Writer's Workshop Wednesday ~ Rhi

Welcome to Writer's Workshop Wednesday!  This is my way of paying it forward to all the people out there who want to start writing, but don't have their own blogs yet, or who are established writers that are looking to appeal to a different audience.  I have also opened this up to those who would like to post anonymously about topics that are too difficult to write about publicly. Each week, I will host one or two posts by different writers.

I hope that you enjoy this series, I hope you find some new writers to follow, I hope this helps them out and I hope we can all learn something from them!

Up now is a submission from a novice writer, who goes by Rhi. This is her first public writing attempt, so please give her some feedback!

Thanks!

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It’s a real mad house around here. Three kids, two cats, and a dog are a lot to keep up with every day. Add in a full-time job for me and a more than full-time job for the Man of the House (he’s the technical director of the theatre in the town’s fine arts center) and it really is a wonder anything gets accomplished at all.

The kids are great. The oldest is almost 11 and very very smart, but without a lick of sense in his head some days. I called to see how his day was going at break the other morning and he had eaten three bowls of cereal. No big deal, right? Except I had just talked to him about eating a sensible amount of each food he chooses, and also we were nearly out of milk. No problem with the milk, he just used the ultra-pasteurized kind in the fridge. You mean the half and half? Ooooh. Is that why it tasted kind of funny? (He really can read, I swear.)

The Sister will be two in August and she is what you’d call a real pistol. She can swipe the cupcake that the dog stole off the counter and eat it in three bites as she escapes down the hall; always says “pease” and “thank you” and “bwess you”; will climb anything she can get her belly onto; loves Minnie Mouse; and is obsessed with looking at pictures on peoples’ phones.

The baby is the sweetest little guy. He is just three months old, but has the sweetest smile and a great head of hair. He was our biggest surprise after my Adiana procedure apparently didn’t heal correctly (and the doctor couldn’t read an x-ray right to let me know). It was very difficult to come to terms with having a third baby, especially so soon after just having one; but it’s working out alright so far.

Except that I am bat-shit crazy most of the time trying to keep up with the kids, the housework, and any other obligations there might be. Fortunately, The Man has really picked up most of the day to day housework slack and the Oldest is mostly willing to help pick up after his sister.

For a while I was really trying to just get it all done all the time, on about 3 hours of sleep and eight hours of working outside the home each day. Lately we’ve developed a better routine of just getting done what has to be done to keep the house from being an actual health hazard and ensuring everyone has a clean shirt and underpants for the next day. We’ve started exercising more, but not at the same time; so we each get some time to do what we want to do and no one is left at home with both little kids resenting that they aren’t having their turn.

The biggest change I have made is to focus more on what I am doing instead of trying to play and clean and go through the mail and make a grocery list and help with homework and make dinner and have an adult conversation all at once. I was so overwhelmed with my attempt to multi-task. Now I try to just do one thing (sometimes two, it’s hard to focus when you’re sleep deprived, and I forget what I am actually supposed to be doing) at a time. When I start feeling really grouchy at the kids, the house, or whatever, I make an effort to pick my battles and be more patient. That’s usually when the little one will bite the back of my leg because I took the scissors away from her (I don’t know how she finds them, I never can!), or the a-hole cat will steal the hotdog out of the middle of my chili dog while I am looking for someone’s blanket.

The other great big benefit to having nearly every waking moment filled with something that needs to get done is that I have mostly stopped smoking. I just don’t have time and I really don’t miss it. I don’t sit and watch TV for hours at time anymore either; if I do, I feel guilty that I could be doing something else.

It really is a great life; I just have to remind myself of that sometimes. I think more sleep would help. Also if the a-hole cat would stop stealing my dinner.