Mom v. Mother Nature

By Allison Berman
March 16, 2010

Getting work done is hard enough when everything goes perfectly. Being stuck home one snow day after another made getting work done impossible - but I figured once I had the house to myself again I would catch up. But then, Feb. 26, my daughters' and my third snow day in a row, my husband called. There had been a fire in his office. Trying to work while entertaining children with cabin fever was nothing compared to the adventure to come.

As my husband started telling me the details, the phone died. We lost power at home. (Fortunately the power came on a few hours later.)

When my husband came home that evening, he brought home a generator in case we lost power again - and a surprise. His brother/business partner would be joining us for Shabbat dinner and sleeping over!

Saturday morning, I couldn't catch up on sleep or work. My younger daughter conned my brother-in-law into rescuing her from her crib hours before she normally wakes up - and then I had to take care of the girls, because my brother-in-law and my husband were off to the office.

I couldn't catch up Sunday, either; I needed to watch the kids while my husband set up temporary office space in our basement. I would catch up Monday.

Monday morning, I got up extra early to shower for our "guests," but the shower was already occupied by my husband. No time to wait, I got dressed, put on makeup, and pretended to be clean.

My older daughter came in to brush her teeth, but couldn't - Daddy was in the shower. I put infant (read: swallowable) toothpaste on her toothbrush, and she brushed her teeth in my bedroom instead. As if on cue, my husband came out as we were going downstairs. "I want to hang out with Daddy."

Since Daddy was working from home, he was going to take my daughter to the bus ... except when it was time to go, he was on the phone.

After school, my daughter, who usually does her homework happily, wanted to hang out with Daddy. At 5:30, my husband, who is never home before 6, came upstairs hungry. Forget catching up, I was falling further behind. ARGH!

Tuesday morning went more smoothly with my husband "offsite" at an 8 a.m. meeting - except for the girls getting sidetracked chitchatting with my husband's staff.

After preschool, I let my daughter into the basement from the garage and went back to the car to get her backpack. Excited to see Daddy, she apparently started squealing, just as he was leaving a message. Oops. I'm sure it sounded very, ahem, professional.

Friday, everyone moved out of the basement into on-site trailers while my husband rebuilds. Having everyone in my basement for two weeks was inconvenient, disruptive and nice. The "elves" gave my daughter guitar lessons, cleaned dirty dishes, and Daddy was home, sort of.

Maybe now I'll catch up.

Probably not.

Allison Berman, an artist and mother of two, works out of her home studio in Warwick. She paints one-of-a-kind home accessories, specializing in kids' décor. See her collection at www.withlovealib.com. She can be reached at info@withlovealib.com. Her column appears Tuesdays.