Miss Hare

. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ . Bed Nesting (What's "Normal") . ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ .

This is the nesting that is typically depicted in our media, and is usually the act of gathering soft things like blankets, pillows, stuffs, and even clothing into a round or rectangle-is shape with raised walls and often smothered in scents. Not always on the bed, despite the name, but can be placed in other protected corners of the house, or in warmer climates or summer they could be tents in the yard. This can differ slightly from person to person and obviously everyone may come to a slightly different definition, but I believe I covered the basis of what's "typical". These nests are made just in general day to day, but are especially built for heats/ruts and pack bonding.

𝒩𝑒𝓍𝓉~...

. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ . Sickness Nesting . ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ .

This may be similar to bed nesting, but has some slightly different implications and tasks associated with it, as the needs are different from the normal day to day. To begin with, if given the option, we would layer a fresh clean sheet over top, and if you're lucky, you should do two in order to better both dampen scents but also absorb any sweat or general illness and are easy to strip off and toss into the washer without having to completely dismantle the bed. If you can smell anything, opt for clean scents in your nest if any at all. Avoid heavy cloying smells as they may aggravate headaches or overstimulate you. Personally I would add a mint, cotton, or lavender linen spray to the sheets as those make me feel like I don't wanna throw up. The rest of your nesting involves things like stashing water bottles, small crumb free snacks if possible, medicine, a change or two of fresh clothes, and general entertainment. Personally I like ASMR, classical music, or loft and just sleep it off. The ideal way to stash these necessary items is to have a soft cloth basket or bin to have inside the nest. But if you only have hard bins and baskets, just set one to the side of the nest for easy access!

. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ . Comfort Nesting . ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ .

Now by the name you would assume, "hey, Hare? Isn't this just the same thing as Bed Nesting?" And you would be assuming wrong, because comfort nesting involves the entire house! This nesting behavior usually comes from moving into a new place, a pack member addition, stress, or a need for a reset of your home. This nesting involves things like decorating couches with pillows and blankets, changing out tea towels and curtains, adding decor, and generally making the place more like home. Budget friendly ways of doing this usually involves thrifting, DIY crafts, and home improvements. You can involve pups in this by having them help you paint something to put in picture frames, or letting them pick out their own decorations for their rooms!

. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ . Organizational Nesting . ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ .

The more practical nesting, this involves the optimization of the home to make it run smoother and seamlessly. Oftentimes this nesting is done by the people most involved with the household's inner workings, either stay-at-home partners, single folks, or parents! These things may include rearranging laundry systems, cleaning out and sorting cupboards, clearing old old unmatched tupperware lids that spontaneously spawn, and/or inventorying what you have of each household supply. (1000% not sponsored but I literally use an app named Supplies that lets me input household inventory by location, opened or sealed, and even lets me input expiry dates and make shopping lists. It can still be done by hand in a notebook though.) All in all, it's just changing things about how the house runs to make your lives a bit easier.

. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ . Baby Nesting . ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ .

The fifth and final type of nesting is arguably my favorite type, which exists as a term for even folks outside of the misceverse! Welcome to Baby Nesting. Usually a type of nesting that occurs during pregnancy, and before and/or after heat/rut, or just general baby fever! If you are so lucky as to have a pup coming into your life, you may have a nursery! Occasionally you may be lucky as to be able to have a nursery in eventual anticipation of a baby or you may soothe baby fever with dolls. All completely valid and all resulting in baby nesting. Regardless, oftentimes baby nesting means reorganizing a nursery, folding and refolding baby clothes, scenting baby blankies, general cleaning of the baby space, setting up nursing/diaper stations, or shopping for supplies (online or in person, window shopping or real, I certainly don't judge... XD). The nice thing about this being more mainstream is there's a plethora of nesting checklists online that you can follow, but be warned they may also lean into organizational nesting as well.

And that's it for this post! Hope you all enjoyed, and I will try to be back next time with something a little bit different, but still with the miscecanis whimsy you all love~

Stay Well!

. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ . First . ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ .

We clean out the dust and dirt of the summer. Take apart your nest, wash and dry all the materials that were in it. If you use essential oils in your scenting, add some into your dryer. If you line dry, add it into the washer with your soap. Some more diluted perfumes (Eau De Toilette dilution) can also be added but be careful if you have delicate fabrics in the wash. I like to add Florida Water into my wash. I also recommend you do this with any normal bedding as well. If you have pups, I suggest you stick to sensitive or scent free for their bedding unless you speak to a doctor about what essential oils may be safe. No judgment from me but ideally if you choose to put scents in your pups(') spaces, try to stick to essential oils or gentler things, as some artificial scents can cause irritation to your pup's delicate skin. They're not as tough as us adults yet!

. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ . Second . ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ .

We sweep, dust, and vacuum all corners and pop the windows open if you can to let the fresh air sweep through the house. Make sure you turn off your heaters for the moment while they're open so you don't run up the electrical bill. Take down curtains and pull out any towels or linens that have been sitting gathering dust and wash those next. You can do the essential oil trick again, but you don't have to! Because of a wondrous thing called ✧Linen Sprays✧! You can even make your own custom linen sprays, which will be a post at a later time. But I recommend spraying down your curtains with a linen spray, allowing your scent to easily permeate your home without wax melts or candles. Which actually leads to-

. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ . Third . ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ .

When buying candles or wax melts, try to look for ones with your scents. If you have a mate, I recommend getting either a candle with both of your scents in it, or one for each of you and your mate. If you live with pack members, do the same for them too if you'd like! Refresh your scent regularly in your house over the winter months with linen sprays on your curtains, couches, pillows, and other such items. And most importantly is if you can, crack open a window and let your house breathe at least once a week. If you have pups, I recommend diluting your scents with things like lavender or fresh linen or cotton. Things to signal to your pups' brains to relax and wind down, especially in evenings or in bedrooms. This can be helpful in things like your own bedroom as well if you wish. Because this is a season of rest, so we want to make sure that we promote relaxation as much as possible.

. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ . Fourth . ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ .

Resting is important in the colder months, which means we should do things that will allow us rest. On top of the above suggestion of diluting scents with restful ones, make sure to keep your bedroom slightly colder and darker than the rest of the house, it helps lower your metabolic rate slow and release melatonin. And I hear you ADHD beings, melatonin is fucked for you and me, but a teeny bit of melatonin is better than none at all. Also if you can't get enough homemade melatonin, store-bought is fine! Another way to promote good rest is to stand in the sun for a couple minutes in the morning, as well as try to make your couch or nest a spot for daytime awake relaxing and minimize the time you spend in bed to when you are actively trying to sleep in order to train your brain that bed = sleep.

. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ . Fifth . ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ .

F O O D. A key component of preparing for winter will always be food. While living in the city vs living in rural spaces (as I do) can mean different situations with food, I feel that the basics can work between both. I also will never recommend expensive food like steak or things like that, I am broke so you all will always get budget friendly ideas. Keep in mind, that I do comparison shop because I'm lucky enough to do so, and sometimes things may be more expensive in your area. My ideas are just suggestions and guidelines, never strict rules. But to begin, we recognize the usefulness of spices in our day to day cooking and the effects they can have on the body. Things like cinnamon, ginger, anise, turmeric, cumin, and other such spices can cause our body to warm because they stimulate thermogenesis. On top of that, a good way to promote warmth and rest in the body is to keep a higher protein intake than normal. Additionally, things we can eat if you want to feel sleepy are foods that naturally have high amounts of Tryptophan, like cheese, squash seeds, lamb/goat/poultry (poultry being the most affordable of these), chia seeds, and soybeans. A good tip to remember is that most stores sell turkey, a poultry high in tryptophan, at a loss during holiday seasons in order to get people in the doors, so if you have freezer space, stock up! Conclusion for this is eat warmly spiced high protein foods and try to include ingredients high in tryptophan whenever possible to promote rest. Unless you have to be fully aware and awake for work, in which case, I recommend avoiding these mostly. (I will be posting a link at the bottom of this post to a study paper in the National Library of Medicine about the connection between diet and sleep in case you would like to check it out)

. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ . Sixth . ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ .

If you are a couple that is trying for pups, now is the time. Having pups in the spring and summer time is the ideal time as you have less risk of your pups becoming dangerously cold and by the time they begin eating solids you will have access to a wide range of nutritious foods. And for your own cuteness effect, they will be old enough to be in wonder of Christmas lights (So cute!!~) and will be just a tad bit easier to handle at holiday gatherings as you will have had time to settle into routine and they will have built a sturdier immune system. (Always make sure you get your flu and covid vaccinations, everyone, to make sure our elders and pups and immunocompromised community members do not suffer too badly from illness in the fall and winter seasons!)

And with that comes the conclusion of my six tips for winter in 2025. I hope this was helpful and if you have any questions, drop me an ask! I would love to hear any suggestions on topics you would like to hear about as well. Stay Well!