Activities I’ve Enjoyed Lately

Hi everyone. I’m feeling a bit uninspired, but I feel in the mood for a positive post. Not because I feel particularly good – not very bad either though. I’m going to share some activities I’ve enjoyed lately. Here goes.

1. Yoga. Well, yoga without the fluff. I have been doing physical therapy for a few weeks now to help with my back pain. Though initially it was my enthusiasm for yoga (which the physical therapist casually mentioned) that got the therapist to think I might benefit from it, I soon found out that all the breathwork and need to feel present in my body was rather overwhelming. Instead, last Monday, we just did the exercises and that’s it.

2. Jumping on the trampoline. Today, the physical therapist had managed to borrow a side-by-side bike, so we were able to ride it to the large trampoline on the other end of institution grounds. I initially struggled a bit, but this was mostly due to my staff and the physical therapist trying to support me whilst on the trampoline. Once I started to jump on my own, it went really well.

3. Diffusing essential oils. It’s too bad the site I discovered with literally thousands of blends on it, is probably kind of shady, since you need to pay to get access to the blends (after a week’s trial period). Not that I create new blends everyday, of course, but I just love looking at everything. I did just put one of today’s featured blends into my diffuser tonight. Not sure yet what I think of the smell, but then again it usually takes a while for the scents to properly blend.

4. Playing dice games, particularly Yahtzee. I might try to introduce my staff to some new games soon.

5. Polymer clay, of course. Today, I put the unicorn I mentioned on Monday into the oven. No picture yet, but I did finally photograph the polymer clay ladybug and octopus I created several weeks ago. Here’s the ladybug. I did the main parts using black Fimo, used Premo in the color cadmium red for its scale or wings or whatever the dots are on, and used white Premo for its eyes.

Polymer Clay Ladybug

6. Listening to podcasts. I have been searching for podcasts I might enjoy. For some years, I subscribed mainly to true crime and Christian podcasts, but I’m no longer a believer and true crime honestly doesn’t really speak to me either. Now, I mostly listen to podcasts on healing from trauma, the enneagram and related topics. I also found several on neurodiversity. I particularly loved the SquarePeg podcast.

In addition to these, I love listening to bedtime stories for kids on both podcasts and YouTube. I might someday try sleep stories for adults too, but don’t really see a reason for it as of yet, other than the fact that I’m an adult, that is.

7. Creative writing. This is something I really need to do more often, be it on the blog or in my Day One journal on my iPhone. I really enjoy trying my hand at writing based on prompts or trying different styles of writing. I am not a good creative writer at all, but practice makes perfect, right?

I am linking this post to #WWandPics.

Reading Wrap-Up (April 22, 2020)

Man, I haven’t done a reading wrap-up in over a month. Of course, I’m still busy with the #AtoZChallenge. However, I’d like to share what I’ve been reading and will be reading next anyway. I’m joining in with WWW Wednesday and also (a little late) with #IMWAYR.

What I’m Currently Reading

Wonder by R.J. Palacio. I bought it on a whim last week and have been loving it so far, though reading August’s sister’s perspective is a bit triggering.

Also still not done with Heroine by Mindy McGinnis. Then again, I’m not really reading that one right now.

I picked up listening to Matilda by Roald Dahl, narrated by Kate Winslet, again. I still can’t seem to get used to a female voice narrating it.

What I Recently Finished Reading

Not much. I mean, I finally finished Left Neglected by Lisa Genova a few weeks ago. After that, I was in a bit of a reading rut until I picked up Wonder. I did download and read some free bedtime stories by Uncle Amon, but that hardly counts.

What I Think I’ll Be Reading Next

I stacked the shelves with a couple middle grade novels that I think are going to be exciting. The one I think I’ll be reading next is Wink by Rob Harrell. That one actually got me to buy Wonder.

In addition, I’ve been looking at some adult romances to read. I would really like to read either Things You Save in a Fire or How to Walk Away by Katherine Center. Still in doubt as to which one to buy first.

What are you up to reading?