Five things I won't be doing this summer

With my kids quoting to me daily the countdown of days left of school, I am beginning to feel the pressure of Summer Vacation looming. I want the kids to have a fun summer. I also want me to have a fun summer.

I want us to have a fun summer.

So I'm resolving today, as Memorial Day Weekend kicks-off, that I won't be doing any of the following things this summer:

1. I won't be doing the dishes. That's right, I'm taking the summer off. We're going to eat on paper plates for the whole, entire summer. Yes, I know this will have a bad impact on the environment. Mother Earth - I'll get you back in the fall, I promise.

2. I won't be tracking anyone's screen-time. I'm usually strict about how much screen-time my kids get - and we essentially don't have any TV, Wii or DS during the school week. On the weekend, I go through endless machinations to be sure the older ones don't watch TV when the toddler is around (I don't like him to watch any TV at all). And even my husband drives me crazy when he leaves the TV on and watches Infomercials. But not this summer. Watch, click and drive whatever you want. But when school starts, I'm back to my usual Draconian policies.

3. I won't be online very much. Living here in the Northeast, we only have so many nice days, and most of them occur between Memorial Day and Labor Day. I'm going to spend them outside, cultivating my fledgling garden and hanging with my kids, hopefully poolside much of the time. Twitter - I'll be back to my obsessive ways come September.

4. I won't be taking on any major home improvement projects. We moved last July, and my quest to unpack and have everything just-so in our new home completely consumed me for the entire summer. And here I am a year later, still with boxes to unpack, closets to unstuff and lights to install. So anything still undone can wait a little longer. It will all still be there when summer ends.

And last..

5. I won't be feeling guilty about any of these things I'm not doing. Life is long, but summer is short.

What won't you be doing this summer?

Thinking about summer has put me in a nostalgic mood for my childhood ones. I'm posting 1970s photos all weekend long on Facebook for your holiday amusement.