Just about every day Spencer does something that reminds me the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. He is so much like me it’s unreal. I already knew he was shy and afraid to try new things. But now I’m starting to see signs of OCD in him too. Isn’t it nice that I’ve passes on all of my bad traits to him. How lucky for him.

The other day we were at the park. We brought along a cooler with two sodas for everybody. Spencer quickly drank both of his sodas and he was still thirsty. There was a drinking fountain near the playground so I told him to get a drink there.

He said, “No, people put their mouth on it.”

“They do not,” I said.

“Yes they do. I saw them,” he proclaimed.

“Well it will be ok. Just don’t put your mouth on the fountain. Just drink the water.”

“The water is still contaminated.”

How can I really argue with him? Me who you know would never take a drink from a drinking fountain. Me who won’t push a shopping cart without wearing gloves. Me who will stop eating if somebody touches the food on my plate. I’m not exactly the best person to tell him he’s being irrational. So he just went thirsty until we got back home.

According to a survey by BettyConfidential.com 100% of women agree that making more money then their husband hurts their marriage. What? Seriously? Wow.

Since Lee is a stay-at-home dad, I obviously make more money than him. In fact, even when he was working I made more money than him. I think when we were first dating was the only time he probably out-earned me. I was working at Wendy’s and he was a cook/sometimes waiter at a fancy restaurant in town.

I don’t feel like me being the breadwinner puts a strain on our marriage. I think it absolutely works in our marriage. I love having Lee stay home with the kids. In fact he’s been looking for a full-time job and I’ve been trying to push him to just work part-time so he will still be here when the kids get home from school and be able to take them to all of their after school activities.

Before he was a stay-at-home dad Lee worked six days a week installing cable. Now that he’s been home more (a lot more) he has really bonded with the kids. Not that he wasn’t a good father before, but now he’s a great father. He knows what size the kids wear. He knows what their favorite meals are. He knows exactly what toys they are in to. He knows what shows they are watching on television. He knows who their friends are. He’s become much closer to the them. And them to him. It’s been awesome watching their bond grow tighter over the last five years.

Of course, we occasionally have arguments about who does what around the house. I think every couple does. I think even if he worked we’d still have some of those arguments. But in the end we just figured out who does what. When we are clear about our chores there is less arguing. Our teen boys do a lot of the cleaning. The little kids are responsible for their rooms. Lee is in charge of the “man” chores (as I call them) which includes mowing, fixing things, changing light bulbs…things like that. I’m in charge of laundry (which I have since outsourced some things — like folding — to the kids). I do the majority of the cooking while Lee takes over one or two nights a week.

Lee and I rarely fight about money either. I pay all the bills. Lee doesn’t have an allowance or anything, but he does call me to ask about large purchases such as to say, “Hey I’m low on gas. Is there money in the account to fill up?” I then either say “Yes” or “No, put it on your credit card.” [Isn't is sad that filling the van with gas is a large purchase now?]

When Lee first started his job as a stay-at-home dad he was pretty leery. Stay-at-home dads kind of have a bad wrap in our society. They need to be manly and take care of their woman. It’s something guys need to get over. It’s something women need to be more accepting off. Why can’t a guy be a stay-at-home dad? Why is it only a woman’s job?

I don’t think the wife being the breadwinner is what’s putting the strain on the marriage. It’s just bring out other issues you have that you aren’t addressing. It could be your husband’s jealousy. In that case deal with that issue. It could be chores. Set a clear plan of who does what. It could be money. Create a budget. Do whatever it takes to work on your marriage and embrace the positive things about your situation.

An ex-Rockwell Collins employing is suing the company for discrimination because they made him take diversity training. Does anybody see the oxymoron in that? Suing for discrimination for having to take diversity training? Well maybe not so much oxy as moron.

Apparently Thomas Meeker is a devout Christian and believes homosexuality is a sin. So when he got an email telling him he was required to take diversity training which, according to his lawsuit, “expected employees to welcome, value and respect differences of others in the workplace” he just couldn’t go there. I guess whatever Christian teachings Mr. Meeker has learned through his childhood taught him he can’t be respectful to other people who are different from him. I’m sure his church will be happy to know he’s following their teachings to the tee.

So Mr. Meeker told HR he refused to take the required the training. He says he went through one of the training courses and found it “offensive.” He told his manager and HR, “it promoted and insisted the employees accept, celebrate and embrace homosexuality.” Apparently his emails to HR were what was really offensive and so Mr. Meeker was fired.

Here lies the problem. In Mr. Meeker’s eyes he was fired because Rockwell Collins forced him to partake in the homosexual lifestyle, which is against his religion. Rockwell believes they fired him because he’s a fucking moron who can’t even make it through a couple of online training courses about not being an asshole in the workplace. Of course, I may be paraphrasing Rockwell’s position there.

Do people really read that online training anyway? I can’t possibly be the only one who quickly clicks “next” on each page until I get to the end where I have to answer the questions. Am I? I mean, unless you’re my boss, then of course I’m reading that training word for word, soaking it all in and taking copious notes.

I think Mr. Meeker completely missed the point. I’ve been through a lot of diversity training. I’ve had some online training. I’ve watched movies that were clearly filmed sometime in the 80s. Never once have I felt like my company was forcing me to accept something I don’t agree with (although I’m pretty liberal so there isn’t much I don’t agree with) unless you disagree with getting along with co-workers and doing your job.

All companies are trying to accomplish with diversity training is to get their employees to be cordial and check their judgmental attitudes at the door during business hours so other employees don’t feel threatened or that they are working in a hostile workplace. Nobody is telling him he can’t be a judgmental asshole if he wants to. They are just asking him to keep it to himself while he’s in the Rockwell offices and representing their company. You know the company who’s name and logo is was at the top of his paychecks. They are just asking him to be nice to people he does business with so they can all do their jobs. They weren’t asking him to kiss a gay man or hold hands and sing Kum by Ya.

I think Mr. Meeker will find it hard to find a company that doesn’t require him to go through diversity training. Especially when they do a Google search during their hiring process and discover he apparently can’t work with gay people without sending nasty emails to HR. Mr. Meeker needs to get off his Christian high horse and get a grip. It’s not homosexuals that are the problem in the workplace. It’s the assholes.

Lee and I took a romantic trip to Target earlier this evening. I just love it when we get this special time together.

We had a short list of things we needed to buy; peanut butter, socks and underwear. Yes, we’re wild and crazy like that.

45 minutes and $250 later we walked out of the store. Wow, peanut butter’s gotten so expensive. Just kidding. Of course we bought things that weren’t on our list. Lots of things. When the cashier asked us if we found everything ok, Lee said, “Yeah, a little too well.” And they were out of Wii Fits or we would have been closer to $350.

But what’s sad about this trip is not the amount of money we spent (although that may bring me to tears). No what’s sad is how happy I am about my new socks. I love them. They are so comfy. They aren’t special socks. They are just Hanes, but they are mine. And they are pink so nobody else will wear them. They are just mine. I’m giddy about the thought of not having to share my socks. How sad am I?