What a nice thing to share with us Freedom. I am glad your hubby is feeling better and what a wonderful way or should I say sign to cheer up. Its hard when they are down, if he is like my man, he generally keeps it to himself and I have no idea what is bothering him until he works it out in his mind and then discusses it with me.

I am at the moment so proud of myself this afternoon. My ex rang this morning to ask to have the kids two hours early for the weekend. Although I have never said no, this time I did. This was because he has yet another one of his ladies up for a visit ( he meets heaps on the internet and one by one they come for a visit), he has been on leave from work . This is none of my business, but he rang spoke to my oldest girl and falked that he had been at work, but we had seen him shopping yesterday with her. My girl called him on it, he then asked me if he could have the kids early as he was finishing work early today. My calm replay was "I don't see the point as you have been off for a week, the kids are on holiday and they are better and worth more than two extra hours. And by the way they are not show and tell, so no you can have them at the time you are suposed to." I discussed the reason with the older kids and they were very happy I did it. My oldest girl is considering not going any more. And this is not because of anything I have said, as I never run their father down to them or in front of them, I have just gone with the flow and let them make their mind up on this. I am so proud of myself.

Anyway, I plan a nice quiet weekend. Some us time during the night with my man is home from work. Maybe a bit of take out, a movie and a whole heep of cuddles.

Have a good weekend everyone. Be safe and I hope the mother brings you all something wonderful.

Kath

Morning All,

Thought I would dropin and enjoy a cuppa with everyone.

Sounds like all of you have had some busy times....Freedom, awesome my dear...it's good to see that Hubby and the Universe are smiling at you. Synchronicity at its best!

Kath, I am proud of you and your daughter as well....it takes courage and strength to stand up to people like that, and for your daughter to call him on his actions..(wow) awesome! The Celtic throws sound marvelous....I can't sew worth a hoot, but beading I might have to take up, it sounds like a beautiful and creative way to make your home more magickal!

Ruth, I hope your renovating comes along well, we had to renovate this house when we moved into it...it had a gire and wasn't completely done when we moved in. Iy turned out fabulous tho, and although it has been a pain sometimes to correct what needed to be fixed, it was well worth it. I know your home will be magickal and beautiful when you are done...I love stucco and it lasts and lasts....the priarie look sounds fun, and when it gets established, people are going to be asking you how you did that....lol...

Packing, pneumonia and peanuts are the way of life here...packing peanuts everywhere, three cats and dawg have decided they are fabulous things to scatter all over the house....and I am letting them...lol....ay one point my son gathered a lot of them up, ut this morning, they were scattered again....coffee is good this morning, I have trying to keep myself hydrated and avoiding drinking as much of it as I usually do, but it is so dang hard, when yo are addicted to caffeine! (coffee)

Life is calming down, and the antibiotics are kicking in, so I am in hopes that everything will be back to normal come August 1st, at least that's my goal.... with it poiuring rain here today, I may crawl back into bed for a bit, they do more phone calls and settling of affairs and then work on the board....

By the way, the pendant of our Sigil is almosy done at Peter Stone Jewelers...it will have a Rainbow Moonstone at the top and Black onyx at the bottom (they moved the Moon phases 180 degrees) and it looks incredible...once they send me a color picture, I will post it for ya'll to look at and you can order it soon...I will give you the link to their page and how much it will be when they give me that information. It looks to be about 30.00 US, but I could be wrong...

To everyone else I missed, good morning and may your day be blessed!


Blessings Bright and Dark,

Thank you for joinng us this morning< Lady Elaine. I am glad to hear of your recovery. Packing, at least to me, has always been a mixed blessing. It is rather depressing to leave a place you have made your home, but the potential of a positive new beginning when your arranging and cleansing your new home makes it worthwhile. It never fails that cats will find the most annoying thing to play with.

Well, I thrilled that it is finally the end of the week. I have nothing special planned, which is the best kind of weekend because your free for random adventures. Of course, not being married or having children helps:).

I hope the rest of you have a great weekend.

I just had an interesting email conversation with a friend of mine. She is not of the Craft, but is very open minded. After buying and raving about LE's books, she purchased a set for herself. She is moving in a week, and decided to leave the books packed. However, her mom is incredibly religios, and she was concerned about her mom seeing a box marked "Pagan Kitchen". Here's some pieces of the conversation:

(Friend)"The cookbooks have arrived!! I will be leaving them in the box because it is so close to my move date. Do you think it will bother my mom to realize I ordered the books from a place called pagen kitchen?"

(Me) If you're worried about the address of the cookbooks, just color it out with a black marker. Coincidentaly, I am keeping the stuff I am holding for you in the box I got my cookbooks in.

(Friend) "LOL, I find it humors you are holding my stuff in the pagen box... I prob. will black out the name with my trusty sharpie. I can just picture my mom now... that is if she comes. She is very funny about anything pagen... she is even worried about my eternal soul because I read Harry Potter.... The irony is that she is the one who introduced me to the book. I was still in high school at the time and I wasn't interested in reading it, but she convened me to read it. Then while I was at college is when she met this really devout Christen who was a co-worker of hers... and soon mom started going through her religious transformation. Anything that this person disapproves of, mom disapproves of... like this one person is the ultimate authority in everything that is holy. Of course we both know that is not true."

(Me) You should let your mom know that the word pagan is derived from the Greek word for countryside. It refers to the adaptations and changes expereinced by a relgion as it exists away from the center of authority for that relgion. As Protestantism has no real religious center and is in fact characterized by its lack of uniformity, it could be considered impossible for Protestants to rightly call anything pagan. The Cathoilics, however, can call something pagan, as there relgious center is Rome. Actually, Catholics would not be incorrect in considering the Protestant Reformation a pagan and heretical movement by definition.

It's no wonder that we are afraid to comem out of the broom closet when a Christian has to worry about getting ostracized for buying a cookbook 1234((

Glad you are healing, Lady Elaine! I just recently got my full set of the Kitchen Grimoires and I am proudly displaying them on my cookbook book shelf (there's not many cookbooks there - one from the Moosewood Restaurant, a "Betty Crocker" Standard my mom gave me over 20 years ago, some old one dedicated completely to chocolate, and now my new pride and joys. I figure if nosy religious fanatics take the time to read my book titles, AND know what a "grimoire" is, then they deserve to be shocked and dismayed. And since we are in the process of buying this place (our first home ownership after 20 years of renting all over the country!), I am feeling free, free, FREE to not have to hide my lifestyle from prying eyes of landlords and such.

On another topic - has anyone else noticed that now that there has been a shift in management; there is a lighter, freer, easier feel to the site? I'm not judging, truly I'm not - those who chose to leave posted incredible information and kept this place active, along with Lady Elaine - but Nature does abhore a vacuum, and I am noticing a lot more people stepping up and putting in their two cents worth since the shift. The variety is nice! While the separation is very sad, this new energy on the site is, in fact, one blessing that is emerging from the change. Or is it just me noticing this?

Lady ELaine, you do a wonderful job with this place. I don't post often, but I love to pop in 3 or 4 times a day just to catch up on what's new. Thank you!

Ah, it's nice to be back having a "cuppa coffee chat" with you all.

Lady Elaine - I'm glad you are healing, and hope things continue to go well with you. The sigil pendant sounds utterly gorgeous, I hope you are going to post pictures!

Kath, it sounds like you are handling things with such grace and maturity, you should be proud of yourself!

Freedom - thank you! That story was such a great lift.

Stacey - another great story, although one that does highlight that there is definitely "work to be done" to help us be accepted by others.

Annie - congratulations on the house! That must be such a fantastic feeling, I hope your new home when you get it will be a place of many blessings and much joy.

Well, here I am back after the rush of moving house. When we walked in there was a shelf in the sitting room that really said "altar" to both of us, and so that is what it is. It feels like an opportunity for me to be more open, somehow. At first I was nervous about friends/workmen/landlady etc. but the altar feels so lovely there that I am happy to keep it. Besides, if our landlady is visiting I can always move the most personal items, and as for friends, I have reached a stage in my life where I am happy for my friends to know what I am, I know from experience this can have painful consequences, but also I am fed up of hiding! Not that I've hidden much in the past - one of my friends usually refers to me as "a very out and proud sort of pagan" LOL

I had to call the hospital yesterday to make an appointment to go for an EEG as the Dr thinks I might be epileptic. It's a bit scary, but also might be good to put a name to a condition that has plagued me my whole life. I am scared though - anti epileptic drugs are pretty harsh, and also my drivers license might be revoked.

On the "up"side hubby and I are doing shamanic journeys to connet with the Goddess almost daily now and I find them very inspirational and comforting. I realised that I am too shy about giving my opinion, so I have started posting more on a friend's pagan forum. As a result she has invited me to help moderate it - wow! She says my posts shine with wisdom and experience, well I don't know about that LOL but I will do my best to be kind and tolerant and make all members feel at home!

Also, I have finally discovered a form of digital art known as "photomanipulation" which allows me to create images of the characters I write about despite having no drawing abilities - something I have wanted to do for years! I am so happy

Well I am off for a day of emptying boxes and trying to get this place looking a bit more homely. It's a beautiful sunny day here in Devon UK and from my window I can see our garden (we moved from a tiny little flat with no outside space), and beyond that trees and fields and sky, wow! Thank you Goddess

Bright blessings to you all, on your homes and loved ones and projects.

Good Morning everyone, Its Saturday and very bright here in the Midwest. Today my challenge is to get my little one to tumbling, work on my second book (I have fallen way off schedule), and I need to finish some bracelets for my LOA, I also have to change things out on altar. BUSY BUSY BUSY...

I hope you all have a blessed weekend at take some time to relax and play its so good for the soul. We all know how to work as we grow older but to keep our spirit free we must play and imagine. LOL

Hi everyone. You all have been so busy. I hope you all had a wonderful weekend.

Good to see you feeling better LE, packing EEEEEEEEEE. I do not have moved quiet a bit over the years and hate the packing. So good luck to you with that. We finally bought a house 18 months ago, so that was a great feeling.

Freedom I am hearing you about the outside work. My ex and I had a lawn mowing business many years ago, and I loved being out in the sun, fresh air. Hard work makes you feel alive and like you achieve something everyday.

Stacey I hope you had some great adventures this weekend.

Lodemai I hope you got all the things done you had planned.

I am sure I have missed some, so I will just say I hope all is travelling well with you all.

We had a nice quiet weekend. Kids were at their dads, so lots of reading, cuddling, talking and spending time together. We usually screen our calls and shut the world out for the weekend the kids are away as its our time. The kids came home Sunday afternoon, very tired etc. Today it is my youngest sons 9th birthday so have been spending time doing fun games. Lego is hard, but we have been having some fun. Cake tonight, and he is having a party this weekend. So loads of party food making, its all fun.

Kath

Good morning everyone. Just catching up on the board and stopping in to say howdy. It seems there is a general air of positive energy lingering around us all. Well, I can't claim to have had any incredibley delightful adventures this weekend, but I did spend much time with good friends and good food, which is even better. Here is wishing that the rest of everyone else's week is filled with much of the same.

Morning All,

Just dropping in to say howdy and hope all is well with you all. I have alot to do this morning, phone calls, meetings, dr. appt. and you name it, so won't be around much this morning..will be back later this after noon to share with ya'll and post some more in our BOS and Apothecary.

If ya get a chance, pleasew give "Full Moon Paradise" a listen on the sidebar....I packed it full of delightful New Age Music, and it has helped me muchly over the last couple of weeks.....I let it play all over the house on our stereo.....very therapeutic!!


I wish everyone well where you dwell....

Blessings Bright and Dark,

Good Morning All, Lady E so glad your feeling better, but I was looking for some threads and thye seem to be gone, could some one fill me in?

Blessings

LRH


I emailed ya....

Good morning everyone. Hope all is well with you all. Lady E I hope all goes well with the Dr. appointment and all your meetings etc.

LadyRedHawk there is a thread call Change to Moderators that explains all that has been happening. This should explain everything.

Kids are back to school today, so the running around begins again.

It looks to be a nice day, cold, but nice. A litle hard to get going after two weeks of easy mornings with the kids off school. So may need a couple extra coffees today.

Have a great day all.
Kath

Good Afternoon!!!!

Kath & Freedom - I didn't get everything done on the list but i did make it a point to have fun with the kids !

Weekends come & go way to fast. I am preparing to be gone for the next 13 days on business trip with my company and I'm going to miss my kids terribly they truly feed my soul. Oh well still have to pay the bills though LOL.

I promise you all I have already researched the area I'm traveling to and have found a great park to find some peace on the slow times during this trip. I sure I'll find some great local places to shop!. I'm driving to Cincinnati to avoid the airport travel it's just not fun to fly anymore. If any one knows a great place to eat, shop, or just hang out in Cincinnati would you please hit me up so I can make time to check it out. I don't leave until Thursday.

Well I have to tie up some lose ends have a great evening everyone.

Good day everyone. My day is starting well, the sky is blue, we are running on time and the house is peaceful. A large day ahead of house work, washing. I also have to get a heads up on making the sausage rolls for my boys party on Saturday. I'll throw them into the freezer, and then on Thursday start the beginnings of the cake. He is so excited that he is getting a party, it is not something we do often outside of the family.

After all of this would like to be pulling some weeds in the garden.

Theres to a great day for all.

Kath

Good morning everyone. Well, we have finally had a little bit of rain. We are still about 6 inches under the average for the year, but is could be much worse. At least it's cut back on the bugs.

This weekend, I help a friend move. I'm excited for her because I remember what it was like to move into my first apartment. Unfortunately, the moving team will consist of about 4-5 girls. There are times when having a man at your beck and call are useful I suppose, like when then is heavy furniture to be lifted and tight jars to open. But, as neither of us have lived in the area long and are unattached, it will have to be girl power all the way.

To other exciting news, I am in the delightful process of looking for a new car. This is a very uneasy situation for me, as if my ignorance of automobiles was bliss, I would be euphoric. However, I have my brother, father, and some guy friends looking into it for me. I expect to be on the market in August, and will hopefully have narrowed down choices by then.

Well, off to actual work I must go. To everyone, have a delighful if not interesting day.