174 - Relaxing

... seems to be an impossibility. I try, but I get bored so I get up and find something else to do.

Plumbers finally came yesterday evening and hooked up the tankless water heater. It's connected to the propane so we no longer use electricity except to power the display, and it's on demand so we only heat what we use, when we use it. The crew was here until midnight, so it was a long night for all of us, but I am glad they came. We had a leak somewhere under the kitchen sink and it has been seeping into the subfloor, so replacing all the plumbing with Pex pipe solved that problem, and the water pressure is much better now that the piping doesn't go all the way around the perimeter of the basement, with perplexing branches that are capped off and serve no purpose. Jeff will come back Monday afternoon and install the box and hook up the pipes for the washer, and he will vent the dryer to the outside. I guess some people around here use boxes to collect the lint, special boxes you get from a hardware store... first time I've heard of that.

So this morning I slept in a bit, made lunch... always takes longer the first day because I have to tear up two heads of lettuce (one green leaf and one red leaf) and make the dressing, but it's always worth it.

And I was going to wait until evening to mow, but it was overcast so I decided not to put it off. I've found that my initial mindset about anything seems to be "no." I love to cook, but sometimes I find myself making excuses... I'm too tired, it takes too long... in most instances it's quicker to cook than to grab food elsewhere, especially around here. Once I get going I'm fine, it's just getting over the hump. So, I mowed the back yard (to the driveway).

More of the side yard

The other side of the yard... and found that the hill going up that side is a real workout.

Also, flying ants are dirty little bastards that won't leave you alone. I made a homemade bug repellent with lemongrass and lavender oil in coconut oil, and until I started to really sweat it seemed to work... about 3/4 of the way through the back yard I guess I sweated it off, because there they were again. Like gnats, but they land on you and if you swat them they laugh and fly away, or bite.

More views of the side yard...

My fig cutting is growing roots!

And then I made lemon-chive biscuits. I have chives left from making the dressing and invariably they go to waste, so this was a way to use them up and make something scrumptious. I love these biscuits... this was a slightly different recipe than the one I normally use, but it was just as tasty. I love the flavor combination. And having biscuits for dinner reminds me of post-Thanksgiving when we have rolls for dinner because they're so good. I need to check and see if I have my mom's roll recipe because, aside from the egg noodles, they're my favorite.

So now I'm going to really attempt to just sit on my butt and relax... but the rest of the front yard is taunting me and there is an 85% probability that I will go out there and get it finished this evening rather than waiting for tomorrow... yeah... 90% likely that's going to happen...