It's already Thursday!

I've had a mostly productive week, and have been working through a few projects. I've also enjoyed time by the pool, reading my book. All work & no play, and all that. . . :-)

I have plans today to clean the house & trim the plants that are under our eaves around the patio. One of my sabbatical goals has been to fill the yard waste bin each week. I'm usually limited in my yard work by how much space we have in the waste bin. Well, the yard waste was picked up yesterday, so let the trimming begin!

I ran errands yesterday, and was thinking about how much time is wasted in purchasing & returning things. In this case, I was exchanging towels (birthday present for M - yes, really his request) that were the wrong color. The entire exchange took nearly two hours. When I read blogs where people are frequent clothing shoppers (and returners), I'm always surprised by how much of their free time they spend in the pursuit of buying, trying on, maintaining, re-selling, returning, etc. While I like getting a new top or pair of jeans as much as anyone, for budgeting reasons I try to limit this, as well as because I know I often change my mind later, and returns are a hassle & a time waster. We used to leave near a mall in our Seattle house, and I was often spending my weekends in this cycle. For a variety of reasons, it's not something I do much of these days, & I'm ever so grateful.

Here's what's on my list to accomplish today:

• Clean the house
• Trim the trees
• Clean up another yard project
• Run 
• Potentially yoga or pilates
• Call about a gift card we received 
• Laundry
• Clean the fridge
• Decide on a streamlined menu for next week (the kids will be at summer camp)
• Make muffins (time permitting)

What are you hoping to accomplish today?