When Things Go Right

We tend to write about the challenges of life when really, sometimes everything flows for us and we wonder what the difference is!

Today was one of those days. Sure, we had our two year old issues and the baby still cried but still, I felt accomplished. Even the fact that I was cleaning up last nights dishes didn’t spoil my enthusiasm for the day. Between reading books and feeding baby, I basically spent all morning tidying my house, switching laundry, and preparing for us to leave for an appointment at 12:30. Lunch was a simple affair to say the least but by then baby had her nap and Abby was preparing to nap. I could see it in her eyes.

After my appointment, I swung around to a nearby bulk food store and picked up some apples that were only ten dollars for a half bushel. So far so good. Things unravelled slightly when we dropped by our cousins to drop off a Christmas card and Abby realized they weren’t home. That’s when the tears started. I had a few more cards to deliver so I assured her that perhaps Grandma was home and maybe her cousins were at Grandma’s house too. (I should have known better.) Abby loves her Grandma dearly and when she discovered that Grandma was not at home, either, she cried in earnest then! However, when we pulled into my brother’s driveway she cheered up considerably.

After coffee and cookies, we were on our merry way again and now we were all in a good mood! I was touched at the effort my sister- in- law put into a cake for my birthday. It tasted as good as it looked!

I dropped off the last of my cards with a sigh of relief. (I do not enjoy undelivered Christmas cards sitting on my kitchen counter!) The roads were a little icy but it hadn’t caused a problem for me until now. I was almost home and made a less than ideal sharp turn because I couldn’t slow down fast enough. A quick look in the mirror revealed that the observer of that little mistake was none other than my neighbour. Ah,well…

Home sweet home, again! This is when things tend to go downhill if you have things to be done, but not today! Abby played happily and Annika kicked and cooed on her play mat. Me? I snatched up the opportunity and went to work!

Nathan needed the freezer stocked up with baked goods for lunches and I needed to use up a container full of homemade cream cheese that had been in the fridge awhile. (No, I didn’t make it myself!) Since I was juicing some carrots and apples for the evening meal, I decided to try and use the pulp in a carrot cake. It went against my grain to see nice, big carrots disappear and only have a bit of juice to show for it. I had to open up a large can of pineapple to add to the recipe but that was okay as that had been sitting in my pantry for long enough as well. I put the rest in the fridge and jotted, “make homemade pizza” on the calendar for next week. Nathan also needed lunch meat so I pulled out the junk of salami from the freezer and decided that would be perfect to add to my pizza next week! It was a large junk, and when it defrosted enough Nathan cut it into smaller chunks and put them back into the freezer.

Carrot cake was in the oven, chicken was cooking on the stove and Annika was hungry again! By now Abby wanted something new to do so I grabbed an old store photo book and let her look through it -again. By now, she knows almost all the faces although she hasn’t met most of them! I know, because I have to keep walking over to her and answer all those questions about who’s who!

I put over the potatoes and beets and added some squash to the oven to bake with the cake. Things really were flowing today! The salad was ready and waiting. I like to add MCT oil to my salads for an added benefit. (Maybe I’ll write about it sometime in the section called “Healthy Habits.”) I decided to use the rest of my cream cheese in a simple recipe called “Taco Bake” from Margaret Raber’s cookbook.

We had lots of leftovers so I wouldn’t have needed to pull ground beef and cheese for tomorrow’s meal but I planned to make the Taco Bake anyway as we had a weekend coming up. It was nice to have lots of food around for Sunday.

My baby’s usual nighttime eating binge kept me from the dishes so Nathan helped me finish them up after nine. (He makes being a mom just so much easier!) The girls were in bed and he encouraged me to go on that walk I’d been hankering after all evening. Thus ended a good day and I truly was grateful. Lately, we’d been having some not- so-good days so this one felt like a breath of fresh air!

As I listened to the wind howling outside, I decided that snuggling under the covers after a long day of work is perhaps the best part! We get to enjoy that no matter which direction our day has gone. It is the time to unwind and replenish our bodies to prepare for the next one.

I lay in bed thinking…if I thanked God for this day that was filled with so many blessings, so many things that went right, all the jobs that were stroked off my “to-do” list…could I do the same after a “hard” day?

I pondered that as I drifted off to sleep.

If every day was a gift from God then every day was a “good” day.

It all depended on my attitude!