Ready to tough it out...

After the baby things got a little overwhelming with school, farm and life in general so I got a couple of roommates to ease the tension (or so we were hoping).

Roommates. When you’re a single parent trying to make ends meet sometimes you find it helpful to get yourself a roommate or two. In my case the first roommate is my mother, struggling to concentrate on school work, get out to do farm chores and still having a little me time, I asked my mother to move in and help out with the kids. She came with enthusiasm. Free room and board is tempting when all you have to do is change a couple of diapers and entertain a baby throughout the day.

Roommate number two… let’s just say rent is helpful.

Anyone who’s ever lived with their mother (if you don’t get along with her) knows what a challenge it can be. All you men who’ve ever dealt with the b*tch of a mother-in-law, my mother is much worse (show appreciation, it could be worse). I find it humorous some people will give what she does a title like “abuse” saying, “You don’t have to live with the verbal abuse.” Ha! She’s my mother; of course I have to live with her abuse. I mean isn’t that what mother’s are for? Hmm…

Nah she’s not all bad. When she’s not sticking her nose in that one drawer in my bedroom that no nose belongs in (ladies you know what I’m talking about), or telling me what a bad mother I am, or how good I had it when I was married, how bad of a house keeper I am (remember most mothers like to clean up other people’s messes), or openly assumes I’m having sex with every date I go on (I have more morals than that!), she’s great. When I need to run to the grocery store she watches the kids, when I need a little time to myself I can pretend to go to the grocery store and she watches the kids (it really can take 4hrs to buy a gallon of milk!) and she’s almost always pleasant about it (as long as I have a $20 for her when I come home). I appreciate my mother (when she’s in a civil mood).

I have a long term plan with schooling, basically when the baby (now 16 months) gets into Kindergarten then I’ll be ready for a second career with benefits (working for state or fed is kind of nice if you don’t have health insurance) This long term goal gives me ample room for distractions (kids are good at distractions) and a few extracurricular activities (fly-fishing last summer, kayaking next summer). So the goal is to keep peace with mom long enough to get through school and into the start of an outside career. I’m optimistic, luckily I have a certain ability to deal with stressful situations (I don’t know who I got that trait from). So yea, mom will be sticking around for awhile (as long as I can keep on this side of sanity).

So here we are, trodding through life as best we can. Trial and error is an everyday event. The key is learning which ones are errors before they do too much damage. (I think)

Wish me luck!