Recharged

September 2009 did not start off so well.

Jackson had a couple of rough days at daycare. He refused to nap, was consistently fussy and basically put Holly's nerves to the test (which, I'm happy to say, she passed). The culprit - 2 new teeth. Eye teeth in fact, which I hear are some of the harder ones to cut. Yep, my baby boy now has FOUR teeth!

I received some bad news at work. The dollars and cents of the bottom line (our operating budget has decreased from $20 million to $16 million over the past year) finally required some pretty dramatic action. 8 people were unexpectedly laid off. 5 vacant positions are not going to be filled. 2 furloughs were implemented for the remaining staff (read: 7 days of mandatory unpaid leave). Very dark days in our building.

Drew & I have been extremely fortunate to remain relatively unaffected by the recession we are all living in. I feel blessed to have a job. I feel blessed that my husband has a job. I will gladly take 7 days of unpaid leave if it means keeping my job and helping my company position itself to come out on the other side of this thing. But my heart absolutely aches for my colleagues that were not so lucky.

The combination of my fussy baby and a shitty week at work resulted in me accomplishing absolutely zero around the house. We had no decent groceries and were eating out a lot (not a good idea for a budget that is about to shrink). The laundry/ironing pile was getting out of control. Every piece of furniture was coated in a layer of dust. I can't remember the last time I scrubbed my kitchen floor. Not major catastrophes by any means, but things felt very unorganized in my world. And for me unorganized is bad. Very, very bad.

So I took it out on my husband.

Not intentionally. In fact, I didn't fully realize it until right this very minute. But I can admit it now.

I have this thing about asking for help. I'm not very good at it. Instead, I was making little digs all week. Snide comments here and there to empahsize how much more I do around the house than Drew. I mean, he had three tee times this weekend. When do I get to leave the house and do something by myself for 4-5 hours at a time? (See what I mean about the snide comments?) Well, my comments didn't go unnoticed. Drew as much as told me so when we were "discussing" those tee times and he said, "Don't think I haven't noticed all of your little digs".

Oh.

My reply, "I don't care if you golf Monday morning. But when you get home I could use some help around here."

Who knew all I had to do was ask. The minute Drew got home from the golf course we discussed my to-do list. And we split it. He scrubbed the kitchen floor. He cleaned the bathrooms. He finished the laundry. I loaded up Jackson and did the Target and grocery store runs. (Believe it or not, the kid is pretty content cruising around a store in a shopping cart.) When I got home, Drew unloaded the car while I fed Jackson. I put the groceries away. We cooked dinner together. Just like that we accomplished nearly everything on the to do list.

I learned 2 lessons.

1. It's much easier to just ask for help when you need it. The little digs do nothing but provide ammunition for a future explosion.

2. There aren't many things sexier than a man who will scrub your kitchen floor and clean your bathrooms. (Hear that, honey?) *wink*

And just like that, despite the crappy start to September 2009, I feel recharged. We had a marvelous holiday weekend. The weather was perfect. We enjoyed the first tailgate of the season. We attending the 1st birthday party of a very dear friend (I will post on that occasion soon). The house is clean. The cupboards are stocked.

I feel organized again. Which means all is right in my world.