Our Favorite Cabin Fever Busters

Goodbye, January.

So long, February.

Hello, March!

For anybody who has noticed my silence this winter, I am sorry. It’s been a whirlwind of transitions, illnesses, and a brief bout with the cold weather blues. We decided to switch our two-year-old from crib to toddler bed because – it seemed like a good idea at the time. HA! Well, it became a safety necessity, but we sure did miss that crib – and a fair bit of sleep – those first few weeks. Our 2YO’s new favorite activity was to get up at any odd time of the night and go wake up sissy before waking us.

All that lack of sleep must have weakened our immune systems just enough. After combatting two rounds of pink eye, head colds, sinus infections, ear infections, you could say I was a bit sick of being sick. The cabin fever was real.

Plus, I’d say the worst part of pink eye is when your eyes hurt, it limits screen time, and reading time which meant I couldn’t sit in the rocker and binge-watch Netflix or the Olympics. Nor could I bury myself in a nice long Stephen King novel. Although, I did discover the soothing benefits of relaxing with cool cucumber slices on my eyes. It’s really quite delightful. I highly recommend it. (The cucumbers that is, not the pink eye.)

Not being able to sleep but having to lie still did force me to relax and just think. I hadn’t realized how little I actually do that – lie still with my thoughts without the entertainment of TV, smart phones or a book to read. It made me want to take up yoga again. So, I got out my mat, found a yoga class on Amazon Prime and dug right in. Naturally, I chose the wrong time of day for this as the toddlers thought this was time for a mommy pile-on while the dog blocked my view of the TV. One of these days, though, I will get back into yoga. I will.

After all that, I thought I’d share what we’ve been up to these last couple of months, and how we fought off the effects of cabin fever.

Edible Play Dough

Whilst trapped in the home with two toddlers, I find my peace on Pinterest – where I found this recipe for edible play dough.

Word of caution – just because something IS edible doesn’t mean it SHOULD be eaten. Yuck. The girls acted as if they liked the taste, but I suspect they must have been messing with me. Or they simply liked being allowed to nibble on their play dough for the first time ever. HA!

On the plus side, it took ingredients we already had in the house, and kept us occupied for a morning. I didn’t try to store it. You probably could, but it made for a fun activity all the same.

Dress Up Recording Studio

The girls received this great V-Tech mixer keyboard for Christmas, and they have had a blast playing songs, singing and recording into the microphone. Yet, no recording session is complete without dressing the part. In this case, I believe Tinker Bell was the star of the day.

“Do you believe in fairies? Say quick that you believe. If you believe, clap your hands!” -James M. Barrie

D.I.Y. Sequence Board Game

New Years Eve, we spent the evening playing Sequence with our neighbors. We had a blast and decided to make our own game board. I borrowed a board from my grandma to copy the pattern – or sequence if you will – for our board. Supplies included a poster frame, two sets of poker chips, four decks of cards, a black sharpie, Mod Podge – and glitter.

Yes, glitter.

My favorite part of this activity was when husband was helping me glue down cards and said, “We should add some glitter.” I paused in utter amazement at his brilliance mixed with a tinge of jealousy that I hadn’t thought of this idea first. Then I replied with a resounding “Of course!” as I ran off to grab the perfect glitter for the project. Now, this one did turn out to be an adults only activity, unless you feel like picking up hundreds of poker chips around the house.

Paper Crafts

We experimented with a couple different paper crafts including cutting and glueing paper chains and these fun paper plate turtles. Another Pinterest find.

For this craft I recommend having a dust buster handy – on account of all of the glitter. Unless you like things sparkly, then by all means, sprinkle it around.

Baking

How else do you occupy time when you’re on a  New Year’s resolution diet (a post for another day), and stuck indoors because you’re sick? We baked comfort food, of course! Here we’re making sourdough cinnamon rolls (not on the diet). It was a fun, floury mess and the kids loved it.

There’s nothing quite like the anticipation of waiting to see if your masterpiece will turn out alright in the end. Oven lights are a great invention, aren’t they?

Hide and Seek

I don’t mean to brag – much, but have I mentioned I’m really good at hide and seek? Sure, it could have been an age advantage thing. I’ll give you that much. But it is so easy to hide from a two and four year old!

Of course, it would have been easier if the dog hadn’t kept giving away my hiding spot.

Snuggles and Cuddles

At the end of the day, we love to snuggle up in front of the TV. Usually this means another mommy or daddy pile-on, but I wouldn’t trade this time for anything. The time of day when I get to bury my nose in their hair and kiss them on top of their tiny heads. It was during one of these pre-bedtime snuggles when we captured this moment. After all the screaming and antagonizing they do to each other at various times, it is a blessing to witness moments like this. It’s moments like this which slow time and make all other events of the day or week fade into the background.

Here Comes the Sun

At last, the great outdoors! Or the great, muddy backyard. Same difference. That’s what soap is for, right?

Thanks for reading! I hope all of you are staying healthy and getting out to enjoy the sunshine as well. And thank you for your patience. I’ll do my best to write for you all again soon.

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Author: pixiedustandwhiskey

Hi there! I’m Katherine, a former higher education professional turned housewife, blogger and entrepreneur. My blog is about finding happily ever after in the middle of the mundane, using gratitude and a positive mindset to turn the ordinary into extraordinary. I like to tell stories, so this is a collection of short stories, some true, some fiction, to hopefully inspire more happiness in this broken world. View all posts by pixiedustandwhiskey