After 15 years of living with Paul, I had forgotten what it’s like to live alone. Here are a few revelations I pledge to better appreciate upon his return.
-The time and money he spends shopping for groceries keeps our larder full of ready or near ready to eat food choices. I frequently comment that if I were living alone I would shop once a month and only spend $30 dollars. I found this to be painfully “untrue” as living alone I shopped every week and easily spent $50 each week. It appears I have been unaware of grocery prices for quite some time now.
-I also had to relearn how to plan meals, cook them and clean up after myself. I can’t believe how many dishes I use daily and will no longer solely blame Paul for the volume of stuff that ends up on the kitchen floor. Moving forward, we must stick to sweeping the kitchen floor at least several times a week.
-There was nobody to blame for clutter accumulation around the house but myself or anyone to co-opt into helping me clean the house. This is especially tough this summer as our cleaning lady quit providing services and I have yet to find a new one.
-I was solely in charge of running all errands and taking care of all household tasks both inside and out and often wondered how I did it all before Paul came along. The plumber, electrician and pest control guy had to be brought in for repairs and an infestation of pantry moths.
-I am grateful for my neighbor’s help power washing both porches and helping me get my outside areas set up for the season. I actually did cut back on flower pots this year as well as planting so much in my raised beds. Good thing too as the ferocious winds blew the top layer of soil out of the beds along with carrot seeds and exposed the gladiola bulbs which, as a result, may not make it this year.
-Garbage pickup is early Tuesday morning, yes early, which means getting the garbage out and the bin rolled up to the top of the driveway Monday evening. I also learned putting too much heavy garden refuse in the bin makes pushing it uphill tough on the lower back.
-My new mowers were “on their own” and I enlisted them to do a bit of shore work, garden cleanup and weed spraying, all of which Paul does when home.
-I have taken his efforts to keep the car clean and full of gas for granted as well. Beyond stroking out when it took almost $100 to fill the tank, I had to locate area car washes and have yet to tend to the disaster I created inside the car during the past six weeks.
– Hauling the watering hose around alone was a pain in the backside and, although I got the job done, will be grateful when he returns to at least share this daily task with me.
-Paul usually tends to banking matters which includes ensuring a supply of cash on hand. I had to dig deep to find my debit card and access code to access cash and had no clue you could deposit checks without going into the bank. Pathetic I know but, in my defense, checks are rarely used these days. Thank goodness he has set up auto-pay for bills or I would really have been in trouble.
All in all, I got through my time living alone quite well and became a weekly Taco Thursday customer at the Legion. I think my sister’s might be right when they refer to me as living like a “Queen on a Throne.” Paul keeps threatening to cut me off from so much caretaking so I better treat him right upon his return lest he feels “hard done by and put upon” which won’t bode well!