A few of you have asked how the kids coped without us last month, while we were off cruising the Mediterranean.
Mr 21 says he loved “batching”! (Mind you, I had to explain what batching meant 😉 ).
Turns out, he’s quite the obsessive housekeeper – the house was absolutely immaculate when we got home – much to my surprise!
It seems Mr 21 took a great deal of pride in making sure that everything was just so. To the point where he not only re-arranged the pantry to his satisfaction (see pic below), he also changed the ornaments on display to ones that were more to his taste. Thank goodness I took photos for my #shelfstyle post before we left, or I would never have remembered how to put things back the way *I* wanted them!
I think he missed us though – the first couple of nights after we got back, he would come out and watch TV with us (almost unheard of) and lay his head in my lap so I could stroke his hair/back 😉 .
He also admitted that he really needs to learn how to cook and I’ve already given him a few lessons since we’ve been back. Of course I tried many times over the years but he was never interested until now! Below is the chicken satay he made recently …
Miss 18 dropped in regularly and she thinks Mr 21 was lonely, as he talked her ears off whenever she visited. She was also the one that made sure he ate something slightly more substantial than toast and takeaways 😉 .
As for our fur kid, the precious Miss Fleur? Apparently she drove Mr 21 to distraction with her constant demands for love, food and attention (not necessarily in that order)! Being an indoor kitty, Fleur relies on her hoomans heavily for entertainment and when two of us are missing from the equation, it does put a lot of responsibility on the one still at home. Mr 21 took to playing with hubster’s laser rule every day purely so the kitty could chase the red dot round the house!
We wondered how Fleur would treat us when we arrived home after a four week absence – would she snob us off entirely or be all over us?! (When we travelled Australia in 2001 some friends housesat and looked after our cat – when we got back after 6 months she came running as soon as she heard us, and gave us lots of cuddles and love – which was a bit of a surprise!).
However Fleur-Bee lived up to her kitty reputation and totally ignored the hubster and I when we walked in the door, instead rubbing up to Mr 21’s legs. She didn’t last long though – within a couple of hours it was like we’d never left. I’ve noticed though that she’s been extra cuddly since we’ve been back 😉 , so I’m not unhappy with that.
How do your pets and kids cope without you if you go away?!
When my parents and brother headed to Europe for 3 weeks when I was 19, I think I lived on Lean Cuisine microwave meals and had friends stay over so I wouldn’t be so lonely. How good does your pantry look? Well done Mr 21. 🙂
I love how your son is now interested in learning how to cook! I’m also very impressed with his pantry arranging skills! I wonder if I were to go away for a weekend whether it would have the same effect on my eldest son?
This is exactly why I keep putting Charlie on the stool or footstool when he shows any interest in what I’m cooking. I try and get him to stir things, or dump ingredients for me. It’s very painful and time consuming but I do think it will be worth it in the end. I just hope I can hold his attention in the kitchen to teach him the cooking skills I have. I already get him to smell the different spices and herbs. His father knows nothing by smell in the kitchen, and that’s because his mum doesn’t know either. So I have a plan to have a future chef on our hands. He’ll be cooking gourmet meals for us by the time he’s 12 right. BAHAHAHA! Just wishful thinking.
Hey there, I want to know how you got your son to cook. Our Miss 17 says she doesn’t need to learn. When I ask how she’ll cope when her dad & I leave home, she says that she’ll go next door…they’ll feed her. They probably would.
That’s funny that he was compulsively clean! I guess the responsibility was good for him; I was much like that at that age. It wasn’t till I was on my own that I did anything. 🙂
It’s great to hear that everyone survived your trip away! I think the dog misses me more than Dyllan when I go out lol. Mainly because Paul and Dyllan are a little more boisterous than me so I think they tire her out.