Tidy Husband

Eligible for the seniors discount and the Happy Meal deal at the same time.

  1. This is the End

    Well, for 2025.

    Today at our house if you are under 7 years old, new years starts at 8PM EST.

    blowing out the new year’s candles.

    And if we’re completely honest, New Years for BW and myself is about another hour behind so it’s not like we’re going to make it to midnight either.

    At about 7:15 we looked for some New Years something to watch with a countdown and I found one of Paris France that seemed to do the trick and kept her happy enough. There were fireworks and lights and cheering so good enough.

    Then our windows started to light up and we thought it was the police or ambulance until we realized it was just the truck that plows our driveway. But, if you’re the child or the dog, then this was a big deal.

    the snowplow guy was the most exciting thing to happen to us in days.

    With five minutes to go until 8pm, we rushed to go to the front door and make some noise by banging some pots and pans with a wood spoon, which she loved and then she blew out the candles and that was it.

    Then teeth brushed and bed.

    She did ask why she didn’t get to stay up until midnight and I told her because she was a premature baby so the clocks are off a few hours. She seemed to be okay with my answer

    And just like that that you guys is the last post of the year. I have a child fast asleep by 8:30pm and a robot vacuum doing my cleaning for me.

    May all your bedtimes be early and you wake to clean houses.

    See you next year,

    TH and Co.

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  2. All About Art

    Including the art of bedtime routines

    I have failed as a parent when it comes to bedtime tonight.

    trying out Dad’s headphones earlier tonight

    Considering we are still stuck inside due to weather conditions, the fact that anybody can either fit into their pants or speak to each other is really quite impressive.

    As you can imagine, today was all indoor activities once again here. I did venture out to take out the trash and shovel the walk, but that really doesn’t count as going outside.

    So what did we do?

    In the morning we played school. This involves her being the teacher - she decided that was 32 years old - and that BW and I were the students. BW got the art assignment and I got the math. We were told to sit and ask questions, but not too many questions. Also, don’t get out of your seat until asked.

    BW and I have about a 10 minute window before we all go “okay, that’s it - aaannnddd we’re done”.

    We made it to recess. I really dislike pretending, but it comes with the job.

    Throughout the day there was drawing and singing and laughing at Mr. Beast videos.

    Later, she came downstairs and wanted to listen to the headphones I was listening to and then she wanted to sit in the chair I was sitting in and then she told me to leave the room..

    I’m okay with this because if I want to encourage one thing, it’s the love of art - especially if the art also includes chocolate:

    Today she made an I love chocolate painting. Because if this week proves anything, it’s the love of chocolate around here.

    name redacted because it’s the internet and we have rules.

    of course, these I find all around the house:

    and lastly, tonight I wandered into her room and instead of putting on her PJ’s as asked - she was designing a tattoo parlor for us to all get tattoos in the morning:

    You will note that she’s already tried a test tattoo on her right wrist. When I asked her about it she said “It’s okay - it’s washable marker - it comes off”.

    Well…yes - but no.

    Anyway, this is where I screwed up. Because nobody has left the house in days and because we’ve all had too much screen time, I figured that bedtime can be a little looser than usual and she can continue setting up the tattoos or whatever - and bed will happen when it does. We’ve got another 5 days of no school here (please send help) so I figured staying up late was no big deal.

    I was wrong.

    I messed up on the timing and by then she was so tired that the PJ’s were a struggle to get on and the tears flowed a lot more than the actual toothpaste that saw her teeth tonight - that’s for sure.

    With a half-baked tooth brushing kind of done, I managed to get her into bed while she kept on screaming “I’m too tired!” over and over again.

    We were just talking at dinner how she’s been really really awesome after 5 days inside straight, and there’s been no major upsets. Until tonight. Tonight there was screaming.

    But every day the ability to handle her emotions is getting a bit better and we don’t experience full on meltdowns like we used to not too long ago. And even tonight, she was just cranky because she was tired and cranky - just like her old man gets, so we’re not holding this against her.

    Stay tuned because tomorrow I get to play “Tattoo Parlor”.

    Nothing says New Year’s Eve like getting an ill-advised tattoo on the last day of the year.

    Still cooped up,

    TH and Co.

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  3. Dogs and Snowstorms

    This dog has issues. We all do at this point.

    For those that are keeping score this is the fourth day we have all been stuck inside the house with each other. As a bonus, for a few of those hours were without electricity, so we had to talk to each other.

    Photo by K8 on Unsplash

    The others are complaining about being bored and wanting to go out and do stuff.

    Me? I’m having the time of my life. I have napped, eaten more chocolate than any adult should and napped a whole lot. I’m going to rue the day when I have to go back out in the world, but it seems I am in the minority here. I’m an indoor kid at heart.

    Heck, even the dog wants to go outside. We’ve had winds with gusts of 75mph here today and snow that makes things look quite similar to the photo above and in this weather the dog loves being outside.

    this is where the dog should be.

    At one point, I came upstairs and looked out the window only to find that you could not see out the window - it was snowing so hard. Where was the dog? Lying down in the corner of the yard, happy as clam in the cold weather.

    It got so bad that I was voted to go out and get the dog back inside. Out I went into the seven degree winds at 75mph and waved a kitchen broom around chasing the dog across the back yard because that’s fun.

    I’m sure this was quite the sight, but we couldn’t have the dog out there in the cold for so long. I joke about the dog a lot here but like it or not, she’s part of the family.

    Speaking of family, the other dependent in the house decided that today is Parent’s Day:

    I’m not sure why it was Parent’s Day exactly, but I didn’t ask because I was too busy playing with the child today and well, parenting. We played with her remote control car again for about 20 minutes and then we played store.

    This is not my favorite store because: reasons, but in these desperate times they call for desperate store selection.

    Firstly, I don’t remember this store being so expensive:

    A thousand dollars for an Etch a Sketch. And they say the tariffs won’t affect the consumer.. The cars must be exempt though because five bucks for a car is a pretty good deal in 2025

    Then I found that when buying a thousand dollar toy the scanning station does not accept payment of that amount so you had to go to the counter:

    It’s here I met the nicest cashier where she happily checked out my overpriced toy and she even gave me a discount!

    After checkout, the cashier got up from the register and told me thanks for shopping and I should come again and she bounced up the stairs to continue watching more YouTube Kids

    Unfortunately, after checking the weather forecast I am afraid I will be back tomorrow.

    I sure hope the prices don’t go up and the dog stays inside more.

    Hoping for warmer climes,

    TH and Co.

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  4. The Art of Rotting

    One day we might go outside again.

    The weather here has been simply horrible since Christmas Day with ice, winds and snow.

    Photo by Dany Fly on Unsplash

    This means we’re all on day 3 of being together. ALL THE TIME.

    All this to say WE ARE BORED, have spent way too much time on our devices and the couch and each other’s nerves. Also, we’re out of Christmas cookies and this makes me sad.

    Simply put, it’s time for 2025 to get on with it and get over so we can get back to school and a somewhat more regular pattern of accomplishing something other than laundry and overusing my robot vacuum.

    We did have a late Amazon delivery show up yesterday with a late Christmas present of a Mad Libs book, and so far this has been the hit for her this Christmas. Forget the $500 video game console she’s afraid of - this is the thing that now gets the most use.

    And it’s great. She hasn’t quite realized that you can/are supposed to play it alone so for the time being we’re all gathered around the table to play. She’s pretty good at it - she knows her verbs and nouns and adverbs and adjectives - which is more than her old Dad can do.

    This is a good game because it uses her brain, and makes it fun too - all for about five bucks a book. She woke up this morning and after she gorged herself on YouTube Kids she came downstairs to come back to reality and the first thing that she wanted to do was to play this game.

    This is great, because it makes her think and write and love story telling which is a well respected pursuit in this household because well, reading and writing is important.

    AI can write some garbage and spew it out, but it can’t replace the smiles and full on belly laughs that comes at the end of the game when she reads aloud the results of adding some random nouns and verbs to a half-finished story at the kitchen table with family.

    When the game is finished, we get the results read to us twice because if it was funny the first time, it’s even better the second time around.

    Just wait until she finds out about Scrabble.

    Reluctantly Housebound,

    TH and Co.

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  5. There's a New Girl in Town

    I’ve outsourced me.

    Our house has never been so clean.

    I have had a little too much fun with my robot vacuum I was gifted this year for Christmas.

    For years, I have seen these as a waste of money and overpriced junk, because who spends hundreds of dollars on vacuum that probably does a pretty mediocre job?

    I was wrong.

    This little circle of joy allows me to write and clean at the same time! This is a dream come true you guys! The evening routine used to bedtime, mop, write and then bedtime for me.

    Now I mop and write at the same time! I have been freed by the shackles of the broom. I am living the future right now! This thing is amazing as long as you keep the lamp cords off the floor and the kid shrapnel to a minimum, you’re golden.

    Like all new relationships, ours is still young and I keep an eye on the vacuum so she doesn’t get into trouble and get hung up on the usual stuff that a household with a family has. I also have to clean up before I let the robot do her thing, and in this way I have become the person who cleans up for the cleaning ~~lady~~ robot.

    When you find true love like I have your friends and family might not understand and tease you about your new relationship with the robot, but these family members don’t see the themselves as I do.

    They are the creators of the mess with their dog hair and crumbs and overall messiness and now my little robot comes out of her dock every night like clockwork and relieves me from the burdens of household chores. No wonder I am in love!

    All is not perfect here though - The child is afraid of the robot. Full stop. BW is afraid for my mental health because I love this thing so much. I woke up this morning to teasing about how it was almost noon and I haven’t run the robot yet. They think they are funny, but when they come downstairs in the morning to freshly mopped floors, I get to have the last laugh.

    I have seen the light and it’s the reflection of the sunshine on my newly mopped floors that I haven’t had to work at to achieve.

    That’s the gift that keeps on giving.

    Keep clean,

    TH and Co.

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