Saturday Systems

[Harriet]

Our systems work for us. Sometimes it's a great relief to follow the system and not have to reinvent the wheel! We check them and make sure they are fitting our needs.

What systems are you checking on this weekend?

What systems do you need to put in place, or renew?

[CathyS]

Hi!

My only system, if it is a system, is to get the laundry done. Only 3 loads with the first one waiting in the washing machine.

We are having company at noon. Someone dh knows is coming over for tea and to see the house for the first time. Bed is made, island is almost clear and bathroom is presentable.

[Nancy]

I need to stard with the 3 d's
Dinner I have a plan.
Duds star next .
Dishes after that.

[lucylee]

My system, if I ever had one, has evaporated into thin air with this thing dh is dealing with. He slept about 4 hrs last night. I slept 2. Of course, it's not his fault I read for 2 hrs while he was out in the car sleeping.
But zone/focus work is a distant memory. I don't know if I'll ever get back on track.

My throat hurts.

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

My scheduling my time really worked well for me and I think I might try this on a long-term basis when I get back from holidays. BUT, you cannot schedule creativity. And even though I left hour-long and longer blocks of time for myself, the muse didn't come until I was getting ready for bed last night. I wrote out 5 steno pad pages by hand and will use those to finish off the sermon today (which is completely unscheduled.

Got up and going fairly well this morning but had to go visit NFD to bring him up to date on the school situation. He agrees she isn't sick, she's scared to go to school and I stressed that on days like that, I will take her so that NFM can still go to school herself.

I walked back from there (dh and I drove up and he's off on his weekly vocabulary walk with NFD) and am now getting to work after taking a break to rest and snack.

Edited to add: I wasn't kidding that my sermon comes when it comes and not on a schedule. And when it comes, it comes quickly. In less than an hour, it was done. Between my handwritten notes from last night and them sparking more ideas to flesh out the thesis, it flowed from me in almost record time.

[LadyMaverick]

My system today is "just keep pedaling". Even the simplest thing can take an extraordinary amount of time to accomplish. It took me FOUR times of starting and about 20 minutes to accomplish the simple act of pouring myself a glass of tea. I knew what I was wanting to do, but kept getting interrupted. I truly love DS8 and DGD5 but it is a fact of life that they can be a huge time vacuum.

This morning I woke up to DH giving me a kiss before he left. I asked where was he going at 5:30am? To cook for the women's breakfast at church. I didn't think much about it until after he was gone. If DH is cooking/serving at the women breakfast, then that means "I" can't attend. I gave DH a call and asked if he realized that. He said, "Why can't you attend?" I replied, "Because I am taking care of two children." It really didn't dawn on him until that moment! DH apologized and said he would get the food started and then leave it for the other elder to finish. DH came home and took care of DS8 and DGD5 so I could attend.

[Harriet]

((lucylee and dh))

A system I've noticed has served me well so far in February is my Laundry Card. I know which of about a dozen potential loads have been done recently and which haven't been in the rotation in a while and may need a look. That really helps, and all I have to write in is a date beside each load's name. Right now I can see that my kitchen towels are up. After that, I'd like to see about HRH's jeans - he hasn't mentioned it and maybe he's just been wearing khakis a lot, but according to my system, he needs jeans dealt with whether even HE knows it or not.

Evening Daily Card is always number one among the systems here!

Ds brought the children over while he worked on his truck. I used my trusty apple corer-slicer and we had "flower apples".

The wind is high here. I'm so glad this didn't happen yesterday and cause stress for dd's photography. I can tell it is bothering me, sinus-wise. I had to take a decongestant yesterday evening and I think it kept me from having good sleep last night.

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

I finished the service for March 12th (except for the sermon) so that's ready to go when I get home. It will be a busy time so I'm hoping I'll get a sermon or two written while I'm away. Ideally, a sermon or 5, to get me through to May.

Upcoming after returning home:

Land at 11:30 p.m. on March 8
March 9 recover from jetlag
March 10 Church supper - I have to cook something from the old church cookbook for that.
March 11 book exchange for the residents' association. Theatre in the evening
March 12 church service at the retirement home
March break 13 - 17 - I'll be teaching NF11 for up to 3 hours a day, every day that week
March 18 Church workshop (skippable)
March 19 church service at the retirement home

So if I can get 2 services ahead, this will make my life much easier.

After that I start regular volunteering at the school. Plus working at getting our household accounting ready to do the income tax.

April is do our taxes (a 2 day job) and get all the bookkeeping done for the business (a 3 - 5 day job) plus the volunteering. To make matters worse, the end of April is 8 weeks after our Saudi based refugees have their interview. If all goes well, that's the earliest I should expect them (the range is 2 - 8 months.)

I'm very thankful I'm not preaching up the at MF's church in March. Dh is away in April leaving the weekend I'm up in Pembroke so I'll be by myself that weekend. I have the hotel already booked for that but should book it for May.

June will be another rent review hearing. Sigh....

Anyway, looking ahead, I need to be at the top of my game, so that's why I'm trying to work ahead a bit now.

I've also been putting away laundry and prepping the 'stuff' for the trip. Clothes are easy it is refilling face creams and that sort of thing that takes lots of time. That is now done.

[LadyMaverick]

When DS8 and DGD5 were playing this morning with the neighborhood kids, I had to watch DGD5 very closely. She doesn't know the meaning of doing anything half way. She wants to do all the normal things but doing them one armed was frustrating her. Since her collarbone isn't healing correctly the ortho doc has DGD5 swaddling for 2 weeks. Basically, that means immobilizing her left arm to her side so she can't raise it. However, since it doesn't hurt to raise her arm now, DGD5 keeps wiggling her hand free and moving it up through the bandages. I put a coat on her with the left arm tied in a knot. Then her left arm was in a cocoon that she couldn't accidently escape. It is vitally important to not use that arm. If it isn't healed right after 2 weeks of swaddling then they will have to do surgery to rebreak/set the collarbone.

After playing/running for 3 hours, the kids were STARVED. I made grilled cheese sandwiches for them, but they were so hungry that I also made them peanut butter sandwiches too. They both ate every bite of the sandwiches plus an oatmeal cookie.

Kids are down for some quiet time. They don't have to take a nap but they do have to lay quietly for 30 minutes. They can read a book or watch a cartoon on their kindles. That means I am off duty!! Feet up. Ahhhh....

[lucylee]

I guess my laundry system works. I generally get everything washed on Mondays, although sometimes it's later in the week, but I do get it all clean in one day, once a week.
Sometimes my clothes hang "to dry" in my closet door till the next week, but that's okay.
About once a month, I iron all of dh's clothes.

I wish I could be that consistent with cleaning. The thing is, one HAS TO wear clothes. One can go a long, long time with a dusty house and the general public would never know.

I just have no energy at all, and no motivation. I haven't been exercising... I sleep every spare minute I can find, and yes, I guess I am a little frustrated and depressed along with dh, bc it seems it is taking him so long to shake this coughing/breathing problem. I keep thinking, well what if the Lasix doesn't do the trick? Then they might suggest hospitalization to draw the fluid off -- thank you dmom for that cheery thought-- but dh would never willingly go back to the hospital....

Anyway, I've slept most of the day. I'm going to start over -- s2s and do a few small tasks before I go get dgs to spend the night.

(((LadyM and dgd)))