Excelling in life, or maybe not.

woodsman said:

I do ok with living life and excel at many things, but my adult son has been pointing out I have flaws. He does this in a joking manner but his critique would hold more weight if I wasn't letting him live with me while he looks for his own place. These would be a few examples pointed out to me after he returned from a four day deer hunting trip.

Leftovers in the Fridge, His comment was that the fried chicken was in the fridge when he left, If I keep it any longer I could give each piece a pet name. Admittedly I stink at refrigerator organization but not to the point anything gets icky and smelly.

Clothing left in the dryer, yup it was in there for four days, now this flaw is legit, I stink at laundry and folding clothing. My idea of ironing just kicking around clothing is putting it back in the dryer for a few minutes. Any quality cloths I will drop off to be pro cleaned and folded. I also enjoy the conversations with the woman that owns the laundry service, I actually work on leaning a new Mandarin word each week to bridge the language gap.

Amazon boxes, I take advantage of Amazon prime free delivery for all kinds of things and may have a few boxes hanging about. I pointed out to my son that I haven’t been married for many years and I’m basically a bachelor living life on my terms. My home in general is spotless and well appointed. Once the critique was done from my son, I then went to the pantry and pulled out a few trash bags and said earn your keep, you pay no rent, you don’t purchase the food in the fridge and those boxes contained goods that keep his home going, have at it.

I’m not sure I should work on these flaws, I’ve managed this far in life with them so why screw with a good thing.

(So what flaws do you have?)

Click to expand...

woodsman said:

I do ok with living life and excel at many things, but my adult son has been pointing out I have flaws. He does this in a joking manner but his critique would hold more weight if I wasn't letting him live with me while he looks for his own place. These would be a few examples pointed out to me after he returned from a four day deer hunting trip.

Leftovers in the Fridge, His comment was that the fried chicken was in the fridge when he left, If I keep it any longer I could give each piece a pet name. Admittedly I stink at refrigerator organization but not to the point anything gets icky and smelly.

Clothing left in the dryer, yup it was in there for four days, now this flaw is legit, I stink at laundry and folding clothing. My idea of ironing just kicking around clothing is putting it back in the dryer for a few minutes. Any quality cloths I will drop off to be pro cleaned and folded. I also enjoy the conversations with the woman that owns the laundry service, I actually work on leaning a new Mandarin word each week to bridge the language gap.

Amazon boxes, I take advantage of Amazon prime free delivery for all kinds of things and may have a few boxes hanging about. I pointed out to my son that I haven’t been married for many years and I’m basically a bachelor living life on my terms. My home in general is spotless and well appointed. Once the critique was done from my son, I then went to the pantry and pulled out a few trash bags and said earn your keep, you pay no rent, you don’t purchase the food in the fridge and those boxes contained goods that keep his home going, have at it.

I’m not sure I should work on these flaws, I’ve managed this far in life with them so why screw with a good thing.

(So what flaws do you have?)

Click to expand...

backpacker said:

Sounds like your son is OCD. That is his problem, not yours, to deal with.

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Beaudreaux said:

Good God that sounds familiar. My oldest (26 y/o with two BA degrees and one minor, that I paid for) still lives here at my house, and has completely taken over my basement. No, he doesn't actually live in the basement, he lives in two bedrooms upstairs. Two bedrooms, you may ask? Yes, two. He has his book collection in one (his old room) and he lives in the other bedroom (his brother's old room). What he has in the basement is a collection of thousands (yes thousands) of video consoles and games that he buys off of the internet, refurbishes, and then sticks up on a shelf as part of his collection. He could sell his collection and make tens of thousands of dollars, of which he may have two grand invested. Old crappy games and busted game consoles and he makes them look and work like new - then puts them away.

He is working on his third internship, for which he gets a small stipend, that goes toward buying more crap... I mean consoles and games.

He doesn't pay rent. He doesn't clean his own room, or do his laundry, or buy groceries, or buy his cloths, or pay his insurance on his car that I bought for him 10 years ago. He does buy his own gas, but he doesn't pay for repairs, or tires on the car. He has a girlfriend that one week they are at her house, and the next week they are here, together, telling me about my flaws and how they know better than me.

I especially love how his girlfriend, who has a BS in Biology and works at a pet shop that sells only birds, tells me how to take care of my two 31 y/o horses, my dogs, cats and my chickens. I pretend to listen to her about the chickens because she works with birds, but even on that she's clueless.

I love my son. He's welcome here as long as he needs to be here. However, it would be nice if he didn't try to tell me how screwed up I am, how I buy the wrong foods, how my wife uses the wrong soap to wash cloths, how I don't feed the animals the correct food, how I don't ... well ... you get the idea.

His younger brother is in his final year of a Masters program and UNC Chapel Hill, and he already has a job lined up making 6 figures and his girlfriend (soon to be fiancé) graduated with a BS last year and is making over $90k writing code for a huge government contractor that creates software solutions.

The irony is, the oldest is still here at the house, and I have a hard time getting the young one that has his life together to come to visit and even when he does he thanks us for paying for his schooling, paying for his car, paying for his whatever, and he does his own laundry and dishes, and cooks for us the food that he goes and buys himself, and he raises hell at his older brother for making messes upstairs - which he already has to stay in the guest bedroom because his bother took over his room.

You gotta love 'em though. To do otherwise is just not emotionally possible.

Click to expand...

woodsman said:

I do ok with living life and excel at many things, but my adult son has been pointing out I have flaws. He does this in a joking manner but his critique would hold more weight if I wasn't letting him live with me while he looks for his own place. These would be a few examples pointed out to me after he returned from a four day deer hunting trip.

Leftovers in the Fridge, His comment was that the fried chicken was in the fridge when he left, If I keep it any longer I could give each piece a pet name. Admittedly I stink at refrigerator organization but not to the point anything gets icky and smelly.

Clothing left in the dryer, yup it was in there for four days, now this flaw is legit, I stink at laundry and folding clothing. My idea of ironing just kicking around clothing is putting it back in the dryer for a few minutes. Any quality cloths I will drop off to be pro cleaned and folded. I also enjoy the conversations with the woman that owns the laundry service, I actually work on leaning a new Mandarin word each week to bridge the language gap.

Amazon boxes, I take advantage of Amazon prime free delivery for all kinds of things and may have a few boxes hanging about. I pointed out to my son that I haven’t been married for many years and I’m basically a bachelor living life on my terms. My home in general is spotless and well appointed. Once the critique was done from my son, I then went to the pantry and pulled out a few trash bags and said earn your keep, you pay no rent, you don’t purchase the food in the fridge and those boxes contained goods that keep his home going, have at it.

I’m not sure I should work on these flaws, I’ve managed this far in life with them so why screw with a good thing.

(So what flaws do you have?)

Click to expand...

Beaudreaux said:

Good God that sounds familiar. My oldest (26 y/o with two BA degrees and one minor, that I paid for) still lives here at my house, and has completely taken over my basement. No, he doesn't actually live in the basement, he lives in two bedrooms upstairs. Two bedrooms, you may ask? Yes, two. He has his book collection in one (his old room) and he lives in the other bedroom (his brother's old room). What he has in the basement is a collection of thousands (yes thousands) of video consoles and games that he buys off of the internet, refurbishes, and then sticks up on a shelf as part of his collection. He could sell his collection and make tens of thousands of dollars, of which he may have two grand invested. Old crappy games and busted game consoles and he makes them look and work like new - then puts them away.

He is working on his third internship, for which he gets a small stipend, that goes toward buying more crap... I mean consoles and games.

He doesn't pay rent. He doesn't clean his own room, or do his laundry, or buy groceries, or buy his cloths, or pay his insurance on his car that I bought for him 10 years ago. He does buy his own gas, but he doesn't pay for repairs, or tires on the car. He has a girlfriend that one week they are at her house, and the next week they are here, together, telling me about my flaws and how they know better than me.

I especially love how his girlfriend, who has a BS in Biology and works at a pet shop that sells only birds, tells me how to take care of my two 31 y/o horses, my dogs, cats and my chickens. I pretend to listen to her about the chickens because she works with birds, but even on that she's clueless.

I love my son. He's welcome here as long as he needs to be here. However, it would be nice if he didn't try to tell me how screwed up I am, how I buy the wrong foods, how my wife uses the wrong soap to wash cloths, how I don't feed the animals the correct food, how I don't ... well ... you get the idea.

His younger brother is in his final year of a Masters program and UNC Chapel Hill, and he already has a job lined up making 6 figures and his girlfriend (soon to be fiancé) graduated with a BS last year and is making over $90k writing code for a huge government contractor that creates software solutions.

The irony is, the oldest is still here at the house, and I have a hard time getting the young one that has his life together to come to visit and even when he does he thanks us for paying for his schooling, paying for his car, paying for his whatever, and he does his own laundry and dishes, and cooks for us the food that he goes and buys himself, and he raises hell at his older brother for making messes upstairs - which he already has to stay in the guest bedroom because his bother took over his room.

You gotta love 'em though. To do otherwise is just not emotionally possible.

Click to expand...

Gaius46 said:

I think we have the same son.

Though come to think of it mine does do his own laundry.

Click to expand...