Dinnercraft helps bring your (and our) protracted adolescence to an end. Our authors cover topics ranging from cooking and eating, to home and garden, to crafting and DiY, and all the rest of the things you find yourself caring about these days.
I Want to Get Away, I Wanna Fly Away
My husband has a long commute to work each day, so even though he works a normal 8 hour shift, he is usually out of the house for 12 hours or more. This is hard on him, of course, but it is also incredibly difficult for those of us left at home. Meaning me.
During the work week I live in a realm of near-single-parentedness. I provide all three meals, supervise and cajole children in getting ready each morning, and round them up at night for bed. They are usually in bed or nearly there by the time Daddy gets home again.
This schedule isn’t too bad during school days, really. My two older ones are out having fun and learning important things for six hours, and the young ‘un will be joining the throngs of pre-school attendees in a week or so. But the time crunch in the afternoon is a killer; I have three, maybe four hours to cram in homework, playtime, dinner, bath and bed, all by myself.
I wistfully recall the days when my husband could literally walk to work from our home. We used to eat dinner as a family, and he would even put the kids to bed sometimes! It was great.
Stress gets to all of us, and I have found a pretty good way of unwinding: I go grocery shopping. Yes, that’s right, my life of high glamour and intrigue leads me to my local 24-hour grocery store where I can bask in the glow of fluorescent lighting and walk past the toy aisle without dragging a screaming child behind me.
I wait for my husband to get home, and if the kids aren’t already in bed, we work together to get them there as quickly as possible. As soon as they have drifted off, I dash out the door for some food-related retail therapy. Grocery shopping in the evening is perfect bargain hunting ground. The perishables get marked down to ridiculous prices (think 10p for a bag of lettuce) and there are very few people around so lines are shorter.
I have spent many calming hours walking down the aisle of my nearest grocery store, comparing prices instead of grabbing what’s nearest off the shelf, rummaging through the clothing section, or reading ingredients lists of interesting foreign foods. It is my form of escape, and I return home refreshed and content. As long as my husband puts the food away, that is.
