I took it easy! Woke up at 9:00 a.m. (after going to sleep at 3:00 a.m.), without an alarm. Had a cup of coffee, opened the windows and front door to get some cooler morning air into the house, replied to blog comments, etc. Then, at 10:00 a.m., dressed and went out to bring in the trash cans and water the front garden. In the future, if I decide to water the front garden in the morning, I must remember to do it before 9:00 a.m., because, by 10:00 a.m., just about the entire garden was in the full sun and it was too hot! Or, at the very least, I must wear my big sun hat!
I made waffles for brunch. For dinner, I cooked fresh rice and sauteed another zucchini and daughter prepared one of the boxes of frozen chicken we had bought, yesterday, the General Tso's chicken, which was very good! The other one is a sesame chicken, but we haven't tried it, yet.
Today, I did two loads of laundry and hung them up to dry. The first load was put away, the second load is still drying. I handwashed our sari blouses; daughter's blouse, especially, is heavily embroidered with beads, which might have got damaged if it had been washed in the washing machine.
I called my cousin V and told her that her son's wedding had gone off very well and her attention to details really showed. She said her husband's family had been displeased with the seating arrangements (apparently, they felt they weren't seated close enough to the main table)! Oops! This is why I tell my daughter to elope whenever she gets married! LOL!
In the afternoon, when it was too hot to do anything, I read a book and took a nap! Later, I was having tea when my neighbor T called to ask if I was satisfied with the tree trimmers. We chatted for a bit and then, I called both cousin P and friend R to check on them. I also replied to my friend's email.
This week, I am giving myself permission to just relax and be on vacation mode. The deep cleaning and organizing, etc., that I want to do can wait until next week. Besides, it is just too hot to do anything! Tomorrow, I might turn on the air conditioner in my bedroom (the window unit was put in place on Friday, but, so far, I haven't turned it on) and try to do some cleaning, in there.
Today, I am grateful for:
- A relaxed day
- Being able to water the front garden in the morning
- Afternoon naps
- Daughter helping to prepare the dinner
- Phone calls with family and friends
How was your Tuesday? Is it hot where you are? If so, how are you coping with the heat?
Despite being retired you're still keeping pretty busy! I loved your professional manicures :they seem a little cheaper than in the UK. Tree trimming is just as expensive though. Typing this very early in the morning. England is having an extremely hot summer. 1976was hot, but this is hotter still. I find the heat really debilitating. I work best before 10am and after7pm!
ReplyDeleteThe manicures were a total indulgence! But, I do find myself looking at my hands and admiring the nails. Back when I was having chemo and my nails were all discolored, I kept them trimmed as short as possible and looked forward to growing out the discoloration. :)
DeleteI hope you are able to keep cool during your heatwave, Angela. Good idea to do your work during the cooler hours of the morning and evening.
Just a thought - not only is it not good for you watering in full sun, it's not very good for the plants either! Here in the UK it's more than 30 degrees most days (90 F) and has been for a while. I do the watering at 6.30 am, giving it a chance to soak in before the sun really gets hot. We are not used to these temperatures and few homes here have air conditioning.
ReplyDeleteEnjoy your 'vacation' week - you'll soon develop a new routine.
Yes, you are right, early morning watering is the best. I normally water in the evenings, but the garden looked so parched that I thought I'd better water it this morning. I think our highs, today, were 100+F; there was an excessive heat warning. Wednesday's highs, too, will be between 100-108F, according to the forecast.
DeleteI hope you are able to keep cool during your heatwave. Are there any air conditioned "cool spots" like a library or shopping mall, where you could stay during the hottest times of the day? My house isn't air conditioned, either, but I have installed a window unit in my bedroom. If it gets really hot, I can go into the bedroom and turn on the unit and be cool.
The new routine seems to be, wake up at 9:00 a.m., nap in the afternoon, go to sleep around 3:00 a.m.! :D I'll be sure to schedule any appointments for the late morning or early afternoon!
Enjoy your free time! There will be plenty of time for cleaning and organizing and you’ll develop your own new post-retirement routine for maintaining your home.
ReplyDeleteI would guess that you may even be so exhausted from all you do during the day ... fun outings as well as chores ... that you may even sleep better at night due to the increased physical activity and lack of work related stress.
You are going to have such a wonderful new “life!”
Thank you for the encouragement, Carolyn. I am "decompressing" right now! This week, especially, with daughter working from home, I am not doing anything that will disturb her. Next week, I might try to write up a weekly routine, but we all know just how well I stick to routines, don't we? :D
DeleteIt's so hot here, even with frequent rain. I normally use a fan to cool off. I have one in the bedroom and another in the living room. Unless it gets unbearably hot - like when I'm cooking- I don't normally use AC.
ReplyDeleteI hope you are having a great time with your daughter. 😊
Fans are a must! I have ceiling fans in the bedrooms (although mine is stuck in the reverse mode - another items to attend to on my "fix it" list!) and in the family room. I also have 3 stand fans which get moved around as needed and a table fan on the kitchen counter. We are encouraged to use the fans and be sparing of the AC when it is so hot in order to minimize power usage surges, which might result in rolling black outs.
DeleteIt's always fun when daughter is home, even if all we are doing is sitting in the same room on our computers. :) I'm sure your mother is missing you, although she has your sister over there. Do they live close to each other?
I'm so happy to hear that you are taking this week to relax. You might as well take it easy in that heat. We had a couple of phases of extreme heat and it made sense to pull back and ease up on the chores. Now we have been having some lovely rain, although there are some places where it is not so lovely, causing floods. And on the topic of floods, yesterday evening I heard what sounded like rain in one corner of the house, and was shocked to see water spreading along one wall in the basement. The cold water tank had corroded and water was spraying from a leak! DH came to the rescue and turned off water, etc. and I got busy with the spin mop. Fortunately most stuff was off the floor, only 3 or 4 cardboard boxes got wet and the contents weren't a problem. Today the plumber came and installed a new tank.
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear about the water leak! Glad you were able to get a new tank installed. I remember the night when I heard what sounded like the shower running and found out that the pipes in the laundry room had sprung a leak! What a mess!
DeleteOur air conditioner was broken at work yesterday and it was 85. I'm not used to that temperature inside and unfortunately, the work had to go on. Some of it was pretty physical and I was wiped out by the time I got home. We'll see how today goes.
ReplyDeleteOh, my! 85F inside can be very uncomfortable, especially if there is any humidity at all. Did you have any fans to help circulate the air? Hope the air conditioning is fixed, today, and you have a cooler work space.
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