I’m busy every day. Busier than when I was working and getting paid a decent amount of money. I’m constantly chasing my tail. Always something to do. Always exhausted.

So, what is it I’m doing? Why am I busy? Why am I bone-tired? Simple. And yet I never thought of doing it until last Sunday. A job checklist of my day.

I woke to the alarm at 7.30am that Sunday morning. A first for me. I am one of those people, who’s up before the alarm chimes, and sleepily turn it off.  Anyways, I was happy that I had slept through to the alarm. Drank some water, and headed to my mum’s condo.

My mum was on a 3-day diuretic medicine regime to address her fluid retention, which was causing her feet, legs and hips to swell up. Being on the regime meant she had to wear a diaper to reduce the number of trips to the bathroom especially as she has become increasingly unsteady on her feet. The main reason I urgently went to her condo after I had woken up – to change the diaper. Diaper change was followed by a shower. Moisturised and diapered-up, my mum was fresh and clean for the day.

I was back at my unit at about 9am. I did my aerobic exercise for 50 minutes. Instead of showering, praying, and having breakfast to the sounds of ‘Pick of the Pops’ (a golden oldies radio programme), I took in the laundry. Immediately, I realised that I was supposed to have organised my laundry basket a very long time ago. I folded the bedsheets and towels. Arranged them properly. One job done.

As I walked from the pantry via the kitchen, the drawers caught my attention. I kid you not. It felt like the contents of the drawers were saying ‘How about us?’ Ouch… well… I threw out spices and other stuff that were past their sell-by-dates. Wiped clean stains and other dubious markings. Gathered together bottles of nuts, spices and sauces, packets of biscuits, green tea, and a can of baked beans. Placed them all in an orderly fashion. Checked the supplements and toothpaste supply. All good. Two jobs done.

Job number three was the plastic container cupboard. We have so many containers – rectangle, square, round, oblong. Large, medium, small. Those that we bought. Those that came with food deliveries. Some with lids. Some without. I had to make several tough calls. What do I keep? What do I throw? What if I need one of them later? Finally, I kept more than I should have or would ever need. I confess. I am a hoarder. I’m my mum’s daughter for sure.

Of course, what is a kitchen clean-up without sorting out the fridge? To be honest, I had no plans to fold laundry or clean the drawers or cupboard or fridge. Like I said, I’ve been feeling desperately exhausted from caring for my mum particularly over the last two months. Night duty is not nice. Not sleeping hour after hour all night is dreadfully tiring. I feel like a zombie. My brain doesn’t work so well. My hand-eye coordination is a little suspect. I feel dizzy. There is a gnawing headache that is just waiting to turn into a debilitating migraine. All symptoms of the graveyard shift. Having done 5 nights out of 7 nights, week of the 18/10, cleaning was the last thing on my mind.

Despite my despair, I couldn’t not attend to the fridge. My one motivation was I knew my husband, who was returning home after a very long seven weeks in England, would be bringing home chocolates and other goodies for me. I had to make space for the treats. Without giving myself a chance to change my mind or get lazy, I motored on. Out with the expired cheeses, eggs, coconut milk and whipping cream. After more cleaning and ordering whatever was left in the fridge and freezer, job number 4 was done.

I then operated Deebot Ozmo 950 or Dee, my personal robot. I wanted him to vacuum the dirt and debris scattered over the kitchen and pantry floor, and the rest of the condo. Of course, before I could let Dee do his magic, I had to wipe all surfaces and pick-up items like small rugs, bins and door stoppers off the floor. This was to help Dee navigate his cleaning route bar obstructions. Job number 5 done. At that point, I had no energy or time to get Dee to do the mopping function. I left it for another day as it was already 4pm.

I showered. Had lunch and was back again at my mum’s for her third diaper change – the second was at 12.30pm. And, another night duty!