it felt like a gift

Well, where have I been?  I planned to post something yesterday until I ran into:  basketball camp chauffeuring, a few hours at the pool in 90+ degree heat (which is when I thought I would blog, but I ended up shopping for flights to take Ed to visit colleges Labor Day weekend AND to see Lad play water polo), brought 4 kids to the ortho, dragged all kids along to Tank's dermatologist appt,  I raced home so Tank could get a ride from a teammate to his evening basketball games, drove to Irish dancing in the opposite direction, drove back the other way to Tank's bball games, which were followed by Ed's two b-ball games.  I get home at 10 pm.  EXHAUSTED!!!! 

So the jury is still out on whether I was successful in giving Coach an awesome Dad's day.  Coach raised the bar pretty high for Mother's Day.  That put the pressure on me to give him an equally enjoyable day.

I hopped out of bed when Coach's alarm went off at 5:30 am.  He was planning to drive the caddies to the course.  'I'm up, I'm up!  I'll drive them,' I whispered.  I wasn't up, but I faked it pretty well.  I woke up the 3 youngest caddies.  Lad and Ed were able to sleep a little longer and arrive at the course closer to 6:45 am.  Seniority has its privileges.

This is where the garbage cans and recycling bins
 usually sit.  I forgot to take a photo
before I dragged them out to the driveway. 
You get the idea.

While Coach worked out, I decided to surprise him and clean out the garage.  Temps were expected to be in the mid 90's in Chicago, so I mentally committed to doing part of the garage.  I convinced Curly to help me.  She wasn't over-excited, but she pitched it.  Having all 5 siblings caddy this year, vs just the 3 oldest boys in recent years, is a new thing.  Curly is adjusting to waking up on the weekends and being the ONLY kid in the home.

Gross.  Disorganized.  Frightening.  Just a few words to describe our garage situation.  Despite space for 3 cars, we can only fit 1 car in the garage at the moment.  Enough said?  Curly and I hauled a ton of stuff out onto the driveway and began to sweep.  The garbage cans and recycling bin area alone was a sight.

Now that I fixed the garbage can area,
I can't WAIT for garbage day. 
The cans are all overflowing
because I found lots of junk to throw away.
Thanks to the heat,
our garbage smells HORRID!

Coach was NOT overjoyed to find us dripping in sweat and covered in grime when he came home from his workout.  I gathered that this stemmed from his belief that we shouldn't have been out there in the heat.

Or perhaps he was feeling guilty that I am always the one that takes on this nightmare job.  Maybe that’s wishful thinking on my part.  Like- if he feels bad, then maybe he will handle it next time.  

We started at 9 am.  After 2.5 hours, there was a noticeable improvement.  The rest will wait for a cooler day.  I think Coach was also annoyed because I kept popping my head inside to say, 'Are we done with this?  What is this for?'

Cleaning the garage is somehow my duty, but it is NEVER a priority.  That explains why it builds up into a filthy disaster area.  The people I sit for enter thru our garage to drop off/pick up their kids.  It is downright embarrassing.

Oh brother.  Bikes, building supplies,
kiddie ride-on toys, 2 lawnmowers,
more bikes, about 20 balls.
I ordered a bike rack to park them in and a
ball rack for the wall between the garage doors.

Coach insisted that he wanted to get a few things done around the house in the morning.  Later in the afternoon he was looking forward to chilling out while watching golf at home.  He only visits the pool for short stretches.  With the intense heat, he anticipated hanging at the pool for a bit.

While I was finishing up in the garage, Coach dared enter the kids’ bathroom.  He installed a new fan a few weeks ago and he needed to paint the drywall that he had patched.  Well, that was a big mistake.  Talk about a buzz kill.

There is much more order here,
but I am still on a mission. 
When the bike rack gets here,
the bikes will have to be parked in it.  
There is an old Thomas the train table
 on its side on the left that I 
think I will relocate to a
storage room in the basement.
Work in progress!

He was fuming when Curly and I came in and started packing the cooler for the pool.  He shared with me that he had stumbled upon empty soap boxes scattered on the counter, dirty clothes littering the floor, and worst ever - he discovered a full bag of bathroom garbage stuffed inside the cabinet.  Sound familiar?  That would be Tank’s work.  Ask him to do something and he will find a way to do it half ass.

I know I’ve mentioned my disgust at the difficulty our offspring has in cleaning up after themselves in their bathroom.  Not just here on this blog - but I have moaned, cried, sulked, screamed, and fumed about it in Coach’s presence.  Did he thing I was imaging it?  Faking it in order to excersize my lungs?  Since it was Father’s Day, I chose not to state the obvious with a comment like:  ‘What else is knew?’  I was already in hot water for cleaning out half of the garage.  

Is this making sense to you?  I think things improved as the day went on.  How can a tidy garage not force you to think things are looking up?