~ First day in the saddle

How did you do today, my dear traveling companions?
Are you saddle sore?
Did you make the progress you needed/wanted to on your plans for your dreams to come true?
 Well, I must say that today went just fabulous. I got up at 6:30am (been laying there awake since 6am...)

Looked at myself in the morning mirror and said, to my buck ass, chubby, bed head, morning glory self:
"I love you. I'm gonna take care of you today." And I smiled at me. And I meant it.

Got showered and back into sweats.

Let out the doggy Joe and fed him and made coffee. Did my reading/writing/emails from 7 till 8am with coffee. Got Shawna up, breakfasted and off on her transport (she usually spends a night a week with us.)

Then I jumped on my steed and went saunteringly so into the schedule I set for myself.

Today was my:    Day 1 Plan: "Put Away Day"

This seems to be a perfect Monday plan for me!

It rocked!
Put away. I did just that. I put away:  dishes, laundry, book piles, took returnables to the store, dropped off dry cleaning, returned an item to A.C. Moore's (in advance of Create Day)., songs/lyrics sorted, cleaned off my desk by sorting it off, recycled stuff. The only thing I cleaned was just dishes, and I threw in a couple loads of wash. I am also adding a room a day to my mix. Just a 1/2 hour or so of dedicated attention, in some fashion, to one room of the house. Today, I picked the porch. It is the first "room" that people come to here at Squirrel Haven, and I put away the summer stuff, put away the folding lawn chairs and I swept off the leaves and "put away" the morning glory dead vines. It looks a lot better. Added to this is walking the dog, working at the college and also playing an hour for an evening's entertainment at Shawna's residence with about 18 other disabled adults plus staff.

It was a really productive energized day!

First off, the hot bath last night, the pretty good sleep and the alarm set were all helpful.
As was the "plan" I set for myself with times to do certain things by.

Also, for me to be able to just do an "Action", rather than a "to do list," seems to work more pointedly for me and it is loosely interpreted,  seemed to make a huge debt in the weekend's clutter in a short period of time.
I mean, I usually drag out the vacuum or add other elements to my day and try to do it "all". By just focusing on an "action" (put away) the house got cleaner faster.


Tomorrow is a busy day tho', as I am committed to doing many things. Prepping food in the morning for StoryBook that night, (I'm making "Zombie Eyes" (deviled eggs with whole olive eyes) and "Salty Bones" (refrigerator bisucuits baked to look like bones). I also have a long meeting, have to go to work after, and there is StoryBook Club too! This time it is being held at Phil & Christines' so at least I'm not on duty for it tomorrow nite this time.

The morrow's theme is "Self Care" Day.....


So, I figure,  if I can manage to do all what I have to, and also add in painting my fingernails, and having a hot bath and oil before bed, I will still call it a successful day!

One of the most important things I can do for myself, is Self Care. So I am going to go to bed early tonight. Samhain/Halloween is winding down, and it's been fun.

But tomorrow there are Zombies to contend with.

And I need my rest.
Cuz tomorrow....

We RIDE :)

5 comments:

Unknown said...

We went to the pool for aquatics class. Terrific start. Red through all the material I had written before, started imagining what else happened. Good start!

Lynnie said...

I can honestly say that things didn't go as I had expected but this was, in actuality, a good thing because the universe had a very different idea for me.

I did accomplish some of it, the dishes but what happened in the place of laundry was better. Reconnection.
Friends I'd not heard from in quite some time contacted me out of the blue. One apologized for how he left things, which included that I'm a better person than he is because I forgave him instantly. One was someone I've missed so much and recently shared some awkwardness that needed to be resolved. Another was someone I missed who just pulled away because of life, which I understand. Due to my schedule I'd not really spent time with my son since Thurs, so we spent time together last night. Mark and I had a wonderful evening relaxing and being together. I connected with loved ones beyond the veil and did a bit of workings that I saw fruition on already today.

Which means, this was far more important and far more fulfilling, and especially far more needed- especially on such a sacred day.

Today (Tues) picked up where my plans left off and I have been so incredibly productive. Aside from a few more things to be harvested, my garden is winterized. My mint syrup has been jarred. The leaves shoveled from the driveway. The dried mint jarred. The dried chives stored. The seafood stock I made put into storage. Spaghetti squash roasted and the seeds roasted (and so yummy...I'm eating them now! ;)). 12 heads of garlic roasted (and soon to be pureed). Dishes are done.
All before noon.

And I had a confirmation from the universe, a gift that I am taking as a bit of a prize for all I've accomplished... I happened to see a fox stalking across our yard. Mark was home on lunch so he joined me in watching the beautiful creature hunt, catch his prey, play with it by flinging it into the air and then jumping and pouncing around on it until the little morsel gave up the ghost and the fox ate it, then laying for a bit with a look of smug satisfaction before it trotted across the yard and disappearing into the woods.

It absolutely reaffirmed my beliefs in magic because catching such an intimate moment of such a wild and wonderous creature is most assuredly magical.

The rest of the day does need some pampering (as I pulled a muscle under my shoulder blade while doing the winterization) but more gentle things shall be accomplished. Writing and reading perhaps. Plus soup making. :)

The other thing I've noticed, the less television I watch during the day, the happier I am. When it is on I realize how banal it truly is.

LynnieBee said...

I've been doing pretty well too, I took some time to read for pleasure, cooked dinner at home both yesterday and today, had a lovely Samhain/Halloween night with family and friends, and tonight I'm treating myself to a bath :) Self-care feels wonderful :)

Diana Baretsky said...

Since I had chosen a turtle as my trusty steed (to keep me firmly grounded), and a compass that points only forward (to keep my face from turning towards the past), I've been spending time in making the future more pleasant, and less fraught with hazards, for my husband and myself. I've been tackling projects that usually are forgotten till its nearly too late to attempt them. Storm window maintenance and mounting, overhanging squirrelbranch removal, shed overhaul and neatening, yard furniture storage, exterior painting and trimwork. Whew! Its been a busy few days. More to do today. But I've been able to stay away from the " looking back in sorrow" quicksand, that's been keeping me back. I count that as a success in one way, but I wonder what I'll do when I run out of projects. Am I just putting off the return to the crux of the problem? Ah, well, I'll think of that tomorrow. (fiddle dee dee)

Merlyn Mischief said...

Good job all! Sounds like you are really making progress too!

Diana~ These two sayings have kept me going when times have been hard:

1) One foot in front of the other
2) Just do the next thing

And when you run out of those projects, the Universe will give you new ones. You can't have new ones until you release the old ones.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it :)