on my own again
The Awesome Twosome (which is what I like to call Tony and I officially as of just this second - does it make you want to puke a little in your mouth?) is no more. I am all alone, it is all on me, the weight of the world, my kids’ needs, my needs, EVERYTHING.
All drama aside, Tony left for Redmond a few minutes ago and won’t be home until….gulp…tomorrow. Night.
Am I a baby or what?! I am so fun because about 24 hours before Tony has to leave town, any given time, I get all whiney and weepy and OH THE DRAMA. There are the 10000 “What if….” questions that range from “What if the power goes out?” to “What if you die on the plane?” and then the “How will I….” questions and then the flat out “You just can’t go. Tell them you are sorry, you have to stay home.” And then the “Will you fly home if there is an emergency? What exactly constitutes an emergency?” questions. Oh yes, I make him work for his 36 hours of freedom! 
He just laughs and threatens to create a spreadsheet for easy reference since I ask the same questions every time.
Its just that….we are a team! We work well together, we have nailed down our ebb and flow, we function in unity and he makes all the meals! HOW will I make the meals? I can’t cook! My babies will starve and it will be all his fault. See…there I go again!
Anyway…blahblahblah…woe is me. Tony is gone and he gets to be on camera, and he gets “make-up” and I get…what do I get?!? I hope at least I get some smoked salmon out of the deal like last time! Tony did one of these sort of on-camera roundtable events in March and it was very exciting because someone said the product “sucked dead donkeys”. I’m hoping for the same level of excitement this time ’round. Of course I will be too busy playing Spider Solitaire and blogging to actually watch but I’ll catch it on youtube later!
June 17th, 2008 at 10:57 am
Awwww you will be ok
I love the spreadsheet idea!
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June 17th, 2008 at 12:25 pm
You are such a wimp!!!!! I don’t even want to hear any more whines out of you about your teammate being gone for a mere 24 hours. Try 456 hours, because that is how many Justin will have been gone after this run. Now buck up!
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Nicki reply on June 17, 2008 1:50 pm:
Yeah but he’s getting PAID!
456 hours is a shitload of hours. Poor Tony’s ears would bleed listening to me whine for 456 hours!!!
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June 17th, 2008 at 12:44 pm
I hate being away from my hubby too. Last night I woke up at 3:30am and laid there for like an hour thinking how awful it would be if Hubby and the kids died in a car crash on the way to VA. Yeah, how’s that for positive thinking??! Tell Tony I’m very sorry our weather just went back to grey and awful again after two lovely days of sunny and 70. But then, he lives in Texas so maybe our cold clammy days will feel “refreshing”?! LOL.
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Nicki reply on June 17, 2008 1:51 pm:
ha. serves him right.
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June 17th, 2008 at 12:47 pm
ohmygosh. you are all going to die!:)
but seriously, i hear ya…doing it on your own can bite. with just one it is tough. i dunno how you do it with your brood!
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Nicki reply on June 17, 2008 1:51 pm:
I KNOW! DEATH!
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June 17th, 2008 at 1:38 pm
omg you crack me up. jim leaves for days, even weeks on end, sometimes overseas and we all survive:) i hate cooking too!!
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Nicki reply on June 17, 2008 1:50 pm:
so then how do you all eat?! Oh wait, you probably just do it anyway huh? Hmmm, that had not occurred to me! haha
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June 17th, 2008 at 2:22 pm
What is this foreign concept you speak of: Your DH making the meals? I’m not sure I’m understanding what you’re saying… He. “Makes.” The. Meals. He does the cooking? Is this what you’re saying? As in, he stands in front of pots and pans, then food appears on your table that you did not personally cook? I just can’t grasp it…
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Nicki reply on June 17, 2008 2:47 pm:
haha - I had to make him blondies for father’s day and it took me 10 minutes to find the pots! Eeek!
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June 17th, 2008 at 3:14 pm
Nicki, You are so funny. Try it 365 days a year, but then I took on this task voluntarilly as a single mom. What about hot dogs on the grill for dinner or one of those rotisserie chickens that you buy at the grocery store. Pretty easy and not a lot of time or effort involved. For sides you could just boil some noodles and add a veggie.
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Nicki reply on June 17, 2008 3:43 pm:
I was a single Mom once upon a time. I actually found it easier than the on-again off-again schedule changes of being Occasionally Single. We actually do have a dinner plan already - buffalo chicken pizza, garlic breadsticks, celery & dip and mandarin oranges. Totally easy. But then we are out of dinners and that means meal planning, shopping with kids in tow (HATE!) and then cooking it, all tomorrow. I think I’ll order in!
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Ginger reply on June 17, 2008 7:10 pm:
I agree with you completely. I absolutely HATE grocery shopping with my 3 girls in tow. I always forget something, even with a list, because I get so distracted. Your dinner sounds yummy.
I also agree that when you are single you just do it and don’t think any differently. You don’t have the opportunity to have it another way and you don’t know the difference. I would be the on again off again routine is more difficult.
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June 17th, 2008 at 3:37 pm
oh yea i love the rotisserie chickens. there is always breakfast for dinner too
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Nicki reply on June 17, 2008 3:44 pm:
There is a SCHEDULE PEOPLE!!! Didn’t you read my meal planning post?!?!? LOL Tony keeps saying “its OK to deviate from the SCHEDULE!”. Sheesh - flexibility is not in my repertoire, clearly.
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HeatherL reply on June 17, 2008 5:47 pm:
DEVIATE WOMAN!!!!!!!!!! You will still be alive tomorrow, I promise;)
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June 17th, 2008 at 4:30 pm
I think the getting off schedule is the thing that sucks. When Conor is away it comes in shifts, a few months of travel every week and then nothing. The girls get used to the nothing and then when he leaves they get pissy, I get pissy and trying to figure out all the extra stuff is what kills me, they look for dada and hate me giving them a bath!…but he will be home soon! I can barely manage 2 on my own, I don’t know how you do 4!
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June 17th, 2008 at 5:04 pm
OK, does it make me sound awful to admit that I sometimes look forward to the days when Tim goes out of town???? Eeek. I’m horrible aren’t I? (He’s never gone more than 2-3 days at a time) But, even though I enjoy occasional time alone I do go through a few anxiety ridden moments…everything from what if he gets into a horrible wreck on the freeway to what if a toilet breaks and sprays water all over the bathroom. Thank god my Dad lives nearby so I can always call on him too! I’m such a huge wimp.
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June 17th, 2008 at 5:16 pm
I made it…in one piece. The clouds parted and I got sunshine. Albeit, its not 95 out, but according to my little weather gadget on my sidebar- it is supposed to be rainy or thunderstorming or something in Houston. Nicki is dramatic, but very, VERY capable of managing- especially for a day and a half.
This time tomorrow- I’ll be home. I say hold out for the late dinner and I’ll get Wing Stop on the way home.
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Nicki reply on June 17, 2008 7:34 pm:
If you insist!!
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HeatherL reply on June 18, 2008 2:29 pm:
you rotten thing you;)
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Nicki reply on June 18, 2008 2:43 pm:
Hey, don’t diss on ME! Tony had bed turn-down service, free crap out the wazoo and awesome meals and drinks on the house. There were bath salts and SILENCE. I had 6:15am wake-up (which for the record is earlier than Tony usually gets up) and nap refusal and cock roaches in the nursery!
HeatherL reply on June 18, 2008 4:35 pm:
LMAO to bath salts. And EWWWWWW to cockroaches in the nursery
June 17th, 2008 at 5:28 pm
I feel for you. I was the SAME WAY. I used to go nuts when my husband would leave for a day or more. It wasn’t often, but still, he needs to be home.with.me.
I have learned, instead, to trade with him. If he gets to go to Chicago to some boring work seminar, then when he gets back I get to go out with my girlfriends.
(*I didn’t say it was a fair trade.*)
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June 17th, 2008 at 7:36 pm
This post and all the comments are cracking me up!
I am right there with ya, I hate it when Shel leaves me, I just miss him like crazy….
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June 17th, 2008 at 8:25 pm
I’m laughing at the post and the comments. too funny. I’d feel bad for you, but Mattix and I have been going it alone every week since February. Okay, I do whine occasionally, but Mattix doesn’t seem to care! Actually, it was a huge adjustment for me. A really, really huge one. I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t. I don’t cook, either, so it’s a good thing I only have one kid under the age of two who doesn’t look at me funny when I feed him avocado, Rotisserie chicken from Whole Foods, and half a sweet potato for dinner…a few nights in a row! I have a sneaking suspicion you’re one capable girl and you’re going to be great.
Before I forget, I did throw up in my mouth a bit. Ha ha ha!
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Nicki reply on June 17, 2008 8:47 pm:
I knew you wouldn’t let me down, Laura!
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June 17th, 2008 at 8:38 pm
I’m on my own tonight too. We ate leftovers. If they don’t exist, I usually go for frozen pizza. I do most of the cooking, but I can’t do it with Thanh screaming for my attention. Good luck!
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June 18th, 2008 at 2:45 am
I know how you feel. *EVERYTHING* around here goes bump in the night when hubby’s away!
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June 18th, 2008 at 9:29 am
Oh, I’d TOTALLY send Trav away for a day and a half if it meant i got Wing Stop the next night!! Just kidding - i feel your pain. trav is on surgery now and i’m terrified of his call nights. i can’t hold down this fort if i don’t at least have the peace of mind that he’ll be home by the am! We’ll definitely starve without him - he always cooks!!
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Michelle reply on June 18, 2008 9:39 am:
Again with the cooking husband… Where are you ladies finding these men who cook? Is there a website out there somewhere selling them, or something? Is there an upgrade package that I can purchase and add onto my existing model, or do I have to trade him in altogether? I’m not sure I’d want to do that, he makes up for his lack of culinary talent in other ways, I guess.
Do these Cooking Husbands fix “real” dinners, or are we talking hot dogs, or cold cereal?
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Nicki reply on June 18, 2008 10:11 am:
Funny!!
Oh no, Tony fixes real dinners and gets pretty fancy with his “presentation” and everything. He really gets into it! He’s very good at it. He doesn’t feel NEAR the frustration and pissed-off-ness that I do when I make something that no one likes (which pretty much seams like most meals). he can multitask and let the kids help and doesn’t want to kill someone, unlike me. BUT! He would cook spaghetti, hotdogs and pancakes if I didn’t plan the meals. So that’s the deal - I plan the menus and do all the shopping. he cooks the meals and the big kids clean up and do the dishes.
Me, I bake
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Laurie reply on June 18, 2008 11:08 am:
Trav’s meals are pretty *real* too, although he does grill a lot. He’s also got stuff like chili, beef stew, lamb and rice, chicken parm, etc. in his repertoir though. Me, I do the salad:)
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June 18th, 2008 at 10:31 am
I used to cry when the hubby worked nights when we were first married. Now I hate his days off when I have to share MY bed.
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Nicki reply on June 18, 2008 2:44 pm:
Ha. Yeah that would be me if he was regularly away. I love having the bed to myself. Noah has asked in the past if we moved to a larger house if I would have my own room
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June 18th, 2008 at 4:51 pm
Okay, these comments were quite the entertainment for the day. Getting close to the comments on “I Saw Your Nanny” blog. Cracks me up!
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June 19th, 2008 at 8:31 pm
Okay, did you survive? No recent post, no reply to a comment (above) since yesterday…it’s not looking good!
Or was it too traumatic to relive on the blog?! 
he he he.
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June 24th, 2008 at 8:43 am
Haha, you are so funny. The kids and I were at the cottage alone last week and we were doing great, I was keeping them active and happy and not resorting to electronics and I was cooking healthy meals and then David came on Friday night and I turned into a lazy slug. Why do I do that?
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