The Fry Side

Yesterday, I took a day off. I only have a two-day work week, but the rest of the time will be spent with the kids, so hardly a vacation for Daddy. It was in the back of my mind, and given how I felt going through my morning routine, I went ahead and called in for work.

I also swore to myself that I would do nothing. Even my real sick days are usually spent with me doing chores around the house. So I didn’t do anything. Here was my schedule.

6:00 – 7:00 Go through my morning routine.

7:00 – 8:00 Get the kids up, dressed, fed, and out the door.

8:30 – 10:30 Sleep

10:30 – 11:30 Have a light lunch; Watch Curb Your Enthusiasm

11:30 – 12:30 Read Harry Potter (I’m trying to catch up to my niece)

12:30 – 2:00 Nap

2:00 – 3:00 Tidy the kitchen; Put pasta sauce on the stove; Watch more Curb

3:00 onward – Back to fetching kids, running errands, doing daily things

So really, my day off involved at best, 6 or so hours of personal time, most of which was spent catching up on some sleep. Then it was back to my normal routine, though with my Monday night band rehearsal tossed in. And even though I had some time to myself, I still wound up frustrated with my kids, because one was always annoying the other.

Then it dawned on me: I don’t need a break from work. My job is good, and I rarely feel overwhelmed there. I can get lots of things done at a good clip. When things are bugging me, I can usually resolve them fast enough to not have them really eat at me.

I need a break from my kids and house. Being at home all day, I had to force myself not to do any housework. So the best way to fight that impetus would be to get out. And as for the kids? It’d be nice not to have one of them talk my ear off about a video game he never actually played himself, and not have the other yell at me for either a) being in the kitchen making dinner or b) not being in the kitchen making dinner.

So here is my proposal: Who wants to donate toward me getting the equivalent of the Lewis’ Lassen cabin out here in the Minnesota wilderness? No electricity, but hot water is grand. Then I can just chop wood, take a canoe out on a lake, and simply read and write. In the down market with cheap land out here, it shouldn’t be too hard to find, should it? Two to three hours outside the cities would be perfect.

Oh, and just a few days every month to myself out there. I’ll need that as well. I’ll still take the kids up there with me sometimes, since I want to see my son’s reaction when he realizes there is no place to charge up his DS…