to be quite excited DH is going away for a week?

[LeggyBlondeNE]

Because I am. He's just given me his full travel itinerary and I'm actually both giddy with excitement and kinda disappointed I'm not going to get a full weekend to 'myself' as part of it.

Don't get me wrong, I quite like him most of the time. But I love these weeks where it's just me and the kids - I can cook couscous and veg for tea and no one complains they're being starved; I can sit and write of an evening and no one complains they're being ignored; I can spend Saturday going to the supermarket and doing jobs round the house while the kids play with no one complaining that it's boring; I can have a friend over for coffee (while the kids still play) and no one complains that it's intruding on family time.

The short version is that although DH and I make for excellent dinner partners and have an awesome time when we're off on our own together, our expectations of family domesticity are wildly different (none of which was remotely obvious before we had kids).

And so I'm super excited and I can't tell anyone because he'd only get upset.

But only three sleeps!

I'm an introvert too, Japan, and this solution has saved my sanity. Love love love my own space and time. And not having someone else's noise and mess surrounding me. Most people find it an odd way to live though!

If I want a cheese Toastie for dinner I have it and he has what he wants

^^This. Why do most others on threads like this always say 'I can eat what I want when DH isn't there'? Why can't you do that if the DH is there?

The OP mentioned that she could do cous cous and veg for tea and another poster mentions eating crap. Just do cous cous and veg for dinner if you feel like it and if DH doesn't, he knows where the kitchen is, assuming that he is physically and mentally capable of preparing food of course.

Anytime I go away Dh buys something i have come back to new Tvs latest game console(who needs a playstation AND xbox) once i was away for a weekend and there was an aquarium on a sideboard

DH wouldn't survive though, he needs someone around and gets quite desperate when he hasn't got people. Like bright dogs that are left on their own for too long.

Ha ha, that made me laugh.

DH is the same. He's the youngest of 4. I think family placement makes a lot of difference.

I'm an only. Used to be fine with my own company. Now seem to be turning into more of a 'bright dog' person like DH

Barbara - of course I could just go ahead and cook couscous. And sometimes I do. But then he moans, and raids the fridge and complains that I'm forcing him to fill up on junk food.

Sunbeam that sounds wonderful! I'm not actually an introvert and I quite like having another person in the house in the evening, but oh god he does like us to be joined at the hip.

If dp dictated what I ate/cooked I'd leave in a heartbeat.

Some of you sound like prisoners.

Dh used to stay away on a Wednesday sometimes. I loved that.
Occasionally he goes away with his mates for 3 days. I love that even more.
Enjoy your week OP!

Hilarious to read.

This week it's just me and DS.

DH is back on Sunday. Nice to have time to myself - as you say, eat cous cous and veg and just generally be more me!

Glad I'm not the only one!

So funny lightbulb I have to ask...have you GOT a DH/dp and if so how long have you been together??

I eat cous cous on my own too...is it a lady food ?

My OH is in the Navy and he goes away for 4 months at a time and we cannot contact each other that's a bit extreme.

ATM he is away Mon to Fri so am feeling my weekends are a little monopolised by him and sea time is a good year away.

Ah we are never happy

People who are questioning 'alone time' without their DH's shouldn't judge.

Me and DH:

Live together
Take the train together every day, 5 days a week
Spend 99% of evenings and weekends together

And have done since we married (7 years)

A bit of 'me' time is good for me and him!

And of course I'd cook whatever random stuff I liked if he was here- but it'd be mean to cook something that your DH doesn't like i.e. Bubble and Squeak.

Toffee I love alone time - that's not the bit I'm questioning. I completely understand liking a nice quiet house or whatever.

It's the posters that are saying they can eat/watch/whatever what they want just because their DP isn't around that I don't understand - you should be able to do that either way. Like OP's husband moaning about couscous and 'blaming' her that he has to eat junk or complaining that she's ignoring him if she writes - that's the bit that I am about!

I don't see anything at all depressing about someone looking forward to spending some time alone. It's completely natural.

Blimey, I love it when DH goes away, and no doubt he loves it when I go away.

I get to drink wine and not share it, buy meals for one and slabs of chocolate that I don't need to share and watch endless re-runs of crap TV that DH hates.

In turn, when I go away DH gets to load up the fridge with beer that he doesn't have to share, eat Burger King and ramen noodles and watch Sons of Anarchy and Top Gear.

He's going on a stag to Vegas in June and it can't come soon enough, honestly!

Me time is a necessity when you share a life with someone.

Am I the only person that misses dh when he goes away?! I hate being alone

I once read a post on MN from someone who said they'd never spent a night alone in their whole life. I felt claustrophobic on their behalf!

I do miss DP, Wardy, but I think that's really healthy. It's not good to live in each other's pockets and never spend a night apart. Don't you ever want to go out with your friends and have some alone time once in a while?

I get alone time one full day a week because he works Mon-Fri and I work shifts - it's bliss! He can't moan that I'm watching Come Dine With Me and I get to stretch out and hog the sofa!

Am I the only person that misses dh when he goes away?!

I miss having someone to do the pots. But then I have less people to cook for.

I am another one with a DH who wants to be out all the time at the weekend and gets all twitchy if we are in for more than an hour. I like to slob in the morning and don't like the feeling of pressure to think of something for us to do. I don't remember him being like this before we had dc. Anyway, glad I'm not alone with this DH problem. Especially bad this time of year when the weathers crap and I just want to stay in the warm...

"I don't see anything at all depressing about someone looking forward to spending some time alone. It's completely natural."

Agree. However what I find depressing is the thought of only having alone/me time and eat what you want when your partner is away overnight. I don't think you have to share everything including all activities/meals even when they are there.

If that makes sense.

I love it! My husband was away for a week with work a few months ago and it was blissful! Right now he's away visiting his mother with our son for a couple of nights so until Saturday evening it's just me and the dog!
I've stocked up on chocolate.

YADNBU!
Sadly DH doesn't work away very much at all, but spends occasional weekends away as he is a Cub leader.
Tomorrow he is taking DS to London to a car show, leaving at 8am and not getting back till 10pm. Me and the dogs will have a blissful 14 hours in the house alone- I'm literally quivering with anticipation :o

I have mh history/depression/personality disorder so being left alone with my thoughts isn't a good thing really. I don't feel safe when I'm alone

I eat cous cous on my own too...is it a lady food

No that's yoghurt.