Whoa, whoa, whoa! Slow down, Spring!

Most of the blogs I follow have had posts recently about wishing spring would hurry up, get here quickly, etc.  The nice weather we've been having lately has inspired most people to look forward to the flowers, sunshine, and warmth of the season of spring. 

At our house however, we dread Spring.  We avoid discussion of it.  We pretend it doesn't exist.  Throughout the fall and winter, we refuse to look ahead, for fear of staring dead into the eyes of that most awful of seasons.  We literally avoid saying its name (Harry Potter-style with that bad guy from the books).  It haunts us throughout the winter, an ever-present ghost in the back of our minds...lingering...threatening....

And now it is technically, officially, seasonally, and otherwise HERE.

Why, you might ask, do we hate the spring so much?  No, we're not vampires.  Good guess though.
Spring is Brandon's "busy season" at work.  Because he works with swimming pools, winter is pretty quiet around here.  Yes, there is work to be done, but it's not the demanding, relentless, exhausting work that spring and summer bring.  It worked out so perfectly that Carson was born in the winter so that Brandon had a few months to spend extra time with her and really be around for so many of her "firsts."

Spring is when Brandon's company begins to get pools ready to open.  He finalizes contracts, schedules, and routines.  He gets out in the field to follow-up on, evaluate, and help out the guys who work for him.  He has endless phone calls, paperwork, and emails.  The days run together.  He can't come home when he is caught up because he is never caught up.  He just has to decide when to call it a day, and he picks up there tomorrow.

Ever since I have known Brandon, this time of year has sucked.  I miss him.  He is exhausted all the time.  He is stressed all the time.  He is no fun (sorry honey).  This year will be especially difficult for him, because his late nights and weekend work will be taking him away from Carson.  Also, with Brandon needed so much at work, everything at home will be up to me.  Those of you who know my disdain loathing LOVE of house-keeping know this is not good.  Obviously, it's not impossible.  It's not even something that thousands of moms don't do every single day.  It's just new to me.

So if you come to our house in the next few months, please don't judge the smell or the dust or the dog running in circles because I haven't played with him today (and, let's face it, these aren't things you've never seen at my house before).  I really am doing the best that I can.  And if Brandon doesn't return your emails and phone calls with his usual quickness, or he has a glazed-over look in his eyes, or if he just isn't very *sunny*--please give him a break.  He's doing the best that he can too.

And because I believe in the power of positive thinking--I'm going to give you guys a few reasons to get with me on the "NO MORE SPRING" bandwagon.  If we all wish really hard and clap our hands, maybe we can hold it off just a little big longer............wait, or will that kill a fairy? 
Anyway, here are some things that suck about spring:

*Pollen--if you live in Georgia, you know what I'm talking about.  Soon all our cars will be yellow.  Our houses, driveways, and some days even the air will be yellow.  For many of us, our noses will run, our eyes will itch, and there will be a constant nagging tickle at the back of our throats.  Boo.

*Taxes--long gone are the days of sitting in my apartment doing my own taxes online.  These days, we have to pay a professional to look through all our personal business and fill out all the papers I no longer understand.  Not to mention, they always need some tiny slip of paper we got in the mail eight months ago or something like that and I have to tear apart the house looking for it.  No fun.

*March Madness--sorry if you're in love with basketball, but I am not.  I find it to be the most pointless sport to watch.  In almost every game I have ever seen, it comes down to the last 2 minutes of scoring.  They go back & forth and whoever happens to have more points when the buzzer sounds is the winner.  But it seems like if the game was 15 seconds longer, the other team could just as easily have won.  Big waste of time if you ask me.

*Spring Cleaning--Eww!  Who wants to crawl into every corner and cranny of their house wiping up dirt and grime?  Okay, it's pretty great once it's finished, but the actual process of spring cleaning goes on my list of yuck.

*Mowing--grass starts growing again and the lawn needs mowing again.  Goodbye, 60-90 minutes of every weekend (or rather, $40 of the week's budget to pay someone who can do it much faster and better than us :)  ).


See?  Who wants spring now?  Not me!  Who's with me?!