Tag: Quotes

How I like to unwind after a chaotic week
Life

How I like to unwind after a chaotic week

Deby Ciui (Chewy)Leave a comment

If the lack of posts says anything about this week, it should explain just how chaotic and crazy this week has been. Busy enough that I really haven’t had much time for a little piece of quiet. If I haven’t mentioned it before, I am a mom that wears many hats: wife, mother, engineer, teacher, student, etc. This week we finished the first quarter of the preschool curriculum (A-Z, A is for Adam. Curriculum is from Masterbooks) next week we get to start over, as in starting from letter A again. Apart from the joys of homeschooling, work has been notoriously busy and on more than one occasion have had the whole house asleep before I sign off for the night, hazards of working the second shift. Finally, the icing on the cake, I am behind on my own school work, Operations and Supply Chain management class (which is so unbelievable dry), which means even later nights ahead.

To summarize the above self-pity session, it has been a busy week. When life gets so busy that it feels like the remote control is stuck on fast forward, this is when I desperately need to take some time and unwind and rejuvenate.

Coffee, coffee, coffee

Boulevard West in Clayton, NC

First stop, COFFEE more specifically, coffee shops. Working from home is fantastic but I love it when I can take a moment of alone time to myself. I love small coffee shops, especially when I get to try a new ones and I like to take the time and actually sit there. For starters, I get to savor my coffee, read, write in my journal, or sometimes just people watch. One of the cons (or pros if you’re antisocial) is lack of human interaction. Sometimes you just need a moment to interact with other people who are not your husband or kids. Then of course, Coffee in and of itself, is soothing and while I don’t handle the caffeine the way that used too I still enjoy my cup of coffee every day, sometimes two.

Rub a dub, dub, soakin’ in the tub

Floating candle bath bomb. Awesome, pretty, slightly hazardous if you have long legs.

Option two, is my most used option and is my go to for after those tough days at work. Late night bath soakin’ in the tub. There is nothing more relaxing to me than taking a hot (or boiling if you ask my husband) bath. Sometimes I read, books, webtoons or webnovels. Sometimes I watch a show, and other times I just pop in some headphones and just enjoy blocking out the sounds around me. The experience exponentially improves when I have candles and bath salts/bombs.

If you feel “burnout” setting in, if you feel demoralized and exhausted, it is best, for the sake of everyone, to withdraw and restore yourself.

Dalai Lama
The view from my window
Life

The view from my window

Deby Ciui (Chewy)1 Comment
Rain and wind from hurricane Ian

For 8 hours a day (minus breaks to get up and move around), I work from my desk. I made the decision to re-arrange my office one day and pushed my desk against the wall so that I have a nice view out the windows and the decision was absolutely worth it. It gives me the opportunity of breaking up the monotony of working with views from outside the window. Last Friday I worked while watching the winds from hurricane Ian bending the trees in our yard and sending branches flying by, thankfully we were more on the outskirts so just lots of wind and rain. Then one night last year I was even able to witness a very bright meteorite light up the night sky That was a pretty cool thing to see.

Squirrel enjoying a pinecone bird feeder the girls made

Some times the view is pretty much the same, yard, trees, sunlight. Sometimes you see the neighbors, or someone walking through the park. Sometimes you find dogs on the lose scavenging in your yard (yes this has happened). There are also times one of the kids from the neighborhood tries to sneak up on the house and play ding-dong-ditch, that made me laugh until they did it when Emily was taking her nap. But my favorite thing to see is all the different wild life that shows up. I enjoy it so much that I have set up many things to attract more animals in view as well, lots of bird feeders and seeds. Unfortunately, this caused me to make the mistake of doing an amazon subscription on bird seed and well… I now have several bags of it it my garage.

One of my favorite reasons for living in a more rural area is getting to enjoy the sights that you don’t really see very often in a more crowded city or town. Every spring I get to see does and their fawns playing in our backyard and sometimes even see them in the middle of the day. I’ve seen opossums, owls, several cats and the occasional fox. Squirrels have apparently taken refuge in our yard, I once counted 6 different ones all spread out across the yard. They’re a comical bunch and I enjoy having them around, up until its gardening time when they like to steal my tomatoes.

Birds at the bird feeder guest starring Phoenix the cat

As someone who also has a very active imagination, I’ll admit I’ve also had those moments where I can get lost looking out the window and just daydreaming in another world. Sometimes the lighting and view is just right to trigger that creative spirit and I’ll be thinking of adventures and plots and characters.

A short story is what you see when you look out of the window.

Mavis Gallant
Don’t let being busy keep you from enjoying hobbies
Life

Don’t let being busy keep you from enjoying hobbies

Deby Ciui (Chewy)Leave a comment
Anastasia when she received her basketball shirt
Local Community Learn and Play – Learning about Fish

If someone asks my how I’m doing, my usual answer is ‘tired’ (I’m trying to fix that). Truth is, like so many, I am busy what is seemingly, all the time. I am a wearer of many hats. I am a full-time working mom while also a stay at home mom, i.e. I am a work from home mom. I am also a student at Western Governors University trying to get my Bachelors degree and also a homeschooler for my girls who started pre-school this year and as a homeschooling parent my biggest concern is making sure my girls get the socialization which involves scheduled activities at our local community; tiny tots basketball, nature lessons at the local park, and soon toddlers soccer. (Just want to clarify that I do NOT homeschool WHILE I am working but do it when I am not working.) All of this is in addition to the usual never ending lists that need to be done. I have two separate mountains of laundry currently, one of clothes that needs to be washed, and the other of clothes that needs to be folded and put away. I have the cooking, cleaning, organizing, and whatever other adulting things that you have to do.

Watercolor Mountains

But I am a person of many interests, it is the way I was raised. My parents always encouraged me to try and learn new things and as such I am a big advocate for having hobbies. My reason for this is simple, if I were forced to follow the absolute monotony of the day, work, school, teach, chores, and repeat, I think I would very quickly lose my marbles. I need to break up the repetitive day with activities that are my own, to remind myself who I am again. It is very easy for the title ‘Mom’ to take over your entire identity and get to the point where you sort of forget who you were before you had kids.

We’ve already established that I love to travel and take pictures. But I have many other interests as well. I enjoy gardening, reading, writing (journaling and stories as well). In 2019 I also started to take up crocheting, it all started because I wanted to make a baby yoda for my kids after watching the Mandalorian but then continued because it was a hobby I get from my own mom and I enjoyed showing her my creations and asking for her tips/tricks. It is something I continue to do both, because I love doing it, and as a way to remember her by.

Obviously, living in such a busy world means I don’t have the time to partake in ALL of the hobbies I enjoy on a daily basis. But I make it a point to do something on a daily basis, whether its writing, painting/drawing, or creating something with yarn. I’ve shared these with my girls as well. They will ask me to make themselves or ask to paint/craft. They especially love to paint. I share the things that I like to do and encourage them to do so as well. Granted, this has gotten us in some trouble especially during the toddler years, my walls currently need to be repainted due to their artwork. I once had someone tell me that I was ‘brave’ for having things like markers and crayons inside my house, and yes this person was a parent with younger kids, but I cannot be angry at my girls for doing something that they are just copying from seeing me do. Both their bedroom wall and door are murals. So I can I blame them for thinking that it was ok? We are working on that and for the most part have broken their habits but I definitely don’t plan on discouraging them for pursuing their interests or stopping them from expressing their creativity.

Girls room theme: Let her sleep, for when she wakes she will move mountains.

Bottom line is, apart from expressing oneself creatively, hobbies are away to keep yourself grounded after being constantly thrown around by the never-ending to-do lists. As I said above, it’s a way to keep yourself sane. Sometimes its needed to clear your thoughts, where as other times its needed to help you think. Hobbies and interests have so many purposes. If work is especially grinding or frustrating, I enjoy going outside for my dinner break and checking on my garden, I’m new to gardening and not the greatest but have found it very peaceful and rewarding when you get to enjoy the fruits of my labor. I like crocheting when I’m watching a show with Josh at the end of the day, it’s a great way to wind down after a long day. Painting and drawing depend on my moods, those I tend do more when I have a lot on my mind, I don’t know why to be honest but sometimes I feel like that like with journaling, it is the way I organize my thoughts. To summarize, there’s so many reasons for hobbies, don’t let the business of this world take that away, even if you just set aside a few minutes a day.

A hobby a day keeps the doldrums away.

Phyllis McGinley