Crash & Burn

written:  December 4th

Today started off AMAZING.
And then just crashed and burned and burned and BURNED.
::chuckles::

#WinterSolsticeChallenge: Day 4: Good Morning



My trade with Kate arrived today and look at everything she included! I purchased “Banish” scented oil from Sage Goddess and when it arrived, I damn near threw up from the smell. Soooooo much black licorice. ::gags:: So Kate offered to trade her bottle of “Hecate” for it. And everything thing else in this photo, she included as a gift. Wow! And I love “Hecate” – soooooo much better than “Banish”.
And then Wendy (my pen pal) surprised me by ordering me a nail polish I was admiring on Facebook. I had tagged another friend on it because it’s called “Oxblood” which is Mary’s favorite fountain pen ink to use. The nail polish was a huge surprise as Wendy had been mum on the entire thing until it showed up. Can’t wait to use it.

My Christmas photo cards I made through Shutterfly also showed up. And they are AWESOME. So I spent most of the evening addressing, stamping, washi taping those all up and getting them ready to mail out.

My selenite directional pillar from Sage Goddess also arrived. Apparently I REALLY didn’t read the description of the time, as I THOUGHT I was getting a 4 piece set – one with each directional word (East, South, West, North) carved into it. Instead…I got ONE pillar, with the words carved into each side. Disappointing for sure, but I really only have myself to blame for that. So, I decided to put it over by the lil Wolf Altar by my bed with the word “West” facing my bed. West is the direction for dreams and dreamtime and selenite is good for clearing out negativity, so that’s where it’s currently chillin.

Then on to work….where the day decided to implode, explode, and burn a fiery death. Honestly, I don’t even want to go into all the details. Suffice it to say:
• My new aide did not start today
• We did not get a sub, so we were short staffed (as per usual)
• The log out computer for the parents to use – yeah, when you touched the screen (because it’s a touch screen computer), it would go to sleep and then boot back up, and I would have to log back into the computer.
• When I called Esmeralda about it (I had already been in contact with my Campus Tech and we had a game plan) she was snotty as hell to me, interrupted me, and was just all around rude as shit.
• Alexia – yeah…there really isn’t any need to say anything more than her name. She was there…she was her typical, self-centered, high school brat self.
• Sooooooo many melt downs from various students.

Luckily, I was able to get home, relax for a bit before my husband got home. We grabbed Chick-fil-a (we usually do that on Tuesdays, but I wanted the treat TODAY) and finished watching The Kingdom and started Clash of the Titans. I addressed Christmas cards. A GORGEOUS lightning storm rolled through with a bit of rain.

I have my meeting with HR in the morning and while I was doing my prayers to the Harpies, asking for Divine Justice and Protection, the rainstorm kicked back up. I’m taking that as a good sign (Harpies are storm spirits).

So yeah, a GREAT morning, SHITTY day, then MELLOW evening. Hopefully we’ve got all that bullshit out of our system now, and the rest of the week can be calmer.

Oh, and I got the email from Janice (Program Assistant) that my new aide will start tomorrow AND that my purchase order for Walmart came through. So now I need to print that purchase order out so I can go to Walmart on Wednesday morning to pick up the necessary supplies for our Winter Party that we’ll be doing on December 20th.

Crap. I just realized that I didn’t take a photo for the “hashtag” YuleFolkChallenge. I’ll add that to tomorrow’s entry then.

December 03

Onto Day 3 of December.

#WinterSolsticeChallenge: Day 03: Full Moon

 

Yeah, trying to photograph the full moon with a cell phone is a joke. But damn, the moon is brilliant tonight, dancing in and out of the clouds.

#YuleFolkChallenge: Day 03: Pine Cone

 

Yeah, I had to get creative with this one. I read this little snippet of pine cone “mythology” and knew I needed a photograph of a pine cone. I figured while I was out walking Josey, I would scope the local pine cone selection (we have a BUTT LOAD of pine trees in our lil neighborhood). And wouldn’t you know it? I totally BLANKED on taking a photograph of any of the TWO HUNDRED PLUS pine cones I saw. ::laughs:: So instead, you get a photograph of some pinecone clipart and the lil snippet that I plan to include in my Almanac. ::chuckles::

Today was a nice blend of Mundane Tasks and Magickal Tasks. I did some research for my upcoming Final Essays for Archives. I’ll print those articles out tomorrow and read ‘em and highlight ‘em up so I can start working on the actual essays themselves. I harvested some more holly to dry in the window. I played around on Etsy and Ebay – mostly looking at gorgeous stones that I want to use in a myriad of crafty projects. Just need the funds to cover said crafty projects. ::laughs:: I should print those out and put them together with the various notes I have so I don’t lose all my good ideas before I have a chance to bring them to fruition.

I’m not doing a Full Moon ritual this time around. After all the energy work that went into yesterday’s Witch’s Ball, my energy’s a bit tapped out. But damn, that Ball turned out amazing. I do need to go to Winco (a grocery store thing) soon – that’s where Hazel gets all her herbs and what not DIRT FUCKING CHEAP. She said all the herbs and the pink Himalayan salt that she had yesterday cost her less than $2. Like WOW! And I’m in love with the Himalayan salt…not even gonna lie.

David put the fire pit together last night while I was sleeping:

 

I swear, it was like Christmas morning. I walked down the stairs to see that the “elves” had put it all together. ::laughs:: He told me the reason it was INSIDE the house was he didn’t want to run the risk of it getting stolen the first night we had it. ::chuckles:: Man, I cannot WAIT to actually use it.

Witch's Ball

Hazel and I (plus her son, Micah) spent the day yesterday making our Witch’s Balls. Traditionally these are made for protection, but now they are made for a wide array of uses or even just purely for decoration. This is the first time I’ve actually made a Witch’s Ball.

 

First up, is one of those plain Jane clear plastic “Christmas Ball” ornaments:

 

And I think it turned out pretty good, if I do say so myself.

 

I’m just going to list what I have in my ball and the general attributes that ingredient has. So hold onto your butts, because there is a LOT in this one.

 
Palo Santo (used the smoke to cleanse the ball): purifying, inspires creativity, protection, brings love and good fortune
Sweetgrass: bring in positivity
Sage: protection, wisdom
Sunflower (petals): removes jinxes, encourages positive outcomes, transforms negative energy, attracts wealth
Magnolia (seed): awakening ancient wisdom, goddess energy, independence and personal power
Morning Glory (seed): awakening to the magic of life, clarity and simplicity, happiness and harmony, relaxation
Oak (lightning struck): abundance, creating your own luck, success in school or work. The lightning struck aspect is just a big power boost to everything it’s in contact with (so all the ingredients get an extra boost)
Holly: divine connection, protection, purification, sacred space
Citrine: happiness, dispels and dissipates negative energy yet never requires cleansing/clearing, attracts abundance, wards off depression, stress, and general unhappiness
Hematite: makes one brave, emotional stability, protection against the evil eye
Amber: transmute negative energy, draws sickness from the body and negativity from the emotional energy, brings good luck
Amethyst: stimulate and soothe the mind and emotions, protects against treachery and surprise attacks
Pyrite: generate wealth by one’s own power, stony of action, vitality, and will; brings confidence and the persistence to carry things through to completion
Garnet: creative energy, love, enhances truth and faith, dispels melancholy, Warrior’s Stone
Snake (shed skin and vertebra): releasing the old, transformation, renewal and growth
Tiger’s Eye: stone of prosperity and good fortune, protects one’s resources, reflects back malice or threats from others, attracts a steady flow of money to the home
Pink Himalayan Salt: love, especially self-love, protection, purification, cleansing and dispelling negativity, gentle but strong grounding and centering energies
Cinnamon Stick: purifies negative energy, attracts money, ignites passions
Calendula (flower): herb of the sun, removes negative energy, ensures positive outcomes with legal matters
Evil Eye Beads (4 of them – colors chosen to be the most similar to eye color of myself, David, Josey, and Leviathan): all around protection.

So yeah, all around repelling of negative shit and attracting good shit. ::chuckles::

December Photo Challenge 02

Photo for today:

 

Three sprigs of holly I have drying in the kitchen window. This takes care of both the #WinterSolsticeChallenge (Winter Legend) and the #YuleFolkChallenge (Something Green). The legend part is for the following:

 

So I’ve cut a sprig for David, Josey, and myself. I’ll need to cut a fourth one for Leviathan. And then on Yule, we’ll toss them into the fire to burn away all the negativity of 2017. So that’s the Winter Legend. The green is for the color of the leaves.

December Photo Challenge Lists

written:  December1st

#Wintersolsticechallenge


#Yulefolkchallenge

December 01

written: December 1st

So, because I don’t already have enough on my plate and this isn’t one of the busiest times of the year….I’ve signed up myself up for TWO photo challenges AND a sigil challenge. ::laughs::

#wintersolsticechallenge

Day 1: Winter Selfie



Yeah, Josey doesn’t understand how to do a proper selfie. ::laughs:: As for the “winter” part…well, it was a beautiful 73 degrees, so this is the best I could do with that. ::chuckles::

#yulefolkchallenge

Day 1: Hot Tea/Hot Drink

 

My cup of hot chocolate coffee in my Last Unicorn mug.

So first day of the last month of the year. Seems my newest aide will be starting on Monday. I’m sad that this means we won’t be seeing Karina as often as we have been. She’s definitely one of my absolute favorite subs. But with as often as Alexia is absent, I’m sure we’ll have Karina back on campus from time to time. ::chuckles::

I heard back from HR. I have a meeting set for Tuesday at 9:30 am. I’m just ready for this to be over. I’m tired of the fear coursing through me each time I think about taking the next step. But I keep reminding myself, it’s because of that fear that I NEED to say something. I keep reminding myself that I did nothing wrong. I did nothing to offend. They are the ones who were wrong, who took such a nasty turn, and someone has to speak up. I just hope I’m not the only one speaking up. But even if I am? At least I am taking that first step forward. I’m putting my foot down and saying “This is not ok”.

I just hope this does not come back to bite me. I’ll be wearing my protection bundle for the foreseeable future. Hell, I may make a sigil for protection to put in the bundle as well.
Well, I’ve been complaining about not being able to be open about my religion….guess I’m coming out of the broom closet…whether I want to or not.

Thankful Thursday #48

written:  November 30th

Photo for today:
 

The aftermath of Josey’s tantrum when she couldn’t catch the DVD tray as we opened and closed it via remote on the DVD player.

I am thankful…
1. The changes in who my supervisor is. Like, I knew that Gail was a shitty ass supervisor, but I am just now realizing JUST how god-awful she was at her job.
2. That being said, I am SOOOOOO grateful to have Esmeralda as my new supervisor. She is really on the ball and we’ve been so much better taken care of in just the few weeks we’ve had her as our supervisor than the ENTIRE year under Gail.
3. Karina, a truly awesome sub we’ve had at our campus a lot, and all the really nice things she does and says. I really wish we could just adopt her on our campus from here on out.
4. David bought us a fire pit! I’m super excited about it! I can’t wait until he puts to all together and we can actually USE IT!!!!
5. Doing much better mentally. I’m glad the depression has lifted and I can breathe again.
6. My roses are still blooming strong. I’ve mulched the roots down really well (along with the crape myrtle and the basil plant), so they should be good for a while.
7. Just the Final left in my Archives class. Three easy essays due on December 11th and that class is over and done with.
8. Absolutely GORGEOUS weather we are still having. It’s hard to believe it’s the end of November, and we’re still in the 70s during the day.
9. FINALLY getting really and truly caught up in my 10-year journal. It’s just a sentence or two a day, but when you are playing catch up on MONTHS it does get difficult. I am so glad I use the freebie planners we get at work as a rough draft for my daily notes. It really makes it so much easier to capture the information all in one place before I transfer it over to my REALLY nice 10-year journal that I purchased from Gaelsong.
10. David suggesting we just order Dominos pizza tonight and stay in and watch Sicario on Vudu. It’s exactly what I needed after the extra insanity this work day threw at me.