A Looking-back Survival Guide

Warning: Post contains religious thoughts. 

I think for most of us 2020 was full of the unexpected. From pandemic restrictions to home-schooling, from cancelled travel plans to working from home, it kind of rocked my world.

But we made it through. We did it! And we can take those lessons we learned and jump right in to 2021.

I'm curious what you learned. What did you discover about your life or yourself? What coping skills or mechanisms did you lean on?

My experiences confirmed that God is aware of all of us and we need to be aware of Him. He loves each of us. Each of us! No matter our circumstances or our heritage. We need to love our brothers and sisters in that godly way, no matter their circumstances or heritage.

I found peace in His word. Particularly the Book of Mormon. If you don't have a copy, you can get a free one here. Listening to it almost daily on my walks or as I ate breakfast was a game changer for me. If I was feeling troubled, I knew I'd missed a day or two. When I read or listened to it, it brought such a calm and peace to my heart. And, there is so much we can learn from it. I love Jesus Christ and I love learning about Him.

Leaning on and staying connected to family was a big deal too. More time with my immediate family meant lots of practice of patience and some letting go of the little things. It also helped me appreciate my ability to work from home, but that was also a little complicated since I was trying to wear so many hats at the same time. I think it works much better to wear only one or two at a time. 

Let us love God and each other for that is the only way.

Again, I would love to know what worked for you, so please leave a comment!

Shop Small, Shop Local, Shop Educational

You know I love unicorns, but I also love small and local business offerings. 

Russet Road Kids has all three! Whether you're into fairytales or sports or love animals, Russet Road Kids has something for you (they even have a tractor!). Their name puzzles help children learn letters and their name. Their educational toys encourage fun learning from number and alphabet puzzles to wooden or acrylic tracing boards. So much about this that I love!

And right now they have some Black Friday specials so head on over before they're gone.

This is what they have to say:

"We promote positive, educational playtime from our family to yours! We've created several educational wooden toys you and your little one will love."

They are a family-owned and operated small business and make everything right here in Arizona. 

You can visit their website or follow them on Instagram at RussetRoadKids.

It's Christmas Romance Time

 

It's Christmas romance time! 

To celebrate, I am doing a giveaway. What do you need to do to enter? It's easy. Follow my author Instagram account (@authorpeggyurry) for all the details. The contest will run today, Nov 17, through Thursday, Nov 19, midnight. 

Online Bookshop Supports Local Bookstores

 

Reading on the beach is a favorite for many of us. We also have our favorite bookstore haunts. Maybe you already knew about this one, but I just learned about  Bookshop from Eschler Editing. It's very cool.

Bookshop (a new-ish but powerhouse outlet) allows you to blend gifting your favorite books with supporting your favorite local/indie bookstore. Hooray!

I absolutely love this!

Eschler Editing says this about Bookshop: "Dreamed up and founded by Literary Hub co-founder Andy Hunter, its purpose is to allow independent bookstores to create their own shopfront on the site, and the stores receive the full profit margin." 

See why this is a big deal? Maybe you think it can't rival that giant online bookstore. Customer service and shipping are handled by Bookshop and its distribution partners with books being shipped within two to three days. In addition, titles are offered at a small discount. I dare you to give it a try.

Shop local and shop small this holiday season. Link is also in my sidebar.

Holiday Mission (it's BIG)

This came in my inbox and I wanted to share with you because I love not only her devotion to helping others, but the cool jewelry she sells (100% of the profits go to charity). This is an opportunity to get some beautiful gifts for the people in your life AND to contribute to a great cause.

I'm so excited to be writing to you today because I have big things to share. If you are new around here, I want you to know that Sela Designs is changing the world and you are part of it. This holiday season, we are going to do amazing things - together.

Every holiday season, we choose one BIG mission goal. Here are the last three we've completed:

 

2017: $5,000 given to Life House to help break the cycle of generational poverty

2018: $6,300 given to fully fund a sex trafficking rescue mission through IJM

2019: $10,000 given to build a well in Malawi through charity: water

 

For 2020, the dream has grown. The mission has grown. Our community has grown. 

 

My heart is racing as I type these words: our mission for Holiday 2020 is to FULLY FUND 3 SEX TRAFFICKING RESCUE MISSIONS. 

 

Yes, you read that correctly! Not one mission, THREE! It's a lofty goal to give $20,000, but friend, think about those women and children who will be freed. Picture their faces. Imagine what rescue means to them. 

 

From now through December, we're going to make every sale count toward our big, outrageous goal. Here's what you can do:

 

1. Share Sela Designs and our mission with your friends, family, and co-workers.

2. Wear the jewelry & talk about our purpose.

3. Share us on social media. Like, comment, save & share. It all helps.

4. Gift Sela Designs to teachers, friends, family & anyone else you can think of. Let them be a part of this mission too!

 

This mission is big and bold, just the way we like it! Let's do this.

NEW from author Deirdra Eden

So many exciting things happening this week for author Deirdra Eden. She has a non-fiction book called Time Management for Creative People. (available now on Amazon)

I am so excited to dive into this book. Aren't we all creative to some extent? And I love that this is a fresh approach to productivity. I'll have more comments on this soon (because I'm starting it once I get the draft for this post done - yay).

Here's more information for you:

Now Available

Time Management for Creative People

 by Deirdra Eden

Guidance for being in the right mind for right-brained people.

Chances are you’ve tried spreadsheets, agendas, day planners, and other linear, mathematical ways mainstream culture measures time. Applying industrial production systems to a creative mind can dampen the joy of your work, knock you off balance, and block your energy flow.

 

Time Management for Creative People offers a fun, organic approach to balancing, organizing, and prioritizing all you need to get done by living your life in creative cycles and seasons while maximizing your high and low energy times the way you were meant to.

 

Your creativity is a uniquely powerful force that can be harnessed, focused, controlled, commanded, and become a powerful ability as you masterfully channel your desire to create into the powerful motivating force it is meant to be.

 

 

Get your copy today: Time Management for Creative People

 

 

 

You can follow Deirdra Eden on your favorite Social Media sites:

Amazon

A Storybook World (blog) 

Website

Facebook

YouTube

 

Instagram

Pinterest

Twitter

Goodreads

and

Booklikes

 

 

Also from Anika Arrington

Amazon

Website

Goodreads

Deirdra Eden also has a few books from The Watchers series debuting this week (aren't these covers lovely?):

 

book 4

 

book 5

book 6

Happy reading!

Something New (I wish it was a book!)

Have you ever been motivated to do something that needed to be done as a result of a minor disaster? Like mopping the kitchen floor after someone drops a cup of juice? Because if you leave that, it's going to turn into one fat sticky mess. Or renovating a bathroom because the old shower leaked? Because if you leave that, it results in horrid smells and damage on a much larger scale.

Before

Unlike mopping, our recent reno ended up being a much bigger project than we anticipated--and it really was our own doing. We couldn't put in a new shower and leave the old countertops. Right?

The old shower matched the lovely mauve and cream cultured marble of the countertop complete with matching brass fixtures/doors. Who wouldn't want to keep that?

Oddly (at least in my opinion), it is relatively the same cost to throw in a pre-fab shower as it is to hire someone to tile it. So of course I went with the tile option.

After several trips to Home Depot and a lot of hours perusing our option, we settled on this lovely greige subway tile and gray penny tile for the floor. We also picked out a new countertop and brushed nickel faucet. The cabinets got a new coat of white paint as well (thanks to our cute renter). I think it turned out much better than I anticipated.

Granite Countertops

This isn't unlike writing a book. I just wish I could write one in two weeks rather than years and years. It takes way more preparation and work than I imagine. But I hope the stories turn out just as lovely after I put in the work.