Even if you were not a member of Future Scientists of the Universe when you were growing up. I certainly was not.

I have spent alot of time trying various things to reduce the stress I collect, get rid of the stress I have and practice relaxing. I am very task oriented so I move from the mindset that if I create a sort of stress management plan with X amount of steps, surely I will be successful. Right, making a list of things to complete so you can learn to relax. I recognize the irony in this 😉

I have spent alot of time with Astrid this week. Groningen on Tuesday and Venlo on Thursday. As comfortable as Astrid is, sitting behind the wheel for 8 hours makes me stiff. Last night I went to the gym and gave the yoga class a try. On the way home, it was that cold, bonechilling rain and wind that somehow gets inside your skin. After feeding the pets first because I know my duties, I decided that I was actually going to use my bathtub for the first time for a person.

Previously, the bathtub has been used for Small Dog Olympic Swimming Team tryouts and practice. Never for people. I threw in my Rosemary and Mint detox bath salts from Curacao, turned on the Billie Holiday and turned off the guilty feeling about using so much water.

Okay, wow. I think I spent a good hour in the bath, enough to listen to one Billie album and half of an Andre Rieu. I was so relaxed, I had to test myself. I started thinking about each stressful thing in my life right now and waited for myself to get tense and clench all the muscles in my neck. Topic 1 didn’t cause that reaction, so on to topic 2 and so forth until I went through the entire library of stressful things and realized that the bath was keeping me from getting agitated.

I know right now some of you are saying “Duh”. Especially those of you who have long been bathtub fans. What can I say, it takes me a little longer to learn sometimes 😉 even more so through my natural Taurus stubbornness.

Also, my bathtub is sized for Dutch people. Meaning it is really long. I can’t say I will do it alot, that guilty feeling about using so much water comes into play. Although this is a country that has to do everything possible regarding water management to keep from flooding…

The boys are quietly snoozing since we have just come home from the park. I hear Moortje’s footsteps in the background so I imagine we will soon be seeing him. I am going to practice some banjo and think about the big party tomorrow night.