on oatmeal and boredom.

A couple of weeks ago my milk supply suddenly dropped. I had thought perhaps it had dwindled, but then T wasn't feeling well and when I took him to the doctor, the proof was in the proverbial pudding...meaning he hasn't been gaining weight. Needless to say, I began a quest to bring up the milk supply. It's an unfamiliar quest for me. Me, the milk maker. I assume the drop was a combination of my having been sick, being a little dehydrated, and stress. I've been taking better care of myself, and I think it's helping, but I've also started eating oatmeal. So much oatmeal.

I've made lactation cookies, which are glorified oatmeal cookies.

I've eaten steel-cut oats.

And I've jumped on the OOIAJ bandwagon, though I have no idea what a black Chia seed is, so I don't use them.

This morning, as I started eating my oatmeal, I instantly realized that I am over it. Eating one more bite of oatmeal sounds wretched. Wretched, people. So instead of oatmeal, I'm going to start drinking more beer. Sam Adams Octoberfest is out right now. It'll be great.

Moving on...

I saw this on Pinterest the other day, and I was instantly captivated. Of course, they absurdly named their creation a Boredom Jar, which is insane because alliteration is so lovely. Thus, our Boredom Bowl was born. (In the interest of alliteration, one could also create a Boredom Bucket, but bucket is one of my least favorite words.)

The concept is simple enough. When S says, "Mommy, I'm bored," she has to pull an activity from the bowl. Some are good, some are not so good. Here's a list of all the activities that I added to the bowl:

• Map your heart.
• Take a nap.
• Jump up and down 100 times.
• Draw a self portrait.
• Rainbow Scavenger Hunt.
• Rhyme Time.
• Have a snack.
• Draw a picture of someone you love.
• Count your blessings.
• Look at picture albums.
• Play a game.
• Make a papier mache bowl.
• Pick up sticks in the yard.
• Draw a Cutie Mark on mom.
• Look at your atlas.
• Play with play dough.
• Choose a toy to donate.
• Make popcorn.
• Make cards.
• Write a letter.
• Clean the playroom.
• Clean your bedroom.
• Build with blocks.
• Dust the furniture upstairs.
• Dust the windowsills.
• Make a collage.
• Color a picture.
• Sweep the kitchen.
• Paint with watercolors.
• Write a story.
• Read a book.
• Watch a movie.
• Do yoga.
• Play outside.
• Dance to Beyonce (one of S's favorite songs is All the Single Ladies)
• Go Gaga for Gaga (one of her other favorites is Bad Romance, though she clearly has no idea what either song is about; she is also a huge fan of Walking on Sunshineand Everybody, so not everything she hears is inappropriate. Just so you know.)
  

That's it for now. You can see that there's a pretty decent mix of fun things to do and not so fun things to do. My hope is that even with the not so fun activities, she'll find something to do in the process. Maybe she'll come across something she'd like to do. It's kind of brilliant...and maybe it'll keep me from having to dust.

Do you have any go-to boredom busters? If you say anything that has to do with oatmeal, I will hunt you down.