I have to admit to being completely and utterly unprepared in the blog writing world this week. It was Labour weekend this weekend so a long overdue 3 day holiday and I made the decision on Friday night to make it a technology free one. So this morning is the first time that I have been on a computer since Friday! I went on my phone for exactly 10 minutes on Sunday morning just to check that the All Blacks had indeed won their semi-final match and not come down with some unexplained case of food poisoning (ha!) and again on Monday to look up lemon trees because for a minute there when I nearly stabbed my eye out with the biggest sharpest thorn you have ever seen I began to wonder what the hell I had bought myself! Who knew lemon trees had thorns?! I certainly didn’t.
It was a very productive weekend and a very expensive one! The weather turned out to be brilliant after a forecast of rain for three days suddenly evaporated and left us all scrambling excitedly deciding what we wanted to achieve first.
You know those times where you have so much you want to do and so many things you want to buy that you don’t even know where to start? What I normally do with times like that is buy myself a large coffee and sit in the sun for two four hours doing nothing. Sometimes nothing is exactly what you should do when you have so much to do you don’t know where to start. Makes perfect sense! So Saturday I read a book. Yes, I read a WHOLE book. The boys darted around the deck on their bikes, Finn in his Little Tykes car making regular stops at my lazyboy chair that was half hanging out the open bi-fold doors.
‘Mummy, I go to Pak’n’Save and get ice-cream!’
‘Ok, off you go!’
‘Mummy! I forgot the yoghurts! I go back!’
‘Uh huh’
‘Mummy, I bought you a coffee!’ *hands me his toy phone so I can pretend to drink it before it gets snatched back* ‘It’s yucky! Yucky mummy! I take it back!’ (Oh dear, a mini me in the making!)
It was bliss! The boys were happy and I whipped my way through a fantastic book that I couldn’t put down (Lisa Unger – Crazy Love You. Read it!).
Sunday was the day to start being productive. I started by decluttering my clothes drawers and wardrobe, being ruthless and tossing away anything the had a hole, didn’t fit or I never wore.
Then I decided I wanted to start on the garden.
One small unpredictable problem with this idea – children. Small children (the toddler and pre-schooler kind) can make what should be an easy trip to the garden nursery a nightmare. I have a favourite plant nursery in a picturesque part of my home city and we decided to go for a drive on Sunday afternoon, first stopping to check out a beautiful stream that has a camping ground that you can literally turn up and pitch tent with no booking required AND you can light an open fire so it’s perfect for our little family to try out camping for the first time (well, first time since the husband and I snuck off when we were 12 years old, I’m hoping he’s learnt a thing or two since then!). We stopped at an ideal site to check it out, whipped out the picnic blanket and within 5 minutes one child had fallen in the stream and the other had fallen down a steep bank. I should have taken that as an omen, oh how I should have! But no, I decided to press ahead with the decision to take two small children (did I mention they hadn’t had a sleep that day?) to the plant nursery.
They took this as an invitation to run riot.
Finn spotted the only big deep muddy puddle and proceeded to jump in it before taking off at rocket speed towards the other end of the place (and this place is huge!) while Cohen decided it was ok to jump on someone elses trolley for a ride (those big two wheel jobbies). They then got so hyped up that they wouldn’t calm down or listen and ran out (with me yelling and running behind them) into the carpark and nearly got taken out by a car. Oh how they got told off and banished to Nana’s house after that while we went to their favourite store without them: Bunnings. Already hyped up crazy children and Bunnings where balloons on sticks are aplenty and now the invention of the blow up hammer and mini trolleys. Recipe for disaster.
In the end our day trip resulted in 4 shrubs I have no idea what to do with (they were hastily thrown on the trolley inbetween screaming and chasing bouts) or where to plant (and because it’s a nursery and not a garden centre they come with no identifying tags so I have no idea what I bought, nor where to put them or how large they grow!) and a lemon tree with spikes which has been planted in the biggest pot you have ever seen that I picked up for $50 while hunting for camping gear (always the way!).
Monday was spent weeding while my 4 year old thought it hilarious to pick up the biggest worms he could find and chase me with them ‘They’re not scary mummy! They’re just worms! Hold them!’. I am proud to say that I did manage to get the pots on my deck all decked out in flowers and greenery though, so I did manage to achieve something before we tossed the kids in the car, cracked open a Corona on the beach and let the kids bury themselves in sand.
What did you get up to this weekend? Do you hate taking your kids out in public too? Do they have a habit of running wild?
Linking up with #IBOT @ Essentially Jess
That sounds like a fab weekend, Haidee. I love that you were able to take some much needed time out. I really need to do this.
Renee recently posted…Time to squeeze, so you can sneeze
You so should Renee, I swear my batteries recharged during that reading time. Or it may have been the large flat white my husband bought me home 🙂
I got the day off -very rare in our house. I did 7 Bridges walk. Was great fun….
Lydia C. Lee recently posted…First of the Month Fiction – Nov
Yay for a day off!!! What is 7-bridges walk?
My weekend was just that too. Had a funeral all day Friday, sports and friends birthday and party Saturday and netball tournament all day Sunday. By Sunday night I was way too tired to blog – now I have very little this week.
Natalie @ our parallel connection recently posted…A letter to my daughters
Funerals aren’t much fun, hope it wasn’t someone you were too close to Natalie.
Sounds like a great weekend! I concur – sometimes, when the to-do list is overwhelming, doing nothing is the answer. (Although you went the other way after that few hours in the sun!) #teamIBOT
Emily recently posted…Family quirks
I think I got a second wind after that rest and the house does now feel a little lighter. We have a big skip bin arriving next week so will be at it again this weekend.
You crammed so much in there that I am surprised you’re still standing! Can you come do my place now?!
Jody at Six Little Hearts recently posted…Mormon Spiced Cake Recipe (Dairy Allergy Friendly)
Sure thing, you pay for the flights! 😉
I had the best Weekend- lunch with bloggy friends on Saturday followed by seeing Russell Brand. Sunday was Christmas shopping with the kids followed by a long soak in the bath. Bliss!
Amy @ Handbagmafia recently posted…So, You Think You Can Do Shift Work?
That sounds awesome Amy! I haven’t even started my Christmas shopping yet aside from the tent and sleeping bags for the kids. Eek! It’s closing in on me!
Yep, I was utterly overwhelmed with my insanely long to do list that I simply shut down. Screw it, the list can wait. Seems like you still got stuff done and read a book!
Malinda @mybrownpaperpackages recently posted…Taking the Sisterhood Offline
I hear ya Malinda, a lot of this I have been putting off in favour of blobbing on the couch in recent weeks!
Sounds like a crazy busy manic but a little bit relaxing weekend! Well done on getting through a whole book!
Mumma McD recently posted…The Docket Diaries â Week One â Bring me ALL the coffee!
It was actually a fantastic weekend, the sunshine definitely contributed to the happiness vibe! And the great book. And the coronas.
When I got to work on Monday people were talking about their weekends and asked me what I did. Honestly, I still can’t remember!
Vanessa recently posted…Time For A Break
Haha, I totally have weekends like that too!
I worked through my weekend, with a few kids parties thrown in for fun 😉 My garden is screaming for attention….its on the list for a few weekends time 😉
Josefa @always Josefa recently posted…Parenting Perfect Children
Sucky about work. Maintaining a garden is hard yakka! I have a blog post coming up about what NOT to do when starting a garden. I have sure learnt some valuable lessons in my second year of gardening that I wish I had known to do right in the beginning! Sure would have saved myself a lot of time and money.
It always, always seems like it’s going to work perfectly in our heads, then we actually go out in public with our kids, and it goes to shit. Every time. It’s like we trick ourselves into thinking, ‘This time it will be different. It has to be’. I had an indoor weekend as it was yuck weather here. Boring. But it was safer than being out in public with him ;).
p.s. oh yea, lemon trees and their thorns. I didn’t realise this either until I bought one.
Kelly recently posted…CATCHPHRASES PARENTS SAY TO THEIR KIDS – 2ND EDITION
I’m so glad someone else didn’t realise lemon trees had thorns either! Sharp little buggers they are too. Yep, the idea is always much much better than the reality. Next time I am going to leave them at home and tell them I’m just going to see a man about a dog 😉
You had such a fun weekend! Busy, as always, with kids! Ha ha I have to drink pretend coffee too – which is also yucky 🙂 Tell me you didn’t hold the worms – nooooo!! Mim x #IBOT
Mim recently posted…Do love Miffy? Here’s a giveaway for you! (Aus Residents)
No way! Worms are squirmy slimy mini snakes! Ugh! I am actually scared of worms, I think they are gross!
Ha ha thank goodness! They ARE mini snakes. Gross gross gross! x
Mim recently posted…Do love Miffy? Here’s a giveaway for you! (Aus Residents)
At least in NZ we only have worms to worry about because snakes are non-existent! Thank God!
I didn’t know that – I’ve moved to the wrong country! x
Mim recently posted…Do love Miffy? Here’s a giveaway for you! (Aus Residents)
I was all over the place on the weekend. Wearing cheerleading hat, then soccer mum hat, then mumager hat. Yeah. Too much to do. You did well though!! Productive. Gotta love that.
What a super mum you are Leanne! Well done you! 🙂
Weekends like that are my favourite! Pottering around the house and garden with the hubby and kids. No plans. Just chilling.
Hugzilla recently posted…A Love Letter to the Baby I Thought I Hated
I just love weekends in the sun! They’re rare around here at the moment. And I love hanging with my boys too (aside from the being chased by worms part!).
I wrote about my weekend on the blog as well. It was … interesting 😉
On the plant thing though – I took Charlie to Bunnings to get herbs as all mine were dead, spindly and needed to be sent to herb heaven. I bought mint, rosemary, chives, sage and basil and have since planted everything but the last two. They are still sitting in the cardboard box THREE WEEKS LATER so I feel your pain!! Hard to plant with bubba always around…
Rachel @ The Mama Files recently posted…A typical Sunday… with a one-year-old.
Haha! Mine are still not planted, will see if I can beat your 3 weeks! 🙂
I love the sound of a technology free weekend! My boy is 12, so his idea of fun involves being glued to the computer/Playstation/tablet. No dice! I drag him out on exciting adventures (like exploring the tunnels at North Head, going to the beach and trying to find which park has the coolest playground), have family board game sessions and make him help me with the not so exciting gardening.
This weekend was a quiet one – my partner was working and my boy wasn’t here, so I had a quiet one to myself. So much sunshine and gardening went on – bliss!
Meagan Kerr recently posted…Body positive hashtags to follow on instagram
It’s great Meagan! Especially when you use it for blogging and it can start to fry your overloaded brain! The break did me good. Do it this weekend!
Hahaha, I have visions of your little one chasing you with a worm! It sounds very similar to our visits to Bunnings. We had to bribe the girls to go on Sunday with them getting their face painted, but then I realised it was Sunday and wasn’t sure if the face painting lady was going to be there, thankfully she was! But of course only one wanted her face painted, while the other wanted to play in the playground. Then leaving they spotted the balloons on a stick (which my husband hates), which we got one so they’d stop complaining, only to have burst when Hubby put them in the boot of the car! So in the end he was happy, girls unhappy! PS. Go the Wallabies! 🙂
[email protected] to the park recently posted…Another dose of mother guilt
A trip to the nursery or Bunnings with my boys is always a recipe for disaster too! What could be a lovely trip selecting plants etc, ends up being a whirlwind trip, grabbing stuff and getting out of there before the tantrums escalate or something gets broken! Glad you managed some time to read your book though, I’ll have to check that one out.
Emma @ Life, kids and a glass of red recently posted…DIY chalkboard