Do you feel fabulous? I’m not sure I can, in all honesty, answer, “Yes,” to that question. But man, I’d sure like to! I would love to skate into the holidays like the cat in the picture, or more appropriately like Lizzo coming on stage.

But. I live in the world of day jobs, and night writing, and homecaring, and sleep, and anxiety, and stress, and worry about society in the wake of a major pandemic and upcoming elections (and that’s not to mention the fact that winter is coming on fast and that means darker days and longer nights).

Usually, when I think of the holidays, I think of things like:

• Focus on gratitude (inspired by Thanksgiving)
• Focus on the people in my life (inspired by the myths of Christmas)
• Focus on Samhain and Yule (part of my personal spiritual traditions)
• Focus on community (part of Kwanzaa celebrations and learning other cultural traditions)

This year, though, I’m thinking of something different. I want to go into the holidays feeling at peace with myself and my daily round. It’s a tall order, especially in 2022 in the U.S. (and really, anywhere in the world with the geopolitical situation as it is). So I have two tools I’m using:

Flylady

This is not a new tool, but it’s a time-tested and, if you believe it, fun tool for getting on top of the process of homecaring. If you haven’t come across it before, check out the website https://www.flylady.net/. I downloaded the free app (available on Apple and Android devices) and have fallen in love with “shining my sink” (which you can look up on the site).

The reason I’m bringing it up here, though, is that she has a system for a stress-free Christmas — AND you get everything done by December 1^st (not Midnight-thirty on December 25^th, not that I’m saying I’ve done that ~innocent~). What’s more, you do it by baby steps: fifteen minutes a day, not marathon, monster sessions that leave you grouchy, tired, and burned out.

The Highlight Reel

This tool is thanks to Dr. Mia Rose, author and CEO of Soulwoman (https://www.soulwomancollective.com/). It’s easy to do:

• Grab your phone
• Go to your photos
• Pick out your favorites from the past six months or year – or do it from January to now.
• Put them together in your favorite photo app for a “highlight reel” of your life over the last six to twelve months.
• I did mine in Adobe Bridge, and created a pdf document. You could do it in any photo software, or even find a collage maker online and make a large collage for yourself.

This taught me I have so much for which to be grateful, even over the last few months that have felt so fraught with wildfires, pandemic, job changes, and political upheaval.

What about you, Dear Reader? What are your favorite tools to survive the “Holidaze?”

—

“My own experience has taught me this: if you wait for the perfect moment when all is safe and assured it may never arrive.”
~ Maurice Chevalier

acatherinenoon.com | noonandwilder.com | writerzengarden.com | knoontimeknitting.com

There was no escaping this card today. When I shuffled the deck, it fell off the bottom, so I quickly stuffed it back into the stack, reshuffled, cut the cards, then fanned them out before selecting a card—and wouldn’t you know it? This is the one I was meant to pick.

My question while I shuffled was, What will this week bring?

Now, Death doesn’t necessarily mean an actual death. It represents the end of something that you acknowledge—just like the supplicants in Hell offering gifts to Hades as they acknowledge his power over them. The Death card definitely indicates the end of something, but also the beginning of something else.

I’m not a Debbie Downer. Folks who know me think I’m more like Pollyanna—always sunny and optimistic. Trying to see the good in most people. I also don’t sweat the small shit.

What was foremost on my mind for the coming week? Well, my dd and I had just discussed our plan to hit the voting center on Tuesday, so maybe this card has something to do with that. Me being Pollyanna, I have to hope it means the outcome will not be…not sure of the word I should use here…catastrophic? Maybe I should use my own personal definition of the Death card—a change that has to be acknowledged before moving on to a new beginning.

There. Done. I rarely pull that card, but to have it happen twice this morning—I had to acknowledge it. I’m a little superstitious that way.

Here’s hoping you all have a less portentous week then it looks like I will have!

So, do you own a deck of tarot cards? Have you ever had your fortune told?

Oh, and just a note. I like the hills and the sun in the background of this card. I need to think about them when I pull out my paints…

UPDATE: The winner is…K. Campos!
*~*~*

Last night was interesting. We had a very weak tornado touch down a couple of miles from us. One of the 18-year-old’s friends called her to say he saw it and was chasing it toward Malvern. I kind of wished he would’ve stopped by here and picked me up. My dd and I always wanted to be storm chasers. (And yeah, I know how weird that sounds.) But we gathered the kids in the basement. The 9-year-old hates storms and cried until we strapped her bike helmet on and told her she was extra safe. Our basement is very quiet. It really mutes the sounds, so we watched the forecast and complained about how long the tornado warning was lasting. I occasionally would have to “go pee” so I could take a look outside. When it was finally canceled, we were all ready for bed.

Do you have tornados in “your neck of the woods?”

Puzzle Contest

For a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card, solve the puzzle and tell me something about the man in the picture. Tell me a story if you like…

Open Contests

Enter these open contests while you still can!

1. Word Nerds! Qualities I love in a Book Boyfriend! (Contest) — Win an Amazon Gift Certificate!
2. Happy Cliché Day! (Contest) — Win an Amazon Gift Certificate!
3. Storm’s coming… (Contest) — Win an Amazon Gift Certificate!

UPDATE: The winner is…Sara DoMoe!
*~*~*

I’m late posting. The day’s overcast, and we have some rough storms heading our way, but our power went off for several hours this morning, which does not bode well. With nothing else to do, I took a shower in candlelight, using up the rest of the hot water in the heater. Then I worked on straightening my art room since it gets some sunlight (my office does not—it’s a basement room). The power came back on a half hour ago, so everyone’s charging their devices because we very often have outages during the kind of weather we’re projected to get (thunderstorms with the possibility of tornados).

So beyond charging our devices, we’re planning on getting takeout early so dinner prep isn’t interrupted. We’re going to feed and walk dogs early so we’re not doing it in the rain. Any chores that need doing, we’re getting out of the way early. We checked the gas cans in the shed to make sure we can power the generator if we need to… I think that’s it. Oh, I have candles and a lighter in a place I can find in the dark.

So, do you have to plan and prepare for storms? If so, what’s on your preparedness list? 

Reading devices charged up with a book or two to keep you happy in the dark? Dry snacks on the counters so you don’t have to hunt them down?

Answer for a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card!

UPDATE: The winner is…flchen1!
*~*~*

Yes, it’s a thing! And don’t you learn the least important stuff on my blog?

What are some of your favorites? Or maybe some tired ones you’d rather never hear again?

Here are some I’d love to go away: “Love is blind!” “All’s fair in love and war!” “A fool and his money are soon parted!” “Cold as a witch’s tit!” Okay, so maybe that last one isn’t quite so famous. My ex-Irish-husband liked that one a lot. (And no, he was not talking about me.) 🙂 We’re very good friends still.

So, with clichés in mind, let’s have a contest! Of course, we’re having a contest!

Tell me your picks for most annoying clichés and those you love for a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift certificate!

While it’s a little past the actual dates for Wolf Awareness Week, there’s never a bad time to learn about those beautiful creatures! Wolf Awareness Week is held the Third Week of October and while we didn’t plan it, it perfectly coordinated with our release of the TEAM WOLF series set in Elle James’ Brotherhood Protector World.

The graphic I’ve used here is a combination of a number of graphics that I made to use in the Brotherhood Protectors group so that readers could find out more about the wolves that our team was so bent on protecting.

I was so excited to have a series of books set in and around a National Park. I’m a bit of a park person. When my son was young, we did take him to amusement parks and he liked them, but he really came alive when we visited National Parks. Discovering new animals and touring caves, taking long hikes, and getting hands-on with exhibits that the Park Rangers brought out for interactive exhibits.

Those were favorites of mine too. Learning about the flora and fauna of an area is always exciting for me. The natural world has always been an exciting topic for me. I think you’ll see some of that in my book, Guarding Eris. One of the bits of my research into the area of Yellowstone plays a big part in one of the tense moments of the book.

So, I hope you’ll enjoy reading Guarding Eris and the other books in the series!!

I’d love to know… Which National Park is your favorite??

Guarding Eris – https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0BDGGKLZR/

Team Wolf Five Book Series – https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0B9T6HNRK

UPDATE: The winner is…Mary Preston!
*~*~*

I’ve included some of my favorite qualities. For a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card, solve the puzzle and then tell me what qualities you love! Have fun!

This puzzle is hard, so I’ll give you some hints—#3, the third letter is a G.
#1 starts with a C and has two Ls.
#5 starts with an H and ends in ST.