The phrase, “Picking up the slack,” has definitely taken on a new meaning for me lately. Like I said, with John gone so often (thankfully, doing what he loves!), I’m adding tons of new chores to my list. And I have a feeling that list is going to get longer and longer as we head toward the holiday season. For example, John’s our go-to guy for putting up outdoor Christmas décor, but this year it’s all on me! I might be defaulting to laying the Christmas lights on our bushes and shrubs rather than climbing up on the roof to hang them along our roof line like John normally does, but I’m sure it’ll still be just as festive as any other year. Plus, I’ll have the added bonus of knowing I did it myself!

I’m also doing much more yard work this season. We’ve talked and talked about replacing old dried up plants with new ones, and finally, after months of this, I realized that if I wanted to see it done, I was going to have to do it myself. John just doesn’t have time for that right now, which is totally understandable! So, I made a few trips to the local garden center to stock up on the things we needed, and have started the process of replacing things in the garden along the front of the house.

Long story long, I’m finding out that it’s all coming down to me to make sure those pesky seasonal chores don’t pile up in John’s absence. The change has definitely allowed me to pick up some new skills I never thought I’d have the chance to learn. I imagine I’ll be learning how to shovel snow before long! That’s why I’m making sure to keep an extra box or two of Aleve® caplets in our medicine cabinet to help ease my new aches and pains. It’s easy for me to add it to my Walmart order as needed, which means it’s something I can quickly cross off my list. The small, oval caplets are more than manageable, and each pill has the strength to last 12 hours. It temporarily reduces fever, too, although I, thankfully, haven’t had to test that out yet.