Tonight something will occur that hardly ever happens, an occurrence that is so rare that there are some who do not believe it actually ever happens.
Tonight, I will be going straight home from work and I will spend the entire evening ALONE.
Each of those things happens occasionally on their own but almost never do they happen simultaneously. It’s my own fault, really. I tend to have things scheduled for after work almost all the time; school or time with the Little Sister or working out with Sheila or getting together with a friend or babysitting or running errands all over town. And if I’m not running errands then either Kevin is beating me home or he is walking in right after me and we are having a bunch of togetherness time (and by that I mean sitting around trying to decide what to have for dinner and discussing how adorable our dog is).
So the fact that the only thing I have to do today is pick up some dry cleaning around the corner from my house and then I am home ALL NIGHT by myself while Kevin is bowling is absolutely mindblowing. I can have cereal for dinner if I so choose! I can walk the dog and clean the bedroom and watch episodes of “Melrose Place” without shame!
I can also bake up the 8 batches of cookie dough I have hanging out in my refrigerator. Kevin has declared my cookie baking A Sickness (as opposed to merely one of my Issues) so the fact that I get to spend all night being crazy baking woman without him shaking his head at my insanity is superfantastic.
Really though, it’s the being alone part that I love the most, more than the “being able to do things without head shaking” part. I’m an extraordinarily extroverted person, I’ll admit. The term “social butterfly” could have been coined just to describe me. I thrive on talking to people, on telling jokes and sharing stories and building rapport with new people. I like dressing up for parties and dressing down for movie nights with friends, I like having a whirlwind schedule as long as it’s filled with things that are fun for me. But even extroverts reach their limits sometimes, and as much as I thrive off of contact with other people, I desperately need time to recharge myself. And I’ve found that the best way for me to do that is to be in my home, alone and able to do whatever I want without consideration for the other person who lives there. I need time to walk around without pants, watching bad TV and eating food straight out of the container rather than trying to be civilized. I guess it’s kind of a psychic “letting down my hair” thing.
Just don’t expect any footage of me dancing in my underwear and socks.
Cornbread is not that difficult of an idea, really. But for some reason it decides to do whatever it wants when I make it. Sometimes it’s too dense and sometimes it’s too sweet or too salty, or it cooks up too moist. But today, it was perfect. Just fluffy enough and crispy on the edges and hot so the butter melted right into it.
Okay I’ll admit that the applesauce? Is totally super easy and I have no idea why I don’t make it more often. I mean really, the hardest part was peeling all the damn apples, and even that wasn’t that bad since last year I finally gave in and bought a decent peeler. Anyway, now I have chili and cornbread to look forward to for lunch tomorrow, and homemade applesauce with Fage yogurt for breakfast. And I am absurdly satisfied with myself over it.
