Hello all....  just wanted to check in.

I"m away from home for the whole summer:  DH got a research grant to come to Very Nice University, several hours from Very Large City where we live.  We are subletting our apartment because I have no real job, so we can't really afford for me to stay home with the kids and freelance because business is down to a trickle.  It was a huge ordeal for me getting ready for the trip and cleaning up the apartment and getting it ready for subletters (emptying closets for their use, meaning reorganizing, decluttering etc. etc....)  the drive itself wasn't so bad except for DH was frustrated because we started out late (my fault of course because I am in charge of packing everything and wasn't ready when I'd hoped to be ready and was doing my usual panic-about-whether-I've-got-everything routine).  BUT - all in all I think I did really well.

we are subletting a house in the suburb where we are now.  The owner had sent us lots of instructions for the house and was very particular about a lot of things, ie:  don't use that, don't touch that, be careful to clean this or that... She'd left a number for the house cleaner she uses so we could call her if we wanted.  so I thought 'well, it might not be fabulous, but at least it'll be clean.'  Boy was I wrong.

When we arrived, the whole house smelled faintly of urine. There are 2 boys in the family, and as many moms will know this means a certain amount of 'splash' happens in the bathroom and the floor, walls and bathmat need to be cleaned regularly...  guess they dodn't know this, nor does the house cleaner.

the master bedroom has a very funky sweaty smell, the mattress is old, hard and dirty.  the 'clean' sheets they'd left out for us to use had what seems to be years of, shall we say, 'monthly visitor' stains and evidence of 'intimate events' on them.  

the shower curtain was covered in orange fungus, the towels smelled musty

there are 1000s of moths (??) in the kitchen cabinets and all over the house.  the oven was crusted with melted cheese on the inside.  all the cookware is greasy & filthy.  the dishes all had a kind of brown residue...

the dishwasher smelled like something had died in it and the inside walls were all brown.

the (filthy) rugs in the hallways, dining room and front entryway also smell inexplicably of urine.  And they are handwoven jute rugs that of course, cannot be washed in any way that would successfully get the smell out.

In spite of all this, I did not cry or complain to DH, did not throw a fit, did not load the kids up into the car and insist on going to a hotel...  No.... I quietly and calmly have spent a week chipping away at making the house habitable - I bought cheap sheets (even DH admitted that the stained ones were gross), bought febreeze and have been airing out the master bedroom, washed the towels & bath mats and all the nasty cookware...  I tried to fix the dishwasher, found instructions for that particular model online and opened the filter, removed several mouse-sized globs of rotted organic black glop, scrubbed the inside clean and ran it again in the hopes that it would work.  No such luck.  It seems that the drain hose is clogged.  now - there are instructions on eHow that I could follow to unclog it - but....it's a huge undertaking and i'm afraid i'd do it wrong, and I don't really have the TIME to do it while i've got 2 small kids on my hands.  (the only reason I can type this right now is that they are for the moment, happily playing together instead of pinching, biting or hitting each other).

Oh... and the second day we were here, DD2 woke up with a fever.  Turned out that she had Hand, Foot and Mouth disease.  our insurance doesn't cover for regular doctor visits out of state, so we wound up in the ER.  Her throat hurt so badly that she refused to drink anything  so we were back in the hospital the next day (july 4th).  I took her both times.  DH took DD1 to see fireworks.  Then, DD1 got the virus, and then I got it too and could hardly move on Saturday.  The bed is making my back hurt more every day.  Today while driving, my legs hurt terribly and there was a weird numbness after a while - guess the position of the seat targets the exact nerves that are messed up by the mattress... I dunno...

I asked DH if he could check our lease to see if repairs are covered so we could get the dishwasher working.  I really don't want to have to hand wash everything for the next 5 weeks....  He said no - and we can't afford to pay for it and he doesn't want me to mess with it and he is not interested in trying to fix it himself.  'Just wash dishes as you use them... it only takes a few seconds...."

He goes off to do his research everyday and i'm with the kids all day.  I'm trying to find a day camp for the 5 year old, but it'll be at least 2 weeks before the proper medical forms come from her doctor out of state.  I'm trying to find activities for them to do, take them to the local park/library... but most of the time they are stuck here while i'm trying to clean something/do laundry/cook....  they're bored, i'm in pain and exhausted and frustrated, and I can't spend money on things that will make us more comfortable.  When DH gets home, he sits on the couch and plays with his iPad.  I cook dinner.  I wash all the dishes.  I get the kids ready for bed. I iron his shirts (on a tiny little ironing board that's a pain in the ass to use.  I had to wash the cover because it smelled like the bedroom and was making the shirts stink, too...).  I feel like it's unfair that he doesn't help AT ALL but don't know if I can ask for help since technically he's 'working all day' and i'm 'on vacation.'  and, anytime i ask for help around the house he gets very quiet, mumbles something about yes of course he'll help, but then doesn't and there seems to be some unspoken rule that I am not getting and even just asking for help is ridiculous.  Then I think:  "Oh crap.  I blew it. Again."

So, anyway - I'm just trying not to get depressed.  I read in Sari Solden's book (women with ADHD) that women have a particularly hard time traveling/staying with family or friends or a strange new place.  I am TERRIBLE at this and I get very anxious and stressed out if my acomodations turn out to be gross or uncomfortable.  I am particularly sensitive to bad smells, and DH seems to have NO sense of smell whatsoever.  Last month we were traveling in Europe for a wedding and the apartment that we stayed in had a VERY foul smell in the kitchen.  It was so bad that even DH could smell it, but he was unmoved to try to do anything about it.  I called the landlord and complained and it took 3 days, but eventually they took care of the dead creature they found under the fridge.  I have to say I was glad my complaints were justified and it was proven that I was not being snobby, dramatic or neurotic.

Anyway - if anyone has any advice as to how to continue to not freak out, i'd appreciate it.  I don't know how much longer I can take this and I've got 5 more weeks here.

Ellamenno