This morning, as I stood at the kitchen sink swigging back my tea, Tom said: ‘Urrrgh that must be cold by now’. I told him that every morning I deliberately let my tea go cold as I don’t have time to sit down and sip on hot tea.
In fact, I spend much of my time standing at the kitchen sink, either doing the copious amounts of continuous washing-up, or scoffing my breakfast/lunch/dinner in order to avoid using a plate, hence saving on yet more washing up. If my mum comes over for lunch I refuse to give her a plate, or I make her share Betty’s.
In the last ten months, since going from one child to two, I have learnt that in order to run a relatively efficient and effective household, and still remain as sane as humanly possible, it is all about well thought-out strategies, cutting corners, and time management.
On the days that Betty is not at pre-school, I plan morning activities which always take place at the kitchen table, hence keeping Betty contained and not at large in the rest of the house. During the afternoons that Betty is not at pre-school I either hide most of her toys, eliminating the possible chaos, or make sure that we are out of the house, either at someone else’s house, or wandering around Sainsburys.
On a very good day I make homemade bread and soup for our lunch, and on a very bad day we have crisps and cake. The majority of the time it falls somewhere in between. I have often been tempted to make us all eat from the same saucepan to save on washing up.
I am obsessed with planning weekly menus of mainly one-pot recipes (ie saving on the washing up) and ones that we can all eat. I now have this down to a fine art. I quickly realised that it is false economy to try to make-up dishes such as lentil, orange rind and beetroot stew just because these ingredients happen to be lying around and you have a husband who is trying to save the world breathing down your neck. Not only is it universally (or at least Buttonly) agreed that these concoctions taste disgusting, but you have to whip up an entire nother meal, hence doubling the bloody washing-up.
As for my daily washing, hanging out washing, ironing rituals, that is a whole different post all to itself which may be a long time coming. I only managed to write this post one sentence at a time over a period of about six weeks.
