Isn’t This A Perfect Day?

Last night I was pretty stressed out, then I read a post by my pal, Ginny, on Facebook about baths.  I am embarrassed to say that it had been awhile since I had allowed myself to enjoy a bath at home at the end of a long, stressful day, so here is my prescription for anyone stressing out:

1.  Set the mood.  Light some candles in the bathroom.  Do not make the mistake of doing that too soon.  At least make sure everyone is done in the bathroom, especially your grandkids, before setting them on the side of the bathtub.  They will get knocked off and broken which totally wrecks the mood by the time you make sure all the glass is out of the tub and the wax is scraped up. 

2.  Run the water.  Make it as hot as you can tolerate.  Make it deep, too.  Put something nice in the water.  In a pinch, grab the children’s J&J baby wash, any scent, squirt a few drops to make some bubbles.

3.  Wine.  If this bath is a spur of the moment one, you might have to really compromise on the wine.  For example, my wine for last night’s bath sabbatical was a bottle of classy red Route 66.  It is only to be used as a calming elixir, anyway, and considering stress is a symptom, like a cough, and you take cough syrup to correct it, it really doesn’t matter how expensive or tasty that wine really is.

4.  A warm towel right out of the dryer!  must have! 

5.  Clean PJs, maybe right out of the dryer, too.

6.  Lotions and potions waiting in the bedroom for after your bath.  If you use something that smells really, really good, you can still smell it in the morning and sort of start the day out a little calmer right from the beginning! 

7.  climb in that tub and soak away the stress.  close your eyes, smell the candles burning, smell the bath bubble concoction, lay there for about an hour. 

8.  While your body is still warm, crawl into bed and finish the wine, snuggle down into the pillows and the quilt…stir slightly.

Say night-night to the stress.  say “Hope I don’t see ya tomorrow, Stress!”  Enjoy!