Saturday, June 11, 2011

summer goals (aka "I obviously hate myself")

The other night I was trying to slog my way through yet another chapter of our world history textbook. Don't get me wrong--I actually enjoy reading about world history. Textbook style reading may not be my favorite, but it's okay. Anyway, after trying (and failing) all manner of tactics to get myself to focus, I just had to give up and take a break. Said break consisted on writing up a list of summer goals...because, come on, writing a nice, juicy list is always a good way to break the tedium, don't you think?

Thing is, I saw my list laying there today and picked it up to read it again. All I could think was, "You are a freakin' masochist!" For the last couple months I've been living for the start of summer (which by my definition starts either June 30th or July 1st, depending on when I get Annie's final quarterly report written and delivered). The very thought of summer has been keeping me going, keeping me sane. (Though said sanity might be disputed by others in this house.) Summer--a time to relax, to breathe a little easier, to have some real honest-to-goodness downtime.

Ummmm...so what's with the list, Debra Anne?!!

Here's what I hope to accomplish:

Homeschooling:
*Write both Annie's and Gray's IHIPs.
*Get all of Annie's first quarter plans and preparation done.
*Get all of Gray's first quarter plans and preparation done.

---Note: This category alone could seriously take up my entire summer. Despite the fact that I only have to prepare two classes for Annie for the fall, because she's taking the rest at MCC.

House (the bigger projects):
*Finish decluttering the entire house. This is well underway, and yet there is still much to do.
*Paint the living room/hallway.
*Paint the kitchen.
*Paint the shed.
*Reroof the shed.

Garden/Kitchen:
*Can enough tomatoes to last us until next summer.
*Make and can enough tomato/garlic/basil sauce to last us until next summer.
*Make and can enough salsa to last us until next summer.
*Make and can enough jam to last us until next summer. (Will need to buy berries for this, because we won't grow nearly enough.)
*Chop and freeze enough green peppers to last us until next summer. (Though if our pepper plants don't spring back to life, this may not happen. Or I'll just buy them from the farmers market and do this anyway.)
*Chop and freeze enough jalapenos to last us until next summer.
*Freeze enough blueberries to last us until next summer. (Will have to buy these as well. Our blueberry bushes died, and we eat far too many anyway.)
*Make and can enough applesauce to last us until next fall. (It makes me so ridiculously sad to say that we will have to buy our apples this year because our tree just isn't going to give us its normal plentiful bounty.)
*Make and can enough apple butter to last us until next fall. (Again, buying the apples.)
*Can enough pears to last us until next fall.

Scrapbooking:
*Catch up, then keep up with Project Life album.
*Finish last summer's stay-cation album from Chris's visit.
*Make time every week to record whatever stories are most inspiring me.

Crafting:
*I-can't-talk-about-it-here Project #1.
*I-can't-talk-about-it-here Project #2.
*I-can't-talk-about-it-here Project #3.
*I-can't-talk-about-it-here Project #4.
*Christmas gift for sister-in-law.
*Christmas gift for other sister-in-law.
*Farmers market bag for us.
*Placemat for Bacon.

Reading:
*Finish at least 6 books I've started and set aside. (Reasons for the "setting aside" vary. Some were non-fiction books that Annie and I used for school but only read certain chapters of. Some are books that I started but then got overwhelmed by life and had to set aside. Many are simply short story books that I haven't finished yet. Some books I can pick up where I left off, others will have to be started over. Anyway, according to my Library Thing, I have close to 40 of these books, so even finishing 6 of them isn't much of a dent.)
*Read at least 8 books from this arbitrary "I really want to finally read" pile: Parasite Rex, Peeps, The Amber Spyglass, The Rape of Nanking, Paper Towns, The Time Traveler's Wife, Never Let Me Go, The Love We Share Without Knowing, The Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, Eaarth, Garbage Land, Freakonomics, Half the Sky, Singled Out, Woman: An Intimate Biography, Garden Spells, Essex County, The 10PM Question, Animal Vegetable Miracle, The Waiting Place, Saplings, Shine, The Search for Wondla, The Wind-Up Girl
*Read at least 6 books totally on a whim.

"Summer" lasts approximately 10 1/2 weeks. I think if I clone myself *and* give up sleep for the entire time, I may just have a shot. Or maybe not.

7 comments:

DesLily said...

if you do all that they should hire you on as chief engineer on the enterprise because you REALLY will be a Miracle Worker!

Good Grief...!! give yourself a break woman!!!

Jean said...

How about a vacation, even if just one day, from lists? Let spontaneity rule! Now, since that won't happen, I would say that the items on your list to make sure you do are the homeschooling ones. Get those first quarters planned. That will take a lot of the fall pressure off, keep you from planning in place, so to speak. As I approach adulthood, I am actually making fewer lists so as to combat feelings of failure when I don't complete all or some or any of the items. In the meantime, let me know if your recreational or educational travel brings you close.

Carl V. Anderson said...

If you figure out how to clone yourself, please pass on that secret.

And yes, you are a masochist! I think the list looks good, but PLEASE, purposefully schedule in some regular intervals for plain ol' "I'm going to not worry about what isn't getting done" fun time both for yourself AND with your family. I'm serious, SCHEDULE IT! Otherwise summer will pass you buy. Not because of anything wrong with you, but because it does that for all of us.

I too plan on making a summer list, so as usual you are inspiring me, but if I can be just a little inspiring back please seriously consider planning out that fun free relaxing time. You and your family deserve it.

On another note, you and Annie need to get in on my Anya's Ghost giveaway over on my site. I think you would both love it.

Megan said...

That is a seriously ambitious list. Hope you'll take the "I'd like to..." approach instead of the "I have to..." approach to it or else you'll have driven yourself bonkers before you even get a chance to start! ;-)

Farmer*swife a/k/a Glass_Half_Full said...

Here via 'Lis's' (Melissa Garrett) blog.

Homeschooling alone is enough! Kudos to you!

I don't home school but at the end of the school year after having pounded out homework and studying for tests almost every day of the week and teaching CCD on Sundays - summer is TOTALLY my slow down time. We do hit the library once a week and I'm enforcing some math facts and review this summer.

I can save you some time in one area. 'The Time Traveler's Wife'. I've read the book and seen the movie. Just rent the movie and watch it while you are canning stuff. :-D There, did that help?

LOL!

Unknown said...

I usually start the summer off with a similar list . . . but then I end up spending every day at the pool and not doing anything "productive." Of course, I then beat myself up about failing to cross anything off the list. Sigh . . . Can/do people like us ever win?

Debi said...

Pat,
LOL--Good heavens but the Enterprise would have been in trouble with me as chief engineer!!!

Jean,
Yeah, I think that it definitely my priority--because it will make the fall SO MUCH easier. Which would definitely be a good thing as I make that adjustment from home-schooling one kiddo to two. Second on the priority list will likely be the canning/freezing stuff, for much the same reason--to make life easier in the long run. Then, I *really* want to create!!! And your post certainly helped fuel those fires. :D

Carl,
I hope you're going to post your summer goals list, too! I swear I get such a thrill reading other peoples' lists. Any lists. But definitely that kind of list. Does that make me weird? Or is it just everything else about me that does that? :P

Megan,
You know, I hope I can stick with your advice there. It really is my wish to look at it that way...

Gal,
LOL--the movie advice totally cracked me up! Definitely sounds like a good time-saving strategy. :D Oh my goodness, and I know just what you're saying about homework, etc! My boys went to public school this year, and I swear the stuff I had to do with them--homework, activities, etc--was every bit as draining as all the homeschooling stuff. Not as time-consuming, but definitely as draining--probably because it was following someone else's rules. :P

Melissa,
You know, probably not. If only we could fine elusive that happy medium...