Archives for September 2014

It's the first day of school today, and I feel as if almost no time had passed in the last six weeks.

As always I had grand plans about what I wanted to do in my time off, and as always I did way less than planned.

Which is okay in some way but rather frustrating in another.

Now I know there are quite a few people who accuse me of always wanting too much, and stressing myself but in fact my summer break to do-list had as many relaxing fun things as chores on them.

The biggest thing was that I wanted to finish revising my novel. Well, I almost got halfway through. The problem was – and I only realized that about two weeks ago – that I had set myself the goal of revising it good and forever so that I didn't need to change anything ever again. Which then put so much pressure on myself that I just couldn't get me working.

It started going a little better when I put up a little sign over my desk that says, “It doesn't have to become a good novel, just a finished one.”

The other thing that got in the way was the weather. On my list were things like going to the lakes for a swim, and bike tours, and hiking maybe but the weather was exceptionally bad this year. Every single sunny day we had we scrambled to do either yard work, or something fun outdoors, often both, and still there just was no day suitable for swimming.

This year I didn't go swimming even once, not even on Crete because I was sick then, and now that I'm cleared for swimming again the weather just didn't allow it.

As every year I am rather happy for summer break to be over, and still I have the feeling I could use some more time off. I really hope to get more done now that I am back into everyday routine, now that I have to get up at 6.30 again. Getting up at 6.30 means that if I go to bed early enough (which I almost never manage), then I have about an hour often an hour and a half between my son going off for school, and my husband getting up for breakfast.

That time is time when I can write fiction, or a blog post like today; where I can knit or spin and read, and do what I want without anybody talking to me, or making noises, or wanting anything from me.

During school breaks the only time I get to myself is in the evening when I'm no longer a functional human being because I tend to sleep until 8.30 or so without my alarm. And in the evening I can't write or do anything productive. Usually I sit around reading or playing video games (which is a bad, bad habit) until way past my bedtime.

So we'll see if I will get more done or less now that I have to work again. I really hope for more.

Most of the things that were on the summer break list will have to get done at some point anyways. Like de-cluttering our son's room, and bringing it to a point where it can be cleaned again. I tried to have him do a little thing each day but then there were all the other things, and he had friends over, and in the end nothing much was achieved.

Yesterday I had the bright idea of telling him to find all his playmobil, and place it in a big box. He doesn't play with it anymore, and it was a detailed enough task that he felt it was doable, and it was big enough to really make a difference, and it got him to crawl under his bed and pull all the boxes with toys out.

Of course now all those boxes are sitting right in the middle of his room but we really hope to get the big de-cluttering under the bed done this weekend, and then there might be hope of tackling the icky shelf next to his bed some time next week.

Who knows, we might even get to a point when he can use his desk again, and there's nothing lying on the floor. Miracles happen.

Mind you, my bedroom, where I have piles, and piles, and piles of stuff, some of them sitting around for years is still not de-cluttered. I'll get there soon. For sure.

So, how was your summer? Did it work out like you wanted?