Oh, What a Day!

I'll start yesterday at the end and move backwards. It was just "that kind of day". In a good way, of course!

When I finally hit the point in my day where I was ready to call it a night, I looked over and this is the sight my weary eyes had to behold.

Yes, if you squint and look closely, the time is 12:11 a.m. 

And yes, that is an anomaly in my world. Just ask our cats. I am usually waking up for the first time at that time, not just laying my head down on the pillow. So, grateful for our king sized bed, I climbed into the last third of the bed which was left available to me and laid my weary little head down to recoup from the day.

I spent the evening dealing with the end of my on-line auction. I listed twenty nine items on the auction and twenty four of those items sold. Our net gain after cleaning out our closets and ridding ourselves of the excess was $123.75. That averaged just over $5.00 per item sold. Not too shabby for a day of housecleaning and listing items for sale. Then an evening dealing with the administrative end of arranging pick-up times with twenty three different people (one person bought two items). The biggest reward though, is the feeling I get when I walk into a room knowing the closets are not full to overflowing with items we don't use. That is the most satisfying part of all (although my portion of our "take" does cover the daycare spending investing I did this past weekend, so that is pretty good too). 

That was my evening. The day was an even better investment of my time and efforts.

We had a "trial run day" with a potential new daycare daughter. It was busy, labor intensive and I was on high alert all day as I watched over my charges. By the day's end, the day felt like a success. She fit in with our family, she napped very well (that's a very good quality to have!) and I think she was starting to figure me out as the day went along. So if all goes as I expect (and hope), she will start in January. This is not only good for my budget but it feels very right for our daycare dynamic. I think we need to keep the girl to boy ratio evened out and I was desperately seeking a new friend for my little not-quite-three-year-old girl. Another "win" for the day.

And one other thing I snuck into the day, was making home made chicken soup for supper. The aroma of home made chicken soup made me feel like a superhero. I provided healthy nourishment (and a favorite meal) for my son and the bonus prize is that today's lunch is also taken care of. 

Then, after all was said and done (my timeline is really getting messed up now), there was a bunch of new fallen snow to contend with. Thankfully the winning combination of the first snowfall of the season + a good, healthy supper + completed homework + a little dose of mother guilt (don't you want to help me after I helped you earn $35.50 for the stuff you cleaned out of your closets? = a willing and able snow shovelling assistant. By 10:00 p.m., the snow was cleared and my day was almost done.

A little more auction administration awaited me when I got back inside, then I tagged, labelled and sorted through our pile of excess so it is ready to walk out the door as our buyers arrive.

This is the view as I opened the door on a brand new day. Winter has arrived. I knew it had to happen one day and a month before Christmas Eve is as good a day as any.

Now that my house decluttering project is at a manageable level maybe I can spend a little of my excess energy on "Christmas". Maybe...