Things I have done today



Friday 12th November 2010

Things I have done today:

1. Woken up to Classic FM – Saint Saens ‘Dance Macabre’ – scared the cat off the bed.
2. Woken girls who fell back to sleep after their alarm went off.
3. Made cup of tea.
4. Fed cat.
5. Chivvied children.
6. Taken them to school bus.
7. Missed bus.
8. Taken them to next stop.
9. Gossiped with neighbour.
10. Made another cup of tea.
11. Emptied dryer.
12. Paired a laundry basket full of almost identical (but not quite) white socks.
13. Done an hour’s ironing while watching ‘Lorraine’. Apart from the fact it was with Fiona, not Lorraine. Not good. Remind me not to do that again. Felt slightly queasy by end.
14. Made toast and marmite.
15. Texted friend whose father gravely ill. Felt very sad.
16. Emptied dishwasher.
17. Loaded dishwasher.
18. Unloaded dryer and washing machine and put stuff in dryer.
19. Put dark wash in (two muddy coats – one is the gardener’s which was lying around the potting shed and I felt generous; the other is mine from when I went arse-over-tit in the mud outside ballet on Monday).
20. Took rotting stuff out to compost heap.
21. Noticed bird feeder on ground (blown off in gales) and brought inside to wash having learnt on Autumnwatch last night that greenfinches currently dying hand over fist due to dirty bird feeders. Mine even had bird poo inside it, so clearly high time to do some Bird Housework.
22. Missed a phone call from Brother-in-Law while dallying at compost heap.
23. Phoned Brother-in-Law back. Informed me that Woman’s Hour about to do a feature on the exhibition I went to see with him at The Lowry while he was visiting earlier in the week. Discussed Christmas presents and plans for New Year.
24. Listened to the feature on Woman’s Hour and then got sucked into another one on Housework. Very apt.
25. Called School Bus company to see if friend’s child’s mobile phone been found (doing this as favour to said friend’s mother who’s currently looking after children for two weeks while friend in Mexico. All right for some.) Phone found. Phew.
26. Phoned worried grandmother to give her the happy news. Offered to pick it up for her on Monday. Offer accepted.
27. Stripped double bed and put clean sheets on (including pillowcase protectors which have been meaning to change for months).
28. Made girls’ beds (they should have done this – considered leaving them but have babysitter coming tonight and did not want to appear slovenly or uncaring, especially in light of radio feature on Housework).
29. Had shower.
30. Sorted out a pink wash from the girls’ dirty clothes baskets.
31. Taken out previous wash and hung up by Aga to dry.
32. Set pink wash off.
33. Made cup of frothy cappuccino and eaten two Abernethy biscuits (reward).
34. Texted N to wish him a good lunch (posh one at L’Escargot in London to celebrate (??) 25 years of working for the same company)
35. Swept up leaves (as gales conveniently blown them into relatively neat piles and currently neither howling gale nor pissing with rain – grab moment when you can round these parts).
36. Potted up two cyclamen and put by front door. Rearranged pots, cleared leaves and took pumpkins inside (never did get round to carving them).
37. Pruned, in slightly desultory fashion, cotoneaster, a rose and wisteria. Will return to do more thorough job when have more time.
38. Cleared up debris and made mental list of everything there is to do in garden (including major tree surgery).
39. Put fat balls in feeder and noted continued presence of mouse in potting shed eating bulbs and bird food.
40. Looked over piles of crap in stable and felt faint.
41. Peered into plastic shopping bags and sorted Christmas presents into a box.
42. Took box down to cellar.
43. Looked over piles of crap in cellar and felt faint.
44. Fiddled around down there for a bit trying to impose a little order on the chaos. Tip of iceberg.
45. Made lunch (wrap with houmous, rocket and cherry tomatoes).
46. Sent text to friend about travel arrangements for tonight.
47. Turned on computer.
48. Checked emails.
49. Sent email.
50. Got phone call from friend about tonight’s travel arrangements. Sorted.
51. Called to arrange massage and spa session in Buxton spa before gift voucher (given to me for my birthday in June) expires.
52. Made mental list of everything I still had to do before picking up girls from bus.
53. Felt faint.
54. Collected girls from bus.
55. Listened to girls’ tales from school.
56. Made lasagne from the weekend’s Bolognese sauce.
57. Helped with homework.
58. Got ready to go out.
59. Drunk too much.
60. Suffered legless husband, freshly pissed from Big London Lunch.
61. Gone to bed too late.


Things I have not done today.

1. Too numerous to mention.

Comments

The bike shed said…
Waving or drowning?

I sort of like those days of busy domestic chores... only once in a while - though always better than a posh business lunch in London.

Things I must do today - unpack yet more boxes...
Linda said…
You are one busy lady!!!
Just what does 'chivvied' mean?
Marmite is ??? Jam, perhaps!
I know what 'pissed' means from reading Stuart MacBride books!
I LOVE your post!!
MG said…
Somewhere between about 53 and 55, you omitted "gave cheery wave to friend and neighbour, thereby making his dog-walking nicer".
Oh, god, now I don't feel like I have done NEARLY enough today. x
JulieG said…
@Linda ...
Chivvied = a cross between [almost] continual nagging and busy hustling in order to move said arses quicker out the door!

Marmite isn't jam, it is a thick dark savoury spread made from yeast extract in the delightfully smelly brewing town of Burton on Trent - you either love the stuff or loathe it. LOL
Similar in some respects to the Australian Vegemite spread.

Pissed = inebriated!

;-)
Alex said…
And I thought you were having a busy day until itcfawned on me that the toast and marmots wasn't in fact a late afternoon snack!
Linda said…
Thanks!! I am increasing in knowledge! I am posting our Scotland Experience from last year in 9 parts and am enjoying reliving it all over again!

I was totally surprised by what Marmite is!

Have you read Stuart MacBride's novels? They are pretty gritty but all set in Aberdeen. My daughter read them all while she lived there last year.
Pondside said…
Yup - that's a mother's day at home, not doing anything special - just every last, blessed thing that needs to be done and won't/can't be done by any of the other humans in the house.
You are superwoman. Your family just doesn't know it.
rashid1891 said…
However, if you are looking for a sleeker phone which has a great design,.good site
Anonymous said…
I wondered if I was the only one who did this sort of thing, how it was great to read this post and feel 'not alone'!!
Thank you!
Lou Archer said…
I feel shamed.....
Reasons said…
Funny. Trouble is we end up feeling like we have done nothing don't we!?
Ivy said…
I bet if anybody asked you "what have you been doing today"? You'd normally answered "nothing much"
Carah Boden said…
Mark - waving, I think!

Linda - was going to write long involved explanation that what makes the English English is Marmite but see that you have been helpfully filled in by Julie!

MG - I wanted to stop and have a quick chat but was rushing for something (for a change). Will email you if I don't see you soon.

LWM - with your FOUR children, I know for sure that you will have done MORE than enough!

Julie - thanks for helping out Linda and for enlightening me as to the fact that Marmite comes from Burton-on-Trent, not a million miles from where I am. How come you knew that and I didn't?!

Alex - !!! :-)

Linda again - no, haven't read Stuart McBride. Must come over and read about your travels in Scotland.

Pondside - how right you are! It also seems I am the only human capable of changing the loo roll and picking things up that are waiting patiently at the bottom of the stairs (takes me back to my wedding night!) (sorry, bit of an elliptic link there..!)

Rashid - relevance???! Certainly no time to bloody talk!

Helen - no, you are absolutely not alone! Thousands of women all over the world come to mind...

Lou - don't, I'm not this saintly EVERY day :-)!

Reasons and Ivy - YEP, YOU ARE ABSOLUTELY CORRECT!


Thank you everyone for taking time to comment - I really appreciate it.
JulieG said…
*waves back*
Glad to help out!
How do I know? Well I live somewhat closer to B-o-T than you do in the county town which now boasts a road delightfully called Lara Croft Way - a newly-opened, completing-section of our long-awaited [over 30+ years], multi-million pound [£36.2ish] inner ring road!
The roads around here are an absolute nightmare with all this work still in progress, but I really ought to be used to them by now having lived here all my life. LOL
Our Ring Road as it stands is a joke and it is nigh on impossible to give directions to visitors struggling to navigate their way through it due to successive town/highway planners adding twiddly bits to it in their 'alleged' efforts to improve it down the years. Ha!
I just hope that once it is completed it makes for easier travelling around the city.

mmmmmmm I LOVE Marmite ... Vegemite is a poor comparison in my opinion. Did you know you can get 'Extra Mature' Marmite now as well? The mind boggles as to how it might taste next to the standard variety!
B-o-T was also well known for producing tyres although I've an idea that isn't the case nowadays ... so imagine driving down the A38 past Burton ... on your left there's Bass & Marstons Breweries plus the Marmite factory AND the tyre production ... the SMELL was a knockout!! :-P

Yep, you aren't alone in your Supermum multi-tasking daytime activities either. I absolutely loathe housework ... no-one else bothers so why the hell should spend my time and energy doing it? LOL [However I could happily potter about in the garden all day ...]
And can anyone please explain how it is that only one person in the household is capable of seeing all the crap strewn around throughout and actually 'does' something about it? Are we tuned to crap-o-vision or summat? *sighs*
"A willing horse is always worked" they say ... how very true.
Taimoor7658 said…
Nice read! It's always interesting to hear about people's daily experiences and perspectives. Thanks for sharing!

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