Slow Moving Days

Today was one of those days that felt like it passed rather slowly. It was probably something to do with the fact that it began to rain heavily last night just as the pups and I were heading to bed and it didn't really stop until this evening. The ground is thick with puddles, the sky was dark all day and it the sun didn't even think about shining.

It's supposed to get cold enough to snow tonight. Naturally, being the snow loving creature I am, this has me a wee bit excited. I love snow and especially the first real snowfall of the season. We had a few dry, cold flakes last week but it was barely enough to notice. What I'm ready for is the first downpour of thick, fluffy flakes that merits breaking out the Williams Sonoma peppermint hot chocolate and seeing in the finery of winter in the right way.

I know, I know...not everyone feels this way. Once again, I can feel my mother cringing in her chair as she reads this, her body already starting to grow cold with the sheer imagining of the snow. I can't help it though. Snow, to me, is something to be celebrated.

Still, it's not snowing yet. Instead we have a soggy day where it was too wet to really be outside. The puppies try to play out there but they come in sodden and muddy and I have to wipe their feet with a towel. They seem to be staring at me accusingly as if to say, "why is it raining? We don't LIKE rain!" To make matters worse, they didn't get their evening walk because I don't have a real raincoat and the idea of traipsing around the block in the rain was not terribly appealing. The pups would agree if they thought about it but, instead, being the creatures of habit, they still wait expectantly for me to say, "Wanna go for a walk?"

It's days like this where I think it might be nice to be a puppy, curled up in my crate in the morning as the rain pours down instead of in my office, looking at my computer. I like my job a lot and it's different every day but no matter how much anyone likes their job, sometimes it's just appealing not to be at work.

Still, the day passed....slow as it was. Now we're ready to relax this evening. I have fennel roasting in the oven, the puppies are lying on the couch, wondering why I'm in my office yet again. They don't like it when I'm in here because they don't understand what's so interesting about this machine I'm always sitting at. It's a shame. I'd quite like to discuss my writing with them but even though Rory cocks her head adoringly like she's actually listening, her vocabularly is still limited to "Biscuit, outside, walk, treat, chicken, cheese," and "sit." It makes for a lousy conversation unless you're talking about Chicken in a Biscuit crackers.

I think the problem is that we're in the holiday season. There's so many things I'd like to be doing. I need to put my tree up. I need to take down my fall decor from outside- the silk leaves I wrap around my little outdoor lamppost and my scarecrows in the garden- and replace it with my Christmas decor. I need to do some shopping. I want to do some baking. There are holiday movies I'd like to watch. There are friends I'd like to see. There's wrapping to do. December is a busy month and sometimes it seems a shame that work has to get in the way.

Of course, without work, it might be hard to have a busy Christmas season because of the need for a paycheck. It's a bit of a Catch 22. Until I become independently wealthy or a mega-million copy selling author, it's off to work I go where I can sometimes squeeze in a little online browsing between looking at resumes.

It's not so bad really. After all, I'm no longer at my old job where, chances are, I'd be debating whether to call in sick so I could do other things. Or, I might be sitting in my cubicle freezing because our area was always freezing and the spaceheater that someone had loaned me when I first started was claimed by another coworker even though I'm almost 100% sure it wasn't hers. These are things I no longer have to worry about. Also, we're allowed to acknowledge Christmas at my current office. We're even going to do...stuff. We're having a party and a happy hour for our consultants. That's not bad going. In fact, I keep waiting for someone to come in and say, "Ha! Fooled you! We're not this nice after all."

It's funny. My current coworkers apologize if they've been 'cranky' and feel like they've snapped at me. In truth, I don't even notice because even at their crankiest, they're still nicer than many of my old coworkers. It's sad, but true. This is the time of year when we're supposed to be thankful for the things in our life and thus, I am thankful that I have a new job that I like with normal people who seem to respect me.

All in all, slow as the day was, it wasn't so bad. It's just like with everything else, no matter how happy we are, we always think we could be happier. For now, however, I get to curl up on a chilly, wet night with two puppies, watch TV, eat roasted fennel with parmesan and enjoy the fact that, for now, thats as complicated as life needs to be.

And maybe, just maybe, it will snow tomorrow.

Happy Wednesday!