Kindness

There's been a lot of work travel, hence little cooking.  Recently, when I had one full day to do laundry and prepare before leaving on my next trip, I'd been cleaning up my house and plants. 

The Lipstick Plants are thriving.  I continue to find them fascinating because they just keep flowering!  Remember I came awhile back asking if anyone knew the name of this plant?  It really is called a Lipstick plant!

In fact, I enjoy them so much I've already restarted some of the clippings from when I was giving them a trim.  The little glass of water is full of roots and the starters are already growing little trumpets to hold the flowers!  Now, to find time to replant them!

As I was admiring my plants, I couldn't help but notice my views.  What a stunning day it has been.  Can you beat that blue sky?  This next view was from the kitchen window.

In addition to admiring my views and taking care of my plants, I thought, what can I do to show my husband I love him today? 

I thought, "I bet he would love some cookies. Some quick chocolate chip cookies, should do the trick."  So what did I do?

 Yep, I grabbed that familiar and comforting bag of Nestle Chocolate Chips.  I know they don't fall under my normal whole grain and vegetable attempts, but sometimes I just need to be kind to those around me and give them what they want, not what I think they should have.

Of course I substituted some whole wheat flour and some natural sugar, but for the most part I left the recipe alone because they weren't for me.  That's the recipe on the back of the bag I'm talking about.

About half way through I had some visitors, they wanted cookies too.   But, oh no!  I don't feed these visitors, other than the wild grasses and flowers they dig up with their noses.

You can't see in the picture, but in addition to the deer there are four grouse that had been sleeping in the snow and the deer woke them up.  The deer are so hairy right now and cute with the tops of their heads and noses covered in snow.

You should have seen the smile on dear husband's face when I brought him two warm cookies.  Works every time!

I find sometimes I need to be kind to myself... Lower my expectations of myself just a little bit.  I could have thought, "I don't have time to find a healthy cookie recipe with the ingredients I have and make them." But by keeping it easy, Joe got cookies and I got a needed 1/2 hour in the kitchen... me, the mixer, and the oven.  It really worked out best for both of us.

Do something today to be kind to yourself.....accept your own limitations or those set upon you by time and life.