"If You Give A Mouse A Cookie" Moments

Tomorrow we have a cold day. I got a call from my school, I've watched the name scroll by on the bottom of a few news channels, and I looked it up online just to be sure we are really closed.  Even though the temperature is supposed to be -18 (with the windchill it will feel like -47) and it makes sense that school is closed, I'm feeling a little anxious about it.

I'm going through this cycle of feelings that starts with feeling like I'll get a call from an angry principal/secretary/curriculum director at 8:00 tomorrow morning wondering why I'm not at school. Thinking about how I would feel if that happened is making me anxious right now, so moving on. . .  Then I feel kind of excited. I have a whole extra day added to the end of my winter break! I've had a great two full weeks off and now I'll have a four day week to get back into the swing of things. Plus, I can do anything I want for one more day!  Which leads me to feel like I should probably use the day to get a lot of work done. Why relax when I should really be at school doing work? I can get work done at home too. From there I move on to feeling like it would be most beneficial for me to relax for the day. My class is really challenging and I've been pretty busy this break so I could use a day of absolutely nothing- I won't have a day like this for a while. I end up deciding that is the best route to go until I start feeling a little guilty. Most other people have to go to work tomorrow. If they have to be productive, so should I. Then I think about how goofy all of that is and move on to something else for a little while. . . until I think about how I might get an angry wake up call at 8:00. It's like a negative version of "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie"**.

Usually when I'm feeling a little overly anxious, like I am about school being closed, I make check lists. It helps me feel more grounded to see a nice looking list of things I can accomplish.

I have two requirements for my lists:

 1. I have to be able to accomplish the things on the list. Anything with question marks don't necessarily need to be accomplished right away- it's okay if I just think about them. 

2. The list needs to look nice. If I mess anything up on it (I did on the first one), then I start over. It helps me feel less anxious/more organized when my list looks reflects how I want to feel. 

Tomorrow I'll check off "dust fan" (I accidentally bumped the ceiling fan today- we haven't used it since summer and I didn't realize until the bump how dusty it got- yuck!), check school email (I haven't done that yet this break- I needed to be a little "unplugged"), maybe pilates (my body will feel happier- it always does), and maybe undecorate (we still have Christmas decorations up- as you can see in the pic below). The other items I'm not too worried about- it makes me feel better just having them written down. 

Other than feeling a little anxious about the upcoming cold day, today was a pretty good day. I spent most of the day snuggled on the couch, narrowing down which wedding photos are my favorites while Dan worked on a cool wedding gift for one of his best friends. I think the dogs knew it was too cold to be outside, so they spent most of the day lounging around. 

Maggie likes to claim this chair- it's old, ugly, and super comfortable. 

Nella knows that she isn't allowed on the couch and almost never fully jumps up on it. For some reason she thought that not only could she come on the couch, but she could immediately get extremely comfortable. She made me laugh and then I reminded her of where her dog bed is so she could continue to lay comfortably. 

Just another view of Nella trying to claim a spot on the couch. Good try Nella :)
(And good try Packers! Next year will be better :) )

Our warm, fuzzy blanket we got as a wedding gift from my godmother. I have basically been living in it since winter started and don't plan on coming out of my cozy cocoon until it thaws out around here. 

** I have a lot of "If you give a mouse a cookie" moments. Years ago, in the middle of our dating years, I was snuggled on the couch and wanted a snack but didn't want to get up because I was so cozy- you know how that goes. So Dan, being the loving guy he is, got up and got me something to munch. Well once he got me the snack, I needed something to drink. It was probably something like chocolate milk and I probably wanted a straw to go with it. If you've ever read "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie" you know how the mouse is reminded of something by whatever just happened to him and then reminded of something else. It's a domino effect of food, friends, and other events. I'm kind of the same way. Once one thing happens, I'll think of something that could be added to the situation to make it even better. In fact, that's how I ended up with this delish lunch today.

 I wanted beans and rice, so I made it. Then I remembered we have cilantro and though about how it would make my beans and rice even better. Part way through eating, I remembered that I had recently made some taco seasoning and thought about how good it we be to have some taco meat with my beans and rice. So I made a little taco meat. As the meat was cooking, I went to fridge for some milk and saw some sour cream. Beans, rice with cilantro, taco meat, and sour cream it was! Until Dan and I were talking about guacamole. I remembered I bought some avocados to make guac with. Well part of an avocado ended up in my bowl. It was a great "if you give a mouse a cookie" moment- my lunch was so tasty!