Saturday Morning
It’s heading towards 9:30am on Saturday morning. The washing machine and tumble dryer are rumbling away in the background, the dishwasher has been emptied, the younger children are camped out in the lounge watching cartoons, and the same washing that has been hanging on the line for two days is still out there – hopefully I will be around to bring it in when it gets dry for the third time.
I’m hoping to do NOTHING today. Of course we know that won’t happen. Miss 12 just wandered up to me in her pyjamas and asked if we are going out today. I shook my head, and explained that every day of the last four or five has cost us a lot of money – and that we just can’t afford to keep spending money like that. She has now tiptoed upstairs to my other half (who will probably still be asleep), to no doubt try and play us off against one another. Give it half an hour and I’ll receive my instructions for the day. And tomorrow.
I’m fighting the temptation to slip into my Mr Cranky Pants alter-ego today – my “stay-cation” is coming to an end. On Monday morning I’ll get back on the bike (which needs to be cleaned), cycle the few miles to the office, and discover what horrors await in my work email account. Before that happens I’m going to bury my head in the sand. It’s a skill.
I just took a look at the Bullet Journal, and discovered an unanticipated consequence of making myself accountable for doing things – I become accountable for doing things. I know that sounds funny, but when I started the damn thing I was having a good day, and thought of all these things I should be doing. Now of course I have to do them. They are all easy things – simple things – but when you’re having a cranky day, even getting up out of a chair to retrieve the remote control for the television becomes a hassle.
The easiest list of things to do is an email out to friends and acquaintances I haven’t been in touch with for a long time. I’m terrible at keeping in touch with people – I think we all are in one way or another. I’ve crossed paths with all sorts of people on the internet over the years, and have made some wonderful friends. I think because the sands of the internet shift like those in a fast flowing river, and are filled with so many interesting voices, it’s easy to forget those we once knew well.
For some stupid reason I made a chart in the bullet journal to record various aspirational habits – getting up before a certain time, going to bed before a certain time – that kind of thing. I’m doing REALLY badly at it. What should have been a shaded block of achievements looks more like a sieve that was hit by a shotgun. It’s not like any of it is hard either – well, except going to bed before a certain time. If nobody had ever invented the damn internet, this colossal rabbit hole wouldn’t exist, and I’d have nothing to do but watch re-runs of NCIS, Criminal Minds, and Big Bang Theory.
Why can’t there be a TV channel showing episodes of Community back-to-back ? Actually, that’s probably a really bad idea, because they I might never sleep again.