Land those airplanes!

My chores, in a holding pattern.

Last month my tasting room manager was telling me that she was going to be cutting staff hours now that it was wintertime and not nearly as busy. Since I know several of the young people there rely on their income from the winery to survive and pay their bills,  I volunteered (Selflessly! No work -- what a sacrifice!)) to help by taking the month off. 

But as I've said before on this blog, you know, there is no real altruism. Of course I had an ulterior motive in not working for a full month, and it was to get caught up around here. Every fall I feel like I'm the sole air traffic controller at O'Hare airport, with my chores being the airplanes put into an endless holding pattern, circling and circling until I find time to attend to them.

It's probably a hold over from being a teacher, but I basically seem to have trained myself to need some kind of "summer vacation" in order to knock out big chores, which demand several days of attention. Teachers get about eight weeks off in summer, which for me was always time to do major projects around the house and get caught up on stuff I'd let slide throughout the school year. So I still seem to need the same amount of time each year -- just a few weeks, all in a row, when the stuff I've perpetually put off until "tomorrow" actually get done tomorrow. 

And so I have been and will be off until the New Year, and I have to say while I've missed my friends and coworkers at the winery, I've never been more caught up on my chores -- all those "airplanes" which were crowding my skies in September and October are being managed quite well right now, and everything is coming in for a landing more or less on schedule.

Landed some soap!

A couple of days ago, for instance, I finally made some more soap. This is a task I only do about once a year, as I make enough to last a long time, but it's something I always enjoy doing. This time around I'd managed to get my hands on some lemon essential oil, so my soap has a lovely scent, and I used a slightly different formula than usual (more shea and cocoa butter, less olive oil and lye) to make it extra creamy and sudsy. 

And I can't tell you how nice it is to see the far side of the back yard project. Although I'm in no way tired of the chores of planting, arranging and designing at all, my aching back says otherwise.