Unlike seemingly everywhere else in the country, we just finished our March Break, and today I find myself alone in the house, looking at a mountain of laundry with one eye, while counting backwards the amount of hours I have left before the children get home from school. The fridge is practically empty, and somehow we’re out of soap and toilet paper, too.
It was the first time in a while that I hadn’t tidied up the house before leaving going out of town. I’m the habit of doing so, if only so I don’t have to trip over strewn underwear and towels on the floor when we get back. There’s something refreshing about coming home to an already-made bed, and I’m pretty sure it’s advisable to empty one’s trash before leaving home for a stretch of time.
But not this time. Maybe because I was in my neighbour-fox’s hot tub until 4 AM the night before we left, which of course meant I slept tres late on Saturday, leaving nary enough time to throw a bunch of stuff into the duffle bags and let’s just go already.
When we got back, the house felt like a disaster. Besides all this unpacking and laundry to deal with, I have to clean up all this crap first?! Jesus lord.
It’s all fine, of course, but I think I really prefer getting sorted out before we leave. Opening the door to this mess just makes me feel kind of paralysed, and I stumble around the house thinking, How can we… where to I… I’ll just put this down over here, I guess.
And because of the disarray, stuff tends to stay just where it gets dropped for days. (And days.)
I find the line between being kind to my now-self versus my future-self is always a bit murky. I hate the house today, but that bottle of wine in the tub after a glorious dinner out was pretty rad, too… something always has to give, I suppose. Fun times are aplenty, but someone’s gotta clean up this mess. (Apparently, that somebody would be this muther.)
So after a week of basically napping and eating cheese, I will make like a tornado and whip this house into shape… right after I deforest my entire body and do my nails, since I forgot to pack my razor last week, and though I’m all for the wilderness experience and such, doing dishes by hand three times a day does some serious damage to a lady’s manicure. Plus I hate feeling like a Yeti. Hi Martin, I could really use a haircut too…
It’s nice to be away, but coming home is sweet indeed.
Do you straighten up your house before you vacation, or do you let the laundry lie where it falls and just deal with it upon return?
I’m with Anny and so glad I am not alone with these crazy thoughts! I always picture one of my poor sisters having to come clear out my house if some horrible accident were to happen and she would be totally disgusted if I left a bed unmade!!
In the old days, with very little ones, I would time a visit from Grocery Gateway with our arrival home so within minutes of us dragging our stinky laundry filled suitcases into the house, some nice young man from Grocery would arrive with fresh milk and eggs to fill our bellies.
You were raised right, Anny. 🙂
Doing all the laundry before heading home is such a great idea – we never seem to have enough time to get it done, but at least I can just throw it all into the laundry room when we get back. I climb that mountain eventually. (Boo.)
So sorry about your little circles of sticky… I can only imagine. (Suck.) *holds you*
I clean like a muther before I leave for 2 reasons: (1) my neighbour will be dropping in every other day and I don’t want anyone to linger in my messy house if I’m not there to distract them from taking a closer look at the state of the floor, and (2) what if I die while on vacation and my family has to come clean out my house?
Seriously. I think that.
But then the return home is doubly sweet because I’m alive and my house is all ready to welcome us home 🙂
Plus, now that we vacation at my in-law’s condo in Maine, I actually launder our clothes there before packing it so when we get home all I have to do is put the clothes away and shove the suitcase back in the closet.
Divine.
Wish that was today… I’m also dealing with the post break mess + we had 2 birthday parties this weekend including a game of mini-marshmallow shooting which was fun but if you step on a marshmallow and walk around — you are stamping little circles of sticky all over the place. Oh, Tracey, it’s SO BAD!! So naturally I’m avoiding it like the plague…