Miss the Playa

[amberica]

The thing I hate about having a great time at Burning Man is that it makes everything else SUCK in comparison. I felt really really ALIVE out there. I am now sitting in an office located in an inner hallway with a beautiful view of - the wall on the other side of the hall. One of these days I'll take a picture for anyone who cares. It's almost comical. White on white on white, with beige carpet. And fluorescent lights.

Of course, after a bad dust storm, everything is playa-colored, but at least it's amazing. And there's that tangy alkaline smell and taste to everything. Makes food and water taste better... because they have such a refreshing different taste after eating playa all day long.

Made spaghetti and a good chunky meat sauce last night. Italian bread with garlic butter, toasted. Caesar salad (OK, that was from a bag.) (And I didn't bake the bread - just made the garlic butter and toasted it.) It was good. Jon was really happy. I have cooked up a real meal for him every day for the last week and he is super excited and happy every time. That poor guy has been living as a bachelor for too long.

Here's the problem: I work all day (sitting on my ass being alternately and sometimes simultaneously bored, stressed, and frustrated actually drains a lot of energy, believe it or not), and then I come home and change clothes quickly, maybe taking 60 seconds to lay on my face in the middle of the bed while I'm naked just so I can catch my breath, and then immediately start food preparation and cooking. After that is done, we eat. After that is done, I wash all the dishes by hand, because our dishwasher is broken right now. (OK, not "broken" - but the plumbing was done wrong in the new kitchen so HOT and COLD are backwards, and the dishwasher taps into the COLD water supply, and doesn't get the dishes too clean. Yuck.) After I wash the dishes, it's already close to 7:00. So then I can start doing whatever it is I want until I start getting ready for bed, which I usually start doing at about 9:00.

OK, so that's not the problem, but it was the setup. HERE's the actual problem:

I kind of wanted to take a mitten-knitting class at Crafty Planet with onewomanshow. It started last night and will go for 3 Wednesdays and costs $35 plus any materials needed (I have the right size needles, I'd only need to pick out a nice wool yarn). The classes go from 7pm to 9pm, and I realized last night that by 6:30, I was utterly exhausted and had very little interest in leaving the house again, driving out to the store, spending 2 hours hanging out (even though it would probably be pretty fun!), and then getting home probably at bedtime! So what this all boils down to is, I think I'm too tired to have fun on weeknights! :(

I really suspect that I'm just in that phase of getting used to my regular schedule again, and that all this will eventually pass as I ease back into my regular patterns (but WHY does it have to be so HARD?). This is usually how it goes when I start a new job. It takes me a couple weeks to get into the groove of having it as a major part of my day, and after that initial time of adjustment, I have plenty of energy in the evenings.

BUT, if I don't get over this funk in time for the Sock class, or the Afghan-stitch class at the LATEST, I will be seriously displeased. The socks are toe-up! I've heard a lot of good things about doing them that way as opposed to top-down sock knitting, and I'm itching to get learning on ANY kind of sock techniques. Plus, if I don't learn how to do afghan crochet soon, I'll start feeling like a wanna-be.

Comments

[imogen-blue.livejournal.com]

it's the cleaning & the cooking after a long day at work.
get jon to cook on the nights you want to go to a class or you will get exhausted & never go out on a weeknight again.

[amberica.livejournal.com]

Good call! I think I'll mention it to him this evening - or else I can start using my slow-cooker on those days since he's not much of a cook, and just ask him to help with the cleaning up.

Thanks! ^_^

[imogen-blue.livejournal.com]

it's never a good thing to let guys get too used to you playing the housewife when you've got a job too. 50/50 is good for household chores. failing that you could spend half a day on the weekend cooking up the weeks meals & freeze them.

in our house the cook doesn't clean.
so if he really sucks at cooking you could do the cooking & he cleans. training is everything. men are like lil boys. :o)

[amberica.livejournal.com]

"training is everything. men are like lil boys. :o)"

Heehee - I always think of them as sweet little retarded monkeys ;)

The big problem is that my "career aspirations" are to leave my office behind and be a full-time stay-at-home mom and housewife... I mean, I REALLY want to do that stuff. It's hard for me not to do it, even when I'm tired from the office... I love washing my dishes and taking care of my house... Gads I'm pathetic :( But it makes me happy!

You are probably right, though. For as long as we are both working outside the home, we should also be taking equal responsibility IN the home as well. I know he won't argue with that. He just lets me do my stuff because he knows I do enjoy it, but he is always glad to help out when I ask him to.

[imogen-blue.livejournal.com]

you won't miss field work?

"sweet little retarded monkeys" -laughs-
that's really good.