Tag: drunk domestic worker

Just call me SuperMom and then smack me with a wet fish.

After last night and this morning I have new-found respect for single parents.

I managed to get the kids up, mostly fed, dressed, packed lunchboxes, brushed teeth, combed hair, made beds, tidied the kitchen, pastry for mince pie out the freezer, switched off lights and heaters, switched on the alarm and out the door, kids in the car, bang on time.

We also achieved all of this in fine spirits without a single tear being shed.  I dare say we had ourselves a fair amount of giggles too.  And Daniel loved that the tooth mouse remembered his money AND ate his cheese AND was quite generous because it is such a big tooth.

I do however not think that this is something I could do singlehandedly every day, especially because I didn’t sleep very well last night.  I’m not easy to scare, but was awake a lot during the night listening for funny sounds despite the alarm being on.

One thing:  I’m still so pumped with adrenaline I’m having the most productive (and inordinately downright weird) day at work.  And the rest of the housework awaits when I get home, but that we can manage for now.  I’m just really really annoyed at the thought of probably having to replace her, but now that the dust has settle a little I really just don’t think we have much of a choice.  I get the chills just thinking of the horrible possibilities, as much as I wish I could send her to rehab or something.  I need our support structure to be running smoothly, if only so I don’t sit and worry at work and that I know our kids are safe and in good hands at ALL times.

I am really not looking forward the really hard conversation we are going to have to have with her tonight, but Etienne will be there, so it will all be good.

If you want to have a good chuckle, go and have a look at Tracy’s comment on yesterday’s post. Well worth it, thanks Tracy!!

Raining and pouring

I’ve been a little grumpy the last few days. Etienne is away on a work thing tonight, which means I am herding cats today and tomorrow.

At the end of the month he is also going away for 5 whole days (of which 2 are a Saturday and a Sunday) on his annual, very well-deserved, boys’ trip.

I have stocked up on happy drugs, vodka, wine and invited myself to all our friends, so we should be fine. Getting 3 kids mobilized is a true team effort at the best of times, not because the kids are bad so much, it’s just that events aren’t always as synchronized as I would like them to be. Yes, OCD, I know.

If they do everything together it’s manageable, but if one of them is dressing, one is eating and one is making the biggest poo on the planet and shouting to have their bum wiped (MAMMA KOM VEE MY BOOOUUUUDE AAAFFF!!), it gets a little tricky. I would lie if I said I don’t get annoyed.

It went pretty well this morning, the only hiccups were Isabel demanding to wear a pair of stockings with a hole as big as my fist because “they like to poke it with their fingers” and Daniel that refused to brush his own teeth. I refuse to argue with Isabel, so she went to school with the stockings. I really don’t care what they think.

Even the drop-off went like a dream. I zipped into a parking bay right in front of Daniel’s school gate, bundled him out of the car, gave him a big fat smooch and a hug at the gate and off he went. I caught the light green across a busy intersection, pulled in at the girls’ school, they hopped out of the car and bounced into school and weren’t bothered at all when I left.

I then tried calling the house early this afternoon to chat to our live-in domestic lady. No answer. I kept calling until the time that Megan was supposed to arrive home with the kids, by this time rather frantically, to see what was going on.

Megan then tells me that Sylvia is sitting “sleeping” at the kitchen table and they had to wiggle their way in through the back gate as she wouldn’t answer the door. She was sitting right next to the phone that had been ringing for the last hour. I admit, I jumped to a rather obvious conclusion that involved alcohol as it is a rather stern conversation we have had with her before. I had a little freak-out and called my Dad to try and get to the house as quickly as possible. She couldn’t stand up straight, so he suggested she rather retire to her room to “rest”.

By the time I got home she was falling around her bedroom and there was that lovely boozy smell, and the house was a complete tip. My Mom and I then asked her why she was drinking and she said she was “tired”.

I know this might sound like someone’s middleclass problems, but I am absolutely furious at having my children exposed to that. And on the one day that Etienne isn’t here. And I have to go to work tomorrow and worry about my house and my children. She has been banned from the house for the day until Etienne gets back and we can decide how we want to deal with it.

To top it all off Daniel finally managed to lose his first big front tooth that has been loose for absolute ages, so there was a bit of a scuffle to round up money and cheese for the tooth mouse.

At least the kids seem to not have noticed much, but I did tell them tonight that Sylvia “wasn’t well” and that the 4 of us have to work together as a team tomorrow morning.

Let’s hope.

Edit to add: I also literally stepped in dog shit when I got home today. Figures.