Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Dieter, the meter reader

The kids are in a 3 hour preschool type summer program through the daycare center on base. Since they are both going on the same days of the week and the same hours, this presents me with time to get my running around done without having to drag the kids with me. My ultimate goal was to work out every day, since where I drop them off is a few buildings over from the gym and workout room.

On the first day, I ran into one of the MOMS Club members, who told me there was a free aerobics class held in the gym Monday through Thursday. That works out great for me - I get my workout in by 10 am, and still have an hour and a half to do whatever needs to be done. Now into the second week of this schedule, I realize I'll need Fridays to ride the bike at the gym and unlock my leg muscles. This aerobics instructor does not fool around. By Wednesday of last week, even my toe muscles hurt. I didn't even know I had toe muscles. But, that just means it's working, right? I can't wait for the day when I make it through her entire workout without feeling like I'm going to throw up or throw my shoe at her. I hope I see that much improvement before we leave, if we ever actually get to leave.

Today, I needed to go to the commissary after class. By the time I finished at the commissary, I had just enough time to head to the library before picking up the kids. By the time we got home, the kids were tired and hungry, and I was sore, tired and hungry. I took the easy way out and decided to heat them up some frozen mac and cheese for lunch. The divine Miss S, resident diva, had some sort of meltdown. I have no idea what about other than she kept saying 'juice!", but I filled her cup when we got home, and other than actually pour it into her mouth (which isn't going to happen), there really wasn't more I could do. While I was cooking and then cooling the mac and cheese, I gave the kids a few crackers. Of course, they promptly smashed them to smithereens and dropped them onto the carpet. Thinking that I could get them settled at the table with the m&c, then vacuum quickly, I directed them into the kitchen.

And then the doorbell rings. I painfully go down the steps to see who it is - and it's a man from the electric company here to read our meters. CRAP. I can't do anything but invite him in and cringe as he sees the dust on the steps, the pile of shoes by the door, the laundry hanging up everywhere to dry. There are dirty dishes in the sink, a trail of cracker crumbs from the kitchen to the living room, piles of folded laundry I haven't put away, a pile of beach towels spread out all over the floor from this morning's wrestling session, the TV is on, the fans are on, the playroom is an all out disaster zone because I was looking for library books to return this morning.....you get the idea. The worst of it is that I hate it when the house looks this way. We honestly vacuum at least once a day, usually more. The dishes were in the sink because the dishwasher doesn't completely dry the plastics, so I lazily decided to let them air dry. Sigh...... Germans are so fussy about their houses in general. I haven't sprayed the grass coming up through the driveway yet, and I haven't cleaned the windows in over a month. Plus, the kids have m&c spread all over their faces, the table, and on the floor, but want to come with me to see Dieter read our meters (we have two). As we head downstairs (to the clean part of the house, by the way) I see this enormous spider web that stretches from the ceiling halfway down the stairway wall. I don't have anything tall enough to get it down, either. Sheesh.

But Dieter reads the meters and takes off, at which point I start to clean frantically since no one will see it now, but at least I'll know it's done. No wonder the Germans around here think the Americans are dirty pigs!

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