New Tuesday Linky

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Anyone else find they have to make a special effort for you/me time since becoming a parent?

Well I don't often do it, but since becoming a SAHM (stay at home mum) it has become EVEN more necessary, as if that was at all possible.  Considering I have adopted "attachment parenting" I find it is something I neglect as I am with Aaron from sun up to sun down, but recent events have taught me, me time gives me back my sparkle, as the Mummy Whisperer has been saying to be for years!

Last week I had to use a Christmas voucher and used it for a haircut (overdue since about 7 months) and a pedicure (my toenails were hoofs) and I felt like a MILLION dollars afterwards.  Pity it was AFTER Cybher (which incidentally also gave me a spring in my step).

Anyway, #CountryKids forces us to remember to get some outdoor time so that we can showcase it.  #R2BC (reasons to be cheerful) forces us to find reasons to be cheerful, #SilentSunday forces us to be aware of great photo opportunities, and #MagicMoments forces us to consider what might have taken place that was magic enough to write about and share.  

So I thought it might be ideal, if we had something that gave us a nudge to put ourselves first once a week, or more often ;-)

The ME time doesn't have to have happened on a Tuesday, just link it up on a Tuesday.  You can do the post in the days before if you like, but I will have the linky open each Tuesday and will pimp your linked up post out for you.

Anyway, people often abbreviate THE INTERNET to t'internet, so I thought TUESDAY could read T'you'sDay, which translated means The You Is Day, with the T' being short for "the" and the 's being short for "is".  Get it? Still with me? Hope so!

So....... do you think you've had some ME time recently??? Can you write about it by tomorrow?

I will share the linky here and in tomorrow's post.  Grab the code above which the lovely Nickie and Liz helped me with.  The actual code instructions can be found at Code it Pretty.  The best place to store your badge image seems to be Photo Bucket.

Liska xxx

Dishes Dishes and More Dishes!

How does washing up work in your house?

I know a lot of couples say: "If I cook dinner will you wash up?" And in a lot of houses it goes without saying...

Well last Thursday I cooked a GORGEOUS dinner and hubby said he would wash up that night - me and Aaron went to bed.

That night he had cave man time down time instead and left me a note that he would wash up in the morning.  Next morning he only gets up with enough time to get ready for work so the dishes are left.  So I very visibly did them in front of him.  But then at a later time, I also had to do all the saucepans - I'd used Saladmaster and there were a lot to wash.

I was so angry I swore I would never make him dinner again (I do the bulk of the washing up since Aaron was born).  And after 2 years+ I have just about had enough.

Anyway yesterday I spent 3 hours tidying the kitchen followed by 2-3 hours cooking.

Dinner was beautiful and it was on the table the minute he got in from work.

He really enjoyed it and said he would wash up.

I knew he wouldn't and sure enough, neither last did nor this morning did he....

So as he is off today I went into his cave the study and asked why not.  First he tells me he will wash up when he runs out of dishes or cutlery.

When I looked absolutely aghast, he then said: "Well we don't have a clear sink policy do we?"

No, I may go to bed without washing up, as I quite often go to bed with Aaron but what he doesn't see is that I always then do the washing up the following morning (usually fuming as he never does).

Yes then there is washing up there again when he gets in, but it is different washing up.

BUT ever since I cleared the kitchen out to make room for the juicer I am trying to make more of an effort and have a kitchen I can be proud of, hence spending yesterday tidying it.

He always CLAIMS to want a tidy home, yet I find he does not meet me half way!

So then, he has stayed in his cave all morning this morning and then he came to the kitchen to throw his arms around me, about 30 minutes ago, to say "Aaron, you did not know Mummy was a champion ten pin bowler at University".

To which I said "No, Mummy is now a champion bottle washer" (when he'd approached me I was washing all of Aaron's bottles having already done last night's plates AND cutlery and sterilised all of Aaron's bath toys).

It was probably a white flag moment but as I didn't seize it as such, hubby stomped off.

Yes, Aaron is still on bottles at 27 months.  He has one every morning, at every afternoon nap, and every night.  I know a lot of people take them off them at 10 months and a few months after, but we are not following that model.

As with other things, I will know when he is ready.  (Plus he has never ever had a dummy).

Anyway, I digressed.

I am fed up of being Chief Bottle Washer!  I didn't know I would become a sterotypical wife, chained to the kitchen sink, just because we had a baby.

And it is not because I am out of work at the moment; he was like this even when I was busy doing long hours in my 3 days a week.

Fed up of it.  And yes, husband I DO WANT A CLEAR SINK POLICY!

The above has been on pause, not published yet... and now... I come back with a new gripe that happened at about 13:30 today:

Oh God about 10 minutes ago he said I need Jo Frost! Just because I wanted him to hold Aaron while I made scrambled egg on toast and because Aaron wanted me, he now thinks he is spoiled.

NO MAN! All you needed to do was read to him or engage him in some way and he would not have wanted mummy and neither of you would have needed to enter the kitchen, and this whole "Super Nanny" pointless conversation would never have happened.

God he makes me so angry my blood boils!

It would never have happened if he got on the floor and played with the trains with Aaron...!

Liska xx