Busy, busy, busy!

I thought that with school out(for me) I would have much more free time. Not so. lol I have managed to fill up my time with reading and crafting. I'm currently reading the latest installment of the Merry Gentry series, Divine Misdemeanors, by Laurell K Hamilton. What can I say, I loves me a good smutty supernatural read! :) I also want to catch up on the all the good vampire reading out there. It has been a while since I've started a new series. And as always I am crafting away. I'm finishing up the items for the Punk baby swap. Everything is coming along great! I'm still toiling away on the Yarnie Scavenger Hunt Swap. But, I've got about two more before send outs. And I have all my recipes for the Recipe Swap. I have a bunch of secrets written down for PostSecret Swap. And for the biggest swap yet... the Litha/Personal swap with the awesome Andréann from Aux Demilunes. I am SOOOOO very, very excited for this swap. We have been talking of doing a personal swap for a while now. So, we are combining it with the Litha/Midsummer swap. She is so damn talented and nice to chat with, plus we have very similar tastes. I have a couple items started and a whole list of ideas!

Yesterday the family took a trip to the Devil's Punchbowl County Park. I thought it would be fun to get outdoors and go on a nature excursion before it becomes unbareably hot. We decided to do the mile long course because what's a mile, right? Pssshhh! A piece of friggin cake, that's what. HAHAHAHAHAHA!! In hindsight I laugh at such foolishness. What was I thinking? A mile hike with 3 kids, 2 of which are under two years old. The first half was great, pretty level if not gradually downhill. About the halfway mark the baby carrier was getting heavy and I started getting the sneaking suspicion that the rest of the leg was going to be uphill. This was also around the time Azriel started whining he was tired ans Azalea started screaming for juice and I started having a good ol' panic attack. I can look back and laugh now. But, I swear I wanted to punt the kids into the stream (except for the baby who didn't cry once!) I had to practically drag Azalea the rest of the way up the hill while she screamed bloody murder for her bear that we left in the car. But, we made it after having to crawl on hands and knees up a sandy slopes, at points. But, you know what? I had fun!! lol It felt good to be outside and using my body. Next time I'll make sure to research the trail a bit more :)

Crafty like ice is cold!

I know that is has been a while since I've posted. Finals are over and I totally aced them!! Go me! ^_^ Here's a couple of things I've been up to lately...

Carrot Cake sandwich cookies. I based them off of this one, with some slight modifications.




Pretty Sari Silk that I spun up



Some embroidery



and a little sewing...

Finals Week

Mt brain is mush :( I have one final to take and one term paper due by the end of the week. I haven't even started the paper. I keep getting side tracked by kids, baking and crafting. I am such a huge procrastinator. Argh... I feel so burnt out. What am I going to do?!

Yeehaw!

This weekend my mom came down to stay for Mother's Day and Azriel's 6th birthday. Wowza!!! Can't believe my baby is 6 >_< I will freely admit I totally got teary eyed. We took him to Calico for his birthday. Calico is basically the only local attraction. It is an old mining and ghost town. I LOVE stuff like that. I'll take places steeped in history over Chuck E. Cheese any day. We had so much fun!!! Here are some pictures.

The day started with some lovely smiley face pancakes at the request of the birthday boy


Train ride!! Yay!!


Completely enthralled


Gramma, Azalea, and Bear.


Adeline!


Danny with his new BFF


Trying it on for size


mm.. sasparilla!!


View through a broken glass bottle @ the glass bottle house


Finally, a picture of me... lol in front of the glass bottle house


HAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHA!!!


in front of the train :) We rode it twice because he loved it so much!

Life is Good Award

This is from a post on Danni's blog, The Whimsical Cottage.I'm hoping to snatch the "Life is Good Award". It will be my first blog award.

1. What is your Quest? To be comfortable in my own skin. I'm getting there :)
2. What is your favorite color? That is so hard! I guess I'd have to say purple, a nice bright jewel tone.
3. What is the Speed of an Unladen Swallow? I do not have the brain power to even begin to think of calculating that....
4. Where is your favorite place to go and relax? My bedroom
5. Who is your favorite fictional character? Ayla from the Earth's Children Series. But, that was a really tough question. I love reading and there are so many awesome characters out there. I am sure if you asked me this question an hour from now you'd get a different answer :)
6. Which is better the book or the movie? Hands down the book!!
7. Skyclad or Clothed? Skyclad. I'm not a huge fan of clothes. When I am doing a ritual I feel more in tune with I have no clothing as a distraction.
8. What is your favorite animal? Pigs. I love pigs! :)
9. How do you mix magic into your everyday life? I try to remember that everything has energy and a spark of life and that I should honor it. I try to pass that on to um kids.
10. Can you do a cartwheel? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA That's all I have to say to that ;P

Dark Days

What can I say? Lately, my depression and anxiety have been kicking my ass. Its a horrible feeling to not want to get out of bed, to have no passion for the things that I love and enjoy, the restlessness, the lethargy, the sense of impending doom. Why can't I be one of those happy people with an eternally sunny outlook? I feel so utterly alone out here.

Control the Internal Blaze

Control the Internal Blaze

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I need to do this -_-

Beltane

Beltane was the first sabbat I celebrated. I had grand ideas of what me and the children would do. Some maypole action, baking, and passing through a "bonfire". Well, I actually did NONE of that. Instead, I did a simple candle ritual by myself after the I put the kids to bed. I decided to go with my own ritual because I wanted something simple and meaningful. I had heard that Beltane symbolized this or that but when I spoke to the God and Goddess I spoke of a unity, an eternal embrace, fertility, blessings and gave thanks. I also used my Beltane candle fires to cleanse and charge my magical items because they have never been used before. It felt amazing to partake in my own ritual. I am so glad that I decided to make Beltane my first sabbat.

Scrub-a-dub-dub!!!

The kids are driving me crazy and I need to get some housework and homework done.So, I decided that the kids and needed to do something crafty today in the hopes that it would tire them out a bit! I took a looksie in my crafting closet and saw the HUGE amount of fiber I have stashed in there. (Let me go on the record as saying that one can NEVER have enough fiber.) My eyes alighted upon a box of scratchy wool roving I use for needle felting. My mom had given me a bunch yummy smelling soap. I remembered seeing a post on felted soap somewhere. Felted soap is awesome for scrubbing and exfoliating! In hindsight, I'd use less roving. I think ours turned out a bit too lumpy. Okie doke...

Supplies- soap, wool roving in assorted colors, old nylon stocking, some string, dish/liquid soap(not shown).

Spread out/layer your roving


Wooly soap bundle!! Yay!


Wrap it up in some nylon(cheesecloth will work too)and tye up the ends. This step is really only necessary for smaller kids.


Let the kids loose in the bathtub and lather, lather, lather! This process should take upwards of 5 minutes



Felted soap!!


This is the one I did


Pretty colors!! @_@


And here's a delicious cake I based off a recipe from Photographing the Dead. I tried linking to the site but apparently I'm a dodo and can't figure it out :(


MMMMMM... everything is better with fresh whipped cream... ::drools::