Teens Who Live in 2 Places

Two teens walk on a city
sidewalk. One is carrying a
guitar and both are carrying
backpacks.

The Internet gives a lot of advice to parents about co-parenting but very little advice to children and teens about the split living that they are required to manage.

- - - - - 

Right before COVID hit and we all locked down, I attended a birthday party for a dog. Yep, complete with birthday hats and doggy ice cream. In addition to me, four other women were at the party, and as we tried to coax our dogs into sitting at the birthday table to eat their pet-friendly cupcakes, the conversation turned to our kids who ranged in ages from elementary school to high school. And I realized I had forgotten about what is probably the largest population of people who split their living situations: kids of divorced parents. 

We were trying to organize a kids' swim afternoon at the community pool and the kids were all on conflicting schedules for coming and going. I cannot stop thinking about these kids. For them, living in two places is absolutely normal. 

I try to imagine packing up homework, athletic gear, musical instrument, retainer, science project that is one jostle from implosion, phone/laptop/smart watch, their charging cables, and the shoe you have been missing for a month. I try to imagine doing this every single Tuesday or Thursday or Saturday so that I can leave home to go home. It feels exhausing.

Tips for Managing Aches and Pains on the Road

Photo by tylernixcreative.com

I am a former athlete with a lot of residual aches and pains. I finally figured out how to travel so I arrive feeling good. Do you have any tricks? 

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I used to be an athlete, and then when I retired, I took up running. Now, my joints, especially my hip joints and one shoulder, remind me daily that I was hard on my body. 

The result is that I am a one-hour traveler. If a trip is longer than an hour—by car, train, plane, or boat—I arrive with tight hips that send shooting pains down one leg and a shoulder that became so tight that my doctor says my clavicle moves slightly out of place causing my elbow to ache. By the time I get home from this trip, it takes days to recover. And then, a few years ago, I finally figured out how to travel so that I arrive feeling good!

I am not a medical doctor, and I am not claiming these tips will work for anyone else. I know a lot of people who have chronic conditions that cause pain, but I do not have any underlying conditions. These tips are just how I handle my cranky hips and tricky shoulder. I hope you will share your tips, too, because traveling with pain sucks and everyone has a different experience with it.

Teens and Tweens Living in 2 Places: Two Homes, Two Rooms, Two Places to Lose Your Stuff

Two teens walk on a city
sidewalk. One is carrying a
guitar and both are carrying
backpacks.

The Internet gives a lot of advice to parents about co-parenting but very little advice to children and teens about the split living that they are required to manage.

- - - - - 

I just learned about this type of split living last week, and I cannot stop thinking about it.

At first, I thought it was a prank. That, for the next five to 15 years, every seven days, you would pack up your homework, your athletic gear, your musical instrument, your retainer, the science project that is one jostle from implosion, your phone/laptop/smart watch and the shoe you have been missing for a month every single Tuesday or Thursday or Saturday and trek over to another house sounds exhausting.

Where are All of My Favorite Things?

I cannot find my mother's vintage bread trough, and I feel like I have splintered my life too much. Does this happen to you?  

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I am missing something silly. 

And it's causing me to panic. 

When we packed up to move to the new house, I packed up my mother's vintage bread trough. It looks a lot like this one from Sur La Table (not affiliate), but mine is old and worn and when I look at it, I think nice things about my mother. Now, I cannot find it. 

It's not like I need it to let bread dough rise--it's original purpose, I believe. I keep the trough by the front door...well, I kept the trough by the front door and put my keys and sunglasses in it. I wanted to use it in the new house since it's my main home for now. When I get ready to leave, I find myself looking for the trough to find my keys. Sometimes, when I do not see it and remember it is still missing, I feel a bit of panic start to surface.

 

Do You Have a Favorite Pantry Meal? Here is mine.

I don't know about you, but I can have a kitchen full of nothing to fix. (I am also not above calling it Ice Cream for Dinner Night!) 

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I LOVE “pantry meals”—meals that I can literally keep in my pantry and cook without having to thaw anything or run to the store because, let's face it, even I want something besides a milkshake once in awhile. I will try to share some of my favorite pantry meals from time to time.

Living in two places brings with it some challenges. First, which house has amassed 20 pounds of frozen chicken while the other house has none because you keep forgetting when you are at the store? Remember when the power went out while you were at one house and you arrived home to find 20 pounds of chicken had defrosted into a puddle of grossness that refroze into something requiring a Home Depot run to remove? Oh, wait, maybe that was my house…

When I am living in one place, I also keep this meal on hand for those nights that we do not want to cook, can’t order out, and just want something quick and filling. This meal has become more important during social distancing because stores are closing earlier and life is spent at home.

This brings me to pantry meals. Pantry meals are ingredients you can keep on hand that do not require refrigeration.

Laundry Talk: How to Recover from a Laundry Situation

When living in 2 places, have you ever forgotten about the load of laundry you started? 

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Right now, I suffer bout after bout of laundry amnesia. Laundry amnesia occurs during the middle of a washing machine cycle and causes me to forget to put the fresh, clean, wet laundry into the dryer.

I am very good at starting the laundry. When I hear the washing machine start swishing, I feel smug and accomplished. I am getting thinnngs dooonnnne.

But somewhere between smug and accomplished, I get forget to put the clothes in the dryer.

Unfortunately, laundry amnesia can lead to a Laundry Situation. For me, this happens most often when we are living in two places because by the time I remember, I am usually nowhere near the washing machine with the wet laundry.

What is a Laundry Situation? 
A Laundry Situation occurs when a wet load of laundry is left in the washing machine too long. The result is a mildewed, soured load of clothes and a washing machine that’s taking on a funk of its own.

The Solution: Downy Sport Odor Defense
A couple of years ago, GymGirl started wearing neoprene ankle supports. By the end of practice, these supports were so sweaty and gross that I kind of gagged when I had to touch them. No matter what I washed them in, the stench remained.

Spring Break Reading

Check out stephaniebond.com for a list of 

all of Stephanie Bond's books!

I can't really describe my winter into spring wardrobe transition, but I can describe my winter-into-spring reading binge.

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Living apart this round has been awful in terms of adult company. The Teen and Tween are great, but sometimes, I see just the two of them for days, and I get a little loopy and desperate to talk to an adult. So far, I have made two friends: the ex-Marine who runs the lawn service and Breezy, my across-the-street-neighbor. Last week, Breezy was dating a new guy, so she wasn't around much. That left the Marine. As soon as he pulled onto my street and deployed his fleet of mowers and blowers, I flew out the door, hoping to discuss anything besides DIY slime recipes.

Wowza, Marines are quite observant.

I learned more about my new neighbors in that one conversation than I could have by creeping everyone's Facebook pages for hours. All of this information is classified as recon. The Marine can call it whatever he wants as long as he'll spill the tea once a week.