No more excuses

My new reality hit me last night when I arrived home from work.

The eldest was out, the youngest was in the middle of O Week and I was left to cook dinner for one while flicking through cruise brochures.

After making excuses to myself for years about being too busy with parental duties to go to the gym after work, it’s apparent that I might actually have time for a few mid-week classes.

Dammit. I will need to look up the timetable and stick it on my fridge and get my increasingly large butt in gear.

I also need to make sure I don’t spend every night tapping away at the computer while home alone. I need to find distractions that don’t involve researching cruise itineraries.

Being solo last night also meant hefting two mattresses around single-handedly to switch them between bedrooms. Horrible job but I slept way better, so it was worth the sweaty hassle.

I am missing the youngest. Even though shoehorning her out of the master bedroom on Sunday was hellish. What a mess!!!!!

I am now trying to entice the kids to go on holidays with me next year. I have my eye on a visit to Finland and Norway to see the Northern Lights.

Apparently our chances of catching nature’s most spectacular light show will be at an all-time high in 2025.

This is due to the sun’s position in the current solar cycle, which is set to approach a solar maximum next year. The solar maximum is marked by a period of intense solar activity and an increased occurrence of sunspots. 

The Northern Lights are unpredictable. You can technically spot them year-round, but the best time is between November and March when the skies are darkest and the aurora is easiest to see.

I became very excited about doing it as a pre-Christmas adventure – complete with a visit to Santa’s Village to meet his reindeers – until I discovered the sun doesn’t rise in many parts of Norway from November to January.

That would be a novelty at first, but I’m not sure I could handle days of darkness.

So it’s back to the drawing board on dates.

The youngest is being very polite about the idea after upsetting me by asking if she could just have the money instead of going on a Tahiti cruise together. She said Norway sounds cool. But the eldest is looking a bit hesitant about it.

Will advise.

Song of the day: Madonna “Ray of light”