I finally feel like Christmas break is over. There are so many layers involved in preparing for the holiday, and just as many layers involved with dismantling things. I was behind on laundry and sweeping the floors and using up little bits of leftovers in the fridge and dealing with our mail. We’d undecorated the tree but it was still sitting in the corner of the living room – looking sad and bare – so furniture was still rearranged and there were needles everywhere. Yesterday, we placed the tree out at the curb for the local recycling program.
The plastic bin L used to corral his Christmas gifts was “overflowing with the most disgraceful assortment of deplorable rubbish imaginable, mangled up in tangled up knots” including the remains of an old DIY spy kit he had put together, many Band-Aids (no wonder we’re out of Band-Aids in the first aid kit; thank goodness they were not used), countless Nerf bullets (and two Nerf guns) and dozens of papers, trinkets, and pieces of Lego. I’m assuming that everytime I asked him to clean his room over the last two weeks, he just tossed everything into this tote. Well, that tote is now sorted.
There are still a few items out of place but for the most part, our house feels back to normal (except for two wreaths and the faux evergreen on the mantle which I am keeping up for the foreseeable future because the twinkle lights make me happy).
FOLLOWUP: DIGITAL SABBATH
So many thoughtful points and suggestions on my Tuesday post. A few things of note:
- Several people asked if I plan to not blog/comment/use my laptop during my “digital sabbath”. As much as possible I want to eliminate all computer/internet use. I plan to avoid doing anything with blogs (my own or otherwise), reading the news, Google searches, but will potentially check my e-mail once or twice. I have been mulling over the idea of setting up an auto e-mail message for my personal e-mail (while I often used to respond to work messages on the weekend, I don’t need to so won’t set up any OOO message on those accounts) prompting people to call me if they need something urgently.
- I have already set up an auto-reply function on my phone. Now, when I engage the Focus setting, it will automatically reply the following to all incoming texts (except John): I’m observing a digital sabbath from Saturday at 5 pm – Sunday at 5 pm. If you need to touch base with me, please give me a call. I look forward to connecting when I’m back online.
- Several people mentioned using my Apple Watch for notifications. I already do this and, frankly, really struggle with the distraction. When I hear my watch ding, I look. And even if it’s not important, I have a very hard time not feeling obligated to respond right away. I know this works brilliantly for many people (i.e. it allows them to keep tabs on anything urgent without needing to engage with their phone), but it isn’t the right way forward for me because of my Inbox Zero/Treat Everything Like a Crisis personality.
FOLLOWUP: RECIPES
Thanks to everyone who gave me suggestions for how to use extra apples, lentils, and ground flax.
Here is what I did with my crowd-sourced knowledge.
For the apples, I was feeling very lazy; one comment made me think about stewing apples in the slow cooker (though after I prepped them someone else commented about doing the same thing in a microwave which would have been faster!). I ended up making these Slow Cooker Hot Buttered Apples (I halved the recipe and, as always, didn’t measure anything – sorry Lisa). It took less than 5 minutes to prep and the house smelled amazing. John is going to incorporate them into smoothies and I’m going to add them to Greek yogurt.
For the lentils, I looked at every. single. recipe that was suggested and combined them all based on what I had on hand. The main inspiration was a soup recommended by Kelsey (Vegetarian Lentil Tortilla Soup), but I discovered after I started making it that we were out of black beans. Oops. I also added in all sorts of spices not mentioned in this recipe – basically, every single one suggested across all the recipes mentioned so my soup had cumin, chili powder, cayenne, ginger, cinnamon, garam masala, smoked paprika, and turmeric. I had some spinach to use up so I rough chopped a few handfuls and added that in to the mix as well. Again, no measurements. Lisa, I’m so sorry. This soup was delicious and took maybe ten minutes to prepare (I cooked it on high in my slow cooker for 5 hours)!
I should have also noted I have been using this Smoky Chickpea, Red Lentil & Vegetable Soup recipe for years but was feeling “burned out” on it; if you have lentils to use up, I highly recommend it and simply needed a break from it myself.
The flax I’ve added to smoothies and I also ran with an idea Sara suggested about making overnight oats. A few spoonfuls of oatmeal, ~ 1/4 cup pineapple Greek yogurt, ~ 2 tablespoons of plain Greek yogurt, a few teaspoons of flax, and a tablespoon of peanut butter. I stirred that up, topped it with raspberries and popped it in the fridge overnight. In the morning I added a generous sprinkle of pumpkin seeds and raisins. SO. GOOD.
Speaking of reader suggestions, months ago I asked for feedback about how to clean mirrors. I think this was on my old blog because I can’t seem to find record of it on my current site. Anyhoo, in the middle of many wonderful suggestions someone (sorry! can’t remember who) mentioned using coffee filters. It works so well! There is no lint and they naturally are designed to withstand being saturated with liquid. I use a few basket coffee filters, spray them with Windex or vinegar, wipe the mirror and then buff with a waffle weave cloth. Works like a very inexpensive charm.
Several bloggers have done year-end site stat recaps which I find fascinating to read. My stats are skewed since the first EIGHT MONTHS of 2023 writing was lost to the internet ether.
Moving on. From September to December, here are some “Top Fives”…
TOP FIVE POSTS (MOST VIEWS)
#1: Guest Post: Welcome Back Laura Vanderkam!
#2: Guest Post: Welcome Back SHU!
#3: Introducing: Happy Things Friday
#4: Announcing My Year of Shmita
#5: Life Lately: I Have Some Catching Up To Do! (I wrote this shortly after getting my new blog operational)
TOP FIVE REFERRERS
*These are other websites that point people to my blog. Search Engines were technically #3, so I’ll go with the Top Five Real-Life Bloggers!*
#1: Martin Family Moments (Colleen)
#2: The Shu Box (Sarah Hart-Unger)
#3: Laura Vanderkam (Laura)
#4: Harry Times (Sarah)
#5: Life of a Doctor’s Wife (Suzanne)
TOP FIVE COUNTRIES (BY # OF VIEWS)
#1: The United States
#2: Canada (Woot, Woot)
#3: The United Kingdom
#4: Australia
#5: Germany
TOP FIVE CLICKS
*This represents the website or link my readers most frequently clicked on/navigated to from my site.*
#1: The Time for Change (Engie)
#2: Harry Times (Sarah)
#3: The In Between is Mine (San)
#4: Runner’s Fly (Jenny)
#5: The Birchwood Pie Project (Birchie)
POSTS WITH MOST COMMENTS (NON-GUEST)
*I’m not going to count guest posts here because there’s a lot of extra commenting since both the guest and I respond to many comments! Guest posts are popular and – spoiler alert – I have a brand-new one coming Monday.*
#1: Do You Judge a Book By Its Cover (I Do) + More Questions for Readers
#2: Top Five/Bottom Five: Halloween Treat Edition
#3: Farwell to NaBloPoMo + Top Five/Bottom Five Christmas Songs
#4: I Don’t Have to Write A Newsletter (Or, Good Things I Will Not Be Doing This Christmas)
#5: Top Five/Bottom Five: Christmas Movie Edition
Your turn. Does anyone reading today live outside those “Top Five” countries? Do you ever make overnight oats? Do you have a smartwatch? If so, do you find it helps you avoid digital distraction, or does it add to your digital overwhelm?
Header photo by Calum Lewis on Unsplash
coco
from Indonesia 🙂
I tried overnight oat but don’t like cold food in the morning so prefer warm oatmeal.
Elisabeth
I actually like it cold (I find it feels cool, anyway – not ice cold), but I know other people will heat up overnight oats!
Kelsey
I love overnight oats but usually warm them up in the morning. In the summer I can enjoy cold oats though. I do 1/4 cup quick cook steel cut oats, 1/2 cup oat or almond milk, a tablespoon of peanut butter, and a dash of cinnamon. In the morning I warm it up for a minute. Sometimes I add sliced pecans and chopped toasted pecans — yum!
I wear an Apple Watch and love it but the only notifications I get on it are calls. It’s been really helpful to disconnect from my phone because I can check the time on my wrist (not my phone, where I might get sucked in) plus now I’m not missing phone calls. I also keep my phone silent all the time so it was easy to miss calls. I also like being able to wear it at the park with my kids to keep me from checking my phone, but if I need to quickly see if Chris has texted me I can. I love charging my watch in the evening and wearing it at night to track my sleep — I find the data so interesting and it motivates me to try to get at least 7 hours of sleep (currently averaging just under 7 so need to work on that!).
Elisabeth
Toasted pecans – ah. That sounds like a dream! Yum. I don’t mind them cold (and with Greek yogurt it’s VERY thick), but I should try it with milk and warm it. I bet I’d love that too.
I should turn off text notifications on my watch. It IS helpful, but also distracting. Hard to find the right balance.
I also keep my phone on silent and also tend to miss calls (and texts). I really should set up for notifications from my closest friends/family to get through.
I did use my watch to track sleep for several months but really found it hard to get the charging rhythm down pat. My husband has an Oura ring and loves it (and it doesn’t need to be charged very often). I don’t like wearing rings (other than my wedding band/engagement ring), but it is tempting to have all that data!
Sarah
The fitness tracker on my Apple watch went haywire and started giving me credit for climbing hundreds of flights of stairs. It really bothered me since I was using it to get active minutes outside of dedicated exercise time— so I quit the watch all together. BUT like Kelsey noted, it was great to stay connected to phone calls or urgent stuff from kids. You can put do not disturb on on your phone and choose whose calls and texts get through.
Elisabeth
I know – gah. I am so lazy/uninterested in tech things and have not set this up. DEMERIT ALERT. The capabilities exist and I need to exploit them.
I hate climbing stairs, so I would have been tempted to take the credit 🙂
Sarah
Oh!! Also!! Love the picture of your living room— so clean and cozy.
Elisabeth
Aww. Thanks. I really love our main living space. It is cozy and inviting and calm. (Notice I didn’t take a picture of either kids’ room.)
Nicole MacPherson
This is so interesting! I never look at my stats, and maybe I should because it’s cool to see where readers come from!
Elisabeth
I almost never looked at stats on my old site, but it is fun to track things (and it’s all done automatically). I don’t do a single thing for SEO so it’s just for interest, but I’m sure lots of bloggers tweak how they do things based on the results? (Apparently Tuesday at 9 am is the best time for me to post things to get views!)
Colleen Martin
OK that soup looks amazing! We are doing the Whole30 right now so I can’t eat lentils, but maybe I could substitute chicken…I’m going to try. I just got caught up on all your posts since before Christmas – always love what you write and your beautiful photos. Thanks for being a bright spot in my day 🙂
Elisabeth
Good luck on the Whole30. I’ve done it twice – not for the faint of heart, but subbing ingredients really opens up the door to many recipes. It was/is delicious.
Thanks for sharing such kind sentiments about my writing/this blog space <3
Jenny
People apparently really like the Top 5/Bottom 5 posts! About the Apple watch- I don’t have one and I don’t want one. My garmin is fine for running and it would drive me nuts to get notifications on my wrist for every text and email I get.
I think what we’ve learned here is that red lentils are VERY versatile. Your concoction sounds delicious, and I’ll check out the recipe for the smoky chickpea and lentil soup- I’m always up for a new healthy soup recipe.
So, do you eat the overnight oats cold? I think that’s what most people do (although I’ve heard of people warming them up.) I just don’t like a cold breakfast- even in Florida. That is a good way to use up your flax seeds though. I was going to say that the main thing I use ground flax for is an egg replacer- but since you eat eggs that’s not really helpful for you.
Elisabeth
I do eat them cold! I’m quite happy with them that way, but I think lots of people warm them up, too!
Ernie
I can’t believe your house is already back in almost-perfect order. I’m no where near that, but I’ve been gradually gathering things and parking them on the dining room table.
I do not use an Apple Watch. I like a regular watch, but mine broke in May and I haven’t had a chance to replace it. I don’t do overnight oats. I do make GF oats every morning though. Those apples look so yummy. It looks like the insides of an apple pie.
Things have been very hectic here, but I’m starting to get caught up on my reading. I hope to go back and read some of the posts I’ve missed. I love your top fives.
Elisabeth
You have A LOT of people in your house PLUS take care of other children for a living. I have two and they are back to school! Also, I did NOT take pictures of their room. Those spaces are never in almost-perfect order.
You have had a CRAZY year. Hoping 2024 is much (much, much) less intense for you and your loved ones <3
Lisa's Yarns
I have tried making overnight oats, but like Coco I prefer my oatmeal piping hot. So they are a “good for you, not for me” type of thing.
I love that you and Nicole know me well enough to know that I absolutely need to follow a recipe. I bet my college friends don’t know that about me, but you 2 Canadians that I haven’t met in person (yet) know about this quirk!
I figured you were being bombarded w/ lentil suggestions, but if you find yourself in need of a recipe down the road, I highly recommend this one: https://pinchndash.wordpress.com/2011/12/11/green-and-red-lentil-enchiladas-3/ We use green/brown lentils when we make it but the recipe is designed for red lentils. We do not use vegan cheese – we use regular cheese and we top them w/ olives since we are a house of olive lovers. Both boys used to gobble this up, now only Taco will eat it which is a shame. Maybe Paul will come around again some day.
I have an Apple Watch as you know but I often don’t notice the notifications. I only use the haptic notification, though. I don’t know if I am not getting some of the notifications or if I am so in the zone that I don’t notice the vibration? So it’s not distracting to me in general and it is nice to look at the notifications if I am away from my phone. Like if Phil texts me when I am doing a workout – I can see what he’s asking/saying and know whether i can continue on.
Elisabeth
Ha! Yes, I knew you would be cringing at my loose approximation of things.
I need to do a much better job of dealing with how I receive notifications. Definitely a “demerit” for me. Sigh.
Suzanne
Yay for a de-Christmassed house! Our house is still FULL of Christmas and I am trying to enjoy it but I am OVER IT. Hopefully this weekend we can take it all down.
Love your living room couch!
Elisabeth
It’s such a fine line between – I want it up and PLEASE GET THESE CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS AWAY FROM ME.
Good luck with the dismantling process.
NGS
I am anti-watch in general and the thought of a smartwatch makes me shudder a bit. I have a bit of an addictive personality and the last thing I need to be able to track is heartrate, sleeping, etc.
Okay, I have figured it out. There are early Christmas decorators, who get their trees up in November and these people tend to take away their decorations right after Christmas. There are late Christmas decorators, who refuse to even acknowledge the holiday until December, but those people tend to keep up their decorations later. We all have the decorations up for the same length of time, but just different times. I was somewhat taken aback when you put up your tree so early, but I bet you’d be aghast to know that mine’s probably going to stay up until the 13th or 14th!
We do not have coffee filters in our house (sad face), so we use newspapers. I mean, we don’t get a newspaper, either, but we get advertisements as junk mail that are newspaper and whenever those come in the mail, I use them to clean mirrors. They work just as well, except sometimes you get ink on your hands and then you have to wash your hands. But look at my frugal cleaning tip!
Elisabeth
I LOVE my smartwatch but mostly because it’s waterproof and has a timer function. I also love tracking my workouts that way (but I don’t use it for checking e-mails ever).
I am definitely an early decorator! I think this assessment is spot on and quite genius. You’re so right and this follows the trends I’ve observed (but never really quantified) before…
Our artificial tree went up mid-November, our real tree early December. Now that we’re going artificial upstairs next year too…I’m going to have to think through the timing!
Diane
I feel like I’m the only one at work without a smart watch. I think a lot of stage managers like them because you can put your phone away but still keep the information channels flowing. I’m sure if I had one, I would adapt, but I’m happy with my plain Timex digital watch.
I’ve done overnight oats, but I do prefer my oats warm too. And isn’t overnight oats just kind of … muesli?
Sometimes I’ll do an overnight soak of steel cut oats and that helps them cook faster in the morning.
The other day the Husband asked when we could take the Christmas decorations down. And I said, don’t we usually take them down at the Feast of the Three Kings? He’s the Catholic one, not me, so I let him figure out when that is. At any rate, the unwritten rule is that they have to be down before the oldest kids’ birthday on Jan. 11th. Usually he has a fit and takes them down while I’m at work one weekend. I don’t mind them up. The lights on the tree are nice and cozy. Plus, taking things down is a lot of work.
I love those blog stats! Yay you!
Elisabeth
Hey – if Timex works, why mess with it. And the daily charging of an Apple watch is a bit of a nuisance (and it can run out of battery on an especially long day/if I workout various times).
Taking things down feels like so much more work. Sigh. It’s not nearly as fun, but it does feel good to have everything cleared away now!
Michelle
Wow! What fun to see your blog stats – I’d never thought about doing that. Now I have to go read your post about your digital Sabbath! I’m intrigued!
Elisabeth
Yeah, I never really looked at blog stats on my old blog, so it would be interesting to compare that site to this new one in terms of “trends.”
Beckett @ Birchwood Pie
For the most part my smart watch notifications are a positive. They make it possible for me to get an idea of who’s contacting me and what they want without having to be glued to my phone.
I don’t think it’s necessary to do an OOO message for your email – what are the chances that anyone emailing you at 5 on a Saturday needs an answer within 24 hours? I think that “next business day” is the standard email response time. The hot buttered apples look amazing and I can almost smell them through the computer screen.
Elisabeth
My big issue – which again, why do I keep forgetting to clarify these nuances – is church things. I actually quite regularly get e-mails about last-minute church things (e.g. can you volunteer in the nursery THIS MORNING). Already I miss many of these e-mails…but now I would 100% miss them all. I guess my response then would be: Hi X, Thanks for thinking of me. I’d love to help out as I’m able but I need more notice and/or please call me at X number).
The apples smelled so good it’s almost criminal.
SHU
Also chiming in to say no need for that auto responder! I don’t think anyone is going to send an urgent email on Saturday that is expected to be gotten to by Sunday, and the negatives thus outweighs the positives (not going to lie, I MIGHT PERHAPS be slightly annoyed to receive that email but would not be bothered in the least by no response in that time frame!).
Email is for asynchronous communication. Period. I think if you were a litigator or something that would be different but for 99% of us, no email is that important . . .
Elisabeth
I keep forgetting to mention some nuances here. Most of my weekend e-mails are either about church or basketball (L plays on Sunday and Monday). Both tend to be time sensitive. The others can absolutely wait (and I won’t do anything with work…)
I think the way forward is for church e-mails to let the people know who ask me about things last minute that I’m observing a Sabbath (THEY OF ALL PEOPLE SHOULD BE UNDERSTANDING!) and the basketball folks…when John is home he gets the same e-mails and he isn’t planning to do a digital Sabbath, so he can be the one that acts as gatekeeper for that?
Amanda P.
I’m so glad the coffee filters worked! That knowledge was definitely one of the best things to come out of my years working at Friendly’s…
Elisabeth
It was you! Thank you!!!! Yes, they work very well. A great tip 😉
Lindsay
I have a smartwatch, but I mostly use it for tracking distance on my workouts and/or keeping an eye on texts during meetings and the like (obviously not responding – but checking the time looks so much better than me checking my phone)! I live a low-noise notification life and only get notified when my guy or daughter text and phone calls (on vibrate). I have to wonder, though, if that is why my # of smartphone pickups is so high (“I have to see what’s going on!”)… Something to consider as I keep working on my screen time and seeing progress in lessening it. PS: those apples looked AMAZING
Elisabeth
I mostly use mine for workouts and the timer function (well, aside from the actual watch part which I use a lot, too). The timer function is probably my favourite thing. I use it many times a day. Sometimes the notifications are amazing but then other times they’re too distracting – I’m out for coffee with someone and keep getting dings on my watch. I need to take some time to set up parameters in the focus features. Ten minutes of setting those things up would go a LONG way in improving my notification issues.
Allison
I work in the school system and my daughter is in the Ontario university system, so we’re both back to it January 8th. This means everything isn’t QUITE over yet – she has just started packing and I am about to undress the tree so we can put it out tomorrow. My sister’s family left yesterday.
I do really need to do the digital sabbath thing. I have gotten better at not coming home from work and sitting down at the computer just because I’m too baked to do anything else, but I’m still bad at scrolling on my phone. I do not have an apple watch. I always used to stop watches when I wore one, and at this point I don’t think I could stand the sensory part of it.
Elisabeth
I think we’re the odd duck out in Canada going back so early. But we have so many snow days each winter, so it makes sense. My kids weren’t thrilled, but I loved the shorter break. It felt less “blue” after the holidays because we got back into a normal routine more quickly than normal. (My kids went back the 2nd and that’s the earliest they’ve ever started back). Our local university doesn’t start until Monday, though.
Kyria @ Travel Spot
I have a GPS running watch that is a smartwatch, but I use it more for tracking and for looking at the time. I have all notifications turned off. Sometimes I turn text message notification back on, but I am pretty happy to just check my phone from time to time (mine is also on silent 99% of the time) for messages rather than see them all come in in real time.
I am from a top five country 😉 and I think I found your blog through… either Lisa or Engie, I cannot remember anymore!
Elisabeth
I rarely remember how I found different bloggers, but I KNOW I found you through Lisa. And I’m so glad I did <3
San
Oh, the auto-response for “Do not disturb” time is genius. I forgot that you can do that for text messages. Does that work for Whatsapp? I need to find out.
I love overnight oats but haven’t made them in a while (why not, I don’t know). Thanks also for the recipe suggestions (I was going to send you the recipe I use for lentil bolognese!).
Elisabeth
It doesn’t work for WhatsApp, but I might be able to set up something different through WhatsApp? A little over an hour before I head into my first 24 hour digital Sabbath. Exciting.
And thanks for sending that recipe. I need to make some overnight oats for tomorrow’s breakfast! They’re so yummy.
Ally Bean
I’m so far behind reading your blog and I missed you. I like your format of stating five things on a topic. I might need to adopt that. Anyhow, I’m just stopping by here to say “hi!” and will be saving the link for the Slow Cooker Hot Buttered Apples. Talk about the perfect food for a gray winter’s day.
Elisabeth
The Slow Cooker apples were absolutely delicious and will be my new go-to recipe with extra apples.
Tobia | craftaliciousme
Trying to catch up – story of my life – so I am late to the party.
Clicking in from Germany so no other country. Sorry. But we made the top 5 yeah.
I do have a smartwatch but have almost all notifications turned off. Only SM scheduling is active as it is my job and I need to see if the automated posts go out as well as breaking news and emergency warnings. No text. No email. No calls.
I love the digital detox thing. I try to do that once a month and just social media and it is so hard it is ridiculous. Maybe I need to put more effort in.
Elisabeth
Today I’ll start my second 24-hours without my phone. I really liked it last week…we’ll see how this week goes.
Anne
Love this – and love that YOU are so well-loved by people near and far. (I hope that’s clear to you, too!) You are like San, you connect people. Albeit on 2 different “sides” of the continent!
I am not going to weigh in on the watch/phone/notification debate because, well, I am far too connected, I know it, and yet I have not changed. One thing I am good at, though, is ignoring texts. Too good, sometimes, because I do not respond when I need to! (I have a mental running list of ‘people I owe texts’ and it’s getting longer…sigh). Maybe we could trade off a bit to get in better balance? 😉
Elisabeth
That would be helpful because I am NOT good at ignoring texts, but I’m working on it.