Week 15 - Reclaiming My Life

So this week was about making a new start and reclaiming my life after a challenging 2017. Between my two surgeries and all the PT, I had let everything go - my house and especially my yard. I had big plans for the week to get things back on track now that I'm feeling better physically than I have in years.

Unfortunately the weather wasn't cooperating to work outside on Monday - cloudy, windy and a high of 39. No problem. I had plenty to do inside. I put a big pot of pumpkin soup on and then went through both freezers, getting them organized and pulling some peaches to make a pie to take to knitting. Then I started prepping packages to ship, including some things that had been sitting since Christmas. After running errands - bank, market, court house (to pay house taxes) and the post office, I headed home to make the pie and eat some dinner before knitting. I'd ticked quite a few things off my inside list and it was due to be warmer on Tuesday so I could finally get outside.

But it wasn't warm enough Tuesday morning so I decided to reclaim the front room. After my shoulder surgery, I spent a month sleeping in the recliner in the front room and so the hutch became my command center and had never been the same. The recliner was also still there and I wanted it back to normal. I spent all morning working on it. Here's the before and after. Much better, right?

It was almost 30 degrees warmer so I went outside after lunch and started out front. I raked the front yard, which was pretty easy, then went around the corner to the side. It had 2 years of leaves and the winter creeper had to be seriously cut back. I kept going around the house and didn't stop until I had all the beds raked except for the back two, which would have to wait. I'd been outside for hours so went in for tea and called it a good day.

I had been considering volunteering for the Nebraska Statewide Arboretum on Wednesday afternoon, which would count towards my master gardener hours. Having gotten so much done and knowing it would be warm enough to work outside Wednesday morning, I committed and signed up. I also called and made a hair appointment and emailed the cleaning lady, who had left a note two weeks ago saying she was considering dropping some clients, to say she didn't need to come back. She had never done a good job and seeing how dirty the front room was clinched it. I went to bed Tuesday with a plan and feeling none the worse for having worked so hard all day. I LOVE my new knee!

I spent all Wednesday morning outside, this time cutting down the garden between the street and the sidewalk, raking out the small bed by the front door and moving the rest of the containers to one of the raised beds in the vegetable garden, ready for mixing for this year's pots. I showered, ate lunch and headed to the hairdressers then UNL. I spent the afternoon prepping signs for the arboretum's plant sale then ripping plant stakes apart. I took the rest of those home and finished them while watching Survivor then brought them to my neighbor who could take them to work the next day. Another productive day with lots checked off my list. Nice.

Thursday was my last day to work outside. I went straight out back and tackled the two big perennial beds, which hadn't been touched in two years. I schlepped bag after bag of leaves, creating two additional piles - one by the hay bales behind the garden and one against my neighbor's fence. I'll plant squash on the bales so it'll cover that pile and the one by the fence will get added to my working compost bin over the summer to mix with my "greens." All good. I also discovered that John had been missing a major chunk of grass when he mowed so I'll edge those beds before he starts mowing again to reclaim that bit of lawn. After taking a tea break, I went out and cut down two year's of growth on the sweet autumn clematis. That was the last I'd be doing for the week because Anne and I were leaving for Minneapolis in the morning.

Anne had found The World's Largest Textile Garage Sale online and we'd promptly bought tickets to the preview sale and booked a hotel for Friday night. Anne picked me up at 7:45 Friday after her workout and we headed north. But the weather had turned and a huge blizzard was forecast to start Friday night in Minneapolis so we decided to explore changing the hotel and leaving right after the sale. Luckily we made good time so went to Ikea, where we ate a late lunch, and the Lands End outlet. Those were our only other to dos for the trip so we wouldn't miss anything by leaving right after the sale. Unfortunately we couldn't change the hotel so the plan was to drive all the way back rather than stopping in Iowa, where it wasn't due to snow until later Saturday.

The sale was great! It was held in the university's surplus warehouse so we lined up against 20 foot tall shelves full of chairs, light fixtures and the like. But between the huge shelves were tables piled with every craft supply imaginable. I had gotten the skinny from a volunteer so knew exactly where the sock yarn was and made a beeline there when they let us start at 5:30. I had a huge Ikea bag and after grabbing all the good sock yarn, I filled the rest of the bag with wool. They'd already postponed Saturday's sale until the next weekend so we were sure we'd made the right decision to drive home that night. We were on the road by 6:30 and it started sleeting within minutes. By the time we were out of the city, it was a mess. We drove through sleet, hail, torrential rain and thunder/lightening. I was driving and Anne was a nervous mess in the passenger seat but I assured her that I drove in weather like this every spring so to chill out.

Besides lunch at Ikea, where I had a veggie wrap in an attempt at healthy, we hadn't eaten anything but junk food all day so I needed some protein. We tried to stop in northern Iowa but the power was out at the exit we chose so we got back on the road and found an Arby's for chicken fingers near Des Moines. We were past the storm by then so the last hours were easy driving and we drove into my driveway at 12:45. It has been a long day but fun and we both scored lots of yarn so it was well worth it. I'm thinking we'll go back next year and hope for better weather.

I slept like a rock Friday night (technically Saturday morning) and didn't wake up until 8:30. It was already sleeting and it turned to snow shortly after I woke up. With the snowing/blowing, I happily sat inside and played with my new yarn. I didn't do much else all day and was fine with that.

Sunday was my last day off so it was chore day and now that I didn't have a cleaning lady, I had more chores to do. I had been thinking I'd do floors one week and the bathroom the next but I ended up doing it all. While the back floor was drying, I tackled the built up soap scum in the bathroom sink and the lime trail in the bottom of my tub (I know - I should have fired her years ago!) by spraying it with straight vinegar. It was 90% gone with minimal effort. If I can keep up with the clutter (the cleaning lady coming was always my impetus to neatize), this could work. Why I paid $30/week for years for bad cleaning is beyond me. The only thing she had going for her was not being skeeved by the cats. Letting it go...........................

So all told, it was a fabulous week off. I got so much done, both inside and out, and my knee gave me no issues no matter how hard I worked. I feel great about the start I got on reclaiming my life and have high hopes that I can keep it up. I even got 4.5 hours (almost a quarter of my yearly 20 hours) of volunteer time. All good. Now if the weather would just cooperate and bring spring. It's gotta get here soon, right?