After leaving work super-frustrated on Friday, I really wanted to take full advantage of my weekend, to make it feel like I was able to really squeeze the best out of the days that I didn’t have to deal with all the stuff happening at work right now. Today, I feel like I successfully accomplished that!
Yesterday, I did about 4 hours of yard work. I trimmed the pampas grass. I trimmed the crepe myrtle trees, burned the twigs that were too small to save for later, and stacked up the larger bits that would work nicely for burning later. Even though he didn’t have to, Justin came out and cut up the thick vines that had been sitting in the backyard for months and added those to the wood pile (making me extremely happy!) and then worked on pulling more of the vines down from the trees. I raked the yard and did other little tidying. I didn’t follow any list of things I wanted to get done — as long as I was working toward improving the state of the yard, then I was happy.
Today, I finished up what I wasn’t able to finish Saturday. I swept the back patio, potted a couple plants, raked the front yard, and vacuumed the car. The outside of the house is just about a neat as I could get it without scrubbing the mold off the patio and putting down new mulch, which will happen later in the spring, and without knowing what we’re going to do with the broken cantilevered umbrella. We’re not sure if it’s possible to fix it or worth the effort to try.
The inside of the house, well, didn’t fare as nicely as the outside of the house, but I still feel incredibly happy about how the outside looks.
Of course, I’m also unbelievably stiff and sore. I haven’t done this much work in months and months. I got out of bed this morning moaning and groaning.
I said, “Justin! I’ve gone soft!”
He said, “I love you, hun, but you’ve always been soft.
And then he got me Advil and a glass of water because he is wonderful, even if not entirely sympathetic to my pain.
This evening, I ran out to Home Goods because I got a $40 gift card from work. I’ve wanted a small fine-mesh sieve to rinsing quinoa and a cheese slicer. I couldn’t find the cheese slicer, but I did find the sieve and an egg slicer to replace the one we threw away a little while ago. Plus I picked up a cute little bento lunchbox and a magazine rack to install next to the toilet. Do all men find the bathroom the ideal place to read and then leave their book on the floor or in front of the bathtub or balanced precariously on the back of the toilet? I’ve had enough of that! So Justin is going to hang that up tomorrow.
I also made dinner because Justin has a online thing that he does with friends on Sunday evenings, and while I was bringing the plates up to the office so we could eat together, I tripped on my skirt and fell. I managed to lose only one of the plates of food; one of them settled safely on the top landing but the other one spilled over the steps. Nothing broke! And that’s a bit of an accomplishment by itself, really. But I’m going to have an impressive bruise on my left knee and my right shin.
So I’m battered, bruised, stiff and sore. The outside of the house looks great, even if the inside is still a bit of a mess. (Dang it! I completely forgot about the laundry!) I feel like I accomplished something with my weekend and that makes me feel like I can head back to work and face the tedious paperwork and frustrating requirements for useless charts. I wonder if I can make the feeling last at least through to Wednesday. And then I’ll start planning for the weekend again!