Cooking Mania and Weekend Confessions

Lo went camping and to a race this weekend with friends, so I was on my own.  It’s always funny to me how my days go when I’m left to my own devices and don’t have many plans.  I don’t mind having occasional weekends to myself – I was always a very independent person and it sometimes feels good to be able to be selfish and not have to consider what anyone else wants or needs.

However, it became apparent to me how much I rely on Lo for certain things.  These are all things I could eventually manage on my own, but I’m so used to him being around that it’s harder when he’s not.

Friday after work I went on a date with my friends to Restoration Hardware, Crate and Barre, and P.F. Chang’s.  It was a productive and fun evening, and once I got home, that’s when I got my first taste of being without him.

• TV – I literally couldn’t turn on the tv.  Well, I could turn on the tv, the cable, and the sound system, but I couldn’t make them connect with each other.  I suspected it had something to do with how he had it set up a few days before when he had his laptop hooked up, but I had no idea how to rectify it.  I pretty much never watch tv on my own, so it had been a long time since I tried to work it myself.  I was going to watch the Olympics while I worked on the computer, but no biggie.  I just hooked up my ipod (which I was actually capable of handling, and started editing pictures and such.
• Bedtime – I notoriously stay up late when he’s gone or I’m left to my own devices.  We call it “failing at bedtime”.  To be honest, I don’t really consider it a complete failure because I’m a late sleeper naturally.  During the week I get up at about 6:45 with an alarm, and once I’m up, I’m fine, but 10:30 is my natural waking time.  It embarrasses me that I sleep so late, but there really isn’t much I can do about it – I was like that as a child.  It has very little to do with the amount of sleep that I get – whether I go to bed at 9 p.m. or 4 a.m., I naturally wake up after 10:30.  If I was drunk the night before, it could be even later.  So needless to say, on Friday I went to bed at about 4 a.m., and Saturday I went to bed at 3:30 a.m. or so.  Still woke up at the regular time though!
• Composter – Our composter got delivered and I didn’t even attempt to put it together.  I read how hard they are to assemble, so I didn’t even attempt because I knew he could do it so much faster and better.  He put it together faster than I expected, though he said it was very tedious with lots of little nuts and bolts.  But it’s all set up now and ready to go!

• Coffee – I know I could have figured out how to use our coffee maker, but I never have, and last time I tried to make coffee while he was gone, it was a disaster.  I’m not someone who “needs” coffee – I like the taste, but I can go without it easily.  On Saturday I just had some of the coffee that was leftover from the day before.  I know some people think that’s gross or think that it could make you sick (chuck), but we haven’t been sick from it yet and I think Lo regularly drinks day old coffee while he’s waiting for the fresh coffee to brew in the morning.  I could have also used our french press or our stovetop espresso maker, but it didn’t seem worth it to me.  Plus I like my coffee iced, so old coffee makes that easier.  Even though I didn’t need coffee on Sunday, I decided to make an instant Starbucks Via packet.  For some reason I heated my water in a measuring cup and mixed the coffee in there, so I just drank it from the measuring cup.  It only occurred to me that it was weird a little later.

• Cooking: I went on a little cooking spree on Saturday night.  I went shopping for a large part of the day on Saturday and when I got back I thought maybe I’d make some recipes that I’d printed out, so I made a few trial Spring Rolls (they were great) and then went to the store at 10:30 or so for some ingredients.  I started cooking around 11:30 p.m.  I made a huge pot of quinoa, Quinoa Beef Meatballs, Chipotle BBQ Meatloaf, Cajun Cabbage Rolls, and put 4-5 pounds of chicken in the crockpot to cook overnight.  When I got up in the morning, I made 2 pans of Eggs Cups, 2 loaves of Chocolate Chip Banana Bread, and Quinoa Bites.  I think that’s all…lol.  So our freezer is full!  Recipes coming for all of that stuff later.  But usually when I cook Lo will ask me if he can help and I’ll give him chopping and/or meat handling tasks.  Without his help, it takes much longer!  And I have to do all of the dishes!

• Cleaning:  After all of the cooking, the kitchen floor was a mess so I knew I had to clean it before he got home.  I pulled out our sweeper, which we bought a few months ago when our old one broke, and I realized I didn’t know how to turn it on!  Yeah, I’d never used it.  But to be fair, I usually do the steam mopping.  Okay it’s still not fair because it’s only used on a few of our floors and I can’t say that I always use it every time he vacuums.

So I was a perfectly responsible adult who did things on my own before him, but that’s one of the benefits of living with someone or marriage – you get to share the tasks!  I know that I’m so lucky to have someone who will pitch in (and then some) – not everyone has a great husband like that and I’ll always be grateful that his mama raised him right!  Hopefully he feels like I bring enough to the marriage/household – while I suspect that my list of contributions may be shorter than his, at least he doesn’t have to eat fast food twice a day anymore!