Robbie was not too impressed by being called Donald (as in where's your trousers) yesterday, so I am not going to write about him today - he deserves a rest!
I have been giving a lot of thought to work life balance recently as there are a number of changes taking place at work. At present I work a little less than full time hours and I still seem to spend my entire life chasing my tail. In fact I am thinking of naming our house 'Forth Bridge' because the housework and maintenance is always a work in progress! Sometimes I wonder if it is worth working so hard to give the children a decent quality of life when most of our free time is taken up with housework, ironing and fighting a losing battle in the garden.
This morning I walked into the kitchen and felt a howl of anguish welling up inside me. Yet again the 'washing up fairy' had missed us from our rounds and despite everything being washed up after our evening meal a precarious pile of crockery was sprouting from the bowl. Perhaps it was someone's idea of modern art in the style of Tracy Emin. Actually I think that Tracy Emin's 'Dark Bed' is rather eloquent, maybe the full washing up bowl speaks volumes too - about a lack of responsibility, or possibly it suggests that we have hungry intruders every night! No, I am not getting a dish washer, our global footprint needs to shrink, not grow!
It is surprising how we so quickly get used to difficulties within our own home and I am sure I am not the only person who has put up with an inconvenient kitchen for too many years - and on current finances it is likely for a few years longer as well! When I actually had a good look at the kitchen I realised that there are only two items in the right position and at the correct height for me to use easily, thankfully one of those is the kettle! The sink is also at the correct height for easy (and frequent) use, but everything else causes me to bend down, to reach above head height, to use steps or to reach around an obstacle. Clearly it must have been designed (or more likely thrown together) by a man. Perhaps I can't have a new kitchen at this stage but I am going to use my work skills to make some long overdue changes. I am going to risk assess it, create an action plan and reorganise all the storage to meet my needs. Robbie hates change, so I expect he will have quite a bit to say about it but there again he has a lot to say about almost everything. At present I even need to use the steps to alter the volume on my radio because it is perched on top of the fridge freezer! Even worse if I want to open or close a window I have to use steps and scramble onto the worktop - its madness! I am sure with a bit of planning and a lot of effort I can make my life much easier.
On a lighter note I got up yesterday to find that Sam's collection of small superhero figures had escaped from his bedroom and were arranged on top of the hall radiator in what I can only describe as startling poses. Wonder Woman appeared to be having her wicked way with Superman and a different version of Superman was in an extremely compromising position with another male superhero. I will spare you any more details but after briefly thinking that I must be a complete failure as a parent, I saw the funny side and had a bit of a laugh while making myself a nice cup of tea to recover from the shock!
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