A totally Pierce day...

Yesterday was one of the best days of my life. Well, except for the birth of my children...and my wedding day...and the day we bought our house. Ok, it really wasn't even in the top twenty best days of my life, but it was a nice day. We did absolutely nothing. For me, this is a completely and totally radical concept. My family is strictly divided along genetic lines when it comes to the doing of "nothing". Ruanita and Lucas, the Pierce side of the family, are complete and total homebodies. They would be content to never ever leave the house. Sophie, Nicholas, and I, the resident Ralphs, are quite the opposite. We like to go places. We like to do things. We get bored sitting home all day. As you can imagine, this can sometimes cause conflict on the weekends. I tend to feel trapped at home all week, so I want to go, go, go on the weekends. Ruanita, on the other hand, tends to be exhausted from her busy work schedule during the week and wants to just stay home and relax on the weekends. Typically, I win because we usually end up having a ton of chores that need to get done on the weekends. Saturday, I ran around like a crazy person all day. Sunday, however, we made a conscious effort to have a total Pierce day. When I asked Lucas what he thought about staying home all day and doing nothing, the child could barely contain his enthusiasm. With tears in his eyes and a catch in his voice, he announced "Mom, I think this is going to be the best day EVER!" I was MUCH more skeptical.

To begin with, all five of us spent the entire day in our pajamas. I cannot remember the last time I spent an entire day in my pajamas. I didn't even wash my hair! It was a little unnerving, but at the same time, strangely relaxing. There is something quite freeing about dirty hair....I had no idea! We read the newspaper in the morning while eating breakfast. I was able to walk on the treadmill a bit after breakfast....for the first time in weeks, I might add. I had to put a bra on for that, or I probably would have been braless all day too. We then moved the party upstairs and Ruanita laid on the bed drifting in and out of consciousness while I took an inventory of the kids' summer clothes. We have crates and crates of clothes in our closet upstairs...mostly hand-me-downs for Nicholas from his brother and cousin. However, we do have clothes for Sophie and Lucas that we buy on clearance off-season and put away for the next year. So I went through those to see what we needed to get the kids for this summer. I am suffering from a terrible case of Spring Fever. After spending most of the morning longingly caressing shorts and flip-flops, we ate lunch...all five of us...at the kitchen table. Weird. After lunch, the kids actually played together peacefully while Ruanita and I watched the Valentine's Day episiode of Modern Family on Hulu. Ruanita normally does not get to watch prime-time television at all because of her work schedule. Being TV deprived, she hooted and snorted through the entire episode. I was more entertained by her than the show. After that, we all cuddled in the living room with our blankies and popped in a DVD...Brother Bear for the kids this time. While Ruanita and the kids finished the tail end of that movie, I locked myself in the bathroom and shaved my legs. That was a chore, to say the least...I think I even worked up a sweat! I probably had not shaved my legs since before Christmas. Who has the time?! Needless to say, I was looking rather Yeti-ish. It was refreshing to be hairless once again....it'll last all of 12 hours (maybe) at the rate my hair grows. After that, I began preparing dinner. Ruanita and the kids played Bionicles in the living room while I bopped around the kitchen, humming to myself and cutting up chicken. Again, we had dinner at the kitchen table...all together. Again...weird. Chicken with onions and peppers, rice, and asparagus. Of course, the kids didn't eat a bite of any of that. They ended up having cheese and crackers...a battle not worth waging on our relaxing day. Ruanita and I then did the dishes together while the kids played some more. Finally, we gave Lucas a bath and put the kids to bed. We watched a bit of the Olympics. Ice dancing is far more entertaining than I would have imagined. What the hell was that Russian team wearing?? At about 9:00pm, I had all I could take and finally took a shower. Try as I might, I just couldn't handle dirty, stringy, greasy hair for another minute. Ruanita and I finally retired about 9:30. I laid in bed listening to Ruanita's sound machine (summer rain storm) and did a Sudoku puzzle. Ruanita was snoring within two minutes.

It may not sound like much, but it was a great day. Domestic bliss. The kids were all in good spirits. We had no major wars. The entire household was oddly relaxed and peaceful. Perhaps we need to have a Pierce day more often. I think it was good for all five of us. I am sure the Ralphs in the family could handle it every once in a while....every once in a rare while.