So sorry.

I haven't felt like writing lately.  A close relative passed away last week and we buried her this week.  I didn't feel like it was my place to write about it on facebook, since she was related to my husband, but it has been a week of mixed emotions and heartbreak.

Therefore, I wasn't really feeling like being snarky or funny.  But life continues and kids are kids and they started school!  Yes!!!!  

Now don't get me wrong.  I adore those 8 hours I get kid-free and quiet-house.  Cleaning that stays clean.  All good things in my book.  But for some reason, this year doesn't feel quite as liberating.  Maybe it is because of the death and funeral.  I think, most likely, it is because my husband is actually home this week.  He is usually driving all across the USA doing his work thing all week long and then makes appearances on weekends.  And I have come to appreciate both the leaving and the returning.

If I traveled back in time and told my newlywed self or even my dating-seriously self that this is how my marriage would work, I would have said, "No way.  I would never live in a weekend marriage."  However, 17 years later, this is really quite pleasant.  My husband is a really great guy.  We talk every day and I keep him up on the minute to minute drama of quadruplets.  And when he returns we are happy and relieved to see each other and it is a little celebration.

I have taken on tasks that, honestly, should have been mine from the start.  I take out the garbage, pay the house payment and all the other bills, manage our bank account, and fix whatever things break while he is gone if I can.  Those don't sound super tough, but it can pile up when you add in feeding and maintaining life for the rest of the household.  And clean clothes.  

Laundry is never-ending and the bottom of the laundry basket is a rare sight.  The unicorn of laundry.

But I digress.  Anyway, if any of you Russian readers have noticed the absence, then blame it on the death in the family.  Have a great weekend.

I am an idiot.

This school year I have agreed to set aside my sanity and be the treasurer for my children's school PTO.  This is not a small commitment.  The PTO raises and spends thousands of dollars each year.  And I have had some issues with how some things are done.  But I decided that things would only be changed if someone stepped up and worked from within to make it better.  And I have control issues, so who better to get in there and do that??  Why, yes, I am raising my hand for that job because I have control issues.  And I'm an idiot.

This new commitment is my own fault.  When we first were attending our church, I saw some things I didn't like about the children's program.  The choirs were not age appropriate.  They ran too late for the littles.  And they sang completely inappropriate songs for them too.  

If you didn't know this, 3 and 4 year olds do not like to sing praise choruses, as a rule.  They want to use their whole body to sing.  Jumping is required.  But the littles in the one choir were singing praise choruses all the time.  And they were bored.  It was hard for me to watch.  

I can remember singing in a little choir that my mom directed at my church.  We sang the song from "It's a Small World" which is a surprisingly appropriate song for church.  And also is surprisingly appropriate for littles.

This was not happening at our church.  The littles were standing at the front of the church, dwarfed by the big kids and staring into space.  No jumping.  No cute antics.  Just the parents (ME) cringing at their glazed eyes and penchant for knocking over very expensive microphones.

So when I was asked to direct the choir because the former director had a new commitment that meant she couldn't continue, I jumped at the chance.  And I immediately started a second and third choir for the littles.  Now there is a teeny choir.  They mostly do a few actions as the leader strums her guitar.  But they are learning rhythm and look so stinking cute not really singing in front of the church a couple of times a year.

We also have a middle choir.  These guys go to school but learn the church basics of Father Abraham and Deep and Wide.  And no those are not porn movie titles.  If you have spent any time with children at a church, you may have heard them.

And we have the Jr. choir that I direct.  We sing more contemporary praise choruses and some fun, silly songs like, "I Think I'm Going To Throw Up" and "I Just Want To Be A Sheep."  And we do two musicals a year.  TWO!  

All of these things are not small amounts of work.  I talk to the other directors and ask their kids to do cameos in the big kids musicals.  I make sure they can sing in front of the church a few times during the school year and I talk to our sound guys and musicians to make sure all of this goes smoothly.  And I choose the musicals, assign parts to the people most likely to learn them, help with sets and costumes, create power points of each song and all the spoken parts so that the kids have a performance crutch, and direct the large dress rehearsals before the programs.  And we practice every Wednesday night for about 30 minutes.  

The time commitment is about 50 hours a semester.  And now I am adding PTO treasurer.  I am truly an idiot.  This whole Stay-At-Home-Mom gig is turning into a Rarely-At-Home-Mom gig.

How does your school schedule shape up?  I know many other folks have more commitments than this.  Some folks do all this sort of stuff and have a job as well.  Tell me!  Vent away!  Overcommitted Moms Unite!

Taaaa Daaaa!!!!


Another new blog!  I bet you just can't wait to see what another suburban housewife thinks about toilet paper.


Or not so much.  


So what makes this blog different?  I don't know for sure.  I have a pretty irreverent sense of humor.  I do have 4 children and they are all the same age.  Lots of folks seem to think that is worth a comment or two.  I am sure they will have some starring roles in the weeks to come.  


I live in a rural area of Southern Illinois.  I like to say we put the southern into Southern Illinois.  Let's just suffice it to say that if you visit the local DQ you might hear the word "warsh" or perhaps "you'ns."  As in, "You'ns better warsh your hands before you eat all that ice cream cone!"


But mostly what is getting me started is a power outage.


I woke at 3 AM to one of the kids crying because the light was out.  The power was out so, of course, the lights didn't work.  The child who woke to NO LIGHT was not comforted by the no power story and woke every other kid up too.  That was fun.  I spent the next hour consoling and cajoling them to restfulness.


But after they were content, I was awake.  The husband?  Yeah.  He was sound asleep and when nudged, not happy to hear that anyone else was awake.  I would say that in that moment he really didn't care.  And I was still awake.  


It wasn't storming out.  There was no immediately visible reason for the power outage.  I was starting to be curious.  Hell, I was awake.  I might as well ruminate on what was going on outside.  


My first thought was that it must be a Zombie Apocalypse.  


I know.  It is sunny outside right now so that sounds pretty absurd and foolish.  But at four in the morning with a little bit of fog, I admit I looked out the windows for shambling silhouettes.


I began perusing the pantry to check our supplies.  I had some water, some canned meat.  


That wouldn't make it in all the zombie movies I had watched.  Zombieland still had power, but Walking Dead does not.  How long could we last on these supplies?  Maybe I need to raid a grocery store.


What about protection?  My husband is a hunter so we do have some ammunition and a few firearms.  Not enough.  Add that to the grocery store raid.


So what if my family became zombies?  That would be tough.  Now, looking back, I am highly amused at how quickly I came to the conclusion...




I would let my kids eat me.  But I would kill my husband if he was a zombie.  Sorry buddy.  


I did eventually get back to sleep.  I haven't told my husband yet that he wouldn't make the cut in a zombie apocalypse.  I am not sure the idea would even keep him up at night.