Lazy Sunday vs Work Sunday

I love Sundays.

Best day of the week as far as I'm concerned.

Some people lean towards Fridays or Saturdays, but that is just so short-sighted.  Nothing beats a Sunday when the weather is nice.  Saturday comes with too many expectations of having to go out or have a blast to make it worth it.  And Friday comes at the tail-end of a work week when you're beat.  Sunday has no expectations.  It just wants to be enjoyed.

The trick to a good Sunday is mixing in the right amount of laziness and hard work which is exactly what we did yesterday.  Most people just go all lazy on a Sunday, but that's a mistake because you just can't appreciate the lazy without a little work to emphasize how awesome doing nothing really is.

That's exactly what we did yesterday.

I woke up with the girls at 7:30ish in the morning.  I took them downstairs immediately, so Erin could sleep a little later.  But we all ended up back in the bed around 8:30.  There was much snuggling and tickling.

From there we went out to the front yard to work on the lawn, rake leaves and pull weeds.  The girls were distracted by sidewalk chalk.  Although Grace got a little over-zealous...

We like to think that her look was inspired by Braveheart.  They did watch the Smurfs that morning for the first time, so maybe she just wanted to Smurf it up.  They also chalked my car in pink and blue.  And they tried to chalk the dog too.

After the front yard was done, we went to Home Depot to look at bark, patio furniture pads and anything else that would inspire us.  Home Depot on a Sunday afternoon/late morning is the best kind of inspiration.  "What above pavers?"  "We could do this kind of mulch."  "Let's remember this when we put a swing set or slide in."  There are so many possibilities when it comes to a Sunday at Home Depot.  I tried to not-so-subtly move her thoughts away from the patio furniture since I was planning to buy her the pads for Mother's Day.  I had to just flat out tell her it was going to be her gift when we went to Target since there were ones there that we definitely wanted.

After playing with girls, working and going shopping, I was ready for a little lazy to creep into my life.  I went and picked up some Mr. Pickle's sandwiches while the girls ate lunch and vegged out to the Giants game while the girls napped.

But the working Sunday demanded more attention.

We had to put the new pads on the seats which led us to more clean-up, bush and tree trimming and the desire to get the bark project started and finished right then before the weather started heating up.

So it was back to Home Depot to pick up the bark.  After we had poured out four bags, it became very clear that the eight I had purchased was not nearly enough.  So I was sent back to Home Depot to buy ten more bags.  The thing is I didn't even mind going back and forth because I just enjoyed that we were getting a project done, and I could still listen to the game on the radio.

As an aside, I think one of the best things in the world is getting yard work done while listening to a baseball game on the radio.  It makes me remember when I was a kid and doing work in the garage with my dad while we listened to a Giants game.  I can't help but feel a kinship to the generations that came before me.  My grandfather listened to baseball on the radio while doing work around the house and yard.  My dad did the same.  One of the many reasons why I prefer baseball to any other sport.  It is timeless.

We cleared out all the leaves and old bark that was in our back yard and spread out the new stuff which made it feel like an entirely different space.  It just feels more clean especially with the bushes and trees trimmed back.  We no longer had a secret garden.  It was now a usable space.

After the girls ate dinner, Erin and I cracked open a couple of beers and sat on our revitalized patio furniture.  We watched our girls run around on the lawn and revelled in all we had accomplished over the day.  We earned that last bit of laziness.

It was perfect.