The best laid plans

My husband is an electrician's mate, he works doing bank refurbishments and new builds, if they are rewiring a new bank they work day shift and if it's a re-fit/refurb they work a 'night shift' I call it a night shift perhaps I should call it a twilight shift, they work from 5pm to 3am Mon-Friday and those who are keen work at the weekend. Now legally one is not allowed to work a night shift and onto a day shift, so one must have a rest day, so if you want to work Sat & Sun you must have the Friday night off, simple, you work Mon - Thurs twilight, have Friday off and work Saturday and Sunday 8am to whenever, whenever usually being sometime after the dinner is done and dusted and results in wife stressing on a Sunday night after clearing all signs of dinner and starting the back to school routine of supervising bathing children, rising hair after child assures you all the shampoo has been rinsed, polishing shoes & ironing uniforms all while trying to watch Dancing on Ice, Wild at Heart, Dancing on Ice results and Kingdom and should one turn ones back for a split second, one finds oneself watching Hannah Montana or The Simpson's and it is usually a good 15 minutes before one actually realises. In the middle of this mayhem the hubby will phone and cry the words 'What's for dinner? Can you run me a bath?' So one has to start all over, 'where's the pots?' well of course they are in the dishwasher! The simple solution would be to plate the hubby's dinner in the microwave I hear you say, well of course it would be. Or would it? you see the hubby doesn't like re-heated in the microwave potatoes and sure as fate if I leave him something, he comes home to announce he's had something to eat! But anyway, I digress, now although I say legally you must have a rest day, for which I might mention that you get paid for, a change of shift allowance - or something, there is nothing to stop you working overtime on that rest day and then starting your day shift at 1 pm on a Saturday and working until whenever.

So here is how our week, sorry life, goes as a couple.

Monday -7ish am I arise, hubby sleeps, some point during the day hubby arises, I come home at 3pm for kids, hubby leaves at 4pm, at 11pm I sleep, mildly disturbed by hubby around 4am.
Tuesday and Wednesay - are exactly the same
Thursday - I work until 5pm so sister-in-law comes to watch kids and I do not see hubby until the mild disturbance around 4am
Friday - Again I work until 5pm but today mum comes over and watches kids, stays for dinner and a visit, usually she leaves between 9and 10pm and just when I think I've got control of the TV, the hubby walks through the door, after few hours of overtime, butters me up with a bit of chocolate and before I know it I'm watching Family Guy! 'Not another bloody cartoon' I exclaim to which he points out the lack of good programmes on the TV. I go to bed. The hubby having slept most of the day is not tired and sits up watching crap on the TV.
Saturday - Football, the hubby leaves at 9am to go and set up the goals, he is the coach, I arise as he leaves, football over and we go home and have our rolls and bacon, my son, the room child, showers and retreats to play the playstation and my daughter goes out to play with friends, even the Cat goes out to play with her cat friends and her mother from next door and I am once again alone with the housework. The hubby comes home whenever, we go mad and have a late night until perhaps 11.30.
Sunday - We are all up at the one time, the kids have swimming lessons at 9.45 and 10am, hubby leaves for work, we go to the leisure centre, we usually do a trip to Asda on the way home. Hubby comes home whenever and after his bath and dinner he has a wee sleep, watching me iron is rather boring and he doesn't rate my choice in Sunday night viewing either. I go to bed at 10.30 and he sits up for a good few hours preparing his body for the weeks nightshift ahead.

I am an electrician's mates widow! Of course I missed out all the children's activities I deal with during the week or it would have turned into a complete rant.

I did have a point and the point was, the decorators. The decorators work with the hubby on the reburbs and therefore work the same shifts. They are brought up from England and therefore have nothing better to do during the day than sleep in their hotel, so they might as well do a little homer. They were supposed to come on Tuesday but after an extended weekend at home, due to a doctors appointment, didn't come until Wednesday. Fair enough, I am not in a hurry. They said originally they would start with the kitchen and the conservatory and on Wednesday I came home to find they had painted the kitchen and hall ceiling. Yesterday they painted the hall and today, well because of the heavy rain they couldn't come due to the flooding on the road. My poor son who returns from his trip away will come home to find the contents of the hall, my clothes horse and many other 'stick it in son's room' items in his beloved bedroom, I have left a small path to his bed ladders and being a child I'm sure he won't mind the guddle. My instincts want to make the place tidy and homely for him. He's 10, like he'll care.

The football hs been cancelled for tomorrow as 9 out of the 14 players were on the school trip and will be exhausted, a long lie at last.

I now await the final hours until my handsome son returns, they are due back between 6pm and 6.15pm but due to rush hour traffic I reckon they will be late. You know I thought I would really miss him, I felt empty when he left, but it hasn't been long enough, I have not given him a great deal of thought, I am just so proud he went. I leave work at 5 today and I know I will really start to miss him as he gets nearer. I can picture his smiling face as he draws up in the bus and his delight at being reunited with the one person he loves most in the world......yes Angel the cat.

My friend has just sent me this clip from youtube, absolutely fantastic, every mother should see it.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=uFYcmZEOvW4