It's Finally Happening

Zach had Wednesday thru Sunday off and he actually spent it all at home, doing work here, and not painting at other peoples' homes. He's been running again in the mornings and I credit this with his increased level of energy. He really is just a happier person when he is running on a daily basis. So I'd previously been feeling bogged down with effort put out and little yielded results. I was spending most of my time at home, but still not feeling like anything was getting accomplished, like I was making any headway in this cluttered house of ours. It was really getting frustrating, and peaked on Wednesday with the mouse poop incident. I had had plans for all day Wednesday, but both things got cancelled so I ended up having the whole day to do stuff, but felt like nothing had gotten done by the time we had to leave the house (an hour late) Wednesday evening. I was just so depressed the rest of the night. And it didn't help that everyone was talking about presents for all the grandkids and holiday plans at dinner Wednesday night. I hate that this is what Christmas has become in our culture. And so the month-long retreat into myself has officially begun.

Anyway, I started to get sick on Thursday and spent the rest of the weekend like that. But really sick. The kind of sick where you have to sit down and rest every 30 minutes. But at least Zach was here getting things done. And he was being really good about letting me take my needed rest. Jacob was spending most of his time outside, seriously, 5 or 6 hours outside each day just digging and helping Zach. It was great that the temperature was 50 degrees and above because it made this possible. And I swear, Jacob's endurance for work is endless. It's astounding.

Looking back at the past 5 days now, I kind of see it as a transition period, and not so much a waste of time. I did get a lot done, because I'm just that kind of person, I can't sit still even when I should be. I got random jobs out of the way. I cleaned the fridge (a place that had been needing cleaning for a while), and the contents of pretty much all the drawers along the outside wall of the kitchen because as it turns out before Zach was able to get to the store to buy the caulk, our little friend had visited each of those places too. And there was hardly any activity on the computer, so I slowly got used to the idea of turning it off for several hours at a time. I finished watching the Gilmore Girls, and now we are fully caught up so I can eliminate that entirely from my plate. I had been having so much trouble trying to figure out how to slow down, but finally slowing down was forced on me and it became physically impossible to continue my previous pace. I'm actually feeling really great about things right now (knock on wood).

The dogs got to run around in the backyard with us for hours on end. I made nice with Mango and threw sticks for her til she was too tired to run after them. Jacob got to get all of his negative energy out by digging and has been so pleasant to be around. I dug with him when he asked, and was present enough to indulge him in each one of his fantasies. As I type this Jacob is running around, playing with Mango. It's been a long time since he's done that. Everyone around here is being so friendly with each other.

I can't believe how much Zach got done around the house this weekend. He finished up a bunch of little outdoor projects that had been waiting all summer long to be completed. He cleared off the back porch and is ready to knock it down. The dumpster came this morning; the first hard evidence that this addition is going to happen. The energy really feels like it is moving now, finally. I don't think I've felt this good about things for a long time.