Do you ever have days when you really just can't be bothered? Where you could quite happily stay in your pyjamas and loaf about watching tv and eating chips? Slump days, sofa days, or veg days. Which always reminds me of Pretty Woman.
Vivian: Let's watch old movies all night... we'll just veg out in front of the TV.
Edward: Veg out?
Vivian: Yeah. Be still like vegetables. Lay like broccoli.
The problem I have is I start the day not really being bothered and then at around 4pm I start to think about everything I should have done. I get myself into a big fat tizzy, start jobs and start snapping at the boys when they don't seem to understand that I am now cleaning, tidying, putting washing on, emptying the dishwasher, etc, at something that is close to light speed and I really do not want to deal with questions like "In Harry Potter, why does Snape not like Harry?" (Because that is a question I can answer quickly!!!) or "Mummy, please can you help me find this Lego piece, it is blue and has a hole in it, no not that one, it is a different one" ARRRRGH. Cool, calm happy Mummy is not in the building!
I can feel myself getting like it, I know I should just stop trying to empty the dishwasher, but somedays I look around at the house and think, 'Oh I have totally failed at my job today' then as I put my little terrors to bed and they whisper "I love you Mummy" I realise I did fail, but for very different reasons. I failed because I ignored the Harry potter question, or because I didn't tip the whole box of Lego out to find the single blue piece.
I had one of those days yesterday. More on that in a minute.
After a few weeks of discussion Stew and I decided to rearrange how we use the house. We have 3 and a half bedrooms. A half bedroom as you have to walk through another room to get to it. When we moved in we made that bedroom and a half the boys bedroom and playroom. It made sense, they had a bedroom and walked through that to get to the playroom. But they never played in there, they dragged toys into our living area. So suddenly our half room was nothing but a glorified cupboard! What a waste of space. Add to that, the fact we have a spare room for guests, which is a lovely thing to have but for most of the year it is another room that gets used for storage. So we took the decision to move everything about.
All of this meant that last weekend Stew and I spent quite a few hours moving the furniture about. It did take hours, as our Rickey Cottage is pretty tiny, so everything had to be dismantled and moved into the living space. Finally the boys bunk bed was in the spare room, the spare bed had been dismantled and Stew and I had claimed the boys old room as our study. You have to walk through it to get to the playroom come store room, but at least the computer isn't on my coffee table anymore.
Come January and April when our parents visit we'll just put the bed up and live without a study for a few weeks. It might take a couple of hours to do it, but for most of the year we have the benefit of a study. Something we have both found we needed.
So back to my slump day.......
Yesterday I was determined to sort the playroom out and get it looking like something from my Pinterest dreams. I cannot show you my progress as it is pretty much zero! If you had arrived at my house at about 4:30 yesterday you would have found me in bleach marked yoga pants, busy scrubbing the table whilst shouting "Three minutes tidying left boys!" and other such encouraging words 😉
Why do I do it? No really why? Any one got an answer? As I know I do it, but I still find myself doing it! All I know is by 7:30 I was ready for a glass of wine that Stew had bought home.
Today I didn't even try to tackle the playroom and it has been much calmer in the Rickety Cottage. I managed to get a few chores done when I sent the boys outside for afternoon tea. I think the fact I made them a special mocktail helped. Served, obviously, in the plastic cocktail glasses 🙂
Pink Grapefruit and Strawberry Mocktail (with alcoholic option)
Ingredients
MOCKTAIL VERSION
- 3 tbsp raw sugar
- 250 ml pink grapefruit juice
- 500 g strawberries
- 500 ml lemonade
- pink grapefruit slices
- fresh mint
COCKTAIL VERSION
- 3 tbsp raw sugar
- 3 tbsp honey
- 250 ml pink grapefruit juice
- 500 g strawberries
- 100 ml vodka
- 500 ml sparkling wine
- pink grapefruit slices
- fresh mint
Instructions
MOCKTAIL VERSION
- In a small saucepan gently heat the sugar and a small amount of the grapefruit juice (about 4tbsp should be enough). Stir gently until the sugar has dissolved.
- Transfer to a jug.
- Add the remaining grapefruit juice and stir.
- Hull the strawberries and slice them. Add them to the jug and chill until needed.
- When you are ready to serve, pour the lemonade into the jug and stir carefully.
- Serve over ice with a spring of mint and a slice of grapefruit.
COCKTAIL VERSION
- In a small saucepan gently heat the sugar, honey and a small amount of the grapefruit juice (about 4tbsp should be enough). Stir gently until the sugar and honey has dissolved.
- Transfer to a jug and add the vodka.
- Add the remaining grapefruit juice and stir.
- Hull the strawberries and slice them. Add them to the jug and chill until needed.
- When you are ready to serve, pour the wine into the jug and stir carefully.
- Serve over ice with a spring of mint and a slice of grapefruit.
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