A Lazy Afternoon

This morning I met Tom at the Clothes Closet along with four other marginally and de facto old guys, all of whom emptied and removed cabinets, counters and mini-tables and chairs from the room that will become an organized boutique full of donated men's, women's and children's clothing.

Seeing the room emptied of the miscellaneous kid-oriented stuff that offered nothing to the ambiance Susie and I have been trying to create was to experience a complete transformation within a matter of just over an hour. The only stuff left in the room was boxes of clothing, portable clothes racks and walls that need repainting. Where the cabinets and cork boards were hung now revealed huge off-white squares and rectangles that stood stark against the otherwise light gray paint. David, the pastor of the church that houses the Clothes Closet, scoured the recesses of the church to find the same color paint to match the mostly gray walls, but the gallon of paint he found wasn't quite on the money. Shortly thereafter, he proudly carried in two gallons of very light blue paint, definitely enough to cover the entire room.

I thought Susie and I would be the ones to paint the room by ourselves, but David announced that he would put yet another work crew together to get it done. Running his hand over the holes in the wall where screws were removed, he said, "Some spackle, some scraping, some wiping and we'll be ready to paint." And I felt such excitement!

David said we could name the Clothes Closet whatever we wanted and he'd have the sign made. Susie and I had already been thinking about giving it a boutique sort of name, so we settled on Flip Flops, Tiaras & Boots. To us, it conjures up a little bit of everything, which is exactly what we have to offer.

When I got home around noon, I was exhausted.

Thanksgiving was great. I felt really good and had tons of energy. The next morning, my immune system took a dive and, for the rest of the day, I nursed a fever, sore throat, earache and general all around lousy feeling.

This morning I woke up feeling horrible, but as the coffee kicked in and the morning wore on, I started feeling a little better. I certainly felt good enough to go help clean out the room.

By the time I got home, turned my internal go-mode button to low, ate a turkey sandwich on a sweet potato dinner roll (aw, geez, I am already tired of leftovers), I finally allowed myself to feel how really tired I was, so I laid down and took a nap for almost two hours.

When I got up from my nap, Tom built a fire, I made myself a cup of hot Chai tea and I sat under a lap quilt and watched the last hour of Dances with Wolves.

Tonight, I'll be ready for a bowl of Chorizo and Sweet Potato Soup for dinner and a good night's sleep.