Monday, March 22, 2010

Playing house

That's what I felt like we were doing all weekend...just a young couple who borrowed someone's kids for the weekend and were playing house. It was fun minus the parts I wanted to scream or sit down and cry! lol Even though it was a relatively easy weekend I still found myself getting frustrated and starting on a pity party for myself. I'm the only one who has to make plans to do anything...even go to the bathroom or clean. I'm the only one who has to stop what I'm doing a zillion times to check on kids, stop fights, pick up a different mess. I wish I could just go in and lay down whenever I felt like it...and on and on and on. It took all I had not to let myself dive deep into that pool.

Mostly my problem was trying to accomplish way more then I usually do with no one to help occupy Danielle and Sean. Eventually Sean and Danielle got into playing house. They traveled from room to room, switching the scenario and leaving a mess each time. First it was the bathroom with Sean being the baby. It involved tons of blankets and flip flops (have nooo idea why). Then Danielle was Santa Claus and visiting little kids' houses and giving out tons of toys. Finally they were just a regular family who happened to NEED a fish tank. At least according to Danielle as she was walking down the hall with one of my empty square 3 gallon water bottles.

I cleaned out my lazy susan pantry, the spice cupboard, the coffee/tea cupboard, did 2 loads of dishes, washed a ton of pans, picked up the kitchen floor, cleaned off a few counters, did laundry non stop, tried to fix the little wooden bed and lost the open bottle of wood glue in the process. I put it down somewhere between my bedroom and the front door that I had heard open and close. I found it eventually the next day in a pile of laundry in the hall. Luckily the glue stayed in the bottle. So if you drove by my house and saw a little boy standing in the front yard with just a t-shirt and diaper on. Thank you for assuming he wasn't some neglected kid that needed CPS to protect him from his supposed parents. I really was right behind him...at least as quickly as this body would allow.

It was a beautiful day out so we couldn't spend it all inside. Finally after Sean trying to escape out the front door for the umpteenth time, I grabbed their boots and jackets and took them out. They rode on ride ons, jumped on the trampoline and went on swings while I sat at the picnic table and crocheted a few squares of Allison's shawl.

Tom and I both went to the store on Friday and bought things for a really nice dinner. I had fun shopping for only 5 people. I suddenly could afford to buy things that normally I wouldn't look at like brown and serve sausage...one box fed us all! lol Tom had picked up stuffed clams, crab and shrimp cakes, asparagus, and a surprise of 2 T-bone steaks. I bought the salad fixings, mushrooms and potatoes. Funny thing is, I bought the mushrooms without a plan. It's one of those things I could suddenly afford. (I normally have to buy a ton to satisfy all the mushroom lovers here). I hadn't had it in a while and wanted, so in the cart it went.

It was a nice dinner although it didn't work out entirely as we thought. Sean fell asleep at 6 no matter how hard I tried to keep him awake. Danielle asked me to put her to bed at 7 while I was making her dinner. Eventually she put a diaper on herself and climbed into my bed on her own. And then what I feared, happened....Sean woke up. We set his batman plate and booster seat at the end of the table between us. He really enjoyed eating with us and ate a ton (for him). It was fun to see him take a bite of something new then exclaim....MMMMMM! Dis is good! The one major glitch in the meal...Tom couldn't find the fresh asparagus he bought. We figured when he bagged the groceries, he left it on the counter. (bought it at Aldi's) I found it the next day in the cheese/lunchmeat drawer.

Sunday was nice since I didn't need to be at church until 3:30. I got up, made a pot of coffee and a pan of eggs with leftover mushrooms and steak from the night before. Did a lot of laundry and little things but not much of any one thing. Took Michelle to work at 1:45 and then busted my rear to get out the door again at 3:30 for church. We didn't have a regular meeting but instead sat around having fellowship over cups of coffee while the kids played. It was so nice! When I got home Pat was here with our car!!! Woohooo! Driving to pick up Michelle was a bit less of a hassle and definitely cheaper! (van gets 10 mpg, car gets about 30)

Now it's back to the same old, same old. Wrestling kids out of bed, trying to make it look like I actually accomplished something this weekend and get a hand up on this place. Maybe I'll just open all the cupboard doors and admire the orderly shelves for a bit.

1 comment:

~Tammy~ said...

I am so glad you had a "weekend off". I can completely relate to the pity party though. We used to live on the doorstep of the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge. Spent most of our free time there. DH and the older kids got to hike, go rock climbing, exploring... while I got to sit in the picnic area and keep littles from eating buffalo poop and find ways to entertain them.

I only ever got to climb the mountains once, and had to go alone to do it, which is dangerous.

Now the kids are all old enough to do those things, but we no longer live anywhere near the Refuge. I see the sadness in my daughter's eyes when she is now left behind with her kids while her husband and brothers go off to do the fun things she used to get to do. The Mom always seem to have to be the responsible ones.

Yesterday, once my DH finished watching basketball, hockey, and a movie, he happened to notice that the kitchen cleaning had not been started by the person assigned kitchen duty. He got up and noisily and with such martyrdom began cleaning. He began slamming things around and sighing heavily.

I sat down with a book and LET him. No one made him get up and clean, and I figure I deserved some "me" time as much as he did.