Simple Memorial Day Candle Spell/Prayer

Looking for a simple, magical way to honor those who gave their lives for our country?

 Here is my original spell for Veteran's Day, which I have modified for Memorial Day:

Find a quiet space. Light a candle or candles that represents the day to you: (perhaps a red, white and blue candle, one of each color, or just a singularly colored one).

Repeat these or similar words: 

I light this/these candle/s to honor the veterans of the United States who have given their lives to ensure our freedoms. For your bravery, loyalty and sacrifice, I honor you and your service. I honor your families and their loss. 

To those who are currently in harm's way, let this candle serve as a beacon to light your way home safely. 

Sit for a minute and reflect on those who have served. Snuff out the candle, or let it burn down.




This work is © Confessions of a Pagan Soccer Mom. If you'd like to share, please follow the correct Fair Use guidelines by only post a portion of the post, then linking back here. Thank you!


If you'd like to see the original ritual, you can find it, along with a list of ways to help those still serving at my Examiner page:
http://www.examiner.com/x-26373-Domestic-Witchery-Examiner~y2009m11d11-Honoring-veterans-today-and-every-day

Follow the Horde!

I usually post these on Thursday, but as I haven't done one in a bit, I thought today would be a good day to signal the horde  and gather the pitchforks.

Today we are going to be invading  at Andreann at Aux Demilunes!

This awesome little blog is not only just the prettiest thing around, it's chock full of everything you could ever want in a blog.   Look up at the top, and you will see tabs for "Paganism", "Cooking", "Art", and "Sewing"(among others). There is also a link to Andreann's other amazing blog, Playing With Your Food, where she shows you step-by-step instructions for creating the cutest play food you'd ever want!  For example:

Looks good enough to eat, doesn't it??  And of course there is "real food" there as well.  In fact, Andreann took part in Retro Cooking Month, so be on the lookout for her Weird Jell-o entry!!

Now get on over and invade!  But, do so gently, as Andreann is due to add another member to her family in approximately 74 days!!

Blog Giveaway: From Mrs.B.'s Brews and Baubles!

UPDATED TO ADD: You can find me on Twitter at: @MrsBsConfession


Uptdated to also add: contest is open world wide!

Whew!  Life is crazy busy right now, with college prep going on for oldest, end of the year activities and such for all three kids and being knee deep in a writing project - but more on that later.

Today I'm starting a giveaway via, well, me!  To celebrate the opening of my Etsy store, Mrs. B.'s Brews and Baubles, I am going to be giving away a gift box full of full-sized samples of not only a few of the things already listed, but also things that I have working at my little "alchemy station" in my art room.

Also included?  A one of a kind, hand painted "Wish Box", complete with a print out of possible uses and a corresponding spell kit for making wishes!  Perfect for making wish magic on the Summer Solstice or any time.  I won't be posting pics of this one until it's been received by the winner, so that it's a surprise when it gets there.

So what do you have to do for this one?  Simple.  Just leave a comment here.  Through the week, there just might be added chances to enter that you'll find reading posts here, via facebook or twitter, so stay tuned for those! (One comment per person, per posted entry, please)

This giveaway will end on June 4, at noon EST, with the winner being announced soon thereafter. Good luck!

PLEASE NOTE: 

• If your blogger profile is set to private, I will be unable to find your blog or email via your profile.  If you don't leave an email address in your comments, and your profile is private, the entries DO NOT count.
• Entries that contain links not related to the giveaway (capital "s", rhymes with "ham") will be deleted, and those entries will not count.
• Entries must be in English.

Monday Mutterings

It's Monday again!  May seems to be flying by.  As usual, with the end of the school year looming, we are inundated with activities, class parties and advancement ceremonies.  This year my oldest will graduate from high school, my youngest will move from elementary school to the middle school and there are class trips ranging from Six Flags to Medieval Times - not to mention the traditional 5th grade trip to the swim club for a pool party, the fifth grade party (which includes a dance that has all the girls aflutter, lol!), graduation parties, and a slew of sweet 16 parties.  I'll need new tires on the witchmobile before this is all over!

In other home news, my dryer finally died from a slow, painful death and I'll have a new delivered tomorrow.  Thank goodness for 18 months no interest financing!  And I'll be the proud owner of something called a "steam rack" that is guaranteed to make your clothes all nice and wrinkle free instead of ironing.  Because I spend so much time ironing my t-shirts.

On the blog front, this week I'll be doing a book review and a couple of giveaways, including a giveaway of samples from my etsy store (of things both listed and not listed yet!).   Nothing instills fear more than offering up a giveaway of your own stuff, with the fear that no one will bother to enter, lol!!!

For now, though, I am off to drink some more coffee and spend some time with Mr. B. before he heads off to work.  Have a great start to the week!!

Where the Hell is Tanner: 4 and 20 Gray Cats... edition

... baked in a cake?

(Click for more WTHIT)

Pagan Parenting: Starting a Summer Family Journal

With the kids getting a little older, there is a sudden need for me to make sure that I am documenting the time we have left with all the kids still in the house.  Though I always at the ready with my camera, pictures seem to stay on my computer, to be posted for family across the country and my scrapbooking days turned into more of  an BOS art journalling project.

So for the coming summer, I am creating a Summer Family Journal.  I'm going to start off with a spiral bound sketch book, the kind you can pick up at any art supply/craft store (or even the grocery store, though they tend to cost a bit more there).  I am going to include in it all the things that you would include in a scrap book or a journal - ticket stubs, train passes, postcards, pictures - but I'm also going to ask the kids to personally something about each entry.   Some days it will be "write something about our walk", other days it will be "what was your very favorite part of our trip to the museum" or "write about one interesting thing you saw today".

We won't be taking a vacation this year, but instead plan on a "staycation".  With my oldest's graduation coming up (and impending college expenses) and all the other things that crop up in life, we've decided that we will stay home this year and take advantage of living so closely to so many wonderful things to see and do in NJ and NYC.  My sister will also be coming up from Texas for the very first time since we moved here in 1999, so I'm hoping to show her all the great things  about our area.  We'll have plenty of opportunities to record  our experiences!

Along with that, I plan on taking some personal walks and talks with my daughter, who is more and more showing her interest in being an "official"  Pagan (and at 11 is going through a challenging time in her life, lol!).  We live so close to wooded areas and the beach and don't take near enough time out to explore them.  This will be a great time to go out with her and discuss the basics of the Craft with her and spend some personal time.

At the end of the summer, I hope to have a great keepsake and have deepened my families connection to each other as the kids get older, more independent, and get ready to dive headfirst out of the nest.

I just wish I had thought to do something like this when they were really little!

Life is Good Meme

I'll be honest: I usually avoid memes on my blog.  Though I so appreciate when I get an award from another blogger, or get "tagged" in a meme, if I did them all, that's pretty much all I'd be doing.  


Today I make an exception, because my personal, good friend (we met when he was 17 (or 19, depending on who you ask) and everyone called him "Little Brian" - because there was already a Brian in our group, and, well, he was bigger.


If you haven't already, you should check out his blog, called Photographing the Dead.  Now on to the meme:

1. What's your all time favorite movie?  The Breakfast Club, hands down.  I've seen it about a million times and have passed my love of it on to my children.  My husband and I quote it at each other constantly.

2. If you could live anywhere in the world, where would you live?  Somewhere warm, near the ocean and with a strip of private beach.  Or out in the woods near a lake.  As long as it's warm year round!

3. If there was only one dish that you had to choose to eat for the rest of your life what would that dish be?  Probably some sort of Chinese dish with lots of meat and vegetables over rice, like Happy Family.  That way, one day I could just eat the chicken and the broccoli, the next just the beef and peppers.  I'd never get bored of it that way!

4. What talent (that you don't currently possess) would you like to have?  I'd love to be able to play a musical instrument - either the guitar or piano.

5. Biggest pet peeve? Mean people.  Seriously.  People who are just rude, obnoxious or violent just because they can be piss me off faster than anything else.

6. What's the one thing that happen in your life that you would like to go back in time a revisit? I'd love to be able to go back and experience my wedding again.  It was a really awesome day!

7. Favorite holiday? Samhain/Halloween, hands down!  

8. Cat or Dog person?  I love all animals, but I have a special place in my heart for my cats.

9. Who is the one famous person in history (living or deceased) that you would like to have a conversation with? Jane Goodall.  I LOVE that woman, her dedication, her love of animals and the planet.

10. Do you believe in plastic surgery just for recreational needs? As in I got a nose job just because I hate my nose compared to someone who's been in a car accident who might plasic surgery?  I think it's fine if someone really has an issue with their looks to the point where it's affecting their lives, and if that person has been cleared by some sort of therapist.  I think it becomes a real problem for some people, and that there are doctors who are money grubbing enough to do whatever someone wants whether it's physically safe or not (look at that chick from The Hills who got 10 surgeries in one day!  That can't be safe.)

I'd like to invite anyone who wants to play to answer these questions on their own blog!

Winner of The Smart Family's Passport

Thanks to Quirk books for providing me a copy of this great little book to give to one lucky reader!


The winner of the The Smart Family's Passport: 350 Money, Time & Sanity Saving Tips by Nina Willdorf and the Readers of Budget Travel is: Lauren!

Congrats!  Please send me your shipping info to receive the book!

Monday Mutterings

Wow, what a week!  The kids are really starting to feel that "end of school crazy" that happens every year around this time.  Not wanting to do homework (the weather is nice, who doesn't want to be outside instead?), itching to be done with school.  I think I have that, too.  I am sooooo looking forward to summer vacation and long, lazy days.

Oldest spent the weekend with his girlfriend's family over in Jim Thorpe, PA.  Apparently Jim Thorpe was a famous Native American athlete (I'm not that up on my sports trivia, lol!) and they were having a big birthday celebration in town for him, including a Pow Wow and all sorts of activities.  My son and company stayed in a cabin in the woods, with a gorgeous lake outside their door.  They hiked up the side of a waterfall and did all sorts of outdoorsy things.  Now he's home and suffering from one of the worst allergy attacks known to man, lol!!  He had fun, though.

In other news, my dryer is kaput.  That is so not good for a family of five who does laundry basically every day to keep up with school clothes, work clothes, play clothes, gym clothes.... yikes!  It's going to need replaced and pretty quickly.

In blog news, there's still a couple of days to enter to win The Smart Family's Passport.  Whether you are traveling by car or airplane with toddlers or teens, it has hints for traveling, ways to save money and ideas for saving your sanity!

In case you missed anything this week, here are the highlights:

• A link to a free, online Hoodoo Book
• A vacation spell for good weather
• A review of the book God is Not One
• On Examiner.com:  A list of deities for traveling and vacations
• On Etsy: new listings for black salt, a bedtime bath soak and other witchy goodies!

And if you haven't yet, check out the blog's facebook fan page and join in the daily discussion as I post the Question of the Day!  I love hearing everyone's ideas and opinions!

Hope your week is off to a great start!

Free Book

Just a quick post today, to share a free book that is offered online to read.

For anyone who is interested in learning more about Hoodoo or Voodoo, specifically the New Orleans brand of Hoodoo, check out The Voodoo Hoodoo Spellbook.  The page comes up halfway down the book, so just scroll back up to start, lol!

The book includes some of the basics of the practice, spells, formulas  and all sort of great info.

People often wrongly associate Hoodoo and Voodoo with "dark" magic or evil, but there are tons of spells and "tricks' that are to bring luck, to cleanse,  and to banish.

I'm quite happy in my role as "Domestic Witch" but I have to say that there's a little "Hoodoo Housewife" mixed in!

Enjoy!

Vacation Spell: Invoking Artemis with Acorn

Ancient Greek travelers used to turn to the Goddess Artemis when they wanted to ensure pleasant weather during their journey.  I took a page from them several years ago (and have used this spell several times since) on a trip to North Carolina's Outer Banks.  I performed this spell every single morning and we only had rain once, when everyone was already tucked inside.  That might sound impressive, but the trip was during the end of the season and there was a storm brewing out at sea - we barely got in the water, the waves were so rough. It could have easily been a raining week spent inside. 

The ingredients are simple: you and an acorn for each morning you'll be away.  Simply step outside, center yourself and say a prayer for good weather to Artemis.  Then  throw the acorn off into the wildest area within throwing range.  Remember to thank her at the end of the day, even if it does end up raining - you can never be sure how important that rain might have been for someone/something else!

My ritual went like this:

We were lucky enough to have a balcony right off our bedroom that looked over a small scrubby area and with a perfect view of the sun coming up.  I'd go out on the balcony every morning with my little travel magic kit and light a tea light.  I'd spend a minute centering myself and meditating, then I'd take the acorn in my hands to add my intent.  Then I'd say something to the effect of: 

"Artemis, I ask of you good weather for today in this place we have traveled to, and that rains be delayed as long as that delay hurts neither humans or beasts. With this acorn I honor you."

 At that point I would throw the acorn off into the scrubby little area.  Several times I saw a little brown rabbit (one of Artemis' sacred animals) hopping out of the scrub, and I knew that she was hearing me.  In the evening, before going to bed, I'd always go back out on the balcony and say a prayer of thanks to her for the beautiful weather.

A few things to note: 

• Always research any deity before working with her/him.  Knowing what to expect and forming a relationship with the deity can save you a lot of issues later.
• If you are traveling out of the country, you might want to check on traveling with acorns.  Taking seeds of a non-indigenous plant could possibly get you stopped in customs!  
• If oak trees are not indigenous to the place you are performing this spell, do not leave the acorn.  Leave it on your altar for the day, then place it in a box or bag each day and take it home with you to set out on your return.
• If you don't have oak trees in your area, you could substitute real acorns with small acorn charms (perhaps turning them into a charm bracelet honoring Artemis afterward) or create acorns with clay. Still reading?  Take an extra entry to this weeks giveaway by posting the word "acorn" in comments
• Above statue of Artemis is by Oberon Zell.

Here's hoping for good weather for all your travels this coming summer!

Blog Giveaway: The Smart Family's Passport

It might not seem like it now, with such crazy weather going on (it's currently raining and in the 40's here in NJ!) but summer really is just around the corner.  I've been going through some of my journals and such, gathering travel spells to share on the blog soon.  For now however, we have a giveaway from Quirk Books that just might be able to save your summer if you plan on traveling anywhere with kids!

The Smart Family's Passport: 350 Money, Time & Sanity Saving Tips by Nina Willdorf and the Readers of Budget Travel is a tiny, fit-in-your-carryon sized book with some big ideas!  Whether you are traveling with a toddler or a teen, you'll find something in this book.  From ideas on  planning a vacation to packing tips to quick "home remedies" for travel woes it's really got it all.

Some of my personal favorites:

• Going to selectwisely.com to order allergy and emergency cards in different languages so that if you have a medical emergency in a foreign country, you don't have to worry about the language barrier.
• Taking a roll of duct tape to use in various ways for childproofing a hotel room.
• Searching for real areas of interest for teens to stop at on long car rides (like finding a few skate parks  to stop at for a rest on a cross country trip!)

Seriously, I was amazed at what this book had to offer.  I wish I had had it on our last big family trip!

But, thanks to the folks at Quirk Books, one CoaPSM reader will have it in hand for their next family vacation (or to give as a gift to a friend with kids).  Here's what you need to do to enter:

Tuesday Mutterings...

Since I was on the book review tour yesterday, I thought I'd do my Monday update today, lol!  So what's new this week?

My oldest turned 18!  What a kick in the teeth, lol!  This weekend he's going away with his girlfriend's family for a trip to a lake house.  That's a bit weird.

This past weekend, we also got a ton of plants in the ground!  Right before the freaking NJ Mystery Cold Weather Snap of 2010 hit.  Good grief!  It's practically the middle of May and it's near freezing?  That's just wrong.  So far, the plants seem to be holding out.  And I doubt anything is going to kill my mugwort sprouts!  Those things are growing like crazy!!  Can't wait for it to be big enough to harvest!

The end of school is coming, and it's amazing how the end of school costs just as much as the beginning!  Teacher gifts, field trips, new swim suit for the 5th grade trip to the swim club, graduation gifts -- oh my!

I'm looking forward to long, lazy days of summer.  Of course, it might be 40 degrees all summer, who knows?

Yule Directory

Yule is on it's way!  Here are a few Yule articles and links to get you in the mood!

• Learn about how you and your family can create an edible outdoor Yule tree for the local wildlife.
• Ideas for decorations to make your holiday tree a little more Pagany.
• Find gift ideas for your favorite reader, gardener, domestic witch,  or someone who could just use a few more good wishes.

Stay tuned for more!



This is post (and photos) copyright to the author. It may not be reposted, reprinted or distributed in its entirety without express written permission of the author. Links to the article can be freely shared and are very appreciated!

Book Review: God Is Not One

I recently got to review the book God is Not One: The Eight Rival Religions That Run the World--and Why Their Differences Matter by Stephen Prothero as part  of the TLC Book Tours.  By now, I'm sure many of you have heard about, if not read this book - it's been talked about on The Wild Hunt and by Ruby Sara over at Pagan Godspell - both of which did such amazing reviews that I think anything I saw after them will be somewhat lacking!

In the book, Prothero discusses the eight major religions of the word (Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, Taoism, Yoruba, Confucianism, and Hinduism) and what each of them states is the "human problem" and the "solution" to the problem.  For example, in Christianity, Prothero states, the problem is sin and the solution is salvation.    I would give you the problem and solution for Paganism, or since it's obviously a specific religion, Wicca, but Prothero didn't actually bother with it (even though many consider it to be the fastest growing religion in the world).  That isn't all he discusses, of course, but it's the gist of it: Prothero trying to show that all the world's religions are different because they have different teachings and themes.  By accepting that all religions are different, we can start to learn to build understanding and coexist.

Personally, I doubt any amount of delving into each other's religious views is going to turn any of the fundie heads around to seeing a different point of view, though I do recommend this book to anyone who has a real interest in studying different religions and delving into different points of view on religious topics.  For those who really do believe that "God is One", you might want to give it a pass.

Personally, I found this book slightly frustrating for it's lack of reference to any Pagan traditions, as one of the primary tenets of so many I've studied has been the idea that all gods are one god - and that he/she comes to everyone in the fashion that is best for the individual at that particular time in their life.  When discussing if God is One, wouldn't it be prudent to discuss the religious traditions that actually really do believe that fact?

Activities for Summer Solstice

Whether you have kids or are just a kid at heart, there are tons of things to do to celebrate the Summer Solstice!  And don't forget, these are activities that can be done throughout the summer season! Have fun!

• Go on a picnic or have a bbq.  Don't forget to say thanks for your abundance or a prayer for continued prosperity.
• Go to a clean, running body of water and collect a jar of water for magical use through the year.  Add a few rocks or shells to the jar and label it with the date and location it was gathered. Ask for the Lord and Lady to bless it.
• Bless the family's pets.
• Try to find some flower fairies
• Set your ritual tools out to charge in the sunlight.
• Perform a planet healing ritual or prayer.
• Women can walk through their gardens (or around their potted plants!) to keep them growing healthy.  
• Soak some thyme in olive oil.  Strain.  Dab a bit on your eyelids; go out at night and see if you can view the faeries dancing!
• Leave out a small dish of milk and/or honey for the fairies.
• Have a self-dedication or re-dedication to the God/dess.
• Have the kids make suns out of paper plates and ribbons.  Hang all over the house!
• Make a batch of Summer Solstice Sangria
• Find a "pick-your-own" farm and pick some berries - then turn them into jellies, jams, pies or ice cream!
• Find some daisies or other summery flowers and create  daisy-chain crowns - wear them everywhere for the day!  
• Create a faerie house or faerie door for your yard. 
• Harvest herbs that you'll be using for medicinal uses.
• Fill your cauldron with wildflowers and use it as a centerpiece for your Litha feast!  Add a small dish in the bottom, then add a small hunk of moist florist foam for flowers with hard stems.  For smaller stemmed flowers, add a small jar of water to the bottom of the cauldron to put the flowers in - that way you don't risk rusting!
• Press some herbs and/or flowers in books, then attach them into your book of shadows with a bit of glue.
• Check out the free Sunflower Activity PDF from the Nurture Store for sunflower fun
• Have a short talk about the elements - then get out the squirt guns and have some water fun!
• Get teams together and have some old fashioned outdoor fun playing freeze tag, hide-and-seek and hopscotch!
• Make a sun sun-catcher

This is post (and photos) copyright to the author. It may not be reposted, reprinted or distributed in its entirety without express written permission of the author. Links to the article can be freely shared and are very appreciated!

Summer Solstice (Litha) Recipes

Litha/Summer Solstice Recipes

Canning

• Red Salsa
• Pickled Jalapenos
• Green Salsa

Desserts

• Ice Cream in a Bag
• Fried Strawberry Shortcake

Drinks

1. Summer Solstice Sangria

Meat and Poultry

• Speedy Beef Fajitas

Pasta Dishes and Quick Sauces

• Fresh Basil Pesto
• Fresh Cilantro  Pesto

Sides and Veggies

• Pink Stuff
• Grilled Corn on the Cob
• Potato Salad (seriously, this stuff is good)
• Pinto Bean Relish

Summer Soup

• Spicy Shrimp Gazpacho

This is post (and photos) copyright to the author. It may not be reposted, reprinted or distributed in its entirety without express written permission of the author. Links to the article can be freely shared and are very appreciated!

Winner, Winner Chicken Dinner

Thanks to Next Day Flyers for donating a $25 credit to the winner of this week's giveaway!

And the winner, picked by an online, random number generator is:

Nydia!

Congrats, Nydia!  Please send me your contact info to pass along!


And Happy Friday to all!!

Critter Sighting!

Ohhhh!  Look!  We've got another cat eating on the porch!  I wonder where he came fro----

Whooooaaaaahhhhh!  That is not a cat!

What's Brewing at Mrs.B.'s? Rose Water!

I'm distilling rose water today!!  (And bottling and labeling and mixing!)

I'm not going to give all my secrets away (though you can find the directions on the internet, lol), but it involves a homemade "still".....

and ice cubes.

You should smell my house!  Smells like a brothel a rose garden!

Corrected PDF files

Somehow (lol!) I managed to not only pull up the wrong version of my "wish ticket" that had a mistake on it, but also fix the incorrect version into PDF files, post the pictures onto the blog and never even notice!

So sorry if you've printed them out already - they have the word "if" instead of "it"!  Good news is, it doesn't seem to be all that noticeable, lol!

The previous post is corrected, but here are the addresses for the corrected PDF files as well:

4 tickets per page


6 tickets per page

Sorry!!

Wish Tickets Mrs.B. Style

 while back, I did a post on Operation Beautiful. It's a project where you leave little post-it notes around, with positive messages on them for people to find.  Ever since then, I've taken to carrying a stack of post-it notes and a small sharpie around, and leaving these notes in various places.  I even got Miss M into it - a good learning experience for her not only about being kind to others, but in learning to accept yourself as well!

Then a bit ago, I saw something on A Fanciful Twist blog (If you are not familiar with it, go and check it out.  Seriously.) and I knew that I had to do try it out for myself.  She'd made Wish Tickets and was leaving them here and there for people to find.  The wish tickets were a piece of paper, with a poem printed on it, telling you that it was a wish that had fallen from the sky.  How cool is that?  She even has a free PDF file so that you print out your own.

But, of course, I had to put my own spin on it (it's a sickness).  It's very similar to the original, but I changed the poem a smidge and put it on a different background.

I've printed a ton of these out (4 to a page), rolled them up and tied them with raffia.  I've been leaving them all over town.  In diner chairs,  stuck in the baskets of shopping carts, on windshield wipers, in dressing rooms - anywhere I can leave one on the down-low.  Trying to leave them without being seen gives me a real thrill, lol, and I love thinking about the people who will find them and unroll them!

If you'd like to print your own wish tickets out,  check out A Fanciful Twist, or you can download a PDF of my tickets.  For smaller tickets, 6 to a page, click here.  For larger tickets, 4 to a page, click here.

And I'd love to know if you use them!!

Monday Mutterings

It's a rainy day in Jersey (No, really!  Yes, I'm sure you're surprised), but it's also going to hit 80 degrees today!  Woot!  I can't tell you how much I love the warm weather.  We are starting to harden the plants outside and I can't wait until our garden is full of plants and starting to produce!!

Let's see, what's been happening in the house of B....

Miss M had her "Perils at Peddler's Cove" play on Saturday.  It was really great!  She did an excellent job playing Hawkins, a salty sea captain with a hook!  She was the biggest suspect in the murders going on in the play, but ends up saving the day.  She got the biggest laugh of the play ("I know the sea like the back of my hand" *raises hook and gives audience the side eye*).  When the actors took their bows, the guy in front of my husband and I in the audience (never seen him before in my life) even yelled out "Hawkins!" really loud!  She was awesome.

Oldest's birthday is in 2 days.  He will be turning 18.  Somehow, I have managed to raise a legal adult.  When the heck did that happen?  Seems like yesterday he was carrying around his "Barney" (2 wonderful women I worked with made him this gorgeous blanket while I was pregnant) (and yeah, that thing is stuffed in his pillowcase on his bed even today) (but don't tell him I told you that).  Or getting his Power Ranger suit on every time someone came into the house (in case he needed to defend the family and destroy him with his mighty plastic Saba sword.  Now he's about to graduate high school and is going away for the weekend soon with his girlfriend's family.  It goes by faster than you think!

Middle guy just went with Mr.B. to see Nightmare on Elm Street.  His first theater horror movie.  He's become quite the horror movie buff lately.  I was worried about that at first, then realized I was about the same age when I started watching horror movies - and he handles it much better.  I remember having a sleep over with one of my girlfriends at that age, and my parents were gone.  We watched some movie (maybe one of the Friday the 13ths?) with the lights out and scared ourselves silly (her daughter just graduated with her master's degree this week!  Good gosh, we are getting old, lol!).

On the blog front, don't forget to enter the giveaway for a $25 credit to Next Day Flyers - plenty enough to get you a ton of customized business cards or some other awesome goodies!

Other than that, I am working towards getting my stuff ready for my Etsy shop to open (I have more ideas and plans than I have time and supplies, lol!) and waiting out the last few months til summer vacation!

Oh, and I met a few more local Pagan ladies!  I've met and coffeed with 8 different women now and I'm so loving how our little Pagan community is so diversified and each woman brings such a different wealth of information with her!  I'm so loving having them all in my life!