by Sarah | Jul 5, 2021 | All About Me, All of Us, Blogging Life, Pagan Me Happy, Personal, Redefining Perfect
Once a month I’ll be posting a new Spirit Guide*. This is both for me to study and learn, but also to help inspire each month.
This month the animal has been creeping into my awareness. I’ve been super drawn to it in different ways unlike I’ve never been before.
The Bee.
These fascinating, and helpful creatures, are an oddity. Aerodynamically, they shouldn’t be able to fly – yet they do. They persevere and bend the laws of nature to fly about, pollinating everything in sight.
Bees speak to productivity, but also finding time for leisure. They tell you to examine your priorities, see if you are overextended, burning out. Or maybe you’re the opposite, lethargic and completely burned out.
The bee teaches balance in your life. Work, play, socialization, spirituality, it also has to all be in proportion.
I did not realize why bee came to me so aggressively until I looked it up.
I was completely overextended – overworked and over-brained. With working full time, and going to school full time, barely time for homework, much less family or fun.
I knew I was in trouble when I got done with 18 days of vacation and didn’t feel refreshed and ready to get back to work, but dreading the idea of stepping into my place of employment.
Before dipping into the meaning of the spirit guide calling me, I had reassessed my priorities and turned in my notice at work.
I was trying to do it all, and I just flat out could not.
In the past few weeks I have had time to stop and “smell the roses” like my bee guides do on a daily basis. My schoolwork has improved, and my health has improved.
There are fears, but I trust in my bee guides message of miracles and perseverance. The next six months will still be difficult, but I’m ready to stick it out and get this task of finishing school done…and to get back to the business of better grades than I was suffering through before.
So thank you, bee…for the message I didn’t even realize you were speaking, but guided me anyway.
What animal is speaking to you this month? Do they have lessons for you?
*Disclaimer: I use the term Spirit Animal with deepest respect to the Indigenous people. I have been studying under an amazing, powerful indigenous woman and I respect their beliefs in the highest. I use the term with much honor, and not as a joke or meme. I truly believe these animals come as messengers for me, and try to learn under them. Miigwetch.
by Sarah | Jul 3, 2021 | All About Erik, All About Family, All About Home, All About Me, All of Us, Redefining Perfect
Sundays are my ‘free day’. Homework done, I’d just finished up working overnight and had to reset my schedule for class on Monday. Perfect for watching movies with the hubby. Problem was, the conversation always went like this:
“Do you want to watch Alien?”
“Eh.”
“What about Mission Impossible?”
“Not really.”
“Oh, there’s always Star Trek.”
“Not really in the mood.”
“Comedy? We could do Gross Pointe Blank.”
“Eh…”
“What about…”
On and on the endless cycle went. I hardly ever said yes to anything. We have over 2000 movies in our house, plus an extended library thanks to streaming and…eh.
I could tell I was in the mood for something, but nothing ever sounded good.
Thus, the movie jar was born.
The rules are simple, whatever we pull, we watch. No exceptions.
There are movies we both like, movies one of us likes more. (Seriously, this is how I got Erik to watch The Hunger Games) There are 80’s movies, sci-fi, action, Disney/Kids movies, you name it.
Through this method for the past 3 months we’ve watched the likes of The Goonies, Pacific Rim, 9, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, In Time, Mission Impossible 3, even Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and the ridiculous Paul.
There’s been one movie we did not finish (Bliss on the zon. We were both…ugh and done halfway through). There’s been movies that we just sort of wanted to watch when we pulled them, but we watched anyway and have not regretted them.
We’ve both seen movies we would have otherwise never seen (see above about Hunger Games), and we’ve both enjoyed movies we never expected to.
It’s been so much fun, and a great way to spend my most exhausted day together (I always work Saturday nights). I recommend it for anyone that loves watching movies, but has a hard time deciding what to watch.
Do you have any recommendations for the jar? We’ll take anything you have to offer. Give us a movie we’ve never even heard of. We can take it.
by Sarah | Jul 1, 2021 | All About Family, All of Us, Blogging Life, Disney, DisneyTips, Redefining Perfect, Universal
I haven’t been to Disney hundreds of times (yet. Give me a couple years), but I’ve been my fair share.
I’ve done it with crazy intensity, and in a casual jaunt.
I’ve done Disneyland (finally), and Disney World.
I’ve picked up a few tips along the way. And while there are blogs across the web, I wanted to hand out my own Disney advice I’ve learned along the way, and tips I’ll be learning as I begin to go more frequently.
This months tip is fun for something different. Disney is more than rides and food, although both of those are awesome. There is something small that you shouldn’t miss.
Admire the details.
Disney is excellent about the details. Little things you can find in every section of every park. On a recent trip hubs and I challenged each other to admire such details and out-photo each other. I really like finding the little details along the way. Take a look, see what I mean:
Have you tried to admire the details when you’ve visited? What’s your favorite part?
by Sarah | May 6, 2020 | All About Me, All of Us, Blogging Life, Book Reviews, I'm A Reader, Redefining Perfect
I’m currently on vacation, and so my reading is down to little because I am busy around the house and with yarn stuffs. In the past couple of months as I study, I have been relying very heavily on audiobooks to get me by with finals coming up. Unfortunately, not every audiobook (or book) is one that I enjoy or manage to get all the way through.
So, my list is smaller than expected.
Onto the post:
What I Read
I really enjoyed Megan Miranda’s All the Missing Girls back in January, so I picked up this one in hopes it would be as good.
While I enjoyed the story as a whole, it wasn’t my favorite. It got off to a really, really slow start. I had guessed most of the mystery before it was revealed, like WAY before it was revealed. Biggest question was that one final boom that hit, and I guessed it in the moments before it happened and was screaming at the protagonist in my car to get out.
Overall it was enjoyable, but I preferred All the Missing Girls which had a bigger impact and wasn’t so slow.
The final installment in the Stalking Jack the Ripper series did not disappoint.
I did have to keep reminding myself that Audrey Rose was merely seventeen, because in many ways she seems much older. I was annoyed at the first part of the book with the surprise in the church, and the fallout from it. It seemed rather contrived in the whole of things.
However, the story itself was really good and exciting. I may have guessed early on about whom the culprit was…but it didn’t detract from the story in this case, because there was so much going on. My husband, being a big fan of the Devil in the White City, is rather familiar with America’s first serial killer. By association, so was I.
This was a unique take on the story that was rather intriguing. Yes, there was plenty of creative license taken with the story of the devil…but it made for a hell of a story so long as you take it for the fiction it is.
I’d never heard of the podcast, but the title of the book caught my attention. As a big fan of true crime shows, I had a lot of fun in listening to this one. Karen and Georgia were easy to listen to, and made me laugh quite a bit.
I wouldn’t call it self-help, but it had that element to it.
A definite fun listen, but I don’t think I would have enjoyed it in print as much because the narrators/authors lent their own voices to it so very well.
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What I’m Reading Now
I’m already on book 6 in this. I fear not finishing it because I am on vacation and it’s due back much too soon.
As always I love listening to this series, and it’s often my go-to. Seems I always have one of these books on hold at the library.
Book 6 is action packed and a bit of movement and excitement after the duldroms of Book 5 (which I always call the most depressing book in the series).
Here’s to hoping I finish before it’s due back!
I was granted a later book in the series through netgalley and since I hate going into the middle of a series, I got this so I could get a feel for the author before I get to the one I need to read through netgalley.
Haven’t really started this one yet, as I was studying for finals…but it’s next on the list.
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I’ve been reading through this series of shorts from several authors called The Forward Collection, all science fiction, all post-apocalypse.
This is the next in the series.
Again, because of finals, I’ve yet to pick it up. I was relying heavily on audiobooks up until finals.
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What are you reading these days? I’m always looking for suggestions!
Stick around…more updates coming soon!
by Sarah | May 5, 2020 | All About Family, All About Me, All of Us, Florida Dreaming, Redefining Perfect
Today is the one year anniversary of me crossing the state line into Florida.
It was such a giddy rush crossing the state line, knowing I was home. The moment didn’t come easily, and it wasn’t all the joy I put on social media. Something bad happened shortly after crossing into Florida that I still don’t talk about, but it marred the moment of joy for me and put me a little at an unease (I’m fine it didn’t happy to me) . The year since has lived up to that same initial roller coaster the first few of hours in Florida gave me.
Super high-highs, and crazy-intense lows.
I admit it. I’ve been all over the map. The blog suffered. I suffered. My family suffered. We were massively on the struggle bus for a while.
But now, here we are.
One year later.
And guess what?
Hey, life’s not perfect. We’re living in quarantine now everywhere. Weird shit is happening, pandemic panic, mother earth coming back to life.
However, I’m in a much better place than I’ve been for the past year.
I’ve finished a semester of nursing school, and done well (WHAT? I’m still in shock at this)
Things at my work are looking up, well they were before the pandemic, then that turned into a stress-bomb for a whole other reason. Overall, the worst of the situations is past, so I’m going better.
Financially, we have savings again. We’re still adjusting to hubbers only being paid once a month, but we’re getting there. It took a while to get soluble again, but we’re here and doing better.
Job-wise, hubby’s still in a better place than he was. Things are tough with the pandemic, but he’s coming home to movies and movies and movies…so he’s all good. (I’m reorganizing said movies now and the man has a problem. lol)
I’ve returned to hobbies like crochet and knitting. I’ve finally returned to writing (it’s slow, but it’s going).
I haven’t been to Disney since February, which sucks…but we will return again when it reopens.
I also haven’t been to the beach in ages…but again, we will soon as we can.
The winter was beautiful. The lack of snow even better.
My mood is in a much more tolerable place. Far less doom and gloom.
It’s good to be home…and feel at home…for real.
Once a month I’ll be posting a new Spirit Guide*. This is both for me to study and learn, but also to help inspire each month.
