Earning Your Sleep...

This week has been day after day of earning my sleep.  I am in dire need of some quality sleep, a long bubble bath with some warm tea and my favorite DVD playing, and a mani/pedi.  Heck, getting my hair trimmed (which I've been trying to do for months now) would be nice!  But when you're a busy momma, what you want or need often comes last.  Am I right, ladies?  Even when I ask for help, which is rarely, it often ends up exhausting me even more than had I done everything myself.  So here is a classic little story to illustrate this for you:

I was hosting our annual Thanksgiving Part Deux, although that year it was before part one.  (I always have a repeat holiday dinner, because we go to one side of the family or the other for Thanksgiving and Easter.  The sequel is for the family we didn't see, and since we're cooking anyway, usually the Mom we did see also gets to come for dinner.)  We have a large family, and we sometimes extend the invitation to friends.  Every family invited usually brings a dish to the dinner.  Of course, we have that couple that always wants to bring a bag of chips to a sit down dinner with wine.  This particular year, though, the female half of that couple asked me to let her know what I'd like her to bring.  This is the story of that conversation....

Me- So I'm having Thanksgiving dinner at the house on the 11th. Can you bring a hot vegetable with you?
Her- Oh that sounds fun. I'll bring a veggie tray with dip and cut up vegetables.
Me- Oh, don't do all that. Just a hot vegetable would be great. Like corn or greenie beanies, you like greenie beanies.
Her- Oh okay! That's great then, I'll bring cheese and crackers.
Me- It's thanksgiving, we have a turkey, sweet potatoes, and pies but no veggies. How about a hot vegetable.
Her- When you decide what you want me to do just let me know then.
Me- How about a hot vegetable.
Her - Okay then, so just give me a call when you know what I should bring.
Me- *sigh* I'll call you when I've talked to everyone else.

Two days later...
Phone message from Her- So I'm here at the grocery store and I decided cutting up vegetables is too much with work and all (bloggers note... dinner is on a saturday evening a day Her doesn't work at all) and since I didn't know what you were tryin to do or what you wanted me to do or what I should do or what you wanted (bloggers note HOW ABOUT A HOT F*&KIN' VEGETABLE!) I decided to order a shrimp tray. That'll be nice.
 
Short version
-Bring a hot vegetable
-Okay I'll bring cold cut up veggies and dip
-Bring a hot vegetable
-Okay, I'll bring cheese and crackers
-Bring a hot vegetable
-Okay, when you know what I should bring tell me later
-I give up for the moment, call you later.
-Okay, I have no idea what is going on. I'll bring a shrimp tray.
 
I asked my mother her opinion and wondered if shrimp tray ever meant cranberry sauce or stuffing and gravy or if shrimp tray actually meant just shrimp on a tray. My mother informed me that it is not actually shrimp on a tray, (woo hoo! there is hope!) it's shrimp and cocktail sauce on a tray! (sonofabitch!) How does someone get an idea for shrimp on thanksgiving anyway? Who ever heard of a shimpucopia, or who is gonna stuff the little shrimp butts with stovetop stuffing? Mom says just stick the shrimp in a casserole dish and put those crunchy onion things on top. *Sigh* I just somehow don't think the pilgrims and indians ate shrimp together. Maybe they did and sat at that big long table and watched the head of the household carve the mighty shrimp. Is there a choice between light and dark shrimp? Would it be horrible of me to call her and tell her to forget it just bring soda and if that's too hard just don't bring anything? Or would it be too impolite to tell her we'll wait until after our thanksgiving meal to put the shrimp out? I know that if I've stood over the hot oven for hours and hours basting a turkey and cooking my casserole that makes me peel and cut a million huge, rock hard sweet potatoes for hours that if my guests are piggin out on shrimp and pass on the turkey I'm gonna shrivel up and die. 

So there is a perfect example of how asking for help tends to give me a bigger headache than I have doing things myself!  So that being said, I have done everything myself today, and with that little 13 lb angel clinging to me while refusing to nap, so off to bed to pass out I go!