Where is That Minion I Ordered?

Worker, Freelancer, Parent, Friend, Cleaner, Chef, Chauffer, Laundress, Volunteer...

It's Sunday morning. I can hear two teenagers having a rap war in the kitchen, who can be fastest? Sam was rapping recently and I said, "That sounds like Eminem - he was a poet." Sam was stunned, because guess what, it IS Eminem! When did Eminem come back? They are cooking up a storm, and I'm sipping my coffee and watching Max play Skyrim. He goes to bed early on the weekends, so he can get up early and have the Command Centre all to himself in the mornings.

When I've finished my coffee and my blogging, I'll hop up and clean - the kitchen, currently being trashed by omelette-making boys; the lounge, sprinkled with pine needles and playing cards and sofa cushions; the heap of packaging in the landing which will not fit in the recycling bin but will have to go outside; the boys' landing upstairs which is having a clutter crisis.

I'm aiming to blog every day, again. But not tomorrow, since after work I'll be doing the chauffer/chef thing and then heading out to a volunteer's meeting nearby. We're getting the NCT going again in South Dorset, so if you can give some time get in touch!

Aquila Magazine - I LOVE writing for children,
 I wish I could do this every day!
One thing that always suffers when I'm super busy is marketing my freelance writing. I get repeat jobs, but there is nothing new on the horizon. A very boring state of affairs! I will have to make some time for a pitching session.

From time to time, I get someone to come in and help me do a proper clean. Dusting and polishing, cobwebbing, washing windows. For a freelancer this makes perfect sense. What I pay for two hours of cleaning help pays me back, since it would take me much longer on my own to do it, and I then have that time to do freelance work, which pays me way more.

Chas and Sam are deep in their exams- GCSEs are much more spread out these days, with assessments going on all the time. Sam is battling with chemistry, and all I can give him is a stern talking-to. "I hate chemistry". "It's just math". "Well I hate math". Chas and I revised oral Spanish the other day and passed. Their maths and physics are beyond anything I've ever seen, and apparently my diagram-drawing advice is not as good as Sir's. So I feed them and clean up after them, and they lock themselves in their rooms for epic revision sessions accompanied by Tchaikovsky at full volume. Or Dubstep. Or both, which makes me text them both: TURN IT DOWN!! Because yelling up the stairs is completely ineffectual.

Comments

Candygirlflies said…
I share your experience with teens taking exams... My Child Number One is deep in the thick of it, too. It is awful to realize that I am completely ineffective when it comes to "helping" with grade 12 math or science... But what REALLY frustrates us both is when I am asked to edit essays, only to be told "BUT I LIKED THAT PART!!" when I begin to make suggestions and corrections.

The hardest thing for me is not the helping... it's the stepping back and letting her do things HER way.

Tchaikovsky at full volume is also happening here, too!

Stay warm and dry--

CGF xoxo
Nan Sheppard said…
Heather, best of luck to your studying girl! Chas strongly recommends Tchaikovsky for revising. I used to play Vivaldi to him in the womb, and I wonder if that has affected his love for classical music? :)
I grew up with Vilvaldi too... used to hate it then.. but I love it now... interesting...Used to listen to Classic FM when Kate and I were feeling frazzled.

On another note Dan was shocked that could not do simple mental arithmatic... and tried to teach me a simpler way which just seemed more complicated. I then pointed out that he was hopeless at Grammar, which he refuted he was much better now that he does it everyday in his job. So I said my maths was not so bad if i did it everyday... Especially my excel spreadsheet amazingness! So I guess the moral to all this is that you have to keep at something to be good at it!!

Oh and, Nan, I remember when I was their last babysitting and Max was having trouble with Algebra (which I was always better at) and i just looked at it and thought... I have no idea how to help you! Just told him to pack it up and take it back to school and ask for more clarifiction. There is no shame in asking for help.

We are all good in our own ways and can reach heights never imagined... just have to stretch sometimes! =)