Aaaaaarghhhh (AM)

It was LB's birthday yesterday. And what better way to celebrate than take the day off work and just relax. So that is exactly what I did. LB didn't. He went to work as usual. He has an exam today so he wasn't really in the mood or position to celebrate. Me, I just felt like I needed a day to take care of some shit.

Last Wednesday I had a really annoying day at work, compounded by the fact that I had all these extra things to do: call a lawyer, call a bank, post some letters, clean the house, do a bunch of freelance work I've committed to doing, go to the city to buy some shu uemura face wash, get some blood tests, repot some plants, massively clean and overhaul the backyard, do all the serious house cleaning things like clean windows and pantry and a million more things, think of a birthday present for LB, be a loving and present mother to my children.

Frankly it was too much. And on top of that I've developed a twitch in my eye which periodically reminds me that I'm quite stressed. Just in case my brain decides to forget about the stress momentarily my body will remind me. Thanks body.  So I decided I'd take yesterday off work to get a jump on things. I felt really effing good about my decision. But then the list of things I wanted to do with my day off became unmanageable. The vital things included: getting my shu uemura face wash (yes, I could buy it online but why would I want to pay shipping for a product I could buy so close to my house?!?), cleaning the house, make dinner while everyone was out, freelance work, enjoy a coffee by myself. Then the list started growing: do serious house cleaning of all the second tier jobs, get a manicure or maybe a facial something real nice like that, a spot of shopping would be nice, get the blood test, get my legs waxed, my eyebrows done.

The list got so out of hand it became as stressful as my everyday life, it became practically paralysing. I started trying to plan my day but I found it impossible to prioritise the boring stuff like cleaning and work over the nice stuff like shopping and grooming, but because I knew that the boring stuff would help make my life overall better I couldn't really commit to just doing the nice stuff so basically I just ended up doing a half arsed version of everything. I looked in a few shops, I finally bought my face wash and I got my legs waxed too. And my eyebrows done. I cleaned the house in a regular way, but didn't even get around to doing the bedrooms. I still didn't get all the freelance work done and the garden is a mess, but all of my boring phone calls have been made. I don't know when I will ever get a blood test.

Apparently I am fucking rubbish at being an adult and actually need to dedicate my working week just to doing the things that constitute functioning as a human in this modern world. So just when I thought I was alright at it, turns out I'm not.

Oh well. At least I got to include a picture of Leonardo in this post. Why? Because it's (half) my blog I'll do whatever the hell I want!!! Just jokes, because it was his birthday yesterday too (or today, given timezone differences) and I thought we should celebrate by remembering a simpler time when all I had to worry about was movies and unrequited crushes. Sigh.

'Ave a cup of tea (AM)

The Misses Soft Crab love coffee. I'm sure you know that because we sing it's praises all the time. Add it a Tuesday to make it terrific, write haiku about it, just generally roll around in our love for it. We effing love it. Just had one. Best thing I've done all day.

But you know what else is good? Tea.

Russeth told me recently he didn't get tea. He said people at work were always having a cup of tea and he couldn't figure out why. He said he tried it to see what all the fuss was about but he still didn't get it. His loss.

Years ago I lived with Miguel who is a tea-drinker extraordinaire. His habit is basically chronic, but I can't recommend this kind of housemate highly enough. There was pretty much always a pot of tea on the go. These days I rarely make a pot, though it is a superior tea experience.

I like the taste of tea and I like having a hot drink and I love it to cut through the sweetness of a sweet treat. But in my current stage of life I also just effing dig an excuse to sit down for five minutes.

When Baby was about 1.5-2 and still breastfeeding I used to think it was basically his equivalent to a cup of tea. Newbie is in that phase now. They don't need it, but who doesn't like a bit of quiet time with a warm drink. Babes have boobs, we have tea.

I have about five cups of tea a day. Not because I want to have that many but because I'm constantly trying to force five quiet minutes into my day but always miss-timing it.

My friend Housemaid was wearing a cute ring last week with a tiny teacup on it. She told me her friend made a range of rings with teapots and cups because it reminded her of tea with her Nan and made her feel relaxed to look at them. I thought that maybe I should replace a few cups of tea with some visual cue to relax. But who has time to come up with a replacement?!? Not me!

Ok, tea time!