Boy, am I glad it’s Monday! I don’t say that very often, but this was one weekend I was glad to get past. Of all the weekends to have a feeling anti-social seclusion come over me this was NOT the right one. I’ve been furiously trying to get the kids’ school finished, clean house for company coming soon and finish up some projects that have long gone neglected. Friday evening came and I was already exhausted before our youth activity even started. It didn’t help that not many people could come because of outside circumstances. 2nd man was not exactly feeling the love for this activity either so there was kind of a feeling of “just wanna stay home.” in the air. We ended up having a good time, but not exactly one for the record books.
Saturday came and I was excited to scoot the kids out to Nana’s cottage (my mother-in-law lives in a small cottage behind our house). And get 2nd man out the door so I could really buckle down and do some serious cleaning. Weeelllll, that one didn’t go as planned either. At about 11:00 2nd man finally left for visitation and I only had about an hour before I had to get ready for graduation parties. Now, don’t get me wrong. I usually love these come and go parties. I definitely love the graduates we were visiting. I just, really, was in need of some uninterrupted housework that you can only seem to get done on a Saturday ya know? So we went to the first party and of course I enjoyed it,
Then it was back home for pie baking 101. Yes, I had forgotten that I’d promised my girls that they could bake pies for our annual pie auction for the teen dept. That, of course, meant I had to teach them how to bake pies. Pie is good. I like pie. Pie is messy to make. Pies take many steps. Pies really mess up a kitchen whose dishwasher is broken. Bad pies. (but very yummy!)
The already strained weekend went south when I stepped outside to get something out of the car. Our Curly Kitty was sprawled out on the driveway sunning himself. I was talking to him as I walked to the car, when all of a sudden a huge gust of wind blew over a church table we had leaning against our steps until we could load it into our truck. The table smashed right on top of Curly. He wriggled out and ran off. I was relived to see him move so fast, but couldn’t find him anywhere. 2nd man took a look around as well, but to no avail. We had to stop for a while and go to the next graduation party.
After the 2nd party we pulled up and thankfully Curly came back up to us and came in the house. I couldn’t see any visible signs of trouble and was relieved when he ate some food and purred in my arms. After a while he wanted back outside, so I figured that everything was all right.
Sunday morning, he didn’t come knocking on my kitchen window. I leaned outside to call from the kitchen door…no Curly. After a little while I looked out the front door and there was our sweet kitty laying in the front yard. I called for 2nd man and he went out to confirm my fears. It looked like a dog got him and he had been too hurt or sore to run away. We were both sick. I cried a bit and we both realized that we just couldn’t tell the kids during the hurried Sunday morning rush, we’d have to wait until after church. Oh that was awful. 2nd man was so sickened and sad and a little bothered that he was so bothered. After church we told the kids. Our oldest daughter was immediately upset. She’s not a real touchy, feely kinda girl, but had connected pretty closely with the cat. Our middle daughter took it very maturely and our 4 year old boy… well…he didn’t quite get it yet. He’s still pretty sure the cat will come alive again like in cartoons. No, he’s not warped at all (wink wink).
So, amongst the hub and bub of any Sunday, we were dealing with the grief at the loss of a beloved pet and trying to get ready for a very big fundraiser that evening. The girls had to finish their pies.
To say I was feeling anti-social that evening was putting it lightly. Mix into that a pie auction. I’m not convinced that this is an appropriate fundraiser for a church. Oh it brings in the money, no doubt. It’s fun, and so interesting to see all the different kinds of pies people bake. Our mayor, who owns an auctioneering business, always does the honors pro bono for us and makes it a lot of fun. However, it brings out a side in the women of the church that is plain ol ugly. There’s so much pride, arrogance, opinion and estrogen in the room that I’m not convinced that the men aren’t bidding just to save their marriages. 2nd man was excited that it went so well at the end. I was exhausted and not sure I wanted to be around women again, for a while.
We picked up hamburgers at the drive-thru at 9:30 on a Sunday night for supper. Yes, great moments in mom history feeding junk food to your poor starving kids when it’s already past their bedtime. Actually, that was plan B, I was going to just feed everyone a piece of pie.
So, now it’s a quiet Monday morning. I’m missing my coffee and devotions partner (Curly), but the kids are sleeping in and I need to be planning out this week, but am getting distracted with my blog. It’s the last week of school and our houseguests are coming Saturday, but since this weekend is behind me, none of that seems to stress me out. Boy, am I glad it’s Monday.
2ndmanswife 