I Never Get Anything Done on Weekends

Weekends are supposed to be the time for working mums to catch up on the lost list of errands that accumulate during the week. But I never get anything done on weekends. Well…almost never.

Saturdays for me typically start with a trip to Tesco Hypermarket. Why Tesco? Coz they open at 8 am, that’s why (and their prices are much lower than the supermarket that’s a mere 5 minutes from our house). At such an early hour, I don’t have to jostle through a huge crowd to push my trolley or fight my way through a gaggle of makcik-makcik (aunties) to pick out the biggest shrimps or wait forever in a queue to have my fruits and veggies weighed and tagged at the weighing station.

Such trips to the hypermarket normally take an hour, but if the kids decide to tag along, it can drag up to 3 hours, depending on how many kids I have with me. They help me push the trolley (sometimes, it becomes a tug of war of sorts, as I try to maneuver the trolley one way, while RoundBoy pulls it another way!), run to the weighing station with a precious bag of broccoli (they LOVE broccoli!), tick items off my shopping list (sometimes they even prepare the shopping list, complete with little check boxes on the side), grab stuff off the shelves and arrange them in the trolley (non-food items, tins and boxes, frozen stuff, cold stuff, fresh items, fragile items). The highlight of the shopping trip for them is when they get to pick out some snacks for themselves. Their current favourite? Sushi! And since Tesco strategically positions by the checkout counter several ice cream freezers and small glass-door refrigerators filled to the brim with drinks, they often indulge on ice cream cones and some drinks while waiting for the cashier to finish doing his thing.

So why does grocery-shopping take top priority in my to-do list? Because if I fail to go, the kids won’t have anything to munch on throughout the weekend and for the rest of the week. Sometimes, as early as Thursday, my eldest son would start reminding me “Mama, we’re out of fruits” or “Mama, we need some fresh milk“. (I don’t allow junk food and just keep the fridge filled with fruits and yogurt and the kids love it.)

I spend the rest of the day just hanging out with the kids — watching TV, playing board games or computer games, doing some origami, preparing them snacks, chasing after the twins. Oh, but I make sure I get to put a few loads of laundry into the washing machine in between. Despite having a maid, I’m quite anal about doing the laundry myself because I like to keep my whites white and my coloureds in their original colour! ;)

Watching TV with the kids is important for me because I get to monitor what they watch. For instance, after seeing how violent or adult-oriented the cartoons in Cartoon Network can be, I’ve locked that channel ever since. Sometimes, when watching a movie or sitcom with them, I squeeze in a comment or two in between, just so they know what’s okay and what’s not, what’s real and what’s fantasy. And more importantly, watching TV with them helps me understand their world so much better. For instance, I know what RoundBoy means when he asks for a green plate because he’s “grass-type”, thanks to those hours I spend watching Pokemon with them.

Sometimes, we cook small things like pancakes or ‘Eggs in a Nest’ or chocolate chip muffins. Just imagine the chaos in the kitchen with 3 pairs of hands helping out”! The kids just love to cook and even attend cooking classes during school holidays. And DH is the lucky one who gets to taste-test everything. I remember the time I made some melt-in-the-mouth Orange Mini Muffins With Brown Sugar Glaze (thanks to the Pioneer Woman! I still can’t decide which one I love more — her recipes or her photographs or her sassy writing…), DH groaned and asked me how can he possibly not gain weight when I keep on cooking such irresistible stuff? ;)

When the twins are having their nap (and I’m not napping with them), I sometimes rush to the bank (RHB Bank is open 10am-4pm on weekends, thank goodness!) or to the dry cleaners’.

When the weather is not so hot by late afternoon, I do some weeding in the tiny patch of land in the driveway so that the flowers don’t get choked by weeds, while the twins frolic in the small inflatable pool and the bigger kids play with their bikes. Sometimes, we ignore the mosquitoes and stay for half an hour or so at the nearby playground, to allow the kids to let off some of their boundless energy… especially my eldest!

My eldest in action…

On some weekends, DH grills lamb chops and chicken wings with the kids. What kid can resist playing with fire with their father? ;)

Once in a while, we go to the river behind the zoo. The river’s not that great, but it’s quite clean and kids just looove the water (I’d pick a river anytime over a chlorinated swimming pool). And DH does the grilling (burgers taste best grilled!) while I splash around with the kids.

Sure, I nag them about taking a bath and picking up their toys and doing their homework, but it’s evident that the kids revel in my presence. Even if I’m just sitting in a corner reading a book or trying (key word is trying) to get some work done on my laptop (or in tonight’s case, get this post finished), they’re more than content, as long as they can run to me for a quick hug and kiss, as long as I’m there to listen to them when they regale me with stories about the butterfly that they managed to ’save’ in the garden after its wings got torn, as I long as I’m there to admire the paper planes that DH made for them, AS LONG AS I’M THERE, even if just to peel and cut up some fruits for them to munch on.

My bag is still unpacked since my Jakarta trip and I’ve to start packing soon for my Bangkok trip this Monday. Tons of photos are waiting for me to be sorted out and placed inside photo albums that are still wrapped in plastic. There’s a working paper that I still need to finish and a quotation to a potential customer in Vietnam that I need to email ASAP. And lots of things still need to be ticked off my to-do list.

But I just can’t help it. I absolutely ‘never get anything done’ on weekends!

Am I complaining? Not at all. I don’t care one bit. The kids are happy, DH and I are happy, and I can die in my sleep tonight without any regrets because I got to spend quality time with my family.

As someone once said, no one ever said in their death bed, “I wish I spent more time at the office.” To that, I whole-heartedly agree!

Tags: family, quality time, working mom