The Accidental Trad Wife

I wasn’t bored

Wake up, can of Monster, Duolingo. 

Clean the kitchen, clean the bathroom, put on a load of washing. 

Dusting, hoovering, take down the recycling. 

Hang up the washing, start cooking, watch an hour of a crime documentary. 

I don’t think I need to write more than that. It’s my routine, you’ve probably heard about it enough by now, it’s been 39 days. 

But unlike Tuesday, I wasn’t bored today. Maybe my playlist was better? Maybe I had a more interesting documentary on in the background? Maybe I was just not dwelling on the future? Whatever it was, I had a nice day. 

I sat down at 1pm and ate a cheese toastie in front of the TV. 

It’s about the little things 

Over the last few weeks, I’ve realised that it’s often the small things that make a good Trad home. So, here’s some of the small things I now do:

I light a candle or incense stick about an hour before my husband gets home from work. Then the house smells lovely, but not overwhelming. 

I try to make sure I’ve got a good stock of my husband’s favourite drinks, and keep them chilled in the fridge. I have failed at this a couple of times, but as a couple we get through in excess of 25 bottles of apple and raspberry fizzy water a week. It’s hard to keep up. It’s excessive, we know.

Even if I’m not leaving the house, I spritz myself with perfume. When I kiss my husband at the door he immediately smells something familiar, at the moment it’s Jo Malone English pear and freesia. Although, today he told me I smell like a pie crust. I guess that’s a compliment. I think.

I make sure the prep for dinner and cleaning is done at least 20 minutes before my husband is due home. Then I can sit and relax for a little bit, so I’m not flustered or in the middle of something when he gets back. It means he can have my full attention, without distraction if he wants to talk about his day. 

Doing these little things, change it from me just doing the cooking and cleaning, to putting thought into little acts that make the home a lovely place to be. 

It’s nice, this life is nice. There’s only a few days left of the experiment, but I imagine there’s lots of things that will continue. Or maybe, I’ll get another corporate job, work long hours, and stress drink wine. I’m undecided, still lost, and still finding myself. And still in a good way.

It’s not Italian food for once 

I made a tapas style dinner, not 100% traditionally Spanish, but small things and lots of them: crispy chicken wings, tortilla Espanola, stuffed mushrooms, patatas bravas, broccoli with black pepper and butter, steak pasties and what my husband likes to call his ‘Famous hot hotdogs’ don’t ask about that one. 

We ate dinner, while watching The Office and Somebody Feed Phil. 

It’s just been a day of routine, comfort and warmth. 

The Trad Wife round up:

Bottles of fizzy water: 3 for me, 1 for my husband
Hours cooking and cleaning: 6.5
Current fragrance: I think English Pear and Freesia, my husband thinks pie crust
Feeling: Comfortable and warm