A day in the life
Anyway as I work from home on random different things and Made sometimes works too, every day is different so there’s no real typical day. Some days I’ll have the kids all day and get no work done. Some days Made takes them both over to his parents and i get loads done (or lately mope around the house missing my children). Some days I have Maya and Made takes Kiran out for a bit, or vice versa. Some days I meet a friend for coffee or we all go out to the beach.
So this is just a random day – nothing special. This was back when my internet was down for most of the day and Made was taking the kids out most afternoons. Times are estimated up until late afternoon when i got the idea of this post and basically got carried away with cataloguing my every waking minute. Sunrise photo is by my dad because I’m never up that early :p
7am – I wake up thanks to my nature sounds alarm clock app. The only reason i’m able to get up at this time is that I forced myself to go to bed at 11pm last night. Anything less than 8 hours sleep and i find it incredibly difficult to crawl out of bed. I would go to bed earlier but as the kids go to bed so late, that would mean zero grown up time in the evening (update: I’ve been enforcing a fairly strict bedtime routine and this is actually improving with them both being asleep by 8.30-9pm now. hurray! I’m going to try and move this back a little every night until I get to a 7.30 bedtime. Fingers crossed!)
Made is out. he can’t sleep past 6am no matter what time he goes to bed. I wish I had his early riser genes.
7.15 - I’m attempting to shower when Maya starts howling at the door. This is why I can never get up early and get anything done – the kids sense when i’m awake and wake up too.
7.15 - I put charlie and lola dvd on, close the door to avoid waking sleeping Kiran and go back in the shower. 2 minutes later I hear kiran wake up too. Doh.
7.30 - Kids are already in charlie and lola stupor. i normally avoid tv this early but i need to get showered and dressed somehow. I bribe them outside by bribing them with stickers and glue and glitter. Maya wants me to help so i stay and make silver glitter glue hair on an angel and try to stop Kiran from eating pompoms
8 - I pack the craft stuff away, exchanged for paper and pens. Kiran is busy riding his bike. I down a large glass of water and start cooking breakfast. Up until fairly recently i always started my day with coffee and cake but i’m trying to be healthier. I cook eggs and spinach. Kiran screams at me the entire time i try and cook so i eventually bribe him with a game on the kindle fire.
8.30 - I eat breakfast with Kiran. Maya already ate a jam sandwich (her favourite food) and is going through a picky phase so refuses anything else. i make hobby horses for the kids out of broomsticks and hand puppets.
9 - I sneak onto my computer but the internet is still down (has been since 2pm yesterday). still i’m knackered already so ask the kids to make me ‘coffee and fruit salad’ with their play food while i grab a real coffee. it keeps them busy for about 5 minutes. i feel particularly in need of sugar so end up having coffee and cake anyway.
10 - The internet is back up (hurray!) Made appears over the garden wall and hands me some bags of shopping. he’s taken to going to the market every morning which he says makes him feel like a housewife, but did i ask to be a breadwinner? no.
Kids are now fighting over the kindle so i bribe them outside again with crisps. house now looks like a bomb has hit it (see photo). I need another coffee. i don’t even attempt to start work as i know i’ll be interrupted every 5 mintues but as i have internet again, i read a few blog posts while i’m consuming more caffeine
11 – Made arrives home with a rooster and asks me for a needle and thread so he can sew up a large gash in its leg. I wish I was joking about this. The kids get an impromptu lesson in vetinary skills.
12 - Kids are busy outside with Made which is my cue to sneak upstairs when they’re not looking. at this time he usually takes them over to the inlaws house for the afternoon and it’s my chance to actually get some work done in peace. they haven’t figured out yet that i’m going upstairs instead of out of the house but as soon as they do, i’m going to have to come up with another plan. they won’t leave if they know i’m still at home.
2pm - been 2 hours and the only ‘work’ i’ve got done is replying to emails and coming up with article ideas. rubbishy stuff that needs to be done but i don’t get paid for it. need to get stuck into writing but i’m starving so will have to break for lunch first. I cook vegetables and tofu (this is making it sound like I eat really healthily but i don’t – I basically eat half vegetables and fruit and half cake and biscuits).
I eat my lunch while replying to messages on airbnb. eat 3 mangosteens for desert.
2.50pm - I grab a glass of water and head back upstairs to get some work done. I like to move around while i work instead of staying in the same place. plus the chair upstairs is really uncomfortable. but i’m less distracted up there and i can stare out of the window at the rice fields. It’s nearly 3pm and I haven’t written anything yet. Argh. Plus my internet seems to be down again. Probably because it’s raining. Now i can’t decide what to work on first. Desperately resisting the urge to make more coffee
3.12 - I’ve only been writing 15 minutes and i’m already fed up. 500 words down. I have about a million tabs open on my browser for research and the internet has gone down again. Is it coffee time yet? I get up and stare out of the window a bit while i wait for the internet to work again. It’s stopped raining.
3.18 - I stop staring out of the window because there’s a guy peeing in the rice field and I don’t want to watch him. i also realised that I left the kids craft projects from this morning drying on the wall and they’re now soaked from the rain. Internet still down. at this point i would normally go do some reading on my kindle so i can still be vaguely productive without internet but i realise the kids have stolen it.
3.21 - Internet back up – hurray!
3.34 - It’s blowing a gale out there and i’m freezing – just like being back in the uk!
3.37 Internet down again. Sigh. Too windy? Time for a break I think. Back downstairs.I play some music (I miss music as I can’t concentrate while it’s on when i’m writing) while i tidy up the kids toys. There’s a huge thunderstorm going on outside and it’s so dark i have to put all the lights on.
4pm - I make coffee number 4 (obviously trying to drink less coffee isn’t going quite to plan today) and cross my fingers that internet is up again – it is! Back to work…
4.40 - First draft of article pretty much done (but will need another hour or so of editing before it’s ready to submit). a good thing too as the internet has gone down again Read a couple of blog posts I already had open in the browser.
5pm – I need a proper computer break and some fresh air so I walk over to our other house to have a shower (it has hot water!!)
5.50 I’m back, done the dishes from earlier, grabbed an apple and it’s editing time. Internet is still broken but i don’t need it for editing (luckily). all the same i call made to ask him to complain to our internet provider (again)
6.50 - Kids back, work is over!
I didn’t keep track after this but it’s basically kids playing/watching TV/reading to them until they pass out. Then I pass out. I guess I eat dinner at some point. Then wake up and do it all again tomorrow!
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