-Quiet Time-

   I'm halfway through a book now called The Great Indoors. It's about a lady who owns her own antique shop. She's lost the love of her life, by choice, and is searching to find him again. She has sisters who drive her mad, as she'll compare them to the type of lamps she's grown to know so well over the years. She compares the people in her life to the antiques that have become her life. She's a very neat and organized person, living by herself with no children... because they would only come between herself and the beautiful things she owns...
   Being in a family where there are five independently owned businesses...I could understand the headache of owning your own shop. I've only been around antiques some, I'm not really familiar with different countries, centuries and all the background in between. I do appreciate antiques though, wishing I had more in our home. This definitely isn't our last house, so I believe I'll have opportunities to acquaint myself with them again!
   With Brady taking his morning nap and me getting most things in the house clean and tidy, I was able to lay on the sofa with Lilly and read a chapter this morning. So nice. I realized everyone has their own way of unwinding. I've only recently discovered how relaxing it can be to read. So now that I know how much better I function getting in bed early, I'm in bed by 10:00 usually and reading away. That's -me time-.
   Whenever I can get away with not having cartoons on tv, too, I'm usually listening to Jazz. My mom tortured me with it, and I intend to do the same to Brady! The house is so much more serene & collected when I hear jazz, smell my candles, and just breathe. It doesn't matter how happy I am to watch Tom & Jerry on Saturday mornings with Brady, it's always a relief to flip to the music channel and leave those annoying cartoons behind. For my sanity, I'm going to have my own room in my next house. (..wishes.) AND my own key. If there's reason to have a "man cave", there's more reason to have my own room. I'll fight to the end. I'll have my books, my candles and my music :) Or maybe I'll have to do this all on our next porch, because we all know I can't live without that either. (Which I plan on looking identical to the masterpiece at the top of this page.) Books, books, books. My way of unwinding, my quiet time.