What is your "get home ritual?"

In My Humble Opinion
21

Call for the smaller cat (in Japanese, they’re bilingual) on the way to the door.

Walk to bedroom and hang up keys on the way, put up purse and backback, put on slippers or flipflops.

Turn off the air and open windows.

Empty the litterbox.

Feed pitiously mewling cats who have probably been without food for three whole hours. :eek:

Change into shorts and a tank (but not pajamas and I always wear a bra unless I’m ready for bed).

Scrounge around for food.

Flop on the couch and finally eat dinner while watching Futurama…

22

Walk into house. If I’ve made enough noise coming in then I’m usually greeted first by The Boy who thows his arms around my waist and wraps his legs around my legs and says “Daddy, Daddy, Daddy, Daddy…” until I shake him off my leg. The Girl will also come up to get her hugs, kisses, etc. She’s usually not as clingy, but sometimes they both get on all fours and do figure eights between my legs while I try and take off my shoes (no shoe wearing in our house, since Mrs. Shibb is Asian). I put all of my keys, wallet, phone in the same place atop the shoe cabinet. I then check if there is any mail which needs attention. I don’t recall peeing on first arrival home. From there out it’s all a bit different, depending on the day and time.

23

Take my shoes off in the hallway.

Hang my purse on the wine rack and my keys on the little mail/key organizer thing on the wall. Go through my mail, which is usually waiting for me on the dining room table since hubby checks and sorts it when he gets home.

Go upstairs and kiss my husband hello, who is usually sitting at his PC playing WoW or fiddling with something geeky.

If my son is home, hug him and tell him to clean his room and do his chores and homework.

Change into something comfy, usually a pair of sweats and a t-shirt.

24

A typical weeknight:[ul][li]I get out of the car and go get my mail (the mailbox is in a cluster across the street from my townhouse).[/li][li]Walk in, put my keys on the hook next to the front door, close and lock the door.[/li][li]Turn off the foyer light (and the front porch light, if it’s on), turn on the kitchen light. If I already know that I want to use the oven for dinner, I turn it on.[/li][li]Go upstairs, dump my bag in the computer room and put the mail on the desk.[/li][li]Go into my bedroom, take off shoes, take off bra and jewelry, and exchange jeans/slacks for loungy pants or shorts (in the winter I trade my top for a t-shirt, but in the summer I just keep on whatever I wore to work – unless I got dressed up for some reason).[/li][li]Grab my glasses, go into the bathroom, and take out my contact lenses. Wash face, put glasses on. I usually don’t have to pee.[/li][li]Grab my cellphone out of the bag that I dumped in the computer room, grab any magazines that came in the mail (and possibly the VHS tape of the show I recorded the night before), and head downstairs.[/li][li]Make dinner, arrange myself on the couch, watch TV or a movie or something. Sometimes read at the same time. Sometimes turn the TV off early to play the piano for a bit.[/li][li]Near the end of the night, go back upstairs to the computer room and putz around on the internet for an hour or three.[/li][li]Go to the bathroom (this time I pee), clean my face again.[/li][li]Go to bed, set the alarm clock for the next morning, take off my glasses, read for an hour or three, and finally fall asleep.[/ul][/li]A little more comprehensive than just “when I get home,” but once I got started making the list I couldn’t stop. :wink:

25

*Herd kidlets into yard and lock gate behind us.
*Wait for 2 year old to try and unlock door despite the fact that he’s not quite grasped the turning action yet. Try to help and get a “NO!” for my efforts. Wait a moment longer, give up, take the key, unlock door, and go inside leaving a screaming pile of indignity on the front porch.
*Hang up keys, kick off shoes, drop bags into bin behind the door.
*Greet animals–dog goes out, kitty goes into bathroom for feeding, and fish and frog tank lights go on.
*Tell 4 year old to stop jumping on my bed and take off his shoes.
*Check on screaming pile of indignity–usually still whimpering.
*Change into workout clothes.
*Pull dinner fixings out onto countertops.
*Turn on Nintendo for older boy to play while I cook.
*Check on whimpering pile of pathetitude, by now he’s making sand castles
*Run downstairs and start load of laundry.
*Prepare and serve dinner.
I always make sure I pee at work on my way out–I’d wet myself if I waited until I had a free minute to do it at home.

26

:smiley: But the one thing that still strikes me as extremely odd is that the cat won’t pee if anyone is looking at him. If he goes toward his litter box area, we have to pretend to be intently looking elsewhere while he pees. Crazy cat.

27

Get in the house
Turn on the computer
Er… yeah.

28

DO NOT let dogs out when opening door, even though the male likes to try to launch himself over couch & out door

Set stuff down on bench, hang keys on coat rack hook

Pull racing muzzle off of female dog while she’s jamming it into my stomach/crotch area

Pull racing muzzle off of male dog while he’s trying to make me throw his toy of choice for that day

Throw toy 2-3 times for male while petting female

Play tug of war with toy while petting female

Ask in an innocent voice, “Does anyone have to go out?” Standard reply is YES!

Put martingales & leashes on dogs, leave and lock door

Go to potty areas 1, 2, 3 and sometimes 4

Come back inside

Take off leashes

Feed dogs

Check water bowl

Take clothes, most especially bra & non-Birks shoes, off

Pee – while occaissionally saying “Hi!” to male dog who likes to run in and check on me

Wash face

Wet hair if hot

Start supper

(FYI, I’ve got greyhounds. They’re lovey, calm, couch potato dogs, but can have high prey drives. Mine certainly do. I live on the ground floor and have two sliding glass doors that look out on a wooded area. Although they get along quite well, my puppers wear muzzles to prevent some of that prey drive from being turned on each other if they see a possum or a cat or something REALLY exciting. Plus, muzzling is standard/recommended practice for retired racing greys if you’ve got more than one. Also, they both have break-away tag collars that stay on all the time, while their martingales are on them just when I’m at home to prevent choking accidents.)

29

Walk in, put keys on shelf. Check mail. Nibble on something in kitchen. Get diet Coke. Go to computer. Check e-mail. Play some computer games. See if wife has dinner planned. Cook dinner.

30

I don’t even have to turn it on, just wiggle the mouse. :slight_smile: I hate waiting for it to boot up.

31
  1. Unlock door.
  2. Call “Hey sweetie!” to the cats.
  3. Check to see if there have been any accidents or other cat-related disasters.
    3a. Yes -> Swear, drop everything and go get the cleanup stuff.
    3b. No -> Continue to step 4.
  4. Drop keys on corner of kitchen counter with the mail.
  5. Hang up purse and take off shoes while greeting cat 1.
  6. Greet cat 2 who prefers to sit at a safe distance.
  7. Trip over cat 2 on the way to the computer.
  8. Check weather, open window if favorable and leave blinds up for the cats to sit in window.
  9. Wiggle mouse to turn computer on.
32
  1. Let Chance the Weimaraner out of his cage
  2. Let Chance and Delilah the Pekinese out to do their business
  3. Fill dog bowls while they’re out
  4. Make and set the coffee for the next morning
  5. Change into sweat pants and an old tee shirt
  6. Say hello to and love up the 3 hamsters
  7. Let the dogs back in to eat
  8. Collapse on my bed for 30 minutes of undisturbed reading
33

Open door.
Block cats from escaping.
Close door.
“Honey, I’m home!”
Kiss wife.
Repeat previous.
Empty pockets into dish while catching up on news with aforementioned wife.
Pee.
Drink a soda or a beer, depending on how the day went.
Play with cats.
Play with wife.
Unwind.

34

Dump everything
Shoes & socks off
Drink a pint or two of water (I’m permanently dehydrated, for some reason)
Toilet
Check email, and probably here too
Do yesterday’s washing up while dinner heats up (well, sometimes I cook, but not as often as I like to convince myself)
Eat
Dump plates in sink
Either spend the evening working, or go to the pub
My God, I’m fun…

35

When I get home, I:

1.) Put handbag and keys on hall table.

2.) Get mailbox key from table, go downstairs and get mail (I live in an apartment).

3.) Read and sort mail.

4.) Look at answering machine. Sigh with relief if there are no messages. If there are messages, I cuss.

5.) Make a drink. Type and strength of drink depends on type and strength of day.

6.) Listen to messages while I drink my drink. Take call-back notes if I need to, not intending to call back, but maybe I’ll feel charitable or responsible or something and actually call back, so it’s good to have the information.

**7.) ** If summer, go out on balcony with drink and smoke a ciggie. If winter, go out on balcony without drink and quickly smoke a ciggie.

8.) Make two more drinks, drink them while I stand in the kitchen, thinking about stuff.

9.) Eventually I eat something, usually standing over the sink. (My boyfriend is away for many months right now, so I get to not cook and stuff, and I can be lazy.)

10.) Go into bedroom and check e-mail and stuff.

36

Check mail.

Open door.

Get greeted by dog; give head skritches.

Empty pockets onto bookshelf.

Pick up dog food bowl.

Let dog outside.

Fill dog food bowl.

Let dog inside.

Have dog sit (actually, he does this on his own).

Put food bowl down.

Wait a couple of seconds.

Say “OK!” to let dog know he can eat.

Go into second bedroom (where one cat spends most of her time).

Check on cat’s food; fill bowl if necessary.

Say “How’s the little Luna?” to cat and give ear skritches.

Go upstairs, where other cat spends most of his time.

Check on other cat’s food; fill bowl if necessary.

Say “Hi, Fuzzball” to other cat and give ear skritches.

Go into study and check e-mail/Netflix queue.

Kick off shoes.

Go downstairs, indulge in a little refreshment (types vary), and pop a DVD into the player.

Oddly, I seem to be in the minority in the sense that I tend not to change out of my work clothes right away. My GF works the night shift, so I go have dinner with her at the hospital an hour or so after I get home. After dinner, I usually change into a robe and slippers.

37

Lindy: for what it’s worth, I don’t change out of my street clothes either. I’m just too lazy to put on two sets of clothes in one day! :smiley:

38

My GF is always going on about this. She’ll say “Aren’t those clothes uncomfortable? You’re wearing a belt!”

I just shrug. :smiley:

39

Walk down halway to apartment, go past, get mail. See if there are any packages at the office I need to pick up. If so, get them.

Unlock apartment, turn on light, drop bag on floor, flip through mail. Extract bills, set in “bill spot” (just a particular area on the table)Turn on computer, head to bedroom, take off work clothes. Decide if they’re recyclable or if they need to go in the laundry basket. Decide if I need to walk over to the grocery for anything. If so, it’s jeans. If not, it’s ratty clothes that vary depending on the season and how warm or cool the apartment is.

Sit down at computer, open browser. Check e-mail, SD, other sites. Make dinner, eat and then figure out what to do until bedtime.

40

I climb the stairs and by the time I get up here, the cat’s by the door and yowling like you wouldn’t believe. I put my stuff down by my desk, empty out my pockets onto my desk, all the while the cat continues to yell her best at me. At that point, I scoop her up and hug her. Her meowing gets quieter and quieter as she starts to purr more. When she stops completely, I put her down and go downstairs to get the mail (my apartment has two doors, of which the hallways are not connected, so I come up one side and go down the other to get the mail). Then I usually sit my ass right where I’m at now and do exactly what I’m doing now.