Stuffing pages into my nest

Name & pronouns are free real estate. Just a neurodivergent, chronically exhausted witch storing up resources, collecting some ✨️Vibes✨️, and yelling at my cards taking notes because keeping a physical journal is Just Not Happening.

It was supposed to be a dragon & instead I was... very vividly envisioning a huge tortoise.

Friendly fellow though, actually A+ experience and still accomplished the intended purpose, it was just.

Four sets of seven blue goldstone beads, with obsidian, gray labradorite & pearl to mark the major phases, and a dragon on a crescent moon because hey, I work with dragons, why not?

Today really kind of highlighted why it can be good for me to do this. Cause like - I'm not feeling my best. I'm tired, I'm cold, it's rainy & the overall vibe is 'don't wanna', so i was just going to put together a bowl of cereal cause. Fuck it. Don't Wanna.

But go figure, in the oracle deck I'm using, there's a 'Nutrition' card and it's one of the ones I got today. And it really did get me to pause for a moment and ask myself, 'how much extra effort is it really to put together something /slightly/ better?' And in the end, it's really not all that much time to put together a wrap /and/ cereal, and I'll probably be a lot better off for it.

So. Shoutout to cartomancy for helping get past AuDHD stubbornness lmao

I did a deep clean of my place last week & had to do a touch up today cause inspection time, and I got a bunch of candles last week & I decided at the time to make some small batches of oil for them/general work - didn't realize until last night that we were A: at the full moon & B: due for an eclipse!

So. Well played 😂 I'm interested in seeing how the oils work out - i decided to kinda wing it and do my own mixes. Olive oil base, and they were done in four batches -

Luck mix (basil, honeysuckle, dill & peppermint), Equilibrium* mix (basil, sage, rosemary & yarrow); Dream mix (Hawthorn, mugwort, lavender & thyme), and Protection mix (pepper, garlic, fennel & nettle).

👀 I'm also off tomorrow so I should get to watch the eclipse tonight & I'm going to try a little candle ritual. ... I may also finally order the stuff to start making my lunar prayer beads...

I also decided to finally make some fresh bread for the first time in months, and I also put together some homemade butter since I had a ton of cream that was starting to get a little old, and I am so excited to try it!

Looks like

Dense mists weaving through the trees and ferns, melting away into afternoons of clear, bright blue sky and easing into black velvet nights. It looks like packing up the holidays and the last year, setting them away; like seeing the mess left over and trying to decide what stays and what should go.

Smells like

Greenhouse-grown hyacinth and bright-bloomed primrose, sweet promises of the spring that draws closer every day.

Tastes like

Rich, creamy hummus and fresh off the pan naan, rich-spiced cheesy refried bean burritos. Like warm, cinnamon-clove stewed apples over vanilla ice cream.

Sounds like

Remarkably little, to be quite honest. The winds are low, the rain has moved on; even the traffic feels quieter lately. It just sounds like... life, I suppose, in the most mundane sort of way.

Feels like

A disturbing suspense.*

The day grows longer, night settles in rather than overtake the light in the blink of an eye. The pressure of holidays has eased at last, the waters recede, the sky clears and the sun beams down bright and warm as May, the mountain is out in her new winter dress. Yet it's hard not to look up into that boundless blue sky, afraid that something is going to fall, afraid that this isn't peace - only a pause, something to get your guard down.

*with some apologies to Lemony Snicket, but seriously his whole nervous vs anxious bit is too fitting for how this month has felt so far.

For @dvoeverie-stitches 's monthly experiences!

Feels Like:

An exercise in contrast. Dead-dark days and nights lit in bright colors; a rush of work and play between the slow slog of bus rides and slow walks. Fear of strangers and looking like a fool giving way to the joy of moving to the music; a shell of isolation broken by so little as a kiss on the cheek. A time that should be biting cold and instead is nearly warm as springtime; a time supposed to marked by the warmth and closeness of family, but is the anniversary of leaving - and this year, so very much loss.

Looks like:

LED-bright rainbows of light reflected in rippling rain puddles. An endless night, walking to and fro in the deep indigo dark. Cheery-bright sweaters; a few hundred people gathered in the town square despite the wind and rain, cheering for the city's tree being lit. Dancers dressed in two dozen shades of black in a dim-lit bar, bright pony beads strung together, moving from one hand to the other; a single dancer finally joined by another.

Sounds like:

Molchat Doma, Covenant, Mareux, The Cure (and of course, every damn old Christmas song they can cram on the radio); industrial music and deep-pulsing bass so you have to strain your ears for any conversation. A near-ceaseless patter of rain on the roof, amongst the trees, on the umbrella; howling winds tearing through the night.

Smells like:

Thick chocolate and cream, cinnamon-sugar and tea and ever-present woodsmoke, candlesmoke. Heavy damp air tinged with the faintest hint of sea-salt.

Tastes like:

Roasted potatoes, fresh-grilled burgers and rich, roasted red meat dripping with rosemary salt. Spiced rum-flavoured papanași fresh from the fryer, oven-warm sugar cookies, mead sweet and bright as the sunshine there the day it was bought.

Yeah it's been a fairly long month, and there's... A Lot to reflect upon, and we're still not even really done. But overall, December has been a very good month for me personally... but like. Y'all have probably heard what's been going on in Washington state. I'm lucky enough that I haven't been affected by the floods, but a lot of the state has been. There's not a lot I can really say or do beyond that, aside from use what little platform I have to highlight the Skagit County Community Foundation's fundraiser.

Here's to the remaining few days of the year, and may '26 - I. I don't know, man. I'm almost afraid to say anything because it's been a steady 8 years or so of 'oh dear lord what next'. May '26, at its absolute worst, be no worse than this last year has been?