Stamina

I have none.
Not to put too fine a point on it.

It's amazing how little I can do now. I'm not sleepy tired, but I am easily worn out from simple tasks. We came home yesterday, and it was a lovely day. First of all you must know that my garden is a mess. This must be distinctly understood, or nothing wonderful can come of the story I am going to relate.

Wait.

That's another tale.

My garden is a mess, and the weather has been wildly uncooperative for gardening. Furthermore, I have been wading in a sea of hats. Yes, hats. Fluffy, pink tiaras. Mind, they are not all for me or for the future baby, whatever its sex may be. I am not hiding anything from you. I make these hats and then they are sold at Renaissance Festivals around the country. I have been doing this for 22 years, and it's a great way to make extra money. But it does take time away from other things when a fair(e) is looming and inventory is low, and it makes parts of the house look like this: That's a trip to New York City, baby.

But that's a future tale.

What with all the hatmaking and other assorted busy-ness, I have not tended to the garden at all, except to cut down some itinerant raspberry canes and clear out the old horseradish leaves. It's a good thing that I had the sense of forethought to cut down a lot of the old growth in the front gardens last fall, or I would be even more behind.

My mother came to the rescue on Saturday. She arrived and started clearing out in the back. (Look at me! Accepting Help!) It was part of the weekend's Meyers Family Work Exchange Program. On Sunday, she was to be found cleaning out my brother's gardens, and Pete volunteered to make a DVD of the Joseph Musical for Jim and Ruth's church. In return, they loaned us Star Trek: The Next Generation, Season 4, but I am thinking that their might be some room painting labor in my brother's future.

Yesterday, I decided that I had to do at least a little bit, so I tackled the side garden, which is rather small. I cleared out the leaves and pine needles and the old growth; now it will be Pete's job to make trips to the compost yard. I made it the whole way through that section, and I could tell that I was physically done with gardening for the day. My lower back was hurting, and I was actually tired. I came inside and had a bath, then decided to put ribbons on the hats. By the time I was done sorting them by color and had put ribbons onto 20, I was decidedly exhausted from Doing Stuff, and my abdomen was feeling tight. Squirmy tells me when it's time to stop, and I do. I cleaned up in time for our weekly "Medium" viewing, and went to bed.

I have determined that I should approach each day with the idea that I will do at least a little bit of everything.

Yesterday, I did a little bit of knitting, a little bit of reading, a little bit of gardening, a little bit of hatting, and a little bit of laundry.

Today, it will be a little bit of reading, a little bit of knitting, a little bit of laundry, and a little bit of hatting. No gardening.

It's raining.