Not a whole lot has changed or happened in the week that has passed since my last entry. I have one kid at a day camp and one taking an impromptu nap (which can only mean she's coming down with something) so I find myself having some free time to avoid doing the laundry. So here I sit, pecking away.
Some of my post-retirement accomplishments this week have been:
1. Cleaning out the bench area that is in the hall that connects the kitchen to the garage. It's where my kids leave their shoes and we hang our jackets, etc. It's also, apparently, where we keep an HDMI cord we purchased from Wal-Mart back in December that we intend to return, perhaps in 2013. Additionally, we keep blankets we haven't used since March, book-bags left untouched since May, and a pair of underpants that do not belong to anyone who lives in this house. Because of where it is located, this area catches a lot of things we don't know what to do with when we first come in the door. So, we set them down and promptly forget about them.
2. Cleaning out the big closet off of the guest bedroom. This closet has been a thorn in my side - not to mention a likely fire hazard - for about as long as we've lived in this house. It's where I keep my gift wrapping supplies so you can imagine how horrible it's been looking. Aaron Spelling used to have a room specifically for gift wrapping in his bazillion square foot mansion. I used to think that was ridiculous, but now I know why it is necessary. There were empty spools of wrapping paper everywhere, crushed and flattened bows, tangled heaps of curly ribbon, and even pieces of ribbon that had been pulled off wrapped presents that I hilariously thought I'd be able to re-use. And there were at least 25 used gift bags; only eight of which were in any condition to re-gift. Grrrr. I was also keeping clothes in there that I had both gotten to fat and too thin for. I made a bag for the Goodwill of the clothes I've gotten to thin for. The ones I'm too fat for are still hanging in there (albeit, more neatly) as a means to shame myself into eating better. I also have everything I could possibly need to both begin working on and fully complete the scrapbook for Meg's first year of life. Considering she will be five in October, I am not optimistic I'll get to it anytime soon.
This particular cleaning project will not matter to anyone but me. Mike had no idea how awful it was because he never has a need to be in that closet (insert a Mike "in the closet" joke here). But all of the guests who have had the misfortune of using that room and having no way to hang up their clothes (you couldn't walk into the closet it was so packed) will appreciate it during their next visit. That is, of course, if I can keep it looking nice. I'm sure it will be fine until the Christmas gift wrapping season is upon us and then - no telling.
3. Cleaning and organizing my pantry. I found a can of She Crab soup from the Fresh Market with a slightly expired date on it. Care to guess what year it expired? If you said 2006, you would be correct. This is significant for a couple of reasons. Not only have I had this can of soup for at least 6 years (but mostly likely much longer - canned goods keep forever), but it also made the move from our old house to our new house. And guess what: We moved here in 2008! That's right - 2008. So that means that either I didn't pay any attention to it at the point I packed it up and then unpacked it, or that I just didn't care. Obviously it's not the latter. But how many other horribly outdated and possibly poisonous things have I prepared for my family over the years??! And did you realize that spices expire? I didn't. But they do. Just ask the block of coriander I had sitting in my spice rack. And what's the rule on how long you should keep brown sugar? If it's so hard that you could use it to rest your car on while you fix a tire, should you throw it out? Just to be safe, I did.
This project will also not be visible to anyone other than myself since people rarely find themselves in my pantry. What I probably should have done is spent some time sifting through and organizing the clutter that has built up in my kitchen since that is one of the most visible rooms in the house. But I just couldn't feel good about what groceries to buy, etc., until I knew exactly what was in that pantry. And now I know. I can see almost every item in there now as opposed to seeing what was in the first row and missing everything that was shoved deep into the abyss of the shelves.
and finally...
4. Cleaning out my car. We went to the lake a couple of weekends ago and the ants were out in full force. They are really bad there so we have to be very careful about where we eat food in the house because if there are crumbs anywhere, they'll find 'em. A couple of years ago, the girls ate some chips in their bed and two days later had ants crawling all over the top bunk. Lovely. I despise ants. So imagine how disgusted I was when I realized that they had sniffed out some crumbs in my car and were crawling all of the place. I did the best I could cleaning it out for the ride home but as I drove home they were crawling all over the dashboard and my children's car seats. G-R-O-S-S!!!! So, not only did I get all of the crap out of it (random Happy Meal toys, trash, etc.) but I washed the windows, cleaned the dashboard, doors, and seats, and steam cleaned all of the rugs and the floors. It looks SO much better in there now and I feel better that I (hopefully) got rid of all of the footy-prints and poop, etc. that those pesky pests leave behind.
Yet another project that no one else will appreciate except for me. Well, the girls and Mike probably appreciate my efforts on the car more than any other of my projects so far. But there are several other glaringly obvious opportunities in my house that I am hoping to tackle in the coming weeks. The time that has passed since I began typing this, as an example, would have been a wonderful opportunity to get something productivedone. Oh well. Can't get to everything at once.
This retirement has started off kind of like a pregnancy. I have been excited at the new phase I am entering into in my life. I've been nervous I won't be a good mother (stay at home mom) and have begun nesting (randomly cleaning/straightening things in my house). This means that right around the corner I will be dog-tired and pudgy. I see a lot of naps in my future. I see Mike having to rub my feet. I see myself growing back into the clothes I've just marked for the Goodwill. Dammit.
Stay tuned if you'd like to follow my progress.
Thursday, July 19, 2012
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
Here Lately
One month ago, I left my job to stay at home with my girls. People keep asking me how I'm liking life these days. Honestly, it doesn't feel terribly different. Right now it just feels like the two days a week I was home anyway while working part-time. Plus, summer is not reality. There's no end to the things to do. I will say, though, that it took me a few days to get into the swing of things.
I've mentioned before that I was fearful of staying at home because I'm such an inherently lazy person. Here's how I thought my blog would look in the days following my unemployment:
Day One
Things are going smoothly so far. I've gotten out of bed. I've showered. Maybe tomorrow I'll apply make-up.
Day Three
Finally have my pajamas right as I want them - well worn. They are very "lived in" so they are really soft. I probably should do something about the hole wearing in the crotch.
Day Five
Haven't heard from the girls. I know they're around here somewhere. Remind me to check under the pile of dishes in the kitchen. I'll do it at the commercial break from Family Feud.
Day Eight
Food becoming scarce. I think we still have some dog food. I'll check it out in my now crotchless pajamas later this afternoon. Right now there's a Dharma and Greg marathon I'd be crazy to miss.
Okay, so it didn't exactly go like that. My first week at home, I was determined to not become a total sloth. I actually set my alarm every day* so I would get out of bed before 8:00. I settled into a nice morning routine where I would watch the first 30 minutes of the Today show while I drank my coffee. I would eat breakfast while the girls played in the den and then we'd either go downstairs so I could get on the treadmill or we'd go to the pool for swim lessons. Okay, that was the first two days*. Day three - a Wednesday - my lone accomplishment was creating a to-do list. Of course, I didn't actually mark anything off of it. Just making the list was achievement enough. And really, I cheated. I put two things on it that I was already in the process of doing. Pretty sad.
But, I have fallen into a routine that I like and sure beats the crap out of having a stressful job. Of course, because it's summertime, I have constant entertainment. We can go to the pool with neighborhood friends. We can go to the lake house. There are plenty of kid-friendly offerings at the movies since this is peak movie-going season. And since the kids aren't in school, we can jet (okay, drive) off on an adventure any time we want. I've had my college reunion already and have hosted several people at the lake house. We've had a dream summer. Plenty of fun in the sun and plenty of time with our friends.
It's too early to tell how things will go once the kids are in school an we have a real, actual routine. And fall will be here before you know it. Yesterday, the girls and I went and bought Kate her school uniforms which she will be required to wear now that she's a first grader. (I cannot believe how grown up she looks in them!) So once school starts and I am truly a "stay at home mom", I wonder how I'll like it. I wonder what the house will look like once I have nothing but time to clean it. I wonder what sorts of fabulous meals I'll prepare now that I won't have my 45 minute commute to make it inconvenient. I wonder if any of this will change now that I'll be at home. Or, will life be the same except that I'm not working?
I'm afraid that all of the things I vowed to personally vowed to improve once I was no longer working will not change at all due to my aforementioned penchant for laziness and slovenliness. Tonight, for example, I went to the store but forgot two crucial ingredients for my dinner and dinner for the kids. Pretty hard to make salad with no lettuce. Also difficult to make pizza with no cheese. So, I loaded everyone up and we went and got McDonalds. (Okay, I lied. The kids got McDonalds. I made a special trip to Taco Bell for some big, nasty Nachos Bell Grande. I'm so ashamed.) How will I be able to get it together once I have school and extra-curricular schedules back in the mix? I suppose it remains to be seen.
The good news is that I've showered more than I've not showered. Worn make-up more than I've not worn make-up. Changed pajamas (and done laundry) an acceptable amount of times. My television is often off and my children aren't buried under any filth in my house. So far, so good I'd say.
I've mentioned before that I was fearful of staying at home because I'm such an inherently lazy person. Here's how I thought my blog would look in the days following my unemployment:
Day One
Things are going smoothly so far. I've gotten out of bed. I've showered. Maybe tomorrow I'll apply make-up.
Day Three
Finally have my pajamas right as I want them - well worn. They are very "lived in" so they are really soft. I probably should do something about the hole wearing in the crotch.
Day Five
Haven't heard from the girls. I know they're around here somewhere. Remind me to check under the pile of dishes in the kitchen. I'll do it at the commercial break from Family Feud.
Day Eight
Food becoming scarce. I think we still have some dog food. I'll check it out in my now crotchless pajamas later this afternoon. Right now there's a Dharma and Greg marathon I'd be crazy to miss.
Okay, so it didn't exactly go like that. My first week at home, I was determined to not become a total sloth. I actually set my alarm every day* so I would get out of bed before 8:00. I settled into a nice morning routine where I would watch the first 30 minutes of the Today show while I drank my coffee. I would eat breakfast while the girls played in the den and then we'd either go downstairs so I could get on the treadmill or we'd go to the pool for swim lessons. Okay, that was the first two days*. Day three - a Wednesday - my lone accomplishment was creating a to-do list. Of course, I didn't actually mark anything off of it. Just making the list was achievement enough. And really, I cheated. I put two things on it that I was already in the process of doing. Pretty sad.
But, I have fallen into a routine that I like and sure beats the crap out of having a stressful job. Of course, because it's summertime, I have constant entertainment. We can go to the pool with neighborhood friends. We can go to the lake house. There are plenty of kid-friendly offerings at the movies since this is peak movie-going season. And since the kids aren't in school, we can jet (okay, drive) off on an adventure any time we want. I've had my college reunion already and have hosted several people at the lake house. We've had a dream summer. Plenty of fun in the sun and plenty of time with our friends.
It's too early to tell how things will go once the kids are in school an we have a real, actual routine. And fall will be here before you know it. Yesterday, the girls and I went and bought Kate her school uniforms which she will be required to wear now that she's a first grader. (I cannot believe how grown up she looks in them!) So once school starts and I am truly a "stay at home mom", I wonder how I'll like it. I wonder what the house will look like once I have nothing but time to clean it. I wonder what sorts of fabulous meals I'll prepare now that I won't have my 45 minute commute to make it inconvenient. I wonder if any of this will change now that I'll be at home. Or, will life be the same except that I'm not working?
I'm afraid that all of the things I vowed to personally vowed to improve once I was no longer working will not change at all due to my aforementioned penchant for laziness and slovenliness. Tonight, for example, I went to the store but forgot two crucial ingredients for my dinner and dinner for the kids. Pretty hard to make salad with no lettuce. Also difficult to make pizza with no cheese. So, I loaded everyone up and we went and got McDonalds. (Okay, I lied. The kids got McDonalds. I made a special trip to Taco Bell for some big, nasty Nachos Bell Grande. I'm so ashamed.) How will I be able to get it together once I have school and extra-curricular schedules back in the mix? I suppose it remains to be seen.
The good news is that I've showered more than I've not showered. Worn make-up more than I've not worn make-up. Changed pajamas (and done laundry) an acceptable amount of times. My television is often off and my children aren't buried under any filth in my house. So far, so good I'd say.
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