Of routines that leave me exhausted…

Earlier today I posted a comment about my daily routine on this blog and after I read it I realised that it REALLY needed simplification because I cannot possibly be this busy between my work hours.

This is the comment that I posted:

05:15 am:
Rise and shine. NOT.
Put on the coffee.
Make up bed.
Take a quick bath.
Get dressed.
Put on my face.
Wake up kids.
Make up beds – my Tween boy does this himself.
Dress and get my Toddler ready – my Tween boy sees to himself.
Breakfast for my Tween boy.
Pack (already prepared) lunches into bags. T
Take something out of the freezer for dinner.
Walk through the house, switch off lights and geyser.
Lock doors.
Move the car out of the driveway.
Leave home at 06:10.
Arrive at work by 06:50 after dropping off kids.
Have breakfast.
Draft a blog post or 2 or 3.
Catch up with personal emails.
Start working at 08:00am.

Midday:
I am usually at work but I do some catch-up with whatever personal stuff I can get away with doing during work hours i.e. grocery shopping, banking stuff, sorting out insurance stuff or whatever is needed. I try to take a walk every day during lunch as well.

Evening:
Arrive home at 17:45.
Start dinner and tidy up kitchen at the same time.
Homework supervision/ assistance for my Tween son – he usually does his homework at aftercare so it is a matter of checking and re-enforcing concepts.
Eat dinner.
Pack ALL bags for the next day.
Prepare lunches for the next day.
Clean kitchen (my DH usually put the kids in the bath while I am doing this) and tidy up lounge/toilet/bedroom if necessary.
Iron whatever clothing is needed for the next day.
Story time for kids. Both of them in bed from 19:30 onwards.
Blog/catch up with blogs/personal admin/emails/check calendars for the next day.
Try to read/journal/meditate a bit.
Go to bed by 23:30pm.

As you can see I am not getting nearly enough sleep but I am working on it.

I have looked at this since I posted it and I am trying to figure out how to further simplify my routine.

There is a definite imbalance in what my DH and I do both in the mornings and in the evenings. This is a regular issue between us but I’ve reached the point where I just go on and do what needs to be done already!

Some nights he works late and I have to do EVERYTHING.

Sometimes he works away from home and I have to do EVERYTHING.

Sometimes (only sometimes) he is home in the evenings but is apparently more tired than what I am and I end up doing EVERYTHING because I am too tired to fight about it.

Point is. This is taking way too much of my time and it is all GO GO GO! I am not really giving my kids any quality time (besides the occasional story which I half-heartedly read them because I am just exhausted by the time we get to this point) . I am doing as much as possible in the evenings to make my mornings run a bit smoother (my DH and I are not morning people at all) and I basically arrive home, put down my bag, switch on the geyser and start working full-out until the kids are in bed.

I got tired just reading my comment.

Is this ridiculous routine a consequence of me working full-time and not being in a position to afford someone (at the moment) to clean my house? Should I be doing less?

What are your routines like?

 

Joseph is THE MAN

I don’t do much Bible reading.

In fact, up to the last 3 weeks or so I wasn’t doing ANY Bible reading. I won’t worry to explain myself right now, but maybe I’ll blog about it at some point.

That said, my Tween boy forced me to buy him a more age-appropriate one earlier this year. I didn’t have money for it but bought it for him because I felt REALLY BAD to refuse him God’s word or to tell him to wait until I got paid or whatever. I got a nice one for him on sale at this shop so it was clearly meant for him.

Anyway. He seriously LOVES his Bible reading. At this stage he is very much into Old Testament Stories. Not sure if this is just a typical boy thing but he loves reading about those war stories. Ugh. So much violence. I cringe when he asks me about them (I have no idea how to explain MOST of those things – especially the bits that we now refer to as incest and the Sodom and Gomorrah thing) and I refer him to Google a lot.

Our new thing (well, actually he forces me) is to read to one another from the Bible. I humour him because I figure that this is another way of him practicing his reading and so on. These past few days we have read stories about Noah and Joseph and Moses and David. I have reminisced a lot about how I learnt all about them as a child and I realised this one thing:

I heart Joseph. Seriously. I really, really like him. A lot.

Noah has annoyed me somewhat. So has Moses. I really just want to shake him sometimes!

I was liking David but then he lost me a bit at the adultery and murder bit. Do you know how difficult it was for me to explain adultery and the subsequent assassination to my 10-year-old boy? And of course now all he wants to read about is David and Goliath.

However. Joseph. Joseph is THE MAN. After I put my sons to bed last night I actually reread the story of Joseph. And I wondered why I was feeling him so much.

I pictured him in my head. Attractive. Dynamic. Charismatic. Forward Thinking. Talented. A gifted man who can interpret dreams. Someone who has vision. Someone with integrity. A man who is deeply spiritual without forcing his views on people. A man who loves his God and is faithful.

And I realised something maybe profound, maybe not:

In real life, this is the type of man who I am attracted to.

Is it weird that I have a thing for Joseph?

Ps…I told my DH that if we ever have another son then I want to call him Joseph. Maybe we could even do a funky spelling like Josef. Needless to say he was NOT impressed and actually pretended not to hear me.

Some thoughts for Tuesday

My cousin is following me on Twitter. I know that this shouldn’t bother me but it does. I don’t tweet anything too personal but I do feel that this is MY playground. She can have FB and mixit and everything else, Twitter is mine.  If she really wants to tweet then surely she can go and follow other people? Am I being nasty to consider blocking her? How do I figure out what my underlying issue is here?

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Am I missing out if I am not on Pinterest yet? I got an invite about 2 months ago but I haven’t gotten around to activating my profile yet. A part of me is unsure about going on it because I know myself and I am afraid that this may fuel my current internet addiction. Am I REALLY missing out if I don’t activate it?

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How do I get my Tween to smile properly when I am taking pictures of him? He thinks that smiling is uncool and that having a scowl on his face is better for his image. What is up with that? Do I ignore it and hope that it will pass?

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Is it normal for Toddlers to want to be in the n.u.d.e ALL THE TIME? How do I get my Toddler to stop undressing himself? Seriously. He does it everywhere and I have to watch him very carefully when we go out because he won’t hesitate to do it in Church or at other people’s houses if I let him out of my sight for even one minute. On Sunday morning before we left for Church I was hanging up the washing and he was playing and when I turned around he was stark naked (it was probably about 12 degrees in CT on Sunday) and playing with himself. I honestly don’t remember my Tween doing stuff like this. I do know that it is normal for children to explore their bodies but is it normal to constantly want to be naked? I have tried to distract and redirect then he throws a hissy fit. He WANTS to play with “THAT” toy.

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My Toddler is going with his school to the Aquarium on Thursday. I don’t know why but I am feeling incredibly anxious about it. He has gone on field trips with them already and I have always been OK with it. Suddenly I am not feeling this aquarium trip so much. I am very tempted to NOT send him. I feel terrible for even contemplating it because he spoke this morning about going to “see da pish” i.e. see the fish. Should I actually trust my gut and keep him home even though he will miss out on a lovely outing and possibly feel left out when the other kids are all talking about “da pish” or should I just get over myself, take some Rescue Remedy and let him go?

How are you doing on this Tuesday? What’s on your mind?

Meh

Not sure what exactly it is but I have felt so flat these past few days. I suspect that it is the lack of sleep of Sunday night. I have had full nights since Monday but just feel like I need to sleep a lot more. I am taking my meds and I am being good with my eating plan (except for that pizza I ate last night) and I even take the stairs at work for exercise. I am not a comfort eater but it would seem that this is the one thing making me so happy at the moment. I usually honour my body and give in to food that she craves but this could very well backfire if I get fat. I am craving stodgy foods like baked potatoes and creamy pastas and baked bread with cheese and sago pudding.

Three things irritating me at the moment:

My Tween:

For constantly forgetting stuff and procrastinating. He had a technology project due on Monday (received two weeks ago!) that required him to make a treasure chest (complete with jewellery and treasure inside) and a map where he had to use co-ordinates and all these funny symbols to direct someone to find said treasure. I purposefully said nothing about it because I wanted to see if he would actually take responsibility for it without me having to remind him. Well. On Sunday afternoon he remembered this project that he had due on Monday. And then he was annoyed with my DH and I for not stepping in to rescue him. He finished it and on Monday morning was staining the map with tea bags. We were on our way to school on when he realised that he had forgotten his project. I told him that I would not be turning back because I am done turning back for stuff that he forgets. Obviously he was annoyed with me. He panicked about the possibility of a demerit.  I told him that maybe that would be a good thing so he could learn all about the consequences of forgetting stuff at home. He asked me to write his teacher a note in the diary. I said NO and told him to tell her WHY he didn’t have it with him. More tears from him. And then when we were close to school I noticed that he didn’t have a jersey on. I wanted to CHOKE him but I managed to restrain myself. Seriously. Must I keep telling him every morning to put on his jersey? Needless to say, on Tuesday morning he had his jersey on (without me having to remind him) AND his project. Honestly, I am starting to lose it with this forgetfulness and it frustrates me tremendously that I have to keep checking up on him. I am going to have to go into prayer and fasting for a good wife for him because I honestly can’t see what woman is going to put up with a forgetful, loskop male in a relationship. I know that I am probably being a bit too hard on him but I am really panicking about his future at the moment.

People phoning me to offer me more debt:

Today a woman from the red bank called me to offer me yet another credit card. I asked her if she had actually checked my credit profile before she called me because if she did then she would surely have seen that I am overextended? I told her to remove my name from whichever database she got it from because, actually I have a credit card that I am trying to pay off and get rid of and, if I was ever going to get myself another credit card then it would NOT be from THAT bank. I shouldn’t have been so nasty but I just LOST it with her. I would have called her to apologise but neglected to ask her what her name was -come to think of it, she actually didn’t even introduce herself. Sorry lady, I know that you are just doing your job.

Lack of cuddles in my life:

I don’t know what it is with my DH but he thinks that cuddling with me is an invitation for dot dot dot. I have physical touch as one of my primary love languages and sometimes I just want to cuddle and not have it go any further already! I am at the point where I tell him to stay on his side of the bed/couch because I just want to cuddle and not dot dot dot and it feels like I am being nasty when I am clear about my expectation.  And now of course I am actually punishing myself because there are no cuddles happening at all!

Is this a general male thing or is it a “my DH” thing? What is up with men assuming that holding hands or snuggling under the blankets is meant to go the full monty? Sorry if this was TMI but I just had to get it out of my system…

Sorry about the bleh post but I am not feeling it.  Am going to Woollies now to get us a milktart to have with some hot tea. Hold thumbs that I change my mind about the milktart and end up getting some apples instead.

If you like, you can share what is currently irritating you.  Bye for now.x

10 things I learnt this week

1. Mooncups or not, it would seem that there are way too many women who are afraid of their girl parts. Seriously. Do you know what you are missing?
2. Being overly productive and burying yourself in your work is just the right medicine to cure a bad mood or a depressive slump.
3. I am not ready to seriously deviate from my eating plan just yet. It just becomes too easy to do this the next time around. On Saturday I ate absolutely magnificent salt and vinegar fish and chips that I had been craving. I have been really bad with my eating since then. I ate Roti and Curry (Zuleiga brought me some to work – I felt too bad to say no) and had one chocolate too many. Not good. I am going to wait until I have lost at least 12kg before I do a very small-scale breakout treat again. Thank goodness my weigh-in has been postponed.
4. Having no airtime sucks and I really need to plan better. It means that I can’t tweet during the day and then when I do tweet at night it’s like I’ve missed out on too much to be part of the ongoing conversation.
5. My Toddler is just like me in so many ways. He is very intuitive and gives loads of hugs and kisses when he senses that I am feeling off. Too sweet. He can be a bit of a prima donna as well who thinks that the world revolves only around him – this behaviour is not like me at all.
6. I need to give my Tween some more focus in the new term. He is drowning a bit and needs help to organise his life better. I am working on a few simple plans for him to implement.
7. I really miss walking. I haven’t been doing it because my chest has not been the same since I was sick a few weeks ago and I’m afraid of what the cool air will do to me.
8. I am done buying magazines.
9. I need to be more vigilant with regards to scheduling time to read. My computer is once again taking too much of my time and I need to cut her loose for a bit.
10. I have missed my boyfriend so much. We had an awesome day together on Saturday. Alone time ALL DAY LONG. I do love him so…

This weekend I am planning to read, watch a movie with my boyfriend (I am even planning popcorn as part of my daily food allowance), read to my kids and visit my parents who have been on holiday (I seriously can’t wait to be their age and be in the position where my boyfriend and I can just come and go as we please). My body needs rest and so does my mind and I’m planning to honour that.

I am logging off right away because I need a computer break.

Happy Weekend.

xx