And what do you do?

I'm reading a novel with that title, and it was particularly relevant last week as I attended a works do with Husband. Being a 'wife of' is something I'm used to, and throughout Husband's career has simply been part of military life: lots of military wives don't have paid work. We spend alot of time moving house and needing to establish the family wherever we end up. Some people manage it, but they seem to take manual type jobs, or they do something everyone needs: teachers, doctors, nurses.. the sort of thing that can be relatively easily transferred - 'though I still think they must be tremendously organised to get their families up and running AND work. But last night, because of the current job, there were lots of civilians, and they generally seem to lead much more settled lives, and not working is distinctly odd...

It's not that I don't do any work! We have a house, garden and alotment to maintain. I am not particularly house proud, but I do try to keep on top of the worst of the family's mess and to do minor repairs or organise to get a man in when neccessary. The alotments is Husband's project really, but produce doesn't know he can only do weekends, so when things are growing they need regular picking too, and that means me. Gardening is one of my favorite activities, but it is a guilty pleasure in that I have always preferred it to housework. Our two children get themselves to school and back on a bus, but they both have a number of after school clubs and commitments that require a taxi service 4 nights a week. Clearly it is my job to keep everyone in clean and mended clothes, and to know where everything they lose is. In my spare time I'm a school governor and I've been Chair for 2 years. I am on call throughout the week for the Headteacher, or anyone else with a school issue. I wonder how the world will continue to run when all the people who volunteer for things have proper jobs instead?


And I'm giving that one up: I've collected too many t-shirts and am getting more and more annoyed by the ammount of work the goverment thinks it can put in the way of schools. But I'm not going to ruin my mood by going there! I was just wondering what I'll say now to provide a suitable answer to the dreaded question...

Busy being idle

Counting down to the end of term; picking lovely fresh produce from our allotment; watching the buddleia coming into flower; looking forward to sports days, end of term productions, and final assemblies; thinking about the summer holidays and how to entertain the family. It's that time of year!



They're busy rehearsing in the primary schools so I'm off to sports day this afternoon. (Why is it sports day when it's generally just an afternoon?) And again tomorrow. Luckily parents aren't required to attend the equivalent event in the girls' secondary school. I am dutiful but not engaged! I will go to the dress rehearsals of the primary schools' plays, and this year I can support Youngest in her school play. They seem to always do a musical, and it is so popular that they end up having a huge gang of 'extra' children providing entertainment pre show, in the interval and then joining in with the finale. She seems pleased, but it sounds like an awful lot of hanging around to me. By Friday night she'll be exhausted - I picked her up when the show finished at 10pm last night...



Still got to get through my last governors meeting, and get our Financial Management in Schools forms into County, and write a last governors' newsletter; but I'm definitely counting down now! Thoughts are turning to how to entertain Eldest on her 15th birthday at the end of the month, and what on earth to give her - apparently she doesn't actually 'need' anything and therefore can't produce a list of things she might realistically expect anyone to get her!



Husband is back tonight so some tidying and cooking are in order to provide both a welcome home and evidence that I haven't idled away the last few days....