4.) You have an hour to kill on the telephone…who do you call and why?
If I had an hour to kill on the phone you would probably find me bothering my husband at work.
My Mom ran a home daycare when I was little, until My Dad died and she suddenly found herself responsible for supplying enough food and clothes and warmth for us six kids to survive, which meant she had to find a better job.
In time she learned to balance our school and sports schedules along with her extremely busy real estate schedule. Us kids babysat one another and called…her…constantly. Could we order pizza? Could she settle a fight? How could we get gum out of our hair? Was it okay that the tv repairman showed up unannounced and took our TV from our living room without asking? You know. The usual stuff.
Company: This is the real estate company how can I help you?
kids: IS MY MOM THERE?
Company: Just one moment please.
They didn’t need to ask who was calling. I’m pretty sure we were the only kids calling non-stop throughout the day screaming for our mother. She had a way of remaining absolutely calm as she walked us through whatever problem we thought we were having.
I realized recently that I have transferred this habit of calling someone for help with every slightest deviation from my normal routine to my husband. A funny sounding dishwasher, help finding my own shoes, vent about misbehaving children…you name it. My favorite, however, is the desperate call my husband gets the honor of receiving when our internet is disconnected.
Pat: What’s up?
me: HEY! HOW COME OUR INTERNET’S NOT WORKING RIGHT NOW??
Pat: Ummm…I don’t know. Maybe something’s up with the server?
me: OKAY WHO’S OUR SERVER AND HOW DO I GET A HOLD OF THEM?
Pat: It’s comcast and you can call them up if you want.
me: OKAY WHAT’S THEIR PHONE NUMBER AND ACTUALLY, CAN YOU JUST DO THAT FOR ME?
Pat: Why don’t you try unplugging the router for a couple minutes first.
me: OKAY I SEE THREE DIFFERENT PLUGS HERE EXACTLY WHICH ONE IS IT??
Pat: Can you just follow the wire from the router to the outlet and figure out which one it is?
me: NO. THERE ARE TOO MANY WIRES. I CANNOT DO THAT. CAN YOU JUST TELL ME OVER THE PHONE WHICH PLUG YOU THINK IT IS THAT I NEED TO PULL OUT? CAN’T YOU REMEMBER? AND WHY IS LIFE SO HARD???
Pat: Just pull one out and see if the router turns off.
me: OKAY THIS ONE??
Pat: I can’t see what you’re pointing to Kat, just go ahead and pull it.
me: OKAY I DID IT!
I have a feeling he’s really glad that I’ve transferred my dependency from my mother to him and that I am unable to meet my own basic needs without step by step assistance. I have a feeling that’s really normal.
***
Now it’s your turn!
The Prompts:
1.) A story of love.
2.) 10 Things my mother taught me.
3.) I often daydream about…
4.) You have an hour to kill on the telephone…who do you call and why?
5.) I’m inspired by… (A photo journal entry)
NOTE: Simply copying and pasting the above code onto your blog won’t work! You’ll need to correct what are called ‘smart quotes’. Once you copy the code onto your site, be sure that you very carefully delete every quote (“) and re-type them. There are six total. Also be sure not to add any spaces or extra characters in the process.
{ 66 comments… read them below or add one }
Moms do it all, don’t they?
I wish I could kill an hour talking to mine too. Sadly, she passed away 3 1/2 years ago, but what I wouldn’t give!
I bug my husband at work, too. Back when he first got one of those brick cell phones, he never had it on unless he wanted to use it. I said, “what’s the point of having a phone, if I can’t call you?”
With email and texting phone calls have become such an oddity in my life…or I am becoming a hermit.
My husband won’t tell me his work number, and he doesn’t turn on the cell phone at work.
Sometimes, I wonder what good he is to me at all…lol
I think when I call the hubs at work….he ignores me unless he hears such phrases and “I’m going to beat your son” or “So help me God if he does this one more time”
Then he says “Do I need to come home?”
I have had that same Computer/router conversation with my hubby on more than a FEW occasions. *Sigh* I hate computer pluggy thingys.
I call my husband at work ALL DAY LONG for any reason I think of. I think the husbands enjoy it.
I can SO relate to your phone conversation with your husband! Sometimes we just need help. NOW! Great post.
Gotta run but wanted to mention how much I enjoyed (and could relate to) your post!!
My husband would consider divorce if I called him more than once a day, and even then… I can hear the guys on the site, “your wife again?”
But honestly, if I had an hour to kill these days, I might just sleep.
Ahh, this sounds like my life! I’m always calling my husband to call other people.
“Did you call the pediatrician?”
“Why can’t you just call?”
“Because you are so much better at making appointments” ;)
Yep, I’d call my husband too. Mostly because I can’t stand my mother and she wouldn’t have the foggiest clue how to help me on anything. That being said your mother is amazing. 6 kids? I’ve got my hands full with 2. I already call my husband so much I had to get the bigger AT&T package so I could add his work # as one of my “fav 5″ or whatever you call it so I’d stop going over my mins.
Have a great day!
Such a funny post, I call my husband for all kinds of things that he can’t answer, just because I need to ask someone and I need to talk to an adult once in a while.
Your prompts this week were really great! I actually had to choose between three or four. Thanks so much for hosting this.
I sort of goofed up with Mr. Linky on #28. Can you delete it for me? Thanks!
Hmmph … this sounds like my wife!
My husband can NEVER talk on the phone, he’s constantly interrupted in the short calls we have. He has, however, learned to text, and I find that to be more efficient, even if I have to vent.
Mostly because a text like “how much money do we have for a bail bondsman?” WILL get him to actually call me if its a really rough day!
However, I would call my mom. Well, actually Skype. A one hour call from the UK to the US would require a loan. Or selling a kidney.
Perfectly normal! ;)
oh Kat I’m the SAME way when it comes to something not working right with our TV. My husband has it hooked up to our stereo system and if you don’t hold the remote at an exact 45.345345345 degree angle and hold it still for 1.238799 seconds, it doesn’t turn on correctly.
However, my husband most definitely does NOT like when I call him at work about these “emergencies”. ;-)
I drive my husband insane when I call him at work. He has stopped taking my calls.
I call my momma every morning after dropping off the twins at school. Just to talk about everything we already talked about to long the day before. :) We each other’s favorite gossip!
That is hilarious! (Only because I call my husband all the time with the same EXACT question). Darn technology!
My husband didn’t give me his new work number. I could figure it out but I figure I can always call his cell phone, which he wont pick up…. Maybe I was calling him a bit to much before….
Ha! Made me laugh. I’m sure your husband loves the phone calls!
At our house it was the opposite. Hubby would call me with weird questions. Once while I was visiting my mother in VA he called from GA to ask me the number to the cable company…REALLY? Ya can’t just open up the phone book or look at an old bill? He’s better about it now though. Except when HIS computer isn’t working….
Your email prompts said “things my mother taught me,” not 10 things. So I hope my post is OK!
Oh whoops! Of course that’s fine. :) Sorry for the confusion!
Funny! I have three siblings and we used to wear out the phone of my parent’s business. They ran their own and during the summer we could not call them enough. I also call my husband for random reasons; these days it’s mostly because he’s the principal of our home-school and sometimes I require a stronger disciplinary action ;o). It’s no better rec’d though–he’s at work–and I bet it’s as annoying as the calls that I made to my mom & dad! Thanks for sharing!
I call my mom or my sister!
This makes me laugh b/c growing up my mom worked full time outside of the home and we were always calling her so much so her work got her her own phone line and number so we wouldn’t clog up the main line.
And now that I am grown, I call Jeff.
He likes it.
You’d think that he would clearly label the plugs by now so you’d know just which one to pull! The best defense is a good offense (at least that is what I’ve learned from Mr. Jenners, who must deal with the same type of phone calls.)
My husband get calls like this too.
I make that same, frantic THEINTERNETISDOWN! phone call to my huz all the time. You’d think I’d learn how to reset it myself after being walked through the fix so many times. But it feels better to make that call, right?
So funny! My husband usually calls me during the day. I’m a phonophobic. No really, but the phone is not my best friend. Thanks for giving us prompts. I had a lot of writing along with the Lessons from Mama prompt, and I’ve enjoyed reading a bunch of creative spins on the prompts.
-FringeGirl
Well I have a feeling that Pat is a saint. Not that he needs to be mind you. Just that he is.
I do this to my husband too. I hate the phone, so it’s more like I’d text him. I actually do call my mum multiple times a day. I most wish I could call my gramma again. She’s been gone three years and I still find myself dialing her now and then, even though it’s my home number now.
I’ve never really thought about it but you pretty much described myself! Hee Hee! I am sure my husband really appreciates it. ;-)
It’s hard to say “Wait till your father gets home!” when he’s gone for three months. I swore I’d never do that. When T1 decided to revert in potty training (the cause is a whole other story) and not only peed twice on the floor but had a BM on my living room carpet, I called the ship directly, got DH on the phone, attempted not to scream, “I am NOT parenting alone! Talk to your child!” and I handed my three year old the phone. Thanks for the chuckle. Glad I’m not the only one.
Sorry my link added twice. My computer was being silly today. (Or maybe it was me…but I blame the computer.)
Great Prompts this week. And I would totally react the same way to the internet going out.
I swear to you we have had that SAME router conversation a thousand times…
I would call my hb too but he doesn’t really answer the phone..so it would be busy texting him instead.
I have to get through hubby’s secretary to talk to him and sometimes I am so embarrassed when she asks if she can help. “No, I am calling to find out the name of his first childhood pet so I can log into one of our online accounts that is frozen due to inactivity.” That’s what I called for yesterday. That poor, poor man.
Hahahahaha! This is hilarious! I call my hubby all the time too. He deals with it. I think he secretly loves it, and he just uses annoyance and saracasm to hide his love. Right? Right.
This had me cracking up! What’s funny is my role with my mom has totally flipped. She can totally handle anything technological if it’s related to work. Get her home…she can’t set up her personal email…with the same email program she uses and set up at work…
Thanks for a good laugh first thing in the morning! That sounds like several conversations I’ve had with my mother when she first started blogging. She knows now not to call me for blog type questions after nine…I get a little grouchy! Thanks for the great prompts, I look forward to this one each week…even the weeks I miss!
Ha ha!! Unfortunately, I have learned to pull things apart and fix ‘em myself… Or just learn to live without it for awhile. :)
When I need something or have a simple question about anything at all, I am thankful that I have two roommates that I can usually call on to answer it. If they can’t answer it, then I always have a sister but with her new son, it can be hard sometimes to get a hold of her…next up on the list would be one of my best friends. I guess you could call it “the chain of help” haha : )
I get cranky if I have to be on the phone for too long at one time so would avoid chatting anyone up for an hour. It may be from my years doing recruitment as that required being on the phone all the time. I don’t have a husband but your conversation with him sounds a lot like mine with friends or family that may have a solution!
You are too funny! Thanks for the laugh this morning!
That’s funny. My husband and my mom call ME about stuff like that!
Love this! I totally call & bug my husband. It annoys the crap out of him! If I have an hour though, I’d call my BFF in New York. We can talk for an hour about nothing and everything. Our most recent conversations been full of Charlie Sheenisms and we think we’re so funny!
HAHA! That sounds exactly like the conversations I have with my DH. I’m glad I found your site, it’s so pretty. I’m participating in the prompts for the 1st time, hope I did it right.
omg thats so funny…i did that today as well!!! i called my husband up at work (hes a teacher) to tell him he HAD TO COME HOME! we had a huge bee in the lounge i me and the kids were taking shelter in the kitchen! i am so feeble with buzzing flying things that sting! he raced home in his 20 minute break and the bee had died! so hes looking at me with dead bee in hand as if i have lost the plot and i am trying to tell him it was alive when i phoned! i think your plug things up there as well i bet our husbands love feeling this needed. x
Awww, poor hubby! But husbands know they have to spoil us. That’s why we married them, right? ;)
It’s my second week here. I’m loving your weekly prompts!
Ha! I have that same trick: Pretend I don’t know what I’m doing if there is someone around who can do it for me.
funny story.
LOL!!! That is so me! I’m always calling my husband about the remote control. It controls everything here and when there’s no sound, picture, or whatever, I just call him. It annoys him like crazy especially since the solution is usually the push of a button, but it’s his fault! Nobody told him to buy complicated remote controls.
Whatever do you mean? Are you implying that there is something odd about asking for step by step instructions from the hubby? What other use have they? Especially once the trash is out? It seems to me you’ve found the perfect use for your mate.
I don’t have to ever call my husband since we both work from home! It’s a wonder we haven’t killed each other. When we worked outside the home one of us was calling at the other at work at least once per day. I think it is normal!
omg that is hilarious! I totally do that when I’m having my “freak-out” moments… and God bless my hubby, during my pregnancy that was pretty much Every Waking Moment! Somehow he just calmed me down and made me feel better.
HAHA I do this all the time. But it’s usually to complain… about his family.
I’m kinda shocked he doesn’t screen his calls lol! :)
LOVED IT!
I once called my husband to scream…I mean tell him in a very calm matter that our dog caught a bird and was rolling around in its carcass in the yard. I thought it was important that he knew that ;)
I’m not really like that but your story’s so funny! I love it! lol :)
oh, man, my mom did that to my dad, and after he died she transferred to me… “I got a note on my car that says I’m not supposed to park in this spot at the mall, will you call the mall and find out why they don’t want me to park here?” (Of course I have no idea where she parked or even if she parked legally or within the lines)
LoL! That is too funny. Yeah, freaking out over something like no Internet is absolutely normal… I’ve been doing it for months now =) intact it’s why I couldnt post to my blog & participate in the workshop this week! No internet =( I have my iPhone for stuff like this, but that’s it. Oh well. Your mom sounds like an amazing person!!!
Does your husband have a smart phone that works with Face Time or some kind of video calling capabilities? Because that is why you got the iPhone in the first place right? Now, he can’t use the excuse that he can’t see what you’re doing and can give accurate step by step instructions to fixing ANYTHING in the house. I love modern day technology.
My husband is perhaps more clueless than I am when it comes to… anything, so I’m constantly pestering my mother dearest. Poor woman. I move 6,000 miles away and she still isn’t rid of me.