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Monday 21 September 2009

The first day of the rest of my life

Cloudy with occasional, very occasional bursts of weak sunshine. Close and damp. Seventeen degrees at 8:30am.

The house is a disaster zone. The laundry reminds me of that part in Rumplestiltskin where the miller's daughter on her third day is facing a towering mountain of straw to spin into gold - a mountain so huge she can barely get in the door. The entrance hall is packed with three horses festooned with damp laundry and in the dressing room there are two baskets of clothes waiting patiently to be ironed. The toy boxes are empty and the playroom floor is so full there's no place to put your feet. The beds want changing and the bathroom wants cleaning. You can see how bad things are because I'm descending into regional grammar...starting to sound like my Grandma.

But on my face today there's a broad smile. In my heart a song. Why? Well, five years ago almost to this day, I became a housewife, and since then I have been on shiftwork - Mama shifts, i.e. 24/7. For five years. And today? Well today both AJ and B have started full-time kindergarten. And I have six whole hours today and - sickness, holidays or Italian-style organisational chaos aside - every day for the entire school year.

While they do total-immersion, baptism-by-fire, crash-course Italian, I'll be ironing, cleaning, de-cobwebbing, organising, shelving books, changing beds, managing carpenters and electricians, looking into breeding rabbits, buying some new clothes, building raised beds and staircases in the garden, reading Harry Potter in Italian, checking through the copy-editor's work on The Book, hanging pictures and curtains, buying lampshades, raising herbs from seed, listening to The Archers, hauling, splitting and stacking firewood...

Maybe I'll start by catching up on five years' sleep deprivation...


10 comments:

Alan Burnett said...

Hopefully "continuing to post to my blog" will be on that list of things to do. Enjoy the rest of your life.

Vanessa said...

Looks like you made it through! Hooray! Now how about a spot of light editing to keep you away from the laundry...?

Anonymous said...

Hurray - some time to yourself unless you find yourself actually working.

Start off by snoozing and then doing some reading with a coffee in hand.!

chrysalis said...

Welcome to the "end of the tunnel". You deserve some time to yourself so keep a part of those 6 hours to do something just for you. Its a heady feeling!!!!!

- Susan - said...

ha, 6 hours will be gone fast ... but better then nothing !

My son started school today - after my 2 months 24/7 job - I almost missed him in the first hour ;-)

Caution/Lisa said...

That was my exact list...but then I discovered blogging.

Anonymous said...

You go, girl!

Gutsy Living said...

What a small to-do list you have today, isn't it?
I am surprised that Kindergarten is that long. Here in California, it was only from 8:30 a.m. until 11:40 a.m. Barely enough time to walk the dog and do laundry and grocery shop.

Romancing Italy said...

I bet you will still find there are not enough hours in a day to get what you plan..done.

Enjoy your new "freedom". :-)

BPOTW said...

Congrats on a great milestone!

Monday 21 September 2009

The first day of the rest of my life

Cloudy with occasional, very occasional bursts of weak sunshine. Close and damp. Seventeen degrees at 8:30am.

The house is a disaster zone. The laundry reminds me of that part in Rumplestiltskin where the miller's daughter on her third day is facing a towering mountain of straw to spin into gold - a mountain so huge she can barely get in the door. The entrance hall is packed with three horses festooned with damp laundry and in the dressing room there are two baskets of clothes waiting patiently to be ironed. The toy boxes are empty and the playroom floor is so full there's no place to put your feet. The beds want changing and the bathroom wants cleaning. You can see how bad things are because I'm descending into regional grammar...starting to sound like my Grandma.

But on my face today there's a broad smile. In my heart a song. Why? Well, five years ago almost to this day, I became a housewife, and since then I have been on shiftwork - Mama shifts, i.e. 24/7. For five years. And today? Well today both AJ and B have started full-time kindergarten. And I have six whole hours today and - sickness, holidays or Italian-style organisational chaos aside - every day for the entire school year.

While they do total-immersion, baptism-by-fire, crash-course Italian, I'll be ironing, cleaning, de-cobwebbing, organising, shelving books, changing beds, managing carpenters and electricians, looking into breeding rabbits, buying some new clothes, building raised beds and staircases in the garden, reading Harry Potter in Italian, checking through the copy-editor's work on The Book, hanging pictures and curtains, buying lampshades, raising herbs from seed, listening to The Archers, hauling, splitting and stacking firewood...

Maybe I'll start by catching up on five years' sleep deprivation...


10 comments:

Alan Burnett said...

Hopefully "continuing to post to my blog" will be on that list of things to do. Enjoy the rest of your life.

Vanessa said...

Looks like you made it through! Hooray! Now how about a spot of light editing to keep you away from the laundry...?

Anonymous said...

Hurray - some time to yourself unless you find yourself actually working.

Start off by snoozing and then doing some reading with a coffee in hand.!

chrysalis said...

Welcome to the "end of the tunnel". You deserve some time to yourself so keep a part of those 6 hours to do something just for you. Its a heady feeling!!!!!

- Susan - said...

ha, 6 hours will be gone fast ... but better then nothing !

My son started school today - after my 2 months 24/7 job - I almost missed him in the first hour ;-)

Caution/Lisa said...

That was my exact list...but then I discovered blogging.

Anonymous said...

You go, girl!

Gutsy Living said...

What a small to-do list you have today, isn't it?
I am surprised that Kindergarten is that long. Here in California, it was only from 8:30 a.m. until 11:40 a.m. Barely enough time to walk the dog and do laundry and grocery shop.

Romancing Italy said...

I bet you will still find there are not enough hours in a day to get what you plan..done.

Enjoy your new "freedom". :-)

BPOTW said...

Congrats on a great milestone!