Tales from the Steppes

2005-04-28

9:10 a.m.
Mama said "think before speaking", No filter in my head

I am on my own for the next week. Well, not really on my own exactly. I am on my own with the Mongols, which is not quite the same thing I guess. It doesn't really bother me to have to deal with them constantly for a week. As long as there is no whining. Or shrieking. Or touching or tattling. Then I get testy. But mostly my life is not for the worse with the SU gone. On the one hand, I can't leave the house for extended time periods at night. The weekend will be child-centered. Oh but wait, I already spend my weekends driving the Mongols around. And if I want to go out, I will have to get a babysitter. On the other hand, I have one less child to deal with. Hrrrrrm.

The SU has gone to Colorado to visit his sister, then on to Florida for a conference. It doesn't really bother me that he gets to travel much more than I do. Not too much. Mostly it amuses me that for me to go to Pennsic each summer for less than a week takes an act of god, but for him to go away for however long just takes a visit to Orbitz.

I have already started "planning" for my get away this summer. Because I am going, no matter the state of my thesis, house, or job. I don't care. It is my vacation, dammit. The family is now trained to view that week as mine and if I were to not go this year, well, I might not get to go again. When planning camp schedules, I have made sure that it is relatively easy and convenient for him to handle both (gasp!) the drop off and pick up of the Mongols. I will disperse as many of them as possible to other houses and write out the schedule of activities for the remaining Mongols. I will go major grocery shopping and even make a few meals before I go. All clothes will be washed and put away - anything I can do to make his life easier while I am gone.

As I was grocery shopping late last night, on my last night to be able to do this by myself, I wondered idly what would happen if I asked the SU what there was to eat while he is gone. What preparations has he made? Perhaps I should call him in Colorado and ask if there are any chicken nuggets in the freezer. As if I am not a whole lot closer to the freezer than him. And I am sure he would like it if I called to ask where the chidren's swimsuits are and how does one get in to the Y? What do I need to do for EM's science fair tonight? Help me, I don't know what I am doing, as if I have not had kids for over 10 years.

At this point, I find this double standard to be slightly more amusing than annoying. After all, I am enabling the situation. I suspect that the SU knows that the thing I hate most in life, beyond cabbage, except in coleslaw, is listening to adults whine about things they can easily do themselves. I would rather gnaw my own ears off than listen to it. I am not exactly a very tactful person to begin with and I lose what little tact I have when exposed to whinging or dithering about things that a grown adult should be able to handle. Because I have to live with the SU, I try very hard to keep this in check. So when he calls me at 7pm to ask if he should feed the Mongols, I do not suggest that he wait a few more hours and see if they go cannabalistic. Mostly, I try to make as many arrangements in advance, so that there are no stupid questions, no complaints stemming from my absence. All so I don't have to listen to it.

Actually, the real reason I am happy that the SU is gone is that he is really stressing over my starting my new job. I understand that it will be a change for me to be working full time instead of part time and going to school. From my perpsective, the hours I spend working are not really changing, just the balance. There are still the same number of hours in a week. It may suck, it may not. I don't know yet and worrying about it in advance doesn't really do anything. I have made as many contingency plans as I could and that is just as good as it gets.

Yeah, my week really has been that boring. All I do is sit and write, maybe go to the library and copy more articles. Run a few errands. Futz in the yard.