sleepy sundays

I look forward to the weekends so much. I don't really know why because we literally NEVER do anything during the winter months. In the spring or the summer we go hiking or biking, etc. But not when it's cold outside. Just spinning class and a lift at the gym Saturday mornings and then 36 hours inside. I guess this plan of action pissed me off this weekend, especially because I specifically mentioned several times to the husband that I didn't want to sit around all day and do nothing. When Saturday at 5 p.m. rolled around and my husband was still on the couch wearing the clothes he worked out in seven hours earlier I started getting really bitchy. He picked up on my hints of bitchiness (that I was dropping like bombs over Baghdad) and proceeded to ask me what was wrong (trapped, exactly what I wanted, now I could pick the fight that I knew I would win, and then at least be pissed off with a reason). So when he asked I let the firey wrath of Hell spew it's menacing snares around him leaving him helpless and floundering. He went upstairs and took a shower, I was convinced at this point that he would pull a typical-Joe and shower, get dressed and leave the house. I don't know where he goes. I imagine it's some fanciful place that doesn't involve screaming wives, chores and/or responsibilities of any sort. However, he probably just parks his car around the corner and bangs his head against the steering wheel wondering why, exactly, he thought marriage was a good idea. Anyway this usually lasts until he thinks he's been gone long enough for me to cool down or until I call him because I start to worry over how long he's been gone. This is how things go in our house. This time, however, well this time he surprised me. He got dressed, got on the computer, found tickets for a comedy show happening in Albany, took me to the show and then to dinner, and all with a smile on his face. The man is learning, what can I say. It was one of the best date nights we've had in months. Seriously. I think he was probably still feeling guilty about Valentine's Day - which BTW we don't celebrate ever - but this year Joe decided we should go out to dinner. For the first time in our 7 years together he made a reservation, in advance (as opposed to our usual, "I don't care, where do you want to go" conversation which generally speaking takes place 30 minutes before we got to said restaurant making even the most special occasions very unspecial and highly annoying...). But as Murphy (or Guidant) would have it, he got paged at 4 p.m. to go to Utica (easily an hour and a half one way) for an emergency Bi-V thus negating our 6:30 reservation and causing him to miss the "day" altogether. Because this is normal in the life of a Guidant/Boston Scientific wife, I was unfettered. But he honestly felt bad. Again, the man is learning, normally he is more pissed off about working late than missing something. Our Valentine's Day debacle has caused some great ire for me in other ways though. My husband's job is amazing in what it provides for our life, but it is awful for what it contributes - that being 18 hour work days, weekend call, rotating holiday call (which means we can't see family on either Xmas or Thanksgiving each year), bi-monthly weeks or weekends away from home and the consistent inability to plan for anything during a weekday. Joe's manager had to leave his wife for 13 hours in a hospital after she delivered their first child because he got paged to do an emergency pacemaker in Burlington, VT (3.5 hours each way, plus extra time because of snowy roads, and the case which took 3 hours itself). Such is the life of the Guidant wife. Which is why I am becoming adamant about having my husband go back to school for his MBA and seeing what doors open from there. Especially because his company will pay for *most* of his degree. He wants to go back, but like all things with Joe, I have to constantly light the match under his ass. He's just such a status quo kind of guy. This frustrates me to no end. Especially, I think, because I am so type A. When I say I am going to do something it's done within 3 hours (or at least it's started immediately), for him no so much. There is no way we can stick with this type of career, as a family, forever. It's just not possible. I/we both want me to be able to stay home with our future Russell-sprouts and I can't even think of another job that will pay what his pays that allows you to work less. So these are my deep thoughts for the weekend. I have to get ready for the Sunday trip to the grocery store. Blech...