One of those days

Have you ever had one of those days or weeks?  I'm sure you have.  You know...

You didn't time the errands quite right, so you didn't get them all done. You lost your list along the way, which means you forgot things.  You forgot to bring the item to be returned and the dimensions for the air filter that really should have been replaced when you turned on the air conditioning for the first time this year.  Thus an extra trip (or two, in this case) is required.

A drinking glass goes off the counter-top at the ends of your fingertips.  These things really do happen in slow motion sometimes, oddly enough.  Glass everywhere, even down the stairs on the carpet, requires sweeping and vacuuming while yelling at the pets to get out of the way and leave the room.  They think there's something wrong/interesting going on and want to come see.

There are vegetable side leftovers in the fridge that you forgot to make sure were finished and now they might be past finishing.  It was good too.  

You realize you forgot a bag at Wal-mart the week before.  But for once you threw away the receipt instead of keeping it for a few days.  Hopefully it was just a bag of sugar and not the more expensive item that you thought about buying and think you didn't, but you aren't quite positive. 

Then there's that container of cottage cheese that you forgot about in the fridge, but it really hasn't been that long.  You open it, peel back the plastic, and there's some nice blue mold on top.  Yes, the "best by" date was yesterday, but should it go that quickly?  Also it couldn't have been that long since it was purchased, at least not long enough for mold under the seal.  The trouble is that you threw away the receipt.  So much for an easy breakfast this morning.  

Lots of little annoyances.  Easy to gripe and grumble about at the time (especially when there's a heat wave and you don't have air conditioning in the car while running errands).  But at the same time it takes effort to remember them.  Because there are lots of good things to drown out the grumbling

Big things like food, shelter, air conditioning in the house, money and gas to run necessary errands.  Time with friends, time and books to read.
Little things like...
Calculating the cost per serving on a (healthy) meal just for fun, and not because it's absolutely positively necessary that it came in below a dollar (though it did).
A more relaxing weekend before things gear up again.
A small-ish town to walk through in the morning before it gets too hot.
Lunch out with my husband on that last (hopefully!) errand and the "Uptown" salad.  
Blueberries for a great price and a bowl of fruit for breakfast, a camera to take silly pictures of bowls of fruit (and of good times with friends), a cup of coffee in the morning, supper on the deck.

And there are so many more.  As today's sermon served to remind: "In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33).  I don't think He was talking about forgetting things at the store.  Here's to remembering the blessings and not the little gripes that are just an inevitable part of life in this world, after all, and don't really matter in the grand scheme of things.

I love summer

Happy Friday!

1. I've been cleaning and the house (part of it, that is) feels nice and clean. This is traumatizing to the dog. The vacuum cleaner is scary. So is the mop.

2. I've also been cooking- I made my mother-in-law's grits and sausage breakfast casserole, and the house smells amazing. Cheese grits are the best. The dog was feeling insecure and thus getting underfoot the entire time I was cooking.

3. As if he wasn't already having a bad day, we also encountered a dog off leash on our walk (a dog on leash too, but that's Biscuit's problem, not the other dog's). This is scary, especially when said dog follows us. I know he's completely harmless, but Biscuit apparently doesn't and feels insecure because he's on a leash and can't defend himself. I can't really blame him, considering he's been "attacked" by 2 different dogs (off leash) in the neighborhood who had very questionable intentions. Word to the wise- a townhouse neighborhood is not the place to let your dog run off leash.

4. I just went to the grocery store to forget...I mean pick up...a couple of things. I'm have a few ladies over for brunch tomorrow. It should be a nice time.

5. Tax season is so close to being done I can almost taste it. Unfortunately, it always seems as if the closer it gets to the end the slower it goes.

6. My students are on spring break this week, which means a bit of a break for me as well. It feels good.

7. Two of my students also placed in an essay contest for John Stossel's educational program, Stossel in the Classroom. In case I haven't mentioned this before, my students are all wonderful.

8. This song is awesome. The down side is I'm never going to be able to listen to the original version with a straight face again. But I can live with that.


9. Our grass was finally mowed! It's covered by our homeowners' association dues and the back yard was beginning to look like a jungle...

10. My oldest niece turned 4 this week. I need to post this and go wrap a present!

So how is your Friday going?

The little things lately

1. Fresh asparagus with its purple rubber bands
2. The cat chasing his tail and making me laugh.
3. Doggy yawns
4. Pandora internet radio
5. Good, hot, soup
6. A pure, deep, blue sky on a crisp morning
7. Take-out after class, just because
8. Purple and gold crocuses-sighted while walking the dog
9. Pinterest seems to be bringing my crafty side out of hibernation. Fun, yes. But a good thing? Not sure.
10. The Piano Guys
11. Monster cookies