Tuesday, February 03, 2009

Shut it off at the thingie/keep it somewhere warm.

I'm such a mom. Really. I always considered myself very hands-off where the lives of other people are concerned - especially when those other people are my children. But, apparently not.

My almost-21-year-old son moved out for the second time on Sunday, into an old house which is, presumably, in need of repair. The owner has agreed to trade work on the house for rent, and J-dub is naturally gung-ho about that. So just now he came home to check his Facebook and Myspace, and asked where I'd stored a gallon of wall primer he knew I had. I found the paint and handed it over, because God knows my lazy ass won't be using it any time in the near future, then I began asking him if he needed dishwasher soap, toilet paper, floor cleaner, carpet shampoo.

"No, Mom, we're going to the store to get all that, and a ceiling light, because the living room has no lights in it." He said something about an exhaust fan in the middle of the ceiling (???), and he was going to put a light there.

I said, "Do you know how to do wiring? Do you know you have to shut it off at the thingie?"

He laughed, of course. Silly me; he might still be a little bit blonde, but he'll never be as blonde as his mother.

After I filled his arms with a baggie full of dishwasher soap, a bottle of Dawn dish detergent, and assorted other necessities, I said, "Don't forget your paint can." As he leaned over to pick it up I added, "Keep it somewhere warm!"

The only reason I could see him smiling as he walked out the door was because he was shaking his head from side to side.

13 comments:

countrygirl005 said...

lol.. you sound like my mom ;)

AK™ said...

fun times.
:)

MauritaMason said...

Rachel, I'm not surprised!

AK, well...it's good we can laugh about it. And it's nice that he keeps coming back home. When he needs something.

becomingkate said...

It seems weird thinking about my daughter moving out, but that's coming up soon. It's also nice to hear that they return a lot.

Dickingtonbar II said...

at least you stopped short of asking him if he needed to pee before he left the house!

Simon Butler said...

Okay, sorry for this being off-topic, but I was reading in Blogger’s help pages for would-be template designers that the majority of people never look at the contents of a blog’s sidebar. This seems to be borne out by the fact that I’ve only just noticed your claim that you have used the alias ‘Fred’.

I think you’re making this up, and only inserted it to see if anyone was actually reading the bloody thing.


(Oh yes – very useful technical term, ‘thingie’. I find myself using it a lot. The term, I mean.)

Anneal said...

Doo hickys are important too...turn the doo hicky to the left when you're done...you know?

MauritaMason said...

Kate, I think it may be different with daughters, but I can't say for sure.

DB, just!

Simon, it's true. Fred is a nickname hubby gave me years ago, when he would say, "Ready, Freddie?" Eventually it became just Fred.

Thingies are so versatile! I don't think they can ever be overused.

Anneal, I keep my doohickey next to my thingamabob.

Marchelle said...

Oh I bet he's in heaven!!

MauritaMason said...

Marchelle, yes he is. At least til the money runs out!

Linda said...

we are moms forever!

Fijufic said...

21 and full of energy!!!!

doanli said...

You sound like a wonderful mother to me.

:)!