a hundred things to do!

I was thinking the other day, how much easier my life would be if someone would come and do all the washing, cleaning and cooking for me!! Just imagine having plenty of time to spend with the kids and not having to get cross with them for wanting you to do things with them, whilst you are trying to do numerous other tasks. I was trying to cook Sunday lunch on Sunday (obviously!!) and I had made the mistake of setting Abbie and Millie off on the task of making and decorating their little Christmas pots to fill with sweets for a school competition (after giving in to Abbie’s constant and persistent nagging that she must make her competition pot right now!) So in between peeling the veg, I manage to get out some glue, scissors, tissue paper, glitter and sticky bits and leave all the kids happily at the craft table creating their master pieces! (If Hannah puts any more glue on that paper it will surely disintegrate into a yucky, sticky mess.......ohhh yep, there it goes!) So now, in between cooking the roast potatoes, making the gravy, making bread sauce, I now have to help with the shiny bits that keep falling off the pots, peeling the backs off the sticky googly eyes, and mopping up some of the vast amount of glue that Hannah is in danger of drowning in. In between turning the roast potatoes and stirring the gravy, I see a slim window of opportunity to quickly get the washing out of the machine and load it into the dryer, however, mid task I am urgently summoned to get some paint out, as the box that Millie has used for her Christmas sleigh needs painting before she can stick the bits on it. In an effort not to let them get paint everywhere, I put a bit of newspaper on the worktop, and let her stand on a chair in the kitchen to quickly paint the box. However, the chances of getting a task like that done quickly with minimal disruption is almost non existent! So the rest of the clan duly troop into the kitchen, demanding their turn at some painting and suddenly I am surrounded by pieces of paper drowning in paint (Hannah’s technique again!!) in amongst cooking the Sunday dinner! So I rush between mopping up paint and glue, to stir the bread sauce, pack up some of the shiny bits, get the chicken out the oven, vac up a bit of glitter, lay the table, finish putting the washing in the dryer, put the ‘wonderful creations’ somewhere for the glue and paint to dry, put the veg on to steam, wash the paint pot and glue sticks, carve the chicken, dish up everyone’s dinner.....phew! To top it all, the dishwasher has packed up and I am faced with a mountain of washing up!!