Fly Away Home

Well.
It's really happening. It's not temporary, it's for The Rest Of My Life. I will never again be a stay at home mom with a baby, carefully scheduling my days around feedings and naptimes and loads of laundry that can't sit wet in the washer for more then 3 seconds because then they will reek and have to be washed all over again.

Yeah, I'm a little OCD. What ?

ANYWAY, now that the kids are out of the house, I am kind of freaking out. A little bit. Okay, listen, I am totally freaking out. What the HELL am I going to do with myself ? No, really. WHAT ? Between the hours of 8 and 2, 4 days a week (I work Fridays, and some nights and weekends) I am going to be free as a BIRD ! FOREVER !

That is a lot of time, y'all.

I have put out feelers for volunteer opportunities, and that is definitely in the works. But in the meantime......

It's been a week. What have I done with myself for the past week ? Well, first I shoveled all of the accumulated crap out of the house. The kids rooms are SPOTLESS. I moved furniture and everything. No, I really did. And then I had a yard sale. And then I listed stuff on Craigslist. And then I kind of ran out of stuff to do. And amazingly, I STILL forgot a doctor's appointment yesterday morning. (shakes head sadly) I used to blame that stuff on the kids, but now there is No One To Blame.

This empty nest thing is lame.

In an attempt to feel productive, I have been filling my hours gradually, running errands and doing chores around the house. But that can't be the be-all end-all. I will lose my mind. I'm halfway there already after 8 years at home with the kids. So maybe I should have a little R and R. Yes. Right. Me Time.

First I went to a yoga class. At the end of the class, the instructor announced he was going on vacation for a month.

Alrighty then. Forget the yoga.

I spent an entire morning at the DMV, then went out to lunch with a friend and had a bloody mary - and I ended up kind of woozy and had to take a nap. So I guess I won't become one of the "ladies who lunch". Which is too bad, because that sounded pretty good to me.

I was going to clean the bathroom yesterday, but (I'm going to be honest here) I just really didn't want to. So I went to the beach and lay there with my eyes closed because I could. And that was AWESOME (and FREE!) but I can't possibly just go to the beach all day every day for the rest of my life.

Or can I ?

All the ladies out there who are stay at home mom's to school-age kids, and have time during the day to actually, you know, think. And do things. I know you are out there. I'm new around here. What do we do ?

You know what I do ?
I start another blog.
whatsmommydoing.blogspot.com
I'll be there looking for things to keep me busy.
Suggestions welcome.

This post can also be seen on Momversation

Perfickle

Sometimes, you just gotta eat the worm.

Last night, after two days meditating on my Smokey McSmoker post, I broke down and bought a pack of smokes.

But not just any smokes.

No, not that kind of smoke. The other kind. No, not that one either.

Cloves.

I bought a pack of clove cigarettes and sat there and smoked and licked my lips and remembered my first CLOVE cigarette, which I enjoyed with several classmates on a trip to see "A Christmas Carol" in Providence (I think. Maybe Hartford ?) I believe it was Monique who introduced me to these fabulous little treasures. And we sat there in a coffee shop, smoking and talking and we probably didn't even leave a tip but the memory? Priceless.

And then, cruising down the highway all grown up and 20 years later, after maybe 4 or five leisurely puffs, I got dizzy and felt like I was going to throw up. So I rolled down the window and drank more coffee, and when I arrived at my destination I ate a taco (Thanks Trouble - yummy !) and ate some fruit out of the bottom of the sangria the Bethness had prepared, and then the Superstar showed up and before you know it we were back outside under the stars and almost full moon, reaching for another clove cigarette.

I'm done now. No really.
Except that the fucking clove cigarettes cost me $9 and Holy Hell I'm gonna have to get that money back one way or the other. I think I'm gonna be selling clove cigarettes to the Not-As-Young-As-We-Used-To-Be nostalgia crowd for the next week.

I'm a hustler, what can I say.