We don't have a sprinkler system and that is absolutely the number one issue. It's so hard to be consistent with watering the lawn without one. However, the very close runner up issue is that every summer we leave for at least 2 weeks (more like 3) to visit my family in the midwest. Most years my hubby has had to stay home to teach summer school (and to take a golfing trip with a few close friends). Well, let's just get real and admit that this is when the system breaks down.
My hubby is not a lawn guy. He doesn't really do consistency very well either - especially without the rest of us around. In fact, by the end of our trip, he's kind of a pathetic mess. He is lost without us. Which, I actually have to admit, I'm glad about. I'm glad that he misses us like crazy and that he feels lost without us.
The lawn going to crap is not all his fault though. After we get home, the routine of taking care of the yard is shot to hell for me! I haven't had to think about it for several weeks and it takes a while to get back into the groove. By the time I do, it's just too late. So, we settle for grass that looks like crap and that is on life support for the rest of the summer.
This last summer we vowed that we were going to install a sprinkler system this year. The only problem is that we went on this incredible family vacation this winter (Disneyland) and we were already carrying debt before that due to life - building an awesome new shed last summer to replace our shed that was destroyed by the snow the winter before, car stuff, other needs with life, and having to pay for a trip to the midwest entirely on our own (we usually get some help from my parents with the cost of the trip, since it's a trip that is basically a requirement every year. My grandmas lay on the guilt, let me tell you!). Let me preface this by saying, I really LOVE my family and I LOVE that we have this tradition. It is just that as a one income family with small children, we really don't have it in our budget to pay for this trip every year. I mean we are talking about a trip that costs us at least $2000 (usually more by the time you talk about getting the SUV tuned up for a trip like that, as well as gas, food, hotels, etc) PLUS, with the added bonus of my parents divorce the trip is now even longer and more expensive than before - awesome.
So, the sprinkler system will have to wait.
As far as our yearly trek to the midwest, it is something I absolutely look forward to every summer. It is when I see my aunts/uncles/cousins/grandmas as well as all of my friends from there. When I go, it's always so hard to leave too. I feel so conflicted. I SO relate with that movie 'Sweet Home Alabama' in those times. I love my life in Spokane and yet when I go home and visit my family and so many incredible friends - that fits too! It is so hard to leave them all and I often wish that we lived closer to each other to be able to get together and have coffee and to just stay close. These friends are the kind where we pick up right where we left...it's not just about talking about old times, but really about catching up and remembering how well we really DO know each other and love each other. It sucks to say goodbye!
PLUS, I have these totally different worlds that I feel like I belong to, and I SO wish that people from one world could see the other parts of who I am. I wish that my awesome friends from the midwest could visit me in Spokane and see my home and get a better picture of who I am and my life now. Heck, even my grandmas have no idea about my life here. The only people who have a whole picture of my life are my parents and siblings (thank God). And I wish that people from here could see my life back there and see a bigger picture of my history and have a greater understanding of who I am (and why).
All of that to say, tele-porting would really come in handy for me...anyone have any leads in that?? If so, please contact me!
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