Month: February 2024

About Month: February 2024

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Halloween Can Be Every day! 7 Ways to Make Every Season Spooky Season.

Posted on by Daysha

I’m a big fan of Halloween, and I’m always looking for ways to make “Spooky Season” a year round event. So, I made a fun little gallery of ideas that I’ve used in one form or another in the hopes that it might spark some inspiration for other spooky-minded ghouls out there! One thing I didn’t put on the list by mistake was “watching my favorite spooky YouTubers.” Consider it the intention under regular spooky movie watching…

What are your favorite ways to keep the Halloween spirit alive during the very-much-not-Halloween seasons? I’d love to hear them in the comments!

As always, thanks for reading!

– Daysha

My Kids Love These Adorable Themed Chore Charts – and Yours Will, Too! [with Free Printable Charts!]

Posted on by Daysha

This post’s printable template is brought to you by my kids’ inability to stay focused on their daily routines in the face of, well, anything. How many times must I repeat the same questions about clean teeth and pajama locations before it becomes a habit without need for a nagging parent? Well, I’m afraid I will never find that answer, but I will settle on a nearer-term goal instead: accountability.

During one of my nightly Pinterest scroll sessions, I came across several project ideas for helping kids remember their chores. Some were super-detailed magnet boards, some were simple lists with clothespins that moved when tasks were completed, and others were everywhere in between. Regardless, the “pinner” ideas were inspiring for my gradually worsening attempts to corral my young kids into some sense of order morning and night. All that in mind, I came up with a simple cutout concept with pockets to put little game-type pieces into whenever a chore was done.

My kids love to count down days to special events and visit their garden to check in on every fledgling seed for growth status, so I took a gamble that being able to move a little cutout icon into a pocket when they finished a chore would help improve their memories immensely. It might even be fun! Behind the scenes, they certainly had very strong opinions about what they wanted their personal charts to look like, so there was some built-in excitement to boot!

Included in this free printable PDF file are four themed charts, one blank chart, four sets of themed icons, and two sets of chore labels (one color, one for DIY coloring). The rainbows, dinosaur, and space charts are pretty self-explanatory; however, the raindrop one was chosen by my second eldest as a “meditation” concept. She’s very into nature sounds and listens to nature music playlists when going to sleep or sketching in her art pad.

While the themes I included were based on my kids’ tastes, the concept should be pretty flexible outside of what’s in this printable. Any small clip art should be suitable for the pocket pieces, and the blank chart can either be cut out and taped to a scrapbooking page or designed and colored as-is.

Chore Chart Construction Guide

1) Cut out the chore labels, the little clip art drawings that match the chart theme you’re using, and a 1.5″ x 6″ rectangle from some extra paper. (Any paper will do, cardstock is best).

2) Tape the bottom and sides of the chore labels where you want them on the designated spaces on the chart. (Note: Make sure you only tape the bottom and sides so that it makes a little pocket where the clipart tokens can slide inside.)

3) Tape the rectangle bottom and sides on the bottom of the chore chart. The rectangle serves to hold the little clipart tokens when not being used. (Note: Again, make sure you only tape the bottom and sides so a little pocket is made with the rectangle.)

There is a short video at the bottom of this page that serves as a guide for how they come together and are used. Hopefully everything is easy peasy!

If you use these charts for your kids’ chores, I’d love to hear how they work out for you! As always, thanks for reading!

– Daysha

The Time Teacher | A Short Time Travel Story by DJ Ferris

Posted on by Daysha

My favorite topic to write and learn about, by far, is time travel. Actually, I think most of the stories I’ve worked on over the last decade (or two…) have time travel as either the basis for the plot or as a key element of one of the main characters or plot points. One of the great things about writing, I’ve found, is that it provides a fantastic outlet to express my theories about such things in a way that doesn’t garner an immediate glazed-over expression. I also don’t have to take time out of my day-to-day to acquire a PhD and multimillion-dollar lab to further explore the things I want to explore.

Writing is a win-win when you think about it!

This story in particular is part of a much larger series that was inspired by a lot of adventure stories most 90s kids I know were attached to in our younger days. The Indiana Jones franchise and Buffy the Vampire Slayer are probably the most recognizable bits, I’d imagine, but in my heart of hearts, Dr. Who is really my ultimate hero. My favorite is the 11th Doctor (Matt Smith), but the 10th Doctor (David Tennant) was a very close second for a while. While reading The Time Teacher, you might be able to pick up on that fact if you’ve ever seen Dr. Who episodes from their seasons.

As always, thanks for reading. Enjoy!

– Daysha

P.S. If you prefer to download the PDF version to send to your eReader of choice, you can head over to the shop link or use the download option in the widget below.

Ms. Winby and the Gunky Knife | A Short Cozy Mystery by DJ Ferris

Posted on by Daysha

This was my first attempt at a cozy mystery story, and I honestly think it’s fairly entertaining! When I wrote it years ago, I was much more critical. However, I recently reread it to do the formatting and e-publishing for this website, and I had forgotten enough of my plot to be able to just enjoy it with reader-eyes only. Maybe that’s the trick to writer overthinking? Perhaps.

Note: Yes, it’s a very silly story, and Ms. Winby is meant to be a very silly character.

I might continue on with Ms. Winby’s little mysteries for practice towards longer books down the road. I have so many big stories swirling around in my brain that want to be typed into life, but I still lack the confidence to throw everything else aside to work on them solo. Confidence might not be the right word, either. Whatever it is, I am absolutely set on writing them – it’s just a matter of when.

In the meantime, I hope you enjoy this story. As always, thanks for reading!

– Daysha

P.S. If you prefer to download the PDF version to send to your eReader of choice, you can head over to the shop link or use the download option in the widget below.

Radio Waves | A Short Science Fiction Story by DJ Ferris

Posted on by Daysha

I have published another one of my stories from a few years ago! It’s a very short science fiction story about a girl that is overtaken by her curiosity after seeing an old man sitting on a bus with a vintage radio in his lap. As if in a trance, she starts to follow him and stumbles upon even more strangeness with where he leads. No spoilers!

This one was inspired by my commuting “adventures” while working in New York City and living in Connecticut for a while. My train went into Grand Central Station via the Metro-North Rail. If you’ve ever been there, you probably know how inspiring the architecture and atmosphere can be for just about anyone, never mind a writer or creator type mind.

Over time, I realized that I could never assume a thing about anyone I was walking aside on my way anywhere or sitting next to on the train. I also had coworkers showing me the countless ways into and out of the station whether underground or through buildings and so forth. I met so many people from every walk of life I could imagine (if they were talkative, of course!), but alas, the experience became a bit over stimulative after about six months or so of crowd fighting. I started putting in headphones for my entire walking and riding journey, and little stories would play out in my head based on my observations. This story was one of them…

Radio Waves is a very quick read, but I think a fun one. I hope you enjoy it!

Thanks for reading!

– Daysha

P.S. If you’d prefer to download the PDF to send to your eBook device of choice (still free!), click here for the shop link or use the download option in the widget below.

A Matter of Taste | A Very Short “Science Fiction” Story by DJ Ferris

Posted on by Daysha

I wrote this story a few years ago to try my hand at flash fiction. After reading about how nearly impossible it is to get published even in a niched periodical, I was very intimidated by the thought of spending a million hours writing a book no one would ever read or even be interested in reading. To help overcome this feeling and also practice in the meantime, short stories and “flash” fiction became my go-to whenever a story idea would strike. If things went well with one of them, my plan was to flesh them out into a fuller work one day. In a way, I’m still in that frame of mind, but each time I finish a story, I find the sense of completion very satisfying, and the time commitment required to do as much works very well with my personal life full of my job, my family, and my semi-homesteading journey.

For this work in particular…

In my mind, I saw two men working on an asteroid together who were having a silly argument. I wasn’t really sure what they’d talk about, so I let them fight it out through my fingers. (Is that a weird thing to say?) Anyhow, I hope you enjoy the quick read!

Thanks for reading!

– Daysha

P.S. If you prefer, this story can also be downloaded as a PDF file via the shop page or use the download option in the widget below.

Printable Home Planners: A Fun Spooky & Cosmic Twist on Organization [with Free Printable Planner Sheets]

Posted on by Daysha

If you’re anything like me, you probably already have a gazillion organization tools at your fingertips via your smart phone whether it be the built-in calendar, a personal journal, specialized apps, etc. Why in the world would anyone use a printed home planner in the year 2024? Let me inspire you…

Trust me when I say that I’m a snob about storing and providing information in an electronic format (please don’t hand me paper anything!). Despite being an early adopter of palm pilots, keychain SD cards, and cloud computing before it was called that, I still kept running into the issue of…(drum roll)…other people that were NOT so high and mighty about this same conviction.

Yeah, I’m talking about my husband. But! I could easily adapt that sentiment for many other non-techies in my life or perhaps the miniature not-allowed-to-be-techies in my life, i.e., my children. It’s actually not totally fair to pin my need for non-electronic organization tools on anyone in particular because there is another – far larger – looming obstacle in my desire to become Borg: human biology.

It’s Science. No, Really.

My working life is about as close to living online as I can get without being a professional streaming gamer, but I still run into the need to grab a spiral notebook and organize my thoughts…on paper…all. the. time. These darn hands just need to be doing something physical in order to connect properly with my creative mind signals for whatever reason. Although I’ve been working for decades (decades!) to train my brain to use a screen for all that sort of stuff, it still says “goobleygookaboragorkapotus” after a while. Once I’ve relented and pulled out some recycled tree-stuff, all is well again. (Insert exasperated Jackie Chan meme here.)

Apparently, this is a known thing in science, and it’s more than just an organization hang up. Working with one’s hands is also good for overall well-being. So, using a printed home planner is not just helping my family understand our schedule and task lists every week (instead of forgetting to check Trello before asking me what’s for dinner for the 42nd time), it’s also helping me stay calm. As goes mom, so goes the house, no? Plus, I get to make something cute. Form meets function, baby!

Okay, so I already published the homestead planning sheets that I made a couple of years ago (and actually use to this day!), but lately I’ve been wanting to add a little more fun to the graphics that appear on it. The older ones were inspired by a Victory Garden community pamphlet that I found on Archive.org, and I still love the little family doing some farming while WWII-era B-series bomber planes are flying overhead. Since Victory Gardens are still a huge influence in the modern homestead community, I want to keep them around as a tribute.

That said, I have some other interests that also influence my home and garden styles such as, you know, cosmic and spooky stuff. I figured if I was redesigning a home planner that has been so useful for me in order to broaden the inspiration it channels, there might be others with similar interests that might find my planner useful, too. So, here it is…or rather, here *they* are! Yes, I made several!

Cute Printable Home Planners for the Win!

These free printable home planners have several versions available as downloadable PDF files, both colored and line drawings:

  • A kitchen witch holding up a book of spells and recipes
  • A spooky pumpkin-head figure in a graveyard with a skeleton popping up under the moonlight
  • A cute couple coming home after a trick-or-treating Halloween party
  • A cosmic gardener growing planets and stars in her garden

I encourage mixing and matching the different versions to maximize the fun and inspiration despite the possible drudgery of task planning you’re facing. And hey, if you’re still wedded to using electronic formats for everything (admittedly, I do this a lot, too even after citing research in favor of prints), the PDF file can be easily imported into any notetaking app like GoodNotes, Noteable, the iPad Notes app, and so forth. There’s many a week where I will start off on GoodNotes with my “hopes” for the week and print out the planner to put on our family clipboard in the kitchen in lieu of using a physical pen for everything.

Well, I hope you find these home planner templates helpful and useful! Let me know in the comments if you have any other ideas you’d like to see made available in the shop. I’d love to hear your ideas and give them a go!

As always, thanks for reading!

– Daysha