Quiet day. GD is away longer than expected.
Today, I picked up 6 spoons, 4 forks, a bowl, and 2 more saucers for this place. Because GD asks me to pull those items out of the dishwasher and wash them, since we run out of those items before the dishwasher fills up once every ten days or so. After having been in the dishwasher many days, of course the specified dishes she wants me to pull out and wash have week-old scum on them, even though they have been rinsed. Does anyone see this as absurd as I do? Well, we won't run out of utensils, saucers or bowls now. They will adequately fill the washer, which we then will run. Sheesh. I tried to do this last paycheck, getting 4 spoons and two saucers, but evidently I didn't get enough provisions, because Friday night she once again asked me to haul open the dishwasher and wash items from it. She didn't mind when I picked up a few things, though. So hopefully she won't mind this time, either. Things like this should just be taken care of, unless one is a vagabond! She is the one supposedly "helping" me, but in order to get by here in a sane fashion, I often am nickle-dimed to pieces.
She likes to run out of necessary items, linens, flatware, and soaps... seems to thrive on the self-deprivation and chaos. And the scarcity issues give her all sorts of ways to fret and control others. Unnecessary self-deprivation and the ensuing frustrations are one way to avoid real life, I guess. She is lucky to have the health not to worry about waiting until the last minute to re-stock. Not everyone can be so disorganized. There will come a day when she will sorely wish she had not let things get so out of control for no reason, maybe on a day when her health takes a turn and she realizes she is unprepared. That has happened to me in the past. It's far better to try to keep things stocked while you are strong than to risk days of poor nutrition while too ill to go shopping.
I remember my dad had the same issues with her. One day, when I was in high school, he couldn't take her derelict ways anymore. Suddenly, in addition to working FT, he became the family food shopper. After years of deprivation, we began to have adequate food in the house. That was nice of him, but he did it for himself too. He was trying to cope, living with a wife who begrudged him if he ate the food she prepared, which she never prepared enough of. I can't imagine a young wife being so twisted. To this day, she re-tells how she used to look down on him for taking the last piece of chicken. But, why shouldn't he? Gallantry does not mean going hungry in one's own castle. A man should be welcome to eat his food, and since he paid for it, there should have been plenty of it.
Living here with adult eyes has made me appreciate my dad a lot more. She fought with him like a volcano at bedtime, frequently. It was diificult listening to them fight all the time, but maybe he took it so we wouldn't have to.