Music

Daily Music Photodumping

009.

by Rachel-Rebecka

Happy 2024!

If you’re reading this, I hope you had a wonderful holiday season.

Mine turned out to be nice and quiet. On Christmas Eve, Charlie, the girls and myself went visiting with family and dropping off gifts. Poor Autumn was so tuckered out by the end of it, but we had a good time and it was nice to see everyone. It feels weird to me still to have other family in town outside my immediate family, but Charlie’s relatives have been very welcoming to me.

On Christmas day, with Charlie’s help, we made the big turkey dinner. The turkey turned out really well, so it was a pat on the back to myself, because cooking meat is really not my specialty and I had to wing it without a meat thermometer. Charlie’s mom, my sister and my brother-in-law came over, and it felt like a real “family dinner.” I’ve missed the feeling. It’s been so difficult since my mom passed away… things always feel off, and this was the first time since her passing that it didn’t.

For some reason or another, my brother decided not to come, which made me both sad and a little angry. We had a big talk when my mom passed that we would try our best to keep the family traditions going, and he was in agreement with that. I still haven’t sussed out what his reasoning is for bailing, but I’m leaving it alone for right now. I’m hoping he’ll tell me when he’s ready whatever it is going on with him.

I had the week between Christmas and New Years off, so I got to spend that time with Charlie and the girls, doing a bunch of nothing. I had planned to do a bunch of work around the house, but I rarely ever get downtime with my little family, so I decided to say “fuck it” and I put it off instead. Laundry will be there later, you know? New Years Eve was spent doing a bunch of nothing, and New Years day, I made a big chuck roast and we celebrated. (The leftovers made excellent beef dips, too.) Here’s a little photo dump:

Autumn doesn’t like her hat.
Breakfast at McDonald’s.
Tummy time.
Sleepy grinch.
Sleepy elf.
Little Grinch.

Things have been going well for me. Despite the sleep deprivation, I’m in a good headspace. I’m taking advantage of the residual energy from the Capricorn New Moon and now the Leo Full Moon, and setting some health goals. I finally got clearance from my obesity doctor to start on a diet plan called Optifast, now I’m just waiting for my product to arrive from back east. Going to start the year off with a bang, and see if I can’t make a decent dent into my journey to 175 lbs this year. I’ve already lost my baby weight, so it’s just the rest I need to work on. I renewed my membership to Body Groove (if you’re interested in the program – use my link for 10% off your first payment), so I’m going to utilize that. Charlie wants us to get a pass to the rec centre, so that’s another thing we’re going to do. I’m excited to go swimming again. I haven’t been since early in my pregnancy, and Autumn is going to love it.

Here is my latest earworm to share:

Have a wonderful day. 🙂

Daily Music

008.

by Rachel-Rebecka

I have been obsessed with this song since I first heard it and I must share it here with you all. Spotify only allows previews now, so please check out the full version if you like what you hear. I can’t get enough. 🙂

I hope you all are doing well. This week is going to be me busting my butt to get ready for Sol Invictus. I finally got the tree organized, now I just need to decorate it. I’m going to be doing some baking this week, with gingerbread men (or “gingerdead” men as my Emilie calls them because we always end up making them into zombies) being the big project to end the weekend. I figure if there’s anything that I miss, I’ll make a list to finish it all off next week. I have to talk to my sister about dinner still. She said that she was making it, but knowing my sister, something will come up and the ball will be thrown back to me. Not that I mind. I enjoy making turkey dinner.

As long as I can get at least a little sleep, I’m hopeful that I’ll get everything done. Autumn hasn’t been too generous with allowing me to sleep. My Emilie is excited and that’s enough for me to get excited and make it a celebration for her, even if it means I’ll be dragging myself around. Not to mention, this is Autumn’s first Sol Invictus, so I need to make it special for her, even if she won’t remember it. I wish the rest of my family cared about it, but it is what it is, I suppose. This haven’t been the same since my mom passed, and it sucks because often times it feels like I’m the only one trying.

I get the last week of December off, between Sol Invictus and New Years, and I am really looking forward to it. I never get time off, and I’m going to take advantage. Catch up on housework, spend some time with my daughters, prepare some witchery for the new years and get caught up on my covenwork. I’m also going to set aside some time to devote to this little space… get some graphics made, some content added, etc. I don’t care if anyone visits this blog, because I keep it for me, but it would be nice for the occasional soul that does visit to have some content to look at.

Anyhow. That’s all from me for now. I will post in the next few days with pictures of what I’m up to. 🙂

Daily Music

005.

by Rachel-Rebecka
It’s the most wonderful time of the year…

I seem to be having one of those days where I just… cannot concentrate, for the life of me. Not even with two coffees down the hatch. Must be the lovely and gloomy fall weather we’re having. I’d much rather be outside walking around and enjoying it, than stuck inside at work, typing this on my lunch break. I would go and walk around now, but there is a huge anti-trans protest going on around the block and I don’t want to fight anyone today.

I’m so happy that it’s fall. With Mabon tomorrow, I’m almost giddy, because this is my favourite time of the year. Mabon, Thanksgiving, Samhain, and then the transition to winter and Yule. I am starting to nest, which is good timing, because there is so much to be done with baking, cooking, getting the baby’s room in order, and getting the yard cleaned up. I am currently 29 weeks into my pregnancy, and I only have 10 weeks left, so I’m hoping to using this nesting feeling to get everything I can possibly get done done, and when it’s time to have my baby boy, I’ll be well rested and surrounded by pumpkin chai and Dutch apple bread.

I am still waiting to hear from the obstetrician in Kamloops. With there being 10 weeks left in my pregnancy, I’m a bit skeptical that I will at this point. I have another appointment with my antenatal doctor coming up on the 28th, and I’ll talk to her about it, but in the event that things go the way they seem to be going… my only option seems to be that when I go into labour, I’ll just have to show up at the local hospital and if they want me to go to Kamloops so bad, they can arrange a transfer there for me at that time. The entire thing is so stupid, if you ask me. Nothing has gone wrong, my hypertension is controlled and my baby is perfect, but I’m still “high risk” because of my age. During my employment at the hospital, the oldest woman I saw give birth was 41, and they had no issues delivering her baby. They gave me their reasoning, and I get it, but the entire thing is unfair and stupid. Thank goddess that my Charlie is super supportive of me, because if I was doing this along, I think my hair would fall out from dealing with all of this nonsense.

There’s been a lot of new music coming out lately, and the one I’m most excited about is the new Carnifex album that’s going to be dropping on October 6th. This is the second single they’ve released so far:

Brutal, right?

I’m going to keep sipping on this pumpkin latte and toddling along. I hope you’re all doing well and enjoying this time as much as I am. 🙂