Pioneer Woman?

Yesterday Peter was supposed to be flying in from California around noon. We were going to go from the airport to an area near Bountiful to pick up a new mattress. Our last one ended up being terrible and developed two indentations so miserably fast that half the time I ended up in the guest room in the middle of the night.
Since we also have a piano to purchase this year I was determined to find a good deal on an almost new Temper-Pedic mattress. They don't come up terribly often, especially in a king, and so I was excited when a couple bought one only to find themselves a few months later moving into a house with a master 1/2 the size of their present one. Their loss--my gain!
I had already borrowed a truck when I get a call from him around nine in the morning telling me his flight has been canceled and now he won't be in until almost 7:30pm.
The one time we have had plans for the day he returns and the one time his flight has ever been canceled. Nice one Murphy.
I only have this pick-up for one day and was determined to use it for what we needed to--man or no man. So I roped Sarah into helping me drag our present mammoth mattress down the stairs and out to the truck so I could haul it out to the dump myself. I felt kind of guilty dumping this completely brand new looking mattress out there but knew I could never force the miserable thing onto anyone else. Picture April driving a truck with a giant mattress stuffed into the bed like a sad little "u," and then backing it up to the dump pile to manhandle that baby out the back.
Oy.
The other reason we needed the truck was to pick up some trees to replace the ones that died along our back fence. I had seen the ones we needed for a smokin' deal at Home Depot and they were going fast--so off I went and got the trees. Nathaniel, who finally got back from a day at the BYU Pow Wow, was then enlisted to help me get these obscenely heavy trees out.
My neighbor friend came out and said I was awfully ambitious. Peter tells me I would have made a good pioneer woman. I don't know about you, but I do this all the time. I always have. If I wasn't independent it would never do for us anyway--Peter has been gone too much for that. I take on major projects all the time when he is gone even more because he isn't around to trip over them or harass me about my nutty ideas ("Why do you have to do this now??") and though I occasionally reflect on just what others might think of it, or what I may be signing myself up for, I usually go ahead with it anyway.
I know I'm not the only woman who does this. I believe women all over the place are silently waiting for their husband's absence to start their secret projects.
Poor Nathaniel has of course wondered at my sanity as I he watches me try to reassemble a bunk bed or rip out large amounts of sod because I just couldn't wait for Peter.
"Why are you always doing this stuff without Dad? Why not just wait?"
Why? I'll tell you why. Because lets face it ladies, there are times when if we waited for the men to get around to it, it may never be done. The flame I light under his rear sometimes just fizzles out.
(Love you sweetie!)
Thanks to our school district moving our spring break back a week I take my kids solo to Disneyland in a couple of weeks. This means that I--Miss Directionally Incompetent, will be driving to Aneheim, going to the beach, staying in a hotel for a couple of days, and playing at Disneyland.
Alone.
Let's hope I'm not going to eat my personal declaration of independence.