Mr. Mom, Weekend Warrior Edition

I think about the movie Mr. Mom a lot these days, although I was so young the last time I saw it (which was when it was still rather new) that I can barely remember any of the details.. if any. I'm pretty sure I live it now, though, with a side of "weekend" warrior. I'm using my title as a double entendre, here, however, because my wife's away for the weekend, as she frequently has been able to be to pursue her love of yoga, and because now that school's back in, I've had to make more of my training a "weekend warrior" kind of endeavor, although I still probably get in close to an hour a day even on the week days.

So, this Friday has been another beginning to a weekend in which I'm watching the girls. I'm currently getting along great with Sullen and Moody, who is neither sullen nor moody any longer -- I need a new nickname for her apparently -- but my battle of wills seems undiminished in the least as far as Clueless and Belligerent goes. Let's just say she knows everything but that everything she knows is wrong.

I'm not really going to talk about her nonsense or my frustrating attempts to deal with it here, though. I'm here more to chronicle my bellying up to the task of supporting my wife's love and interest by taking over the reigns for the weekend. On the one hand, I'm not sure how well I wield them because of my arguments with Clueless and Belligerent and my sliding into the easy pattern of feeding them pizza for most of the weekend (they aren't as huge fans of the fancier cooking I do as my wife is, or at least Clueless and Belligerent isn't). On the other, I did spend most of my afternoon "bonding" with them... time that could have been spent better training or working ahead on my job obligations since I've got a training-related seminar next week that's going to take up almost all of my free time and most of the rest of it too. We went to the grocery store together (mostly to get toilet paper, which they seem to eat or build fortresses out of or somehow otherwise use faster than is mortally possible, but ending up spending $70 on other necessities while we were there). While there, we saw a local celebrity: the "On Fire For Jesus" truck that is just too ridiculous to not show you a picture of, though this isn't my picture of it (my wife took the camera with her):
(Not pictured because it's a little further back on this obviously eco-unfriendly ride: possibly my favorite part -- Jesus, with his hand raised in what might be triumph, riding a white stallion that has white fire leaping from its hooves. I believe it says something awesome there too, but I forget what.)

We came home and continued bonding, after a short break into real life. After I went and ordered the pizza, I did a little work while the kids started watching some cool movies from the Eighties that my mom brought over for them. That's when the real bonding started: I watched the last half of Pretty in Pink and all of The Breakfast Club with them before the obligatory argument between Clueless and Belligerent and I came up, motivating me to go get in a bit over an hour of training before getting on here to tell you the story. Clueless and Belligerent took her happy ass to bed when I stood my ground on the fact that she didn't know what she was talking about but felt the need to run her mouth about it (our typical argument, which usually arises after said running of the mouth starts a similar battle between her sister and she that requires some settling). The older one is watching one of the Harry Potter movies now, and though I might watch some of it with her, I'll probably opt out and try to get in some meditation and an early bedtime. I'm trying to adjust my body to getting up before dawn again, and that requires earlier sleep -- tonight in a lonely, empty bed that I can sprawl all out in and thus will only feel lonely and empty for a few minutes tonight and tomorrow morning.

At least the older child and I have some rocking conversations on this weekends. I really hope it comes around to the same thing with Clueless and Belligerent, but I think she has to outgrow her nickname first.