Of This And That . . .

I’m on my own these past few weeks. Well, unless you count all the dogs, and they sleep most of the time. So unless you count the speed bumps all over the floor, I still feel like I’m on my own.

I’m talking human companionship here. I’m the only human in the house right now.

I look forward to this brief respite once a year when my son isn’t here. When he was little, it was a relief not to have to be “on” all the time — what’s he doing? Is he okay? Now that he’s older, it’s a little more of a pain ’cause I have to wash the dishes and take out the trash — and I’d like to add that my friends who said, “If you need any help out there on your own, let us know!” were *not* willing to take care of these important things for me, so how sincere were they? Really?!

But, I digress —

I wonder sometimes what kind of Empty Nester I’ll be. You know, those ladies who are lost when their kids leave and they’re alone at home. I get a taste of it every year, and I gotta say, I think I’ll handle it just fine.

Like when I took a shower the other day and forgot to take my clothes or a robe into the bathroom with me. It really was nice not to have to announce, “DON’T LOOK!” and dash to my room.

Or like when I was on my computer the other day, playing my Pinochle tournament (does anyone play Pinochle anymore?) in my big t-shirt and panties, realizing that I could take *those* off, too, if I wanted! And prance around the house, too, if I wanted!

Or like when I was doing laundry yesterday and thought, “Boy, I’d sure like to throw these clothes I’m wearing in there, but . . .” And then the sudden realization that there was no “but!” Well, there was — ’cause I just striped ‘em off and threw ‘em in the washer, again without the necessity of any announcements or scooting about.

It was the laundry thing that made me realize that all the stuff I was thinking was so kewl involved clothes, or the lack thereof!

My son is going to be gone for good in a year or two. (Maybe sooner if he doesn’t shape up!) I’m going to miss him, yes, and when he does something that’s particularly kewl or says something unexpected that makes me laugh right down to my toes, I’m reminded of that line from one of the Indiana Jones movies. Harrison Ford and Sean Connery are talking about their father-son relationship. And that’s when Sean Connery (the Dad, of course!) says something like, “Just when you were getting interesting, you left!”

My son *is* getting interesting. He’s still a pain in the butt — he’s still a kid, after all — but he’s awesome and I’m so proud of him. He makes me laugh, now, more often than he makes me cry and I’m enjoying that immensely.

Soon I’ll be finding out if I enjoy that more than running around the house nekked.

I really like the ideas you can pick up from the Fly Lady. I don’t have a chance in hell of doing everything every day, or every week, that she has on her lists, but it helps a lot.

My sink doesn’t get shined every day ’cause, let’s be honest here, there’s usually too many dishes in the way to do that. And I don’t do the “Swish and Swipe” every day, either, but I do get it done several times a week and it sure helps.

Since I’m an “all or nothing” girl, you can imagine what my house used to look like. If I couldn’t do *everything* why bother to do *anything*?! If I learned anything from her, it was that little five, ten or fifteen minute bits here and there make a big difference — and they do!

Frankly, it was a revelation to find that I didn’t *really* have to do a “full clean” on that bathroom to get it presentable! But one thing that bothered me about her advice here was to keep a crock beside the toilet with the toilet brush and some cleaner in it. This just grossed me out. Yes, I have kids and pets — and she does say this isn’t good for them! — but even if I didn’t I wouldn’t want that sitting there looking at me all the time.

She also says you can get brush caddies with lids on them — but they’re all plastic! I’m such a spaz, I *would* be doing a full clean on the bathroom several times a week to clean up the mess after I knocked it over.

I also imagined a crock full of nasty scum after a week or so. This whole thing just sounded gross.

I went to the Goodwill store to try to find something that would work. Musta been my lucky day because I found a fancy trash bucket! It was bathroom size (as a matter of fact it was part of a bath accessory set) and weighed a ton. It’s ceramic or porcelain, or something like that. That bad boy is *not* going anywhere! Then, I hid it in the cabinet under the sink. Added some water, a toilet brush, and a squirt or two of dishwashing liquid, and my experiment was ready to go.

I’m thinking about this today because it’s been several months since I put that under there. And today I pulled it out to do my “thing” and notice that, while most of the water had evaporated, there was *no* nastiness in there at all. It looked like I could probably wash my dishes with it, though, of course, NOT!

So, if you’ve read that “how to” and thought “YUCK!!!” I can tell you it really does work, it really does help, makes it easy and quick to do your “Swish and Swipe” and, for me anyway, I no longer feel like I need to lock the bathroom and tell unexpected visitors that, yes, my son really does take three hour showers.