Having a week off?

Tonight I am rather upset about last week. It was initially a good week: a week off work. But having a week off, when most other people are at work has side effects.

Last week was for me a week off because we had Autumn Break. Back in the days, when I grew up, we used to call it “potato break” because it is about this time of year, the first week of October, it is time to harvest the potato fields.

Nowadays this week off is about travelling somewhere, for those who have saved a week’s vacation, or to worry about where the kids should spend the day, now that school is off and parents have to work. So, I have had a week off work, and I can’t wait to get back in action.

I had such great plans for this week. I had a long list written down:

·         Dig up and sort out the last flowerbed

·         One long walk, or mountainhike, every day

·         Clean the windows

·         Clean furniture

·         Clear out and sort the wardrobe

·         Review papers: getting ahead

·         Improve and edit tasks and exercises

·         Cook proper dinner every day

·         Write (for my own pleasure)

·         Clear out old toys

·         …. And then some

The list of things I would have loved to do, mostly because they are things you need to do to have a fairly organized home, was extensive.

Did I get any of it done? Nah, not really.

I did get the last flowerbed sorted out. Maybe I should explain why this is something I had to do: Thing is, through the last few years I have bought hundreds of flowerbulbs I never saw any sign of, after I had planted them. I couldn’t understand why, until I dug up a flowerbed to plant a plumtree. Deep down I found a lot of bulbs, which have slowly sunk into the ground. I wondered why, but a kind soul told me that soil is washed downwards into the ground, due to the land my house is built on is blasted rock.

So, what I had to do is to dig up my flowerbeds, put flowerbed fabric, and then add soil, before I plant the flowers and trees again, and new flowerbulbs (and the old ones I found). Very tedious, but I expect my garden will look stunning next spring.

Anyway, since school was out and my kids were at home I got a lot of help. Trust me: getting help doesn’t mean work is done fast. It took me several days to do something which would have taken me a few hours to do by myself.

In addition: many schoolchildren don’t go to before- and after-school care (my youngest do, but he wanted to stay at home because he knew I would be at home doing something he wanted to participate in…sigh. I can’t very well kill the initiative, can I?). The kids in the neighborhood knew I was at home, and my kids were at home, and they didn’t want to be alone at home while their own parents were at work (do you see where this is going?) so to make a long story short: I ended up having a house full of kids all week.

My kids had a lot more friends this week, than they usually have. They have a lot of friends (I feel blessed), but not the come-around-to-the-house-all-of-the-time kind of friends. The friends they have who come around are not plentiful. Just enough, and they are not moving in, so to speak.

One thing is to have playmates coming over. It is a totally different story when they show up before breakfast.

I can’t help but to be astonished by how messy some kids are when they eat. My dog had a feast which lasted for a week! And it took me quite some time to get the kitchen back in shape after each meal. Yes, we are talking breakfast, lunch and what we call dinner (we have supper in the evening). I could have chosen not to set the table and invite them all, but in my house there is no tradition for doing that. Children need to have meals, at least that is my rule and philosophy.

A lot of my time was spent on all this. One thing is to serve my own kids, to serve a house full of kids is a totally different story.

I can tell my own kids to go get a glass of milk themselves, I can’t very well say that to strange kids. One thing is to know their way around my kitchen, another thing is to have kids rummage through my cupboards.

The hikes I was planning on, came to nothing. I could have told everyone to join me, but they didn’t have shoes or clothes fit for a hike. I didn’t want to leave the house either, so the plan failed.

When you try to do something, and are constantly interrupted, continuity is broken and things just don’t get done. Not in the speed you predicted, anyway.

Maybe I am just frustrated. Mostly because I see that keeping up the house and the garden really doesn’t get up to standards. I wish for so much more than what I have time to perform. Having a week off makes me predict a week of getting up-to-date. When it doesn’t happen, I just get disappointed in myself.

Thing is; this is nothing new. I should have learned what staying at home will be like, by now. What I really should have done was to plan on spending quality time with my kids.