The Accidental Trad Wife

Namaste

I didn’t kiss my husband at the door this morning when he left for work. He was out the door before 5am and I just couldn’t force myself out of bed. I wish I had, he’s away for the next two days. 

When I did wake at 6:30, I had my predictable can of Monster and a scroll through Reddit. I’d set myself the goal of doing yoga every day this week, so I found a wake-up yoga video on YouTube to follow. My body can still do it. I still like it. At nearly 40 my body doesn’t do everything it did at 20, but I’m glad it can still do this. 

I sat for a while and considered what I wanted to achieve today. I have no oven, and my husband is away, that’s two of my main Trad Wife staples gone. There will be things I can do though, I’ll play today by ear. 

Everyday cleaning tips

The last part of the oven I had left to clean was the glass door. The fancy store bought cleaners aren’t making enough of a dent. So I’ve started looking up some DIY housewife ‘hacks’. The answer seems to be making a paste with bicarbonate of soda, I made the paste, left it on there and looked up some other ‘hacks’. 

My coffee table is covered in water marks and unknown stains. Many good nights of food, drink and Mario Kart have taken their toll. Or, more likely, caused by stress drinking wine after a hard day at work. I probably used to drink too much, the probably can be dropped here if I’m being honest. I still enjoy a glass of wine or two, but it’s not a coping mechanism for stress anymore. 

The top tip for my water marked table seems to be mayonnaise. It makes scientific sense, the high oil content is meant to pull out the water. The table is now smothered in mayo and covered in bits of kitchen roll. I have to leave it there for several hours so I’ll check out the results this afternoon. 

What other cleaning ‘hacks’ are out there? One I’m already aware of and works well is vinegar for making your pots, pans and kettles sparkle. So I’ll pick up some when I’m out this afternoon. 

I head out for a drink and wander with my mum. I see my mum a lot now. I did when I worked too, but more now. She grounds me in the best way, and I often need grounding. 

Intermezzo

Back at home after seeing my mum I sat on a deck chair on my balcony, ate a bag of popcorn and listened to some Hot Mulligan. 

I used to sit in my deckchair between meetings or over a lunch break. I still enjoy it, just for different reasons now. 

Cleaning act 2 

The bicarb paste on the glass has worked pretty well. I scrubbed off most of the grease and restarted the process. I’m strangely excited to be able to see through the glass and into my oven, even if my oven still doesn’t work. 

The mayonnaise on the wood table however, has made it worse than it was before. The stains may have gone, I’m unsure, it’s hard to tell under the far bigger oil stain on top of it. At this stage I’m between covering the whole table in mayo so it’s even, or buying some paint and making it a statement colour. 

I have vinegar now though, and that is tried and tested. I head to the kitchen and make my pans and kettle sparkle. 

An oven-less dinner 

I tried today, I didn’t succeed at everything, but I tried. 

Without an oven, I treated myself to an evening eating ham, coleslaw and bread and watching various documentaries. 

I still feel lost. I do things every day, I’m keeping distracted, but at the back of my mind the voice is still there asking “What’s next?”.

The Trad Wife round up:

Coffee tables ruined: 124
Pots and pans made sparkling clean: 3 55
Hours listening to Spotify while cleaning: 4
Mayonnaise: Now only used for dipping purposes