Monday, October 18, 2010

Quiet Nothing-ness

Today was simply delightful.  Delightful in warm and cozy kind of way, just the way I would have ordered it, if living one's day to order were possible.  Not all the time, but just once in a while.

It started out with Joshua sleeping in- which means we all slept in.  What better start to a day than that?  Other than the daily pleasure of waking up next to the man I love, of course.

At nine o'clock in the morning, when the little munchkin had breakfast, we decided on a whim to rearrange the living room furniture.  Okay, I decided on a whim, and John graciously agreed to help.  There was a time in our marriage when getting this kind of assistance was like pulling teeth from a shark, so I appreciated his willingness to accomodate me and my furniture-moving disorder.  A magazine article I read this afternoon said it so well:  "Every one of my projects has a beginning- but no project has an ending."

The living room hasn't felt restful or uncluttered since the day we squished the train table into it, and I had been thinking about how to go about fixing the problem for several weeks now.  By 11am, we had the best furniture set-up that we've had in this house yet.  It just works perfectly, and even the train table has a home without being intrusive.  It opened the room up, giving it a lighter and fresher feeling, and- well, change of any kind is good for the soul.  I still couldn't manage to make room for a big, fresh-cut Christmas tree, though.  (sigh)

John's Mom came for lunch.  I baked sweet potatoes and smothered them in black bean sauce, sour cream, black bean salsa and cheese.  It's one of my favourite lunches and can even be made dairy-free with Tofutti sour cream and pumpkin seeds in place of cheese.  Comfort food.  And remember the spaghetti squash pie from yesterday?  Edible, but a genuine waste of pie pastry. 

We played with Play-Doh after lunch.  It's become Joshua's newest and favourite amusement.  When I was pregnant, John and I went to yardsales on the weekend for baby things, and even though Play-doh isn't exactly a baby thing, I couldn't resist picking up various accessories to put away for the future.  I brought them out earlier this year, but Joshua had little interest in it until earlier this week when it was actually HIM who asked for it.  And continues to ask for it multiple times a day.



 

My mother-in-law left and Joshua went for his nap.  John had a project in the basement- he's been fixing the furnace and making it more effecient- and when I finished washing the dishes, I went down to visit him.  At the bottom of the steps, I spotted a blue container that has housed an old cross-stitch project of mine for some years, now.  I started it for my mom.

I used to crochet all the time.  In fact, I had a hard time traveling, watching a movie, playing a game, or anything where my hands would normally be still, without having something to crochet.  I outgrew the habit when my back started giving me grief, but when I saw the cross-stitch, I knew it was something I could handle, so I took it upstairs and picked up where I last left off.  I also remember, while doing it, why I had stopped in the first place.  It's really one of the most mundane of activities.  I am determined to finish it though, for I know I'll never bring myself to throw a perfectly good project in the trash, and I don't want it following me everywhere I go for the rest of my life.

Joshua woke up and John came upstairs.  I cross-stitched steadily on, John learned a new song on his guitar and Joshua ate his snack and played with his trains.  We talked.  My grandparents called.  We talked some more.  John and Joshua went for a walk.   


 


Yes, it was just a day of quiet-nothingness that doesn't happen too often.  Aside from the walk, nobody left the house.  Aside from baking sweet potatoes, no food had to be made.  It was just...nice.  Really nice.

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