What is the natural enemy of the mother? What is the natural enemy of the writer? Surprisingly they are often the same in my world!
Enemy #1: Corn flakes. Whenever I pour milk on a bowl of corn flakes, no matter how slowly or carefully, the milk splashes one or more flakes at the perfect angle and causes the milk to shoot from the bowl in a high arc. The mom in me has to clean it up. The writer in me is annoyed it splashed on my manuscript I was about to mail out.
Enemy #2: Phineas & Ferb. This show is just too hysterical. It took them days to figure out all the mimes were trapped in real invisible boxes? Genius. The mom in me has a hard time saying "no more TV" when this is an option. The writer in me wants to ditch anything I'm working on to watch it too.
Enemy #3: Blogs. I want to read them & write them all the time! The mom in me wants to ignore the pleas of my children to play board games/get snacks/clean up the mess the cat just made. The writer in me wants to learn/network/comment to a fault. Self control is essential here!
Enemy #4: The Library! Plain and simple, the library has taken over my life. I spend all my free time trying to figure out if I have time to go to the library, if the books are due back to the library, if my hold is in at the library, if all of our library books are in our library bag, trying to find my library card so I can renew things on-line, and on and on. And to make matters worse, the library is having their semi-annual book sale this week and my kids are on fall break! This means I'm going to have to take them with me and have a knock-down-drag-out fight with my mother self and my writer self about how many books the kids can get and how many books I can get. Oh, library, you evil den of booky goodness!
Any one care to add to my list?
I can relate to most of these, especially the library one. The mom and writer in me also has trouble with kids in the bookstore. But in the end, both are after the same thing: encouraging my kids love of reading. Though the mom in me thinks we shouldn't get any more because I'm getting tired of always having to pick them off the floor after the kids have finished reading (though they claim they're still reading even though they're no where near the books).
ReplyDeleteToo funny! Also, I am totally with you on Phineas and Ferb. The show is brilliant.
ReplyDeleteAlso, the blogosphere is a big black hole for me. If I'm not careful, I could easily end up doing nothing but reading and blogging. I learn a lot, but I've had to make sure my actual "writing" has some room on the schedule too.
I think we have the same life!! I would LIVE at the library if I could, barring those uberembarrassing days when the kids sit down in front of the entrance and refuse to move, rocking to and fro with just the amount of pressure to cause the sliding glass door to OPEN and CLOSE and OPEN and AAAAGHH!
ReplyDeleteP.S. You forgot about Mommy Guilt, but that's okay - we don't need to go there. ;-)
Blogging is like crack. Avoid both!!
ReplyDeletehttp://historywasneverlikethat.blogspot.com/
Blogging, email, household chores, food preparation and shopping. No particular order. And Enemy Number 1? Tiredness.
ReplyDeleteSleep just aint like it used to be pre-motherhood.
I agree with Theresa. Blogging is like crack. I have yet to find a balance.
On behalf of public librarians everywhere, let me apologize for being so awesome. Just kidding! Don't skip the library whatever you do, we need all the sane ones we can get to make up for the crazy cranks...please trust me on this!
ReplyDeleteI hear ya about the library. (And the corn flakes, but I'd rather talk about books.) My parents never took me to a book sale, though (you are such a good mom!), so I had to start taking myself when I was old enough, and twice a year I saw the look of horror on my parents' faces when I walked into their home with two bags full of books. Hee hee hee.
ReplyDeleteI've been assured by a local librarian that my fines for forgetting that the library would like their books back now, please, are really helping to keep the local libraries going. Too bad I can't count them as a charitable contribution.