I am the first to admit that drinking wine the night before does not a happy morning mummy make. I get a lot more irritable and buttons are easier to push.
Realising that if I want calmer, more serene mornings then the wine and other select beverages needed to be reduced, drastically. So last night, for the first time in forever, I had nada, zip. Obviously it meant I took ages getting to sleep, spending hours going over all the shit that needed doing over the next 17 years, in minute detail.
- If I get those English cards laminated tomorrow then I won’t be rushing doing it right before class next Tuesday night…
- Shit, Ryu needs to be picked up at 12:30 tomorrow. Why do we even pay for care until 2pm when there are so many short days…
- Should I wake Ryu up to go for a pee?
- Maybe I’ll make Mondays ‘Masterchef Mondays’ and actually spend more than 45 minutes in the kitchen. We can all sit at the dining table and I can teach the kids how to use a knife and fork properly.
- Ryu will still only be 15 when hub retires. Fuck, I hope he gets a big retirement payout. I shold probably ask him.
- I really need to ring that woman about her wanting me to start a class for 1 year olds. I don’t want to cause Chiemi told me she was a bit scary. Must put on big girl undies tomorrow.
- Is that Hub’s foot? Is it a suggestive toe tickle? or just a spasm? Perhaps if I ignore it and lay still he’ll think I’m asleep.
yaddah, yaddah.
After a few wines it is more…
- na night darling
- I should probably wake Ryu up to pee… zzzzzzzzzz
Or the alternative version…
- na night darling
- Oooh, hello head in my boobs
- shag shag
- loo
- zzzzzzzzz
So, despite the lack of actual sleep last night it doesn’t compare to being sleep deprived when you have a baby and two toddlers. I didn’t wake up thinking I better be extra diligent today or I actually might end up throwing offspring out the car window.
I got out of bed in a quite sprightly manner. About as much of a jump as I could muster in fact. My head was that bit clearer and I didn’t need to join the queue of people wanting the loo. I remembered that if I wanted coffee in any stage other than stone cold I had to make it promptly and drink it before the countdown to door time started – which in my head starts at about thirty minutes before we actually have to be in the car.
I realized halfway through the morning routine that the kids were behaving exactly the same, but my response time to back talk and my tolerance was at a higher level than mornings after wine. Marina even made her own toast – from start to finish. We only got a real two-slice toaster a month or so back, and because our system kitchen came with NO power points and the ones in the wall are taken up with the fridge, rice cooker and microwave, I haven’t really had the toaster in a ‘user-ready’ state much. Need to plug the fucker in beside the TV.
Anyhoo, she got a piece of bread and just looked at me, what do I do now mummy? I am in the middle of a beautiful few sips of teetering-on-almost-passable-heat coffee and say ‘just put the bread in and push it down’.
So she did, exactly like I said.
Of course I had to retrieve the squashed piece of bread, reshape it and indicate the leaver on the side of the equipment that she needed to press down on.
We all got out the door and in the car on time, with Shou only telling me I was the worst mother in the world once. Progress.
Have a good day ya’ll
SDGH&QL
Silly Bollocks 
Well done Katy!! School just went back today and they were so keen to go that they were ready an hour earlier than needed… bet that will last AGES… not!! Haven’t read your blog in ages (sorry!) but laughed as per usual, toaster story was classic 🙂 Love Nicole x
Hi ya!! I don’t think I could handle the summer holiday in NZ – here my kids go to summer school, which is just a play for all, but still! Better now that they are older and not getting into as much trouble anyway (touch wood).
Nicely done!! I hope Marina enjoyed her toast !
Hooray for a clearer head. As much as I don’t want to admit it, drinking doesn’t really work for me anymore. It messes up my sleep, makes me tired the next day and if I drink too many sugary drinks I can go a bit psycho.
On a different note, have you ever considered the possibility that you ‘suffer’ from anxiety?
I hadn’t really thought about it before! Just presume I suffer from ‘international marriage’ and ‘small children’ syndrome 🙂
Oh my gosh, the toaster story – brilliant!!
I know I do tend to feel better in the mornings if I don’t have much to drink the night before, just need that discipline 🙂
oooo discipline, where art thou :p Definitely not anywhere near here on a Friday, that’s for are 🙂
Love it, this whole post made me laugh. Especially Marina literally pushing the toast down. My days of trying to get everyone out of the door in the morning are not that long past, and when everyone finally was out of school that’s probably the same time too much wine in the evening stopped too.
This is good news to hear, thank you 🙂
Marina has since learned how to use the toaster properly!
Oh come on, not your blog going by the wayside, too….
With the sudden or steady deaths of ‘Midlife Crisis in Japan’ and ‘Always Leaving Things Unfinishe…’ and man, really many more great blogs from non-Japanese women in Japan…
….your blog was the last and most steadfast one standing along with a smal handful of others…
…Please don’t drop the blog. You have real history here. You know? I daresay we’ve all seen your kids grow up and vicariously been with you otherwise. Please stick around.
Thank you 🙂 Not by the wayside just yet, I don’t think. I used to love waking up, getting the kids off to whatever, coming home and having a coffee while catching up on blogs! Nobody on my old blog list blogs anymore! Sad indeed. I really should set aside time every day – especially coming into bat shit crazy time of year, PTA bollocks yaddah yaddah. Gotta be some good stories in there 🙂
Hi Gw, can I rant in your comments section? I’m so pissed at my mum at the moment and don’t think anyone near me would understand. I’m pregnant with my first child and I’m your age. And today I found out that my mum, who btw coudn’t stop nagging me last few years to have a child, have been telling around that I probably can’t have one. She told that to my mil too, and when I asked her about it she doesn’t seem to understand why am I pissed about it. She said since I’m married for few years and don’t have children, she automatically assumed that i can’t have any,and that she was concerned for me and did nothing wrong. Oh, and she even said that I should have children earlier and that it is pure luck that i manage to concieve now. Maybe i’m insensitive and ungrateful for having a mum who cares?!, but sometimes she annoys me sooooo much. I think the biggest issue for me is that she won’t acknowledge that she is wrong. Am i too sensitive, would thiss push your buttons? Sorry for the tottaly off topic comment, but I’ve been reading your blog for a while now and you seemed like you would understand, although i will like you all the same if you don’t agree with me 😉 and sorry for mistakes in english grammar, i’m in constant battle with english tenses 😀
I don’t think you’re being too sensitive at all! Congratulations on your pregnancy 🙂 Regardless of what your mum thinks she shouldn’t be gossiping to other people, especially your MIL, about whether or not you can, are, or want to get pregnant! There is caring and there is getting in your business! I am sure she is super excited about your pregnancy though.
I remember when I rang mum up with the news about my third pregnancy and her response was ‘Oh Katy, really’ – in a non enthusiastic way! Faark I was pissed off. Also had a lot of dramas with MIL whilst pregnant – she had a lot of unwanted advice about stuff!
Feel free to rant away. Probably safer to do it here than straight to your mum or MIL 🙂
And i’ll try and keep posting regularly. Thanks for reading. x
And please keep writing. I sooo look forward to your posts and your rants about life 😀