Pagan Blog Project - R for Reality

I know I am a few weeks behind in the Pagan Blog Project.

I have been busy with everyday life, being sick, starting a new medication routine that involves a lot more trips to the hospital than I wanted.    This past year of being sick and passing my "anniversary" of being told I had Kidney Disease has been sort of life altering.

It has brought me to thinking about death more than I choose to do so, but had to come to the reality that it could possibly happen much much more sooner than I expect.  I have responsibilities that need to be taken care of should something happen to me.

Every day I wake up, I thank the Gods I am alive!  I am grateful for another day to spend with my children, my husband, my family and friends.  I try to live the best I can each and every day.

Long ago, I wished I lived in another reality, one of that of Charmed to live in a beautiful home, or that of Samantha where I could wiggle my nose and my home be suddenly spotless or dinner prepared and set upon the table.  Ok, I admit, I still want Sam's ability, especially when I am having a rough day.

My reality is that the children need to be woken up each and every morning and prepared for school.
Healthy meals need to be prepared, beds made, diapers changed, dog fed, and the list goes on and on.
Some people just don't realize how much work a SAHM (stay at home mom) does on a daily basis.

I don't have the time to always hold a formal ritual in my home.  I have a very demanding three year old that gets jealous when I pet the dog too much. LOL  (For the record, he wants to pet the dog, not that I am spending too much time with the dog.) LOL

So I have been trying to incorporate my spells into my everyday chores.  There are a number of blogs I like to read that include domestic witchcraft.  Of course one of those well known blogs is that of Mrs. B.  If you don't know who she is, her blog Confessions of a Pagan Soccer Mom are fantastic.  You can read them by clicking HERE.

Another one of my favorite blogs I like to read are that of Dawn Marie Howard.  She used to have the blog named Domestic Witch, and in the past year or so has changed it to her own name. If you scroll thru her entries under "Witchery" you will find wonderful information.  She is also the owner of a shop called Sightly.
One of my favorite entries is when she writes about Sigils.  I have taken that practice into my own home as well as my kitchen for an added boost to always create meals made with love.

These are but two wonderful and knowledgeable women that have taken mundane aspects of being a housewife, homemaker, and mom into something magical.  They have inspired me to bring my magic into my everyday reality.

I know do cleansing and healing spells everyday when I am taking a shower.  I imagine the illness or negativity being washed from the top of my head down my body into the the swirling whirpool of water as it leaves the tub's drain.

I make a linen spray for when I iron my DH's shirts made from Bergamot, Jasmine, and Musk for prosperity in the business place.   I also use other linen sprays made specifically for the master bedroom as well as a Monsters Be Gone spray for the boys rooms that are sprayed upon the bedding. (I also think having Princess Leia has helped with keeping the bad monsters away also!

For the life of me, I don't understand why he takes off the pillow cases every day!

These are just a few examples of how I have brought my magic into my everyday life.  Being sick I want to honor my craft and practice it daily as much as I possibly can.  Doing so, helps me to live a magical life in my everyday "Reality".

I hope everyone had a blessed Mabon!  Bring on Samhain and complete this year's Turn of the Wheel!

Sincerely,
Crystal

Sunday's Supper - Dinner at the Table

So here it is Sunday and I am trying to figure out what to plan for our menu for the week.  It's been raining the past two days so I do not want to go grocery shopping in the rain.  I want to be a good Housewife!  However, I have to also deal with reality...I hate shopping in the rain!

One of the things that DH and I strive for is to always eat at the dining room table for our nightly meal.  We started it when we first moved in together back in 1996.  I was amazed to the fact that whenever we went to his mother's we always had dinner at the table as a family.  My family back home we really never ate at the table.  I can remember doing it as a child, but once I "grew" up, it was no longer a requirement.  We were always so busy that sometimes being able to just eat at the same time was a treat in itself being under the same roof.  Whenever DH and I began a family of our own, this was one of the things we both wanted to start as "our" family tradition.  Another thing I had to get used to is that I guess in the "South" people tend to say "Supper" over "Dinner".  That was something I had to get used to. LOL  So whether or not you have Sunday Dinner or Sunday Supper, I hope you have a good one!

Looking on hand in our freezer and pantry we do have enough things to get us through the entire week.

Here is my current and tentative plan:

SUN:     Boys Menu - Baked Chicken with baked potatoes (even loaded!), cucumbers
              Moma's Meal - Sauteed Mushroom Onion blend and a Baked Potato with Dayia,
              Bacos, and Earth Balance Butter, cucumber salad

MON:     Spaghetti & Meatballs (Shhh....The meatballs are vegetarian, don't tell the guys!)

TUE:      Taco Tuesday! (The boys get the meat version while Moma uses "Match" substitute for hers!
              (Goddess that brand of meat substitutes are AWESOME!)

WED:     Pork chops in the slow cooker
               Moma's Meal:  Salad with whatever items she has on hand.              

THU:     Chicken and Rice
              Moma's Meal:  I eat the rice and make a stir fry with peapods, bamboo shoots, mushrooms,
              carrot and broccoli.      

FRI:       Fish sticks and Mac n Cheese for the kids
              Tilapia for Mom and Dad (Fish is one of the few proteins that does not make me sick,
              so i still enjoy it once a week!)

SAT:     Don't know yet...Moma needs to go grocery shopping!!!


So anyways that is the plan for this week!

Preparing for Cooler Months - Menu Planning

I know its only just barely into August, but this is the time when I begin my yearly DEEP cleaning up until snow hits the ground.  I will be opening up the windows as much as possible to let the fresh air in and the old out.  I will also begin to dwindle my pantry to use what goods are in it now so that nothing expires and goes to waste. 

One of the things I like to do is to prepare a monthly menu so it takes the hassle out of planning and preparing meals in the last minute and not having all the items I need to make the meal I plan to.
With the colder months coming one thing I look forward to each and every year is utilizing my slow cooker. 

Last year when I began the shift going Vegetarian, one of the first books I picked up was this one.

So I decided to try one of the soup recipes....

Potatoes

Corn

Yellow pepper

Diced Tomato

Salt and Pepper to taste

I used the whole box, but think it only called for a few cups.

Green onion on top.

I really liked this soup.  Think next time I will take out the yellow pepper.  The one I used seemed to be really spicy instead of sweet.  There was so much soup left over that I decided to blend it and put it into the containers that I normally use for my Gumbo when my sister or mother make it for me.  They freeze into single servings for later use. 

I plan to make more recipes from this in the future this fall...Its going to be one of my go to books this year.

Blessed Be,
Crystal T.

Pinterest Find - Tub Cleaner

Howdy All!

So lately I have to admit, I am an addict of Pinterest. 
One of the things I found and wanted to do is this Tub Cleaner recipe where you use equal parts of Dawn Dish Soap and Vinegar.  I have been intrigued by it to know if it really worked so today when I went grocery shopping I picked up a bottle of Dawn (not my usual brand) and a new spray bottle to try it out.

I did not take a "Before" photo of my tub because it was really really really bad.  It's been a while since I scrubbed it and I am actually ashamed of myself for letting it go for so long.  It was definitely time to clean it.  You see, I love bubble baths and of course with bubble baths come soap scum.  So the level of yuck was pretty high....

I did take a few photos of how it was after I sprayed the solution in the tub.  I don't know if it made it look any better or a crude attempt to hide the ring, scum, and yuck by shading it blue.  Here goes: (I still can't believe I am actually doing this....)

One thing I noticed is there is a definite chemical smell going on...use in a bathroom with enough ventilation or if you are able too, please open a window.  I am sure my husband will say something about the smell when he enters our bedroom later this evening when he gets home from work....if he doesn't say anything then the smell will have finally disappated.  This is the master bath so its in our bedroom.

I left the tub to soak only for a little while as I wanted to be able to see the results.  Those that know me, know I am very impatient that way!  It may have sat 20 minutes.  The various entries on pinterest talk about letting it go for at least one hour if not to over night.

One thing they don't say in bold letters which I think they should is to use alot of DRY TOWELS to wipe the solution up with.  If you are a paper towel girl, you could use them and simply dispose of them.  I on the other hand only use paper towel when its ultimately yucky and I am not willing to wash it.  So I have a box of rags I use for cleaning.  I went thru my entire box and a few clean bath towels as well.  I am going to wait until they have dried a bit before I attempt to washing them.  I can just imagine what is going to happen when I wash them.  I might run them in the washer with just plain water first and then really "wash" them.  I hope I just don't have suds coming out from the top of my machine like the time I was stupid enough to put dish detergent in the dish washer.  (LONG STORY for another post! LOL)  Needless to say suds were all over the floor of my kitchen when I came home from work that day!

Anyways, after I wiped everything up, here is the result.

I think it did a pretty good job for only 20 minutes.  One thing I noticed is that I have really REALLY hard water where I live.  I get alot of spots from the mineral content in it (and we are on City Water).  There are usually spots all over the faucet and metal parts, lime and calcium build up etc.  This took alot of it off completely!  I have not seen it shine like this in a long long time.  Normally I have to scrub the metal parts with a brillo pad to make it sparkle.   Now before you get too critical, yes I do still see some spots that need to be addressed and will let the solution soak longer next time, but I do believe this worked very well. 

As a Lupus patient, one of the things I go through is not having the energy any more to scrub things with good old fashioned "elbow grease".  I simply don't have the strength.  Heck I have to take breaks while I am typing this blog because my arms hurt just from bending at the elbows this very moment.

I do have to say, I am a believer and will be doing this again very soon on the boys' bathtub.  Now that one will definitely sit for a full hour! LOL

Sincerely,
Crystal

Samhain & Name that Year

The Coven and I will be celebrating Samhain this weekend. Half of us have children that still like to trick or treat. With my young ones, its just the beginning of understanding what the season means (Candy to Lancer!!!)

This weekend, my coven sister Dawn will be staying with me for a short amount of time. Almost a week. She lives far away from us now, so whenever she's in town, we do what we can. I invited her to come stay with me and she accepted! I am very excited to have her come stay with me and spend lots of quality time together.

The rest of the coven will be coming down on Saturday, when we will have our Samhain circle. We gots lots of things planned and will be making most of the day and night of it together.

I am almost finished my goals for the next turn of the wheel.
I don't think I have posted what my Name that Year will be.

My year will be: The Year of the "Housewife". With being laid off over a year ago and unable to find a job within the same paygrade to be able to afford reliable childcare, I will be fully embracing being a stay at home mom. I will be converting my home from top to bottom, "Fall Cleaning" if you will. Organizations and decluttering upon the top of my priorities as well as making the house more suitable for a family of four now. We have made some changes for the better and I can pursue other avenues as well within my home since we have finished much of the construction now. Onto the cleaning, cleansing, and staging!

Happy Samhain to you!

Sincerely,
Crystal