I believe I may have jinxed myself in starting this blog. Within a week of writing my first post, my oldest son tore his ACL, and returned home for surgery and recovery. My middle daughter graduated from college 2 weeks later, and returned home to look for a job. In between, my youngest returned from her sophomore year of college. That’s right. I named a blog My Almost Empty Nest and they all returned. My posting has been nil, and my time is definitely not my own currently. I’m back to claim it again. I have decided that if I want to write, I’d better be able to do it with distractions.
For many years, my summer schedule was set to the local public school schedule. I was one of the moms counting down to summer so that the merry-go-round that was our sports/dance/homework life would stop. Now, without a public school schedule to tie my own life to, I haven’t adjusted to summer beginning when my youngest gets out of college the first week of May. That isn’t really summer to me. The public school around here got out last Friday, and so I feel like it should be summer now. But the kids have been hanging around the house for weeks now, and I’m still on my regular work 20 hours a week, cook every night schedule. In other words, so far, summer doesn’t seem a lot different.
So I believe this calls for a change in attitude and priorities. Summer (at least according to the upcoming solstice) begins on Sunday. I’m setting a few items on a Summer To Do List so it doesn’t slip by without my noticing. Also because I like having things on a list I can cross off.

Summer To Do List

1.Go to the pool to read.
This should be a simple one. Get the kindle or an actual book (maybe one out of the “to-be-read” basket in my family room) and walk to the pool. Spend 1-2 hours reading without having to look at all of the things I should be doing around the house. This will help with #4 as well. (bonus!)
2.Take the dogs to the dog park.
They have just opened a dog park in my town, and my husband and I were talking about taking the dogs there to run off leash. I’m putting it on the list so that there is some chance of us actually doing it.
3.See the beach.
I’m not being so ambitious as to say stay at the beach for a week, but I need at least a day by the ocean in the summer to reset my stress levels.
4.Read at least 12 books.
This should not be a difficult feat for me, but sometimes having other people around makes me feel bad about reading. I have the above-referenced basket in my family room full of books, and the digital pile on my kindle is almost as bad.
5.Scrapbook.
I have a ton of scrapbooking supplies, which I am trying to pare down and organize, and tons of photos to tell stories with. Need to prioritize some time for just that.
6.Back up photos.
My digital photo files are a mess. I have multiple external hard drives filled with photos. Unfortunately, they are PC compatible and I now (happily) have a Mac. That means I can’t open my files from my new computer, which makes this a multistep process, but I need to get it done. Planning to mark some time each week for just this.
7.Make a fresh strawberry pie.
My mother made the best strawberry pies, and I need to make at least one. I’d also like to try my hand at her homemade ice cream recipe.
8.Develop a blogging routine.
I want this to be a good habit for me, so I’m going to use this summer to start it up in a big way.
I thought I would try to get to 10, but then I thought that I would rather have 8 things that I could actually do than 10 that wouldn’t happen.
Beginning this weekend, there are 11 weeks until Labor Day. On your mark, get set, go!
Here’s to summer!