The Week Ahead: Let's DO Things

In my home this week, I am still riding on the wave of getting so many things out of our bedroom this past week.  Yes, I still have vacuum storage bags under my bed, but I have some empty spaces in my room. No, the bags won't fit.  They are too heavy and too big for the space, but visually I see that we have room and that's all I needed to shut down some of my anxiety.  

Work:  

Zone 4 is porches and patio.  And that's where you'll find me this week.  I want to remove some excess things from the back porch.  Like pots, a planter with a dead plant, the charcoal grill, the bird seed container (that will come indoors to keep for next winter.  I want to keep the heat from causing those seeds to get rancid.)  I'd like to wash rails and clean floors.  Perhaps I'll get John to hook up the pressure washer on a lower setting.  I want to take off dirt, not paint.

I am slowly planting pots of things.  I moved two of the Hibicus to two different pots and need to repot one more.  I'd like to continue that work of emptying out pots of dead plants, refreshing soil and refilling and then planting a few things.  I'd love to get out to Lowe's or Tractor Supply or the local feed store and grab up a few things to put into the pots.

This past week I've had to admit that while I love having a table on the patio, the one I have isn't the one for it.   My patio is narrow and this tables takes up far too much of the space.   I'm going to see if Sam and Bess would like to have it and if not, I'll hit up the neighbors.  One on the corner often has a lot of company and might find it comes in handy for his gatherings.  I'll let all four of the chairs go, too.  My eventual goal will be to get a set of chairs for the front porch.  I'll likely move my current cafe table and chairs to the patio.  It will take up far less room and give me more space to work with.

I want to get into the shed and retrieve some toys I think Caleb is now ready to play with.  They were beyond his skill set before but even if they still are, it's time for him to figure these out.  It will help occupy him.

The shed is so heavily packed at the moment, I can't get to the back.  My goal is always to keep things stacked in a U shape and leave myself a clear path where I can see where my feet are stepping next. I don't have that just at the moment.  This won't be a major declutter, more just putting things off to one side or the other.

Sunday morning, I also want to take the donations from the shed and load them right into the car so I can get them off and out of the doorway of the shed itself. 

And as usual there's all the other routine work to be attended to.  That's just life, isn't it?

Kitchen:

Make bagels.

Mix up a few cookie doughs, bake a layer cake and then freeze separate layers.  One layer iced is generally more than enough for us and would be nice to have on hand.  I might even make up Granny's poundcake recipe and bake in loaf pans, too.  All of this to get ahead of the warmer weather coming to us.

John and I will go by the grocery tomorrow while we're in town.  I have a list.  We don't need a load of things, but milk is on sale and Caleb's very nearly out of his milk. I'll try to be careful.  I have a small amount of grocery budget left and I'd really like to be within it come end of the month.

Do a day of food prep, including getting meats out to thaw for the week ahead.  

Try as I prepare meals to get a few extra dishes into the freezer for those days when I'm hard pressed to come up with a supper when our plans suddenly change.

Personal/Leisure:

I've been a week without a book to read now.  I've pulled one from the bookshelf and if I still can't get sunk into it this week, I'll swap for another one and try again.  

Journal routinely. It's a huge help to me mentally.

Continue to do small things towards making myself feel cared for.  

Lie down for at least 10 minutes, 15 would be better, every single day of the week.  Not push it off because I want to get things done while Caleb is down for his quiet time.  I got in a terrible fix last week between low sleep and pushing myself far too hard.  I don't want to do the same this week. I want to be better to me.

I believe I have shared that I once met an older woman who told me that she lay down for one hour every single day after lunch.  "I take off my clothes, put on my pajamas, crawl into bed and sleep, every single day."  I was astonished.  She was a remarkably good-looking older woman.  Since I so seldom find myself able to sleep at night, I often could use that rest time, whether or not I sleep.  I know I'm saying 10-15 minutes just now, but I hope to work my way up to a full hour as the weeks go on.

I find that each day along about 3pm I flag hard.  That's just about the time that Caleb wants to go outdoors and also the time frame when I know the supper rush is going to occur following his hour or so outdoors.  There I am though, every single day, feeling like I'm dragging cannon balls behind me everywhere I go because I am so weary.  Here's hoping that lying down will work to alleviate that afternoon slump and maybe just maybe reset my sleep pattern.