Moving!

over to my own site! asldkfj is up and running! Come on by and say hi. :)


eta: Ok, I'm coming back to blogger. Read more "Moving!..."

Happy Fall!

We did celebrate Mabon yesterday. No dramatic ritual but we talked about the equinox and balance and the start of the quiet season between Mabon and Samhain. And we made applesauce in the crockpot which was totally yummy. And easy peasy: core and skin (optional) some apples and put them in the crockpot with just the tiniest bit of water (or none, if you are using soft, juicier apples). Cook on high a couple of hours or low all day. Stir. We added a couple of shakes of cinamon, but even that wasn't necessary. I used a mix of Paula Reds and Goldenrods and left some of the reds' skins on to add a little color to the sauce. It was so good. I did manage to save some to have with pork chops tomorrow night.

That autumnal crispness as entered the air. Things seem very clear now. Read more "Happy Fall!..."

A Quiet Week on the Lagoon

We don't have too much on the agenda for this week, which pleases me very much. We need to catch up a little on our history and science lessons. Anyway, here's the general outline:

Monday
Happy Mabon! Today is the Autumnal Equinox. We'll do some decorating for fall and maybe do a small ritual inviting the quietness and introspection of the season into our home.

morning: History lesson, make applesauce

noon: Oma coming over for lunch

4pm: Rehearsal for J & E

dinner: tomato soup and cheese sandwiches, applesauce

Tuesday
morning: take Oma to airport, grocery delivery

midday: Reading aloud our historical fiction books

afternoon: Science lesson and discussion of Science Fair projects

4pm: rehearsal for J & E

dinner: chicken or garbanzo bean ceasar salad wraps

Wednesday
morning: Quiet work

midday: errands/park

afternoon: chores

dinner: pork chops & applesauce, sweet potato fries

Thursday
Pajama Day!
catch up on work and chores

dinner: salad, spaghetti and sauce

Friday
Museum?

dinner: salad and pizza Read more "A Quiet Week on the Lagoon..."

Finished Objects!!

Penguin!

Elli Phant!!
Pikachu!!!

I'm so pleased. I'm starting a monkey and a teddy bear next. These are so fun! Read more "Finished Objects!!..."

Promise of a New Day

Yep, yep, just like the Paula Abdul song.

Alternative title: Don't Call It a Comeback (and now I had to go look for the LL Cool J video and now I'm all drooling over LL *le sigh*)


Yeah, so, anyway. Today is a Pajama Day here at the lagoon! And I'm decorating for harvest. It's time to set up the Autumnal altars and invite these old ghosts to come around out of hiding. You can't haunt me if I invite you to my table.

I also have some decisions to make about travel. But I'm not making them right this minute.

And I have some finished objects! So I'll try and get back to this blog tonight to post pics of all the decorations and my amigurumi! Read more "Promise of a New Day..."

More good news!

Update to this post: he's dead.

Also, 100 days until Christmas.

I'm a fucking ray of profane sunshine, ain't I? Read more "More good news!..."

Holy fucking crap, today sucks

Crying, anxiety attacks, screaming children, waaaaaay too many people around for my liking.

I should have never gotten out of bed.

And, yippee!, now I get to go to work.

Somebody, please, shoot me in the fucking eye. Read more "Holy fucking crap, today sucks..."

Tackle it Tuesday!

Today's tackle: my dresser top. It's a mess of papers and books and wires and junk. It is a flat surface and so it becomes a dumping ground. But I would like for it to be a place for my bedroom altar and maybe for a few pretty perfume bottles.

Ok, I went to take the before pic and ended up doing the whole clean up and re-decorate right then and there. So, without further ado, here's the before:



And after:

Read more "Tackle it Tuesday!..."

My mother's father is dying

Supposedly.

No, really, he is dying.

I hope his passing is as painless as can be. And that's about as much emotion as I can put into it.

I've never met him. He didn't even ask to meet me until a year or so ago. He didn't speak to my mother for nearly 40 years. It's a long and sordid story, but I don't consider him a relative or, really, any kind of person of consequence in my life.

There may be money that trickles down to me, and that would be nice enough.

Hmm, I thought I had more to say about all this. Read more "My mother's father is dying..."

What's doin' at the lagoon this week?

Here's what we're up to:

Monday
Back to No School Picnic
rehearsal for J & E (they should find out what their parts are!)
dinner: salad & pizza

Tuesday
Cooking class
rehearsal for J & E
dinner: soup and sandwiches

Wednesday
Errands
History lesson
fitness class for all 3
dinner: uh, something in the crockpot?

Thursday
pajama day!
Science lesson
Geography quiz
dinner: tacos & burritos

Friday
Music Class
Beach Day w/ SCHS (?)
dinner: tofu stir fry

Saturday
Charlotte's class
dinner: out!

Sunday
dinner: hamburgers and hotdogs Read more "What's doin' at the lagoon this week?..."

The Personal is Political

I wonder if that is an attributable quote.  I'll have to google.

I've been thinking about politics and my personal spin.

I am very much leaning voting Green in this presidential election.  I have never NOT voted for the democratic presidential nominee.  I'm a little shocked that I would chose this election to seriously consider it.

My politics have become more radical as I've matured.  I've become less interested in compromising some things to get a democrat elected.  And I wonder why.  In a lot of ways, I think it's actually that the Democratic Party has become less liberal.  *They* have moved to the right, to the middle and left *me* out here on the left.   And in many other ways, it's that my radical ideals have solidified a bit.  I feel more entitled to my world view, and to express what I think it my due and is every person's right.

I'm debating all this and reading other points of view.  I was told recently, in an online discussion, that my 3rd party vote would be a vote thrown away and a vote for McCain.  I disagree.  Now, here in NY, I feel confident that my vote for McKinney will not have much affect on the way the NY delegates go.  I am having trouble finding actually poling data, but I can't imagine it even being close here.  And, as I understand it, all the NY delegates vote together---so if Obama wins NY, he wins all of the NY delegates.  The kids and I will be studying the electoral college in a couple of weeks, so I can fact check that soon.  ;)

I'll be watching the debates and seeing if Obama can wow me.  Part of me hopes that under all that pandering to the middle, lies the heart of a true radical liberal and some of that will work its way out when he gets into the white house.  And the other part of me worries that the party and the powers that be have him so convinced he has to toe the line that an Obama presidency would not look much different from a McCain one.  :(

Read more "The Personal is Political..."

Tackle it Tuesday!

Giving it a shot! I'm going to tackle the piles of paper. Today's a good day for it, too, because the paper recycling goes out to the curb tonight!

Read more "Tackle it Tuesday!..."

This Weeks Haps

I'm taking this from my friend Annette, who blogs over at Natural Childhood. Her blog is lovely and definitely worth a look. Anyway, here's what we are up to for the week!

Monday, Sept 1: Labor today. It's actually the evening of labor day as I type this. We didn't do much. lolz

Tuesday, Sept 2: First Day of No School!! We'll crack the books and try some new school-day rules. We also have to meal plan, grocery shop and run to the post office and possibly the library.

Wednesday, Sept 3: We're on set! The kids are going to be extras in a movie that is filming here on Long Island and we'll be filming on and off most of Wednesday.

Thursday: Academics and home chores.

Friday, Sept 4: Fairy Day! We're going to head to Gardiner Park and create wands, walking sticks and/or fairy houses from things found in nature and ribbons and such we bring along. :)

Read more "This Weeks Haps..."

Curriculum planning

September

People of the Americas, BON Unit 1
Features of the land
Ancient American civilizations

Supplemental materials
books
City of the Gods: Mexico's Ancient City of Teotinuacan and Ancient Cliff Dwellers of mesa Verde both by Caroline Arnold
Kaya books in American Girl Series (set in 1700s, not ancient history)


movies
Smoke Signals

online
http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/US/Story?id=734468&page=1
http://www.suffolk.lib.ny.us/youth/jcancient.html
http://www.civilization.ca/civil/maya/mminteng.html
http://www.mayankids.com/
http://nativeamericans.mrdonn.org/northeast/iroquois.html

Read more "Curriculum planning..."

Losing and regaining steam

So the new system took a hit when I returned to work. My joesgoals took a nosedive, I did NOT rememberthemilk and things generally got sloppy.

But, I'm picking up the pieces today. Things are going better. I've finished the last of the filing. The kitchen and bathroom and master bedroom are tidy. Even the living room is relatively picked-up. I'm pleased.

I have plenty on today's to-do and the weather is lovely today so there's no excuse not to get these things done! I'm going to do my online RTMs afer breakfast and then get some weekly housework stuff done. If there's time, perhaps I'll take the kids over for a dip in the pool before work. Read more "Losing and regaining steam..."

This Week's Eats

Monday:
ceasar salad
tomato soup
cheese sandwiches

Tuesday:
tossed salad
pasta w/ meatlessballs

Wednesday:
tofu stir fry
fried rice

Thursday:
leftovers or hot dogs & potato salad

Friday:
Out?

Saturday:
crudite
BBQ pizza


Sunday:
bean & cheese quesadillas
veggie tacos



Precook:
chicken breasts
rice
tofu
meatlessballs?

Read more "This Week's Eats..."

Lammas and the Leo New Moon and the Solar Eclispe

Well, there is certainly a lot of spiritual energy out there today, isn't there!

We didn't get to see much of the solar eclipse today but I did watch a live telecast from China on the NASA website. It was pretty cool.

[zomg, in the middle of typing this, I got up to let the dog outside and there were two really pretty pit bulls in the back yard. Now, I know full well in my head that pitties can be sweet and kind and gentle---I have known plenty of them, none mean!---but I freaked out! Rufus is old and can be slightly ornery when other animals come on his property. Thankfully, these dogs were very gentle and left the premises when Rufus "roo!'d" at them. lolz Still, I'm kind of shaken up!]

Ok, so solar eclipse. I feel like this is the moon's way of saying---Hey!! Look at me!!!! I'm really important!! I love the moon, I especially love the morning moon. So, and early morning solar eclipse is really meaningful to me.

The Leo new moon, as I've been reading, is all about being a shining star and leader, about excelling at what you love and do best. New moons are about planting and starting fresh, new projects. This comes at a wonderful time as I'm working at integrating a new filing and paperwork system (which I'm really excited about).

Lammas signifies the beginning of the end of summer. Here on Long Island, August is definitely the dog days of summer. It's too hot and too humid to do pretty much anything but sit at the beach or poolside and read or visit with friends. I love August! BBQs, mojitos, swimming, playing, heat lightning and summer evening thunderstorms. And, back to school shopping and school year planning and looking forward to the harvest season and the changes of Fall. Perfect.

Read more "Lammas and the Leo New Moon and the Solar Eclispe..."

Tri-H System

Tri-H System implemented.

I'm going to put it to work tomorrow----I'll go through the piles of mail around and get what I need into the files. Hopefully, that won't be much as the point is to not hold on to as much.

Headed to dinner at mom's in a bit. I'll try to get a moment to go over the new system w/ Rob tonight.

Read more "Tri-H System..."

Thoughts on a new filing system

So, despite my efforts to simplify and streamline, there are still a lot of papers that need to take up space in out living area. I am attempting to get a handle on what they are and how often they need to be accessed so I can set up a system. This post is kind of a thinking outloud.

Let me back up a bit. I spent the morning going through the 3 file boxes and 4 filing cabinet drawers we have. The boxes live in the living room and the big filing cabinet is downstairs in the computer room. I have two big boxes of paperwork to be recycled. And I have streamlined a lot of what needs to be "kept." Bank statements, most regular bills (mortgage, utilities, cc statements), health insurance statements and our paystubs are all available online. There is no reasons to keep the hard copies anymore. That was probably about 80% of what was in the filing cabinet. Here's what is left down there:

• ~birth certificates, Social Security cards, bonds, coins from the years the kids were born
• ~appliance and electronics manuals
• ~car title
• ~deed to house and mortgage paperwork
• ~car, health and home insurance policies
• ~awards & certificates the kids earned in school

Now, a lot of that stuff should actually be in a safe deposit box or a strong box somewhere. I'm putting that on the "when I have some time and money to kill" list. lolz For now, this is taking up two drawers. A third drawer is all art projects and such the kids have done. And the fourth drawer is empty. I could easily get rid of this whole piece of furniture. It's in the alcove under the stairs and behind a curtain, though, so it's not taking up a ton of room. The main issue with it is that simply having it encourages me to hold onto things. I can get over that, though.

So, right now, everything is cleared out of the 2 file boxes and one plastic box that I keep in the living room. And all the papers that I'm keeping are on my bed. It's not much, really, but it will increase in the summer and there is still a lot of random paper around the house that I need to go through.

Anyway, the paper we need to keep around for more than a day, falls into these categories:

• ~homeschool paperwork from the district
• ~classes and clubs for the kids
• ~gadgetology
• ~cooking class
• ~drama class
• ~Warriors for Our Shores packets
• ~Spiral Scouts stuff
• ~there will be plenty more under this topic come Fall
• ~household stuff like take out menus & coupons
• ~some bills that are not available online (these are mainly medical bills)
• ~medical insurance paperwork
• ~medical care paperwork
• ~prescriptions
• ~glucose charts (*can be kept online, googledocs?)
• ~cozmore software and paperwork (could be kept downstairs with appliance manuals?)
• ~packets of info from Sneiders (sick day checklist, phone directory for diabetes team members, etc)
• ~information on supplements and fasts for me
• ~Rob's school work (will be gone by end of October)
• ~personal correspondence (not sure why I cannot get rid of this stuff, actually. I'm going to meditate on that this afternoon, I think.)

I was planning on having accordion file folders for each kid for school work. Well, I am still doing that---I already bought them (they were cute, made from recycled paper and soy ink, AND on clearance!). I was thinking I could put their classes stuff in there and maybe even the paperwork from the district. But, no. I want those folders just for their academic paperwork, I think. I don't want to mix their stuff w/ my stuff, yk? Gets too complicated.

So, it would seem my major categories would be:

• ~homeschooling
• ~household
• ~health

I'm going to meditate on that for a bit, maybe even take a nap. And then I'm going to put on a pot of coffee and build the system.

Read more "Thoughts on a new filing system..."

What I wore to work last night, kinda

What I wore was fatter and those are not the exact same accesories, but this polyvore I made is pretty dang close. I looked super cute.

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The Pagan Home Management Binder

This is information c&p'd from the Pagan Summer Camp 2008 at mdc.  All my own words.  :)

Monday: Overview and Title & Cover of Your Binder



I'm going to get us started here with an overview of the binder and
today's assignment/lesson. I hope you all will share your questions,
comments, pictures, suggestions and wisdom!!



The Pagan Home Management Book is precisely what it sounds like: a book
that will help your family organize all the work of managing a pagan
home. It will cover all the responsibilities and work you feel running
a home and family requires and it will help you bring your spirituality
into your everyday.



The manual labor of running a family is blessed work. From doing the
dishes to planning holiday traditions, the work we do builds our life
and teaches our children.



Each family's book will be different, as the contents will reflect each
family's priorities and unique spirituality. For some of us, the book
will likely be a solitary endeavor---built, loved and used by just one
person. For others, it's a family task to keep the book on track and
focused.



The first thing to do is to sit in meditation and focus on what you
want the book to be for you and your home. What are your priorities?
Where do you need more concrete help in organization or incorporating
spirituality? If you wrote a how-to of your daily life, what would it
look like? What would be the title?



Today, you should start to think about what, if any, title you want to
give your book. Imagine that the binder will contain the mechanics of
your home labors (lists of groceries & phone numbers, calendars and
menu plans, your most oft-used chants and spells) as well as goals and
inspiration to shape the future of your family and home. Perhaps you
want to title your book after your home. Does your home have a name? Or
maybe just your family name (that's what I used) or the name of your
favored goddess or your craft name.



Here is a great page about naming your home:

http://members.shaw.ca/kitchenwitch/...house_name.htm



Work on your cover page to slip into the cover of your binder. It can
be a piece of your own art work, a collage of images from a magazine,
maybe just some text with your books title or your families name. You
can also decorate the spine of your binder with it's title. Don't worry
about boxing yourself in----you can always change this out. I'm
thinking about changing the cover and spine on a seasonal basis,
actually.


Day 2: Building your binder!



Today we'll focus on how our home management binders will be organized.
We'll create our dividers and start decorating our pages.



My binder is divided into rooms---just like this year's pagan camp!
I'll be continuing to build my binder and work on each section as we go
through summer camp. I am looking forward to adding to my sections as I
learn here in the coming weeks. Here are the sections of my binder:





Porch/Entrance

Here is where I keep my calendar, the current week's menu, my morning and evening rituals and my weekly flow of goddesses
(more on that tomorrow!). When our academic year begins, I will also
keep our weekly homeschool plan here. I love thehomeschoomom.com for
printables I use in this section:

http://thehomeschoolmom.com/gettingo...p#weeklyplnrev



Kitchen



My menu plans, master grocery list, food budget,
renovation/decoration ideas all live here. I also have my kitchen
spells/rituals for deep cleaning, decluttering, cooking and
blessing my kitchen. And a list of tips I've put together for green
cleanings. This section will also include information on my crafting
(scrapping, knitting, etc), I think. I haven't added any of that yet.



Here is a great spell called The Kitchen Witch's Creed. I have both
this one and the blessing below printed out and in plastic page
protectors in this section of my book. I plan to get the Creed up on
the wall of the kitchen with a picture of Brigid (my kitchen goddess).
I say the blessing when I work in my kitchen---be it cleaning, cooking
or just making magik.



http://groups.msn.com/SoulQuestLearn...tchscreed.msnw



Kitchen Witch's Blessing

--------------------------------------

Blessed be this Kitchen of Air, Fire, Water, and Earth.

Be warmed by the sacred light of the Goddess and the Horned One.

May all that is created here by means both magical and mundane

bring nourishment, healing, and sustenance, and cause harm to none.

With love and peace, with joy and magic, be now and always filled.

So mote it be!

-Gerina Dunwich

found at: http://tribes.tribe.net/kitchenwitch...1-94bcad5f9f5d





The goddess of my kitchen is Brigid. I am in the process of getting
some real representations of Brigid (pictures, maybe a sculpture) into
the room itself. It is Brigid I call on to guide me in my kitchen work,
Brigid who keeps me company as I go about my chores there, Brigid who
inspires art and magik in my cooking and creating.





Bathroom

This section includes a deep cleaning list/ritual, renovation ideas, personal body care, health & healing arts, laundry and pet care.
My bathroom has a goddess and her name Yemaya. Yemaya is an African
goddess of the Ocean and Water. Yemaya is the goddess I call on to
assist me in my health and healing work and in home care arts that
involve water and cleansing. She is also the goddess I call on to help
me with my personal flow. When I feel stuck or like I have fallen off
the track and don't know where to start, I will commune w/ Yemaya while
I take a long hot shower and often find my place in the rhythm of my
life by the time the steam fades. I have a meditation on Yemaya and a
couple of health and healing blessings in this section, as well as
resources on meditating. I am probably most excited about the Bed &
Bath week of summer camp to add more to this section.



Since the bathroom also covers health, I keep our family doctor
information and the lists of meds and such we use. My son is a type 1
diabetic, so I also keep a lot of his information here. I'm thinking
that it'll be a bit much here, though, and may make him his own binder
for those things.



I also have my recipes of personal care items here.



Living Room



I'm still a bit scattered on this section---it's quite spare. I know I will include the deep clean and decluttering rituals, decorating inspiration, homeschool information and entertaining lists.
Our main alter is in this room. I want to incorporate Sarasvati as the
goddess here as she is the Hindu goddess of art, music and writing. We
do a lot of reading, homeschooling, writing and art-making in this room.







Bedroom

Deep clean and decluttering lists and rituals, decorating inspiration and information on clothing.
This is the room of romance and sex for me. Aphrodite the goddess I
like here, but I also I am looking for a male spiritual energy since I
am partnered w/ a man. I do have a poem from Kahil Gibran in this
section:

http://www.katsandogz.com/onmarriage.html

and lots of printed images of Aphrodite and Venus of Willendorf. We are
planning our 10 year anniversary renewal of vows so all my wedding
planning stuff is in this section---lists, pictures from magazines,
ideas, etc.



Outdoors/Yard/Garden

I don't actually have anything here yet!! This is a major source of
personal weakness for me. I have tried, quite unsucessfully, to start a
garden for the past several years. I find sticking to things long-term
to be difficult. But I know I can do it! Right
now, I am focusing on creating inspirational collages from magazine
pictures as well as researching about gardening and green ways to care
for the suburban yard. I will also add lists on cleaning and
decluttering my garage and back yard.

Today I wanted to talk a little bit about using my book to find a
rhythm and flow to our days and weeks. I've agot a system going that I
am still tweaking but it's going pretty well! I have a morning and
evening ritual that are based on getting little things done so that I
simply don't have to think about them. They also remind me to take care
of myself and include things like "stretch to music" or "set aside 15
min. to meditate."



I also have sheets of Goddess of the Day. These are 7 goddesses I have
chosen to kind of guide each day of the week. On Sundays, dp and I (and
the kids, if they are interested) sit down and look at the calendar for
the week and decide what order the goddesses will go in. That order is
dependent on our schedule for the week. Here's a breakdown of the
goddesses and the days they cover. I am incorporating lessons
on/rituals about each goddess as well. I'm going to link some resources
to info about each goddess.



Day of Hekate: menu plan for the week, grocery list and errand running.



Day of Hestia:
household chore day! cleaning, tidying, whatever. Hestia pretty much
covers all things related to keeping the house going.



Day of Gaia: outdoor chores!



Day of Seshat: paperwork! mail, bills, calendar



Day of Amaterasu: declutter and simplify day



Day of Inanna: catch-up on things not done



Day of Lilith: Free day! no major chores or duties.

Today's class is about involving the rest of the family and working on
your family-specific pages. For instance, my youngest child is way into
tarot cards and stone energy, so I've got some infor in there that is
really just for her. And my eldest is a type 1 diabetic, so there are
some parts of my book that speak only to that.



If you've got littles in your family, or even if you don't, http://www.pookachild.com/game_room.htm

go over there and get some print-outs! Especially if you are feeling
stuck or stressed about this project, a little time at the kitchen
table coloring with your favorite people and crayons/colored pencils
can really center you and bring back some joy (if you let go of
in-the-lines-perfectionism! ).



Great background music here:

http://faerieradio.com/

Day 4



Today is about goals and how your binder/journal/bag/ring of index
cards/whatever can help you set and work towards your personal goals.



Your goals can be spiritual (daily meditation, creating seasonal
alters), tangible (renovating the bathroom) or a combination of both
(planting an herb garden!).



Take some time to free write or meditate or talk with your family about
the things you would like to have in yoru future. You can make collages
of magazine pictures, write lists of words, create your own
artworks---whatever works for you! I like to make collages of pics that
speak to me and inspire me. I'm thinking about making some online,
actually, at a digital scrapbooking site (it's too hot to touch paper
today---everything is moist here!).



I hope that those who are building binders/systems can see them as ways
to create the life and family and spiritual journey that we all want.
You have to know what you want to get it.

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