Social Media, Friend or Foe?

Social media; it’s a great tool for staying in touch with friends and family, sharing the milestones in our lives, and even sharing jokes.  And it’s a great tool for sharing prayers, giving encouragement, and healthy topics like diet, exercise, meditation, and Reiki of course!

But, social media is also a breeding ground for negative energy through gossip, rumors, lies, politics, bullying, and racism.

It’s so important to limit, not only the time you spend on social media, but the things that you read and the sites you visit.  The posts and meme’s that you allow yourself to read, you are absorbing.  You’re pulling all the negativity into yourself.  You don’t even have to believe what you are reading, but by reading the post you are acknowledging the negative vibes.

Unfollow, not unfriend, people that post negativity; it doesn’t mean that you need to end a friendship or relationship, it’s only to avoid exposure to the negativity.

Another way to avoid negativity on social media is know that what most people post as “fact”, is nothing but fiction.  People make stuff up all the time to make you think like they do, or like/hate the same things they do, and even to start drama and rumors. Scroll on past that stuff.

I try to not be on social media too much, but I do have a couple of pages I maintain. So when I am on, I do what I need to do and skip on out of there!

How do you avoid the negativity of social media?

Homemade Soy Candles

I grew up in the 60’s and 70’s and candles were pretty popular at the time. There was a candle shop in state park that we used to visit, that was the start of my candle addiction. They had any candle color, fragrance or shape that you could imagine. Plus, candle rings and globes to go with them.

Even as a young teenager, I was always burning candles in my room. Then, lucky me, as a family project we would make our own candles. It was fun to show them off to my friends when they came over. I’ve had candles in my home ever since.

It wasn’t until about 15 years ago that I realized all of the harmful chemicals that were in candles.

So I’ve been making my own candles ever since. I use soy candle wax and low smoke, cotton candle wicks. Organic is even better.

Let’s talk a little bit about the wax. I use soy because it burns cleaner. About 4 cups of soy wax flakes equals about 2 cups of melted wax. I never measure though, I always have about 10 or more glass jars ready to go so I just melt what I need. I do make sure that I save some wax for topping off later. If the room that you are making the candles is cool, you can sometimes end up with a “sink hole”! When that happens, I use that extra wax to fill in the top.

The pouring temp of the soy wax should be around 120 degrees, once it reaches that temp, I let it sit for just a bit before pouring. If you are making one candle, you could melt the soy flakes in the microwave, I have only done this once for a very small candle that I wanted to give someone. You would only need to heat the wax for a little bit at a time so it doesn’t cause a mess. Then pour into your jar.

Okay, now the fun stuff, the fragrance or scent… CHEMICALS!!! The entire reason I started making my own candles was due to the chemicals so I buy unscented soy wax. Yes I’ll admit, I love the scent of candles in the stores but they are full of harmful chemicals. Like what you ask? Truck diesel fuel for one. Alcohols and acetone, carcinogens like benzene and toluene, the list is horrendous. Some of the chemicals are in paint, lacquer and varnish removers. Would you want those burning in your home?

Those chemical smells give me migraines, I can’t even shop in candle stores anymore. I might be able to sniff a few candles and then I am done! I can barely nose around a candle aisle at a box store.

Anyway, since I use the unscented soy wax I on a rare occasion add essential oils. But for the most part, my candles are scent free. When I do add the oils, I add it to the melted wax AFTER it is poured in the glass jar. I don’t put the oil in right away though, I add it just before it starts to set. However, it takes a lot of oil to be able to smell it when it burns so I prefer to just use unscented. I am in love with my essential oils so I have diffusers throughout the house, I use that for any scent that I want.

I have also chopped up fresh rosemary from my garden and put that in candles too, but beware! You must keep an eye on the candle when you burn it, it could easily catch fire if you are not careful.

Now the wicks. Ya know how black your jars get from the smoke? That’s in the air too, and on your walls and curtains. You and your family are breathing it in. Most wicks have metals like lead in them. A lead core wick can release 5 times the amount of lead consider hazardous for children, it also exceeds the EPA pollution standards.

All of the chemicals in candle wax and wicks have been linked to hormone disruption, behavioral problems, learning disabilities and many other health problems.

When buying your wicks, make sure you’re getting 100% cotton, you can buy organic too. I prefer buying the wicks that have the metal tab on the bottom, saves me time from doing that myself. I use my hot glue gun and put a dab of hot glue on the metal tab and press it down into the glass jar, using a popsicle stick to help center and press securely.

When buying wicks, you also want to think about the size of the glass jar you are using vs the diameter of the wick. I have not been able to find any wicks that are too thick so depending on the jar I am using, I may use two.

I buy my soy flakes at the craft store and the wicks I buy online. The glass jars I use are small canning jars or thick drinking glasses that I find on sale.

Remember, when burning your candles, only burn them until the wax melts up to the glass then blow them out. DO NOT burn them to the point of having a thick layer of melted wax on the surface. I really don’t know if that would catch fire but the wicks at that point get a little smokey and the glass jar could break. If you like to keep candles burning then have several on hand so you can burn one, blow it out and then have another one handy.

Also important is to trim the wicks. I have this cute little wick cutter that works wonderfully! If you let the wicks too long, even though you have low smoke wicks, it will eventually smoke a little. Plus, I don’t like it when a burned ball of wick falls down in the wax.

There are plenty of you tube videos on candle making, do your research to see what works best for you.

Happy candle making!!!

Daydreaming about winning the lottery!!

Raise your hand if you daydream about what it would be like to win the big lottery!

Most people say the first thing they would do would be to quit their job. I think I would hold onto mine until all of my finances would be in order. Then, BUH-BYE!

A lot of people would travel, buy a bigger house and a new car. A few might say they’d donate some to a charity.

I would most likely do some traveling. My dream vacation would be to spend about 3 to 4 weeks in Italy. Then off to Paris for a little.

I can only daydream about what it must be like to be able to just wander around these cute little towns and sample the food and wine, learn about the culture, and shop.

What fun it would be to visit all of the sites to learn about the history of the towns that I have only read about.

There are plenty of locations right here in the US that I really need to see first.

I think the daydream I have the most fun with is that I would buy a small farm, remodel the house and barns, and then rescue horses. I have no idea how to care for them so I would most definitely need to win enough money to pay someone to help me care for them.

Maybe I could even go with a bigger farm and give riding lessons! Not that I know how to do that either BUT, I have always, and I mean always, LOVED horses!

I would have lots of vegetable and flower gardens. And having bee hives is a must, I want to help get the bee population back up. And chickens!!! Must have chickens!

I would have a grand greenhouse. A pottery craft room. A lavish craft room to paint and sew. And a gourmet kitchen.

But then I think I would also want to start to flip houses. Not your everyday homes but find older homes with the old details and character that contractors no longer build. Can you imagine doing away with decades of dirt, or layers of flooring and drywall to uncover the details and architecture that has been covered and hidden! And to restore what was damaged or removed.

I would want to do some charity donations. Child hunger is something I would definitely want to help with, there are so many families in my area that cannot afford to pay for their child’s lunches at school. Nor have enough food at home.

Also, suicide prevention has been a deep passion of mine for a very long time. My brother died from suicide in 1986, my nephew in 2001, and a very dear friend in 2018. I have visions of some sort of brick and mortar house or office space that is open 24/7 where people that are dealing with suicidal thoughts or depression could come for comfort, support, direction for therapy and counseling, and so on.

But yes, I do have awesome visions of me just lounging on the deck of my beach house just enjoying the warm breeze, ocean waves and the sea gulls chattering while I sip a fruity drink and read a book. This is most likely the most realistic dream!

What are your lottery winning dreams?

Easy Placemat Craft Project

I haven’t posted anything crafty lately; in fact, since my last furniture refinishing job, I haven’t crafted anything!

Any thoughts on what I am going to do with these placemats?

 

Any idea’s at all?

Accent pillows!!!

It’s been about a year or more since I found placemats that I liked enough to make pillows. The last time was for Christmas about 2 years ago, and a year before that I made Thanksgiving and Christmas pillows. Yea I know, I love accent pillows.   It’s a girl thing, right ladies!! I could probably fill my car with all of my accent pillows!

Honestly, I have been wanting cute little Spring/Summer pillows. But with the COVID virus and not being able to shop for a longggggg time, other than online, I just had to be patient.

I found these placemats at Target. You all know that store right? It’s that big box store with a bullseye that draws you in and if that wasn’t enough, there’s a Starbuck’s that adds to the shopping comfort. Then most of us get lost browsing the aisles of clothes, shoes and home goods; shopping for hours for stuff we do NOT need!!

Except I did NEED these placemats, my living room needed a summer pick me up.

So here’s what you need: first find a place mat that you can basically grab on both sides and pull apart, it should have 2 pieces of fabric making a front and back. Look at the seams to make sure you can pull it apart to stuff it full of batting to make your pillow. There should be no other stitching through the center of the placemat either.

Then using a seam ripper, carefully loosen up about 5 inches of the stitches on one end of the placemat and remove them. Remember this, the more stitches you remove, the more hand stitching you will have to close up. Make sure you can get your hand in there to distribute the batting into the corners.

Next stuff it full of batting and stitch it back up! That’s it, instant pillow. Sew easy!

Vegetable Gardening

Once upon a time, a long time ago, I tried vegetable gardening. My tomatoes turned out great but the carrots, not so much. They looked like pencils. I cannot even remember what else I tried to grow but I did not have a clue what I was doing.

Fast forward to this year, this is my second year of veggie gardening since moving into this house and it “almost” didn’t start out well. Let me back up to last summer though.

I bought a raised bed, a cedar garden box. Assembled it myself, filled it with garden soil and then filled it with tomato and pepper plants, and a few onions.

My plants were huge and were producing tomatoes and peppers. Then a bad storm blew through town and tore my plants up. I managed to save about half of each plant. I was so blasted mad but there was nothing I could do.

Everything was continuing to grow quite nicely but then the next garden drama arrived. Bottom rot hit my tomatoes. AGH!  A sweet volunteer at work told me he had a spray he could give me, a spray he mixed. Just spray all the veggies I had, that was my instruction. He said it won’t hurt anything.

Well, it killed EVERYTHING. Even my new flowers that were near the veggies that caught some mist of the spray.  I was devastated. I worked so hard to get this garden going and now it was gone. Completely dead.

This year I bought another raised bed garden box and knew that I would not be accepting any homemade spray or solutions. I am however, grinding up egg shells and using coffee grounds in the garden soil. I did my research and have read that these provide nutrients for the plants. Fingers and toes are crossed…

    

Using eggshells is easy.  Collect your shells, wash them off and let them dry completely.  Then using a coffee grinder or food processor and go to work.  Store them in an airtight container.  Add them to your garden soil, and work them down into the soil.

So far, everything is fine. But again, it didn’t start that way. We had an early spring this year with amazing warm temps in April so I anxiously planted my veggies. I looked at the forecast online and listened to the weather guys on TV (I know, I know LOL) and I truly thought it was safe.

And then winter returned, with a vengeance. I swear I heard Old Man Winter laughing at me and telling Mother Nature to hold his beer. And she graciously helped him out.

I covered my plants and prayed. Old Man Winter sent cold temps and horrible winds that shredded the heavy plastic I used to protect my plants. I kept going outside and readjusting everything but when the plastic was beyond usefulness, I gave up. I thought I must be nuts to put that much time, money and energy into gardening when clearly I didn’t have a clue what I was doing.

So, I left the plants alone knowing I was not going to plant anything for a few more weeks. I did go and buy 2 more tomato plants and a few more pepper plants. And the next thing I knew, the plants that I gave up on, the plants that I swear had died, sprang to life.

I also wanted to try broccoli this year. It was a whim. And I did not research. The plants got huge! I bought 4 baby plants, and I ended up giving 2 to my niece. The battle I have with these are the cute little white cabbage butterflies lay eggs on them, and then they eat the plant when they hatch from their eggs.

Thankfully, the cardinals know the little boogers are there and are helping me to get rid of them. I love my little red helpers, and I really love when they sing their little songs while they visit.

 

    

 

I love spending time outside, connect with nature and tending to my gardens, but this heat. WOW. I usually have to cut my grass every 3 to 4 days, and I section off my yard so I can do a little each day. So I haven’t had much time to post any food recipes but I have been having tummy problems so I’m not really cooking.

I’m sure you’ve heard of the BRAT diet. If you haven’t; it’s just bananas, rice, applesauce and toast. I’m slowly introducing some foods back into my system, sort of a test to see what I can and can’t eat. Basically I’m making myself sick, WTH!! Then on top of the tummy issues, I have RA and Fibro pain so I mow and rest, garden and rest.

So while I am working on improving my gut health and tending to my gardens and yard, I’ll be writing about those things. And crafting. And furniture refinishing. I’ll get back to my recipes as soon as I can!

Refinished Coffee Table with a Gold Mandala

I bought this coffee table at a yard sale a few years ago, with the intention of using it for the grandkids. I wanted to convert a little room in the basement into a game room for the grandkids but that didn’t work out. So the table has been sitting in my basement gathering dust.

Then I thought I would give it a new look. And I loved the new look so much that I almost kept it, but I just didn’t have the room for it.

It was a black table, I painted it white using a paint to block “bleeding”. Put 2 coats of a creamy white paint and then added a gold mandala in the center.

I love the look and will definitely be using mandala’s on tables again. What do you think?

Houseplants, Flowers and Butterfly’s

I have a deep imbedded love for houseplants and flowers. I think it started when I was quite young, maybe around 10, while I was visiting my aunt in Baltimore. She is also a houseplant and flower addict.

  

Anyway, she took me along to run her errands, one of those stops was a plant shop. She bought me a plant, and the addiction began.

I’ve had plants in my home ever since, even as a teenager I had plants in my room. To this day my aunt and I share plant and flower stories and cuttings.

  

I like to think I have a green thumb BUT there have been a few plants that I just cannot seem to keep alive. That doesn’t stop or discourage me although I do not like being the cause for a plants demise.

 

Same thing with my outside flowers and plants; I cannot get enough flowers for the summer! I have pots of annual flowers all over the front porch, back patio and even in the mulch beds. And my mulch beds are filled with perennials. I am always finding something new to me that sparks in my heart!

  

I still have a lot of empty spots in my flower beds that need filled in, so I am working on a list. Last year I bought some varieties of cone flowers, unfortunately the bunnies ate a lot of them and they never really grew after that. This year they are coming up nicely so I’m excited to see them bloom.

 

This is my third spring with my little lilac bush, my most favorite flower ever. Limelight hydrangea’s are also a favorite, I have 6 of those.

  

I like to hide little things in my flowers too. I have some trolls, one of which is doing yoga! And I have a small fairy garden set up for the granddaughters. I even have a frog doing yoga in one of the flower beds.

 

I also love butterfly bushes, the Black Knight is my favorite. And with all of these flowers, especially the butterfly bushes that I have, brings a lot of butterflies.

So now I “raise” them. I keep pots of parsley in all the beds, Black Swallowtails lay their eggs on parsley. And I have Butterfly Weed, Monarchs lay their eggs on that.

At the end of last summer I had 10 Black Swallowtail chrysalis’ that overwintered. All of them have eclosed this spring.

I had hoped to raise bees this year but there is a little bit of expense to start the set up. My home needs some attention and that is where I need to put that money this year, so maybe next year I can start beekeeping.

I suppose at some point I will no longer have room to buy anymore plants, I am getting really close but I’m not there yet!

Just my thoughts…

Never would I have expected to see this pandemic happen in my lifetime; not only in the world, but in our country. But it’s just blowing through our homeland and it scares me because nothing can stop it.

Social distancing, I’ll be the first to admit I was one of those that asked why this wasn’t done when the flu was so rampant over the winter months (and still is). But I am keeping my distance, only going out for food and that is to pick up my order.

I also didn’t realize the severity of COVID-19. But after watching the news, I learned fast. And it truly scares me. I heard yesterday that the lungs can be permanently scarred giving a lifetime of issues.

But I am not allowing the fear to take over my life, I am refuse to let it overwhelm me. If I do feel the anxiety creeping up on me, I stop and pray. I will reach out to a friend for some conversation and encouragement. And I try to limit my access to the news and all of the social media posting.

Speaking of social media, I am enjoying all the posts on family bonding. And the distant visiting via skype, zoom, facetime, etc. My girlfriends and I have done some girls nights via zoom and it was so much fun!

I think we need to take this ”reset” not only for us humans, but the earth as well, and realize the lifestyles we have been living. Think of all the cars that are not out on the highways, the planes that are not in the air, the boats in our small local waterways that are docked, our earth is responding by healing itself.

We are healing our families by spending more quality time together and checking in on each other. Maybe some are even turning to God and strengthening their faith. I love seeing the postings of family games, and families cooking together, working in the yard and garden.

We are out taking walks or runs; being confined at home is giving us the time to exercise and rest. Even catching up on projects around the house.

If this quarantine is teaching us anything, I think it’s that we need to spend more time at home together. It is teaching us that we are not STUCK at home but rather safe within our walls that we are so blessed to have.

We are so accustomed to jumping in our cars and driving all over the place all on a whim because we just don’t want to be home, or we are bored.

Home isn’t so bad is it?

I think this time of fear is also teaching us about selfishness vs sharing. I know many are afraid that we will be confined in our homes and not have enough food and that fear has caused unnecessary and awful hoarding. Our pharmacies and food stores are essential and will stay open so we should not worry.

I feel bad for our healthcare professionals that are working long shifts and want to head to the store after their shift, but they are finding empty shelves.

I have been taking advantage of placing my grocery order and just picking it up but the other day my order wouldn’t process so I had to go inside. I was saddened to find so many empty shelves.

We cannot imagine what it must be like to go without because we are so accustomed to having anything we want at the reach of our fingertips. And now those empty shelves are making us realize just how fortunate we are, at least most of us. There are already many families in our country that experience “empty food shelves” on a daily basis. This is another lesson we need to learn, share, because not everyone has enough food. Before COVID-19 hit our land, a lot of our neighbors were already experiencing empty pantries and hunger.

I know everyone has their thoughts and opinions on our current situation, and I certainly didn’t want to feed into any deep winded options and conversations. It doesn’t matter if anyone reads this, it doesn’t matter if anyone agrees or disagrees with me. These are just my feelings that I wanted to jot down and express.

I pray and have hope that everyone will be well and that this virus will soon be over so we can heal and move on. If anything I pray that we have learned our lessons about health, time, family, and gratitude.

Be well my friends and stay healthy.

Spiritual and Faith Journey

The Bible.  Have you read it? Do you understand it? Do you believe?

I just joined a 5-week bible study group at church.  The one thing I was really hoping would NOT happen is that we go around the room and talk about ourselves. Of course, that is the first thing we had to do. I do not like attention drawn to myself, nor do I speak well in front of people; it is all so very uncomfortable for me.

What we needed to do was to give a brief description of our journey and what brought us to the study group.  Thankfully I was about the 10th person so I had a few minutes to try to figure out what the heck I was going to say!  

In all honesty, I’m not sure I HAD a definitive reason for being there.

And what exactly did this leader want to hear about my journey, how much did I really want to share.

When it was my turn, I briefly stated that I was brought up in a strict Catholic religion from my fathers’ side of the family and that in my adult life I always had a strong faith.  But it wasn’t until about 15 years ago that I really dove into my faith and scripture when a Deacon that I knew gave me his Catholic study bible that he used for the bible study groups.  It meant the world to me and it was filled with some of his notes.

Then I mentioned that my faith and belief is now stronger than it ever was, and I had never imagined it could be like this!  I never knew the craving I would have for scripture; I never knew what it meant to give my life over to Him and be reborn in faith.  

The rest of the day I reached deep inside my core, deep inside of my heart to find a better answer.

Some of it I didn’t like.

As I mentioned, I was raised a Catholic.  I attended a private Catholic school for the first 4 years of elementary before switching to a public school.  After that transition, we had weekly Catholic classes through the school week in the evening and then Mass on Sunday.

But there was nothing at home with religion, scripture or faith.  We did say a blessing before our meals, that was it.  

By the time I was a teenager, I protested the weekly classes and even church on Sunday.  I stayed in bed until I got yelled at, and then like a slug I got ready for church.

When I had my kids, I switched churches and I took my kids to Sunday school but no church service right away.  By the time they were old enough to actually sit still for a church service, I was divorced.  For several years I did not attend church, nor did I take my kids to Sunday school.

Eventually I found my way back to church and took my kids every other Sunday when they were with me.  They fought me, just like I did when I was a kid.

I did the same as my parents; church on Sunday and no bible reading or scripture verses through the week.  We even stopped saying the mealtime blessing.

When I was in church, I attempted to read scripture from the bible, but I didn’t understand it and it didn’t make sense to me.  I hoped I was getting enough from what the pastor was saying, and I hoped my kids were getting something too.

Then my kids were grown and on their own.  They had no religion or spirituality in their life, which I blamed myself.  I did manage to get them to attend Christmas Eve service for a few years but then that stopped when they started having kids.

At that point, I was on my second marriage and my husband’s work required us move to Maryland and then Virginia.  I stopped attending church again, but I did my occasional praying and thanking God for my blessings. 

I knew the basics from my upbringing and had my faith, and I always thought was enough.  

By now I had drifted further from the church and I was “open” to the possibility that biblical times were not quite what the bible stated.  

I was satisfied with my faith and spirituality.  And then it all changed.

By the time we moved from Maryland to Virginia, our marriage was in trouble.  And I was realizing that I was in a damaging, selfish and controlling marriage.  

I was working in convalescent center in Virginia and the residents and staff were very “religious”, spiritual, and read the bible daily.  I became good friends with the Deacon there, and a few other coworkers.  And my life was changed.

When I saw how strong everyone was in their faith and the bible, I started asking a lot of questions about Jesus, the bible, heaven, and the path that God had planned for me.  One of my friends suggested listening to Joyce Meyer.  I was hooked. I craved learning from her, she made things easy to understand.  And sometimes, depending on her topic, I swear she was looking through my eyes and into my soul.  What she said just resonated with me and I was finally able to understand.

I had a lot of conversations with the Deacon, I craved those intense and deep conversations. I would challenge him on the bible, whether it was really God’s word or just an interpretation from man what they wanted us to believe.  It didn’t take long for me to change my views on the bible, so I started looking for my own bible.  But there were so many versions, I didn’t know what to choose.  

As my faith became stronger and stronger, I prayed for my marriage and what direction I needed to take.  I had told my husband not long after we moved to Virginia, that we really needed to work on our marriage.  I won’t go into details, but he did nothing to fix us.  I suggested we go to counseling, he told me to go instead.  So I did, unbeknownst to him.

Between the counseling, the praying and talking to the Deacon; I eventually made the difficult choice to ask for a divorce.  And just like that, I was single and living back in my hometown.  As I mentioned earlier, my Deacon friend gave me his personal Catholic study bible to take with me.  For a few years, I picked it up on occasion but never really did any serious reading.  

Now that study bible and another bible are always out; either on my sofa, bed or dining room table.  I crave reading it and learning the scripture, I crave learning the culture.  

After I moved back home, I did go to my old church a few times, but it had changed.  The pastor and choir had changed, the service had changed.  And honestly, I got nothing out of it.  I sat there listening to them “preach” but heard nothing.  I missed my conversations with the Deacon, I learned more about God and the bible from him than I did sitting here in this pew at a church that I once loved.  So I stopped attending.

Last year I discovered we had a Christian rock radio station.  I have been hooked ever since!  I love that station; it is now the only radio station that I listen too.  One Sunday morning I was out running errands and on two separate times within 30 minutes a song came on about going to church.  I got the message loud and clear.  

One of my girlfriends had been talking about making plans for me to attend church with her but we never confirmed a date.  When I told her about the message I had gotten, she said “OK, I’ll pick you up Sunday!”   I have been going ever since, and in September I joined as a member.  I cannot imagine NOT going to church on Sunday.

I have cried during the praise and worship songs; I have been touched by the sermon in such a way that I was brought to tears.  I have also made new friends and found some friends that I had lost touch. 

Now here I am, in this bible study group for the next 5 weeks.  Pondering the question I was asked this morning.  Thinking back over my life and my faith journey.  I am sad that it took me this long to get where I am in my faith journey, but I am so happy to be here and not back where I was.

 

My Cherished Winter Break

These long, cold, and dreary winter months can sometimes be depressing for many people. And I get that. But for me, they offer me a break from yard work. These cold months offer me a time of relaxation and a time to rejuvenate spiritually, physically and emotionally.

But in all honesty, it has not been very cold here. Mostly rain and cloudy days, no snow.

I can use these months to settle in and catch up on reading; concentrate on self-care and exercising, bible study and prayer as well as meditation and yoga.

Winter allows me to catch up on hobbies that I have either already started and set aside or that I have been wanting to start.

This time also allows me to finally get some things done inside the house like painting rooms, cleaning out closets and dresser drawers. And I can finish sorting through all the boxes in the basement that contain family heirlooms.

Best of all, I begin to plan my vegetable and flower gardens. That does make me anxious for spring and to get outside to play in the dirt even though I am enjoying being snuggled in a blanket on my sofa.

Sounds like a busy winter for me doesn’t it 😊

But what I really like is that I can be a hermit and just stay inside (other than my 8-5 job of course!) and snuggle on the sofa with my pup and watch movies. I prefer staying busy but I have mastered the art of being a lazy bum too, and sometimes we need to allow ourselves that time to just be quiet and relax and rejuvenate.

What are you doing during the winter months?