self-care

Today’s Monster

I’m a bit tired and grumpy today and so is today’s Monster.


Image description: a drawing of an orange monster with tendrils on top of her head. She has a blue blanket over her shoulders and is holding a grey teddy bear. One of her eyes is bigger than the other and her mouth is a bumpy line which makes her look a bit disgruntled. Black text on the right reads:
Penny is feeling a bit grumpy today
so she’s cuddling up with her favourite blanket and her teddy bear. When the world feels hard, she tries to find as much softness as she can
She hopes you will too.

Reminding Myself To Rest

No matter how many times I remind myself that work and rest are part of the same cycle, I still forget.

It’s not that I am so caught up in productivity that I refuse to rest.

And it’s not that I think that my value lies in my work.

It’s that I literally forget that doing a lot of things a lot of days in a row makes me tired.

So at the end of a flurry of busy days, I find it weird to be tired and my brain wanders off in search of the reason why.

And then, when realization dawns, I have a good laugh at myself and take some downtime.

Brains are weird creatures.

For My Own Fun

On Friday, my dear friend Elaine brought me this whirl-a-gig as a gift and I absolutely adore it (and I adore her!)

Yet, oddly enough, when I first set it up, I turned it so the beautiful shiny part was facing out into my yard and the plain back was facing the house and the patio.

I don’t know why I did that.

With that set up, someone sitting in the backyard would have the very best view of Elaine’s lovely gift.

But, from my usual reading and drawing spot on the patio, I wouldn’t be able to see the shiny colours.

And when I look out of my patio door I would just see the plain black side of the decoration.

How foolish of me.

If I am going to fully enjoy my whirl-a-gig, I need to set it up so *I* see the best bits most often.

So, today, I turned it to face me and I have been grinning at it ever since.

(I mean, every time I look that way. I have not spent the whole day grinning at an inanimate object. 😉 )

A windmill style decoration stands in a backyard.
Photo description: a black windmill-style decoration on a stick with multi-coloured ‘blades’, stands in a backyard. There are orange flowers and green leaves in the foreground. In the background you can see a wooden fence, a lawn chair, the lawn and my dog!