I feel like this weekend is turning into a pretty lazy one despite waking up with lots of plans and the best of intentions. The kids have definitely sussed out the difference between work days and non-work days and sadly know they can work their ticket a bit more when there’s two of us involved.
My amazing wife took one for the team this morning and dragged both of the tinkers downstairs so Daddy could have an extra hour in bed. Little did I know that was going to be important! I came down to find our lovely child free living room completely trashed, the furniture moved into unrecognisable positions and Frosties scattered across the carpet. “We are playing Daddy” came the explanation from the spokeswoman of the group. And so another day of chasing around after them and cleaning mess began.
In amongst the dull and dreary daily grind of looking after a house and kids, there were some lighter moments which makes up today’s top 5:
1. So, of course, today was a Runday and after the fun and indulgence of the Afternoon Tea yesterday I needed to get back in the zone. I’m not sure which zone but I avoided it for the first few hours until I accepted I just needed to go and do my 14k. As I stepped out of the front door and the sun shone down on me, my first thought was I need to make sure I pace myself as it’s getting pretty hot, yet my second thought was let’s go on a new route involving a massive climb up Ushaw Moor Bank! I felt really good for the first half, even holding myself back to maintain that all important pace but as the temperature crept up, so did the incline and I was cream crackered. My legs were numb and I could feel my nose beginning to burn. My plan was that however hard the incline, it did mean my last mile and a half would be all downhill which would make for a pleasant finish. Of course I forgot that by that point running downhill with exhausted legs actually is quite dangerous and slow as I tried to stop myself from toppling over. I was so hot, sweaty and sore when I finished I just collapsed in the garden which M simply saw as an opportunity to sit on my stomach and ride me like a horse! Thank goodness I can rest tomorrow before another tough week with 4 runs in it. Thank you so much to those who have sponsored so far – it’s all going to Brain Tumour Research in memory of Sharky so please give what you can – the link is here. 🏃♂️ 🦈 ☀️
2. After seeing lots of the kids in the street mastering their bike riding during lockdown, E announced today that she had had enough and she wanted to learn. Now we’ve tried before to master this important life skill with very limited success but there’s nothing like a bit of self motivation. Steph did some work in the garden with her and she came on really well. The only real problem was her little brother trying to help and he kept running front of her so he could ring her bell and ask kept picking dandelions from the garden (the only colourful thing that I see capable of growing) and putting them into her basket. It’s over to Daddy tomorrow to take her out onto the street and carry our some speed work… 🚲
3. We had a lovely FaceTime call with my mum this evening. The kids get so much joy from speaking to her and discussing their respective days and I’m pretty sure she feels the same. If they are really lucky, sometimes Grandma reads them a story over the video call. Well tonight the roles were reversed as E read Grandma a story. The photo is below but essentially Grandma was propped up on the coffee table (sober of course!) whilst E pretended to read the story of Little Red Riding Hood from a cookbook. It was a very cute scene and lots of imagination was going into the story which did vary a fair bit from the original if I recall! 📖
4. We had a bit of a food emergency tonight when we realised that we had nothing in for the kids’ tea. Even the emergency drawer in the freezer, you know the one, full of beige coloured food which you don’t really want to give to the cherubs but sometimes needs must, was empty. I went to the cupboard and found the rice crackers that Steph had bought as snacks for the kids. Poor kids. Being forced to eat dust! The only thing I could find in the fridge was some bacon. So I shouted through to E to ask if she wanted a bacon sandwich for her tea. And she shouts back “No Daddy, that is for my breakfast. Bacon for breakfast is lovely. Bacon any other time is yukky.” Tough, I thought, and she blooming well had bacon. And she ate is all up and she loved it. Win for Daddy! 🥓
5. Saturday night is now a double quiz night with hosting the swimming club quiz at 7pm before taking part in the Virtual Quiz with the in laws at 8pm. Tonight was a stonker with some cracking scores in the first quiz (and a very tight top 5) and then we romped to a very impressive 48/51 in the second. I’ll confess my brain hurts a little now after spending most of the afternoon writing the quiz but I get a few days off before the next one now. Physically and mentally exhausted – perhaps it wasn’t as much of a lazy day as I had thought! 🧠
LawyerLow Diaries 