Sunny, Lazy Sunday...

Alhamdulillah I have had a long and busy Sunday which has made me look back and think.

Hubby came back from masjid and woke me up at 6.15am to ask if I wanted to go to the Dunton boot fair. We left the sleeping kids in the care of my brother-in-law and headed out for some bargain hunting. Managed to find some books, a few beads, and some old craft magazines to take apart. Mother-in-law is coming back to us next Saturday, so also picked up lots of flowers to beautify my garden as she spends lots of time out there (I doubt any of the vegetables I planted will grow as the boys have been jumping on and digging up the beds every chance they get). I had forgotten at this point that the weatherman had said it would rain that afternoon and I wouldn’t be able to plant them.

We got back home for 10.30 to find that the kids had taken the contents of the kitchen up to the bedroom (fruit, all sorts of nuts from different packets, cereal, yoghurt and little bottles of yoghurt. Their room was a mess and brother-in-law was looking around like he had no idea. I think hubby saw the look on my face and decided it was better he took charge of the clean-up before I exploded.

Usually waking up super-early doesn’t bother me, but I am wondering if I am feeling my age as I seem to need my sleep now. The early wake-up call and hours of wandering between stalls left me feeling slightly demented. Whilst hubby napped I got lunch ready for the boys. Hubby woke up and gave me and Little Lady a lift to Sister Umm Imran’s house for our monthly Mum and Muslim Magazine meeting (he then headed for work with Little Man in tow and brother-in-law was left with Gorgeous).

The meeting was long and intense - starting at 12.00 and lasting till 5.30 (with a lovely lunch served in between). Hubby would have been heading for a second job at this time, so I decided to take the bus home which should have taken 20 minutes. As we left the skies opened in a downpour and we managed to take a wrong turn somewhere and miss the bus stop. We walked one mile to the next bus route and took the bus into town and then walked home soaked and with me fretting that Little Lady was going to get sick.

I got her home at 7.30 and into her pyjama’s, in front of a heater with the hairdryer and then remembered that I had promised to get a card and gift for a work colleague. Knowing we couldn’t leave the kids alone, brother-in-law and I both raced for the front door – with me getting out first leaving him holding the fort again. Luckily my local neighbourhood has quite a few desi shops which have no sense of Sunday trading laws or concept of a sensible closing time. I found some hot pink diamante bangles and two scarves: one black one zebra print for a total of £15 and got back home within 15 minutes. Brother-in-law was out the door like a shot.

Managed to get the kids their dinner and cut them up a big plate of strawberries in the hope it would keep them busy long enough for me to pray my evening prayer in peace. Then started the bedtime routine a little later than usual. Quickly made a card for my colleague (black, pink and diamante to go with the gift) and put everything into a gift bag to assemble at work in the morning (might as well use work time as productively as I can).

Put one wash out, put a second in to the machine and folded a third. Prayed the night prayer, got my clothes ready for the morning just as hubby got home. He saw my slouching shoulders and decided to dish up for himself.

Watered the plants which never managed to make it to the garden and are now sitting in a tray in the kitchen, ate some chocolate and I am now sitting her typing this up before I go to bed. It made me think I am doing too many things and still wanting to do more when I should stop. I had lots of peaceful moments in between the busyness, the prayers help me to stop and recharge and pockets of time with the kids bliss me out, but I am still too tired on a Sunday evening when I should be relaxed and rested.

I thought back to a post I head read on Sister Kaffayah Abdulsalam’s blog which recommended that you list what you would like to do each day and then prioritise the top three. Anything else is a bonus. This would be tough because My number one and two are quality time with the kids and Quran with the kids. That leaves one more and I would like both me-time (which includes time spent with hubby) and some time to spend on my blogging/magazine work and other projects I am interested in. That make four main priorities, which is too much, three seems just about manageable. Seems like some three and four will have to alternate perhaps. Feels like a good way of approaching the busyness though, I think I will try it out. In the meantime, I have work in the morning, a piece of cake after the weekend.