The Problem With Days Off...

The problem with days off is that I never seem to have enough time to do all the things I have planned. There. I said it. I'm a busy lady, but sometimes I just can't get it all done. I woke up this morning knowing that I had a lot to do, but until I put pen to paper, I didn't have a visualization of what I have left to accomplish around the house before summer turns to fall and fall to winter. As I am a notorious list maker (and my family hates it when I make lists of chores), I am keeping my little list in the study until I am finished with my morning writing and reading. But here is a taste of what we have coming up.

1. Scrub rugs. I have several area rugs that have been vacationing in the garage for the summer. I have to put them out on the patio, hose them down, scrub with some antiseptic rug cleaner, and let them dry completely before letting them winter in the house. As we now have wood floors, the preparation for the return of the rugs was done this summer with proper washing and waxing. Now if I can only keep the dogs from using the rugs as their "facilities". *sigh* The challenge of being an animal lover...

2. Thin out the bean plants. I have a garden in the backyard for the first time ever, having had to ignore my husband's protests in favor of "grass". We haven't had grass since before we had dogs. The dogs ran it into mud, and I decided that with food prices the way they are, and with my classwork frying my brain, I needed a garden to help soothe my frazzled nerves. We have many things planted out there, but the plants that seem to be doing the best are the squash, corn, beans, cantalope and radishes. Some of our seeds never came up, so I have fall seeds to plant, which is #3 on my list.

3. Plant fall seeds. See #2. (I hate redundancy.)

4. Fix mouse. No it's not the kind that runs around testing my cat's agility. It's the kind I use for my laptop. The cover came off the USB connector and although I fixed it once, I will give it one more try before pronouncing it dead and having to run out to find the least expensive and most portable mouse for my needs.

5. Paint outside. We have been painting the outside of the house this year, in preparation for us moving out of this area. Now that the move has been delayed yet another three years, I'm not pushing the painting as hard, but it still needs to be done. It should have been done 15 years ago, and the fact that we are getting it done at all is a miracle in my fight against my husband who thinks it's just fine to let the wood rot, thank you very much. So, painting will have to go on this weekend, as will replacing boards on the house and garage, albeit very early in the day.

6. Move sticky plants. I don't know what these things are, but I suspect they are tiny bushes, so I am having them moved from what used to be a grassy side yard to along the fence that we are slowly replacing, one board at a time. See #22. I have seen our fence jumped before by one of our neighborhood thugs, so having some bushes that might deter them is fine by me. I will use what I have before going out and investing money I don't have in things that won't work.

7. Water outside plants. I have the water going on the garden right now, but also have some outside plants that need some water. It seems that if I don't think of it, it doesn't get done. So that will be one of the main chores I will see to today.

8. Water inside plants. Yes, I have those too. Some of them vacationed in the backyard for a while this summer, but I brought some back in to decorate my "little corner" of the study. I need the green to calm my frazzled nerves. See #2.

9. Edit home movies. Last week before classes began, I had Jason put all our old home movies on the external hard drive, converting them from VHS to what I hope will be nice DVD's. This is one of those ongoing things that nobody wants to do, yet I know it has to be done for the sake of posterity. Maybe I will have some time during Thanksgiving for this, or after the semester ends. At any rate, it's not going to happen this weekend. But I may have Jason copy them to the server, just so we have them in case the external hard drive takes a sudden fall. Something to think about...

10. Go for a bike ride. I have made it Steve's responsibility to make sure I get in an hour bike ride on Saturday. Now that I have gym class on Tuesdays and Thursdays, I need one more workout per week to progress in my health. Wait... I'm trusting this to my husband? What was I thinking??? I'll have to make sure I remind him to take care of me.

11. Take pictures at the cemetery. Steve and I are volunteers for www.findagrave.com and haven't been out there since Memorial Day, and the requests are overflowing in my inbox. This weekend will be a nice time to do it, as long as we do it early in the day. If you haven't seen findagrave yet, let me tell you that it is a wonderful service that we do for people who can't get to their loved ones' resting place to pay their respects. We take requests, and I have made several of my own. We will also create a memorial for your loved one if they have been cremated and scattered, as my parents were. It's something to mark their place in time... to say that they were here. I think it's a nice thing to do.

12. Classwork! Oh my heavens... I have a ton of it to do, and I will get started just as soon as I'm finished writing. I'm procrastinating. Did I mention how I hate procrastination???

13. Put down the threshold. We had to take up part of the wood floor this summer when we found some molding going on. The boards have been replaced, but the threshold between the kitchen and laundry room has yet to be put back in place. I don't like it when things look unfinished.

14. Scrub poop area in study. Yes, my wonderful girl dogs have staked out a spot in my study to use the "facilities" whenever I am not around. You'd think it would be easier to let me know they want to go out instead of being yelled at. But I guess since they know WE go inside, they want to as well. I have to figure this one out yet.

15. Work on insulating the gym. As anyone who has read my blogs about the gym knows, I love my gym. We have put up a ceiling, installed an air conditioner, have heaters for winter, put down a rubber floor, and insulated the garage door. I have one wall that still needs insulating. I have the materials for it, but it just hasn't been done. Maybe I should move this up on the list, since winter will be here before I notice and I will be freezing out there once again.

16. Fix afghan. When Rocky was a puppy, she would jump up on my bed whenever I wasn't around and take to chewing on the afghan I made to keep me warm during the winter. She has unraveled part of it, and even though I have fixed it once already, it needs a little more care. Maybe I can get to that one of the evenings this weekend.

17. Put down quarter-round. This is not necessarily MY chore, but one that still needs doing since we put down the wood floor. It's ongoing, as quarter-round costs money and we don't have any. This will take some thought...

18. Give myself a pedicure! I meant to do this over last Thanksgiving, but never got around to it. Oh well. I'm always last on my list.

19. Get a haircut. Last on my list. See #18.

20. Get fabric for outside swing. We have a swing in our backyard that desperately needs a new cover and cushion. But since I don't have any money, this one will take some thought too. I can sew it, but I need money for the marine fabric. Maybe I can get it for Christmas, if we HAVE a Christmas this year. See money comment on #17. More thought...

21. Refinance the house!!! This is a big one, but am waiting on the husband to get his questions answered while the rest of us suffer due to his procrastination. See #12 and #17.

22. Replace boards on the fence. We are doing this a little at a time while we wait for the Titanic to roll up our front lawn. See #6 and #17. The wind storm of 1996 chewed up our boards pretty bad, and when Tucker was around, he would make short work of punching himself through the boards that were slightly cracked. I wish this one were going a little faster. I am so tired of seeing an uneven fence.

Is that enough for this weekend, or do you think I should just pack it in and give up? Ugh... I hate to even think about it, but I have to put all this aside while I do my classwork. Maybe one of my sons will be kind and do one of the chores for me while I study. Maybe not.

Nazdrowie'

Paczki Puta