In this episode, we're focusing on the things you can do or take in the winter to help yourself get over seasonal depression.
Vitamin D, as previously discussed, aids in the formation of dopamine. We've also mentioned how putting on warm clothing in the winter so you can still go outside and exercise is a good idea.
It's also critical to have people to talk to during this time of year. It is better to have someone in your neighborhood who can just listen for you for a few minutes than it is to go it alone.
Links mentioned in this episode:
2022 Seed Varieties
Pampered Gardener Box by Kitchen Botanicals
The Self Sufficient Life
Not So Modern Living
Episode Sponsor
Kitchen Botanicals
Use code GROUNDED for 20% off your first purchase.
If you enjoyed today's episode and you love this show, can you help us convince others to listen too? All you have to do is leave a quick review and rating (and subscribe if you haven't already). That would mean the world to us. Thank you so much!
Review this podcasts on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/grounded-in-simplicity/id1502793179
In this episode, we're focusing on the things you can do or take in the winter to help yourself get over seasonal depression.
Vitamin D, as previously discussed, aids in the formation of dopamine. We've also mentioned how putting on warm clothing in the winter so you can still go outside and exercise is a good idea.
It's also critical to have people to talk to during this time of year. It is better to have someone in your neighborhood who can just listen for you for a few minutes than it is to go it alone.
Links mentioned in this episode:
2022 Seed Varieties
Pampered Gardener Box by Kitchen Botanicals
The Self Sufficient Life
Not So Modern Living
Episode Sponsor
Kitchen Botanicals
Use code GROUNDED for 20% off your first purchase.
If you enjoyed today's episode and you love this show, can you help us convince others to listen too? All you have to do is leave a quick review and rating (and subscribe if you haven't already). That would mean the world to us. Thank you so much!
Review this podcasts on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/grounded-in-simplicity/id1502793179
Welcome to the grounded and simplicity podcast where we are helping moms get back to the basics and learn to find joy and being less busy. I'm Bonnie from The Not So Modern housewife, and I am joined with my friend Danielle from The Rustic Elk. This week, we are talking about getting over the winter blues. Because we've survived the holidays, now we need to decompress.
Danielle McCoy:Is it as bad down there as it is here, like it's always dark here in the winter.
Bonnie Von Dohre:Um, it's not as bad. And we do get about an hour more of sunlight than what I'm used to up in Ohio. So instead of getting dark at like 4:30, it's getting dark at 5:30. And it's not it is overcast right now but this is our gardening season, so it's actually like not bad. We're not getting like the really bad thunderstorms every day. It's if it's overcast, it has a tendency to hold the heat and more. So our overcast days are actually our warmer days. The really, really clear skies are colder days, because there's nothing to like hold that heat in. Right. So it's really pretty.
Danielle McCoy:It's the same here, but it's a lot colder.
Bonnie Von Dohre:I mean, 40 is cold. No. I got to put on a jacket.
Danielle McCoy:I'm like running around in shorts and 40 degrees. Even when I was in Ohio, I was not running around shorts of minus 60. Mackenzie? Yeah, well, my kids will be running around naked 30 degree weather. So whatever weird. Yeah, I am, I think, getting outside, even if it's not bright daylight, you know, like a clear day, I think you still get some of that vitamin D, like even you up here, you know, would have to be bubbled up, but you know, your face is uncovered. So it helps a little bit. I know, it helps me to get out in the fresh air, even if there's not a lot of sunlight just to kind of brighten my mood.
Bonnie Von Dohre:Yeah, I mean, for me, even in, like, I'll notice some of this, in any of my like busy periods, or even in the summer, when we're not spending a lot of time outside, being inside all day. And like kind of being stagnant and not moving. It really does like affect your mood, and affects your energy levels. So I've got to get better about this. So just getting out and going for a walk and getting that fresh air but getting the body moving, because we're like we're meant to stay in motion. You know, even as we get older and stuff, you know, they, they say that, you know, the people who continue moving, continue doing like those daily walks, or just staying active, whatever that activity level looks like. They're the ones who tend to have fewer issues with dementia and just stay healthier overall. I've known so many folks who, you know, they retire. And within a couple of years of retiring, they have a heart attack and die because it's just I don't know, if it's like not having feeling like you have a purpose anymore. It's just the fact that they go home and just, they stop being as active everyday they stopped getting out and doing things everyday and just sit around.
Danielle McCoy:Right. I think I like that we have animals even though we just have chickens and rabbits just because I have to get out, I make my kids go out we have to in the winter, we have to go out more really because I have to go out change the water because it freezes and not use water heaters and all that stuff out there and go get the eggs so they don't freeze and you know, all those different things. And I think it helps because I have to go out and we used to that use food did before everything was industrialized and going to a job we would all have to work outside regardless of the weather.
Bonnie Von Dohre:Right? Well, and that is one thing. Like when I was in Ohio, I was still outside all winter, I was in the barn. So it's not like I was like out in the elements. But as long as I stayed moving, I mean, there would be a lot of times that I would take my jacket off in the barn because I mean, I had, you know, a sweatshirt on or whatever underneath. But I don't have a draft because you know, we would put like bales of hay along the barn doors so that the you know, the draft didn't come in and everything help insulate the barn. And I would start to sweat. Because I'm just, I'm out there and I'm working and I'm staying at right. And when I get in that frame of mind, like I have to keep myself outside and keep myself going. Because I know as soon as I go inside and sit down, all my momentum is gone and I'm not getting anything else done.
Danielle McCoy:Alright, what's that saying? There's no such thing as bad weather only bad clothes or something like that.
Bonnie Von Dohre:Oh, I don't know. I don't know. I know it's sunshine. Right?
Danielle McCoy:I know. It's something like that because you like when we lived in Montana. It doesn't matter if it's 30 below zero people are still out doing things and you know, being outside. It's a very outdoor oriented place to be even when it's super cold. Versus here. Everybody wants to come inside and bundle up, you know, bundle under blankets on their couch and just veg. And so the whole idea is that there's no such thing as bad weather like it's never too cold, it's never too wet. It's just you have to dress appropriately so that you can get outside.
Bonnie Von Dohre:Right? Well, and when you're in those types of environments, like the winter clothes that they sell, are better equipped for that weather. We cannot find decent winter clothes down here. Like we have to buy stuff when we're visiting Ohio to bring back to us because even the sweaters and things down here are so so thin. And I mean, they're not expecting anyone in Florida to work outside apparently. So I mean, nobody, like even the sweaters that we've got, you know, nobody's wearing those outside for any length of time. I mean, it's not even like they're thinner than sweatshirts. So
Danielle McCoy:that's another thing though, is like, today's clothes really aren't as warm as you know, the things that you can find like thrift shop, like old wool coats, and you know, those types of things because almost everything's made out of a plastic fiber. So as natural fibers are got,
Bonnie Von Dohre:you've got folks that are buying most of their clothes from Walmart. And even I mean in. Okay, I will say I buy a lot of clothes from Kohl's, and even those clothes aren't very good quality. But I mean, people will brag about target. And I'm like, I'm sorry, the target clothes are like only a minuscule level above the Walmart clothes. And they're just, they're trying to make them out of the cheapest fabric possible. So even if it's cotton, they're making it out of the thinnest cotton they can. And it's still, you know, look decent. So regardless of me in that can, you can buy stuff that's made in the USA, and it's still made out of cheap, ultra thin cotton that is going to wear a hole in itself in six months. If so it doesn't even right. So it doesn't even matter. Like where it's coming from. It's just a matter of the actual quality of the materials that went into it. Right. Now, granted, it does seem like slightly better stuff comes out of Europe. But that's another story. I think Europe also kind of has higher standards for everything. So yeah. But well, and, you know, of course, this podcast is supposed to be about being less busy. So we're not saying that we need to, you know, work ourselves to the bone all winter long just to stay moving either.
Danielle McCoy:No, but movement, incorporating movement and being outside should be right day. It's not necessarily that you're you're not busy at that point, you're just you know, you're you're taking care of yourself, right,
Bonnie Von Dohre:even if all you're doing is part of your I'm not saying this needs to be like four o'clock in the morning routine, but I have decided that now that I'm retired in the military, I am seeing as the fewest number of 4am Mornings possible. I saw one this morning, but that was because I literally did not sleep last night. Anyway, where was I going with that? But once the sun has come up a little bit higher, and it is not like Nanook of the North cold. Go outside and just take a nice walk outside. Just enjoy the outdoors enjoy nature. You know, like I love? Well, yeah, I mean, you guys still have songbirds, I really you guys have some birds out there, winters when we see all of our songbirds. So that's when I'll tend to put out my bird feeders and stuff like that. Then we have like the Cardinals in the in the finches and stuff that come around. But I know even up north we had a lot of songbirds that we would put feet out for and just just being outside and just enjoying those birds and enjoying the feel of the wind. Oh, goodness, I can't talk, feeling the wind, you know, on your face on your skin. It's gonna burn your lungs a little bit. But guess what, that's actually really good for you. And once you get used to it, it actually feels really good. And then you go inside and you have like a cup of hot chocolate. You know, then you go inside get cozy by the fire. But
Danielle McCoy:you don't have frostbite on your nose. You're good. Right? Which I mean if I've got frostbite in Florida, I've got bigger problems. But
Bonnie Von Dohre:that's I mean, and that's what wonderful scarves are for. And I mean, it's winter is a nice season because it is it is a season for slowing down. It is a season for you know, this is the time when we kind of come indoors, we do our mending we do you know, like we focus on the inside stuff. I don't know what it is. And probably because it's so bad, awful hot. In the summertime. I can't even imagine trying to knit anything. But I love to knit in the wintertime. And it's like the only time of year that I can really get into it. Where my brain kind of slows down enough where I can allow myself to just sit there and knit and not constantly bouncing around thinking about all the other things that I should be doing should be doing. So you know, there's, there's a lot of other things that we can do to slow down, but still kind of past the time and keep occupied. Right? And living actually really helps with my anxiety.
Danielle McCoy:Yeah, I like to eat outside, even on the really, really cold mornings just because it's actually kind of refreshing. And I don't know, it kind of grounds you and it's old. But uh, you know, I'm going to get to go into a nice warm house and another 10 or 20 minutes. So it's not like it's, you know, it's not forever, it's not permanent. So maybe that's part of it. And I know up here, my mom, she had really, really bad seasonal depression, but terrible. So full spectrum lights are a good thing.
Bonnie Von Dohre:Right? Yeah, you can actually get like those daylight lamps. And I don't usually supplement with vitamin D. Like, via, you know, pills vitamins when I lived up in Ohio. Yeah, I haven't really noticed a need for it down here. But
Danielle McCoy:another thing that I think helps even though it's kind of counterintuitive, because you're not getting vitamin D is avoiding artificial light and using natural light like candles and, you know, oil lamps or whatever it may be in the evenings, especially, or, you know, first thing in the morning when it's still dark, because it doesn't get daylight till nine and it gets dark at four. But the natural I'm sorry,
Bonnie Von Dohre:I'm sorry, what's the incentive for living in Indiana? I missed that part.
Danielle McCoy:We have snow anyway.
Bonnie Von Dohre:Trust me, my daughter is can we move to Ohio? I want snow. I'm like, no, just just No.
Danielle McCoy:But when you use those natural lights, like candlelight and stuff like that, it doesn't mess it doesn't that blue light. So it doesn't mess with your circadian rhythms. And if your circadian rhythm is off, then you know that can affect your mood too. Because then you're not sleeping soundly. You're not you know, you're not sleeping as well. And another thing is turn off your Wi Fi at night. Believe it or not that stuff actually mess with us.
Bonnie Von Dohre:Yeah. And you know, you say that and I'm like, No, I I've heard that like numerous times. And I still forget to do it. Like I and I really, I shouldn't be sleeping with my phone by my bed either. That's No, I did set up a charging station in the kitchen. And the idea is, you know, we can charge everything in the kitchen. And I need to, I need to get back to doing that. Because since I have my VA is in there in the Philippines. Usually as soon as I wake up in the morning, I'm letting them know I'm awake. And I'm checking to see if they have any questions or if they need anything for me and you know, so it's like, I'm literally grabbing my phone as soon as I open my eyes and that's a really, really bad habit.
Danielle McCoy:A terrible habit. That's another thing instead of doing that you can light a candle. Don't Don't grab your phone, take a candle just a taper candle and just slide it into and let the natural light will see them but you can let the natural light kind of I'm going to burn
Bonnie Von Dohre:my house down that's what's gonna happen
Danielle McCoy:maybe we should put a disclaimer
Bonnie Von Dohre:if you have a four year old that sleeps in your bed with you and he tends to flail his appendages, you might not want to have a lit candle next to your bed
Danielle McCoy:Don't leave burning candles unattended
Bonnie Von Dohre:I'll put one on the kitchen stove and it can burn in there but it also speaking of speaking of natural light really like pulling back our curtains and letting more of the sunlight come in during the day to write because like darkness in general can really affect our moods and so just to brighten up a space and you know let that light in even if it's not like super super cold out and even if it is super super cold out some people you know like it but crack a window and let some of that air come in or you know crack them on opposite into the house to actually get some airflow and stuff like that. So that even if you're indoors you're still you're getting that fresh air and you're getting that sunlight and it really can make a big difference on your mood
Danielle McCoy:right we've tried to open our windows even if it's just for you know like 10 minutes at least once a week just to kind of air the house out and because it gets it gets hot in here anyway it's we're using wood so
Bonnie Von Dohre:yeah, well and I know the woods also gonna dry out the air a lot too so we put a pot of water on a lot of times yeah hi there something to humidify
Danielle McCoy:we can also help your mood one of our Have a screen in your window?
Bonnie Von Dohre:windows yesterday Yeah. also helped cut down on nosebleeds. Yeah, we did. Yeah, we did open a window No, because I have cats. yesterday and then we had to like do a headcount make sure the cats were still in the house.
Danielle McCoy:Oh, okay. I don't have any either. But
Bonnie Von Dohre:over time, I mean grid we have we still have all the screens. They just need to be repaired. Our waters, our what has happened to all of the screens all over our house over the years, is the cat's would figure out what what room were in. And when the outside cats wanted fed, they would launch themselves at the window or the screen door or whatever screen they could find, launch themselves to the screen and just hang there until we acknowledged them and came out and fed them. So that's why we don't have screens anymore. This is why we can't have nice things.
Danielle McCoy:Our house was a foreclosure, not when we bought it, but our neighbors actually own this house. So they sold it to us, but when they bought it was foreclosure. And so all the screens are like ripped down the middle where somebody tried to break into our house. Oh, wow. Yeah, all of a square cut out of one in our draw.
Bonnie Von Dohre:know, when we bought our house. One house that we looked at was a foreclosure and I don't know if it was the bank or the previous owners or whatever, but they went through and any fixture that could be worth anything. They took it out and replaced it with like the cheapest thing they could find at Lowe's. So you'd have this painted door that you could tell used to have a really nice, like, an a classy, right? I mean, the door was still there. But you could tell like it used to have like a nice door fixture kind of thing, you know, and it's in its place. It's just like a little cheap brass doorknob.
Danielle McCoy:Probably the people that live there, because they know it's the house. I don't know, we've gone in foreclosures that have nothing in them. Like they pull all the counters and the cabinets and the kitchen sink and everything.
Bonnie Von Dohre:Right? Well, and this one, I think they even pulled up all the carpet out of this one, like I mean, it was it was gutted. And the property had a lot of issues anyway, which is why we didn't buy it. But we also there were there was a house, we looked at that it had been a rental and I'm pretty sure there's the people that were renting, it knew that it was getting sold out underneath them. So they just like trashed it, and didn't care. So that's kind of how I ended up with my cat was not not from that, but from somebody else who was a renter, the house was being sold. And so like, they just like cat, the cat guy left behind for the next person in the house, just I don't know, I guess the house is a disaster. I kind of kept in touch with the lady who bought it because she wanted to make sure that you know, the cat went to a good home. Right? And she's like, I regret buying this place just like there's so much more work that needs to be done that we had no idea
Danielle McCoy:about sounds like homeownership.
Bonnie Von Dohre:Right? Well, and there. I mean, honestly, it's like it was an old trailer. And like a little trailer park on the South side of town that's not known for being the great neighborhood or greatest neighborhood to begin with. Right, and they bought it so that their disabled son could like have his own house and be independent, and it was supposed to be for him to move into. But like he's, he's got asthma in addition to whatever like I think he's autistic and had some other issues going on too. And so they needed to just like completely clean out the house get rid of all the old carpet, get rid of the window fixtures, you know, make sure there wasn't anything that was gonna set off his asthma but I think they ended up getting in there and realizing there was like like water damage and wouldn't need to be replaced. Which I mean we ran out of our place too because these manufacturer houses are not sealed well. And so we we already replaced the front door and the front entryway, the back door that is our like our main door that we use that whole frame needs to be replaced and and that the floor there The problem is we have to actually move like our washer and dryer out in order to replace the floor and it's just gonna be a huge big my husband kind of started the project and then just laid plywood over it until he can deal with it at a later time which is never gonna happen but and then more than likely we have the same situation going on with our sliding glass door that doesn't actually slide because you can tell that the floor by it is kind of getting soft so
Danielle McCoy:that's why our sliding glass door is the only one because our has a roof on it so it's covered so it still doesn't have damage we replaced the front door and the floor around it and had to fix part of the rim joist because of where it had leaked. So we like added some support to it and then the same thing with our main backdoor which is actually on the side of our house we had to fix it and we had to move our washer and dryer and all that fun stuff replace all the sub floor replaced on the floor joy. So yeah,
Bonnie Von Dohre:speaking of not being busy we bought our house 14 years ago, 14 and a half years ago, and it didn't have any gutters on it. And there's no like roof overhang or porch or awning or anything over any of the doors. So we knew that the back door is probably gonna be our main entrance because it like is right by where we parked the car but You come up and you count the stairs and the water, the water from the roof is just dumping on your head while you're trying to unlock the back door. So I told my husband 14 years ago, we need gutters, and we awning over this door. I still do not have gutters or an awning over that door. So we were actually at Lowe's. Last week, I was at Lowe's with the kids. And, and the only thing worse than me going to the garden center is me going to the lumber center. And so I was I was looking for brackets, because I made when I made all my raised beds, we made them out of cypress wood, so it wouldn't rot as easily, which was great, the cypress wood is still holding up great. But we used like, I think they're oak. And they were just like one by ones or two by twos or something like that. On the inside corners, and we drilled into those, those have completely rotted out. So now my Cypress boards are just popping off my raised beds, and I need to figure out different way to like, piece my raised beds back together so I can grow something. So I found these metal corner brackets that are probably way heavier than what I need, but they are going to do the job. And I'm going to drill them into the corners. What I love, I buy all this stuff, it's sitting in the back of the car. Two days later, my husband goes so what's the hardware for? Like, I have a new project. But he just he rolls his eyes at me. But they have kits like to make your own Arbor and all this kind of stuff. Like I have to buy the wood and they've got the like the black wrought iron looking hardware that then you drill into the wood and put it all together. So while we're there, the gutters are right there. And then like you know, gutter prices really aren't that bad. No, not yet. Okay? Because I was out of money. But like, my kids are dragging me out of the lumber section because they're like, we're not buying gutters today. Like, I'm gonna have gutters on like on my house sometime before the rainy season starts back up. It's, you know, it's one of those things like I keep telling myself, I don't want to invest a lot of money into this house because this house was only ever supposed to be temporary. We were going to build a conventional build house. Yeah, I know. We're gonna build a conventional house on the property. And like, the further we get in this whole process, I'm like, we're stuck in this house until the day we die. So I'm like, like, Oh, I wonder if I could enclose the front porch and turn it into another bedroom.
Danielle McCoy:I asked her if we could add on to the side so that we could connect our garage. And maybe we could put a root cellar in the adult. She's the only manufacturer else in Indiana with its own root cellar. Yes. I can't even have a basement or root cellar in Florida. So not least I put a sump pump. Yeah, we need a sump pump. We just have a crawlspace. But we spoil yourself.
Bonnie Von Dohre:Yeah. All right. I have to check with Matt. I don't even know what our what our Well, depth is. I know. I mean, it's just the whole state has high water tables, but we are on a hill. So maybe it's a little bit better. Because we kind of got into this hole
Danielle McCoy:133 feet deep, but we hit water at 40 foot.
Bonnie Von Dohre:That's not too bad. So yeah, you're just kind of high to anybody, because I've been, you know, researching, like hand pumps for the well on and off. And I got to look and see if like if we can find one that we could attach to our well, that also like reach that depth and whatever. But I don't know how far down we have to go to actually hit water. I know where wherever the well is currently we have really good water. But with Florida, if you don't like if you go too high, then you get into like a sulfur pocket and it's gross. Oh, that's yeah, we we had that problem. The house I rented in Tampa. The water was decent. It wasn't the best but it was drinkable. And then they decided to redo the well and my landlord was cheap. So he didn't want to drill it as steep as it was originally. And so the second well ended up hitting sulfur pocket and I could not drink the water. Like I would walk into my house. And it smelled like my dog pooped in my house. And it was the water suck. So yeah, it was bad. Anyway,
Danielle McCoy:but yeah, homeownership will keep you busy. So don't own a home.
Bonnie Von Dohre:Well, and you know, the thing is, so I will like I am constantly finding projects that I want to do. But then of course I completely overwhelm myself with the size of the project because I don't think about You know how big it is when I started. So buying off small pieces is really helpful. I'm not trying to take on too much. And then also for me, I will, like hyper fixate on something. And so I will, like, let everything else around me fall by the wayside while I just do this one thing and try to like see it all the way through to completion. Meanwhile, the world is burning around me. So that doesn't help anybody.
Danielle McCoy:And it messes with your mood.
Bonnie Von Dohre:It does.
Danielle McCoy:Because then you feel like you a number one, I think the number one problem is you feel like you avoided all this other stuff, and then you feel crappy, because you didn't do any of the other things. And the other thing is you get overwhelmed with whatever the project is. Because it's too big, and it's too much you didn't take off little pieces, and it just puts you in a pissy mood.
Bonnie Von Dohre:So yeah, well, and I will say, I'm not necessarily when it comes to like Home Improvement stuff, although this really applies to anything. But I will bite off more than I can chew. And it will be something that I've never done before. But I tell myself, I need to push myself outside of my comfort zone so that I can, you know, be a better person, which is great. Until the imposter syndrome kicks in. And then I'm like, laying in my bed in the fetal position. Because what the heck was I thinking thinking that I could possibly do this? So a lot of I mean, and I'm not saying that's like, I am not the picture of mental health, straight right now. So I think that going into something like that you have to do to set like, set your intention going into it, and decide what your mindset is going to be decide, you know, what your thought process is going to be? What you know, what do you want it to make you feel? And if you find yourself, like, if the project is making you angry, and you're getting angry at everyone around you because of this thing, then it's time to take a step back and ask yourself why.
Danielle McCoy:Right!
Bonnie Von Dohre:And you know, is it you're setting your expectations too high? Are you pushing yourself too hard? You know, have you not communicated with the other people involved in the project to make sure you're on the same page? Because I think I think that's really what trips us up more anything is especially the expectations is like we expect everything to go smoothly. We expect everything to be perfect. And we expect everything to like, fall in line on our timeline and go according to plan. And
Danielle McCoy:God laughs Right, exactly.
Bonnie Von Dohre:Like it's not it, you know, and it's not even that anything is going wrong. Right?
Danielle McCoy:It's just not working the way you wanted it to or what you expected it to.
Bonnie Von Dohre:Right. It's like it's just, it's like, look, this is reality. Reality is sometimes it takes longer to pull the permit. You know, sometimes you're doing a home improvement project and your kids still want to eat three times a day. So how they're thinking leaving the house today, and like they're all looking at me like what are we eating? I'm like, There's a refrigerator full of food. There's a microwave. Have at it. Mama, you're right here. Oh, but anyway, so yeah, it's we have to kind of like, just take a deep breath. Don't get, you know, don't get so sucked into. Well, this isn't what Joanna Gaines would do. Well, Joanna Gaines has a whole team behind her and they're making everything perfect for the camera. So you know, there's a
Danielle McCoy:lot more to what actually happens. So what you see is just like Instagram, you know, like everybody records all the perfect stuff and takes pictures of all the perfect things. But you know, what did it take to get there? And how many you know? How many kids got how many kids or how many kids got yelled at or how many times did you go out and try to pull your hair out because it didn't turn out the way you wanted it to? I mean there's there's a lot more that goes on behind the scenes this
Bonnie Von Dohre:how many dishes did you create while you while you made that perfect recipe? Right? And how long how long did you spend in the kitchen? How long were you cleaning up afterwards? Right. And did anyone actually eat it?
Danielle McCoy:Just because it looks pretty doesn't mean that you ate it? Yes. Before it looks really good and even smell halfway good. But then
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Danielle McCoy:You talked about vitamin D and supplementing with vitamin D, I think what is cod liver oil tastes Oh yeah. But it has vitamin D and vitamin A in it. And so really readily available vitamin D and vitamin A, and there's other stuff in there too, like omega threes and all that stuff. But I think that it helps the most because it's more soluble. So you actually absorb more of it than you know, if you just take a pill, I don't think it's necessarily like a big portion that you're not actually going to absorb. And another thing is water. Like I
Bonnie Von Dohre:keep bringing up the water.
Danielle McCoy:I find myself like when I haven't had enough water I
Bonnie Von Dohre:get run over here drinking my bean juice. Well,
Danielle McCoy:I mean, we can call it water but it's nice.
Bonnie Von Dohre:It has water in it. Hmm. Well, and so I'll say I got really a lot of morning sickness. My daughter, I guess I'll start there. And I was taking fish oil and got really sick one morning after taking my fish oil and I can't pick fish oil anymore. So oh goodness, I can't remember names. Now the cod liver oil is off the table for you. Cod Liver Oil is off the table for me. Anyway, there's a Nordic Naturals or something like that Nordic something sounds familiar. Yeah, so I take their Omega supplements. It's got a few different things in it. But the most important part is it does not taste like fish oil. And it's got the vitamin D in it. Although I was talking to my dentist of all things, and he was mentioning that it's really good to take vitamin K with your omega vitamin. Because the K actually helps with the absorption and keeps build up out of your arteries or something like that. So I guess I'm going to be switching to yeah, I'll try anything. Um
Danielle McCoy:having chaos your blood clot so I don't know what one right but this I
Bonnie Von Dohre:remember he was saying like it helps reduce the plaque buildup and stuff in the arteries. And then there may have also been something with it like helping absorption. I don't know if it was in the bones or in the unknown, but now all of us now I'm like, well, crap, I don't know what the heck I'm talking about. I guess I need to google it and
Danielle McCoy:we use Renu life cinnamon tingle, so it doesn't actually taste like oil, but it's still like it's actually like a gel like consistency of it's quite disgusting
Bonnie Von Dohre:but interesting. I got a I don't know if it was a cod liver oil. It is it but it's like an Omega 3 and nd it's supposed to be strawberry flavored. And I got it for my kids because I cuz I'm in these I'm in these like ADHD parenting groups and ever like there was a bunch of people talking about how much it helped their kids were focused. So like to try and I don't know, either I'm pitching the bottle or I'm drinking it myself because all of my kids are like, Nope, I mean, they will try it. They're like I'm not drinking anymore.
Danielle McCoy:See, this was like a it's a gel and see just take like, the kids take like a half teaspoon. I think I'm gonna have to go there. Anyway, I just scoop it out and put it on the back of their time. I saw it. Yeah, I'm
Bonnie Von Dohre:Well, that's good. I my kids could definitely see more that I'm my 11 year old. Oh my goodness. Anyway.
Danielle McCoy:another story for another day. Another story for another day. My 11 year old was pain in the ass today..
Bonnie Von Dohre:yeah, we're hitting that. He pulled the I can't wait until I move out of this house bit the other day. Oh my. His four year old brother like, broke his Legos. I'm like their Legos. That sounds like my way of Legos is you can put them back together.
Danielle McCoy:But my kids to get mad at the four year old for the same thing. So see we again?
Bonnie Von Dohre:Tell your kids hey, guess what if your Legos were all over the floor, he wouldn't keep taking them.
Danielle McCoy:No, that's definitely. And if your legs were all over the floor, then I wouldn't try to break my neck.
Bonnie Von Dohre:Over your cut, I would cut on the bottom of one of my toes. And I'm pretty sure it's from stepping on a toy. A bad thing is I don't even remember which toy
Danielle McCoy:Oh, yeah. So what do we got, we got water, and water, vitamin D, fresh air, sunlight, and broadspectrum artificial if you're going to use if you don't get enough sunlight, but at the same time, I think natural light helps us regulate our circadian rhythms so that we sleep better turn off the Wi Fi, which helps you sleep better. I follow this woman on Instagram, and they even have a kill switch in their bedroom for all of their bedroom wiring. Oh, wow. Yeah, that's dedication. Okay, I'm like, wow, that's, that's involved.
Bonnie Von Dohre:I have a space heater in my bedroom right now. So that's not going to happen. The only source of heat? Well, actually, okay, speaking of since, you know, this whole podcast is about listening to our bodies and our natural rhythms. But using this time, especially, because like I was saying, winter time is a time when our minds naturally just kind of slow down. And the world around us slows down. Like it's, you know, everything, okay? Unless you live in Florida. Everything is covered in a blanket of snow, which makes everything quieter. And, you know, it's just everything kind of, like hibernates and dies back to, you know, regenerate in a few months. But this is also a really good time to like, slow down and listen to your body. And kind of get into a rhythm of your body if you need to. I I think that's kind of also why like New Year's resolutions are so popular is because it is kind of a time to, like naturally want to set new goals and kind of try to like be a better person. So if you're trying to set a new routine, or something just feels like unbalanced. Just taking this time to really figure out like, what point in the day do you feel like you have the most energy? What point in the day? Do you feel like you need to kind of take a step back and relax a little bit. Even, you know, look at certain times during the month, like do you have certain times during lunch where you're feeling more motivated. And certain times when you're feeling more like introspective? There's in taking the time to also do some self care and making sure you're taking care of yourself. But have you heard of the bones? No bones, it's more of a TikTok thing. Oh, no. Okay. Um, so this has become a thing. And I find it hilarious. But at the same time, I'm like one of those things that I'm totally on board with. So there's this guy, and his name escapes me right now. He has a 13 year old pug. And every single day, his TikTok channel is literally just he walks in, he picks up the pug. And the pug either wants to stand up and wants to be active and run around all day. Or he doesn't and he just wants to lay in his bed and you cannot make him stand no matter what you do. So on the days that he wants to stand up and be active, those are his bones days and on the days where he just wants to be a slop all day. Those are his no bones days. And this has become like the groundhog of the internet. Everyone's like everyone is basing their energy level for the day of a 13 year old pug they're like nope, sorry, it's a no bones day. I've got my cozy blanket. I'm gonna lay on this couch and watch some Netflix so I'm like the great thing is you tell people on TikTok that it is a no bones day and they know what you're talking about. Wow. It's the little
Danielle McCoy:I think you should still get up and move even if it's no bones day. That's just me.
Bonnie Von Dohre:Okay, but Well alright, so yes, even if your no bones days, go out take your walk even if it's just 10 minutes right but if you're in don't don't base your energy level of the day on a 13 year old pug but if your body if your body is telling you that alright today I need to slow down or maybe even like I noticed this actually. On my way in to record the podcast today is I am feeling a lot more introspective today. And so it's a really good time of the month, I guess I could say, because we did kind of touch on the whole menstrual cycle thing last last time. But so I'm actually going into my luteal phase, which is a good time for analyzing data doing planning. Just kind of like being more quiet and reflective. And not like I don't need to use a lot of like extroverted energy right now, except for talking on a podcast. But when you like when you take the time to really pay attention to your body, and what your body is telling you, then you'll find that you still have time to do all the things. But you don't need to do all the things every single day, right? You know, you, you do stuff you have the energy for on the days, you have the energy for it. And on the days, you don't have the energy for it, you do the stuff that takes less energy or takes, you know, a different kind of energy.
Danielle McCoy:Right, but that doesn't mean mindless scrolling on TikTok.
Bonnie Von Dohre:Well, that's called that's called buffering. And we'll talk more about that when we talk more about mental
Danielle McCoy:Well, I was gonna say, you know, like, I health. think another thing that can help boost your mood, especially during this time of year is keeping the screens off, you know, find a book or knit or you know, do something with your hands, you know, do something that's going to exercise your mind, that's not just, you know, mindless scrolling, because then we get into comparing ourselves to all the perfection that we see on the internet, which puts us in a crummy mood, or a lot of times it can because you're like, Oh, well, she has whatever it may be, and I don't have or she must have, you know, like perfect angelic children because they let her you know what I mean? So we get into the whole comparison thing.
Bonnie Von Dohre:And even even if it's not necessarily the comparison thing, when you start relying on being entertained, then you like, your brain is constantly looking for that dopamine, right? And so like, it's, it gives you less opportunities to quiet your mind and listen to your thoughts and like, and I mean, we see it with our kids. And yet, we don't really pay attention to ourselves as adults, but like, we're constantly telling our kids, it's okay to be bored, right? Like you, you need to spend some time being bored. It's not the end of the world, it's not going to kill you. But then ourselves. We like we constantly have to have noise, we listen to the radio on the way to work, we, you know, have the radio playing, or we're talking to coworkers or whatever the whole time we're at work or listening to radio, or a podcast or audiobook or something on the way home from work. We get home from work, we sit down, we turn on the TV. And we continue that right up until we go to bed and then we can't sleep. So yeah, we need we need those quiet times. And I mean, even if you're reading a book, that's a different kind of entertainment than, like watching TV or listening to stuff. Because, I mean, I know I will sit there and I'll read a book, but I've got like, the whole world is playing out inside of my mind. And so I'm still like, I'm using those brain cells. Right?
Danielle McCoy:Exactly. It's completely different than, you know, just sitting and watching TV because the story is already, you know, it's playing out for you visually and audibly versus if you read a book..
Bonnie Von Dohre:And it's only using like, a certain part of your brain, the rest of your brain just tuned out.
Danielle McCoy:Right, and that part of your brain doesn't get used if you're just watching mind numbing television or scrolling on Instagram or you know, whatever it may be. And my final point is diet, I think yes, because we just came off of the holidays especially so a lot of people overindulgence sugar and things like that and sugar can definitely mess with your dopamine response and you crummy because you're coming off your sugar high. So you know, eating better food, less sugar.
Bonnie Von Dohre:Our three month long perceptual or perpetual sugar high that like started before Halloween and like went straight through till New Year's Yes,
Danielle McCoy:but we call that flu season. Anyway, another story for another day.
Bonnie Von Dohre:On a semi related note, I screwed up a batch of fudge and so now my husband is just like, Oh, you have to try again. Darn. Oh no, I'm still eating it. Oh it's just it's more the consistency of taffy than budge. So, oh, you kind of have to eat it with a fork.
Danielle McCoy:Never had a fudge but hey..
Bonnie Von Dohre:it It's just it's just soft and sticky. That's all. I mean, it's still taste great. I don't think I don't think we boiled it long enough. So I need to actually pull up a candy thermometer and do it the right way. Yeah, it just drives me nuts when like, you see these super easy fudge recipes that don't tell you what temperature to put it at.
Danielle McCoy:I have a foolproof one, but it's, it's not really fudge. It's more like problems that use marshmallows. No, but it's just it's chocolate and sweetened condensed milk. And that's basically it. That's it. Oh, wow. All right, then. Oh, vanilla. It was my mom's recipe. I don't know she has to make its chocolate. And I like it. Even though it's not really fudge. Because it's super easy. I don't need a candy thermometer. I do smell chocolate and put some milk in it and call it.
Bonnie Von Dohre:I think we call that ganache.
Danielle McCoy:Yeah. Although I don't know I've got ganache recipe that I put on top of a cheesecake and it's a cream. It's not sweetened condensed milk.
Bonnie Von Dohre:Yeah, that's true.
Danielle McCoy:And when it cools, it's actually hard. Interesting. So it's not you know, it's not quite the consistency of panache, because it's more like, I don't know, it's like the consistency of the chocolate chips before it melted.
Bonnie Von Dohre:It's like, but it's not like it's not tempered. It's actually it's still coming out.
Danielle McCoy:Yeah. Interesting. Don't ask me she got it out of some what probably like a Woman's Day magazine back in 1985 so
Bonnie Von Dohre:write up air with 100 ways to use Vienna sausages there. Yeah.
Danielle McCoy:She does have a or she did I don't know. I think my dad still has all her recipes. She had a peanut butter fudge and it used marshmallow fluff so
Bonnie Von Dohre:well, that's what I mean. This is like, what everybody swears by. I just I think I have to find a slightly more foolproof recipe that uses marshmallow fluff
Danielle McCoy:up see if my dad has her recipe.
Bonnie Von Dohre:Yeah, cuz I've, I have tried non marshmallow fluff, fudge recipes. And they came out even worse than this. Like, what's really bad is a big reason why I went to culinary school to learn baking and pastry was so I could learn more like sugar work. We never did any sugar work.
Danielle McCoy:So you could make more sugary things.
Bonnie Von Dohre:I see nothing wrong with that scenario.
Danielle McCoy:Okay, that was not the point of what I just said no. Sugar. Alright, fine.
Bonnie Von Dohre:Okay, so Well, alright, let's get back around a little bit. Um, one thing with with winter and eating is that we don't necessarily have the availability of like, the fresh vegetables and things that you would typically think of when you think of eating healthy. So one thing is, like, there's a reason why we always crave, like soups and things like that in the winter. And soups are a great way to eat healthy and also to incorporate more vegetables, especially if you have like dehydrated vegetables or freeze dried vegetables around. But also, if you have that sweet tooth that you're trying to appease. You can we have the winter squashes that, you know store really well through the winter. And if you grew like a butternut or acorn squash or something like that over the summer, you probably have a lot of them available to you now. Or, I mean, they're also really the just about the cheapest thing you can get at the grocery store right now I know our most of our squash one, like 99 cents a pound right now. So, you know, really kind of focus on those things that are like seasonally available. And I know, you know, everyone's seasons are gonna be a little different. So down here I am eating fresh lettuce things indoors? Well, right, yeah, that's another thing I was gonna say is you can do like baby greens in a small tray on your kitchen counter. You can do microgreens, you can do sprouts, like sprouts are super easy. It's a great way to add extra protein to just about anything. I mean, you can put them on top of salad, you can also put in like on a sandwich or something like that adds a little bit of flavor, as well as the protein but so yeah, there's there's different there's different things that we can do to eat healthy, but trying to stay away from the processed stuff and kind of cleanse our bodies from all of the comfort food that we've been partaking in. Oh,
Danielle McCoy:well. Another thing, since you're talking about seasonality is that's why hunting and like butchering pigs and cows and all the stuff part of the reason that they did it in the winter or late fall rather, was not only so it could stay cold and there weren't flies, but also because we need all of that fat and protein that we get from meat that you can't really I'm sorry, you can't get it from a vegetable.
Bonnie Von Dohre:Well, and also they didn't want to feed those animals through the winter because there was no
Danielle McCoy:yeah Hmm. I mean, there was yes, part of the reason is because you know, would naturally we need those, you know, that added fat and fat is not a terrible thing, anybody that says it is just,
Bonnie Von Dohre:you know, there's, I'm glad the research is finally catching up, although actually getting like Western medicine to catch up to the research, it's going to be a whole different story. But there is more information coming out about the health benefits of animal fat, and how it's actually far better for us than than the vegetable fats. And also, like we're talking about, like vitamin D deficiencies, that is a fat soluble vitamin, right, we get our fat soluble vitamins A, D, and K from animal fat, and eggs. That's where those vitamins are stored in the body. So eating more of that is also going to help us get more of those vitamins, and the protein is going to give us more energy for a longer period of time. Right. So and, you know, I mean, carbs aren't all bad either. I do a lot of bread baking in the winter, too.
Danielle McCoy:Yeah, yeah, we do too. I'm trying to slowly but surely get away from the carp train a little bit more, but it's Christmas. I need to do it right. Well, not by the time this episode airs. Well, yeah, you know what I mean..
Bonnie Von Dohre:I need to actually like get back into doing my sourdough and stuff because I really miss my like sourdough tomatoes and those nice like, crunchy breads that had some nice
Danielle McCoy:Not so much better for you than just having, you know, the solo right bread that was made with yeast and not fermented before it was created sour, a lot better for you.
Bonnie Von Dohre:Well, and that's also something we can focus on the winter too is like fermented vegetables. Yes, because we're well, and it's going to replenish us with a lot of those probiotics,
Danielle McCoy:right? And the stuff that you can, you know, if you can't anything, like we eat a lot of venison chili with our candy juice, some canned tomatoes, and canned beans are our dried beans if I want to cut them off, but usually I end up canning them because it's quicker. Right? I've already got him ready than trying to cook beans down for three days.
Bonnie Von Dohre:I know like I went through a phase where I was stocking up on dried beans. And I never use them because I don't take the time ahead. Like or I don't know, they don't take time. I don't plan far enough ahead. Right the beans right before I cook them.
Danielle McCoy:That's why I can them because I'll forget like, Oh, I didn't soak them. And really usually you can eat beans, not soaking them, like people make them in their pressure cookers or instant pots and stuff. But it's not really a good idea. You should so
Bonnie Von Dohre:yeah. And I know I mean, even at culinary school, we would cook them without soaking them mainly because we didn't have like our kitchen classes we're not, you know, we're there on Thursday, then we're there again on Friday or something like that, like we had to write start to finish during that one class period. Right. So we would do beans without soaking. But we just like, alright, it's gonna take a lot longer doing them this way than if they were already soaked ahead of time.
Danielle McCoy:So what helps get out some of those anti nutrients if you soak them, especially if you add a little bit of acid to your water when you're soaking.
Bonnie Von Dohre:It's part of the reason that we dump that water off and then start with fresh water we cook them. But also something about like, they're not recommended for doing the pressure cooker because this one, and it's only a certain kind of bean. And now I'm like I don't ever feel it's kidney beans or something else. It's escaping me right now. But it puts off like some kind of a poison, or there's something wrong with like something it'll upset your stomach. Not like, Yeah, I
Danielle McCoy:know what you're talking about. But I can't think of what being it is either. Yeah. Or Cantabrians. So that you don't write well, but you soak them before you can them. So
Bonnie Von Dohre:well that's true. But it's still in there. Like when you're doing that process. You're doing it for the purpose of like meal prep, right? But if you are like living your day to day, and your beans are the bowl right? You're starving then it's a lot easier. Just pull that out of the cupboard and dump it in. Right. Take care of yourselves. You know, it's January tends to be a rough month for everybody. We're coming off of the highs and lows of the holidays. This is when we tend to see the most depression in general, but I'm sure seasonal depression has a lot to do with it just because it is so dark and cold and gross. But you know, do some do some self care, do some self love, take care of yourself, listen to your body. Get into that rhythm. You know, take this time to really kind of set your intention for the year and it's gonna be a great one. Welcome to 2020 to get much worse right.
Danielle McCoy:And to close, I think that we should remind people that if you are feeling down and depressed that you should reach out
Bonnie Von Dohre:obviously, if you're if you need it, there is a suicide helpline. But I know you know, a lot of folks go through this, I'd go through myself and it's always like, I'm, I'm not suicidal, I don't want to hurt myself. But you shouldn't have to struggle either. Right? You know, mom life is hard. Being a woman is hard. And so you know, you need your tribe, you need people to talk to you people that have kind of, you know, got your back and will listen to you. So, worst case if you need it, we've got our Facebook groups the self sufficient life and also modern living, we've got our Patreon community you know, but hopefully you also have someone local to you who can, you can sit down with go get a cup of coffee, a glass of wine. And just just know that you're not alone during the season. Because it is just the season will pass it will get better. Thank you for listening to this episode of the ground and simplicity podcast. If we were able to help you in any way, please share this episode with a friend. And also leave us a review on Apple podcasts. You can also join us over on Patreon at grounded simplicity, and help to support this podcast as well as become a patron and get a behind the scenes look at the creation of our podcasts and even have some input on future episodes.