Lost in Astral Space

AAAnd I'm back

2012-01-10T14:41:00.000-08:00

I am officially back in the blogging world!
   Thanks to my hubby and his yule gift of a new laptop I can now mesh blogging with my, now, ridiculously busy life.
   Since my mother passed last year the tribe here has been going through a lot of changes. All of us have now moved into my parents house and we're in the process of cleaning up our credit so we can buy the place within the next 8 months. That is huge for us, but it comes with some bitter mixed in with the sweet.
    See we don't really want to buy this house. We had looked forward to finding the perfect place for our family that was just ours, you know? Now we're buying a good house, that we know all the ups and downs of, and that will fit our family but it's just not deep down what we really wanted.
     And in a way we've inherited a couple kids. My father is 85 and clearing up the chaos that he leaves in his wake when he 'fixes' things(actual things and metaphorical things) is quickly shooting to the top of my list of things that are going to land me a padded room. Then there's my sister.
     While chronologically she is 41 and my older sister by 10 years, due to brain damage sustained during seizures as a small child she is a perpetual pre-teen. I love her to death, and she is an absolute sweetheart. I always figured someday I would be taking care of her, I just didn't figure it would be while I had 2 pre-teens of my own and 2 small children as well.
      It doesn't help that my parents way of dealing with her has always been to distract her with shopping. I am sure you all can see the problems that just spring up with that.
      I also joined a gym and am trying to get myself in shape. So far I've been going pretty faithfully (until the holidays hit and I got a horrendous case of food poisoning that put me down for quite a while).
     Oh and I'm really chugging away on finishing my book.
     So yeah, busy bee here, lol.
     I'm hoping to be hopping around all of your blogs and catching up over the next couple of weeks!

Peeking around the corner

2011-11-19T14:56:00.001-08:00

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

2011-08-15T16:19:00.000-07:00

"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

2011-08-09T09:18:00.000-07:00

   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

2011-08-03T08:03:00.000-07:00

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

2011-07-17T20:13:00.000-07:00

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..

2011-07-12T09:59:00.000-07:00

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

2011-07-07T07:20:00.000-07:00

   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

2011-07-05T09:14:00.000-07:00

    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

2011-06-30T12:51:00.000-07:00

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!

2011-06-27T09:50:00.000-07:00

.......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

2011-06-22T09:08:00.000-07:00

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...

2011-06-21T06:56:00.000-07:00

   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

2011-06-17T09:57:00.000-07:00

     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..

2011-06-16T10:03:00.000-07:00

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..

2011-06-14T20:07:00.000-07:00

   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..

2011-06-13T11:42:00.000-07:00

   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...

2011-06-11T09:17:00.000-07:00

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!

2011-06-08T10:33:00.000-07:00

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

2011-06-06T11:29:00.000-07:00

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

2011-06-03T12:52:00.000-07:00

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

2011-06-01T18:52:00.000-07:00

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!

2011-05-31T08:04:00.000-07:00

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

2011-05-23T12:15:00.000-07:00

   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...

2011-05-18T12:48:00.000-07:00

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..

2011-05-12T09:19:00.000-07:00

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

2011-05-09T08:42:00.000-07:00

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 5-2: And The WInner Is...

2011-05-02T08:14:00.000-07:00

Drum roll please........
LJ from A Racing Mind!!! Congratz and Drop me a line and I'll get your new prize on it's way to you =).

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

2011-04-30T21:30:00.000-07:00

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

2011-04-30T07:50:00.000-07:00

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)

2011-04-29T13:08:00.000-07:00

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....

2011-04-26T09:16:00.000-07:00

   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....

Travel Log 4-20: Witches in Fiction Giveaway!

2011-04-19T17:24:00.000-07:00

Well folks, you have come into some unexpected largess. Or at least one of you lovelies has.
     A few years ago I went into one of my few fangirl joyfests. I got to go to a Terry Pratchett book signing. Luckily it was a fairly small book shop and so I got to listen to his talk on modern fantasy fiction and stand in line to get a couple books signed. Now being a complete noob in to the book signing etiquette I in fact hadn't brought any of my personal copies to be signed, but rushed immediately upon entering the establishment ran to purchase a couple copies of his discworld series, which I am sure made the booksellers do a happy dance.
     What I was not to know at the time was that the book tour that he was on was to be the last for Sir Terry before his early onset Alzheimer's diagnosis.
      So while you will pry my personalized copy of Thud from my cold dead hands, I am offering up this to you my wonderful readers-

A signed copy of Hat Full of Sky!!!!!!!!!!!
Signed by Sir Terry himself, in person!!!!!!
Here's a little blurb about the book itself, which is the second in the Tiffany Aching series (and if you haven't ever read The Wee Free Men, or if you have a young girl growing up that you care for you need to check this series out).
From Harper Collins:

Terry Pratchett Books for Young Adults

Available Formats:
Paperback
Hardcover
E-Book
Audio

A Hat Full of Sky

Something is coming after Tiffany ...
Tiffany Aching is ready to begin her apprenticeship in magic. She expects spells and magic -- not chores and ill-tempered nanny goats! Surely there must be more to witchcraft than this!
What Tiffany doesn't know is that an insidious, disembodied creature is pursuing her. This time, neither Mistress Weatherwax (the greatest witch in the world) nor the fierce, six-inch-high Wee Free Men can protect her. In the end, it will take all of Tiffany's inner strength to save herself ... if it can be done at all.
A Story of Discworld

So here's the rules:
   1. Be or become a follower of Lost in Astral Space.
   2. drop a comment on this post with your favorite fictional witch! (please leave your email in your post so that if you win I can contact you!
Extra entries:
   1. visit Pagan Culture and leave a post on any of Magaly's wonderful fiction posts and drop a comment with the url for her post that you commented on here (ok that sounded less confusing in my head...)
   2. Be a participant in The Witches in Fiction Blog Party!

This giveaway is open to international entries and will end on May 1st with the winner being announced on May 2cd.

Good Luck everyone!!

Travel Log 4-19-2: Witches in Fiction #6 (or my Grannysims)

2011-04-19T08:31:00.000-07:00

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 Hat Full of Sky:
'I make my own,' she said. 'Every year. There's no hat like the hat you make yourself. Take my advice. I stiffens the calico and makes it waterproof with special jollop. It's amazing what you can put into a hat you make yourself. But you didn't come to talk about hats.'

This is from one of the Tiffany Aching series (Tiffany is a kind of mini me for Granny and is speculated to be at least as powerful, if not possibly more powerful than Granny someday) If you want a great post on Tiffany check out LJ's guest post over at Pagan Culture.
This quote is really the reason that I have started on the adventure of making my own ritual tools. I have played at it here and there for quite some time, and you've seen some of my tutorials and here's my cool craft posts. But lately I've really gone from coveting the fancy, shiny baubles that I see all over the web and really looking at the serviceable, personal ones that I have made as the better choice. As Granny says- 'it's amazing what you can put into a hat you make yourself'.' It truly is amazing what you can put into a life you make yourself.

Travel Log 4-19: Children's TV Tuesday

2011-04-19T07:47:00.000-07:00

Here's the next installment of my series examining children's programing from the perspective an adult held hostage and forced to watch it.

This week we're going to visit a show that I actually really like.

    Olivia from NickJr.
        I actually really like this show. Olivia is a little girl who lives with her mother, father, little baby brother William and her little bother Ian. She has a great imagination and is constantly turning everything into an adventure. She is a little fashionista and an artist. She has a best friend that she is staunchly loyal to, and a friend/ nemesis in the girl next door Francine (who has OCD parents that showcase how great Olivia's laid back parents are).
        The family is loud, loving, and supportive. I especially love the dad, who when confronted with Olivia trying to ship Ian off to Siberia explains that it really isn't feasable to pay for the shipping, complete with a fee caculation that ends up partially on the wall. There is even a line that constantly gets quoted in our house from the dad on this series. He is sent to the store with the children while his wife is home working on her event planning business. He proceeds to accidentally leave Ian at the grocery store and Olivia (despite being envious of Ian's piano skills) tells him that he forgot Ian before they get home. The dad retrieves him and when he's explaining it to Mom when they get home and she tells him how could you forget one of the kids at the store he replies- "Well maybe next time you should put them on the list of things to bring home."
     Yes folks, that's what kind of show this is.
      Now if only I could get my boys to watch it more than they watch Yo Gabba Gabba

Travel Log 4-18-2: The Battle For The Living Room

2011-04-18T19:05:00.000-07:00

Ok I have to share this with you all because I laughed so hard I almost peed my pants.
      First thing you have to know is that I have arachnilepsy (the funny dance you do when you walk into a web). I HATE spiders with an all burning passion. I have been known to run out of a room and refuse to go back in until someone has gone in and killed the spider plus given me confirmation of the kill (I usually DEMAND to see the squashed body) before I will set foot in the room again.
     But tonight I was brave.
     I was a shoe wielding amazon that took down the horrid beast (all 3cm of it- the legs count!).
     This is how the cage match with the 8 legged monster went down...
     It was a normal evening here in our little house. The weather was gray and chilly out, but we were inside doing our usual routine. The kids were safe in another room watching a movie (Meet The Robinsons). I was on the computer and the Hubby was folding clothes and chatting to me.
     I happened to glance over at him, and SAW IT.
     Back lit by our living room lamp, there it was. 8 Legs and a tiny body, hanging by a thread from my dear hubby's hair.
     I froze in horror.
     Then I lept into action.
      I screamed for my hubby to hold absolutely still and looked around frantically for a weapon.
     I grabbed up one of my sneakers and ran to my husband.
     The monster was now sitting on his hair, right behind his ear. I then looked away and attacked the horrendous thing with my trusty shoe.
    And thus, after many whacks of the shoe to my Husband's head, and one very quick shower, the Ordeal was over and the monster Vanquished!

Travel Log 4-18: Witches in Fiction #5 (or my Grannyisms)

2011-04-18T08:56:00.000-07:00

Sorry I didn't post anything this weekend, it got kinda hectic over here, but we had fun. Went shopping and got some new summer tops, got all the easter shopping done, decorated our eggs (there is an awesome tutorial on how to do silk pattered eggs here and it really works! We had a lot of fun). And then on Sunday my dad and I took my Monkeyman to the classic car swapmeet. Hundreds of classic cars and classic car part and accessory vendors. We have a '65 mustang that we're fixing up so we got a ton of ideas and some upholsterers numbers. It was a great weekend!
Now on to business!

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:

Granny Weatherwax had never heard of psychology and would have no truck with it even if she had. There are some arts too black even for a witch. She practised headology - practised, in fact, until she was very good at it. And though there may be some superficial similarities between a psychiatrist and a headologist, there is a huge practical difference. A psychiatrist, dealing with a man who fears he is being followed by a large and terrible monster, will endeavour to convince him that monsters don't exist. Granny Weatherwax would simply give him a chair to stand on and a very heavy stick.

This one helps to remind me that sometimes, in this world of over evaluated second guessing, that my instincts are something to trust and be valued. Even sometimes acted upon. The 'rational' world of today wants us to believe that there is nothing beyond our basic sense. Everything else is explainable and simple. As a witch I have to agree with Granny and if I think there's a monster I'm going to get my own chair and a very big stick.

Travel Log 4-15: Witches in Ficntion #3 (or more Grannyisms)

2011-04-15T08:27:00.000-07:00

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 is my Bit 'o Granny Wisdom for today:
From Witches Abroad
You can't go around building a better world for people. Only people can build a better world for people. Otherwise it's just a cage.

This one reminds me that I need to think carefully about my motives when I am doing a working for someone else. Just because I can do something, doesn't always mean I should. One thing that Granny has mastered is that magic doesn't just go 'poof' and make everything better. People, working their butts off, make things better. No spell I do will ever on its own be enough to enact change. I have to act and follow it up to really make change.

Travel log 4-14: Witches in Fiction #2 (or my Grannyisms)

2011-04-14T08:03:00.000-07:00

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 is my Bit of Granny wisdom for today:
from Lords and Ladies:
"Blessings be upon this house," said Granny Weatherwax. In much the same tone of voice have people said, 'Eat hot lead, Kincaid.'

This little tidbit is pretty self explanatory (kinda). It reminds me as a witch that my intent is 1000% more important than my actual words. It doesn't matter if my words are perfect, or if I wrote an inspired couplet. What I mean in my own mind is the most important part. Just as a blessing can be a curse, so the reverse is true if my intent is not clear in my own mind.

Travel Log 4-13: Witches in Fiction (or my Grannyisms)

2011-04-13T08:20:00.000-07:00

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).

     As many of you know, I have a very distinct connection to the Discworld book series by Sir Terry Pratchett. I love them so much that I have been known to talk about them for hours at a time without noticing that the poor person I was talking to has sidled out of the room and found something better to do.
   One of the reasons that I love the series so much is that these books brought me into contact with my personal witchy hero-

Granny Weatherwax ( captured here by Paul Kidby the official Discworld portraitist check out his site at http://www.paulkidby.net)
   Every day for this party I'll be picking a favorite Weatherwax quote and then tell you how it effects me and what kind of witch I am becoming.

So today here's my quote:
     From Witches Abroad
Granny Weatherwax, who had walked nightly without fear in the bandit-haunted forests of the mountains all her life in the certain knowledge that the darkness held nothing more terrible than she was...

This is a quote that goes through my mind fairly regularly actually. Ever since I was a kid I've been very good at hiding what was really going on in my head, and as such got myself into situations that were dangerous, or just plain dumb, and refused to show how nervous/worried they made me. I think it's because I wasn't just a tomboy, I couldn't be the token girl. I had to be better or at least as good as they were at everything so I definitely couldn't be chicken.
    That's a trait that has kinda persisted through the years. I have a really hard time asking for, and accepting help or comfort, even when I really need it. As a witch, and a pagan, that is not a great trait. Ego (false ego) does not a well focused witch make. Little fears and niggling doubts can really mess up a casting, and not being secure in yourself can lead to more harm than good. So when I repeat this quote to myself in my head, I'm really reminding myself that in truth I am a bit of a witchy bad ass (and funnily enough that's the name of the town that Granny is witch to, lol) and that even if the abyss is staring back at me I'm still staring at it first.

Travel Log 4-12: Children's Tv Tuesday

2011-04-12T13:03:00.000-07:00

Here's the next installment of my series examining children's programing from the perspective an adult held hostage and forced to watch it.
This week we'll be tackling a relative newcomer onto the small human entertainment stage...
Dino Dan from NickJr.

This is a very informative show about , dun dun dun...dinosaurs! This not at all strange little boy sees dinosaurs all over the place in his town, his school, and even in his house. What an imagination! He goes on dino adventures, performs dino experiments, and has a whole range of dino tracking and observing gear (all helpfully identified with dino in front of their name). He has a dino cam that he videotapes these encounters and his friends and family join in constantly but Dan is the only one to ever see the dino's and his evidence always somehow disappears before others see it.
Now here's my big question on dear little Dino Dan. Is this kid insane and everyone just humors him, or is this just supposed to be a really really good imagination? I mean this show tends to blur the lines between what is in this kids imagination, and what someone just barely misses seeing. Considering some of these dino's are bigger than his house I would love to know how no one else sees or hears them. I would assume these things are just in his imagination , but they are constantly interacting with the environment around them and leaving things like BIG DENTS AND HOLES in things, so I just don't know.
I'm kinda glad that my guys only mildly like Dan as this show kinda drives me nuts. I keep swinging wildly between thinking that someone should really get this kid help because his delusions/obsession has gotten waaaaay out of hand and thinking that everyone else in the town are idiots for not seeing the T-Rex that's as big as a school bus. Children's programming should not be this stressful...

Travel Log 4-11:The Thrifty Witch Rides again!

2011-04-11T16:56:00.000-07:00

I posted this once, but didn't really like the results so I pulled the old post down and redid it so here's the new one. The spring cleaning fever got me and I have just had to be productive!
So here it is-

Thrifty Scrying mirror How To

Step 1: Get yourself a cheap picture frame with a glass front. I got this one at the 99cent store,

and originally was going to put the prints you see in them (awesome Witchen Kitsch prints I won in Brigid Ashwoods Halloween art contest) but they didn't fit, so I came up with this quick idea to use the frames instead. Take the backing and glass out of the frame and wash the glass.
Step 2: Now pick how you want to decorate your glass. you can paint it or you can do like I did and pick some graphics to print out and then modge podge them to the glass. Remember, whichever medium you choose that the design needs to be on the inside of the glass facing out, so make sure to lift up the glass and periodically and check how it looks. Once you're done painting or decoupaging then set the glass aside to dry.
Step 3: Now take the frame and start painting (or if you're decoupage crazy then pick some more graphics and start decoupaging the heck out of it). I chose to paint mine and since I like red and black, I went with a black base coat and then dry brushed some red over it for a nice streaky look.

(pardon the blurry photo's, I am not a great photographer, lol)
Set the frame aside to dry.
Step 4: Now take the backing of the photo frame (the bit with the hingy thing on it) and pick a paer that you like, preferably in black if you're planning on using this for sure as a scrying mirror (silver or gold that reflects would work as well, but hey, I like black). I used black tissue paper because I thought the crinkles added a nice depth. You'll want to modge podge the paper onto the backing and then I did a top coat of modge podge to make it glossy (if you do this make sure that it is dry all the way before you assemble the whole thing or it can get messy- I learned the hard way).

Step 5: Now reassemble the whole thing and you're done!

This is a great craft that took only about $2 and can be multipurposed (the best crafts are the ones that can be used for multiple things, lol). It can either be a really special picture frame or it can be a scrying mirror, or just about anything your imagination can come up with!
I'm thinking about setting up an altar just out of the things that I find and make and see if I can get a full 'traditional' setup and how cheap I can get it, just out of curiosity, lol.
Hope you enjoy this little spark of inspiration I had!

Travel Log 4-9: You guys so want in on this..

2011-04-08T21:36:00.001-07:00

Ok this is a really awesome giveaway, and I really want a mixer like that (I have been dreaming about one of these for quite some time but just can't afford the scratch for it) so please click and enter!! If you click through this link and you win so do I!

Click through and get one of your own!
BTW..Thanks for the heads up Gypsy!

Travel Log 4-8: Is TIme On My Side?

2011-04-08T14:05:00.000-07:00

    I'm no longer a spring chicken as they say. All the signs are there that time, is in fact, marching onward and from all the evidence it's marching right over my backside. I'm not a kid anymore, but am I growing up too much?
    I wasn't exactly wild in my youth, but I had my moments. Even 5 years ago I didn't bat an eyelash at marching down the aisle in a red and silver wedding dress with crayola red hair.
   So why now am I kinda embarrassed about all the blue not washing out of my hair from Halloween? Why am I looking at my wardrobe and worrying if it looks too 'out there'?
    My family says it's great I'm finally growing up, but is that really what I'm doing? Or am I, as a lot of my friends would say, conforming?
    Mid thirties housewife is a strange thing for an outsider to be. I spent the majority of the past 3 decades trying to find ways to make not being accepted a personal choice. Now I don't know what I'm trying to do.
    Is this what they mean when they talk about midlife crises?

Travel Log 4-5: Children's TV Tuesday

2011-04-05T18:22:00.000-07:00

Seeing as I have 2 ~~small savage creatures~~ sweet little boys living in my house, I see probably more than my fair share of children's tv. Now as an adult, watching these shows is a completely different experience than my ~~little monsters~~ little sweetlings are having. Being an adult I am beset by questions and critiques that would never occur to a child and they generally make me want to sit down with the writers of these shows and shout WHY???!!! at the top of my lungs.
So now I'm going to share it with you.

Here's this weeks installment, sorry it's a little late-

   Special Agent Oso from Disney Jr.
          This is a cute little show about a turquoise and yellow stuffed bear that is a trainee at an elite facility that provides special agents to help kids with their problems. Now we're not talking about life changing issues like death, divorce, or anything like that. We're talking packing a suitcase, tying your shoes, or making a salad (you have no idea how hard I snorted tea out my nose the first time I saw the episode where they told him he only had 8 seconds to toss the salad) and he has to do these things using 3 simple steps provided by his cyber helper PawPilot. Basically it tries to instill in kids that if they just identify 3 steps to get something done, and follow those steps, they will get it done.
     Now here's my problem with this little scenario- Oso has no idea what he is doing. EVER. He has no idea how to actually accomplish the task the child needs help with and generally relies on PawPilot and the child themselves to actually figure out how to do it. I have no idea how this bear gets himself out of bed in the morning, let alone became a secret agent.
    And then how secret is this agency anyway? Every single kid knows this guy on sight, and so do their parents. Most of the time the parents check on the kid, see a walking talking jet pack wearing stuffed bear helping them with whatever task the parent set them, say hi Oso, and keep walking. Apparently every person on the planet knows about this secret agency, and there must be some sort of memo they send out with the agent's pictures and bios. Cause without something like that I might just be a little concerned to see my kid chopping vegetables in the kitchen with a TALKING STUFFED ANIMAL.
   Ahem.
    With that said, it's kinda a cute little show with some pretty funny Bond references and it does show kids that it's easy to start doing things on their own if they just follow the steps.

Travel Log 4-4: Finally The Holes Are Patched!!

2011-04-04T08:58:00.000-07:00

   As you can tell I am excited, because after 4 MONTHS of living through repair hell, the holes in the wall are patched up and we were able to move the boys furniture back into their room!
    Even did a little furniture rearranging and fit the Monkeyman's new desk in so he can do his homework in his room in relative peace instead of at the kitchen table with the little guys running around him like hyperactive jumping beans.
    The walls aren't painted, and if the way that the owner has been on top of getting things done in the past, I don't think they ever will be, but it's good for now. Honestly I think she's going to have some wicked bad karma coming her way because she got paid a couple grand from the homeowner's insurance to get the walls patched back up and she ended up having her nephew do it( and I know she did not pay him 2 grand). She also had the gall to have her daughter tell me that we need to keep the house cleaner because there was too much furniture cluttering the place up. To which I promptly pointed out that all the extra furniture was for the room that we have not had the use of for 4 months due to her negligence. I was quite peeved.
   However we had some great news last week as well. My hubby and I have not always made the best financial choices and figured that we were pretty far from ever being able to buy our own home. So we went to a credit counselor last Wednesday and she had some awesome information for us! Turns out we are not as far off as we thought. She told us as long as we can get all the money sucking crises in our life to hold off long enough for us to get some money saved we should be in a great place to buy a house in about a year or 2. Needless to say this was great news. Especially with all of the hubby's student loans. But it turns out that a bunch of stuff is set to drop off my credit report this year and next year, so with a little work to add some more positive on we'll be in a good spot!
    So yay us!
    But on the down side I've had the plague for about 5 days now. I feel like warmed over crud. Time to see if any grandparents would like to take 2 small ~~torture devices~~ lovely little boys out for a while.

Travel Log 3-31: There's Something Happening Here...

2011-03-31T09:36:00.000-07:00

   Now you all know I'm shy and retiring when it comes to political issues *snort*, but I felt the need to comment on something here.
    If you haven't checked out Harvard's Folly or Mrs. B's event then you need to. Many of us, me often included, think that the burning times are over and it's just all about getting into the world religion knitting circle now. Well that is not true. There are still angry terrified idiots out there, and there are still poor innocents being loaded onto the pyre.
     And truthfully those of us who are in a position to do something about it are being woefully silent. I honestly think this is because we are under the impression that here, in the US, we are safe. Our rights are protected and we can scoff at the small minded idiots and get on with living our lives. That is not, in fact, true. In our country we get only the right we defend. Every time we skip an election because it's just one of the "small ones", or we think that something is horrible and something should be done about it and then turn back to the casserole and put it out of our minds those rights get erroded little by little. The window gets opened to the extremists and bigots, then they jimmy the lock on the door to let all their crazier friends to come join the party.
    Which has lead me to a song that has been increasingly playing in my head since I read that article about what's happening at Harvard- in Massachusetts, here in the USA.
     I may have been raised in the 80's-90's, but I've always lived more in the 60's-70's. So here's the song that I think sums up how I feel about all of this...
          There's something happening here
            What it is ain't exactly clear
          There's a man with a gun over there
             Telling me I got to beware

          I think it's time we stop, children, what's that sound
             Everybody look what's going down

         There's battle lines being drawn
             Nobody's right if everybody's wrong
         Young people speaking their minds
             Getting so much resistance from behind

         I think it's time we stop, hey, what's that sound
             Everybody look what's going down
        What a field-day for the heat
             A thousand people in the street
        Singing songs and carrying signs
            Mostly say, hooray for our side

         It's time we stop, hey, what's that sound
            Everybody look what's going down

        Paranoia strikes deep
            Into your life it will creep
        It starts when you're always afraid
           You step out of line, the man come and take you away

        We better stop, hey, what's that sound
            Everybody look what's going down
        Stop, hey, what's that sound
            Everybody look what's going down
        Stop, now, what's that sound
           Everybody look what's going down
        Stop, children, what's that sound
           Everybody look what's going down

Travel Log 3-29: Chldren's TV Tuesday

2011-03-29T08:43:00.000-07:00

   Seeing as I have 2 ~~small savage creatures~~ sweet little boys living in my house, I see probably more than my fair share of children's tv. Now as an adult, watching these shows is a completely different experience than my ~~little monsters~~ little sweetlings are having. Being an adult I am beset by questions and critiques that would never occur to a child and they generally make me want to sit down with the writers of these shows and shout WHY???!!! at the top of my lungs.
    So now I'm going to share it with you.
    We'll start with the one that gets to me the most and see how many Tuesday's we can eat up with them, shall we?
     Here we go-
    Max & Ruby on NickJr.

    A sweet show about a pair of brother/sister bunnies and their adventures in a cutesie 1950's-esque town full of other bunnies. Ruby is the often managing older sister that cares for her slightly mischievous little brother in between her tea parties and Bunny Scout activities. Their approximate ages are about 6 for Ruby and somewhere between 3-4 for Max. Which leads me to my main question-
     Where are these kid's parents?????
     They live in their own house with only 2 bedrooms, occupied by themselves, and no one else. No adult lives with them. Now these two seemingly orphaned bunnies are not without relatives. Their grandmother lives right down the street in fact. She pops in on them periodically, or has them over to play in her attic, but is not an everyday part of their lives. There are various other adults that the kids see periodically but NO ONE mentions their parents, or lack there of. Which drives me nuts and really makes me want to know what the heck happened. Were they caught by lucky charm vendors? Since it's 50's themed maybe they were in the war and died. It just drives me nuts not to know.
   Besides my devouring curiosity about these bunnies parental units, the show is pretty cute. There are a lot of old fashioned activities and games, as well as a little peek into 50's social activities (Ruby learns quite often how to be a "proper hostess"). And Max's antics can be pretty funny. As advanced as he is with various rube goldberg style set ups he's already a physics prodigy and therefore needs to get in the MIT preschool pronto.

Travel Log 3-28-2: Thrifty Witch

2011-03-28T11:12:00.000-07:00

Well here is the craft post I warned you all would be coming, lol!
While out and about in the thrift stores yesterday I got a bit of inspiration and decided to try something I hadn't personally seen anywhere.
    Now I spend a lot of time online drooling over all the pretty ritual tools I see all over the place. They are beautiful and awesome and I look at them and think how much more witchy I would be with them. Then I see the price tag and snap out of it pretty darn quick. Things are going pretty good here, financially wise, but we still aren't at the spending on non-essential level yet. So spending 20-30 bucks on a ritual tool just isn't something that I can justify- especially when there are so many books out there I can rationalize spending the money on instead, lol.
    But besides the financial aspect, I truly feel that the best tools are the ones that we have some personal investment in, that in some way we infuse with a portion of ourselves. Like how a lot of people dedicate their tools. While I don't do that, I do feel I can achieve the same thing by making as many of my tools as I can.
    So here's my how to on the bit of inspiration that struck yesterday on how to make your own customized offering dish for under $5.
    What you will need:

1. A glass bowl the size you want for your altar. I got mine from the thrift store for 58 cents. Make sure it's clean and dry.
2. Patterned paper that you like and would like to have the bowl look like. I just printed some out which made my paper one sided so I needed 4 pieces, but if your paper is double sided you only need 2.
3. Modge Podge or a decoupage medium (hence forth known as modge podge because I'm kinda lazy like that) of your choice and a brush to go with it.
4. Scissors to cut things!
    Now here's what you do:
Step 1.
      Lay your bowl down upside down on your paper over whatever part of your pattern you really like and trace around the rim. Pick up the bowl and cut out the circle. You'll need 4 of those circles if you're using one sided paper, 2 if you're using double sided. Then put the bowl on the paper right side up and trace around the base, then cut out 2 of those circles.
Step 2.
      Take your big circles and fold them into quarters like this-

Then cut along the folds to have 4 "pizza slice" shaped pieces (everything makes more sense to me when referenced to food, lol) for each circle.
Step 3.
Here's where it gets a little different depending on if you're using one sided or 2 sided. I'll do 1 sided first.
1 sided-
Now grab your modge podge and brush and paint up the outside base of your dish and take one of your small circles and put it on with the pattern you want to be visible from the inside of the dish facing down and pat it until it's smooth. Then choose 4 wedges that you like and position them like the 4 points of the compass with the "pointy" ends over your small circle and your wide end over the edge of the glass. Secure them in place by painting modge podge where you want to put them and then pressing them into it until they are flat.
It should look kinda like this-

Then take 4 more wedges and position them to fill in the "blank" spaces until your back like this-

2 sided-
You'll take one of your small circles and use your modge podge to paint the bottom of the bowl and press the paper into it with the pattern you want to see from the inside of the bowl down. Now take 4 of your pizza slices and position them around your bowl like the points on a compass, with the pattern you want on the inside of the bowl facing down and the pointy bit on the bottom of the bowl. Paint the area you want them with your modge podge one at a time and then press the pieces down until they are flat. Once your first 4 pieces are in place repeat the process with your other 4 wedges until all the "blank" spaces are filled in. Now skip down to Step 5

Step 4.
Not you have a great looking inside of your bowl, like this-

but the outside is all white.
This is why you needed those 8 other pizza slices.
First you'll flip your bowl back over and grab 4 more wedges. You'll begin positioning these around the outside of the bowl just like you did in the last step, but with the pattern facing outward, like this-

Once the first 4 are in place you'll repeat again filling in the blanks until no white is showing except on the very bottom (for me this made a cool star shape that I proceeded to not get a pic of, lol).

Step 5.
    Now it's time to use that second small circle you cut out. Paint the bottom of the bowl with your modge podge and place the circle with your chosen pattern facing out and pat it down until it is smooth.
    Take your scissors and trim the excess off around the rim of the bowl until all the paper is "flush" or smooth to the edge of the rim with none above it.
     And now you should have something that looks like this-

Step 6 (optional).
Now I didn't like the mat finish on the paper, and because the modge podge I got was the glossy kind I just painted the outside all over with it and let it dry shiny.

So now I have this lovely offering bowl for less than $2.00!!

Travel Log 3-28: Thrifty Thrifty Thrifty

2011-03-27T20:05:00.000-07:00

Well it's been a busy weekend over here. We hit the thrift stores and I came away with some pretty cool finds.
Our kitchen walls are covered in cabinets except for this one corner by the doorway and I've been wanting to put a shelf there for my cook books for a while. Well guess what I found this weekend....

My lovely hubby put up this newsed (a term I picked up from my days in the car business, lol) corner shelf for my cook books! Guess how much this lovely cost us? Go ahead, guess. Under $5.00 including picking up the hardware from Walmart.
We also picked up this lovely silverware box for $7.00

I'll be painting or decoupaging it at a later date (mainly because I can't pick what I want to do with it). Oh and the box on top of it is one of the boxes I got from Micheal's on sale a while ago and currently houses my dried herbs.
And my personal favorite find, that the hubby snagged out of a random jumble box of kitchen utensils..drum roll please...

A BREAD SLICER! I've been looking for some way to make slicing my home made bread easier to slice, and here it is for $2.00. Woot!
I also came up with a pretty nifty craft that is super cheap and turns out pretty darn well if I do say so myself. I'll have a tutorial and pics tomorrow. I gotta go finish making my bread and whip up some muffins for breakfast tomorrow.
Feels good to be back to myself.

Travel Log 3-23: What the Hades am I doing?

2011-03-23T09:50:00.000-07:00

I have been pretty absent on here for a while, and mainly that's because I've been letting my hubby decide what activities we're going to do in our spare time (mainly at night, after all the kids go to bed) and it's almost always play World of Warcraft and it has left me so tired I haven't been able to think straight let alone write coherently (as I'm sure some of you have noticed with my recent posts).
     Now I like playing WoW, have played it from the beginning (all 6 years, lol), but I don't really like the majority of other people who play the game. They, in fact, piss me off pretty badly and generally put me in a bad mood.
    So for the past couple of months I have been spending the majority of my nights getting pissed off by random internet jerks that have an inflated sense of self importance because they have wasted even more of their life obtaining completely imaginary items and skills in a completely imaginary world. These hours have included ones that I should be sleeping, thus leaving me sleep dep'd for the next day..and thus the cycle goes. While this makes my hubby happy, it is making me miserable.
     Half a year ago I was cruising along. Crafting, working on my meditation, becoming more balanced and working out the groove of being a stay at home mom. Now I am a sleep deprived mess that is stressed out over purely fictional situations. This has to stop.
     What precipitated this revelation? Well last night the hubby and I had reached what he was sure was the culmination of what he had been working for the past few months. We're in a guild of friends that broke off of a group of friends and is slowly going nowhere (there are these group activities called raids that you do to get better gear and see more content) and he's been chomping at the bit to be able to do raids and climb up the WoW ladder so to speak. Well last night we went on a trial run with a new guild that he was stoked to join. I wasn't even sure I wanted to go to a new group, but I was willing to give it a shot for him. Let's just say it didn't go well. In fact it was a disaster, and according to the people that were judging us it was pretty much my fault because I suck.
      This interaction actually sent me to bed crying last night. Which was so ridiculous I want to slap myself. What the hell do I care about what some jerk that cares way too damn much about a game thinks of me? I wasn't even sure I wanted to join their group anyway. Rejection in any form hurts, but it was more that I was so mad that I could only let it out by crying. I'd given up the stuff I really wanted to do to play this stupid game night after night, and I wasn't any damn good at it. Months wasted so that some little prick could judge me and claim I was worthless. My husband doesn't get it. He gets that I was upset, but he thinks it's because we aren't going to join this group, he doesn't understand that I'm just seriously pissed off at myself and the loss of time.
    So it's time to stop. It's time to let him play the game if he wants but I'm going to go back to what makes me happy. I'm going to pick up my crafting again. I've conquered wheat and white bread. I can make my own jam and preserves. I am an accomplished adult who is damn good at a lot of stuff, not just some dumb little game.

Travel Log 3-17: A bit O' the Blarney

2011-03-17T11:51:00.000-07:00

Bust out the green beer and get drunk till you can't even stagger straight it's St. Patrick's day!
    This (and sometimes Valentine's day) is one of those holidays that makes me pause and think. To look at what we do and what we mean. I know today isn't one that is usually associated with deep thought or meditation, but hey why should I start conforming now?
   The pagan community's confusion and general discord with almost any mainstream holiday makes me stop and look at them from multiple perspectives while I sort out my own feelings about them. I can see both sides. I can see the small, underdog pagan community (though all the trolls and general whiners seem to be packing on the weight for us) railing against the mainstream bulldozer that has flattened and rearranged the "traditional" holy days. I love the anthropological drive that is behind a lot of people's faith and belief and I feel that remembering where these days came from is very important.
     And here comes the but ( and just like when we see ours in the mirror, it's always bigger than we'd like, lol). BUT this isn't centuries ago when those holidays were, in fact, relevant. The majority of us wouldn't know how to survive in the world as it was all those hundreds of years ago ( I know I would be crying in a corner for my mommy after about a day and a half of the work that had to be done for survival back then) so to say we understand and can duplicate the driving forces behind the original traditions and holidays on anything more than an allegorical level is disingenuous.
     Every time a holiday comes up there is a lot of talk about why it has to be celebrated a certain way, and what the "right" meaning for it is (from just about every religion on the planet in some cases). Well I don't honestly think that there is a right way to celebrate a holiday. I think that what someone did in the 12th century was nice, and knowing about it makes me feel connected to the continuity of time, but I also don't think I need to do what they did, in the way they did it, or even celebrate for the same reasons.
    When I hear people complaining that traditions are being lost or polluted these days I just want to scream at the top of my lungs that HISTORY IS NOT STAGNANT!!
    Things change with time and society. That is how the human race moves forward (or backwards as the case may be *cough* teaparty*cough*). There is so much to be learned about who we are as a culture in the evolution of these traditions that it is a crime to bemoan their change. The very season's we are celebrating are proof that nothing was meant to stay the same- not even holidays. We should honor what was, then lift up our green beer (or whiskey if you've got the taste for it or a little Irish in ya') and celebrate what is. That these holidays did not become stagnant and die, but have found a way to exist and thrive and be relevant in a time that is so alien to their originators as to be fictional.

Travel Log 3-14: Holes in the Walls and Nervousness

2011-03-14T12:13:00.000-07:00

Well, we're home again, and yes there are hoes in our walls. Not a lot and not too badly, but I did go nuts with the spider spray just in case (I know that as someone who respects nature and loves the earth I should find a place in my heart for the little eight legged creepy crawlers but to me that place stops at my property line- I'll respect the little buggers in somebody else's house). I'm a little phobic about them. Now comes the waiting game over when the walls will be fixed and the new carpeting put in so that we can actually get he house back in order.
And today is parent teacher conferences at my midgets current school. I have no idea why I'm always nervous when I go to a school for a function. I'm not being judged or rated. Maybe it's just my natural aversion to confrontation and my usual feeling of needing to yell at the Monkeyman's teachers. But nervous or not I have to go and hear how they shall rate my offspring's efforts over the last few months. And I shall refrain from doing a happy dance through his classroom and singing "ding dong the witch is dead" in reference to him going to the other school next year. It has not been all bad at this school, and he has had some great teacher's and staff working with him, but it's so hit and miss. One year he'll get a good teacher, and the next it'll be absolutely horrible.
So we'll see how it goes, hopefully I won't have to get upset and go crazy mom on anyone.

Travel Log 3-10: Why Stress Can Kill Other People...

2011-03-10T09:38:00.000-08:00

I have a theory. Every once in a while the universe decides to screw with you. Things happen that are so beyond your control that there is effectively nothing you can do about it, and somehow everything you do just makes it worse so that eventually you just want to sit in or corner and whimper or scream and tear your hair out. And somewhere some one or something is most likely laughing their behind off.
      Well that is the kind of month I've been having. See we rent the house we live in, and about a month ago we noticed a leak in the boys room. It was small at first and we reported it to the owners and they proceeded to procrastinate about it. They came and looked at it a couple times. Tore open the wall and looked at it, then left it for a week. Then tore a hole in the cement foundation and left that for 2 weeks. Filed a homeowner's insurance claim and then had some guy come out and tear all the carpeting out and test for asbestos. Then left it for another 2 weeks. Now this weekend an actual plumber is supposed to come out and fix everything, but this is where it gets really stressful.
     See the insurance decided rather than just dealing with the leak they are going to re-pipe the entire house. That is going to mean tearing through up to 7 walls. 7 WALLS.
     Now this wouldn't normally worry me, but the owner is not the most organized or efficient of people. She didn't bother to ask the plumber any questions and was not aware they were repiping the entire house until I asked the plumber and told her. She was not aware that we would have to go and stay in a hotel for the weekend because there would be no way for us to stay in the house. She paid no attention when she was informed that there was asbestos in the walls and as such there would need to be a special company hired and scheduled to come in and open the walls up for the plumbers to lay the pipes. She also never asked what state the house would be in on Sunday when we were to return.
     So as it stands now, we have made and paid for non refundable (because of how soon the reservation is) a hotel room for the weekend for the work to take place and it may not even take place because she has not made any contact with a company to come in and tear into the walls so that the plumbers can even start. And if they somehow do get to do their work we are going to come home Sunday night to walls torn apart and left open because the owner has also made no arrangements to have them closed up or the carpet replaced, or generally ANYTHING to make the house actually livable for adults, let alone children.
     Through this all I have been patient, understanding, and as cooperative as possible because I just want this done and the place I live back to normal so we can just get back to a normalcy. I have been dealing with this because my hubby tends to overreact to things and, when he sees something that he feels is making his family uncomfortable gets very pointed about his feelings. So essentially I"m carrying the stress on my own, because not only do I have to stay as polite as possible with the owner so as to keep a decent relationship with them, I have to keep my husband from going through the roof every time something goes wrong. If we still had our savings I would have said lets move back when this ridiculousness started, but reality is that we can't really afford to move and have to find a way to make the best of the situation. I'm running out of best here and am generally ready to scream at someone. I can actually see my hair turning white...
      If this doesn't let up soon I'm going to snap and run through the house babbling and throwing things.

Travel Log 3-5: A Big Giant Thank You!

2011-03-05T19:51:00.000-08:00

Just dropping in on a busy weekend to say thank you thank you thank you to everyone out there who shot some energy towards my Monkeyman yesterday for the big drawing to see if he would get into that school.
Can I say it never ceases to amaze me what can be done when like minded people focus energy towards something. His was the first name drawn! He is super excited and so am I! This is an awesome opportunity and I know who I have to thank for it!
So Thank You all for your help, you totally rock!

Travel Log 3-4: Sweat, Skanky music, and more Sweat

2011-03-04T10:04:00.000-08:00

    First let me say thank you to everyone who is sending some good vibes this direction today and all of our fingers, toes, and available appendages are crossed for the drawing this afternoon!
    Second I have finally decided to get my too large butt out of the computer chair and do something about it. I have spent the majority of my life overweight, and yes I know I should love myself the way I am, but the truth is I mentally see myself differently than the reality of my body size. As such I get seriously depressed every time the reality actually gets driven home. So it's time to make my mental picture the reality. It doesn't take much, just some self control (oh cookies and pastry how I shall miss thee!) and some hard work (that's the sweat!).
    And because I'm an incurable geek (and because hauling my chubby butt out of the house to sweat in front of strangers is a recipe for failure to me) I've decided to utilize the wii that the we decided (after much pleading and begging and crying) to get the kids for yule this year. Haven't gotten the wii fit yet (I have commitment phobia for weight loss products that cost more than $20, just in case I fall off the Little Debbie wagon) but I am starting out with Just Dance 2 (more songs and a just sweat mode).
    This leads me to the skanky music portion of this post. See I personally think that Ke$ha is probably one of the most skanky singers out there (and considering the competition that Britney is bringing that is saying A LOT) but I can't help but like the beat her songs are set too. The are snappy and bouncy, and make me want to shake my ample booty. However, as a grown adult responsible for the upbringing and future wardrobe and behavior of a 9 year old little girl, I cringe every time I hear them. On top of it my body image issues come into play and I feel ridiculous (and that's saying a lot because I have been known to go to the mall in full Adam Ant makeup for the hell of it).
    The guilty pleasure of Just Dance 2 is that it has her song Tik Tok on it and it's one of the easier songs (only 1 sweat drop instead of 2 which means I only want to mildly cry after 3 minutes of it). So I give in and during my middle of the day 30 min "work out" on the the game I invariably pick that song.
    And then proceed to "dance" to the giggles of a 2 year old and a 4 year old that think mommy hoping about like a maniac trying to keep up with the neon lady on the screen is hi-lar-i-ous.
   Yeah.
   What doesn't kill us makes us stronger, right? Lol.

Travel Log 3-1: A Little Help Please

2011-03-01T12:38:00.000-08:00

I have a request to put out there for all you other witchy women that haunt my little corner of the blogospere- Please throw whatever good vibes you can towards my Monkeyman this Friday. He has been tested by his school and slapped with the label of "non-specific learning disorder". Now this is not so much the problem as it is the cause. See this has made his teachers think they have been given a pass about having to teach him anything. They pretty much ignore him (except the special ed teachers he sees twice a day for a few hours, they have been great but they don't get to much time with him) and generally treat him as if he wasn't their problem. I have had to go and put a metaphorical boot in several teacher and administrator's rear ends over this (as well as rampant bullying that has been happening to him). Now my first inclination is to yank him from the school and find some way to pay for private school but his father(not my current husband) has tied me into legal knots with a court order that he and his sister can only attend public school.
But here is where there is a ray of hope along with why I need as many prayers/good vibes/witchy help as I can get for him. There are magnet schools in our area. And one of them does not require GATE program acceptance or even request grades for enrollment. On top of it this school is a STEM (Science Technology Engineering, and Mathematics) school that works largely with project based learning which is perfect for my Monkeyman. But the proverbial fly in the ointment is that they had more applicants than they have room for, so it's going to come down to a lottery style drawing this Friday to see who gets the available spots. So please throw some good vibes our direction so he can hopefully have his name pulled!

Travel Log 2-23: Which Wtich Is Which?

2011-02-23T12:00:00.000-08:00

   Magaly over at Pagan Culture does a Terry Pratchett Quote day on Thursdays that has made me think a little bit (which thoroughly explains the smoke coming out of my ears, lol). She most often quotes out of what I call the witch series of Sir Terry's books( I am a rabid fan of the discworld series by the way and was uber stoked when he got knighted). This series spans from his earliest works in the series to the most recent, including a great young adult spin off that, I feel, has some really compelling characters and great for teen readers.
    My complete adoration of the Pratchett aside, Magaly's posts, as well as some recent posts about how a lot of people are misbehaving all over the net in the name of paganism and witchiness in general, have made me stop and think about my major influences as a pagan and witch. Who do I look up to, who do I emulate? The truth is that the majority of those people are fictional.
     When I think about the witch that I would want to be, that I strive to be, I think of Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg. One is a fun loving slightly lecherous head of her clan, the other a solitary pillar of strength and stubbornness. They are almost opposites, but I think that they strike a great balance.
   A quote from the discworld book Carpe Jugulum actually comes pretty close to describing my view of witchcraft in the abstract. It's granny on her way home from a difficult midwifing incident and thinking to herself-
   "She'd been a witch all her life. And one of the things a witch did was stand right on the edge, where the decisions had to be made. You made them so that others didn't have to, so that others could even pretend to themselves that there were no decisions to be made, no little secrets, that things just happened. You never said what you knew. And you never asked for anything in return."
     Nanny and Granny are what is described as edge witches. They deal with all and any edges, like life and death, light and dark, today and tomorrow, good and evil. They stand on the edges and make the hard choices and don't quibble about it or complain. To me this is almost the a much better description of witchcraft and spellcraft as I see them then the age old "with great power comes great responsibility".
     Now this is not to say this is my view of paganism. To me paganism and witchcraft are two separate things. One is a religion and one is a craft (it's even in the title). Thus they are not eternally linked to me. There are rules and guidelines that I personally apply to witchcraft that I would in no way attribute to paganism.
      To me, witchcraft is not a sparkly fairy filled ride down the rainbow. It's doing the right thing. It's being responsible for myself and honest with myself to a degree that is not exactly comfortable. It's looking at the world an the people in it and seeing what they really are and then just getting on with it. It's being too stubborn to do the easy thing because it's not what's right. And then sometimes it's finding a good pint, a man who puts weasels down his trousers, and learning a song about hedgehogs.
     Those are the things as a witch I strive for. Sometimes I win, and sometimes I don't. I am after all part of the imperfect world, but to me being honest about it is what helps make me a witch.

Travel Log 2-22: Kitchen Happy Dance

2011-02-22T13:48:00.000-08:00

This past week I was asked to do a review by the good people over at CSN networks! This is my first product review, and it went pretty well. The process on their site was easy and pretty hassle free, and the product- a new food processor (let me tell you I LOVE this appliance, there may be at quick trip to Vegas in our future if I don't get distracted by a cute microwave) works well beyond my expectations considering the item was on sale and actually cheaper than the less than satisfactory piece of plastic it's replacing.
    The only hiccup in the whole thing was, dun dun dun, UPS. I do not particularly care for this mail carrier, but that is generally because those that service my area are, lets say, not in love with their jobs. Packages almost always arrive damaged and, in one rather strange case, soggy. So there was no real surprise when the UPS site could not track my package for 3 days because no one had updated it, or that the delivery man tossed the package into my closed door without even a perfunctory knock and then hopped back into his truck ignoring my thank you from the doorway. That's just how they roll.
      That's in no way a reflection of UPS as a whole, or even all of UPS in my state, just the guys who run around my neighborhood. I did not, however, let this dampen my delight at recieving my new little bundle of joy, and immediately opening it up and getting it washed and set up (I'm a little paranoid about using anything that will touch my food or go in my mouth without washing it first, someone somewhere told me once that weird dusts get in stuff when their being packaged and I've run with that, lol) and then frantically looking around for something to slice, shred, or puree. When nothing made itself readily available I recruited my husband to make spaghetti sauce which, by the way, turned out Awesome.
    And yes I did a happy dance in the kitchen while I was unpacking it. Cause that's how I roll.

Travel Log 2-11: Of Swag and Stuff

2011-02-11T09:35:00.000-08:00

   This weekend the hubby and I took our older children to a small independant comic conventions. It's the first for the area and it was a rousing success, which was nice because we are friends with the people putting it on. It was great to see the kids geeking out with us.
    Monkeyman was in awe all day because he got to meet Darth Vader. It was hilarious to see his face when Boba Fett tapped him on the shoulder and he turned around and saw him. He also now has some Flash comics that he seems to treasure more than life itself, lol.
    The magic of the con even allowed for some bonding between my definitely Disney princess daughter and my geeky tomboy self. Her Royal Highness discovered that she likes steam punk. This practically made me squee out loud. I can totally get into that with her!
    The kids got their first set of dice, and a family Rifts campaign is in the works. All in all a darn good weekend, lol.
      Oooh and speaking of swag- soon I'll be doing a review over here in this little corner of the blogosphere but can you guess what it will be? Is it a book? Is it home office desks? Or is it something smantzy for the kitchen? Oh what will it be???

Travel Log 2-10: In other news...

2011-02-10T09:21:00.000-08:00

I tend to hibernate in the winter. I get all frenzied and hectic from september through December, then as soon as January hits I click off. I just stop communicating all around. I don't call people, I don't write. Generally I find some cave to hide in and think existential thoughts.
    I have been making some headway into my quest to become a housewife with skills, rather than a ~~confused befuddled mess~~ beginning housewife. I am no longer afraid of yeast. I always worried that if I took on that scary little ingredient it would end in an "I Love Lucy" moment (I have way more of those than I admit to on a regular basis, lol).
     But I no longer fear that little packet of bacteria! I have conquered it and now know myself to be the superior sentient being!
    I would have pictures but this superior sentient being bought batteries for the camera and then promptly put them in my book light and now can't get them back out and I have not run to the store to get more.
    Also I have a strange opportunity on my mind. Possibly something I may persue and maybe something I'll pass up, we'll see. And when it gets more final I'll share it with all of you.
   And then we come to my current dilemma. How do you politely tell someone that you think they are rushing in where they should be being cautious when they have known you forever and know you're not really a polite kind of person? How do you not sound like a know it all looking for the I told you so? (see, that's why I don't talk to people during winter- I get all worried about their feelings and stuff rather than just speaking my mind).
    My best friend is getting married. Not till a year from now at least she says(I have my doubts about this and you'll see why later). To a man she has been dating less that 7 months.
    Now normally I'm not one to say that love takes a long time, but in this case I am worried. I have this nagging suspicion that things aren't as they appear. It may be because I haven't met this guy (she moved a couple states away a few years ago). It may be because I have this psychotic issue with feeling like I'm being replaced. Or it may be that everything isn't kosher here.
     See she's sort of known this person for years (they grew up in the same small town that she fled as soon as she could so she lost track of him for the majority of his adult life) and I feel that she may be putting too much emphasis on that. She knew him when he was in high school but has no actual knowledge of him after that when he went through 2 marriages and 3 kids (none of which live with him or he has any contact with other than the odd phone call). Now during this time she was in a very long term, and amazingly emotionally and eventually physically abusive relationship that produced her 2 children. That relationship was essentially a rebound from her high school sweetheart. And now she has not had a serious relationship since the abusive ex (and by serious relationship I mean not flirting online, or going out for 1 cup of coffee).
     Now here's the crux of what worries me- this man is clingy. This man promises her to "go slow" and "take it as it comes" but then moves in after 3 weeks of dating. Her children are not taking all this very well, including one of them having severe out bursts and an obvious need for therapy (suicide threats from an 11 year old are definitely something that needs professional attention) and yet he presses on in his pursuit of the relationship. I have watched the woman who swore after her ex that a man would never take her focus away from her kids turn into one telling them that oh well she has a boyfriend and they are just going to have to learn to live with it. Now as a parent with children not from my current relationship I understand this to a point, but she always qualifies the situation by saying that it's because he doesn't let them treat her badly and that it's just their father trying to make trouble for her through them.
    That aside the way that he behaves within the relationship is a little worrying to me. When she came down to visit in October (for 2 days) he called her every 2 hours, and proceeded to keep her on the phone for at least 45- an hour each call. Now I understand being in a new relationship and missing your significant other, but we are not in jr. high here. He's over 30 and so is she. Two days separation should not cause obsessive calling.
     And just a month ago she was telling me that she was feeling smothered because he constantly wanted her attention and it was getting in the way of her getting the stuff she needed to get done, done. Of course she said that after she talked to him about it he immediately curbed the behavior, but to so quickly after that propose?
    Also he has been putting a lot of hints and subtle pressure on her to stay at home and let him take care of her. Now being a stay at home mom I, on the surface, have no problem with that. However when I put that together with the length of their relationship added to her past 12 years in a messed up co-dependent relationship it worries me how often he is trying to convince her to do this. It worries me even more that he is proposing when she is leaving one job with another job not completely secured.
     Not having met this person in the flesh, and the fact that he has avoided contact with me AT ALL also makes me nervous. Being empathic I have learned to trust how I read people when I first meet or talk to them, and not having anything to go off of with him is nerve wracking as I look at how this is all playing out. You always try and meet the best friend, and he has specifically avoided ever trying to have any contact with me at all and that makes no sense to me.
     I guess the crux of my worry is that he isn't what he appears. Everything is just adding up too fast. He moves in after weeks of them dating (in Nov), proposes after only a couple months of them living together, and on top of it tells her he is now going to try and fight for custody of 2 of his 3 children and have them come live with them (after at least a decade of not being involved in their lives and not even in the same state). I am trying very hard to be happy for her, and I am also biting my tongue very, very hard. For 4 years she didn't speak to me because she had left and returned to the abusive ex and she didn't think I would approve of her choice. I do not want something like that to happen again, but I really have to find a way to express my concern. I at least want to ensure that she sticks to the year's engagement to give it time to play out. I really hope I am wrong.

Travel Log 2-3: It's time to do some Spring cleaning

2011-02-03T11:52:00.000-08:00

I deleted the previous post because well, it was whiney and bitchy and that's not really how I want to be (thanks btw to those who commented, I appreciate it =). I don't want my personal issues with this month to be reality, so I won't let it be.
    Which means I need to start pouring some positivity into this month. With a chubby little rodent telling us that spring is right around the corner, and here in sunny SoCal it is already starting, that it is the perfect time to do some spiritual house cleaning. Time to take a good long look around and come to some conclusions.
    So here's my plan of attack:
   1. Do a ritual style(well ritual style for me, lol) cleansing of this house and of myself. Clear out all the dust and cobwebs and let in the light.
   2. What the heck do I want to do with my life? I've been feeling at loose ends for a while and need to get that resolved, so it goes on the top of the list!
   3. What am I holding on to right now and what am I letting drift and why? I tent to go through periods every year where I just tune out. I let myself and everything around me drift around and don't do much about anything. Are there opportunities I'm missing that I will regret because I'm not paying attention to them?

I think this will be a good start to shaking the February curse.

Travel Log 1-30: Let's Jam

2011-01-30T09:59:00.000-08:00

So this weekend has been productive! I have made my first ever batch of home made jam. On the way to the grocery store I saw that the strawberry stands were open and full of big red berries. We stopped in (no matter what he says I did not grab the wheel from my hubby and swerve us towards the berries, he's just a drama queen) and I got a flat of gorgeous HUGE strawberries. I mean these things were monsters. Not a one under 2 inches I swear, and nice and ripe- which does not bode well for summer here if they are this ripe in JANUARY.
   But because of that little side trip I now have 4 jars of strawberry-lemon ( from more lemons from our tree- that little guy really produces!) jam all ready to be tasty and delicious on my toast! Also we found that the grocery store we go to, besides having spices in bulk and ALL kinds of other cool stuff in bulk (like four, coco, sugars- including cane..ahem..can you tell I love this place?) also has fresh honey from hive boxes- IN THE STORE. Yeah I was as stoked about that as the kids, lol. They also have a machine that makes peanut butter right there for you. All in all it was a great Saturday at the grocery store.
     I also currently have my first loaf of actual, kneaded, bread rising so that I can make it into an imbolc loaf. And I may actually be doing a second one as another batch instead of, you know, doing it all at once like a smart person because my daughter may have a friend coming over later and I think the girls would get a kick out of making their own bread, and then they can put some of my jam on it, nudge nudge wink wink.
     Oh, and the house work is already done (except whatever clean up from kid cooking experiments later) and I can have fun today!
     What's your Sunday look like?

Travel Log 1-20: Cool Site of the Week Thursday

2011-01-20T08:34:00.000-08:00

And we're back. Like so many of you out there I tend to go into an after the holidays hibernation of sorts, but back on track now!
    So since it's thursday and I am in the blogging mood, here is a little tidbit I trolled up zooming around the internet in my jet propelled tron cycle (what I'm the only one who visualizes surfing the web that way?).

So. Thursday's Cool Site of the Week goes too dum dum dum dum.....

     Head Rush! Head Rush is in fact a tv show on the Science Channel hosted by Kari Byron from Mythbusters, and involves some mash ups from that show, but really goes in depth with the science behind it.
     But what we're really here to talk about is the site, and is it a doozy. It almost screams set up for uber geeks like me and kids. There are fun experiments to do at home, as well as articles on scientific topics that are witty and funny while getting the point across so that it engages adults and kids. It's a great place to get your geek on and teach some principles to bored kids too.
     If you have kids, are a geek or know a geek check it out it is a whole lot of fun!

Travel Log 1-18: It's Ok Tuesday

2011-01-18T09:34:00.000-08:00

I stole this from WhisperingWriter over at Airing My Dirty Laundry One Sock At A Time and she apparently stole it from Glamour Magazine but it sounded like fun for today so here's my It's Ok Tuesday.

It's Ok........

     To wonder just about everyday what drugs the creators of Yo Gabba Gabba take and how they got them into the water supply to make adults love the show

    To silently think that Calliou (if you have young kids you probably know who this is) is a cancer victim and no one talks about it to spare his family and that's why he is bald but the rest of his family has hair

     To be really excited to spend almost a whole day away from the kids and see a movie that has actual curse words in it (Green Hornet and I have to say it was pretty awesome)

    To want to strangle my cat whose version of silent protest for me spending the day out was to not only poop in the sink, but in one of my favorite shoes- just remember buddy, I still have the opposable thumbs....

     To geek out like a little kid to Tranformers Prime and be really happy that my 4 year old loves it dearly so I have an excuse to watch it

    To be totally stoked about Top Chef Allstars and be rooting for Blaise and Carla once again (and to also think its freakin' cool that Blaise has a show on the Science Channel about molecular gastronomy)

     To watch Goldrush Alaska and think that if it really was back in mining times those guys would have shot each other by now

Travel Log 1-13: My lucky Day

2011-01-13T09:17:00.000-08:00

The thirteenth has always been a lucky day for me, even more so if it's a Friday, but even a Thursday will do and as I sit here looking forward to the luck I hope to get on this odd numbered day I have been reminded of something by Mrs. B over at Confessions of a Pagan Soccer Mom. Please read her blog post here before you continue with mine because then you'll understand what I am about to "discuss" (code word for rant, sorry).

    Imagine your grandmother (if you like her, if not then imagine a little old lady who is for these purposes, sweet and slightly eccentric). A dear little old woman who should be home in her kitchen whipping up some cookies for the grandkids, or the neighborhood kids, or maybe she is a woman who fought her way through life and provided for her family and is still proud and strong, an example to the women in her family. Now picture that woman sitting in a small cell in an orange jumpsuit, no privacy, surrounded by prison hardened inmates, her pride and spirit broken, all because someone called her a witch. Pretty damn offensive isn't it. Makes you want to rail and scream and write your senator and generally raise Hel and Hecate to ride to her rescue.
     Now imagine that the prison she was in was so overcrowded that she didn't even have the mercy of the space reserved for a cell in our prisons. No sanitation and prisoners pressed so close together as to resemble sardines. One meal a day served in a bag that she must figure out how to prepare for herself. Desease rampant with no bathrooms and very little opportunities to clean herself.
    What Mrs. B reminded me of in her post hit me strong enough that I felt the need to step away from my usually light tone here and remind myself and you of something that we take for granted. While we all sit behind our computers and talk about how offended we are that some beer company has put out a label that we think is offensive, or some politician has said something that we think slanders witches real people are being persecuted with real, serious damage for a word that we fight so hard to defend and elevate- witchcraft.
     I have honestly read many of the posts that Mrs. B puts up about the plight of those accused of witchcraft around the world and have thought to myself "that sucks" and even mentioned it to others, but what the hell have I done to help them? Yes it's a different country so we can't demand they change their ways or impose our laws and codes of conduct and that makes it really easy to comment and move on, but we can damn well find people who are trying to help them and add some form of support, even if it's just a letter saying that their fight is not in vain and others care about what they are doing.
    I was going to post today about some cool boxes I got at Micheal's and how I'm using them. How lowering is it to look myself in the mirror and know that for the same money I had spent on storage boxes could have bought a woman her freedom and dignity back.
    Please read Mrs. B's post and do what your conscience demands. The link again is here.
    Tomorrow I will back back to my regularly scheduled levity, but for today I think I will try and send my luck to someone who really needs it.

Travel Log 1-12: My First Book Review

2011-01-12T09:12:00.000-08:00

Well the plague has finally retreated from our household, and I'm ready to hop back into blogland contagion free!
And what fun I get to start back with my very first ever blog review!

The look inside doesn't work but I couldn't get just the regular image, lol.
      I was first interested in this book because I have a young man of my own that I really haven't been able to be open with my faith with ( ex, court system, you know the drill, sigh) and so I've been running around trying to soak up as much material as possible to figure out how to handle this.
    The Way of the Horned God is, frankly, and awesome book for young males of a certain age ( I would say about 12-19 depending on the maturity level of the child) who is either already pagan, or thinking about taking the pagan pathway.
    From the beginning he discusses that paganism is very diverse and in fact not a by rote religion with entrenched and universal dogma, but is in fact a pathway with many branches, as well as a lifestyle that brings interaction with the divine in every aspect of our lives in a myriad of small ways. He takes on some pretty sticky subjects, such as dealing with telling your parents and puberty and sex. Throughout he deals with these subjects in a way that stresses personal responsibility, maturity, and honesty. He shows ways to incorporate ritual and worship, as well as spells, into daily life in unobtrusive ways. From cleaning your room to taking responsibility of chores and finding mentors in life Dancing Rabbit lives up to his name and dances the line between "how to" and "must do".
    This is very much not a follow the dotted line guide to being a perfect cookie cutter pagan, but is instead a guide book for young men on how to build their own pathway and how to find a way into manhood in these muddled modern times. If my young man wasn't slightly too young (he's not going to be 11 until May) this would already be in his hands. For me the willingness for an author to forgo the "my way is right" is invaluable, especially when dealing with young people looking for their identity. Instead this work guides a young man to find his own definition of manhood based on an inner moral code, society, and his own ideals of independance and makes growth into manhood a personal and achievable goal.
    I would recommend this to any parent with boys entering the dreaded teen years. I think it would be good for them and him.

Travel Log 1-7: Some one Put Me Out of My Misery Please...

2011-01-07T08:22:00.000-08:00

I have a nasty, mean, pain in the butt cold. Sorry I've been MIA but I've felt like crap and pretty much tried to hide under my bed until this is all over. As soon as I can breath again I'll be posting mu first book review here and am looking forward to it. Dancing Rabbit very kindly asked if I would review his book The Way of The Horned God and while I could do it now, I think it deserves a review not fueled by Nyquil. So thanks for your patience and don't worry I didn't actually die, no matter how much I may have wished I did rather than have to contemplate going to the doctors....

Travel Log 12-28: And Brown Paper Packages Tied Up With String

2010-12-28T08:41:00.000-08:00

Our Christmas morning came a day late here. The older kids were at their father's for the 25th, but we did our christmas a day late and had a great time.
One of our traditions is that we don't bring out our actual tree until after the kids go to bed christmas eve. We get a "decoy tree" that is either small, or fake, or as in this year made out of rosemary.

Then we make decorations ( the topper got changed to an angel at the last minute and there were no other heads available, lol so we had a little halloween on our christmas tree) for it with the kids and put out one gift for everyone to open on christmas eve. Then after the kids go to bed Santa- aka mommy and daddy, transforms the tree magically into a full sized real one, decorated with christmas gifts for the kids to pluck off the tree and surrounded by the rest of their gifts.

This year we added a new tradition of making a christmas fairy tree topper for the top of the tree. I got a Cinderella doll fairly cheap and made a dress for her out of tissue paper.

The whole thing is actually held together by tape on the back, and the wings did not turn out as well as I liked, but My daughter loved it and has added it to her doll collection. I hope to do a better one next year.
The kids loved their presents, which included a Wii system and some games, as well as the usual movies and assorted toys. The squishmiester got a new train set, and Littles got an awesome Bumblebee that transforms all the way (and let me say that I think my hubby geeked out more than I did on that one- I squeed more over the optimus with the real voice- nothing better than hearing optimus say "autobots transform and roll out"!). And I found a pretty awesome game for my daughter called Create. It's a wii game that lets you set up animated scenes that you make yourself, kind of like a starter on how to set up animated graphics. So far Epic Mickey with it's disney twist and Fable like good/evil interplay is holding sway with my Monkeyman.
Oh and I got my new favorite thing in the entire world- my kindle, but more on that later. hope everyone else had as good a holiday!

Travel Log 12-22: And When the Candle Went Out...

2010-12-22T11:41:00.000-08:00

The night was over and the wheel had turned.
    It is the day after Yule, the Winter Solstice, and the longest night of the year. The rain has let up here and as I type there is blue sky peeking out of the clouds outside my window.
    The meditation went really..well strangely. Usually when I tap into the energy filled "spirit world" ( I really have no idea what else to call it) it is vivid but concise. I get a clear perspective with a beginning a middle and an end. This was not that way. I got a lot of flashes of a lot of things, in a disordered jumbled mess. A lot of flashes of pictures and ideas. It will take a while to sort it all out, but I think perhaps one thing that is clear is that in some way my life is going to take a dramatic turn, especially since one of the clearest an repeated images was of Thurisaz (the rune not thorns themselves, however now that I think about it those might have been around the edges). I'll have to do some rune castings tonight and see what comes up.
     On a more mundane note, thank you all for your well wishes on my root canals. I ended up only having one on Friday, and will have the other on next Wednesday (it was going to be today, but I really didn't want to have it done right before christmas). We have family stuff this weekend, and I will finally get my Kindle on Saturday!!! Ahem, I'm a little excited about that, lol.
     Oh, and I'm glad that the package got their early for you Robyn! I hope you liked it all!!

Travel Log 12-21: The Longest Night of The Year

2010-12-21T12:47:00.000-08:00

Will also be the stormiest here in SoCal. It has been raining steadily for 4 days now, and supposedly this afternoon and tonight is supposed to be the worst as one storm front hits another..directly over my house....
   But I look at it this way- It's my own personal re-enactment of winter, for one week only, here in the land of the sun. Normally I am wishing for nice rainy days all the time. Now I truly feel like I will never see the sun again, and I am wishing for it's return. So I can truly celebrate the turning of the wheel tonight.
    Unfortunately this all meant that I got to see NONE of the Eclipse this past night. I was severely disappointed.
    But that is ok. We're going to do some preserving with the lemons that grew out of a tiny tree in our side yard that I forgot was there. Truly an unexpected gift of little suns in this greyness. We'll be making some lemon syrup, and I might go for some lemon-vanilla jam. The boys and I are going to make some sun cookies before they go to bed and then the hubby and I are going to do our own meditation time and then snuggle down on the couch and watch movies.
      Blessed Yule everyone and may the next year be better than the last!

Travel Log 12-17: All I Want For Yuletime Is...

2010-12-17T09:59:00.000-08:00

...not to have to get 2 root canals today.
But my dentist insists. Something about decay and making the pain go away. Personally I think it is all a ruse and they are all sadomasochist animals. But then that just may be my phobia talking.
Ahem. On to the more important business of the day- announcing the winner of my Yuletime Giveaway!

Drumroll please......(duhduhduhduhduh).....And the winner is........Robin Larkspur of Wiccan Writes!

Shoot me an email with your contact info and I'll get it shipped out!

Travel Log 12-16: Thursday's Cool Site of The Week

2010-12-15T13:20:00.000-08:00

Thursday's Cool Site of The Week!

I spend so much time surfing the web I think I have a massive Cyber Sunburn by now so I figured sharing some of the cool stuff I find with you guys would be fun! (that and I think my husband is getting a little tired of the "honey come look at this cool stuff that you don't know what it is and it's going to take me an hour to explain it to you" right when he gets home)
     Anyone else who wants to try this go right ahead I would love to see what you guys find out there in Cyber Space.

This week I felt I should spotlight a site that I actually use a lot. I get a lot of ideas and information from this one, and I hope you do too! The site is Candle and Soap Making Techniques from the people over at Peak candle supplies.
     There are project how to's, general information on both soap and candle making, as well as info on how to set up your own craft website and how information on how to get the best and most economical equipment.
     All the how to's are well put together and step by step with pictures (cause trust me, I need them!) and while they do have a supply site where they sell candle and soap making products they don't push their own products down your throat (which I thoroughly appreciate). There are a lot of fun projects and goodies on there so I hope you enjoy!

Also it's the last day to enter my giveaway! You can enter HERE!

Travel Log 12-15: Things That Make Me Cry...

2010-12-15T08:16:00.000-08:00

    Now I usually won't admit this, but I am slightly sentimental (ok I am a sap...). There are certain things that will always make me choke up and swear that there are large grains of sand in my eyes.
     Surprisingly enough one of those things is How The Grinch Stole Christmas (the animated one, not the Jim Carey one). I even know the Whoville Christmas song. I just can't help it. Despite the years that have passed since I stepped away from that faith there are still ideals in it that will touch my heart. The ideas of overwhelming love and acceptance are hard not to admire (and wish fervently that they were the ascendant ideals in this day and age...ahem, stepping slowly back off the soap box).
      Another thing is a green frog singing a song about rainbows. In fact that was the only thing that made me seem to have the appropriate emotions while at my mother in laws funeral a couple years ago. They had the Kermit The Frog version of Rainbow Connections (it's the only version that makes me tear up for some reason) and I would start crying every time it played. Now I am not heartless and there wasn't any seriously bad blood between me and my mother in law, but the fact is I had only met the woman once, for a couple hours( my husband is from Indiana and I live in California, they only visited once for a couple days).
     And somehow my children have radar for this. They set up mini film festivals in our house with these films included because "mommy likes them so much she cries" (they apparently aren't buying the "I was just chopping onions" line). Since when did crying mean you like something???
     Oh well, It's the holidays, let them have their fun torturing me. I am after all , a parent and it is in the job description (learn to read the fine print people, learn to read the fine print). Just wait until they are 16 and going on a date *rubs embarassing pictures of children lovingly* oh yes, just wait...

Oh and you can still enter my Yuletime Giveaway HERE!

Travel Log 12-13: Yuletime Giveaway!

2010-12-12T21:32:00.000-08:00

Yule time is almost here and I've been a busy little elf (ok not so little...we'll say an elf with a glandular problem..yeah that will work)!
     If you've been following along here you'll know that I was burning the midnight oil on a few projects this week and FINALLY they are done! I have finished my first ever home made gift baskets for friends and family.
     And lucky all of you because I have an extra! That means it's giveaway time!
     One of you lucky people out there will receive this lovely basket full of homemade goodies!

Here's the finished product all ready to send out!
Here is a picture without the bag and big ribbon so you can see the contents better-

Inside you will find a jar of Sweeter Than Honey Apple Butter, Sunshine In A Jar Lemon Butter, a pouch of single use petal soaps in a relaxing tangerine-lychee scent along with a bar of soap in the same scent, lemon sugar face scrub and a jar of light olive oil to make it a moisturizing scrub if you like, as well as a tea pouch that includes 2 handmade reusable tea bags and samples of our Lavender Lemony Mint Elixir( a lavender lemon grass spearmint and peppermint herbal tea- the kids thought up the names when we tested them here at home) and our Minty Sleep Potion ( chamomile spearmint and peppermint herbal tea- again the kids named it, lol).
    We all had a whole lot of fun making them and I hope you like them!

So here's the rules:
    1) to enter you must be a follower of this blog and post a comment on this post
    2) (1) extra entry will be awarded for doing any of the following:
         a) posting on your blog about this giveaway (please put a seperate post with the link to your post on this thread =)
         b) entering my Sexiest Man Not Alive Linky (also please post on here that you did so =).
               - I've extended that to coincide with this giveaway.

A winner will be chosen 12pm on Thursday Dec. 16th so I can make sure that I can get it shipped out to make it by the 25th. Good Luck!

Travel Log 12-10-2: My Sexiest Dead Man....

2010-12-10T09:52:00.000-08:00

For those who don't recognize him this sexy man is Dean Martin. The Dean. Member of the Rat Pack, Frankie's best friend, singer extraordinaire, and comedic partner to Jerry Lewis. For decades he was America's Italian rogue with the twinkle in his eye and a voice to make you melt.
If it had been me he was singing to in Baby It's Cold Outside he wouldn't have had to get past the first verse before I was settled down on the couch....

To enter your own dead sexy man join the Linky HERE!

Travel Log 12-10: The Sexiest Man Not Alive

2010-12-10T07:47:00.000-08:00

   I've passed a lot of check out magazine stands in the past week or so and a lot of magazines have been touting the "sexiest man alive". While I thoroughly agree that Ryan Reynolds is HAWT (funny does it for me, what can I say), there have been through the years many men who have possessed that illusive quality called sex appeal, and as they lived before our current age of public drooling over celebrity bods I felt they were some how cheated out of their due.....
    So I propose this- Lets give those fallen hunks their due! Lets each post about our favorite passed on hunk and then vote to see who this year's Sexiest Man Not Alive is!
    Just use the Linky tool below to link your entry (a post about your favorite dead guy) and once all the entries are in we'll vote and nominate the Sexiest Man Not Alive for 2010!
    Entry will be available until 12pm pacific time on Sunday Dec. 12th so let's have fun robbing the grave!

Travel Log 12-9: Thursday's Cool Site of the Week

2010-12-09T17:20:00.000-08:00

Travel Log 12-7: Because Everyone Should Have Balls For Yuletime!

2010-12-07T11:58:00.000-08:00

Domestic Witch is having her annual Got Balls? party and because lately I've been baking up a storm and NotHannah at Diving Women has launched her Cookie Witch site I figured I would list my recipe for Santa Baby's. So her you go-

Santa Baby Cookie Balls

Ingredients:
      1/2 cup margarine
      1/2 cup brown sugar
      1 teaspoon vanilla
      1-1/2 cups flour
      1/8 teaspoon salt
      20 to 25 maraschino cherries
      2 tablespoons juice from maraschino cherries (optional but I like the flavor, not that I'm a maraschino junkie or anything...DON'T JUDGE ME!..ahem)
      20 to 25 chocolate chips , plus 1 cup chocolate chips

Oven Temp: 350 Degrees Fahrenheit (does anyone know how to do the little circle thing for degrees on a keyboard cause without spell checker I can't spell Fahrenheit)

Instructions:
           1. Cream sugar and margarine well. Add vanilla, flour and salt. Mix well. If the dough seems dry,
               add up to 2 tablespoons of the maraschino cherry juice.
           2. Stuff each cherry with a chocolate chip, then wrap in 1 teaspoon dough. (at this point it is advisable
               to appease the pygmies doing their war dance around your feet with either a cherry or a chocolate
               chip- or that may just be at my house)
           3. Bake on ungreased cookie sheet for 12 to 15 minutes. Cool.
           4. Melt 1 cup chocolate chips in the top of a double boiler over low heat or in the microwave, and dip
               top of cookies in melted chocolate.

Now grab a couple and eat them quick before the pygmies get the spears!! (yet again that may only be at my house.....)

Travel Log 12-6: I'll Get Enough Sleep When I'm Dead...

2010-12-06T10:13:00.000-08:00

....Or so it seems. Been burning the midnight oil this weekend to get all the stuff ready to ship out Yule baskets to all and sundry this holiday.
I got our holiday cards ready and set to send out once my husband gets me a list of addresses for his family (besides friends I don't have that many people to send them out to since my family is way scattered). I thought about doing a card exchange with a lot of you who are doing it this year but it's my first year making our cards and I want to try it out on some guinea pigs and next year I'll send them out to any of you who want them :).
Here's the artwork I did for the front of it.

I had fun doing it even though it took forever, lol. I really like the way her hair and face turned out.
      The hubby's company Christmas party went pretty well. Didn't win any of the awesome prizes they were giving away but did get to put faces to the names he tells me all the time (which did not match my mental images at all in some cases)
      On friday I went thrift store rumaging with my Mom, Sister, and the two gnomes (littles and squishie, lol). We found some great stuff including a second couch for $35. 35 bucks!! I was a little excited about this. It is practically brand new!!! Ahem. Ok I'm done now, lol.
    I also got these nifty little bits that will be transformed this coming week as I have time

And here are some pics from the last weeks that I finally uploaded, lol
The kids helping for Thanksgiving dinner

That's Her Royal Highness and The Monkey Man in their jammies at 1 o'clock (hey it was a holiday!).
And here is the Squishie helping out too

And here is an awesome box full o' Squish I got earlier this week

So there you have it all..it's been hectic and I'll get back to the 30 days of truth probably later this week. I have creative stuff to do (right after I play Transformers vs. Thomas the Tank Engine).

Travel Log 12-2-2: Thursday's Cool Site of The Week!

2010-12-02T16:00:00.000-08:00

I've decided that I need to start structuring what I put on here so that I don't go weeks without posting anything at all or just wandering around and reading all of your blogs and not doing anything of my own, so here's my new weekly installment: Thursday's Cool Site of The Week!
I spend so much time surfing the web I think I have a massive Cyber Sunburn by now so I figured sharing some of the cool stuff I find with you guys would be fun! (that and I think my husband is getting a little tired of the "honey come look at this cool stuff that you don't know what it is and it's going to take me an hour to explain it to you" right when he gets home)
     Anyone else who wants to try this go right ahead I would love to see what you guys find out there in Cyber Space.

So here's what I found this week!
   I'm looking at starting a new hobby. Ok, this isn't so much a new hobby as a really in depth combination of a bunch of them. As some of you know I've been flirting around the edges of gardening (a moment of silence for Tom the tomato plant, you were valiant to the end my friend) and have recently taken up making my own herbal teas. Well now I'm going to take that a step farther and actively begin learning about herbalism (and not just as a player skill in World of Warcraft, lol). It is something that I have long sat back and wished I knew more about. I would love to have that kind of skill at my fingertips and it's about time I got off of my overly rounded patootie (yeah even geeks use that word sometimes) and did something about it. Oh and by the way I want to give a huge shout out to my friends over at Diving Women and their new virtual bonfire forum. They have given me a lot of resources and advise for getting my own herb garden going inside this winter and how to plan for the spring!
    So far I have not found any live classes in my area, which has stymied me a bit (and if anyone out there knows of any in the California Inland Empire area I beg you to give me a shout out with the 4-1-1) but I have found a solution that I feel is workable. They have different stuff for different skill levels and a forum community that you can ask questions and is populated by a bunch of really skilled people.
    I have actually found an awesome online site called HerbMentor.com that provides videos along with the intructions and work in a multimedia type setting. There are a lot of really cool aspects of the site and I think that for a remote learning experience it will be the best available. That and at 10 bucks a month it won't break our budget. That and they offer a 10% discount on bulk herbs from their affiliate shop to members so it has extra perks, which rocks because I have a hard time finding bulk herbs in my area and they sell them by the pound and have a HUGE selection.
    So for a ton of reason's HerbMentor.com is my Cool Site of The Week!

travel Log 12-2: 30 Days of Truth, Day 4

2010-12-02T09:38:00.000-08:00

Day 04 → Something you have to forgive someone for.

Probably one of the biggest things I need to work on about myself would be learning to forgive people that I never really met. I need to forgive my biological parents for not being different people and not keeping me. I can't know what was going on with them, or what the situation was. I was adopted the day after I was born, and it was arranged from a month before my birth. I need to learn how to forgive someone without really know why they did what they did to need the forgiveness. That isn't as easy as it sounds....

Travel Log 12-1: 30 Days of Truth Day 3

2010-12-01T08:32:00.000-08:00

Day 03 → Something you have to forgive yourself for.

      For me the answer that has the most meaning would be that I need to forgive myself for being selfish, or what I see as selfish.
     I can say with complete integrety and depth of meaning that I have abandonment issues. MASSIVE abandonment issues. How this ties into this post you'll see in just a moment.
    My 2 older children were from a previous (extreemly failed, trust me) relationship and are not biologically my husband's. That relationship broke down shortly after my oldest had to have heart surgery at 9 months old and before my daughter was born but was on the way. The court battles for my oldest and, as then, unborn daughter began almost immediately. My ex's family was vindictive and controlling to an absurd degree. My entire family was dragged through the mud, police were unleashed upon our household almost weekly, in summary it was a nightmare.
    The end result was that we would split custody 50/50. One week with me, one week with them. Now they live over 3 hours away and so I had absolutely no way to check on the kids and they refused to answer the phone when I called.
   My son started going when he was just over a year, and my daughter when she was 3 months old.
   As you can imagine this had my abandonment issues rearing their heads pretty quick. And I ran and hid. I stopped bonding with my children as closely as I could. I went to school. I socialized.
   Don't get me wrong, I was there. I loved them and held them. Took care of them when they were sick, but was I as close to them as I could have been? No. I kept that one careful step back because letting them go to their father broke me apart every time. Every time after I let them go I would be huddled in the corner crying for hours( I know there are thousands of moms who face the same thing all the time with a lot more grace and courage, but those are things I'm working on learning and had no grasp of 9 years ago).
    Now I'm trying to rebuild that bond that I let slip away years ago. They don't go to their father's as often anymore (for various reasons), and we're slowly but surely getting to where we should be.
   But the loss of that time will always be, to me, a supreme act of selfishness that I can never make up for but must learn how to forgive.

Travel Log 11-30: 30 Days of Truth, Day 2

2010-11-30T11:32:00.000-08:00

Day 02 → Something you love about yourself.

While this one is a little harder for me I have to say that the truest answer would be my creativity. I love being able to make something, or transform it, or just generally think up silly stories for the kids. It is a large part of the joy in my life and a gift. My life has had a pretty fair amount of darkness in it, and I have spent my share of time hovering around the edges of despair, but being able to write, draw, and craft have pulled me back too many times to count.

Travel Log 11-29: Jumping on the Bandwagon

2010-11-29T13:20:00.000-08:00

A lot of you out there are doing the 30 Days of Truth series, and after reading so many of your installments and how they have helped you I've decided to hop in.
So here's my first installment-
Day 01 → Something you hate about yourself.

This is a question that gets a lot of answers from me. I have a really hard time with self image and can't really say very much positive about myself without adding a disclaimer as to why it isn't so great after all. I can't remember a time when I wasn't like that and it drives my loved ones crazy. This is something I have been actively working on for some time, so some headway is being made, and blogging about my exploits here has definitely helped =).
But now that I've rambled on I would have to say that something I can be ok with hating about myself would be my over worked sense of perfectionism. I have a driving need to make things "perfect" but that doesn't really exist. Perfection is in the eye of the beholder and not universal. I will not be graded on my life or my creativity (that has become a bit of a mantra to me, lol). The more times I say it the better!

Travel Log 11-26-2: Something to Ponder

2010-11-26T09:55:00.000-08:00

The Domestic Pagan made a post the other day about a pagan Thanksgiving that included a history on the day, which was neato, and a paragraph that really got me thinking. People find it distasteful to celebrate Thanksgiving because the first harvest it commemorates was then followed by years of heinous acts upon the Native Peoples of the Americas. That really struck a cord with me and made me think.
To me that doesn't make sense or really even do what is intended, which is to admonish the disgraceful treatment of Native Americans in our nations history. In my opinion that harvest was not important because the pilgrims survived, but because they had worked together successfully with the Native Americans and they had survived together. It was a moment where the two forces that would be later diametrically opposed to each other had been at peace and in harmony. It was a moment to give thanks for working together. Can we really ignore that important thought just because it didn't work later? Is a protest against a political force that doesn't garner the action requested any less important or vital to the process?
I don't think so. I think that any time people come together in the name of cooperation and sharing is important and should be marked and remembered no matter what happens later. Those moments are what peace and prosperity are built on, no matter how long it takes for them to fully appear. To me that will always be something to be thankful for.

Travel Log 11-26: The Day After

2010-11-26T09:52:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving is over...thank all the gods available!
   This was the first time that I handled Thanksgiving. Admittedly it was just for our little family (all 6 of us), but it was the first time we actually did the whole huge meal thing. Prep lasted 2 days with me and my daughter (9) doing the baking on Wednesday and then me, her, and my hubby doing everything else yesterday. We had pumpkin bread, honey wheat rolls, sweet potato banana mash, mashed potatoes, apple honey glazed turkey breast, apple topped pork loin, pumpkin spice bars, triple chocolate cake with butterscotch whipped cream frosting, and gingerbread with maple whiskey cream sauce (thanks again Mrs. B for passing that link and idea on, it was sooooo good!).
      I can now admit that in my zeal to make the perfect holiday meal I may have gone a little overboard. We ate no where near this amount of food, and I fully anticipate eating left overs for the rest of the month at least, lol. It was an intense 2 days. It was the first time that me and my daughter spent that much time together in the kitchen and it was awesome, so this is now a tradition that we will keep up every other year (my 2 older kids split holidays with their dad and me). I never had that type of time with my mom, we were going out to eat every night from when I was 6. So this is completely new to me to have this kind of bonding time over an oven or a cook top. It's really nice and I hope that she likes it as much as me.
    The dinner was a success and we gathered around our table and told each other what we were thankful for over turkey, pork, and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches (my 3 year old is VERY finicky and loud). It was great.
     The kitchen however looked like a very large and messy war had been waged and there were no survivors, but I figure that's pretty traditional too. I was extra thankful that my hubby rolled up his sleeves and helped me get it done so now my kitchen is almost back to normal.
     How was your day?

Travel Log 11-22: Oh What A Weekend It Has Been!

2010-11-22T11:21:00.000-08:00

I have been busy busy busy this weekend. I got all the craft shopping done for Yule presents and got some of the stuff made. I even took pictures of the final products! So yay for me remembering visual aides!
I do want to give a shout out to one of my favorite stores, Dragon Marsh, and if you happen to be anywhere near Riverside Ca and you haven't already, then check this place out. They have everything from herbs and essential oils (and staff on hand that knows all of their uses from medicinal to spiritual) to tools and even fabrics for robes or period clothing. The staff is awesome and perfectly willing to help and answer any questions you may have! So yeah, they rock, lol.
But back to what has occupied me this weekend!
Oh and I finally got pics of the rolls that I made! the kids helped me this time so they were extra fun to make.

And here is one of the little tidbits going into the gift baskets that my friends and family will be getting for Yule this year-

These are my first foray into the world of soaps. Admittedly it was the melt and pour type, but for this craft that is the best. They are single use rose petal soaps all tied up in cute little bags! I used a yellow tint to make them butter yellow, and a tangerine-lychee sent to make them smell purty.
And then with the left over soap I made these-

I got a mold and made a few of these pretty little bars to go with the petal soaps.
And then I found these awesome little bottles and filled them with a sugar-lemon face scrub.
Here they are lined up and waiting to be finished off with some light olive oil for a moisturizing face scrub!

Aren't those bottles just adorable??? Aren't they??
And then the crafting weekend wouldn't be complete without firing up the 'ol sewing machine and cranking out some seams. I made These adorable little reusable tea bags-

I still need to make a few more of these and I got a couple other patterns, but for $2 squares of fabric they look pretty good huh?
     I also got a bunch of herbs, which is where the great people at Dragon Marsh came in (they answered all my silly questions with a ton of patience and even steered me towards different options for some of the really rare herbs on my list), and am going to make some homemade herbal teas to go with the bags but I haven't gotten to those yet. And I plan on making those little jars prettied up (there will be ribbon, oh yes there will be ribbon!)
     So that was my weekend. Pretty fun and I got a lot done! Now I gotta start working on getting the baking done for Thanksgiving!*

    *I just noticed how many exclamation points I used in this post and I do apologize. They say excessive use of punctuation is a sign of a disturbed mind, so you guys should have expected it really...

Travel Log 11-18: Oh Sarcasm, What Would We Do Without You?

2010-11-18T08:25:00.000-08:00

     There has been a lot of political craziness this year. A LOT. I mean, seriously what has been up with our country and all the protests, sensationalized stories, and just general nonsense? From a rousing round of who's the witch to a rather disturbing obsession with a 16 year old girl calling someone a name (cause yeah, that doesn't happen on a daily basis just about EVERYWHERE), to all the tea party nonsense (and trust me I'm pretty sure the bodies of those long ago heroes in war paint are on a constant rotation in their graves when they look at the majority of this group) it has been one ridiculous thing after another.
     But amongst it all has been a steady stream of people who have been standing up and saying it's ridiculous. Which to me is the most important part. From the Rally to Restore Sanity to this little tidbit that a group of clowns in Knoxville TN started the sarcastic and snarky have started to fight back in our own style.
    To me this is awesome because sarcasm is a language I mastered at a very young age. However the really sad part is that the majority of crazy people that are involved don't speak sarcasm which means a lot of the great messages and retorts being tossed out there are just not being received. So while I am amused as heck by all the great witty remarks finally being blazoned onto picket signs, they are unfortunately not going to work
      But here's to all the snarky warriors out there- may you eventually drown out the intolerant and closed minded, for here in America our national language is sarcasm!

Travel Log 11-14: And On A More Personal Note...

2010-11-14T18:21:00.000-08:00

     While my personal modesty and some issues from my childhood (trust me that is a place you sooo don't want me to go) I have been avoiding posting anything really personal about my own spiritual beliefs or practices. I intend to change that.
      It may seem strange to some, but just being on here for a year and openly posting that I am a witch is a big step for me. Now it's time to take another step. Hopefully eventually I can be as open a person as many of you wonderful people are in our little blog world here. A lot of you are very secure in yourselves and very generous in your sharing of your personal practices and moments with the rest of us. And I realized recently that while a lot of people share traits in what they do, none are exactly the same. They all have their own flair and feel to what they do, and I have gotten ideas and helpful tips just reading about what they do. But kind of like a voyeur I have not shared in return and as such I have not given back to this pool of knowledge that I keep dipping out of.
    There are a lot of reasons for that, but mainly it's because I'm scared. Scared that what I do won't be considered valid, fear that others will think I'm not "authentic" or that I'm just some sort of poser. And I realized recently that those fears are just down right ridiculous. I am who and what I am. I feel what I feel and practice how I practice, and someone may find something of worth that they can use for themselves in what I do, so I am bound by my willingness to learn to offer what I have learned so that others may use or discard it as they need. ( and yeah, that sounded pompous didn't it, lol)
     So here is a little of what I do.

     I am not big on ritual. I am way too self conscious to be able to pull it off with conviction and while it works awesome for some people, that very self-conciousness keeps me from being able to focus on the task at hand so to speak.
    So what I have developed is my own form of energy work. To me divinity is a huge pool of energy, and everything has a piece of that, and is connected to that. I can't see "auras" as they are sometimes called, but I can feel the energy itself inherent in living things. To me it's like feeling the worlds heart beat. Usually my work consists of a focusing agent (usually a candle) and a deep meditative trance.
      Once I am seated I take some deep breaths and then center myself. By this I mean I pull all my own energy back into myself and hold it in the center of my being ( for me this is just below my sternum, but I think its a fairly subjective thing). Then I light my candle ( I tend to use jar candles as it allows me to pick up and move the candle while lit with minimal heat and spilled wax issues). I take a moment to connect with the energy in the little candle flame and recognize and thank it. I don't, on the whole work with the elements as separate entities or personalities, but if I am physically using one while I work I do like to say thank you.
      In terms of the elements I tend to have an "all are one" sense of them. Each drop of water contains the same energy as a crashing wave, or a still deep pool. Each flame holds the warmth of a hearth fire and the destructive power of a forest fire. To me it is essential when I approach any of the elements that I recognize what they are as a whole, helpful and destructive.
      Once I have thanked the fire I let my own energy release and spread out as far as it will go, until it touches what I feel is the "dominant" energy. For me this is dependent on the time of day. If it is daylight out and the moon has not risen then that would be the sun. Or if it's night time it's the moon, or sometimes the stars. That's when I let myself drop into a meditative trance. Then I pull myself back until my energy forms a protective globe around me that will filter everything that comes through and only allow positive energy to pass (sometimes I ask for help from other trusted energy sources with this).
       I invite that "dominant" energy to pour itself into me, as if I were an empty jug that needed filling. I visualize that energy as sunlight, or moonlight, pouring in like a thick syrup until they fill all the way up to the top of my head. Then I visualize a thin line of energy pouring from that source into me and refilling as I need it.
     That's when I start to focus that energy filling me up towards whatever I need. I build that energy layer by layer into a ball between my hands, then once I feel it's built up enough I release it back out so that it can go where it can make my will happen. I allow for a trailing line of energy that connects to the divine power source using me as a conduit, so it will continue to have enough energy to get what I need accomplished.
      Then I send my thanks out to that divinity and pull myself out of the trance.
      The last thing I do is thank the candle flame again and put the lid on the jar, saying good bye (this is also a reason I use jar candles, it allows the flame to "put itself out" rather than me snuffing it). One last stretch and I get up and put my candle away.

That's what I do for a normal focused working.
    Lately I've been doing some unfocused meditations that have brought me some interesting insights and I'll post those another time.
    Thank you for bothering to read this all the way, and hopefully I won't actually die of embarrassment or delete this later..

Travel Log 11-12: My Current Obsessions

2010-11-12T16:13:00.000-08:00

Well everyone, I have been obsessively working on artwork lately. I even revamped my profile pic, even though most wouldn't notice the difference. I've been doing a trial on a new to me digital art program called Corel Painter. This thing rocks! Like seriously, all it needs is face paint and it's filling in for KISS...ahem, I digress, lol.
Here's an example-
My profile pic before (done entirely in microsoft paint if you can believe it):

and here is the new revamped one (which includes the switch from my natural hair color to my current choice)

It took me about half the time to do the new one.
Now I'm working on the artwork for our Christmas cards, which is awesome because I have wanted to do that for years but never had the equipment.
But other than artwork I have taken on my first turkey this past week (alright it was a turkey breast, but hey, never even tried that before!) and it was a pretty good run. The only hiccup was that I freaked out about the meat being pink and put it in for a half hour longer until I checked the USDA website and found out it's ok, lol. What's the holidays without a little fear of food poisoning?
Doing trial runs on all the new recipes for thanksgiving and so far they have all worked. Going to try and roast a pork loin in my new electric roasting pan this weekend.And I should have pictures of rolls too as I am going to do another batch tonight! I'll also be posting a blog on meditation a little later. If I'm going to use this blog as an online diary of sorts then I need to start recording some of my spiritual experiences here as well, so bear with me =D.

Travel Log 11-9: And Now For Something Completely Different..

2010-11-09T09:07:00.000-08:00

Ok, not so very different, but I couldn't think of a title (it happens to the best of us how do you think they got The Iceman Cometh?).I've been hitting up the after Halloween sales and I found something I just had to share!
This is my new computer companion-

She sits on top of my scanner and watches me surf the web and of course peruse all of your blogs!
She shares her spot with Iron Man (because who would be better to ward of tech problems I ask you).

I got a few other goodies, but she is by far my favorite!
   My sweet hubby also got me the scanner/copier/printer so she has an even posher spot to rest.
   This weekend marked my first foray into the strange and cryptic world of yeast. This is a place I haven't so much feared to tread, but have been wary to broach (wary, yes wary, cause a grown woman shouldn't be scared spitless of a little packet of powder). But this weekend I rolled up my sleeves and went for it. I started simple and made my first set of from scratch rolls. They were Honey Wheat rolls and I knotted them and made them look all pretty and everything.
     I would have pictures except by the time I went and got the camera and came back half of them were gone and my husband and the evil midgets (some people call these mischievous fae "kids" or "children" but I calls 'em like I see's 'em) were all conspicuously not in the kitchen and when questioned had sworn that they were all in another town sitting quietly and definitely NOT touching the rolls at the time of the disappearance. So I have no pictures, but I hope to do another set in a day or so (they take overnight to rise) and then I shall have the camera ready.
    I can't wait to try other types of bread! Jaz over at Octoberfarm has some awesome no-knead recipes that I have been dying to try so now all I need to do is get a clay pot like she has and I'm on it!

Travel Log 11-8-2: Cause I'm Totally Late To The Party...

2010-11-08T14:19:00.000-08:00

I just found out about the Bloggerette Sorority and am posting this because I really really want to join (can you tell that I wasn't in one in college? lol). So if you're not part of it then check it out here, and if you are I hope I get to join you!

Travel Log 11-8: And The Winner Is...

2010-11-08T07:39:00.000-08:00

Here's a quick note to announce the winner of my giveaway celebrating my surrender to entropy courtesy of the sweeties over at CSN online stores!
And the winner is.... Pallas Renatus!

I'll send your email address over to the right people and they will get your code for you!
Congrats and enjoy your swag!

Travel Log 11-6: I've Been Productive

2010-11-06T20:56:00.000-07:00

Well today has been a really productive day. Been out and done all the shopping, opened up and played with- uh I mean used, my birthday presents. I was lucky enough to get a pressure canner and an electric roaster for my birthday and I currently have some spaghetti sauce canning and a roast making my mouth water. It's been a good day, when I get the pics downloaded I'll be sure to post them. Working on a few ideas for home made christmas presents for the adults in our life this year. We've been doing so well starting to do most stuff home made and I want to kinda show it off to family and friends. Oh and don't forget to enter the Giveaway that the lovely people over at CSN stortes have been kind enough to sponsor! Click here and get your entry in!

Travel Log 11-4: Another Year Closer to The Grave Giveaway!

2010-11-04T08:58:00.000-07:00

Yup, tomorrow is the fateful day. The annual celebration of my descent into senility and eventually death. In other words, my Birthday. I'm just teasing by the way, I don't like celebrating but for entirely different reasons.
     See I'm not good with receiving gifts. Just really makes me pretty uncomfortable. I'm much more comfortable with giving people gifts because I love to see the look on their faces when they open the box. I have been known to be incapable of waiting for the giving occasion and given the givee their present very early (that's why I am not allowed to do early shopping in our household, because when it comes to the kids telling them that mommy gave them their present weeks ago on the given day just does not cut it)
    So this year, thanks to the really nice people over at CSN stores I have a gift for one lucky one of you this year. The CSN stores actually have a pretty cool set up going and you can find all kinds of stuff, from craft room accessories, to stools for the kitchen.
    And they have been nice enough to offer a $30 gift code to one of you to pick out some swag from one of their stores all for your very own! (see I told you they were really nice)
   There are a couple things that you guys need to know-
   1)They only ship to US and Canada (and there may be shipping charges to parts of Canada)
   2) It is a one time shopping code that will be sent directly from them to your email and it can only be used one time, so you need to use it all up in one go.
   3) The code works at any of their stores and they have a ton, so shop away!
   4) Also since Facebook has become really strict on their terms of service, please don't post this on your wall, they get kinda upset.

But here's how you can win!
    1) Be a follower of this blog!
    2) Leave a message on this post telling us all what your favorite birthday present ever was! (and if you don't have it on your profile please leave me your email address so that if you win I can have them send you the code!)

This contest will run until Sunday Nov 7th so hop on and enter!

Travel Log 11-2: And Now for a Very Important Note....

2010-11-02T08:46:00.000-07:00

...get out there and vote!
     I am not, on the whole, a political person. It all just irritates the hell out of me and makes me want to put all those pundits and elected officials in a room with bears that missed lunch. But for those of us who live here in the good 'ol US of A this is the time to get up off our butts and say something (albeit anonymously in a closed booth, that like by law no one can see into...but anyway it IS speaking up!). Of course there are a lot of people who don't, and usually they are the sane and reasonable people- because most sane people look at our political choices and want to run screaming in the opposite direction, cause well, they are sane and reasonable people. But I digress.
      The point is that unless we use our voice we cannot be heard.
     As a card carrying pagan (hey, if something is around long enough SOMEONE will give out cards for it...) I am in a marginalized and generally discounted minority. Yes there are a lot of us but we are not orginized, nor are we cohesive. Also quite a few of our numbers are in situations that do not allow them to freely express their religious affilitations, which sucks but hey it happens to the best of us. So how do we a) get a voice, and b) make sure that it is used to advance our situation and protect our rights?
VOTE!
     Voting is annonymous and it's only beneficial. It only takes a few minutes, and it's a way that all of us can help to back up those groups that are out there fighting for our rights and standing on the front lines getting hit with the crazy stick that a lot of the right wingers seem to carry about there person somewhere.
     There are tons of websites out there that list the candidates and what they stand for, and what voices they are going to listen to.
     So today instead of getting up in arms because someone has called us satanic, or crazy, or has put in-appropriate art work somewhere, let's hit 'em where it hurts- in the votes!

Travel Log 11-1: Oh What A Time We Had

2010-11-01T20:22:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the absence right after meeting some of you but this weekend, besides being All Hallow's Eve, was also the first time my best friend has gotten to visit me in about 2 years. She moved up to Washington state about 6 years ago and I have missed her like crazy. So we were a bit crazy, what with all the running amok and all. Unfortunately no governments were toppled or mayhem mayhammed (is that even a word? Well now it is!). But we had a lot of fun and I am still exhausted from last night.
     She talked me and the hubby into spending our 5year anniversary (yup, married on Halloween) at a local venue for a Rockabilly show headlining with the Horrorpops. We didn't know much about the genre (don't I sound all artsy and stuff- genre...g-en-re, just saying it makes me feel more cultured, lol) but we got a quick education last night. And it was great! I now have a bunch of bands to research and for those of you who may know who they are we saw The Muertones, Resurex, FOF, The Horrorpops, and the Necromantix made a surprise appearance. What was great was the 3 classic hearses lined up in front of the show. It was awesome!
     Unfortunately the conversation that happened on the way back to the car was "we are too old for this shit" "my back is killing me" and "what ever made me wear the platform leather thigh high boots?" But hey, what are friends for except to show you that you are waaaay past your prime.
Hopefully she will get the pictures loaded up quick and I'll toss some on here!
     Since I'm feeling uber cool and all sock hopper-ish (also now a word! I'm going to start my own dictionary soon..) instead of saying good bye I'll just catch y'all on the flipside!

Travel Log 10-28: And the Winner is.....

2010-10-28T19:48:00.000-07:00

One of a Witchy Kind!!

Just drop me a line and give me your shipping info and your new broom will be winging your way!

Travel Log 10-25: Welcome Everyone On the Blog Tour

2010-10-24T20:16:00.000-07:00

Welcome everyone who is stopping by from Mrs. B's Haunted Blog Tour!
     I'd like to give you a hearty welcome to our little corner of Astral Space. We seem to have been having some navigational issues, but they should be resolved soon. Pay no attention to that beeping or the red warning lights. And I have no idea who Will Robinson is or why that robot seems to keep telling him there is danger....
    But anyways, I thought I would entertain you all with a tutorial on how to make one of my favorite Halloween decorations. These are some of those multi-purpose crafts that can be decoration, spell paraphenaila, or even protective ward or spell charm. Also I am currently doing my annual Halloween Tale and this year it is a "Choose Your Own Adventure" version. You can find the start to the story here.
     So without further ado (because there has been more than enough ado so far, and we here at Lost In Astral Space have pledged to become an ado free establishment at some undisclosed time in the near future) here is my walk through on making my Witchy Brooms!

What you will need:
         Wooden dowels (1/4inch thick, about 12 inches long- you can get them in a package at your craft store)
          3yrds of ribbon (any color or pattern you want)
           A package of pre-dried corn husks (I use the ones that you get from the grocery store for making tamales)
          A bowl of water (large enough to soak the corn husks in)
          A drying rack (I use a cookie sheet with paper towels on it)
         Hot glue gun and sticks

Step 1: Soak the corn husks in the bowl of water until they are soft and pliable.
Step 2: Take one of the corn husks and tear it into thin strips (you will need 2 per broom)

Step 3: Start wrapping the corn husks around one of the dowels with the thin end lined up to the end of the dowel, leaving the wide end laying along the length of the dowl

Step 4: Using one of the thin strips of husk, tie the strip around the thin ends about 1/4 of an inch from the end of the dowel.

Step 5: Now push the dowel down until about another 1/4 inch is showing below the husks.

Step 6: Now begin to fold the husks down over the tie, until the other end of the dowel is now clear of husk and the end that you just pulled down in Step 5 is now hidden in the husks. This is a good time to tear the husks so that they seem fuller and more broom like.

Step 7: Now you'll use your other thin strip and you will tie the strip around the husks about 1/2-1 inch below where they meet the dowel. This will really make it look like a broom.

Step 8: Let them dry. I suggest over night, sometimes longer if you have a particularly thick set of husks.

Step 9: I usually, as soon as they are dry, use a hot glue gun to clue the upper (folded over) part of the broom to the dowel ensuring that it won't move around.
Step 10: Decorate! I use ribbon to wrap around the dowel and the "broom tie" so that mine end up looking like this:

This one I used 2 different colors on (orange and purple) in the Halloween spirit. Or they can look like this:

This one i used a patterned ribbon on and it looks a bit more homey.

I also like to add a little folded envelope (you can find a great tutorial on the one I use here ) and stuff the little pockets with protective symbols or small stones, or anything that sets my purpose. I then punch holes in the top and string a ribbon through it and hang them from the brooms.
These can be just simple decorations, or you can charge them with intent and hang them as charms, or you can even use them as home made altar besoms for those of us who have limited ritual space! One of my favorite things to do is to soak the corn husks in tea or an herbal concoction instead of water. It leaves a sublte scent to the brooms. Also herbs or potpouri can be put into the envelope or can be hung from inside the "bristles". It's one of those multi-purpose crafts that I love !

And now to the giveaway!
I'm giving away one of my brooms pre-made!
You can have this sweet little broom all for your own!

Here are the rules:
1. be or become a follower of Lost In Astral Space
2. leave a comment on this post
2. Leave me a way to contact you- either a blog profile with email contact, or leave your email in your post!
Good luck and I hope you enjoy!