The Rain, It Grows Tiresome

I don't have exact statistics on this, but I'm going to guess that it has rained 45 of the last 60 days. What is this, Seattle? Today at 4 o'clock it was so dark outside that we had to turn on the lights to see our jigsaw puzzle, even though we were sitting two feet from a westward facing window.

Usually I think that rain is wonderful. It's soothing to listen to, it makes things grow, it makes everything smell clean again. After two months of rain, though, it gets old. We can't even get the mail without being attacked by mosquitoes. Our afternoon trips to the pool are often cut short or cancelled altogether. Our roof is still not fixed and I keep waiting for the ceiling in our closet to come crashing in. Kevin's commute was over an hour tonight due to road closures, high-water rescues, and poor visibility.

I know God promised to never flood the earth again, but He seems to be pushing the envelope a little bit.

The Seventh Deadly Sin

When I was in college, I took a course called Biblical Themes in Literature. The professor taught us the acronym PEWSLAG, which was a way to memorize the seven deadly sins of Pride, Envy, Wrath, Sloth, Lust, Avarice, and Gluttony.

I have long since experienced the first six of the seven sins. Monday night, I committed the seventh -- Gluttony.

After a long, horrible week of Kevin being gone every single night, and after 9 long months of Kevin serving on a high-maintenance committee at church, we were going out to celebrate. The church had finally chosen a new worship pastor, and Kevin was free. Plus, I had scored an upscale mystery shop at a local steak and seafood restaurant. We had a $200 expense limit, and we wanted to use as much as possible.

That was the mentality that led to my stomach's downfall.

I ate crab cakes with remoulade sauce, a spectacular asian pear salad, red snapper topped with scallops and crab and a scrumptious cream sauce, some asparagus, a roll, and a few bites of both tiramisu and a molten chocolate cake. Oh, and four raspberries. Top that off with a Cape Cod cocktail, several glasses of iced tea, and two cups of coffee. Everything tasted so flipping wonderful and I just couldn't stop eating.

I was fine, albeit stuffed, when we left the restaurant. By the time we got home, I could tell that my stomach was feeling a little too stretched. Later I was so uncomfortable that I couldn't sleep, so I drank some Mylanta and read a book.

The next morning? Nope, still not hungry. I drank three sips of OJ and decided that was enough. Lunch time came and went and I still couldn't handle the thought of eating again. I finally got hungry around 4 p.m, which was good since we had another dinner mystery shop. This time I only ate half my entree and brought the leftovers home.

I'm quite sure I'll commit those first six deadly sins again. After all, it's pretty hard to overcome pride, jealousy, anger, laziness, lust, and greed. I can say with confidence that I won't commit gluttony anytime soon. Then again, we are eating at the Plaza Club on Wednesday night...

Dishwashing and other Marital Issues

It's official... I've become the world's laziest housekeeper. There's just something about not having to be anywhere at any given time, not actually having to cook because Kevin is at church every single night for meetings, and not having the emotional and physical energy to do squat.

Case in point: I've started throwing everything except the good cutlery into the dishwasher. Now Kevin and I have had many a dishwasher discussion in our 11.5 years of marriage. He's a fan of handwashing, but he succumbs and puts dishes, glasses, and silverware in the machine. If I have put a mixing bowl with raw eggs into the dishwasher, Kevin actually takes it out and handwashes it "to make room for more stuff." We've literally had to discuss this issue in both our small group and in marriage counseling.

At one point I decided that I'd rather be married than be right, but this summer I've changed my tune. Consumer Reports says that it only costs 7 cents to run a dishwasher cycle. Good grief, 7 measly pennies? I'm sure I was spending more than 7 cents in hot water and Dawn to handwash the bowls and platters and other large items. So I'm a dishwashing convert and throw it all in now. (And here's another dirty little secret -- sometimes I run it without it being totally full! But I do it during the daytime so Kevin won't see. And since he never reads my blog, he won't hear about it either.)

Gotta run, I've got a sinkload of dishes to deal with.

Want An Easy 5 Bucks?

I'm all about the rebates. I clip coupons, take advantage of the the Walgreens EasySaver program, and use Ebates to buy everything online. If you don't know about Ebates, it's brilliant. Before you buy ANYTHING online, login at Ebates.com. Scroll through the list of hundreds of stores, and click on the store you want. You'll be transferred to that company's site along with a tracking number. You buy what you want in the normal fashion, but the tracking number keeps a log of your purchases. A percentage of your purchase price is added to your Ebates account, and every few months you get a big fat check in the mail. It's a no-brainer, really. Free money for buying what you already would. I've saved money at Amazon, Kohl's, Office Depot, etc. I've also gotten 25% back on my magazine subscriptions. Truly a great program.

If you click on the link below, you can sign up and use me as a referral. We'll both get $5 in our Ebates accounts if you sign up and use my email as a referral. In case the link doesn't work, my email is "caivanofamily@earthlink.net".

http://www.ebates.com/rf.do?id=9886812