Busy day full of fun so I didn’t really have time for a guilty pleasure. One thing did make me giggle like a school girl, however, and that was sliding around on our hardwood floor in my socked feet. It happened accidentally. I hugged my husband and kind of started to slide. He caught me and I got the idea that he should push me down the hall. So I leaned all my weight on him and off we went much to my delight. These super fuzzy and super cute socks from my Secret Santa definitely helped!
Before I left for work today, I spent my morning wrapping presents! I feel like I just keep saying how much I love the holidays, but it is so true! I’m just going to keep doing holiday fun stuff until December 26.
When I buy wrapping paper each year, I like to unite the look of the gifts. (Last year, I choose glitter paper and have subsequently been banned from purchasing this item at ANY time in the future. It was a serious mess). This year I went with paper that feels like parchment paper in browns and reds with deep colored bows. I also, for the first time, bought ribbon to match. I experimented with it a little this morning, though I did not get all the wrapping done. Oh well, more fun for me tomorrow!
Tonight, the hubs and I are hosting some of our friends for a holiday dinner party and game night. It will be casual, but, just for fun, I decided to set the table. I like how full and festive it looks with all the dishes, decor and the gift bag “place cards.” They also have a tasty holiday treat inside!
When the hubs and I got serious, I moved in to his condo which was essentially a home of brown square things. A lovely condo, just full of the same color of brown. Since my arrival, we’ve ventured in to the world of color via bedding, shower curtains, art, decorative storage boxes and more! Recently though, we’ve moved to larger commitment items, aka furniture. We purchased a cream chair with multi color buttons (so successful, a second one is on the way) and a rustic coffee table. Admittedly, it is a brown square, but it is a different color brown with a more realistic/rustic vibe than the previous coffee table. Tonight, after a quick dinner date, we came home and put the coffee table together as a team. Very fun. More fun for me because I just interpret the directions, while the hubs does all the dirty work. Check out the before and after pictures below.
New chair from World Market. New coffee table from West Elm.
I was looking back over past posts and it has been awhile since I have needed to say more than a sentence or two about my arthritis. It is true that I have been feeling good, been active and had a much more positive attitude over the last month or so. Yet when I woke up today, I found I was still feeling ill and, on top of that, totally exhausted and achy in my joints. Getting out of bed and showering brought back the all-too-familiar time when I could barely do those two things on my own. I became distraught, totally worried that catching this cold and being practically immobile yesterday had sent me in to a downward spiral with my RA from which I may take months to recover (like last time). I was conflicted over whether to continue to rest-what my body seemed to be telling me to do-or to force myself to go to work and be active-what my mind said I ought to do if I didn’t want to end up back in “the bad place.”
After several moments of paralyzing panic and indecision, I called the hubs who calmed me and, though he was worried about back-sliding as well, encouraged me to rest up another day but try to do some things around the house if I could. Ever wise, he reminded me what the year of fun is all about saying I should really DO something today. Cuddling cannot count twice.
So, in the midst of tissues and medicine bottles, I made potpourri from the garlands that my mother-in-law made for our wedding reception. They have been hanging in my kitchen since July waiting for this project. I’ve never made potpourri before and I read several websites on the topic, however most of them conflict on the exact process. Some say buy a fixative to infuse the smell of the essential oil in to the mixture. Others maintain that you should use a natural ingredient like orris root as a fixative. Within this, more contradictory information. You must use chopped orris root, not powder. No, powder is ok, just not too much. After reading all this, I kind of just did my own thing:
1 tbs orris root power
add 4 drops essential oil (mine is eucalyptus)
let sit for 4-6 hours in a closed container
add dried flowers and shake
I think I used too much orris root powder and too much essential oil for the amount of the flowers that also fit in to my container. The powder looks messy, so I think I would go for whole chunks of orris root next time and definitely less oil. The smell is pretty intense. I plan on giving them a few days to settle down to see if I actually want to give them to anyone or open them in my own house. But, regardless of how they turn out, I’m happy that I did get up and do this project. It brightened my spirits and took my mind off of the potential problems illness and resting could cause. When I feel good, I feel great, but when I’m sick, I tend to fall apart, so having a project that took some time was helpful. That and the America’s Next Top Model All Starts Marathon on the Style Network.
year of fun 