Clearing the Deferred Maintenance Backlog

I'm settling into a very quiet and comfortable routine right now. I have no big plans to travel or take on huge projects or goals, but I have huge list of things I want to do. I call it my "deferred maintenance backlog". It is sadly not an actual physical list, at least not yet, just a mental one. But it's big. It encompasses the house, the garden, the boat, and me, with multiple sub-categories under each big heading. What is not yet getting done is civic engagement, or any kind of study or class. I'm mostly pushing that off until after Labor Day. I'm focusing now on me, physical things, but not social things.

I allowed work to take center stage of my life for the past couple of years, and I used work as my excuse for not doing anything else. As a result, I have neglected a lot of things, and they have piled up. I am taking a lot of satisfaction in doing small things. Some of them are recurrent and will need to be done again sometime, and some of them are one-and-done, over and crossed off. As each gets done, I feel great. I feel productive.

June passed by as a whirlwind, but I did learn a few things. I started strong, going out running the first of June, and keeping it up for a week. The rest of my time was focused on getting the house and yard ready to have a bunch of family come and stay. Cooking, cleaning, shopping, building Ikea furniture. Then, the migraine struck. I was trying to do too much. I went into hibernation for a day, and had a couple of days of slow recovery. I recovered just as seven family members showed up to stay for a week. Lesson learned: slow down a bit. Take breaks.

While the folks were here, I totally loved the experience, but it left me knackered (as the Brits in the book I just finished say). Then another friend showed up, by herself so less tiring, but still preventing me from getting into a rhythm. So it's been only since the last week of June I've been able to build what feels like a solid routine.

After thirty years of having my alarm set for 5:30, I'm still an early riser. The sun is up by 6, and generally so am I. Because it is the brutally hot DC summer, I'm trying to limit myself to only half an hour drinking coffee with the ipad before starting my day. I've joined an on-line running group, and I'm following a training plan that requires running three times a week. I walk on the other mornings, either with or without the dog, depending on how fast I want to go. Then, down to the basement gym, where I do my functional fitness routines for another half hour or so. (I cut my personal training at the sports club to once a week for now, till I see how the money goes.) 

After taking care of me, I try to spend an hour or two in the yard. There is so much to be done there! We had a nice spring, and things are lush and overgrown. Much gardening right now is mostly about taking things out or cutting them back. Some things I've done recently are already starting to pay off. (More at the garden blog, mostly pictures.) 

Then, after a little bit of a sit to catch my breath and cool down, it's time for a shower. It took me a while to figure out when to shower, can you believe that? My weekday routine always included a shower, of course, before off to work. And I pegged a lot of other personal care items to the shower - good tooth care, taking vitamins and medicine, things like that. But I never had a weekend routine and often skipped a shower - I usually sat around in my jammies with coffee and the ipad till I felt like it I was running late, and then I'd pull on clothes and rush out to where ever I needed to be. Now, I want to first get going, and then when I'm done with the dirty and sweaty parts of my day, I'll take the time before lunch to get cleaned up.

The middle, hot, part of the day is for reading, cooking, shopping, indoor chores like laundry or bookkeeping. I confess some naps have snuck in there as well. In the evening, something social (movies or book clubs or hanging with the family) or more reading or TV, and generally after dark an hour or two ambling with my old dog around the neighborhood.

Interspersed with these things is a fair amount of journalling, meditation, and just sitting around. 

I've been up to the boat for sailing and kayaking some, and would like to do more. But my list for home and garden keeps getting longer, and I'm sure my boat maintenance list will likewise grow as I spend more time with her. I'm working on dog-sitting arrangements so I could start staying overnight on her, because a dawn kayaking expedition is one of the great joys of life. To do that, I also need to build my kit, get fresh stove fuel and inspect the coffee stores, among other things. If it doesn't happen this week, it'll be next week.

So it's pretty much vacation now. It feels very selfish (what about smashing the patriarchy and saving the planet?) but I've decided to be selfish for a while.

Because I'm me, I can tell you I've read 14 books since June 1. Some were audio books while walking and gardening, some were YA books that only took a few hours.

More later, as I make lists and plans.