Between the two of us, Paul and I are not big gift-givers. This probably comes as an extension from me… I came from a family that celebrated holidays on a whim, sitting down to celebrate when we were able instead of when the calendar said we should. Maybe that defeats the point, but it’s one of those Military family sacrifices and that is what we did. Now, as an adult, I regularly forget to plan ahead for holidays and don’t particularly mind that there is nothing under the tree for me or that my birthday goes by without fanfare. It gives me excuse to indulge later… ’cause we didn’t celebrate that thing, you know?
For Mother’s Day this year, knowing full well that we’re too crazy right now to have any all-about-Mom plans, I accepted that no one would remember anything. So I proactively told Paul that I only wanted ONE THING for Mother’s Day… something free requiring absolutely no grand efforts on anyone’s part.
I asked him to Never, Ever, Never Again move clothes that were folded or waiting to be folded from the bed to the floor, dresser top, or any other surface so that he could get into bed. To simply put away and/or fold and put away clothes and not just push them aside for me to deal with later. Have I mentioned before that I’m a little neurotic…? Well, clothes on dressers for days gives me an involuntary twitch. I can’t help it.
So tonight, when I came to bed roughly an hour after he’d already announced his impending bedtime, I was surprised that he was not in our room. Then I remembered the laundry I had been working on during bathtime. On the bed were whites (my least favorite laundry area) — towels, socks, socks, and more socks — to sort and put away. They were on the bed, not moved to a dresser to await someone else’s effort. Still there, waiting.
Paul? Instead of moving them to the bed to climb in and sleep, he honored my request… just not in the manner I’d hoped.
He was sleeping on the floor beside Kate’s bed.
Paul: 1. Me: 0.
Painted Maypole | 07-May-09 at 10:32 pm | Permalink
bwa ha ha ha ha
Lucy | 08-May-09 at 4:02 am | Permalink
Oh, my goodness, same exact ‘fight’ at my house. I can’t believe he slept on the floor, that is hilarious. I hate that load of laundry too. My husband puts it in a laundry basket now. I just gave up!
Good Luck:)
Paul | 08-May-09 at 4:41 am | Permalink
For the record, I took the first set of clothes into Kate’s room (for the drawers where my t-shirts are) and she woke up and got fussy. She wanted me to cuddle her and then, in typical Kate fashion, she didn’t want me on the bed but instead just holding her hand.
Bon | 08-May-09 at 5:37 am | Permalink
Paul, i think no matter the cuddling needs, you better get on this one. or you may find the world raining laundry on your head sometime soon. 😉
Tina | 08-May-09 at 8:26 am | Permalink
We have the same problem at our house and I was hoping that you had come up with a way to get hubby to stop moving the laundry. Instead, you tell me that Paul slept on the floor? Oh boy, I hope my hubby doesn’t see this post. I will definitely be deleting this from my reader so that he NEVER finds this. I would have to kill him if he did that to me 😉
Melanie | 08-May-09 at 1:03 pm | Permalink
My husband does the SAME thing! He piles the clothes on my dresser or the cedar chest. He’ll sometimes pick up his clothes, but usually the kids’ and mine just get put in a big pile. I hate that!
Emily R | 08-May-09 at 10:08 pm | Permalink
you may need to give clearer instructions…
magpie | 11-May-09 at 4:22 pm | Permalink
That totally made me laugh.
And I know well the feeling. The passive-aggressive laundry nonsense happens here too.
alejna | 11-May-09 at 7:00 pm | Permalink
That is so funny.
I also know the feeling. At some point I told John that I would no longer put away his clothes for him, and that he’d need to collect them from the laundry room, bring them upstairs, and put them in the closet himself. He then started using the laundry room as a closet.
heather | 16-May-09 at 6:39 pm | Permalink
That is totally something that would happen in my house. Totally.