Yesterday, for the first time in gosh, a month, I was able to work outside for a while. I dug some of my plants out from under the snow, freed the two little daffodils. It was glorious.

I knew that being able to get outside to do stuff around the property was important to me. However, I seemed to have forgotten that lesson. I *need* to be outside doing things on a regular basis. I first learned this back when I was living in my house in Seattle. I had the most magnificent backyard. Whenever I traveled, the first thing I did when I returned was to go out and spend time in the backyard. Didn’t matter if it was raining. I just needed that time outside.

The snow has really thrown me off. I stopped going outside. When I did, it wasn’t for long enough. I still took some “fuck you, snow” walks around the property. But mostly I stayed indoors.

I can’t do that to myself. If we get snow again next year, I need to remember and get out more.

We saw a robin yesterday. First one this year. Normally, we see more than one family chasing each other across the yard. It’s still just too cold here. I was so happy to see the robin, but at the same time, I knew that it wouldn’t stay. We won’t see a lot of robins this year. While we have wonderful trees, and I have a birdbath that the robins adore, there’s still just too much snow.

I worked hard yesterday. The first, most important task took up three hours, so it was all I got to. I still feel satisfied with what I did, because it was the most important task and I finished it.

Then last night, I sat and read for the mystery workshop. I felt SO GUILTY, because there I was, reading something that I really enjoyed. It was like reading for pleasure!

I believe in part why I was enjoying myself so much was because I was finally able to move from the huge paperback book that was the first assigned book to my kindle. It took some time, but I found that I really like reading on my magic book, that contains all the books.

In many ways, last night was utterly fabulous. I’m reading something I’m truly enjoying, I’m listening to the rain on the roof, and I have a purring kitty curled up next to me. This is how I want to spend my evenings. It was awesome.

Of course, the rain turned to snow at some point. Everything is now completely covered in white again. Grrrr. It is melting quickly. I should start seeing huge patches of green again, if not today, by the weekend. Still. Grrr.

In the interest of full disclosure: Today is not a good day. It’s not a horrible day, but it isn’t a good day. Kitty woke up at 4:30 with a hairball. Nothing will get me to move faster than that sound, aiming her so she throws up off the edge of the bed and onto the floor. Then I have to clean it up, and it takes me a while to fall back asleep.

However, I feel as though my hormones also just “woke up.” I have mild cramps as well as brain fog this morning. Not too bad of brain fog, as I was able to write a blog post. I have a dentist appointment that I’m leaving for in twenty minutes, so there won’t be any fiction. That’s probably okay – I don’t know how much I would have been able to write anyway.

What’s the one thing you can do today to take care of yourself today? Me – I’m getting back outside for a short while. (Remember – balance is a verb, not a noun. You need to balance each day, you’ll never achieve a static balance.)