gray day.

This has been the shade of gray we've had lately:

So odd for Colorado. Almost every day has been like this. I'm loving the rain, but also have realized how much I love the sun! Dex was looking forward to a trip to the dog park today, but we'll save it for another day... Today is more of a PJ/cleaning/stay indoors sort of day.  And there are a lot of projects/areas to clean that I've been ignoring, so I guess today is as good a time as any to just do it.

I hop around when I clean. Do you do that, or is it just me? It's really hard for me to stay in one spot until it's completely finished...I'll load some dishes, wipe the counter, remember I have a load of laundry to do, then jump upstairs to make the bed... then back downstairs to fold blankets in the living room and put them in their basket. It makes absolutely no sense, but it's how I've always been.  Today has been no different! I cleaned up the shelves above the washer and dryer, gathered up all the trash, cleaned the kitchen, and went downstairs to clean up some craft stuff. I keep thinking that once everything actually has a place, and I'm not in "survivor" mode, skipping around will slowly fade away and things will be more manageable...

Another technique of mine is to find something incredibly interesting that distracts me from cleaning--sometimes it's a magazine, or a card from someone that was really special, or whatever. This time, it was a stack of papers from my old job.

  

I didn't realize I missed work until these cards fluttered out of the stack--cards from a Bible study I went through years ago. There are five cards, and each card has a title and day of the week on the top, like this:

Monday: Attitude

Tuesday: Energy

Wednesday: Ethics

Thursday: Advice

Friday: Influence

There are verses beneath each topic to encourage you throughout your week, and I jotted down some notes beside them too, such as ""No one is smarter than the one who knows she has a lot to learn!" on the "Advice" card. Under "Ethics," I wrote, "Be faithful to your job." 

These cards meant so much to me at work! I learned so much at my company, and so appreciate all of the teams I worked with... But there were definitely days when I would feel discouraged, or just tangled in gobs of deadlines, and needed some encouragement... and what better words to hear than scripture? If these cards weren't in my drawer, they were propped up on my keyboard until whatever funk I was in passed. And it would, because God is awesome like that.

I miss aspects of that job. But I'm enjoying this new chapter with little Liv, and how special it's been. For all of the mourning that has come with change, I know that in good time I'll have another drawer and another keyboard for these cards to fit in (hopefully as I'm freelancing, right? ;). For now, the "Energy" card is going on my fridge. How timely.

"Go to the ant, you slacker! Observe its ways and become wise. Without leader, administrator, or ruler, it prepares its provisions in summer; it gathers its food during harvest." Proverbs 6:6-8

An ant would certainly have a clean basement by now... I love how this verse totally calls you out with "slacker!" It makes me chuckle inwardly every time I read it.

PS. My curtains are done and cheering up our kitchen! Pictures soon--when the sun comes out...