a peek into chic: Role Reversal: Hubs Has Left the Building

My current job requires that I travel 4 days a week, every week, to broad and exciting places like Birmingham, AL for a client. But also NYC. (I've only been doing it for a year and a half... hypothetically there will be more snazzy stops.)

At first, being on the road was a difficult idea to grasp. Hubs was not a hubs yet, we were busy putting in offers on houses while I was interviewing for the job and he was busy trying to come up with a "rest of our lives together" speech. So there was a lot going on and bouncing out of the house for a week at a time was just kind of an "add it to the list" item of things I had to learn to adjust to. The real adjustment was likely what was going on at home though.

When I did eventually land the job and start my Monday treks to the land of Birm and Ham, Patrick was left with a brand new house and a needy puppy who was used to lunch time walks and someone at home at 5:30pm. We were used to living in separate apartments and all of a sudden had a huge responsibility of cleaning, yard work, and making a brand new house a home. New houses don't come with TP roll holders, or towel rods, or blinds... there was a lot to do and I only had weekends to help out. So P had to learn to become Mr. Mom. Getting off work earlier than he would have liked to attend to our puppy, the Monster. Trash on Tuesdays. Mail every day, not once a month. There were quite a few blow outs where I would return from AL late on Thurs night and walk in to find straight chaos of a bachelor pad going on with mail scattered all over and dishes coming out of the sink. It took a lot of convincing that when I got home for my 3 precious days, I didn't want to spend them cleaning up after the manimals when I already had baseboards to wash and bedrooms to paint, not to mention my DVR'd Revenge to catch up on and boxes of wine to consume.

But we eventually figured out a routine and that was fantastic.

This latest client has been different in that I've been able to work from Atlanta for the past few weeks. No hotels. Still the late nights, but with my own bed afterwards. I get to cook. I get to clean throughout the week instead of in a burst of cuss words and frustration on a hungover Sunday morning. There are groceries in the fridge and now it's me that has to eat the leftovers. This, too, was a weird thing to get used to. I have a strict hotel-life-routine where my travel kit has all my essentials and I have my set things I do before bed and my workouts in the morning. Being at home meant bedtimes were erratic, I'd forget to wash my face, I could putter around in the morning playing with the Monster or doing laundry. It's taken a month for me to get back into a "normal" non-travel routine. Which is now also fantastic.

This week, though, Hubs has stolen my routine.

He left this early morning for the airport to go to OH through Thursday. I coached him on hotel points, gave him packing tips and sent him on his merry way with a solid "get the eff out now or airport security will be your final resting place." I have no idea what to do with myself this week. I think I've been in this house for max one night by myself. The Monster and I have the world at our fingertips. I have a moderately fresh box of wine, and a silly-full DVR. I've pitched a slumber party idea chock full of holiday dramas like Love Actually and Elf. I should be packing and cleaning the house. I should be writing thank yous and addressing Xmas cards.

BUT.

I'm thinking it's finally my turn to be a house bum for the week.

PJs, Uggs, dirty dishes and unhealthy dinners, here I come.

Maybe even a bath! I even have a bubble bath playlist, which has never been used for it's intended purpose! Sike. Too cold for bath time. The impending frigidity that means removing oneself from the bath is not worth the effort it takes to get in in the first place. Kind of like eating asparagus. The risk is not worth the reward.

Insert clever gif images.

How do people find those? Is there a gif catalog out there that pairs a fantastically clever, widely known 3 second bit of knee-slapping hilarity for every thought, or are the people posting those the same ones who know all those awesome movie one-liners that seamlessly fit into conversation and make the crowd go wild. I have neither of these skills. Here is an ecard instead.