A Free Day

Today is one of those rare free days. Sure, I do need to go to the grocery store as well as finish up preparing the lesson for a Sunday school class I will substitute in tomorrow, but other than that I am free. No visits scheduled, no chores out there looming and consequently no alarm clock to jar me awake. Stephen got up before I did and capitalized on his freedom by setting off to clean the garage. One would think this an unpleasant chore however for Stephen it is puttering catharsis. He actually enjoys moving everything out, sweeping, throwing away, re-boxing, etc. I’m thrilled.
When I finally sat upright, I re-read my lesson. Feeling good about that I dressed for the store. This particular trip was rewarding as I redeemed the stamps I have been collecting for two months and got myself some cookware for a penny. I can’t remember the last time I participated in one of those grocery store stamp rebates. The feeling of getting something for nothing was quite delightful.
While I was carrying in bags of groceries through the garage where Steph was working; the radio was playing ‘Mello Yellow’ by Donovan. Ug…not one of my favorites but it did bring immediately to mind my friend Shelly. Growing up we used to listen to records on her stereo and she liked Donovan – don’t ask me why. I haven’t talked to her in months so I took it as a sign. After putting away the food I dialed her number. Alas, the message machine was as close as I got to talking and catching up but, that’s OK, we will chat soon I’m sure.

Trying to squeeze all the new cans of food into the cupboard required a purging of sorts. In the back corner taking up space I found one of those ‘recipes in a jar’. It was for cookies – perfect. Rationalizing that I needed space in the cupboard I decided to whip them up. Wow, it turned out to be the best cookie dough. Blake flashed in my mind because cookie dough is a favorite of his and the one thing I know he can cook. I wish my good boy could taste some but he is in the desert (only a couple hours from here actually) experiencing some pre-deployment training.

As preplanned, beef stew was on the menu for tonight so I gathered the ingredients. Two slices into a potato I thought of Sonnet. Believe it or not Sonnet actually likes to chop, dice and slice, all of which are required for beef stew. I thought how nice it would be if we could be cooking together.

The window above the sink faces our back yard so my thoughts surveyed the yard and rested on the spa. Boy it needs attention. A paint job and cleaning – actually we need a whole new spa. Yes, that would be nice. Then a picture of Tiffany sitting in a steamy outdoor spa in Alaska came to mind. The video posted on her blog played before my eyes and I could see her hopping out of the spa, running into the snow covered yard, rolling in the snow then racing back to the waiting warm water. What a playful, adventurous girl I have.

I have thoroughly enjoyed my free day. Partly because of the sleep in but mostly because it was so slow paced my mind had the luxury of wandering to the people I love. I think I’ll go read a book.