Single Moms - What Gives?

thanks sam, you have quite a few cuties yourself!

I was reading this thread and laughing to myself...I can relate, even though I am not a single "mom". I am a single dad. I have a house keeper that comes in every Friday, that way it is clean for the weekend...well kind of, before the boys get home! :rolleyes: I also have an "after-school nanny". She comes in from 3-5:30 every day. She helps the boys with homework and keeping their rooms clean. As far as yardwork...not a problem with 6 sons. I even farm them out to help the neighbors! :D We have GREAT relationships with all of them! Take care all!

Just found this post today - and boy do I feel tired, yet can't sleep because there are a million and one things I should be doing - so what do I do-- check the boards. I have a cleaning lady come every week but you could never tell with all the stuff lying around my house. I have now threatened to start throwing out toys and kid stuff if it does not magically make its way to the proper shelf. My cleaning lady is a saint, for a few extra bucks she organized my daughters room and the play room. Next weekend she tackles the basement for me. I gave up today, invited someone in to the house - my daughters school friend (with mom and little brother) who happened to be passing by on the way to the park. Realized how poorly my house is child proofed with her 2 yr old finding all sorts of fun stuff - even at a pretzel out of the dogs bowl. Some how I never have visitors the day the cleaning lady comes but 6 days after. Our house is a disaster but the other mom sympathizes with the single mom bit. Happy she isn't doing it alone. Sometimes I love being a single mom - I blew off work this morning to take my daughter for pancakes - dropped her off about an 1 hour late to school - just because I wanted too. Tonight we had snack for dinner, and dinner for snack. Nice being able to make the rules on the fly.

Indy - glad you chimed in. How much do you charge to fly the boys to NJ and farm them out to a distant friend? I bet it is still less expensive then the lawn services in NJ.

waitinginnj - Sometimes I will PAY people to take them...LOL! And others, I wouldn't trade them for the world. :rolleyes:

it has been so hard to get on the boards how is everyone doing??? it is quite hectic at our house. besides the ususal house and yard work, we have a garage sale each year to raise money for my work's childhood cancer walk. well, it is at my house (location, location, location) anyway, the stuff has started coming in and i am also cleaning out my basement to contribute some stuff, so my house looks like a war zone. i started with the boxes of kids clothes. even after i put (what i consider) a lot of infant/children's clothes into the garage sale pile, i still have 10 rubber maid tubs of clothes birth-5T. 6 years of foster parenting really accumulates a lot of clothes. indy, what do your kids do for father's day?? i think i am going to celebrate father's day for me this year. i do the work of mom and dad, right???

I hadn't checked this board for a while. We are actually traveling north to the lake for the day. The boys usually make me something or write me a letter or make a card. They know that I am very hard to buy for. Besides I much prefer something they have made with their hands. As far as you celebrating Dad's day, I celebrate Mom's day. The boys get a kick out of making me Mother's Day cards! :p

this board is driving me crazy, since it will only show 4 pages of recent posts missed and when i look at all my posts, they are not in any kind of order, i can't tell when people have posted on threads. anyway, glad to hear you celebrate both mothers and fathers day. unfortunatly for me, i will be getting my self a new car for father's day, as mine was totaled. :( hello to everyone else, how is the summer going?

mckenna - what happened to the car? I hope that everyone is safe and sound. What cars are you looking at? Summer in NJ has been hot so far. We are getting ready for a vacation in Nags Head in a couple of weeks. We went to an agency reunion picnic for Memorial Day. We had a great time. First time that we really traveled since arriving back in the US. Anyone else with exciting summer plans? Indy - how do you plan vacations for 8?

some one ran into my stalled car, i was not in it so everyone was safe. i am looking at mini vans :o i have been so anti mini van but i think it is the only smart choice. with 2 kids as they get older they will want to have a friend some times and i would not be able to fit both my kids and 2 friends in my car at the same time. i am looking into the toyota sienna?? any thoughts? we don't have summer vacation plans cuz we are going to disney world early next year!!! i cannot wait. my sister is going to stay with the baby and my son and i are going for a week.

Sorry about the car. Yikes. I had to turn in my car last fall and I bought a Pontiac Vibe. Happier with it than I thought I would be. Didn't do the minivan thing for the two of us - but it was a fleeting thought. I went as practical as I could. I commute 1 1/2 hours each way so I needed some ammenities. A friend of mine, with twins is considering the Toyota Siena - she really likes it. She usually is a pretty research oriented consumer. She hasn't made the purchase yet though. Disney sounds great. I am not doing the parks until little one is older. But, we are doing the Disney cruise next May for a week. I think the park is too much at her age. We did the Disney Cruise and Park package a few years ago (pre daughter) as a family to celebrate the folks 40th Anniversary. Really liked it and they have a great play group set up - so I hope to get a little down time solo too. We are going with another friend from the board, who I met in Moscow and her husband and daughter. This year is my whole extended family and my uncle's in one of those massive houses. I figure that we will really love or hate each other by the end. Great to catch up a bit.

My daughter is obsessed with having a dad. She prays about it all the time. I keep praying silently and telling God to give me until next year before he brings everyone into our lives. My daughter is 9 years old and came home 4 months ago. Although she has grown much, she still needs me a lot. So I decided to dedicate a full year to just nurturing her spirits. After that, the husband can come and the rest of the children can come. Yes she is also praying for siblings. lol. Anyway, in our home, the dishes are the things that suffer around here. I can no longer keep the sink clean. It drives me nuts but I have to live with it. Well I have to run. Jewel

Just thought I drop in the conversation. Hope you don't mind. I love being single!! (course this might be my coping mechanism for ...still being single at 30) I cannot change the cons of it..so I choose to live in denial and only revel in the pros. No one to tell me what to do No one to yell at when the dishes are still dirty (cause I left them there) No one to take my share of the good morning kisses I get from my little boy. - My son has started to ask about his dad. .. In a moment of complete absense of mind... I once responded to his question: " oh sweetie... most little kids need both a mommy and a daddy... You are so special that you only need a mommy... and a chippers (gramma)..uncle m auntie..etc." He loved it and hasn't asked me since. In fact he proudly tells his class..how special he his. Hopefully, he will still be proud of me when we hit puberty. - The only downfall of being single..is the single income (thus...I cannot decide to just not work) I do feel extremely guilty for spending any additional time away from my son, however as he gets older..and spends time with friends vs a babysitter or gramma.. I think I won't feel so bad. Thanks for letting me chime in

hello single parents, long time no talk!! i just discovered my new best friend!! i ordered my groceries on line and they were delivered to my home, all i had to do was put them away. it was so nice. such a time saver!! the fee was only 12 extra dollars +tip. i only shop 2x/month and i can decide to use them once or twice depending on the weather ;) it was just great! anyone else got some good time savers????

I am still waiting for the grocery service in my area. Which one are you using? It is only $6 around here, but not in my neighborhood yet. It seems so great! I'm jealous. I wish I had some great time saving ideas to share. I am buying birthday gifts in bulk. Finding one great idea and getting it made for a bunch of kids at one time. Simply will have to take it off of the shelf and put it in a gift bag when the birthday arrives. I try to do the same thing with cards. Buy a couple of a card I like, so that I have them at home, when an occassion calls for it.