Nesting rituals. We all have them. Some of us take longer than others to complete them, but complete them we will before settling in for the night.
What the H E double hockey sticks am I talking about!?!
I’m talking about those little routine things we do every single night, without fail, rain or shine, in sickness or in health, for richer or for poorer, before tucking our tired little bodies into our cozy little beds each night. They include things like circling the house and double-checking that every door is locked, all lamps are extinguished, anything edible (including the trash) has been safely cordoned off so the dog cannot get to it, and so on and so forth. We prepare our nest.
The ritual also includes a rigorous regime of removing make-up, washing our faces, applying anti-acne, anti-reddening, anti-wrinkling, anti-sagging, anti-pigment-inducing and anti-aging solutions. This is followed by applying a series of creams, lotions and serums to plump, moisturize, hydrate, lighten, tighten, brighten, exfoliate, tone, even, smooth, correct and protect our skin.
We then brush our hair vigourously, brush and floss our teeth, apply lip balm, hand cream, foot lotion, cuticle oil, and any other product deemed absolutely necessary to keep our bodies youthful and beautiful.
And why do we do this night after night?
We do this just so we can go to bed knowing that we have taken every precaution against the harsh elements battling our youth and good health every day. Many of these processes are repeated upon waking, but using different ointments, potions and elixirs formulated specifically for day time use only.
Are we insane? Are we paranoid? Are we fortunate enough to have countless extra minutes at the end of every day just to indulge in these rituals? You tell me.
What does your nesting ritual include? Inquiring minds want to know.
Word of the day: Postliminy
Fun fact about me: I am Ambidextrous
jansenschmidt 
So funny because it’s so true. I must admit that I’m quite lazy in the pre/post nighttime rituals. I strive to always wash, exfoliate, serum, moisturize, brush and floss. And yet, often, it’s tinkle, brush, throw on old t-shirt and crash. I think I need help. 🙂
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Hey Ginger, thanks for stopping by this morning and leaving a comment.
I know what you mean, most nights I wash my face and brush my teeth and crawl into bed myself. But there sure seems to be a huge array of products that are being touted as absolute “must haves” in every woman’s beauty regime. Good grief. It would take hours to apply all of that stuff.
I’m just thankful I was blessed with good German skin and the wrinkles have taken a long time finding me. I only wish the same were true for my yucky hair and the color gray. Oh well, can’t have it all.
Patricia
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Picking up trash so the dogs don’t get it is important in my home! Dogs with the runs are no fun.
I wash, brush, change, moisturize, floss, then read. I have trouble falling asleep if I don’t read!
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Oh my goodness yes. Reading is a given. I’ll skip moisturizing and pumicing and exfoliating so I can read any day.
Thanks for stopping by, Jennette. Your support means a lot.
Patricia
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Okay, I don’t know where those pictures came from but I want to move in! It sure looks cozy and homey, doesn’t it? I hear you on the rituals Patricia. I just hope that all the work and time we invest in these products are worth it. So far, so good. Glad you and Ginger had a great time last week. 🙂
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Karen, how I wish I could say that was my house! But alas, it is my dream house, the one I write about in my books.
And I cannot tell you how much fun it was meeting Ginger and getting to pal around with her for a little while. Good times!
Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment. It’s always good to see your smiling face.
Patricia
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I’m big on making sure all windows and doors are locked before my evening ritual, which isn’t elaborate. Because I’m ridiculously fussy about the scent of moisturizers, and because the kind I like best costs about $50 for a small jar, I try lots of freebie samples. So far, no freebie has persuaded me to buy its full-sized version. TMI?
Oh, before I join my husband in bed, I say good night to the cats. Sometimes they look up, and sometimes they don’t.
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Oh Pat, my night time ritual with my dog is a whole nuther blog post. If we deviate even the slightest bit he will not settle down for the night. He’s so goofy that way. I totally understand saying good night to the kitties.
I like the expensive products too, but I must settle for low cost knock offs. At least I don’t get reactions when I switch products, so I’m lucky that way.
As always, thanks for your support.
Patricia
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In the winter I almost always take a hot bath before bed.
I wanted to include your word of the day in my comment, but today I couldn’t wrap my brain around the definition. Something about war. No? 🙂
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Oh, Colleen, I so love how you try to incorporate the word of the day. It brings a huge smile to my face.
I guess if all of your night time beauty products were seized due to an act of war and then when the war was over you were allowed get them back it could be said that you got them back postliminally. Unless I’m using the word wrong, I think that’s how it would be interpreted. Thank God your stuff hasn’t been seized!
And a hot bath sounds awesome especially whilst sipping on a little blackberry brandy or port wine. Ummmmm. Heavenly.
Thanks for stopping by today.
Patricia
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I definitely have a skin routine and every so often I try something new and my skin revolts! I am always trying to perfect that nest!
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I’ll bet you have a lovely nest too, Susie!
The routine is important and I sometimes get weird reactions from new products, but mostly it’s just a break out that lasts for a couple of days then goes away. It’s so weird to be almost 50 and having to treat for acne and wrinkles at the same time.
Thanks for your support and taking time to stop by.
Patricia
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Join the club! I still have to use oil free!
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You forgot checking under the bed and in the closets! I’m with Jeannette, wash, brush, floss and fall into bed with the kindle.
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You mean checking for . . . monsters? (gasp)
I love you gals with the easy routines. Mine is a little more complicated.
Thanks for stopping by Suzanne. So good to see you out there in the blogging world.
Patricia
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I think our nighttime rituals are the way we’ve trained our brains to shift gears–sort of a “time to go to night mode” switch. I do know that if I don’t make myself some chamomile tea, do some soft yoga-like stretches after the bathroom business, I’m not going to settle for almost an hour.
I wished I dared to read the way I used to, but it bothers my husband even more than my tossing and turning does. (And if I toss and turn too much he reaches out to hug and cuddle me to try making it better, where as if I am reading, he turns his back to me… it really is about strategy.)
And the word of the day… You would post “postliminy” after I just watched a bit of documentary on families who fled Serbia and Kosovo during the 90s. They were cleared of charges in their native countries and returned to home and many of their belongings were returned to them by neighbors who’d remembered them fondly. It was a pretty sad tale as there were very few who had anything left.
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Hi Eden and welcome to my blog.
I love that you just watched a television show where postliminy was practiced! That is cool.
And I know what you mean about strategizing with the read/not read choice. It you’re needing some lovin’ put that book away!
Thanks for stopping by. I hope you’ll be a regular here at Blogging From the Edge of Eternity!
Patricia
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I’ve peeked in from time to time. I love your words of the day (though I swear that you and the universe must have been in cahoots for things to have worked out yesterday–I watch so little television!).
As for strategy… It’s more just comfort. It’s nice to be close to my partner as opposed to forcing him to have to “leave” (in a sense). Plus, it’s harder to have blanket squabbles when cuddling as opposed to facing the opposite walls… 😉
Have a great day, Patricia.
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Every night I must, absolutely must, have a few minutes with a book before going to sleep. I leave the door checking, lamp extinguishing, and other things to my amazing husband. I must not be very good at nesting rituals. But I do have ambidextrous tendencies, thanks to parents who forbade me from using my left hand when I was little. Were you an original southpaw too?
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Hi Suzanne:
No I don’t remember ever being left-handed but when I was a teen-ager I had warts on all of my fingers on both hands. When the doctor sprayed that liquid nitrogen stuff on my right hand (we only did one hand at a time, and we started with my left hand) I was not able to use it at all because it was numb first and then it shook really bad for a couple of days. (It was also very painful.) That’s when I learned how to use my left hand and then after that for some reason I just continued to use my left hand for things.
When I’m learning how to do something new it seems like I automatically try doing it with my left hand first. Weird, but I have left-handed tendencies. Some things I do only with my left hand. For instance, I throw a baseball with my right hand, but I throw a frisbee with my left. I eat with my left hand and I brush my teeth with my left hand. I primarily write with my right hand, but I can write legibly with my left. I bowl equally bad with both hands.
Anyway, I think I’m just a weird-o, but it does come in handy sometimes to be able to do certain things with both hands.
Thank you for stopping by. I appreciate your supoprt.
Patricia
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You really make it seem so easy with your presentation but I find this topic to be actually something
that I think I would never understand. It seems too
complicated and extremely broad for me. I am looking forward for your next post, I’ll try to get the hang of it!
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