It’s been really hard for me to get anything done the last few days. We’ve had a lot of very warm weather lately, and we only have a bedroom air conditioner. Bob and I talk about getting central air every year, but we have a lot of large shady trees and it seems like each summer we only have a week or two of hot humidity.

This was that week. It was hot in the house and hotter in the attic. I did manage to get rid of several bags and boxes on Tuesday, and forgot to take a photo.

Speaking of air conditioning, the prior owners of our house left four window units in the garage. Bob and I each brought one from our pre-marriage apartments. We could use one more in our living room, but Bob is convinced that we’ll blow the electric. I let him win because it would really suck to be wrong about this.

So we had five air conditioners sitting in the garage. Confession time: there is a lot of crap on top of them so I didn’t really realize till a few days ago how many were out there. Anyway someone on Facebook was in serious need of an air conditioner. I offered her two that I knew worked, and Bob and I dropped them off. There are two nice dents in the garage now. Two of the three remaining probably do not work, and I felt motivated to look into how to get rid of them. And it’s complicated. I can’t take them to our e-waste because of the freon. So I need to find someone to remove the freon and specially tag them, and then I can put them out for bulk pickup. I’ve added it to the list.

Even though I promised myself to do more and think less, I realized the other day that my ‘stuff’ problem has greatly improved. There is more space in the garage and more space in the attic, and in my closet. But my house is not any less of a mess. Every flat surface seems to accumulate stuff, and I don’t know how to stop it. I gave Emma a drawer in our new storage unit and she’s been really good about putting her art supplies away, but to be honest it hasn’t made a big difference. Funny thing is, the stuff defies classification. I just took this photo, and it’s greatly improved from earlier today.

It’s kind of like a hidden object game.

I might try to create a gadget that issues an electric shock to anyone who tries to put something down on a flat surface like a table or bookshelf.

I love summer, but I’m finding it really hard to be in a routine. This is the first summer I’ve worked in ten years, and even though I love my job, I’m flying by the seat of my pants the rest of the time. Bob took Emma to a water park in a neighboring town and I anticipated having a few hours in the afternoon to do some cleaning and organizing. But they came home about an hour after I did, and so she and I spent the afternoon together and my plans got derailed. I was happy to be with her but I also decided it’s a waste of time to really organize a routine because it would change when she goes back to school in a month. And by the time she went to bed I was too tired to do anything worth writing about.

And even though I thought I couldn’t possible donate any more books, I think I am going to give it another go. Books seem to end up all over the place. I did make a specific home for our library books which I think will be helpful.

On Monday I’ll be posting my thoughts about this month’s book, Eat That Frog by Brian Tracy. Have a great weekend!