I have noticed a trend in Susan's excursions to visit Ryan. And no, it's probably not anything you're thinking.
I get busy. Last weekend it was cleaning out some of the pile of boxes we had in the garage, and cleaning our room, and then making muffins. The week before was yeast rolls. I've made homemade pizza, cleaned the kitchen, and just generally have found ways to keep busy.
This week, I took the kids out to a restaurant supply store in the area (my own version of a toy store), and since I wanted to do that, we needed to go elsewhere and get a second booster seat for the youngling. Kinda hard to go anywhere with the car seat in Susan's car two hours away. Oops.
At the supply store (which was more of a warehouse looking place), the one guy who worked there had a dog roaming around. My kids freak out around dogs, and this one was no exception. And of course, he had to be big. But he was an old softy, so didn't really pester them or anything, just kinda flopped on the floor and lay there. Didn't stop the kids from being scared and whimpering though.
I came away with a batch of the wide-type of mixing bowls, as well as a three-pack of different size of springform pans. Well, since I had those in hand, only one thing to do...make cheesecake! So off to the store we went to get what I needed for that, then to home.
Once home I finally dealt with the youngling's disaster area of a room. It gets cleaned out about twice a year, and she did actually keep it clean for a few weeks last time...and then I went off on a long underway and of course it wasn't kept up in my absence. So this time I went in there, shoved EVERYTHING out into the hallway, gave her a basket, and told her to fill it with toys and bring it to me for sorting.
I ended up with a bag full of toys that she didn't want anymore, a bag full of trash, an absolute pile of stuffed animals she didn't want (including some that I just know will make Susan cry), and a cleaned up room. And since she was the one who actually put stuff where it belonged, I know she can do it and knows where everything goes now. We'll see how long we can keep floor visible in her room now.
After that it was time to make dinner, which for once I cheated on and just went with frozen pizza. Once done, it was time to turn my attention to the cheesecake. Made the crust, made some strawberry sauce while I was waiting for that to cool, made the filling, baked it off, and made sure the kitchen was completely clean.
All in all, it was a very productive day, and I wonder if I would have been anywhere near as productive if Susan hadn't gone up to meet Ryan. We get into that whole cycle of "I'm not doing anything because you're not doing anything because I'm not doing anything" and nothing ever gets done. Not quite as bad as all that, especially lately, but we do feed off of each other's inactivity.
I'm not exactly sure why I get super productive when she goes off on her trips. I was thinking about it last night, and I came up with a couple of reasons why it could be...all of which would have to be subliminal, because I don't feel that way on top for any of these.
A) Escaping reality. It might have something to do with keeping myself so busy that I don't think about the two of them together, or the fact that she's not there.
B) Mating display. Showing her that I can do a bunch of things really useful around the house, as well as making her gooshy food. (Term shamelessly stolen from Two Lumps webcomic, meaning anything yummy and delicious...cake, muffin, pie, you get the idea.)
C) Protecting the kids. This one's kind of an odd thought, but showing the kids that even if Mommy's not here that day, that I'm perfectly capable of acting in that mommy-type roll. Kinda blurred since I'm the cook in the family, but still a thought.
Those were all options I mulled last night, but nothing trumps option D) I'm bored. Might be something else mixed in with it, of course, since I don't get this active when she's here, but let's stick with K.I.S.S. and go with the obvious!
I get busy. Last weekend it was cleaning out some of the pile of boxes we had in the garage, and cleaning our room, and then making muffins. The week before was yeast rolls. I've made homemade pizza, cleaned the kitchen, and just generally have found ways to keep busy.
This week, I took the kids out to a restaurant supply store in the area (my own version of a toy store), and since I wanted to do that, we needed to go elsewhere and get a second booster seat for the youngling. Kinda hard to go anywhere with the car seat in Susan's car two hours away. Oops.
At the supply store (which was more of a warehouse looking place), the one guy who worked there had a dog roaming around. My kids freak out around dogs, and this one was no exception. And of course, he had to be big. But he was an old softy, so didn't really pester them or anything, just kinda flopped on the floor and lay there. Didn't stop the kids from being scared and whimpering though.
I came away with a batch of the wide-type of mixing bowls, as well as a three-pack of different size of springform pans. Well, since I had those in hand, only one thing to do...make cheesecake! So off to the store we went to get what I needed for that, then to home.
Once home I finally dealt with the youngling's disaster area of a room. It gets cleaned out about twice a year, and she did actually keep it clean for a few weeks last time...and then I went off on a long underway and of course it wasn't kept up in my absence. So this time I went in there, shoved EVERYTHING out into the hallway, gave her a basket, and told her to fill it with toys and bring it to me for sorting.
I ended up with a bag full of toys that she didn't want anymore, a bag full of trash, an absolute pile of stuffed animals she didn't want (including some that I just know will make Susan cry), and a cleaned up room. And since she was the one who actually put stuff where it belonged, I know she can do it and knows where everything goes now. We'll see how long we can keep floor visible in her room now.
After that it was time to make dinner, which for once I cheated on and just went with frozen pizza. Once done, it was time to turn my attention to the cheesecake. Made the crust, made some strawberry sauce while I was waiting for that to cool, made the filling, baked it off, and made sure the kitchen was completely clean.
All in all, it was a very productive day, and I wonder if I would have been anywhere near as productive if Susan hadn't gone up to meet Ryan. We get into that whole cycle of "I'm not doing anything because you're not doing anything because I'm not doing anything" and nothing ever gets done. Not quite as bad as all that, especially lately, but we do feed off of each other's inactivity.
I'm not exactly sure why I get super productive when she goes off on her trips. I was thinking about it last night, and I came up with a couple of reasons why it could be...all of which would have to be subliminal, because I don't feel that way on top for any of these.
A) Escaping reality. It might have something to do with keeping myself so busy that I don't think about the two of them together, or the fact that she's not there.
B) Mating display. Showing her that I can do a bunch of things really useful around the house, as well as making her gooshy food. (Term shamelessly stolen from Two Lumps webcomic, meaning anything yummy and delicious...cake, muffin, pie, you get the idea.)
C) Protecting the kids. This one's kind of an odd thought, but showing the kids that even if Mommy's not here that day, that I'm perfectly capable of acting in that mommy-type roll. Kinda blurred since I'm the cook in the family, but still a thought.
Those were all options I mulled last night, but nothing trumps option D) I'm bored. Might be something else mixed in with it, of course, since I don't get this active when she's here, but let's stick with K.I.S.S. and go with the obvious!
