Grace Notes for a Busy Day

I was cleaning my office yesterday (did you hear the gasp from my husband?) and stumbled across a book I used to love: Grace Notes - Insights, Reflections, Inspirations and Quests for Every Day of the Year by Alexandra Stoddard.

Just now, I flipped it open to today's date and here's the quote for the day:

To live well is to work well, to show a good activity.
-- Thomas Aquinas

I think I managed. Here's the thing... It originally was supposed to be a nice day tomorrow. And then the weathermen changed the forecast dramatically (side note: I want that job. Where else can you work, get it wrong most of the time and still get a paycheck?). Now, they are predicting somewhere in the neighborhood of a foot (yes a foot!) of snow tomorrow. So, suddenly, I had to cram two busy day's of errands into one.

I woke up at 4 a.m. (as usual) and worked on the round robin group story for one of my crit groups. It was a lot of fun! Next, I worked on yet another beginning for my Liv Leigh novel. I really like this one, though I've like the others, too. We'll see if this one makes the cut.

Wake up hubby at 6:30 a.m., make his "yuppie coffee" (GFIC) and send him out the door by 7ish. Feed the dog, the daughter and me. We have to leave by 8 a.m. to put out some Avon catalogs (yes... ding, dong... Avon calling) and then head off to DD's gymnastics class.

Leave gym class at 10ish and head to the furniture store and finally commit to buying the set the DH and I have been thinking about for quite some time. Go to Wendy's for a quite bite to eat around 11 a.m. and then the grocery store.

Head home and put away groceries, let the dog out and feed her, add wood to the wood stove so it doesn't go out and the house isn't an ice box upon my return, load up recyclables into the back of the truck along with my broken vacuum and a lamp and drive away.

Go to Mail Box Express to have them wrap and pack a very fragile picture for shipping. There was a l-o-o-o-n-n-n-g-g line, so this was the longest errand yet. Go to library, return half a million children's books and pick up another half million for DD. Go drop off more Avon brochures on this side of town along with a couple orders.

Finally get to dump and sort and deposit paper, plastic and cans.

Off to the gas station because I'm not filling up any time soon after a major storm -- partly because it's a pain, and partly because the prices usually go up. Next is a quick trip to Target for a gift card and some scrapbooking supplies for grandma.

Then, phew!, home.

But wait, it's not over yet! Bring two big loads of wood into the garage, refill bird feeders so poor HUGE population of birdies won't starve to death in the next couple of days. Take down DD's swings so the plastic won't get wrecked. Do a little pooper scooping before it's buried and bring in recycle containers from truck.

Phew.

But wait! House is a mess, dinner needs cooking and...

So, anyway, Mr. Aquinas, I think I've shown a good activity.