Feeling Energized at Home

It is easy to feel energized in September. Maybe it’s prompted by the cooling trend in the weather or the year after year jangling of a new school year - even if we are not actually in school this particular year.

New projects started…the garden harvested….the house and car ready for winter…house guests invited and welcomed…all good ways to channel that energy and enjoy September.

I’ve never quite synced with the notion of ‘spring cleaning’ because the burst of energy toward homemaking has always caught me in the early fall instead. In the past week I’ve cleaned out under bathroom sinks and the linen closet. Spending an hour or two a day on cleaning out storage areas of the house and cleaning those areas that only get cleaned about once a year seems very appealing right now.

And then there are the gardening pots on the deck. The sweet potatoes will be the last things I will harvest (picture on right) - just before 1st frost; the plant has at least one very large sweat potato that has pushed its way above the soil twice (I’ve added soil to cover it!). All the other herbs are going to be started along the drying process this week. I also have a bucket of day lily bulbs that were too crowded in their bed; now I need to replant them in new flowerbeds.

And I have 3 sets of house guests scheduled to arrive at various times over the next couple of months!

September is definitely a high energy month for me. Is it for you too?

Personal Rhythms - Annual

This blog item is the fourth in a series about the rhythms we choose for our lives. Today the topic is annual rhythms.

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What activities do you do every year? I find that putting these on a calendar (either electronic or paper) is very worthwhile - so that I don’t forget. I’ve listed some examples below.

• Birthdays/anniversaries/other yearly celebrations. I set up a re-occurring item on my electronic calendar for these.
• Vacation. Taking at least a week off to do something completely different than the other weeks of the year helps sustain your focus on what is truly important in your life. Generally I reserve the days on my calendar well before I know for certain what I am going to do.
• Physical/medical checkup. Most medical plans encourage some kind of annual checkup. Use the data to make appropriate life style changes (and minimize medication over the long term).
• Thorough house cleaning. Many people still do ‘spring cleaning’ because it works to keep the home in great shape. Some elements of thorough house cleaning (that aren’t part of weekly or monthly cleanings) might be:
  • Cleaning windows inside and out
  • Taking everything out of a storage area, cleaning it, putting back only what is still needed, donating/trashing the rest
  • Getting all the spiderwebs and debris from the garage floor and ceiling
  • Cleaning under furniture (may involve moving the furniture)
  • Checking the pantry for old/forgotten/expired cans or boxes of food
  • Emptying the refrigerator, cleaning the shelves (hopefully not finding any long lost items that should have been eaten or thrown away long ago)
• Resolutions. Most people do this at the beginning of the year but it can be done any time. The idea is to set some longer term goals…and the ways you will measure them for the next 12 months.

 Are there other things that should be added to this list for annual consideration?

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Previous posts in this series about personal rhythms can be found here: monthly, weekly, daily.

Quote of the Day - 2/6/2012

Mothered by the same earth, dust and dirt have different fathers.  Dust – finer and more discrete – belongs as much to air as to earth. Dirt – bigger and clumsier – is identified with soil. - Joseph A. Amato in Dust: A History of the Small and the Invisible

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I like Amato’s distinction between dust and dirt. In addition, they both can be transformed by human activity; we may still categorize them as dust or dirt but they are potentially quite different. Will the new nanotechnologies produce a new kind of dust? Is an oil puddle leaked from a car in a parking lot a kind of dirt?

In our homes, the battle with dust is constant although there have only been gradual improvements over the past 50 years. Filters on heating/cooling, vacuums, and dust clothes are still our primary tools. There are many more kinds of filters now and vacuums come in all shapes and sizes. Dust clothes can be rags or coated fiber fluffs (like Swiffers). Endust and Pledge products have come and gone over the years. Our houses are sealed from the outdoor air more frequently now than ever before. The battle continues. Maybe I’m noticing it more at the moment because I am cleaning out boxes that are almost 30 years old and the cardboard is breaking down; it is producing and holding dust at the same time.

There are very few times that I actually have dirt in the house. Occasionally we track it in from outside or a potted plant gets spilled. Doormats and leaving shoes at the door reduces the first type. The second is just part of having plants indoors.

What are your dusty challenges today?