How the Boys got New Bedrooms, part 2 (aka Roger Gets Grounded)

Previously on A Screed In Time:

Roger’s basement took on some water. Roger was told by his teenaged, video game playing sons, that they had cleaned up said water. Roger believed them…

Saturday came and went, the boys insisting that the basement was clean, and my believing them has already been stated. That means one of two things; one, I have great kids that ALWAYS do what they are told, and do it correctly the first time and can be treated as adults, and I cannot even continue that train of thought, or two, Roger is lazy.

I believe that the judge jury and everyone else will unanimously agree with option number two.

Now, before I shut the door completely on Saturday, let me tell you another part of the story – a happy part. Hurricane Ike (okay, not completely happy), decided to blow through the Houston, Texas area and caused some damage to Reliant Stadium and I think even Minute Maid (is that what it’s called) Park took a hit, which made the powers that be at Major League Baseball move the Chicago Cubs versus Houston Astros game to a “neutral” location. Where was that “neutral” location located?

Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Yes, the Milwaukee, Wisconsin that is a mere ninety miles from Chicago. Houston didn’t have a choice, or at least any friends in the commissioner’s office, and had to travel to the “neutral” ballpark.

I think they announced this at 9:00pm.

At 9:01, my son Andy – the big Cubs fan in the family, was calling and asking if we could go. Sure, I say. I mean there was nothing wrong with the house or basement, right? After all, the boys did say that they cleaned it up, and to my credit, I did ask them again.

No, I still didn’t go and check. (Please turn those glares off, I am just an innocent victim of circumstance here, really, {no, I don’t believe that. I know I was a BAD BOY}).

The good news – we got tickets, eight rows from the field. You can see some of them here, and they were worth every penny spent on them. Now, we had never been to Miller Park before, but I can tell you this, I would like to go back. It’s a great place to see a baseball game – and the food isn’t half bad either.

The GREAT news, we witnessed a no-hitter!

Monday comes and goes without any problems, I even got up and to work on time. It was a long day the day before with Mass, and the baseball game and all. Plus my “alarm clock” Jenni was still in Minneapolis. I called Benjy from work, reminding him that his mother and siblings were coming home and that he should do a good cleaning. I did not mention the basement; because well, I was under the impression that it was cleaned up already, remember.

Meanwhile, Jenni was on her way home from visiting her brother and his family, and it was not going good from the start.

We got a GPS unit for the van to help with our travels. Now, I personally don’t care for a GPS, because in all honesty I have never had any problems reading a map or figuring out how to get somewhere. I only appear to be lost to someone that is not aware of my mind (God Bless Them), and how it works. I think there are examples of that here on this blog in fact, just look around.

Anyway, the GPS told Jenni to turn left, when she KNEW that she should be turning right. So, I get a phone call, and proceed to pull up a map of the Twin Cities, problem solved, until Madison, Wisconsin. I told Jenni to stay on I-94 when she left Minnesota, thinking that the GPS would be okay by the time she hit Madison and had to switch to I-39/I-90.

Another phone call - turns out Mr. GPS is sending my family towards Milwaukee. That would be a really long way to go, plus you would have to deal with some really bad traffic. I get her to turn off onto a smaller highway, and give her directions back to I-39/I-90, and we lose our connection. She calls back later telling me that the GPS is sending her back north towards - uh no, you want to go south… and the phone cut out again.

Back to Benjy, at home cleaning (yeah, right), I again warn him that his mother will not be in a good mood and to make extra sure that the house is cleaned up.

I decided to leave work early, anyway. I think you can guess as to what kind of “cleaning” young master Benjy did. I called Jenni to gauge her timing, and she said that she was in Madison – an obvious lie, as she showed up fifteen minutes later.

There are times in married life, when you know that things are not going to go your way.

You would think that I would remember that, especially after sixteen years of marriage.

I did not.

To be continued…