Trying to Get It All Done

How hard can it be, hmmm? There are errands, there are places to go, there are lists. And, there is time. So one would think.

Somewhere, some time . . . in school, I think, I heard the maxim “Plan your work and work your plan.” It sounds so easy. Maybe it is easy. Or, when I was a younger woman, it might have been easy.

“Everyone has the same number of hours in a day.” Hah! It just seems that way, until I try to manage those hours. Then they seem elusive.

I have had these jasmine plants for a few weeks, and finally got them in the ground.

1. Make bed. Get dressed. Have breakfast. Run a time-sensitive errand. Go home.

2. Change into yard-working clothes. Hurry outside to try to get some yard work done before the temperature rises. Plant some plants. While listening to podcasts. I can’t determine if the podcasts make the planting go more slowly, or does the planting interfere with getting the most out of the podcasts. Move to the front yard to hand-water the plants in front of the porch, because the sprinklers don’t get to them. And, while they are warm-weather plants, they do need some water.

3. Go inside. Do some mealtime preparation, well, after carefully washing my hands, which have been inside gardening gloves, but are still pretty dirty. Work to ferret out the remainders of food that is left from last week’s guests. Yes, that lettuce is too limp. Those tomatoes are too old. The blueberries seem all right. The sugar snap peas seem to be just on the edge of all right. Looks like salad for dinner.

4. Have a grilled cheese sandwich while working an online jigsaw puzzle.

5. Check e-mails, calendar.

The bag I have carried to and from church for many, many years. It has held up pretty well. I have had to replace the handles twice.

6. Change from yard-working clothes back to going-out-in-public clothes. Last Sunday, I was so weary from the previous very busy week (see Apostille and Crayola), that, on Sunday, I went right home after Sunday School, and forgot to pick up the bag I use to tote stuff back and forth from church. I needed to go get it, and this afternoon seemed like the best time. Also, I needed to pick up the literature for the new fall quarter. And, the church office closes at 3:00 p.m., so I needed to get on over there. I made it in time, got my bag, looked in several places for the literature, asked a couple of people, and no one knew where it was. I’ll have to go back tomorrow.

7. Back home. Change back into yard clothes. The sun has moved on to the front of the house and the patio is now in shade. It’s not really cool out there,  but it’s not blazing.

8. Sweep all the dirt and debris from the patio, clean up out there. Go inside and straight to the shower.

9. Write blog. Add photos. Thank God.

10. Eat that salad.

11. Maybe I’ll read a little.

12. Go to bed.