This is kinda funny

Happy Solstice

I tried out my Sabbath experiment yesterday.  But I still didn't write any letters!  I ran out of time.  I did listen to church on the internet while eating breakfast and enjoying my fireplace DVD from the couch, read some of The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins, took a long nap, spent time with a friend making christmas cookies and catching up, talked to another friend on the phone, cooked a delicious dinner, and watched a movie with Mike.  I didn't "get anything done".  It was great, and what made it great was a feeling that I was actually accomplishing a goal by doing all these nice things.  Having told myself I was not allowed to try to do work (for work or home) on Sunday freed me to just enjoy the things I did.  I can't tell you how wonderful it was!  It also had the nice and unexpected side effect of completely eliminating my desire to nag Mike to "get things done" such as putting up lights or putting the storm door on the back door.  It was a day to relax and enjoy spending time together, not to get things done.  

It's funny because I always thought of Saturday as the fun day, and Sunday the day to get things done and dread Monday.  But yet I always end up doing errands on Saturday anyway, because more things are open and I have more energy.  Then I feel like I lost my Saturday, and then I end up doing more "things to get done" Sunday or feeling like I should.  Now I feel freed to do as many errands and tasks on Saturday as I want, and then reserve Sunday for the naps that I always want to take on that day anyway.  (Why do I always want a nap on Sunday and never on Saturday?  And I remember this from my childhood too, that my parents always both took naps on Sunday afternoon and it was so boring.  But maybe it is hereditary.)

Well, that is all for now because I want to go walk the dog now that the wind has died down and it is not so cold.  Despite the weather, I miss being outside when I've skipped walking a few times in a row.

I do have another random thing to say- on the way home I had a sudden urge to make old person mixed drinks.  I think because I was thinking about the wedding and the menu, which made me think of drinks too, and my parents always get brandy old fashioneds at weddings.  So on the way home we bought Brandy and Mike made us some.  They were delicious!!  He is a good bartender.

Happy Solstice everyone!  Yay for longer days to come!  I'm hoping the temps go up soon so I can go sledding and enjoy the mountains of snow here!

Sabbath

I'm in the middle of a very busy work day, and really shouldn't post anything right now, but wanted to say that I'm going to try an experiment this Sunday- keeping (atheist) Sabbath. Last weekend on NPR I heard an interview with the guy who wrote a book about a year in which he tried to follow every rule in the Bible, including stoning adulterers and not cutting his beard. He said going back to one day a week where you CANNOT work, and must spend time with your family and thinking about bigger things and resting was one of the best things that came out of the year. He believes in it so strongly that he thinks everyone in the world should follow it. So this Sunday I'm going to try not to do any shopping, not to do any work, and to spend the day with friends, family, books, thoughts, and doing pleasant things. My only dilemma- does wrapping presents count as work? I really need to get that done and it's enjoyable too...but it does kind of seem like "a thing I need to get done", which equals work to my mind. Same for cleaning up around the house. Hmm, it may be harder to do this than I thought!

One thing I'm hoping to do on my Sabbath day- every so often I think about some person who I don't know personally but want to write a letter to- to thank them for writing some book that really affected me, or just to thank them for being awesome, or whatever. Because sometimes I think about somebody who is doing great things in the world and just feel overwhelmed with gratitude, and want them to know that people are happy that they are doing what they are doing. But I NEVER get around to it. I feel like that's an appropriate Sabbath activity though.

Anyway, I'll write next week about how it went.