Today has been a productive day. A very productive today. We / I have:
- Made rice crispy cakes with Halloween decorations ready for the birthday boy to take into school on Tuesday
- Hollowed out, designed and carved pumpkins
- Hoovered the house and dusted upstairs
- Changed the bedding in all rooms - stripping, washing, drying and making again for the boys rooms
- Washed two cars inside and out
- Walked Percy morning and night
- Conducted 3 science experiments - homemade slime, disappearing water and homemade snow
- Exercised
- Read books, wrestled, made models and collapsed in front of the telly, with a two year asleep on my lap.
This at the end of the week
where I...
was up working until 2am Monday morning in order to crack through the to do list so I could leave work a tad early on Monday to get the train (or more precisely three trains) with boys, to London to see my brother and his little monkeys. We fitted in a trip to the park, pub dinner and philosophical socialist v capitalist discussions until 1am before crashing, me next to my two deep sleepers, him in a camp bed in the kids room. Breakfast, lego construction, two trains and a Yo Sushi lunch later and we were back on the train home.
On Wednesday we unpacked and
got in the food shopping before joining our Wiltshire favourites for a
picnic, wildlife walk and river splash. (Smalley testing the depth, cheeky grin
on face, until the water poured in over the tops of his wellies, finished the
walk trouserless and in flip flops. Albug meanwhile had been making a rock pile
and sliding down dirt hills meaning he was forced to strip to his pants before
being allowed back in the car.)
Once home we re-packed,
tidied and I got on with more work once the boys had fallen asleep to ensure I
was ready for my meetings on Thursday.
By 6.30am Thursday morning we
were on the motorway to my in laws, the children were deposited, and I headed
into work for a day of back to back meetings. After the longest journey back to
Surrey I’ve ever done (thank you half term rush hour traffic for that gem) I
put the boys to bed and then stuffed and stamped 297 letters into
envelopes.
Friday saw another day of
meetings before heading Back to Surrey, to walk the dog and boys to the park.
At the park I did warn Smalley not to play with the swing but a Mummy Fail was
clearly due and then shortly thereafter I wiped away his tears and soothed his
screams after said swing had knocked him in the mouth cutting his inside lip
whilst simultaneously producing two blood blisters on the outside making him
look like an inside out vampire. (He was with his grandparents for two days and
didn’t get a scratch or a bump on him. One hour with me and his top and sleeve
are covered in tear diluted blood). Back to the house, load the car, drive
home, pile into bed and then wake at 6am on Saturday to drive to Cardiff, work
all day and then see two more of my favourite people for dinner at Bill’s down
on the Bay. (The waiting staff being tickled by me digging into garlic
bread whilst wearing my work t-shirt, logo in bright orange across the
chest.)
Home by 11pm and then back up
before dawn today for what feels like the day that wouldn’t end.
This isn’t me trying to show
off about my life. For all the jobs completed there is an even longer list of
things still to start let alone complete. And alongside all the love, cuddles
and giggles with week has produced, delivered by family, friends and colleagues
alike, there is guilt and frustration at the jobs not done, the time efficiency
not shown...
My time management has never
been strong and as work has moved into an ultra manic stage, so much so
I’m now having to take an extra day each week, this is my long winded way of
saying: life is busy.
And as one person with a
crazy busy life I want to give a shout out to all the other 30 year olds out
there juggling busy work schedules, social lives and family love. Child free,
childless or child filled, I am absolutely not in this alone. And whilst this
week is busier than normal for me, I have peers who will regard it as tame.
Those travelling and networking. Those lesson planning or studying. Those
working through their identity, relationships and priorities and those just
getting through each day and then, like me trying to work out where their
energy has gone before looking back over their week in bemused wonder
whilst muttering “was that really this week?”
And to all of those non
morning people like me: yes I want more time. As shown above the extra hour
today has supported a very productive day. But I don’t want it at 5:30am THANK
YOU VERY MUCH!! I mean REALLY? I almost fell over in disgust at how much
we’d managed to achieve by 9:30am in a Sunday morning. Utterly
unacceptable.
To my crazy life peers - I
empathise. I hear you. I’m here with shoulders for leaning on if needed.
To everyone else - do not
tell me to put my feet up or treat myself, I don’t have the time! Unless you
are offering an intensive time management course, caffeine or high end make up
to hide the bags under my eyes, I’m sorry, I love you but I don’t want to hear
it.
