Blog day 9 +5 of 28 – the grumps on double digit day
Dear fellow captives,
Well here we have it. Teenager 1 and 2 have woken up well and truly grumpy and wishing to take it out on Silky Otter. I am greeted with “shut-up mum”, “oh mum” and “mum, don’t [fill in here anything that they could latch on to and accuse me of doing wrong]…”. Husband, the self-assigned shopper who heroically places himself in great danger for his family, is out grocery shopping and I am jealous that he gets out of the house to do it. He is avoiding the vile, disrespectful, condescending and dismissive morning greeting from children, and he gets to go out. He even gets to go out in a car (something I am missing as I am somewhat of a petrol-head without the normal heightened – but reckless – driving ability that goes with it)! A truly joyous morning for him. Festering misery left here at home.
On the other hand, better than waking up with a migraine so must put things in perspective! Also, nephew’s birthday in lockdown so need to skype him and make sure he has a good day. Tough when you are 8. So need to focus on someone other than myself and positivity for others so here goes….
But before I get there and seriously for a moment in case it helps anyone out there, I learnt through a close family member’s sickness, loss and the ensuing depths of grief in my twenties that you can only deal with what is in front of you, not what might happen. Thinking ahead and sweating what might happen is not helpful and you only have so much time and energy to deal with what is directly in front of you. You cannot and should not spend that precious energy concerned about things you can’t control. It is a dreadful waste. So, focus on what you can control. It’s fair to say I would rather not have ever learnt that lesson, but its valuable and applicable here. I hope that’s helps someone out there.
The sticky, slimy, smelly question of exercise
I live with a fit husband who I accuse of being pious about it (whether that is fair or not). Although I do not rock a gym honed body, or anything like it frankly, I exercise and have a reasonable level of fitness to keep up on family adventure activities. We all know we should exercise and we all want to motivate ourselves to do it but it is very difficult to push yourself and maintain fitness three times a week at present.
So, I am trying to look at exercise differently and combine it with attempting to wear out the teenagers – which truly backfired. Took teenager no 1, or rather he took me, on a mountain bike ride. Before you all get up in arms, I did not breach rules like our own Health Minister – really, how hypocritical does he want to be? And then whilst man-splaining, rather than apologise and recognise he should be leading us by following the rules, he attempted to justify his own actions by saying but its the only form of exercise he gets. Really, what spot does he think we are all in. It would solve a lot of problems in my house if we were able to drive out to a mountain bile park and burn off energy. I am truly peeved with him and his galling stupidity, but you’ve probably gathered that. In any event I comfort myself from his idiocy by thinking about the look that Jacinda would have given him when he tried to explain (again Man-splain to her) why he did it. I hope he withered under her silent but stealthy glare that she delivered with just the right amount of motherly derision. Ouch!
Now I did say yesterday in my drug induced migraine stupor that I must stay on point. So, teenager no 1 took me on a mountain bike locally up the road from my house and up the nearest (and still local) mountain (twice). Having climbed what felt like my Mt Everest twice with him on said bike, and having him wait for me at times as my lungs heaved and I became red, sweaty and unpleasant he then smoked me downhill. To make it worse as I left the park a gate jumped out and bit the knuckle on my left hand. Damn gate. Yes I bled for the pleasure of my sweaty humiliation at the hands of teenager no 1. And that was my exercise. I have now given myself and my useless body time off to heal heart strain and am back to steadily walking the dog. Knowing me though I will be drawn into another mountain bike ride come the weekend and replay this whole exercise mistake!
So, my exercise has now changed to strikingly similar to my eating and drinking – bingeing! Marvellous development.
Weekend wishes
Having now poured out my woes and inadequacies onto your plates this week, I look forward (mostly) to the weekend. At least I get to sleep in, read a book and the weather looks promising (although not for the Auckland water supplies). I also get to refuse my husband’s requests for me to wash the car – that would be irresponsible in the current drought. And the same response can be applied to watering the garden and washing the outside of the house or windows. Yipeee.
May you also have a relaxing weekend in the sun allowing yourselves the pleasure of reading a book outside, a morning coffee in peace or a sun filled walk in the park.
Lastly, competition closes today at 5pm
Calling last entries to hot competition for best Silky Otter logo. Will be announced in Monday morning’s blog. Bring it on!
Kia kaha, my lovelies, and adieu. Stay safe and may the weekend bring you much relaxation and few chores.
Silky Otter
Photo by Zachary Spears on Unsplash
