One of Those Weeks

The windows are all flung open, letting in the fresh, cool, Fallish air.  J is off to a birthday party, while JP and L took Ole Bessie to get water.**  So the house is quiet, except for the pets.  Lizzie the kitten is sitting on an outside windowsill of the Library where I sit, taunting the dogs, who run from window to window, trying to get to her.

This has been one of those weeks where I don't feel like I managed to accomplish much.  The minutes spun by so fast, that every day it was 10:30 PM before I'd managed to sit down to catch my breath.  Of course "accomplish much", means that I didn't do anything besides homeschool Lauren for 5 days, work 2 shifts, take the girls to violin lessons, piano lessons, and 2 soccer practices.  On top of that, the girls and I went to the pool one evening, I took a CPR class, I drove to and from Washington with my Dad to pick up manure (that we couldn't find), I attended a Library Board meeting, AND I managed to make dinner for everyone every night except one.  I guess it just takes sitting down in the quietness to assess all that I DID manage to accomplish, rather than what I have not.

I've been thinking about those kinds of things this week.  How many of my interactions with the girls, or with JP for that matter are critical ones, rather than positive ones?  What sorts of things have I done in my few extra minutes gleaned here and there...wasted time blogging or playing Plants vs Zombies, or read.  If I have only a limited amount of time in my life, or in one day, shouldn't I spend it doing things that count?

Of course, I've found that in order to "recharge" my brain, I  need some down time.  Sometimes watching Netflix (haven't had any TV reception since the Olympics) or playing computer games can fill that bill, so I won't completely stop playing with Zombies.  But both JP and I have been reading a lot more in the past month...could it be the new Kindles??

So, instead of wasting this lovely day at the computer, I am heading out to the clothesline to hang out clothes, and then down to the garden to do some weeding and hopefully plant some Fall lettuces.  I have some painting to do, and then, if time permits, I'll finish weeding, fertilizing and mulching the trees in the orchard.  I find that I dread these activities so much that they drag me down just thinking about them...until I actually do them, and then I enjoy myself AND feel incredibly fulfilled.

Enjoy your weekend, my friends.  Use your time wisely, but let yourself unwind too.  It takes a good mix of play and work to be whole, I think.  My goal is to NOT be wholly nuts.

**This might be an unusual sounding adventure to some, but probably 50% of the pickup trucks in our area carry "Water Buffaloes" around in the back - and not the wild beast type, these are plastic containers designed to hold hundreds of gallons of water.  Because most of our county has been mined under for coal, there are many, many people who have lost their wells.  If you have a Buffalo, you can fill it at a potable water filling station for $.25/ 50 gallons.