Saturday Afternoon

After an exhausting four days of trying to maintain some semblance of control in my third grade classroom and spending Friday, equally exhausting, sitting for long periods of time during a staff development day, I am particularly thankful for a quiet day at home. And quiet it is. One son is out with a friend and the other is upstairs in his room lost in a Percy Jackson book. One cat is curled up on the recliner across the room, the other curled up on the cat tree behind me. The dog, too, is curled up in his crate, softly snoring, and there is the gentle tap of a light rain falling outside the window. The leather couch I sit on is soft and inviting, encouraging me to stay right where I am.

I love days like these, when I can forgo any attempts at beautification and lounge here at home, warm and comfy in my sweats. I haven't been entirely unproductive, though. I have two loads of laundry going upstairs, the muffled sounds of tumbling drifting down the stairs and mingling with the hushed hum of the heater. My lesson planning for next week is now complete. There is more to do, of course. Stacks of papers still wait for my perusal and an entire house demands that I give it the attention it desperately needs.

But that can wait.

Right now I am too busy enjoying the peacefulness of this quiet, rainy day.