What A Difference A Morning Makes

I woke up this morning a little bummed about having to go to work today... after all, I've gotten to enjoy having three day weekends, especially since my husband has Mondays off, and I don't see nearly as much of him as I'd like.

I got ready to drive into the office; weighing myself down with purse, lunch, presents I am shipping out today, before remembering that, with this being winter, that I would need my jacket as well.

I reached into the closet, pulled it from its hanger and managed to toss it over one shoulder without dropping my load. I had my usual struggle with locking the door behind me and then walked out to my car, mentally ticking off the items I had in my arms and wondering if I had forgotten anything.

The light seemed dark for this time of day, as, by now, the sun should have been peeking its golden head out over the peaks and spreading the valley with its glow. I looked up at the sky and noticed the clouds hanging overhead, obscuring the nearby mountaintops. Thick foggy tendrils were creeping along the ribs of the mountains, like locks of Medusa's hair, slow and sluggish on this winter morn.

I pulled out and made my way into the office, marveling at how the world looked, wrapped in layers of pearly gray and pale blue. The wet pavement, like a mirror, reflecting the colors back to a sky draped in the colors of rain.

I don't know what it is about days like today that just thrill me to the core. Somehow the promise of pending rain always makes me feel clean... renewed... comforted. As if someone has wrapped me in a downy thick comforter of warm woolens and soft goose feathers.

And so I am thankful for today, and for all of the mornings like today that I can look forward to in this life. Its knowing days like this exist that make the days of darkness seem easier to tackle.

Thank you Heavenly Father, for creating such beauty and comfort in even the simplest of things.

One day closer....

.... to an nearly unpacked home!

Got home late last night (worked late, fought my way through the store with the after-work dinner rush crowd and then was outside the apartment chatting with a neighbor for nearly 40 mins!) I started working on some rice and hamburger stuffed bell peppers for dinner (big hit... and they were really good, thanks to using Zatarains Dirty Rice mix.... good stuff!) Yes, dinner was mostly rice and veggies (I am trying to feed us healthier choices than either of us were eating prior to marriage... so far its working pretty good).

Anyway....

While dinner cooked I cleaned up the dishes, and then dragged my desk into the office, and started unpacking boxes.

Richard was home at 9 and I took a break for dinner, and then went back to the boxes again. With Richard's help we have over half of the junk that was stacked in the living room cleared out (HOORAY!) and all of our clothes are properly hung and folded (whew!) I wasn't paying attention to the time, so it was nearly 1:30 am by the time we were finished, but I went to bed this morning feeling pretty darn good about how things were progressing. I think I can get the rest cleared out before Richard comes home tonight. That leaves us with tomorrow morning to set up the office space (so we can both use it effectively) before Richard goes to work, and to decide out where we want to hang pictures and then like (I can handle the actual hanging of items after he's gone).

This way everything will be cleared out and ready for next weekend's final haul of boxes. A lot of those boxes (for now anyway) will go straight into the storage room on our deck for future perusal. I figure if I can haul out a box of two a night I can have the last of the stuff worked out within a couple of weeks, and haul the discarded stuff over to donation on my way to work each day, rather than let it pile up.

Did I mention I feel really good about how things are progressing here?

Its nice to have the space to spread out again with my things.... and to re-discover things I hadn't remembered even owning. Its actually making me look forward to getting the rest of my stuff over to the apartment.... well, not the actual heavy lifting, huffing and puffing (but thankfully we will have the Elders Quorum helping out this time so it should go much faster), but I am definitely looking forward to weeding things out and separating the gold from the dross.