SUNDAY OPTIMISM

What a great day!

Today was filled with a whole lot of little events, none of which were special in and of themselves, but together they combined to create an almost perfect winter weekend day. This is particularly remarkable because I woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning and poor Ray had to deal with a decidely grumpy Amanda for the first few hours of the day. Not sure why I was so grumpy, but it sure was unfortunate to be owly on such a beautiful morning.

Speaking of a beautiful morning, today was another cold but clear day - the temperatures just rising above freezing but with only little fluffy clouds in the sky. I don't mind cold as long as it's clear and beautiful like today! In any case, the nice weather made our chores (grocery shopping - generously done by Ray, miscellaneous shopping, etc.) much more pleasant and in general cast a cheerier note for the day. Ray shopped while I cleaned the house and when he got home we did a bunch of spring cleaning - washed some windows (including a particularly pleasing victory when we figured out how to wash the outside of our upstairs window, from the inside!), cleaned up some mould, swept up some dust bunnies. We had to go uptown to find some new bedding and actually found what we were looking for without too much trouble, or getting jostled by other shoppers; another pleasant surprise. We found ourselves back home in time to make use of the afternoon by doing a bit of gardening - I am determined to pull up as many weeds as possible now, before the growing season really gets going and yardwork. Although our garden is still brown, we are starting to see our plans take shape for later in the season. It is gratifying to have all the work we put in last year behind us and now we can really start to improve the space.

I still wasn't tired after we gardened so we came inside and had a cup of tea...and then I baked some apple cinnamon muffins. The whole house smelled wonderful as the sun was setting and we started making dinner. After a yummy meal and a relaxing after-dinner chat, Ray and I spent the evening puttering about our little nest getting ready for the start of the week.

I'm not entirely sure how we transformed a grumpy start to the day into a terrific, fun, relaxing time; if only all days could be this simple! But in the meantime, I'm not complaining. I hope you all had a very nice weekend too, and are about to embark on a rewarding week.