The Tale of the Petrified Pizza

I would like to preface this post with a couple of comments regarding what I expected to see and why upon my first visit to Wayne's home. First off I knew he had lived there for over 10 years at that time so I was certain that the house would be settled and decorated and gently lived in since he basically lived there alone for several years. Second, he is a Boy Scout. Literally... he is an Eagle Scout since the age of 17 and has been an adult leader for over 30 years now.

Also, anyone that has ever met Wayne would probably agree that he is quite fastidious about his appearance. He has such a baby face and is clean shaven (most of the time), his clothing always looks perfectly pressed and clean with out any stains. I am not sure how this happens as I don't believe he even owned an iron before I moved in and I certainly do not iron, although I do own one (that would be my inner Roseanne coming out)! He does not drink, smoke or cuss and he does not wear jeans... EVER... I mean he does not own a pair of jeans and never has...oh and he always has his shirts tucked in. I will go off on a bit of a tangent here; since he does not wear jeans it does limit his wardrobe. He wears Dickies work pants when working or doing dirty jobs around the house and of course dress pants then for all other activities (unless it is a scouting function then of course he wears the official BSA scout pants or shorts) but always, always, always has shirts tucked in, including t-shirts and I am a bit embarrassed to say, sweatshirts at one time too! I remember the first time I saw him with his scout sweatshirt tucked into his Dockers! I about fell over laughing, I know that was mean but it was very silly looking and I was not giggling alone. When we started dating I told him that I would not be seen in public with him if he insisted on tucking in that damn sweatshirt. He has not done it since.

So getting back to why my expectations of his home were as they were... my first impression of him was that he was a neat freak. I could not have been more wrong. I really wasn't kidding when I spoke of the house looking like the beginning of a  Hoarders episode.This discovery brought out my inner June Cleaver and I wanted to make a nice home for us, so after I tackled the front room I then moved on to the kitchen...  Now my husband is not a heavy man but you can easily see that he hasn't missed too many meals. He cooks too. In fact he cooked our Thanksgiving Day meal that year (and every year since, along with Christmas and Easter dinner). So I fully expected to walk into a fully stocked, clean, organized kitchen. Again this was my mindset prior to my arrival the day before... Dear LORD the kitchen had not been updated since the late 1950's! The oven, celery green, which we still have and use, has a sticker on the back giving the manufacture date of 1956.

If the decor wasn't enough of a shock I found the cupboards were stocked with canned goods and baking ingredients so old I had to throw them away.  I could not see the counter tops initially because they were covered in empty, Happy Joe's pizza boxes. When I went the refrigerator I was pleasantly surprised that it did not take long to clean it out, as it was filled with half-eaten pizza in Happy Joe's pizza boxes. I cannot even remember how many boxes I found in there. Most of the pizza was unrecognizable because it was so old. I could have filled a recycling bin with all the pizza boxes I found that day! The next step was to clean the stove top and the oven. Being that it was such an old relic, there is no self cleaning option and although it was a top of line stove in it's day, many of the features such as a programmable start and end time, did not work. But I cleaned my little heart out, removing all the knobs and soaking them scrubbing around the burners with a toothbrush. I even used a toothpick to clean the grease from the numbers on the knobs. Then I opened the oven.... (cue the music from the shower scene in Psycho) I don't believe the oven had EVER been cleaned. As if the horror of the filthy racks and bottom pan weren't enough there was a pan of something in there. I was not sure what it was at first but I using my powers of reasoning, pizza box themed decor and it was on a round metal pizza pan I came to realize it was PETRIFIED PIZZA! After I had ascertained the origins of my find int the oven I was pretty much done and I decided to go back to embracing my inner Roseanne, and save the oven cleaning for another day. Needless to say we went out for supper that night and we did not get pizza!

CHANGES

It would seem I am making it a habit to only blog once every 4 months. This is not what I had in mind when I started this so I will have to work on it.  I noticed that in my last blog my whole life had changed in 4 months and now it would seem that is happening again.  So when I last blogged I was employed full time with an empty nest.  Now... I am currently unemployed, sadly, things just did not work out at the law firm. It was a difficult blow to take but as they say everything happens for a reason.  I  am currently sitting on the edge of my seat awaiting that previously mentioned reason to show itself! I will keep you posted on what it is when it does decide to make an appearance! The other major change in our lives is that my husband and I are no longer empty nesters.  Our oldest son has moved back home.  Things did not work out for him in Nebraska with his living arrangements and so he transferred back Iowa and moved home. He has taken up residence in what is formerly known as Brandon's room or as I fondly and breifly referred to it as my GUEST room.  Unfortunately it was only a guest room for 5 months, I guess that is not long enough for the name to stick.

I will say I am back to enjoying my time at home. I find that working full time made it difficult for me to pursue my dream of actually, maybe one day, becoming June Cleaver.  The first week I was home I spent several days just sort of lost, not sure what to do with my time, although there were many things to be done. After a day or two I pulled myself together and started on one project at at time. I have gotten several rooms cleaned to my satisfaction and I am finding that I am now much more organized at keeping up with this.

Having a child in the house, and I realize that he is almost 22 but, he is still such a child when it comes to household tidiness. I am constantly picking up after him and reminding him to do his chores, of which there are only 3 I might add!  He was supposed to work four 10 hour days at this job, however there has not been a single week in the 3 months he has been there that he has worked 40 hours.  He had Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays off. So I asked him to do his chores, which consist of emptying and loading the dishwasher and cleaning the catbox and taking out trash,  on his days off.  He is too tired to do anything on the days he works you know.  I cannot remember ever being tired when I was his age. I worked 4 part time jobs and and when I wasn't working I was out with my girlfriends shopping or clubbing. It was a great LIFE.  It appears that this child has no life however,  these chores are just too much for him to remember and HEAVEN fobid I ask him to something outside of those chores such as shoveling the walks or carrying boxes up and down stairs or even asking him to help bring in the groceries. He then cops a major 'tude and complains that "you people" want me to do everything and you want it done right away.  I am trying to figure out exactly who "you people" are... perhaps the people that raised you, fed and clothed you (and continue to do so)?  How dare we ask you to help us!  Just this week he changed jobs, one that will actually give him 40 hours and perhaps then he can save enough money to pay his debts and go back to having a the life he apparently had in Nebraska.  Since he doesn't have every other day off he did not think he would need to do said chores assigned to him. So I have picked up those chores myself now.  He has been notified that the RENT is now due on the 1st of the month.  Not a happy camper... LOL.  Actually rent will be taken from each paycheck to ensure it gets paid BEFORE he spends it all. 

I have to admit having the trials and tribulations of a child to tend to does make me feel useful as a mother again but it can make me very weary.  I am older now and do not have the energy or the strength to spare as I once did.

Wayne has really enjoyed having me back home. He is once again getting full home cooked meals.  I was never organized enough to plan meals when I was working full time so he had a lot of microwaved dinners, pizza or leftovers from the weekends.  I missed cooking and another nice thing about having a child at home is not having to cook for 2. Justin's appetite is that of several humans... I cook for about 5 or 6 just to have a few leftovers for his lunch!  Wayne also has appreciated having his "personal assistant" back as well. I am now there to take care of all of his secretarial needs.  He is completely computer illiterate so I am responsible for all email correspondence, computer generated documents etc. Plus any phone calls that are required to run a household and Boy Scout troop are my responsibility once again.

So it seems for the time being I am back in my comfortable old saddle of midwest housewife and mother and I will continue to enjoy it until another chapter in my life opens up~