DH makes me be the bad guy

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP soooo how’s your marriage outside of this?

I think we all know how it's going, lol

Can’t be good..

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:It made me sad to read this, OP. You're understandably tired and burned out, which has quashed your sense of joy and fun. Your DH does need to be more sensitive but you also can work on not sweating the small stuff quite so much. I guarantee you they don't care if your kitchen is a mess. If they're offering to pick up extra food and supplies, and your DH is grilling, doesn't sound too bad (and quietly tell DH he'll need to take on x, y, and z to make this work). You could view it as a kind of a break and focus on the nice, social connection piece.

OP and I love that I'm getting blamed for not having joy and not being willing to stay up an extra two hours to host people I barely know and that I'm supposed to consider events dictated by other people on their schedule as my "break". I'd much rather have a DH who is perceptive enough to see that I'm tired, come home on time, make dinner and clean up so I can have a break of my choosing and do something I actually find restorative.

Wasn't your husband grilling? And couldn't you put him on clean-up duty, too? What's the big deal? Truly.

I didn't want to postpone my meal prep until 9 pm and do it in DH's version of a clean kitchen, and I didn't want to have to hang out with a bunch of people and help parent their feral kids on a work night. I wanted to eat a quick meal at home, clean the kitchen, send some work emails and read in bed before falling asleep early. That's the big deal.

The problem is that you feel entitled to have the evening go exactly how you want. It is obvious that, in your mind, you have the high ground because your husband has been traveling for work. And you seem to be extremely rigid about your plans. It doesn't make you the bad guy, but it's not as though DH's request was something crazy. But if you feel bad because you had to insist to get what you want, instead of your DH just silently going along with it regardless of what he wanted to do, then that's for you to figure out. I doubt your daughter or these family friends have given it a second thought. And frankly, it sounds like you've got a martyr complex and are really building resentment, which isn't good for anybody.

Also, you and others are making it seem like DH is just playing on easy mode, but traveling for work and then accompanying the daughter to the pool is not a vacation. And frankly, if you can't get basic household chores done and meals prepped for a week in the time that they were at the pool, it sounds like you are pretty inefficient. So, yeah, maybe OP is the bad guy!

You're right. I do feel entitled to have a few hours of the weekend scheduled the way I want it. That's because Sun-Fri or Mon-Fri (depending on DH's travel) are weeks when every hour of my day is totally dictated by other people's needs. From 6 am-10 pm, I am doing things on the schedule of others. DH has a lot of downtime during his travel weeks as evidenced by the fun photos he sends me of various places and his ability to work out and pursue his hobbies while on work travel. He flies first or business and stays in fabulous hotels. He would even acknowledge that. I am really uptight about my 1-2 hours per week of getting to go to bed early and enjoy a book.

Your kids are at camp all day during the week, and you had Saturday to get stuff done (because I doubt that your "running the kids around" on Saturday took the whole day, and then you had all of Sunday, including it seems many hours alone at home while the rest of the family was at the pool. From your posts, it just doesn't sound like you have that much to do that you couldn't get it all done and still have some downtime. So you are trying to sound like a martyr, and now "the bad guy," but what you describe does not sound that onerous.

It seems like the real problem is that you feel like you are doing more work than him, and that he was not showing the proper acknowledgment and respect for that when he asked another family over for dinner. So stop making it seem like you spent all weekend at the coal mine, and just acknowledge that you are resentful that his work week involves travel, which you seem to think is easy mode. My guess is that everyone at your house is aware of your resentment and martyr complex.

My Saturday schedule, not that this hostile PP deserves it:

9 am kid 1 swim lesson
10-12 pm kid 2 activity
Packed lunch at pool because no time to come home
1 pm kid birthday party, took other kid back to pool to swim during that time
3 pm, birthday party pickup, took kids home
3:30 big grocery shop for produce/meat/perishables that can't be left out in the heat (everything else delivered during the week)
5:30 pm made dinner

I don't know what other people's Saturdays are like but that's what I consider "running around". I didn't have Saturday to get stuff done, because I was dealing with the kids so DH could sleep in and rest, as I said from the beginning.

OK, so presumably you don't have birthday parties to drive to during the day, and you said that your DH did laundry on Saturday. You did the grocery shop. Certainly other time in that day, plus ALL OF SUNDAY to . . . what? Meal prep. Maybe straighten up the house. I get it, you think you are working so hard, but it just doesn't read like that.

DP. I thought it was funny how much of her "running around" schedule was spent at the pool after she painted that as practically a vacation.

OP and my 6 year old was the one I had with me for free swim. I am required to be in the water with them at arm's length when they are in the pool for free swim until they are 8 per our pool's rules! We had an hour in the water by the time we got the older one to and from the birthday party. Two hours at the pool just chilling would be fun...by myself. Less so when it's arguing about sunscreen and generally standing around in the water.

DH did his travel laundry and slept in. I don't rely on him to do laundry for the entire house because he just wanders away and leaves the first load in the washing machine wet until he leaves on Monday. Sunday we went to church and lunch with DH's parents and that ate up most of the morning and early afternoon.

So when your DH was with the kids at the pool on Sunday, was that also work for him? You make it seem like he was just relaxing by himself.

The trickle of information about the additional burdens just seems like you are making things up. So your DH always fails at laundry? He really doesn't help with any of the other weekend chores when he is home alone on Saturday? I doubt he slept all Saturday, unless his job involves international travel and he was jet lagged.

I'm still not clear why having from lunchtime to 6pm alone at home was not enough time to meal prep for the week and handle other normal weekend chores. But I agree with the other PP -- have him take the kids to the pool on Saturday, or do the birthday party drive, or whatever. Maybe skip lunch with his parents on Sunday. It seems like you would rather be bitter than solve your problems. And when you hold onto bitterness, you end up feeling like the "bad guy" because, to most people, you are.

Are you writing up her performance review?

Back up.

I'm just puzzled how she can obviously waste time and yet be so totally stressed out. Maybe she should get on some Ritalin.

It's hard to function when you're emotionally unwell or seriously stressed over a relationship issue for whatever reason. It's easier to vent on DCUM than get your work done.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:It made me sad to read this, OP. You're understandably tired and burned out, which has quashed your sense of joy and fun. Your DH does need to be more sensitive but you also can work on not sweating the small stuff quite so much. I guarantee you they don't care if your kitchen is a mess. If they're offering to pick up extra food and supplies, and your DH is grilling, doesn't sound too bad (and quietly tell DH he'll need to take on x, y, and z to make this work). You could view it as a kind of a break and focus on the nice, social connection piece.

OP and I love that I'm getting blamed for not having joy and not being willing to stay up an extra two hours to host people I barely know and that I'm supposed to consider events dictated by other people on their schedule as my "break". I'd much rather have a DH who is perceptive enough to see that I'm tired, come home on time, make dinner and clean up so I can have a break of my choosing and do something I actually find restorative.

Wasn't your husband grilling? And couldn't you put him on clean-up duty, too? What's the big deal? Truly.

I didn't want to postpone my meal prep until 9 pm and do it in DH's version of a clean kitchen, and I didn't want to have to hang out with a bunch of people and help parent their feral kids on a work night. I wanted to eat a quick meal at home, clean the kitchen, send some work emails and read in bed before falling asleep early. That's the big deal.

The problem is that you feel entitled to have the evening go exactly how you want. It is obvious that, in your mind, you have the high ground because your husband has been traveling for work. And you seem to be extremely rigid about your plans. It doesn't make you the bad guy, but it's not as though DH's request was something crazy. But if you feel bad because you had to insist to get what you want, instead of your DH just silently going along with it regardless of what he wanted to do, then that's for you to figure out. I doubt your daughter or these family friends have given it a second thought. And frankly, it sounds like you've got a martyr complex and are really building resentment, which isn't good for anybody.

Also, you and others are making it seem like DH is just playing on easy mode, but traveling for work and then accompanying the daughter to the pool is not a vacation. And frankly, if you can't get basic household chores done and meals prepped for a week in the time that they were at the pool, it sounds like you are pretty inefficient. So, yeah, maybe OP is the bad guy!

You're right. I do feel entitled to have a few hours of the weekend scheduled the way I want it. That's because Sun-Fri or Mon-Fri (depending on DH's travel) are weeks when every hour of my day is totally dictated by other people's needs. From 6 am-10 pm, I am doing things on the schedule of others. DH has a lot of downtime during his travel weeks as evidenced by the fun photos he sends me of various places and his ability to work out and pursue his hobbies while on work travel. He flies first or business and stays in fabulous hotels. He would even acknowledge that. I am really uptight about my 1-2 hours per week of getting to go to bed early and enjoy a book.

Your kids are at camp all day during the week, and you had Saturday to get stuff done (because I doubt that your "running the kids around" on Saturday took the whole day, and then you had all of Sunday, including it seems many hours alone at home while the rest of the family was at the pool. From your posts, it just doesn't sound like you have that much to do that you couldn't get it all done and still have some downtime. So you are trying to sound like a martyr, and now "the bad guy," but what you describe does not sound that onerous.

It seems like the real problem is that you feel like you are doing more work than him, and that he was not showing the proper acknowledgment and respect for that when he asked another family over for dinner. So stop making it seem like you spent all weekend at the coal mine, and just acknowledge that you are resentful that his work week involves travel, which you seem to think is easy mode. My guess is that everyone at your house is aware of your resentment and martyr complex.

My Saturday schedule, not that this hostile PP deserves it:

9 am kid 1 swim lesson
10-12 pm kid 2 activity
Packed lunch at pool because no time to come home
1 pm kid birthday party, took other kid back to pool to swim during that time
3 pm, birthday party pickup, took kids home
3:30 big grocery shop for produce/meat/perishables that can't be left out in the heat (everything else delivered during the week)
5:30 pm made dinner

I don't know what other people's Saturdays are like but that's what I consider "running around". I didn't have Saturday to get stuff done, because I was dealing with the kids so DH could sleep in and rest, as I said from the beginning.

OK, so presumably you don't have birthday parties to drive to during the day, and you said that your DH did laundry on Saturday. You did the grocery shop. Certainly other time in that day, plus ALL OF SUNDAY to . . . what? Meal prep. Maybe straighten up the house. I get it, you think you are working so hard, but it just doesn't read like that.

DP. I thought it was funny how much of her "running around" schedule was spent at the pool after she painted that as practically a vacation.

OP and my 6 year old was the one I had with me for free swim. I am required to be in the water with them at arm's length when they are in the pool for free swim until they are 8 per our pool's rules! We had an hour in the water by the time we got the older one to and from the birthday party. Two hours at the pool just chilling would be fun...by myself. Less so when it's arguing about sunscreen and generally standing around in the water.

DH did his travel laundry and slept in. I don't rely on him to do laundry for the entire house because he just wanders away and leaves the first load in the washing machine wet until he leaves on Monday. Sunday we went to church and lunch with DH's parents and that ate up most of the morning and early afternoon.

So when your DH was with the kids at the pool on Sunday, was that also work for him? You make it seem like he was just relaxing by himself.

The trickle of information about the additional burdens just seems like you are making things up. So your DH always fails at laundry? He really doesn't help with any of the other weekend chores when he is home alone on Saturday? I doubt he slept all Saturday, unless his job involves international travel and he was jet lagged.

I'm still not clear why having from lunchtime to 6pm alone at home was not enough time to meal prep for the week and handle other normal weekend chores. But I agree with the other PP -- have him take the kids to the pool on Saturday, or do the birthday party drive, or whatever. Maybe skip lunch with his parents on Sunday. It seems like you would rather be bitter than solve your problems. And when you hold onto bitterness, you end up feeling like the "bad guy" because, to most people, you are.

Are you writing up her performance review?

Back up.

I'm just puzzled how she can obviously waste time and yet be so totally stressed out. Maybe she should get on some Ritalin.

Because you’re not trying to understand. Can you go comment on a fashion mistake; or get hyper focused on one of the food threads instead ?I’m sure there is a special-needs family or a poor you can nitpick somewhere.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP soooo how’s your marriage outside of this?

I think we all know how it's going, lol

Can’t be good..

They’ve said it’s a tough time. Everyone is maxed out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It made me sad to read this, OP. You're understandably tired and burned out, which has quashed your sense of joy and fun. Your DH does need to be more sensitive but you also can work on not sweating the small stuff quite so much. I guarantee you they don't care if your kitchen is a mess. If they're offering to pick up extra food and supplies, and your DH is grilling, doesn't sound too bad (and quietly tell DH he'll need to take on x, y, and z to make this work). You could view it as a kind of a break and focus on the nice, social connection piece.

OP and I love that I'm getting blamed for not having joy and not being willing to stay up an extra two hours to host people I barely know and that I'm supposed to consider events dictated by other people on their schedule as my "break". I'd much rather have a DH who is perceptive enough to see that I'm tired, come home on time, make dinner and clean up so I can have a break of my choosing and do something I actually find restorative.

Wasn't your husband grilling? And couldn't you put him on clean-up duty, too? What's the big deal? Truly.

I didn't want to postpone my meal prep until 9 pm and do it in DH's version of a clean kitchen, and I didn't want to have to hang out with a bunch of people and help parent their feral kids on a work night. I wanted to eat a quick meal at home, clean the kitchen, send some work emails and read in bed before falling asleep early. That's the big deal.

The problem is that you feel entitled to have the evening go exactly how you want. It is obvious that, in your mind, you have the high ground because your husband has been traveling for work. And you seem to be extremely rigid about your plans. It doesn't make you the bad guy, but it's not as though DH's request was something crazy. But if you feel bad because you had to insist to get what you want, instead of your DH just silently going along with it regardless of what he wanted to do, then that's for you to figure out. I doubt your daughter or these family friends have given it a second thought. And frankly, it sounds like you've got a martyr complex and are really building resentment, which isn't good for anybody.

Also, you and others are making it seem like DH is just playing on easy mode, but traveling for work and then accompanying the daughter to the pool is not a vacation. And frankly, if you can't get basic household chores done and meals prepped for a week in the time that they were at the pool, it sounds like you are pretty inefficient. So, yeah, maybe OP is the bad guy!

You're right. I do feel entitled to have a few hours of the weekend scheduled the way I want it. That's because Sun-Fri or Mon-Fri (depending on DH's travel) are weeks when every hour of my day is totally dictated by other people's needs. From 6 am-10 pm, I am doing things on the schedule of others. DH has a lot of downtime during his travel weeks as evidenced by the fun photos he sends me of various places and his ability to work out and pursue his hobbies while on work travel. He flies first or business and stays in fabulous hotels. He would even acknowledge that. I am really uptight about my 1-2 hours per week of getting to go to bed early and enjoy a book.

Your kids are at camp all day during the week, and you had Saturday to get stuff done (because I doubt that your "running the kids around" on Saturday took the whole day, and then you had all of Sunday, including it seems many hours alone at home while the rest of the family was at the pool. From your posts, it just doesn't sound like you have that much to do that you couldn't get it all done and still have some downtime. So you are trying to sound like a martyr, and now "the bad guy," but what you describe does not sound that onerous.

It seems like the real problem is that you feel like you are doing more work than him, and that he was not showing the proper acknowledgment and respect for that when he asked another family over for dinner. So stop making it seem like you spent all weekend at the coal mine, and just acknowledge that you are resentful that his work week involves travel, which you seem to think is easy mode. My guess is that everyone at your house is aware of your resentment and martyr complex.

My Saturday schedule, not that this hostile PP deserves it:

9 am kid 1 swim lesson
10-12 pm kid 2 activity
Packed lunch at pool because no time to come home
1 pm kid birthday party, took other kid back to pool to swim during that time
3 pm, birthday party pickup, took kids home
3:30 big grocery shop for produce/meat/perishables that can't be left out in the heat (everything else delivered during the week)
5:30 pm made dinner

I don't know what other people's Saturdays are like but that's what I consider "running around". I didn't have Saturday to get stuff done, because I was dealing with the kids so DH could sleep in and rest, as I said from the beginning.

OK, so presumably you don't have birthday parties to drive to during the day, and you said that your DH did laundry on Saturday. You did the grocery shop. Certainly other time in that day, plus ALL OF SUNDAY to . . . what? Meal prep. Maybe straighten up the house. I get it, you think you are working so hard, but it just doesn't read like that.

DP. I thought it was funny how much of her "running around" schedule was spent at the pool after she painted that as practically a vacation.

OP and my 6 year old was the one I had with me for free swim. I am required to be in the water with them at arm's length when they are in the pool for free swim until they are 8 per our pool's rules! We had an hour in the water by the time we got the older one to and from the birthday party. Two hours at the pool just chilling would be fun...by myself. Less so when it's arguing about sunscreen and generally standing around in the water.

DH did his travel laundry and slept in. I don't rely on him to do laundry for the entire house because he just wanders away and leaves the first load in the washing machine wet until he leaves on Monday. Sunday we went to church and lunch with DH's parents and that ate up most of the morning and early afternoon.

Now you're WHINING about going to the pool? You've decided to be miserable and there's nothing that can talk you out of it. Hopefully your kids don't know how much you hate them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It made me sad to read this, OP. You're understandably tired and burned out, which has quashed your sense of joy and fun. Your DH does need to be more sensitive but you also can work on not sweating the small stuff quite so much. I guarantee you they don't care if your kitchen is a mess. If they're offering to pick up extra food and supplies, and your DH is grilling, doesn't sound too bad (and quietly tell DH he'll need to take on x, y, and z to make this work). You could view it as a kind of a break and focus on the nice, social connection piece.

OP and I love that I'm getting blamed for not having joy and not being willing to stay up an extra two hours to host people I barely know and that I'm supposed to consider events dictated by other people on their schedule as my "break". I'd much rather have a DH who is perceptive enough to see that I'm tired, come home on time, make dinner and clean up so I can have a break of my choosing and do something I actually find restorative.

Wasn't your husband grilling? And couldn't you put him on clean-up duty, too? What's the big deal? Truly.

I didn't want to postpone my meal prep until 9 pm and do it in DH's version of a clean kitchen, and I didn't want to have to hang out with a bunch of people and help parent their feral kids on a work night. I wanted to eat a quick meal at home, clean the kitchen, send some work emails and read in bed before falling asleep early. That's the big deal.

The problem is that you feel entitled to have the evening go exactly how you want. It is obvious that, in your mind, you have the high ground because your husband has been traveling for work. And you seem to be extremely rigid about your plans. It doesn't make you the bad guy, but it's not as though DH's request was something crazy. But if you feel bad because you had to insist to get what you want, instead of your DH just silently going along with it regardless of what he wanted to do, then that's for you to figure out. I doubt your daughter or these family friends have given it a second thought. And frankly, it sounds like you've got a martyr complex and are really building resentment, which isn't good for anybody.

Also, you and others are making it seem like DH is just playing on easy mode, but traveling for work and then accompanying the daughter to the pool is not a vacation. And frankly, if you can't get basic household chores done and meals prepped for a week in the time that they were at the pool, it sounds like you are pretty inefficient. So, yeah, maybe OP is the bad guy!

You're right. I do feel entitled to have a few hours of the weekend scheduled the way I want it. That's because Sun-Fri or Mon-Fri (depending on DH's travel) are weeks when every hour of my day is totally dictated by other people's needs. From 6 am-10 pm, I am doing things on the schedule of others. DH has a lot of downtime during his travel weeks as evidenced by the fun photos he sends me of various places and his ability to work out and pursue his hobbies while on work travel. He flies first or business and stays in fabulous hotels. He would even acknowledge that. I am really uptight about my 1-2 hours per week of getting to go to bed early and enjoy a book.

Your kids are at camp all day during the week, and you had Saturday to get stuff done (because I doubt that your "running the kids around" on Saturday took the whole day, and then you had all of Sunday, including it seems many hours alone at home while the rest of the family was at the pool. From your posts, it just doesn't sound like you have that much to do that you couldn't get it all done and still have some downtime. So you are trying to sound like a martyr, and now "the bad guy," but what you describe does not sound that onerous.

It seems like the real problem is that you feel like you are doing more work than him, and that he was not showing the proper acknowledgment and respect for that when he asked another family over for dinner. So stop making it seem like you spent all weekend at the coal mine, and just acknowledge that you are resentful that his work week involves travel, which you seem to think is easy mode. My guess is that everyone at your house is aware of your resentment and martyr complex.

My Saturday schedule, not that this hostile PP deserves it:

9 am kid 1 swim lesson
10-12 pm kid 2 activity
Packed lunch at pool because no time to come home
1 pm kid birthday party, took other kid back to pool to swim during that time
3 pm, birthday party pickup, took kids home
3:30 big grocery shop for produce/meat/perishables that can't be left out in the heat (everything else delivered during the week)
5:30 pm made dinner

I don't know what other people's Saturdays are like but that's what I consider "running around". I didn't have Saturday to get stuff done, because I was dealing with the kids so DH could sleep in and rest, as I said from the beginning.

OK, so presumably you don't have birthday parties to drive to during the day, and you said that your DH did laundry on Saturday. You did the grocery shop. Certainly other time in that day, plus ALL OF SUNDAY to . . . what? Meal prep. Maybe straighten up the house. I get it, you think you are working so hard, but it just doesn't read like that.

DP. I thought it was funny how much of her "running around" schedule was spent at the pool after she painted that as practically a vacation.

OP and my 6 year old was the one I had with me for free swim. I am required to be in the water with them at arm's length when they are in the pool for free swim until they are 8 per our pool's rules! We had an hour in the water by the time we got the older one to and from the birthday party. Two hours at the pool just chilling would be fun...by myself. Less so when it's arguing about sunscreen and generally standing around in the water.

DH did his travel laundry and slept in. I don't rely on him to do laundry for the entire house because he just wanders away and leaves the first load in the washing machine wet until he leaves on Monday. Sunday we went to church and lunch with DH's parents and that ate up most of the morning and early afternoon.

Now you're WHINING about going to the pool? You've decided to be miserable and there's nothing that can talk you out of it. Hopefully your kids don't know how much you hate them.

Ohhhhhhhh. Burn. You’re so clever!

[Anonymous]

OP you sound very stressed. From your kids work, chores , your husband - all of it.

I’d try to have a basic convo w your husband on all of it. Literally sounds like you need a BREAK.

Can you consider a PT babysitter? A HS schooler in the neighborhood?

Good Luck!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP soooo how’s your marriage outside of this?

I think we all know how it's going, lol

Can’t be good..

They’ve said it’s a tough time. Everyone is maxed out.

This. People who haven't experienced it should try not to judge. Not everyone has the resources to outsource domestic duties at a given time. OP is tired, which is perfectly understandable to those of us who've done the working/geographic single parent juggle. It's exhausting. But agree with a PP good communication and mutual consideration are the best tool for getting through it. OP can work on the former, her DH on the latter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It made me sad to read this, OP. You're understandably tired and burned out, which has quashed your sense of joy and fun. Your DH does need to be more sensitive but you also can work on not sweating the small stuff quite so much. I guarantee you they don't care if your kitchen is a mess. If they're offering to pick up extra food and supplies, and your DH is grilling, doesn't sound too bad (and quietly tell DH he'll need to take on x, y, and z to make this work). You could view it as a kind of a break and focus on the nice, social connection piece.

OP and I love that I'm getting blamed for not having joy and not being willing to stay up an extra two hours to host people I barely know and that I'm supposed to consider events dictated by other people on their schedule as my "break". I'd much rather have a DH who is perceptive enough to see that I'm tired, come home on time, make dinner and clean up so I can have a break of my choosing and do something I actually find restorative.

Wasn't your husband grilling? And couldn't you put him on clean-up duty, too? What's the big deal? Truly.

I didn't want to postpone my meal prep until 9 pm and do it in DH's version of a clean kitchen, and I didn't want to have to hang out with a bunch of people and help parent their feral kids on a work night. I wanted to eat a quick meal at home, clean the kitchen, send some work emails and read in bed before falling asleep early. That's the big deal.

The problem is that you feel entitled to have the evening go exactly how you want. It is obvious that, in your mind, you have the high ground because your husband has been traveling for work. And you seem to be extremely rigid about your plans. It doesn't make you the bad guy, but it's not as though DH's request was something crazy. But if you feel bad because you had to insist to get what you want, instead of your DH just silently going along with it regardless of what he wanted to do, then that's for you to figure out. I doubt your daughter or these family friends have given it a second thought. And frankly, it sounds like you've got a martyr complex and are really building resentment, which isn't good for anybody.

Also, you and others are making it seem like DH is just playing on easy mode, but traveling for work and then accompanying the daughter to the pool is not a vacation. And frankly, if you can't get basic household chores done and meals prepped for a week in the time that they were at the pool, it sounds like you are pretty inefficient. So, yeah, maybe OP is the bad guy!

You're right. I do feel entitled to have a few hours of the weekend scheduled the way I want it. That's because Sun-Fri or Mon-Fri (depending on DH's travel) are weeks when every hour of my day is totally dictated by other people's needs. From 6 am-10 pm, I am doing things on the schedule of others. DH has a lot of downtime during his travel weeks as evidenced by the fun photos he sends me of various places and his ability to work out and pursue his hobbies while on work travel. He flies first or business and stays in fabulous hotels. He would even acknowledge that. I am really uptight about my 1-2 hours per week of getting to go to bed early and enjoy a book.

OP, I think that is completely legitimate and I would feel the same way.

Were the birthday parties drop off? I went somewhere nearby and read in those days. Sometimes I walked in better weather. You have to take time that’s available even if it’s bite sized.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It made me sad to read this, OP. You're understandably tired and burned out, which has quashed your sense of joy and fun. Your DH does need to be more sensitive but you also can work on not sweating the small stuff quite so much. I guarantee you they don't care if your kitchen is a mess. If they're offering to pick up extra food and supplies, and your DH is grilling, doesn't sound too bad (and quietly tell DH he'll need to take on x, y, and z to make this work). You could view it as a kind of a break and focus on the nice, social connection piece.

OP and I love that I'm getting blamed for not having joy and not being willing to stay up an extra two hours to host people I barely know and that I'm supposed to consider events dictated by other people on their schedule as my "break". I'd much rather have a DH who is perceptive enough to see that I'm tired, come home on time, make dinner and clean up so I can have a break of my choosing and do something I actually find restorative.

Wasn't your husband grilling? And couldn't you put him on clean-up duty, too? What's the big deal? Truly.

I didn't want to postpone my meal prep until 9 pm and do it in DH's version of a clean kitchen, and I didn't want to have to hang out with a bunch of people and help parent their feral kids on a work night. I wanted to eat a quick meal at home, clean the kitchen, send some work emails and read in bed before falling asleep early. That's the big deal.

The problem is that you feel entitled to have the evening go exactly how you want. It is obvious that, in your mind, you have the high ground because your husband has been traveling for work. And you seem to be extremely rigid about your plans. It doesn't make you the bad guy, but it's not as though DH's request was something crazy. But if you feel bad because you had to insist to get what you want, instead of your DH just silently going along with it regardless of what he wanted to do, then that's for you to figure out. I doubt your daughter or these family friends have given it a second thought. And frankly, it sounds like you've got a martyr complex and are really building resentment, which isn't good for anybody.

Also, you and others are making it seem like DH is just playing on easy mode, but traveling for work and then accompanying the daughter to the pool is not a vacation. And frankly, if you can't get basic household chores done and meals prepped for a week in the time that they were at the pool, it sounds like you are pretty inefficient. So, yeah, maybe OP is the bad guy!

You're right. I do feel entitled to have a few hours of the weekend scheduled the way I want it. That's because Sun-Fri or Mon-Fri (depending on DH's travel) are weeks when every hour of my day is totally dictated by other people's needs. From 6 am-10 pm, I am doing things on the schedule of others. DH has a lot of downtime during his travel weeks as evidenced by the fun photos he sends me of various places and his ability to work out and pursue his hobbies while on work travel. He flies first or business and stays in fabulous hotels. He would even acknowledge that. I am really uptight about my 1-2 hours per week of getting to go to bed early and enjoy a book.

Your kids are at camp all day during the week, and you had Saturday to get stuff done (because I doubt that your "running the kids around" on Saturday took the whole day, and then you had all of Sunday, including it seems many hours alone at home while the rest of the family was at the pool. From your posts, it just doesn't sound like you have that much to do that you couldn't get it all done and still have some downtime. So you are trying to sound like a martyr, and now "the bad guy," but what you describe does not sound that onerous.

It seems like the real problem is that you feel like you are doing more work than him, and that he was not showing the proper acknowledgment and respect for that when he asked another family over for dinner. So stop making it seem like you spent all weekend at the coal mine, and just acknowledge that you are resentful that his work week involves travel, which you seem to think is easy mode. My guess is that everyone at your house is aware of your resentment and martyr complex.

My Saturday schedule, not that this hostile PP deserves it:

9 am kid 1 swim lesson
10-12 pm kid 2 activity
Packed lunch at pool because no time to come home
1 pm kid birthday party, took other kid back to pool to swim during that time
3 pm, birthday party pickup, took kids home
3:30 big grocery shop for produce/meat/perishables that can't be left out in the heat (everything else delivered during the week)
5:30 pm made dinner

I don't know what other people's Saturdays are like but that's what I consider "running around". I didn't have Saturday to get stuff done, because I was dealing with the kids so DH could sleep in and rest, as I said from the beginning.

OK, so presumably you don't have birthday parties to drive to during the day, and you said that your DH did laundry on Saturday. You did the grocery shop. Certainly other time in that day, plus ALL OF SUNDAY to . . . what? Meal prep. Maybe straighten up the house. I get it, you think you are working so hard, but it just doesn't read like that.

DP. I thought it was funny how much of her "running around" schedule was spent at the pool after she painted that as practically a vacation.

OP and my 6 year old was the one I had with me for free swim. I am required to be in the water with them at arm's length when they are in the pool for free swim until they are 8 per our pool's rules! We had an hour in the water by the time we got the older one to and from the birthday party. Two hours at the pool just chilling would be fun...by myself. Less so when it's arguing about sunscreen and generally standing around in the water.

DH did his travel laundry and slept in. I don't rely on him to do laundry for the entire house because he just wanders away and leaves the first load in the washing machine wet until he leaves on Monday. Sunday we went to church and lunch with DH's parents and that ate up most of the morning and early afternoon.

So when your DH was with the kids at the pool on Sunday, was that also work for him? You make it seem like he was just relaxing by himself.

The trickle of information about the additional burdens just seems like you are making things up. So your DH always fails at laundry? He really doesn't help with any of the other weekend chores when he is home alone on Saturday? I doubt he slept all Saturday, unless his job involves international travel and he was jet lagged.

I'm still not clear why having from lunchtime to 6pm alone at home was not enough time to meal prep for the week and handle other normal weekend chores. But I agree with the other PP -- have him take the kids to the pool on Saturday, or do the birthday party drive, or whatever. Maybe skip lunch with his parents on Sunday. It seems like you would rather be bitter than solve your problems. And when you hold onto bitterness, you end up feeling like the "bad guy" because, to most people, you are.

Are you writing up her performance review?

Back up.

I'm just puzzled how she can obviously waste time and yet be so totally stressed out. Maybe she should get on some Ritalin.

Because you’re not trying to understand. Can you go comment on a fashion mistake; or get hyper focused on one of the food threads instead ?I’m sure there is a special-needs family or a poor you can nitpick somewhere.

What is there to understand? I have three kids, older now than OP's, but I get what it's like to have a lot to do. But her kids are at camp most of the day during the week, and she has weekends -- which she chooses to schedule up with activities. The bottom line is, if you are so hopping mad that you freak out over one request to have people over for a casual cookout on a Sunday night, you need to reassess your priorities and your schedule. She obviously can't handle it, and yes, maybe she needs to have a talk with her husband about being more helpful. But OP sounds like one of those people who'd rather be mad.

[Anonymous]

Def not judging. However, I sense there is a marriage problem in the mix.

OP’s husband’s lack of common basic courtesy is an issue. Calling for a last min party while fun - on speaker phone ? Is he 9?

OPs tight schedule is simply how she’s able to manage while her husband is traveling the world weekly.

I can’t all the way fault her for being pissed w that request.

Anyways, have a convo w your husband on all of it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Def not judging. However, I sense there is a marriage problem in the mix.

OP’s husband’s lack of common basic courtesy is an issue. Calling for a last min party while fun - on speaker phone ? Is he 9?

OPs tight schedule is simply how she’s able to manage while her husband is traveling the world weekly.

I can’t all the way fault her for being pissed w that request.

Anyways, have a convo w your husband on all of it.

In addition to better communication, you may have to do better about taking what you need. If you need a break on the weekends, can you get out of the house, leave him a schedule, and take whatever time you need for yourself? Go to a class, book a hotel with an adults-only pool where you can read since you mentioned that relaxes you. Men are generally much better at doing this than women. Some of us are raised or just are innately pleasers, and in trying to accommodate and please everyone else, from our boss to our kids to our spouse, we lose ourselves, and when there is that much tension and resentment boiling, little things become big things.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Def not judging. However, I sense there is a marriage problem in the mix.

OP’s husband’s lack of common basic courtesy is an issue. Calling for a last min party while fun - on speaker phone ? Is he 9?

OPs tight schedule is simply how she’s able to manage while her husband is traveling the world weekly.

I can’t all the way fault her for being pissed w that request.

Anyways, have a convo w your husband on all of it.

In addition to better communication, you may have to do better about taking what you need. If you need a break on the weekends, can you get out of the house, leave him a schedule, and take whatever time you need for yourself? Go to a class, book a hotel with an adults-only pool where you can read since you mentioned that relaxes you. Men are generally much better at doing this than women. Some of us are raised or just are innately pleasers, and in trying to accommodate and please everyone else, from our boss to our kids to our spouse, we lose ourselves, and when there is that much tension and resentment boiling, little things become big things.

I think that OP should start by cutting down on activities on the weekend. It is absurd that, based on what she wrote, she needs to book a hotel for a weekend day to read.

Also, as to the bolded, that's just bs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It made me sad to read this, OP. You're understandably tired and burned out, which has quashed your sense of joy and fun. Your DH does need to be more sensitive but you also can work on not sweating the small stuff quite so much. I guarantee you they don't care if your kitchen is a mess. If they're offering to pick up extra food and supplies, and your DH is grilling, doesn't sound too bad (and quietly tell DH he'll need to take on x, y, and z to make this work). You could view it as a kind of a break and focus on the nice, social connection piece.

OP and I love that I'm getting blamed for not having joy and not being willing to stay up an extra two hours to host people I barely know and that I'm supposed to consider events dictated by other people on their schedule as my "break". I'd much rather have a DH who is perceptive enough to see that I'm tired, come home on time, make dinner and clean up so I can have a break of my choosing and do something I actually find restorative.

Wasn't your husband grilling? And couldn't you put him on clean-up duty, too? What's the big deal? Truly.

I didn't want to postpone my meal prep until 9 pm and do it in DH's version of a clean kitchen, and I didn't want to have to hang out with a bunch of people and help parent their feral kids on a work night. I wanted to eat a quick meal at home, clean the kitchen, send some work emails and read in bed before falling asleep early. That's the big deal.

The problem is that you feel entitled to have the evening go exactly how you want. It is obvious that, in your mind, you have the high ground because your husband has been traveling for work. And you seem to be extremely rigid about your plans. It doesn't make you the bad guy, but it's not as though DH's request was something crazy. But if you feel bad because you had to insist to get what you want, instead of your DH just silently going along with it regardless of what he wanted to do, then that's for you to figure out. I doubt your daughter or these family friends have given it a second thought. And frankly, it sounds like you've got a martyr complex and are really building resentment, which isn't good for anybody.

Also, you and others are making it seem like DH is just playing on easy mode, but traveling for work and then accompanying the daughter to the pool is not a vacation. And frankly, if you can't get basic household chores done and meals prepped for a week in the time that they were at the pool, it sounds like you are pretty inefficient. So, yeah, maybe OP is the bad guy!

You're right. I do feel entitled to have a few hours of the weekend scheduled the way I want it. That's because Sun-Fri or Mon-Fri (depending on DH's travel) are weeks when every hour of my day is totally dictated by other people's needs. From 6 am-10 pm, I am doing things on the schedule of others. DH has a lot of downtime during his travel weeks as evidenced by the fun photos he sends me of various places and his ability to work out and pursue his hobbies while on work travel. He flies first or business and stays in fabulous hotels. He would even acknowledge that. I am really uptight about my 1-2 hours per week of getting to go to bed early and enjoy a book.

Your kids are at camp all day during the week, and you had Saturday to get stuff done (because I doubt that your "running the kids around" on Saturday took the whole day, and then you had all of Sunday, including it seems many hours alone at home while the rest of the family was at the pool. From your posts, it just doesn't sound like you have that much to do that you couldn't get it all done and still have some downtime. So you are trying to sound like a martyr, and now "the bad guy," but what you describe does not sound that onerous.

It seems like the real problem is that you feel like you are doing more work than him, and that he was not showing the proper acknowledgment and respect for that when he asked another family over for dinner. So stop making it seem like you spent all weekend at the coal mine, and just acknowledge that you are resentful that his work week involves travel, which you seem to think is easy mode. My guess is that everyone at your house is aware of your resentment and martyr complex.

My Saturday schedule, not that this hostile PP deserves it:

9 am kid 1 swim lesson
10-12 pm kid 2 activity
Packed lunch at pool because no time to come home
1 pm kid birthday party, took other kid back to pool to swim during that time
3 pm, birthday party pickup, took kids home
3:30 big grocery shop for produce/meat/perishables that can't be left out in the heat (everything else delivered during the week)
5:30 pm made dinner

I don't know what other people's Saturdays are like but that's what I consider "running around". I didn't have Saturday to get stuff done, because I was dealing with the kids so DH could sleep in and rest, as I said from the beginning.

OK, so presumably you don't have birthday parties to drive to during the day, and you said that your DH did laundry on Saturday. You did the grocery shop. Certainly other time in that day, plus ALL OF SUNDAY to . . . what? Meal prep. Maybe straighten up the house. I get it, you think you are working so hard, but it just doesn't read like that.

DP. I thought it was funny how much of her "running around" schedule was spent at the pool after she painted that as practically a vacation.

OP and my 6 year old was the one I had with me for free swim. I am required to be in the water with them at arm's length when they are in the pool for free swim until they are 8 per our pool's rules! We had an hour in the water by the time we got the older one to and from the birthday party. Two hours at the pool just chilling would be fun...by myself. Less so when it's arguing about sunscreen and generally standing around in the water.

DH did his travel laundry and slept in. I don't rely on him to do laundry for the entire house because he just wanders away and leaves the first load in the washing machine wet until he leaves on Monday. Sunday we went to church and lunch with DH's parents and that ate up most of the morning and early afternoon.

So when your DH was with the kids at the pool on Sunday, was that also work for him? You make it seem like he was just relaxing by himself.

The trickle of information about the additional burdens just seems like you are making things up. So your DH always fails at laundry? He really doesn't help with any of the other weekend chores when he is home alone on Saturday? I doubt he slept all Saturday, unless his job involves international travel and he was jet lagged.

I'm still not clear why having from lunchtime to 6pm alone at home was not enough time to meal prep for the week and handle other normal weekend chores. But I agree with the other PP -- have him take the kids to the pool on Saturday, or do the birthday party drive, or whatever. Maybe skip lunch with his parents on Sunday. It seems like you would rather be bitter than solve your problems. And when you hold onto bitterness, you end up feeling like the "bad guy" because, to most people, you are.

He sits in a chair fondling his iPhone like half the dads there with their kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It made me sad to read this, OP. You're understandably tired and burned out, which has quashed your sense of joy and fun. Your DH does need to be more sensitive but you also can work on not sweating the small stuff quite so much. I guarantee you they don't care if your kitchen is a mess. If they're offering to pick up extra food and supplies, and your DH is grilling, doesn't sound too bad (and quietly tell DH he'll need to take on x, y, and z to make this work). You could view it as a kind of a break and focus on the nice, social connection piece.

OP and I love that I'm getting blamed for not having joy and not being willing to stay up an extra two hours to host people I barely know and that I'm supposed to consider events dictated by other people on their schedule as my "break". I'd much rather have a DH who is perceptive enough to see that I'm tired, come home on time, make dinner and clean up so I can have a break of my choosing and do something I actually find restorative.

Wasn't your husband grilling? And couldn't you put him on clean-up duty, too? What's the big deal? Truly.

I didn't want to postpone my meal prep until 9 pm and do it in DH's version of a clean kitchen, and I didn't want to have to hang out with a bunch of people and help parent their feral kids on a work night. I wanted to eat a quick meal at home, clean the kitchen, send some work emails and read in bed before falling asleep early. That's the big deal.

The problem is that you feel entitled to have the evening go exactly how you want. It is obvious that, in your mind, you have the high ground because your husband has been traveling for work. And you seem to be extremely rigid about your plans. It doesn't make you the bad guy, but it's not as though DH's request was something crazy. But if you feel bad because you had to insist to get what you want, instead of your DH just silently going along with it regardless of what he wanted to do, then that's for you to figure out. I doubt your daughter or these family friends have given it a second thought. And frankly, it sounds like you've got a martyr complex and are really building resentment, which isn't good for anybody.

Also, you and others are making it seem like DH is just playing on easy mode, but traveling for work and then accompanying the daughter to the pool is not a vacation. And frankly, if you can't get basic household chores done and meals prepped for a week in the time that they were at the pool, it sounds like you are pretty inefficient. So, yeah, maybe OP is the bad guy!

You're right. I do feel entitled to have a few hours of the weekend scheduled the way I want it. That's because Sun-Fri or Mon-Fri (depending on DH's travel) are weeks when every hour of my day is totally dictated by other people's needs. From 6 am-10 pm, I am doing things on the schedule of others. DH has a lot of downtime during his travel weeks as evidenced by the fun photos he sends me of various places and his ability to work out and pursue his hobbies while on work travel. He flies first or business and stays in fabulous hotels. He would even acknowledge that. I am really uptight about my 1-2 hours per week of getting to go to bed early and enjoy a book.

Your kids are at camp all day during the week, and you had Saturday to get stuff done (because I doubt that your "running the kids around" on Saturday took the whole day, and then you had all of Sunday, including it seems many hours alone at home while the rest of the family was at the pool. From your posts, it just doesn't sound like you have that much to do that you couldn't get it all done and still have some downtime. So you are trying to sound like a martyr, and now "the bad guy," but what you describe does not sound that onerous.

It seems like the real problem is that you feel like you are doing more work than him, and that he was not showing the proper acknowledgment and respect for that when he asked another family over for dinner. So stop making it seem like you spent all weekend at the coal mine, and just acknowledge that you are resentful that his work week involves travel, which you seem to think is easy mode. My guess is that everyone at your house is aware of your resentment and martyr complex.

My Saturday schedule, not that this hostile PP deserves it:

9 am kid 1 swim lesson
10-12 pm kid 2 activity
Packed lunch at pool because no time to come home
1 pm kid birthday party, took other kid back to pool to swim during that time
3 pm, birthday party pickup, took kids home
3:30 big grocery shop for produce/meat/perishables that can't be left out in the heat (everything else delivered during the week)
5:30 pm made dinner

I don't know what other people's Saturdays are like but that's what I consider "running around". I didn't have Saturday to get stuff done, because I was dealing with the kids so DH could sleep in and rest, as I said from the beginning.

OK, so presumably you don't have birthday parties to drive to during the day, and you said that your DH did laundry on Saturday. You did the grocery shop. Certainly other time in that day, plus ALL OF SUNDAY to . . . what? Meal prep. Maybe straighten up the house. I get it, you think you are working so hard, but it just doesn't read like that.

DP. I thought it was funny how much of her "running around" schedule was spent at the pool after she painted that as practically a vacation.

OP and my 6 year old was the one I had with me for free swim. I am required to be in the water with them at arm's length when they are in the pool for free swim until they are 8 per our pool's rules! We had an hour in the water by the time we got the older one to and from the birthday party. Two hours at the pool just chilling would be fun...by myself. Less so when it's arguing about sunscreen and generally standing around in the water.

DH did his travel laundry and slept in. I don't rely on him to do laundry for the entire house because he just wanders away and leaves the first load in the washing machine wet until he leaves on Monday. Sunday we went to church and lunch with DH's parents and that ate up most of the morning and early afternoon.

Maybe the resentment is over all the work travel when you have a full-time job and young kids? Maybe last night was triggering, but the bigger issue is that you are "on" with your kids 6 days a week, plus you have a full-time job? That sounds hard, especially without help. Can you make any structural changes?

Yes, that's exactly what I am expressing! DH can't see how "on" I have to be while he's gone.

The structural change will come in 2-3 months when these facility openings are done and he is hopefully promoted and when school starts after Labor Day. Until then, the scramble will continue. I know it's a temporary phase but the days are long and I'm tired.

Nope. Not how promotions work in that field. Nor how they open facilities. Stop.