social awkwardness. it's not just for homeschool kids.

i love a good story.
i have yet to decide if i think that some people just attract good stories like flies to honey.. or if it's the lens you view life with. the way you see the story woven together that brings the life to it.
either way... i catch myself saying all the time--- did that really just happen?? 
yes it did. :)


sooooo....story time.
do you get traveling salesman?
honestly i thought the traveling salesman was from a day gone bye. letting a strange guy in your house to show you stuff? that sounds smart. who would actually do that? uuuhhhh.....


last friday.
the kids room is the only room in our house with carpet. 
they had just finished picking up all their toys after lunch when there was knock at the door.


a somewhat desperate looking young woman...rushing around in the pre-blizzard rain trying to convince anyone to let the kirby vacuum salesman clean their carpet. 
i was tempted.
it was the rare moment in time that the room was actually picked up. plus i had always kind of wondered what a $2500 vacuum could do. 
after assurances it wouldn't take longer than 45 minutes and explicit conversations in which i informed them that i had zero intention of buying a vacuum today i let them in.


my first clue that this was not going to go well was that the vacuum demonstrator, who looked all of 18, tracked mud onto my rug. seemingly unaware of his big muddy feet we got through 30 minutes of demonstrating how well his vacuum did in comparison to my $100 hoover. during which time he passionately called my vacuum a liar. and i mean passionately.
he said my vacuum was lying to me and stuck it in the corner in a time out. truth. he also asked me a lot of how much do you care about dirt questions... clearly not enough if i let that hoover hang around. for shame. 
at this point went the first call to the 'home office' ... trying to 'talk them down in price'. right in front of me. really? does this approach really work? i found it a little insulting. do i look naive enough to not see this circus for what it is? those calls ended up going out every 20 minutes for a total of.. wait for it... 6 times. yep. he was there two and a half hours. at one point i tried to kick him out because i had to lay the baby down. he waited for me. he said he only got credit for the demonstration if he spent a certain amount of time in a house. apparently a LIFETIME being the minimum. 


so that would be an annoying salesman story. but it gets better.
he asked to use my bathroom... twice.
the first time i realized the kids had brought the soap out to the kitchen.. so in a panic i got nate (who was working from home) to stay and hang out outside the bathroom and say sorry here's the soap if you need it kind of thing. which he did because my husband loves me.
but after an awkwardly long time... the guy declined the soap. 
and then while i squeamishly listened to MORE vacuum sales pitch my darling husband was forced to go in search of our plunger. 
yes. he. did. 


after those 6 calls to the home office in which the price dropped from $2500 down to $1200 final offer... after each offer of the salesman relaying to the 'office' that 'astonishingly' she has declined that price.. i finally and firmly told him "i would never drop that kind of money on something i hadn't spent significant time doing my own research and thinking about anyway. if you offered it to me for $500 today i would say no. it isn't the vacuum ... clearly the vacuum is amazing.. but i don't buy stuff on a whim like that.. and i have to be honest i think it's kind of crazy that apparently people do." 


that might have pushed him over the edge-- or maybe it was the impending blizzard. either way he got the picture and started packing up his vacuum. 
so i was reading to the kids on the couch and he asked if we were homeschooling. i said yes. he asked a few more questions such as "are you going to do that there whole lives?" which my answer to that question is that we are taking it year by year..child by child and making decisions based on that. 


then began his rant on how homeschool kids are socially awkward. 
my retort was there are kids in all different schooling situations that struggle socially... as long as you give a broad range of exposure and social interactions they will be fine.. i know lots of well adjusted homeschool kids. 
to this he responded that i might think they are well adjusted... but they are just socially awkward on the inside from spending too much time with their parents. 
wow.
double wow.
and there in lies the fabulous irony.


social awkwardness yo. it's not just for homeschool kids. :)


and because two picture-less posts in a row starts to give me a nervous twitch how about some random pictures that slipped through the cracks??


the momma's birthday. number 33. that looks crazy old on paper but feels pretty good on.

yummy french toast breakfast, that i didn't have to make, with my loves.

kids in charge of decorations. :)

nate and i have the tradition that the birthday honoree gets to pick the birthday dessert and the other is in charge of making it happen. 

birthday #33 called for caramelized mango cupcakes with toasted coconut frosting. 

this man does NOT bake. except on my birthday. 

true love tastes like homemade frosting i'm pretty sure. :)

he called in reinforcements... 

apparently the frosting was quite heavy.

grayson tried to claim assistance. he helped lick the bowl. :)

happy birthday to me. 
here's to another year of appreciating social awkwardness... everywhere you find it. :)