My Custody Weekend and Pickle Recipe

Dan left for California last Sunday and will be there for about a month helping his brother with his house. While he's gone I still have to go to work so my parents have been watching Lilyana on the days I work. I jokingly refer to the time I have her on the weekends as my custody time because we have to arrange pick up and drop off locations for her.

So I worked last week Tuesday through Friday. My parents were scheduled to bring her home on Saturday morning. I was in bed on Saturday when I heard the doorbell ring. Even though we have a doorbell, rarely does anyone ring it. They just knock and in our house, unless we're in the kitchen, we don' t hear knocking. So I was surprised and wondered if it was my parents or a friend of Dan's who does ring it. I deduced that it wasn't his friend based on the rhythm and as I was climbing the stairs I saw the time was 7:30 am so I knew it wasn't my parents. I get to the door, dressed only in a long t-shirt, and a man is standing there. I open the door a crack and he says that one of our barn cats has a jar on its head. So I thank him and go back and put pants on and go out and pull the cat out of the peanut butter container. The cat is fine and it's not the first time one of our cats has gotten something stuck on its head while trying to lick the last remnants out of a jar or can. We just don't have very smart cats.

My parents arrived about 10:45 am and we spent the day pulling weeds, picking vegetables and getting green beans ready for canning. Calsey arrived about 6:00 pm giving my parents about 30 minutes to visit with her. By the time everyone left and it was just Lilyana and me I was exhausted.

Tomorrow (Monday) I will meet my parents in New Prague and hand Lilyana off to them for another four days, thus ending my custody weekend.

Here's the pickle recipe from my mom with which I am preserving my tons of cucumbers.

6 cups cucumbers
2 cups sugar
1 cup vinegar
2 tablespoons salt

Mix the sugar, vinegar and salt together until the sugar is dissolved. Pour over cucumbers. Pour into jars. They will keep for 9-12 months.

Identity

On our way to Zumbrota we stopped in New Prague for Dan to discuss some work with a potential client. He dropped Lilyana and I off at the park. As I looked around I realized I am a fish out of water. All I saw were latte drinking, cellphone toting, sun worshipping moms with kids dressed to the nines in playclothes. It got me realizing that I don't really fit into any group. I'm about 15 years old than most moms with toddlers. The moms my age have teenagers in youth group and I am no longer a youth group mom. And I am about 15 years younger than your average grandma. I guess I'll start a new group. Lazy moms who let their kids out of the house with their shirt on inside out. And, yes, I put the shirt on.