Some days don't always go as planned. I admit, I have been a bit neglectful (okay, a lot neglectful) with some parts of my life lately, but it's all good stuff, and I just know that one day it will all balance out and it will fit perfectly into the spaces where it is meant to be.
Anyway, this one particular morning, a few weeks ago, I was really looking forward to catching up with two of my dearest friends - one in the morning for coffee, and one in the afternoon for a cup of tea. It was important, and I couldn't wait to get in the house, take a shower and get my day going.
So, I arrived home early in the morning, turned the key in the lock....and it wouldn't open. It has been a little temperamental of late, so I wasn't concerned at all. Usually a few jiggles does the trick. I could hear the deadbolt click back and forth so I knew that it just needed a bit of coaxing to let me in. Meanwhile, my dog is crying on the other side; waiting for a quick pat on the head, a run outside and his cup of breakfast food. So, I try it over and over - almost convincing myself that perhaps overnight I had forgotten how to open my own front door, but it wouldn't budge.
Not wanting to give up, I went to the garage and grabbed a hammer and a screwdriver, sure I could just pop the lock. Surprisingly, that didn't work, and neither did throwing myself against the door like a raving lunatic. Not to be daunted, I grabbed the hammer and slowly waded through the thigh-high snow to the back door (hard to believe, but we had over two feet of snow quite recently). My thoughts of prying open the door, or climbing through a window, quickly became laughable as I realized my house was locked up tight and I wasn't about to squeeze my very ample bottom through a window any time soon.
Fortunately, a call to the local locksmith had him out in an hour, everything was replaced in record time, and I could happily get on with my day. But, a week of barely being home meant that my house did not look very clean and welcoming on that cold, Spring morning. It looked dusty, and, once again, there was that neglected word dancing around in my head, laughing and teasing me with its free-spirited taunting.
But, there was no time to clean. I literally pulled a brush through my hair, put on lip-gloss and left the house again. Several hours later I arrived home ten minutes before my friend arrived, and this is what I did in ten minutes.
- Opened up the windows to freshen everything up.
- Grabbed everything off the kitchen table, wiped it down and tipped my glass of water into a nearby plant.
- Moved the few dishes from the sink to the dishwasher.
- Checked the toilet was clean and wiped the counter with a wet glob of toilet paper.
- Turned the tea kettle on, grabbed some clean cloth napkins and put a couple of chocolate biscuits on a pretty plate.
