The Five Best Things About Having the House to Yourself: A mom’s point of view

I don’t like to actually advertise it too much when it’s happening or post anything about it on social media (because let’s be real, there are freaks in this world), but I recently found myself in my house alone, with no kids or husband for 8 days!!!!! I wanted to scream it out loud and do happy dances on my Instagram everyday, but telling the world that I was alone for an extended amount of time felt like an invitation for all the murderers in the country to come have a party. (Don’t you dare call me dramatic!!) It’s like every mom’s dream come true!

My hubby was out of the country for 2 weeks and, to prevent my work schedule from getting all screwed up, my gracious in-laws took on my crazy munchkins for a week and a half until I could drive out to Arizona to get them. It was really the best case scenario for our family considering that my hubby goes out of town fairly consistently and my children always seem to transform into Bonnie and Clyde, stealing every ounce of sanity that I might have and reeking havoc on the household. I could go on and on about how I feel about single parenting, but you should just read my post "I'm a Failure: a note to single parents" from several months ago. I’m just not cut out to handle my little… um… love bugs by myself for an extended amount of time.

Anyway, I had the house completely to myself! Well, except for my fur baby, but she just followed me around waiting for some love from me… which I was able to give to her a lot… because I was home alone:) Don’t get me wrong, I went to work every day and caught up on housework and added some running miles to my Nike Run Club account. So I wasn’t doing nothing. But even amidst all the ‘catching up on things that you can really only accomplish when the kids aren’t around’, I came up with a list of the top things I believe are the best about having the house to yourself. If you get a chance, I highly recommend trying these out;)


#5) I cleaned the house the first day they all left and, guess what? The house stayed immaculate the entire time.

#4) I had the remote control all to myself… all evening… every evening! And with Netflix, Hulu and iTunes I got to watch and binge whatever the heck I wanted with NO INTERRUPTION!

#3) I didn’t have to do laundry. (No one was home to dirty any)

#2) No one cried. Literally, there was no sound of crying or whining or screaming in my whole house.

And the #1 best thing about having the house to myself:
I got to go to the bathroom all by myself! No interruption, no one following me and standing and staring at me. I even got to keep the door wide open and I was able to sit on the toilet and do my business in total and complete peace.

Our fur baby, Jackie, only gets to
sleep in the bed when hubby is gone:)

It all sounds pretty mundane, but let me just tell you that when the little things that annoy you on an hourly basis every day aren’t present, all original feelings of sanity start trickling back. It’s an amazing feeling. Other things don’t bother you as much, like traffic. I’m pretty sure 3 different cars cut me off one day and I didn’t even lift an eyebrow.

On a slightly more serious note, it made me realize just how important it is for parents to have ‘me’ time. A little break from the common parenting rituals and routines that sometimes raise our blood pressure. It might not need to be for 8 days, but it is needed. This is your official reminder to get that on the calendar for yourself!

You do you, boo!

Oh, and for the record, I did miss them A LOT! I was soooo ready to have my fam bam back in my arms. Just wanted to put that out there;)

Momma bear hugs to you all!