In the button pushing factory

Isn't it amazing how, no matter our age, our parents can still manage to push our buttons?

Many of you know that our house is a duplex that we share with my parents. It is a 2 story and they have the top half and we have the basement. Because of this situation, we have outrageously cheap rent, which was huge factor in allowing me to stay home after I lost my job.

Last night, we were hanging out upstairs. TB was looking for something in the toy room and MT was running a doctor's office in the bedroom with all her stuffed animals. I went into the bedroom and was told "you can't be in the doctor's room so get out" TB just wanted to whine about his inability to find a yo yo so I sat in the dining room and started reading my book. My dad came through and heaved a heavy sigh followed by muttering to the tune of "you do nothing but sit around and read, lazy" I hollered after him "I'm sorry if you don't like it, but no one asked for your input" At which point he decided that right then was the time to air all his issues with me (we haven't gotten along, except for a short period after TB was born, since I was about 10. His biggest issue, apparently, is that I dare not work while I stay home with the kids. The arguement went something "why don't you get a job so you can buy a house and take care of your fucking kids" (yes, this was said in front of said kids) Of all the responses that went through my head (and trust some of them were GOOD, if crazy sarcastic) I chose "why don't you bite me? No one ever asked you for a fucking thing so you can just go to hell" after which I gathered the children (amid protests) and came home.

He is on my "Chevy's" list now, which basically means that if I ever interact with him again, it will be too soon. If he ever says another word to me, things WILL get ugly. I will say every mean, vicious hateful thing I have ever said in my head to him straight to his face and it won't be pretty for anyone.

As a result of this, the kids and I won't be spending time up upstairs when he is home anymore. Because of that, I was forced to clean off our outside stairs since I won't be using the inside ones because they come through their dining room. The outside stairs were so gross. We rarely used them because they are concrete and they are kind of steep so it was just easier to use the inside stairs. Because we weren't using htem, they got all full of bugs and dirt and then I wouldn't use them because they were awful. While I cooked dinner last night, I started cleaning them. I don't really have a phobia of spiders but I don't like them. I was so icked out by the sheer number of spiders that were in the stairs that I just sprayed a boatload of Raid and shut the door. 15 minutes later, I went back and cleaned up all the bodies. Then I swept down all the cobwebs and as much of the dirt as I could. I had RF put in a new lightbulb (since we weren't using it, there was no point in lighting it and attracting still more bugs) and today I scrubbed all the stairs with bleach water and called our landlord about getting a banister on those stairs so they are less dangerous to use.

While I was scrubbing the stairs I made a super discovery. I was looking for a pair of old pants to wear while I cleaned because I didn't want to get bleach on my "good" clothes. I rooted around in my closet and came up with an old pair of jeans in size 34 (I wear men's jeans because woman's don't fit right). I thought "I'll never wear a 34 again so it won't be that big of a deal if I get bleach on them. Besides, they probably won't even zip so I can just pitch them when I'm done" Miracle of miracles, they not only buttoned but zipped as well. They were tight, tight, tight but then as I wore them, they loosened up. By the time I was done, I could not only squat in them but I could bend over as well. 10 pounds and I could wear them fairly comfortably!! This is amazing. I don't think I've worn 34 since before MT was born. I hang on to all my old sizes thinking that one day, I just might be able to wear them. At for those pants, it looks like "one day" has come sooner than I expected!