I am fortunate that I can get away on a quasi-regular basis, whether it be to visit friends, scrapbook, or whatever floats my boat.  I freely acknowledge that the only reason I can is because Blaine is so very capable of holding down the fort in my absence.  Not only does he hold down the fort at home, but he also maintains his full-time job and keeps up with the kids quite admirably.  In fact, now that I think about it, I better stop bragging on him or he’s going to realize just how obsolete and unnecessary I actually am.

While I was gone these past few days, I asked him to keep track of any random thoughts he had about single parenting.  Here is his list, in its entirety ……  my comments are in red.

-There is absolutely nothing wrong with fruit snacks/Pringles and coco puffs for dinner.  (Like we didn’t already know this?)

-I realize that I am not the disciplinarian in the family because when the disciplinarian is gone the kids act as if they’ve been given a get out of jail free card.    (Apparently this means *I* am the disciplinarian, which is news to me, because they don’t mind me, either.)

 -I realize that I cannot match clothes to save my soul.  (Uh, yeah.  I already knew this too.  Perhaps I am not so obsolete after all, if it means my family walks out the door each morning in matching clothes.  Although if Blaine ever discovers Garanimals for Adults, I’m sunk.)

-Getting to park in the garage is a treat.  Especially during the worst cold front in Oklahoma history.   (I’m not giving up my garage parking under penalty of death, so just hand back over the garage door opener, skippy.)

-I do not have the luxury of passing the buck when Mom is not here.  And I can’t even call her because she is in a roaming zone.

 -Knowing that my back ups are available is  comforting.  Until I realized that my backups went on the same trip.

-Heaven forbid that Mom took one of the laptops.  How dare she do that.  (Something tells me this is a kids complaint, and not Blaine’s.)

-If I ever lose my list of what/when/where to do stuff I would be lost.   (Ahhhh, ok.  Even if it is nothing more than “listmaker”, my place in the family is still secure.  Thank goodness for that.)

-I am not at all equipped to deal with pre teen female social problems.   (HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!)