Three weeks today......

No new challenges this week. As I mentioned I'm alone a lot less than I had anticipated as my son is home in the evenings now, at least for the time being. My husband had a bit more down time this week so I was able to spend 3 hours on the phone with him one night - just sharing space, watching tv and playing poker. He also walked me through cooking dinner another night - which I must say came out pretty good. He is back on track now with a new trainer so hopefully they can complete the requirements so he can be home for Christmas.

We spent some time today on the phone working on paying bills. That was another chore that Hubby had managed that I'll be doing much of now. I'm all about paperwork and organization so that's pretty natural for me.

This weekend was busy - I took my great niece to a screening of Puss in Boots (cute movie); returned her home and stayed all afternoon for her sister's birthday party - my first family gathering by myself. Then had to come home and change to go to a business dinner. Sunday (today) I forgot about the time change. My brother and sister-in-law came into town and spent the day with me. They are a team operation and it was through their experience that showed this occupation to be a viable option for us.

At this point I'm going to start working towards getting my own CDL so we can possibly do this together someday. I sure do miss my husband!!

3 weeks is the longest we've been apart in 20+ years and I can't say I like it much - but we'll make it work :)

Till next time....

Second week comes to a close

So I've made it through two weeks in this new lifestyle of having my husband on the road and not knowing, at least at this point, when or how often he will make it home.  We talk and text often or as much as timing allows.  The first day that he drove for 11 hours and I didn't hear from him until the evening I had several panic attacks during the day with my mind dwelling on thoughts of accidents and bad things :(   Yesterday I unknowingly gave him the same feeling when I was sending a bunch of photos of the bedroom I had put back together to him.  He was driving and not able to look at his phone - it kept making the new message noise over and over and he thought something bad had happened but couldn't check it.

As noted previously my focus currently is on cooking and maintenance.  I am spending less time alone than I had anticipated because my son lost his job and has been home in the evenings.  He is even trying his hand at cooking - whether out of a self-preservation reflex or what I'm not sure :)  He made skirt steak and vegetables on the grill Friday night - they came out a bit overdone but it was tasty and we ate all of it.  Tonight he's doing something with sausages and potatoes - mixing up spices with the pestle, brushing on olive oil, etc.  Goodness!!  If he turns out to be half the cook his father is he's going to make some woman very happy :0)

During the week I don't do much - after work maybe go to the gym in the evening, have something for dinner and sometimes do a load of laundry.  Last weekend I cleaned house mainly and got my bed into the bedroom.  This weekend I took the kitchen faucet apart and replaced the rubber seal as it was loose and leaky.  I also moved the remainder of the bedroom furniture from the kitchen to the bedroom, all on my own except the largest dresser with the mirror that my son helped me with.  Then I put the kitchen back together after removing the bedroom furniture from it.  Things look more normal now.

In the afternoon my daughter and son took me out for lunch.   We came home and hung out for a while then for dinner I made old-school tuna casserole (kraft mac & cheese & tuna) and canned green beans. This was a meal they grew up with as we were raising four kids on a limited budget. We all enjoyed it very much! Then we watched a few movies and it was great. I haven't spent that much time with them in at least 6 months.

Today I cleaned up the front walkway and the back patio and furniture with the blower and the broom, brushed the dog, made the rounds of the back yard with the pooper-scooper, and pulled some weeds.  Emptied all the trashes and put the trash cans down for trash day tomorrow.  I would say a pretty productive weekend.  Gotta keep myself busy!

I really don't know how separated partners managed in this industry before cell phones.  It really is my lifeline!!  Looking ahead to Christmas and not knowing what kind of Christmas it's going to be - whether he'll be home or whether we'll be doing it over the phone or what.

Until next time, make a wish for me that nothing breaks  =]

Second week - plumbing - not just handing and holding things ;-)

My first crock pot recipe wasn't great but it was edible - pork was a bit dry but to me pork always is.  Cream of mushroom soup was too thin even tho I added only a half can of water so I added a tablespoon of corn starch and that thickened it up.  The added veggies were okay.  Picked up some whole grain noodles to put it over - took the leftovers for lunch and still have half of that left for another lunch so not great but made 3 meals.  Next, the kitchen sink backed up while cleaning up my masterpiece.  Talked to my Truck Explorer who guided me to the snaking equipment in the garage and advised on how the pipes underneath were set up.  I immediately forgot what I was supposed to watch out for and popped the pipe off and let all the yucky water out under the sink - cleaned up the mess and then I tried for an hour to snake but to no avail.  Fingers were raw and finally had to give it up so I could get ready and get myself to work.  Talked some more with my Truck Explorer - determined the clog was only in the sink area so plunging may take care of it.  Fun part of plunging a double sink is doing it alone - standing on the plug on one side  so the other side can get suction with the plunging.  Now not only are my fingers raw from dealing with the snake this morning but now somehow the palm of my right hand is raw from plunging.  While I -propped stuff under the pipes underneath so they wouldn't pop off and they still managed to leak.  I cleaned it up again and was about to give it up and call a plumber when my son came and helped me - I don't know if it was the stronger plunging or the additional way he thought of to seal the other side tighter during the plunging but it came clear so thankfully saved some $$$. Thank you son!  I bought Taco Bell for dinner for us both and cleaned up everything again.  No plumber necessary this time :0)  and no cooking fiascos tonight.  

So, again I tried to locate chicken breasts in my freezer - thawed them out - turned out to be pork haha. Cut it up and put it in the crock pot and proceeded as if it were chicken - it's the other white meat, right?? We'll see later how that turns out - luckily I'm the only one eating it :0) I guess once I make it through all the mystery meat in the freezer I'll be labeling any meat I'm freezing from now on.

On another note I single-handedly managed to get all my bed pieces into the bedroom and assembled without scratching my new laminate flooring. Glad to not be sleeping in the livingroom any more.

While I do miss my truckexplorer immensely, I am managing to keep busy and not starve.

Till next time...

It's been a few days of being on my own and several of which I've come home to a pitch black house - no lights on inside or out.  I've had the suggestion to put the inside light on a timer as it is probably not safe to come into a pitch black house so I'm going to look into that this weekend.  Should be something I can pick-up at Home Depot and probably not too expensive.  Had a work dinner tonight so thankfully didn't have to think about what to eat :)  I'm going to try some crock pot suggestions as I can make a bunch of something while I'm at work and have it available to nourish me over the course of several days.  I like that idea very much!

Learning to cook

My husband has done the cooking all these years and I've been happy to let him do it.  Now that he is a trucker and will be gone much of the time, I have to learn to feed myself.  My children are grown so it's just me I have to worry about.  My first attempt was boneless skinless chicken breasts which, when thawed, turned out to be skin on chicken thighs with bones :(  I attempted to cook them the way I was directed for the chicken breasts and well, they were edible but just barely.  I'm sure I'll get better at it.