WEDNESDAY PWYC

[Twins' Mom]

Okay, LL! I did four of the five, but I was about to get into the shower and realized I had water boiling to make boiled eggs, so I'm holding off on shower a little longer.

-s2s
-make the bed
-kitchen table clean up
-refill meds containers
-straighten MBath and bedroom

[lucylee]

4 out of 5!!! WTG, Twins!!!
I did 22 minutes, actually. That's how long it took to swiffer the den. I have a LOT of knicknacks and pictures sitting around in there. However, I'm puzzled, b/c last time I did the den, I put on the card that it took 13 minutes.

I also called bank to confirm dh's ss check had been deposited...
and called for haircut but girl is out today. I've left a message on her cell phone...
and ordered a graduation gift via amazon. It's going to be late and I'm not going to graduation, but I'll email the recipient and let her know I'm not ignoring her!
walked 2 miles w/dgs in stroller
s2s

Oh well. At least I did SOMETHING. Like my dmom, I've got to work on baby steps. Maybe I should commit to 15 minutes a day before I start trying to commit to an hour of daily/weekly and an hour of zone -- which seemed to be the average over there in my survey thread. And I just saw Harriet's post there, which kind of exhausted me to read. Well, you all exhaust me to read. Y'all get sooo, sooo much more done than I do and I really have no excuse at all. I'm just living on a stupid schedule and I'm letting it make me lazy.

Anyway... I will put it in writing here, and y'all can try to hold me accountable:
As of May 14, this is my goal:
AT LEAST 15 minutes household tasks daily
AT LEAST 15 minutes movement/exercise daily

Ooohhh -- unless I have been out of the house more than an hour or two on a given day? For example -- Monday's errands/groceries takes up at least an hour or more. I'm counting that as my 15 minutes on Mondays. And tomorrow-Saturday -- 8 hours outdoors babysitting dgs & soaking up pollen at festival... I'm not sure I'll be able to meet ANY sort of goal when I get home those days. I bet I'll get my 15 minutes movement in though, LOL!

[Harriet]

((lucylee)) I didn't want to exhaust you! I went back and looked and am thinking maybe one reason I exhausted you was that I couldn't do arithmetic and was exasperating! I can just imagine you thinking, "how do I tell Harriet she can't add?"

Please remember, you don't have a child still in the house - even one taking up a bedroom any more - just you and dh, so that's a plus for you on time.

Also your dh may very well take on more work in the house than mine does.

Oh, another thing - you guys travel sometimes and on those days no messes are getting made.

Honestly, I was thinking, hey, 2 1/2 to 3 hours a day is not so bad to get cleaning weeklies and dailies behind me! It's all relative!

[helia]

I feel like I've missed a conversation or two here, but I don't have time to properly cuops.

I am like that too, lucylee. When I'm out of the house for several hours, which seems to happen more days than not, I find it difficult to get into housework. I find my days are chopped into smaller bits of time around chauffeuring duties and commitments outside the home.

I don't even remember when I last posted. I think I have:
- dealt with another load of laundry all the way through put away
- moved most of ds' big boxes and suitcases downstairs to laundry room or play room
- scrubbed MBR sink
- picked up dd15
- gone to farmers market with dfriend
- reserved tables and chairs for the party after dfriend told me they go fast; they were out of cheaper chairs so I got pretty nice ones that are twice as expensive. It is done, though.
- longer chatty email to a dfriend in TX

I'm finishing a snack or red pepper slices.

Next:
- update laundry
- finish moving ds' things downstairs
- work on tidying dd15's room

[lucylee]

Harriet -- you're fine -- I think your total has EVERYTHING -- where the people who say "4 hours a week" are counting only what cleaning lady does, basically.
My "goal" 15 minutes won't include stuff like the daily things, really -- s/s baths, kitchen, straighten bedroom, all that stuff. Just the vacuum/dust/bathrooms (shower/mirrors/etc) is what I feel so desperately behind on.

Also -- did any of you see my post last night and then this morning re: dmom? It's here in PWYC. Do y'all think this is STILL "normal" after a year? I just don't know... and don't know WHAT to do to pull her out of this "funk" she is in.

[Harmony]

My thoughts this Wednesday:

Harriet, I did question the unemployment. I almost always do that. I almost always lose. Even if we fire someone for doing crappy jobs, they qualify for Unemp. unless we can document that it was done deliberately to hurt the company. We had a theft one time which the police investigated but didn't pursue because it was a petty thing. We fired the guy but he still qualified for Unemp. because we couldn't "prove" what we all knew. This last guy actually just quit on us. grrrrrrrr

Twins, hope Macs recovers fully from the infection.
Kathryn, sorry your septic failed. That can be a pricey fix, but your explanation does sound plausible to me.

Hope booksaver is feeling better. And Sadie's DS18. Wow. Much too young for heart problems. Lucylee, isn't anger part of the grieving process? And I guess everybody has their own timetable for that.

Today was horrible, and it isn't over yet. Putting county pkg together with DH and ordering supplies. Took all day. And our supply truck never showed up yesterday and today he was too busy to come so met DH somewhere which is not what we pay this company for...

And because of all this DH gets to his next appointment half-hour early and doesn't want to waste that time so he calls me and dictates a huge document over the phone which I spent time typing... so the day isn't done yet.

Incidentally, about holes in the yard, we get them from Moles or voles (different critter more like a field mouse) or armadillo who really make a mess of the yard. And then there are the squirrels who bury acorns constantly leaving spongy areas in the grass and little seedlings sprouting everywhere. Possums climb our papaya trees and eat the fruit too.

[Twins' Mom]

Oy, Harmony! So sorry your day isn't going well! You deserve some of these days that I'm treating myself to. (Sorry LL, English teacher...ended it with preposition...)

I got my quick shower in and then realized I needed to head out to pick up ds. Yes, that does mess with my day. Helia, don't be sad when yours all graduate from HS, you may still need to schlep them in the summer!

I cracked open a boiled egg when I got home for a little protein and it was quite "soft" boiled, so the three remaining ones are going back into boiling water. I got a dozen eggs from a dfriend who has hens - she does enjoy doing this, but I do think it's a tax write off for them. She collects $3.50 per dozen very diligently for them, and delivers to the temple refrigerator where they can be picked up. She also has honeybees and sells her honey late in the summer. I have to say that the fresh egg tasted wonderful!

I told ds I would make burgers on the George F oreman grill at 5:15. Dh and I are going up to the pool for a 6:30 homeowners assn meeting. Will probably be pouring rain by the time it's done!

I didn't do most of that last round....still plugging on..
-make the bed
-kitchen table clean up
-refill meds containers
-straighten MBath and bedroom
-outside, pop the squash plants into the raised bed
-outside, loosen the propane tank and move it to the garage so I can get it refilled

[Ivy]

(((Harmony))), Sorry about your day not going 100% good.

DH just showered. We ate lunch. I'm going to do a laundry catch-up next, as I write on a story on & off. I got the grocery list done. DH will pick my prescriptions up at the same time he gets groceries.... Tomorrow. He's got the Mariner's Tampa Bay game on. It's hot & sunny here today, in the 80's. I'm glad I wore spf-50 when I stacked firewood in the morning sunshine.

My stomach's not 100%. Gastritis is acting up like it did May of 2013. Am following a special diet, doing what I'm supposed to do, my Dr. is on vacation until the 25th and after that, the following week, I need to run to the dentist. I might need a root canal or new crown or "something" done on a molar-crown that's "acting up." I don't understand why the stomach thing AND tooth thing need to happen at the same time. It's exasperating!

Well, DH is out of the shower. I need to run & sort laundry & get it started. Then, I'll do a few more things before the story again.

Lucylee, When I'm out of the house a lot, it's hard to get into "housework mode," myself. But at least we're not here messing it up.

Have a GR8 afternoon, Everybody! Waving hello to you all!

[Harriet]

Twins' Mom I'd be surprised if she can manage any tax help with chickens and bees but that's great if she could. Here it's extremely difficult to live up to all the requirements for getting any relief.

Worried about my second cousin who truck-farms and had put up a large greenhouse. I see nothing in his field and nothing inside the greenhouse as far as I can see in from the road this year, so I fear he gave up trying. Assuming he was able to receive a tax benefit from working so hard for several years, he will have to pay back the savings amounts for 3 years of it if he fails to prove he is continuing.

lucylee, isn't it amazing that a year passes so quickly. Doesn't seem like that long. If she really has always wanted to continue in church activities and for some reason is not, then that does beg the question why she wouldn't try. Are you sure the desire is really there? Otherwise, I would question whether she might be feeling physically worse than you know. And wonder why she was "mad at the world" - whether she was upset at feeling under-the-weather, hurting, or just questioning, "why bother"?

If the hair appt was chiefly to look nice for church, for instance, and she's also not looking forward to church, they could be tied up together, with less desire to attend than you think. Maybe you can help by helping your mother find what she really wants to do - what will make her get up off that couch because she's honestly interested.

[helia]

Dinner has been made and eaten. Dh is eating out with his work-related visitors, so he hasn't been back since he left this a.m.

I ordered a new rug for our kitchen before cooking. I like it and it feels good to get another little thing done.

Now, I need to clean up the kitchen with the help of the young people. Then, I'll work on dd15's room a bit and - prep for moms group tomorrow - outlining the thank yous from up front I will be giving and organizing cards and gift cards for the child care workers.