Oh goodness, oops!

Dear Reader,

In my last post I mixed up several things. I’d like to apologize. Week one of this lunation, I had a 4 day migraine that left my thoughts muddled. All of my sleep issues have had me getting confused about what day it was, let alone what week it was. And, on top of that, my notes are a mishmash of my notations on cleaning and my notes from when I was working through FLYLady’s system about ten years ago.

I apologize for any confusion I have caused. I will endeavor to resolve the notes situation and fix my planner so that it has the dates accurate for everything. It has most of January filled in and then empty pages for February. That thing basically runs my life so … I had a bit of difficulty staying on top of everything. Give me two months to clean that mess up and I’ll come back with much better and more accurate content.

Also, I realized I had already shared with you the Apple Pie Moonshine recipe. So, my next post is going to be diabetic friendly hot cocoa. It’s really tasty and is like drinking dark chocolate. Absolute luxury in a cup.

Please forgive my extended absence.

Dear Friends,

Life got screwy around here and I was having trouble being grounded enough to do my daily chores let alone my writing in any format. When that problem more or less resolved itself, I caught Covid and was sick for a month. To say the least it has been a trying experience. I am not going to make any promises that I’ll be back in form for writing every day. But I am going to try. Some of this will mean preloaded blog posts that were written several days before hand and some of this may include reposting of old content (as a last resort). If nothing else, I may post a few funny memes that I have had sent to me.

I am still dealing with a lot of exhaustion and some other symptoms, but I am much better than I was last week. This has me hopeful that I can get writing done, possibly across all formats. Covid was an awful experience, even with the milder Omicron variant (which we caught at my house from school). The anti-viral medications are serious business but they taste awful and you have to choke down 4 pills per dose. I guess that’s better than a horse pill, but it wasn’t easy. Fortunately, I and none of my family lost our sense of smell or taste.

My eldest is making noises that he feels like he’s caught a cold. Given that was how he felt when he caught Covid, I’m a little nervous. My youngest is just fine and had mild flu symptoms for his experience. And Beloved was taking care of all of us as he had the sniffles. It was a strange experience to have the whole household sick with the same thing and displaying different variants of how it manifests. I also envy the living daylights out of my husband’s immune systems. It always happens like this, I get sick and I’m flat on my back for at least a week and he gets the sniffles. As he says “Well, somebody’s supposed to take care of you.” He’s a sweet heart but I still envy his immune system. LOL

I could go on an extended rant about how my region has decided to treat Covid like it’s the flu but I won’t because that’s a bit too far afield from the purpose of this blog. To say the least, I am not happy with it and my kids want to go to a school board meeting to demand the reinstitution of the mask protocol from last year. This is a big thing given how they dislike public speaking. But, we’re all muddling by as best we can. I’ve finally turned something of a corner in my recovery as my congestion is clearing up. Now I just need more energy and I can get stuff done. But such is life when you get sick, right?

Oh Goodness, it’s the Holidays!

Dear Reader,

My life has been rather challenging over the last several months and I’ve failed to keep up on my promise to post a recipe on the weekend and a life hack on Tuesdays. Next thing I know, Thanksgiving has passed and we’re being assailed by badly sung versions of holiday songs as we’re shopping at the grocery store. I will do my best to get a recipe up for you next Saturday. And Tuesday, I will try to give you some tips on how to wring the most out of your holiday purchases because the prices on everything are going up.

Thank you for reading, thank you for your patience, and thank you for taking the time to read this post. I hope that your life is a bit less chaotic and filled with joy right now. And I’m talking about real joy, not that fake stuff that they try to sell us around this time of year.

Welcome to my new blog!

Dear Reader,

I’m happy to meet you. I’m Deb (also known as Cydira, the Veiled Witch). I have seen lots of my friends and associates struggle with all of the things that go with running a household, up to and including the basics of putting together a meal from scratch, how to make a budget, and simple mending of clothes. These are skills that I have and I want to share with you.

Blog posts are not as effective as having a friend sitting right at your kitchen table, but I’ll do my best to help you out. Posts are on a weekly basis. Every month has a theme. This month has only one full week left in it (and we’re partly through it already!). Thus, my post for this week is an ‘About Me!’ one. In no particular order, here’s 20 facts about me.

1. I am a practicing witch. I am also ordained clergy, complete with official paperwork.
2. I have known my husband since we were in elementary school. (Yes, we were in denial that we were in love with each other for a long while. Now we’re the high school sweethearts who grew up and got married.)
3. My favorite food is strawberries. My second favorite is pasta.
4. I have chronic illnesses. They make housework and other stuff challenging but I muddle through.
5. I am not as good at gardening as I’d like to be.
6. I love music and used to sing in the school choir.
7. I write novels.
8. I love poetry.
9. My work history is in education.
10. I wrote my first novel in high school. (It never got published. The computer ate it.)
11. I don’t watch television for entertainment.
12. I make preemie hats for charity.
13. My favorite color is pink.
14. My favorite flowers are roses followed by lilies.
15. I loathe the feeling of insects walking on my skin.
16. I have dyed my hair 3 times in my whole life.
17. I have a white veined Inch plant that has been trying to takeover the world since 2004. My grandmother gave to me from her plant when I moved into my first apartment.
18. I live in Western New York in the Finger Lakes Region.
19. I went to college in Baltimore, MD at Notre Dame University of Maryland. Go Gators!
20. I am relearning how to speak and read Spanish.

Next week and next month the theme is pantry management.