I had the best day yesterday, probably the most relaxing day I’ve had in a long time. On Friday, the weather forecast was calling for 6-12 inches of snow, starting in the middle of the night and continuing all through the next day. That forecast did not disappoint. We rarely get that much snow in this area, and I decided to use it as an excuse to really truly blow off all work and just do stuff with the family and take some time for myself. Here’s a list of what we did yesterday…
- Ate breakfast. The night before it started snowing, I set up the slow cooker to bake my favorite breakfast casserole. Breakfast was hot and ready when we came downstairs to eat. I read the paper, ate my breakfast, drank my coffee and in general eased my way through the morning.
- Took a short walk in the snow. It was coming down in stinging particles, with the wind whipping it into our eyes and faces, so we couldn’t stay out for long, but we did get out. It’s amazing how beautiful and quiet our neighborhood is when it’s being buried by that magical white stuff.
- Watched the birds in our backyard. I’ve been lax about filling the bird feeder. After a while of it hanging empty, I filled it on Thursday. Yesterday, that bird feeder was obviously the place to be. We had a few species of birds I hadn’t seen before, migratory birds that swarmed in along with the usual cardinals, doves, and chickadees. I must have spent an hour or so sitting at the back window with my birding book trying to figure out which species were there. Finally caught a glimpse of a spread tail and realized we had slat-colored dark-eyed juncos. And I was thrilled to figure this out!
- Baked pie with the girls. I hit the grocery store when I heard the forecast and bought a pre-made crust and some fruit. We made our own filling, laid the crust in a pie pan and had the most delicious pie later that evening. This is something I need to do more often. I love fruit pies!
Who wants pie?!
- Read to Princess about Egyptian, Greek, and Norse mythology. Princess loves anything to do with Egypt. She read to me a bit from a book on mummies her grandparents bought her for Christmas. When she got to the myth of Isis and Osiris, I pulled out an old book on mythology I had from when I was young and we went through the story together. Then we got into Greek myths and the story of Ragnarok and Asgard. Honestly, I don’t think I could have found a better way to spend that time.
- Took a hot bath. I poured myself a cup of wine, grabbed a small snack, and soaked in the tub for the better part of an hour. I try to do this once a week. When it’s freezing cold outside, it’s an even better treat than usual.
- Sewed and did crafts with the kids. I’m teaching Princess to sew. Pixie is too little still, so I gave her a bunch of beads and some chenille stems to string them on. She made lots of little bracelets while Princess worked on a hand-sewn doll and I crocheted a ninja. It was quiet, it was interactive, and again, I couldn’t have found a better way to spend my time.
- Did a little writing. For once, I had time to clean up my story for the week before sending it to the writers’ group. It was probably the cleanest draft I’ve sent to ERWA in a while. I wish I could spent more time polishing that first draft. I love to write, but I really dig rewriting. I may carve a little time out of my schedule to do just that.
- Played video games. I don’t normally play video games. I can’t play when the kids are up, because they get sucked in and won’t do anything else, or else they’ll want to take over the game from me. I have this single player game for the Wii, Rune Factory Frontier, that’s just my speed. A little monster fighting, a little farming, lots of interacting with other characters, a mystery to solve, and if my character runs out of hit points, he doesn’t die, he just ends up in the village hospital. I can hang with this game, and I did last night for FOUR HOURS STRAIGHT. You have no idea how much I enjoyed doing that.
All in all, it was a nice, quiet day. Now I’m spending today doing a little work while Hubster shovels the driveway and the kids run amok in the yard. In a while, I’ll head out for another walk through our neighborhood, just so I can enjoy the peace and quiet and freezing cold, then come back in, grab a cup of cocoa, and sit down to do some more work. It’s work I love, graphics and writing, and I can do it all on the couch today, so you better believe that today I am very, truly content.
I hope you all had as nice a weekend, if not better. Take care!
