Seeing With New Eyes
Hello and welcome to My Cozy Corner. Pull up a comfy chair and let’s chat a while. It’s finally beginning to warm up a bit here. I hope it is where you are too.
I am currently reading a book called “Contemplative Gardening” by Pamela Dolan. She encourages seeing things in a new light. Really looking and contemplating the things we see every day. I’m trying to incorporate that into my life. Though at the moment I can only dream of gardening, there is so much even in my small little cottage to see with new eyes; to contemplate and appreciate.
Now that I am in the second half of life as are most of you; I can take the time to look inward and spend more time caring for my soul. There is no longer a job to take up my time, but more importantly, there are not diapers to change and lunches to fix. There is no more homework to supervise. Most of my time now is spent on me. Yes, there is still a house to care for; yes, I still have obligations; but for the most part I have much more time to spend by myself taking care of myself and caring for my soul. This is all very new to me, and I am still learning how this all works. I hope you will spend some very rewarding time just being. You will love yourself for taking the time for you.
What did you do for yourself this week? What fun things did you work into your days? I spent Saturday reading and working on craft projects. My house ended up being a disaster, and I don’t even care. I will spend the week fixing that. (Clutter does make me anxious!) Someone in my past convinced me that everything had to be done before you could enjoy yourself with fun activities. You know what, that’s simply not true.
Did you enjoy the granola bar recipe that I shared last week? I know that at least one of you is planning on making them to eat on the way to work in the mornings. I used a combination of nuts, seeds, and dried cranberries in my last ones. I managed to work in a cooking day this week. I would like to make that happen every week, but it doesn’t seem to. I made another batch of granola bars, this time with pecans. I made a batch of peanut butter. I will share that recipe with you. Once you try it, you will never go back to store-bought. I have a batch of yogurt in the insta-pot now.
Peanut Butter
1 12 ounce can of salted peanuts
2 Tbsp. honey
Cooking oil (peanut oil is best but canola oil works too.
Place the peanuts in the food processor. You can add the honey at any point. Process the peanuts until they are finely chopped. While the processor is running, slowly add about 2 tablespoons of oil. Continue to add oil a little at a time until it is a good spreading consistency. Place the peanut butter in a container and keep it in the refrigerator. If it separates at all you can stir it back together.
I hope you are having a good week and remember to do something nice for you.
Until next time,
Helen
My Quiet Place 