Beth had surgery on Wednesday. It's meant to be preventative, rather than to address an immediate health threat, but it was still fairly significant and will require some recovery time. So, the kids have been at her parents' for the last few days, and I've been tasked with doing all the things she can't, most of which involves picking things up off the floor and carrying anything that weighs more than a large glass of water.
Man, the house gets quiet when the kids aren't around. Like, Beth takes them out for a weekend at a time now and again, and I certainly notice the difference (and use it to write a bunch), but even that's usually broken up by one day of anime with friends. But aside from 90 minutes of TV night, we've been all alone for the last two days. It's really weird.
The kids will be back this afternoon, though, and I'm sure they'll make up for lost time when they do. Then my parents will be here to visit and help out starting tomorrow, and although they're not particularly noisy (beyond being more prone to yell to each other from opposite ends of the house, rather than texting one another from the other side house like we do), it will lend a more social atmosphere.
Between fridgepocalypse and visiting parents, I expect today's grocery trip to be a long one, but it'll be nice to be able to cook again. Beth wasn't supposed to be alone for the first 24 hours after surgery, and the sudden absence of a working fridge meant I didn't have anything to cook with. So, we've been mostly living on delivery food for much of the last week, which isn't bad or anything, but it's not as fresh as eating out or cooking at home, and I do get tired of it after a while. It's probably a bit odd that I complain about that, but I'm perfectly content to cook a big batch of something and then eat the leftovers every day for the next week. Once we replace our lost supply of freezer meals, I'll be unstoppable!