Witch Hat Cookies!

I like the way this is going right now. I actually remembered to write an entry today. We did a fun little project last night and I would love to share it with you all. We have more coming up as well!

We all love Pinterest, and every once in a while I get to actually do one of the projects or try one of the recipes that I've pinned. Well, last night we did that. I usually like to bake my own cookies, but last night at about 9pm (yeah, I know that's late with a 4 year old) we were headed to the store and hit up the cookie aisle. I saw these cute little witch hat cookies on Pinterest, and said to myself "Those look so frickin easy, I would be a fool not to try it." So here they are. Our fancy little witch hat cookies, and one little Hershey's kiss broom.

- We went to the cookie aisle and grabbed some Keebler fudge stripes dark chocolate cookies.

- We picked up some dark chocolate Hershey's kisses from the candy aisle.

- I already had some store bought frosting. (I really don't like store bought frosting, but it was good that I had something on hand.)

- I used some hot pink and blue food coloring to make the frosting purple.

- I put the frosting into a cake icing bag, and screwed on a tiny flower tip (because my little one had actually stolen the tiny round tip, I found it after the matter) I stock up on these supplies because I know I will get use out of them. I bought a simple Wilton cake decorating kit in the baking aisle of Walmart, and it has come in very handy for decorating cookies and other goodies.

- I used some leftover decorating sprinkles to decorate the ugly seams!

This was a really fun project! My four year old had a little bit of a hard time using the icing bag, but she tried very hard and the Hershey's kiss did stick to the cookie. That's what really matters.

I give this project a 5 star review.

A Little Update...Married, New House, and Settling In...

It's been a while since I have posted a new blog. Well, it's time. 

We got married in August, and I spent three and a half months back home in Maine. That was stressful and a little bit of fun. I'm glad to be home now. Oh! About that. We bought a house. I still can't believe it. We were not planning on buying a house, but the opportunity jumped out at us, we thought about for a while, and here we are. It's not a big fancy house or anything, but it is perfect for us.

I am still at home with our little Willow, but I would love to be bringing in an income. It's frustrating, but I am working on it.

So on to the fun stuff! Samhain is coming up and we have some fun things planned. The little Willow and I have some craft projects planned, some cooking and baking, we need to pick out big pumpkins to carve, and have some treats on hand just in case we have trick or treaters.

We also have a "house" altar in our living room. It's on top of an old dresser that we got with the house we bought. Right now it is covered in small pumpkins, gourds, a porcelain witch, a corn husk doll, and some other fall time/Samhain things. This altar gets smudged regularly, since there are so many things changing on it all the time. Willow is four and she can always find new things to add to it.

I figured that after this update I can start posting about sabbats and pagan parenting again. I'm pretty passionate about those things. I will also be posting some recipes, crafting projects,book recommendations,  family photos, house progress pictures, and I will be sharing more natural housekeeping recipes, tips, and tricks.

In the future I would like to post more about meditations, spells, and rituals. I would like to keep the spells simple, but powerful, and not expensive! To me, that defeats the whole purpose...spending a fortune on spell supplies all the time.

Positive Energy

God, Praying, Angels, and Signs

I think it's pretty neat all the words for "God". Really, it is! There are so many names out there used by so many different people. I just wish everyone could realize that it's ok to have those different names instead of saying "No!, you can't call my God that! You have to worship God my way, and call him ~fill in the blank~". Personally I praise a "greater power" that has both male and female aspects, but I still pray, and I am able to manifest what is "right" for me in my life and for my family. 

I also want to mention that I have had "angels" sent to me. They come in the form of people or animals, sometimes as signs or miracles, and have helped me along the way. 

I was walking alone, in the middle of nowhere, I had just a jacket and a backpack, and I was absolutely freezing. My body was shivering and shutting down. I had just gone through a very distressing life change where I felt everything I had worked for had been ripped from my hands. I felt hopeless and lost. I broke down and prayed for "God" to send me a sign, and let me know I could handle anything. The road was VERY long and we had just had an ice storm (in Maine) and I had been walking all day and it was starting to get dark. I walked a couple more feet, and I was crying, and I looked down and there was folding knife with all kinds of tools, and there was a working flashlight on it. I was in shock. I was getting scared of being alone in the dark, and I was sent a flashlight. I know this is a random story, but it's one I still think about. Just finding a light when I truly needed it changed my outlook and gave me the hope that I needed to carry on.

This is just the tip of the ice burg on this topic for me, especially about angels and signs, but I had to start somewhere. I have been brought so many angels and signs in my life and I hope to write about them more. I think it would be a good thing to ponder and write about.

Does anyone else have any stories like this that have changed your way of thinking, and reassured you that you are being watched over?

Taking Care of Children

I want to give a HUGE high five to my fellow at-home moms + dads, child care providers, and teachers right now. You know who you are! Our attitude directly affects the little person (or people) that we're teaching, and shapes them for their own future and it can be a tough job! Working through the ups and downs, and trying to keep ourselves together and teach them to deal with their emotions is a full time battle! I think also trying to teach children to be responsible for their environment on top of all that is especially tough, like trying to teach them what is healthy and what's not.

 Today has been a huge test of patience, and trying to do what is right when all I want to do is let out my own emotions. I am holding back, and instead talking to her as clearly as I can. I'm trying to get her to explain to me why she is upset, and what we can do to make her feel better AND what is the right thing to do. I have been able to get some things accomplished, and I'm hoping to get some more things done...in the house...but not for me!

Hatred Is Real, but We Persevere

I have always known I was a nature child, and truthfully I knew I was a witch. My mother considers herself a Christian, because she was raised that way, but she always knew I didn't fit into that religious category. I was always open about my beliefs, and about any opinion really. I've had people try to convince me to "change my ways". I just asked them "You don't really think I'm going to convert to YOUR way, just because you think I should, do you?" I've had people call me evil, and try to convince me that I was going to burn in Hell, but again...they can't convince me to believe in their "Hell". So I was always very strong-headed, and sometimes misunderstood. I was also looked up to by some friends and family members, so it hasn't all been negative attention. I have always wished to have more friends that are pagan, or to find a coven, or just have a group of people to celebrate with, but mostly I have been solitary with scattered pagan friends.

So pretty much I have been open, but then I went trough some major life changes, and I went through a really abusive relationship. I lost everything in my life, and moved into a women's shelter. The women found out I was pagan and treated me really badly. I had to build myself back up after all of that. Also, about five years ago I was gathering herbs on a back road. My father was with me. He took me for a drive in the countryside to just get some relaxation. We had been there dozens of times throughout the years. I was walking through a pasture, and a bunch of guys about my age were hanging out. They had turned it into a hillbilly shooting range. (no offense to hillbillies...country boys sure can be adorable) I walked past them and smiled, I was wearing my silver pentacle, and a couple of them said hello, but some of them just stood there. I carried on and finished gathering my herbs and natural treasures. When I walked back through they had a stuffed witch on the target (where the hell did they even find that thing in 20 minutes time?) and some of them were staring at me, some of them (the friendly ones) were gone, and the others were taking turns shooting the witch on the target.

Religious hate is still very real.

I have since then lost the pentacle that I used to have, but that's ok because it was just a material possession. I have a pentacle that was given to me a couple years, quite randomly actually. I was at our local farmer's market, and I was visiting the stand of a local silversmith. I have always been interested in being a silversmith, so I was gabbing with the man. He had a lot of Native American stuff, but I happened to glance down and saw a big silver pentacle. I commented on it, and he asked me if  wanted to see it. I mentioned I didn't have the money to spend on jewelry right now, but I thought it was very pretty. I continued to talk with him, and he reached for the pentacle and handed it to me. I almost cried, and my face turned bright red.

He gave me that beautiful pentacle.

I walked away from that encounter recharged and beaming.

I have to admit that I have only worn it outside of the house a couple times. I'm home most of the time, but I do go out sometimes. I actually put it in a little box and lost it for about a year, but I found it a little while ago. I would like to wear it out more often, and I'm trying to build myself up for that, but the last time I wore it out I noticed so many people looking at it instead of my face. It was like I had an HUGE boob job or something. Even people I talked to all the time were busy staring at it.

After saying all of this, I don't want to be afraid, and I am openly pagan and posting about it all the time for my 600+ friends, family members, and game friends on facebook. I want to wear my pentacle outside of the house more often and just hold my head high and beam with energy more starting this spring.

I have to thank the writer of Musings of a Magical Mom for giving me the little extra push to write about this. It's something that has been swimming around in my head since it happened (the incident with the cruel hillbilly boys), and I had been thinking about writing an entry about it, but now I have. I'm glad I did.

Homemade Natural Furniture Polish

Do I think this deserves it's very own post? Why yes, yes I do. In fact I don't understand why I hadn't made it sooner. I have always wondered what kind of yucky stuff is in furniture polish. I've used many different kinds throughout the years, mostly because I was using what was around while cleaning for someone else. Now I know better, and I wish the whole world would wake up and realize that what they are using in their own homes is just plain nasty. A couple times I have almost bought furniture polish from natural food stores, but I ended up using our money for something else that we needed. Now I will never buy furniture polish again. Never.

I believe in natural housekeeping. I also believe in frugal housekeeping, and this recipe fits both of those standards. I wish I could educate everyone in the world about how to keep their homes clean and greatly reduce the amount of harmful chemicals that people use everyday. This recipe is so simple that you will probably kick yourself (like I did, or tried to) for not trying it sooner. I wondered if it would really work the way I it wanted to, but it did, and I was amazed.

So here it is. If you are here reading this, I hope you take two minutes out of your day to try it.

This is what you need:

•  container with a tight cover to hold the mixture (I use a small mason jar, but you could reuse a squeeze bottle, or a bottle with a screw cap)
• measuring cup (or any cup that you could use to measure with, it's not an exact science, I used a drinking glass and eyeballed it)
• olive oil
• vinegar
• your favorite essential oil (optional, for scent, I use lemon essential oil)
• A label (I just use whatever I can find. I write the ingredients and what the product is)

Instructions: Mix one part olive oil with one part vinegar, and add some essential oil for scent (as much as you like). Now just put the cover on and shake well. That's it.

I use a textured washcloth and polish with the grain of the wood. It removes all those little fingerprints that my 3 year old leaves on everything.