Motivational Monday - Mama's day off

I decided on Friday night that I was taking Sunday off.  I informed my family, left a reminder note on the refrigerator's dry erase board and set to task on my chores so that I wouldn't have to play a lot of catch-up come Monday.  This was going to happen, I needed a day off.  Just because I'm a homemaker doesn't mean that I get to sit around all day doing nothing - personally, this "job" is a million times harder than anything I ever did outside the house.  I have guilt if I am not working around here - I have the luxury of staying home so I better make productive use of my time... at least that is what I tell myself.  After 4 years, I think I deserved a day off. So I busted tail on Saturday - because if I worked extra hard then, I might not feel so guilty the next day and actually take the day for myself... then I got a surprise.

Hobbit's shawl, blocking in my room

Sunday morning, I wake up a little after 8 a.m. and the house is quiet.  I try not to jump into panic mode when this happens because it doesn't always mean that Hobbit is up to no good - it was early and I let her stay up late the night before in hopes that I would be able to do just as I had done - get up when my body was done sleeping but before her.  I then toddled out of the bedroom to get a cup of coffee when I saw it... Pokey sitting at his computer.  It was Sunday morning.  He works on Sundays.  My foggy mind tried to make it all make sense but I ended up hugging his neck and asking if he felt alright.  He said that he was here so that I could officially have a "Mama's Day Off".  He was going to be me and I was going to be a figment of everyone's imagination today.  The rules were set before me - I could not do anything.  Plain and simple.  If I felt the urge to do something, tell him about it so he could do it.  I smiled at the thought because it was sweet but we would have to see how well either of us would actually do in the execution of the plan - I'm too Type A and he's too Type B but it's always the thought that counts.  I sat down at my laptop and he brought me my coffee, the day had officially begun.

It's coming out perfectly!

After fiddling around on here for about an hour or so, I went and got dressed... and then proceeded to have the most wonderful day that I've had in quite some time.  I watched "Footloose", "Save the Last Dance", "Ferris Bueller's Day Off", "Raising Helen" and "Definitely, Maybe"... uninterrupted.  I had breakfast, dinner and supper served to me in my comfy lazy boy.  I was able to finish and seam my first panel of my Nerd Wars dissertation, finish and block my Nerd Wars Nerd Culture submission and almost finish my Nerd Wars Scientific submission.  I even got the first two photographed and the Nerd Culture project submitted.  I am most definitely going to be gleaming the cube this week.

Hobbit spent the day joyfully in her room.  She wasn't punished, she was playing.  After four garbage bags full of stuff, she can actually enjoy her space.  She is working on putting things up when she is done but it's still a new concept for her so it wasn't 100% when I tucked her in but I'll straighten up the little bit after I get back from taking her to school today.

The kitchen was cleaned last night - something I don't really like to do when Pokey cooks because he makes such a mess.  The food is delicious but the mess is always triple what I would have made.  He scrubbed and loaded the dishwasher stuff in the dishwasher.  He scrubbed and soaked that which needed to be soaked and even came back later to finish so I wouldn't have it waiting for me today.

Lovely reminder of a lovely day.

At the end of the day, I felt recharged and relaxed.  It was exactly what I needed and Pokey agreed that once a quarter, I can relive it.  Taking time off doesn't mean that I'm lazy or uncaring, it's actually quite the opposite.  I realized that I had no patience and everything was turning me into a fuss-bucket with a hair-trigger.  I didn't like it and I know my family wasn't enjoying it.  That's when I decided that I needed a bit of time to decompress and just let all the knots out.  I know I bring it on myself since I don't really 'allow' anyone else to help out - a trait I get from my own mother... nothing is just as I want it so I might as well just do it myself and not get annoyed with the lackluster performance of others.  That mentality backfires after a bit and slowly a person starts to feel as though they do everything... which they do but it's by their own design.  Taking time to step out of the game lets others shine and you recharge... even if it's just for one day.

I have the most wonderful family for allowing me the time off but even more so for making sure I took full advantage of what was given to me.  Bring on the week, I'm ready to go!