I need a plan.
Working from home is wonderful, but having all of my life based from home means that work, kids, the business, volunteering, housework and down time all merge into one. If I switch the laptop on to update a record on the Guiding database, I end up also writing the agenda for the next WI meeting, seeing what is happening in Twitter, writing press releases to try and attract leaders for the local Brownie unit, checking another unit’s records to see if they managed to move Rainbow Maisy to the Brownie waiting list and looking up a random person on Wikipedia which leads to another person, and another and another. I’ll go into the Craftyguidelets’ bedrooms to quickly collect their washing and I’ll put their library books back in their bags, arrange the teddies on the bed, sort through the wardrobes for hangers, dig out all the used tissues, empty their bins, which in turn leads to emptying all the bins, sorting the recycling and so on.
Right now I’m supposed to be tidying up the office, but going downstairs to fetch the stepladder, I also collected my diary and to do list, and brought my laptop upstairs to check on my planner which has led to me thinking of a couple of blog ideas to note down, and I’d better check my emails, and there are a couple of corrections to do on the WI newsletter and eldest will be a Guide after Christmas so I wonder if she’s done enough to be awarded her Music Group badge as soon as she joins… See, I’m hopeless!
I’ve recently started investigating bullet lists and planners to try and get more focused, and with the extended Easter holidays ending next Tuesday, and therefore all my Guiding starting up again, a plan is needed.
Are there any methods that have worked for you?
In February, I finished Secrets of the Singer Girls by Kate Thompson. I really enjoyed this book, despite it not being something I would normally pick up. Having enjoyed Home Fires on ITV recently about a rural WI during the outbreak and early months of WWII, I think I saw this book as a recommended read so put it on my Kindle. It’s the story of a young girl, sent into London from the countryside, and the women she meets at a garment factory in Bethnal Green. Each woman had a story to tell, and some of the stories of what they had to endure during the war years were quite harrowing. The Bethnal Green tube station disaster was also included in the story. There were uplifting parts too, including the way the women looked out for each other in their community.
The other book I read was Best Friends by Jacqueline Wilson. This was a recommendation from my 9 year old daughter as it’s her favourite book of the many hundreds of books she gets through. I’ve never read any Jacqueline Wilson books before so it was quite interesting to see what her books were like. I did enjoy the story, but I think I read it as a mother rather than the BFF girls in the story. I’m getting far too sensible in my old age!
