We all shine on

I tend to think that everything balances out.  Even-steven, as a famous Seinfeldism puts it.  If something good happens, then it will be matched later by something bad.  If I'm way down, then before long I'll be just as far up.

Today was the day I've been dreaming of for two weeks.  And it was way better than I could have imagined. Not only did I get to sleep in while Noel got up with the kids, not only did he take them to the playground for an hour and a half this afternoon and leave me to do anything I wanted ... but a bunch of unexpected goodness sweetened the pot.

1. The baby blanket I'm knitting -- a bit of a gamble with yarn that one might not ordinarily consider suitable for such -- is turning out beautifully, beyond my wildest hope.
2. Cady Gray decided she wanted to paint this afternoon, and created rainbows while wearing one of her dad's old shirts backwards as a delightfully oversized smock, while Archer swiftly checkmated me.
3. It was in the low seventies outside.  In January.

How quickly will the universe take it all back?  I'm already peering fearfully at the weather map for early next week.  Right now the forecast for our area is rain, with the temps staying too high during the precipitation to put us in any danger.  But just a bit of adjustment to that jet stream path, and we'll be smack in the middle of an accumulating-ice "event," as they say.

This past week was actually the first of the semester that my university was in session Monday through Friday.  Holidays and winter weather closures shortened both previous weeks.  "How do you like your five-day work week?" a colleague joked as we passed on campus yesterday.  If the alternative is being frozen in the house and worrying about power outages, Tony, I like it just fine -- and hope the balancing act of the universe lets the scales stay tipped a little bit in my favor this time.