Hit the floor running today.  Took the girls to school, cleaned the house, started a jerk seasoned chicken to marinating, paid bills and now making CS rounds.  If anyone is lacking in energy today, fell free to borrow from me, I'm exploding with it!  Probably a pre-vacation rush.  There's lots to do before we leave on Tues.  We're getting a VERY early start-2:30am-for CA.  I'm hoping that I'll be able to tap this energy and get all I need to done today without bouncing around like a super rubberball and get nothing accomplished.  I need to make my ever-present list so I don't forget anything.  Have Jenna in school all day today so I have no excuse not to get my chores done.  I have my citrus candles burning, maybe it was a subconcious effort to burn off excess energy and use only what I need.  I'm telling you, if I still feel this way after I get everything done, I' am FOR SURE do a big time grounding under my Pepper tree! 

Wishing you all a bright and productive Friday!

I am getting organized.  Yesterday, Alan put up the shelves in the pantry for my candles and I spent an hour putting them on shelves and reorganizing my witch cabinet.  I had books kind of stacked on top of one another, incense and burners, altar cloths, CDs for meditation and all the wands-to-be in one small space.  Hardly tidy!  This morning, I went thru my grandmother's photo albums.  She gave them to me just before she crossed over Bifrost and looking thru them was bittersweet.  My goal was to seperate the photos for family members who would enjoy them the most.  My grandmother was one of four girls so she had lots of pictures from her sisters' families as well as her own!  I have pictures dating back to 1915!  I put Two Towers in the DVD and broke out the albums.  A nice walk down memory lane.  The only sad thing is that there are SO many pictures of people I don't recognize.  I have no idea who they were and as Nana didn't really document any of the picutres, these people are strangers.  No one in my family knows who they are.  The only ones who do are gone now.  A lesson, write down names and places in your photo albums!  A few years before she died, I went thru her albums with her but there were people even she didn't recognize-at least that's what she told  me.  She led a wild life when she was younger and I think sometimes, she just said she didn't recognize people or failed to tell me stories of parts of her life 'cause she didn't want me to know about them!  Are you kidding?  I would have loved to hear those stories.  One example, is that she (unknowingly) hired a German spy as a nanny!  This woman spoke fluent German and Japanese and wouldn't allow herself to be photographed; yet somehow, these red flags went unnoticed!  The only place (I know of) in the entire US to be bombed durring  WWII was Goleta Beach in Santa Barbara, CA.  This woman went out to the beach at midnight, signaled her boss who was anchored off the coast and...KAPOW!   Now, this is one of the stories I KNOW!  Can you imagine what she didn't want to tell me, lol?  I still have a long way to go in my organization plans but it's a start.  Ok, off to pick up Lexi.

I'm fed up with dieting-ok, so it's a bad pun.  I'm totally frustrated.  I've been soooo good about what I'm putting (and not putting) in my mouth for nearly a month  and NOTHING!  The scale will go down then bounce back up, WTF?  It happened again today so I'm doing the childish thing and baking choc chip banana muffins.  *sticks out tongue at scale*  I'm beginning to think that nothing short of lipo or wiring my jaw shut will achieve results.  I've been fighting this for far too damn long.  I'm not asking much.  I just want to like the way I look again.  I'm heading for 40 and I know my metabolism will change again and not for the better.  Will try one more tack before I panic and go ballistic.  Please send me good Health energy, I desperately need it.

Blessings to all

I woke up at about 6am, got the girls off to school early this morning-a minor miracle-and scouted food prices for my SIL's wedding reception; all before noon!  I'm so impressed with myself :).  Had lunch with a friend I used to work with.  We met at Panda Express....yummy.    She was the one who, years ago, told me she was Wiccan.  *cue blank stare*  I never heard of it and she gave me the PC version because she thought I was "very Christian" and didn't want to alienate me.  She shouldn't have worried, it didn't change our relationship at all.  Years later, when I asked her if she had any literature about Wicca or the names of any books I could read on the subject, you could have knocked her over with a feather!.  We both have busy lives and don't have a chance to get together much these days.  She has been coming to the open circles I attend on Sabbats, so I do see her once in a while.  I began clearing my bookshelf of books I just don't read like I originally thought.  There are a few series that I bought as they came out thinking I'd reread them, it hasn't happened.  I've had to use a heavier hand than I'd like 'cause I really don't want to lose them but they're making my shelf (and livingroom) look cluttered.  I'll sell them to the half-price book store we have nearby and I'll stash the money in our "vacation" envelope.  I really should go thru the books in the attic too.  Not ready to stream line my witch books just yet.  I'm still finding my way, and I don't want to prematurely give away a book I'll be wanting later.  When it comes to books, I'm a pack rat. 

I started thinking of decorations for Autumn.  To my mind, it begins in September.  I thought it'd be nice to fill a medium sized wooden bowl with mini pumpkins, Indian corn and such and flank it with orange candles.  I'll do the mantle too, but one thing at a time.  I'm on the email list for a wonderful candle store called Illuminations and I just got a notice that their Halloween collection will be coming out soon!  Yippee!  There was one decoration I loved but didn't get, well, I'm getting it this year!  It's a black metal witch with a pumpkin that you place a tea light in.  Really cute!  It's as good as mine!  They have lots of cool stuff there but it can get a little pricey so I usually go to Target to round out my Samhain decor. 

Well, I'm off.  I bought a great book from Amazon called Hekate:  Keys to the Crossroads (hence the above picture).  So I'm going to dig into it and watch Fellowship of the Ring.  My big plans for the evening.  Alan took Lexi to a Diamondbacks (baseball) game, so it's just me and Jenna.  Tomorrow, I'll do some weeding and hopefully get the flagstones for my (Northern) altar.  When I get my herb/moon garden planted, I'll create a similar one in the West for Hecate.  Have a wonderful and magickal evening all!

Ok, so something else really weird happened in my house today.  I took both girls to school this morning, came home and cleaned the house and an hour later?  The house was STILL clean!!!  OMG  what's going on here?!  It's a good thing the supernatural doesn't worry me *giggle*. 

Just finished a batch of mango chutney.  Damn, those buggers are hard to cut!  My finger was much easier *eye roll*.  Well, what can I say?  It's not really canning unless you slice something other than the ingredients :D.  All that's left is the asperagus pickles, then I'll go pick up the girls.  I could get used to this!  Have a wonderful day!