I have worked hard this year and have done most all I could to accomplish my goals each month. Last month I slowed down a little but accomplished nearly everything on my goal list for July that I could and even some of those I hadn't gotten around to in June. For August, I'm not making any goals.
For one thing, it's hot. It's far too hot to even pretend I'm going to be outdoors working, much as I'd love to move on with the landscape work. I may buy materials if I find I have the funds but I won't be actually working on it otherwise. The plants I've managed to purchase are struggling, except the herbs. The herbs LOVE the heat and often dry conditions. The petunias have more or less curled up and died, as have one pot of dianthus that I'd bought.
For another thing, I'm tired. I'm tired of thinking, "Oh golly, there's stuff on my list I need to accomplish, best get up again and get busy." I like to be accountable to myself, and to you all if I've taken time to post goals, but there are other reasons for being extra tired just now. I can only spread myself so far to accomplish all the things I think I want to do and all the things I need to do and then a few extras that are required needs of others. No one is demanding I do these extra things, but they are necessary at this time. I'm not complaining. I am happy to do what I can but let's face it, there's only so much time in any week.
And then there are the finances. I need to take a long hard look at our financial state and see where we might trim back our own needs at this point so that we can do what is necessary. There are needs that must be attended to at this time. Not something we've been asked to do but again, necessary and so some of the things I want to do will be postponed. Not a big deal, really and as with most work, there's always something that can be done with what is at hand if I'll just stop and think creatively or wait patiently for God's provision.
So, no big goals for this month.
I'm not planning a vacation either, though.
I will be doing what I'd normally do: routine house chores, tackling any jobs I see which require attention, doing all the jobs that are related to living frugally and those required in day to day living. And that seems to me to be enough for what is typically a month in which the weather is normally taxing on strength anyway.
15 comments:
I can completely agree. Besides getting my youngest moved back to college, the only goals I have set for myself involve inside work and those that cost zero money. I'm sure we will both find plenty to keep ourselves busy!
Terri, I am not living up to my motto at all this summer. It’s hot 🥵
I get a few things and any errands done in the morning.
Afternoons are for sitting and keeping cool.
My house is clean enough and we’re eating home cooking but that’s the extent of accomplishments
And I’m not planning to do more unless necessary
There is a season for everything
Every year I forget just how the heat wears you out. I have to tend to the garden and plantings round the yard. I do some in the early morning and some at night. I come inside finally at 9 p.m. I really HAVE to figure a way to cut back ! :) Thank fully most of the areas are on soaker hoses. But there is still the picking and fertilizing etc etc to do. How people kept things watered with water in buckets to water with or watering cans to fill I will never know. Wow that is a lot of heavy hard work!! As far as inside goes I am with you. I keep up the basics daily and I have been doing a bit only of little extra things as I can or see them but yes it is HOT ! The electric bill shows we used less electricity last month than we did the last two years that same month. How they figured that I will never know. Did everyone say it is hot ? We used the water cooler etc every day but if we used less I guess we did. :) It is canning season and I cannot see starting it or dehydrating right now for that matter. :(( I hear some ladies say they freeze tomatoes and such and can them later when it cools down. Ok if you do not have a terrible amount to can. Anything to keep that extra heat and humidity out of our already hot homes. LOL It is time for you to 'vacation' a bit from your home work. Your body and mind needs some time to relax. Since you have so faithfully kept things up and even updated you can relax with the knowledge your home will still function and look good....so for now just take care of yourself and John. Sarah
We are absolutely no good at taking a break at home. We just keep running flat out until we plow into a brick wall. That is why our time away at the lake is so important. In August we will get an estimate on having the tub torn out in our bathroom and replaced with a shower. Hopefully we can get that taken care of soon. After my Mom told me about falling in the tub and having to be hauled up by two fireman in her birthday suit it made more determined to get on with this. Not at all looking forward to that mess!! We will also be traveling 550 miles by minivan to visit our middle son's family. But we know there will be two more weeks at the lake in the fall to regain our sanity.
Stephanie...EXACTLY. There are things I must do but everything else is extra and therefore probably too much.
Rhonda, You do plenty with your grandchildren, children and parents, too...And that's where I am at the moment. The house is decent enough, there's not much point in sweating buckets in the yard at this point and we are eating homecooked meals about 19 or 20 out of 21 times a week. So yeah...There will be a season for those other things as well. It's not the year I planned but it's the year I've been given.
Sarah, for a wee little bit of time I was lugging a bucket around and traipsing from the faucet to the plants and back again. It is HARD work indeed and I'm grateful I was able to buy a hose to use which is a lots easier. Our electric bill too says we've used less than we did in previous summers (it has a two year graph on the bill). I am thinking the new foundation work has a LOT to do with it because it's been an average summer.
Lana, Safe travels for you two....We have a shower in our master bath but it's small. It is our plans next year when John retires to put in a larger walk in type shower that is large enough for a shower chair when we get older. Our current shower we cannot even bend over in it's so small, and we must step up about six inches or so which is not ideal either. So I understand perfectly the desire to put in a shower that is senior friendly even if we aren't exactly seniors just yet!
I am just going to recuperate from the accident, do my best to get the heart strong again, get insurance straightened out, do my best to enertain my granddaughter the rest of this week and the next, maybe try to catch up with the ironing, dusting that has gone kaput the last month, figure out some meals for my son and his friend who will be driving him but that will just be a couple days. Hopefully, get back into a routine of early morning walking (maybe) and rest of the time, let life pass me by! No big meals, and hopefully our son in law finds us a car soon, my cheap food places will be sending miss you cards soon. No deep housecleaning, the deer have eaten the flowers so no getting into a tizzy trying to keep them perfect. Gramma D
Dora/Gramma D somehow all of that doesn't sound very 'quiet and restful' but I know it's all necessary just the same, lol.
The heat and humidity up here in New York is brutal, especially in August. So many things I wanted to do will be put on hold as well. Having fibromyalgia limits my strength and stamina. No sense in overdoing anything, cause I'll pay the price. My kryptonite is online shopping. It seems I can always find some thing I absolutely 'need'. Trying to be better about that. Changes in my home this month include an adult son moving back home for an indefinite period. It's going to be hard, and I'm not looking forward to it. Is it wrong to feel guilt about not wanting my applecart upset? I feel like a horrible mother!
LiZ, no guilt. Not easy to have an adult child move home. My daughter and her baby lived with us for 2 years but we had the room, she took care of all her own stuff, did the cooking in exchange for a room did not expect us to do any babysitting, and we have always been close so it worked out beautifully, we got to spend 2 years with a precious little girl and my daughter was looking for employment every day. Still thanking us for our help. Her alternative was living with her bachelor brother who planned on taking the baby to school with him (he is a professor) keeping her in a basket under his desk and having a student babysit when he had class, LOL!
A lot of people expect to move home and be taken care of and a lot of parents treat them like 12 year old and expect them to do nothing. Gramma D
I wish I did not have a goal list for Aug.Our NEED to get the house finished with the insulation repairs before winter is massive but doable as in TIME CONSUMING. I focus on knowing we will cut our largest utility bill of propane with getting this done.
Last Fall we took a month off. We were both sick and I was in and out of hospital 3 times for Crohn's.. think we should have took the time off sooner
SO TAKE THE TIME
Juls, I am sure that the pay off this winter will be worth the goals you've set. I know our new foundation is paying off for us...Well worth having it done!
Liz, No guilt at all. I've had my sons (never a daughter) return home multiple times. It's always hard, it just is and it upsets the whole household routines, dynamics etc. I was glad to offer the shelter, glad to see them GO when they were done. It's just a fact. God Bless you in this season.
Terri, thank you for the prayers, I get along very well with this particular so, so it won't be horrible, but I guess we, as we are mothers, we must do what we must do. I guesss im a creature of habit, and now must get used to a new routine. GrammaD, thank your for your kind words! This son (I have 3 girls, and 3 boys) is my middle son, and he and I always had a great relationship. He's at bit immature at 26, a failed live -in situation with his girlfriend went south, as it usually does. I was against it, but adult children are gonna do what they want. He lift a good live in situation with 2 male roommates, upheaved his life, and 6 months later back home....ughhhhh!
Terri, I think that having no goals sounds sublime! I know that sometimes I just need to slow down and be and not worry about the deep cleaning or all the extra projects that need to be done. You didn’t mention leisure...I do hope that you will take more leisure this month. Enjoy the simple, lazy days of August. Thank goodness for air conditioning. I really don’t know how so many people lived in the south before air conditioning! We have to get our central air replaced, but thank goodness on of the men who came to give us an estimate put in a tiny part to get the fan going so we didn’t wilt in the recent heat wave. Of course we are on our only vacation this year in lower Michigan and splurged with a rental on our favorite lake, but it’s only been in the low 70’s this week until today! At least it hasn’t been raining, but we did want to spend more time playing in the water.
After I finish the last coat of royal blue on my garden bench, I will work with my husband and 18 yo son to get his room painted a deep blue. He wants to be a pilot so I am trying to find some pictures on posters.com to put into some poster frames I already have. I also need to sew him some simple valances for his window, but maybe I can do that in the fall. I think that after we paint his room, I shall have no other extra plans for the rest of the summer. I do have to organize and get ready for my 14 yo son’s freshman year. He is my last homeschooler. Can’t believe I am down to one! The flower beds and vegetable garden shall keep me busy enough. I plan to spend more time on my porch swing, get in more regular exercise walks in the early morning, and read!
Enjoy your month Terri. I hope you feel rested at the end of it.
Karen, Royal Blue and dark blue are lovely colors. I love following "Cheap Old Houses" on Instagram and just viewed a house that had cobalt blue walls in one room. I thought it a very brave color choice. It was beautiful.
Liz, If we could make choices for them...yet neither you nor I would. We raised them to think for themselves and their mistakes must be made even if we'd protect them from making any.
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