A Wildwood Story

“It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live.” -Dumbledore

sanity

What is Saving My Life Right Now

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This post contains affiliate links, which means if you make a purchase after clicking through one of my links, I may receive a {very small} commission at no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting this blog! It means the world and a cozy winter afternoon to me.

Remember that thing called SUMMER? It feels like a myth to me right now. The vaguest of dreams. These depictions of January by cartoonist Rox Chast pretty much sum up all my January feelings:

Year-At-A-Glance

Cruellest Month

Yet here we are, halfway through winter! {And everyone in the Midwest said, “Amen.”} Inspired by Anne at Modern Mrs. Darcy, I’m sharing things which are positively contributing to my winter days in big and small ways. At the end you’ll find a sources list, should you want to check them out yourself.

∇ Hygge in the form of white unscented CANDLES. During my visit to Copenhagen fall of 2016, I fell in love with the Dane’s use of white candles. Every restaurant and cafe had them. They burned in masses on silver platters in niche boutiques, single pillars on outdoor tables, coffee shop candelabras, in every size and form imaginable, tucked into nooks and crannies, but always white, always cozy, always inviting one to sit awhile and just be. While I do love the right kind of scented candle, I’m very picky about them, and only burn one on occasion. The white unscented variety is perfect for everyday use, especially when I’m using my next favorite winter save, which is…

∇ An essential oil air DIFFUSER. I’m not an oils aficionado by any means, but I definitely appreciate how the diffuser has a way of cleaning and refreshing the air in my home {word: boys} without toxicity or giving me a headache. I’m still using Christmas blends because who doesn’t love that fresh evergreen scent mixed with a bit of citrus?

∇ Next on my list is READING. I mentioned this in my “5 Things I’ve Been Working on in January” post. Reading aloud with the children (history after breakfast, a novel during lunch), aloud to Tom while he drives, and finally to myself at the end of the day brings me so much joy.

∇ SOUP. We’ve been having some kind of comforting soup at least once a week since Christmas. When everyone had a head cold, it was homemade chicken and veggie soup. Then thick and creamy chana dal. Spiced cauliflower soup, curried pumpkin lentil, hearty beef stew…there is a soup for every mood and preference! I gravitate towards simple, healthy and hearty. I refuse to slave over soup. I cannot.

∇ YOGA. My sister Mara has been encouraging me to try yoga for a long time, but I whined (“your class is too far away from me”) and procrastinated (“I have too many other things to do”). We joined our local YMCA last fall, and it’s literally 5 minutes from my house. There was no excuse left in my bag of excuses. I needed to practice self care and get my body moving more, and it wasn’t happening at home like it should. So I made myself go to the Y and take a couple classes before the holidays, and I was hooked. Immediately in January I started up again. Do I get tangled up with myself in class? Yes. Does the instructor have to come and gently correct me so I don’t injure something? All the time. Yet I LOVE it! It’s gentle, focused, and a wonderful way for me spend an hour on mental and physical health.

Where to find all the things:

I usually purchase white unscented candles at IKEA. Also, Amazon.

This is the diffuser I’m using in the living room. I love how it fits with my semi-mid-century look. Here are some favorite winter blends I’ve used recently:

Balsam Branches {5 drops balsam fir + 3 drops orange +3 drops cinnamon bark}

Evergreen {4 drops balsam fir + 3 drops blue spruce + 3 drops pine}

Cider {4 drops orange + 2 drops nutmeg + 1 drop cinnamon bark + 1 drop clove}

Books mentioned: Exploring World History, Derwood, Inc., Your Best Year Ever, Salt to the Sea

Soups:

Chicken & veggie-I usually don’t use a recipe, but this one from Pioneer Woman is basically what I do!

Chana dal-again, no recipe but I do variations like this Hearty Chana Dal Soup and Instant Pot Chana Dal Soup

Spiced Cauliflower

Curried Pumpkin Lentil

Beef Stew-by now it’s clear I like to wing-it for certain recipes, so I give you Sunday Night Stew and Beef Stew with Beer from Pioneer Woman because they are LEGIT.

Yoga online: my daughter loves Yoga with Adrienne! And I love Jennifer, my instructor at the Y. If you’re local to me, please come join me for a class. I will wear my “Majestically Awkward” shirt and it will be fun!

What’s saving your life this winter? I’d love to hear!

Photos by  John-Mark Kuznietsov on Unsplash

Letter 9 {Unicorn Ions, Sanity}

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Dear Candace,

I’m sitting in front of my new sun lamp. The manual claims that using the light with the negative ionizer* will make me feel as if I’m at the beach on a blue sky day.

I mean. Those are some big claims. It’s terribly gray and cloudy outside, so now is as good a time as any to spend 30 minutes with an anti-depression light.

Along with my fancy new happy light device, I did end up purchasing a wake-light alarm, too. I found it on sale for $20 cheaper than the normal price! #bargainbabe

I thought perhaps it would help me wake easier as well as wean me from relying on my phone for an alarm. I’m trying to get my phone out of the bedroom completely in the evening.

I’ve busted all previous alarms, so part of waking up is trying to keep myself from slamming the thing to the floor. The light really makes a difference. In addition to helping my body out of it’s sleep cycle, when I turn the alarm off the light stays on which makes it easier to actually roll my booty OUT of bed instead of rolling over IN the bed.

I’m slowly getting back into exercising. As in-I started up again and then got massively ill and commenced laying around for days while preserving my winter body fat layers. My phrase for this year-”Do the Next Thing” aka “Just Keep Swimming” in the words of Dory-is an appropriate reminder to just pick up where I left off and keep forward motion.

My two youngest siblings spent the week with us while my parents vacationed in Florida. That meant a total of 5 children including two 14 year old males**  in the house. That meant dozens of muffins disappeared, a huge pot of chili snapped up, too many dirty socks to count, smelly shoes errywhere and really loud outside voices inside. To say nothing of the knives, BB guns, skateboards, and trampoline tricks that had me banning half of them and double-checking the fastest route to urgent care because WHEN I’M THE ONLY ADULT AROUND I’M SCARED.

Some of the spring trees are blooming around here! A vague shimmer of green buds can be seen in this wave of brown…

I will survive,

Rachel

*Negative Ions. Apparently these are found naturally in air, forests, waterfalls, the laughs of babies, and unicorns. Harmless and tasteless, they are said to lift one’s spirits. I know nothing about ions, but I’m putting my trust in them.

**For those who don’t know: my son. my brother. my sanity, oh my….

Letter 8

Letter 10

This letter contains affiliate links, which means if you make a purchase after clicking through one of my links, I will receive a {very small} commission at no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting this blog! It means the world and a stack of letters to me.