I'VE GIVEN UP!

You may already have noticed, I'm a bit busy. I'm also a bit stressed, there's a lot to do and probably not enough time to do it in. Not only do we both have a birthday within the next week, but also Alice's baptism with large celebration and then I went and organised a birthday tea as well! Along with all of that there are extra school commitments this week!

So I've given up, I'm not going to stress but the house won't be immaculate - if people are going to judge me on the state of tidiness then they're probably opinions that I wouldn't have wanted to know anyway. I feel so much better for not worrying about it - though I do find it hard not to worry.

The gardener has only been twice since the end of July - despite knowing of this weekend's celebrations since he started the job in June, he's now p**** me off so much I'm going to enjoy our next conversation.

I've got lots still to do:

• write a note about Hong Bao, stuff the envelopes
• make several cakes
• make several dozen thank you cards (yes, this one I have to do for myself!)
• buy the wine for Sunday and some more soft drinks
• decide what to wear and make sure it's clean!
• clear a couple more rooms
• organise and fill a few boxes with clothes that are too small for Alice (the nursery has to be tidy for Sunday)
• get contact details for a couple of people and invite a couple more people to next Wednesday's tea party
• wrap several pressies for other people and send them cards (surprisingly other people have birthdays at around this time!)
• deal with the post - it just keeps coming!

And that's only what I've remembered that I've still got to do!!