'tis the Season to be puking....

twas the night before new years
& all thru the house
not a creature wasn't puking
ahhh hell, forget it.
Both girls are sick, Kayla has a monster toothache, she had dental work on Thursday & they were attempting to build up a bad tooth she has, well, they failed, they're saying she needs a root canal now, shit, I don't think she can take any more pain. Shes been doped on darvocet & codeine all weekend but still hurting.
Abigail has some stomach bug or something. no clue yet. I never rush to Dr's unless it doesn't pass soon or home remedies dint relieve it, unless its something serious. I think the human body has an amazing way of healing itself & ANTIBIOTICS ARE OVERUSED & OVERRATED.

I had plans to go out to a friends & party a little for NY Eve. Ah well, not really in the mood, Jeff's trying to figure out whats up w/ the vonage box, as out phones are down for some weird reason.
Work was boring, every other company in the free world that we work with was closed, so our being open was pointless. Oh well, easy $ right?

Another year...almost gone

Strange to look back & see how much has changed this past year. So many heartaches & so many blessings. It's amazing how much can change in just 365 days. This time last year, Id never have imagined I would be where i am today.

But all for the most part is good. I am engaged to be married, my kids are happy & healthy, my Mom is looking to retire soon, I have a great job, Jeff is on his way up in his field,finances are coming together, & I am making steps to get myself back out ion our local community. A few years ago, I went to every local gathering but due to a few people who ruined it & made me & a few others feel unwelcomed, I shied away from it. Fortunately, i put it behond me & joined a group of people who are incredibly nice. I hope to be attending & maybe even leading some of the upcoming public rites. My girls show lots of interest in my path so this upcoming year, I will be including them in everything they desire. This week coming we will be smudging our home & doing some 'cleaning' in the spiritual sense. I look forward to teaching them both how.:-)

I have a lot to be thankful for. I am grateful for all I have & look forward to the blessings of 2008.

She Gracefully Surrenders:Winter

She Gracefully Surrenders:Winter
In fall, the earth begins the process of releasing all the things she has been holding onto throughout spring and summer, and by midwinter she has let everything go. She sits clean and undecorated in her simplicity, free of the frenzy of life that defines her in the warmer seasons. There is a quiet humility about the earth in the winter months, as animals and people retreat inside to escape the wet and sometimes freezing cold that takes hold. Inside our homes we create abundance and warmth in response to being effectively kicked indoors by the dark and cold that permeate the outdoors. We burn fires in fireplaces and make heavy, hot foods to keep our bodies warm and insulated. We may find ourselves sleeping longer hours and yearning for downtime, just like the animals deep inside their caves and warrens taking a winter-long nap. Even if we live in a warmer climate, the longer nights and shorter days have the same effect on our cycles. If we surrender to this time as nature intended, we allow ourselves to slow down, sleep more, and lower the volumes on our busy minds. At the same time, we crave company in our dwellings, and the insulated warmth of the hearth tends to bring people together, creating more warmth and fostering connections that last through the coming year. We laugh, eat, and talk, sleep, or catch up on reading, while outside our windows the earth grows dark earlier and stays cold longer, accepting as always of the process of change and her place within it. We might remember to learn from her as she so gracefully surrenders to the emptiness that precedes all form, the peace that precedes activity, the darkness that precedes the light. For everything she gives and teaches, we might offer a blessing, extending a goodly portion of the gratitude of this season her way, holding her in our hearts and thanking her for our very lives.
What do you think?

Twas the night before........

& all thru the house........everyone was freaking exhausted!

So yeah, we celebrate Christmas too, not the baby Jesus Christmas, but the secular, Santa Claus is coming to town Christmas. The kids get a kick out of it, my little one believes, my older one plays along nicely with a little smirk & a wink. My kids are awesome....really.

So the gifts are under the tree, cookies ate, milk drunk, carrots fed to reindeer......

it's almost 2:30 am. Oh my Goddess, but morning will come awfully early!

Merry Christmas. & goodnight!

Sad...

Someone from our local group posted some photos of the site where we hold our full moon rituals. The huge old sacred oak tree we always worked under split in half due to the horrible ice storm. I am so sad. I feel a certain loss of its wisdom. I hope the parks dept can save this giant from being chopped down. I know whats born wil rise again but its sad.

I quit.

Ok folks, I quit. I refuse to any longer be sucked into the commercial crap that is the Christmas/ Holiday season.
Wa different this year. I stressed a while over not being able to do the things I wanted to do. ice storm hit us rather hard & a lotnof things havent gotten done & arent going to get done, or get bought. Oh well.
Honestly i wont miss it. Sure its fun to watch the girls tear into gift after gift but whats the point really?
Id rather share memories, make cookies, create the Yule log, sit up late on Yule to watch it burn, & have quiet meaningful convos with my family.
So, the kids get a few gifts this year, the rest of the list can forget about it. We had a nice quiet Yule celebration, took some nice photos of the kids, Ill wrap the few gifts I got tonight, & sit & read & relax w/ a candle burning & make some hot cocoa. What could be nicer?
A stress free year.

Blessed Yule All.

^$%*%$(*&Y(*&^& Cox!

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr, after all that time without power & cable & internet, we came up on Sat morning, cable came back up that afternoon. Well.............long about midnight, cable pops off 2 or 3 times, then goes right back down, it was the cable, & our business internet aount which Jeff runs his servers & web hosting off of. (steaming....) We tried to contact Cox, as we were a business account & get a higher priority than resiential.(pay for it too!)
NOPE....you get a shitty voice automated phone service which eventually takes you to an overflow call center. Ok, I know theres a high demand right now, but there still should be a way to reach tech support, that was ridiculous. We called no less than 6 times, each time promised a call back to no avail. Idiots wanted us to give a call back number, Ummmmmmmmmmmm, our internet & data lines are down, we HAVE NO PHONES! Morons...

Back from the frozen tundra......

Well, we have power finally, 6 days without really makes you think & contemplate on how much you take for granted & whats really important. Like heat....& light.Last 2 days were COLDDDDD, but apparently not cold enough to keep the food in the fridge & freezer cold & frozen. Sigh....we'd just stocked up to & its all got to be thrown out. Oh well, right? Most streets are cleared, still some branches on some of the smaller streets though, branches & uprooted & broken trees everywhere. It was beautiful til the trees started crashing. We miraculously did not have any house damage or damage to the power lines to our house. Phones are up now, as is internet & cable. The heater sounded beautiful kicking on!

Very interesting how much you learn about yourself & your family with no tv, no games, no internet. We all slept in the living room, close together, huddled during the evening by candlelight & talked, told stories, me & my older daughter made plans for Yule. By day, we cooked as much of the rapidly thawing food that we could & ate lukewarm by candlelight. thank the Goddess we have a gas range & hot water tank! We boiled water on the stove top to help heat the house & ran the burners. Also lit about 20 candles on the coffee table. (Jeff joked we could have a seance!). It was a calm time, we went to bed early & I likely got more sleep than in a long time. I read books, looked at catalogs, worked on crafts, our 5 cats entertained us too. I too was saddened by the poor trees broken & laying open, naked almost everywhere I look. I cried for the large magnolia next to me. We went out today & found a nice log to use for a Yule log. On our return, the porch light was on! What joy! We yelled & danced theu the house!Tonight its back to normal, but we grew closer during this time.
Check out some photos.

Day 5 of no electricity......We're still alive, havent froze to death yet, tho tonight may be the kicker where we wake up as popsicles. Supposed to rain some more tnonight & turn into snow as the morning comes. Pray for us. Really. We need it. Keep hoping we'll get home & it will be on, but no such luck. We're surviving by boiling water on the gas stove top(thank god for that!). It seems to dissipate the heat better in the house. Wasnt so bad when i was home all day (mon-wed had no power @ work) but not getting any heat going ti 5:30 blows. All food in the fridge & freezer is a total loss, had a lot of meat in there......
We have no generator, & down to 1 flashlight. Jeff charges up the backupbattery pack for the servers at work by day & we get limited light or a short bit of tv, its a little slice of heaven & civilization. You cant get ice, batteries, flashlights, blankets, anything of the like in local stores, we'd have to travel almost to Siloam Springs for them. It sucks really. Buit Ive gotten some good of it, Ive spent some quality time w/ my kids & Ive gotten more sleep than ever.

Tonight's parade

We went to the PSO parade of Lights tonight. Nice & cold, perfect for a parade. Jeff, the Ice King didn't wear a coat, or even a long sleeve shirt, the dork, of course he probally thought it was warm til the drizzle started. blech. Abigail was going numb & Kayla said she couldnt feel her toes.LOl
Abi went back to the car w/ jeff. me & jess & kayla stayed longer. They had several large balloon floats, lighted floats, marching bands & horse drawn wagons, also service dogs, cute little poodles & even Alpacas! I should have lots of photos uploaded by tomorrow, left the camera in the car & too damn cold to go get it.
Weather turned tonight finally, were currently getting freezing rain. YUCK, I wouldnt mind snow, but this shit sucks.

Exhausted

What a helluva week it has been. Wow.

Busy Busy Busy too. The whole week after Thanksgiving was ROUGH. Could barely function, just run down & exhausted. Weekend finally rolls around, still running around. Run.Run.Run.

Saturday was errand day & did a bit of Yule shopping. Found a few nice things & got some great craft ideas. Also found some great things to do around the house to make it more 'mine.'

I haven't been really attached to this house, its never felt truly like home, so Ive come to the conclusion, home is what you make of it, so I'm gonna make it mine. If that even makes sense.

Then Sunday, we left early to go get a tree. We got a real one this year, we walked around awhile til one called to us, then when we found the right one, I silently thanked it & asked its permission. I held my hand on it as it was cut down. As it were, i vow next year, were going to get one we can replant.

We finally get it home & get it in the stand & indoors & its time to go again. Every year, Tulsa does 2 biker toy runs. One for the Salvation Army & one for ABATE. Sundays was for Salvation Army. About 1000 bikers showed up, all bearing toys for little kids. What a great thing. We always show up to watch them go by. This coming Sunday is the bigger one sponsored by ABATE. Some friends of mine are even running Security for the event. Were looking at a turnout of about 10,000! It benefits Toys for Tots.

So back to work on Monday & just TIRED, drag-assing. I'm popping my vitamins, drinking more water but keep having to hit the caffeine. UGH, now, here I am, almost 12:30 & I'm not yet in bed. Bleh, gonna be a long day tomorrow & tomorrow I have a courthouse run. At least Ill be out a bit early, that helps, but also makes me step up the pace during the day to get it all done before 2 pm. Ah well, c'est la vie, right?

Toodles!