Today I am . . .
- Home from work, which feels wonderful. The go-go-go constant adrenaline of working at an extremely busy labor and delivery unit can be utterly exhausting.
- Continuing to declutter my bedroom. Because I see reuse potential in everyday objects, I often have a hard time not holding onto excessive stuff. Examples? Socks that could be darned. The bottom parts of denim cutoffs that could be used in a project.
- Going to hang laundry on the clothesline for the first time in a week. I’ve been spray painting baskets in the backyard a few at a time recently, and I didn’t want our laundry to get contaminated.
- Excited for my sister, who finally closed on buying an adorable house in New York City. How adorable? Check out the photo of the kitchen! (The stuff is from the former owners)
- Happy that the Canadian roommates who completed a Buy Nothing Year are getting great media attention.
- Putting together some goals to complete by the end of the year.
- Proud of my kids. They’re both amazing and creative young men and give me pleasure on a daily basis.
- Excited to put together a more proactive plan to run my household. I often feel like I’m putting out fires instead of getting ahead of things.
- Craving enchiladas, and thinking I should together a pan for tonight as well as a few pans for the freezer.
Now your turn. What are you doing today?
Katy Wolk-Stanley
{ 34 comments… read them below or add one }
– I got up early to take a walk with my husband. Keeping him fit and healthy is worth more than a little more sleep and it’s a good time to talk.
– I walked to the grocery store to pick up this weeks Saving Star freebie.
– We have a couple of DVDs I borrowed from the library to watch this weekend.
– I am going to try making a peach cake. It is based on a sweetened yeast dough, a Baltimore tradition.
– I have a nice seedless watermelon to cut. There are so many servings of healthy fruit from a $3.99 watermelon. When watermelon seems to be on it’s last day of freshness I freeze the cubes and use them in smoothies.
– I returned items to Lowe’s and Home Depot that my husband didn’t need, on my way home from running errands. Even though there wasn’t much money involved it was stuff out of the house/car trunk and money in.
– I walked to yoga class, which was good for both exercise and socialization.
– My husband and I watch Vegucated last night (it’s on Netflix) and we are thinking about going vegan.
My father, a hard-working dairy farmer and jack of all trades, taught me this saying both through his words and his actions: “Use it up, wear it out, make do or do without.” I miss him.
Sounds like my kids of guy!
Packing
Cleaning
Spending snuggle time with daughter
Attending the Delicious and Delightful (local multicultural festival)
Awaiting buyers to take the last of the stuff that is sold
Working overtime this week, unfortunately (except it means more money, which is fortunate).
Looking forward to this evening with friends, watching a movie at the home of one of the friends, sharing pizza and popcorn. Not so healthy, but it will be fun and cheap.
Hiding from the ferocious Florida heat.
Mentally planning a soft doll I want to sew as a gift. I will use fabric left from another project and I found a free printable pattern online.
Loving your sister’s new kitchen! I’ll bet that is a great house!
I had leftover stir fry for lunch — last night I made fried rice from leftover rice and used veggies I had, with the exception of two I had to buy, to make the stir fry. Yum.
Turning lovely ripe fruit into preserves: local Colorado peaches and some blackberries & raspberries that were on special earlier in the summer at the Farmers’ Market, and have been in the freezer waiting for a nice cool day. I usually can them in half-cup jars for small presents. (Most of my friends have been “trained” to return the jars for re-use.) Didn’t need to buy any jars, and the preserves are cooked slowly enough that I can get quite a lot of other things done around the house while stirring them every 5 or 6 minutes.
Hey, I can be trained too! 😉
Today I am doing as little as possible. I am not even joking. I’ve had a dreadfully frantic week of work (paid and volunteer) and am exhausted and frustrated. The frustration comes from watching a small group of arrogant (astonishingly, outrageously arrogant), stupid, middle aged, redneck men do HUGE damage to a project that is staffed overwhelmingly by female volunteers (including myself) – most of whom have now been alienated (including myself). It’s so sad watching a wonderful organization be destroyed. The rate of descent toward the end is accelerating. It is truly heartbreaking. Anyway…
Also, on 2 separate occasions this week, I got dangerously overheated to the point of my heart beating wrong and tunnel vision and dizziness kicking in. (I already have a proclivity for arrythmias and blood pressure problems. Working way too hard in over 100 degree heat for hours on end kinda pissed my body off a bit. Ugh.) Mon. – Thurs. took quite a toll on me. Today, I have no clients to work for. And, mercifully, the only chores urgently calling my name are a sink with a small stack of dishes and a quick outting to pay 1 bill and drop my son off at his dad’s for the weekend. Both are easily taken care of. Otherwise, I am in full blown bum around mode. I am so tired and sore head to toe. Add onto that that I have slept very poorly this week because of a troublesome cat (I don’t know what his deal is) and frequent muscle cramps in my legs (calves, backs of thighs, and soles of feet). I know the leg cramps are because of dehydration and getting way too hot. But, not even being diligent about water intake during the day and soaking in epsom salts baths before bed have completely stopped it. 🙁
Unfortunately, my son missed school today. Yup, an absence the first week! Argh! But, sinus headache and earache have clobbered him, and he would’ve been useless if he’d gone today. He’s 15 and growing and normally eating me out of house and home, and all he’s wanted today is ice water and crackers. So, I KNOW he doesn’t feel well. 🙁 I should’ve known trouble was brewing when he laid himself down and napped twice last night. Sooooo not like him.
The only productivity I plan to further demonstrate today and tonight is to work on/finish some small crochet projects. I’ll be getting necessary stuff done (some are gifts, some are items that customers have requested), but I can do it sitting on my butt in the recliner while streaming old Carol Burnett Show episodes!
This week has just plain knocked me down. Time to rest and reboot both body and spirit! Shabbat may not begin until sunset, but I’m already getting a jump on it today!
Tomorrow morning will involve travelling to Temple for Torah study and Shabbat service and then back to home. Other than that, my plans for tomorrow involve working on enjoyable embroidery and crochet tidbits and reading a really interesting book that someone just handed down to me. I may also go to play with a friend’s new puppy. I’ve got a super packed week coming up. So, I’m taking Shabbat and the idea of relaxing weekend very seriously! 🙂 I’ll function so much better next week for having let my body, mind, and spirit have some healing time.
Well next week can only get better, right? ((hugs))
Girl, you make me tired!! I’m always amazed at all you do. LOVE your sister’s home. I could just move right in to that kitchen!
Don’t be too impressed. Much of what I’m “doing” is actually just thinking about stuff.
Oh, I feel you on putting out fires. I have two small boys – I KNOW you understand this.
Today I am…
– Looking forward to a weekly girls’ night this evening.
– Downloading another audiobook from my library’s digital loan website. Free books make me so excited!
– Trying to sell a bed that we no longer need. I only had one person interested so far and she stopped messaging me :-(.
– Trying to come up with some other quick ways to make some cash to catch up from some budget-related monkey wrenches.
– Fretting that my parents might be stopping by this weekend and the house is a wreck!
I should add that on Sunday afternoon I will pick up all of the items I entered in the exhibit hall at the county fair and collect my ribbons and prize money check. It’s only $44, but I definitely need that money! 🙂
2 of the items I made for craft competition at the fair are pre-sold. So, they’ll garner me further income on Monday when I hand them over to my customers. 🙂
Yay!
I’m sorry, what did you say? All I can think about is that adorable kitchen picture – lucky sister! 🙂
I have countertop envy.
Today I am…
Organizing and clearing clutter from my office. I am taking on Executive Director responsibilities of a women’s networking organization and was feeling overwhelmed.
Now that I am reorganized I feel that I can move on to this next adventure! I am stoked!
Can’t go wrong with being organized and clutter-free!
My response is in my blog today, with a link back to hopefully bring some of my readers over here to say hi!
http://fastcheapandgood.blogspot.com/2014/08/today-i-am.html
that kitchen is gorgeous! look at that lovely big stove! a house IN NYC must be hideously expensive- well done to her! Did I say I loved that kitchen?
I am struggling in the heat. Very reluctant to head out and harvest tomatoes to process for the freezer, and pick more basil too. oh well! enough whining!
Want to say I love you blog and it is one of the few that I read all the comments as well. For me, it was another crazy day, but feeling like I am finally moving forward again. Three kids back to high school this week, college starts for three next week, one going on a vacation, and I feel like I am getting my house back. Love, love, love my kids, but need some alone time to organize and plow through chores. Laundry is caught up, kitchen clean (at least for an hour), tomatoes picked, pickling cucumbers picked and seven jars of hot water bath pickles and eight jars of refrigerator pickles done, onions pulled. Hubby picked up from airport (a three hour trip). Tomorrow it’s my great-niece’s birthday party, more laundry, bread and butter pickles to do (I hate them, but my mom loves them and she will soon be 80), salsa and diced tomatoes to can, and my fall garden to plant. I’m on a roll!
Ending my vacation and going home. Home is now 1500 miles from where I grew up, so I’m anxious to get home and continue getting used to my new area and new routine. This vacation with my sister’s family and my daughter and son in law was planned before we moved. It will be a long drive, but I want to go home (who has ever said that from a vacation?!?!?!?!)
“Because I see reuse potential in everyday objects, I often have a hard time not holding onto excessive stuff. Examples? Socks that could be darned. The bottom parts of denim cutoffs that could be used in a project.”
The bane of my existence. Not my stuff, of course; my roommate’s. Everything _I_ keep represents a sensible and logical choice.
Glad to know I’m not alone!
Today I did some canning. We were getting over run with green beans from the garden. So I canned one canner load of those. My friend dropped off two 5 -gallon buckets of pears yesterday, so I canned a canner load of those too. But I will be canning more over the weekend.
We also had some squirt gun fun at our house with the kids today. Finally I also wrote two lessons for an e-course I’m working on. It was a full, but fun day.
I did this so I could share what I learnt: Is your sister moving to 422-Minnieford-Ave? Yeah it’s sorta scary to be able to google images now days!
I had waffles with the BF today, and it was pretty awesome. mmmm
Baked with a HUGE zucchini that a friend brought into work and was up for grabs. Made 48 muffins, 4 loaves of bread ( freezer is packed) and have enough left over for tuna/tomato(also free from friend) zucchini boats for dinner.
Can sympathize with the holding on to stuff…me, too. Did the undies drawer today and had to be ruthless !
Thanks for a great blog – really enjoy reading it !
That kitchen is perfect! Right now I am in the middle of a gradual house fluffing. reimagining my small living space for a softer, brighter look. Using what I have I am:
-Repainting furniture with a can of free paint
-Downloading prints for new artwork
-Spray painting old lamp bases brushed nickel
-Sewing new pillow covers for my couch
-Cleaning chairs and couch with DIY upholstery cleaner
-Searching for inexpensive lampshades
A big effect with very little money spent.
Today I am…
– Home from camping so I should be doing laundry, etc instead of cleaning out emails (going to get off here soon).
– Tired since the people in the campsite next door decided to walk through our campsite on the way to the restroom in the middle of the night (which woke up the Golden Retriever and us every time they did it).
– Happy that we went out to lunch after coming home so I don’t need to plan a big dinner for tonight.
– Motivated to start working on a quilt for us (I usually do projects and give them away).
Today I am…
*Baking bread
*Doing laundry
*Making lasagna rolls (as a freeze ahead meal)
*Updating the ledger in preparation for a new savings system
*Catching up with my family
*Making rhubarb syrup for the winter
*Doing meal prep for the upcoming week
*Wrapping some presents
*Airing out the house
*Updating my school/work calendar
Ooh . . . lasagna rolls. I had kind of forgotten about those. I used to make those all the time but they’d kind of slipped from the family rotation. Thanks for the reminder!
Today I am… trying to recover from working waaay too many days in a row. My car needs to be replaced (my bro the mechanic is the one who told me its gotten to the point where repairs will become costly & frequent and replacement makes more sense) so I’ve been taking on as many shifts as my two employers can throw at me but I need a break. I’m just going to hit the gym, grab some groceries, tidy up and maybe put some time in on the home renos I’m doing. I’m back to the grindstone tomorrow but I’ll enjoy this one day of just puttering around.
I know you hear it all the time but thanks so much for blogging, it helps me feel connected to the non-consumer community while living surrounded by the Joneses. 🙂
Thank you, Kristyn, that’s very kind of you. I too can work a ton as long as I have a day here and there to do the stuff that makes me feel like in control of my life.
Today I am –
Off from work because of the weather (I’m a school librarian).
Still in my pjs and clearing out my inbox (obviously, since this post is ages old).
Going upstairs for a shower and clothes soon, and then to my beading studio to make some pieces and do some customers’ requested repair work on some other stuff.
Enjoying the heaps and heaps of snow, since I don’t have to go out in them today!