Sunday Solutions
I usually struggle with Sundays. I wake up so happy, with a whole day off ahead of me… but somewhere in the early afternoon that feeling shifts to “oh crap, tomorrow is Monday” and the day no longer feels leisurely. For a while, it seemed that I could either spend Sunday the way I wanted, i.e. sleeping in, lounging around, reading, getting Starbucks, watching football (gah! I miss football!) but then Mondays were horrible. The house was a mess, laundry not done, no food prep… OR, I could spend Sunday doing chores and errands, which meant the day basically sucked, but I was happy on Monday morning. Recently I’ve hit on a nice compromise, which mixes work and pleasure. I mean, duh- that was the obvious solution all along, but I’ve come up with a kind of formula for Sunday success. Whenever possible, I’ll sleep in till 9 am on a Sunday. Today, the cats woke me up at 8:22, but that was late enough. After yesterday’s workout fail, I was determined to get in an Iron Series workout before I did anything else, so that’s what I did. THEN, I eat a leisurely breakfast while reading blogs. I also take this time to decide on the night’s dinner (Sunday is often the one night I actually cook) and make a shopping list. Then I head out for errands. The key is, I make sure there’s at least one totally fun errand in there. Today, I went to Bath and Body Works. I saw they were having a sale where everything was 40% off, and I “needed” a new candle. So I went to the mall, then to the library to return books, then grocery shopping, and THEN I stopped at Starbucks and got a London Fog. (London Fog is Earl Grey with milk and vanilla. I get mine with almond milk and one pump of the sugar-free vanilla syrup. Normally I don’t put anything in my tea- I just get this as a special treat every once in a while.) I would have sat in the Starbucks, but it just so happened that no one was home at my house, so I went back home, lit my new candle… … and settled down with my tea for more blog reading. Muffin and Foxy joined me! When I woke up (ha ha, you didn’t think I could sit on the couch with two cats and not drift off to sleep, did you???) there was still plenty of time to throw in a load of laundry and read a little before starting dinner. One of my other secrets of Sunday success is to make a fun dinner. Tonight it was Vegan Philly Cheesesteaks from Nora Cooks. It’s supposed to be on a hoagie roll, but I used a Hero tortilla for mine. At night I tidy up and finish the laundry. Is the house perfectly clean? No, but at least it smells good from that candle! I’m still a little bummed that the weekend is ending (I mean, who isn’t?) but I had a nice day. Do you enjoy your Sundays?- Notice that this Sunday involved NO child care! That makes a big difference. Top photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash