Winter Plans!

While my preference is for warm weather and lots of sunshine and being outdoors, I am also learning to embrace darker and colder parts of the year. Each season does have its own beauty, if we take the time to slow down and enjoy it.

Shorter days, colder weather and less sunshine in the winter can sometimes affect my mood. I find that focusing on some activities that I enjoy (and don’t always have time for in the summer) and finding ways to stay busy and feel productive really help me to feel happier during the wintertime.

Here are some of the ways I plan to enjoy the colder months…

Reading

Since my cataract surgery, I’ve been enjoying reading every evening before bed. I usually read about two books a month. We live very close to the library and they have a good selection of books. They also have a little free/sale book area and I sometimes find books for the grandkids or myself for free or 50 cents or a dollar. As much as I enjoy reading, I just cannot bring myself to buy a brand-new book! Also, there are very few books that I re-read, so I don’t want to pay a lot for something I won’t read again.

Tea Time

I drink tea in the morning and evening year-round, but I usually add a cup in the afternoon when the weather turns cooler. There is, in my opinion, no better way to relax than with a cozy blanket, a book, a cat and a hot cup of tea.

My winter tea schedule goes like this: First thing in the morning I have a cup of Bigelow Cinnamon Stick tea. Mid-morning or mid-afternoon I have a cup of Bigelow Vanilla Chai. In the evening before bed I have a cup of Celestial Seasonings Cinnamon Apple Spice. Yes, there is a cinnamon theme going on here. 🙂 I love cinnamon. Tater Kitty joins me for morning and evening tea time.

My tea collection was recently improved thanks to one of my sweet daycare parents. As a Christmas gift, she gave me six assorted boxes of tea and a very nice insulated mug. I’m excited to try all the new flavors of tea!

Puzzles

I find puzzles very relaxing. I have to do them in my she-shed because between the grandkids, daycare kids and my cats, a puzzle would be scattered everywhere in my house! I’m excited to begin working on the new-to-me puzzle I got from the sale shelf at the library. Cats and Christmas are two of my favorite things.

Baking

I love to warm up the house in the evening by baking something. I often bake two or three things at once to save time on cleanup. On my last big baking evening, I made peanut butter banana baked oatmeal, carrot oatmeal muffins and pumpkin bread. I make several things and store the extras in the freezer. I served all of these things to my daycare kids for breakfast and snacks this week.

Garden and Yard Planning

When we lived in New Mexico, I grew a very large garden. I spent weeks in the winter planning out what I was going to grow in the spring. Our 2023 garden (our first attempt in Colorado) was a dismal failure! Things just didn’t grow. I think it was a combination of poor soil and a not-so-great watering schedule. We will try again next year and have already started adding compost to the soil to help improve it. We will likely never have the size of garden we had before. We don’t have space, and we are now on city water, which is very expensive.

I will be planning a small cottage garden. I’m happy that I’ve decided to condense it into a smaller area. I just don’t think I could keep up with the original area. Part of the area I was going to use for my cottage garden is going to be the new and improved play area for my home daycare. While I like having the play area in the front yard, I have to put down mulch if I am going to have play equipment for the children to climb on, and I don’t want to cover up all my grass! In the side yard, there is a small grassy area and then an area that does not have grass and does not have sprinklers. I would have no problem covering that dirt area with mulch! I will need to install a fence to separate the play area from the rest of our back yard.

I’ll have all winter to figure it out and when the snow melts, we will get to work!

Indoor DIY Projects

We have lots to do around the outside of our home when spring comes. For the chilly winter months, I’ll be focusing on some indoor projects I’ve been meaning to complete. I think I already have most of the supplies I will need to work on my two main projects, so that will keep the cost low.

• Our bedroom: When I was painting our bedroom last summer, I ran out of paint and our WalMart did not have the color I was using in stock for a long time. (I used a pre-mixed, off-the-shelf color.) I was finally able to get another gallon of paint. I have lots of trim and touch-up work to do in our bedroom. I also need to paint the ceiling. Grampy needs to replace a light fixture on the wall. I am going to completely re-do my closet to make it more functional. My daycare kids will all be out the week after Christmas, so I plan to spend that week working on our bedroom.

I’m working on a video of my closet makeover for my YouTube channel.

• Our pantry: I love the little room that we have turned into a pantry. It is so convenient, but I feel like we are not using the space to its full potential. I plan to do a major declutter, finish painting and find ways to make the storage work better.

I also have big plans to remodel our daughter’s bathroom, but I’m not sure I’ll be able to complete that before spring. It is going to be a big project, but I’m looking forward to it! The most outdated rooms are the most fun rooms to work on, as the change is so satisfying! I will need to purchase some things for this project, but I won’t know exactly what I will need until I start.

Well, I think I’ve come up with some pretty awesome ways to spend my time this winter! I think I have a good balance of relaxing and busy activities. By focusing on things I enjoy, improving our indoor space and giving myself things to look forward to in the springtime, I think I will have a pretty happy winter season!