Rainy day summer Sundays

Rainy day Sundays are some of the best days! They are days you should grasp with both hands and hold on with two fists. Enjoy the renewed energy and wrap yourself in the relaxation that comes from the rain.

Why?

Because how many days are there where you have an excuse not to mow the yard? While the grass and earth soak up mother nature's water, you can clean your kitchen or rearrange your furniture. Maybe rearrange your office furniture to boost creativity.

Embrace the slight chill that comes with the rain. Snuggle into a grubby pair of shorts and a sweat shirt and have a hot café mocha or a rare hot cocoa in the middle of summer. Take a long, relaxing read of a book that's been on your to-be-read pile. If a book doesn't suit your fancy, how about a rented movie. A good chick flick would be a great way to pass a lazy day.

Let's not forget comfort food. There's nothing more than a rainy day Sunday to make one seek out comfort food. Throw a pot roast into the crockpot along with some onion, mushrooms, and some beef broth. Let it all slow roast for 5 to 8 hours then mash some potatoes and enjoy a home cooked meal.

If you're a writer like me, take advantage of the rain and write your next scene. Write it slow and savor every moment, every nuance of your characters and their latest predicament, explore their feelings.

Take the time to call your grandmother who you haven't spoken with in a while. Ask how she's doing, what she is doing. Maybe reminisce over an old memory of when you were younger and went camping with your grandparents or how she always made your favorite apple pie when you visited.

Be like one of your flowers in your garden and soak up the day. Take in every moment, every nuance, and make the day special. Be crazy and step outside and get drench in the rain. Let it wash over you like a summer breeze after a dip in a lake; crisp and refreshing.

Enjoy rainy day summer Sundays!

Procrastinating Sunday

With the way people's lives are nowadays it seems that Sunday is the only day we can relax. If even that day. I don't know about you all, but because I work over 40 hours per week and have a 90 minute commute each way every day I cannot get some of the things I want or need to do during the week. Most evenings by the time I arrive home I am too exhausted to get back in the car and run more errands. If I don't stop on the way home the chances of me going back out are slim to none.

When Saturday rolls around instead of chilling out on your deck or in front of a cozy fire with friends, what do we do? We run those errands or do those chores we were too tired or too busy to do during the week. When the work week was invented (who knows when) I don't believe this was the idea of the weekend. Sure we do yard work because, hey, that's what weekends are for. But we do yard work Saturday mornings so we can BBQ with neighbors in the afternoon or evening. And we do yeard work because it gives us an opportunity to commune with nature. For me, I like to just play in my garden.

The problem is that it's no longer just yard work on Saturdays. It's running errands to the grocery store, picking up and dropping off dry cleaning, making trips to the post office, and doing all those other pesky chores that should have been/could have been done if our work week wasn't consumed by 50 to 60 hours of work and commute that we don't even get paid for.

Then we have Sundays. Now Sundays for many are spent getting up and getting ready for church and then having a family breakfast after that. But then what? Do you get to sit on your hiney and enjoy a day of rest? Isn't that what Sundays were meant to be?

Or do you procrastinate on Sunday because you really do have chores that need to be done, but your heart is saying, "Please, please can we just chill out?!" At least that is what my heart is saying.

So how do you procrastinate? Maybe you have a really LARGE cup of coffee. You know, a cup that's three times your normal kickstart in the morning.

Perhaps you listen to icky Sunday radio? I mean I swear this is the one day of the week that the radio stations forget that radio producers forget that people are listening and want to be entertained. I don't want to hear about how to raise my child in a green world, how to tune my car, or hear for the umpteenth time about some idiot politician screwed up. On Sunday the last thing I want is boring stuff. I want something that's going to make me laugh and forget that tomorrow is Monday and that the week starts all over again.

Maybe you watch the Sunday shows where some pompous opinionated person gives you his or her take on the world, economy, foreign politics, or whatever other topic there is that will blow your mind away on a Sunday. Instead, your heart is now pounding out of your chest because for 60 minutes you have listened to people who tell you they are smarter than you tell you how we can make everything better. But have they done anything about it? Nope. They just argued on national television about how it could or should be done.

How do you procrastinate?

Me, I should be writing on my latest novel. This is the one day a week I try to put aside for just my writing. So how do I procrastinate?

I get up, go for a cinnamon roll and Mountain Dew. Yes, I need caffeine, just not the coffee variety. I write a blog post like this one just because it popped into my head. I will then do a small amount of writing before the place I'm sitting in gets too busy and loud. And, of course, that's usually when I get on a roll in the story.

Then I get in the car and run more of those errands that I should have, would have run during the week if I hadn't worked so much. Or I decide I need silk flowers in my living room and I go to the little shop in Bedford because it's the only time I can make it to the place since it closes at 5 PM during the week. Occasionally, I get in my car and go for a drive. It doesn't matter where, just drive and stop wherever I want. Sometimes I head to Kittery to walk around the outlets and get some fresh air. I might even drive up to Gilmanton to get those terrific apple cider donuts I may have mentioned before. And yes, I will make that 45 minute drive just for those donuts.

After doing those things, I go home and look around and realize I need to vacuum or I need to put that floral arrangement together that I bought the flowers for. By the time I sit down to finish the chapter I started in the morning I am exhausted and my mind is already on work for the next day. Dang! Is that sad or what?

What do you put Sunday aside for and how do you procrastinate?

PS - I'm off to start writing. :-)