Peeking around the corner

Hi all!
     Sorry I've been gone so long. I stuck my head in the sand and haven't really pulled it back out in a while. I should be back to normal (ha ha- yeah just remember that's a relative term) in the next few weeks so I'll be catching up with you guys and finally putting together pieces for here too. I missed you all.

Travel Log 8-16: The Abyss

"And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you. "
Friedrich Nietzsche

      I think that we have all stared a bit too long into the abyss, and now it is looking back at us and organizing.
  If you are not familiar with the NAR (New Aposolitic Reformation- and I will not link to that filth on this page) go check out this awesome post by AmethJera at Broom With A View or check out just about anything on the Wild Hunt lately.
   It would appear ladies and gentlemen that we are at war and never even got to do anything to start it. And unfortunately this one isn't going to play out on online chat boards where we can all snark our way into scoring points. Apparently for once some of the crazies are taking the fight to our home ground so to speak. We, the spiritualist and witches, are going to be attacked on the spiritual level. They have even given us the dates that they will do this and what intent they are going to focus on! We are going to be faced with a full frontal assault of a cosmic nature targeted at ourselves, our government, and even at the gods and godesses that sustain our lands all at, according to some people that seem to be foaming at the mouth, the  behest of a god that has been able to inspire frenzied loyalty.
     There has been a lot of debate flying about as to how, or if, the pagan community should respond to this. Personally I can't imagine letting something like this go, and (this is only my opinion here) not responding in some way smacks of fear and hubris. I have found in my life that the universe helps those who help themselves. I have never gained anything from sitting back and hoping someone or something handles things for me. I will be doing what I can to help repel and counter these attacks that are going to be made on the spirit of my homeland as well as myself. I can see no other course of action that would be morally acceptable to me. There are a couple of sites helping to try and organize this. So far the best set up one is Hail Columbia. Go check them out and see what you can do to help. Even lighting a protective candle is something. If it helps imagine that you are a Who in Whoville and it's time for you to let out your Yap so that our message can get through-
WE ARE HERE! 

Travel Log 8-9: Wow Is My Plate Full

   You know when you go to a buffet and you keep putting a little of this and a little of that and by the time you're done you've got a heaping plate full? Well that's me for the next few months.
   I've been trying to get my butt motivated to write (since mom passed I have had a hard time picking up anything creative) and decided to do the NANOWRIMO summer camp dealio that they have been doing. Yay me for getting on the finish a full novel band wagon.
    Then I decided that I wasn't going to let my funk keep me from starting college next fall so I went and talked to an admissions councilor for the school I want to go to and found  out that I should have no problems applying and getting accepted as long as I take 2 more general ed classes at my community college. Great, 2 classes no sweat. Except one of them is a math class that I need to have another math class prerequ'ed that I haven't completed yet. And the semester has already started and there is no way for me to get the pre requisite class this late. So now I have to find a way to test into a higher math class than I have ever taken before and math hates me. No seriously, it hates me. So now I have to set up testing and cram 2 years worth of evil Algebra into a couple weeks or it sets me back a whole year on admission.
    Oh and did I mention that I still have 4 kids, 2 of which just started a their school year at a new school, 2 blogs, and a periodical submission to do.
    Yeah I would have to say that my eyes were much bigger than my stomach here, lol. But I can't see what I would choose not to do so it looks like I'll be running around like a madwoman for a few months.

Travel Log 8-3: Chasing Normality

Hello again.
     I'm heading back towards having a routine in my life after my mother's passing. Thank you all for all your kind words and thoughts.I'm sorry I kinda ran off and hid my head in the sand but truthfully I never really prepared myself for this. My parents were in their fifties when they adopted me, so I've spent a lot of my life looking at the reality that they will die sooner rather than later, but we all had been preparing ourselves for my father passing first. He's the one who has all the health problems. My mom was healthy as a horse (despite her residual nerve damage fro the polio). I've been keeping up with the rest of you on and off (even though I haven't posted so consider me a part time stalker, lol) and I think I have caught up. A special thanks to Yellow Dog Granny- as usual your shots of humor during the week have really helped to pick me up.
     I'm trying to pick up a lot of the projects that I had been working on before all this happened. I announced on Witchy Thrifting a great new thing and I figure I'll fill you guys in too. I've been asked to write a monthly Witchy Thrifting column for PaganPages.org. It's a really cool free ezine for all things pagan and I'm really excited to start writing for them. I had planned to announce that after my first column was turned in my first article, but with my mother's passing that has been put off until this month.
     Also I have been honored to be invited to do an interview for You, Me & Religion this month and it was featured this past weekend so hop over HERE and check it out!
    I really hope all of you (and I know a lot of you have) are keeping up with this DC40 nonsense. This is one of those situations where we are being attacked as a whole community and on our own spiritual 'turf' so to speak. I really hope we can all come together to help deflect this harmful magick that they are looking to cook up against us. I have some ideas on that but that will have to wait for another time.
    Generally I'm finally taking that deep breath in and facing that life is going to go on and it's time to step back on the carousel. I have an appointment with an admissions councilor for CSULA tomorrow and am starting to plan out what I need to do to start school there next fall. I even started participating in the NANOWRIMO summer camp and plan on getting my novel finished by the end of this month (since procrastinating it isn't going to work with everything else I have going on).
    I'm going to have one hectic month, lol, but I need this kind of chaos to keep me from slipping back into a funk.

A very bad day

  I've been absent from here because of family tragedy. Thursday morning my sister and I found our mother in her bed, no longer amongst the living. This has been a huge shock to our family as she was in the best of health. The past few days have been a haze, and I don't know when things will be settling down to normal. She leaves behind my father that needs care as well as my sister who has a mental condition. I am their new caretaker and things are really hectic to say the least. I'll be back when I can think straight.
   Knowing you guys were out there has honestly helped a great deal the past few days, so thank you for your friendship and I hope to be back soon.

Travel Log 7-12: I think I may be Going Insane..

  I know, I know- going? Lol. 
    You see, when I was younger I had a plan for my life. I was going to grow up to be Perry Mason. That was the plan. I was going to be a lawyer and solve crimes and generally drive a really cool car. I stuck with that plan from age 4 until 5th grade (pretty long for a kid, huh?). That's when the establishment came crashing down on me. See my parents had put me in a private school that they thought was going to be great (because it was a private school and they are from the generation that all private schools are inherently better because you have to pay for them), but it wasn't. It was a progressive school that pretty much used all us little learners as guinea pigs to try out new ideas in teaching and early cognitive development. So while while my parents were being dazzled with tales of how I was mastering calculus (something that personally terrifies my father), I wasn't being taught to multiply or divide.
   After a couple years of this I realize that I need to have grades recorded in order to get into the college I wanted (yes I was a 3rd grade thinking of this- I was weird) and finally convinced my parents to send me to a public school for at least 2 years to establish a gpa (I have no idea why my parents didn't get me psych eval'd when as a 8 year old I was tossing those terms around, lol) so that I could look better on college applications. So I headed off to public school for 5th and 6th grades.
    This is where my plan derailed and took the rest of my undergraduate school career with it. I flunked math. I was devastated.  I continued to flunk math all the way through. I was a 5th grader who couldn't multiply or divide the way they wanted. I was considered so far behind that the teachers really didn't even bother with me.
   So I gave up. I coasted my way through the rest of my schooling and then proceeded to pick the least higher math related tech program I could find for my first foray into college. That didn't work out and I later went back for an AS in Respiratory Therapy. That was really intense and took some serious commitment but I got through it with a 3.4 gpa- the best of my life.
   And now I'm looking at picking up my original plan and going back to get a 4 year degree as a ramp up to law school. I'm over 30, have 4 kids- 2 of which aren't in school yet. I haven't been in school since 2004. That's 7 years! I am trying to work on a novel and a nonfiction offering, as well as getting everything in order to buy a house sometime in the next 2 years. But deep down I really want to do this, and I can't think of a time that is going to be better to get started on this. Life is always going to be there and if I really want this then I need to buckle down and get my butt in gear. It's just a little extra work and stress, right?
    I must be going insane.

Travel Log 7-7: After an Extended Holiday Weekend

     I mentioned before that the 4th had some thought percolating in my brain, and I think that after running around playing catch up in blogland has shown me that a lot of you have had similar ideas. I am on the same page with HecateDemeter ( post link HERE) Bishop In The Grove (pot link HERE) and Kallan from the Secret Life Of The American Working Witch (post link HERE). I am very disappointed with the directions that America is currently taking, but I still love and am unswervingly devoted to the ideals that America was founded on.
    I am that person who can't sit through a 4th of July parade or fireworks show without tears. To remember generations of people who not only created an ideal, but then sacrificed in every imaginable way in order for that ideal to survive. It never ceases to draw strong emotions from me. I feel such a strong connection through time to people who suffered for an ideal that our modern world takes completely for granted.
     The 4th always reminds me that the world I live in did not just spring fully formed into being. People created it and cared for it. When I see veterans with silver hair and canes marching together under a banner that they are button busting proud to carry I can't help but think of the horror that they have seen and the hells that they have lived through. The loneliness that their families lived through while they were gone and abject terror that they lived with that a man with an envelope would knock on their door and tell them that their loved one was dead. And in a way all of them did die. The person they were when they left died out there in service to us, and their souls won't ever be the same. I can see the line of people that have given their lives and loved ones who wept for them down through the generations all the way back to a group of farmers standing on a hill with muskets facing down the most well trained military force in their world.
    I owe those people a debt. Something that can not truly be repaid but still must be striven for. I owe them the debt of life. I am indebted to live my life to the fullest, and to live that life with honor. To make the world I live in worthy of their sacrifice. The ideals of our country are not dead. We are not dead, and we owe that to those who were willing to give their lives and part of their souls in order for the ideals to live on.
    There are some debts that it is impossible to repay, but I still have to try.

Travel Log 7-5: Two Wheels and Some Explosions

    Well I hope everyone had a great 4th of July weekend! I sure did (there's a post up on Witchy Thrifting with some of my weekend finds!) and it isn't over for me yet. The Hubby has taken a couple days off so we're still on a mini vacation. Sorry I haven't been stalking you guys as much as I normally do but I'll be back to doing that and catching up with everything tonight or tomorrow!
    Besides going to some thrift shops this weekend we've been to a children's museum/water play area, a country style fair, a parade, and today we're off to the beach! We've definitely been busy little bees here.
    The parade was awesome and was lead by a LARGE compliment of motorcycles that had the little guys thoroughly impressed. The whole thing really gave me some things to think about and I'll be popping that into a post once it's done solidifying in my head.
   We also got to see a bunch of fireworks out of our front window (they are very illegal to do personally around here- our state is waaaay too flammable) from a near by display at a high school, so that was kinda cool. The cat's didn't freak out which was really nice because getting scratched by a nervous cat was not on my to do list for the night.
   Well we're off to the land of sand and sea. Enjoy the summer weather while I'm off to face my lifetime nemesis sunburn in a battle to the death.

Travel Log 6-30:United We Stand, Devided We Fall

  Just recently NotHannah over at Divining Women put up a post that pretty much hit the nail on the head for how I've been feeling about our greater Pagan community lately. With all the very scary things going on in politics lately (admittedly sprinkled with good nuggets such as the latest victory for equal rights in NY) I've been honestly looking at real estate in Canada. It worries me that women are being arrested in Alabama for miscarrying, or that politicians are actually trying to play chicken with our national credit. And lets not even talk about the current crop of republican candidates for President- I may just toss the kids in the car and head for the border.
   All this craziness has really pointed out something that is missing from my peace of mind. A whole in my safety net if you will. There is no where for me to turn as a Pagan to have my rights and freedoms protected or enforced. I am completely at the mercy of police and government agencies that have been proven time and again to not be the most open minded of bodies as a whole. Sure I could go knock on the ACLU's door, but they're currently fighting for women's and voter's rights in a bunch of states so I doubt I would be a priority. That is what worries me. That should something happen I am pretty much on my own because I don't have a large church behind me to get my back so to speak.
    And what is really to blame for that? Why can't we as a community band together to further our group interests? In my opinion it's because we (as a group) are just a little bit too attached to our 'fringe' status. We want to be allowed to do whatever we want without bowing to the societal requirements that build the respect that would give us the validation necessary to go about our business unmolested by legally sanctioned persecution. In essence we want the reward but don't want to have to compromise enough to get the work done that earns the reward. We all want to be seen as sparkling individuals, be respected and accorded all rights. While in a perfect world this would already be and we wouldn't ever have to talk about it, but as I think we are all agreed that this is far from a perfect world.
    Why can't we all unbend enough to accept that we need to be a group, represented by identifiable figureheads that can do interviews and promote our causes in the media? Are we really that afraid that we'll somehow morph into a christian styled church just because we're all grouping together? Or that we won't be able to recognize a power hungry leader and let them run amok?
     I think that this is a discussion that we all as a community need to seriously have with each other. I think that something needs to start being developed so that we have a way to fight these evangelical movements that are attempting to stamp us out like bugs. Between fight or flight I would much rather find a way to fight but none of us can do that on our own. There needs to be a recourse for people other than stay in the broom closet or move.
   Besides I already have to stop myself from saying 'aboot' I really don't want to add 'eh' too.

Travel Log 6-27: We're Not Made of Jello! We Get Behind A Fellow!

 .......Black and Yellow!

    Ok, so I watched The Bee Movie this weekend, lol. But really this is appropriate because I'm here to show a little support for one of our witchy sisters out here in blognland. Sandi from Crafty Sandi Blog has opened her own Etsy shop and besides her really cool usual stock she is featuring a very cool little invention of hers. Spell Tarts!

   These little scented soy wax tarts are a great way for those of us who can't have candles burning at all times of day  for special reasons (like little pyromaniacs that think playing with the candle thingie will be fun but will in reality set the house on fire). The backs are flat so that you can carve runes, sigils, or spells into their backs and then just pop them into the cauldron or tart burner and viola! They even come charged with intent so it's great for that quick go to spell.
   So go check her out and lets support another witchy entrepreneur going out there and being upstanding and respectable and stuff! (especially when they come up with really cool ideas that I am totally jealous of, lol)
    Also Sandi donates a portion of all proceeds from her shop to Domestic violence and abuse causes so please go check her out, she is definitely a witch deserving of our support!

Travel Log 6-22: Quick Post and A Couple of Monkeys

     The Solstice went fine once I pumped myself full of caffeine. Lots of laughing (only a little bit of which was maniacal) and fun was had. Didn't get to bake the bread, but hey more cookies are always a good thing (shush diet, your opinion doesn't count in this matter). 
Just a quick little pop in to let you know that Witchy Thrifting has a new entry- with pictures!
   And speaking of pictures here's some of the pictures I took at the Santa Ana Zoo this past week on our last adventure- Nature shots are so not my thing, lol.

"Ooh, look at those strange specimens out there. They have some strange sort of flashy box and the little ones keep hopping around the big one and asking for candy.."

" Hold still?? Are you insane woman those are poison dart frogs!"

"I think I can hot wire this one"

"Look Grandpa he's climbing why can't I?"

" No Mommy I can't look at you for pictures there are MONKEYS!"

"Being the older brother is pretty sweet sometimes, especially if it means you get to see the spider monkeys better."

"The tamarins are sooo cute- look at the babies on it's back!"

     Now we're off to the Children's Museum for today's adventure!

Travel Log 6-21: Sleep is For the Weak...

   It's Midsummer, yay!
   Last night I was up late  dancing around with the fairies and was still so full of pixie dust I had a hard time sleeping once I did slip into bed (ok I was playing the new Alice game and lost track of time, but it sounds better to blame it on the fairies). Which is why now that my personal pixies dragged me out of bed extra early I feel like a zombie fresh out of the freezer. The fact that they are not just barely up and stumbling around bleary eyed like I am, but instead are at full running through the house awake and yelling stage makes me rather queasy.
   So I had this whole plan for today that would involve baking and cooking and playing games then having a mini bonfire in the fire pit this evening. I wonder if I can get all that accomplished curled up in a corner whimpering...
    Blessed Midsummer/ Litha to all of you out there (and Winter solstice to those in the other hemisphere!). I'm hoping that I can guzzle enough pepsi to get in the spirit!

Travel Log 6-17:The Worst Witch

     First off there is a new post up over at Witchy Thrifting so go check it out!
     Last month the lovely Magaly over at Pagan Culture held an awesome event called Witches in Fiction. During the party I focused on the awesomeness that is Granny Weatherwax, the witch I hope to grow up to be. It came to me while I was lying in bed last night so I decided to write about it now rather than wait until next year. While Granny is who I want to be in the future, and hope that I am becoming more like now, there was a witch that embodies who I was, and still very much am. The first witch I really connected with and saw myself in.
   Mildred Hubble.
   Never heard of her? Well she is the main character of a book series in the UK that got turned into a tv show in the 90's and a movie, as well as a US movie in the 80's starring Fairuza Balk, Tim Curry, Diana Rigg, and Charlotte Rae (Mrs Garrett) called The Worst Witch. I never got to see the UK versions and want them so badly I can taste it. But the US tv movie that was released in 1986 was the first time I looked at a character on tv and saw myself. I watched that first year cuddled up in my Care Bear pajamas hugging my teddy bear and found myself a hero.
    Mildred is a regular girl. About as regular as they get. She has freckles and messy hair. She struggles in her classes and the toughest teacher in her school has decided to come down like a ton of bricks on her at any given opportunity. Of course this is Miss Cackles International Academy for Witches, a boarding school for young witches so Mrs Hardbroom, Mildred's teacher nemesis, is extra scary. When they hand out the black cats Mildred gets a grey tabby who's so afraid to ride on her broomstick so she has to put him in her satchel and hang it from the back of her broom. The girl just can't catch a break. The prettiest, smartest, most popular girl in school makes it her mission to make Mildred's life as miserable as possible. In fact a prank that this girl plays on Mildred has her so upset she runs away from the school only to run smack into a group of evil witches planning to take over the school. But then in an awesome twist, Mildred captures the evil witches and saves the school earning herself praise and a special flight with the head warlock (Tim Curry).
     This is an age old story. Persecution followed by a make-good situation. Nothing new there, but as a almost 6 year old (this of course premiered around Halloween and my birthday is November 5th) this was the first time I looked at a character in a movie and saw myself. And she was a witch.
     Mildred Hubble was my revelation. She was ordinary and extraordinary at the same time. Magic was a part of her world, a part of her, but as ordinary as homework (in fact a lot of it was homework, lol) and she wasn't even considered very good at it. It wasn't a story about these girls being witches, it was a story about a girl who just happened to be a witch. It wasn't about how good she was with a potion or a spell, it was about her.
    I loved it. I would wait every year for it to come back on at Halloween and then watch every time it was on. I taped it once and watched the tape almost every day until my sister taped over it with something with Carey Elwes in it (I don't remember what it was just that there were tudor costumes and it was all very dramatic -6 year old code for bor-ing). You can imagine the fights over that one.
    For years I watched and loved that movie until slowly they stopped showing it. then a couple years ago it popped back up again and now I have it on dvd.
    Mildred Hubble was my stepping stone. She was me. I wasn't popular. In fact I was so socially awkward it was almost painful. I never fit in and I was an easy target for teasing. Mildred helped me get through that. The theme song from the movie still plays in my head almost as a soundtrack for how I see my formative years.

  Is there a little Mildred in you?

Travel Log 6-16: I Ain't Been Eateded..

  This is just a quick post to let you know that I was not sacrificed to the wild animals yesterday, thank goodness (although it was a near thing with the giant anteater).  I did however almost get taken out by a bird in the rain forest aviary where the birds (and apparently turtles) get to fly around. We saw A LOT of monkeys. I mean A LOT.
    I really liked this zoo because it is laid out like a park. There is play equipment and lots of wide open grass space for small kids to run and play. The enclosures were all really well suited to the animals that were in them and none were cramped or on concrete. There were even baby tamarins! They were tiney tiny and adorable. We took a miniature train ride around the zoo and got kissed by butterflies. It was a lot of fun. They even have little keys that you can put into boxes located around the zoo that will then play songs about the animals and the zoo for the kids. We had a ton of fun.
      I took a lot of pictures but I still need to sort through them all so no pictures up here yet.
     Also don't forget to check out Witchy Thrifting!

Travel Log 6-15: 50 Monkeys and Me..

   We're off to the zoo today! The Santa Ana Zoo to be exact. Funny little bit of history there. Apparently when Joseph Prentice donated the land for Prentice park he put only 2 restrictions on it- 1) that the park would bear his name, and 2) that there would always be at least 50 monkeys in the park.
   Cause yeah...nothing says public park like 50 monkeys.
   But that is to my advantage today as the Grands, the midgets, and me head over to the zoo that has built up around the monkeys. They have elephants and a working farm, and even a petting zoo for the squishmeister. And truthfully the best part about it is it isn't the LA Zoo. That place is so depressing. All the enclosures are concreted in(and during california summers that's such a humane way to make an animal live not to mention all the smog - hacking penguins is so NOT cute) and every time I've gone there (about 3 times in my entire life) I want to arrange a jail break for all of them. I always leave depressed. So going to a zoo in a nicely wooded park should be a fun trip for everyone.
    I'll try and post pictures after we get home if the kids don't feed me to a wild animal (the Littleman is all about necessary sacrifice, lol) or if I don't pass out. All in all not a bad plan for a Wednesday.
     Oh and I have another post up on my Witchy Thrifting blog so hop on over and check it out!

Travel Log 6-13: Monday...Why Does It Have To Be Monday..

   Well this weekend was fun but busy.
    Went to the opening for Super Bad Action Figures in sunny (sunny like the face of the sun sometimes) Redlands California. It was a lot of fun to catch up with all my geeky friends and see a new mecha of geekiness open up. We escaped with our wallets intact no thanks to our 4 year old. He was convinced that he just could not possibly live without the Iron Man statue that was taller than him. The squishmeister (our 2 year old) had a close encounter with Boba Fett and a storm trooper that had him hiding and actively asking for a jedi. I also had a moment that had me wishing I hadn't forgotten my camera- Boba Fett taking down Captain Jack Sparrow. It was a beautiful Kodak moment and I missed capturing it..sniff...
      The babysitter experiment went awesome. The boys were as good as gold for her so she didn't run screaming into the night! The hubster and I even got to go to a thrift store by ourselves which made a whole bunch of difference! He even found some really cool 1960's sliding rules that are in awesome condition. He totally math geeked out on them, lol.
     So that means that we can hopefully (if we can still get tickets) go to the Green Lantern special showing being put on by Four Color Fantasies! Woot! It has been forever since we got to go to a midnight release, and on top of it to make it one with free tshirts and swag bags? Oooh Ducky! (for that reference check out this hilarious post from Debra She Who Seeks)
     Yesterday was spent finishing up projects and running around to craft stores (Michael's had a great sale going on ribbon and we all know I can't pass up ribbon- they even had cording for a buck a roll!) and generally being busy. Now I feel like I need a weekend to recover from my weekend, lol. 
     And this morning I have been out there stalking checking out all your lovely blogs and already laughed so hard soda almost came out of my nose-twice! If you want a good solid laugh check out Mental Poo (not if you're easily offended though) or check out Cogent Ascending which I found thanks to Magaly over at Pagan Culture.
     How was everyone else's weekend?

Travel Log 6-11: They're Action Figures....Yeah That's What They Are...

  Happy weekend all!
   This weekend we're going to be doing a couple brand new things.
   First thing we're going to do is go to the grand opening of a new comic inspired store that one of our friends is hooked up with. It's called Super Bad Action Figures. If you are anywhere near Redlands Ca, and want to meet Wolverine (the character not Hugh Jackman, darn it!) in person or have a hankering to hang with the local chapeter of the 501st Imperial Battalion then come on down! We'll also be there with midgets in tow since our 4 year old thinks storm trooper is a viable career goal (almost brings a tear to my eye *sniff*).
   And then later the hubster and I are going to be going out sans midgets. This is significant because up until now if we went out without the littleun's then one of my family members were watching them and that was only if we really had to. This time we'll be doing a trial run with a lovely young lady that came recommended by a friend. She is awesome and I've talked to her a ton over the past couple weeks. How lucky is it that I stumbled onto one of the few pagan baby sitters in southern California? I was super stoked to find out that she actually attends a Temple that a bunch of people I know (not the referring friend, lol) go to? So I don't have to hide the pentagrams when she comes over to babysit!
    Now we just have to see if me and hubby can actually be ok with someone else being with the kids. So wish us luck as we are off to go geek out!
   Oh and I almost forgot to let you know that I have another craft up on my other blog Witchy Thrifting if you want to check it out!

Travel Log 6-9: Oh The Crafty Fun!

The craftyness has been abounding here and I'm slowly but surely transforming all the absolutely gorgeous glassware that I picked up this past weekend. I've also been working on my new project which is tied to the extra craftiness going on.
    Since I've been kicking around  the idea of putting together a book proposal with my Thrifty Witch stuff (another article of which is going to be appearing in next month's Witches Hour E-zine) and I've been saying that I'll be using you guys as a sounding board of sorts for my ideas for that I've come to a conclusion. I have a hard time basically take over this blog with my ideas for this project.
    So I've decided to start another blog for my Thrifty Witch stuff. I know, I'm now one of the mulitpagers, lol. I've just had so many ideas for this that it would literally take over this page with it and I value this too much as a journal for that. So this is my official launch of my new page!
    Once I started looking at doing a new page I actually did a google search for Thrifty Witch and the name is not quite as original as I thought (I know I know, there's nothing new under the sun) so I went for one that I like better and is a bit more original.
    So here is the link to the new page...drumroll please.....Witchy Thrifting!
    Right now it is mainly my thoughts on the processes of thrifting from a witchy persepctive with some reposts of crafts I put on here, but by this weekend I'll have a couple new ones up. Come check it out and I would appreciate any critique you guys may have =)!

Travel Log 6-6: Busy Busy Weekend

This weekend has been crazy, lol. We did a lot of running around looking for things that couldn't be found (I'm a poet and I didn't even know it- lol). Apparently it is nigh unto impossible to find silicone muffin pans. I am so sick of the water here tearing apart the nostick coating on the metal ones and I've been dying to get an enamel set (which apparently doesn't exist, sigh) or for second choice a silicone one (which apparently only exists in the deep dark recesses of the interwebz).
    In other, cooler, news the Hubster surprised me this weekend by getting me a new camera! All of you have been very sweet in not mentioning how crappy the photo's I post on here are but that now shall change! While in no way a top of the line model, this little baby is a definite improvement! This has acted as the electric cattle prod to my crafting bug. I now have and driving urge to get my crafting on, so I indulged myself and hit up the thrift store this weekend as well.
   I found some awesome pieces and went a little wild with the glassware, lol. I've actually come up with a technique I really like to treat glassware so I'll be showing you guys that soon. I found some really, really cool stuff (I even squeed over some of it, lol).
   On the crafting and thrifting subject-
   I know I've mentioned using you guys as guinea pigs test subjects  an opinion poll on my book idea for my thrifting/crafting thing I've been doing. Well I've decided to take that a small step further and I'll tell you guys all about that a little later this week. A lot of it has to do with all the swag I picked up this weekend that is going to go towards my ritual tool project (got almost everything I need actually, lol) so I'll be a busy little bee getting those done, and it also has to do with having everything in place to show you =).
     I hope everyone else's weekend was as fun and productive as mine!

Travel Log 6-3: It's Out of My Control

  I apologize ahead of time for having the music player on the sidebar and for putting a music video in this post. Please turn the music player on the right instead of forgetting about it and just playing the video like I do, lol.
    I don't normally do things like this but please start the video and read the lyrics then continue to the rest of my post below it. It will all make sense I swear. It's Waiting For The End by Linkin Park.

This is not the end
This is not the beginning,
Just a voice like a riot
Rocking every revision
But you listen to the tone
And the violent rhythm
Though the words sound steady
Something empty's within 'em

We say Yeah!
With fists flying up in the air
Like we're holding onto something
That's invisible there,
'Cause we're living at the mercy of
The pain and the fear
Until we dead it, Forget it,
Let it all disappear.

Waiting for the end to come
Wishing I had strength to stand
This is not what I had planned
It's out of my control....

Flying at the speed of light
Thoughts were spinning in my head
So many things were left unsaid
It's hard to let you go...

(Oh!) I know what it takes to move on,
I know how it feels to lie,
All I wanna do
Is trade this life for something new
Holding on to what I haven't got

Sitting in an empty room
Trying to forget the past
This was never meant to last,
I wish it wasn't so...

(Oh!) I know what it takes to move on,
I know how it feels to lie,
All I wanna do
Is trade this life for something new
Holding on to what I haven't got

What was left when that fire was gone?
I thought it felt right but that right was wrong
All caught up in the eye of the storm
And trying to figure out what it's like moving on
And i don't even know what kind of things I've said
My mouth kept moving and my mind went dead
So, picking up the pieces, now where to begin?
The hardest part of ending Is starting again!!

All I wanna do
Is trade this life for something new
Holding on to what i haven't got...

This is not the end
This is not the beginning,
Just a voice like a riot
Rocking every revision
But you listen to the tone
And the violet rhythm
Though the words sound steady
Something empty's within 'em
(Holding on to what i haven't got)

We say Yeah!
With fists flying up in the air
Like we're holding onto something
That's invisible there,
'Cause we're living at the mercy of
The pain and the fear
Until we dead it, Forget it,
Let it all disappear
(Holding on to what i haven't got!)


Ok now my post:

        The Circle of Mom's thing has been a level 3 brewhaha from the start but has quickly escalated to a level 6 fiasco complete with death threats and religious warfare. (if by chance you have so far been lucky enough not to see the general asshattery going on with this check out Mrs. B's post HERE and catch up it's the whole situation is seriously ridiculous and unnecessary).
     So many great people have weighed in on this (Kallan, Not Hannah, Mrs. B, Gumbo Soul, and so many more) but it has affected me so badly that I felt the need to use you all as a purging ground for it- sorry 'bout that.
     I was raised in a christian household. Not amazingly devout or anything. We were catholic but after a little misunderstanding when I was 3 we left and didn't go back. I bounced around christian denominations and schools for almost all of my life. My parents never preached religion at me or even really talked about it at all really.
    I started my pagan journey when I was about 14. When I talked to my parents about it they pretty much thought it was a great joke. They still do, which is why we don't talk about it. When I talked to the pastors that I had gone to for advice before their reactions ranged from laughter to talk of demonic possesion (tip to teenage pagans out there who just happen to be going to chirstian schools and are good at theology- be very careful who you discuss your own religion with, some people hide the crazy very well). As you can imagine I did not spend my formative years talking about my own faith pretty much AT ALL. I wish I could say that I was one of those rare brave people that found the strength to stand firm and fight for my faith but I wasn't. I pretty much put my head down, kept my mouth shut and tried to get through. Especially after I got shipped off to a reform school for juvenile delinquents in the middle of backwater southern mormon land (not for being a pagan but for running away from home for a week to go to my friends LSD baptism of all things- my parents knew a judge and were very over reactive).
    This brings me to the song that I featured above(I told you it would make sense eventually). After taking some good hard looks at my reactions to what is going on over at Circle of Moms, this song is what keeps playing in my head. What upsets me the most about what is going on (besides the whole death threat/religious hate thing of course) is that I feel like it's dragging me back into a time and place I don't ever want to be in  again. I ended something and began a different journey, but the ending never seems to be complete, and I can never seem to leave behind the remnants of what went before.
     I want to be left alone in my faith, separate and distanced from the christian world. I don't want to be seen by them or be forced to look at the pain some of them can cause. Why can't they leave me alone in my faith? Why do they care what I believe or how I live? And why can't I stop caring about it all?

EDIT****************************
    Ok, after rereading it the above sounds really really whiney, lol. Unfortunately you guys often get my thoughts as they pour out of my head and apparently I was having an emo moment. What I really wanted to say was that although I am not personally being attacked, or closely involved, between what is going on with this particular situation and the current political climate throughout the nation of right wing hard core scary christian legislating going on (mainly in the states not at a national level-yet) it is all dragging me back to a place that was really really dark in my life. I cannot understand why, when no one is going out of their way to have anything to do with these people, the really hateful and obscene crawls out of the woodwork and comes spitting in someone decents' face. Especially when the someone who's face is being spit upon really just wants to live their life and is not seeking to interact with the jerk spitting on them in any way.
   In short the teenager in side of me is screaming at these people things along the lines of  'So what if  you're not inviting me to your party, I don't want to go to your party, Now get the hades out of mine people want to dance and your car's blocking the DJ!'
    Leaving christianity honestly seems like trying to break up with a particularly needy boyfriend sometimes....

Travel Log 6-1: Pagan Values

Ok, honestly I had absolutely no idea about pagan values blogging month until Mrs. B posted about it and I read this post by Bishop in The Grove (check it out it is a great read, and if you've never checked out his blog before I highly recommend it). However with all the hooplah and brewhaha going on right now between whether to call ourselves pagans and random christians popping up to be jerks over a blog contest I feel motivated to join in now that I know about it.
    So, in the style of Bishop in The Grove,  I'll be randomly (because as we all know most of my posting is totally random, lol) posting what values I find to be most important to me personally as a pagan.
    I'll start with one that is, for me, a cornerstone- acceptance.

        As a pagan, acceptance is the foundation that I build my faith on. I accept that there are things I will never understand. I accept the responsibility of living every day the best that I can as the price for my life. I accept others as they are and know that I can only touch their lives to the extent that they allow me. I accept that I am but a small pebble on the ocean of existence, but I am not alone- the sun shall warm me and the ocean soothe me, the earth shall support me and the air cool me. I accept that I am a small thread among many, but the fabric into which I am woven  is vast and beautiful and as ephemeral as a wish.
       Acceptance has not come easily to me. I am proud and selfish had find it difficult to accept that my will cannot always prevail, that change is not just up to me. Because it does not come easily acceptance is something that I value.

Travel Log 5-31: What a Weekend!

  Well the long weekend is over and was it ever packed, lol.
    We went on the Ghost tour on Saturday and let me say, it rocked! The Whaley house was awesome!! Not only did I have some one rubbing my arm in the theater (and no one was sitting on either side of me) but I got almost a dibilitating fear of falling in a room where a young woman tried to jump to her death but failed (she later shot herself in the outhouse). This is considered the most haunted place in the United States and to top it off Vincent Price slept there!!! (I know- I'm a dweeb and dead person fan girl, lol). Also I finally got to visit the Hotel Del Coronado (where Some Like it Hot was filmed- yet again old film and dead person dweeb cause Marylin is said to haunt a villa there) and even sneaked up to room 3327 were a mysterious con lady who was shot there is said to haunt. I want to stay there just because it is beautiful.
    We got down to old town San Diego about 3 hours early and boy was I glad we did. I've been to San Diego before, but only to Sea World and the Gaslamp district (essentially the old red light district also called the Stingeree) and those are nice, but wow to old town. It's a little tourist trappy but it is also a whole lot of preserved buildings from back in the adobe and clapboard period. The whole town square of the old city is practically there, and a lot of it in absolutely awesome condition. While most are museums some are also artisan's shops and they have some really awesome stuff. Next time I have cash to spend I'm heading down that way.
      So yeah, we had a ton of fun there, lol. I haven't gone through my photo's yet but if there are any good ones I'll post them. Oh and if anyone is in the So Cal area and want to have some awesome ghosty fun there is a group of ghost investigators that investigate the Whaley house every month and they take visitors. We are so going to try and go on one of their investigations!
     Friday we had a Hairspray Marathon when my hubby got home. I was craving some of my oldies musicals but couldn't bring myself to watch Grease so soon after Kinicky passed (you have no idea the level of obsession I have had with that movie ever since I was a kid- I even liked the sequel). Maybe I'll do a tribute next weekend.
      We also picked up the Xbox version of L.A. Nior this weekend so that has kept me away from the computer as well, lol. If you at all like video games and crime shows I suggest you pick this one up- it rocks.
     I should have a couple more entries into my Thrifty witch series this week as well, so w00t for being productive! Oh and I finished my first crochet project finally (only after about 4 months and 3 yarn changes and 7 restarts, lol) so I'll get pics and post that too.
      I hope everyone had as much fun this past weekend as I did!

Travel Log 5-23: We're All Still Here

   Well Saturday came and went and doesn't look like the world ended. There were a lot of people looking forward to that on both sides of the issue so to speak. But honestly I hope that we can all take a lesson away from this. For me that lesson is to remind myself that it doesn't matter what tomorrow is going to bring I still have to live today. All those poor people who gave their life savings to a charletain that promised them heaven on a specific day forgot that one. Planning for tomorrow is great, but live today for all it's worth.
    In happier news (I know what's happier than the world not ending right?) this week is the Monkeyman's birthday!  11 years ago I gave up my dream of living as a hermit in some remote Irish cottage and got a new one that apparently is going to include pirates.
     I kinda feel bad for the kid since his birthday is the last day of school, but that at least means that he's going to get to stay out late. We already did the cake and presents this weekend (video's and underwear and ipod's oh my!) and the cake thing. Now normally I make a cake from scratch and then make it all pretty but for some reason my oven decided that it was going to go nuclear this weekend. It burned 3 cakes even with me cutting the cook time in half. So I had to go store bought and then customize the heck out of it. So here's the pretty darn good (if I do say so myself) re furbished store bought cake that he got on Sunday after he ripped through his presents-

The sculls were made out of fondant and were super fun. It was my first foray into fondant and I can tell you it will be making further debut's into our confectionary life, lol.
    So he had his pirate cake, and then after we almost died of chocolate we headed out to catch the new Pirates of The Caribbean movie (and Johnny Depp still looks good in eyeliner). On his birthday on Wednesday we'll be heading to the Pirate's Dinner Adventure (think Medieval Times but on a boat and no armor or horses) for his final celebration on the actual day.
    Then I'll be depressed for a couple days because on Friday they go to their dad's for the summer. Never a great time for me, but this year my hubby has helped to distract me. On Friday the little guys will be going on their first overnight to grandma and grandpa's and my hubby and I will have 2 nights alone without children in 4 years. A mini vacation kinda. And we're going to be going to a Haunted History tour in San Diego. It's going to include the Star of India and The Wiley House (the oldest brick house left on the west coast) so I am super stoked about that. His birthday is next week and he's being an absolute sweety and taking his birthday celebration to make me feel better. Hopefully we won't go into kid withdrawal and scrap the whole thing Saturday morning, lol.

Travel Log 5-18: It's Too Quiet In Here...

I have the house to myself for a few hours this afternoon. The 2 older kids are at school, and my parents are having a farm adventure in the next city over with the 2 little guys. It is eerily quiet in the house now and I have no idea if I want to go sliding through the house in my socks or go take a nap (thus is the proof that I am, in fact, getting old, lol).
    But since I've been dealing with a nasty start of summer cold I've fallen behind on doing nifty stuff on here so I figure I'll  get some of this stuff taken care of.
   First things first- If you haven't had your palm read by Kijjet over at Dear Goddess Bless Me then you are missing out. She is doing readings for free out of the goodness of her heart, and let me tell you she is good.  She even pinpointed years that specific things happened that have effected me my whole life (often I think that my whole life is almost purely about these things). So thank you Kijjet, it was a truly awesome experience that it's taken me a few weeks to truly digest.
     And the next order of business is an award that The charming Magaly over at Pagan Culture gave me!

  Now normally I deposit these lovelies into my awards cauldron over to the right and thank the person, but since it's Magaly I'll give this one a shot, but with her rules =)

   3 Random Things About Me.......at Disneyland

1). One of my fondest wishes in life is to go to Club 33. I glare green fire at anyone who already has, and will invade a small country for anyone who can get me in.
2). One of the best parts of the day is sitting in lines for the rides and make up stories about the people in other parts of the lines. When I was younger my friends and I would have a competition for the best story matched to most unusual person (Bat's day was awesome for that- nothing better than hundreds of goths at Disneyland to make great stories). Winner had to buy dinner at the Blue Bayou

3). When I was growing up I was terrified of roller coasters. I shook and cried with fear of anything that went up and down, or even took me off the ground for any appreciable amount of time (except for some reason Space Mountain- loved that ride until the one time I was on it and they turned on the lights, couldn't go on it for about 5 years after that). My father was dead set that he was going to get me over this fear, so every time we went to Disneyland he would drag me onto Big Thunder Mountain. I would sit in my seat next to him and demand that he wrap his arm around me, and then he would go into his routine of trying to show me that it was silly to be afraid of it. His favorite part would be to point out one of the animatronic animals they have on the ride. It's this goat at the top of one of the hills that you go slowly up. It sits there rocking back and forth on a boulder with a stick of dynamite in it's mouth, baaing at people as they crest the hill and then drop. He loved to tell me that I was so silly the goat was laughing at me. I sometimes still dream about sneaking a baseball bat onto that ride and taking out that goat...

And now the 10 other people I'm going to tip the nod (or wink depending on what you do with it, lol) to make this a lucky 13...

1.A Witch In The Tea Closet
2.Broom With A View
3.Can We Have A New Witch Ours Melted
4.Dark Mother Goddess
5.Dear Goddess: Bless Me
6.Lost in the Trailer Park
7.Riding on a Broomstick
8.Step Away From The Cauldron..
9.Very Nearly Hippy
10.Wanna-B-Witch

There you guys go, Have fun! I'm off to do some writing while the midgets are out.

Travel Log 5-12: Oh the Strange, Strange World Inside My Head..

Lately I've spent a lot more time inside there, and can I say I think I might have some serious mental issues....
     Since I've instituted the Get Me Off My Butt And Finish A Novel plan (also known as GMOMBaFN or BaF for short) I've been looking at all the work that I have started and stopped in the past 4 years. A total of 9 different novels with completely separate premises have been started and abandoned by me. 9. And the amount of blood and mayhem involved is outrageous (did I mention that my favorite genre's are murder mystery and fantasy?).
     Which leads me to my worry over my mental health. If these characters that I am killing off willy nilly are from my subconscious, am I really gruesomely killing myself? Or do I just have some seriously screwed up fantasies?
     Either way I can say that it feels really darn good to actually look at doing this and knowing deep down, by hook or by crook, I am going to finish at least one of these.
      Because I have a tendency to start and stall I've picked 5 to hop back and forth so that my momentum doesn't stall with a block on one. I know that sound insane, but hey, I'm pretty sure that no one I know is going to say that's anything new.
      However a big difference is that one of the projects is going to be non fiction. I'm seriously considering putting a proposal for a book based on my Thrifty Witch crafts, so I might be using you guys as guinea pigs constructive critics to see if my premise makes sense to anyone else but me.
   See something I've found while coming up with and doing these crafts is, to me, it's not just about saving the money by doing these things myself and cheaply. It's a bit deeper than that. It's about reclaiming something that is mundane and discarded by someone and turning it into something, yet again to me, holy. It's about finding pieces that are just right, and using my intuition to find them. And it's also about cleansing these things and filling them with my purpose and self.
    So yeah I may be showing you guys some of my work on that to see if others who have similar spirituality might get what I'm talking about or if it is in fact time for that tin foil hat.
   

Travel Log 5-9: I Ain't Ded

Sorry for the radio silence over the past week but I've been trying desperately to focus on my writing projects. I know I know, I'm constantly trying to actually work on those. But finally I think the hubby and I have come to an 'arrangement' that might just work. See normally I try and set up a regime of writing time that invariably gets broken into by every other member of my family. Constantly. Which (besides my near crippling fear of failing) is one of the main reason I keep giving up on finishing any of them. After about the 12th interruption to oversee something that the other adult in the house could handle I pretty much throw in the towel (sometimes aimed at my husband and wrapped around a brick...). He doesn't mean to, but he just doesn't understand that I can't interrupt my thoughts and then pick right back up after whatever the interruption was about (hence he constantly tries to hold conversations with me while I'm reading).
    So we've found a solution and worked our way around to figuring out how to make that solution work. 3-4 days a week as soon as he gets home I'm going to be heading out of the house to the library, park, or local starbucks (depending on if my son's laptop that I'm going to be borrowing needs a charge, lol) and writing until I can't write anymore. No interruptions and no breaks in my concentration, just 4-5 hours of writing and time inside my own head. Not as great as having all the time in the world to devote to it, but hopefully having a finite amount of time to do it will help focus me on the task at hand.
     In other news Mother's Day was fun. Got 2 e-books and some time to read not to mention breakfast burrito's in bed.
     I'm debating about actually starting another blog that focuses on my writing and keeping me motivated, but then I look at how long it took me to actually get another post up here and I'm not sure how that will work out.  
      We'll see. I hope everyone else had a great weekend!

Travel Log 5-1: The Thrifty Witch Rides Again!

First things first- Blessed Beltain everyone! I plan on spending the day baking and then end it with a nice little bonfire in the back yard. I hope all you lovelies out there are getting your May Day on in your own style!
   Second things Second I will be doing the drawing for my Witches In Fiction Sir Terry Pratchett Signed Discworld novel Giveaway tonight, so get those entries in!
     Do any of you remember my witchy broom tutorial? Well it's been featured in a brand spankin' new e-zine called The Witches Hour. I am so excited I squeed. Check out this month's issue with my little craft inside here (it's under The Thrifty Witch).
    And now on to current business, lol. In my quest to create a complete set of witchy tools as inexpensively as possible I've created my own Book of Shadows (henceforth known as a BoS since I can be lazy on occasion). I've actually made these for about a year now and I use them for all sorts of stuff, so it's yet again one of those versatile crafts I love.

Personalized Book of Shadows How To

What you'll need:

 1. A 3 ring binder (I got a few of these for $0.99 right after back to school this past year)
 2. Fabric you like (The one I used was actually scrap from my Halloween costume)
 3. Cardboard as big as the binder or bigger ( you will need 2 pieces so make sure to have enough cardboard- I've used cereal boxes before so it doesn't have to be thick)
 4. A hot glue gun and glue sticks.
 5. Scissors

Step 1: 
     Lay out your fabric and open your binder, open, on top.

Now is a perfect time to check that your pattern is going the correct direction. As you'll note I did not do this, lol. Go ahead and cut your fabric leaving about 2 inches all the way around the binder. You will need 2 of these pieces so doubling your fabric before you cut saves a little time.

Step 2:

Take your first fabric cut out and lay your binder back on top of it (make sure your binder is on the wrong side of the fabric if you have one sided fabric) and glue one side of your fabric down.

 

Repeat on the opposite side.

Step 3:

  Now fold the bottom edge of the fabric up, and then fold the corner again to make a triangle.

Then glue it into place along bottom edge of the binder, and repeat for the other corner and glue along the straight edge as well.

Repeat this for the other edge. Now it's time to work on the inserts.

Step 4:
Grab one of those cardboard pieces and position it on one side of the binder. Make sure to put the edge where the crease in the binder is, not right up against the rings. Mark where you need to trim it and snip snip.

Make sure you line up the cardboard so that it covers the edges of the fabric you already glued so it makes a nice finish later. You can go ahead and repeat this on the other side now if you want, just make sure you mark the sides so that you know which one goes where (I have so forgotten to do this before and it can be a pain in the rear).

Step 5:
Now we're going to need that second piece of fabric. Go ahead and lay it down wrong side up and lay your cut cardboard on it. This first piece you're actually going to cut longer than the piece of cardboard on the side that will be next to the rings so you want to make sure that you cut that edge long enough to go about 4 to 5 inches past the rings.

Step 6:

Glue down the three edges that are not going to be next to the rings just like you did for the binder. Go ahead and glue the edges of the fabric down on the long piece like you would a hem, so that no rough edges are showing.

 Oh hi mom..what ya doing?

 Can I help?

What's this?

Now is about when you move the cat away from the hot things he's about to play with and get on with the project.                                                                                                            

Step 7:

 Now flip your cardboard piece over and position it over the binder where it is going to go. You'll have that extra fabric laying across the rings.

 This is the part that can be kind of tricky. You're going to have to cut little holes and slide each side of the rings through the fabric so that the fabric covers the metal and lays flat along the other side.

This really is the trickiest part, and if you mess up you can always add some scrap fabric to the back and do it again. Once you have that done, go ahead and glue all the edges down all the way across.

Step 8:
Time to wrap that other piece of cardboard in some fabric. Now unlike the one we just did, this one is going to be fitted all the way around on all the sides, no extra fabric, so go ahead and glue all those sides down.

Step 9:
Now go ahead flip that over and glue it into place, covering up the excess from the other side as well as the rough edges from the covering of the binder itself.

And Viola!

   You can leave the outside plain , or decorate it any way that your imagination fancies!

I decorated mine with  some silver ribbon and a salvaged heart locket (that I can keep messages or wishes folded up inside) and pentacle pendant. As you can see, I didn't pay attention to the pattern on the outside, lol.
   All together this cost me about $5.00 and I can use this a ton of different ways, but it definitely gives me a unique and very personal BoS.
   I hope you all enjoyed it and I have some definite ideas for my next little project!

Travel Log 4-30: Witches in Fiction

First off lets get the business out of the way- GO SIGN UP FOR MY TERRY PRATCHETT SIGNED BOOK GIVEAWAY!!!!!!! you only have a couple more days but there is more than enough time to get in on that little bit of sweetness (and I may very well cry sending this off to it's new keeper..).

     And now for my actual post:

    Magaly over at Pagan Culture is doing her wonderful Witches in Fiction Blog Party, and ever since I heard about it I've been working on an idea that has been revolving around in my head.
    Lately the Pagan community at large (henceforth for purposes of this post knows as the royal 'we') have been kinda hopping from one brewhaha to another. We seem to be on a bit of a bitching fest. As it appears from as pseudo outsiders view( mine, lol, Other than your lovely blogs I don't hit up the message boards or forums so I seem to miss all the storms when they are happening and get the gist from you lovelies later when the crazy storms have cleared) it seems that we are constantly bitching about something, and it's usually something trivial. We're either bitching at someone for an inappropriate ad (I am sure WE ALL remember that debacle) or bitching at each other for not being exactly what we think we should be. Kallan has an excellent post on this here that I would love to refer people to.
    But what all this really made me think about was how far we've come. As much as we worry about our PR, and not being considered the lunatic fringe I think a lot of us have missed the really big cultural signs that we aren't the Wicked Witches anymore. To me, one of the biggest cultural thermometers for how something is accepted or viewed is it's fiction. Now a days that means movies, books, TV, internet fan fiction, comic books, etc.
    Fiction is like an over view of a societies collective brain. It's constantly changing and evolving to reflect not only the people who create it, but the people who consume it as well.
    So look at how often witches are cropping up in fiction these days. How many movies have women of power in them? How many books and comic books have witches as characters? And not just how many references we get in modern fiction , but look at the tone and tenor of those characters.
    They are human (well some of them are super human, but their psyche and emotional lives are usually VERY human). They are people dealing with problems and happen to have an extra facet to their lives that can help, or in a lot of cases complicate, said life. Even when we are depicted as villains these days it's still not as vilifying as it once was.
     And to me that is the biggest victory. That a witchy villain is not a villain because she is a witch, but because she is a person who made bad choices who happens to be a witch.
   Ladies and Gentlemen we, the Witches, are now cool. We're right up there with the sparkly vampires on the list of trends. And after about 3 decades of this I would have to say I think we are here to stay.
   And personally, while I adore Granny, the witch that I can point to and say did a large part of the work to make us people instead of monsters to scare kids is Samantha Stevens. She was a twitchy witch who rode her broom into peoples living rooms and LIVED. She wasn't in a fairytale, she was in a regular house that even had shag carpeting (shudder). She was every housewife, she just happened  to have powers too.  She was the change in the wind that started things blowing in our direction. And then real life witches took up where she left off and won us our acknowledgments and rights.
    Now we're everywhere and, as far as the fiction goes, we're fabulous. We wash dishes and talk to fairies. We kick butt and take names and still have to go clean the cat box. We are more than one dimensional characters scaring children and stealing dogs.
    So embrace fiction my lovelies! Love it ! Revel in it! For truthfully it has helped to make us real.

Travel Log 4-29:Witches in Fictoin #7(or my Granny-isms)

Hello all! This will be my last Granny-ism for Magaly's wonderful blog party. Since the Hubby lives (check out my last post to see how close a call THAT was) we're going to spend the weekend thrifting and crafting and I hope (crosses fingers that it works) a couple new tutorials on some thrifty ritual supplies- I still hope to outfit a complete altar. See I haven't forgot that, lol.
    So here we go-
Magaly over at Pagan Culture is being kind enough to host this little get together, so here is my contribution to Witches in Fiction.
   My Favorite Non Alive Person (or A Tribute to Granny Weatherwax).

Granny Weatherwax ( captured here by Paul Kidby the official Discworld portraitist check out his site at http://www.paulkidby.net)

Here's my Granny wisdom for the day:
    From Witches Abroad:
    " I'm going to give you the hidin' our mam never gave you, Lily Weatherwax. Not with magic, not with headology, not with a stick like our Dad had, aye, and used a fair bit as I recall- but with skin. And not because you was the bad one. Not because you meddled with stories. Everyone has a path they got to tread. But because, and I wants you to understand this prop'ly, after you went I had to be the good one."

This is honestly my favorite Granny quote. She is taking on her sister who had become a rogue fairy godmother to a kingdom that is very similar to New Orleans, right down to the voodoo. I think it pretty much sums up Granny to a tee.

Travel Log 4-26: I Could Be In Jail Right Now....

   Sorry I took a bit of a break from blogging the past few days because the holiday was getting hectic.I'll get back to my regular schedule 9not that I really have one of those, lol) in the next few days. Oh and if you haven't entered my Witches in Fiction Giveaway of Sir Terry's signed work then hop over here.
    Now on to my title. I don't normally use my good 'ol blog here to vent about my life, but today is going to be an exception.
   Let me start off by saying I love my husband. I do. If I didn't he would have been dead long ago.
   Here's a little background on the past 2 days. Yesterday BOTH the little guys had doctor's appointments for checkups and shots (I waited until they were MUCH older for those so I got a lot of fun looks from the doctor and nurses). Now while their doctor is really good, she is also really slow. So we didn't get out of our 9:3o am appointment until about noon. Then we had to run to the pharmacy for some meds for squishie (who apparently had amazingly swollen tonsils) and treats for getting the big 'ol needles. When we got home everything was normal until around the time my Hubby got home from work when squishie started to spike a fever. Not a bad one, but one that was pretty much wiping his little butt out. Hubby made dinner while the squishmeister fell asleep on me on the couch holding an otter pop (they were always my favorite when I was little and wasn't feeling well). And knowing what the rest of the night was going to be like I headed to bed right after him, with the hubby telling me not to worry about everything else.
      Then for the rest of the night it was up every few hours for more fever reducer until it finally broke about  4am. Now here is where I have to tell you that I am not a deep sleeper, nor is it easy for me to get back to sleep once I'm awoken. So with that last wake up over, I settled in and started to go to sleep for the few hours until I had to get the kids up for school.
      Then I get woken up at 5am (an hour later) with "I need you to get the hell out of bed and find my keys because your desk is a mess."
     You can imagine how pleased I was with this.
     Now I am no  Donna Reid by any means. When my friends found out I was going to be a stay at home mom most of them laughed so hard they cried. When I was growing up I never even had to make my own bed, so keeping a household in order is not easy. Which is why the Hubby and I were supposed to have a system where we each had chores and kept the house clean together. While this was the plan, it in fact has not been the practice. I have taken care of my area (the kitchen and dining room which includes dishes everyday). His area was the living room included folding laundry. Now guess how often this gets done by him? If you said every couple of months you would be right.
    Normally I can't live with it long enough for him to actually get around to doing it so I just end up doing it and having a 'talk' with him about it. But recently I have tried to be stronger, and actually not do anything about it until he actually gets off his butt and does something with it because as long as I keep doing it for him he's just not going to do it.
     And that brings us to today, after finding his keys behind a paper (where he tossed them last night btw) and going back to bed for another couple of hours and getting the kids up, I walk into my kitchen.
    It is a gods awful mess. Dishes piled up in the sink, a dirty skillet still on the stove, and counter tops with gods above knows what all over them (it's sticky...and yellowish...ick). Then I walk into the living room and there are crumbs of some sort ALL OVER  THE FLOOR. And all the laundry I did yesterday piled on a chair and, for some reason, tossed over the floor. The trash has not been taken out and the kids toy room looks as if every toy they own is now in the middle of the floor.
     If he had been here I would have taken that dirty skillet and whacked him upside the head with it. Apparently his idea of  "taking care of everything" would be letting me handle it the next day. And honestly under normal circumstances I would leave a large portion of this alone and make him clean it up when he gets home but today I happen to have to take the Monkeyman to his cardiologist so my MOTHER is coming over to watch the other 3 while I'm at the doctor.
   So if I don't clean it all up this morning in a freakin' hurry my mother is going to come in and think we live in a pigsty. That and she is handicapped and uses a walker and int he current state she wouldn't be able to get far past the front door, let alone chase the kids around the house.
   And The Grand Poobah of Getting His Butt Kicked By His Wife calls me this morning to have me console him in the fact that his boss yelled at him. So I do the wifely thing and swallow the screaming I want to do at him, and give him support and there there's. Then he tells me he's sorry about his morning, and when I tell him I don't want to talk about this morning yet because I don't want to get him more upset at work, he gets pissed at ME!
   AAAAARRRRGGGGHHHH!!
   I need to go light a  candle....