Ah….the little people in the house are all taking naps (for the moment), giving me some much needed time to rest and think without someone crying or tugging on my clothes or trying to eat things off the floor. Moms, you know how it is, right?! I have been babysitting a sweet little toddler girl several days over the last two weeks while one of my friends (her usual sitter) is on maternity leave after having her own precious fourth baby! This curly-headed little gal is good as gold, but adding an extra tiny human to our house and routine for the majority of our waking hours is still a bit draining. She and Little Miss are learning to share toys and space, and germs, too. Sadly, Curly Girl had a cold virus and gave it to Little Miss, so I have dealt with droopy, snotty, cranky, sleepy, coughing babies for over a week now. Needless to say, this quiet time while everyone sleeps today feels pretty blissful after all that! I have been wanting to blog for so many days now but felt a bit too frayed to write anything that made sense. I have so many topics swirling around in my head, but for today, I thought I would just share a few happy things that are refueling and refreshing me right now.
1. Tea and cookies!
I have become a serious tea addict this winter, not that I didn’t already love tea before, mind you. But I have recently become a two cups of tea a day kind of girl, one cup at breakfast and another in the afternoon. I can attribute this change to two things: real farm fresh cream (yum!) and switching from whatever black tea was cheapest to Tetley brand tea. Major difference! I need to up my herbal tea game now, too, since I also often want a cup of something hot and soothing before bed but do not want to have any caffeine in the evening. Celestial Seasonings options are ok, but I want to try some Teavana soon because I have heard great things about their unique blends. The cookies are a new-to-me recipe for gluten-free chocolate chip cookies, and they are excellent. I could have tried harder to make them have a pretty shape, but we (ahem, I) eat them too fast to care how they look! 😉 Here is the recipe link in case you want to make some for yourself.
2. Pandora Relaxation Radio
This has become my go-to listening when I need some background music without words to distract me. And if something I don’t like comes on, I can just hit the thumbs down button and not hear it again! Pandora is a pretty genuis app!
3. New favorite podcasts
I plan to do a whole blog post about some of my new favorite podcasts. I did one a while back when I was listening to knitting podcasts all the time. After having Little Miss, the knitting podcasts went off my radar just like my knitting and crocheting did. But I recently found a bunch of great new podcasts that I love so much, many related to homeschooling in some way, but not all. When I am cooking, cleaning, or sorting laundry, I really enjoy having something engaging to listen to, and these all fit the bill nicely!
4. Knitting
Surprisingly, for the first time in months I have a new project on my needles! I have taken a long break from any fiber arts, just doing enough in the fall to get a baby gift or two done. I really needed some time away. I would miss it a little every now and then, but not really enough to pick up anything. I just did not feel like I had the mental or physical focus and space for it in the evenings when I actually have both hands free. But I am finally starting to feel like some of my mojo is coming back in that area. And Little Miss will need a new cardigan for spring and summer, which is what inspired me to dig out some yarn and needles and get a project going. I am quite pleased with the pink and green stripes on the yoke. The body of the cardi will be finished in green. Perfect for spring!
And now I have a couple of little girls in my lap, looking at books, which is a different sort of happy thing!
What is making you smile today?
Just Down Lemon Lane 