The summer heat has hit us hard and it’s wreaking havoc on all of my good intentions! 

It all started yesterday when I got behind on things I needed to do before heading off to another mini reunion followed by dancing.  Although I did get a necessary errand done, I missed my workout at the gym, though, after Friday night’s sweat fest, I think I was not as anxious to start again.  Note to self, get up earlier on these hot weekends! 

Today wasn’t a whole lot better as I had to move some things around in my garage for a freezer delivery that didn’t happen until about 12:30.  Of course, that meant traipsing around the already hot garage for an hour, doing some decluttering and cleaning with the shop vac.  When they pulled out the freezer, I found some previously undetected damage from my rat infestation of a couple of years ago which necessitated the adoption of my sweet, semi-feral cats, Hailey and Cinders, who have since eradicated all of the nasty, destructive little pests at my house, and in about a 2 block radius as well!  But it seems that the death of my freezer was a direct result of the creatures because a whole bunch of white, insulation like material came pouring out the back when the freezer was moved.  Of course, that had to be vacuumed up before the new one was put in place.  Even better, the vacuum cleaner bag was overfull and had exploded so I had to empty the contents of the shop vac, then scrounge around my garage for bags which I never found!  Thankfully, the vac can be used with or without bags, but I’ll have to heft it up to empty it before putting a bag in again!  I will also pay closer attention to the fullness of the bag in the future!  (but on the bright side, with all of that hefting and vacuuming, I got at least some upper body weight work in!) 

A trip to Petco to restock my cat sand supply for the next month or so was the next order of business.  Thankfully, my son-in-law helped haul the boxes, but since my car was in the driveway, we had to carry them further than normal.  More weight work! 

Now here is really where the heat wave comes in!  I can normally run all of my Sunday errands, including a trip to the gym, in one fell swoop, but just a run to Petco knocked the stuffing out of me and I was really disinclined to get the rest of the errands done until the temperature dropped at least back into the double digits!  Even so, visits to Target and Trader Joe’s had me lazing for another 4 hours or so before making lunches and breakfasts for the next 3 days!  ( no reason to only do 2 this time since it’s only a 3 day work week!)  This way, I get Tuesday night off from meal making, so I can do a make up night at the gym!  Even my garage kitties are hanging outside where there’s a possibility of a slight breeze in some of the shady spots in my yard! 

So I end the weekend feeling like a lazy butt, despite the fact that my garage is cleaner, the garage cats’ bedding is washed and dried, grocery shopping is done, meals are made, cat sand is restocked, I’ve restocked the cupboard where I keep the wet food and bills are paid.   Some might think that is a lot to accomplish, but there was just too much sitting around, letting the air conditioning cool my body down to something resembling a normal temperature, and a lot got left on my list.

Re-reading that, I realize that I’m violating my own rule which says to only look at what was accomplished and give myself some attaboys.  It just reminds me that all of the positive thinking I promote is very much like any good relationship, and requires both effort and practice.  It is far too easy to beat myself up over being lazy, and I tend to do so whenever I don’t accomplish what I believe I “should”.  I just need to work a little harder at being kind to myself! 

Slipping off of my path like this just gives me something to focus on for the coming week, so it’s not entirely a bad thing.  My little slips have given me reminders to focus on things like forgiveness, acceptance, gratitude, kindness and refraining from reacting to other people.  All of these are great lessons, and well worth repeating whenever they stop being second nature. 

So while the heat continues to blast us for at least another few days, I will focus on both kindness and patience, as both will likely be in short supply as tempers grow shorter. 

My gratitudes tonight are:
1. I am grateful for a working central air conditioner in my house.
2. I am grateful for the efficiency I’ve learned that made me fix lunches and breakfasts for all 3 work days this week!
3. I am grateful for reminders to be kind and patient.
4. I am grateful for my  ever expanding circle of friends, and for encouragement that comes more and more often from unexpected places.
5. I am grateful for the easy flow of blog topics, no matter how tired I might be.

Love and light.