Adjusting

Summer has officially hit Southwestern Virginia. Hot...and more hot...but not as hot as some places for sure and at least we don't have to deal with the humidity (side note to my Maryland Cousin - do you not feel it anymore? We about died in BA last weekend and that was in the evening! The mountains have soften us I believe!).

Along with summer comes adjustments for me. Being a teacher, I WELCOME having almost 3 months off and it is for sure one of the highlights of my job (yes, of course, the main highlight being educating the youth of America but come on - snow days AND summer? hello?). Anyone who has ever worked for an extended period of time and the all of a sudden NOT worked knows this feeling, whether it be a teacher in the summer or someone with an injury or retirement. It takes some major getting used to suddenly not having a schedule anymore.

So, here are some ways I try to keep myself busy until I fall into my summer routine. First I know there is the chore of cleaning the house and I take more on in the summer because yes I am home and I can do it so I don't expect Logan to pitch in AS MUCH as non-summer months. Of course he still has his tasks that I 'don't do' like taking out trash and recycling and cleaning the mudroom usually falls to him since 99.9% of dirt and mud in the mudroom has come from either him or the dogs. I figured out last summer that if I make myself a schedule, I am much better at doing what I am supposed to be in the house -

Monday - laundry and folding and putting away laundry (I love doing laundry and hanging it and even don't mind folding - BUT I HATE HATE HATE putting up clothes)

Tuesday - Kitchen cleanup and mop kitchen floors

Wednesday - Clean bathrooms and floors

Thursday - Dusting and windows

Friday - Vacuum and general picking up of 'junk'

Now, does it always work out this way - no, not always. I try to stick to my schedule pretty close and try to get my tasks out of the way first thing to make room for 'fun' stuff but it doesn't always happen that way. This really helps though so we are ready to do things on the weekend and I don't have to worry about ending the weekend with a messy house like it so often is during the school year. I will never win prizes for Good Housekeeping and Martha (Stewart) would often be disappointed with me but there is more to life than living in a 'model house'.

On a few last notes, let me say a big CONGRATULATIONS to my good friend Rita who graduated yesterday from police academy! I drove up to Salem to watch her graduate and am very impressed :) She graduated at the top of her class with a lot of recognition of her very hard work. Now, don't pull me over when I am flying up the interstate (Mom and Dad - I would NEVER do that - ignore that comment).

And finally, I forgot to post about the new, NEW baby chicks - we got the last batch in last Thursday right before we headed up to Maryland for the weekend - they are my little light Brahmas - they all look the same so I just grabbed one for the picture.



And a look at the 'big chicks' who are going on 3 weeks old now and have been moved to a smaller box since there is only 5 of them and so they wouldn't bother the babies!



Cleo says 'Don't worry, be happy - and have a wonderful almost-Friday'!