That pretty much sums up this weekend.
You see, Matt was on a Men’s Retreat with McFBC folk at Pine Cove in Tyler. They left on Friday afternoon and returned on Sunday afternoon. Nearly 48 hours of testosterone, bodily emissions, and cholesterol-laden food. Yup, he had a great time. You can read all about it on his blog.
So that left me with a full weekend of being a single parent. As daunting as it might seem, we actually managed to pull through pretty well…and hopefully my kids had some fun in the process. They seem to be intact, so I’m hopeful the scars aren’t permanent (just kidding).
Friday, which is normally a calm day, was extremely busy. It began with a vet appointment for both Peekaboo and Culvert for their checkups and shots. Getting Peekaboo into the cat carrier is always a bit of a fuss. We do a well-choreographed dance of pulling her out from underneath the bed and squeezing her through the carrier door. Thank goodness for the scruff on the back of her neck…and for declawed kitties. The appointment went well, and I learned that Culvert is 74 years old in human years, while Peekabo just turned 64 last month. Not bad for old geezers, I must say. The Atkins diet has proved successful with Peekaboo as she has dropped 1/2 pound since we switched. “She’s a slow loser,” my vet remarked. Yep, I know the feeling all too well.
Then it was back home for a little while, where I did some cleaning and general housework. Unfortunately, my plans to help Matt out by covering for him at Trey’s monthly First Friday lunch turned into a major snafu, so Crisana and I had to settle for happy meals from McDonald’s. Then it was off to Market Street to shop for my Taste of Home party menu. We had just enough time to get home, scan the grocery items and put them away before we left again to pick Trey up from school. Thankfully, this day he remembered NOT to take the bus home, so I was able to take him back to Supercuts to get his haircut fixed. Though the experience was less-than-pleasant, he now has a decent haircut that should last longer than 2 weeks.
Then it was off to Stonebriar Centre for his birthday portrait session. We got there about an hour early, so I let them play in the soft play area until it was time for Trey to get changed. After the session, we headed for dinner at Chili’s Too and sat next to a table full of very happy teenage girls. They sure laughed a lot, which made conversation at our table difficult. Trey & Crisana were too busy with chips and pizza to care much, I think.
We headed home, and since the tent was still up in the playroom from our non-campout last weekend, they wanted to have another indoor campout. We cleaned up the playroom first, then enjoyed story time together and got them snuggled down in their slumber bags for a night under the stars (never mind that there was a ceiling and a roof between them and the big sky).
At 6:25 A.M. Saturday morning, the thundering of little feet awoke me. It being Saturday, however, I refused to acknowlege the light of day until at least 7:00. We enjoyed a liesurely morning at home, where I worked to finish cleaning as much of the house as possible and prepared food for the party while Trey & Crisana hung out, watching cartoons, playing video and computer games. At noon, we took Trey to a birthday party at the Rodenbaugh Natatorium in Allen, and Crisana and I headed home to play hostess.
My theme for the Taste of Home party was “Sips and Dips with a Spring Twist” and it was so much fun!  I had about 8 women attend, a mix of friends from the neighborhood, school, and church. I served several different dips – spicy, salty, and sweet – with a mix of crackers, chips, fruit, veggies, and other muchables, and made a couple of different flavored teas and homemade lemonade to serve with it. Everything was so yummy, and we had a great time of laughing and visiting.  There was so much food left over that I invited the rest of Jacqueline’s family to come and join us. With the Worleys, there is never much left over! They managed to polish off quite a bit, bringing the amount of leftovers to a manageable level for our family of four. They left in the early evening, which allowed me to get my kids to bed on time, which was a good thing after such a busy day.
Sunday brought church and all the activity that goes along with it. This morning was communion, so the service went a little longer than usual. And of course, Trey & Crisana wanted to visit the library. And we have a new study guide to purchase. And there’s always activities to sign up for, and people to visit with , and things to be done. So by the time we left, it was almost noon. I treated us to Mimi’s for lunch today and with our late arrival, we had about a 15-minute wait. Service was a little slow, but the food was terrific as usual, and by the time we got home it was 1:00. Matt called to let us know that he was on the way home at around 1:50, but knowing that he wouldn’t be home in time for me to get to my Cub Scout leader’s meeting, I made arrangements for the kids to play at a neighborhood friends’ house. So after an hour of hanging out at home, we left again. I dropped Trey & Crisana off then headed up to my meeting. It was a great meeting where much was accomplished for the next several months in our pack, and when I returned home Matt was there waiting to greet me!
So there it is. My weekend flying solo.  All in all, not too bad. Busy, yes. Crazy, yes. Wouldn’t want to do it all the time. But for the refreshing Matt received and the time he had to build relationships and friendships with the men in our church, I’d say it was worth it.
Uh….yeah…it was worth it. Thank you!