Worrying about future worries: A total freak’s tale

Posted on November 8th, 2006 by Jackie Danicki

There is something very restorative about taking a few hours to do all of the “I’ll get to that later” online tasks that build up like so much tartar in the blink of an eye. Tonight I was digging the online dirt about certain companies for a family member (stay away from TotalProtect!), answering non-urgent, non-work emails, and Googling the doctor I’m seeing soon to check if he’s been convicted of drunk driving (like the last doctor had been).

So I do these things and feel relaxed and accomplished and yet there are still more of them to do, whenever I can make the time, which is hardly ever. I find myself wondering - as I do when I consider the utterly ridiculous amount of laundry that Antoine and I get through in a week, just the two of us - how I will be able to cope with all this when (if) I have a baby. The only answer I can see is a live-in nanny, and I’m not joking. I have no idea how you parents do it, though I suspect plenty of wine after 7PM may play a part.

Filed under: Children, Home, Life, Work

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3 Responses to “Worrying about future worries: A total freak’s tale”

  1. Chris Yeh, on November 8th, 2006 at 4:08 am Said:

    It’s pretty easy. You just eliminate all of the following from your life:

    TV
    Movies
    Alone time
    Dining out
    Seeing single friends
    Going to bars
    Going to clubs
    Going to parties
    Shopping for yourself
    Having a clean house

    Then just cut back on sleep by 3 hours per night, and you’re set!

  2. Paul Doleman, on November 8th, 2006 at 10:08 am Said:

    It’s an old one Jackie, but if you look around the house to finish all the things you started, but just didn’t quite get round to finishing - it has amazing effects.

    A friend of mine did this by getting up at 4:30am - looked long and hard at all the unfinished things around the house and by 8:00am had finished:

    - half a bottle of red wine,
    - half a bottle of white wine
    - half a bottle of baileys
    - half a bottle of vodka
    - half a packet of Prozac
    - 2 cigars
    - 3/4 of a box of chocolates
    - 1/4 of a packet of sherbet lemons
    - two slices of pizza

    They apparently had a great day and felt bloody marvelous on the way to work.

  3. Alice, on November 8th, 2006 at 5:41 pm Said:

    As one mother of four I used to gasp at said, “You just lower your standards.” Add a daily cleaner and a laundry lady to your list, and it’s easy to see why some people take career breaks :)