Taking bets.

[Shari]

This weekend is our annual halloween campout. We're supposed to leave tonight. husband is home today, he took off work to "get ready to go".

Any bets on how "ready" he gets us?

ROFLM unprepared BO

I'll be he has the truck hooked up to the trailer and some wood loaded. Maybe his clothes packed.

So, how prepared would your SO get you and your family if you're heading out on a trip?

 

[KTMom91]

Hubby is a "piddler." Drives me absolutely crazy.

First, he'll have to clean out the car. Then he'll realize that, since he needs gas/oil/air in the tires, we should take my car. Proceeds to clean out my car. Fills his cooler with cans of Lipton iced tea and bags of sunflower seeds. Puts many strange and random bags of things in my trunk. Comes inside to announce we need to be leaving. Goes back outside, gathers a selection of electronic items, puts them in my car. Sets up GPS. Plays with GPS. Plugs cell phone into lighter. Adjusts seat of car. Comes inside, where I am waiting impatiently to actually get the heck out of here. Goes to the bathroom. Comes out of bathroom, starts looking for sunglasses/keys/medications/opened can of iced tea/jacket/whatever.By now, I'm screaming. In wounded tone, asks, "Why are you yelling?"

I bet...you'll be packing as soon as you get home. Hope the camper didn't float too far away.

 

[gcvmom]

Mine waits until the day of a trip to pack his clothes -- of which he takes too many and tries to cram them in willy-nilly. He forgets about packing medications or toiletries. He brings too much junk food. Doesn't consider reasons for bringing an ice chest. Too many "toys" and equipment (dvd's, music, iPods, phones, video games, adapters, plugs, extension cords, laptop, etc.) and forgets to pack half his fishing or rain gear. He never packs the kids clothes or helps them to figure out what they need to bring. He doesn't think about getting the car's mechanical issues checked out ahead of time (air in tires, fluids, brakes, etc.). He doesn't worry about reservations or maps or tickets or much of anything else. He always THINKS we'll leave early, but he's never prepared! He finally has agreed for most driving vacations that we leave when we leave and we get there when we get there. It's only when we have a flight to catch now that the pressure gets a little intense.

I hope your campout goes smoothly, Shari!

 

[AnnieO]

husband waits till the last 2 hours then PACKS the Suburban FULL. All we really need is a tent and sleeping bags. But NO, must have LOTS of FOOD, and a grill, and a couple of coolers, air mattress, towels, clothing. More food, fireworks... Three tents not one... Hmm should we take the DOG TOO?

You get the idea there.

 

[hearts and roses]

On any trip, my H packs his bag about an hour before we leave and then when we're all in the car, he asks me if we have everything we need such as towels, food, sleeping bags, the cooler, etc.

I wouldn't trust H to do any of the packing. Maybe that's a control issue I have, but it works for us. I am in charge of the checklist(s) and making sure everything on it makes it into the vehicle.

 

[Shari]

He has checked in. We are pulling a seperate trailer full of wood behind the camper.

So we have wood.

Everything else is a mystery.

 

[Shari]

Oh, and the camper didn't float away, but the water was right up to the steps! lol

 

[trinityroyal]

My husband is the opposite of this, which has its own drawbacks.
He will over pack to such a degree that it would almost be easier to just take the house with us. For a weekend away, he will pack enough supplies for a week or two, a couple of laptops and a full network setup (so that we can have connectivity and e-mail each other from opposite ends of the hotel room), a volt meter in case we need to plug high-powered stuff in, a power converter, in case the hotel is under-powered and we need to run a line from the car...you get the idea.

It's great in that, if I need a 3/4 inch Allen key while we're on the road, husband will have one, but packing the car so that there's room for passengers as well as the stuff, not to mention leaving wherever we've gone with all the stuff we took in, is quite an adventure.

Shari, hope you have a blast on your camping trip.

 

[Shari]

Trinity, that's one huge allen wrench...
***
So when I got home Thursday, husband had done extra. He packed the tombstones! Nothing else, but he packed the tombstones. He didn't even pack his own clothes beyond his costume, he wore the same ones all weekend!
***
So Thursday evening, I took wee difficult child to his class, then to swim lessons, and got home at 8:45 to husband sitting in the recliner in front of the tv. I said screw it, we'd leave the next morning. So I got up Friday morning and fixed breakfast for wee difficult child, then started packing. husband got up half an hour later, cooked himself an egg, turned on the tv, and had the gonads to say "I'll help when this show is over".
***
whatever.
***
So while he sat in front of the tv, I packed clothes for me, wee difficult child, easy child 2. I packed food for the four of us plus easy child 1 and my mom. I FINISHED SEWING easy child 2's costume. I fed the dogs and cats, mucked the horse's stall, unwrapped and rewrapped the abscessed hoof, and left directions for giving him his medications for my friend. I loaded all this stuff into the camper and gassed the truck. I was ready to leave before his tv show was over.
***
But I had a great time when I got there! At least til I came home.
***
Some time ago, easy child 1 asked me to go to a movie with him and some friends last night, and I had agreed. So we got home from camping at about 5:30pm and husband parked the camper. I plugged it in, jacked it up off the truck, unloaded the food and laundry. Chased easy child 2 around to get her things picked up to go back to her mom's (supposed to be back by 6). I helped easy child 1 get his deer in the fridge while waiting on easy child 2. husband took the garbage cans to the road (I stopped garbage service 5 months ago because they miss picking our garbage up 75% of the time...) then went and parked himself in his chair. I sorted the laundry, which is 2 fulls weeks worth cause we weren't home last weekend, either, and started a load. I took easy child 2 to her mom's, then jumped in the shower, not wanting to back out on easy child 1, but knowing full well I needed to stay home. husband told me to go on to the movie, so I took a 3 minute shower and left with easy child 1. I asked husband to keep the washer going.
***
I got home at 10:15 and husband was in the chair. He had just put the laundry from the washer into the dryer, but he didn't start a new load in the washer. difficult child needed clean clothes for today, so skipping that wasn't an option. (I also rarely use the dryer because it costs us about $60 a month to use it - the clothesline is free.) So I started a new load in the washer, fed the critters, mucked the horse stall and doctored the horse (he's doing better, by the way), then loaded the garbage cans from the side of the road into the truck and took them to the dumpster in town. I unloaded the various remnants of kids' stuff from the truck, dried clothes for wee difficult child to wear to school today, filled out his communication folder for school, filled out a permission slip for easy child 2, brought in the electronics from the camper and put them away, brought in the kids' clean clothes from the camper and just left them in a laundry basket in the living room, cut wee difficult child's medications for the week (his pills have to be cut in half), sorted the mail, checked the messages, fed the cats, and said to hades with it, I was going to bed.
***
Wee difficult child was home with husband for an hour or 2 on Thursday before I got home. Wee difficult child created a cat house out of a cardboard box. Its in the living room floor. Along with all the cardboard remnants. 3 pair of husband's socks. 2 skillets on the stove from husband fixing himself food last night. The plate he ate off of is on the living room floor. He brings home classified papers every time he finds them and there is a pile of about 14 next to his recliner.
***
Like Susie, I've tried to talk to him, ask for help, tell him I need help, etc. It doesn't do any good. I think he is a slob like his mother and I don't expect it to change, but there's no way in hades I can live like that. The place is a stye. Its been so long since I've been able to actually clean something (as opposed to just pick things up) that I think the place is starting to smell.
***
And to ice the cake, I noticed when I took easy child 2 to her mom's last night that my car's brakes are metal on metal, and I'm supposed to travel out of town tomorrow and Wednesday for work. I should not have gone to the movie, or maybe not have gone on our annual camping trip.
***
Or maybe my partner should get off his **** and do something...
***
I'm embarrassed and seriously debating options.
***
On a good note, tho, Law Abiding Citizen is a really good movie.