I am so cheesed at my other half. And it's just because he can NOT see what I am trying to say. I just think if he understood, he would agree with me.
Let me start over.
Last December, we bought Jax a 2nd car seat for the Jeep, because he likes to ride with Andy when he can, and his car seat which he still has to be in is too much of a pain to move around. So the car seat came in this big huge shipping box.
Now, all kids love to play in a big cardboard box. My parents bought a new refrigerator one time and I was in hog heaven.
So Jax has had this big box for two months now. We bought two ottomans and he made a fort out of these and a bed sheet. Then he added his little art table. Then (during the height of the holiday decorating) he added the stepladder, but then I put it away so he substituted this Britax box. In time we added a microwave box and two kitchen chairs.
As you might imagine, all this made a very large fort. So large that there was (dangerously, I think) only a foot or two between the fort and the fireplace which we use daily. On the other side, there was a foot or two of space between the fort and the bunnies' cages. So basically, the main flow of traffic has been routed through the kitchen. And besides being a chewing temptation for the bunnies, all the basic detritus that bunnies produce (hay, fur, random poops kicked out of the litterbox) has been harder to keep swept up from under the furniture. Forget trying to mop in there. I have just been cleaning around it.
To be fair, he has really enjoyed his "house". But you know, I just haven't been able to enjoy mine. Andy wonders why my happiness is more important than his. That is the part that has me so angry. How can he not see that WE HAVE A PILE OF GARBAGE IN OUR LIVING ROOM!!!!! ? OLD CARDBOARD BOXES CAN NOT LIVE IN MY LIVING ROOM FOREVER!!! To which he asked, a little too smugly for my tastes, "Why not?"
1) Because I do not want "cardboard box and sheet fort" to be the defining decorating characteristic in my home.
2) Because I can't smegging clean around this fort!
3) Because our son is a wonderfully intelligent, highly creative boy who can find other things to draw on, pile his toys in, etc.
4) Because I want to have a nice home to live in. I have spent the past ten years living in a dump in Armpit, USA and of those ten years, many have been spent doing major renovations because Andy has steadfastly refused to move and because I do NOT want to live forever with crumbling paneling, outdated bathrooms, and stained formica countertops. The last round of remodeling has been going on for two years and a week. I endure having plywood subflooring, tripping over the tools and construction materials piled up everywhere, getting sheetrock dust all over my clothes when I walk down the hall, and living in four rooms when we are there. And we are never going to finish that job because every weekend, Andy is doing something NOT home-improvement-related, like cutting wood or working @ the radio station or whatever. I hate it. After years of it, I am tired of it. I want to get away from that into a home that is spacious, beautiful, and most importantly, clean. And I just can't clean around cardboard boxes.
He just asked me why I am so upset. He sincerely doesn't see the problem with it.
All this really doesn't matter, as the boxes are now in the attic. I guess you can say that I've gotten my way. But it just bothers me that Andy can't understand that a woman likes to have a nice home to live in. And that my job is to keep the home - and I'm doing my best to, but I don't want to be the only one in this house who cares about having a nice place to live.
Now he is saying that he doesn't see the point in trying to keep things clean as long as we have a dog. His reasoning is that, unless the dog wears shoes outside, he is tracking in germs and there is no point trying to keep the floors clean. Right. So I shouldn't bother mopping the floor. It's not like we also have a crawling baby or anything.
I'm just so angry, and sad, and frustrated.
Posted by
wakeful dreamer