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lydamorehouseI have a few days that I need to catch y'all up on.
Let's see... Monday. What did I do on Monday? I know I did a lot of household chores, because Monday is both garbage day and recycling for our alley. We amass a LOT of recycling. I also went to the pet store again. Since Ms Ball's illness, the rest of the cats got very used to the idea that wet food might be available to them at all sorts of hours. Plus, as I'm sure many of you recall, I was trying ANYTHING I thought she might eat a lot of. So now the rest of the cats are very, "What is this, hooman? This is not the good gravy stuff???" Thus, I bought a bunch of the good gravy stuff as well as some other cans of things that everyone seemed to enjoy, because why not? At this point, I look at my fat cats and think, "GOOD. There will be lots of time to figure out what's wrong before you waste away, should disease hit!"
So my memory of Monday = errands and housework.
Yesterday was far more pleasant. Even though Shawn had a migraine and ended up coming home early, the day started and ended well. As a family, we all go out to bagels on Tuesday mornings. At some point, I made a comment that I felt that Tuesday were worse than Mondays, because everyone EXPECTS Monday to suck, as it is the first day back to work after a weekend. But, Tuesdays are like stealth Mondays. They're too early in the week to start having happy thoughts about how soon it will be the weekend again, and so they're really like Monday--only without any sympathy. We decided that in the spirit of this, Tuesdays would be a day we would treat ourselves because Tuesdays are hard, too, but no one is going to say, "Ah, yeah, man, TUESDAYS, am I right?"
Then, after picking Shawn back up and bringing her home early, I went to visit my friendnaomikritzer at her place. I was able to stay a little later than usual because Mason is in full-swing of robotics, but we had also all earlier agreed that since it was payday, we would go out to Indian at our favorite place: Taste of India in Maplewood. Taste of India is one of those places that a surprising number of people we KNOW frequent. In the past, we've run into our friends the Murphys and the Fox-Manns. This time, it was just us, but it was also just what the doctor ordered.
With Ms. Ball's illness and death putting a literal pall over our holiday vacation, my family and I have been in desperate need of quality family time. I'm fortunate, in that my little nuclear family all really love each other and enjoy each other's company EVEN OUR TEENAGE SON. Which, is kind of miraculous, I've been told. So, dinner was perfect. We all got comfort foods and caught up on life, the universe, and everything in a much need fashion.
Then, when we got home last night, Mason and I played Smash for a half hour or so. I have to report that this button-masher is starting to learn a few combos. I have one character "Cloud," that I can consistently remember how to use. This is starting to excite Mason, as it means that he has a player in the house who isn't a complete push over. He still wins every time, but I'm making him have to fight for it a little.
In other news, Mason has been having a lot of fun watching various colleges start to take notice of his early PSAT scores. Mason took the test early, as practice here in 10th grade, and did extremely well. Every day, after school Mason will update us on the various folks that have started spamming him with "hey, when you get serious about university, don't forget we exist!" emails. The other fun thing he got was an invitation to apply to a summer program at Yale. It's Yale Young Global Studies Program. There is a 20 page application that includes financial aid (because holy moley is this thing EXPENSIVE.) But, we figure we should give it a try, even though the deadline is nipping at our heels already (Feb. 6.) Because, why not? Nothing ventured, as they say. Given how many people apply, it's probably a long shot at any rate.
It's really f*cking cool spam, though, you have to agree, neh?
I also spent a good part of yesterday starting to plan for Mason's PSEO (post-secondary education opportunities) next year. Washington Technology Magnet is OUT of math for our child. So, he's going to have to continue on at university (of some sort, though we are crossing fingers to get into the University of MN's program.) To that end, we are planning on attending the very first informational meeting on Feb. 18, I think it is. (It's on the calendar). I also went ahead and booked a tour of the Science and Engineering department, because, again, why not? But, there are a lot of forms to figure out and things to do for that, too--though, much like with the Yale thing above, my job is not to apply, but to heard our smol into applying for himself.
Still a full time job, if you ask me.
I also spent a lot of time on Monday and yesterday trying to get some hours set for my library job. I tried to pick up an extra shift this week, but someone got to Shoreview before I could nab it. Alas. At least I got my Feb. schedule to my boss, who was able to give me some shifts for next months. Yay.
Luckily, I don't need to pick up too many shifts. This month got covered by a surprise royalty check that was mid-triple digits, the likes of which I haven't seen in a long, long time. (Audible.com, I LOVE YOU.) Next month, my Loft teaching will carry us, too, although I won't see that money until the work is done and dusted, so not until March or April.
I did manage to do all my spell work. I will post under-the-cut below, but I do want to share the one funny observation: I thought for sure that when these spells started calling for various herbs and oils, I would have to write some scathing commentary about how NO ONE HAS THIS STUFF JUST LYING AROUND. And, yet, last night when I was shaking my head thinking, "Oh, right, like I'm going to have camomile flower heads sitting on my shelf," there, in our witchy cabinet, was a vial of camomile flowers that I harvested several years ago, dried, and carefully preserved. I have actually yet to be stumped!
To be fair, I did have to do a couple of substitutions. A spell below called for hyssop, which I didn't have, but lavender is a common substitution, and I have several jars of lavender (to be fair, we grow it and harvest it ourselves, just like we had with the camomile.) I had to make my own dragon's blood oil, but I actually HAVE dragon's blood resin in my cabinet, so there is that.
My witches' pantry is actually surprisingly well stocked!
Jan. 13.
"Blockbuster Spell" by Devin Hunter was one that had me rushing to the pantry for supplies. He wanted me to oil up a red candle (I only had pink, alas,) with dragon's blood oil, which, I don't have (and which goes for anywhere from $11 to $15 at Eye of Horus) and roll it in this concoction of herbs (3 pinches each): lemon zest (which I have a powder form of, courtesy of Penzy Spice), red pepper, mint, allspice, and hyssop (which I substituted lavender, after consulting a magical substitution encyclopedia). Hunter wanted me to face west when I recited his chant, which I felt very weird about, as my tradition holds that the east is the direction of idea, the word, if you will, that begins all spell work, but I tried out his suggestion. This spell is suppose to unblock blocked intentions, so perhaps there is something about water energy that I don't know.
The other funny thing about this spell was the extent to which oil and herbs really BURN. Perhaps the unblocking part of this spell is the phenomenal pyrotechnics I got when the oil hit the wick! (You'd think you'd want to face the fire direction--which is also PASSION, by the way--which is south, but whatever. I will admit to turning SE for the meditation part of this spell, because you got to go with what your gut says or what kind of witch are you, anyway? My gut said that unblocking the blocked would take thought/intention and passion/energy.)
I will admit, however, that I didn't much direct any energy towards a specific block, as this spell was framed as "getting back on track with New Years' Resolutions." So, I mostly thought about this spell-a-day project. It does seem to have worked, I haven't missed any days since! :-)
Maybe it was the fire. SO. MUCH. Fire.
Jan. 14.
My 2019 Spell-a-Day calendar wanted me to make eye compresses and... I didn't want to. Plus, talk about stuff that you don't have lying around. One of the things that went into this was dehydrated cucumber flakes. I mean, yes, I am much more of a hearth witch than I am anything else, but I was not feeling the need for a beauty tip break.
I turned to the same day, last year to see what they had me doing then. The spell was "Paper Purge" by Tess Whitehurst. This seemed very doable, as what was needed was frankincense incense and a box of papers that needed sorting. Oh my, but do I have boxes of papers in need of sorting. I culled two boxes of writing-related papers down to one. So, the was a successful spell if for no other reason than that I did a bit of needed decluttering.
Jan. 15
2019 wanted me to do a "cool down spell," which I would have happily completed, but, alas, it required being able to go outside and make a snowball. For those of you, unaware, St. Paul/Minneapolis is currently 100% BARE of snow cover. Other parts of Minnesota are having record snowfall, but we are dry and bare as a rock.
Going back to 2018, I found a lovely spell for world peace by James Kambos. The only materials it required was a white candle and lavender (which, as already noted, I have a LOT of). That was mostly a mediative spell, and so it went very well.
Let's see... Monday. What did I do on Monday? I know I did a lot of household chores, because Monday is both garbage day and recycling for our alley. We amass a LOT of recycling. I also went to the pet store again. Since Ms Ball's illness, the rest of the cats got very used to the idea that wet food might be available to them at all sorts of hours. Plus, as I'm sure many of you recall, I was trying ANYTHING I thought she might eat a lot of. So now the rest of the cats are very, "What is this, hooman? This is not the good gravy stuff???" Thus, I bought a bunch of the good gravy stuff as well as some other cans of things that everyone seemed to enjoy, because why not? At this point, I look at my fat cats and think, "GOOD. There will be lots of time to figure out what's wrong before you waste away, should disease hit!"
So my memory of Monday = errands and housework.
Yesterday was far more pleasant. Even though Shawn had a migraine and ended up coming home early, the day started and ended well. As a family, we all go out to bagels on Tuesday mornings. At some point, I made a comment that I felt that Tuesday were worse than Mondays, because everyone EXPECTS Monday to suck, as it is the first day back to work after a weekend. But, Tuesdays are like stealth Mondays. They're too early in the week to start having happy thoughts about how soon it will be the weekend again, and so they're really like Monday--only without any sympathy. We decided that in the spirit of this, Tuesdays would be a day we would treat ourselves because Tuesdays are hard, too, but no one is going to say, "Ah, yeah, man, TUESDAYS, am I right?"
Then, after picking Shawn back up and bringing her home early, I went to visit my friend
naomikritzer at her place. I was able to stay a little later than usual because Mason is in full-swing of robotics, but we had also all earlier agreed that since it was payday, we would go out to Indian at our favorite place: Taste of India in Maplewood. Taste of India is one of those places that a surprising number of people we KNOW frequent. In the past, we've run into our friends the Murphys and the Fox-Manns. This time, it was just us, but it was also just what the doctor ordered.With Ms. Ball's illness and death putting a literal pall over our holiday vacation, my family and I have been in desperate need of quality family time. I'm fortunate, in that my little nuclear family all really love each other and enjoy each other's company EVEN OUR TEENAGE SON. Which, is kind of miraculous, I've been told. So, dinner was perfect. We all got comfort foods and caught up on life, the universe, and everything in a much need fashion.
Then, when we got home last night, Mason and I played Smash for a half hour or so. I have to report that this button-masher is starting to learn a few combos. I have one character "Cloud," that I can consistently remember how to use. This is starting to excite Mason, as it means that he has a player in the house who isn't a complete push over. He still wins every time, but I'm making him have to fight for it a little.
In other news, Mason has been having a lot of fun watching various colleges start to take notice of his early PSAT scores. Mason took the test early, as practice here in 10th grade, and did extremely well. Every day, after school Mason will update us on the various folks that have started spamming him with "hey, when you get serious about university, don't forget we exist!" emails. The other fun thing he got was an invitation to apply to a summer program at Yale. It's Yale Young Global Studies Program. There is a 20 page application that includes financial aid (because holy moley is this thing EXPENSIVE.) But, we figure we should give it a try, even though the deadline is nipping at our heels already (Feb. 6.) Because, why not? Nothing ventured, as they say. Given how many people apply, it's probably a long shot at any rate.
It's really f*cking cool spam, though, you have to agree, neh?
I also spent a good part of yesterday starting to plan for Mason's PSEO (post-secondary education opportunities) next year. Washington Technology Magnet is OUT of math for our child. So, he's going to have to continue on at university (of some sort, though we are crossing fingers to get into the University of MN's program.) To that end, we are planning on attending the very first informational meeting on Feb. 18, I think it is. (It's on the calendar). I also went ahead and booked a tour of the Science and Engineering department, because, again, why not? But, there are a lot of forms to figure out and things to do for that, too--though, much like with the Yale thing above, my job is not to apply, but to heard our smol into applying for himself.
Still a full time job, if you ask me.
I also spent a lot of time on Monday and yesterday trying to get some hours set for my library job. I tried to pick up an extra shift this week, but someone got to Shoreview before I could nab it. Alas. At least I got my Feb. schedule to my boss, who was able to give me some shifts for next months. Yay.
Luckily, I don't need to pick up too many shifts. This month got covered by a surprise royalty check that was mid-triple digits, the likes of which I haven't seen in a long, long time. (Audible.com, I LOVE YOU.) Next month, my Loft teaching will carry us, too, although I won't see that money until the work is done and dusted, so not until March or April.
I did manage to do all my spell work. I will post under-the-cut below, but I do want to share the one funny observation: I thought for sure that when these spells started calling for various herbs and oils, I would have to write some scathing commentary about how NO ONE HAS THIS STUFF JUST LYING AROUND. And, yet, last night when I was shaking my head thinking, "Oh, right, like I'm going to have camomile flower heads sitting on my shelf," there, in our witchy cabinet, was a vial of camomile flowers that I harvested several years ago, dried, and carefully preserved. I have actually yet to be stumped!
To be fair, I did have to do a couple of substitutions. A spell below called for hyssop, which I didn't have, but lavender is a common substitution, and I have several jars of lavender (to be fair, we grow it and harvest it ourselves, just like we had with the camomile.) I had to make my own dragon's blood oil, but I actually HAVE dragon's blood resin in my cabinet, so there is that.
My witches' pantry is actually surprisingly well stocked!
Jan. 13.
"Blockbuster Spell" by Devin Hunter was one that had me rushing to the pantry for supplies. He wanted me to oil up a red candle (I only had pink, alas,) with dragon's blood oil, which, I don't have (and which goes for anywhere from $11 to $15 at Eye of Horus) and roll it in this concoction of herbs (3 pinches each): lemon zest (which I have a powder form of, courtesy of Penzy Spice), red pepper, mint, allspice, and hyssop (which I substituted lavender, after consulting a magical substitution encyclopedia). Hunter wanted me to face west when I recited his chant, which I felt very weird about, as my tradition holds that the east is the direction of idea, the word, if you will, that begins all spell work, but I tried out his suggestion. This spell is suppose to unblock blocked intentions, so perhaps there is something about water energy that I don't know.
The other funny thing about this spell was the extent to which oil and herbs really BURN. Perhaps the unblocking part of this spell is the phenomenal pyrotechnics I got when the oil hit the wick! (You'd think you'd want to face the fire direction--which is also PASSION, by the way--which is south, but whatever. I will admit to turning SE for the meditation part of this spell, because you got to go with what your gut says or what kind of witch are you, anyway? My gut said that unblocking the blocked would take thought/intention and passion/energy.)
I will admit, however, that I didn't much direct any energy towards a specific block, as this spell was framed as "getting back on track with New Years' Resolutions." So, I mostly thought about this spell-a-day project. It does seem to have worked, I haven't missed any days since! :-)
Maybe it was the fire. SO. MUCH. Fire.
Jan. 14.
My 2019 Spell-a-Day calendar wanted me to make eye compresses and... I didn't want to. Plus, talk about stuff that you don't have lying around. One of the things that went into this was dehydrated cucumber flakes. I mean, yes, I am much more of a hearth witch than I am anything else, but I was not feeling the need for a beauty tip break.
I turned to the same day, last year to see what they had me doing then. The spell was "Paper Purge" by Tess Whitehurst. This seemed very doable, as what was needed was frankincense incense and a box of papers that needed sorting. Oh my, but do I have boxes of papers in need of sorting. I culled two boxes of writing-related papers down to one. So, the was a successful spell if for no other reason than that I did a bit of needed decluttering.
Jan. 15
2019 wanted me to do a "cool down spell," which I would have happily completed, but, alas, it required being able to go outside and make a snowball. For those of you, unaware, St. Paul/Minneapolis is currently 100% BARE of snow cover. Other parts of Minnesota are having record snowfall, but we are dry and bare as a rock.
Going back to 2018, I found a lovely spell for world peace by James Kambos. The only materials it required was a white candle and lavender (which, as already noted, I have a LOT of). That was mostly a mediative spell, and so it went very well.