Ironing.
Give me ironing, and even toilet washing – mine, not yours! – over cooking any day. Yeah, I am one of those rare (and strange) people who prefer to clean and iron rather than cook or bake. Why? It is the only time I get to listen to podcasts or watch YouTube videos in peace!
I iron twice a week for about an hour each time. I did try to iron just once a week but I ended up standing for close to 3 hours! Ouch! My back and my legs! So if all goes as planned, every Monday and Thursday would see me bringing my laptop to my ironing area, opening it up and clicking the play button of any video/podcast I want to watch/listen. Then I would start setting up the ironing board to iron my mountain of clothes. This way, I kill two birds with one stone – listen to something helpful while clearing my mountain of clothes.
By listening/watching and ironing for maybe 2 years now, I have been able to listen to various speakers speak on various topics for free. Previously, what’s easily available were YouTube videos (it has heaps of videos to watch on any topic you can think of. Yes, that can be a little bit scary!) but nowadays, self-hosted webinars are very popular. Besides the one-day webinar format, like the recent Power of Moms webinar shared by Katie of Kitchen Stewardship, the other popular format is to have one person (usually the host and organiser of the webinar) gathering a panel of “experts” and interviewing them for their views or treatment protocol for an illness or a challenge.
You can watch these webinars for free if you can find the time to watch them on the day they are released. Some allow you 24 hours to watch for free, others, 48 hours. They even have encore days so you can catch missed episodes at the end of the webinar. If you really like the content or want to share it with your family and friends, they will often offer special pricing if ordered before and/or during the webinar. Prices go up substantially once the webinar ends. So far, the 2 really eye-opening and educational ones I have listened to are the Gluten Summit By Dr Tom O’Bryan and The Digestion Sessions by Sean Croxton. They were very slickly produced.
Yes, they will often push for you to buy their products but you can always say “no”, which I have. I just listen when I can and pass by those I have no interest in or no time to listen in.
Besides listening/watching while I am ironing, I also listen to them when I know I have a long meal prep to do, like shredding 5 chickens for instance or frying up pancakes! Or when I go for my daily slow jog.
If you are a nursing mom, or a new mom who is often unable to have long periods of time out to attend seminars or even listen to a sermon uninterrupted, listening/watching webinars and podcasts, is a very viable option.
And if you are looking for spiritual input, may I suggest following Archippus Awakening on Sound Cloud? Henson conducts weekly expository teaching on the Book of Matthew regarding Kingdom living. The teachings are uploaded weekly, except during scheduled breaks. So dear mom, if you are wondering where and how you can get your spiritual food since you can hardly sit through 10 minutes of a sermon before a fussy baby or an antsy toddler pulls you out of service, do consider signing up here. The list of teachings covered and a brief summary of what each session covers can be found here.
Do you listen to podcasts while nursing? Or while doing household chores that are mundane and yet need to be done?
*Now don’t forget to register and watch for FREE, The Truth About Cancer : A Global Quest, a 9-part documentary series starting 12th April 2016 (US time) if you want to learn more about the alternative to chemotherapy and radiation as treatments for cancer.