Peace and relaxation

Back in the old days, Sunday was supposed to be a day of rest.  When I worked a "normal" job (i.e., back in my GS days), it almost always was a restful day for us, too.  Unfortunately, my new job requires me to be "on" on Sundays, and my seasonal work at Williams-Sonoma requires that I be available one day on the weekend, so I've chosen Sundays since that day (during the holidays/football season) is the day of the weekend that J is less likely to notice I'm missing.  Today may be my last Sunday "off" (other than Sunday School/church this morning) until after Christmas, and since I managed to finagle a mostly empty Saturday, too, this weekend has turned into a wonderfully peaceful and relaxing time with J.  I am so thankful for that!  We actually had a brief dance party in the kitchen last night (to Ke$ha...you probably don't want to ask...).  I'm not really the kind of person to just dance and have fun unless I'm pretty much at peace with my world.

Aside from visiting the Athens Schoolhouse Antique Show (by the way, I think I said something yeseterday about talking about that today; I meant Monday's blogpost, so come back--or scroll up--for that story!) and shopping and cooking, J and I also managed to watch a movie (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1) and I decorated the front porch area for fall.  (Funny side story:  I was driving through our neighborhood the other day thinking to myself how nice everyone's scarecrows looked.  Only then did it hit me that we have a scarecrow, too!  But where was he?  Oh yeah, in the shed out back...  Ooops.)  I rescued Julius from the shed and added a Halloween flag to the flagpole and fall wreath to the door.  Together with the pumpkins we got at Devine's last month, I think it makes a pretty nice arrangement.  I might sneak a mum home this week to put in the planter, but other than that, I think it is good until Halloween night, when I'll add the scary tree to the storm door.

Today, we've been hanging out on the couch watching football and doing laundry/generally just catching up on some things.  It has been pretty nice.  While I'm looking forward to the company coming in the next couple weeks, as well as the many long Sunday afternoons at the giftwrap desk ahead of me, I am also finding appreciation for the quiet moments on the couch.  It's nice to be able to be present in those moments.