Hot Summer Weekend Projects

Lavender and weathered wood made good company together. The New Mexico sunshine has a way of baking and weathering wood in such a gorgeous way. These are old railroad ties that are used as stairs in our backyard. The natural beauty here in New Mexico really is like nowhere else.

image by kalanicut

One of the things that I have not dealt with for a decade or so is working outside on hot summer days.

Saturday I was out in the yard and my eyes were just filled with sweat continually and that was pretty unpleasant! I need to learn to take a towel out with me and just keep it around my neck.

When we lived in LA, weekends were for getting out and doing something. There was nothing interesting about staying cooped up in a small apartment all weekend. It's interesting that now there is nothing we'd rather do than stay home all day on Saturday and enjoy our home. I still feel some pressure that we should be going out and doing things but week after week there is nowhere we'd rather be - and happily we've been able to both relax and get some major projects done around the house.

We were up early Saturday morning and had lounged around for a good while and then made pancakes, bacon and eggs and had done the dishes by 9:30. A kitchen deep clean started after that. Then I watered all the new herb and vegetable plants. So far we have cucumbers, tomatoes, thyme, basil and rosemary growing on pots on the back patio.

Next Kiddo and I harvested a big pile of beautiful lavender from the beds in our backyard. It was very easy but very sticky. I had no idea lavender was so sticky when you cut it. We are now drying the lavender and hope to enjoy some nice sachets of lavender in the next few months.

We also deadheaded a large rose bush which was not quite so enjoyable since it was in full sun and it got hot pretty early. We got all the dead flowers off, then raked them up and put everything in a trash bag to dump in the compost bin. Then we swept up the patio around the rose bush. There may have been some kid grousing and a parent who got a little upset during this chore, but it ended well with thank yous and a little self-exploration on both sides. It was great to get it over with and when we were done we grabbed giant glasses of ice water and then played with the hula hoop and blew gigantic soap bubbles.

After our yard time was over, I started working on a new project. I have some fun opportunities coming together but need online resources for them. I spend a couple of hours studying which URLs to buy and the accompanying accessories I would need. By the time I ran my purchase, my head was spinning from too much decision-making. I took a break, made the gang a late lunch and then felt like I really needed to regroup.

I spent a few minutes outside then came in and made a few notes. I know I still have a lot of research to do on setting up a website. I have a lengthy to do list in the next few weeks. I ran out to take care of a couple of errands and brought a sack of tacos and burritos home to the family for dinner. I just didn't have it in my to make another meal that day.

Spending a few minutes working on a jewelry project was a frustration after dinner. It looks so easy when you watch other people do it on YouTube! I got one of about five attempts to at least not be a total throwaway. Still have some things to learn and so little patience for it. Haha. I gave up once I got the one "non-throwaway". Will try again another day. I have a few creative projects that I feel spread a little thin doing, but I'm excited about all of them.

I am happy to see our yard starting to look good. We've been getting a lot of monsoon rains in the evenings and early mornings. This has has been making things grow without the aid of sprinklers (hooray for water savings!) but also making a mess on the pool cover. Saturday The Man cleaned the pool cover and I think we'll be up and running on the pool in the next few days. As hot as it's been, that sounds pretty fantastic to even just sit down and soak the feet. The grass has been cut, the weeds have been whacked. Looking forward to getting our big table set up again and having some friends over for dinner and enjoying the very pleasant nights.

We've been very industrious the past few weeks. Looking forward to having some time in coming weeks to relax a bit, see family and enjoy being at home and spending time with the many wonderful friends we've made in our new hometown.