Does anyone feel guilty about their weekend?

PAhr · December 2003

I was going to put this under mwild's Okay-confess but thought maybe I should confess about my entire Thanksgiving weekend. My wife started making dinner Wednesday night while cleaning at the same time (I just sat around). She got up at day break to throw the bird in then went around doing other odds and ends while the kids and I slept. She even took out the garbage, God love her. I tried to help when I got up but she's very territorial in the kitchen so I just watched as she basted, stirred, did dishes, vacuumed... Dinner was at 1:00 EXACTLY. Then I relaxed on the couch while she cleaned up.

I think I should explain that I have a daughter, we have two boys with a third child on the way. My wife is seven months pregnant with our girl. I'm happy and she's well,... I don't know. She wanted another boy. So between being pregnant, emotional, grumpy... she announces she wants to go shopping. I'll confess, we took the older two to Grandma's while we went to Wal-Mart. The sole purpose was to get a bike. We get there and not only does she change her mind about the bike, (now it will be a better Easter present since he can't use it until spring anyway) she wants to buy christmas decorations. The only gifts she bought were crayons and markers. I ran into the back of her leg with the cart twice. The first time was forgiven, the second, Hell hath no furry than a woman run into with a cart. I had to atone for every sin I had ever commited in my life right there in front of the Yu-Gi-Oh's. Then she has this great idea that she doesn't want to shop anymore and we should go home, rearrange the furniture, drag the tree out and decorate. Which we do.

Saturday she says she wants to shop. Great. Off to Toy's R' Us we go. She drags me around the store for an hour for what amounted to five things. Twenty minutes of that time was spent looking for some toy that goes with some Imaginext set. And we NEED this piece to complete the entire set. Like the kids will know a piece is missing. Anyway, we didn't find it. Then she says she wants to go to the mall. Okay, we parked two football fields away, cold and windy. My wife tells me to get the stroller out while she gets the little one, just turned two. She hops out of the car and starts a made dash and I mean full sprint to the doors so I'm running throught the parking lot with a diaper bag and stroller. It's all good. We get in, put the little in and start what I think will be a relaxing walk through the mall. Nope. My wife thinks the mall directory hides from people and she had to find it NOW before it uprooted itself to move to a new spot. We walked into the first store, browsed for a few minutes while she looked at some children's books. Next thing I know she is ticked off because some woman had the nerve to take the last book that she wanted and none of the other books there were good enough. She looked around for about five more minutes, still mad and says let's just buy the books she had and get out of there. Okee-Dokee. I didn't know she meant leave the mall. In and out in twenty minutes or less.

She went home and wrapped the things she has bought up to this point. She woke up the next day complaining that her back hurt. By noon she was running a fever. Poor girl got the flu and all she did was complain that she couldn't take any OTC meds with the exception of Tylenol. I must confess, I thought she was just trying to irritate me but she was just trying get things done so I don't have to do it. I sent flowers today with a note "Sorry again about the cart".

Parabeagle · December 2003

Your post makes me VERY happy that I'm single. x:-)

Hunter1 · December 2003

Wow! Is this for real? Seems like you're looking to get flamed. To answer your question: No, I don't feel guilty about my weekend. My male siblings and I and our sons spend our Thanksgiving week at our hunting cabin and make a 'regular' Thanksgiving meal for Thursday night. Turkey and ALL the trimmings. All the female members of the family are invited for the meal. (The only time they are welcome during the hunting season) When I got home, my wife was shopping in Chicago with two of our adult children, so I did the wash, ironed, put away all of my 'stuff', put up our main Christmas tree, repaired our grandfather clock which broke while I was away, and did some other errands. My wife was happy when she arrived home. : )

mwild31 · December 2003

I love your post - poor guy - what a weekend! What a great touch with the flowers. Here's a tip for her Christmas present, jewelry & a day-spa trip once the baby is born. x:-)

ritaanz · December 2003

Where does one start?? I understand territorial in the kitchen, but would she bop you with the baster if you reached for the garbage? The vaccum, does it have her name on it with a secret code to operate? Is it only the kitchen that gets vacuumed? Would it have been suicidal if you carried the dishes to the sink/dishwasher after dinner? How do you run into a person seven months pregnant? Are you blind? Twice yet.

Pregnant, emotional, grumpy.... Man, I hope you are a better father than you are a husband. Sorry, had to get it off my chest.

marc · December 2003

Keep Thanksgiving in mind as you look toward Christmas. She will be one month more pregnant. You only need look to your other two pregnancies to know what to expect, then multiply everyhting by several factors because it will be the holiday season.

Maybe hire a cleaning service for the month of December? Have them come in once a week or so until a couple of months after delivery. Might be a great gift for both of you.

PAhr · December 2003

Actually Rita she's territorial about everything, even the vacuum. I once vacuumed a rug with a loose thread. She was pretty hot when some of the rug got sucked up and the vacuum broke. She says I would suck up everything under the sun if I could and that I don't vacuum right anyway. I didn't know there was a correct or incorrect way to vacuum so she does it. The garbage, she did that all on her own. I didn't know it was full, let alone that it needed taken out. Putting the tree up this early is a new one for me. Normally she wants to wait until closer to Christmas because she says keeping the cats, dog and our boy out of the tree is an added chore. I even asked if I could help wrap. Nope. I can't wrap correctly nor can I color coordinate the paper with ribbons and bows. That aside, she already knew what gift was to be wrapped in what paper and she didn't want me to mess it up because she knows what looks best under the tree. Pregnant, grumpy, emotional. Sorry, but I don't know how else to explain it. She wanted another boy and ever since she found out it's a girl she's been a little.... not herself. This is also her first prenancy over the holidays so I'm sure she is overwhelmed.

You need to understand. My wife prides herself on being a "do it yourself" person. She doesn't like help, even more so when she is pregnant. She thinks pregnant women are just as able bodied as everyone else. My wife thinks Kraft maccaroni and cheese is lazy and wouldn't even consider buying frozen dinners. She brags about getting eight loads of laundry done, scoop poop (she knows this is a no-no, and I know because I go to all doctor's appointments), getting the kids ready for school, bathroom cleaned all by 8:00 a.m. Believe me, helping her is like being in the eye of a tornado. One wrong move and I'm the cow perched high in the tree.

ritaanz · December 2003

My criticism of you was because you gave no indication of trying to help out. You came accross as bragging that you veged out while the pregy wife tackled Thanksgiving. Now reading your last post, territorial may not be the right word. Sounds more like a control freak to me. I apologize for jumping in with both feet and not knowing the "rest of the story". I guess if I shared my humble abode with a person with similar characteristics I would would say, "Go ahead, knock yourself out."

Don D · December 2003

This is one of 'those posts' that, had it not been for the prior number of posts, I would cry 'foul'. James would admonish me for being rude and the poster would slink away, knowing he had been found out. This is "one of those fake letters to Ann Landers if I ever read one". Sorry, it's the Scrooge-sceptic in me. All you left out was the fact that you will require that she 'drop' the baby in two hours and immediately sweep the patio and wax the den floor. A B- for originality though. x:-)

ray a · December 2003

So how is the little woman doing this week so far?

PAhr · December 2003

Unfortunately Don, I haven't sent it to Ann Landers yet. And believe me, it's all true. She actually stood in the Christmas ball aisle of the store and held up every box of balls to make sure they matched each other. She did the same thing with the wrapping paper and we can't just buy any old wrapping paper. It needs to be foil wrap. You know, the stuff the kids can't even figure out how to open up. Toys R' Us was a big treat. She would turn into one aisle, walk three feet and then say what she was looking for wasn't in that aisle after all and then tell me to back up. I needed one of those noise makers constuction trucks have just to let the stream of traffic know that I was now entering, look out. Even when she did put stuff in the cart our son threw it right back out or tried to open it. Either way he threw a fit. And she can skip giving birth and scrubbing the floor although I bet she could do it. This is the same woman that has given birth twice with no pain medication and plans the same for this one because she thinks you should only use it if it's medically necessary. She still brags that she checked herself out of the hospital twelve hours after delivering our last child.

She's still sick. She has a prenatal appointment tomorrow so hopefully the doctor can tell her to rest. She doesn't listen to me.

ray a · December 2003

And someday you will look back on this as the good old days when she is going through that change in life with the hot flashes and all.

Am I in trouble yet, Ladies?

JudyT929 · December 2003

If this is for real I don't think you should feel guilty at all, my sympathies go out to you for having to deal with all that. Heck I'd probably run into her a few more times with the cart just for the heck of it. xclap

Does anyone feel guilty about their weekend?

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