ATravel Log 10-3: Blog Party Fun

Thanks to The Vintage Sage  I have been on a classic Hollywood Binge this morning.
    I have been in the uniquely fortunate position to be raised by someone born in 1928. Growing up in Southern California in the 80's and 90's you would never know what Hollywood had been. It's a cesspool now, and has been for a while( if you're thinking of visiting, yeah don't expect too much unless you like seeing homeless people peeing on walls or beautiful old architecture marred by graffiti. Not bitter at all am I?). But my dad first came to LA in the 40's, and he took me down those streets and showed me what it had been. I watched the old movies with him and listened to his stories of watching them in the theaters when they had just been released. It was truly magical and pretty much ruined me for Hollywood as it is today.
    But because of this I felt like showcasing my all time favorite actor here- Vincent Price.

    
    The King of  Horror. The Master of Creepy.
    A man who, when special effects were rudimentary at best, could make thousands shiver with a raised eyebrow.
     My favorite movie of his would have to be a toss up between

and

What is yours?

Travel Log 10-2: She's Crafty

Yes I know, cheesy Beastie Boys reference, lol. But I felt it kinda fit. In the spirit of the blog party I went out and gathered a bunch of stuff for halloween crafts for the kids party.
   I now have 13 paperbag lanterns specially cut with princess/fairy tale themes for my daughter and 2 "pumpkinmen" made out of funkin pumpkins for my son. I added a nice touch to the lanterns by backing the cut outs with colored tissue paper to make them glow different colors. They turned out pretty nice. When the whole yard is done I'll post some pictures.
And since it's busy busy time for the creative juices I figured I would include a spell I found at Mooncat's Hidden Dwelling  to help get those juices flowing:

Spell for Creativity

Preparation:

Gather together the following: a yellow or green candle, a tiny bit of cinnamon, paper, crayons, and a glass of water. If possible this ritual should be done outside, but more importantly, it should be somewhere where you are not interrupted.

Spell:

Start the spell by taking a sip of the water. Enjoy the feeling of it flowing down your throat. Then close your eyes and picture a circle of light surrounding you. Open your eyes, and light the candle. Say:

Muse Goddess, spirit of all things,
Be with me now
Guide me and teach me
And help me find inspiration in your world.

Look around you. Try to see the detail in the world around you. Take note of any shadows, reflections or light. Look for textures and colors. Taste the water again, and enjoy the feeling. Sprinkle some of the cinnamon in the air or blow some off of the palm of your hand. Breath the air, and notice its smells. When you're ready, say:

Muse Goddess, I know I'm not always as observant of your world as I should be. I know I often forget to treasure all your gifts. I get stuck in what I think is the ordinary world, and I do not look beyond it. Help me, Goddess, to grow past that.

I know sometimes that I misuse your gifts, locking my talents away, because I am scared of failing. You give me ideas of beautiful things that I am to create, but I am scared to try, for fear that I cannot succeed. To often I judge my work by others standards, forgetting that all creativity is sacred to you.

(If you want you can continue the prayer with anything else that come to mind.)

Take out the paper and crayons, and draw things that to you symbolize creativity. Maybe a small flower would. Or maybe you'd want to draw the triple moon symbol. To me a symbol of creativity would include a picture of a small red crayon, because with one simple crayon a little child is free to draw a world of things. Do not judge your drawings, simply draw. Let yourself draw as a child would, requiring nothing of yourself but that you are drawing.

When you're done, say thank you to the Goddess for helping you draw, and then say:

Muse Goddess, let me be your child
Let me dance, and sing, and cry,
And let my life be a celebration of your world.

Close your eyes again, and say whatever words of thanks you want. Picture the circle of light around you again. Picture the circle changing into a ball of light and settling itself within you. The creative light of the Universe rests inside you.

Don't throw your picture out right away. Hang it up, or paste it into your book of shadows or your diary. When you're ready to throw it out (or burn it) say a prayer thanking the Universe for being with you as you drew it

Travel Log 10-1: October is here!!

I love this time of year, and this morning there was  nice chill wind and I could smell the hints of winter that always say October to me.
   And so much is going on here in Blogland!
   First I would love to thank Wendy over at Athena Academy for the awesome contest win. Thanks to her and her sweet little boy my 9yr old were-monkey will get to try out the new Spellquizzer program! I'll let you all know how it goes=).
    In response to my brain exercise from yesterday here is the best I could find on it from a website on the origins of words and saying by Micheal Quinion-

"It belongs with a huge set of such expressions, mostly but not all American, which no doubt your Chinese friends would be equally puzzled by: cute as a bug in a rug, cute as a button, cute as a weasel, cute as a kitten, cute as a (pet) fox, cute as a bunny, cute as a speckled puppy, cute as a cupcake, cute as a kewpie doll, cute as a razor (nick), as well as the deeply deprecatory cute as a washtub (from Raymond Chandler’s Farewell My Lovely) and cute as a shithouse rat (in James Joyce’s Ulysses).
Some of these are lesser-known variations of common similes (bugs in rugs are more often snug than cute, for example) and some of the older ones are using cute in its original sense of clever, shrewd or quick-witted (the word dates from the eighteenth century and is a shortened or aphetic form of acute). That sense has survived longer in British English than in American (“she might be too cute to fall into the trap”, Agatha Christie once wrote).
Here’s the earliest example I can find of your version:

“You are very cute, aren’t you?” the traveler said sarcastically. “Widder Wheeler says I’m cute as a Bug’s ear, and she knows.”

The News (Frederick, Maryland), 21 Apr. 1900."

   Stop over at Mrs. B's 31 days of Halloween and check out all the coolness she has arranged for us this season.
   Also the October Blog Party is here! Time to do a little something Halloween-y every day.
   Today the kidniks and I are going to paint mini pumpkins made from the cups of egg cartons. They should be really cute and I'll get pictures of them eventually, lol.
Welcome October, and let the Hauntings begin!

In the spirit of finding the spirits here is a little gem I found tocall on the wisdom of our ancestors by Karren Follett found int hte 2003 Witches Spell A Day Almanac:
     Write your perception of the situation on a piece of paper. Light black, red, and white candles, then cut an apple crosswise to reveal the star made by the seeds.
     Say the following:
        I send my voice across the veil
        To my ancestors that know me well
        Guidance needed wisdom bequest;
         Answers given to aid my quest
   Quiet your mind and recieve guidance. It may come immediately or in  a few days.
    Thank your ancestors and offer the apple to them.

Travel Log 9-30: Wendnesday Wake Me Up

Like last week I'm dragging today. So while I try to ressussitate my brain I'll let you in on my research for today.
     Where did the term "cute as a bug's ear" come from. I don't know of any bugs that have ears. And if the did, due to the whole exoskeleton thing I'm not leaning towards what ears they would have being particularly attractive. So why do we say this?

Here's my theory- I think someone was drunk.

And with October literally right next door, and most of us having little witchlets wandering about, I thought I would look up all the old kid friendly halloween flicks I loved as a kid.

The Ghost and Mr. Chicken
Arsenic and Old Lace
It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown
The Worst Witch (My ABSOLUTE FAVORITE!!)
The Witches ( I loved the book too)
Bed knobs and Broomsticks
The Nightmare Before Christmas (goes almost without saying really)
Casper ( I had such a crush on the kid who played casper)
The Black Cauldron
The Canterville Ghost (the 1986 one with Alyssa Milano is the one I remember best, but the original was    pretty good too)

I hope I can find some of these on DVD for my kids, cause they made the holiday for me when I was a kid!

Travel Log 9-27-2: Memory Lane

It seems that the universe is conspiring to send me on a trip down memory lane today. So many things that I have loved at different parts of my life have literally thrust themselves in front of me. From the power going out and the TV coming back on to a marathon of Grease and Grease 2 (I had them both memorized by age 7, sad I know but Travolta and Caulfield were HOT) to every  radio station playing commercials but the one playing songs that I danced to in highschool followed by a station playing a 20 minute mix from the club scene I hit in college. It was odd but kinda nice. I wasn't always perfect, and a lot of my life was pretty screwed up, but it was a journey and I'm not sure I would change any of it. It's interesting to look back at the person I was at all those different times and to look at who I am now. I don't think any of them would recognize me, lol. Sigh oh how turning 30 in a month tends to make us nostalgic! 

Travel Log 9-28: Invoking Thought

I noticed today that one of the blogs I like has posted a nicely thought provoking post (The Secret Diary of a Mountain Witch ) which brought about a response post from another blog I enjoy ( A Racing Mind ), which reminded me of a post from a few days ago on yet another blog, lol (Howl from The North ). It seems like varying themes of this topic have been on people's minds lately, which makes sense with the new year coming up next month and all. The winter is coming and the long dark nights bring a lot of introspection so it only makes sense that some are starting a bit early.
    So head on over and check them out, then tell me what thoughts they invoke in you!

EDIT*******
     I was kindly informed that this conversation arc arose from a post by Brennaein , so go forth and join in the conversation!

Travel Log 9-27: Home At Last, Sweet God's In the Heaven's, We're Home at Last

Well the busy weekend is finally done and I do believe that I shall have to sleep with one eye open in case my feet make good on their threat and try to kill me in my sleep.
    The weremonkey that is my 9 year old tied 3-3 in his soccer game (second in the season) in horrible heat, so we are pretty darn proud.
    Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs was  a let down from the book, but still pretty good. After the Harry Potter series and the X-Men series I have learned to let the book to movie conversion go( watching X-Men nearly gave me an aneurism and my OH told me he wouldn't take me to any more movies if I didn't learn to relax.). That and Transformers did me a world of good, lol,  cause it was virtually screw up proof. There is nothing that a movie could have done to that franchise that was worse than what they had already done to itself ( Beast Wars *shudder*).
     And as I'm sure you've noticed by now I am a geek. A very large geek =).
    The Fair was about what you would expect from a fair for LA County, but a fun time was had by all. Giant snow cones were consumed, horse races were witnessed, nifty art crafts were done, and shopping happened.
   And now I'm off to get kiddo's in bed and slither between the covers myself. Morning comes early.

Before I go here is a little tidbit I found at Witchery . It's a calming herbal bath that sounds absolutely heavenly:

Winding Down Herbal Bath

This bath herb blend is perfect for relaxing at the end of a long day. The valerian contributes to a nice, sleepy, calming effect. Unplug the phone, light some candles, and have some comfy jammies ready to slip into!
1 part dried hops
1 part dried chamomile flowers
1 part dried lavender buds
1/4 part dried valerian root
lavender essential oil (optional)
Combine all herbs and add 1 drop lavender essential oil for each 3/4 ounce (weight) of total herbs used. Put into a glass container with a lid – a big, empty, clean mayo jar is perfect! – and gently shake to blend. Let the jar sit for at least a week to allow the herbs to
“marinate.”
Use 3/4 ounce (weight) of the herb mixture per bath. The herbs can be tied up in a muslin bag or sealed into a press and brew tea bag, either of which can be dropped into the tub while it’s filling with hot water.
Alternatively, put the herbs in a bowl and cover with a pint of boiling water. Allow to steep for 20 minutes, then strain and add the infusion to the bath. The strained herbs can be tied into a washcloth, which can be used to gently scrub with while soaking.