Complaints Dept. File #142 - Weekends are too Short!

It's a pretty thick file - cross referenced to "I don't like Mondays," and "Why me, God?"

Here at the Complaints Department, we hear this just about every Monday morning.  It usually goes along these lines.

Coworker #1:  How was your weekend?

Coworker #2:  Not long enough.  (Yuk, Yuk, Yuk)

And the conversation goes downhill form there.  But the truth is, the lamenting of the too-short weekend begins on Sunday late afternoon, early evening.  That's about the time you realize you have to do some laundry so you'll have clothes to wear for the week.  Then you realize there's no food in the house, unless you want to have a stale box of Triscuits for your entire sack lunch and expired Campbell's soup for dinner every night.  (Why do we have clam chowder?  Who's going to eat that?)

Laundry and grocery shopping are not fun.  Continuing your Cut Throat Kitchen watch-a-thon is fun. And this illustrates the conundrum I face every weekend.

Because I am at work for nine hours every day and commute for 2+ hours every day, my weekdays are basically shot as far as getting anything done.  (Yeah, I know cry me a river... but don't, seriously, because there's enough standing water around here.)

The chores and errands stack up and by Friday night, there's a great big to-do list all ready for the weekend.  On top of that, the weekend is the only time to get together with friends and family, maybe take a little trip, and relax from the hard week you've had (assuming you've had a hard week - and lets face it, you work hard so you deserve a little R & R).

You start off Friday night feeling optimistic.  Maybe you make a little to-do list thinking tomorrow I will run these errands:

1. Work out at the Y
2. Shopping
3. Pick up dry cleaning
4. Go to the bank
5. Return the library books
6. Take the car in for an oil change
7. etc. etc. etc.

Then you remember that there are a lot of things to do around the house too.  Such as:

1. Clean house
2. Organize the china cabinet
3. Wash the dog
4. Fix the laptop computer
5. Clean out the closet, or the garage, or the scary space under the bed
6. Sort the growing pile of socks in the laundry room
7. Wax the ceiling
8. etc. etc. etc.

Then you think of all the fun things you want to do, but never have time for:

1. Visit a bookstore and waste an hour browsing
2. Go to the movies 
3. Arts and crafts with the kids
4. A stroll through the park (never mind, it's way too hot for that and it's probably raining)
5. Lunch, or coffee with a friend
6. Date night with the Honey Bunch
7. Curling up with a good book (this is sooo never gonna happen)

And, even though it's obvious that there's no way you can get all this stuff done in one 48 hour period, you are still optimistic.  You have that happy, excited, Friday outlook on life - you believe you have unlimited time stretched out ahead of you.  

Chances are, you will stay optimistic until the threat of Monday morning slaps you in the face like a wet fish.  (I'm thinking Monty Python fish dance - and no, it doesn't make sense)

The solution?  ....There is no solution.  But thank you for filing a complaint.  Have a nice weekend!