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Finding Faeries

~ My continuing mission to explore … magic

Finding Faeries

Tag Archives: joy

#Magicday…Christmas Lights

05 Monday Dec 2016

Posted by Kathleen Palm in Magicday, Thoughts

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Christmas, Christmas trees, joy, lights, love, thoughts, wonder

This time of year the world gets a bit brighter. Lights on trees. Lights on houses. Lights in our hearts.

Whatever holiday you celebrate, or don’t, I hope the shimmering colors brightening the world add a bit of happy to yours.

I put up three trees every year, this year I did it alone, as my hubs and kids declined to help. They missed all the fun. I hang garland and wreaths. And my North Pole village is one of my very favorite things.

When the sun goes down, no need to hit the switch for the overhead lights, just turn on the Christmas trees, wreaths, and garland and bask in the glow.

The houses with lights, push back the darkness. We light the way for the spirit of Christmas…for joy, hope, and love. Whatever you believe, what ever you celebrate, I wish you the simple joy of wonder and kindness. I wish you the magic of light.

My living room tree, with family ornaments. A 9 foot real tree! Smells SO GOOD!

My living room tree, with family ornaments. A 9 foot real tree! Smells SO GOOD!

Ten foot artificial tree dubbed the Sci-fi tree for the Star Trek, Star Wars, and Dr. Who ornaments. Note the Santa hats on Vader and Clone Trooper.

Ten foot artificial tree dubbed the Sci-fi tree for the Star Trek, Star Wars, and Dr. Who ornaments. Note the Santa hats on Vader and Clone Trooper.

My North Pole village. I love creating this scene every year, a different set up each time.

My North Pole village. I love creating this scene every year, a different set up each time.

 

I’m NOT Setting Goals… No One Can Make Me!

09 Thursday Jul 2015

Posted by Kathleen Palm in Thoughts, writing

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

comparing to others, fear, goals, imagination, joy, living without goals, panic, stress, thoughts, writing

So I recently posted about getting into better habits. My brain immediately screamed…

SET DAILY GOALS!

MAKE A SCHEDULE!

PLAN YOUR LIFE!

FOCUS!

castlehuh

Wait… NO! Are you kidding, brain? We’ve tried this before. Do you want me to end up completely bonkers?

But… there are people, you’ve seen the posts on Twitter about goals to write 2K words a day. You’ve seen the people who write 5K (even 10K) words a day! You see all the people out there burning through their ms with passion, with gusto, with fabulous speed and brilliance! You’ve seen the people who have a schedule and get up at strange hours like 5am (seriously though I don’t think that time exists) and write words! Don’t you want to be like them?

Well…

Don’t you want to push past this fear you have of new words and write all the things you have in your head?

Well…

PLAN! SCHEDULE! GOALS!

GameofThronesNO

(I do realize I had a conversation with myself right here, so thank you for attending Kathy-Talks-To-Herself Theater… showtimes vary, but happen everyday.)

*ahem* *straightens T-shirt*

I admire everyone with word count goals. I admire the writers who can get up early and add words. I have been falling into the void of LOOK-AT-THAT-PERSON-THEY-ARE-BETTER-THAN-ME-I-MUST-BE-FAILING. This is dangerous ground.

If I tell myself that I must write so many words a day… I panic.

If I make a schedule and something happens to derail it… I panic.

If I plan my life… I panic.

Emma_Stone

Believe me. No one wants that.

Relax, me! Things will work out. I will get back to writing and do my thing and all will be well. For some reason my personality does not allow plans or goals. I put extra stress on myself (perhaps a bit of that darn perfectionist) and get nothing done.

This ms is going so slow. I am having issues with the put butt in chair and write action. This bothers me! Why? Why can’t I do this? I like… heck, I love this writing thing!

BAH!

When I sat, stopped yelling at myself, and looked at the problem, I found an answer. I haven’t lived in my worlds long enough. I haven’t had lengthy conversations with my characters (old and new). This Darkness thing… there’s history it hasn’t revealed to me yet. There’s characters I need to meet, and worlds I need to explore. So I’m going back to brainstorming, writing all the ideas, creating a calendar, maybe sketching, and living in the worlds of my imagination.

WillyWonkasong

My imagination is a happy place, even if it does contain a bit of creepiness. I will find my joy there. And when those good feelings fill me, I’ll write it all down in a spectacularly rough and crappy first draft. Just as it should be.

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Yes, thank you, Hogwarts! They know brilliance happens in revisions.

But no daily goals. I’ll get done what I get done without stress.

fireflyleafonthewind

Life is too short to live it in a spiky bubble of YOU MUST, at least for me. No plans. No goals. No self-imposed schedule. Just me and what I do, when I do it.

 

 

 

What Happened to Monday?

09 Tuesday Dec 2014

Posted by Kathleen Palm in Thoughts

≈ 7 Comments

Tags

cheer, Christmas, decorating, frustration, joy, lights, season of light, shopping, spirit of Christmas, thoughts

Yes, I usually post on Mondays.

But Monday went all kerbobbled and threw me in a choke hold. How?

Well, on Sunday I was happily lighting my living room tree when… duh duh, duuuunnnn, I ran out of lights. Of course. Happens every year.

So Monday, I got my kids to school, then plopped myself on the couch with a desire to watch Christmas movies. But, how can one watch movies full of holiday cheer when the tree stands unfinished? One cannot.

“I’ll blog later,” I think.

“I’ll get the workout in later,” I tell myself.

“Right now, I’ll go get lights to finish the prelim decorating so when the kids get home all the ornaments can go on!” I say. “Besides, I haven’t really started Christmas shopping, perhaps I can get a few things. And the wreath outside needs new lights anyway.”

Store number one… did not have the lights I wanted. O.o  But I did find a couple of presents for my daughter. Win!

Second store… Check for food for writer’s group Christmas party. Check off a few more presents … AND LIGHTS! BAM!

Triumphant, I return home. Where the puppy whines at me to play, so I throw the Frisbee a few times, then go inside to tackle the tree.

Wrong lights. See in the land of LED lights there is white, pure white with a blue tint, and there is white, with a warm glow. My tree has warm white, these were not.

“Really?” I cry with a defeated slump in my shoulders.

Back to store number two. I return the lights and head to store number three… LIGHTS!

I drive all the way home… throw the Frisbee for the puppy… and pull the strand out of the box, plug it in… they blink.

“What?” I stare at the box, which has the word “twinkling” printed clearly across the top. I cried.

Really? Kathy? Cried? They’re lights. Christmas is about more than silly lights.

Of course, it is. It’s about that unicorn I’ve been asking Santa for since I was six.

Well, yes and no. Decorating for Christmas is a big deal for me. I have three trees, outside lights, my Santa’s village, statues, garland, and ribbon.

Why?

Because it is the season of light. The cheery glow from my house fills me with joy. I am lighting the way for the spirit of Christmas. For peace. For love. For acceptance. For all the Earth to celebrate each other and what we can do to make the world better.

So I went back to store three and exchanged the twinkling lights for non-twinkling lights. At home, I played with the puppy, who by then was desperate for attention, and took my victory inside. The clock had reached 3pm. The kids would be home at 4. And to top it all off, the wreath I thought would be a snap to relight, wasn’t. I bought a pre-lit wreath, why? Did you know they clamp the lights onto the branches? What a pain in my rear.

But I got the tree lit, the ribbon on it, and the angel placed on top before the kids came home. I did get the wreath lit, it looks great.

The kids and I hung our treasured ornaments, filling the tree with memories. Suddenly, it was 5 pm… we had to leave at 6 for my kids’ religious education class.

Dinner? What’s that?

A shower! I needed a shower.

We returned for the evening around 8. I was dead.

But the tree is gorgeous. Wanna see what I have been up to last week? Or at least some of it. The decorations are finished!

The kitchen tree (8′ artificial), holding all my fairies, unicorns, and purple.

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Santa’s village.

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The family room tree (10′ artificial) covered with all things Star Trek, Star Wars, and my TARDIS. Next to my new fireplace!

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The living room tree (9′ REAL tree, baby!) filled with memories.

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However you celebrate, CELEBRATE! One light or a bajillion lights, it’s all good. Between all the decorating and shopping, be sure to light you heart for that’s where Christmas can be found.

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Kathleen Palm, Author

Kathleen Palm, Author

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