Wednesday Snap Shot

Good morning friends! How is your week going? How was your Thanksgiving? Ours was so nice. It was relaxing and fun. It was small in comparison to other years but we enjoyed it so much. I especially enjoyed not having to cook this year. My daughter Hannah really blessed me in this. She wanted me to enjoy the day and leave the cooking to her.

Here are a few pics of our day. Other than Hannah and her family the only other child that was there was our youngest son, Isaac. 

I was going to put my tree up over the weekend but my daughter asked if I could watch the kids so they could get some Christmas shopping done. Of course I said yes and hubby and I had a fun day with them.

He likes to get them involved in whatever he's doing when they are here so they helped grandpa stack wood and the day was sunny and not to cold so they helped him wash his old VW Jetta so he could put it in the garage for the winter. They had a blast with that. I finally had to carry the youngest one, Lincoln, who was soaking wet into the house kicking and crying :D. He did not want to stop, but I didn't want him to end up with a cold. We ended the day with a movie and popcorn. It was fun and exhausting for this grandma! Not sure how I managed with 8 children other than the fact that I was a lot younger! Ha, ha!! 

 

Due to that day and a day of house recovery the tree did not get put up. I'm planning to do that this weekend. My son Isaac is coming over to help me with this. When do you put up your tree? My tree is artificial and I purchased it 5 or 6 years ago. We had always had fresh trees, but I was pretty much over that (the mess, the hassle, etc) and decided to do a fake tree (as my kids call it! :). I like the fact that I can put it up earlier and not worry about it dying. Do you do a real tree or a fake tree?

Goals

I have a few household chores to do today...

~do a couple loads of laundry

~sweep & mop my kitchen and dining room

~swish through the bathroom

After these are done I'll be back to crocheting. I'm making great progress with my big project. I'd share what it is, except my kids read this blog and I don't want to give it away! :) I'll share after Christmas.

For the Love of Books!

I am making progress through The Mysterious Island. I'm enjoying the book quite a bit. I'm probably more then ½ way through now.

Projects

The one project I did finish was my hot cocoa mixes. I have a post all written out, I have pictures and I plan to work on that this afternoon so it can go out tomorrow. I've had a couple people ask me about my recipe. I played around with different options and came up with 2 basic mixes that can be used with several different options to jazz up the hot cocoa mix. So hopefully that will be out tomorrow.

And of course, my crocheting.. :)

Fitness and Health

(I have a couple affiliate links in this section) 

Today I wanted to share on something health related. Sleep! Getting good restful sleep is so important. This year I have struggled a lot with sleep. 

Falling asleep, staying asleep, and sleeping long enough. It started after my surgery in January and I was having all sorts of issues with breathing and swallowing during the night, etc.. I've been told by doctors that I have 3 of the 5 signs of sleep apnea. Mine has been caused by the muscles in my throat not working properly and restricting my breathing during the night. Much of that has healed but I still have struggles. Also I'm going through menopause and sleep can be an issue with that.

I've tried things like Unisom, Nyquil, etc. All of these come with there own set of problems and side effects. And I dislike having to take chemicals every night just to try and get better sleep. I started looking for natural, no medicine options.

Here is what I've been doing, and it's working much better for me than any medication was working. 

 The first thing I started doing was using Breathe Right Nasal Strips to Stop Snoring, Drug-Free, Extra Clear, 26 count. These seem to open up my nasal passages and make breathing at night easier.

The next thing I discovered was ASMR on YouTube. If you're not familiar with it, it is sounds that help you to fall asleep and stay asleep. I've heard it does not work for everyone but it sure works for me. The sounds go beyond the most common such as a creek flowing, rain falling, ocean waves. There are tons and tons of other sounds that are actually very relaxing. Sounds such as someone going through a box of buttons or wooden beads, crinkling plastic or tissue paper, someone ice skating, sounds you'd hear if you were riding on a train, I found a couple that were even sounds of someone ironing, cutting and sewing. Never thought that could be relaxing but it is. If you want to check these out simply go to YouTube and search for ASMR. You'll find a lot of sounds and maybe find something that relaxes you and lulls you to sleep.

Lastly I came across this recently and wondered why I hadn't thought of it before. My daughter gave me a box of herbal Traditional Medicinals Organic Nighty Night Tea Relaxtion Tea, 16 Tea Bags (Pack of 6). I LOVE this tea brand and have used it for years. Mostly when my kids were small. They make wonderful herbal teas for coughs, colds, congestion and much more. I enjoy a cup of this tea (which tastes very good to me) each evening before bed. I can feel the difference it makes. I picked up another box of it at my grocery store. I came home and looked it up on Amazon and saw that if I buy 4 boxes the price is even less than what I spent at the grocery store.

I am now getting better sleep, not waking up as much during the night, finding it easy to fall back asleep if I do wake up and I'm sleeping more hours each night. And the most important part is I wake up feeling rested rather than struggling with fatigue each day.

If you struggle with sleeping and staying asleep I hope some of these tips may help you.

View from my Deck

It's cloudy, overcast and rainy today. Another good day to be inside getting things done.

Today's weather: High: 50 Low: 41

That is all for this week!