I dropped Paul off at the airport on Thursday for his long flight to Buenos Aires. He eventually popped out on the other side with a little help from the travel gods. So this was my first weekend home alone. I don’t know about you but I think being home alone is a beautiful thing. To kick off the weekend, I joined my good friend, Sue, for happy hour where we enjoyed several margaritas and nachos after which I went home and went to bed early. When I got up the next day, I decided to do a little house cleaning which resulted in a hurting body the following day. No good deed goes unpunished, right? One good thing that came out of it was swapping out the flannel sheets for my favorite flowered pink sheets, just in time for a solo Valentine’s Day! I now have the bed set up for solo enjoyment reading, writing, hanging out on my iPhone/computer, lounging and watching tv until my heart is content. Paul thinks the bed is for sleeping, imagine that! There are no dirty clothes strewn around the bedroom, no water puddles on the bathroom vanity, the toilet seat is consistently “down” and there is no need to adjust the shower head every time I use it. These are all concessions to living with a partner which most of us do willingly but, the occasional break is lovely.
My first stop being home alone is often my favorite health food store/s to load up. These are stops Paul seldom makes in his routine grocery shopping. This means the contents of the refrigerator change when I am by myself. First off, the meat and cheese drawer is empty and the vegetable drawer is overflowing. The shelves are chock full of different milks, yogurts, cottage cheese & health drinks. Tonight, I stir fried one of my favorites, tofu and vegetables, which Paul wants nothing to do with. There is an adequate supply of chicken and fish in the freezer, my pantry is full and there are still lots of canned goods waiting. I should note that Paul did some pre-travel grocery shopping and hard boiled some eggs for me before he left. I made two key lime pound cakes; one of which made its’ way into the freezer. The kitchen floors have been swept and mopped, the cabinets and drawers are all closed, the dishes are done, the counters are clean and the sponge is always squeezed out when Paul is away. Ahh…..!
Now it’s on cranking up my big band music while working on glass projects thru the night. I should probably ask Paul to write an article on his time “home alone” as I am sure he would have a few things to say on the subject!