Are you an International Woman?

It's International Women's Day here today. This is a bank holiday in Russia, and is treated as a day for women generally (rather than mothers in particular) to be feted by the men in their lives, be they husbands, sons, boyfs, work colleagues, etc etc. If I were working outside the home (as @crankymonkeys pointed out this morning on Twitter) my desk would have been covered with flowers from male colleagues to thank me just for being a woman (along with all that entails).

But I ain't. Working outside the home, that is.

So, whilst I would love to regale you with stories of breakfast in bed, being taken out for lunch, being showered with goodies and generally treated like a queen, I can't - because I wasn't. It was just another ordinary day in the Potski household. Except of course that if it were a normal working day the children would have been at school, but as it was a bank holiday, I got to have them at home to look after myself. Which is of course nice but hardly the point, I would venture to say, on what is supposed to be a restful day for women...

Husband assures me that all this will change tomorrow, perhaps as a result of my putting him on notice that I. Am. Doing. Nothing. And on the plus side, we haven't actually got around to any of the household admin he had so enthusiastically planned for our 'free' day together. Which at least saves me from the 'How did you celebrate International Women's Day, Potski?' 'Why, I did my tax return...' conversation next week and the subsequent pitying looks from friends.

Finally, I will leave you with a snippet of conversation between myself and my younger son this morning, which should perhaps have warned me that any ideas I may have had about being 'queen for a day' should be firmly nipped in the bud...

Me: "It's International Women's Day today, Boy #2. That means you have to be nice to me."

Boy #2 (assuming an amazed expression): "What??? ALL DAY???"