6 1/2 week thread, beltain to solstice [Archive]

Chicken lady

5-5-19, 7:50pm

Here we go again :)

I’ve been reading a book called “the renaissance soul” which really speaks to me and my life of always having too many irons in the fire and too many interests, and too many goals, and feeling pulled in a million directions. The author even beautifully articulated my resentment of the need to sleep.

so, for this cross quarter, i’m Planning to work out a time management/organization system using her book. Under that I get four or five primary focus areas, which can change.

my current focus areas are school (work), pottery, health, and farm. Farm is a bit of what she calls an “umbrella” focus, so I am further subdividing it into plants and animals, making five. She also has a bubble system, which allows for more focus areas, but fewer primary ones, so that, for example, once classes let out, school will be a smaller bubble.

this week’s work goals are: show up to teach, lesson plans, fire the kiln, stations for Friday, hippos, grading, and begin evaluations.
this week’s pottery goals are: pick up my work from the class I took and buy some glaze (which is also work) and hippos (which are also work.)
this week’s health goals are: cook one dinner, get to bed before 10:00 every night but Saturday, do yoga at least twice, and swim two nights - hopefully 2 miles each time, but getting there is most important.
this week’s farm goals are: make cheese (which I cheated because I did already), make ice cream, clean stalls *setting up a kidding stall asap*, patch fence, and plant things.

Yppej

5-6-19, 5:05am

Finish my transition to the new job and start to pick up speed there so my coworker is able to go on vacation without me going bonkers. Adapt my wardrobe as needed to the new job. A coworker did give me a farewell gift certificate which should do the trick.

Plant the garden which I did not get to. I will get some dill plants from my mom to replace the arugula and Swiss chard that never came up or were eaten by the rabbits in the yard.

Take my car for its 90K checkup and deal with any issues that are discovered.

Get the final third of the roof replaced.

Go on a few day trips on the weekends. DS is moody lately and my BFF says it is too cold, but hopefully when warmer weather comes people are in better moods. I am pretty sure one of the guys at the new office likes me, but I do not want to go out with a coworker.

Finish spring yard waste pickup and start weeding the entire yard. All the rain has things growing like crazy.

Teacher Terry

5-6-19, 12:27pm

CL, that book sounds perfect for you. That’s funny about you resenting sleep. My husband made great progress on our yard yesterday. I have not progressed pp towards my cleaning goal because I recently got a lot of contract work and we have been going to some free classes and doing a lot of social stuff. Things will slow down and I will get back to it.

rosarugosa

5-6-19, 1:16pm

I would like to join in this round. I am hoping to complete or make good progress on the following by summer solstice:
Set up new arbor
Finish cleaning up, shredding and spreading leaves as mulch
Stain items made in carpentry class: outdoor chairs (2 coats), bookcase (2 coats), second coat on benches. There are more items in the pipeline, but they aren't built yet, so they will be part of a future agenda. I might not get all of this done, but will be OK with substantial progress.
Misc garden items: prune dogwood, corylopsis, viburnum and hollies; plant grass seed, spread critter repellent around porch and shed, plant annuals in containers
Apply for passports
Plan fall vacation
Seasonal closet clean-out
That should keep me busy for a bit!

Chicken lady

5-7-19, 6:01am

Rosarugosa, that is a lot!

Yppej, you either have a very generous coworker or your wardrobe doesn’t need much adapting! I hope the new job makes you happier!

yesterday I made ice cream, cleaned stalls, decided the kidding stall will do for now (if she hasn’t kidded by Saturday I will probably clean out a new one, otherwise I will clean hers post kidding), patched the fence, did yoga, cooked dinner, and got to bed on time.

today, more ice cream, lesson plans, buy glaze and pick up my work if it’s done, unload the kiln, teach, swim, and maybe some planting.

dh made plans for us that will have me up late on Friday as well as Saturday.

rosarugosa

5-7-19, 2:28pm

It sounds like you had a productive day, CL!
I am retired, so I feel like I should be able to get a lot done. Helping Mom and daily dog-walking do eat up a fair bit of my time, though. I did get the viburnum and corylopsis pruned. It seems like this is the first time this year that weather & circumstances have permitted me to spend time in the garden 2 days in a row.

JaneV2.0

5-7-19, 3:15pm

...
.
. I am pretty sure one of the guys at the new office likes me, but I do not want to go out with a coworker.

...

Yeah. I said that too--until I found myself playing footsie with one during a long, boring meeting...>8)

Yppej

5-7-19, 6:55pm

CL do you make the ice cream with goat milk?

Chicken lady

5-7-19, 7:32pm

Yes on the goat milk ice cream. I’m allergic to cow milk. This time of year I have extra goat milk and it’s higher in fat early in lactation, so I try to pack a bunch of ice cream away in my freezer.

I did all my today things, but still have more planting and lesson plans to do.

dh was my coworker when we met. Depending on my assignment, he was sometimes my supervisor. My dil was my son’s actual boss when they met.

Yppej

5-11-19, 5:38pm

I finished raking the leaves and started weeding, but there is possible frost this coming week so I have not planted anything yet.

At the new job I have gotten fast enough I've had time to get my work station set up, transfer over programs, etc. For two more weeks I still have to go to the old location part of the time.

Tomorrow I have a day trip planned with my mom.

It is too early for the car checkup and the roofer has a backlog of work due to the rain.

JaneV2.0

5-11-19, 6:36pm

I deposited my donation for the Boy Scout food drive next to my mailbox. I felt ambitious. :~)

rosarugosa

5-12-19, 6:06am

The arbor is up. DH and a friend did it, not me, but it is up nevertheless and I'm very pleased with it.

Yppej

5-12-19, 7:05am

Delegation works RR!

Chicken lady

5-12-19, 8:39am

I agree - however you get it done, done is done.

yppej, good news on the job! And it sounds like you are doing well with the yard. I’m also glad you’re getting out with your mom.

i did almost everything on my list last week!

i did not start evaluations. I also still have grading, but it is new grading from this week that I put off yesterday. I didn’t get to sleep on time Friday because we went out with the kids. And there is (always) more planting to do. I did get the kidding stall ready in time. I hit the two mile mark both days, and I cooked dinner twice!

this week:
work - lesson plans, evaluations, grading, wrap and deliver hippos, fire kiln twice, attend graduation (not putting show up to teach on ere anymore)
Pottery - make and fire a sagar for cone 6 work and glaze three pieces for a cone 6 firing
Health - two yogas, two days of 2 mile swim, stock up on healthy snacks, cook one dinner, in bed by ten.
Farm - goat vitamins, ice cream, planting, keep up with stalls, groom rabbit, pie (rhubarb is coming in)

i would like to dig a ditch, but I am currently having some trouble with my back and hip, so I will be considering that.

Teacher Terry

5-12-19, 12:27pm

CL, you accomplished a lot. I intend to empty my cupboards and wash them out and line them with new paper.

rosarugosa

5-13-19, 5:52pm

Yppej: Did you get any of that frost or light snow yesterday? That would certainly slow down the gardening momentum. :(
CL: It is hard work just reading your lists!
TT: I need to strip the paint off my cupboard, replace the hardware, repaint it and then clean it out and reline it, but I'm giving myself until the end of the year for that one.

Yppej

5-13-19, 5:57pm

Not last night, but maybe tonight. Did you get any RR?

Teacher Terry

5-13-19, 7:00pm

Rosa, I did that at my old house. I took the doors and drawers off and took them to a place that dipped them. That way the paint was gone and I just had to stain and seal them. Dipping is bad for furniture but fine for the cupboards.

Chicken lady

5-13-19, 7:21pm

I am rethinking that list. I may not swim this week - my hips don’t hurt when I am actually swimming, but i’m not sure it helps, and it may be hurting.

Today I did yoga, some grading,and made dinner.

rosarugosa

5-14-19, 5:37am

Yppej: No snow for us thankfully. Chilly and wet today though, with temps only in the forties.
I finished painting the bookcase yesterday and I'm please with the outcome.

Rosemary

5-15-19, 8:21pm

Only 5 weeks to solstice? Ack! Spring has only just started here - I don't want to think about the days getting shorter so soon!
This book sounds interesting... I'm going to look at the library.
I try to limit my projects - well, I have to, due to full-time work - but I would like to do so much more...

Teacher Terry

5-15-19, 8:48pm

It’s much harder to accomplish things when working. Deep cleaned my office/guest bedroom and pulled all the furniture out. Enough hair behind things to make a baby Noki :)). It took me hours.

Yppej

5-19-19, 6:37am

The garden is planted and I used the gift card and $13.98 of my own money to buy a couple items of classic clothing, resisting the temptation to waste money on trendy items that will only be in style one season.

rosarugosa

5-19-19, 7:00am

Good work, Yppej. Is it a vegetable garden or flowers, or both?
I shredded and spread more leaves but still have plenty to go.
I spread the critter repellent.
I started the closet clean-out on Fri. I probably could have finished yesterday, but the weather was too nice to spend the day in my closet. It's also still pretty cool weather, so it doesn't feel like time to pull out all the summer clothes yet.
I did scrub the 20 screens I had taken out for the house painting that is supposed to commence tomorrow. I hadn't put windows/screens/curtains on my current list because I wasn't sure when the painters were going to start, but I'll add this to my list. Once the house is freshly painted and stained, I am going to want nice clean windows!

Yppej

5-19-19, 7:21am

Both RR. You should feel the summer heat tomorrow. What do you use for critter repellant?

Chicken lady

5-19-19, 8:08am

Lots of progress!

i am struggling with my new approach. This week I fell back more into old habits.

I did get lesson plans done before classes, grade, deliver hippos, fire the kiln twice and attend graduation. I cooked dinner twice and usually made it to bed.

i did not start evaluations, I only did yoga once, and I skipped swimming. My snack choices have been questionable

My farm goals slipped as I only partly groomed the rabbit, made no ice cream, gave the goats their vitamins but did not fully keep up on stalls, planted nothing and made no pie.

I did dig a few feet of ditch.

dh picked up more housework and cooking this week.

school has been overwhelminging with two kids in crisis. One I will still be dealing with next week.

so, the coming week’s goals:
work: last day planning. finish all grading and begin evaluations! Make progress toward mothballing classroom for summer, stressful meeting on Tuesday, schedule end of year conference, fire kiln twice.
pottery - bring home tools I borrow from class every summer to make examples that kids then have the same tools for.
health - two yoga, one dinner, keep working on snacks and bedtime
farm - don’t fall behind on milk - either feed it to chickens or process it or freeze it or drink it, no more piling up in fridge. Groom Rabbit. Improve stalls. Make Pie.

nswef

5-19-19, 11:18am

Cl- You just threw in digging a few feet of ditch! That would have been a whole day project for me. I continued to be amazed and admire all you do in a day!

rosarugosa

5-19-19, 3:26pm

Both RR. You should feel the summer heat tomorrow. What do you use for critter repellant?

It is a product from the Gardens Alive catalog. This year I took them up on their $25 free coupon, so it didn't actually cost me anything. The product is "Mole Relief," but it is also for other small mammals. I'm trying to keep groundhogs from taking up residence under our porch and shed this year.

nswef

5-19-19, 6:23pm

Oh Rosa, We may have FINALLY eliminated groundhogs from the big shed although my husband saw 4 in the meadow above the shed while he mowed. We've had them for 20 years, but 2 years ago we were overrun....so now we trap them and shoot them in the trap....an awful thing to do.( although I haven't run into any rural person who thought it was awful. )The plan now is to use the hardware cloth to block the holes. It worked on our front porch and little shed, so I'm hoping it will work on the big shed IF I can get it up in time before they go searching for a new home. I use 1/2 inch hardware cloth, bend it into an L shape so that it goes up the wall about 6 inches and out in front of the base of the shed about 18 inches. Supposedly they won't dig under that for more than 12 inches....It has worked. One year it failed because the 18" section rusted. (about 3 inches under mulch and dirt. Next on tap on our murdering spree is the moles...My husband rolled the lawn this spring and we haven't seen any runs, so maybe like in Rabbit Hill they got discouraged.

Yppej

5-19-19, 7:08pm

Thank you RR. I will tell my folks who are dealing with those critters.

Teacher Terry

5-19-19, 7:58pm

We won’t kill anything outside even if they eat our entire garden. We do kill mice in our house.

rosarugosa

5-23-19, 6:46pm

Closet clean-out is done!

Yppej

5-25-19, 5:40am

I am finished with the old job, new shorter commute in place. I have a day trip planned for Monday.

rosarugosa

5-25-19, 12:33pm

I am finished with the old job, new shorter commute in place. I have a day trip planned for Monday.

Hurrah! Next we need to see ANM and Float On find better employment situations!

iris lilies

5-25-19, 1:30pm

Great news!
I am finished with the old job, new shorter commute in place. I have a day trip planned for Monday.

Chicken lady

6-4-19, 5:44am

Good work Yppej and Rosa!

I skipped out on updates and planning last week, but here is where I am - school is done for the year and I finished all of my evaluations. The parents of the child I was very worried about are trying to get him into counseling ASAP.

i will probably go in to work in my classroom a couple of days this summer. I left it in good shape but I couldn’t load my new shelf because it isn’t bolted to the wall yet.

i stopped yoga and swimming and my chronic hip pain went away. I did yoga yesterday. I will probably start back up swimming soon with shorter distances.

i made pie and my rabbit is beauteous. I cleaned up my house a little.

i have about two and a half weeks left until the solstice. The rest of this week I am focusing on foundational stuff.

for school, that means sorting out the materials I left all over the porch. For pottery it means straightening up all the stuff I brought home and maybe wedging clay. For health it means planning some food and going to the grocery store and getting back into yoga with dh. For the farm it means cleaning stalls and pulling weeds.

i am also going to keep straightening up my house a little.

Teacher Terry

6-4-19, 12:13pm

That’s good progress CL. I wonder if it’s the yoga bothering your hip versus swimming. The only thing I haven’t done is pull everything out of the kitchen cupboards, wash the inside and reline with paper. I have been helping my husband work outside and with the reduction in income I let the cleaners go so have to keep up with that. Having a big party on Saturday so will spend this week cleaning and getting ready.

Chicken lady

6-4-19, 1:29pm

Well, when I was swimming two miles twice a week, my hip hurt more on the weeks I did less yoga, so I think it’s the swimming.

so far I have pulled some weeds and cleaned two if 3 stalls today.

also a load of dishes.

Teacher Terry

6-4-19, 2:15pm

That’s really interesting. We tried Tai Chi and it threw my back out bad for a month and killed my husband’s knees. We thought it would be easy on our joints.

Yppej

6-5-19, 5:33am

I am going from weekend day trips to a full week's vacation. I have picked up the new job quickly, so the office manager said I could take time off, and it would even be good if I did so before my trainer retires so there is coverage for my function.

Yes, ANM and FloatOn need better jobs. It can take time but it is worth it.

CL did you cook the rabbit in the pie, or am I misreading that?

Chicken lady

6-5-19, 5:46am

Oh no!

you are misreading!

two things on my list were make pie and groom rabbit. I love my rabbit! The pies were cherry and rhubarb.

ialso did yoga and went to the grocery store yesterday.

Teacher Terry

6-5-19, 11:48am

Y, glad you are getting a week vacation. Where are you going? CL, is about as likely to eat her rabbit as I am my dog:))

Yppej

6-5-19, 6:48pm

I'll be in New England, part of trying to keep my carbon footprint low.

Teacher Terry

6-5-19, 8:25pm

The New England area is beautiful. I lived in upstate New York years ago and went to Maine in the fall a few years ago.

catherine

6-5-19, 9:18pm

Sounds like a really interesting book!

If I picked 4 areas of focus for the coming few months they would be work, home improvement, gardening/master gardening, and family/fun.

So I foresee June being very busy with work, but I want to put in a few Master Gardener hours + get my garden going in VT!!! Better late than never. I also need to get the house together.. maybe pick paint colors and get that project going-also have to find a 2' x 2' base cabinet at ReStore. And for family/fun, see the VT kids, hang out and catch a few sunsets on the lake!

catherine

6-5-19, 9:22pm

I agree - however you get it done, done is done.

When I was at a woman's retreat one time, we were asked what we wanted to be. I said "a good housekeeper" (because I never was one). She wisely asked me, "Do you want to be a good housekeeper, or do you just want a clean house?" meaning that I don't have to be a good housekeeper to have a clean house--all I have to do is hire someone.

That being said, I've never hired a cleaning person, and I'm still not a good housekeeper, but hope springs eternal.

rosarugosa

6-7-19, 5:36am

I finished shredding and spreading leaves. We also completed the passport application process yesterday!
Remaining to be done from my original list:
Stain chairs (2 coats)
Stain benches (1 add'l coat)
Prune dogwood and holly
Plant grass seed
Plan fall vacation
Of course, other things have been added and priorities have been shifted around, but I will continue to focus on this list for this thread. It will be time to start a new list soon enough!
Yppej: I hope you enjoy your vacation!
Catherine: I have always had the problem of being too focused on housework, and I've been working to make it less of a priority in my life. There are WAY more important things in life than keeping a clean house, but I do like having a clean and tidy house and have always been willing to put in the work to have that.

rosarugosa

6-12-19, 6:45pm

Vacation plans in place - we will be staying at the Red Coach Inn in Niagara, NY. That took way more time and thought than it should have. I think I get overwhelmed when there are way too many choices, so I probably will not be jet-setting around Europe in this lifetime!
I started staining furniture today. I was really dreading it, so I decided to jump in, because the sooner I get it done, the sooner I can stop thinking about it. Benches are half done (will have to be flipped over and finished). Tables have their first coat. It went on very light, so they might even need 3 coats - yuck! I haven't touched the chairs yet, which are in my mother's garage. I'm glad to have gotten a good bit of this done though. Now it won't be quite as daunting to finish the rest of it.

iris lilies

6-12-19, 7:04pm

Rosa, I am picky about hotels and so I spend crazy amounts of time choosing hotels in Europe.This is where a local travel agent would be good, I mean a travel agent that is local to that city. I want Old Europe ambience. I don’t care if the rooms are small
or If there a modern amenities Like exercise gym and swimming pool those things are kind of stupid anyway.I want grand architecture. I want a good centralized location.

so wading thru the bs on their websites takes time.

Teacher Terry

6-12-19, 10:55pm

I could care less about the things that IL does. No need for gyms when are walking 20k steps a day. Perfection is the enemy of good enough. Rosa, go to Europe while you are fit enough

iris lilies

6-13-19, 9:21am

I could care less about the things that IL does. No need for gyms when are walking 20k steps a day. Perfection is the enemy of good enough. Rosa, go to Europe while you are fit enough
Not that it matters, but I wasn’t clear about a gym in a hotel. I don’t care if there is a gym. I agree that in Europe you’re walking all the time anyway why do you need a gym

Teacher Terry

6-13-19, 10:36am

I totally misunderstood. One good thing about walking in Europe is that you can eat more:))

iris lilies

6-13-19, 1:24pm

I totally misunderstood. One good thing about walking in Europe is that you can eat more:))
Its ok, i corrected my post. It DID read as though I cared sbouts gyms and pools.

some day I want to stay in one of those giant east coast Victorian spa hotels from the turn of the century. They are so,cool.

Yppej

6-13-19, 4:34pm

The 90K service is done on the car. They did not find issues with the tires, but that will be next before winter comes so I have good traction getting up the hill and into my driveway.

Teacher Terry

6-13-19, 8:00pm

IL you could have just let me think I was getting senile:))

Chicken lady

6-14-19, 3:00pm

Well, with school out I should have been working more outside and on pottery, but somehow I have shifted into the house.

i haven’t been swimming, and this week dh has been taking vacation and we haven’t even done yoga. We have been getting plenty of sleep.

my house shift was triggered by two big wooden shelves my boss gave me because we cleared them out of the school office. I put them in my basement and I have been shifting a lot of things around and doing a lot if organizing and a very small amount of clearing out (the stuff I had set aside since the beginning of February plus what I added to go since the shelves came did not fit into my suv for my single trip into town, but compared to how far I have to go, that is negligible. I will make another trip next week because I have a bookshelf to go and I want it out of the way.)

i have done a little weeding and kept up with the minimum in the barn, and I beat the birds to enough cherries for another pie.

rosarugosa

6-16-19, 9:24am

Yppej: Car maintenance and repairs are so annoying and expensive. I'll need to make sure our car gets a check-up before we drive out to Niagara.
CL: Homemade cherry pie sounds wonderful!
I planted the grass seed and stained the benches and the tables. My original intent was to stain the benches and chairs since the tables were not built yet, but the tables have since been built and were in my house, and the chairs are at my mom's house, so I did the tables instead. The chairs will go on my next list. Therefore all that remains from my original list is to prune the dogwood tree and the holly bushes.
I like this thread because sometimes I feel like I'm spinning my wheels and not getting anything done, and this thread helps me see that I am accomplishing things! It also helps me set some priorities so I don't keep pushing off dreaded tasks like staining furniture.