My mother-in-law called on Saturday afternoon and asked if, since she has Monday’s off, Oliver could spend the night at her house on Sunday.
With Oliver at my mother-in-law’s and Julia at school all day, I’d have Monday to myself.
THE WHOLE DAY!
I told her I’d think about it and call her back.
……
……
……
APRIL FOOLS! Christ, I said yes before she could finish her sentence.
At first I daydreamed about the things I could do all by myself. I’d have my mother-in-law’s car – a vehicle that has things my minivan doesn’t, like a sunroof (I don’t care what anyone says, sunroofs are COOL), heated seats and pickup – and the thought of zipping around town running errands and being able to jump in and out of her car without having to wrestle car seat straps and argue about why we weren’t buying Double Stuf Oreos and shout HOLD MY HAND IN THE PARKING LOT! was moderately appealing.
I tossed around the idea of putting some music on and scraping the rest of the wallpaper glue off the bathroom walls, organizing closets and going through the kids’ spring clothes, but that didn’t really grab me.
I considered spending the morning at the mall without having to bring snacks and a sippy and extra ‘just in case’ Thomas the Tank Engine underpants. I thought about being able to walk around the mall without having to rent a bulky, bright yellow taxi to push Oliver around in; thought about being able to walk up and down the aisles in the stores without smashing said taxi into shelves and sending items crashing to the floor.
And then, of course, there was the option of lying around the house in my jammies eating leftover Easter chocolate, watching movies and not showering by choice.
The possibilities were endless!
When I woke up yesterday I realized pretty quickly that no part of me wanted to accomplish anything or be productive, so after I dropped Julia off at school I hit the grocery store, grabbed a coffee and came home. I sat on the couch with my computer in my lap and blogged, read blogs and wrote. I watched trashy morning talk shows –
You ARE the father!
and lifted my ass off the couch long enough to pee and get lunch from Wendy’s only. I listened to loud music, songs with erratic beats that said words like fuck and shit. I dicked around online and drank coffee and dozed off for a while, I think.
I completely lost track of time, lost in a beautiful haze of laziness and silence. At 2.30 I realized that I had an hour before I had to pick up Julia and remembered that we’d invited my mother-in-law and her husband to stay for dinner when they dropped Oliver off, which meant the chicken sitting in my sink needed to be stuffed and roasted and the bathrooms needed to be doused with lye touched up a little.
So for the next hour I made homemade stuffing, got the bird in the oven, did all the dinner prep, cleaned the bathrooms, made beds, vacuumed and picked up the trash that had amassed around the ass groove I’d worked in good n’ plenty on the couch.
Now that’s what I call productivity.
43 Comments, Comment or Ping
I relaxed just reading your post. Isn’t it just a wonderful feeling, to pretend you are a hip non-momma, just for a little while?
And those yellow taxis at the mall? There are no words in the English language for how much I HATE those bloody things.
April 1st, 2008
sounds like you had just the right amount of productivity. Even with grown kids, having the house all to myself is so rare that I treasure it. The quiet and alone-ness of it is so restorative.
April 1st, 2008
SWEET! I’m jealous about even thinking of that opportunity!!!!! Coffee, couch, computer, TV – what else is there??? Oh, sleep – which is something I SHOULD do when the kids are gone, but I usually find 100 other things that I just WANT to do without someone climbing up my leg, asking “Mommy can I have candy?” 800 times or asking me to wipe their butt because there’s “poop in it”.
April 1st, 2008
Sometimes you just need a day like that. That we me yesturday. I layed on the couch, took a nap, cleaned a little, and watched some good ol’ movies. Ohhhhh it was nice :)
April 1st, 2008
What’s this rest stuff you speak of?
April 1st, 2008
I was having the carpets cleaned yesterday. I woke up in the morning, did Erin’s morning routine, saw the wife off to work, and then planned out how I would move all the furniture around and generally clean up so the carpet guy could get to as much carpet as possible. I had 2:30pm as my deadline to finish all of the stuff, so I was lazy about it in the morning, figuring I’d have plenty of time in the early afternoon to really get it done before he arrived at 3pm.
At 9:50am he called: “I’m stuck in a little traffic, so I’ll be about 15 minutes late.”
Um. What??
I rechecked my Outlook calendar, and sure enough he was scheduled at 10am, not 3pm. I had confused it in my head with another appointment from the previous week.
At 9:50, house was still a wreck, neither Erin nor myself were dressed, her backpack wasn’t packed.
By 10:12 everything was done. All the furniture was moved, we were both dressed and ready to go, the backpack was ready for the day, the cat had his insulin shot.
What I was originally going to take 3 hours to do in the afternoon I instead crammed into 22 minutes.
Hooray for last minute productivity!
April 1st, 2008
Awesome! :) Sounds like a perfect damn day to me.
April 1st, 2008
sounds like a perfect day! Glad you got a break and USED IT WELL.
April 1st, 2008
Nice! My mom always used to say “Moms NEVER get a vacation” but it sounds like you snuck a couple hours in.
April 1st, 2008
Look at all that you could accomplish in an hour while Oliver napped if you didn’t just sit and read blogs, watch “stories” and eat bon bons like most SAHM?
;)
April 1st, 2008
pro.duc.tiv.ity?
What language is THAT?
April 1st, 2008
Isn’t it funny how, when we have tons of time on our hands, we manage to get so much done in a short amount of time? However, give me that same short amount of time and tell me I have to do all those things and and I freak out!
April 1st, 2008
See what you have to look forward to? Now that my kids are in school all day, I have become very accustomed to and fiercely protective of my alone time. I resent Spring Break. And, is Christmas vacation really necessary?
April 1st, 2008
Love this. Sounds like a perfect day.
April 1st, 2008
Sounds good to me! (jealous, I am)
April 1st, 2008
Love those days damnit.
I still can’t have her sleep anywhere yet…I KNOW the world awaits me…I’m just not ready.
April 1st, 2008
Damn. You got all that done in one day? You’re amazing…
April 1st, 2008
We love pyjama days at our house. The school holidays normally begin with one. We blob around and reeeelax.
Your description of shopping with a toddler really brought all of the horror back to me. I went shopping with 3 of mine yesterday. I was on the third floor with them. It was so nice to say, “I’ll meet you in JB Hi Fi on the first floor. Off you go!” On the way to meet them I may have wandered into a book shop and also looked at some shoes….
April 1st, 2008
Good choice :)
April 1st, 2008
Sounds EXCELLENT! This is why Pumpkinpie goes to daycare on my days off, too. I hang with her in the morning, take her in late, run errands, maybe clean a bit, then sit around and blog or read or watch crappy TV while the laundry runs, then pick her up a bit early. But the time to just get some stuff done on my own and have a little me time is so good, so sane-ifying. It makes me ready to hang with her on the weekend, too, which is nice. Good for you – it’s good to know enough to take the time when you can get it!
April 1st, 2008
I dont know what this productivity is that you speak of but omg – so jealous of free time. I think I would probably faint and wake up right before the kidlet was deposited back at home. Glad that you had a grand time and that you got your groove back (HA!).
April 1st, 2008
sounds good to me! and congrats on the pp!
April 1st, 2008
everybody needs a day off now and then to keep their sanity!
I want to say that I really enjoy reading your post. I mostly LURK but every now and again I will drop a line. Two people I read have you linked so I am able to keep tabs on you and the family. Also enjoy reading MBT link that you have. Keep up the good work and look for another MIL Monday!
April 1st, 2008
Ooh, this is what I want for my birthday! That sounds like perfect luxury. Except the part where you had to get up and make dinner and clean.
April 1st, 2008
I don’t think I could have pulled off that chicken if I had all day. You are a superstar.
April 1st, 2008
There is nothing like being alone in your own space. Nothing.
April 1st, 2008
that sounds like the very best day in the whole entire world.
April 1st, 2008
Sounds like heaven…even with the cleaning.
April 2nd, 2008
one word. WiCKED!
April 2nd, 2008
dammit. i’m impressed.
(I can’t believe you got all that shit done in an hour.)
April 2nd, 2008
Lol. I run around trying to clean the hour before kids get home too when I’ve been in one of my painting spree’s all day. Loved how you spent your day.
a.
April 2nd, 2008
that’s awesome. the last time I was left with an afternoon and an evening on my own with no one else in the house, I sat on the deck and drank wine and read a book. then the next morning before I picked up the kids, I spent an hour powering through house work that would take me a day with my family around. it felt great. except for my headache.
April 2nd, 2008
I got to become better friends with my MIL.
April 2nd, 2008
Good for you, Mama T!
April 2nd, 2008
That’s so great that you didn’t run around doing all sorts of things but just took some time to relax. We all need those days. Is this going to be an ongoing thing or just once in a while? I’m hoping it’s a regular thing, you deserve it!
April 2nd, 2008
Hmmm…makes parenting look very different from my pregnant view point right now. I wish I could take a Valium.
April 2nd, 2008
dayum straight.
;-)
April 3rd, 2008
SAH-WEET! Now that is MY kind of day! Good for you babe!
April 3rd, 2008
hold my hand in the parking lot. oh my lord. yes, i know that one.
glad you got a chance to chillax!
April 4th, 2008
That sounds like a day from heaven – exactly how I would spend it…
April 4th, 2008
And again, that sounds perfect.
Again, sincerely. :)
April 5th, 2008
I. am. speechless. with. fucking. JEALOUSY.
Good for you, though. Really. :) :) :)
April 6th, 2008
So jealous. So so jealous.
April 8th, 2008
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