GOODBYE 2017 - WELCOME 2018!

As I walk into 2018 I am blessed with a decision I made last year.

For just over a year I worked for a publisher as their Marketing Director, then their Social Media division. At first, I was thrilled with the job. When the grandgirls arrived in June for the summer, something in me shifted. I realized that no job (especially one I wasn't paid for) was more important than family. I spent the summer agonizing over spending time with the girls while realizing I should be getting some work done.

For me, family ALWAYS comes first. No exceptions. The rest will come in its own time.

While I didn't get to celebrate the turn of the wheel, I did have a vision as I drifted off to sleep.

I wish I could draw, because the vision was incredibly real.

I saw a cauldron. Over the cauldron I held a small piece of paper, burning in one corner, and the word JOB printed in bold black letters.

When I awoke the next morning I knew what I had to do. A week later I turned in my resignation and as of December 1, I have been happily unemployed - or rather self-employed and doing what I love - CREATING.

I know I dropped the ball on a lot of projects last year. Mostly due to the job I no longer have. The BOS was one project I really wanted to finish by the turn of the wheel. I was doing fine until I ran out of paper (How did 500 sheets disappear over the course of 8 years in storage?) I'm hoping this new ream of paper will be a close enough match or I'm tea-staining the whole lot! 

Then I had to prep the house for company, followed by a 4-day conference, then the week-long company. Before I knew it, the wheel was turning and I'd not completed the one project I really wanted done. But I'm hopeful. Now that I'm on my in my own creative time-zone.

I am still happy with the publisher as a whole and hope to pitch my non-fiction book ideas to them. But I'm also thinking I like the idea of indie-publishing and creating the companion workbooks.  Time and the universe will tell.

What changes are you hoping for in 2018? Have you put yourself on your course of change since the turn of the wheel or are you just starting out? I hope you'll leave a comment below and tell me your thoughts.

Blessings
~Rain

BLESSED YULE

My little haven is shrouded in mist this morning. Temperature is in the uppper 40s. In all, a very pleasant way to wake up on Yule. 

We've not had typical December weather this year so the prospect of this being the shortest day of the year and that from this point on our days begin to lengthen saddens me. While surrounding areas have had snow in past years, we've not seen 'measurable' snow in four years. Mother Nature seems to have flipped up her skirts. Yesterday, I found a dandelion in the yard! I fear for the lack of changes in our weather pattern. I can only pray the 2018 garden season will not suffer and leave everything in the God and Goddess' hands.

This year, I finally got to put up a Yule tree. I've wanted one in my office since the room was built but like everything else, just never seemed to get there. This year, a challenge on YouTube inspired me to craft my way to this beautiful tree.

Eclectic Kristen challenged us to decorate our tree or an area in our home for $20 or less, using items from $ Tree or dollar-only (or less) items purchased elsewhere. The tree/ lights and skirt were not included in the cost.

I purchased a 3' pre-lit tree at Walmart, then off to $ Tree I went.

Finding rustic/ yule items is not as difficult as you might think. Stags and burlap seem to be the going thing this year.

Here's a video of how the tree went together:

I also did a VIDEO on how some of the decorations came together.

I know some things didn't get finished this year. I'll be doing a post next week on what happened and how I'm changing things for a better plan in 2018.

Blessings

~Rain