Another busy week

Another busy week

Camera-shy Nikolai allowed a rare photo, taken by one of his friends at the Robotics Game Reveal in Nevis on Saturday, January 7.

By Allan Olson

It was most definitely one busy week last week. Every day was filled with running either for myself or others in the family; I spent the whole week in meetings and games.

In a discussion with some others this week, they referenced how they miss the running with their kids. I can honestly say that thought is a mystery to me right now.

Instead of wondering how I’m going to survive all the running, I should be thinking about “How in the world can I get these kids to do their chores?” I don’t think it’s just my kids, but I don’t understand why anyone would want to take all day to do a job that should only take an hour at most. When the kids are asked to clean their room, it’s always the same battle, and if I’m on my game, I end up taking stuff out of the closets and from under their bed. Although I must admit, they did fool me recently by using the empty space between the dresser and the wall, which I missed until days later.

This week, I felt like I wasn’t even at home. I had something going on every night except one, and even that night I was kept busy until later than planned.

The weekend was busy, too, at least Saturday. I went to the annual robotics Game Reveal held at the Nevis School, leaving home by 7:15 that morning, instead of staying in bed until late. 

Before I could get home late that afternoon, I was asked to stop and get a few items from the hardware store. I guess I should’ve asked what my wife was up to, but maybe I was afraid I would find a wall missing or something. So like a dutiful husband, I just picked up the supplies as directed. Even when I got home, I couldn’t take the time to really review what was going on, because I had to load up the garbage and take off again. I made it to the sanitation drop off site with only five minutes to spare, unloaded the garbage and headed for home again.

When I got home I discovered that my wife was busy in the kitchen, laying linoleum over a floor that was on our “to replace” list, removing old water lines from that side of the kitchen, capping them below the floor, and fixing a light fixture downstairs – along with getting kids to clean things up. I think it would’ve been a great day for me to go fishing, but I probably would’ve been locked out when I returned. 

So instead I helped as needed but stayed away from any construction-related work so I wouldn’t screw it up for her. In such matters, my job is simply to assist where needed and clean up the mess afterwards – I’m not ashamed to admit, it’s the truth – my wife is a far better contractor than I. So while washing the big deep fryer on Saturday evening, I inadvertently made her job harder. The faucet handle that I was using to spray the deep fryer out did not quite go back into place, and when I moved the deep fryer, the water sprayed all over the counter and the plug in – and the dishwasher was running. For reasons I don’t know, only one plug-in on the wall has a GFCI and this wasn’t one of them. The dishwasher quit, the plug in hissed and all was dead. 

We let things dry out to see if it would work, but it didn’t. I eventually thought to grab my power strip with the extra-long cord to check the dishwasher – hoping against hope that I wouldn’t need to call my brothers and admit my screw up. I was in luck; the dishwasher was fine. Since my niece was still in town, I called her to pick up a GFCI, and that evening my wife installed it. All was good.

I really wanted to go to a geocaching event in Dilworth on Sunday, but after much internal debate, I felt that I really needed to stay home instead. I slept in until after 9 a.m., and Nikolai and I made breakfast – French Toast and sausage – a little after 10 a.m. Since I was still feeling tired, I decided an early afternoon nap was in order . I soon discovered that while the eyes said “sleep,” the rest of me said “no sleep.”

That evening, I tried helping Abigail with homework, but we butted heads and ended up in an argument instead. Nikolai and my niece made supper, and then my wife helped Abigail finish her homework.

This week’s plan might include some winter clutter removal – and hopefully the weekend will involve some fun outdoor activities with the kids – along with finding a geocache or two somewhere. Also, since my wife will be gone, the chance of construction or de-construction projects will be nil. But I’m thinking this will be a good week to at least acquire that other GFCI plug-in, so it will be on hand for “the next time.”

Please remember to watch out for the buses that are carrying our most precious cargo. Also snap a photo or two to preserve a lifetime of memories. Thanks for reading, and have a great week! Feel free to drop me a line at cltimes1@arvig.net or stop by the office for a visit.