You know, it had been far too long since I last broke out my adult coloring book. To be honest, I had totally forgotten that I even still had one up until a few days ago, when I found it while searching for some coloring books for Alex. I mean, now is as good a time as any to break this bad boy out, right?
A little coloring + wine truly is a great stress reliever for me. And it came at a perfect time last week, after hearing the news that the NY shutdown is now extended through at least May 15th. Ugh.
I’ve actually been struggling with finding the right balance of reading/watching the news lately. I try to stay informed. I WANT to stay informed. But then I find myself going down rabbit holes of articles or comments on posts. I gain hope, and then I lose it just as quickly as it came on, and I just wind up 100x more stressed than I was before I read anything. And not only that, but the boys also notice when I (or we) am on the phone too much (“Mom, if we can’t do electronics, why can you?!” … OOOF.) so, yeah.
I think in an effort to not let myself get too locked into reading news on my phone or computer, I’m going to try to allow myself a certain (smaller) amount of time each day, and then turn to my coloring book (or something else) whenever the itch to read more kicks in. Good in theory, we’ll see how it pans out. But I’m trying!
ANYwayyyy…how are all of YOU doing? Hangin’ in there?
We woke up to a totally rude coating of snow on Saturday morning, and the weather was just cold and not cool.
But it DID allow us to really get some things done inside the house that have been on my to-do list. I got some cleaning done, caught up on laundry, organized in the boys’ rooms a bit, and even did a little baking.
Yes, yes. Lemme tell ya about this thing. I pinned this recipe on Pinterest a few weeks ago, and even made sure to grab all of the ingredients for it last week. So since we were stuck inside anyway, it was the perfect opportunity to make it.
Cookies, sweet cream cheese, pudding, Heath (I added that myself)…it was one big, delicious sugar rush. And since it made so much, I also had the boys run and do a couple of front porch drop offs to some neighbors, since I definitely didn’t need to be eating that whole pan!
To balance out the sweetness, we did wind up cooking one of our favorite chicken dishes for dinner on Saturday night.
This Balsamic Baked Chicken with Balsamic Tomato Sauce and Mozzarella Cheese is one of the best baked chicken recipes we’ve ever come across. If you’re a big tomato and/or balsamic fan, I 100% recommend bookmarking this one and giving it a try! To go along with the chicken, I cut up a few red potatoes that I found lying around our pantry and popped them in the air fryer to get nice and crispy. It was amazing.
And speaking of amazing…seeing that crap snow from Saturday quickly melt away to allow for an al fresco lunch on Sunday sure was!
The boys have been asking for “snacky lunches” in their lunchboxes (which we love!) multiple times a week, and I actually really enjoy putting them together. It’s a good opportunity to give them a little bit of everything!
Well, friends, here’s hoping for a good, positive week ahead for all of us. I’ll check in again soon <3
Whitney K. says
I have a hard time with news consumption too. It’s just so hard to watch and not feel hopeless. There are two people I follow on Instagram that focus on important news with a positive spin. John Krasinski (from The Office) and his Some Good News on YouTube. Also, @emmajadetv Emma is a newscaster that does a daily roundup called Momcast. She tells us what we need to know, but always adds a positive outlook.
Also, a fun follow for the whole family of you don’t already is the Bucket List Family. They have a whole bunch of YouTube videos (over 100) where they travel the world. It’s a great way to see different countries and learn new things.
Courtney says
These are amazing, thank you so much for sharing!!
Mary Burns says
Claire loves doing the lunchbox thing too for lunch! Whether it’s a picnic lunch on the living room floor or outside, she just loves it!
I have some of the adult coloring books I’ve been tempted to pull out, I think you’ve inspired me, we had a bit of a day yesterday, so maybe a mommy-daughter coloring session is in order😉. Have a wonderful day!
mandee says
I have brought out my adult coloring books too. I needed something like that to distract/mindlessly enjoy. If I watch too much news, I get all anxious and cant sleep, if I don’t watch the news, I feel like I underestimate whats going on and set myself up for a shock once I start reading/watching again. It’s a vicious cycle.
That dessert looks & sounds amazing. Next on my list to make is cherries in a cloud – it is a trifle with a sweet cream cheese/whipped topping layer (I bought an all natural cool whip that hopefully works), cherry pie filling and Angel food cake. My mom used to always make it when I was a kid and when my husband said he had never heard of it, I ordered up the ingredients. Dessert is the joy of my quarantine!
Courtney says
Well THAT sounds delicious!! Enjoy!
Rebecca says
I’m also struggling with news consumption and anxiety. Thanks for talking about this on the blog and being real about the current times we’re living in!
I’m trying to switch up my computer/phone news time with reading books. Right now a good mystery relaxes me and focuses my attention away from the news for a while. And it also eases my eye strain/headache that I’m getting from working from home and staring at a computer all day!