Monday Funday

Yoshi is ready for his Monday Funday...as soon as he recovers from the weekend.

So I must admit that one thing the winery job spoiled me for is Mondays. For three years I worked most Saturdays, and so at some point I just decided that Sunday and Monday were going to be what I considered my "weekend" days off.

In a way, it's nice to create your own weekend (if your job allows). One of the best things about having  your week-end on a weekday is that you get at least one day off during the week while the rest of the world works. Most folks I know who work in the tasting rooms around here have that option. For many, it's Tuesday/Wednesday.

But if working weekends and being off on traditional weekdays sounds difficult, consider this: If you need to shop on your "weekend," the stores are uncrowded. If you want to catch a movie, you'll get in without waiting in line. The beach is almost deserted. And let's not even start on how easy it is to get a table if you're going out to dinner in the evening. 

Mondays are definitely fun days for me, even when I'm busy catching up on house chores.

Most Mondays I do work here, just like most people do in their homes on their weekends. Mondays are a day of no paid work, but it's the day I clean house, because I know that way it will look pretty good until next weekend. Luckily I don't mind cleaning, so it's not a burdensome activity. 

One of the main problems I had back when we had our housekeeper was that she could only come on Fridays (with the idea that this way we'd have a beautiful, clean house for the weekend). She did a great job, but with Big Ag home on normal weekends (tracking half the dirt and grass from the property inside) and me home all day on Sunday after working a long Saturday shift (where I'd cleaned all day, meaning I didn't want to do any cleaning at home), guess how the house looked Sunday night? Right. Like it needed a good housecleaning. Or a small nuclear bomb, detonated in the general vicinity of the kitchen.

And so I've learned that it's better to clean it right before we're gone to our day jobs for several days, because that's what it takes to keep things clean around here...us not being around. Turns out, we are the reason we can't have nice things...or a clean house.

This morning it's chilly and foggy outside and so I'm enjoying the fire and the quiet of the house. Now that I have a more flexible schedule with my new job, I do have the option of going down to the winery garden and working on a Monday if I want or need to, and I don't even have to work Saturdays to make up for it. But I've decided I am going to keep at least some of these Mondays for myself, as I've just come to enjoy having a weekday "weekend."

How about your schedule? Are you a Saturday/Sunday kind of weekend person, or is your weekend a time period of your own creation?

Pretty Little Challah

All ready for tonight. A day late, sure, but my chances of getting my husband home by sundown on a Friday night are about the same as actually getting Elijah to come in the front door. 

It tastes just as good on a Saturday, anyway and a rest is just as pleasant on Sunday. I don't believe in being dogmatic about it. In this society, if you can rest every seven days or so, I don't think what day you rest particularly matters.

Hope you are all having a restful weekend.

Weekend

Sometimes your weekend can be pretty much summed up in what you Google:

1. What does Trouble Code 38 mean on a Subaru?

2. Can you freeze raisins?

3. How do you keep tarantulas from coming into the house?

Oh, and 3 1/2 quarts of relish happened too, plus a couple of days' work at the winery. It's definitely the busy season both at work and at home, but progress is still happening around the homestead and somehow I'm keeping up with the vegetables that are coming in from the garden. And the Red Flame raisins turned out amazing. Hmmm, maybe those tarantulas that keep finding their way in here are actually after the raisins.

And as if visiting spiders, canning relish, caution lights on cars and making raisins is not enough activity for one household, we should also have the pergola installed by tomorrow, so I will post some pics then.

Why I Love Mondays

If you are a homemaker or a homesteader, you probably love Mondays.  I know I do.  When you work in your home and on your home, making it clean, organized and fruitful, Mondays are the best day of the week.  You wake up in the morning, in your work place and ready to hit the ground running on your never-ending chore list....but without the distractions that are often present on Saturdays and Sundays (even though they are nice distractions).

I love our weekends and I love the activities my husband and I find ourselves involved in.  But I'm often glad once Sunday night comes around and I know tomorrow is Monday.  This is a bold contrast to how I felt when I worked outside the home.  I hated Mondays, because I knew I had to leave home the next five days in a row, for most of the hours I was awake. I can't think of a single job I held where that fact did not depress me just a little bit.  Some jobs were worse than others, but even the best ones left me longing, just a little, to be home enjoying the house I was working so hard to pay a mortgage on.  In truth, I'm probably the ideal personality type to work from home.

Today I am back to the blissful routine of cleaning, hanging wash, composting, cleaning chicken coops, and continuing to lay drip lines for the front yard landscaping.  It's quiet and the pace I set my work at is my own.  I will work hard, but I am working for myself, and that makes all the difference.  Perhaps people who own a shop or restaurant feel the same way...going to work on your own property is a sweet feeling, no question.

Mondays I always breathe a little bit easier.  I get organized, get clean, and enjoy the sweet routine of householding until Friday comes along again, when I'm ready for another break in the routine.

It's hooray for Monday -- every Monday -- here at the Hot Flash Homestead.