Out of Office Reply

Tomorrow we embark upon a family trip to the north to see my sister and her fam. The original purpose of the visit was to go to a tile sale, but it exploded into more than that. I went alone last year, and I have to say it was kind of fabulous to leave at my leisure, and not have to transport Tim. (I love him but he does not travel well- like linen or silk, he gets unruly and does not do what he is supposed to).
This year, since I am slightly tethered to my babe, we are making it a family affair. A while ago I made Tim take tomorrow off so that we could drive during not rush hour and get there at a reasonable time so it didn't seem like we were driving there just to drive right back. The weekend has also been expanded from shopping to a photo shoot to nab that perfect family photo to slap on the Christmas cards that I will be obsessing about in about 2 weeks (it will take the place of the obsessing about the wardrobing for the photo shoot).
Anyway...Tim has tomorrow off and Abby is thrilled that he will be the one to take her to school. I asked if Nora and I could come too, to help Tim who has never seen her school, let alone the drop off routine (homework out, lunchbox in cubby, apple on the attendance tree, not to mention that Abby is in charge of bringing birthday snack tomorrow), but Abby said no, just Daddy. I thought this would be good for him, a chance to see what we do during the day, but I think he has other plans. He mentioned something about sleeping in and getting my oil changed. Ha ha sucka, I am in charge, and he will be hanging with Nora while I run around and get a few errands done before we leave. Not only is tomorrow a day off for him, but it is one for me too. I will be able to actually leave the house without kids during morning nap time, and it will have no repercussions on anyone's schedule. I will be able to "run in" to places and not have to unload the ladies or fear a police sting operation catching me leaving them in the car. I will be able to shower uninterrupted. Ok, that is probably pushing it.
So we are off tomorrow, and rather than being home to pack and get ready Tim is still at work (it is 10:44 pm as I type this). Apparently he needs to tie up every loose end he has ever had there before he takes this one day off. He didn't prepare this much for the week he took off when I had Nora. I don't know if he is trying to prove something to someone, or what his deal is, but his over developed sense of importance is kind of annoying here. It is not like we are leaving the Cingular coverage area at any point and they can't get a hold of him. And no matter how many loose ends he ties up he will still get 2-4 phone calls from there that will cause him to inhale sharply and dramatically dig his phone from his pocket, sighing at the number on caller id, announcing "It's the shop" in the voice that he uses when he is trying to sound important (come on, Amanda, Tony, you know what I am talking about here). And that doesn't count the phone calls from his dad asking him inane questions (this is a whole other blog entirely about how Tim refuses to tell his dad that he will call him back he just tells him what he is doing, then he lets his dad hold him hostage on the phone even at the most inappropriate times, getting mad at me if I tell him to hang the fuck up).
I can't imagine having a job like that- always being on call, and having to stay (up)late if the (dishes, laundry, etc) project isn't complete, a demanding group of (kids) employees constantly demanding your attention and wisdom.
I don't know what that is like at all.