How much do you outsource?

I am not talking at work.   I am talking about stuff around the house, personal stuff and for your kids.  Stuff that the mom traditionally used to do.  Would you outsource more if you weren’t restricted by finances or a weird sense of mommy guilt or do you enjoy doing the all stuff you do?

This conversation has come up in our family lately.  Especially with Little OL’s birthday party.  I did it all myself, designed and made the invitations and printables, made the cakes, biscuits and everything else, including the party boxes.  I even blew up all the balloons.  I however LOVE doing all that stuff (well maybe not the balloons part).  I love creating stuff, making stuff and being busy.  Mr OL on the other hands says he would gladly pay somebody to do it all.  He would prefer just arrive on the day.  I have told him that when all she wants to do is go to the Spur or something similar then he and his wallet are on duty.

It got me thinking about other aspects of my life.  How much do I outsource and if I outsourced more would it simplify my life and let me get on with doing more stuff I enjoyed or do I really enjoy what it is that I do anyway?  I do have a lady that cleans my house; she comes 4 days a week.  She does all the cleaning, laundry, ironing etc.  But, I have been wondering if I could utilise her time better for example by getting her to prepare the veggies for the evening meal?  We also have a garden service that mows our lawn and have had a gardener every other weekend.  (He went and got a full time job and we have not found another).

Then there is Little OL’s After Care, I work full time so am in an essence outsourcing the care of my child, prior to her going to day care / school we had a full time nanny/domestic.

There are so many services out there, au pairs, night nurses, transport to after school activities, pre-packed lunches, party planners, pool cleaners - the list is endless.  How many of these kinds of services do you use or plan to use as your child gets older or do you feel it your responsibility where feasible to do as much of it as possible?

 

PS:  Sorry about the overuse of the word “outsource”.  It’s a hot topic at work too.

Helping Mommy

The terrible two’s?  Yes sometimes, but most of the time I just absolutely love this age.

She is such an independent little person, she wants to do everything herself, which can be bit frustrating for both of us as her desire out strips her ability at the moment.  She also wants to copy everything I do.  Over the past week or so we have been working in the garden, preparing the soil in the veggie garden and planting seeds.  She received a little gardening sets for Christmas from one of her aunts, it is coming in very useful.

Preparing to plant seeds

Watering the seeds

The weeds are taking over!

I am going to have to admit that I have a wee(d) bit of a problem, possibly an addiction…. (yes, another one)

At first Mr OL was indulgent.  He did not see the harm, in fact I would go as far as to say he actively encouraged it but lately it is beginning to impact on our family life. 

It is, quite frankly, taking over.  I am sneaking out the house at 5am to feed my addiction.   I go and find a quiet space in the garden, just as the sun is beginning to rise and I start to weed…

Nope, you did not read wrong.  Not “do weed”, I weed, as in I weed the garden!  It has gotten so bad that yesterday when I closed my eyes at night I was seeing weeds – clover, dandelion and my favourite, those annoying little ones that spread out across the grass.  You find an end and beginning to pull, ever so gently trying not to break it and just follow it across your grass, lightly loosening the soil around it.  Oh the joys.

So, does anyone know of a support group for weeders?

You know you don’t have green fingers when…..

The plastic plants in your bathroom start to “die”!

Plastic flowers - classy I know!

 

What the?????

The leaves and flower “fell off” during the night?

????

I miss…..

There are a few things that I miss since I have had a baby.  And they are not the things I expected… I do not miss nights out or parties, I did not do that much anyway.  I am missing the hectic training I was doing but not as much as I thought.  I also miss going out to restaurants and just sitting down for a good meal, but I know that will come shortly.

So what am I missing?  Well, oddly enough I miss working in my garden!  I miss pottering around, planting seedlings, and just doing stuff!  I also miss cooking – just for fun.  Not puréed baby food.  Normally I would get home from work and cook dinner – not all the time as Mr OL and I would take turns.  But I enjoyed it.  Now Mr OL does all the cooking while I bath and put Baby OL to bed. 

So when exactly did I get this old? 

Truthfully though I think it is more the creative aspect that I miss.  I like designing my garden, I like concocting new dishes.  The only creative outlet I have at the moment is sewing Whachumacallits, and although each one is unique and hand drawn I miss variety.  I am very excited about the market on the 29^th but will be quite pleased when it over.  Then I might have more time to do other stuff.

I suppose that Mr OL might be right, he says that I do too much.  But I guess I like it that way.  I like to be doing stuff – and different stuff. 

Here is list of things that I want to do but just don’t have the time at the moment.

• Sew Baby OL some summer dresses – I am in front of my sewing machine  a lot at the moment but it is all for the market.
• Plant some veggies and herbs – and have the time to look after them.
• Learn to bake.  We have recently bought a Kenwood Major, but I have not even used.  I can’t wait to give it a test run and make something.
• Make Mr OL a nice romantic meal and sit and eat it at the dining room table, possibly with a bottle of wine (actually maybe scrap the wine – last time I had any 17 months ago Baby OL was the outcome)
• Spend an evening just sitting, relaxing!
• Finish one of the four unfinished books next to my bed.  Normally I finish a book within a couple of nights but at the moment it taking me forever.  I will read a couple of pages each night before I go to sleep, but at the moment it is never more than a couple of pages. The one I am currently reading is “The Great Run” by Braam Malherbe.  It is about his run along the entire distance of the Great Wall of China.  So far so good, but I have only read about his first day…
• Read up on and practice using my camera properly.  I am sure it has functions that I just don’t know how to use.

So if you had more time what would you like to do

Out of Office!

I’m on leave from 4:30pm today!  

Today is my last day at work for this year!  It means that it is also my last day of blogging.  I will be taking a holiday (enforced).  I don’t have internet at home, so will only update when I get back to work on the 4^th January. 

So – I want to wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!  Hope you all get to spend it with your families and loved ones and that this time is safe and restful. 

I can’t wait for the break.  Just to spend time at home, try and resurrect my garden and just potter around.  Although resurrecting anything with water restrictions is a bit difficult and probably explains why it looks the way it does! 

Merry Christmas – will miss you all!

And just before I go – my baby is due in 2 months today!!

I’ve got worms!

And not the kind I like – worms have attacked my veggie garden.  The annoying thing is that I can’t actually find them so don’t know what exactly has eaten all my lettuce and peas.  All I know is that they are quite ferocious little critters!  Hmph, I was really looking forward to fresh peas later this summer.  I am going to have to plant again and take some drastic (organic) action.  I have a few ideas but will have to see how they pan out. 

I planted more seeds this weekend, so am hoping that once they germinate I will have discovered what is eating the rest and have gotten rid of them.  So far the only thing that is showing signs of sprouting though is the Chinese cabbage. 

Let’s hope the rest pull through. 

Other than that not much is going on.  Except that I went back to the restaurant Cubata – it was just as good as it was the first time and we have booked again for December (the first time they had a table available.  It is so weird that a place that looks so scaffy is so good and so popular. The ceiling is caving in, the tables and chairs are just wooden outside trellis style tables and there is no décor to talk about – but the food is EXCELLENT.  The service is slow but good and personal.  The owner is the only waiter and his wife and son do all the cooking.  It is unlicenced so you need to bring your own, which is actually quite nice and the prices are excellent (unless you over indulge on the prawns – although at R20 per prawn they are still worth it.  They are HUGE and delicious! 

Ok, so other than that, there is nothing much going in at the moment. 

Oh yes, and my sister is back for a week in 3 weeks time and I can’t wait!!!!!!

When did this happen?

This weekend flew by!!! 

It might be because now that I am not getting up with the sparrows at about 4 I actually have less weekend hours, who knows. 

But all in all it was pretty good.  On Friday night I just relaxed and watched TV.  Saturday I worked in the garden a bit then snoozed – we had a Halloween themed 40^th on Saturday evening.  

On Sunday we went to visit friends who have recently moved to a small holding to see what they have done with the place and look at their veggie garden and then on to a garden show!!!  Crap we really must be getting old – when did I become the girl that looked at gardens for fun!!!!  There was a time when I would be too hung over on a Sunday to do anything never mind go and look at gardens, especially after a party on the Saturday night.  How times have changed – for the better I might add. 

On Sunday afternoon I made a slip cover for one of my chairs – I will post before and after pictures soon.  I want to put it in the baby’s room.  

Holy moly – this is getting really bad!  Gardening and sewing all in one weekend.  Somebody might think I was domesticated!!!

Mr OL and I - scary aren't we?

Weekend round up

I don’t really have very much to say at the moment. 

My In-laws came down for the weekend and bought us a cot for the baby, which was very nice of them.  It was also nice to see them as we don’t meet up that often – maybe twice a year.  Mr OL’s mom is so excited about becoming a granny it is very sweet.  We will have to make more of an effort once the baby is born to ensure that they see their grandchild more than they are seeing their son at present. 

I also did a bit of shopping for the baby but I realized I am way out of my depth!!  I have NO idea what these little creatures need.  Some serious research is going to need to be done before now and February.  I bought what I thought was important though – a baby monitor.  Other than that I have borrowed a few things but will only start buying anything much later. 

Also in a place where I felt totally out of my depth – I went to a spa on Friday.  Nice but not really my scene; I would rather go for a sports massage than a spa treatment.  It was ok though. 

I also finished the second book in the trilogy that I am reading.  I have decided that I am not enjoying it, not because it is badly written or anything like that, but once I start a book I need to finish it in a couple of days.  Fine if you only have one book to read but with this the story continues over the 3 books and I need some closure.  3 books is a long time for continous reading – so I have ½ of the final book left!  Let’s hope she actually finishes the story and does not leave me hanging.  I might just put me off fantasy books for life. 

The yesterday I also did a bit of gardening.  My peas that I planted have germinated so I planted the seedlings.  I also planted some spinach, lettuce, cauliflower (a first for me) and some peppers.  Let’s see what happens.  I don’t usually have much luck with peppers, but am going to plant them in a different part of the garden and see if that makes any difference. 

Ok, so from not much to say I got a bit carried away. 

Hope you all had a good a weekend as I did.

The weekend!

Tonight we are going to a couple cooking class.  The theme is Vietnamese (what do they eat???)  Should be interesting, I really enjoy cooking and so does Mr OL.  Although I think he is a bit worried – giving his pregnant wife a large knife when she is still not that charmed with him at the moment…..  

Probably explains why he has volunteered to do the cooking for the last couple of nights?  

Other than that it looks like a quiet weekend.  I am going to get stuck into my garden again – trying to prepare it for summer.  Last weekend I pulled up all the old plants or veggies that had gone to seed and planted some new ones.  Some body has also given me some Swiss chard seeds to plant so I might try and find a space for them. 

So far I have planted Cos lettuce, peas, beetroot, basil, and tomatoes as well as Marigolds and Nasturtiums.  I can’t wait for them to be ready to harvest – although my timing might be a bit off.  The seeds said ready for harvest in about 120 days, and that is around about when I am due.  I might not feel much like picking veggies then. 

We have also started work on building a veggie garden (at the moment the stuff gets planted between the other flowers in my front garden).  We need to wall or fence of an area in the back garden that the dogs can’t get to and create a proper veggie garden.  I am leaving that up to Mr OL though.  For now, I will just keep planting in the front.