While the cat’s away

Cheryl, Kendra, Stacy, Joy and Leslie

“That’s not how mom does it?” Our person Wes had to hear that all weekend long. Because five friends from college, our person Cheryl being one of them, went to the beach for a girls’ weekend out, five husbands were left in charge of 11 children, five dogs, two birds, a cat and a guinea pig. What were those ladies thinking? I’ve heard bits and pieces about how things went down at the other houses. As for our house, when Wes set off our burglar alarm, I said, “Mom punches in the code before she opens our door so the alarm doesn’t make that loud, screechy noise at 5 a.m.” And when he gave Duchess her meds on Saturday morning instead of Sunday morning, Duchess said, “Mom gave me a prednisone yesterday so I’m supposed to skip today.” And when Lexie saw that the bed went unmade and there were dishes in the sink, she told him, “Mom’s not going to like that.” “While the cat’s away,” is what Wes would say, adding a little laugh. “What does that mean?” Lexie wondered. “We don’t have a cat.” I had to explain to her that it’s a figure of speech and that Cheryl is the cat and we are the mice so we should take advantage of her being away and do what mice do when there’s no cat around: play. So play we did. We played fetch with Wes, who throws the tennis ball much better than Cheryl. We enjoyed the way he makes us gravy when he adds a little water to our food, which Cheryl doesn’t do. And when we weren’t playing or eating we got to take more naps than usual on a weekend because there were less chores being done around the house – the vacuum cleaner, washing machine, dishwasher were all silent. So what if things didn’t get done like Mom would do them? Maybe the outfits didn’t match and the hair bows didn’t get clipped in and no one asked for lunch so everyone got an early supper. We all survived and our moms got a much-needed and well-deserved weekend away to reminisce about their college days, share child and pet rearing tips, exchange recipes and spread the word through text messages and Facebook updates that a friend of a friend spotted the Bachelor Brad, Emily and her daughter in Charlotte. We hear that this girls’ weekend away may become an annual event, and that’s fine with us, if that’s the way Mom wants it to be. Want to read Kendra’s blog post about the weekend? Click here: http://kendrahaneline.blogspot.com/

Weekend warriors

With spring finally springing and the weather warming, the people are jumping to get outside and do stuff. They started clearing a spot for a vegetable garden and finally tackled the jungle between Neighbor James’ yard and ours (and Cheryl has the poison ivy to prove it. Who knew you could get "the poison," as she calls it, before Easter?) The approach of spring also is prompting spring cleaning goings on inside. Alison’s room got its annual cleaning on Saturday and Cheryl’s closet got its semi-annual cleaning. Wes hauled out three big garbage bags full of their discarded clothes to give away to charity. Which makes Lexie and I wonder what charity could use our winter coats when we start shedding?