Things I Learned This Weekend

Women can fix the world

I had dinner on Friday night with five amazing, fun, smart, witty women. Over much white wine, we covered pod-casts, sex education, cyber-bullying, running, decluttering, books, blogs, the glass ceiling, tennis, part-time work, and the scary future that is parenting teens. And we had ginger mojitos, looking out at the sea. By the time we got taxis, we’d solved everything. I just can’t remember what the solution was.

Breakfast is a dish best served alone

On Saturday morning, my husband brought me breakfast in bed – pastries and coffee – yum. And in a shock move, the kids ate the pastries. On Sunday morning, while the kids were watching TV, my husband brought me another breakfast in bed. I ate it while reading a book, with every last crumb just for me.


I learned how to spell learned

I usually write learned, not learnt. Then one editor corrected something I wrote to learnt. So I switched. Then another editor corrected it from learnt back to learned. So this weekend I googled it, and it turns out both are fine, but learned is more common. There you go.

WAHMs – I Salute You

As the countdown to summer holidays rolled on last month, one cohort of parents in particular were bracing themselves with an odd mixture of relief and outright fear. On the one hand, it’s great to have no more school-runs, no more homework, and a break for the kids. But for WAHMs, who work while the kids are at school, there’s a problem – how to keep going while the kids are off?

If you work for yourself, taking the summer off is an option, but not one that everyone can afford to take. Not working usually means not earning, and can also mean missed opportunities or lost clients. Scaling back is feasible for some, but for others, the only solution is a mix of summer camps and working while the kids are at home.

For me, newly self-employed, it’s not an issue this year. My smallest has been home with me since I finished up in my job in April, so I work at night, after they go to bed. School holidays are 100% a good thing this year – no school runs, no homework, and two big sisters to keep the small boy occupied. In theory at least.

Because we’ve been away, yesterday was day 2 of this new reality, and I was ripe for a bit of complacency.

The girls were making potions out of daisy petals, and the small boy was playing with Lego and singing to himself. Peace and harmony. A perfect chance to catch up on some admin. Not proper work that required actual thinking, just some emails and some spreadsheets. Lovely.