Tuesday, February 12, 2008
If there's one thing I hate more than anything else it's when Mark travels. I realize there's no way around it. When you work with people in Mexico it's sort of inevitable. He has to go see them, sometimes. And honestly, it's not that often. But even still, I hate when he goes. This time his departure brought on a serious anxiety attack. I'm not sure why because I've done this several times alone now, but all of Sunday morning I could hardly breathe and my heart was racing and I was on the verge of tears the entire day. Get a grip, I kept telling myself, it's not like he's around that much or like he does that much to help when he is around. Things usually run a lot smoother when he's gone actually. I do a whole lot less waiting for him to come home and help and spend more time getting on with things. And within a few short days I'm so on top of things I have nothing to do. Like today. I mean, there's laundry to fold but I'm saving that for tonight while I watch American Idol. But pretty much everything else is done and I'm actually even sort of bored. Weird.
Anyway, so I've gotten this temporary single parent thing down to almost a fine art and thought I'd share just exactly how I survive without my sidekick to help me out. Of course, the one thing I haven't mastered is filling the major void Mark leaves behind when he goes--I miss him desperately and I haven't found anything to remedy that yet, not even chocolate. But here are the major survival tips:
First, go to the grocery store before he heads out of town. Buy all the comfort food you can cram into your cart and don't forget popsicles and coke because 99% of the time someone barfs when he's away and you don't want to be caught unprepared or have to drag barfing kids to the grocery store for necessities. Also, the coke is very handy when you are on call 24/7.
Second, don't plan any extravagant menus because the one person who will eat them with you won't be there to eat them. Instead eat like we do when Mark is gone. Here's a five day menu sure to please even the pickiest eaters and there's hardly any meal prep involved which means less clean-up which is good when you don't have an extra pair of hands to help out.
Day One: Fish sticks, raw veggies-n-dip, Five cup fruit salad, tator tots.
Day Two: Chicken Nuggets, Kraft Mac-n-cheese, Watermelon and Corn on the cob.
Day Three: Chicken noodle soup, raw veggies-n-dip (because there are always leftovers of veggies) and grapes.
Day Four: Belgian waffles, ham steaks and fruit cocktail.
Day Five: Lasagna (okay this requires a little prep but after all the kiddie food, you'll be ready for it) and toss salad and french bread.
Third, plan some major project to keep you busy and help keep your mind off missing the traveling man. This week's project, of course, is all about Valentine's day. I'm almost done making 60 of these babies for Hunter, Noah and Denver to give away to their classmates, who will then throw them in the garbage and all my hard work with them--sigh! And then I'll spend the next two days helping the boys fill them out. Busy! Busy! Busy! And make sure you keep it that way.
Fourth, putting six kids to bed is quite a job, especially when three of them want Prince Caspian read to them and three of them want you to snuggle and hold bottles. So while I read to the big boys upstairs, I plop the three boys in front of the TV and let them watch I Love Toy Trains for half an hour. And miraculously, everytime I've come downstairs all three of them have been sitting on the couch, right where I plopped them before I went upstairs. I think the fact that they are completely exhausted helps, but I have yet to be interrupted while reading to the big kids. Of course this means you have to limit TV time during the day but it's manageable.
 Fifth, once the kids are in bed it gets mighty quiet and lonely. Thus the five loads of laundry waiting to be folded tonight. But even when the laundry is folded and the dishes loaded and the chores are all done and I've watched all the TV I can possibly stay awake for, I hate going to bed. I'm so good at freaking myself out. But fortunately for me, I've found a few things that put my mind at ease and help me feel a little bit better about sleeping alone. So what takes over Mark's side of the bed when he's not here? A cell phone, my car keys with alarm button and a steak knife. I figure this way if anyone breaks in I can alert the neighbors, contact 911 and at least sort of injure the bad guy until further assistance arrives. I know it sounds silly but it makes me feel safe enough to fall asleep and sleep is very important when you are in charge of six kids, solo. But don't worry. I'm thinking of upgrading my steak knife for a hunting knife which we have in the basement--I figure it would be much more intimidating and inflict much more damage than the steak knife. That is until I convince our Homemaking Leader to host a Where Do I Buy A Gun and How Do I Use It homemaking night and I get hold of a nice pink revolver. That, or a pink taser. Or check out the Tampon Stun Gun--how awesome would that be?
 
 
And last but certainly not least, make sure you have lots of chocolate and ice cream on hand. It helps. I'm not sure why but it does. And there you have it. My very own survival guide to single parenthood. Lucky for me this only lasts for a couple of days at a time or I'd seriously have to find me a second "stay-at-home" husband. That said, I love you husband. Come home quick!
posted by Shana # 12:56 PM 
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