Wall Tats!

Yesterday, I may have mentioned that my walls are nice people. Since they really are good folk, I decided to give them some tattoos, cause who doesn't want ink, amiright?
Behold my walls new ink

That one says, "Every Child is an Artist." Picasso.

That is a tree full of birds, because who doesn't want to think about having birds attack you on the way down to a dark, and scary basement that also doubles as a playroom for my messy as hell kids? I know I do!

I love doing this kind of thing when the husband is at work.

He comes home, throws all his crap down and starts walking to his office.
I, meanwhile am sitting innocently on the couch, just waiting for it.
There is the sounds of  typing, paper shuffling, a sigh.
Footsteps back into the living room.
"Soooo, when did we get money for all this, and really? Every Child is an Artist? Really?"
Innocent stare from me.
Sigh from him.
Steps back into the office.

I like to spice shit up for him. Also, we have had this stuff lying around here for years, I just never did anything with it, so :P

Also, I finally got some sleep last night! This calls for an UBER Awesome.

Blogging ideas and Insomnia

I am having the most persistent feeling that I had the best blog idea I will ever have last night. Can’t remember what the hell it was, not even a little bit. Why is it that I have these simply AMAZING blog ideas when I am trying to go to sleep, which keep me from sleep (Insomnia is a bitch that I would like to slap so HARD), but the next day, once I have struggled through the haze of a whole 3 hours sleep, I cannot remember one damn word of the million awesome ideas I had all night long? I am going to have to start bringing a pen and pad to bed with me. At least then I will have a productive sleepless night, though the walls might miss me staring at them. I think they will understand though. They seem nice.

I really need to get more sleep. 

That kind of sleep would be much appreciated.. 

New everything

So, It is has been like, ever since I have posted anything on here. And time for another shift to this thing. At some point I am sure I will have a clear focus on where I want this blog to go, but who knows when that will be?

Anyhow, New Everything. Yes, New Year, new town, new house.

We moved to Chicago in June of 2011 from the much despised South Carolina. Not that I hated South Carolina. I loved the friends we made, and the times we shared, but holy shit is the weather there horrible. Hot, humid, and alligators every two inches. I have always wanted to experience this thing known as "seasons". I have seen this phenomenon on TV where the leaves actually change color and fall off the trees, and white stuff falls from the sky. I thought this was Hollywood trickery until a last October. Who knew that was real? It gets realllly pretty around here in the fall. I wish I had a greater talent in photo taking.

I mean is that not awesome?
And look at what happens in "Winter" here

HOLY CRAP! Yeah, and that wasn't filtered or edited in anyway. My camera actually caught how damn cold it was that day. So basically I lost where I was going with this, but to sum it all up, all that Hollywood "seasons" crap, It's real!

One of those days

It's like the most perfect day ever. It's cold as hell, I have on a huge sweater, there was coffee involved earlier today, and all the windows in the house are open, ANNNDDD it's Friday. Not that Friday means much to me anymore, due to you know, not being gainfully employed anymore. *sigh* I am depressed as hell.

I love the cold weather, coffee and huge sweaters, so you would think, I would be all, HELLZ YEAH! and shit. Not really. My exchange student spent the night with a friend last night, just called and asked to spend another night. Great, I knew I was boring as shit, but now I think she hates us. I may be a touch paranoid about it, but that is how I feel. There shall be no balloon releasing done today. I am too depressed. I think I will just sit in the dark house, listening to Mi Hao Kai-lan, and wondering where it allll went wrong. 

The Balloon Experiment

So, this is my surprise I was hinting at in an earlier post. It's a bit late, yeah, sorry about that. I got a severe case of the don't wannas. Anyhow, ON TO THE SURPRISE!!

When I was a kid (which was when the dinosaurs walked the earth, so the girls say), on the 100th day of school, we all went outside and released one hundred balloons with messages attached that had the school address on it, and for the rest of the year we would get mail telling us where that particular balloon was found. It was my favorite part of the year. Apparently they can't do that anymore, something about birds or some shit, which saddened me, but then DING! I got an idea.

I would do it may damn self. Not a hundred all at once mind you. My car is not that big. I would use my Llwewllyn 2010 Witches' Companion (that one is the 2011, Christmas idea!! :) ) that told me the best color for that day, get a simple latex balloon in that color or at least as close as Kroger can provide me, tie a message to that bitch and let 'er go. I am going to do this for one hundred days.

I am really excited about getting an email or a letter telling me where they landed. I am doing the "excited can't wait dance" in my chair as we type.  I have released two balloons so far, a red one and a blue one. No messages yet, but I must learn to be patient *hits refresh on email again*. I said I had to LEARN I didn't say I was. Here are the pictures from the first two releases, and I will post the emails/letters that I get, if I ever get any *refresh* Nope not yet........still nothing. I CAN'T WAIT!

The front of the message

The back of the message. That quote is from Christy Moore's "Burning Times"

The kiddos, they saw a balloon and went insane.

and had to help.

The start of the journey.

Up

Weird lighting on this one, but if you look a bit above the center , that black dot is the balloon.

Day two:

Didn't do a good job of laminating this one. Ehh it's one of those f*** it days.

The back, with a Pagan quote on it.

The cat.

I guess they are going to be involved in this too, dammit. :)

And it's off.

Hope lightening doesn't hit it, though that would be COOL.

GoGoGOGOGOGOGOG!

Well, there is my surprise. Yay and stuff. I am going to do this every day, so at least I will have something to blog about. I REALLY want to get a message telling me a balloon was found already! *refresh* DAMMIT...*sigh*.

Samhain in its glory!

Ok, so this year was awesome. We got TONS of candy, I mean TONS. We are going to be eating this stuff to like Ostara, sheesh. The girls where all adorable of course, I don't think they would have it any other way.



Here they are before the battle of candy began.



Halfway through, (Fern was exhausted by this time. The girls thought that the only way to move was by running.)



I reluctantly post this, due to me being in it, but it was a good picture of the kiddos, and boy is Emily sparkling. You should have seen the amount of glitter applied to both of them. I would like to point out also that I was NOT dressed up. This is a normal outfit for me...what??



And the Dumb Supper with what was called in the house "The Witches Brew". I didn't make that up, I swear! The pink one did.


I told you they wore the poor girl out. Please note she is asleep ON her candy.

Anyhow, that is enough of all the pictures and such. On to the juicy fun type stuff.

     Now, a normal Samhain supper is done with dark breads, pork of some sort and apples. Mine was not. This year I chose to make dishes that my grandmother made all the time, and that I loved (and still do).The first dish is called Walking Taco dip, which consists of bean dip, avocados, sour cream, mayo, taco seasoning, black olives, scallions, tomatoes, and cheese. It is amazing! And reminds me so very much of grandma that I couldn't help but think it was perfect for Samhain. I just have to hear the name of this dish and I am transported back to summer's spent at her house. Great times, and I really miss her.
     The next dish I made was called Mexican Dish in One. It has A LOT of stuff in it. Corn, ranch style beans, meat, taco seasoning, a bunch of different seasonings, cheese, tortillas, and mushroom soup. Yes I know, I thought that last one was a bit weird myself, but WOW that made the dish. I made this without the mushroom soup for the ones who don't like green things, (which is any sort of veggie even if it isn't green), and it tasted no where near as good as the mushroomed one. I have never had this dish, at least not that I can remember, but I found it written in my grandma's hand on a very old yellow bit of paper in my mother's old cookbook. I had to make that, of course.
     So, it was a very different Samhain than traditionally had, but it was perfection for us. The girls asked me who came up with these yummy dishes and why hadn't we ever had them before, and I got to talk to them about my grandma, which they were of course awed that my adult and so OLLLLDD self could have EVER had a grandma, just like them. I am just glad they got to know a little about her. We then put out some candles for my grandma and a friend who was killed this year, so they could find there way to the yummy food we had left for them. All, in all, it was stellar and awesome and all that, plus as I said earlier there is TONS and TONS of candy in my house...I will be back in a bit. :)

Samhain Quick Update

I am going to post a much longer and more detailed blog later, but for now here is a quick rundown of my plans for the Witches New Year!

I am totally going to have a Dumb Supper, but a lot different from the traditional fare, in honor of my grandmother and my friend who died this year.

Of course we are Trick or Treating, I have little kids, how could I NOT? There would be a riot.

I have to carve more pumpkins, due to the hot weather here this last week causing all of my other ones to cave in on me. *grumble grumble*

And, in honor of the New Year, I have a little something up my sleeve that I am very excited about! You will have to wait until Samhain to hear about it. Granted that isn't too long of a wait, I am sure you can handle the suspense.

There is my quick rundown. I will elaborate more when I don't have to go the the grocery store and clean the house. Ahhh the life of a domesticated witch.