01 January 2013

New year, new strategies

What it all boils down to is that I’ve had it up to here with being unwell.

I’m not what most people would call “healthy” – my mental health is still quite fragile, and I am very easily triggered into The Darkness. I’ve gained weight, I don’t have much strength, and I have no stamina at all.

And I’m sick of it.

Resting and knitting has gotten me as far as it’s gonna get me. Time to try something else.

For the past couple of weeks, a new strategy has been put into place. Every day there is housework to be done: a schedule, like the old “Monday is for washing” kind of thing, each part of the house gets dealt with on a scheduled day of the week. It takes 30-60 minutes per day just to keep up with things around here (so you can imagine the disaster the house was in most of the time when it only got done ‘as we got to it’). This is a lot of work … and that doesn’t include the laundry, which is one to two loads almost every day (it’s a small machine, and we hang the clothes to dry, so you can only do one or two loads before running out of drying space). 'It is nice to have things cleaner, and now that the ‘backlog’ has been cleared, the daily work doesn’t take quite so long. Still, it feels like a big investment of time, though it really isn’t on the whole.

I’ve also taken on the outside chores again. The Boy hates doing them, always has, and when chores got rushed through too many days in a row, I decided enough was enough, I’d do it myself. It’s hard physical work: if I’d known I was going to be doing the chores during the winter there are some things I’d have done differently in the fall (The Boy uses different strategies than I do, but he’s younger and can hop over fences and carry more at once than I can). We’re halfway through winter feeding season, though, so I’ll just make do. So far, my arms and hands are very sore, but I haven’t done myself any harm so I’ll take that as a sign of building muscles!

Finally, I’ve put some plans into action for a new business venture. It might be a complete flop, I don’t know for sure, but it might work … won’t know until I try. I had to acquire some new equipment, and I’m in the process of homeschooling myself on it’s use. I hope to have a sample of the new product to show by the end of the month, so stay tuned!

In the meantime, best wishes to all of you for a better 2013. I’m ready for things to start getting brighter, aren’t you?

4 comments:

  1. Yes!! I know what you mean. Im trying to put together a little biz too. Nothing to much, just some stuff with my airbrush.

    It helps to have a schedule. Im starting to do that also.

    The one thing that always works for me and I dread the most, watch the sugar intake, and eat (at least even a little bit) at proper meal times-aarrgghh.

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  2. Hi found you through a friend on Ravelry. I read a bit from your book "Just Keep on Knitting" and I found it amazing. It's so very honest but for me it also holds excellent help for those of us who feel (are?) over burdened. There is much which you speak of that rings true about recovering from pain. Seems some of my in-laws are still dealing with some of these things. Thank you! And as soon as I can I will buy your book!

    Oh yeah, I love the cookbook "More With Less."

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  3. Anonymous8:53 pm

    It is hard . . . those kids grow up!! There are a few things around our house that we don't do any more because our kids moved on with their lives and aren't here to help. We are glad they are building their own dreams. Children are only given to us to love, raise and let go. We think a condo with no yard work sounds great! Love you, AC

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  4. Pearl, you are so right - remembering to eat is hard sometimes! I actually wound up the antique pendulum clock and the chimes help me to keep track of where I am in the day. If it dings twelve times, it's lunchtime!

    Pam, I am glad the book spoke to you. It's so easy to get "super busy" in our world, and we forget to rest. When we've suffered a hard blow, emotional or physical, we need to take the time to rest and recover ... because if we don't do it voluntarily, we'll be flattened and forced to later on. Take it from me, that stinks!

    AC, yeah, the growing up part is okay ... I'd always hoped to be able to take over as Farmer On Duty by the time he graduated from school, which is (believe it or not) next year! So far, we're managing with the new changes. I've always been so excited to watch him grow up ... never was the mom who cried about her kid going to kindergarten or anything. I cried when I got his first school photos, because I don't think I'd ever really let myself believe he'd live long enough for me to have school pictures of him. Every day with him is a gift ... something I have to remind myself of when it's one of those 'teenager brain' days, but thankfully, he doesn't have too many of those! :)

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