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Saturday, April 16, 2011

Family night FAIL

It's Saturday night and we're all back together after being scattered across 3 cities last night. Mike and I had talked about going out for a date, but I thought it would be nice to all cocoon in the house together for family night. Good idea gone bad.

First, we couldn't agree on dinner. Mike wanted to go out. Charlie and I wanted to stay in. Annie wanted to order in something. Great. Except we couldn't decide what to order in. She wanted 5 Guys. Mike wanted Chinese. I just wanted a bowl of cereal. So we declared it "whatever you want for dinner night" and left it at that.

Next was the movie selection. Charlie wanted to watch professional wrestling on TV. Mike wanted Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Robbie did not want to watch a "real people movie." I just wanted to come to a decision. We decided on Harry Potter, figuring Robbie would fall asleep shortly after the movie started.

We sat down (me, not on the couch, just to add to the frustration of the evening), pressed play for Harry Potter and the movie came on sans sound. I thought maybe that's the way it was supposed to be, for dramatic effect. But when the audio kept fading in and out and the video began stuttering, the only drama going on were the protests coming from the family room.`

I called AT&T Uverse customer support to try to a.) get the video on demand working and b.) get our account credited for the rental. The nice woman on the other end of the phone was about the only bright spot in the evening. As she worked to test the lines and re-set the system (yes, Mike, I said go downstairs and check that TV. Really. Now. Just do it.), Annie made herself some shrimp stir-fry and Robbie went to his room to draw pictures.

Twenty minutes later, the account was credited, but the movie wasn't fixed. Charlie was arguing with me about still wanting to watch WWE. When he figured that was a lost cause, he went in the kitchen where he and Annie started to pick at each other.

And that was the end of family night. I'd had enough, so I sent everyone to bed. Mike and I would just have our date night at home, I thought. Until he kept trying to find another movie to rent and I snapped that it would be a waste of another 20 minutes on the phone to get the money back when it didn't work and he snottily meowed at me like a pissy cat, so I stomped off and said, "I'm going to bed."

As I said, family night FAIL.

We'll try again tomorrow.

9 comments:

booksandcandy said...

I am sorry your night went poorly. Although once again your blog shows me that my husband and I are more normal than I often think. We have had these nights before and the worst part about them is once we hit the "I don't know what do you want for dinner" question I know that we are going to have one of those nights. Here's to a better Family Night or Date Night.

Unknown said...

Anyone who says she has not had one of those nights is on some medicine that I want to take! Hang in there; tomorrow really will be a better day!

Unknown said...

P.S. I was looking at your profile, and your two favorite books are on my list of great reads too! Have you tried Barbara Kingsolver? Start with the Poisonwood Bible or Prodigal Summer. You might just find yourself another favorite book!

kbiermom said...

*sigh* yeah, sometimes the togetherness thing is just overrated. Or something.

And technology... As you were writing this blog, probably, I was ranting about how sick I am of electronic devices making our lives more stressed and complicated -- while we tried to figure out why the TV won't talk to the DVD player. And now I'm sitting here wondering what it will do to persuade our printer to Just Print One Thing. And what to do with it if it's a lemon, since this isn't our first argument over the basic job description of Printer. And when I'll find time to do that. etc etc etc.

Time to put everyone to bed here, too :)

Ellen aka Ellie said...

Thank you for being real!

Ellen aka Ellie said...

Well, I mean, thank you for being as real as the rest of us but not spinning it into something heartwarming for a post. Sometimes moms blog that all is well and perfect, and other moms think, "What's wrong with me?"

My son was an only child, so no sibs to pick at, but I do remember some moments between the two of us that equal some of your moments of tonight.

(Oh, and I like cereal for dinner, too.)

kbiermom said...

PS. 4/5 of us ended up watching Toy Story 3 together. Go figure :)

Anonymous said...

Bummer! I find it helpful to set up everyone's expectations beforehand. "On Friday, we're having pizza delivered and watching Up!" That way everyone knows what's coming and what to expect, and there's no room for disagreement if the choices are already made. Although there's no accounting for technical difficulties! Glad AT&T was nice about it!

Sharon said...

How frustrating. I'm sorry. I'd have handled it less nicely than you.
1-mom gets to sit where SHE wants to sit.
I'd be good w/ Harry Potter, but waiting for On Demand to work is so annoying. We've had that problem a few times, too.
I hope the rest of your weekend was less frustrating.