Work and life in general have both been rather trying of late. The other day I was sitting in the living room, rather dazed, on a sunny Saturday morning when I noticed the sun pouring into the dining room onto the leaded glass windows of our oak dining room buffet. It was a lovely, peaceful sight, and I told myself I had to start noticing and remembering things like that when I was stressed.
There are lots of things that are simple pleasures that can make all the difference in a person’s life.
What are the simple pleasures that keep you going?
Oops. Sorry this is late. I was a day ahead of myself and had it going up tomorrow instead of today
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a cup of earl gray and a bath
my dogs tails wagging on a walk
my kids and friends saying happy birthday
that’ll carry you through
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My best friend who lives in the Cities needs knee surgery. A month ago she tore the rotator cuff on her left shoulder, and now she needs surgery for that. Last night she hit a deer on her way home from work. I don’t know how she keeps going. I am going to her place in March to be with her when she gets her shoulder fixed. That we get to see each other is a positive .
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I like that you get to see each other. I don’t like everything happening to her at the moment…
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I’ve moved our little fake fireplace to my bedroom, and have been getting up early enough to light some candles and have a cup of tea by the “fire”, It gives me time to think about the previous day, and the day beginning.
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Every morning Husband makes a pot of very strong French press coffee for me. A cup of that (with cream and sugar) and some skyr set me up for a good day at work.
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When I first glanced at skyr, what immediately came to mind was skyrocket…
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Well, the coffee is quite strong, and gives me a caffeine boost that lasts all day.
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skyr is vodka right?
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Yes, vodka from Icelandic cows
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Rise and Shine Baboons,
* There is always the chatty blog that keeps me going. Some days the banter is so funny it keeps me chuckling all day.
* My morning cuppa strong coffee with cream—AAHH
* Petting the dogs, going to the dog park, playing fetch with Lucky
* Spring, summer and fall—the garden. Weeding especially is a stress reliever. Across the street here is the community garden where I am now a “Friend of the Garden” volunteer. Sometimes I just go in there and stand among the green stuff. Somebody there has an entire raised garden full of kohlrabi.
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Some people really like kohlrabi. Husband is getting seeds for three purple varieties for a kohlrabi test plot.
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Oo, I like Kohlrabi. But just done the white ones. In straw bales.
Who’s up for straw bales this year??
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one for me
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5 for me
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I do like kohlrabi but every time I look at it I think this is a vegetable from an alien planet.
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He only gets two, ten foot rows for the kohlrabi. He also wants 4 savoy cabbage plants, as well as all the other things in the garden.
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All my life, whenever I disliked myself I could feel better by doing something good for my dog. Meaning no disrespect, something like that was one of the best parts of being married.
A simple pleasure that helps me start the day in these dark times is The Writer’s Almanac.
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I am really enjoying Writer’s Almanac these days. For some reason the music is very soothing to me. I’m very grateful that he has found a way to continue this.
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The sensible way to enjoy TWA is by signing up for daily delivery to your email inbox. For some silly reason, I never did.But it is now included in my YouTube offerings, so I can get it that way. There is something graceful and reassuring about his commentary and the daily poem.
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I do get the daily email but the n I go to YouTube so I can listen to him actually read the poem. I enjoy this immensely, listening to him read.
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I read after breakfast most mornings in a chair in the corner of the living room under a lamp, finishing my coffee, staring out the front window at the developing morning and the cars heading for work or school, and listening to MPR Classical.
Going for a ski on a nice winter day is a simple pleasure too. Nothing like gliding through an “urban” wilderness such as River Bend Nature Center in Faribault. When I get a rhythm going and the tracks are good and it’s not too cold or too hot or too windy, it feels wonderful fo move my body.
I also get that experience with a good outdoor skate on the river, but Mama Nature hasn’t obliged me the last two winters, so skating has been limited to a few times on the adjacent pond over rutted ice that is too dangerous to skate effortlessly on. Always have to watch out for cracks that will grab your skate blade and send you flying.
C in O
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farmville
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On weekends I enjoy having a leisurely breakfast and catching up on newspapers. Then I back to bed and take a nap.
I’ve said before how much I enjoy standing outside at night.
And doing my chicken chores, when I have time to just stand out there and do whatever needs being done. Watching the ducks when they’re in the pond and just standing there listening to the water trickle in from the tile. It’s sheltered and out of the wind and it’s just a nice place to stand for a while.
I’d take a chair down there except I know the birds and ducks would just poop all over it. 🙂
Or a deer would probably eat it.
Or a raccoon would move in.
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This is probably going to sound silly. Since I discovered how bad my allergies are, I change my sheets every Saturday like clockwork. So no matter when else I’ve taken a shower throughout the week, I always take a shower on Saturday afternoon or Saturday night. That way I can climb into the clean sheets with a clean body. It feels great and I love it.
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I knew a woman, vs, who was a Highly Sensitive Person (HSP). I was astonished to learn what that meant. When she washed her sheets, she sent them through an additional three rinse cycles with vinegar added to the water. She once experimented with just two additional rinse cycles, and her daughter (another HSP) asked, “Mom, what’s wrong with the sheets? They’re so scratchy!”
I don’t know if that has any relevance for a person suffering from allergies. I mention it only because it might give you something to try.
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I don’t know vinegar would help or not. It’s the hot water and the washing every week that was recommended to me by my first allergy doctor. I actually have an appointment with my allergy doctor next week so maybe I’ll ask her about the vinegar.
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And, of course, there have to be clean jammies on Saturday night as well.
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Rabbitholes. I always have a few rabbitholes I can dip into—fertile areas of interest that I can research—aspects of history of course and also genealogy (a bottomless rabbithole), but not limited to those. Those are little escapes I can take whenever I need to.The main criteria is that they have little or nothing to do with current events.
Book repair and rebinding is for me a relaxing and therapeutic activity. You can’t rush it. And when I am immersed in an art project and “in the zone” everything else falls away.
I have a cup of tea in the morning and read for an hour or so. Then, unless it’s raining or below zero I go out and walk a couple of miles. I feel as if I do some of my best thinking when I walk. That’s why I never wear ear buds or a headset then.
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wow that’s something to remember
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Remember the candles from the scenario above? I’m enjoying doing “candle triage” (when they start to burn out, run out of wick, but there is still some wax) and re-make them – it’s become a creative outlet.
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I feel you. A lot of people are stressed out right now. Good thing you get to work from home though. Anyway, to be of use I made a page here on WordPress.com. Titled Self Care and You. I write about how we can practice self-care and de-stress. Check it out if you can. Here is the link: https://selfcareandyou.wordpress.com/
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