UPDATE: The winner is…Tara Leavitt!
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Here in Central Arkansas, we’re getting ready for a snow-pocalypse! It could last well into Wednesday and maybe Thursday. We may get as much as seven inches of the fluffy stuff, which folks in the north would think is not such a big deal, but we’re not made for that kind of weather. Our roads crumble, our road crews aren’t equipped to service the rural areas, and folks here don’t know how to drive on snow or ice. We have to have all our prep complete by tomorrow around 3 PM, then hunker down and pray our power doesn’t go out.

Today, the Devlin household will be deep into preparations. We’ll do a last grocery shop and pick up feed for the horse and goats. Empty the ducks/geese/chickens wading pool. Throw straw into the goat’s little hutch and the horse’s walk-in lean-to attached to the barn. We’ll get two large containers of fuel filled for the generator—just in case. Not that it will do more than power the fridge and our phones/laptops. The kids are downloading movies to their phones.

We’ll be dripping water in our sinks. Refreshing batteries in our lanterns and flashlights. Have we forgotten anything? Thank goodness for the holiday on Monday. We won’t have to worry about school until Tuesday but expect the schools to close on Tuesday and likely Wednesday. It’s going to be so much fun! Or we’ll do our best to make it so.

Anyway, here’s hoping anyone else facing this arctic blast is ready for it. Stay warm and safe! I’ll have to remind the SIL to make sure there’s fuel in the tractor in case he wants to drag an innertube around the yard for the kids. 🙂

With all this on the horizon, of course, I have a snowy landscape puzzle for you to play with today. Solve the puzzle and give me ideas for keeping three younger ones (19, 15, 10-years-old) entertained while we’re snowed in for a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card! 

UPDATE: The winner is…Steph!
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I bought this little brainstorming tool years ago at some writers’ conference. “Story Cubes” is a brainstorming game. You roll the dice and whatever pictures appear face-up are the ones you use to riff off a story.

Now, I’d like you to tell me a story based on what you see on the cubes. Do any of these symbols tell you anything? You can pick some of the images or use all of them. Comment for a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card!

Have fun with this! Don’t overthink! Here’s the roll… 

UPDATE: The winner is…Margaret Rucci!
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My office is in the basement. No windows, no natural light. I keep a “grow” light on one corner of my desk for my two favorite plants—my African violet and my Christmas cactus. In another space, I have a huge curling spider plant on the floor with another light hovering overhead. Come Spring, when the last of the freezes occur, he’ll go back outside to my covered porch.

Those are the only plants I have. We live in the country and maintain bushes and flowering bushes outside. When I was younger and living in an apartment, my place looked like a greenhouse. I kept Ficus trees, bromeliads, ivy, ferns, potted roses… Not that I had a particularly green thumb, but I did hover over and worry about my plants and tried to keep the cat from peeing in the Ficus tree.

Houseplants are not only a lovely splash of green in your environment, but they also filter toxins from the air. If you’re afraid you’ll kill your plants, get something extremely easy to keep alive like a lucky bamboo plant. All you have to do is give it water and very rarely a little bit of fertilizer.

So, today’s word search contains some of my favorite houseplants. For a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card, tell me about your favorite plants!

UPDATE: The winner is…Jennifer Beyer!
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Winter has finally arrived in Central Arkansas. Our winters are generally mild compared to the rest of the country, but we do get cold weather. Last night was 23 degrees, so we dripped faucets and ran the pool pump to keep the pipes from freezing up. From here through mid-March-ish, we’ll be checking the weather nightly to take precautions, like making sure we have gas to run the generator when ice takes down a power line. When Spring comes, it’ll arrive quickly, and we’ll have a bit of Spring before full-on Summer arrives. If we can get the pool cleaned quickly, we could be (temperatures permitting) getting into the pool by the end of April. God, I hope so. I live for summers, which are muggy and intolerably hot, but I LOVE swimming and hanging in the pool with the kids. Yes, I talk a lot about the pool because I am obsessed. Water baby, here. I’m a Cancer, so yeah, I love any excuse to don a swimsuit. Right now, I’m dreaming about floating in the river, renting a pontoon for a lake party, and slicing up watermelon and cantaloupe to eat beside the pool… On and on. My daughter loves “sweater weather” but I love flip-flops, shorts, and pool time.

However, the winter does have its moments. We had snow falling yesterday, which didn’t stick because it turned to rain mid-morning. Still, I snapped some pictures because it was pretty. But I wasn’t sad when it melted. My dd was. She loves nothing better than when we get a couple of feet of snow, and my SIL ties an innertube to the tractor to pull the kids across the snow. They love building igloos (again, aided by the tractor to push up the snow high enough) and snowmen. Yes, we’re redneck as hell with our winter activities, but you use what you’ve got when you live in the South and want to enjoy the weather while you can. 🙂

In the meantime, I have a puzzle with ice crystals stuck to a windowpane. Solve the puzzle and tell me what you and your family like to do in the cold weather for a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card! 

UPDATE: The winner is…Debra Guyette!
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I had “Word Search” on my blog list for today, and with the app open couldn’t think of a topic. So, I took a sip of the coffee I’d poured from my French press…

I LOVE coffee, so it’s easy for me to let my mind drift through all the types of brews, appliances, etc. I did a “stream of consciousness” thing, where I let my mind riff through coffee-related things, and I made my list of words very quickly.

I thought of my grandma and grandpa’s stove-top percolator that I swear made the best coffee on earth. They added evaporated milk and swirl of sugar to make it palatable to six-year-old me. I own a French press (for when I have the patience to wait), an espresso machine (for when I have the patience to clean up after I use it), and a Keurig machine near my desk. Yes, I’m serious about coffee. I have to drink 2-3 cups a day to keep me alert and my mind spinning tales. Of course, at my age, I have to stop drinking it just after noon or I don’t sleep.

Most of the time, I drink my coffee black. But there are occasions when I love an iced, chocolatey coffee. Or a cappuccino or latte. That’s for when I want to sit at the table and chat. It’s a ritual thing, I think.

Anyway, there’s a contest here. I want you to do a “stream of consciousness” list of coffee or tea related things for a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card! Have fun!

UPDATE: The winner is…Pamela Reveal!
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All of the family is heading to the movie theater today—after we walk all the dogs, feed and water the chickens, geese, guineas, goats and horse. It’s rare we all head out very far away because of the animals and everyone’s schedules, but we’re heading to see the new Aquaman movie! And yes, I could care less about the middling reviews. It’s Jason Momoa!

So, while we’re heading to eat a quick meal at a pizza buffet, followed by the movie, I’ll leave you with a puzzle! Something to share my excitement.

For a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card, solve the puzzle, and then tell me what movie you’d love to see on the big screen!

UPDATE: The winner is…Steph!
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Every year, the top of my list of New Year’s Resolutions lists LOSE WEIGHT. I always start out like gangbusters but the allure of good food and convenience leads me into temptation. I think this year, I need new resolutions—fresh ones, reflecting more positivity, that I can embrace.

I thought it would be fun to share some of them in a word search. Maybe you can pluck a goal you’ll strive to achieve.

I decided that I miss writing letters, so that went on my list. Even if it’s just a postcard I paint and mail, I will scribble a letter to another human being.

I am overwhelmed with clutter, so I thought I might choose one surface a month to declutter—however small!

I am entering a No Spend January challenge, where I vow to not buy anything, online or in person, that isn’t a necessity. Not because I need to tighten my belt budget-wise, but to see if on-line shopping is an addiction, like my dd says it is. I love online shopping, but I’m curious to see how this challenge will work. Will I go into deep dark depression? Will I save tons of money? Will it spark creativity to make new stuff since I can’t buy new stuff?

My family is pretty adventurous with their food. We do seek out new recipes to try, but I want a more deliberate, try one new dish a month effort.

Those are just some of the things I want to try to make into a new habit or a worthwhile experiment.

Read through my list in the word search below. Solve the puzzle. Then add one thing you think others might want to add to their list of aspirational goals for the new year for a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card!