Dry

Chloe headed out this morning with a bit of trepidation - as if the lack of moisture all around - rain drops, wet cement, torrential downpour sometimes shifting to sprinkles - was too much for her to deal with at 5AM. She approached the pool spa and peered in - which she often does and I can never figure out why. It's a big hole with water in it and there's a far bigger hole with water in it just to the right. She never ventures near the pool, never pays any attention to it at all unless the pool sweep propeller hose happens to spray and she jumps into the air like a bat out of you-know-where. I don't know why she lately seems 'afraid' of the spa - she's never fallen in. But she sneaks around it, eyeing it suspiciously as she tries to find the perfect place on the lawn to do her thing. Funny. In the rain, she doesn't take any extra time - just heads out, to the closest spot and gets it done. But with no rain, she's back to taking the long way to the grass and peering into the spa searching for ....whatever dogs search for.

I've been getting up early and just enjoying the leisurely mornings. It's quiet, and I piddle around the study. Spend a bit of time on email, reading a few blogs, getting my farm under control on Farm 51 (http://www.bigfishgames.com/). I like having that bit of time to ease into the day. I'm tempted to sleep in but the peace of the mornings is something I'm learning to love and if it means getting up at the crack of dawn, it's OK.

I don't know if I mentioned that my computer keyboard is now repaired. J. phoned Dell and we were within a month of having the warranty expire - but we made the call in the nick of time and the keyboard arrived two days later. J. replaced it himself! And the funny thing is: I'm still using only the right shift key. Never the left. Months of not having the key has rewired my brain to now pretend as if it never existed. I'll have to see if I'm doing that at work, also. Probably am. Isn't the mind amazing - how quickly it adapted to that change and now how emphatically it refuses to be reprogrammed...I think it's just incredible. Silly, I know. But I marvel at stuff like that.

I'm working hard on seeking joy in small things. It annoys the heck out of some people - I was traveling with a coworker to a school site and we had to stop for a train switching tracks. And I just watched and enjoyed it - how they move the cars forward and detach and then roll two cars back. And the cars 'stop' when it hits the cars they need it to reattach to and automatically hooks. I thought it was fun to watch - how often are you close enough to a train and tracks to see how it works? My coworker was laughing and seemed 'in awe' of my ability to enjoy the simplest thing. She was 'fretting' that we were wasting time, sitting around, verging on being late for a meeting. But we weren't late - and even if we were, who cares. The meeting wouldn't start without us and heck, there was a TRAIN at the crossing and you can't go around a TRAIN. I loved it. It was a nice 'break' in a busy day. And you've got to seize those moments when you can and as often as you can.

As part of my new year's resolutions, I'm also attempting to stick to my contract and not work as many days. At my current 'run rate', with no extra work days (like weekends, etc. which you know from reading this blog is highly unlikely - we are heading into another budget, more reports, etc.) I will carryover 14 days into next year - and that cannot happen. I won't use them and I'll create more. So I'm taking off the next few Fridays. Turning any 3 day weekend I can into a 4 day weekend. And plan to keep doing that as often as possible. As I told my boss - 'it really means I'll be taking work home and working over the weekend off and on but it will feel like a day off and that's what's important - the illusion of working less.

Gotta run. Starbucks for my daily dose of iced tea and then a jam packed day. Thankfully, J. is working at home today so I won't have to wedge in a mid-day stop to give Chloe a break nor rush home.