Do as I Say, Not as I Do

I was bored today, really bored. Jake and Tom were at a movie and Molly was at a friend’s house. I know I should have been happy, because for years the thought of some alone time in my house with no one touching me was an unattainable dream, but I was just in a funk.

It was pouring rain and Shadow I and couldn’t take our usual walk. I didn’t want to drive anywhere, because I knew I’d just spend more money. My first 3 days of freedom from the kids this week meant big budget trips to Costco and Walmart, and I know I need to reign it in.

I thought about how peeved I got with the kids all summer whenever they said they were bored. Hello? Read a book! Clean your room. Use your imagination.

Every time Tom heard them say it, he gave them a chore to do. They learned fast and stopped saying it to him and pretty much saved it for me. I was more likely to suggest going outside or lecture them on how lucky they were to be able to be bored in the first place. I told true but long-winded stories of villagers having to walk miles every day to get contaminated water out of creeks for their poor, sick kids. I brought up other pleasant topics such as child labor and war. Not super effective.

When the kids said, “I’m bored,” it really meant, “I want to watch TV!” It annoyed me that they couldn’t think past the obvious, but the first thing I did in my boredom today was turn it on. When HGTV didn’t do it for me, I set to work on my candy corn. I still have ½ pound to eat. I thought about doing yoga, since I was already in workout clothes, but after all that candy corn I just didn’t feel like it. I could have made phone calls since I’m behind on various projects. I could have blogged. Nope, nope, nope.

In the 3 hours everyone was gone, I cleaned, read a little, moped, ate, and cleaned some more. After spending the whole summer judging the kids for their utter lack of creativity when it came to keeping themselves occupied, I am not about to admit to them or to Tom that I was bored. Especially after last night when Tom ever so gently told me that my extreme crankiness when I’m hungry has started rubbing off on the kids. Ouch. I’m not going to have the boredom thing pinned on me, too.

I'm just going to let them think I got a huge kick out of rearranging the pantry this afternoon.