Life with Ricky

OK, so my husband's name is not Ricky (as in Ricky Ricardo) but we certainly do bear a striking resemblance to Lucy and Ricky. In fact, our friends in college used to call us Lucy and Ricky. At the time, I never thought much about it. Granted, my husband is from another country. He does indeed speak with an accent (which when we were dating, was much heavier). And I am somewhat crazy. He even calls me Lulee, which is his (albeit, butchered) derivative of my name. However, I never noticed the resemblance until 1993. My husband was taking a business trip to Europe. It was to be 10 days, and something like 6 countries. His room and airfare were paid for. He worked for the airlines, so my ticket would be 90% off. We had a nanny that could watch our kids....and he REFUSED to take me.

I cannot tell you how ticked off I was - so much, that I knew I had to take action. Revenge -- pure and simple. But how? I planned and plotted, yet nothing came to me. Nothing seemed befitting of his refusal to take me. Finally, the day came for me to take him to the airport. As I was pulling away from dropping him off, it came to me -- the ultimate plan! I would remodel our house!

I couldn't help but chuckle to myself. Spend the money he would have spent on me had he taken me on the trip, while decorating our house as I saw fit with no intereference. It was perfect!! So, in my Lucy-esque manner, I enlisted the help of my neighbor aka my brother in law. Since we lived in Kuwait at the time, I needed the perfect co-conspirator. He was an engineer and had just remodeled his home, so he knew where to take me for tile and furniture. And of course, he spoke the language. Plus, he loved to spend money more than me!! I relayed my plan to him at lunchtime and by evening, we were off -- pricing tile and new bath fixtures. He called the workmen and made all the arrangements. I was in heaven!! I was pulling off the ultimate scam!

Fast forward a week...one thing I hadn't counted on was delays and lots of reasons for not finishing. I was very explicit that this had to be done within 10 days. Lulee was starting to sweat. A couple of the bathrooms were finished but we still needed to do the living room, which I had planned to completely tile.

Day 8 and the workmen have torn up my living room floor. Who knew there was no subfloor? My entire first floor was a sandbox. Thank God, we didn't have cats or we would have been knee deep in....well, you know where this is heading. Day 9 is no better. My husband calls to give me his flight information. Uh oh, I sense I'm going to be in trouble. Perhaps I should give my Ricky a tiny hint, just in case the floor isn't in.

"Hi, dear! Things are great...oh, and you'll never guess -- I have a big surprise for you when you get home! ....Now, you know I can't tell you that or it wouldn't be a surprise, would it?!"
OK, at least I'd covered myself and he couldn't say he didn't know.

Well, the day arrived for his return. And no, the floor still wasn't finished, although, maybe a third of it was finished. Now strange as it may seem, I think God had a plan for me. That evening, a tremendous storm blew in, just as his plane was arriving. So much of a storm that his plane almost went down!! They had to circle around to the nearest country (that's right -- COUNTRY). In any case, he was so rattled that the floor became a secondary issue. I think he was so happy to be home, he didn't care what I did to the house. By the way, did I mention the dog I brought home that week???

"LULEEEEEE????"