I woke early, stayed in bed and willed myself back to sleep. And then I had another one of those early morning bad dreams. I wrote about one just about a week ago. This one seemingly went on and on and when I finally climbed out of the dream and realized it wasn’t real, I was relieved. But I can’t seem to fully wake up and I’m still shaken. Maybe it would have been better to simply get up instead of getting that extra bad-dream-laden sleep.

I sat in my chair drinking coffee and thought I saw a cardinal on a tree branch through the kitchen window. I grabbed the camera only to find that it was a leaf. Another illusion. There are some life lessons in that, I think, but I’m still too groggy to process them. What to do on another wet, gray, rainy day when one is shaken by a bad dream? Take that same camera and capture some things that bring a smile to my face.

Jumping Jacks

The fishmonger. Don thinks the fishmonger looks like him, so he is on permanent display in the kitchen.

Riley’s Dish Garden

My parakeet lamp

A sweet lamb

Beautiful teacups

That helps.

What do you do to shake off a bad dream?

Happy Monday.

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I thought you’d get a kick out of this. I wrote “A miracle is a change in thought,” one of my favorite quotes, on the chalkboard quite a while ago.  One day I came home and saw my husband’s addition – which made me laugh out loud. I wanted to say, “You got that right, buddy!”

Which is why I shoveled for over 4 hours yesterday. I have a job that I have to get to today. I need the ‘check in the mail.’ I have never shoveled such heavy, wet snow. Just shoveling the stuff at the end of the driveway from the snowplows on our road took me over an hour and a half. I have to say that about a quarter of the way through it all, I thought I wouldn’t be able to do it and I started crying. I was exhausted. I took a break, came in and called Don, drank some water and ate some protein and I went back out again. And again. And again.

Normally I’m not fazed by shoveling snow but this stuff was terrible. The snow had turned to rain during the night and by the time I got to it at 8:30 AM, it was impossible to move. Every part of my body is sore.

On top of all that, I am worried about boarding my Scoutie. I trust she will be okay, but I’m worried about her. I feel guilty. Please send positive thoughts her way, my friends. I want her to weather this easily and happily. I have to do it again later in January.

I’m glad Don is working and is in sunny San Diego, but I’ve got to tell you, I’m jealous. I miss him. I also miss his shoveling assistance.

Happy Friday.