in a fog

It wasn't until my first sip of Morning Light tea after lunch that I felt fully awake today.  The sachet had been included in a recent yarn order, and I loved it so much I ordered myself a whole carton (along with some cartons of other varieties as gifts), which will be rationed conscientiously.  

I suffer from periodical insomnia, usually in spurts of several nights, and last night's four hours of sleep left me in a fog this morning.  Everything seemed to take longer than it should, including packaging up some handmade ornaments to send to far-away family.  We're so pleased with how these turned out, a riff on our raffia handicrafts from this term.  If I'd known how easy making silhouettes in this digital age would be, we would have been making them yearly.  

I wrapped presents and packaged them while waiting for my latest batch of bagel dough to rise.  Bagels have been making regular appearances in our baking since I watched this vlogmas episode.  The recipe I used today was from this book, except I accidentally purchased diastatic malt powder instead of non-diastatic malt syrup.  No matter!  I fudged all of the proportions and they turned out really well.  There are a half-dozen left over from our lunch, so breakfast tomorrow should be especially delicious.  

After lunch, G went for a hike with his bestie and his mother.  They visited new-to-me trails, which wound through an old Christmas tree farm.  Her description reminded me of the abandoned pine farms near our summer vacation spot, where the wind shushing through the needles sounds like the stormy sea.  We all can't wait to hike there ourselves.  

While G was gone, I took the opportunity to deep clean the little boys' bedroom.  Once again, the sparkling floors in the afternoon light were the best reward for my hours of work.  Our three boys have the third floor to themselves, which means that deep-cleaning is frequently overlooked.  Their bathroom still needs a thorough scrub-out, and my teenage son's room is...his responsibility, but the neat and tidy landing is balm to a frazzled mother's soul.  This weekend I hope to tackle the living room and adjacent sunroom to prepare for Christmas decorating in a couple of weeks.