Top Ten Tuesday: things I could do without
Or, an excuse for a great big whinge about trivial annoyances (from Sluiter Nation)
1. Cameron being away all the time. It’s either feast or famine here; we are in a famine just now. My ideal would be for him to be away one or maybe two nights a week (if he’s here all the time I never get to watch “my programmes” – currently Glee, Lewis and Baking Made Easy – and I never spend an evening reading in peace. If he’s away all the time the house gradually goes to pieces and I go with it.) Actually, my ideal is for him to get home from work nice and early, be here until the children are all in bed, and then go out. A couple of times a week.
2. Cameron visiting interesting and exotic places and staying in lovely hotels where nobody (I assume!) wakes him up four times a night, demands to have their covers put back on, wants a drink of water, or sneaks in and warms their feet on him. And yes I know about the jetlag and the meetings and the public speaking and the flights and the airports and and and, and yes this one is pure envy. But I haven’t been anywhere for 5 years.
3. School runs in any weather apart from pleasantly warm, blue skies, light breeze.
4. Trial by ballet on a Wednesday.
5. Tedious manuscripts.
6. Dog owners who don’t pick up after their dogs (I am going to have to go and wash Tamsin’s scooter when I have typed this).
7. Trying to sell the house.
8. Clearing under the highchair after every single meal
9. Tamsin and Jenny playing a plastic saxophone/recorder duet behind me as I try to deal with #5.
10. Sleepless nights.
February 8th, 2011 16:41
I could SO do without the cleaning of the highchair…and the splat mat…and the walls…and sometimes the carpet…after EVERY MEAL! And I am not even HOME for every meal. ACK! Also? the sleepless nights have to GO around here too!
February 8th, 2011 16:51
No 10 is what makes all the others so much harder to cope with, too 🙁 I hope you get some decent sleep soon.
February 8th, 2011 18:41
I have left behind the highchair cleaning scenarios and have to wait around for karate & swimming, not ballet, but the rest sounds familiar! Sleep is definitely the key – I can always take on the world after a good night’s snoozing but could cry over a broken Weetabix without…
I don’t know you except via FB so hope you don’t mind me sticking my oar in, but here goes…
Does Cameron have any choice over his regular work jaunts away? I understand these situations are difficult if he is either hanging onto or trying to progress his career/business/income, and it’s a terribly hard position for you both to be in, but if this is how life is for the long haul then I personally think everyone in the family needs to be happy about it. I’m sure you weighed up the pros and cons before Cameron embarked on this particular career path and the regular international travel it involves. Perhaps reminding yourself of the pros might help you feel better about your current situation? A friend of mine was in a similar boat – her hubby was away all week and only home at weekends. She had had enough of it so they discussed him leaving his job and taking a less well paid post closer to home. They explored this option and he got as far as securing another job offer, but in the end he stayed where he was (the reduced income, loss of other benefits and impact on his long term career outweighed seeing more of him!) but going through the choices helped make her feel better about things. It helped her feel less resentful of the situation. It also helped them realise they had a choice, when previously they’d felt there was no alternative than to stay on the path they were on. Sorry for rambling on and for stating the obvious; hope you don’t mind…
February 8th, 2011 19:16
I so hear you on your #10. I could so do away with sleepless nights. I really love my sleep and sometimes I just lay there for hours with eyes wide open! Drives me nuts!
Thanks for sharing your top ten!