exhausted and intentions

Originally published at American Family. Please leave any comments there.

This weekend has kicked our asses. 

Actually, the punishment started on Thursday when my mom came to watch the girls.  I spent the entire afternoon on a 2-story tall ladder painting the chimney.  Did you know if you are above the roof level, it is really, really hot?  And that standing on the next-to-the-top rung of a 20 foot ladder holding a cup of paint in one hand and painting with the other?  Kind of scary. 

After that job was finished, I spent a good hour scrubbing mortar off the bricks on the front steps with some kind of very dangerous acid.  Next time my dad and I do bricklaying, I will keep a wet rag and a bucket of water handy to wipe off the extra mortar, even if it is november and very cold.  Because that acid stuff and a wire brush 5 months later? Not fun.

On Saturday, I edged all the landscaping (and we have a LOT of landscaping). Then, I powerwashed our front walk and back patio.  Mr. A made several trips to pick up at least 30 bags of mulch and some paver sand.  He filled in the mulch, while I filled in the bilzillion giant gaps in our brick sidewalk and patio with a hundred pounds of sand.  Then we edged the back yard (more landscaping…why??), planted an herb garden and made a few flower beds.

Today, the fun continued with removing all the storm windows, painting all the window trim, painting the entry ceiling, washing all the windows, installing the screens and cleaning the garage.

Right now, even the muscles in my fingers are tired.

Thank goodness for the amazingly perfect spring weather.  Just a few more small jobs and the outside of the house should be good to go. 

While I was doing all that work, I was thinking of this post.  And this one.  And these two (one and two).  Oh, and one more here.

Once my finger muscles recover, I am going to try to make something coherent out of all the feelings those posts stirred up. 

I am writing that intention down so my general laziness will not get the better of me.