Single Parent Weekends

From time to time, Bill has an opportunity to go off on mountain biking weekends with other like minded biking buddies.  This time it was with his physical therapist/biking buddy, Russ.

They went to St. George for the weekend.  The costs were minimal since Russ has a camper trailer.  Food and gas were the only expenses.  They left Friday evening, rode in the warm southern Utah climate all day Saturday, and drove back this morning; getting home at 8:00 am Sunday morning in order to make it to church.  In fact, when Bill got home this morning, everyone was still asleep!  He had to come knock on our bedroom window to wake me so I could let him in.

(Here is a HUGE secret about security at our house... there is none.  I don't even know where the house keys are.  The only time all house doors are locked is when we are all asleep in our beds.  The back door is never locked if the family is gone.  Even when we were on vacation!  The neighbor boy needed to get in to feed the cats, after all.  Theory: if lawbreakers want my stuff bad enough, they will pick the lock, or break a window.  And, if they want it that bad, they can have it!  I only lock the door when we are home and defenselessly sleeping.)

Apparently, Russ' wife was not too pleased with him for going off on a guys weekend.  In fact, most of the wives give their husbands a really hard time about it.

I don't.

I figure, he wants to go.  If I threw a fit, he would stay.  But he would still be wishing he was there.  Resentment might build up.  Is it really such a big deal?  No.

And really, in Russ' case, he is going in for prostate cancer surgery in two weeks.  I think if I was his wife I'd be telling him to go, since it will be his last chance before a long recovery!

Anyways, I also kind of look forward to having the kids to myself for the weekend.  I usually try to find something fun for us to do together.  This time it was some shopping, eating out, late night movie watching (with Will), and home manicures (with Helena).  Helena spent some of the weekend off with her friends, as well.

Another reason to like my single parent weekends?  I like having the bed to myself.

I know that sounds really weird.  I sleep better when I am alone in the bed.  When Bill is gone, I play quiet music or background noises while I sleep.  I wish I could do it all the time, but it would bug Bill.  This time, I was wishing it was summer, so I put on a custom made 'white noise' soundtrack of crickets, automatic sprinklers, and a distant train whistle.  Then I read a summery novel all night long.

That is another thing.  I can never go to bed on time when Bill is gone!  When he is here, I go to bed between 10 and 11 pm.  When he is gone I usually hit the sack somewhere around 3 am.

Now, it wasn't all fun and games around here!  I spent the lion's share of Saturday 'helping' Will clean and disinfect his bedroom.  You may know how that goes if you have ever had a teen aged boy who doesn't mind a mess.  BLEH!  We (pronounced 'I') filled two kitchen garbage sacks with trash, and two more with all the clothes he had out grown.  Man!  He has too many clothes!  Well, not anymore.  Now he is in desperate need of skinny boy jeans.  It is next to impossible to find 28 x 32 jeans!

And I don't want to gross you out, so I won't tell you why it was necessary to bleach mop his floor.

Anyways, I think it was a highly successful weekend for everyone, and now we are heading over to Kirsten and Paul's house for a Super Bowl party!  WOO HOO!