Any expectations I had going into the summer of a slower pace and long evenings of relaxation are long gone. I've definitely shifted gears, but I have by no means slowed down.
Work has been busy. We're into the home stretch and throughout the summer I have had more and more tasks added to my list of responsibilities - make sure everything gets watered, mow lawn weekly, weed all of the rain gardens, keep the kitchen garden and herb garden looking good, edge all of the sidewalks before the summer's done, and all sorts of other random tasks as they come up.
As far as my evenings and weekends, I have been kept busier than anticipated with my own garden. Corn has been harvested and is now in the freezer. Cucumbers are coming in and at least once/week I have to make pickles because I can't keep up eating all of them fresh. My zucchini plants are finally drying off so I'm down to picking about 5 per week instead of 20 per week. Beans need to be picked about every other day and then processed and frozen. Right now tomatoes are coming in at an alarming rate. As of today, I have picked 248 tomatoes! I've just been putting them in the freezer and will can them when Carrie gets back.
My summer has been great - I'm loving pretty much every minute of it - but I would also love more minutes of just being. Well, this week I was forced to slow down. To make a long story short, I've been dealing with a slipped rib issue for a few weeks, which got better for a bit but then got worse until things came to a head on Tuesday. I had been mowing Tuesday morning and when I got off the mower at lunch I was in incredible pain. I lay on my living room floor and could barely get up off the floor to go back outside after lunch. I could hardly breathe. I consulted my chiropractor, whom I've seen regularly as I've been trying to deal with this issue, and he told me to come in right away. One of my co-workers drove me to the office, I got adjusted, and then I went home and lay flat on my back on the living room floor for the rest of the afternoon and evening. The next morning I was sore but the intense pain was gone so long as I was cautious. I opted for light work duty for the remainder of the week and in the evenings I've just taken it easy. Even things that I would normally consider to be "taking a break" such as checking my email and scrapbooking became off limits as I was confined to lying flat on my back.
This week I was reminded of the necessity of listening to my body and giving it a break sometimes. So my challenge for this weekend is to find the balance of getting things done around the house and garden, doing some things for leisure such as scrapbooking, and just resting.
Hopefully I can hit the ground running again Monday morning, but with a lesson learned.
As far as my evenings and weekends, I have been kept busier than anticipated with my own garden. Corn has been harvested and is now in the freezer. Cucumbers are coming in and at least once/week I have to make pickles because I can't keep up eating all of them fresh. My zucchini plants are finally drying off so I'm down to picking about 5 per week instead of 20 per week. Beans need to be picked about every other day and then processed and frozen. Right now tomatoes are coming in at an alarming rate. As of today, I have picked 248 tomatoes! I've just been putting them in the freezer and will can them when Carrie gets back.
My summer has been great - I'm loving pretty much every minute of it - but I would also love more minutes of just being. Well, this week I was forced to slow down. To make a long story short, I've been dealing with a slipped rib issue for a few weeks, which got better for a bit but then got worse until things came to a head on Tuesday. I had been mowing Tuesday morning and when I got off the mower at lunch I was in incredible pain. I lay on my living room floor and could barely get up off the floor to go back outside after lunch. I could hardly breathe. I consulted my chiropractor, whom I've seen regularly as I've been trying to deal with this issue, and he told me to come in right away. One of my co-workers drove me to the office, I got adjusted, and then I went home and lay flat on my back on the living room floor for the rest of the afternoon and evening. The next morning I was sore but the intense pain was gone so long as I was cautious. I opted for light work duty for the remainder of the week and in the evenings I've just taken it easy. Even things that I would normally consider to be "taking a break" such as checking my email and scrapbooking became off limits as I was confined to lying flat on my back.
This week I was reminded of the necessity of listening to my body and giving it a break sometimes. So my challenge for this weekend is to find the balance of getting things done around the house and garden, doing some things for leisure such as scrapbooking, and just resting.
Hopefully I can hit the ground running again Monday morning, but with a lesson learned.
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