A "Nothing" Day

You know how sometimes, when someone asks you what you did on this particular Saturday, you say, "Nothin' "?

I was prepared to say that tonight. (I have to hostess at Shakespeare for a bit. I do enjoy that.)

But this morning, just because we didn't get up early and go fishing or do anything spectacular, it still ended up being a full of nothing day.

For instance:

I slept in.  I absolutely TREASURE the days that I let my body wake up on it's own.

I fixed a nourishing breakfast for two.  Steel cut oats, apricot nectar, toast with apple butter. I should note that the apricot nector and the apple butter were "home-grown" and very yummy.

I read the paper and did the crossword puzzle.  And the cryptoquote.

I put away clean dishes from the dish washer and loaded up up with dirty ones and cleaned off the counters.  Sort of.  Just the work areas.  I also swept the floor and mopped up the dirty spots [on my new hardwood kitchen floor].  These are NOT things I do every day, sadly.  Mike's been helping with the dishes of late, so I kind of got out of the habit.  But sink-cleaning always needs to be done.  Well, and ALL the rest of it! ha.

I did laundry.  Off and on all day.  I can say that it's almost all put away now.

I went on an emergency run to the library for about a half hour.  The University Call Center called me to say the alarm wouldn't set, the campus police was there and having problems, so I rode my bike down (very swiftly, I might add) there to turn off the alarm, check on codes for public safety personnel, find and meet with the new Dean, assign him his personal back door code, and give HIM a tutorial on entries and exits at the back door during closed hours. He was the one who initially set it off, coming in without an assigned code to disarm the building.  It was a rather exciting little half hour.  And I'll bet you didn't know I had such power and authority over my building, did you?

I cleaned the back entry of our home.  Vacuumed the steps and rugs and area around the shoe cupboard. I even scrubbed off the concrete steps with a rag because there was a lot of sticky spotty things. Probably drippy  Otter pops and other popsicle kind of things that drip during the summer when lots of kids are around.  And Mike accused me of becoming a bit OCD. HA! Like I have EVER cleaned my steps before or ever will again until I really notice some serious grime --that would come in onto my shiny new hardwood kitchen floor.

I chatted with Mike for a bit between HIS errands.

I prepared a nourishing lunch for us .  Mixed greens salad with lots of veggies and smoked salmon, with a side of cole slaw.  Because I like it and we have a bunch.  Home grown, nearly every bite (and the salmon was caught by us, too!).

Then we watched most of a movie that was on TV.  Because sitting around and eating and visiting is so exhausting, you know. ;-)  "It could Happen to You" with Nicholas Cage. I like Nick Cage.

I fielded a couple of phone calls, picked up a voice mail message to relay.

Then Mike and I were going to put up a blind in the kitchen window over the sink. We could not figure out if it worked or not!  It was so confusing.  So we went to plan B, but the hardware wasn't there for Plan B blind.  So he left to do a chore for his mom and I got curious and did some searching on the internet for Levolor blind installation.  Did YOU know there was such a thing as cordless mini blinds?! They are childproof. Meaning, there are no dangerous dangling cords. Well, apparently they are stupidproof, too!  We were so surprised to find that you just grab the bottom and pull--they come down.  Push the bottom UP and they go up. Who knew??!! HA!  Certainly not us. But now I have a blind in the window over my sink.  Most of the time it will stay up under the valance, but when I'm working with the sun shining in my eyes, it's going to be SOOOOooo nice to have.  After all these years.  (I always meant to make a Roman shade to put there.  With the remaining IVY FABRIC I've had for twenty-some years.  Oh, dear. I'm done with ivy, remember?)

I prepared for my primary lesson for tomorrow.  Cut out badges, made copies of Noah's Ark handouts, made wordstrips, etc. etc.

Warmed up leftovers for my dinner. Mike wasn't hungry or interested, but I knew I had to leave soon for USF, so I ate anyway.  And then curled my hair, washed my face, put on makeup for the first time today.

Updated my blog.  Visited with Pam Christensen for a few minutes and set her home with some veggies from the garden.

Then, I hostessed at The Utah Shakespeare Festival, came home and enjoyed a nice root beer float with Mike while watching a thriller movie on TV ("Cellular")-- creepy!

Something and a lot of nothing all day long. Never scrubbed a bathroom or vacuumed a carpet, shook a rug or even stepped into my yard or garden. Never paid a bill or sorted any papers or "stuff." You know the stuff that just PILES up around here.  But it's been fun.  I need a day of "nothing" once in a while.

Kitchen closer to being done!

Here's the finished paint and valance and floor for those who asked.  I still don't have new rugs or new towels yet. I still haven't put stuff back.  Hmmm. It still is getting cluttered. It's a losing battle.

This is the "Before" And I think I like it better when it's filled with lots of family!

New tile backsplash behind the stove.

I did remove the yellow lining from the large valance and replaced it with white lining. I like it MUCH better.

I didn't re-do the smaller valance over the window. But the window sill is less full. The spider plants are gone. It was a pretty sunset this evening, too. But the pinks don't show up in the photo.:-( 

Yep...here it is again...all the clutter and stuff.  General Messiness.  That's Nick cooking breakfast for us last  Saturday on the 2nd of August.  He'd been hiking and canyoneering the day before and was heading home later that day. And I was busy so invited him to make breakfast while we were getting ready. So he did.  It's hard to tell your Mommy "no," no matter how old you are. :-)