So, to begin with, I hope all of my American friends had a wonderfully blessed holiday. And I hope all of my Canadian friends had a cool day too.
Thanksgiving was odd. *raising my eyebrows at your silent exclamations of 'surprise'* The neighbor went into the hospital on Wednesday, leaving myself and Da Man in charge of her mentally retarded brother. I offered to move in next door but Da Man insisted he be the one. I was thinking it would be like a mini vacation, eh, hanging out in the neighbor's house with no one but her bro to bother talk to me. But, alas, Da Man stepped to the plate. And it was probably for the best because I am pretty sure the whole world would have joined me next door. Not to mention the fact that Mak refuses to sleep unless I'm home, so I was spared the trips back and forth between the houses.
Mom and I messed in the kitchen all day with Grace's help. It was quite fun to mess around with Grace. I taught her how to make egg noodles from scratch, the way my grandma did, and we had a lot of fun. And we baked a pumpkin pie. And we made some sort of dessert with angel food cake, Cool Whip, and pineapple.
Da Man and his charge joined us for the meal. They hung around long enough for Da Man to help me clean up after the meal and then went back next door.
This is the fifth night that Da Man has not been home. And I quickly realized that I am no longer a single mom.
Granted, things are manageable, but I found myself completely stressed out and quite irritable the past few days. Bath time and bed time have been nightmarish. And the long hours in between haven't been much better. I am very thankful that Mak still takes a decent nap because I think I would have been sitting on the roof alongside the illuminated reindeer, making that "I'm crazy" up and down motion of my finger on my lip by the second night.
Grace has gone next door and hung out a few times. And she memorized the neighbor's phone number within a couple of hours of her dad leaving. Mak doesn't seem to really miss him unless he shows up, but she's pretty much like that with everyone.
As for me, I will be glad when the neighbor gets home and Da Man is back here. It's lonely without him in the apartment. But I have gotten quite a bit done during his absence, probably in an attempt to pretend to reclaim the place, to make it mine again, knowing me.
It's funny to me because I have prided myself on being the single mom for so long. And now I can hardly manage. Perhaps it was a bit rougher because Grace hasn't been in school since Tuesday--friggin' Tuesday as in almost a whole damned week. She gets bored and then gets obnoxious. It's been a real stretch to keep her entertained. And just think, Christmas break is less than a month away. Crap.
Da Man said he should be home around 6:30 in the morning. He said, "I'm going to sneak in and snuggle up beside you in our bed." I laughed and said, "Well, actually, you'll be snuggling up next to Grace and Tanner (the dog). They've kind of taken over things since you've been gone." And oh, have they.
Grace has slept in her bed one out of the five nights, but that's okay with me because I figure that one of these days she will be too old to sleep with her mama and I know I will miss that. Then again, Mak is getting to be the age where she could fight off my smothering by rolling over on her in the middle of the night. I don't know how the five of us will ever fit in a queen size bed.
And speaking of, that's where I'm heading-to bed. It's almost two in the morning and I have to get up to send Grace to school tomorrow. *dancing the Cabbage Patch*