Author Archive: Robyn

All I Want To Say About International Women’s Day Is

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America needs to get on board because it seems none of my American friends have heard of it. Although I know I did when I lived in San Francisco Bay Area.

Which probably says something about the San Francisco Bay Area.

Oh and also, to reiterate my Facebook status: Thanks to my Mom, who taught me that feminism means respecting all women’s beliefs and choices. That feminism doesn’t mean not being girly.  Or hating men. That what she and so many others started fighting for is the ability to do what we want  when we want to do it.

Just like men.

This Must Be What Normal People Feel Like

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For the past two weeks I have been working my butt off, both for work and around the house. My in laws were down this past weekend and so the house needed a tidy, which was on my schedule anyway. The whole house gets cleaned from top to bottom twice a month with spot cleaning in between and last week was my week to do the overall clean.

Usually after I do my overall clean I’m not good for much else that weekend. It’s part of the reason it only gets done every other week. Some may call it slattern. I call it self preservation. It hasn’t killed anyone yet, so I guess it’s okay.

Anyway, usually a week’s cleaning equals at least one day in bed on the weekend. I did wake up feeling sore, tired and headachy on Saturday, but it passed with food and the double aggravation of the late Tesco delivery and trying to get the straps on Adam’s car seat adjusted and the seat into the in laws’ car so we could go out for the day.

Sunday I did spend a fair amount of time resting. I didn’t sleep well Saturday night due to pain and so when Simon didn’t sleep all that late in the morning, I headed back to bed for awhile. And then did the same in the afternoon after lunch.

But overall? I feel better than I’ve felt in ages. So well in fact that I continued with box unpacking and house sorting on Monday afternoon, without resting at all. I can usually do about a hour of unpacking and then need to at least sit down, if not lie down, for an hour or two. Yesterday I started working at 730 when Simon and Adam headed out and didn’t stop until I left to pick up at Adam at 3, which included running some errands. Of course I had some lunch, but that was about 20 minutes!

I am waiting for it all the catch up with me. I am waiting for the day I get Adam to nursery, come home and sleep until pick up time. I imagine it will come in the next week or so.

But I could be wrong. Maybe Adam mostly sleeping through 8 – 6 is all my body has been waiting for.

Fingers crossed…

Tesco, You’ve Made The List. Again.

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So yesterday, as per usual, we had a grocery delivery booked for our week’s groceries. We do this through Tesco as it’s either them or Sainsbury’s and we’ve just always used Tesco.

The only thing that wasn’t usual about yesterday was the time. Since Simon’s parents were down and we didn’t know what we’d be doing during the day, we booked it to be delivered between 8 and 10 am, instead of between 2 and 4pm.

At 810 I received a text saying ‘your groceries will be delivered between 9 and 10.’ Perfect.

10am. No groceries.

Simon gets on the phone to their customer service centre who ‘try to contact the driver’. I have put that in quotes because Tesco have never successfully contacted a driver when there has been a delivery issue in the nearly 10 years (off and on) I’ve been having them delivery my groceries. Apparently everyone in the world has mobiles and GPS except Tesco drivers, as, once again, they couldn’t tell us where the truck was. So the customer service centre person said ‘I’ll ring the store and ring you back.’

At that point I gave up and began getting us organized to go to the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum and made a new shopping list so we could stop on our way back, because without that delivery? We had no food.

At 1107 I received text that said ‘Apologies, you delivery is delayed. It will arrive between 8 and 1121am.’  Two minutes later I received a second text, that one said ‘Apologies, your delivery is delayed. It will arrive between 8 and 1021 am.’ O_o. Tesco have a TARDIS?! Cool!

At 1122am we said ‘fuck it’ and started getting into the car. And then a Tesco van stopped at the end of the street. Not at our house. At the end of the street. Simon walked down to see if it was for us. Yup. But the driver was on the phone. O_o

At approximately 1130am our groceries were finally in our house.

The driver said ‘Oh are you heading out?’

To which I replied ‘Yes, you were suppose to be here an hour and a half ago.’

To which he replied ‘Well, I was suppose to leave the store at 915 (so much for delivering any earlier than 930, despite my 8-10 slot) and didn’t leave until 1115.’

I have now emailed Tesco the above story, along with a screen shot of the two ridiculous text messages. I have asked them what they will do to keep me as a customer as I am seriously thinking about changing to Sainsbury, although people tell me they are just as bad.

I have had an email saying they tried to ring me, which must be the Blocked Call I ignored on my mobile today (I rarely answer Blocked numbers unless I am actually doing work at the time). The email says they’ll ring again.

We’ll see.

Things I Learned About My House Today…

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You can attach the hose to either the tap on the side of the house or the side of the garage, but it takes a bit of effort and the removal of bits and bobs on both sides.

The drain in the middle of the patio is actually not at the lowest point so most of the water does not go into it.

The dirty piece of orangey red string attached to the garden gate does have a purpose; it can be hooked over the nail in the side of the house by the back door to hold the gate open.

There is quite an assortment of implements for doing various things inside the garage including; two hoses, several brushes with various heads, a mop, 2 rakes and a manual hedge clipper.

If you open all the windows in the house you get a marvellous cross breeze upstairs and down.

We have daffodils growing in the front and back gardens along with a purple flower I can’t identify.

The more we live here, the more I like it. Especially now that spring is coming and we can start to enjoy our back garden to it’s fullest.

 

Once Again, I Rock In The Kitchen

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So, I have been craving pizza this week and although I’d prefer to order it, we’re trying to save money so I decided to make my own.

I did some research on pizza dough and this recipe by Jamie Oliver came highly recommended.

So I bought some 00 flour and some semolina flour and some toppings and got to work.

Adam was my helper. Sort of.

So I weighed my flour and sifted it onto my board. There are no pictures, BTW. Get over it. 🙂

Then I made a well in the middle.

Then I poured the liquid in the well.

And then I made what might have been a fatal error. The well was not big enough.

At this point I should have started mixing and added in the rest of the liquid as I could. Instead? I tried to make the well bigger. And broke the well.

Usually my son saying “Oh no! What happened!” makes me smile. This time I just stood there as liquid flowed off the board, down the counter, over the washing machine to the floor. What happened? Mummy messed up!

So I stood there, trying to decide if I had a total disaster on my hands. How could I salvage this? I had no idea how much liquid I had lost.

I started to mix the flour into the liquid that was there. And decided to make half again as much liquid.

So I added about half of that amount in and kept mixing. And realized it just might be fine.

It went to smooth elastic form fairly quickly and I left it to rise, fingers crossed there was enough yeast.

And there was.

Disaster averted. Pizza currently in the oven. Mess cleaned up.

The part Adam helped with?

Wiping the kitchen floor. 🙂

Just Made An Extra £10

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So at the beginning of January I started taking surveys for incentives. Some of these incentives are entries into prize draws, which I’ll never win, because I never do.

But some of these incentives are cash and/or vouchers.

It takes awhile to start making money as most don’t pay for up to 6 weeks after the close of the survey, which can be weeks after you personally take a survey.

But once it gets going, it adds up pretty quick.

And I just made £10. It’s in the form of a voucher for Amazon, but I had a wide selection of companies to choose from, including Tesco, M&S and other high street stores.

Some actually pay cash into a PayPal account, but I haven’t made enough from one of those companies yet to get money that way. That money will go immediately into our savings account.

We won’t get rich from my doing this. But it only takes about an hour a day and every penny counts these days.

I wonder what I’ll spend my first £10 on?

Double Ear Infection and Swollen Tonsils

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Adam’s diagnoses from the GP this morning. Yummy Banana Sludge acquired.

He’s been acting off since yesterday but I just put it down to being 2.8. Then he fell asleep on the bus on the way to nursery! Simon rang me and said ‘I’m bringing him home!’

Quite right.

It’s been about 5 months since his last lot of antibiotics, so that’s not so bad. He’s been ill, with D&V and fever, but nothing needing meds since October.

So he’s been clingy all day and even fell back to sleep in his pushchair on the way to the GP. So definitely not my ‘sleep is for the weak’ son!

He’s had a bit of fever as well, but that seems to be gone already.

So Banana Gloop 3 times a day it is.

And a few quiet days in with mom.

When she feels fine and he doesn’t. 🙂

Learning To Accept My Limitations

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So, as I’ve said, Sunday the 5th was my birthday. And we had plans for the Saturday. Plans for lunch, for a nice evening meal, a glass of wine, some cake.

Instead, I woke up with a migraine Saturday morning. So I spent the day in bed throwing up and resting. And resting and throwing up. And sleeping. And did I mention throwing up?

And I cursed my head. My body. For once again letting me down. For ruining my plans. Something it does all.The.Time.

I mentioned this to my mother and she, correctly and sagely, pointed out I should get over it. It’s the body I have.

So I am trying to remember that. That it’s the body I have and the world isn’t going to end if all of our boxes aren’t unpacked yet. Or if Adam’s toys aren’t picked up.

I’m finding it very hard, though.

To accept that there are days when, truly, all I can do is sit and rest. Unfortunately, sometimes those are days that Adam is home. And we do nothing but play quietly, colouring and watching TV. And I try to at least take him for a brief walk or have a romp in the back garden. But sometimes even that doesn’t happen.

I know soon he’ll be in school full time and it won’t be a problem any more. For one thing, if he goes where we want him to, it’s a 1.5 mile walk one way to get there! For another, of course they have recess or whatever they call it in the UK.

But I still wonder what he’ll remember. Will he just remember that Mummy loved him always? Or will he remember being bored out of his mind stuck inside because Mummy Hurts?

I’m also really fed up with not being able to do what I want when I want. To run out of spoons some days as soon as I get out of bed.

And it happened again today. I woke up at 5:10am with a headache that felt like it was heading into migraine territory. So I got up and took some Migraleave. And I never puked but I was in bed all day with pain. And it was a beautiful sunny day. And I missed it. Again.

Simon and Adam went to the park. And for a coffee. And to get some shopping done.

And I lay in bed all day. In pain. Sleeping. Missing it.

Again.

And I don’t accept it. I don’t know how to accept it. I also can’t change it.

I like to think I live my life not worrying about things I can’t change. Except I can’t change this and I worry about it. It’s a huge disconnect in the way I want to be, to live.

It has taken me over a week to write this post and I’m still not sure what I am trying to say. But I think it’s time to hit publish and get it out there.

I usually like to end on a high note.

I have no high note on this issue.

Today was a ME ME ME Day…

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I dropped Adam at nursery and then headed into city centre for coffee.

And then had my haircut.

And then I shopped. Well, I looked. I am looking for a new spring/summer/fall coat. A trench coat was recommended to me, very diplomatically, by a friend of mine whose face was a picture as she gazed at by ratty, dirty, blue coat. Hey! My mom gave me this coat!

In any case, she’s right. It’s time for a new one.

Only…I can’t find one. I tried on coat after coat after trench after rain after windbreak…the fitted ones were too fitted…the unstructured ones made me look like a lump. I suppose the ratty, dirty, blue coat makes me look a bit lump like but it’s already mine! And I didn’t pick it out or pay for it!

So I’m still looking.

I guess I could at least wash the ratty, dirty, blue coat and take dirty out of equation.

But what will I wear while it’s washing?!?!?!?!?!

I Am Trying To Write A Very Hard Post

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And I’m really stuck. It’s about accepting my physical limitations.

So let’s talk about something else.

Yesterday’s dentist appointment wasn’t as bad as I feared it would be. Adam was scared, for sure, and I had to force him to open his mouth, after the hygienist and I spent quite a bit of time trying to coax him. He isn’t verbal enough yet to say ‘XYZ is why I am scared.’ Maybe next time and we can talk about it and he can get past it. All the hygienist does is look at this point, so really nothing too scary.

He then went into their waiting room and we put CBeeBies on the TV for him and I got my teeth cleaned without a hysterical boy in the corner. Hygienist very pleased with my teeth and my gums are finally improving.

We then and got a treat at Co-Op of crisps and chocolate chip cookies, both to have with our lunch. And then we came home. And had said lunch and a long snuggle on the sofa. Which is how we like to spend most afternoons, after doing things in the morning.

Today he is at nursery and I did some work and am doing some stuff around the house. A bunch of curtain rings broke on our front window curtains so I replaced those today. They look much better now that they are hanging correctly! Also unpacked some more books and dug out Adam’s 3T pyjamas that grandma brought last time she was here.

I knew it was time when I was changing his nappy this morning just after he woke up and I noticed his big toes poking through the feet of his pyjamas! My son, The Hulk! So I pulled the 3Ts out of the drawer and held them up to me. They should fit him just fine now!

And then I had some lunch and then I did some more pottering around the house. Now I’m going to switch laundry over and then I’m going to clean up the kitchen.

And then I am going to chill for a bit and then I’m going to go pick up my son from nursery.

And that’s a day in the life of a SAHM/Freelance Online Media Specialist.

Not all that exciting.

But it makes me happy.