Nesting

Hello friends!

Well, it looks like everyone’s got the bug! Well, two bugs technically. 

That was a bad opening line, but look, sometimes we just need a little cheese in our lives.

Anyways, first bug: everyone sans yours truly has had some sort of cold. Poor Christopher suffered for a couple weeks with a pretty solid sinus infection. He was miserable, the poor kid, and had to take a little time off work. No shame in taking time off if you need it, but Christopher’s a lot like me, it’s only fun to take time off when you can enjoy it. Why waste sick leave on being sick, ya know?

Then Mom ended up with an ear infection and a sinus infection, plus pneumonia. It hit her really hard post stroke, because on top of just not being that strong normally, she just doesn’t have the wherewithal to take the basic steps to help herself, and being fiercely independent, she’s not a big fan of being babied. But she had a pretty nasty, very persistent fever which is never good for anyone, but especially not someone who’s been expressly told to not get too hot. One doctor’s appointment later and she’s one the mend.

Poor Dad has been a little under the weather now too, although he refuses to admit it. He’ll be okay though, I think his shakes out to a cold and caregivers fatigue. Hopefully some rest and peace and quiet will sort him out.

Me? I’m lysoling everything like my life depends on it, gloving up like I have surgery on the schedule, and making egg drop soup like I’m a bona-fide line cook. Side note, egg drop soup is great for colds, because it’s basically broth with lots of protein. Aaaaannnd it’s great because you can make a bunch of white rice, some garlicky chicken, chop some scallions and set out the sesame oil and soy sauce, tada, a full on meal for the un-sick of the house. Just add whatever mixins you’re feeling that night. To be honest, it’s rapidly becoming one of my favorite meals so it’s no hardship to make it a couple times a week.

The second bug I was speaking to is the room reorganizing bug. See, in late July, I decided my birthday gift to myself was to start changing my room from “a place where my stuff lives” to “a place where I am happy and comfy to work and sleep and craft, etc”. I wrote about it then, and I’ve been slowly ticking off to-do list items since. It’s a slow process because I really wanna make intentional choices towards making it work the way I want, but I can say for certain putting my desk behind closet doors was the best decision for work life balance ever. Still lots to adjust and do but I’m terribly pleased with how it’s shaping up.

And it seems it’s catching. Just about everyone in the house is thinking about how to readjust their personal spaces so they work better. In some cases, like with mine, the pieces I’m slowly gathering are relatively minor, so my “reno” is pretty inexpensive, mostly a case of rethinking how to better use what I have. In other cases, like my brother, he’s slowly realizing the furniture from his youth is all bite sized and it’s causing a bit more of an issue. The boy needs a full sized dresser, he has no room for socks. He needs room for socks, it’s as simple as that.

He also really needs some bookshelves, he’s quite the collector of vintage and current video gaming memorabilia and his collection is starting to outgrow his space. A beautiful way to display those things is just what the doctor ordered.

Dad’s been redoing his den too. It’s sorta a den by accident, he started out in the front room, then got evicted from there when we needed the dining table back, then he worked at my grandmother’s antique desk in the master bedroom, but we recently decided that was the more accessible option to make into mom’s little craft corner (plus it weighs more than my horses so there’s no way it moves… probably ever again haha). We decided it was probably wise to get all his paperwork out of the bedroom anyway, so he wasn’t staring at it while trying to sleep. So now he’s down in the basement, which he’s made super cozy with lamps and memories. The wifi…. It almost sorta reaches, enough to check email and such if you’re patient, so it works for him, at least until we can get a reliable extender. He is slowly organizing it; we gifted him a set of shelves and a cute corner desk, and a fancy phone charger organizer thingy, so he’s feeling quite official. He’s also super excited he can have his music up as loud as he likes and we won’t complain (he listens to great music, he’s just losing his hearing so… ya know).

And, of course, you know what’s next: mom’s slowly making her little craft corner. I don’t think she has a plan quite yet, but the teacher in her is happy to be collecting her pens and stationary, and her yarn craft supplies all together. When she sorta works out what she needs, I promised a trip to the office supply store. She’s quite excited.

I’m pretty sure most of this is a natural response to the colder weather. We’re all just nesting so we have a cozy space to hide out in the winter. Won’t stop us from slowly going crazy with cabin fever by February, but we can try haha.

Until we chat again my friends!