Witchie's Place

Fall Fun...Fall 2009

2010-10-20T00:56:00.003-04:00

My first time trying this out. I think it went rather well.

This free digital scrapbook created with Smilebox

Fun Friday Follow (Oct 8, 2010)

2010-10-08T01:56:00.001-04:00

Free Ads on my Website!

2010-08-18T09:23:00.005-04:00

Want FREE advertising for your blog? Contact me either here or at my email: kuincie6@hotmail.com SLD Merchandise will be giving away 5 FREE ad spaces, first come, first served.

Your blog doesn't have to be about selling stuff either, it can be about whatever you wish as long as it doesn't violate the normal blogger rules. If your blog is 'risque' be sure to have the warning up for people to sign in to it first, otherwise it won't make it to the website!

All of my blogs: Witchie's Place, SLD Merchandise & Witchie's Cavern will have this post, so there are 15 FREE Ad spaces to be had!

I will need a working badge code in the standard 125x125 size.

Good Luck and I hope to see you on my website!

Much Luvz, Witchie!

Being MIA...and Pagan Celebrations!

2010-08-04T12:31:00.009-04:00

We've been every busy lately with birthday parties, Pagan Celebrations (Lughnasadh just passed on the 1st) and continuing to to update our webstore (sld merchandise), hence the reason for being MIA.Coming up is the 2nd of the three Harvest celebrations for the Pagan world; Mabon. The 1st being Lughnasadh, which we celebrated on the 1st of August. The last will be Samhain (sow-ayne), celebrated on October 31st--All Hallow's Even; Halloween, etc. (which is also the beginning of the Pagan New Year on the "Wheel of the Year.")
Mabon (May-bone or Mah-boon) is also known as The Autumn Equinox--the day when there are equal hours of light and dark. It is also known as the "Witches Thanksgiving" on the Pagan "Wheel of the Year."
Celebrated generally on Sept. 22 (the first day of Autumn), it is a day of feast, wine, festivals and remembering the dead. Activities can include hay rides, decorating the home with representations of the season and the "Horn of Plenty" becomes popular now. Quilting Bee's are popular among many Pagans in anticipation of the cold winter months ahead and many of today's patterns are Pagan designs of protection.
In keeping with Pagan feasting traditions, it is fitting that one offers part of their meal in sacrifice. Other ways of offering thanks is by putting something out for the wild animals who will be glad to have it as winter begins to set in, or by giving either time, money, or food to a shelter or social service organization that feeds the homeless and hungry on Thanksgiving.If this Pagan Celebration sounds a lot like Thanksgiving, it's because in the U.S. and Canada, it grew more out of the Pilgrim's need to connect with the festivals of their homeland than it did from any religious impulse. The first Thanksgiving day had many detractors among the Puritan leaders due to its pagan origins.
This Witch and her little charges will be taking a walk to the local park to look for acorns, leaves that are starting to turn color and other Autumn stuff. We will also be going apple picking to make apple pie's and apple sauce (yum!) We will also be putting together a "Horn of Plenty" of our own, can't wait to get started on that project with the boys!
Much Luvz, Witchie!

Mailbox Monday

2010-07-19T23:12:00.002-04:00

Announcement...

2010-07-11T02:36:00.002-04:00

As you all know, SLD Merchandise is another of my blogs. It features all the stuff we have going on over at our webstore: sldmerchandise.com. WELL, we've made changes to the webstore...BIG changes. Check out my post over at the SLD blog, and while you're at it, why don't you become a follower, then head on over to the webstore and check it out too! We'd greatly appreciate it!

Thank you and...

Much luvz, Witchie!

Silly Saturday??

2010-07-10T22:26:00.003-04:00

Over on my Facebook page, I have a running joke about being old with a few friends. Here is a pic one of them posted for me:
LOLOLOL! How great is this!? I find it extremely amusing, and highly humorous. I posted it as my default picture and said; "Isn't it great fun when you can make fun of yourself and still be comfy with it!!" It is and I can!

Much Luvz, Witchie!

Wordless Wednesday

2010-07-07T19:04:00.001-04:00

Feeling Like a Heatwave....

2010-07-06T21:01:00.003-04:00

....burnin' in my house!!!! LOL The temps here reached 102 according to our local news stations today. It is still muggy at this hour of the evening (9 p.m.) and showing NO signs of relief! Ugh! Hope everyone that is burning up is finding a way to cool off or attempting to cool off!
Much Luvz, Witchie!

Happy Independence Day!

2010-07-03T11:43:00.002-04:00

Stay Safe!

Much Luvz, Witchie!

Morning Glory.

2010-07-03T08:05:00.002-04:00

Fun Friday Follow (July 2, 2010)

2010-07-02T10:58:00.002-04:00

Welcome to Fun Follow Friday hosted by Simply Stacie and My Wee View. The goal of this hop is to get new Google Friend Connect Followers for your blog and be introduced to new blogs to follow! We wanted to keep it fun and easy so all you have to do is add your blog link and start blog hopping and following away! You aren’t required to write a post for your blog for Fun Follow Fridayunless you want to (but we really appreciate it if you do – to help get the word out).

When you visit a blog that you like and want to follow, leave them a comment with your link telling them you are following from the Fun Follow Friday. Of course, we would love for you to follow both hostesses blogs, Simply Stacie and My Wee View, but it isn’t mandatory. If you do follow us, just leave us a comment and we will follow you back.

The main goal is to have fun and follow the blogs that interest you!

To make things even more fun, each week one blog from the previous week, will be chosen at random to be put in the #3 spot. The #3 spot will be chosen by Random.org! This week’s Fun Follow Friday blogger of the week is Nomie.Eco.Ware. She takes the #3 spot. We will be selecting next week’s blogger of the week from this weeks entries.

***new*** Fun Follow Friday is doing something new and different this week and offering you another way to promote your blog. How does a week premium ad spot on BOTH Simply Stacie and My Wee View sound?

To enter your blog, all you have to do is write a post on Friday telling your readers about Fun Follow Friday! Leave the link to your post on the linky on Friday and you are entered to win. We will be drawing 1 winner each week from the previous week’s entries and they will have their button proudly displayed on both blogs for a week.

I wanted to mention that you can still participate in Fun Follow Friday without making a blog post about it. However, to participate in this special giveaway, you need to write a post about it.

Happy hopping along!

This is a Blog Hop! 142 entries so far... you're next!

When the Lights Go Out...

2010-07-02T08:28:00.000-04:00

How do you explain to a kid that they can’t watch their favorite movie because there’s no electricity? How do you tell them that they can’t go to their favorite kid site on the computer or play their favorite game on their Xbox or Nintendo or whatever is the popular video game system today? Back in my kid days, our parents just told us to go outside and play when we were bored. But for today’s kids, it’s much, much different. Today’s kids live, eat, breathe anything electronic. Is it our fault? We can say yes it is, but I think that’s debatable.

Are we not ourselves a product of our environments just as our children are? When we went to school as kids (and I’m not referring to you 20-somethings here, 40 and older), we didn’t spend our time excitedly telling our friends our highest scores on Modern Warfare II, we didn’t text our best friend who lived next door about the cute guy in English class, nor did we rush home to jump on the computer and Facebook or Twitter our new friend all the way over in Europe. Many of us parents are quite oblivious to what our children are actually doing to be social now-a-days.

In the 80’s, hanging out at the Mall was the hottest thing to do, and while it’s still a popular thing to do today for many kids, there are just as many sitting at home in front of the t.v., the video console or the computer. Try telling a kid today that, No, Junior, you can’t play on your Xbox today because daddy lost his job and we couldn’t pay the electricity…want to see a revolt like nothing history has to offer?

Now, a kid anywhere between the ages of possibly 8 and, oh hell, 8 and up, can grasp the concept here. They can pretty much understand that when there’s no electricity, that means no video games, no HBO, no computer…never mind that later on when it gets dark there’ll be no lights either…that’s not a concept they can actually grasp until darkness descends upon them. Ok, now try explaining it to a 3 and 4 year old.

We’ve become so accustomed to having electricity in the house, that not for one minute do we appreciate that it’s actually a luxury for many households today. Yes, I said a luxury. When our boys get up in the morning, usually they’ll have their breakfast while watching cartoons on our local PBS channel (because we cannot afford cable). Later on in the day, they get to watch one of their favorite movies that we keep on the instant play on Netflix (it’s cheaper than cable!) or we’ll pop in a DVD movie for them. After dinner, if their older brother isn’t playing his video games, all three boys will go in the bedroom and watch another movie or some cartoons (on instant play on Netflix, I think you get the idea here). These are actually our quiet times for mommy and daddy because these two little guys can run you ragged all day long if given the chance.

Well, recently we lost our electricity for a whole day. We’re talking from 5 o’clock in the afternoon until around 10:30 the next morning. Aside from mommy freaking out, now she had to try to explain why they couldn’t watch Clifford the Big Red Dog and that no, they couldn’t watch a moomie (movie) instead and please don’t keep opening the refrigerator and letting the cold out. It’s not easy trying to get a toddler to understand that everything was “broke” and they had to wait until the electric guy came to fix it…sometime tomorrow.

I ask, in this day and age, should our children have to experience this? Do you think that it’s a good thing for them to go without electricity for a bit to make them understand that all these electronic gadgets they so adore are a privilege; a luxury and not something to be taken for granted? I’m kind of torn on it. I do want my kids to realize that although it’s a joy and comfort to be able to flick on the t.v. whenever I’d like, or even turn on a lamp at night, in order to be able to do these things, we have to pay for it. And if the household income stops, the bills stop getting paid, therefore, one cannot flick on the t.v., or turn on any light. Has progress made us so dependent that we get the jitters when we know bill time is coming and we may not be able to pay that bill because so many are losing their jobs that a simple thing like electricity becomes a luxury that we may not be able to afford? It is already a very hard lesson for many kids to have to learn, I just wish it was something we didn’t have to teach them. And before you bash me for losing the electricity and yet paying for a movie service that seems oh so more important, the boys now only watch the DVD’s we have collected for them or that are given to them as gifts from family and friends because, no we cannot afford the $20 for a movie.

Much Luvz, Witchie!

Manic Monday!

2010-06-29T22:54:00.004-04:00

Well, we had ourselves a rough time here at the Witchy household yesterday into early today. Our power was out! Yes, we all know what that means! No internet. No Facebook. No Blogger! No anything (including lights and stuff!)! Good thing this Witch keeps lots of candles on hand. The quiet was disconcerting for a bit, but then with the windows open I could hear the crickets, the traffic, the sounds of people talking as they walked down the street for a late night stroll, even the raccoons were having a field day in our garbage pails out there...omgsh, what a racket they make! At first, I thought it was cute, but after about an hour of them screeching at each other at like 3 a.m., I'd had enough of their cuteness AND I couldn't even see them because it's very dark over where the apartment buildings' garbage area is.

The most wonderful thing of this excursion into medaeval times was that my two toddlers actually went to sleep earlier than they normally would have! Most nights we have to fight with them to go to bed and sleep, they both have very forceful personalities and when they don't want to do something they fight you tooth and nail! No, I know what you're thinking, what a pretty way to say they're spoiled little brats. On the contrary, these two are far from spoiled. Rambunctious, yes. Determined to have his own way, yes. Vocal, yes. But, no they aren't spoiled. I guess they fell asleep earlier last night (as opposed to this evening) because they were bored, had no movie to watch before going to sleep, no video games of shooting guns and yelling to lull their little minds to sleep, etc. There was literally no noise last night, something I'm sure they have been unaccustomed to since birth.

Our house is a noisy one. T.V.'s are always going, video games, something that is noisy. I figure it's better for them to be accustomed to the noise rather than total silence when they go to sleep, this way they aren't bothered when they are sleeping and a sudden loud noise wakes them. Instead, now when my older son turns off the t.v., the sudden silence wakes the littlest one up. I can't win, lol! So much for that theory.

Well, the power was restored early this a.m. and wouldn't ya know, the first thing out of the nearly 4 year old's mouth was: Wanna watch a moomie! Ugh. They are a product of their environment, I willfully admit it.

Ok, I've babbled enough for this evening. I'll chat with ya again as soon as I can. In the meantime, stay healthy, stay happy and stay safe.

Much Luvz, Witchie!

Thank You Followers!

2010-06-27T22:46:00.008-04:00

Here is the little thing I promised to make for you. It's not great, but it was made with luv and appreciation for everyone who has followed me thus far:

Much Luvz, Witchie!

Relaxing Sunday?

2010-06-27T21:13:00.005-04:00

Today I had planned to get my adgitizing done early so that I could have a little extra time to check out other peoples' blogs, catch up on blogs that I haven't visited in a while and just over all roam the 'net. Then I was going to just catch up on some housework and roll around on the floor with my two little guys.

Yeah, right! After I did my adgitizing, I got caught up on my Witchie's Cavern blog. I posted on there and then got caught up adding pictures and stuff...and then wishing I had thought to make that one a separate blog in itself and not have it up under the Witchie's Place blog (a.k.a. kuincie6@hotmail.com log in). So I wondered if it were possible to just take the whole blog and do just that, make it separate from the other blog. No dice, unless I recreated the whole blog. Yuck. I do have a blogger account under my email witchiescavern@hotmail.com, but I honestly don't feel like creating a whole new blog. I only made that email acct. so that I could post on the Cavern blog with the Cavern signature and not the Witchie's Place signature. This in turn makes me have to sign out of Place and into Cavern (are you confused yet?) to be able to post on Cavern.

Maybe one of these days, I will take the time to recreate Witchie's Cavern in a separate blogger account, but for now, you can visit there through here still and check out what I do over there. Like you can read my latest blog post, or see that I added a new awesome looking clock like the one on here and I'm looking to redo the blogcatalog latest viewers box (seeing as it shows the visitors from here!).

So, no, the housework didn't ALL get done (I did vaccuum and do the dishes), but I did take the time to sit down with my boys while they colored and put stickers on their pictures. And while the day may have been relatively relaxing for my body, my mind has been going a hundred miles an hour...if anyone said blogging was easy, I beg to differ, lol!

Much Luvz, Witchie!

Woohoo! New Followers!

2010-06-26T23:04:00.004-04:00

As the title depicts and with all the enthusiasm of a 6 year old that has finally been able to reach the coveted cookie jar all by herself, I say; Woohoo! It's so nice to log onto blogger and see that my follower count has risen! Just when I begin to think no one is interested in visiting a Witch's blog space...gasp! Yes, I said Witch's!...I join a Friday Follow or the Monday Mailbox, and wallah!, I get one or two new followers or subscribers!

It's an awesome feeling! So, for all my 42 followers and however many subscribers (because this Witch doesn't really know how to check that count, lol!) I will be creating a special thank you and posting it here soon (hopefully before the evening is out!)! Why? Because I appreciate and value the people who are interested in the mundane and often silly things I have to say about everything and anything.

So, if I don't get to add it to this post before the night is out, I will post it in the next one, be sure to check back to see if I've posted it so you can take it for your own blog page (if you want to, that is, lol).

Much Luvz, Witchie!

Friday Follows:

2010-06-25T21:54:00.007-04:00

Click on the Friendly Friday Follow to get to the linky list:

Friday Follow Me:
(badge at bottom of page)

Welcome to the 5th Friday Follow hosted by our awesome hostesses, Kmama at The Daily Dribbles, Elizabeth at The Crafty Charlestonian, and Brittany Ciara at Not Your Average Teen. Thank you ladies for being willing to host! Please stop by and see these awesome ladies.

We invite you to join us every Friday to get more blog followers and to find many interesting blogs that you like. This is all about sharing and having fun.

We expect you to be on your honor and to have fun. These are only guidelines to make it more enjoyable for you. Here’s how YOU can join the Friday Follow celebration:

Link up your blog below.. One Link per blog
Grab our Friday Follow button include on your side bar, or post.. grab the linky information if you want it
Follow the Friday-Follow blog and the hostesses in slots 1, 2 & 3 that have volunteered today to host
Follow the blogs you want, leave comment saying you are from Friday Follow – use common courtesy
No spammers, or xxrated blogs – family friendly

If you need more guidelines about following see Friday-Follow.com

This list is new each week and closes on Saturday at 11:59pm EST. The links do not carry over. Please link up each week for new participants to find your blogs. It will be visible all week to visit the blogs listed.

Congratulations to our first Three Friday Follow Winners!!!

Going Green with Noah

Oh boy, Oh boy, Oh boy!

Lucy’s Reality

Each week we will randomly draw from three (3) blogs from the links for the next week’s Friday Follow, and each blog chosen will be placed in the highly coveted number #7, #8, and #9 position on the blog hop. The first blog chosen will also be given the option of doing an interview which will post on Friday-Follow.com on Thursday the next week. We love your participation and want to give back to you! You could be next!

This week’s Friday-Follow sponsors is Kim from Whimsical Design.

Kim is offering a blog design giveaway to one (1) lucky person/flyer. Thanks Kim for your support. Please be sure to stop by and say hi!

Want to Sponsor a Friday-Follow and be seen by thousands? Click here.

Want to advertise on our site and be seen by thousands of people? If you sign up TODAY Advertising is $5 per spot. You must sign up today to qualify. This offer expires at midnight CST. Ads normally cost $10. Find out more information.

Spread the word about Friday Follow by grabbing our button for your blog and linky and come celebrate again every Friday. Feel free to also send out a tweet, blog, stumble or share the news in your own special way!

If you are interested in being a sponsor for Friday-Follow, please fill out the sponsorship form here.

Thank you for joining us. Have fun!

Happy Flying!!

Picture Captions: This is a Blog Hop! 312 entries so far... you're next!

Fun Follow Friday~ Hosted by Simply Stacie and My Wee View...a fun way to meet new bloggers!

Things on a Friday...

2010-06-25T10:40:00.006-04:00

There are so many things I've got to do today that my head is awhirl, buzzing not only with anticipation, but trying to make sure I remember everything! I've got my housework to get done (which is not something I'm likely to forget about on any day!), but I've also got some errands to run, some spellwork to do...etc., the list goes on and on today!

If you're interested in the spellwork I'll be doing, you can visit my Witchie's Cavern blog (CLICK HERE), that link will take you directly to the blog post. It's fun work I'll be doing and it will help out some dear people in my life!

I would also like to remind everyone that time is running out on this month's June sales running over at the SLD Merchandise blog. Have you ordered your kiddie beach towels or cute tote bags yet? Don't forget, if you order 2 or more, you get FREE SHIPPING! That'll save you $10.00! This offer will end on August 31, 2010. And while you're at it, why don't you visit my webstore: sldmerchandise.com for more great summer items and don't forget to check out the rest of the store too!

I'm going to get an early start on my weekend fun...I hope you all have a great weekend too!

Much Luvz, Witchie!

Well, It's Official...

2010-06-22T20:16:00.004-04:00

Hubby went to the Army Recruiting Center in our city and signed up. He'd been in before but left due to medical problems a few years back. The medical issues have been resolved, but that past has created a whole new set of sign up rules for him, so he has to go through hoops to get in now. He doesn't see any problems with getting in now, so it looks like our lives are going to take a major turn. I don't know what to expect, but I'm adaptable and I don't mind change. I'll look at it as an adventure because from what I hear, military life is completely different from civilian life. We'll see.

If anyone of you military wives have something to offer, I will greatly appreciate your input, advice, or just anything you have to offer so that I may have a better understanding of what's to come.

Much Luvz, Witchie!

Mailbox Monday!

2010-06-21T02:58:00.006-04:00

It's time for Mailbox Monday! Can't wait to subscribe to new and enjoyable bloggers!!

Hosted by Simply Stacie, This Mama Loves Her Bargains and A little of this A little of that…

Here’s how to join in the fun:

Add your blog link to the linky
Subscribe by email to the three hostesses. They will return the favour.
Visit the other blogs on the list and subscribe by email to the ones that interest you. Leave them a comment with your blog link so they know you are subscribing from Mailbox Monday. Don’t forget to confirm your subscription!

Everyone is welcome to participate. Each week a new linky will be generated so make sure you stop by on Monday’s to add your blog.

Your blog *must* have a place for people to e-mail subscribe. We will be subscribing to everyone’s blog who participates. If there isn’t an e-mail subscribe option, your link will be removed from the linky.

Let’s have fun and meet (and read via email) some new blogs!!
This is a Blog Hop! 39 entries so far... you're next!

Sweet Showery Sunday!

2010-06-20T22:31:00.004-04:00

I used to love to go out and play in the rain when I was little and I've found that my kids now love it too! The boys (and even the 18 yr. old) had fun today in our summer rain shower!

There's more on my facebook too!

Well, I hope everyone had an enjoyable Sunday afternoon like we did! Have a great week!

Much Luvz, Witchie!

What to do on a hot Saturday?

2010-06-19T11:28:00.006-04:00

Well, we are going to visit the sister with the huge backyard...and pool (cuz the 4 year old just loves the pool!)...and the huge deck to bbq on...

We're hoping to get some new pics of kids romping in the backyard, on the trampoline, in the pool. For now, here's a couple from last summer:

Yeah, he's cute like that! Couldn't find any of the Manly-one by, around, in or even in close proximity of the pool! Oh well, we'll get some today for sure!

Hope y'all have a great Saturday!

Much Luvz, Witchie!

Another Friday Follow...

2010-06-18T16:29:00.005-04:00

Here's another Friday Follow for y'all to join:

Much Luvz, Witchie!

Friday Bloghops!

2010-06-18T11:15:00.005-04:00

Hi everybody! Hopefully you've come here from one of the bloghops below, with an interest in who I am and what I do here on my blog. I have 3 blogs, this one, Witchie's Cavern and SLD Merchandise.

Witchie's Place is all about...well...anything and everything! I try to keep it as family friendly as possible, but there are those times when I too, get upset about things and I voice it.

Witchie's Cavern is all about things "Witchy."

SLD Merchandise is my business blog where you'll find deals on the products I sell that you won't find at the webstore! I carry lots of products for home decor (indoor and out), bath and body products and much more! Take a peek at www.sldmerchandise.com to see what I'm talking about!

Thank you for visiting me here and I hope you become a follower. Leave me a comment so I can follow you back as well.

Much Luvz, Witchie!

Tuesday Tunes

2010-06-15T22:48:00.002-04:00

Here is one of my favorite songs used in the soundtrack of There's Something About Mary.

Much Luvz, Witchie

Summer Bummers!

2010-06-14T13:25:00.005-04:00

Even though this Witchie is a mom of 5, ages ranging from 25 to 2.5 years old, and has much experience with all sorts of malady's that her kids have incurred over the years, it doesn't mean that there isn't still more to learn or things that she hasn't come up against. That's why I'm a member of Parenting.com. I love the site for it's informative articles and every summer they have many wonderful tips to beat the summer bummers like sunburns, bee stings and how to spot and treat the dreaded poison ivy! This summer is no different.

If you're unsure as to how to look out for jelly fish while your little one is romping along the beach, or how to treat a spider bite, or even how to take care of your baby pool and sandbox, check out this article at parenting.com. ( I didn't know that those mosquito zapping machines spewed bug guts all over the place when it gets zapped!! eeeeewww!)

They also have articles for 101 Things to do this summer, 5 Tips for introducing your baby to the water, and Summer Finger Food Fun! So, here's hoping everyone has a safe and happy Summer!!

Much Luvz, Witchie!

Discovery At the Park!

2010-06-12T00:04:00.005-04:00

If you look closely behind the boys in the first picture, you can see a flock of geese. Among the geese is one Great Blue Heron. We've never seen one in our area before, but since we had that severe rainstorm recently, this one has taken to the pond and park right next door to us. I have better pics below of him/her. The boys thought it was cool and wanted to go over to say hi to it, but of course, we didn't let them, lol.

It's like looking at a mouse among a litter of cats!

As we were going around to get a pic of him/her in the water, he/she decided to come ashore where we were only a few minutes before!

Hope you enjoyed our simple discovery during our couple of hours at the park!

Much Luvz, Witche!

Happy Birthday to my little girl!

2010-06-10T19:06:00.004-04:00

My little girl isn't so little anymore. She just turned 18. This is an enhancement I did for her (which she's got on her facebook); the cake, her older brother made for her; and me and her littlest brother decorated it for her. We got her some kitty ears hairclips, a flashdrive, and some other stuff. We went to a chinese buffet and they sang Happy Birthday to her and gave her carrot cake, it was cute!

I hope she enjoyed her first day of adulthood and looks forward to being an adult. Now if only I can get her to behave like one...LOLOLOL!! Happy Birthday, Rachel!

Much Luvz, Witchie!

Promotions on Witchie's Cavern! Come See!

2010-06-09T23:57:00.002-04:00

In my side bar on Witchie's Cavern you will find a few promotions that I am an affiliate for. If you are interested in the New Age field, Alternative Beliefs, Witchcraft, etc. topics, hop on over there and scroll down a bit for some that I've added.

I can personally recommend one of them because I have the product! The Simple Spell Casting E-Kit by Rose Ariadne is chuck full of spells, interviews, fun information and lots more! It's not ridiculously expensive and is downloadable, so no waiting for snail-mail products to be delivered to your doorstep and no shipping costs!

I've been a student of Rose's for a few years now and also have another one of her magick kits! It's been great working with her! So, pop on over to Witchie's Cavern and scroll down until you see the text ad under: WITCHIE'S PROMOTIONS (under the adgitize ads!). Happy Spell Casting!!

Much Luvz, Witchie!

What's Up with the rediculous rules for entering Giveaways?

2010-06-09T02:01:00.003-04:00

I've read several blogs tonight and many of them have giveaways. How wonderful...a freebie! Not so fast!

In the rules of the giveaways you not only have to follow 3 or 4 other bloggers, but you have to follow them on Facebook, Twitter, and everywhere else under the sun, you also have to subscribe to each of their emails, grab each of their buttons, blog about everybody's giveaways, become friends on Google, Twitter, Facebook, etc., and then don't forget to follow everybody's other blogs attached to the original one??? And then you find out the giveaway isn't open to everyone, only to certain people in certain countries. I don't even have a Twitter!!

Who has time for all that? Personally, I'm lucky if I can get an article in once a day and it's usually at this time of the night (2 a.m.!!) because I spend my day chasing around a couple of toddlers, cleaning, working on my own webstore site, cooking, etc. I don't have time to read 50 people's blogs, sift thru my email for real email, not just a bunch of random blog postings, and join a bunch of communities I'll never be able to remember or keep up with in the first place.

Is it me or have the rules to the giveaways gone too far? I follow quite a few blogs as it is and honestly, I can't keep up with everyone of them, so I get to as many as my day allows...or I should say...my couple of hours allows. If I'm not leaving a comment or a shout, it doesn't mean I haven't been there, it just means I didn't have the time. Every one of the blogs I follow I have enjoyed immensely at one time or another, and many times I can get caught up on one blog reading and reading posts I've missed.

Now, I probably won't make any friends with this post, but heck I don't seem to have that many in the first place. I just can't believe these people expect us to perform all these "tricks" to possibly win something. I understand the name of the game is to get as many followers as possible, but this is ludicrous. I don't know about the lives of the people who do these giveaways, but I just don't have the time to sit in front of my computer all day, every day, reading stuff I have no interest in reading.

I'll be posting a giveaway soon on my sldmerchandise blog, and here are the rules ahead of time:
1. Follow all 3 of my blogs.
2. Follow my husbands, my uncle's...oh and my two nephews blogs too. They all have 3 blogs each...follow them all.
3. Follow me on Twitter.
4. Oh, I don't have a Twitter....follow me on Facebook instead...
5. Do 50 push ups and post the video of you doing it.
6. Write a blog about why you want to win my giveaway.
7. Subscribe to all 4 of my email accounts...wait, do I have 4?
8. Write a blog about someone else's blog and why you like them.
9. Go grab my buttons, my husbands, my uncle's and my two nephews buttons. All of them on each of their blogs.
10. Make a purchase at my sld merchandise webstore.

That's all you have to do to win...I have no idea what I'm giving away yet, so stay tuned!

Disgusted.
Much Luvz, Witchie!

Working on our puzzles!

2010-06-04T23:44:00.004-04:00

The puzzles were Zoo Animals, Farm Animals & Vehicles.

The boys love working on these puzzles and soon we're going
to go and get the alphabet and colors and shapes ones! Zane
did very well in placing and naming each of the animals.

*****************************************
OTHER THINGS OF NOTE: Don't forget to visit my other blogs too:

Witchie's Cavern - All things witchy related!

Witchie's Readings - Where you'll find my personal writings, stories and such!

SLD Merchandise - Blog dedicated to my webstore: www.sldmerchandise.com where you'll find deals that you won't find at the webstore!

Much Luvz, Witchie!

Fun Follow Friday...

2010-06-04T11:30:00.003-04:00

I got this one from simplystacie.net. SimplyStacie consists of 4 women from different backgrounds, educations and they all contribute to this blog site. They do product and book reviews, giveaways and more...exactly as their title states! I found this blog through Business 2 Blogger and Simply Stacie is listed as a Top Traffic Referrer! I hope you visit their blog and enjoy yourself there as much as I have so far!

Now onto the Fun Follow Friday!

Have a fun Friday!

Much Luvz, Witchie!

2010-06-04T00:30:00.003-04:00

It is after midnight and one of my boys is still up. He fights taking a nap earlier in the day, so he ends up falling asleep later in the afternoon and then is up all night. In fact, both the little buggers are still up, but it's the littler one that I have trouble getting to sleep at a reasonable hour. Does anyone have any suggestions as to how to cure this problem?

Not only does he do all that I've mentioned, but he also wakes up anywhere between 3 and 4 a.m. every single night. I'm not sleeping all that well because of it and I'm getting sick from it. I'm tired all the time, I've taken to taking afternoon naps because I can no longer keep my eyes open. I just don't know what to do with him. Right now he's arguing with me and screaming up a storm because I'm putting him back to bed. I wish there was some way to get him on a set sleeping schedule, but he refuses to cooperate.

*Sigh. Hopefully we'll be able to solve this problem soon.

Much Luvz, Witchie!

Changes In the Wind...

2010-06-02T23:09:00.003-04:00

I've missed a few days in coming here to post my article, but it couldn't be helped. Things are very topsy turvy in our lives right now and unavoidable, hopefully this will change soon. I'm finding that I'm forgetting simple things. Not things like my own name, mind you, that would be terrible! But instead, things like appointments, times that I'm supposed to be doing stuff, where I put my shoes...etc. Maybe I should see a doctor about this, eh? LOL

Well, hopefully this will change when things calm down. We are looking forward to new changes coming soon to our lives and we, for the most part, look forward to the challenge (I guess we could call it that, challenges), I just hope the changes don't disrupt the little one's lives too much, they are so young and easily adaptable so I think we can certainly make it fun for them.

WTH am I talking about? I won't say anything just yet in fear of jinxing us, but when we are finally able to go through with what we want to, you'll be the first to hear about it. For the time being, try to live with the suspense, lolol!

Much Luvz, Witchie!

Adgitizing and Tech-Revive!

2010-05-28T12:27:00.003-04:00

I want to tell you that since I've started working (outside the home) now, I've found it difficult to fit in my adgitizing. There never seems to be enough time with cleaning and taking care of the kiddo's and then leaving to go to work. I didn't think it would hard to get my clicks in and post my daily article, boy was I wrong! So, being the organized anal oriented person that I am, I decided to "budget" my day now. I had signed up for a tool to help me get all my clicks in in an efficient amount of time a while ago, but I hadn't really utilized the tool. Now I find myself using it every day.

Thanks to Tech-Revive!, I get all my clicks in even when I get home very late from work. Her adgitize tool allows you to get all 100 clicks you need and in less than an hour (especially if you're not one for stopping on a blog and getting caught up in reading all the interesting stuff you find!). If you'd like to use it only for adgitizing, the clicking goes very fast. For me though, I've come across many wonderful blogs and am now following them. But in a quick pinch, when I need to get my clicks in with no fuss, I can get it done in under a half an hour!

There is only one glitch you'll find in the tool. There are a few that don't work, maybe about 5, but that's not a problem because all the others do work and you can get to other adgitized blogs/sites from these. In fact, today I finished all 100 clicks and only made it to #8 in the tool! Be sure not to click on ones you've already clicked on because they won't count in your clicks unless you're only using them to get the click in for the original one you're on. Does that make sense to you? LOL

To Be Added To the Tool:
There are some rules you'll have to follow in order to get put on the list if you want your own blog to be added to the tool, but you also don't have to be added and can use the tool anyway. The one thing she does ask is that if you are already using another tool like this, don't use or ask to be added to hers. It isn't going to get you any more clicks than you need (the 100 for adgitize).

Here is the link to the tool:
http://www.tech-revive.com/2010/03/adgitizer-tool.html

If you are interested in being added to the tool, just follow her rules below the tool, you'll be glad you did! And don't forget to check out all her other blogs too!

Much Luvz, Witchie!

Holidays upon us?

2010-05-28T00:32:00.003-04:00

This Monday will be Memorial Day. Originally called Decoration day, it was officially proclaimed on May 5, 1868 and observed on May 30, 1868. This day is one of remembrance for those who have died while in our nation's service.

If only for a moment, to bow your head,
And fondly remember the heroic dead.
Those who fought hard and true,
Giving freedom to me and you.

Remember those you once knew well,
And for those you don't, toll the bell.
Give your heartfelt thanks for all they've done,
They've given their lives and now they're gone.

On foreign soil and here at home,
So that our nation could remain as one,
These brave souls who answered the call
And by giving their lives, have given it all.

To all the Men and Women of the Armed Forces,
I give my heartfelt thanks for giving my my freedom while giving up yours.

Much Luvz, Witchie!

No Surprises on AI...

2010-05-26T23:26:00.003-04:00

Let me first say that this has been the best AI finale that this Witch has ever enjoyed. Many of the guests being from her era (the 80's), she was having a ball singing along with all those old "memory" songs while her family looked on with vague awareness of many of the songs and voicing their, "I remember that song...I think..."

As for the finale reason itself, well, of course, it wasn't really a surprise that Lee Dewyze has become Season 9's winner. If I remember the season correctly, he has NEVER been in the bottom 3...4...or 5 for that matter! Granted, Crystal hadn't been there either, but every week we saw Lee creep by practically unnoticed...the dark horse sydrome??...while Crystal was out there in your face.

While Lee wasn't my favorite to win, I am happy for the guy. It was better for Crystal that she didn't win really because now she can be picked up by any recording company that offers her the best deal and honestly, I think that might be sweeter than actually winning the title of the next American Idol. And though I'm by no means knocking Lee's raw, rocker talent, Crystal was my favorite.

And as an added note here for those who care about this Witch's opinion, lol, my favorite top 4 from the get-go had been:

Crystal Bowersox (to win)
Casey James
Lee Dewyze
Mike Lynche

I wasn't too far off, eh?
************************************************
In other television news, I have to ask one question...

"How in the hell did I get...gulp...addicted to Glee?"

Much Luvz, Witchie!

Last Job update!!!

2010-05-26T00:30:00.003-04:00

So, the trip for the drug test did turn out to be shorter, but then I think that's because I'd already traveled the route yesterday. Turns out, I turned around to come home about 5 minutes too soon. If I had only gone maybe 5 more minutes down the road I would have found the dang place! But, I still would have arrived there too late to get the test done.

I have no idea why they are having prospects take a half an hour drive for a simple piss test...and that's another beef I'm having that I'll get to in a moment... See, the city I live in is relatively poor. Most are low income and when a job opens up in any of the stores, you are battling no less than a few hundred other applicants for the same job/position. Many will be teens, just getting their feet wet in the work field. Many who will rely on public transportation to get back and forth to the job. It is unrealistic of this store to send people on a half hour drive...into another state mind you...to take a drug test. I used a little more than a half a tank of gas between yesterday and today getting there and back. What about those who don't have that ride to get there? I'm told they would have to take a bus into Massachusettes and then take another to get to the medical clinic where the testing is done. For $8/hr? Thankfully, I had a vehicle to get me back and forth.

Now, for the piss test itself. I honestly think the hiring manager should at least warn ppl that this is the kind of test potential employee's will be taking. I have a regular habit upon waking of emptying my bladder right away. The eyes are not rounded out upon waking yet, the cigarette has not been smoked. The tea water hasn't even been heated. The bathroom is the first stop of the morning. Today I also had a regular doctor appt at noon. I had to leave to get to the medical clinic for the drug test early so to be back in my city in time for this dr.'s appt. If I had known the drug test was a piss test...I would have held off on the regular morning bathroom visit.

A normal 5 minute procedure ended up taking the better half of an hour to accomplish...even with a full bottle of water dumped into my system within a 5 minute span. Ugh! I felt nauseous and my tummy was bloated! I just barely made it back home to get to my other appt.

I was told yesterday that after they got the results from the BCI and the drug test, they would call with an orientation date and then when I would start working. Great, I figured I'd got another week at least before I would start working. Ha! They called me 3 hrs after taking the drug test!

My start date and orientation date start tomorrow morning at 11 a.m.!! Holy crap! I had no navy blue shirts in my wardrobe, why would I? The color is ugly on me! LOL So hubby went out and bought me two simple navy blue shirts. I'm all set to begin my next chapter in life as a working woman again and a WalMart Employee! Kudo's to me!!

And how is life treating you?

Much Luvz, Witchie!

Job Update...again...

2010-05-24T22:24:00.003-04:00

So, it's been a bizarre day. I'm sore from the sunburn still, sweating bullets here (hot flashes? night sweats?) and felt groggy most of the day. I did end up having to call WalMart and I learned that they could not reach one of my references. However I did it, I put a 2 instead of a 1 when I put the number down (silly me!). So, I corrected my mistake while on the phone with the asst. manager and she said she'd call me in 10 minutes.

I had time to call my friend to let her know what happened and to be expecting the call. Ten minutes later, I get the call. We would like you to come in to fill out some ppr. work, get the directions to take the drug test and we can take it from there. So, I change my clothes (didn't wanna go there in a halter top, no bra and just shorts, all because of a sunburn) and head to WalMart.

She reiterated w/me on the starting pay, had me sign the necessary ppr work and they told me that I might be able to make it to the medical facility that does the drug testing today. The directions (from mapquest...ugh!) said that the trip would take roughly 27 minutes. Okay, it was only 3:30, the place closed at 4:30...I should be able to make it.

First thing that should have told me that I was on a fool's errand was road work which took almost 10 minutes to get through. After finally clearing that, I drove for another 45 minutes without ever finding the place! Did I sneer enough when I said, mapquest? Well, after wasting a bit of gas by not finding this place, I decided to turn around and head home. I would go early tomorrow morning using our GPS. I was looking for a road called Asylum St., how appropriate!

Hopefully the trip tomorrow will be shorter than today because I also have a doctor's appt . for 12:15. Once Walmart gets the results back and the results back from the BCI (which I'd thought they'd done already), then she will call me with the orientation date.

All this for $8.20/hr? If we didn't absolutely need this extra income, you know what I'd be saying right?

Much Luvz, Witchie!

Mixed Day...

2010-05-23T21:18:00.003-04:00

The weather predicted a cloudy day with a slight chance of rain today, but the day turned out to be sunny and very warm! This was a blessing, yet also a curse at the same time. I figured if it was going to be cloudy, I could have my yardsale and not worry too much about the weather. Roughly after about an hour into sitting outside with my wares, I had to go back in and change. It turned out to be very hot. Once I returned back outside, the skies changed intermittently from clouds to sun and back to clouds again. 6 hours later, we packed it in for the day and vowed we'd be back outside again next weekend. We made $9 and I got one hell of a sunburn!!

Also, news about the job...I'm beginning to wonder if I did a good enough interview or not. A friend who works at the store said she'd talked to the manager who'd interviewed me and the woman didn't ask her about me at all...AND...when she did her interviews, they had her do the drug test the same day! No one had me do a drug test, nor has my other reference received a call from the store yet. *Sigh. So, maybe I just got my hopes and confidence up just a bit to high and jinxed myself and now I'm not even being considered for a position.

All I want to know is this: Who in the hell can't get hired by WalMart? Apparently me. :(

Much Luvz, Witchie!

My Enhancements...

2010-05-22T22:08:00.005-04:00

Here is some of how I spend my free time. I love doing enhancements of pictures of my sons and other pictures. I hope you like them as much as I liked doing them.

Lazy Friday...

2010-05-21T12:40:00.002-04:00

As I don't really think too many people are actually reading my posts (you are not included in these thinkings, Momsy!), and they're just popping in for the adgitizing, and I'm feeling somewhat lazy today (I'd just like to chill out with the boys and watch a movie or something), so I'm not gonna go all crazy with things to say.

I just hope that everyone has a great day, no matter where you are in the world!

Much Luvz, Witchie!

Wonderful Return of the Warm Weather!!

2010-05-20T23:51:00.004-04:00

After a couple of weeks of intermittently cloudy and rainy weather, we enjoyed a wonderfully warm day with bright sunshine and temps in the low 80's. Now this is what I'm talkin' about here! My favorite season is Autumn, but after such dreary, all-I-wanna-do-is-sleep-in weather, this was a much sought-after and welcomed change. My daughter texted me saying; "Park. Boys." I was on it like white on rice AND I was in the middle of creating a badge for my Witchie's Cavern blog too. I was frustrated because I couldn't seem to get the code right and her text came at the perfect time because I do believe my brand new lappy could've suffered a fate worse than death.

So we went to this park in the next town over, Cumberland. You can tell when one city has more money than another! This park was the shit! I will be showing pics in a bit so you can see what I'm talking about. The playground wasn't really any bigger than the one right next door to us here, but the quality of the equipment was way better than what my kids normally play on and boy did they have fun! It only takes about 5 or 10 minutes to get there by car and I will definitely make the trip just for them when they want to actually go to a playground and have fun!

Zane & Greyson

Awesome Swings! & My Grandson, Jaydin

Grey, Zane & daddy in the background.

It was a most enjoyable day!

Much Luvz, Witchie!

Job Update!

2010-05-19T23:49:00.002-04:00

So, the interview(s) went well! All I'm waiting for is for them to check my references, do the BCI, and have me come do the drug test. Then they will be able to "officially" offer me the position once all that is done and comes back okay. The toughest part of the interview was deciding what I wanted to wear to it! After several outfit changes...all using the same pants...I decided on the pair of dressy dark olive green slacks with pinstripes and a white sweater that buttoned down the front. If it had been up to my daughter, I would have been wearing those slacks, a long sleeve, white dress shirt and the long jacket that matches the pants...oh and a pair of heeled shoes! I looked like I was going to be applying for a management position rather than applying for just a humble position in apparel!! I felt overdressed and opted for the white sweater instead. It was casually dressy.

I felt really good at the interview too. Comfortable, sure of myself. I haven't had an interview like this in a very long time. The only time I thought I might have messed up the interview was at the second one when she asked me some question and all I could say was that it didn't apply to me. I can't remember what the question was now, and that irks me, but her response to mine was; "Oh, so you're perfect?" I was shocked and flabbergasted to say the least!! I had to explain to her that as the situation had never happened to me, I had to answer no...which did in a sense to someone else, seem like I was saying I was perfect.

I am by no means perfect. I never claimed to be and I think it would be difficult being Perfect all the time, don't you?? I guess my recovery answer was good because by the time I was done the 2nd interview, she was all but telling me that I have to wait a little longer for her to call me in and "officially" offer me the position.

So, now I have the interminable wait by the phone. I know, I know, it's only WalMart, but in this day and age, and with the economy the way it is, any job is an income and an income is a good thing...and our household needs this income desperately right now! And just because it is WalMart (who is known for hiring just about anybody), it doesn't make the feeling of accomplishment any less than if I'd applied for a corporate position somewhere. It is important to me and when I do get the call to come in and take the drug test and get offered the job, I will feel as proud of myself as I did when I landed my first job and I will do the job as if I were working in a corporate office! Because I will be expected to give my best and anything less would be shortchanging them AND myself!

Much Luvz, Witchie!

Giving up my SAHM status??

2010-05-18T22:58:00.003-04:00

After a particularly tiring day starting with being woken up only an hour after I fell asleep, then again at 4 a.m. AND then again at 7:30-ish a.m.; then cleaning and chasing a little bugger around, I went to a doctor appointment with a friend in support of her (she was having a 2nd pap done and was very anxious about it). The wait in the examining room was interminable, but I kept her laughing and forgetting her fears of why she was there. From there I went to another friends' house to pick up some food she was donating to a family in desperate need (Us!) and came home to cook supper, catch up on my emails in hopes that someone had gone to my webstore and bought something (hopes were dashed, all I got was an email for a Facebook dating app.) and clean again.

With my sleep being interrupted every night by my 2 year old, I find that I'm taking afternoon naps now. I begin to slow down around 3 p.m. and by 5 p.m., my eyes are literally closing. Today, after getting supper in the oven, I found myself experiencing this same phenomenon, so I told my husband that I was going to lay down for about an hour or so. I was out the minute my head hit the pillow!

My inner clock woke me approximately an hour and a half later...just before my phone rang. I didn't recognize the number but I answered anyway. I am so glad I did too because it turned out to be one of the hiring managers at our local Walmart asking me if I would like to come in for an interview for a position they were trying to fill. Now I know Walmart isn't a glamorous job, but hell it's a job and in this economy any job is a good job seeing as my husband was laid off roughly about 3 weeks ago!

So, I'm going tomorrow at 2 p.m. for my interview. I have work experience under my belt...at my age, I should, but I'm what one would call a job-hopper. I like variety and sometimes a job becomes so routine that I get bored with it and move on. I haven't worked for a little over 4 years and this will be a very big change for me seeing as I'm used to diapers, dr. appointments, running errands and working as best as I can here on the computer trying to generate money into our humble little abode here.

Now hopefully I do get the job AND I can refrain from babbling toddler talk with customers and co-workers!

"Here, let me show you where our best moomies are!"

Wish me luck and send me some positive energy!!

Much Luvz, Witchie!

Family, revisited...

2010-05-18T00:35:00.004-04:00

I enjoyed the weekend celebration so much and I took so many pictures! I decided to share some more of the pics I took of the boys with their dad. We don't have too many of those because of the hours he used to work, but now that he's been laid off, we have more time to get pics of them together. It was my intention for these pics to be on a more professional level, so if they look "posed" it's because they are! LOL Please enjoy!

It seems my internet doesn't want to load the pics this time! I will keep trying until it will load them! Hopefully it will be soon!
********************************************************************
UPDATED: The pics, finally!

Much Luvz, Witchie!

Sleep Overs...

2010-05-16T11:29:00.007-04:00

We have a little apartment. It's a 3 bedroom, but still it's little. We live on the 3rd floor of our building. It's a lot of stairs. Yesterday we celebrated, with my niece, the 1st Communion of her daughter. There was a "gathering" at my sister's house (You remember her yard? Yes, the very same place that held the Canoe Easter Egg Hunt). There was food, fun, lots of good vibrations.

Well, this Witch had been feeling particularly good. I'd gotten some really decent pics of the communion girl (my 2nd niece actually) and of my boys and their dad, of the household mascot, Sasha ( beautiful dark German Shepard). Plans had already been set in motion for one of my other niece's (Faith, pretty name, eh?) to sleep over this weekend and we were going to take her home w/us when we left and bring her back today. Feeling happy all over, this Witch was all over Facebook (kinda) adding new family and friend members, letting my boys run around outside in their WHITE socks (ugh! I'll pay for that one!)...

Well, you would have thought this Witch had been smoking some "happy stuff" because when she got two more requests to join the sleep over, she just automatically said; "Sure! Why not? The more the merrier!" I keep being asked; "What are you on?" LOLOL

I made sure that the two new "requestees" understood that there really is nothing all that exciting about being at my house. Neither of them had EVER asked to sleep over before and I was quite surprised by both requests, but heck, I thought, how horrible could this get? It was only going to be for 1 night. In all reality, it went well. Aside from a tired 7 year old who got just a wee bit slap happy, which had been easily remedied with G-Force and bedtime, we had no incidents that would force either myself or a relative to transport a child back to their home. All in all, a pretty successful sleepover. Every one is in the living room playing on the Wii now, they have all been fed (which had been a concern after confirming the sleepover attendees!) and we haven't come to a decision as to what time we would be returning the sleepover attendees to their homes yet.
Daddy & the Boys

Sasha

The Communion Girl & Mom

The Sleepover! (that is a body under the leopard print blanket!)

Much Luvz,Witchie!

Language Idiot over here...

2010-05-14T23:07:00.003-04:00

I don't know about the rest of you, but have you ever noticed that once we have children, our language abilities just go out the window and we talk like idiots...not saying our children are idiots, but instead we sound like an idiot talking baby/little kid talk. And it's not something that we do on purpose either, just like they pick up the correct way to pronounce words, we pick up the inherent, often unconscious, knack for using their pronunciation for most of our language. Here are some of our "now on a regular basis" words:

Noonoo's-noodles
Bathroom-Potty (even when I'm talking w/adults on the internet!)
Supper/Dinner-Meat
Milk-Nuk
Chocolate-docket
Water-Wa-eeee
Glass/Cup-Sippy
(Ass-Bum/Bummy/Bummies~~this was a conscious change)
(Fuck-Fudge~this was a conscious change)
Movie-Moomie
Juice-Duce
Toy Bubble Car-BeepBeep Car
Crayon/Pen/Pencil-Write my name...
Kitty-Ki-yee
Doggy-Dawjee/Dawdee
(Shit-Aw Poop!!~this was a conscious change)

This is just the short list. Remember when we could say those all those wonderful "taboo" words....ahhh, the good ole' days.......

Much Luvz, Witchie

Help Is Needed For a Beautiful Little Monkey...

2010-05-13T01:44:00.004-04:00

While blogging through the blogs of the people I follow I came upon a post that broke my heart! A beautiful little 16 month old girl, nicknamed Monkey, has been diagnosed with Neuroblastoma. I do not know Monkey and until tonite had never even seen her Momma's blog before, but thanks to a wonderful friend of their family and the blogger I follow, Ian (from my Monday Minute), hopefully this family will get all the help they will definitely need!

Ian has begun a fundraiser to help this family in desperate need. I am now a follower of Monkey and her family and have donated so far what money we could afford at the moment and a free ad spot on one of my top ads. I am asking everyone that follows me to please go to Ian's page using the link that I've provided here for you and make a donation for this little Angel. Or click on the picture of Monkey at the top of my blogs.

I have posted this on my Facebook as well and I hope many or ALL of you do the same!! I will continue to repost this on my Facebook as it is very late and not many of my friends are on. Send your donations, your prayers, whatever you can that will help!

IF YOU HAVE HEALTHY CHILDREN...PLEASE HELP! IF YOU KNOW OR LOVE SOMEONE WHO HAS/HAD CANCER...PLEASE HELP! IF YOU HAVE A HEART...PLEASE HELP!!!!!

Much Luvz, Witchie!

Wordless Wednesday

2010-05-13T00:41:00.002-04:00

Will be starting a new blog soon...

2010-05-10T23:56:00.002-04:00

I've realized that I've been all over the place w/this blog and I don't really want to change that feature of this one, but I also wanted to do a blog devoted to all my "Witchie" stuff. So I will be starting a new blog soon that will be devoted entirely to Magick.

Don't forget to visit me there and visit my SLD Merchandise blog.

Much Luvz, Witchie!

Happy Mom's Day!

2010-05-09T15:40:00.002-04:00

What A Confused Jumble Things Are...

2010-05-05T14:07:00.003-04:00

First I wanted to discuss how some people have the uncanny luck to be caught doing something they know is wrong and shouldn't be doing before they do it. But my thoughts aren't organized enough right now. So, while researching Aspergers Syndrome this morning, I found another disorder called ODD, Oppositional Defiant Disorder and I thought to share a few thoughts on this subject. Again, not only are the thoughts too jumbled, but I admit even with 3 - 4 hrs of research this morning under my belt, I don't feel qualified to discuss this topic yet either. This one though, will come at another time because I think my youngest son may have a mild version of ODD and I don't want to talk about it until I'm absolutely sure of what I'm talking about.

So, on very little sleep lately due to the turbulence my life has recently suffered, I thought that I'd update you on a subject I recently brought up: Women's Multi-Vitamins. I am not an overly healthy eater, in fact, I hardly eat at all, so I know I am not getting all the vitamins and minerals I need at my age to keep me healthy and in shape, which is the reason for the topic of Women's Multi-Vitamins in the first place. I had my husband, while out on an errand to Walmart, pick me up some of these monstrous things. You heard the result of this a little while back as I had totally forgotten how huge they were.

After a week of really trying hard to swallow these things without gagging, vomiting and what all else, I decided that there had to be an equivalent for adults to the children's gummy or chewable vitamins. I went in search of these mysterious gems. After all, many adults have difficulty swallowing any kind of pill, let alone one the size of the dreaded multi-vitamin. Right? I can't be the only one. Right?

**I seem to have worn people out in the past w/my muffin story, so I will cut this one off here and continue it tomorrow** Until then, have a great day!!

Much Luvz, Witchie!

SLD Merchandise...

2010-05-04T23:46:00.003-04:00

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http://sldmerchandise.com/index.html

Bad Day All Around

2010-05-01T18:21:00.003-04:00

For a particularly beautiful Spring day, it's been a really sucky one for me. I sure hope yours was better.

Much Luvz, Witchie!

Come visit my other NEW blog...

2010-04-30T23:10:00.003-04:00

Hi and good evening everyone! I'm getting a late start on my blogging today/tonight because I just got finished setting up the blog space for my new blog. After a very busy day of uploading pics to my new photobucket acct. and doing other meaningless household chores (haha), I finally got down to the business of setting up the blog for my webstore: SLD Merchandise. I would love for y'all to come and visit and maybe even make a purchase.

Also, come on over to the blog and become a follower. We also have a fan page on Facebook, but I don't have the link for that one yet, but I'll get it to ya a.s.a.p.!

There's one more thing I'd like to mention before I let y'all go to peruse others' blogs...On this blog there is a donation button on the right panel. This donation button is for donations to our local Animal Rescue League, there are two other buttons like this on the SLD Merchandise blog as well. I would ask of you to please donate to this wonderful establishment and help us help a furry friend in need. You will be directed to the SLD Merchandise paypal acct., but all donations will be noted in there and you will receive a personal email from me listing your donation for tax purposes, which you can print out.

Thank you again, for visiting me here, over at my sldmerchandise blog and to the sldmerchandise webstore.

Much Luvz, Witchie!

And Whose Bright Idea Was This???

2010-04-29T22:04:00.006-04:00

Has anyone ever wondered why a watch is called a watch? It doesn't watch anything now does it? And why is a crab called a crab? Are they very cranky?? These are just words, after all. Aren't they? What I'm more interested in is whose bright idea it was to come up with some of the things that we deal with from day to day on a more physical level. You know, those things we can touch and feel...and be perplexed by because of their design. Like:

Whose bright idea was it...

To glue the end of the toilet paper roll to itself??

So hubby asks me; "Is that really glue?" Sure seems like it to me. Especially when you're trying to get those first 10 squares of paper off the roll and and it's stuck to itself...and you end up ripping the first 3 layers of paper!

And to stick with the bathroom theme...

Whose bright idea was it to design the toilet the way it is??

See the red line? That is the "route" that "things" travel when the toilet is flushed. Why? Why not just make the "route" shorter to the drain...as illustrated by the blue line. Do we have any plumber bloggers who can answer this perplexing question because I'd really like to know the answer to this one. My thought is that maybe the guy who invented the toilet didn't intend for the design to be like this really. But everyone liked the idea of not having to shovel their own poop anymore so much that no one really complained about it clogging all the time. Then someone else invented the plunger (and I don't even want to know how this handy little fix-it tool came into being), therefore the issue of the "clogging" was solved and no one saw any reason to change the design of the toilet. After all, wouldn't a lot of plunger making people be out of jobs then?

My daughter has just informed me that she thinks the design is to purposely break up the "smelly stuff" as it's flushed so that it's not still whole when it makes it to the septic tank, therefore, not clogging the septic system.

A sound theory I suppose and a pretty shitty subject to talk about, I know, but still, I stick with my design.

Much Luvz, Witchie!

Sunday Noodle-fest!

2010-04-29T00:42:00.006-04:00

YEAH! HE HAD FUN!

Statistics of Drunk Driving Related Accidents...

2010-04-27T13:47:00.005-04:00

In relation to a story I read on my local news widget to the right here, I looked up the statistics of accidents and deaths directly due to drunk driving. My aim was to specifically find the stats for Under Age drinking related accidents and deaths in my particular state, all I could find was national statistics, here is what I found: (you can skip over most of the stats, just the colored parts are the pertinent info I wanted to convey)

United States Drunk Driving Car Accident Statistics (2008)

* There were 11,773 drunk driving deaths in 2008.
* 2008 showed a 9.7% decrease from 2007 in alcohol-impaired driving deaths.
* Drunk driving deaths (11,773) accounted for 32% of the total amount of United States car accident deaths (37,261) in 2008.
* 1,347 children ages 14 and younger died as occupants in car accidents in 2008. Of those deaths, 216 (approx 16%) were the direct result of drunk drivers.
* Along with the 1,347 child occupant fatalities, another 34 children died as pedestrians or bikers who were hit by drunk drivers.
* Nighttime drivers were four times more likely to die in drunk driving crashes in 2008 than those driving during the daytime.
* In 2008, weekend drivers were twice as likely to be involved in drinking and driving car crashes than weekday drivers.
** The 21-24 age group accounted for 34% of all alcohol-impaired-drivers who died in accidents in 2008. The 25-34 demographic accounted for 31%, while those from 35-44 years of age accounted for 25%.
** Despite being under the legal drinking age, American teens from the ages of 16-20 were more likely to be killed while driving under the influence than adults ages 55-64. Teens accounted for 17% of all drivers who were involved in drunk driving crashes, while those from 55-64 accounted for 12%.
*Of the drunk driving crashes where seat belt use was known, nearly 75% of all drunk drivers killed in accidents in 2008 weren't wearing seat belts.
*In the United States, a Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC) level of .08 or higher is considered above the legal limit in nearly every state. The most frequently recorded BAC level among drivers who were killed in alcohol-impaired-driving accidents in 2008 was .16, or twice the legal limit.
*Drunk drivers who were over the legal limit when they died in 2008 were eight times more likely to have been previously convicted for drunk driving.
*In 2008, 6,316 passenger vehicle drivers were over the legal limit when car crashes claimed their lives.
*In 2008, it was more dangerous to drive drunk on a motorcycle than in any other vehicle. The percentage of bikers with a BAC level of .08 or greater when they died in a crash was higher than the amount of drunk drivers who died while operating other vehicle types.

What is important about the parts I bolded and made blue is that the argument in the comments section of the story began to focus on lowering the "legal drinking age" and "raising the driving age to 18 yrs of age ONLY and that if our kids are old enough to go war and kill another human being, they should be given the right to drink alcohol at the age of 18. Yeah, that balances out the responsibility and the maturity (or lack thereof) factor, doesn't it?

One gentleman even suggested that he'd rather have the "teens" imbibing alcoholic beverages in public legally, rather than hiding it and then resulting in yet another under-aged drunk driving statistic. While I understand his logic somewhat, it doesn't make sense to me to legalize teen drinking, because NOW they aren't hiding it anymore and they are out on "the street" wreaking havoc. I think the deaths related to this would increase dramatically because now "its okay to go get drunk in public and think I can drive me and my friends either home or to the next party."

If the 21-24 age group accounts for 34%, and the 25-34 group accounted for 31%, while admittedly the teen group accounted for only 17%, wouldn't lowering the drinking age raise the teens percentage?? And really, how has "legally drinking (21+)" people shown more responsibility than teens who are hiding????

Don't get me wrong, I DO NOT advocate lowering the drinking age for teens, nor do I advocate that teens "handle" alcohol better than so called adults. What I do advocate is if our country is going to continue to hand out licenses to immature and irresponsible teenagers who think it's "cool" to get behind the wheel of a 3000+ lb vehicle after drinking themselves silly, then it should also get behind making the parents more responsible for their kids' actions seeing as they thought it was "cool" to let their TEEN drive in the first place.

Start by making education classes for teen driving MANDATORY for both the teen AND the adult, BEFORE they even take the written test, this might make the parent think twice before forking up the money for the license, the insurance and the car keys. And then move on to prosecuting both the teen AND the parents of the teen involved in any kind of violation to the under age drinking law...whether the teen was only caught driving drunk or drunk period, right on up to a death resulting from the irresponsible act.

And while we're at it, how about the Government step in and enact a law that states something like...For every death resultant of an underage drunk driver (whether the said driver survives or not), there will be an additional $5000.00 charge to said driver and/or parents, to be paid to each decedent and/or said decedents family. This is in addition to the insurance that is paid out.

Now that may sound a bit harsh for the poorer folks in our country, but it's about time we cracked down on this issue. It's high time we stopped just slapping the hands of the teens who abuse the responsibility and privilege of being a driver on our roads with fines and community service and make them see that it IS indeed a huge responsibility, a huge privilege and not just a given right to operate a vehicle because they turned 15 years and 8 months old! Let's stop putting a huge Mickey Mouse bandaid on the problem and start taking the steps necessary to solve it!

Much luvz, Witchie!

Monday Minute

2010-04-26T10:43:00.005-04:00

1 - What drugs have you done in your life?

Tried pot once.

2 - A/S/L?

46/F/RI...I think is how I met my husband!

3 - Do you pick your nose?

EEEEEW, that's what kleenex is for.

4 - What's your favorite childhood cartoon

Oh No! Has to be Scooby Doo, hands down!!

5 - List the URL, of what you believe to be the best blog post you've ever done
http://witchiesplace.blogspot.com/2010/04/musing-on-saturdayanal-retentive-or.html
Did I do that right? How come everyone else's seems smaller??

...Awaiting help for inputting the Linky List...will update...

Random Sunday Thoughts...

2010-04-25T14:00:00.003-04:00

1. Sundays are "me" time. Of course, this Sunday is rainy, dreary and nobody wants to leave the house to let mommy have her "me" time. Can you hear my great big *sigh*?

2. Lately I've been trying to watch my caloric, or is it calorie, intake. That got me to thinking about other things regarding weight, weight loss and the obesity issue in America. I'm not obese by any means. I do have "extra padding" around my middle, but it's nothing unmanageable. Now, I'm also a huge fan of The Biggest Loser... I feel so proud of these people who have lost control of their lives and through the show, they gain it back. But I also wonder why this country focuses so much on being "skinny." I would rather have some meat on my bones and still be healthy (I never have a complaint from my doctor about my weight) than kill myself in a gym and starve myself...and if you ask me, some of those people either lose sight of why they're at the ranch OR they only want to win the cash prize at the end. So, to me, unless you have a medical condition for the reason for being obese, I would suggest moderation in the foods you eat. Make sense? Don't go getting all angry and stupid on me, it just seems logical to not eat 5 hamburgers instead of one...maybe on a whole wheat bun, w/low calorie mayo, some lettuce, low fat cheese and I see nothing wrong w/a pickle on the side okay, and add a simple exercise routine of sorts to your day. Even 5 minutes to start can go a long way to slimming down.

3. In correlation to Random Thought #2...I gain most of my weight during the winter months. I become a bear that hibernates unless I really have to venture out of doors for say doctor appts, food shopping, household necessity shopping. So, come the first signs of spring, my butt is literally walking everywhere. Walking works for me in helping to shed those extra lbs. old man winter gave me. Lots of sex works too, but I think that's for another time maybe.

4. Why haven't these guys left yet???

5. I realized after reading the comments in my "Anal Retentive or OCD" post, that although I amused some of you guys, I sounded like a real idiot in the kitchen. On the contrary, I'm pretty comfortable in the kitchen. I just have those days that...just turn out to be "those kinda days."

6. "My name is Inigo Montoya...you killed my father...prepare to die."

7. I hate stuffy noses.

8. Why do the flowers that I buy keep dying on me?

9. I shouldn't be allowed to run with scissors OR drive while under the influence of Midol.

10. Today is one of those kinda days.

Much Luvz, Witchie!

Musing on a Saturday...Anal Retentive or OCD...you decide.

2010-04-24T13:08:00.004-04:00

So, I'm in the middle of my adgitizing clicks and in between pages loading, I decide I want some muffins. Yum, you say. Yum I say. So, I get the muffin mix...yes, from a box (because as I specified in another blog, I am NOT Martha Stewart!)...I grab the muffin pans (the throw away aluminum ones...which I never throw away, I reuse and reuse them until they can't be reused again!), next on the list is READING THE DIRECTIONS. These, thankfully, are short, simple and to the point. Next I grab my muffin cups, you know, the colorful paper ones? As I am placing these ingenious little cups into the aluminum muffin pan...I began to realize something...I am either Anal Retentive or I have OCD worse than I thought!

I spent an extra few minutes rearranging these damn paper cups according to color...yellow, pink, blue, yellow, pink, blue!!!!! One of the blue ones was out of sync with the pink and yellow and I felt overly compelled to put the blue in it's place...in sequence of the pink and yellow!

So, while I'm distracting myself with yellow, pink, blue, yellow, pink, blue, I said, "Gosh, that would make a good post for my blog. Then, of course, I started analyzing every little thing I did. I followed the list of directions...which went like this:

1 pkg Muffin Mix
1 egg
1/4 cup of milk
Preheat oven to 400
BLEND ingredients, batter will be lumpy
FILL muffin cups 1/2 full
BAKE 13 - 15 minutes, or until golden brown

See, pretty simple and to the point. I had the muffin mix already (otherwise how would I have known to use eggs and milk?) and assembling the other things was simple. I have no less than 4 measuring cups in this house and do you know...NOT ONE OF THEM HAVE A 1/4 MARKING ON THEM??!! I was debating going to a neighbor to see if they had a measuring cup with this marking, but I didn't want to look as stupid as I'd already felt. I decided to make an executive decision...I filled the measuring cup to just below the 1/3 line...twice and had to hope it wasn't too much.

Next, I broke the eggs. I'll have you know...I really HATE cracking eggs! They're slimy and no matter how careful you (or I am) I always get covered with egg goo and/or have little pieces of egg shell in my recipe. Both happened of course! So, I chase down all the little errant bastard egg shells and then wipe my hands now covered with egg goo AND muffin mix!! (And before I forget, I, for some damn reason, kept wanting to put oil in this mix, thankfully I put the oil back in the cupboard otherwise there would have been oil in it too)

I was proud of myself for thinking to use a whisk to mix the batter and as the box predicted, it was lumpy, and I did try to beat the hell out of those lumps (other than the raspberry pieces in the mix).

An aside here: **The minute my two boys heard me clanging dishes around in the kitchen, they came running. Oh joy, you may think, a mommy/child moment...NOT! I will sit on the floor with them for hours playing with blocks and matchbox cars, I will try to keep them on task when coloring with them (on the paper, not the table, Greyson), I will even suffer the indignities of taking a bath outside of the tub while they are in it trying to drown me. But I WILL NOT involve them in any cooking preparations and that's final! We did this once and I think I still see chocolate cake batter on the wall! So, now you all know how bad of a mommy I am and that I will wait until they around the ages of 9 & 10 to involve them in the cooking process, I can move on now...

Now, where was I? Ah, yes, beating the hell out of the lumps! I forgave myself for leaving the lumps and began to fill the muffin cups. And this was lots of fun...until the batter kept hitting the muffin pan on the outside of the cups! In my mind, the batter is supposed to just flow into the cups, no mess, no fuss. This was the reason, after all, for using the damn paper cups in the first place...no having to wash the muffin pan!! Of course, the aluminum muffin pans are full of "wrinkles" so I tried my best to clean up around the edges of the pan cups. This was useless because of the damn "wrinkles!" Now I still have to wash the muffin pan! You think I am lazy? Well, I'll not be the first to destroy your illusions of me...I AM LAZY.

Now, I've got the batter in the paper cups and set on a cookie sheet (my dear grandma had taught me that one, cake, pie, muffins...anything that can possibly spill over the pan while cooking WILL hit the bottom of the oven and not only create one hell of a mess to clean, but will stink to high heaven during the cooking process and you'll think you're burning your recipe, Thank you, Grandma!). The muffins are baking when my 3 year old came in and said; "The muffins done."

"No." I responded and at that moment, realized that I had forgotten to set the timer on the microwave for the allotted 13 - 15 minutes!! Panic suddenly raced through me...How was I going to know when they were done? When do I take them out? Of course, the directions said "...or until golden brown." I made another executive decision...I set the timer for 13 minutes and would check on them when that time was up. I had started this post during the baking time when suddenly the microwave beeped. I jumped up looking confused, "Already?"

When you're sitting in the doctor's office, 13 minutes can seem like a lifetime, but sitting in front of my computer, 13 minutes went by before I'd even had the directions listed here! Skeptical, I checked the muffins. Sure enough, they were not "golden brown." The anal retentive (or was it the OCD?) in me made me set the microwave for 5 more minutes. During the entire 18 minutes of cooking time, the 3 year old incessantly asked; "The muffins done?"

The microwave beeped again and wallah! Golden brown Raspberry Muffins!! I was not happy to report to the 3 year old that he couldn't have a muffin yet because they were still to hot to touch and he was not happy to hear the news. All is good though at the end of this posting, the muffins cooled fast, the 3 year old got his muffin and I got fodder for my daily post! The 2 year old DID NOT get a muffin of his own because he would have simply decorated the living room floor with it instead of eat it...and this kid LOVES food!! So, being the "not always evil mommy" that I am, I gave him bites from mine, which in reality was all he needed because after a couple of bites he moved on to finish tearing the toys out of his toy box we keep in the living room for the boys to play with. And that, as they say, is another show or fodder for another blog posting someday!

Much Luvz, Witchie!

Raffle info...

2010-04-23T11:21:00.003-04:00

Before I get my ass off this chair and from in front of this screen, I have to let you all know a little more about the Ad Spots I am offering on my blog.......

Ok, for anyone who wants to:

1. Buy an ad -
A. As soon as you make your choice of the amt. of time you want your ad to run and have made the payment, immediately send an email to: sldmerchandiseinc@hotmail.com with your choice of time (1 wk., 2 wks, etc.) your name, paypal name AND your blog name & badge code or Business Name & URL w/the pic you want me to use scaled down to 125 x 125.

B. In the subject line put: Witchie's Place Ad Spot Purchase.

C. I will send you back a confirmation email with the details of your purchase and the date(s) when you can expect to see your ad running.

Thank you and yes, I'm still hashing out the details of the "raffle" for a "free Ad Spot," so bear w/me. I can tell you that so far I've decided that there will be 3 winners (1st, 2nd & 3rd place winners) and each winner will be placed accordingly on my blog (top of page 1st, middle of page 2nd and bottom of page in footer 3rd place). That's it so far because I've been checking out other people's blogs to see how everyone else is doing this type of thing and I must say...I don't Twitter, I have more than enough people to keep up with on Facebook, I only know two others bloggers very well to have people be following other bloggers, etc. So I'll have to try to be creative and unique here. I'll post as soon as I have worked out the details. HAGD!!

Much Luvz, Witchie!

Monday Minute

2010-04-23T11:03:00.004-04:00

Monday Minute

I just followed Ian starting today and it was this post that got me there. Friday Follow actually got me here, clicking on different things in each persons posts, what a ride it has been this morning!

1 - Ever take a shit in the woods?
I've been camping before...without the benefit of a camper...

2 - If you won $1,000, what's the first thing you would do with it besides give me a cut?
Pay my rent off.

3 - What's your favorite phrase?
Ian took mine w/the Inigo Montoya line (all time fav and my fam. thinks I'm crazy too), so I guess my second fav. phrase is; "Yeah, right!"

4 - Fill in the blank - the world would be a better place if my husband's boss left the planet.
(ignorance is just not attractive...no matter how much hair crap you use!)

5 - How do you take your coffee or tea?
Coffee is NASTY no matter how you try to doctor it up! Now, gimmie a good steaming mug of Salada tea, the bigger the better, with 2 sugars (depending on the mug size, of course) and a dash of milk. I am thirsty now!

Well, that was fun...and this goes on every Monday???

Friday Follow...

2010-04-23T08:41:00.003-04:00

Hi everyone! Today is my first day as a Friday Follower. I'm not sure if I've done this right and if it doesn't look like the page that I've joined from, then someone please let me know... If it does, then Woohoo! for me on the first try!

A very big thank you needs to go out to a fellow follower, Momsy Katsy of My "Tots" Exactly, My Tummy Calls and My Game of Chance for first introducing me to Friday Follow AND for helping to walk me through this technical process.

Thursday's Thoughts...Following the Rest of the World...

2010-04-22T19:31:00.003-04:00

...hopefully. Today, of course as you must know already, is Earth Day. Most blogs I visited today have written about it, mentioned it or referred to it in some way, shape or form. I will not be the exception. As I live in a building with 6 other apartments in it and an infrequent maintenance team, you might as well have guessed...our small yard and larger parking area are dirty with litter of all kinds. Just yesterday I stood on my porch and surveyed the parking area and saw empty soda and water bottles, styrofoam plates, chip bags, and all sorts of other garbage. Cigarette butts littered the ground at the stairs to come into the building, broken toys that we have deposited into the garbage buckets have taken up residency in the parking lot, rather than staying retired to the trash. Sad, but this is how our neighbors seem to prefer to live.

I decided then that in the morning, I would call our office manager and ask if the maintenance crew could drop off a large push broom, a rake and a shovel so that I could clean this disgusting-ness up. Alas, I became ill late last night and found that I couldn't sleep at all. I was still up when the light crept through the windows this morning, and I finally lay down about 10:30 a.m. I knew my day would be shot as I still was not feeling kosher. So, I am very disappointed that I didn't get to participate in my own little way. On the other hand, I did hand wash a handful of little clothes (personable's) and hung them out on our clothesline to dry. My way of saving energy by not using a washer or a dryer. I hope I am not being precocious in assuming that my little act has contributed in some way today, I sincerely hope it has and I hope to feel better tomorrow so that while my boys play outside, I can tackle the area they have to play in out there and not worry about what they are wont to pick up off the ground...as little boys do.

I hope everyone had a productive Earth Day and contributed in whatever way you could so that our children and their children have a decent, healthy planet to live on when we're gone.

Much Luvz, Witchie!

American Idol-Idol Gives Back...

2010-04-21T22:26:00.007-04:00

Watching American Idol tonight has reminded me that there are so many more others in this world that are so much more unfortunate than myself. We struggle sometimes to make sure there's food on the table, but we make do every week, while many in this world are going without; we are lucky enough to qualify for health care for our family and my children are healthy, while many have none at all; there are sick little children all over the world (not just here in the United States!), starving little children, children with no educational possibilities all over this world and it makes me sad to know that in this day and age that this could be so.

I could go on about all the "rich folks" who ask us to give generously when we are barely surviving ourselves, but I won't touch off what could turn into a very nasty debate, so I won't. For now, I hope our donation helps at least a little bit. And I'd also like to post the show's ending song, which has always touched me from the time I was a young girl to even now; Elton John's "Your Song."

Thank you for spending a little bit of time with me tonight and Blessed Be to the world.

Much Luvz, Witchie!

Ahhh, Tuesday...

2010-04-20T22:16:00.005-04:00

There's so much for me to go on about tonight that I hope I don't overwhelm you.

FIRST: It was American Idol singing night! ***SPOILER OF SORTS***

O-M-freakin'-G!!!!!

With the show starting off with Casey James (one of my fav's) doing what I thought was a pretty decent rendition of Fleetwood Mac's "Don't Stop," I wasn't really surprised by the Judge's bashings...as usual. I think this guy has a pretty unique voice and it seems they want him to sound like everyone else. I will still vote for him. Lee Dewyze was up next, and forgive this report, but I can't for the life of me remember what the name of the song was, but he did do an awesome job. I would also give Lee a few of my votes (yes, I do vote more than once for a contestant I like, so sue me!). For me, the show went downhill from there with unforgettable performances by Aaron, Tim, Sioban (though I AM grateful she didn't do her now-patented screech!)and Michael. The show ended with an absolutely flawless and stunning performance by Crystal "MommaSox" Bowersox. In tears at the end of her performance, her natural bluesy style never fails to give me goose-bumps! Over all, THE best performance of the night!

Now, on with the other stuffs!! You like my new look? If you've been here before, then you should notice the BIG difference. If you haven't been here before now, then you have no idea what I'm talking about! LOL Along with changes to the basic layout, I've added, re-arranged, and made major changes.

Because being a SAHM doesn't bring home the bacon, I've decided to offer Ad Space at the top, in the middle and at the bottom of the page. All are the same price right now, but I will be lowering the price accordingly for the middle and bottom of the page spots. If I don't get to it this evening, I will get to it tomorrow.

I'm also looking to "raffle" off one of the ad spots at the top (prime space) from time to time, when I get that all figured out, I'll post it.

I also like to stop by and say hi to everyone who leaves a message in my chat box and some don't have anyplace to leave a Hi back, so if you don't hear from me, that doesn't mean I wasn't there or ignored your visit to my blog.

I hope you enjoy my new look and come back to visit often, as I will be visiting all of you!

Much Luvz, Witchie!

~Monday's Little Snippets~ Random Thoughts...

2010-04-19T15:35:00.007-04:00

Here are more random thoughts from an obviously tainted mind...

*To me it seems if someone is going to act the part of a reporter...at least get the grammar correct. When your headline includes a "him" when you're talking about a "her," please re-read and use the correct words...please?

*While chatting with a dear friend about our children, she informed me that her son had said something "not so nice" at school. He was put on the phone with Mom and properly reprimanded. All good. Then I told her that my toddlers ( 3 and 2 years old respectively) were baaaaaad...yes, I said it just like that...and that I was just going to cut to the chase and buy the straight jackets NOW. She lol'd me and said, they're just little. I also said that I have closets...and lots of duck tape!!!! Her son is 8 (I believe)...you get it?

*It seems my Goddess status has not precluded me from poopy diapers, animal vomit, washing a sink full of dishes or 4 baskets of dirty clothes. AND, yes, I am expected to cook the supper, run the errands, be the fashion designer, referee the fights, and still be pleasant when the hubby gets home from work! Really?

*After having a conversation with my youngest daughter about frequent urination, I asked her if she was Cyberpregnant. She looked at me funny at first, then thought about it. Then told me that she would tell her boyfriend that if he'd gotten her cyberpregnant, then she was going to cyberkill him. (she is NOT sexually active and proud to be a virgin)

*I love Halloween.

~Pic for the day~

Jordan Almonds - Goddess Food!

Much Luvz, Witchie!

Sunday Sweets - This is my Sweets!

2010-04-18T22:15:00.014-04:00

In a previous blog, I mentioned some of the things I'm thankful for. Here is one of those things:

Isn't she a beauty? Her name is Saia (Sigh-ya) and if she hears me pretend cry, she'll bolt over to me from anywhere in the house to come make sure I'm alright! Here are a few other ones I'm thankful for:
This is Zora, she is one funny little cat. Saia and Zora are Siamese/Persian sisters and where Saia is the serious one, Zora is the clown...she will play peek-a-boo around a corner with you!

This big guy is Kira. He was originally my sisters cat and his name was Akira. We took him when they moved south and we just call him Kira now. This guy is like Saia, barely ever leaves my side and must sleep right up in my face. I have to literally take him and move him to the end of the bed and boy does he get upset! He's my big baby! If I had to guess, I'd say he probably weighs in at about 15 -19 lbs.

Now, this goofy boy is barely a year old, his name is Poopy Butt (so named by the people who he previously owned, not by us!) and this guy will literally chase you around the house playing with you. If we come from the kitchen to the living room...BEWARE!!...he will be waiting for you on the back of the couch to pounce on you! He's a feisty little devil and even though we don't have a lot of room here, we just didn't have the heart to take him to the Animal Shelter when his family left him and his brother behind. We just couldn't keep his brother, Bob, though, :(

Now this sweet little face belongs to my only canine companion, Pudgy, again, so named by previous caretakers! Shih-Tzu, you say? You'd be close. She's Shih-Tzu/Miniature Poodle Mix. I gained the pleasure of this little gem on my 40th birthday and she has been my protector ever since! She can dance, speak, high-five, play catch w/food, and alert every neighbor w/in a 3 block radius that someone is at our door! I also get the feeling that she might think she's a cat and not a dog because she tried to nurse a couple of kittens that we'd found several years back and she romps with Zora and Poopy Butt all the time! They don't hurt her, nor does she try to hurt them. Unfortunately, Kira and Saia think it's beneath them to play w/her. We figure her to be somewhere around 8 - 10 years old.

So, these are my friends, companions, familiars and I certainly wouldn't know what to do with myself...or what I will do with myself when the time comes that they depart this world for the next! So, in the meantime, it's time to play peek-a-boo with Poopy, who is eyeing me from around the corner at this very moment...and ease Saia's fears that the others aren't trying to hurt me...and stop Kira from trying to stake his claim to my lap...and take Pudgy to do her business as she's scratching at the door...and watch Zora's butt rise in the air as I scratch her back.

Have a Great Week!
Much luvz, Witchie!

Saturday Savory Recipe's...Make this one with Lots of Love...

2010-04-17T18:44:00.005-04:00

Recipe for a Happy Marriage
4 cups of Love
2 cups of Loyalty
Dash of Faith
3 cups of Kindness
4 cups of Understanding
1 cup of Friendship
1 Cup of Playfulness
5 spoonfuls of Hope
1 barrel of Laughter
Pinch of Forgiveness (no substitutions)
Dash of Thoughtfulness (not optional)

F is for Friday...Finally.

2010-04-16T23:03:00.003-04:00

It has been a long week. A very long week. Catching up on shows I've been missing, re-potting plants, only to find out the temperatures are to drop...and there's a chance of snow again, running into old friends, worrying about hubby's current job status (all for nothing in that court!), worrying about an acquaintances health situation as I've received no word from her, learning that much of the work I've been doing on line has been for nothing really because I haven't gotten credit for it. Trying to figure out ways of increasing my business, to no avail, there has been virtually none since I began it online. But I have been thankful for the laughs my two little boys have provided with their antics, the laughs provided from blogs I've read, the snuggle from my cat each night when I lay down to go to sleep.

It's the little things, it's always the little things that wash away the harsh realities of life. And I'm thankful for these little things.

Much luvz, Witchie!

Thursday's Thoughts...A Meeting of the Geezers, Kismet?

2010-04-15T18:45:00.005-04:00

I think its always fun to run into old acquaintances that you haven't seen in a bit. Today this very thing happened... well, sort of. Today I met up with (again) an old friend that, up until recently, I haven't had contact with for a couple of years at least. We'd been such close friends years ago too, but circumstances had separated us for a time...and so the story begins...

After leaving the city we met in here in our state, we met up again in the city we both now live in. I'd moved first, then she a few months later. She had gone through some family and health issues and we'd lost touch for a couple of months or so and then I'd gotten a call. She was in the hospital in the state where the majority of her family lives. I don't rightly remember what had happened to her now, but she sounded awful on the phone and she wanted to come home with her teenage daughter, but had no where to go. Even though my small apartment was full already, I'd offered them a room until they could get back on their feet here. It was like we'd never lost touch. We spent almost a year in that apartment with like 11 people living under one small roof. Yes, all the tension, getting on each others nerves, the late night conversations took place. Then suddenly, the unthinkable happened. The apartment on the first floor caught fire. By this time my friend had been renting the apartment for a couple of months. Both our family's had lost just about everything. Some stuff was salvaged, but she'd lost quite a bit more than we had lost and again, our families were separated.

We both found new apartments in this city, but we weren't as close as when we'd lived together and then in the same building. We'd run into each other on rare occasions over the past 2 years, but never really kept in touch. Recently though, it seems like every time we go to the store, I run into her now. Whether it be the local Wally World, or at the supermarket, we'd stop and awkwardly chat for a few minutes, but then we'd part and neither one of us, it seemed, really made an effort to exchange phone numbers, emails or whatever. Heck, I knew where she lived, but I didn't even know what apartment she lived in and even though she's visited once or twice to our apartment here, she doesn't drive to come visit us. Now all of a sudden we're in each others faces. Just today, we met up at the supermarket and I ran her over with my shopping cart. Yeah, that's exactly how we used to act when we were close years ago. I knew she didn't drive and even though she lived only a short walk from the market, I offered her a ride home.

This was pretty cool because I got to see where she lived finally and while I have never been, nor will I ever be judgmental of others, I was not happy with what I saw. I always envied her for her meticulous home (apartment), but here, she is living in an apartment that was small and after everything she'd been through with her health and all the movings and whatnot, it seemed to me that she'd just given up on living life. She'd always been the more active one, going places, doing things and me, I was the homebody. Friends came to visit me, instead of the other way around. When dropping her off and spending about twenty minutes or so chatting, we made plans to visit again and this time bring the rest of the gang.

Upon arriving home and preparing dinner, I thought about the impending visit. I thought, omg, how would we all fit? I couldn't just not bring everybody. So I decided to kidnap her and her daughter when I picked up my husband from work. We had a wonderful visit here at our apartment, she got to see the boys and it seemed we really picked up where we'd left off 2 years earlier. We were laughing and talking about old times when we both lived in the same apartment complex, then when we all lived together in our tiny apartment before the fire. Then we got to talking about her family and stuff. I won't bore you all with these details, but suffice it to say that her father is pretty well off, a really sweet gentleman, and his health is failing. He's been wanting her and her daughter to come live closer to him in Indiana, but she just didn't feel like making the trip, she didn't want to really live in the huge house he was offering her with just her and her daughter (because dad would move out, I don't know either, but that's the dynamics there) at the time. She didn't even want him to leave her any of the houses he owns when he moves on from this world to the next.

While talking this evening though, I learned that she decided that she did want the huge house after all, no other ones, and that she was thinking about moving down there -over there, wherever Indiana is from Rhode Island, because of his failing health and to be closer to him. Through this conversation, she told us that he's selling a few of his other houses because he just can't keep up with them now and there's nobody there really to manage the properties for him. That's when I jokingly told her, "Hey, tell him we'll come down and manage the apts. for him!"

That got all of us thinking. Why not? We've been wanting to move out of this state for a few years now and have considered everywhere from Georgia to Texas, lol! If we all moved down there together, we'd still be close, hubby would have a job managing the properties for her dad and everybody would have a comfortable roof over their heads. She'd be ensconced in her family home again, closer to her dad and her daughter would have granddaddy time with him. He's been steadily losing family members to the "other side" over the past few years and I honestly thought it would be good for the daughter to be able to spend time with her aging granddad.

We've had this conversation before back when we all lived in that tiny apartment together, but nothing really ever came of it, so, even though she said she'll talk to her dad about the subject (because she calls him every weekend now without fail because of his failing health), we'll wait and see what happens.

Now, I am a firm believer in everything happens for a reason. Maybe the sudden frequent meetings out of nowhere were a prelude to this evening? Kismet. Maybe the Meeting of the Geezers (because neither of us are spring chickens anymore) was meant to be for both of us, long time friends, so that we both could realize a dream of finally being comfortable somewhere, not only in our own skins, but in our own little corner of this great big world.

Until next time, friends and followers, Much Luvz, Witchie!

Wednesday's Witchie's Workings - Food of the Gods

2010-04-14T13:30:00.003-04:00

Ok, so I pulled out a bag of Lay's Original Wavy chips and for the moment I thought..."ahh, heaven!" Then I began to think, what would be a food fit for the Gods? Of course, being a Goddess, I figured chocolate...dark chocolate to be exact...would surely be high on the list (if not at the top of the list). Its one of my favorite foods, and yes, the other Gods and Goddesses do love it as well, mostly melted on other foods, bodies, etc. But as I was researching this topic from a human perspective, I came across a site that had recipes posted on it that apparently originated in Ancient Rome and it seems as though (going by their own research into the topic) apple cider vinegar was used in many many recipes.

Apple Cider Vinegar??? Ugh! Honey, Yes. Chocolate, Yes. Grapes and Wine, Yes! But apple cider vinegar?? Not my first choice of foods I'd regularly want to ingest. Even in minuscule amounts. All I can say about that is that I don't remember this particular flavor in my foods then and I'm so glad the human taste buds have evolved since. Now one would think that Honey would be right at the top of the list of ambrosial foods as well. When warmed, it's tough to beat the flavor, now drizzle this hearty, thick awesomeness on say, warmed whole grain bread...oooh, yummy!

Of course, no where does it say in the rule book that for a food to be befitting of a God or Goddess that it has to be sweet...and/or sticky...or look heavenly on that sculpted, muscle-rippled body...erm, I'm sorry, I digress... Butternut Squash, when mixed with just the right spices has a way of leaving a satisfied thrill on my tongue, a warmth in my tummy and transports me back to my home on Olympia when in the Autumn we feast on this lovely food. Me, being a descendant (several times removed) of a more famous Goddess (who I will not mention in this writing) and therefore a lesser Goddess, prefer the sweet flavors to that of the salty or spicy varieties, but then, that's just me. Every now and again I do get a craving for a hearty beef stew with buttermilk biscuits and a nice cornbread, but as of this moment? The Cosmic Brownie Rules!!

The World At Large! "March's Dumbest Criminals."

2010-04-14T00:11:00.002-04:00

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Monday's Little Snippets - Spring Has Sprung-Beltaine is nearing!

2010-04-12T19:03:00.005-04:00

Flowers blooming; donning the shorts; the sounds of the birds singing early in the morning, welcoming the day; seeing the local park full of fishers and playground tykes...all sure signs that Spring has sprung to be sure. Here at our house (itty bitty apartment), we began our Spring cleaning. We did a house cleaning unlike anything we have done recently. Got a box of toddler boys clothes ready to be taken to the local Saver's store (it's like a thrift store here) and working on yet another, toys no longer played with or broken, shipped to the backyard and garbage, blankets laundered, windows open wide to air the place out from the stale, stagnant scents of a Winter now over.

While Spring may have officially began on March 20, it started just a wee bit later in our home. I can't wait to go to the store and get my flower seeds to pot tomorrow and even though once they bloom I'll have a porch full of bee's, I look forward to the wonderful scent they will bring.

I also look forward to a Pagan celebration coming soon...Beltane, on May 1. One of the two most important Sabbats (the other being Samhain), it marks the beginning of a new season (whereas Samhain marks the end). This Sabbat is a fertility Sabbat, one that celebrates life above all else. Balefires are lit at this time on May Eve, Daisy chains are woven and worn by children for protection and bells are rung to protect against the mischievous faeries. It is said that the ringing of the bells hurt the wee faeries ears. There are also Morris Dances, old fertility dances traditionally performed around a Maypole. These dances are from English and Celtic lands and still survive today. Lace some jingle bells through white or red ribbon and tie onto your ankles, making a bow, and dance away and Celebrate Life!!

One of the most important customs of Beltaine, which has never died out is that of dancing around the May Pole. The Maypole is a phallic symbol impregnating the birth canal being woven around it by the dancers. I'll go into more detail on this symbolic act the closer we get to Beltaine, so be looking for it if you are interested in learning something new.

For now, I will begin to celebrate Spring with planting my flowers in hopes that they will be in full bloom by may 1, so that I may decorate my altar with them (I honestly don't have a green thumb, so it's a hit or miss kind of thing with me). I wish all a happy Spring!

Blessed Be, Witchie!

Sunday Sweets -Lazy Sunday!

2010-04-11T22:46:00.014-04:00

Ok, so judging by these pics, a not so lazy Sunday...

1. 3 Toddler boys. 2.Checkin'out the hill. 3.Worms.
4. Worm going home.

5. Romping thru the woods. 6 & 7. Sleepy ride home.

8. Silly ride home

O-M-G!!!

2010-04-10T10:32:00.003-04:00

I was all set to post something else when hubby played this video for me. I was like, OMG! Apparently, this gentleman (yes, I said, gentleman! He's 23 yrs. old), Lin Yu Chun, won this country's version of American Idol or America's Got Talent, called Super Star Avenue. If you love this song like I do, you'll love his version!

F is for Friday

2010-04-09T23:10:00.003-04:00

Yeah, it's sorta like that...

2010-04-08T23:12:00.003-04:00

What is this world coming to...to be more precise, our country? Am I wrong to be upset about some of these things?

*A diplomat can just walk away from a charge that your every day Joe Schmuck would be incarcerated for a number of years over. Not only does this person walk away free and clear due to Diplomatic Immunity, but he also gets to slap us in the face by joking about his actions (referring to the 2001 shoe-bomber incident), and yet he still gets to go home. Shouldn't he have to at least face reprimand from his own country...publicly...even if it's just for show??

*A Governor goes on vacation when his state finds itself in desperate need of guidance and help because Mother Nature decided to have a hissy fit. While there were many divided comments about this subject as to why he shouldn't have canceled the "planned in advance vacation," there were just as many as to why he should have canceled it. My take on it? He should have been there to show his support of the residents HE represents...yes, even if he couldn't have done a damn thing about all the flooding!

*4 miners are still missing from a mine that has had 61 safety violations against it in the past 15 months alone. 61 safety violations??!! Aside from the loss of jobs for these 4, plus the other 25 who were actually killed in the explosion...shouldn't this mine have been closed down until the violations were fixed?? Now, 25 hard working people are not only out of a job, but out of their lives as well!! There are NO excuses acceptable for this. NONE. My heart and prayers go out to all the families who have suffered losses from this incident and I pray that the 4 still missing will be rescued safe and sound.

*I don't even want to touch on the Health Care Reform Bill. Am I the only American that is truly confused by this whole thing? I've been reading posts here, there and every where for and against it and I have no clear picture of what this bill says or what it means to me and my family. Call me ignorant if you want, I don't care, but could someone please explain this 2000 page bill to me...without the liberal dose of personal opinion attached...I would greatly appreciate it and then let me make my own decision on what I think about it.

These are just some of the reasons why I don't have too much of an interest in the nightly news anymore, yet I still watch it and try to keep up on current events. I'd post more, but I have a time issue at the moment, maybe I'll leave it for another day because I'm sure there'll be more stupid news to report in the future.

Much luvz, Witchie!

Organization goes out the window!

2010-04-07T22:30:00.005-04:00

As I told y'all in the beginning, I would try to follow a schedule of sorts, you see my topics to the left, right? Yeah, right! I also told you that I have ADHD and I was sure that it would be difficult for me to stick to the topics given...here is one of those times!

My topic today will be...wait for it...ok, don't wait...Women's Vitamins/Supplements. What, you say? I don't want to read about womens vitamins. Trust me, I'm not going to get all techy on you here. My thing with these freakin' horse pills are just that...they're damn horse pills! I commend every single woman who can swallow one of these things whole because I can't! I just can't! I even cut the thing in half and it still stuck in my throat! Why are these things so damn huge?? Is there so much stuff they pack into them that they can't be any smaller??

So, here's my simple solution: Make the damn things smaller and instead of trying to swallow 1 pill per day, can't we just take two or even three smaller ones?? Is that so hard?? I would rather take a few smaller pills than kick my gag reflex into high gear trying to swallow one of these things!! Unfortunately, for the time being I will have to content myself with pulling out the knife and chop the thing into smaller, more manageable, swallowable pieces. Kudo's to all the women of the world for shoving this thing down the hatch without so much as a blink of an eye!! I am not one of you.

Much luvz, Witchie!

Getting Old is a Bitch!

2010-04-06T17:39:00.004-04:00

I know that at age 46, some would say; "You are not old yet!" Well, when you find that you're beginning to take frequent naps each afternoon or mix up or forget your kids names altogether, you find that this has just got to be a sure sign of aging...rapidly!

While laying down (to take one of those 'frequent naps'), I realized that in my last post, I was seriously remiss in not adding a few other bloggers names/url's to it that are meaningful to me...another sure sign of the onset of old age: forgetfulness! So, I decided to forego this afternoon's 'nap' and give kudo's to some others who have entertained me recently.

First and foremost is a good friend who has shown me the ways of "The Blogger!"
Kudo's to you: Momma Katsy for your "My "Tots" Exactly" & "My Tummy Calls" blogs! URL'S:
http://mytotsexactly.blogspot.com/
http://mytummycalls.blogspot.com/

2nd on my list of favorite blogs to visit daily is:
http://www.boneheadblog.com/
If you can't handle straight forward opinions with a twist of humor & irony, don't visit this one!

3rd:
http://injaynesworld.blogspot.com/
Another like Bonehead, I just love this woman's views & opinions!!

4th, this one I just found today and what a pleasure it was spending the time I did there!
Serendipitous... http://chune123.blogspot.com/
Stunning pictures, short, concise commentary. I love it!

These are just 4 of my favorites, if you check out who I'm following, chasing, whatever, there are a few more. There would be more, but some of the blogs I've been to don't have a badge to post on my blog, I just follow, lol. And while I'm at it, COULD SOMEONE please teach me how to make a badge of my own, the grey cells just can't figure this out by themselves! Thank you in advance!

Much luvz, Witchie!
(Oh yeah, and the hubby has a new blog as well, check him out and give him some luvz & pointers, if you think he needs em! http://thetechnowolfsrealm.blogspot.com/)

2010-04-06T15:21:00.004-04:00

First, today I have to thank Adgitize. Why? Because it has brought me to so many other blogs that I would have never visited, or never even thought to visit. Second, I'd like to thank all the blogger's I've visited, I have been rewarded with hours of entertainment, whether it be reading sarcastic thoughts on everyday things, or straight from the hip opinions of how our country is going to hell in a hand-basket (and very quickly, I might add) or to blogs with absolutely stunning pictures with or without commentary. I have enjoyed many, many blogs today alone (after I got my adgitize clicking done, of course!). Other thanks go to our very own Blogs of Note, without it, I would have never viewed some of the most beautiful pictures I've ever seen and aspire to recreating in my own world (with my own camera). To see these pictures, go to a blog called "Serendipitous." Forgive me, Chris (if I may be so bold to use your first name here) if I've spelled your blog name wrong. the url for this blog is: http://chune123.blogspot.com/

Once I've posted enough of my own things to say, pictures to share, stories to tell, I hope that I will see my own blog posted in the Blogs of Note section of our beloved dashboard. Until then, again thanks to all of you for entertaining me when I am bored silly, and hopefully some will enjoy what I post enough to follow me as well!

Much luvz, Witchie.

~Monday's Little Snippets~ -

2010-04-05T19:30:00.003-04:00

Springh is here and I have dee inevidable code. Ya dow da one...sneezingh every do seconds, dose is runningh like a sieve, redh and zore frob wipingh, idtchy and pindchingh dike a bidtch, eyes waderingh, dears runningh down your face, head all foggy-like code. Nyquil only alleviades the sympdoms while you sleep and you can'd sleep whend you rund your ownd busidness and you have to keep up wid do doddlers, so you forego da Nyquil. Ond dop of feelingh like your head is beingh squeezed, your fambily is lookingh ad you wid dat expecdand look: "Whads for suppah?"

I am nod Marda Steward, dammid! I am humand! I can'd run a muldi-million dollar compandy, rund a house, spend dime in jail and still funcdtion wid a code! You wanna ead, you cook! Da mosd I cand do is defrosdt da chickend in da microwave and dat's cuz I done have da touch id. Da mosd I'm willingh to do righd dow is sanidize my handhs dil dey damnh near disinhegrade, dry nod do fall adsleep ind my chair while dalking do by blog-fands, andh keep dellingh byself; "ids do early for Nyquil!"

So, I'll have my dee (tea), wrab byself in by fuzzy badrobe and surf da web somb more while by fambily makes fund of how I dound andh gives be da ebil eye for nod cooking for dem.

Mudch luvz, Widtchie.
(andh I'm still beingh askd, "Whad are ya doin' wid da chicken, dear?")

What could be sweeter for Sunday Sweets?

2010-04-04T01:03:00.003-04:00

Saturday Savory Recipe's

2010-04-03T14:04:00.004-04:00

Okay, in honour of the Easter Holiday, here is a recipe that might take just a little bit of time (because the bread has to rise, and then rise again, but it's yummy!! I've seen this one several times in my pursuit of a holiday bread minus some ingredients or adding something different. With it, you can halve the dough, roll out and twist the two around each other, connecting the ends by following the directions below. Once this step is done, tuck a colored-hardboiled egg into the twists, brush with egg white instead of butter and bake as indicated below. Holiday bread or Easter Bread Ring. I'm sure most of you will have either heard of it or eaten it at some point in your lives. Enjoy!

GERMAN BREMER KLABEN (HOLIDAY BREAD)

2 packets active dry yeast
1 cup raisins
1/2 cup warm water
1/2 cup currants
1 1/2 cups milk, lukewarm
3/4 cup slivered almonds
1/2 cup sugar
grated rind of 3 lemons
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. cardamom
1/2 cup butter, softened
7 to 7 1/2 cups sifted flour

Preheat oven to 375°F

Sprinkle yeast over the warm water; stir until dissolved. Set aside for 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, scald the milk and allow it to cool. (You may use reconstituted non-fat dry milk if you'd like to skip the scalding step).

Combine lukewarm milk, sugar, salt, butter and about half the flour. Beat for 2 minutes; add the yeast mixture.

Toss the nuts and fruit in a small amount of flour to coat. Add this and enough of the remaining flour to the batter to make a soft dough (more or less flour may be needed), along with lemon rind and cardamom. When you have a soft dough, knead on a floured work surface for 10 minutes until smooth and elastic.

Place in a buttered bowl (or use a non-stick spray for O extra calories), brush top with melted butter, and let rise until doubled in size. Punch down and knead again, form into one long roll, tucking ends under neatly.

Place on a greased baking sheet, and let rise until doubled.

Bake for about 1 hour. Top should be nicely brown. Brush with melted butter or dust with powdered sugar while still warm.

This celebration bread is famous in Northern Germany.

F is for Friday...

2010-04-02T22:02:00.014-04:00

Family:

Finding Zane:

Funny Bunny:

Fashionista!

Flower Power:

Frozen In Time:

Familiars:Funny Face:

Well, I hope you enjoyed my short reel of favorite foto's. Until next week my fine friends...

Much luv, Witchie

Thursday's Thoughts...

2010-04-01T21:09:00.004-04:00

Well, it would seem obvious that with Easter just a few days away, thoughts would turn to the holiday. Now, if you know me, then you know my thoughts don't take the normal turns that others' thoughts do. So, on with the thoughts...

Being raised as I was, Easter was full of candy-filled baskets, new outfits, family gatherings, etc. Sure, when I was very little, we did the church thing (no disrespect intended to those who do the church thing), but as I said before, I moved away from that path at a young age. Today, we still do the basket w/candy and gifts, but I personally celebrate in a different way...which is not for this particular blog topic.

Here on the East coast, we just experienced a rain fall like we hadn't seen in a very long time. Local flooding was reported for just about every city in our small state...with all the rain we received, it's no wonder Rhode Island didn't just float away!

Just beyond our backyard is a sort of swampy area. When it rains the way it has for the past week, the cute little stream running through this area, turns into a pond...a huge pond. I am thankful for the wall that separates the backyard from the "pond" and that we live on the third floor (in the sky). Now, my sister on the other hand is fortunate to own her own home and has a humongous backyard, but not fortunate enough to have escaped the inevitable basement flooding and the backyard turning into a lake. Take your local kiddie playground/park area...this is the size of her yard!

Ok, so this is the yard that hosts the annual family Easter Egg Hunt. I know where your thoughts just went, the imagery was the same for me! While conversing with Sister on Facebook (because Facebook has now become the new telephone!), I ask the obvious question; "Is the yard soggy?" Here is the short conversation that ensues:

Sister: "hopin backyard dries b4 sunday.or we"ll have to put kids in boats to find eggs."

Me: "that would be soooo freakin awesome!!! can you imagine it? watching a bunch of toddlers row, row, rowing their boats!!!!!!"

Sister: "get the life jackets. rules of the pond every child must b accompanied by an adult. that means rachel too"

(rachel happens to be a 17 year old, lol!)

Me: "she said she row her boat all by herself, don't need no stinkin a-dult!"

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

So, that is the usual tone of the conversations with my family members...and even though the topic of conversation changed to one of a more somber note, I couldn't get the image of a bunch of toddlers rowing around "hunting" for brightly colored, candy-filled plastic eggs out of my head! Of course, I possess an unusually active imagination therefore, the images (and inevitable questions) continue...

Exactly where does the 'adult supervision' come in...do we wade through the waist-high lake and guide the kiddie boats? And, if a tyke spots an egg...do they dive into the water in their Easter finery to snatch the prize OR do we adults make the plunge for them...seeing as none of them can swim yet (except for that over achieving 4 year old cousin)? And, what exactly do we do about the eggs that will sink into the muck created by the water? Do we count these as losses...or do we resume the Hunt when the water recedes? What about the candy/prizes in the eggs, of course, it'll get soggy and ruined because the eggs are not waterproof...do we keep more goodies in reserve for this purpose (I ask this because if we do not fill the eggs before we hide them, they'll just float on the top of the water and where is the fun of the Hunt in that?) And, possibly last, but not least...What do we do with the, shall we say, "over-zealous" parent? You know the one...The parent who'll have their kiddie ram another kiddie's boat to get to that pink egg in the bush... the parent who'll remove the stopper from another tyke's boat to make them sink and hinder their egg hunting progress...that parent who will stop at nothing to make sure their child has the lion's share...the bunny's share AND the turtle's share of the goody-filled eggs! And their child is the 11 month old who has no idea what the hell they're doing in a boat in the backyard and why their mom is screaming at them to stick their hands in that yucky wet stuff to grab some brightly colored hard thing...although, it might be good to chew on 'cause, dang it their gums hurt right about at that time!

So, these are my thoughts on our annual family Easter Egg Hunt. Of course, none of this will happen because our local weather lady has spoiled my fun and says the weather will be gorgeous from today on and Easter will be a sunny day for all the bunnies hopping around and somewhere in the 70's. Alas, I was so looking forward to a watery egg hunt too!

Much Luv, Witchie.

Here are some of my favorite pics...

2010-03-31T16:15:00.008-04:00

Witchie's Workings

2010-03-31T15:48:00.002-04:00

Unfortunately, my newness to blogging didn't account for the fact that if I start a new post on one day, save it to a draft and finish it on another, then post it, it gets posted on the date that I actually started it!

Therefore, this week's Wednesday's Witchie's Workings has been posted on the date of 3/29/10. Just scroll down and you'll find it if you're interested in reading my ramblings.

Thanx and have a great day!

The World At Large!

2010-03-30T23:31:00.003-04:00

Okay, so I said I would do this topic on Tuesdays...and I have every intention of following up on this, but unfortunately today I had no time to peruse for a story to relate to you. After being up for some 24+ hrs. straight and experiencing some harrowing medical issues, I spent the better portion of my day in the local ER. I won't relate the outcome of this very personal visit, but instead, some musings of spending time in the Emergency Room.

Of course, when you just have to drag yourself to the ER, unless you are incapacitated completely, try to bring something to occupy your time such as a book, hand held video games (does anybody play with these things any more?), your cell phone, etc. In my case, I brought a book. This was pointless because at the time of my arrival to the ER, I had been running on no sleep since 6 a.m. the day before...therefore, the book was knocking me out (sad, because this is the final book in a wonderful series and I am anxious to finish it!).

I put the book back into my bag and decided to do my favorite thing when in public places; People Watch. Now you'll notice I didn't say "fun" thing to do. What fun is it studying sick, maimed or otherwise incapacitated people? But, it is interesting.

There was a woman there with her husband/boyfriend/brother/whatever male in her life, the poor woman was shaking like a leaf and looked like she was about to fall right out of the chair. I felt really bad watching her. Next, there was a scruffy looking gentleman who seemed okay, but complained quite a bit about the wait...um, you're in the Emergency Room sir, in case you haven't noticed, that's like being in the express register at the supermarket; it has the longest wait time. Then there was this group that came in; a couple of teenage-looking boys, a teenage girl and a Mom. One of the young gentlemen looked like hell. Now it wasn't the disheveled dread-locks down to his ass that made him look this way, in fact I found that feature intriguing. No, it was the look in this poor kids' eyes. He looked like he was suffering from a major headache and was about to pass out right there in the lobby.

The other teen boy looked just the opposite, he was a large young man, full of pep in his step, alert, energized. Both these boys were being checked in. What was the story here? The dread-lock young man struck me as a skate-boarder type (just my active imagination at work here, I have no idea if he even knows what a skate board is let alone use one). The other boy, although despite his size, also seemed to bring this vision to my imaginings. The girl looked like your everyday, teenage girl, stylish, up-to-date clothing (um, for the "alternative" look, that is. No, not the all black clothing, dark make-up, etc. I didn't say Gothic look), and the Mom looked like your everyday 40-something soccer Mom. I still don't know what the story was there, but I was intrigued by this group nonetheless.

Now, the last person I "kept my eye on" (and for good reason too), was a gentleman, roughly between 35-40 yrs old, looked like he might have just come from his job, clothes were very worn, wrinkled, almost shabby looking. He needed a shave. Anyway, this individual made me thankful he wasn't sitting next to me in the lobby. He just simply gave me the creeps! He kept getting up from his seat pacing clear across the lobby, down a short hallway where the restrooms were and then back again, only to repeat this same action over and over again.

He was breathing extremely heavily and loudly. Sighing heavily, as if he should have been seen the moment he entered the ER. After I was brought into a room for that long, interminably long wait to be seen in the room, I recognized this gentleman's labored breathing in another room very near mine. Now he was wailing; "help me!" I suppose he must have used some foul language because the doctor told him; "John, I told you once and I'm not going to tell you again, do not use that language here!" Woohoo for that brave doctor!

Anyway, after listening to the nurses (who talk a lot in the ER when they don't realize they're being overheard), I learned that this gentleman is/was a "user." Sad. He was claiming to have eaten some bad food, but the staff recognized every single sign in this man as a long-time cocaine/crack user. So much for my imaginings of possible lung disease from cigarette smoking, emphysema, or something equally sad, but, shall we say, normal? No, turns out it was nothing more than a user who had gotten "bad stuff" and having a reaction to it! And sadly as well by the sound of the staff's voices and the tone of the conversation, this too is all too common and becoming the "norm" in Emergency Rooms.

What was the point of this? Nothing more than to share with you my thoughts and musings of how I spent my day in the ER. And I guess this does relate to the topic of the day after all. It did happen outside of my home in a public place, so therefore it constitutes being part of the World At Large category. Thank you for reading and I hope to see you again soon!!

Monday's Little Snippets

2010-03-29T22:07:00.001-04:00

For my first Monday's Little Snippets, I wanted to share with you some of the funny things kids say. I have two toddlers; Zane, who is 3 years old, and Greyson, who is 2 years old, and some of the things that come out of their little mouths can be embarrassing to a parent, namely me, but then again, there are things that spill out that are downright hilarious! Here are just a few:

Greyson (talking into a phone case): "Herro?"
Zane: "That is not a phone, dipshit."

Zane (doing a stranglehold on Greyson's legs): "Hi-ee-ya!"
Greyson: "Mommmmmmy!:
(Mommy thumps Zane w/the back of her foot)
Zane: "Hey! Why you do that?!"
Mommy: "Why do you think?"
Zane: "No, I don't think!" (followed quickly by:) "No, Day-son!" (Greyson)

SCENE: Zane pulling a chair up to a sink full of dishes
Mommy: "Zane, what are you doing?"
Zane: "I gonna do the sink."
(If you didn't get this one, it means he's gonna do the dishes, lol)

SCENE: At the movie theatre watching a "new" dragon movie. The room is quiet at this point.
The scene is night time, showing a crescent moon.
Greyson (very LOUDLY): "Mooooon!!!!!" (pointing at the screen, gotta love it!)

After being told to clean up his toys;
Zane: "I tan't (can't), Mikey boke (broke) my legs."

I am hoping to add to this humorous list from time to time and that shouldn't be hard. Hope you enjoyed these few laugh-lines from my boys. If you didn't, then maybe you shouldn't take life so seriously. LOL!

This Witchie is Stumped!

2010-03-29T19:48:00.008-04:00

As a new topic for me here, instead of jumping into 'witchy' stuff, I've decided to give you a bit of background on me. You know, how I come to call myself a Witch, when I started delving into the Art of the Craft, some things I do, etc. So, here goes.

I am a relatively young witch, by the crafts standards I suppose. My journey began 21 years ago when I bought my first astrology book. I was intrigued by all the characteristics that my astrological sign (Libra) said I was. For the most part, much of it was on the money. But the more I got interested in the subject, the more I learned that there was much, much more to it like my "sun" sign is just one part that makes me a whole! There is also to consider, the Ascendant (or Rising Sign), the many "houses" that my particular birthdate comprises; what each of those houses mean; AND each different planet's influence over who I am. There was a lot to learn and as any student of astrology will tell you; you never stop learning.

From the astrology perspective, I began to branch out onto other subjects such as divination. Entering this realm was exciting and daunting. Many people believe that one "must" be born with a "gift" in order to do divination. Not so. Once a divination practice has 'chosen' you, by this I mean one that resonates with you above all else, you studiously learn it. Practice, practice, practice is paramount here. Once you begin practicing continually, you begin to open up your intuition...you become more open to vast amounts of 'things.' Vague, I know, but accurate. The flood gates burst open when I discovered Google. There, I could find out just about anything I wanted to know about the divination practice I felt a connection with: the Tarot.

Before I knew it, I was Googling and reading everything I could get my hands on on the subject. This was how I learned about Wicca. Wicca is an earth-based religion that also delves into the world of 'white magick." If you'll notice, I spelled the word 'magick" with a k. Dictionary.com defines the word; Magic as:

...the art of producing illusions as entertainment by the use of sleight of hand, deceptive devices, etc.; legerdemain; conjuring: to pull a rabbit out of a hat by magic...

Now the definition they give for 'Magick' is:

...An action or effort undertaken because of a personal need to effect change, especially as associated with Wicca or Wiccan beliefs.

Close, I think, but not quite a good explanation. Magick, to me, is the art of causing a thing to happen using will. This, by no means completes the definition, but I'd be here all day explaining it and all the different parts of it. Suffice it to say, that my short definition adequately works for the moment.

Okay, with that out of the way...

During my heavily googling/reading period, I came across the term; Wicca. Now, let me say that I am not a full-practicing Wiccan. I am also not a full practicing Roman Catholic, though my parents had baptized me as such. I do not adhere to any one religion, but instead I refer to myself as "A child of many faiths." So many ask me what religion I practice and this is what I tell them...on the other hand, if they've been introduced to me through my Tarot reading, they immediately assume I am Wiccan. In fact, when others hear I'm a Witch, it is also assumed I am a practicing Wiccan follower. Nothing could be further than the truth!

I recently read on another site I am on, something to the effect of: "who are we to pick and choose...", this was in regards to a conversation about religious preferences. Due to lack of time, I'll will finish this entry with a response to this question...but I will continue next week with what I was telling you in the first place...about me.

In my studies of many different religions, the one thing I learned was that in the Christian/Catholic religions, we are taught that God gives us "Choices" every day. The choice between good and bad, to be judgmental or not, even down to choices that may seem silly or not very spiritually oriented like will I eat the steak or the chicken? The religion, as I've been taught, is based on Choices and that God Does Not choose for us, "He" just allows us to make the choice and what happens, happens from those choices. This is how "His Children" grow and learn. So, who am I to pick and choose from each religion? According to the C/C faith, I am a Child of God, therefore I can pick and choose whatever I would like. I could go on about this, but I'm sure some are seriously pissed or at least offended by my opinion here. So be it, I cannot help how others feel. I would just hope that they are practicing true to their religion and being open minded and accepting of others' differences.

Have a wonderful day!

Organized Chaos in My World

2010-03-29T13:28:00.002-04:00

It's taken me a little bit to organize how I'd like to do my blogs. At first I thought I'd just do random stuff all the time, but then that's just not me. I like to be organized (even if my house doesn't show it!). So, while fighting off a stomach virus AND a nasty cold (complete with every nasty sypmtom), I had time to think about how I wanted to present my Organized blogs. This is what I came up with. Of course, the ADHD in me will compel me to change things up eventually, but for the time being this will be the format:

Mondays: "Monday's Little Snippets" - Monday's will be all about fun and silly things, just what the doctor ordered to ward of the dreary Monday blue's syndrome!

Tuesdays: "The World At Large!" - This will feature a particular article I've found on line that has caught my attention, whether it be amusing, tales of heroic proportions, or just plain stories from around the world and locally, it will be found here on Tuesday.

Wednesdays: "Witchie's Workings" - This will be the day devoted to my personal "workings" including some simple spells (you didn't seriously think I wouldn't add this on here, did you??), information on ancient rites, there will also be the occasional trip into the 'religious' realm. Think you can handle it?

Thursdays: "Thursdays Thoughts" - Musings from my altered mind. You'll understand when you begin reading.

Fridays: - "Freaky Friday!" - Anything goes! It's the end of the work week for most of the world, and don't we find most of us get "freaky" on Friday?

Saturdays: - "Saturday's Savory Recipes" - I think this one is pretty obvious! I will also accept recipes submitted by members/followers. Just be sure to send me a message with the full recipe/instructions/etc, w/your name/member name/blogger name, whatever name you want me to attribute to the recipe and you will be credited with the submission. Please try to keep the recipe simple and easy.

Sundays: "Sunday Sweets!" - Sunday is a day of relaxation for most, as such I would like to use contributions from members; meaning, suggestions on topics.

This, hopefully, will become a very interactive blog. Just please remember, I won't be able to use everything that is submitted each week. But I will save a suggestion, recipe, funny tidbit, etc. and use it at a later time. If you want recognition for a suggestion, recipe...ah, all of the aforementioned, lol, please REMEMBER to put your name w/it.

Thanks for visiting Witchie's Place a.k.a. Witchiepoo's Land of Confusion, and keep coming back and hey, tell your friends you've found a fun little place to visit!

Much Love, Witchie!

Witchie's Place

2010-03-19T14:51:00.001-04:00

Welcome to my place! Don't be frightened away by the name of my place, I'm a nice Witch, lol. This place is also NOT only about "witchy" stuff. I like to talk about whatever is on my mind at any given time. The topic will change from day to day, moment to moment, so you might want to "follow" me.

At this time, I would like to share with everyone that takes the time to read this, that I have started a new business. Many of my friends who know me already knows this. My company is SLD Merchandise and can be found at sldmerchandise.com, so come see what I sell. Enough on that for the moment, we'll get back to it soon enough and you'll get sick of listening to me about it!

For now, I think what I'll do is let you know that my blogs will be updated/posted late at night, after a long day has ended. They will be filled with what ever I have experienced during that day...and maybe even some musings of past events, who knows? So, for now, this is my introduction. It's short, but then I'm short on time and patience at the moment. I look forward to writing for your pleasure (and my own!) and please don't hesitate to leave me a comment or two! HAGD/N!