Summer Thoughts

It must be summer: I've started decluttering the house.

I've decided that every item in the house must give me a justification for its continued existence. I'm going to ask every thing in the house: 1) do we want you? and, 2) if we want you, where would we expect to find you?

At least, that's the plan.

I'm also still chewing on King's concept that novel-writing ought to be a three month affair. I have about 10,000 words (maybe less?) to go on the current one. If I reeeeaaalllly pushed myself, I could finish that with the month of June. And I've got another one mostly plotted. Which makes me curious if I could do a three month push (July-August-September) and finish an entire novel in three months. 1000 words/day would give me 65,000 words by the end, if I just worked weekdays, and that would actually be the right length for this particular novel, which is a fun little contemporary romance.

Hmmm . . . I can foresee the failure of this plan already, but that's not making me feel less like trying it.

Plus, I'd have to rewrite the current novel at some point. I wonder if I can do both at the same time?

Again, I can see the crash and burn coming. But I still want to give it a go.

On top of that, I have a list I've been keeping over the past month of house projects. Stuff that just didn't fit in the school year, but that would be nice to have done. A lot of it overlaps with the decluttering. Here's what I've got so far:

-sew Bess' birthday dress (um, this is a two-year old project. If I don't finish soon, it won't actually fit)

-sew Adam's long coat

-sew my long coat

-make my measurement template

-have various friends over for supper

-get our Story of the World mp3s onto CD, so the kids can listen to them up in their room.

-get my bike (+bike trailer!) in working order

-get bikes for the two big kids

-help the big kids learn to ride their bikes

-go through our closet

-go through the linen closet

-go through the downstairs closet

-go through the downstairs bookshelves (I've done the upstairs already - yay!)

-go through our coffee table/nightstand (this is where I keep stationary supplies)

-Magic Eraser the upstairs walls

-Magic Eraser the downstairs walls

-Magic Eraser the stair rail

-organize my recipes

-join Facebook (I know, I know . . . it's evil, but what are you going to do?)

I'm not planning on rushing any of this. I'm picturing a leisurely summer (as leisurely as it ever gets with the Ducklings). I'm planning on working away steadily, and seeing where I'm at come September. I hope to be pleasantly, um, pleased. Further along than I was before. With a happier, easier-to-care-for house that I had before. (Less stuff means less to pick up.)

And I'm a J. I like having a plan. And the plan is not necessarily to get everything done, but to know what comes next. That's a plan I can live with.

Does summer get anyone else's gears turning? It's Ordinary Time, folks. It's the glorious green season of the Holy Spirit. Time for work and play and joy.

Peace of Christ to you,

Jessica Snell