Just What My Therapist Ordered
Ever have one of those days that didn’t go as planned but still turned out great? That was my day! Had fun with my kiddos, got some girl and craft time, and filled my belly with yummy food. I may not have accomplished what I planned but the end was way better.
Yesterday was one of those pretty awesome days. Did I still lose my cool and temper with my very precious kiddos? Um, yes! Was I grumpy at times? Yes, to that as well. Was I tired? I’m pretty much tired all the time. Lol. But, here’s the thing, I did things for myself. I did not exert all my efforts on my children, husband, friends, or just about everyone else. I had some me time, let myself take a little break, had some girl time, and it felt amazing! Pretty much every time I am in a therapy session my therapist asks me if I’m getting me time or doing things for myself. Most of the time I answer, “a little”, and then feel guilty that I haven’t done more for my self-care. But today it was a different story. I put my self-care more at the top-ish part of my mental to do list.
Some things my therapist and I have decided that were good self-care things for me to do are: working out, girl time, date night, and doing things I enjoy (reading, crafting, etc.). I count taking naps because they can be so wonderful, however, my therapist has said that is more of a basic need. That’s okay, we don’t have to agree on everything. 🙂 On this pretty awesome day I checked off almost all of those items, nap included.
I woke up and had a delightful and wonderful cuddle with Miss S (my third baby who is just shy of 22 months). It was the kind of cuddle where I did not have to leave my bed. She climbed up and snuggled into me and my 40 pillows. At least it feels like I have 40 pillows right now. She had her me-mes (burp clothes, the ones with tags are her favorite) and her binkie. She fit just perfectly into my arms and I loved every second of it. As soon as the water turned off I knew it was time to get dressed. Hubby was just about out of the bathroom to take over kid duty, so I could hide in the basement to work out.
I love having weights, a bench, treadmill, and other various workout equipment in our workout/storage/sewing/craft, and desk room. Don’t judge how messy it is! 🙂 It is so awesome to have a place for those things and not having to pull them out every time I need them in teeny tiny old basement apartment. Okay, let me be honest here. Many times those things just stayed out and in the way for way too long. But, that’s a story for another day.
It was 8:05 am when I finished lifting weights and only 5 minutes past my ideal schedule. It was going to be a busy morning, a crazy morning, but a fun one I was looking forward to. The darling little girl I watch on Monday and Wednesday mornings was due to arrive in a bit, followed by a group of some wonderful gals from the neighborhood. The plan was to shower but I decided to let myself be stinky and I did not care. That’s the amazing thing about having such awesome friends. I could be post workout stinky, or really any kind of stinky, and they don’t bat an eye. They may even come stinky themselves. We were going to celebrate one of my friend’s birthdays in style. That is, with a copycat Waffle Love recipe that is to die for, with, of course all the yummy toppings. You can get the recipe here at Oh Sweet Basil, and it is seriously amazing! We had three waffle irons going, kids running around, good conversation happening, and I’m in heaven. Even though it is crazy I love having people over and getting to host a party.
During nap and school time I was planning on working on my blog. I am so new to everything and there is so much to do and learn. I feel like I need to spend all of my “spare” time working on it. Most of the time it is great, sometimes it is darn right frustrating and hard. I was so tired (see I’m not kidding, I’m tired all the time) that I thought it would be best if I took a little nap on the couch. I got so used to napping on the couch because I had a cute little girl napping in the pack-n-play in my room which makes my bed not an option. Then it hit me, duh! I could take a nap on my bed. Mr. E was at school so Miss S was napping in their crib in her room. Ahhh there is something so inviting about napping in my bed. I got all comfy and realized I wasn’t as tired as I thought. I did some reading and fell asleep. It was a wonderful nap and I had zero guilt for napping. I didn’t get as much done with my blog as I wanted but I let myself do something that I needed, take a little snooze. That was worth every second of my very lovely nap.
Wednesday is double ad day at the Sprouts in my area. I love going there and getting some awesome produce. My kids feel differently about it. Ha! Miss S is usually good for the ride, but Mr. E and Miss L pretty much always have something to say about it. Which is (my best whinny voice…) “I don’t want to go to the store!!!” We were going to have dinner and then go. I made my list of produce that was on sale and what we needed. I was really trying to talk myself into going, but I couldn’t. I let myself be fine with the amount of produce we had, let go of some good sales, and stay home to make cookies with my kiddos instead. Win, win, win! I felt a huge weight lifted off my shoulders and came to the realization, once again, that it’s fine to take it easy and not get everything done on my to do list. My kiddos had a much better time helping me make cookies and we had a great time eating hot cookies and gulping cold milk. It’s been less than 24 hours and I have eaten 9 cookies… And they are all gone. We do like cookies in our house!
Not only did I get to pretty much start my day with girlfriends over I also got to end the day with more girlfriends and a craft. Woohoo! There is a vinyl store close by me that has a $2 deal each week. I’m excited to see each week what the deal is in hopes it’s a jackpot. Last week was one of those weeks. It was a darling ‘hello fall’ vinyl. I dragged my three kiddos to the mall and bought the sign. Then I let my kiddos play in the play place at the mall for a bit before heading home to make dinner. I had two choices; do the craft alone or tell friends about the deal and do it together. Last night was the night. There were three of us and each of us had a different plan for our signs. We did end up painting our wood the same mustard yellow color but we each had a different purpose for the sign. One friend got a thick piece of wood so it will stand alone on a shelf or her mantel. My other friend tacked some thin rope to the top to hang it on a door inside her house and a line at the bottom to hang three clothespins. I got some fall colored ribbons (3 different ribbons and only spent $2.50! With ribbon to spare.) to hang it on my front door.
It was fun, fast, and again had some great company. It really is amazing what some girl time can do. Even though it was at my house, my kiddos were in bed (Miss L may or may not have been kicking the wall. And I may or may not have said to ignore it.), my Hubby wasn’t home from work so it worked out well. We ended up not crafting too late and there was time for a show with my Hubby and of course eating some more cookies. What a great way to end my pretty great day!
What are some ways that you get your me time in? I’d love to hear your awesome ideas!
