Yesterday my ‘to do list went something like this.
Write blog post for Eye on Spain
Yes, agreed it was a short to do list, and given that I had nothing else to do on my ‘to do’ list, you might have thought that I’d soon be basking in the soft glow of blogging achievement.
Now I’m a reasonably good, morning person, I’m up and at ‘em with a cheery smile, and just as everyone has their own personal ‘fix’ to kick start their day, mine is a bone china cup of Yorkshire Tea which I prepare with love and proceed to my office to check my emails before starting my post for Eye on Spain.
In my mind I know what images I need to crop, and an idea or two of what I’m going to write about, but I just check what is ‘trending’ on the internet today
Such a bloody pretencious word ‘trending’, why can’t topics just be popular.
There is a link to a NEW Social Media guru, I just take a quick look, its’ still only 8 am. I want to get the blog post uploaded by this afternoon, but I’ve got loads of time. 
After following the new SM guru’s link to Twitter, FaceBook and all points on the Social Media compass of life, I decide I may as well check my own FaceBook pages as well.
I ‘like’ some lovely pictures of a FaceBook friend’s wedding. I have never actually met this ‘friend’, but the pictures are indeed lovely, and apparently for maximum exposure to one’s ‘brand’, one needs to keep virtual conversations going.
An offer for a fab freebie catches my eye, I sign up for that, then quickly catch up on what my fellow Writers on Spain are thinking about, and chuckle at some of Sandra Piddock's saucy links, and whoops a daisy look its 9.00a.m. already and not a drop of water has touched my skin and you could fry chips in my hair.
Cursing myself I head for the shower, this will just take 5 minutes it’ll be a splash and dash day, no time for primping and preening, I must get on. I want to get that blog post posted.
The late summer sun shines into the bathroom and I think to myself we could be in for a nice warm day. I need to pop out later for some dinner, and mentally create a small shopping list that I can get at the local shops.
But glancing down I see toenails that are looking a bit chipped and the polish needs a touch up, and heavens above, there’s a forest sprung up on my legs overnight. I simply CANNOT pop out for shopping looking so cruddy.
I mean you just never knows who you might bump into. If George Clooney just happened to pop into the One Stop for a pork pie en route to a filming in Essex, I want to be looking vaguely acceptable, though to be fair, that particular ship has probably sailed without me. The FOOL, if only he had asked ME!
Cue, nail varnish remover, polish, Veet and Moisturiser 
After primping and preening I dress in my comfie ‘at home’ look and at 10am head back to the kitchen to make a second cup of tea to take back to my office to get cracking on my blog post. My office is really my sofa, but it sounds impressive.
Whilst waiting for the kettle, I soak last night’s washing up in a nice bowl of Fairy, but then I think it will just take a minute to wash it up anyway, and I’ll just sweep the kitchen floor, then my mind will be completely free to work.
Us creative folk like a nice clear head to focus on our writing.
With the washing up done, the floor swept, I remember I could really do with popping in a load of washing. It’s a nice day, it’ll dry really quickly.
I dash around, gathering up my ‘wash dark colours together’ load, which as you’ll all agree entails checking pockets for tissues and stray fivers, and while I’m there I just quickly make the bed and get the hot wash load sorted too as it’ll save me time later when I’ll be engrossed in my blog. 
Before I know it, the 11 o’clock news is on the radio and now the dog is looking at me with pleading eyes.
As I have the domestics under control, I decide to quickly take the dog out so he is happy and I can sit at my desk ( my knees ) and get started on my ‘to do list’ knowing he is comfortable and will sleep at my feet while I tap away at my keyboard.
We head out of the gate for our usual walk round the field. There is a dog friendly mix of rabbit scented ditches and trees for leaving a calling card plus the opportunity to meet n greet some fit looking lady dogs. We are on track to complete our circuit in the allotted 30 minutes, but our friendly neighbour has put some lovely flowers and pots of homemade jam out for sale near his garden gate.
I have no money in my pocket so I park the dog back in the garden and race back to my neighbour’s house with a fiver I retrieved from the ‘wash dark colours together’ load.
The honesty box has clearly not hit the spot today and so I follow my helpful neighbour indoors to find me some change.
Then after an unsolicited step by step instruction on jam making and the art of growing gladioli, I run back home aware that, as older people say ‘half the day is gone already’
But, I will definitely be able to focus now that my domestic tasks are out of the way, the dog has been walked, my nails are buffed, and you could bottle my legs in an Innocent Smoothie.
I file the morning’s lack of achievement and move on. After all the afternoon is stretching ahead and my head is full of idea’s for my latest blog post.
By the time I found a vase for my blooming lovely flowers, and topped up the dog’s water bowl its 12.15 - Lunchtime. If I make something to eat now, it’ll save me stopping when my foot is down on the blogging throttle.
I decide on a sandwich but as I open the fridge door the dustbin collection dates catch my eye. I must remember the bin men come tomorrow, and while I’m here I’d better just relieve the fridge of anything that is growing live cultures or that has actually expired.
After all it’s usually one or the other, in the average ‘would be’ writers’ fridge, there is rarely anything that is actually edible. We are far too busy to go shopping; we are busy being creative.
There’s the mandatory one rasher of bacon left in the packet, which has yet to acquire that subtle bronze tinge that tells you that it has indeed ‘gone off’. Shame to throw that away.
Likewise the lone tomato that lurks in the salad drawer underneath a severely wilted Iceberg Lettuce, which must be old, they usually last forever. Well, I may as well have a bacon and tomato sandwich, and that will set me up for the afternoon while I get down and dirty with my writing. 
The quick snack, turns into a frying pan event, which then leads to more washing up and I decide I may as well actually put the bin bags out, so I can really settle down at my laptop knowing my domestic tasks are now absolutely complete.
Armed with a fresh cup of Yorkshires finest I return to my office/sofa at 1pm to start my days work and wouldn’t you know it, the phone rings. It’s one of my oldest friends who is having, in her own words, a crisis.
After saying yes and no in all her right places, the crisis is downgraded to a bit of a falling out with her man. Her ‘issues’ have been explored in depth, and she goes off considerably calmer.
I on the other hand am now considerably further behind with my blog. My tea has gone cold, and my brain has been drained by my involuntary counselling service, I need a quick caffeine fix so I return to the kitchen to make another cuppa.
1.45. At last I settle down to select those images I first pulled up onto the screen at 8.00 this morning. Thank goodness I’m still on track to get that blog post posted at the optimum time.
The phone rings again, it’ my daughter in a panic this time. She has broken down at a shopping centre and my youngest Grandson is at nursery and needs collecting at 2.15pm.
How can I refuse?
Admittedly, I do have to change out of the ‘at home’ baggy leggings, tea stained top and mismatched ski socks, into capable Grandparent attire, but I also need to get there quickly to avoid a teary eyed 3 year old thinking he’d been forgotten.
Rather coincidentally I thought, my broken down daughter and I both turn into her road at the same time, clearly she got fixed up sooner than she thought (or was it extra shopping time she was after) but before I can say my Goodbyes I have to stop and admire some finger painting, a necklace made out of spaghetti, a new pair of expensive looking shoes, smell a new perfume and admire a new shade of lipstick.
Clearly everyone has had a far more productive time than me this morning.
With all that accomplished I’m in everyone’s good books, and even though it’s now 3.00pm I’m on my way home to get my Eye on Spain blog post written and hit the ‘send’ button.
Oh hang on, I need something for dinner, and even though it was going to be a One Stop shop, I’m just going to drive right past Sainsbury’s. It will save on time and petrol if I simply pop in there on the way back and then I won’t have to go out again later when there will be lots of traffic around.
I fall back into my kitchen at nearly 5.00pm with bags full of shopping, plus a neat little GOK top that I had to buy in the 25% off sale. It would have been silly not to.
I have chew sticks for the dog, ice cream and a new mascara, lots of fruit and veg, milk, cereals and yoghurt, flour, sugar and tea bags, but curiously nothing specific for dinner. I rush around putting it all away. My cupboards bulge with basics.
5.30 pm Where has the day gone? I’ll just make another cuppa and get my blog post written. I want to be sure it’s posted at the best time of day, to catch as many ‘views’ as possible, and to be in with a chance of making the top 10 readers digest.
The dog looks at me again with those pleading eyes that say ‘it’s been over 6 hours since my last walk, how can you neglect me this way’.
So I just walk the dog quickly round the block again, then he’ll settle and be comfortable.
Dog is happy, so I am happy.
I look at the clock again in disbelief. Yes it really is 6.00 pm.
The dog needs his dinner, I need my dinner.
My get up and go, has got up and gone.
My blogging motivation has buggered off
There’s only question that needs answering right now
The first sip of Rioja hits the spot but after the day I’ve had, my brain is frazzled, and Emmerdale is on soon.
I’ll make a really early start tomorrow and write my blog post for Eye on Spain.
and here it is!