Meg Evans

My husband recently asked me to leave cookies off the grocery list because he had been eating too many of them, which was best dealt with by an “out of sight, out of mind” diet. Over the summer his employer got acquired, and he ate more cookies because of stress without realizing it. Many people do that, of course, as shown by this word-art picture I got in an email from a coworker last month.
 

Many years ago, Sesame Street changed the Cookie Monster to the Veggie Monster out of concern that kids shouldn’t be encouraged to eat sugary snacks for comfort. Although I can’t picture the Veggie Monster inspiring kids to clamor for lima beans, the health concern is indeed valid, given that today’s diet has way too much sugar in it. But even though it’s best not to overindulge, I have to admit there are times when nothing beats a soft gooey fresh-baked (or microwave-warmed) chocolate chip cookie after a tough day!

Nurturing Thursday was started by Becca Givens and seeks to “give this planet a much needed shot of fun, support and positive energy.” Visit her site to find more Nurturing Thursday posts and a list of frequent contributors.

Saturday was a chilly day here, with some rain showers. I was outside for part of the day and was glad to get back home, where I could warm up! When I looked out the window by the front door, I noticed a rabbit on the steps, looking perfectly comfortable. My first thought was that the rabbit wanted to get out of the wet, too!
 

I didn’t invite the rabbit in for tea, like in old-fashioned storybooks, but I did take a photo as a self-nurturing reminder. While it’s good to get outdoors and be active, having a warm and cozy house to come back to later is always something to appreciate!

Nurturing Thursday was started by Becca Givens and seeks to “give this planet a much needed shot of fun, support and positive energy.” Visit her site to find more Nurturing Thursday posts and a list of frequent contributors.

In my home-office area there are two matching desks, which my husband and I bought in 1999. They’re still in pretty good shape; the only issue over the years has been that the file drawers came with thin curved handles, which broke many times. At one point my husband bought a bag of 10 drawer pulls because they needed replacing so often. The last time one broke, though, it finally dawned on us that maybe we should get something better, instead of always matching the old ones! So we bought nice big sturdy ones instead.
 

Much better! Though it now seems as if it ought to have been obvious all along, we honestly never thought about it before. Over the years we’d gotten so used to the drawer pulls always being in the same style, we just couldn’t shift our mental maps enough to imagine the desks being any different. There’s a good lesson about self-nurturing here; instead of mindlessly putting up with little annoyances out of habit, it’s best to consider the alternatives!

Nurturing Thursday was started by Becca Givens and seeks to “give this planet a much needed shot of fun, support and positive energy.” Visit her site to find more Nurturing Thursday posts and a list of frequent contributors.

Last week I realized that I’d had a bit of calendar confusion and had made plans to attend a fun activity at the same time as a responsible grown-up activity. Leaving out the details to protect a not-so-innocent party (me, that is), I’ll just say that I came to the conclusion other responsible adults could handle the latter activity without any need for my presence, so I shouldn’t feel obliged to pass up an opportunity to have fun. In short, I decided to play hooky.
 

As it turned out, the would-have-been ditched event got rescheduled anyway, so it didn’t matter except that it gave me some food for thought. Often we feel guilty if we don’t follow through on every obligation—but maybe we shouldn’t. After so many years of being responsible parents, employees, volunteers, etc., and constantly burdening ourselves with one task after another, an occasional day of playing hooky could be just what’s needed to lighten the load!

Nurturing Thursday was started by Becca Givens and seeks to “give this planet a much needed shot of fun, support and positive energy.” Visit her site to find more Nurturing Thursday posts and a list of frequent contributors.

The orange trumpet vine along my backyard fence (also shown here and here) has one last bloom remaining at the very top. All the others have turned into big, heavy seed pods hanging down above the grass. Hummingbirds love these flowers, and I took a quick picture with my phone camera on a gorgeously blue morning, to mark the end of the season.
 

Wishing everyone who reads this post something beautiful this week too!

Nurturing Thursday was started by Becca Givens and seeks to “give this planet a much needed shot of fun, support and positive energy.” Visit her site to find more Nurturing Thursday posts and a list of frequent contributors.