New Found Freedom

It’s odd.

It’s 5:30pm and I’m sitting at my desk. Trying to figure out what to do with my evening.

I can’t remember the last time I didn’t have anything to do with an evening. I’ve decided not to ride today (rode Mon-Wed, going to ride tomorrow and condition Saturday and I try not to ride more than 5 days in a week), and to my surprise, there’s no chores to spend my time on tonight. No pens to be mucked, hay to be bought/unloaded, horses to be fed, or endless mounds of tack to be organized. My tack has been cleaned, and I’ve caught up with all the pictures and shipping from my sale-tack. No reason at all to go to the barn. How very weird. In a self care situation, there’s ALWAYS something to do….

I could go for a run. That might be a good idea, as I agreed to do a half marathon with my aunt in April…..yes, a run could be a very good idea indeed.

I could cook something. I’ve been using a cookbook that my mom got me for my birthday and I LOVE it. Most of the recipies are very easily adapted to a primal diet, mostly because the philosophy of the cookbook is to cook healthy WITHOUT “cheating”. I don’t want cookies made with applesauce and splenda – I want to find a way to eat more vegetables and protein and not gag while I do it, while still enjoying fabulous and intriguing flavors. I’m actually scared to even list the cookbook name here because I’m SURE most of you are going to snigger and not believe me….I’ve cooked most of my life (I enjoy building meals from scratch), yet this book has totally changed how I look at meal preparation….it’s called “Cook This, Not That! – 350 calorie meals”. I have especially enjoyed their “salad matrix”. I’ve never built better tasting, and more fulfilling salads since following their guidelines and rules.

I could practice the fiddle. *sigh*. I won’t even talk about how long it’s been since I played. Mom – when do you want your next lesson? I need to know so I can actually still be ahead of you in the learning curve next time I teach you!

I could plan a sewing project. Mom found me a fabulous sewing machine…for $13. I’m so excited - aprons with fuzzy stuffed animals in the pockets? Or curtains? Or…?

So here I sit, trying to decide what to use the rest of this glorious evening for! I have a feeling it’s a wine, popcorn, and hot bath night…..there should be plenty of other evenings like this to do the projects described above. Tonight, I plan to enjoy this new found freedom, I can be “productive” another night.