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On-the-go champion curler and top lawyer can’t say ‘no’ to a good cause. (FRANK GUNN / CANADIAN PRESS ARCHIVES)

The irony is that this was supposed to be one of the few weeks in the life of Jennifer Jones when she got to take a breather.

With her team not entered in any curling event this weekend -- the only time that will happen this month and one of the few times this entire fall and winter -- the theory originally was that she would be able to catch up a little on some personal time this week.

But such is the life of Jones -- a top-ranked curler, top-flight lawyer and possessor of one of the most recognizable faces in Canada -- that this week has melded into the kind of impossible schedule that is just like every other hectic week in the life of one very busy 36-year-old.

"It's been a really, really busy time," Jones said in an interview -- yet another demand upon her -- on Friday morning. "It can be very challenging managing life."

Which is not to say she's complaining. Indeed, she readily admits her schedule is entirely of her own making -- "I have a hard time saying no" -- and if she sounds plaintive at all here, it is only in response to questions I asked her.

"I don't get a lot of sleep," she says, "and hopefully, over the next four years, I will figure out a way to get some more personal time. But right now, things are just really, really busy."

And so it goes for a curler who is every bit as much a celebrity -- and even more so, in some cases -- than some of the hockey players and TV personalities in this country.

"I think there's absolutely some celebrity status there," says longtime Jones second Jill Officer. "And I watch her and she has incredible time management skills. She's very efficient with her time. And I've learned from her in that way. Instead of standing around waiting for something, you can be doing something while you're waiting.

"But I still don't think I could do what she does."

It was never going to be otherwise for Jones. Big-time competitive curling and a career in law -- especially the corporate variety she practises -- are just not a good fit. There's a good reason why so many competitive curlers you hear about run their own small businesses or have seasonal jobs -- it's tough to do a regular job and curl four days every week all fall and most of the winter.

But where the time demands on Jones are perhaps a bit more unique is all the requests she gets simply because she is, well, Jennifer Jones, and everything that entails.

Take this weekend, for instance. She was invited to fly to Toronto and take part in a big weekend fundraiser -- they're doing this Amazing Race-style event -- for the North York Hospital.

Jones already sits on the board of the Health Sciences Centre Foundation in Winnipeg, one of four local boards she volunteers on, and no one would have blamed her if she said "no" to the Toronto hospital.

But this weekend was a perfect example of why she finds it so hard to say "no" -- a couple of corporate types in Toronto anted up $20,000 to participate in the fundraiser, but they wanted Jones to personally race with them.

That kind of constant attention/adulation/ego massage could easily go to someone's head, as it has to the swelled melons of so many idolized athletes we hear about these days. People are paying 20 grand to be in your company one weekend and you're sniffing coke off a stripper the next.

Well, maybe not in women's curling, but you get the picture. And that's why it's to her everlasting credit that all her celebrity has had the opposite effect on Jones.

"I'm always amazed that having me in an event can raise money," she says. "It's humbling and it's an honour.

"I really do feel very lucky that I can have an impact, and one day that won't be true anymore. So right now, I can give back, for lack of a better word, and so right now is the time to do it. So yeah, you're a little busy, but it's really rewarding."

You can take the woman out of humble Winnipeg. You can even pay 20 grand to hang out with her for a weekend. But you will not, apparently, take the humble Winnipeg out of the woman.