Teamwork in action...

Husband was called away for his own little journey to the South this week, to perform the duties of a Good Son. Specifically, he's assisting his parents after his mother underwent a surgical procedure. (Or, as he much more colorfully described the assignment: "helping out my folks in the first post-op days, before they have to rely on their fellow senior-citizen neighbors to take up the slack.") For us left to manage Casa WestEnders, this meant we had to make certain shifts to our typical routine. Some of these are minor, such as ensuring that the garbage gets collected from trashcans throughout the house and put out for pickup on Monday morning (Husband's chore). No problem, done! (Task remembered and properly executed...patting self on back. These things are not to be taken lightly, you know! Memo to self: reward with cookies later...) And with President's Day, the boys and I took advantage of an extra 24-hours to relax and get stuff done. (Hello, new shoes for anyone? Yeah, that would be the kids...at least this time they actually wore out a pair, rather than grew out of them...small victories, I tell ya...)

But suddenly. as the return to work and school loomed on Tuesday, a horrifying thought struck me--would I be expected to actually climb out of bed ahead of my preferred hour (that is, anytime before 7 a.m.), tend to Derek in the morning (pre-coffee? are you kidding me?), or (worst of all) walk him to the bus stop? At 7:20? But it's freezing! And...freakin' EARLY! When I expressed my concerns to Derek, in the most loving and supportive way possible, of course ("You don't reaallllly need your mother to get you off to school anymore...right, buddy?" in a wheedling tone, with an expression full of hope....) he assured me that he normally prepares his own breakfast anyway, and is in fact perfectly capable of seeing himself to the end of the street to await his transportation. (Pshew! That's what I thought, but how would I know? I spend a great deal of effort strenuously trying to avoid that portion of the morning.) However, no sooner was that resolved that I faced another blip in the schedule; Husband normally ferries Riley to his Math Olympiad practice before school on Tuesdays. Hmm, Riley can't drive himself, it's too far to send him on foot...rats! No wiggling out of that one...

With those issues successfully handled, the rest of our activities were pretty much business-as-usual. There are a million little details to attend to in the evenings, so one way I lighten my workload is to plan especially simple meals. (As long as there's a plateful of edibles in front of them, and it appears reasonably tasty, the boys don't tend to make a fuss as to actual content. Unless I try to sneak tofu past them, but that's a different story...) Or as Derek gleefully exclaimed today, "Hey, we're eating like college students this week!" He actually had to finish slurping his mouthful of Ramen noodles to share this insight... (Give me a break--at least I made a salad to go along with it!) Tomorrow his school is partnering with Domino's for a fundraiser to benefit the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. (Oh darn, we're being forced to eat PIZZA...for a good cause!) Then Thursday we're doing the perennially-kid-pleasing breakfast-for-dinner thing (a special occurrence we generally save for when we know Dad won't be joining us, as it's not one of his faves...)

So to sum up: everyone's (so far...tapping the faux-wooden desk for luck...) getting where they need to be, when they need to be there, fully clothed and fed. (Bonus points for the last two, yeah?) I'd say even though the team is down one coach at the moment, we're doing alright...now what day is tomorrow and what exactly are we supposed to be doing?