Mr. Mom -- Day #4

As tough as Day #2 was, today was the opposite -- fun, rewarding, and easy.

There were no major problems in the morning, as I was willing to allow Candace to go through with her cockamamie plan to take 19 beanie babies to school to pass out to each of her classmates (hey, they have a ton of them and, for some reason, wanted to be class celebrity of the day).

Thomas played outside in fabulous weather until school.

Then my friend Bill came over, and we made first beer (a Sam Adams clone), and then Ethiopian food. This was a bigger task than I expected, even though I had done quite a lot of prep work yesterday. Other than the Injera being a bit scorched, and there being 2x more food than we needed, it was a big success. And dinner was actually ready at 6PM just like we were hoping.

The kids were cooperative (well, as cooperative as they ever are) right up until bed time. At least part of this was due to the new "tattle-tale" policy I implemented yesterday. It goes like this: When someone comes in to tattle, both tattler and instigator immediately go to the naughty seat -- no questions asked (there might be an exception if bleeding or broken bones are involved, but I haven't promoted that). Then, when I'm ready, I'll question each one in turn, and decide who gets what punishment, if any. Since the tattlers (who are normally complaining about trivia) don't normally want to sit on the naughty seat for the 60 seconds or so that it take me to get to them, the number of tattles has dropped a lot.

I'm sure this won't work for very long, but I'll take any relief from the constant stream of tattles.

Tomorrow is a low pressure morning, followed by soccer. I'm excited.

Mr. Mom -- Day #3

What a difference a day can make.

Today, while busy, was quite a bit easier. A trip with Thomas to the grocery story. Preparations for tomorrow's visitors. A trip to the neighborhood tennis/basketball court. Those things all went off without significant friction.

I picked up the girls from school at 3:10, and made arrangements for a play day at our house on Monday after school for one of the twin's little buddies. The Thursday routine appears to be pretty ingrained, because the girls were very good about getting a snack, then putting on their dance clothes.

Thomas took a bath during their dance class, and we all went together to McDonalds afterward. I'm not all that enthusiastic about frequent fast food with Paula gone, but with dance ending at 6pm, it's kind of hard to put a decent dinner together, and pick up the twins.

After we got home, the twins showered, and then we watched an episode of Hercules: The Legendary Journeys. Then bed was blissfully uneventful.

The only hassle today -- I've been tired all day because of last night's late bedtime. So now I'm off to get some rest, hoping tomorrow is similar.

Mr. Mom -- Day #2

Tough day, today.

Everything went smoothly right up until dinner time, but after that it was a mess.

Problems started with the pasta I made for dinner. Now, we've probably served pasta close to once a week since the twins came home. A few weeks ago, we introduced pesto sauce to the mix, added to the other typical choices of tomato, vodka and alfredo sauces. We always have tomato sauces and sometimes one or more of the others.

Sarah has become quite fond of pesto sauce. When she heard we had none in the house, she initially refused to eat at all. Then she informed me my pasta "tasted like cardboard" and picked at it while going on and on about how bad I was at making it. After a time out, I found about two tablespoons of pesto sauce in the fridge, and let her have it. That ended round #1

Candace was the next combatant. After CCD this evening, she was pretty much shrieking non-stop. I walked into the bathroom to hear her threatening Thomas to not "tell me" about something, which turned out to be her intentionally smearing toothpaste all over his pajama top. Later, she flipped out because I wouldn't let her just listen to "one more song" on the television program (this was after I'd already given in once).

The whole thing ended up in a huge crying session during story time, where both girls first pined away for Paula, and then went on to do the same for birth mom. Sarah, in particular, was angry that she wasn't with Paula, going to Ethiopia too, to see birth mom and her great aunt. I tried to explain to both girls that the are not ready for that kind of a visit, but they, predictably, completely disagree with that opinion.

Bedtime was delayed by an hour and fifteen minutes as we tried to talk some of this out. Alas, I'm not sure I made any headway. Now they are finally in bed, and asleep. I'm exhausted, too. Hopefully tomorrow will be a bit easier.

Mr. Mom -- Day #1

Today was the first day of my sixteen day stint as the primary caregiver for the three littles (Thomas - 5, Candace - 7, Sarah - 7). Of course, I'm still on call for the bigs, too (Kenneth - 22, Emily - 21, and Anna - 17), but they're generally pretty self-sufficient.

So today was still not full prime time, if for no other reason than Paula didn't leave for the airport until a little after 10am. As a result, I escaped the early morning routine -- or at least the part of it I usually don't -- particularly the dreaded HAIR.

For those who don't have little girls, particularly little girls with beautiful, but very wavy hair, repairing the "frizz" in their hairdo is a daily task. Paula normally takes care of this, and I've only been called upon a few times to handle it on my own. I'm slow and not nearly as neat as she is. I know this. I'm just hoping to elevate my game from a C- to a B while she's gone. Tomorrow morning is the first test.

Otherwise, things went pretty well today. Sent Paula off on her plane (she called from DC tonight -- the long flight is tomorrow). I managed to make a quick run to Target on the way home with "Tim-Tam-Tommy" (I kid you not, he wants to be called that).

When the girls came home, they had an hour to play, then I spent 30 minutes with them on homework. Then it was dinner -- I made hamburgers and baked beans. After dinner, the kids picked up a corner (about 1/6th) of their room. Then we all watched two old episodes of Xena: Warrior Princess. The littles love this show (I think its the cartoonish fight scenes).

The only challenge came at bedtime -- the twins decided to fight of which side of the bed they got to sit on for storytime, which resulted in a suspension of the story and a slightly earlier evening. Not too traumatic.

Wednesday is a bigger challenge -- Thomas has school, and in the evening we have CCD for all the littles, which backs up bedtime. And I absolutely have to start working on the taxes sooner or later!

Wish me luck!

Mr. Mom -- The set-up

Okay, having done this once before (with one less child), I was able to figure out a few things that would help make the next 15 days easier and more enjoyable.

1. I actually wrote down "the schedule." When soccer was, when dance class happened, what times to do anything and everything. I already do my share of driving the kids around, and so knew most of it. But there are certain tasks Paula almost always does. I will sleep easier knowing it is all on paper somewhere, and we don't have to depend on my (faulty) memory.

2. I made a plan for meals. Not written in stone, of course, but at least a general outline. This will help me make sure I shop for the right stuff, and also prevent having pizza four days in a row or other similar atrocities.

3. I invited friends over, hopefully providing me a motivation to keep the house at least somewhat clean.

4. I tried to get everything possible done before Paula's departure tomorrow -- particularly tasks that require I drive around a lot.

5. I'm going to (try) to demonstrate a little extra flexibility in my normally rigid workout schedule. This might be the most difficult thing for me.

One advantage I have going for me during this trip is the twins are a year and a half older than they were last time. And thankfully, they go to bed much easier than they used to (still hard, but not as time consuming or frustrating as it used to be).

On the downside, this trip is longer -- sixteen days from start to finish.

So not it's a race to see if Paula gets home before I lose my sanity. I think the odds-makers would give me the edge on that one, but who knows....

Something About This Just Seems...Wrong

I spent my Wednesday afternoon taking my two older daughters (age 21 and soon-to-be 18) to the tattoo parlor. Apparently I was giving the 18 year old a tattoo for her birthday. She selected a quote from a Beatles song to have written on her rib cage, and her older sister wanted a complimentary (but different) quote.

Something about Daddy facilitating his little girls' tattooing desires just seems so...wrong.

But being an obliging sort, I took both of them, along with two of their friends, to Grin and Barrett in Omaha. The younger one went first -- quaking with nervousness, chattering away non-stop, wincing as the needle did its work, and ultimately shedding a tear or two. The older daughter was second -- she was stoic, and pointed out -- more than once -- that this, "...wasn't her first rodeo." (she has a small anchor tattoo on her hip.)

Two hundred and fifty dollars later -- which reminds me that daughter number two still hasn't paid me back for HER tattoo -- both girls were sporting new tattoos.

In case you can't quite read them: "All you need is love", and "Love is all you need".

All-in-all a strange dad experience.

Bad Beer

I was quick to pat myself on the back for my brewing success a few weeks ago. Now I must admit to abject failure on the second batch.

The beer was brewed from a kit, and is a "Honey-Sage". I clearly put too much priming sugar in the mix before bottling as the lids are nearly exploding off the bottles when I open then. Then I get a mountain of foam. Even though I have a huge cup I usually drink my beers out of, I can't even get the entire bottle into it because it is so foamy.

But that wasn't the only problem.

Everyone wants their beer to be clear. Unfortunately, this one is a little cloudy, with a fair amount of sediment at the bottom. At least part of that is also a result of "over-priming".

The actual taste is "okay" -- this beer had a lot of sugar added to it, so it is high alcohol content, and drinks fairly dry. All that would be good, except for the aftertaste of sage. I would have never guessed it would be so strong. And the smell -- yuck. The odor is the absolute worst part of the project.

Not quite pouring-it-down-the-sink bad, but close.