Gratitude Project - 6th November

It's been another glorious day today.

Mr M headed out of town for work that will see him away overnight - there is always an element of excitement when he goes; I get to veg in front of whatever I want on the telly and I don't have to cook if I don't want to! :)

My gratitudes for today:

1. Watching the boys play with their cousins and some new kids today, at a birthday party. Apart from my brother- and sister-in-law, I knew no one else at the party and I decided to enjoy watching the kids. It was wonderful to see them interacting with the other children and to see Mac being an awesome big brother, watching out for Warrie. I don't think the smile left my face the whole time we were there.

2. Hay fever tablets. I don't usually have hay fever, but this year (this weekend in particular!) it has been almost unbearable. I finally admitted defeat and had a tablet... oh my goodness, the relief has been blissful!!

3. An evening on my own. After a pretty busy weekend, I got the boys to bed a bit earlier than usual tonight and made the most of a husband free night - a delicious dinner (which did include some cooking), a glass of wine and some trashy tv!

I hope you all have had a great day - feel free to share a highlight, I'd love to know what makes your weekends special!

Not the best day on record....

*~*  language warning  *~*

One of my favourite childhood books, and so apt for today! Just substitute "Melissa" for "Alexander"...

Today has been a shitty day.

I am juggling full-time work with full-time mothering. For the last year, since I came back from maternity leave it has been a struggle, but I have coped.

But in the last two weeks, for some unknown reason, I have become a bit of a ball dropper.

Mostly, the dropped balls have been very minor.

Unfortunately, the thing that I dropped the ball on today was unable not quite so minor. Nor could it be resolved.

Fortunately, I have quite possibly the best boss in the world, so she sort of talked me off the ledge; and reminded me that everything is fixable.

I also have some fantastic colleagues who were happy to listen to my near hysterical "oh fuck, what do I do now" rant.

And I have my amazing Husband who, when I called him at work, almost in tears and said "I've dropped the ball, it's not the first time. I think I've really fucked up and I don't know what to do...", replied with a "Everything will be fine Babe. It's probably not as bad as you think. And when you get home I will be there to give you a big cuddle."

Ok, he didn't say the last bit. But I know that it was exactly what he meant - one of the joys of being with someone for so long; sometimes you don't always have to use words.

There is also some delicious red wine waiting for me at home too, which helps.

So today has been a bad day, but there is still plenty of time for it to get better!!

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Who do you turn to when you've dropped the ball?

My {relaxing} day off

Firstly:

A big shout out to The Organised Housewife who is dedicating this month to Wardrobe Organisation – the inspiration behind my Day Off .  And to Toddler Tastes , for the dinner inspiration   J

NB – better give you all the heads up, this is a bit of a novel  J

My flat looks like a bomb site; the kitchen floor needs a damn good mop, the carpet hasn’t seen a vacuum cleaner in weeks and my wardrobe has spilled onto the floor.

The mess clutter was really starting to get me down, so I decided to take a day off from work to play at being a housewife.

Now, I am not known for being good at getting things done in a timely manner – especially housework! – so in order to at least try to combat my affliction, I wrote a list of everything I wanted to achieve, the things I needed to buy, and I set myself a schedule.

I was going great guns until 10.45am.

“I’ll just pop into Kmart to buy the few things I need for this endeavour. I know what I want, so it should be a quick stop. By the time I get this and the food shop I’ll only be about 10 minutes behind schedule.”

Famous last words.

By the time I had gotten everything I needed (and put back everything I didn’t!) and was on the road home, it was 12.30pm. I was an hour and a half behind schedule!!

Driving home, I quickly rescheduled my time – ok, no time for lunch now, I’ll just eat it whilst I’m hanging out the washing. Then I’ll quickly wash the dishes, clean the kitchen, mop the floor, and then head to the WARDROBE OF DOOOOOM for a good 2 hours before getting dinner prepped and then picking up the Little Monster and Husband.... PHEW!

I got home, unpacked the bags and made a sandwich. Whilst waiting for the kettle to boil I ran to the laundry and grabbed the washing. I wolfed down my sandwich and hung out the washing in record time. Then I hit my first stumbling block... my cup of tea.

I had been up since 5.45am with the Little Monster, and had been on the go proper since 7am. It was now 12.45pm, and I was starting to lag big time. That’s ok, I thought, I'll take five-minutes to have a lay down, enjoy my cuppa and to have a little rest – it will recharge me before I get stuck into the kitchen.

It was 15-minutes before I could drag my sorry ass off the sofa; I am now nearly two hours behind schedule and I STILL haven’t started anything that I wanted to get done.

I glance at my printed out timetable; I was supposed to be halfway through my wardrobe task and already have the kitchen done.

With a huge sigh I drag the vacuum into the kitchen at get to work, convinced that it will only take me 30-minutes to get some kind of cleanliness happening.

An HOUR later I stumble out of the kitchen and make my way to the WARDROBE OF DOOOOOM with garbage bags in tow. I now have just two hours to get my wardrobe into order. That’s ok, it should only take 90-minutes, I’ll be sweet.

My plan was simple:

1.       throw out the shoes that I no longer wear;

2.       separate all clothes into “chuck”, “charity” and “keep” piles;

3.       turn my coat hangers to see just how many of my clothes I wear;

4.       put together the recently purchased shoe racks, and fill them;

5.       wipe down the mirror;

6.       go get my Boys.

Yeah, nice plan.... but it kinda didn’t work out that way.

I managed to chuck more than a couple of shoes out (which I am very proud about!) but as I sat in a sea of shoes, I decided to put the shoe rack together and put the shoes away. That’s when I discovered that, although I can build and IKEA wardrobe, 10 bits of metal and eight screws make me a DIY idiot.

No joke, it took me THIRTY MINUTES to put the shoe rack together – but I got there.

Before I could even start on the clothes in the wardrobe, I had to tackle my ever growing floor-drobe. I was working quite quickly with the chuck, charity, keep mentality – it was mostly “chuck” or “put in the washing basket” – and was just about to start on the wardrobe proper, when I looked at the time.

HOLY CRAP! It was time to get my Boys! And dinner wasn’t prepped, and I hadn’t finished the wardrobe, and I hadn’t vacuumed the lounge and, and, and.....

I walked away from the wardrobe, put the two bags of crap I had chucked out into the rubbish bin and went to collect the Boys.

By the time the Little Monster went to bed, I had managed to cook dinner, vacuum the lounge, and push everything to the side of my bedroom so I at least had a clear path to bed.

As I ate dinner and savoured my glass of wine, I reflected on my day with Husband. Yes, I hadn’t achieved everything that I had set out to do (that hair dye will just have to wait until the weekend), but I had made a start. And that is so much better than just leaving things

And in all honesty, I am just glad that I had the intention to do something about the clutter... For the first time in a while, I was excited about making a positive change in my home – a change that I know will make me feel better about spending time there.

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The Hangover

Today has been a struggle... I blame the hangover.

No, actually, I blame Husband

You see, I had a Girls Night Out last night (Not on a School Night!? I hear you gasp). Yes, on a School Night.

I was was supposed to drive, thereby limiting my wine intake to one solitary glass; enough to feel a part of the evening, but not to have to worry about the morning after.

However, just as I was putting the final touches to my make up, Husband came into the bathroom and uttered the fateful words:

"We'll give you a lift in. That way you can have a few drinks and enjoy yourself with the Girls. I'll even do the morning shift with the Little Monster"

Of course when he put it like that, how could I refuse!? In fact I felt it my duty to enjoy a glass of wine or four....

And despite a number of attempts to alternate between the glass of wine and the glass of water in front of me, I continually found the wine glass in my hand - sometime you just can't fight the Universe  J

So you see, it really is Husband's fault - not mine.


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