Here's to Single Moms Everywhere...

When I started this blog, it was with the intention of writing every single day. Then my husband started to to travel-- a lot!

Suddenly, I went from having two (somewhat) responsible adults in the house to just me. With three kids under 12. And I work.

I have become a single parent (for all practical purposes). I may have mentioned that I am not the tidiest housekeeper, but now I'm in charge of indoors & out. (Thank goodness for riding lawn mowers!)

The kids have helped pick up the slack some. My son is a professional dishwasher loader & "unloader" now. My middle daughter helps cook and work in the kitchen. And my youngest daughter is the dog keeper. They all put away their own laundry and keep the bonus room (relatively) clean.

Now, I won't say that everything is in perfect order. That would not hold true even if my hubby was home all the time. But I will say that the kids are doing their best- and their best is pretty darn good, as far as I'm concerned.

I do get tired of being the sheriff who has to lay down the law & be a big meanie. Then hubby comes home and all bets are off: the kids stay up late; they eat whatever they want; and hubby buys them stuff. So, daddy is "good guy" and mommy is... well, mommy is still the person they want if they have a cut or a bad dream. Mommy is the person who gets questions like: "Why does God let people die?" and "How do I know if I'm hitting puberty?" I think that has as much to do with accessibility as the fact that they know I'll tell them the truth (to their age appropriate level).

Being full time mommy/daddy/maid/cook/driver/employee/committee chair/etc. means I have very little time. (Today I actually had to tell a fellow committee member to let the committee know I would be two minutes late because I had to pee- because I hadn't for six hours.)

Unfortunately, because of my lack of time, one of the things I've had to forgo was my blogging on any kind of regular basis. That's not to say I haven't had anything to talk about. I've had GOBS of prime blogging material streaming through my consciousness- but no time to post. I thought about jotting notes on paper- to be entered later. Now I have a stack of paper with scribbles and random thoughts and no more entries than when I began.

So, as with all of life, I'm "picking my battles", "prioritizing my schedule" and "trying to create extra pockets of time in my day" by "multi-tasking". I'm "holding down the fort", "keeping things at status quo" and "minding shop" while hubby is out. And I'm trying to "make lemonade out of lemons" and keep the proverbial family boat afloat.

If you don't see any posts for several days, don't be surprised. BUT- if you don't see any posts for several weeks- dispatch 911 to my house immediately: I've either been tied up by the kids, I've run away, or I'm heavily sedated in a soft, quiet, white, padded room...

In the meantime, cheers to single moms everywhere! May you have rest and peace (without having to die to get it!).