Housebound and Loving It

For the past two weekends, we've been stuck in the house and had to cancel dinner with friends due to various plagues that have beset our house. And I've been as happy as a pig in mud (sadly, that is a commentary on the state of my house right now).

Don't get me wrong. I was disappointed to miss out on drinking wine, eating fabulous food, enjoying adult conversation and laughter with great friends. But at the same time, I was extremely relieved to not have to channel my inner Martha Stewart (of course, we always have fresh flowers throughout the house...I grew them myself...) and frantically clean my house, ordering my children not to breathe much less look at their toys so that the house stayed tidy until our guests arrived.

I've always been a homebody, but my husband is much more social. He loves to entertain, whipping up the latest Bobby Flay creation on his Big Green Egg, drinking expensive beer (he admits it's the beer drinking he mostly enjoys) and gabbing with his buddies while the women commiserate about the latest exploits of our children and the trials and tribulations of motherhood. And I enjoy it too. But every weekend when he asks "What's on the agenda? Who can we invite over?" I cringe. I pretend he didn't ask the question ("Look, something shiny!") And then when that doesn't work, I hmm and haw ("I don't know...") until it finally becomes a sore spot and he accuses me of being anti-social. And for a while, I was willing to accept that, ok, maybe I am anti-social.

But I finally realized, and calmly explained to my husband yesterday, that after the ridiculous rush of the week, where every day is jam-packed with endless tasks, rushing to get here, there and everywhere and dealing with unreasonable people (both big and small) that 48 hours of nothing planned is heaven. I can NOT clean, NOT shower, NOT put on makeup, NOT wake up at the crack of dawn and actually do some things that I enjoy like read a book, play a board game with my kids or catch up on my blogging. Or I can do things that help me get a jump start on the next week, like laundry or researching birthday parties for the kids.

Come spring, we'll have soccer games and other weekend activities that will get me moving on a Saturday, making it easier for me to get in the groove to entertain again. But while we have these activity-free weekends, especially when it's too cold to go anywhere anyway, I'd rather make like a bear and hibernate. Is that so wrong?

That's probably why I'm so hooked on this blogging thing. I can visit with intelligent and entertaining people without having to clean or shower.

Housebound and Loving It