GARBAGE DAY

We used to have garbage pickup on Thursdays. Then, a couple of months ago, we received a notice that our trash would be collected on Monday mornings instead.

We still haven't gotten used to the new schedule. We miss about one trash day in three. Hauling the big green bin out to the highway just isn't at the top of our list of things to do on Sunday evening.

Missing trash pickup isn't such a big deal, because we rarely fill up the bin and can usually throw another week's worth of trash in it if needed. Plus, we have a heavy-duty 30-gallon can we use for overflow in a pinch.

Taking advantage of last week's beautiful weather, I got outside and did some cleaning in the yard. By the end of the week, the big green bin was full. So was the gray 30-gallon can beside it.

And then I discovered that the deep freezer had gone out - maybe last week when we had that brief power outage in the county?

So this morning, I was thinking grumbly thoughts about how it was cold, and how the cold makes my knees and elbows hurt. Then I realized that the trash was not out at the end of the driveway, and I started thinking grumbly thoughts about how the bin is too heavy for me to lift into the truck and how I was going to have to drag the thing behind me in the cold all the way down our long driveway.

I wondered how I was going to get the gray can to the end of the driveway, too, since it doesn't have wheels. And I remembered the deep freezer, and I was thinking grumbly thoughts about having to clean out all that nasty ruined meat and haul it to the trash bin as well.

I was thinking other grumbly thoughts because there were ants in the bathroom, and because I was feeling bloated and yucky from eating too much and moving too little over the weekend, and because all the garbage in my life was going to keep me from spending Monday morning doing school with Helen and catching up on laundry from the weekend like I had planned.

In spite of all my grumbly thoughts, there really was nothing to do but get busy...

As I was dragging the big green bin down the long muddy driveway, it occurred to me - here was a little extra exercise to help make up for not being more physically active over the weekend.

I had been thinking grumbly thoughts about the cold, but today cold is a welcomed friend - I am so glad it's 30-something degrees outside instead of 80-something, on this rubber-gloves-&-Clorox, carnage-cleanup morning!

And Helen went ahead and started on her schoolwork without me.

It's been a busy morning. I feel like I've lifted and hauled enough weight to impress even Arnold Schwarzenegger. The deep freezer is empty and clean, and all the trash is at the end of the driveway.

The first load of laundry is running. Helen is seated beside me reading her history book.

When I sat down to check in here at the blog, Helen looked up and smiled. "How about a piece of chocolate?" she asked, holding out her hand.

"Absolutely!" I replied, accepting the small gift.

The note printed inside the candy wrapper read:  "Take and deep breath and exhale."

I laughed and handed the wrapper to Helen so that she could read it, too.

Yes, this day got off to a garbage-y kind of start, but it's looking much better now:  I left those grumbly thoughts at the end of the driveway, next to the big green bin.