What do i do?

Since i’ve retired and moved in with Maximus, the most common question i get is, “What do you do all day?” i retired young and people, vanilla and lifestyle alike, often ask if i’m going to go back to work. Honestly, i love being retired and work harder now than i ever did when i was employed in my professional occupation. my answer is always the same, “i am the COO (Chief Operating Officer) of Maximus,” to which they laugh and agree that it would be a full-time job! Nothing has ever described my role in our D/s better than COO. my job is to make Maximus’ life run smoothly and i take that extremely seriously.

Fortunately, i am a bit of a Renaissance woman and am very capable in a wide array of activities, from cooking and housekeeping, to home repair and landscaping. i have a background in home construction and other skills not traditional to women, which Maximus really appreciates. my weakest area would be in automotive and small engines, as i never really had an interest in that area.

So i take care of whatever needs taking care of around here. If it’s something i can do, i do it; if it’s beyond my capabilities, i contract someone else to do it. i am the contact for any and all contracted services we need, such as pest control, septic maintenance, annual furnace maintenance, etc). i listen very closely to Maximus and pick up on things He might mention as needing attention, even when He’s not realized He’s said anything, and He also asks me to take care of things that come up. i keep a prioritized running list of things needing attention and never have a wont for something to do. For example, last week i replaced the two sink faucets in our bathroom after the one at Maximus’ sink broke underneath and could not be repaired; replaced the kitchen faucet after Maximus noted the spray hose would not stay in the faucet anymore and it was irritating Him; removed wall cabinets in the garage and found a neighbor who wanted them, painted the exposed wall, installed shelving and hooks to hang our ladders and extra folding dining room chairs; went grocery, Christmas, and miscellaneous needs shopping; dropped off and picked up dry cleaning; winterized the yard and house; dealt with a utility service; cooked; cleaned; etc. That’s a pretty typical week and i love it! And so does Maximus.

i do ensure that the house is clean and tidy at all times–i’ve always been that way, it’s not anything new due to our D/s. i’ve always wanted to have a home where anyone could drop by at any time and not feel like i had to apologize for the state of the housekeeping. Granted, there are times where that can’t be avoided, like when we were in the midst of decorating for the holidays and there were boxes and piles of things in process of being installed or packed up, but for the general part, things are picked up and clean at all times. Maximus does do housekeeping tasks–He likes to do this as He’s just as OCD as i am about keeping the house clean and enjoys cleaning as a break from His daily work activities–so it’s not all on me. But i do a majority of the tasks and have learned not to be personally offended by Maximus’ cleaning activities, that is unless He’s having to do something that He’d asked me to and i’d not done–that’s a different story.

There are tasks that i do on a weekly schedule, much like the wash on Monday, iron on Tuesday, etc. vintage housekeeping guide:

• Monday – Tidy up the garage. It gets cluttered. Our cars should always be able to park inside the garage. We have a utility trailer stored in one of the garage bays and Maximus likes to put large cardboard that doesn’t fit in the can in there as a holding location for our every-other-week recycling. i put out the garbage every Monday night and recycling every other Monday night for Tuesday morning pickup. Yard debris will commence next week, so putting that can out will be a weekly Monday night task.
• Tuesday – Clean kitchen. This is the deep-cleaning, go through the refrigerator and toss old stuff, task. i’ll clean the oven if it’s needing it, take everything off the counters and clean, refill cleaning supplies, clean refrigerator shelves, wipe down cabinets, take inventory of pantry for shopping list. Bring in garbage cans.
• Wednesday – Yard work, clean porch and patio. Go to the farm for our weekly Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) pickup, if in season. If it is CSA pickup season, i will go grocery shopping immediately afterward for rest of food needs.
• Thursday – Dust entire house. Clean Showers.
• Friday – Wash windows and dust sills and blinds. We have wooden slat blinds and after neglecting those in the condo until we were getting ready to rent it out and moving into the Lakehouse with slats that hadn’t been cleaned, i’ve started cleaning these on a weekly basis to avoid a huge job later.
• Saturday – Yard work. Maximus’ ears.
• Sunday – Wash bedding and remake bed with lavender linen spray (i make my own in a spray bottle with water and several drops of lavender oil–just shake prior to spraying so the oil mixes in the water evenly). Water houseplants.

i don’t have a schedule for sweeping, vacuuming, mopping the floors, laundry or CSA off-season grocery shopping as i do those on an as needed basis. i hate going grocery shopping when it’s crowded, however, and will resist going in the evenings or weekends as much as possible. i also make our own laundry detergent and make that when it is getting low so Maximus doesn’t encounter an empty container if He decides to run a load of laundry. Laundry is another task Maximus enjoys and we share that–however laundry is always put away immediately after folding and doesn’t sit out in the laundry room or bedroom. Dishes are done while i am cooking and immediately after we are finished eating as Maximus and i hate having dishes in the sink or on the counter. Maximus does the dinner dishes and i do my best to have just serving dishes for Him to do, having done all the dishes from preparing the meal myself (other than perhaps the pot or pan a casserole or soup cooked in) so He does not have a huge mess to clean because of me. And He generally puts clean dishes away from the dishwasher in the morning while He’s waiting for His coffee to perk.

At His request, Maximus makes His own coffee in the morning and then also makes tea for me. He gets up earlier than i do, goes out to get the newspaper, makes coffee and tea, reads the newspaper in the kitchen, brings my tea up to my nightstand, and then either goes to His office to work or heads out to the pool for His daily swim.

One thing i don’t do…clean toilets. It’s a hard limit for me!! i hated cleaning them when i was working (yes, we had to do our own janitorial) and i hate cleaning them at home. Maximus doesn’t mind cleaning toilets, so He does that. i clean the rest of the bathroom!

Other than domestic duties, i read, play the piano, exercise (run, Zumba, swim), manage our social calendar, research miscellaneous things for Maximus and myself, sew, visit friends and family, etc. And i do other enrichment/self-improvement activities that either Maximus or i come up with. Maximus has requested that i get formal training on wine, so i am enrolled in a beginners class at a local community college on wine tasting that covers wine types, grapes, varietals, wine-and-food pairing, buying, proper storing, and aging.

So that’s what i do!