Initial Thoughts
I had a range of emotions when I found out I would have an entire house to myself. Kris is the one who house/pet-sits for a few different families while I babysit for a few different families. When this family I babysit for, who also happens to live on the other side of my block, reached out about house and pet-sitting, I instantly thought of Kris.
Of course, I wanted to give it a try. I love their dogs – a Beagle and St. Bernard – and I’ve never been alone having an entire house to myself before. Since that’s more “Kris’s thing” I asked her if she wanted me to tell them about you, but gave me the go-ahead since their technically my “clients” first. So, I said yes.
I was super excited.
Having an entire house to myself? Being almost 26 and still living with my parents (not that I’m complaining) and still sharing a bedroom can take a toll on some days. I want my own space, I want to try being an adult in more ways than just keeping parts of the house clean or paying my own bills. So, I was excited to have the whole house to myself for a week. The only downside was that it wasn’t actually my own space.
I brought plenty of things to work on with me but I didn’t have access to Photoshop since that’s on my desktop computer. So, what I could get done was limited. Also, I couldn’t work on my Camp NaNo stuff for two days because I left a few things at my own house. But hey, it’s just a week and I survived. I’m not complaining.
I was super nervous.
I don’t like the dark, I don’t like loud noises or creepy noises or things that go bump in the night. I’ve never had an entire house to myself overnight before. When my parents go away, my sister is there. When Kris is pet-sitting, my parents are there. I had done one overnight babysitting gig once. The two boys were old enough to stay home alone (I just went to their house from 9 pm to 6 am for a week) but since they were minors (the oldest was 17 at the time) and their parents were going through a divorce, their mother didn’t want their father driving by and seeing them home alone overnight. Hence, I stepped in. However, I technically wasn’t alone. And if God forbid, someone broke in, I knew the 17-year-old would most likely be more capable than me handling the situation.
(I mean… you probably don’t want your overnight babysitter to rely on the kids to take care of something like that, but hey, they’re bigger and stronger than me so it works.)
My point is, I didn’t have anyone to take care of that should such a problem arise. I had a teddy bear St. Bernard whole looks and acts like a gentleman and would not intimidate anyone and a one-year-old Beagle who is an affectionate doofus.
Needless to say, I didn’t sleep much last week.
It Was A Good Week
I can’t complain. It was still a fun experience and it was relaxing in some ways. I liked having space to myself. However, it wasn’t all mine and there were some things I needed to figure out but it was still great nonetheless. One thing I did learn about myself though was that I can be a pretty incompetent adult.
I had mac and cheese for dinner every night.
Guys, ovens are scary. I wanted to cook actual meals for myself, but they have an older oven. It clanks, it bangs, it makes poof sounds as though it’s about to burst into flames. I never want to be responsible for burning a house down, but when it’s not even your own home… yeah, no thank you.
Coffee makers are weird.
I had a Keurig at my house. I love being able to pop in a pod, push a button, and voila! I have coffee in five seconds. They don’t have a Keurig though. They have an old fashioned coffee pot. I’ve never used one of those before. Weird, right? As an avid coffee drinker, you’d think I would have used one in my lifetime. My friend has one but she always makes the coffee when I’m over.
I know how it works, but the whole measuring part? I don’t know… the coffee said one tablespoon for every six ounces of water. Well, the water is measured in cups – 4, 6, 8, 10, and 12. And it’s not cup-cups, it’s coffee cups. But coffee cups come in 8-oz, 11-oz, or 16-oz, so… which is it? I just took a spoonful of coffee grounds (you know, 3-5 spoonfuls should be enough, right?) and added water up to six cups just to see how much it would make and see if I could figure out the measurements.
I never figured out the measurements. After being there for five days I accidentally made a 10-cup pot of coffee. I still don’t know how I did that. I didn’t go through a whole bag of coffee grounds though, so I couldn’t have wasted that much coffee… right?
Coffee makers are so satisfying.
I mean, my math skills aside, coffee makers are so aesthetic. I love the Keurig, but there was something so fabulous about actually making a cup of coffee. Push a button and take the mug and start sipping is great, but I love pouring the coffee from the pot to my mug. It smells good, it looks good, and the pouring sound is wonderful to listen to.
Maybe I’m just too in love with my coffee, but it was great and now I want a coffee maker.
Being home alone is quiet.
I work from home. I’m used to being home alone. However, both my dad and my sister come home for an hour for lunch at different times. So I don’t really have the house to myself for too long. Not to mention, I usually have the TV on or listen to music or talk to myself/Chip and Chase.
I didn’t talk to myself much at their house. Every time I did, Skippy (the Beagle) cocked his head to the side like I was crazy. Plus, I don’t know what it was, but even though I was alone, I felt like if I talked to myself, I was disturbing some sort of peace. Maybe it was because it’s a totally different environment from my own home? I’m not sure, but I didn’t talk to myself as much which made things quiet and a bit lonely.
So, that’s where the TV came in…
I watched a lot of movies.
I knew the only way to watch YouTube and Twitch (which is what I mostly watch – I don’t watch cable anymore) was to get it on my iPad. But, I enjoy having it on the TV because it’s louder and doesn’t make it seem like I’m so alone. Plus, I wouldn’t have to worry about the battery or carrying my iPad around everywhere.
There’s one DVD player in the house so I brought my Psych DVDs with me. Well, the DVD player didn’t work. As I said, I don’t watch cable anymore and there was nothing on that I care about.
I watched free movies On Demand the entire week. I watched a few of those movies multiple times throughout the week too. Of course, I like having it on as background noise so sometimes I paid attention to it and sometimes I didn’t. I watched some good movies I hadn’t seen in a while though – Remember the Titans, Hidden Figures, the Spider-Man trilogy with Tobey Maguire, Captain America, and more. New movies were added every day and, my last day there, all eight Harry Potter movies plus the first Fantastic Beasts movie was added. I mean, really, they had to add them when I had six hours left at their house? I could have been binging Harry Potter all week!
Overall, it was a good experience
I enjoyed having the house to myself and it was cool to live alone for a bit. It was quiet and got lonely at times, but the pups were good company and I enjoyed having my own space. I’m looking forward to doing it again soon.
