I had tentative plans for a big day today. I canceled them.

It was 0° F once again when I awoke, and after facing the frigid outback that is Chicago for an actual night on the town last night I decided against driving two hours for a nature adventure.

After spending most of the morning at my computer, by noon I was thisclose to beating myself up for wasting away my day. Looking back now, at the start of evening, I realize that I’ve managed to accomplish quite a bit. Here’s what I did:

• Walked my dogs through the woods; startled a squirrel (killed nothing)
• Went to the library and came out with my book club’s next selection: Willa Cather’s Death Comes for the Archbishop 
• Checked out three new books of poetry, including one by a poet with whom I was unfamiliar
• Read a few poems
• Did some social media planning for Escape Into Life; read some good fiction and poetry in the process
• Started a blog post for Escape Into Life that has been on my mind for some time
• Treated my husband to a sandwich from the Vietnamese sandwich shop
• Bought tickets for two upcoming theater events
• Bested an incomprehensible website to buy one set of those tickets
• Washed a load of laundry
• Appreciated this photo enough to bring it home when my husband found it lying on a library shelf — Do you think it’s a sign?

Here are the things I didn’t do today:

• Drive to Iowa (and back) to watch bald eagles
• Resist the temptation to add more books to my bedside stack
• Finish that blog post for Escape Into Life
• Remember to go to my acupuncture appointment
• Whine

I feel bad about missing the acupuncture appointment; my acupuncturist deserves better. But aside from that, despite the somewhat iffy start, today feels like a day well spent.