i moved out when i was about 20. i had been working with my mom and had a plan laid out that i thought would work pretty well. most kids swear they’re done living with the ‘rents when they hit 18 and get that high school diploma but i wasn’t going to rush it and i definitely wasn’t in the market for a roommate. plan in hand, i went into my parents bedroom and told them i needed to talk to them.
a wave of terror visibly swept over my dad. after assuring them i was not pregnant, i just explained that i needed to start using the garage as storage space for things because i was moving out. the plan was to buy most items ahead of time so when i moved in all i had to do was buy groceries.
after a few months, a few hundred dollars, and a lease signing, me and my garage full of things moved on into my first apartment. it was glorious. the first night i even left at 12am to head to Whataburger for taquitos just for freedoms sake. i didn’t have to explain where i was going or why i was leaving the house at midnight. i made the rules!
it was awesome that first night. i even think T stayed over. then the next day i hit the grocery store to stock my fridge and tiny tiny first apartment-sized pantry. i hit the dairy fridge and called my mom in a panic.
me: “mom. is velveeta cheese always $3.50”
her: “yeah that’s about the normal price for a small pack. the bigger pack is closer to $5”
me: “MOM! i can’t spend $5 on cheese! why did you let us only get velveeta all those years?!”
mom:
cut to sunday. YaYa (previously known as Mom) dropped Addy off before True Blood when i was in the middle of trying to cook dinner and watch Bridezillas. brownlee had convinced me to smother some pork chops and who better to assist than my mom, who could make the dinner with her eyes closed? she comes in and asks what the problem is. i quickly explain last time that i added flour to thicken the gravy but it was all lumpy and i spent the majority of Bridezillas with a spoon mooshing flour pockets in the pan. she laughed (see aforementioned Velveeta convo) and told me to get the pan hot, add oil, then flour then slowly add water never letting the pan cool down and that would stop the lumps.
after two scoops of 1/3 cup of water i pronounced that the gravy making process was stupid.
in trying to balance my work-home-(used to be)social life, i think i have to actually take the gravy approach to it. i get to where i put so much on my plate at one time that nothing actually gets done. saturdays used to be my clean house day but now me and addy sleep in and i completely say nuts to cleaning. during the week i just want to come home and play with addy.
but a few weeks ago we’ve added weekly goals to our schedule. to stop the nights of coming home and getting absolutely nothing done and weekends of totally overdoing it. this week: watch a netflix and have an outside family outing. ( i had to put “outside” because a couple weeks ago me and addy “did it big” and went to SuperTarget instead of regular Target.) this way, we get something done without forced family fun of making it on one particular night.i mean we can do two things in a week
i also spaced out chores. monday i cleaned the bathrooms. tuesday i vacuumed and made chicken (even though we had BurgerKing for dinner). now we might do the netflix. we might not. but we’re only doing things 1/3 cup at a time so hopefully this week will be gravy.
I love this post! And it's so impeccably timed for me. Your dad and I were having a similar conversation this morning. I need to take your simple advice and make 1/3 cup choices that don't overwhelm me or paralyze me from doing anything at all. Thanks, Bre' Bre'!!!!