Today was so productive thanks to my mom who lovingly and willingly took Anders for the day. It's amazing what can be accomplished without a little one clinging to my leg. I tackled six loads of laundry, decluttered our bedroom and Anders room, shopped at Trader Joe's, worked on this blog, vacuumed the floors.... and had a nice visit with mom at the end of the day. Now a chicken is roasting in the oven and there is still a small pile of clothes on the couch that need to be folded. It feels so good to get back on track after the Holidays! For some reason Christmas gets me all out of wack. The house gets extra cluttered, laundry get put on hold and new gifts get piled into corners until they find a new home. Of course surrounding that chaos is a lot of fun and joy so I suppose it's worth the extra work.
Today as I was walking back and forth to the laundry room I started thinking about one of the ways I make the task enjoyable. I live in a nice quiet apartment community. It's gated and it really feels like a safe little village. Most of the apartments have little elements of care put into them like a wreath on the door, some flowers around the outside or other reminders that these are people's homes. I imagine that I'm somewhere in Europe and this place is my town. I have to walk to do my laundry but it's ok because life is so slow and enjoyable and it's just part of the daily rhythm. For some reason this makes the chore of doing laundry seem pleasant instead of an intrusive, tiring, time sapper.