My mom and dad are awesome, but been running into a similar problem with them lately (mostly through my mother).
Boy works 60-70 hours a week, I work 25 hours at the store and aim for 20-25 hours of work at home. For the past six months or so, barring a Monday or Tuesday here and there, we don't get a day together except for Saturdays. This has been explained many, maaany times to the family.
Saturday has apparently been designated 'family day', as we have been consistently roped into family obligations that takes most, if not all, of our day off. It's a busy season what with my niece's and nephew's birthday falling close together, but almost every Saturday we've had to go to a thing a my sister's house. Birthday, cook-out, another birthday, cook-out, dinner and D&D, renfaire (and when that got rained out, had to go back to sister's house all day for D&D even though I told them I had work to do. Got home around 11pm.)
I get a phonecall yesterday telling me we're all set and tickets have been bought for some new activity this Saturday. I have now been Shanghai'd into working Saturdays as well for the foreseeable future. She bought the tickets without double-checking with me or even asking our availability, then got incredibly shitty about it when I told her we were both working and there was no way out of it (I had to fight my manager to have last Saturday off for a concert that I'd already shelled out hundreds of dollars for. Didn't matter my name was in the day-off book, GM scheduled me for it anyway.)
Thing is, it's a money thing too. We're not poor by any stretch of the imagination, but any couple that has a freelance artist as part of the mix is going to be dragging ass a bit when it comes to fiscal solvency. 50$ here for wine and our chip-in to pay for food. 100$ here for renfaire tickets. 60$ here for nephew/niece's birthday presents. 80$ for band t-shirts for the fam. Most of this money comes out of my end because I'm the one that ends up with cash. I hardly begrudge them the necessary expenditures that show you love and cherish your family members, but that shit does add up.
They don't mean anything by it on a conscious level, but they really don't seem to understand that sometimes we need time to ourselves. They also don't seem to understand my time is a limited thing, and that as a 30-year-old I am no longer in a position where my family should be decidind what I will or will not do. Doesn't matter; I was also recently told that I would be creating a commemorative art work of my late uncle as part of a Christmas present. Always fun, getting a phone call from your mother who has already decided you will say yes to a project and also perform all the legwork of calling family members and going to people's houses trying to track down a good photograph to use as reference. Given my plans for my own Christmas presents and my sister also asking for a picture for herself, that brings the number of non-commercial images I have to make by Christmas (ontop of my usual work) up to 6. Good shit.
