This Week In My Home: Let's Just Do Something!

 

I am beyond over trying to work out those last two weeks of jobs.  Sigh.  No good, no good at all, came of all that struggle to do things.  I can't say I'll ignore those tasks altogether but there's a reason why I've no enthusiasm for them, so let's do something else...Now to figure out what something else shall be.

We've one  whole week of August to go and then just a day or two and it's over and done.  That makes me sad, it does truly, because we all know that regardless of what a calendar says, when September rolls around we cease to think of summer.  We tend to tuck our chins down and roll our sleeves up and start all those seasonal change tasks.  We want to put by a bit more if we can and get our homes ready for the cold months ahead.  We want to take advantage of fresh air and hot sunshine and wring the last lovely drops of summer from the days the same way we squeeze a lemon dry trying to get the last bit for lemonade.


And lest we doubt our own estimation there's the golden rod standing high and starting to bloom, the gold stars dotted over the Sweetgum, burnished topaz leaves drifting from the Faith tree and even the baby oak has one bright red leaf among it's few.  

All that said, I think I'd like to do nothing this week.  I think I'd like to sit in the sun, listen to the drowsy cicadas, watch the rabbits at play on the lawn and watch for the doe and her fawns to slip up the side of the yard on their daily trek about the property.   I think I want to go buy a watermelon and have tomato sandwiches and lick the juice off my wrists as it trickles down my arms.  I think...

I think of all the things I've not done this summer and know that once again, I've waited a little too long.  There's no turning time back.  I can only remind myself now that next summer...Oh, next summer!

Work:  

I say I've done nothing off the past two weeks lists, but you know those tasks were almost all from my August goals list, which means I've accomplished little from the August Goals list too!  Was I over ambitious?  I didn't count on the head cold, nor the whole blocked ear thing, but that's just a rather limp excuse.  I've worked as well with far more ailing me.  No, the truth is that I simply don't want to do those jobs...And why not?  Because they seem least important to me of all the things I want to do?  Because it's too hot?  No matter.  I need to do something.   So it's time to get busy and get things done.  It's unlikely at this point in time that I will complete my lists, either for the past two weeks or for the month but I can do some of them and I will.

If I'm going to plant a single thing for fall, I must go buy soil and get myself started NOW.  This week.  Not a moment later.  Beets, potatoes, green beans, collards, carrots, green peas, lettuce.  I have time for all of those if I get busy right away.   So I must find seeds and  buy soil.  

Hang quilts out to air.  Most of mine are far too delicate now to wash but a good airing and sunning will do them no harm.

Wash curtains if weather is cooperative for line drying.

Pin John down to dates for a planned outing.  And a family day.  I also need to check dates for Holy Days coming up.  Yes, indeed I must get my calendar in order!

Just generally start planning now for September, period.  I've wafted through summer as though I hadn't a plan to make at any point and I'm feeling the result of all that free fall business.   

I can surely finish up the jobs of picking up branches and weeding about the two trees.  It's very nearly done, anyway.  

Anybody else thinking of fall wardrobes?  I am.  I know I need to plan now and buy soon if I hope to add anything at all and before I do that  I really need to see what I have already.  I'll be playing in my closet this week.  I am inspired by the magazines I looked at in August from my vintage lot.  Five pieces that made up 12 different outfits...That's the ideal but reality is I have a lot of varied pieces that may or may not pull together into something cohesive for fall.  We'll see.

I'm not really planning fall decor, yet...but I am.  I won't decorate until it's almost October but I want to know what I have that I might use and what I'd like to add.  Katie's got some cute pieces in her shop.

Sew.  I don't know if I'll sew aprons or sew doll clothes or hem pants but I'm going to sew something this week!

Meals:  

I planned work tasks Saturday night, but I refused to  plan meals this week until I had gone over my fridge!  I learned my lesson last week, lol.

Plan a month of meals for September.   I've gotten a head start on this.  I went over the past 8 years of September menu plans posted here on the blog and chose 30 days of meals.

Before I worry about September meals, I need to plan this week's meals:

Roast Beef with Potatoes, Onions and Carrots, Bread and Butter

This was a tiny piece of roast, just enough for two when it had cooked and a nice big piece of fat for the dogs.  I have only broth left from this.

Gramma's Fried Chicken, Mashed Potatoes and Gravy, Salad

Tuna Noodle Casserole,  Salad

Sweet and Sour Chicken, Rice, Oranges

Pan Fried Sirloin Patties, Au Jus, Oven Fries, Green Beans

Santa Fe Chicken Packets, Green Salad

Vegetable Soup, Corn bread

Leisure: 

I promised myself that rather than wait until the due date in September I'd cancel my Ancestry membership at the end of August.  It's even written on my calendar.  I have a few days left to research family questions and have had some interesting stumbles over information that I'd never accessed before.  I wish I'd taken greater advantage of this membership, but there you are.  I didn't because I felt so darned guilty over forgetting to cancel it after the trial membership.  John generously paid for this six months and I've wasted time I might have spent working on family lines.  

Pick up a book, any book and read.  I'm trying hard to cut down on so much computer time.  

Spend some time sitting on the porch.  It is after all prime real estate for summer life and when it gets cold not half so fun.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Don't feel bad about any wasted effort. The other day I moved everything I could out of a bedroom, shampooed the rug really good and was all done and frowning at some stains that didnt come out. I emptied the shampooer and found out the machine wasn't working and all I had done was vacuumed. LOL. Gramma D

Chef Owings said...

I did some things that I had no choice but to do... things I wanted to do, I didn't look twice at. I start Sept 1st to decorate for fall... takes me a good solid month to finish it and I really don't do that much, just that slow. I will start washing winter curtains, clothes and bedding. Don't need anything new.

Lana said...

Yes. The summer is gone regrets. Every single year.

Anonymous said...

Fall decorating is my all time favorite so I like to do it soon. That way I have a longer time to enjoy it. Or rather I Did. The last few years not much got decorated. LOL Our vegetable garden is doing TOO well this year. It is all mine to the care of and it is all I can do to get out and try to keep it watered let alone anything else that needs doing. Every day I pick and pick and then dehydrate all that will fit into it. Sometimes I have two going. Then do it again the next day. Forget the canner till it cools some ! I only have a freezer/refrigerator so freezing is not an option. It has though helped out many people have produce this year too. That is good. What is different this year verses the other times I don't know but this year the garden is out doing anything I have had in 30 years of gardening. ! A real blessing if I can keep up ! LOL

I have tried to do at least small jobs extra. I mean small..a drawer at a time and such but at least something is getting done. The house is so hot. Makes you realize a bit of what people went through years back. We think WE have it hot ! We have no idea what hot is... How did they do it ? I think back on our childhood when we didn't even have a fan, only open windows in Ohio. We just know that was hot and lived with it. We never knew any different. But we did not have open an fireplace going 24/7 like earlier generations either and such.

I am wondering if I should stop Netflix. At times I don't use it as much as I should be. I could always start again someday. One year my daughter forgot to cancel a karate class for her son and since she was one day over the time limit to stop they made her pay for another year of it ! That was an expense for sure.

I missed the good boneless church roast sale at Kroger but since have looked in the many 'Mexican market' store ads we have here and their meat is very reasonable at this time. The chuck roasts are usually bone in though but then a bone is not that bad to get broth out of. Also church I usually crock pot so it will come out tender. So we will be checking out roasts next time we are there. ....and when I have room in the freezer. LOL Sarah

Tammy said...

Summer temps for the next four days - near 100³, so no fall decorating here yet. Maybe the next week.
We'll have a house guest arrive tomorrow and I think she'll be here a week - maybe longer? My aunt (my father's only sister) who lives alone in Florida drove to her son's in Colorado three weeks ago, and on her way back will stop here. She hasn't seen her eldest brother in several years, so we'll go visiting. I'm so glad it's going to be so hot while we visit with people outside... not.
While she's here we're going to do some ancestry digging, so I subscribed to Ancestry.com just for the month. After she leaves, I'll cancel. I suspect we'll visit cemeteries while she's here as well.

terricheney said...

Gramma D...I'd have laughed too after all that effort but also been a little mad, lol.

Juls there are always weeks/months like that aren't there? I guess I'd feel better about doing nothing on my goals if I'd done something I wanted to do as well, but no, I didn't. It's as though I was just in limbo.

Lana, I find it is true of nearly every season.

Sarah, I used to love to buy 7 bone roasts as a pot roast. Gracious to find a bone in piece of meat anymore is difficult!
I'm glad that your garden is doing so well but it is hard when you're the only one tending to it. Perhaps next year you should go smaller?
I grew up with AC units in windows but after I married there was no AC in my next three homes. So having AC here is NOT taken for granted at all. We enjoy it but know what a privilege it is to have it.

Tammy, how odd...Our temps here are meant to be very mild. Even today the AC has been off more than on.
I hope you enjoy your aunt's stay and that y'all have many happy hours going down rabbit trails.

Anonymous said...

Terri, this year is exceptional. Nothing died or got diseased early etc. Every tomato produced and is still producing at top production. It is amazing. I have always been the one to do the vegetable gardens and most of the trimming and anything in the back yard. I used to do the front too but since retirement hubby is doing that. I love working outside but have been cutting back many of the bushes and excess flowering things that need tending constantly it seems.when he worked hubby Had to work may 12 hour days and that was 7 days a week Also we lived an hour and a half from his work. He cut the grass and fixed things around the house but his time was very limited. Yes if I had any idea this years garden would be so exceptional I would have grown less. For sure. :) It is unbelievably pretty ! All too soon it will be gone and summer only a memory.

I know I have told you before about cutting back plants etc. I have but still notice I have still more that I don't really need and that will mean less watering and trimming etc also. I have given away so may plants and just cut some out. That is ok. I feel almost heartless killing plants no one want or can't be moved but as I said that is ok. We can do this. LOL I need to concentrate on what fruits and such we really need as in California in a while we will be forced to only use so much water for our homes and gardens. People across the country and in the news were shocked at the low amount. This was signed into law by Gerry Brown before he left office. To take effect in a year or so. I need to check on the date again. Most responsible citizens have been trying to cut back on water usage over time anyway, Everyone has everywhere. I am not sure we can do the low amount they subscribed for us though. Time will tell. I have heard nothing about them stopping this law. It was signed when we were in drought. We are not swimming in water but the year after it was signed we had a lot of rain and it has not been as low again as it wa then. But still we are to only water lawns and such on certain days etc ever since.

I have made myself sit and read quietly most every night before bed again. I finished two books and started a third. These books are good but not keepers. That is good.. Many times I want to keep almost alll the books I read to read again. :) Sorry I have gotten too long winded. LOL Sarah

heatherruark said...

I"m sorry it's off topic, but could you tell me please your method for cleaning mini blinds?? i have tried a lot of things and I just make a huge mess and get frustrated.

Thank you!

terricheney said...

Heather, Mini blinds are such a pain! lol They aren't nearly sturdy enough to do blade by blade so I use the stick to turn them all in one direction, wipe down with a soft duster (I use a swiffer) and then turn them the other way to do the other side. Miss Catherine used to take hers down, put them in a tub of soapy water and then rinse after soaking. I have never tried that method as it seemed it would be hard to put them back up again.

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