C: Is Whimsy a Waste?

I am self-employed, true enough.  You might think this means I have all kinds of discretionary time.  I guess it depends on how you define “discretionary.”  I feel like I have very little, really.

Last weekend, for example, I worked both days.  No one said I had to do this.  It isn’t that I have a burning desire to work seven days a week.  No, I just knew what needed doing and went in.  Same with going into the office very early or staying late.

Yesterday (Friday), my brother suggested we go out to lunch together.   We seldom do that, ending up eating at the desk 9 out of 10 work days (usually something bad for us, although we’re trying to pack healthier choices now).  I was tempted to go.  I had no afternoon appointments and the weather is so fine right now that I knew we could probably score a table out in spring. Still, I was nagged.  Shouldn’t I stay and get just one more thing done?  He and I had a serious discussion about being workaholics who fidget through times when we should be relaxing. 

Ironically, it was my brother who ended the discussion by taking a phone call that took his attention away from lunch.  He wound up sending his assistant for a Rally Burger to eat at the desk.  I skipped altogether.

Yes, I know this is unhealthy on so many levels.

Now, let’s switch scenarios

At home I have eleven acres to tend.  Even when we lived in a subdivision we were not lawn keepers—no “Yard of the Month” sign in ours.  Right now I have winter deadfall that needs picking up and putting on the burn pile so that we can mow the acreage more easily.  I want a few raised beds in the back yard, both for vegetables and for some flowers.  The front door needs painting.  The only time I have for any of this is the weekend.  Last weekend was taken up by family activities and rain.  This weekend is perfect for doing this kind of work.

So, what did I do?  Here’s my day:  Sister called to say that she and my two nieces were taking Mom to see the daffodils on Wye Mountain, where there is a daffodil festival each year (I’ve never been).  It’s about 45 minutes away.  I told her I’d meet them there.  MIL was invited and opted out.

We got there about 11:30.  Yes the flowers were spectacular but, really, (sorry), after we snapped some photos, we were ready to go.  We decided to go for lunch.

As we sat at the restaurant, I got a hankering that I never get.  “I’m going to T J Maxx,”  I said.  I have not been in a couple of years, but V haunts its aisles religiously and comes out with some snap-bang-up bargains.  Boy, this suggestion perked up all the sets of ears around the table.  We ended up meeting there.

We must have spent two and a half hours in that store.  We have combed every nook and cranny.  We found bargains: Mom got a crock in which to put her utensils on the kitchen counter and some bargain-basement-priced wash cloths.  Sister found shoes and a new pyrex measuring cup.  Her daughters got assorted items, including marked-down movies.  I ended up with a marvelous new pie plate.  I’ll get to that in a minute.

We loaded up our treasures, and I took Mom home, helping her stand her wooden spoons and spatulas in her new crock, admiring our purchase.

I stopped at Kroger to pick up a few groceries.  By the time I got home it was 5:00 p.m.  And now I’m feeling antsy—like I should have been doing things other than traipsing around two counties spending money.  Shouldn’t I have been picking up my grounds?  How about just going in to work to do the piles that are there on my desk?  In the end, I don’t have any progress to show for this—only a marvelous new pie plate and fun with the girls of the family.

I have calmed my nerves about this thing.  Deep down I know that I did the right thing.  We had amazing fun—especially at TJ Maxx.  I have to say that this is a woman’s store—totally—and no one can shop, gleaning through merchandise, like a bunch of females sans those dreary, impatient men!  All-in-all it was a wonderful, comforting day.  I think I did right.

But it feels like my whimsy is a waste…must fight this…

Now, about the pie plate.  V is a treasured friend, as most of you know.  But sometimes she is a bad influence…take the gifts she has  begun to give me on  birthdays and Christmas: Polish Pottery and items that match them.  I LOOOVE this stuff, and she knows I won’t usually spring for it for myself.  So I get gifts of it from her.

The latest is this wonderful pie plate (which I think is not really the “Polish Pottery,” but it goes well with it:

  Last week I baked a pumpkin pie in it (yes, I know it’s off-season), and I was absolutely amazed at how good it felt to see my beautiful pie in a beautiful pie plate.  I don’t think I’ve owned such a lovely pie plate before—having mostly pyrex and white ceramic and a couple metal pans.

So, as I strolled through TJ Maxx today, I spied this red plate for $5!!!!

   And my mind peeled right back to the pie in that lovely plate V gave me and how much better I loved my pie the other day since it was presented so beautifully.  What else could I do but snatch this one up and search the aisles for more, different ones?  Thankfully, this was the single one because I was in such a mood that I was easy prey for pie plates.

An apple pie is going this new one tonight and, because of V’s influence, I’m now dreaming of a large collection of beautiful pie plates.  Gone are pyrex and metal pie plates for me…see how she leads me astray?

So, what do you think?  Was my day productive, or was it a waste?  I know one thing, I am satisfiedly tired and relaxed.  I think that’s my answer. 

Hope you all have a restful weekend, too.  C