Love deeply. Laugh. Cry. Talk to God. Be realistic about the to-do list. Stay in touch. Hug. Dream. Smile. Break Bread often with Family. Spend Time with your Girlfriends. Shop til you Drop! Extend Grace. Be Quick to Forgive and Slow to Anger. Walk. Breathe. Sing. Dance. Read. Eat Chocolate. Savor a Good Glass of Wine. Wiggle your Toes. Sleep well. Life is Good!

Sunday, August 5, 2012

Not exactly Olympic Style Discipline!



My NY Red Necks! I likely won't ever sprint or high jump
in these but they get me where I'm going!  At least they're
suitable for 'watching' the Olympics!  Don'tcha think?!!


I watched a bit of the Olympics over the weekend.  Awesome swimming, track and gymnastics events!  One comment struck me as pure awesomeness .... I spent four years working towards this moment.  Four years.  That's some serious discipline, people!  I have a difficult time spending four hours focused on one thing.  I'm challenging myself this upcoming week ..... beginning tomorrow.   Nothing huge like preparing for an Olympic event.  Simply an exercise in personal discipline.  Five days.  Daily efforts.  Mundane tasks.  There are more or less eight hours each day (if I don't piddle it away on the computer.)  The areas I need to focus on are Self, Garden, Studio, Garage, House.  Let's see how this goes! Make me accountable!  I'll randomly report in each day with the exhaustive details and see how it all ends up before the weekend!  Gold?  Silver?  Bronze?  You be the Judge!


Monday:   Did I mention we returned home last night to ants in the kitchen?  I went 'all out war' on them.  Never could find where they were coming from ... no trail ... just scattered.  I sprayed.  I scrubbed.  I sprinkled.  I woke up this morning and .... they were back.  My kitchen is currently upside down.  Everything from one side is congregated with the other side.  Looks like the 'house' gets the focus this morning.  Specifically the kitchen.  I know the damp weather can drive them inside, but geeze.  I do not like any kind of crawling critter in my kitchen.  Kitchens and bugs ants just don't go together.  I'll report back later with [hopeful] progress on the rest of the areas of focus.  But for now ... I'm combat ready in the kitchen!

Unless I'm greeted in the morning by a parade of ants, all is good!  I cleaned and sprayed and then my husband sprayed the little nook and cranny behind the stove ... the only place I saw any resemblance of a 'trail' ... ants be gone!  Of course, one thing led to another!  Every large and small appliance was washed and  shined!  Everything was moved from one counter to the other, cleaned and replaced!  As soon as dinner is finished and I mop, it'll be done!  I'm about ready for another round of canning!!!  I know!  I know!

I have another goal this month!  I want to use as much as I can from the freezers.  Today was a good start.  I pulled mystery meat from the freezer.  Fortunately it was triple wrapped and bagged.  The label read 'Gobble Gobble' so I assumed it was leftover turkey debris from last Thanksgiving!  Yep, and it wasn't freezer burned!  Into a pot with chicken stock, mixed veggies and frozen pasta noodle/dumplins!  Sort of a Turkey Pot Pie Soup!  Thick and rich!  You should smell it cooking!!  I also pulled out three small bags of dried cherries and a huge bag of frozen, cooked bacon.  I must have tossed that in the freezer for 'who knows what'?  What have you found in the freezer that time forgot?!!

No!  I didn't get around to the garden, or the garage, or the studio.  The ants orchestrated most of my day and it's been raining all afternoon!  There's still time for a 'self project' though!  I'm thinking a nice warm foot soak, a cup of hot tea and a good book are in order while the soup simmers!  Til tomorrow!!  TTFN!

Tuesday:     Morning!!!  Up and at it!  Coffee made!  Laundry running!  I accomplished a couple of goals this morning in a little over an hour:  Cleaned/organized a corner of the garage!  I have a little pile for a friend!



I made it out to what's left of the garden!  Pulled out the spent Roma Tomato plants and cut back the over-growth on a nearby Crepe Myrtle.  I hope the trailer doesn't get pulled away before I finish the task. A couple more days and I'll have the other three areas cleaned up!  Then, there is some serious weeding to be done.  Didn't you know the sky rains weeds during the Dog Days of Summer?  : )  Oh! And, so far, so good on the ants!

Click on this pic!  Just do it!  The photo took on a dream-like
appearance!  Maybe there were garden angels hanging around?!!

A little accomplished in each area, each day will get it done .... eventually!  Now that I smell like a goat ... I'm gonna clean up and tackle a couple of inside chores and run out on the town awhile.  In my best Arnold Schwarzeneggar voice: I'll be back!

Knocked several things off my list today!  My shopping list, that is!  Made a trip to Sam's for hunting camp supplies.  Unloaded a dehydrator full of jalapenos and mixed peppers and reloaded it with mixed veggies!   Likely won't accomplish much more outside til the weekend.  My granbaby girl is gonna hang with me the next few days!  Yay me!

Wednesday: I attended the sneak-peak ultrasound this morning and got a glimpse of our second granbaby girl!  She'll be here in October!  First granbaby girl got to see the images of her baby sister!  She was so excited!  Not much gonna get done today ('cept laundry) around here cause we're playing with dolls and watching Little Bear!  Just dropped in to say hello!

Thursday:    Today's task:  Clean up the foyer!  A lot of stuff has dropped into the area over the busy last few weeks.  Hope to get back to the garden clean-up this weekend!  During the mix, I've got a few errands to run today with granbaby girl in tow!  Be blessed!!

Before
After!


I set a timer for one hour and went at it while my granbaby played with her dollhouse and watched a movie.  Can't believe I got it all done that fast.  Fortunately, things were already grouped together for the island rental, or the camp or just needing to be put away from a recent road trip.  Now, to deliver the 'stuff' to its respective locals!  Who am I kidding?  This time next week, I'll have to do this again!


Friday:  There have been distractions this week.  Nothing major.  But enough to throw me off the discipline track.  Although I accomplished some of the to-do list, I've been inconsistent in the 'self-health' arena.  I don't get it. I've thought about it quite a bit.  Why do I have the discipline to keep my mouth shut when needed?  Why do I have the discipline to do the mundane chores.  Why do I have the discipline to feed my pets every morning?  Yet, I'm not disciplined enough to take care of myself?  Why?  Perhaps because the other things are for the benefit of others?  That would explain a lot since I am wired for service. Unfortunately, I'll be out-of-service if I don't focus on myself consistently.  Sounds a bit selfish, huh?  This is what this post began as on Sunday ..... a lesson in self-discipline.  I think I failed ... especially in the self-health part.  I wasn't consistent with supplements, exercise, stretching ... much of anything.  I can't seem to develop a routine.  Yet, flying by the seat of your pants isn't acceptable when you're trying to tackle health related issues.  Okay!  Enough whining!  I apologize for the boring epilogue!  And the boring blog this week.

I'll set another timer today and accomplish another task.  Granbaby is on the way to spend another day before she starts K3 next week.  When she is here to play, it never bothers me to let the laundry go, or be entertained by swirling dust bunnies, or watch the weeds waving back at me from the garden!  That's an acceptable reason to let the chores slide a little!  Times flies by and she's growing so fast!  There is still no excuse for no taking better care of myself.  It takes a lot of effort, as does anything in life.  Okay!  Okay!  I'm done.

No!  Wait!  Today will be five days without having a Coke!  Hmmmm.  Maybe I did have a little discipline.  Before you applause, the real challenge will be getting through the weekend .... working outside ... and passing up the bright red, ice cold can of cola!  : )

2 comments:

  1. Good for you! Success with the ants? Try sprinkling a mixture of corn meal and active dry yeast if nothing else works... that's how we get rid of them out our way!

    Been working on our freezer too! No food except snacks for the grands bought so far this month! Oops forgot about the 54 pounds of cherries hubby got for 79 cents a pound (who can pass that up?!!) My co-op order consists of a tube of tea tree tooth paste and a half oz. of tea tree oil! What did you do with the cherries and bacon?? (head swimming at the prospects)

    Still workin' workin' workin' on the house! It just may be half way presentable before the month is out! (maybe)

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  2. I use the cornmeal outside ... works great! No ants this morning! Yay! I'm force feeding cherries to the hubs for anti-inflammatory purposes! You MUST invest in a cherry pitter!! BLT's for dinner tonight!

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