11) AVOIDING "KEYBOARD FACE"

Blathering on about how amazing it is that women can have many different and often conflicting things going on in their pretty little lives at once is nothing new. But I thought I'd dwell on the subject of multi-tasking. Not in that annoyingly martyrish "Woe is me! I've got so much on my plate!" way we women sometimes do, that makes you just want to slap yourself and say, well, do less then. Just as a matter of interest and because I was inspired by a line in this: (http://www.emilycagle.co.uk/blog/2010/01/lost-for-words-five-novel-ways-to-beat-writers-block)

Take this week, for instance. On Monday, the snowpocalypse (as I've heard it nicknamed) finally permitted my children to return to what had become a novelty: school.  but at the later start time of 10 a.m.  Now, that's my sort of schedule!  In addition, the headteacher had organised for staff to meet us at the roadside and escort our children into class like a sort of concierge service so that we wouldn't clog up the already snow-clogged School Lane with our vehicles and could just drop and go.  What bliss!  While I missed saying a falsely (at that hectic time in the morning) cheery hello to all my playground mum-mates, as I haven't seen them yet this year due to snow and a shared school run with a neighbour, this was a great new system.  Only Ritz Hotel doormen-style uniforms would have added to the glamour!  But I digress...

I also had the luxury of the children being at After School Club till 6pm - something (and here's a top-tip for "Portfolio workers") I recently enrolled them in for two days a week so that I could try to organise my shifts around my availability to work, rather than vice-versa.  And even if I'm not working, I kid myself that it's worth them going so I can "catch up" (usually on blogging, tweeting and facebooking, which is - very sadly - unpaid, would that it were not!  But it's my new year resolution to make it housework- honest!)  They also love going now, as I've found when I'm trying to drag them home because I've tried to be organised and the sausages are burning!  I digress still further....

I'm trying to get onto Tuesday.  It was my school-run sharer's turn so I waved the boys off and switched the TV channel from some-cartoon-or-other to luxuriate in a bit of breakfast telly before I got cracking.  I had a one-off night shift that evening - I nearly wrote one-night-stand here as that's what it sometimes feels like the morning after - without the *naughty bits*!  But it actually involves being desk-bound from 9 pm to 9 am plus travel time of an extra hour - but longer in this Arctic weather - each way.  So, I needed to make the obligatory to-do list for my Other Half (hereafter to be known as OH, as I understand is the modern convention, though sometimes prefaced by other adjectives - usually The Saintly - because he is - but, occasionally more venomous terms!)  Then get dinner sorted early, make 'lunch' for my 2 a.m. break; do some voluntary work, clean up and pack for my eldest son's *scarey* three nights away on a school trip to Dorset.  This also entailed making a Tudor outfit that wouldn't have him backing away in horror, despite the fact that my clumsy needlework and inspiration merely ran to adapting one of my white blouses as I hadn't had the chance or the inclination to buy something more apt from eBay.

So, with the washing machine on the go; something in the slow cooker and my work bag (because I dread forgetting my ID card & bleeping pass for the building) and son's case mostly packed, I set off to meet the mum I'm helping.  Home-Start is an excellent charity (See here http://www.home-start.org.uk) that I wish I'd known more about when my two were babies & my not-so-saintly-on-this-occasion) OH was away a lot.  I did an 8-week course in the Autumn and now I've got a lovely but struggling Mum to look after.  On this particular visit, it involved settling her young daughter down for her day-time nap; something said child is non too keen on.  Or rather, she's so exhausted that she can't seem to settle herself to sleep. Having been there, done that & read all the Gina Ford-esque books on the subject, I have been known to put her down for a nap successfully and felt the warm glow of achievement as a result.  Not on this occasion.  Little One cried and cried until my inner resolve wavered and I ended up trying non controlled-crying methods of sending her off to the land of ZZZZs that enabled her mum to get some much-needed peace.  So, for an hour and a half, I held her in my arms, gazed down at her restful little eyelashes and perfectly relaxed complexion, and could do nothing but gingerly shift my position with bated breath, look around and think.  It made such a pleasant change!  So, of course, as well as admiring the wallpaper, I mentally planned the rest of my day and it occurred to me that maybe we multi-task, as a species, because we're trying to stay awake, just like a baby gets more and more hyper as she fights her need to sleep!

I say this because after getting home again, making batter for toad-in-the-hole, collecting and/or dropping off our shared children while leaving said sausages to almost burn, nevertheless having a cosy dinner together and seeing the children, chuntering, into the bath, I set off to work.  I have to admit, there was a spade in the boot and a blanket on the passenger seat just in case, but I wasn't expecting a difficult journey, it's just become habit lately.

Once in central-heated luxury, having arrived early for once, the blur of busy-ness began.  It was only when I filled in one of those endless job applications (something I've done a bit of lately, in moments when I feel the need to search for a 'proper' job) that I realised how complex my role is sometimes.  Watching the box in the corner of the room from home, it all looks so easy - until something goes wrong.  But a ton of work goes into each little segment of a programme.  Occasionally, your workload necessitates reading a book, going to a screening or watching a DVD on a future episode of something for much-needed research so I can hardly claim that the job is stressful compared to, say, risking billions on the stock market, coal-mining, open-heart surgery or engineering - or, indeed, teaching.  But it's getting ever more technical and definitely requires a methodical, organised approach, attention to detail and lots of double-checking.

So, with new stories breaking - like the tragic Haitian earthquake - and the blizzard outside taking on extra significance, the wee small hours went by in a scurrying blitz.  I worked out the clips for and (excuse the geek-speak) edited two packages and a set-up; wrote the cues to three news stories, cut the promos I'd been allocated, got up to speed on the briefs for three live interviewees and sighed phewingly when the reporter fronting a live from the snowed-in Midlands thankfully made it to his location on time despite the inclement environment.

By 7am, I was entering the danger zone.  In the absence of adrenaline, with the programme on air and with my caffeine intake already at its palpitationss-avoiding limit, keyboard-face threatened.  For the uninitiated, this is the moment where you drop off and, simultaneously, your propped-up face falls off its palm up, elbow-on-desk shaped perch and onto your keyboard.  Not a pleasant waking up experience but, more mortifying is the laughter on the amused faces of your, until now, zombie-like colleagues.

To avoid this, when my eyelids had been open for approximately 22 hours, I found myself doing an online course at the same time, while keeping an ear out for instructions and the general mellee around me, purely because (a) I had to do it sometime soon and don't have the software at home and (b) I needed some sort of extra stimulation to stay alert.

I was also at maximum worrying capacity: concerned about how I was going to get home in the snow that had not been predicted to affect our 'patch' & also about aforementioned son's trip away (which ended up being postponed due to the weather anyway) & also about my items as they went to air (Did I choose the right shots? Could that have been written better?) &, with apologies to Victoria Wood, also about moving house, wrinkles, life in general and the baggage retrieval system at Heathrow.

So what did I do?  More!  After surreptitiously taking a peek at Facebook & Twitter to get road home updates - and the rest - I also tested myself on editorial policy.  It worked!  No keyboard face.  Just the occasional bewildered "Uh?!" as I was asked to do something and forgot which of the 'worlds' I was inhabiting at that particular moment.

The adrenaline kicked in as I navigated my home in the newly (again) whitened world we're having to get accustomed to, grateful that I hadn't taken the train after all as services had been cancelled, and eventually made it back to my bed at around 11 am.  Sleep was swift but too brief and then it was back out in the wilderness to collect three boys, two of whom were disappointed that they weren't sleeping over elsewhere - but I wasn't!

So, after a solid block of sleep involving vivid dreams, which I'm told are your subconscious way of sorting things out - still multi-tasking then! - writing this has helped to clear my mind too.  I've also thoroughly enjoyed the simple creativity of it.  But while the telly's been on as sort of background newzac (instead of muzac), I haven't needed to do too much at once because I'm more-or-less alert now. For me, anyway.

Is there some logic in that? If not, thanks for reading anyway, especially if you were doing something else at the same time!

10) EVERY SNOWY CLOUD HAS A SILVER LINING

OOh! I've just been approved as a member of British Mummy Bloggers. How exciting. I've also gained at least one other reader, judging by my Twitter content, so I'd better get writing a bit more often. Here goes.....

Living in the south east, we've had our far share of the cold white stuff lately. It's meant three days without pay for me and three days off school for the boys - which I'm sure they regard as a good thing. In a way, it's felt like an extension of the Christmas holidays - hanging around at home, playing games, doing family things together, eating lots with the excuse that we need to stay warm. And despite our penury, I've loved every minute of it.

My OH has spent hours outside - way beyond my frozen toe-tolerance levels - carving out an igloo that I think he has enjoyed more than the neighbourhood toddlers it's enticed. And despite the argument going on within earshot right now over the Wii being turned off at last for the first time this morning, we've been able to achieve so much while we've been forcibly housebound.

I've finished the trim on an antique chair I started reupholstering six months ago in a fit of creativity. I'm so proud of it, because it's so against my nature to be that craftsy, that I may well have to post a photo of it here? When I get round to it.

Meanwhile, the ironing pile is more molehill than mountain for the first time in months - with a little help from the in-laws who stayed just after the New Year.

I've found all sorts of buried 'treasure' while rummaging under sofa cushions with the hoover so the lounge actually IS clean, instead of just looking it on the surface.

The children's scrapbooks are up-to-date - a project I started during that creative season I've only just realised I had - in an attempt to stop the house being wall-papered with their schoolwork, certificates and doodles.

The kitchen cupboards are only half-stocked, but that's a good thing because we're moving house next month so we need to get rid of the half-opened packets of lentils and soya mince that no one really likes but which I buy in regular fits of health angst.

We've had loads of quality time with the neighbours, who are now firm friends, thanks to the Blitz spirit the snow, ice and power cuts have inflicted on us. And we may even get to watch the Beowulf DVD my OH has been nagging about since before Christmas now that we've watched most of the Sky-plussed backlog.

Plus, I've been able to update this and I may even bake some bread later.

So, all in all, it's been very much like that situation I've often wished for: "Stop the World I want to get off!" That's the phrase I sometimes utter when I feel overwhelmed, overworked, stressed out and pulled in all directions. Now it's happened! If that's what winter's all about, this sun-worshipper may have to start liking the other end of the year too.

So when the Big Freeze turns into the Big Melt, floods permitting, I'll be ready for the world to start spinning again.

And instead of my usual New Year dieting resolutions, which have been postponed until February, it's been a refreshing change to start the new decade with a huge mental & physical spring clean. Whilst my To Do list is not actually Done (will it ever be?), at least it's shrunk.