Is your life full of ‘stuff to do’? Mine is.
I have so many jobs waiting to get done, I have given up on even proritising them. Let’s face it, they are known as ‘chores’ for good reason.
CHORE
noun
a routine task, especially a household one.
“the early risers were up and about, doing their chores”
synonyms: task, job, duty, errand, thing to be done, burden; More
a tedious but necessary task.
Note the two important words in the above definition. ‘Tedious’, and ‘Burden’.
I also decided to read a lot this year, and downloaded a lot of books to my Kindle Fire. As I was in the mood, I bought some used paperbacks and hardbacks too. Since January, I have managed to read sixteen books. But now the others are crying out to me. “Read me!” “Read me next!”
I charged up the batteries for the cordlesss hedge-trimmers last night. The front hedges are beckoning. I can hear them calling through the open window. “Trim us, trim us”. Don’t even get me started on the back hedges. They will have to be satisfied with admiring the job I do with the front ones. Presuming they get done, of course.
Then after wearing myself out weeding a few patio slabs recently, the rest of the slabs are whining. “Weed us, weed us”.
I might have to mow the lawn though, as that is pretty ‘visible’, and best not left to its own devices.
Did I mention all the wood staining? Probably not, as I am trying to forget that. Panels of fences, bars of gates, and the sides of a huge shed. Oh, and the bits around the garage door.
Did someone say “side gate”, or “bin storage fence”? I hope not, as they have zero chance of being done.
Cleaning windows? Where they are concerned, I am actually hoping it rains again. Who cleans windows when it might rain? Not me, I can promise you.
Washing cars? I haven’t washed a car in ten years. The rain does that too. Doesn’t it?
I can tell you, ‘stuff’ mounts up. There is never less ‘stuff’ to do, only ever more.
So much stuff to do both inside and outside work and Little O regularly undoes the things that have just been done!
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Yes, factoring in the damage a toddler can do is at least one thing I am spared, Abbi. 🙂
Best wishes, Pete.
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I have too much stuff to do!
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I think we all do. I just don’t seem to have the energy for it anymore. 🙂
But I did manage to trim both front hedges…
Best wishes, Pete.
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😀
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I know exactly how you feel, Pete. I never seem to stop. I spent more of the weekend baking 60 gingerbread men for Michael’s school and then icing them all. We also did a trial run of baked pretzels for his school fete.
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Robbie, at least what you were doing got eaten!
I spent all weekend trimming two hedges, wore myself out, and they will grow back in a month! 🙂 🙂
Best wishes, Pete.
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I know how you feel. My sentiments regarding house work are exactly the same.
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Perhaps this explains why our hearing and eyesight deteriorate as we get older, our natural defence mechanism against nagging chores.
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I am certainly able to turn a ‘blind eye’ to those things, Eduardo. 🙂
Best wishes, Pete.
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As a New Year’s resolution I washed the car in early January!
🙂
Besties from Florida
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Mine was washed last September, when it went in for a service at the dealership. (They did it) 🙂
Best wishes, Pete.
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My husband writes things down which seems to help him avoid being overwhelmed. I keep all the to-dos in my head where they speak to me in the same way yours speak to you. For months my bathroom walls have been yelling “either fix the wallpaper or remove it!”
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At least I heard my front hedge say “Thanks for the trim” as I struggled with a mountain of clippings. 🙂
Best wishes, Pete.
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That would be nice to hear from my walls.
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I think being a homeowner automatically puts you into the “stuff to do” category. I don’t know about you, Pete, but I’ve reached the age where I often pay someone to do the work. I used to like to do everything, but in some ways, I don’t have the patience I once did. I am in the middle of painting the interior of our house now. Now, I only work 3-4 hours per day as opposed to my younger self who would have been at it all day. That’s the beauty of retirement—there’s always tomorrow.
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I’m already most of the way there, Pete. We paid someone to do the inside painting, and now we are considering paying someone to do a makeover of the garden. Since I got Vertigo a few years back, I am not good with long periods of bending down low, and I also have to be careful on ladders.
But we have to be cautious with our savings and income, so I do some small jobs when I can.
Best wishes, Pete.
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Now I know why I go around the house with cotton balls in my ears…
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I thought I might die, after two hours cutting the front hedge, and sweeping clippings.
But no! I was saved by red wine! Hooray for wine! 🙂
Best wishes, Pete.
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Moral of the story: “Don’t whine. Drink wine!”
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In Vino, Veritas, David. 🙂
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Thank god I have Phil! 🤣 he sorted out all the overgrown bushes at the front this morning (while I was out with sophie,)after doing both front and back lawns yesterday. He gets cracking early then spends the rest of the day with his tanks- deferred gratification he calls it. And no you can’t borrow him. 🤣
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I managed the big front hedge, but that was me done for today. I am definitely out of condition these days. Phil could go to the Tank Museum after… 🙂 🙂
We have two of them close by!
https://www.muckleburgh.co.uk/
http://norfolktankmuseum.co.uk/
Best wishes, Pete.
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🤣🤣
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At least if we have chores to do, it means our hearts are still beating 🙂
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Thanks, Jacquie.
My heart is beating a lot faster after cutting that front hedge. 🙂
Best wishes, Pete.
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Lol, mine does when I look at the pile of dishes that keeps magically appearing in the sink! 🙂
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I like how you write about all that needs to be done instead of doing them. 😉
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I have just finished the big front hedge. That nearly killed me!
Much better to write about not wanting to do it… 🙂
Best wishes, Pete.
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Now the back hedges.
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They can’t be done until September, when they stop growing. Otherwise, they turn brown, and die off. 🙂 x
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Procrastination!!
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That’s my middle name…
It should really be my first name. 🙂 x
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So true Pete.🙇🏻♀️
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Where do all those jobs come from? 🙂
Best wishes, Pete.
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Pete, stop worrying, you do these chores and then in a month’s time they need doing again. Like housework and dust. I only bother when it is really bad and then the next day I can see the dust is back again. No-one can possibly get excited about chores…
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You must be channeling Quentin Crisp, Jude. He once said “After the first ten years, the dust never got any worse”. 🙂
Best wishes, Pete.
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The growing pile of books. And growing list of chores. I think you have to be a hedonist Pete and forget the jobs for a bit… 😊
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I just had to cut the front hedge, Rich. If only to let some light in! 🙂
Cheers, Pete.
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The never-ending rhythm of life, Pete!
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If I ever have a financial windfall, employing someone to do all my ‘stuff’ will be the first thing on the list. 🙂
Best wishes, Pete.
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Full to the brim and overflowing!!!
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It is indeed, Pit. Shame I can’t get a ‘ride-on hedge trimmer’!
Best wishes, Pete.
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Totally agree, Pete! My list grows daily, in line with my fatigue…..
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I was hoping some rain might give me a reason not to cut the front hedges. But it didn’t rain for once.
Looks like I am doomed to toil this afternoon. 😦
Best wishes, Pete.
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Doomed to toil – how very Dickensian, Pete…..
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I am rather Dickensian at times, that’s true. 🙂
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😳
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The month I retired, one of Nancy’s cousins said, :”In a month or so you will wonder when you ever had time to go to a place of employment and work for a living.” Looking back at when I was working, I wonder, “How did all these damned chores get done when I was working for a living over 40 hours a week?”
Warmest regards, Theo
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Now I have stopped working, I have come to regard chores the same as as work.
But that means I can’t do them, as I have stopped working, haven’t I?
It’s a dilemma… 🙂
Best wishes, Pete.
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I don’t see the problem. Since chores are work, you should get paid to do them. No pay and you withhold your labor as any good socialist or labor unionist would! No money coming in results in no chores getting done!
Warmest regards, The
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I’ve been getting very old very quickly, so my list is always in a perpetually ‘Long” status!
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It’s definitely an age thing with me, GP. I just used to do all that without thinking about it. Over the last 2-3 years, it has become so that everything seems to be such a mission. 🙂
Best wishes, Pete.
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I can relate!
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A bit like your list the older I get my list seems to add things on its own. Warmest regards, Ed
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ah-ha, you understand!
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Yes, fully. Lists are an alien species intent on world domination 🙂 Warmest regards, Ed
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The stuff you mentioned are part and parcel of everyday life. One at a time and it will be done.
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I wish I had your sort of attitude, Arlene. 🙂
Best wishes, Pete.
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Cripes, my to-do list is long.
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At least you had the long holiday travels, Peggy. 🙂
Best wishes, Pete.
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Both Sue and I are retired….so we do stuff everyday…a little here a little there…..then we retreat from the heat and veg out. chuq
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Unfortunately, I am a big-time procrastinator. I let it go for too long, then get faced with a daunting task. 🙂
Best wishes, Pete.
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I can give you a long list too and I never get to ANY of it, thanks to my toddler who never lets me do anything except cleanup after her.
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I don’t have a toddler to blame, Shaily. Just lack of enthusiasm, and getting old. 🙂
Best wishes, Pete.
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