is why the grill manufacturers make them out of stainless steel and otherwise attempt to have them resemble tools or garage paraphenelia. Personally, I, like many women, would like it to match my tangerine Kitchenaid mixer, but that might cause many husbands’ testicles to fall clean off. Hehe. Men. Gotta love them, at least in theory, right? They’d make such great fictional characters and we get to watch them so close up.
oxoxoxox
Kim
Comments (6)
Aaah! I missed you. We bought a gas grill recently and it’s green… it matches the dishes. I’m pretty sure Matt still has testicles, too. (Yeah, he is kinda girly, so what.)
ooooh a grill to match my mixer? i would love it too.
hopefully when we return from vacation we can all go to a screened in porch together for some lemonade.
do any of us HAVE a screened in porch? oh, were you being metaphorical-like…ahhhhhhh, yes.
kim
there aren’t nearly enough bugs here to warrant screened-in porches.
oh, and that whole summer-by-the-lake fantasy… that’s only fun if you’re NOT the mother. Who brought the food? who made the lemonade? who bought the swimsuits and makes sure everyone has suncreen on? oh yeah, and who is paying the mortgage/rent on said lake house? So, you’re not really missing out after all
tiff – isn’t all that stuff taken care of by the single-childless-trustfund-best-friend-with-the-heart-of-gold? and where can i sign up for one?
kim
I need one of those, sign me up too
you really clarified the xh’s reluctance to convert to propane. I remember those days it was his turn to cook, which meant 3 hours(by himself, alone ) of tending the bbq while I held off the kids and did all the clean up, because after all he did the cooking