August Savors

 

Each year I remind myself that summer is not an awful season merely to be endured.  I remind myself of that most often in August.  

August in Georgia is humid, prone to sporadic and often frightening thunderstorms, and comes with unbearable heat.  There are seats to scorch your bottom when you foolishly forget that they've been baking in the sun all day long.  You dare not go outside barefoot even on the grass, and most certainly not if you have to walk across wooden porch floors, concrete patios or asphalt.  OUCH!

And then there are gnats.  Flies.  Snakes.  

There's not one holiday to relieve the agony of it either.  No, August is not a pleasant month.

All of this.  

Comparing Early1900's Books

I chose to read books from the early 1900's this year as my Frugal Bootcamp reading.  I started with Caroline French Benton's book Living on a Little, which was first published in 1908.  Some of the things I noted in Living on a Little were mirrored by the reading of Recreations by Grace Livingston Hill. This book was published in 1924 and is the story of a college girl going home to take care of her family and family home. I don't know if the ideas from Benton's book were just that common to the time or if Grace Livingston Hill had been a fan of Benton's book as well.  

Iced Tea Chat: A Long Summer Sigh

Hello dears.  It's so lovely to sit and chat once again.  Shall you have mint or lemon with your iced tea?  There's something necessarily refreshing about tinkling ice and sweaty glasses this time of year isn't there. It's absolutely essential to a summer's day.  Especially in August.

Well summer is dwindling now.  We've a holiday coming up here in the coming weekend and then even if the heat does endure, we all breathe a collective sigh of relief because we know it's almost over.  Labor Day seems awfully early this year, but I don't suppose it is.  I just suppose it's everything to do with how quickly summer ran once it truly started.

The Homemaker Plans Her Week: Ready? Set... Go!

 

Hello lovelies.  It hit me midway of last week.  I was ready to start afresh in my home.  I could see a dozen or so tasks I longed to start tackling and as the week went on my energy rose higher and higher.  Small confession.  I started by getting a few blog posts under my belt.  I'm by no means well ahead as I was at this time last year, but I'm started.

Now I'm ready to get started in other areas of my life as well.  Are you ready?  

Diary of a Vacationing Homemaker: Week 4

 

Saturday:  I'm officially declaring I've had enough.  The chaos in my home is undoing my peace of mind.  I have decided that I will put all my things BACK into the kitchen that I'd emptied for the renovations we thought were starting at the end of June/first of July.  I have two huge stacks of boxes in my bedroom, there are things meant for the work in various corners of the kitchen.  I'm tired of the mess and the cluttered appearance.  I'm tired of starting to do something in the kitchen only to find that I don't have some necessary item.   I'm over it all. Truly I am.

Vacation Week Three: Catching Up

 

Monday:  We've been home a bit over an hour.  At the moment, I have a headache, one I'm certain is being brought on by upcoming stormy weather.   Boy is it hot!  97F with a 'feels like' of 108 and that at 5:30 pm.

I'll run back through the last few days...

We left Friday morning rather early, earlier than I'd hoped we might.  I slept not at all on Thursday night.  I didn't even mind it.  My sleep pattern has been so rotten lately, I just figured I'd nap on the way down.  Of course, I didn't.  I was too interested in seeing what had changed.  But I did go to bed early that night and slept well all night long.  

Vacation Week Two: Can I Do Less? Save More?

 

Friday:  Something from this past week that I meant to share.

The importance of crying.  It was just an Instagram post done in multiple frames, but boy did I learn a lot about the importance of crying from it.  I wish I could locate it once again, but it was a 'recommended for you' rather than someone I follow.  

So, this psychologist went through all the benefits of having a good cry.  

I've mentioned before that I often feel like weeping, but I seldom give in to it. When I do finally cry, it's usually an involuntary action after I have reached a point of extreme stress.  There are many times I 'suck it up', swallow back tears, refuse to let them go.  Well according to this psychologist crying is the natural reaction of a body to stress of all sorts, both good and bad.  And when you feel the need to weep, it's your body telling you that it is out of balance and needs to be fine-tuned. 

Diary of a Homemaker's Week: Summer Vacation

Saturday:  I've been watching leaves fall off the trees for the past week.  Yes, there are golden leaves drifting to the ground and it not even yet August.  This is earlier than usual for us.  As well, what Granny referred to as Mallow flower, have been up and looking ready for autumn for nearly 2 weeks now.  Foxtail grass has bloomed at roadside...Again an August grass, not necessarily a July one.  Katie and I both are predicting an earlier autumn this year.  Are we wrong?  The Farmer's Almanac doesn't agree with us at all.  We shall see.  There definitely feels like a seasonal change upon us even if we do have 7 weeks of summer left.

Goals for August

 

My goals for this month are a little different than I'd typically set.  

I'm going to be on vacation for at least the first two weeks and quite possibly the whole of the month of August.  This involves doing restful things, skipping the pressure to do lots of projects and accomplish jobs that are nagging at me.  For August, I'll just say No to most things.

I'll say NO to planning and preparing elaborate meals, working on big projects, deep cleaning.  

What I will say YES to: Reading, coloring, napping, sitting under the sprinkler, puttering in my little garden, going for long rides, eating simpler meals, going out for breakfast a few times, and generally just strolling casually through the whole month.