Abject maternal surrender

I have spent the whole of this week being maternal and house-keepery, in a frenzy of New Year springcleaning which has so far dealt with about half the accumulated clutter of the past year or so. At this point only my desk remains a sea of unfiled papers, unsorted bills, lost stationery, must-remember-this-person business cards and orphan post-it notes. I had a precious two hours this morning to get some actual paying work done and I spent ten minutes of it searching for my notebook, which turned up next to my bed under two half-read novels and an unstarted climate change horrorfest. So what I *should* be doing right now is piling into said desk with a black bin bag and a ruthless mind, while the children drool absently in front of Jay Jay the Jet Plane, which I agreed to rent in a moment of weakness (it's too hot even to swim and tempers are fraying). What I *will* be doing, however, is sitting next to the children with a cup of tea and my attempt at Lily Chin's mesh peplum cardi-blouse in a lovely mossy grey-green bamboo yarn. I am afraid this may turn out horribly grannyish, but it is worth a try. I will also daydream about how absolutely wonderful it is going to be when my nanny gets back on Monday...