Monday 28 May 2018

Busy, not busy

Just recently as I was leaving the office on the last day of my work week, a colleague told me to enjoy my time off. It really ground my gears. What is this ‘time off’ thing they speak of?! 

It was on the tip of my tongue to start a rant about how I actually work full time (and then some!), I just get paid a part time wage, but then I bit off my words and swallowed them back. I know that my days off aren't spent loafing around idly. I'm pretty sure my husband and family appreciate all that I do when I'm at home too. I guess that's the important thing, not what the people at work think (so I won't rant here about gender stereotyping or making assumptions or accepted inequalities).

Instead, here’s some of what I did on that “day off”. I woke up and made everyone breakfast (naturally, no one wanted the same thing as anyone else). I made nutritious school lunches - no pre-packed food either, not that there is anything wrong with that, but everything was homemade (although to be honest, I did retrieve some baked goods from the freezer). I washed and hung out a load of laundry, before making sure bags were packed and doing the school drop off. 

After that, I came home, cut out some pants from old clothes which Mr Fork had worn through. I had time to pin them together and start sewing before the small man and I left to meet a friend who needed to talk. I entertained and distracted small man while there so I could chat, then came home to harvest and tend the vegetable garden. A friend was dropping by to pick up some kombucha scoby, so I brewed up a fresh batch for me and portioned some out for sharing. I also needed to write detailed instructions for booch brewing. 

After that, small man and I went and volunteered for an hour in preparation for my preppies upcoming school fete. After an hour, I got a message that our afternoon guests were running early and they'd be over shortly, so we came home to make lunch for said unexpectedly early guests that I wasn't expecting to feed.  Hurrah for always having homemade bread because paired with lots of odds and ends, it made for delicious sandwiches that hit the spot for everyone. The kitchen was tidied, and then I entertained small man for awhile since he refused to nap. We then returned back to continue the school fete preparations for a few more hours and stayed there until it was time to pick up the school child. 

We came home and I made afternoon tea. Folded the freshly washed laundry and started the dinner preparation. Oh, and I also finished whipping up those pants for everyone (I'll note here that both kids got a new pair of pants, and Mr Fork had his favourite jeans extensively mended and patched, so everyone except me got clothing out of it).
At this point, it was nearly time for Mr Fork to come home, so I stopped specifically noting my activities, but that certainly wasn't the end of my day. There was the usual night routines of dinner, cleaning, bathtime, reading etc etc.

Days off are so exhausting!

Here's a bonus picture of a focaccia I made on the weekend for a dinner party. While weekends are still busy (and also technically "days off") I'm particularly happy with how this bread turned out. I made two loaves, this one (grated haloumi, sun-dried tomato and oregano) and one plain - and therefore less photogenic! They were mixed in between swimming lessons, grocery shopping, errand running, a birthday party and various other tasks. The colder weather threw off my schedule so they also required some babying along with their own personal wheat packs to get some rise happening. Regardless, it was a delicious pre-dinner snack to share with friends. I've said it before and I'll say it again... I'm so grateful for the ability to make fresh bread and how with a little planning, I can easily fit the mixing and baking of it into my busy (not busy!) days.
Modern life is so busy, but things like fresh bread and good coffee are small treats that I always make time for. Do you have tips to share for coping with everything that needs doing?

4 comments:

  1. Sometimes I am disturbed by the terminology of work which seems to apply to paid work so much more - it is unsatisfying to say when I am not doing paid work during the week that I have a "day off" because I feel I rush around and catch up on everything. But it does seem a luxury to have some time during the weekdays to do this. It sounds like you have the flexible and agile approach down pat and if you have fresh bread it always makes everything better! I really wish for some home made kombucha too - that is impressive on top of everything else.

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    1. Thank you Johanna. I am really lucky in that I have colleagues on my team who also work part time, so they just "get it" and we are all really good at telling each other to leave and go home when our agreed "paid" time is over. I agree, it is luxurious to be able to get weekday time to do things, and I appreciate that it's easier to do things then too - lines are shorter, crowds are less and I always feel very productive!

      I grew my first kombucha scoby from a bottle of booch I bought at a health food store - you could definitely do that and then have it on demand at home :)

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  2. I know what you mean. I always refer to my day 'home' not 'off' but other people (those without children, generally!) are not always as sensible with their language. It's a different type of work but just as demanding! I won't pretend I don't enjoy it too but not always, and work has its unique enjoyments also (like productive outcomes and coffee breaks and reading on the commute).

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    Replies
    1. Exactly! I'm probably guilty of that kind of language before children too, but these days I'm more aware that work is just one part of life... although, it is a wonderful time for me to enjoy being just 'me' and remembering that I'm a person outside of my children too (also, uninterrupted intelligent adult conversation is a big enjoyment too)

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