Saturday, May 21, 2016

How to Survive the Great Television Famine

What do you do when your mother in law's television goes out? No, seriously... If anyone knows, please let a girl in on the secret because I am out of ideas as to how to survive this one. My MIL's tv went out this week. Normally I don't think it would be that big of a deal, but like everything else in our house, this is not a normal situation.

We have three other tv's in our house that I suppose we could replace hers with. But my son's tv is much too small to work. My MIL has cataracts and she would never be able to see what the actors were doing. We have a tv in our room, but that is our little sanctuary and I am not particularly willing to give that up just yet. But just possibly pretty soon...

Turns out that my MIL cannot possibly fall asleep without the lulling drone of whatever true crime show, CSI, Law and Order or home jewelry shopping network she has stumbled upon. So she has taken up camp on my living room couch. She eats, sleeps and takes all her meds there. And has for a week now.

In exchange for living in our, well, living space, she has decided to "help" with the household chores. I have been sequestered in my office for the better part of the week working, and unbeknownst to me my MIL was finishing up some laundry for me. This may sound like a wonderful thing to do, but it's not. Let me explain. I hate when other people touch my underwear. Call me weird, but it's a pet peeve of mine. So now here I am with my MIL uncovering my Victoria's Secret, and thinking they belong to my 13 year old, not to mention folding my jeans (jean shorts included) so that I have a big ol' crease going down the front of my thighs. Who does that? Not to mention that I have to go through all of the clothes and resort everything - they are all mixed up.

The most recent catastrophe with the laundry had to do with a load of whites. My MIL had washed and folded a load of whites and left them on the ottoman. I know because she showed them to me (she shows me what she accomplishes for the day). The next morning one of my daughters took a shower and needed clean undies. They were gone. Vanished. She found a pair in an overnight bag she had previously packed to spend the night at a friend's, but we never found the load of whites. Today I asked her about them and she said that maybe they got put away. Nope. No one in the house put them away. Then she said that they were still in the wash. What? I reminded her that she had washed them. So then she said that they must still be in the dryer. Nope. Even if, by the off chance someone had put them back in the dryer because they were too lazy to put them away, I went and looked. Nothing in there but a set of clothes that actually belong to my MIL. Imagine that.

So where did they go? I have no idea. No one does. They are still MIA.

I took all the clothes I could find - which were spread from kitchen table to living room couch - and took them downstairs.

How do survive a television famine? I have no idea. Aside from the sheer inconvenience of it, it is hard on my MIL, too. Because she is camping out in my living room she is having to live by our schedule. We are up by 6 am and not really in bed till about 11 pm. Later on weekends. Therefore my MIL is too. She has been living this schedule all week. Today she is exhausted and is barely able to stay awake.

We have arrangements to get her a new tv in about another week, but I guess until then we all have to just suck it up. It is certainly a new one for us all.

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