Revelations and Aliens Under the Bed

 Tomorrow, we will be driving to my in-laws to pick up the kids. All 3 have been at "Camp Grandma and Grandpa" since Monday evening.

In the absence of kids, there have been a few surprising and not-so-surprising revelations:

• There are barely any dirty dishes
• There is barely any cooking - everything we make lasts forever!
• The fruit we bought last Sunday is still in the baskets
• Time flies 
• Work can take up all the available time 
• Working without interruptions is amazing.
• Having a conversation with my husband is amazing when we are not interrupted every 30 seconds.

• The space under our son's bed is like a... horror movie. I suspect that whenever he was supposed to be cleaning his room, he just shoved stuff under his bed. I accidentally discovered the alien's nest when I pulled out some old cardboard and socks (just kidding). 
• Our son's closet is probably also hosting some alien life forms (aka, it's a mess).
• I think we need to be better about enforcing the room-cleaning chores.
• Why did I look under the bed? Well, I simply had nothing better to do... Also, I was organizing some drawers and getting rid of some kid clothing that's too small (much easier to do when kids are not home).

I am really looking forward to hugging the kids. I don't miss them in the sense "I wish they were here right now" but I am very excited about hearing all about their week, their adventures, the books they've read... 

There were a couple of things I wanted to get done while the kids were away. I wanted to go through some of their toys in the attic and donate or throw out stuff that was either outgrown or broken.* Done! We got a couple of donations boxes ready to go out and 2 garbage bags full of broken things. 

I also wanted to clean up the attic that is my work space as well as the kids playroom. I am about 1/3 done.

Dear Reader, how do you spend your time when your kids are away and you, all of a sudden, don't have the usual 1001 must-do's (laundry, cooking, comforting, entertaining, etc, etc)? Are you afraid to be alone or is being alone the only time you are truly free?

*We kept a good amount of their favorite baby toys and books, both for sentimental reasons and because some day, I hope there will be some babies around our house again. Stuff that got donated were the things that were not touched in >3 years.