We rarely spend a full weekend at home. So this one’s a rare occasion, and to be honest, there wasn’t a time I got bored. There was so much sleeping and recovering to do, with each one of us not feeling a 100%. What’s with May, by the way?! It’s not a good month health-wise, and we do not know where it’s really coming from (fever, cough, stomach flu, vertigo, etc.).

So I would round up what we did this weekend at home, in random fashion:

1) Read books. Liev likes to ask us to read stories for him, sometimes over and over, sometimes when the lights are already out and everyone (except him) is craving for sleep. We had a lot of time to read this weekend and these were our favorites:

The Night Train by Ulf Stark and Sara Nilsson Bergman – bought from Ikea a few months ago, it was our first time to read this together. The story is about a little boy who just moved to a new town and whose wish is to have a new friend. It was a fun and light-hearted read, that I myself enjoyed the story! It felt like the writer truly understands what it meant to be a child.

The story reminded me of the classic Where The Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak, which frightened Liev, but The Night Train had the opposite effect on him.

I found myself spending less time on social media too, and continued to read Sundays with Sumiko by Sumiko Tan. The book is a collection of articles chosen from 1994 to 2016, previously published on Sunday Straits Times fortnightly, the biggest national broadsheet in Singapore. This book inspires me to write more about my life, regardless if I’m a nobody. I used to dream of being a journalist, so why not write whenever I feel like it?

What intrigued me in particular was that Sumiko Tan was as transparent as one could be, the way she wrote about her family, work, and (lack of) love life after a string of failed relationships until she reached her 40s when she met The One. She has an honest and no-nonsense style in writing. Direct to the point with her narratives and it made me think about my own life at the end of each story.

2) Arts & music. Colored my ‘mindfulness’ activity book with Liev and belted out his favorite tune over and over again. He likes coloring my book, maybe because he feels a bit more grown-up when he does. I used to hesitate when he asks me to color the pages by himself, but I had to remind myself – it’s just a coloring book! He just has to follow my rules – no black or dark color in huge strokes as it drowns out the lines. He gladly follows my instruction and works with bright hues. Below is a drawing of Clarke Quay halfway colored by Liev:

Since he likes singing a lot, I took the opportunity to teach him the lyrics of his number one song One Call Away, in hopes that he will be motivated to read. We had time to kill anyway.

3) Home facial mask. Because resting at home doesn’t mean you forget about your looks. Thanks to Innisfree for giving me a box of assorted facial masks! This is the brand I’ve been loyal to, because they were one of the first mainstream Korean brands to have no parabens and use organic ingredients. Their bestseller, Super volcanic pore clay mask is my favorite.

Tried the brightening mask this time, as my lack of sleep made my face look a tone darker! Lee said I looked like Burmese with Thanaka 😁

4) Played with old toys and stuff. Veering away from videos and social media, we had to entertain each other with what we have at home – Lego, sand and play cards.

He’s starting to outgrow Thomas & Friends, but we think he’d get back to it when he learns to assemble his trackmaster on his own. He can now follow simple visual instructions that comes with Lego parts, so it won’t be long for him to figure out the plastic train tracks.

5) Chat/video call with family overseas. In the busyness of daily life, we sometimes deprioritize keeping in touch with family, assuming that our facebook or instagram updates are enough to let them know what we’ve been up to. But the more seemingly connected we are, the more we are actually losing touch. It’s refreshing to chat and call family members once in a while and get to talk about other things than what’s on in our virtual lives.

Shared with my sis-in-law this photo which we could both relate to, as we have sons who are only a year and a half apart. And guilty of the above 🙂

6) Meditated through the Calm app. I believe this was key to achieving my Zen state over the weekend. My brother recommended this to me and I’m hooked. I slept better and was relatively less temperamental. The app has a 7-day trial period and an automatic annual subscription fee if not turned off before the 7th day is reached.

What’s in the Calm app? There is the Daily Calm, a different meditation session each day that lasts under 15 minutes. There are several topics under Meditate that one can explore (Anxiety, Sleep, Focus, Stress, Relationships, Emotions, Self-Care, etc.). I love the breathing exercises and deep sleep release, the soothing music and background tunes.

Finally, I now get it. Meditation does wonders, and this is the app that trains one how to do it.

“Quiet the mind and the soul will speak.”

7) Sleep. Never underestimate the power of sleep. Nothing else can substitute this activity that restores everything in our body and spirit. Somehow it helps heal almost all aches, imagined or not.

This is one change I’d probably want to make this year – prioritizing sleep. It’s the only way I can keep my focus and enthusiasm in what I do and continue to be creative.

Weekends at home do not have to be so mundane. In fact, I would say, it is vital to spend some time in the house and overcome this day and age of FOMO or “fear of missing out”. It is a good reminder that slow is okay and that sometimes being productive means doing nothing. 🌸