Day Two Without Children

     Both Nick and I were refreshed, rejuvenated, and eager to start working when we woke up this morning (and not to the screeches of excessively happy toddlers, but to the sliver of sunlight fighting it's way through our heavy drapes and across the wall.) The crisp mountain air coupled with the serene silence of our lake mellowed me out for a long day, and promised to keep my soul light and carefree. Although I admit that the morning was slightly less joyful without our little happy morning risers- I did, however, appreciate sleeping the entire night through without interruption and loved the option to swing my feet out of bed and onto the chilly floor at the leisurely hour of 9:30.

     Our goal for Monday was to prep the entire basement and lay the tiles in the games room. The day passed pretty uneventfully. We worked side by side and soon developed our own system. Nick measured and cut on the wet tile saw and I discovered a natural talent for spreading cement (very much like icing a cake really.) Because it was our fist time doing a tile floor, it took us an inordinate amount of time to plan the layout, to mix that first batch of cement, to space the tiles out properly etc. We finished our first room right before supper without a single arguments, no evil looks (that I caught anyways, and I know for a fact that Nick missed 3 very obvious and exaggerated eye rolls), with all fingers intact and accounted for, and without having to resort to talking about the kids. The only complaint I can voice- and one that will undoubtedly become a recurring theme this week- is how much pain I am in. By 7pm I could barely walk. Why? Because I managed to complete 1372 (approximately) squats while placing all those stupid tiles. I was trying to ensure that I wouldn't throw my back out on the first day of work so I didn't work from my knees, instead choosing to squat down to lay each tile. By the end of the day my legs were screaming at me- screaming and cursing at me like a piss drunk sailor. My back feels great by the way...After supper I guiltily left Nick to clean up and retreated to the bathtub. I poured the hottest bubble bath I could stand, popped a couple of Advils, and poured a glass of wine...then I came to my senses and just brought the entire bottle in there with me. Some liberally applied A535 rounded out my day. We were too tired to be romantic; Nick was already snoring as I gingerly climbed into bed. I feel horrible admitting that I don't recall thinking about the kids once, actually once in bed, I don't recall much of anything except the crisp cotton sheets that smelled ever so slightly of lavender.