It must be summertime

I was just going through my friend's blogs, and of the 7 or 8 of them who have them, only 2 have updated since Memorial Day. All that nice weather makes it hard to sit inside at a desk. I know, since that's what I do all week for work. I have made it through Phyllis Currott's Book of Shadows, which I bought in Erie last week, and I have started reading a book on Astral Projection and Anthony Bourdain's book, Kitchen Confidential. I really liked Book of Shadows, rather than being another Wicca 101 book, it is the story of what brought Phyllis, who was raised in a academic/atheist family, to the religion of the reawakening Goddess, and the story of her life during the year she was training for initiation.

I am about 100 pages into Kitchen Confidential, and it is hilarious, but I don't recommend reading it if you are squeamish and like eating out. I had friends that worked in restaurants in high school, and I decided a long time ago that I don't really care what goes on in a kitchen as long as 1)my food tastes good, and 2) I don't get miserably ill.

Today looks like another day of Sims 2 and World of Warcraft here. It should actually be cool enough today that our office won't be like a big convection oven. (no opening windows, 2 PCs running)

Merry Part and Blessed Be!

Erie Trip, Dream Blog

Jeff and I decided to go to Erie yesterday rather than Tuesday since Tuesday morning we have to have Adam back in DuBois at 8 AM. So we started out by at Borders, as Jeff and I still had a gift certificate to spend from Christmas. Then we ate lunch at Red Lobster. I had the crab meat fettucine alfredo, and Jeff and Adam both had Harborside Trios, which included a lobster tail and some excellent shrimp scampi. Then we went to the mall. Jeff and Adam went to the cigar shop while I started shopping for new clothes for work. Our new dress code goes into affect June 1st. I started a Macy's and found a dress and a pair of flat black shoes I liked, but a lot of the other things I liked were just way too expensive. So Adam and Jeff found me, and then we went to JC Penney's, which is better anyway since the one in Erie is bigger than the one in Olean, so it has more selection, but I can return things to the one in Olean if they don't fit right. So there I got a new pair of khaki capris, a pair of nice light khaki pants and skirt that were made of the same material. I also got 2 new polo shirts, and 3 light weight sweaters. Then we stopped at the Shoe Department and Payless, because I wanted another pair of sandals with a closed toe to wear to work this summer. Adam also found a new pair of sandals, which he put on immediately after leaving Payless, as his old ones were pretty well beat.

After that, we headed out of the mall and went to Dick's Sporting Goods, where I found a new golf bag on sale for half the original price. It's so sharp looking, it's red and black, my favorite colors. Jeff also found 1 pair of golf shoes in the entire store to fit his big feet, so we bought them too. Then we drove up to Tinseltown and got tickets for Pirates of the Carribean, At World's End. The theater was completely sold out, luckily we found three empty seats right at the end of a full row before the show started, so the ushers didn't have to ask us to scoot down. This was in one of the bigger theaters at Tinseltown, so the seats are on a steeper rake then in most theaters. My feet were actually behind the head of the person in front of me, so I had a full view of the everything on screen. I'm not going to talk about the movie a lot now, I know a lot of my friends probably haven't seen it yet, and I don't want to give out spoilers. I will say I throughly enjoyed it, and I would like to see it in the theater again. And we will definitely own it.

After the theater we went to Outback Steakhouse. I had never been there before. Our steaks were awesome, and so was my beverage, a New South Wales Sangria. It was like alcoholic fruit punch. Jeff also tried a Newcastle Brown Ale, which he enjoyed. After that, we headed up Peach St. towards home, but the light at Krispy Kreme was on, so we had to stop for dessert. We only bought half a dozen, which were killed between the three of us on the car ride home.

All in all, a fantastic day with my wonderful husband and my favorite son. I would have liked to have called Allison and Grey, but we weren't sure what time the movie would get out, or where we would end up eating if Outback was really busy, so I didn't call, and I am sorry! Hopefully I might be able to see them today, since I know they always go down to the Farm for Memorial Day.

Oh, this was supposed to be a dream blog too, wasn't it? I had a dream that I was jumping from the mouth of a cave, and I fell a long way, into a perfectly still, clear pool of water that was reflecting the full moon. I want to hang onto that image, as I think it will be a powerful one for meditation. Also, I dreamed I was doing fun things with a character from Nip/Tuck, and it's not the one you may think!

That's all for now, we will be going to West Hickory today to see my family. Tomorrow is Keely's birthday. Merry Part and Blessed Be!

Adam's here!

Last night Jeff and I drove to Du Bois, PA to pick Adam up from the bus station. The first thing we discovered is the bus station was not where I remembered it from 5 years ago. No big deal though, we had gotten to DuBois almost an hour early, and Jeff had printed MapQuest Directions for the current location. So we went to Sheetz and asked for directions. The girl was able to tell me where the address we had from MapQuest was, but she also told me that the bus station there had burned down about a month previously, so she wasn't sure if they were still dropping off at that site. So we drove up to where she said, it was easy to find, she gave me a good landmark to look for. Unfortunately, all we found was the burned out shell of a furniture store and a bus station. I tried calling Adam, but I got to speak to his mom, because his cell phone was in Hanover. So we sat at the soccer field near the burned out bus depot until 7:30 or so, when the bus was due in. We don't know anyone living in Dubois currently, not that would use a bus anyway, to call and ask for directions. Finally it occurred to me that the police would probably know where the bus station was, so I called 411 and got connected to the non-emergency number to the Dubois Police Department. The officer was very helpful. And after a little more driving around, and following the right bus to the wrong place, because it had already dropped Adam off, we found him, and went to Hoss's for dinner. The menfolk had steak and I had crab cake and a yummy baked potato. It was neat, because I haven't been to Hoss's since Wendy and Grant's wedding.

Time to go to work now. Merry Part and Blessed Be!

I don't want to be crucified with a spork

But this is what Jeff says the Jehovah's Witnesses and probably the Mormons too, will do to me if I buy this beautiful item from Pyramid Collection and hang it on my front door.



But with my last witches leaving Bradford, how else am I supposed to find new witchy friends? I really wish I could go to Erie for more circles, but driving an hour and a half after work and getting home late to get up early the next day just doesn't appeal to me. I really wish I had a space to myself to practice in. It doesn't bother me being a solitary Wiccan, but I feel like I don't practice enough. It's one of the reasons I want a house. I could take a corner of the basement or small room, set my altar up in there and leave it. When I want to work, I can go in, close the door, turn music on, and not worry about being interrupted. If it had an attic, maybe I could even burn incense a little, since the smoke and the smell would rise up and not float around the house to suffocate my poor hubby's allergies.

Wow, that is not where I expected the title of this entry to lead me. It's funny what happens when you just start writing.

Merry Part and Blessed Be!

Catching up on my web comics

I really liked the PvP from May 16th. There were some good Ctrl+Alt+Del I especially like today's, where Korea looks like a big schlong. The sad part is, I think it is about the Starcraft 2 announcement, but I am not sure.

I think it's about supper time. Enjoy the goodness of my linky-ness.

Merry Part and Blessed Be!

Roombas rock

Yoda and Darth Roomba

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This made me think of Wendy and Grant since they are the only people I know that own a Roomba. I wish I had one. Or a dog. Damn I hate being home alone.

Merry Part and Blessed Be!

Sims 2

Well, this morning I pulled off a big lesbian wedding. The happy couple afterwards moved into a bigger house and has now adopted a little boy. And I only used the cheat code for an extra $1000 once. Weddings are expensive you know!

Speaking of weddings, Al and Austin are now engaged. See the link to her blog for a cute picture. Congratulations!

Plans for the day: possibly try to see Michelle, as I have heard around the way that she will be leaving Bradford before long. :-(. Can some more witches move here please? It's a beautiful place. Plenty of woods to roam in, lots of room to do outdoor rituals where no one cares if you are willing to hike a bit.

I'd like to see Shrek 3 today as Jeff said he is not particularly interested, but I am not sure I will find anyone else who wants to go.

Anyway, time to take a shower and pick up the phone if I intend to see Michelle today.

Merry Part and Blessed Be!

Angel

Dream blogging again. The main thing I remember about last night's dreams though is that I was looking for Angel at Pitt-Bradford, and there were all these nerds standing around comparing notes on him. And I do mean nerds, not geeks. All of them were wearing thick black glasses and talking about Angel like he was a comic book hero. And a lot of the stuff they were saying was wrong. Like they kept saying he had an alter ego, like Clark Kent/Bruce Wayne. I also remember in this dream that I was singing "If You're Not In It for Love (I'm Outta Here)" by Shania Twain in an elevator, and dancing and watching myself on the security camera.

Having a great weekend so far. Yesterday, my parents and Keely and Jeff's parents came up to Olean to have the brunch buffet at the Old Library with us. It was yummy, I had a Belgian Waffle with thick hot fudge, strawberries amd whip cream. Even Keely ate a good bit, although she is very picky, and she asked every member of the waitstaff that went by us when her grilled cheese sandwich was coming. After we got home, we called Artie and Harriet and went to Mystic Water resort in Limestone to shag a few balls at the driving range and to play the mini golf course. The mini-golf course was very hard, a lot of angles and very fast. Artie won, but he only beat me by 4 strokes. Then we went to Togi's for dinner. We hung out at there house for a while and Harriet and I browsed fun things at one of my favorite websites. After that I came home and Jeff playing some Destroy All Humans while I got my Sims 2 fix for the day.


And onto my Sims 2 fix for today! Merry Part and Blessed Be!

Dream Blogging from the new bed

I had a long kind of strange dream early this morning. It started at some kind of fair, where people wore costumes. I saw 2 little girls dressed as bugs, one was a big blue beetle and the other was a blue and purple ant. From there, I was being rushed along a hallway, I got the sense that I was underground, in a subway system maybe. I was being pulled along by Jason Bateman, who I think was playing his Arrested Development character, Michael Bluth. We were going down some stairs when I noticed a funny door along the stair case. There was a tiny sign next to the store that said "Ye Old Records Shoppe, Golden Memories" When we forced the door open, the space dropped down beneath and we had to step on top of a refrigerator and a recline to get to the floor. There was an older man than, who at first looked like Jeffrey Tambor, also from Arrested Development. He looked more like Oscar than George Sr. though. There were all these strange old things, and a lot of things that looked like junk. There was a little wind-up diorama of a lumberyard or something, where you could see the little logs moving through and different little figures chopping them up, smoothing them out, and pushing them into a water way. At this point, Jeff (my husband) was there with me, and as we looked around, I realized that the store was full of things I had lost over the years. I found one old notebook with story ideas in it, mixed with doodles and school notes from college. But some of the things were changing, even as I looked at them. I picked up a picture of a little girl with glasses and flipped it over, and on the back it said "Jen, 1990" before the text faded and the picture disappeared" And I got worried. I said, "that wasn't mine, am I not supposed to be with Jeff? Did something go wrong?" And I was jumping and stomping around until there was thunder from the back of the room and monitor on an old computer on desk went black and then lightened again. The shop owner (still played by Jeffrey Tambor) said, "now don't get angry young lady, why don't you just sit down and rest a minute" And I fought him for a bit longer, but I did then sit down in an old plaid recliner in a dark, dusty corner. When I opened my eyes, Jeff was standing in front of the computer screen, which was now showing a dark sky filled with stars. I came to stand next to him, and the shop owner said to me "Now the only light you have in there to guide him is this," and he pointed to the diamond on my engagement ring. We seemed to be getting ready to skidoo, a la Blue's Clues, (Blue Skidoo, we can too!)
into the computer screen.

After that, we were underground in a coffin, and I think we were being played by Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock. They were both dry and corpselike, kind of like Geena Davis and Alec Baldwin's characters in Beetle Juice. We were trying to pile up other coffins to climb out. That was the end because my alarm went off.

That's all for now, I have to head to work. Merry Part and Blessed Be!

Reviews of my latest acquisitions

First - the new bed! The new bed is very comfortable, and I do feel like I am sleeping better already. I am having more dreams (none particularly interesting or meaningful) which indicates to me that I am getting more REM sleep. I wake up in the morning feeling refreshed and ready to go. I am very pleased.

Second - The Sims 2. It's dangerous, going back to an old addiction. I knew I was never really over it, it's just the new PC wouldn't run my old game very well. It was always just a matter of time before I broke down and bought the newest one. So far I have built houses for almost everyone I know in Bradford. What is strange to me is that Sims actually age and die now, so eventually I'll have generations of Sims in my little pretend Bradford. You can also build your own community lots right into your neighborhood, and I've built a little park, the Corner Bar, and Bradford Plaza. I like the Aspiration Aspect, it gives your Sims more to accomplish than just getting to the top of a career field. There are better cheats in this one too. There is the standard $1000 cheat, which is Kaching. There is also one to get $50,000 at once, which is motherlode. There have been a couple glitches that were annoying. When you are doing character creation, switching between different mouths and noses and eyes can leave your Sim ending up looking like a mask in a Halloween store rather than a person. I had a woman whose eyes dropped down almost level wtih her nose and her cheeks looked weird too. There was also a glitch when Jeff and I were raising Adam. When he transitioned from toddler to kid he was in the high chair and he got stuck. The only way to fix it was to move us out of that house and move into a new house. Which was a pain, because I had to rebuy all of our stuff. I decided to move us to a new house rather than moving back into the house I made that is laid out like our current apartment.

My next Sims 2 project is to make a sorority house for the sisters of Zeta Alpha Chi. Hilary helped me make up Sims for her and a few of her sisters when she was here last night.

Merry Part and Blessed Be!

I did a bad thing....

I bought Sims 2. So now you all know why I won't be posting for awhile. The character creation is so much more in depth than the original, but you can also use standard pre-made Sims if you just want to start playing the game. I haven't experimented with building much yet, but from what I've seen the tools are more flexible, so again, you have many more options than in the original.

Happy Beltane to all! No plans here, hoping the new bed will be here tomorrow.

My addiction calls... if you don't here from me for a couple weeks.... don't be alamred....

Merry Part and Blessed Be!

Weekend Update

That skit on Saturday Night Live has not been as good since Norm McDonald got fired, but I digress.

This has been a busy weekend for us so far. Yesterday, we drove down to Camp Mountain Run and went to the wedding of two of Jeff's good friends from camp. It was drizzly and a little cold out, but the ceremony at the chapel by the lake was still lovely. The reception was very nice too. There was a beautiful cake with raspberry filling, and little appetizers to eat. I also thought it was incredibly sweet that the bride, Jenn, presented her grandmother with her own personal cake before the actual cake was cut, since yesterday was her grandma's special day, first, as it was her birthday.

Today we are going to graduation at UPB. Adam, Harriet, Artie, Hilary and Vita are all gradutating this year. Adam and Hilary will be leaving after today, but Vita is hanging out til June to take 1 last class, and Artie got a job here, so he and Harriet are now renting a house.

Currently, we are watching Ninja Warrior on G4 and it is awesome. I hope everyone can get outside today at some point,it looks like it's going to be a beautiful day!

Merry Part and Blessed Be!

We bought a new bed today!

Jeff and I went to Mattress City Sleep Shop in Foster Brook and purchased a Tempurpedic DeluxeBed. I am so excited! I tried all of my normal sleeping positions, and they were all very comfy. (Couldn't try any other positions, as there were other people in the store). It will probably be delivered next Wednesday (not 2 days from now but 9) I can't wait to see what kind of interesting dreams I have when I get a more restful sleep every night!

Adam and Vita are coming over to do some evil deeds with me in Jeff's D&D game. It is a very interesting game, the group dynamic in an evil party is very different than the dynamic in a good/neutral party.

Gotta go, Merry Part and Blessed Be!

Adorable

I read a forward once that said if you are feeling a little down, do a Google image search for baby penguins. And you know what, it works pretty well.

Sending out adorable penguin wishes to everyone who needs them, especially my Mini-Me, who has mono, Grey and his lady, my great-aunt Sarah, and Princess Molly.

Merry Part and Blessed Be!

The Full Update

For those currently out of phone reach.

I started drinking a lot more water than usual 2 Mondays ago now. I was also sweating heavily and going to the bathroom about as often as someone who was downing 100+ ounces of water during an 8 hour work day would. I was concerned that I might have diabetes, as those are all symptoms of that and I have the family history for it. So my doctor's office arranged for me to get blood drawn last Friday. I did that, and then went into work. I started feeling worse at work, week, and I was still downing liquids at an alarming rate. As it was Good Friday, my doctor's office was closed, so I couldn't get any test results til Monday. I didn't want to wait that long, so I left work and went to the ER. They drew more blood, and took X-rays. But my sugar level was normal, so was my thyroid, and everything else they checked. The CRNP I saw in the ER suggested that it could be viral, and to follow up with my regular doctor if I wasn't feeling better. She also scheduled a CT scan, just to cover all the bases. So I had the CT scan, and discovered my fun new allergy to iodine/contrast. I got a stuffy nose and some congestion for a day or so, but that's pretty much gone away. I'm still thirsty all the time, and my throat hurts. I called my doctor's office yesterday, and they agree with the CRNP, they think it's a virus. If I am not feeling different by Monday, I am supposed to call them back.

So that's the update, for my worried packsister, who is over the sea. Keep a good thought for me, hopefully I'll be better soon.

Merry Part and Blessed Be

Love love love

"It's like a loving octopus of loving tentacles suction." - Jeff, regarding me, when he got home from work. I was happy to see him!

First full day of work today in almost a week. I am feeling somewhat better, although still somewhat puzzled as to what was making me so thirsty. I had my first CT Scan yesterday, and I discovered that I am allergic to the iodine they shoot you up with to create contrast in the scan. So they gave me Benadryl and I slept for about 2 1/2 hours yesterday afternoon.

I am currently playing WoW, waiting for Ben to join me in the Hinterlands. Have a good evening!

A Poem (with my name in it)

Brother Paul! look!
—but he rushes to a different
window.
The moon!

I heard shrieks and thought:
What's that?

That's just Suzanne
talking to the moon!
Pounding on the window
with both fists:

Paul! Paul!

—and talking to the moon.
Shrieking
and pounding the glass
with both fists!

Brother Paul! the moon!

by William Carlos Williams

Baby-sitting

Tonight Jeff and I watched our nephew Aidan (Jess and Frosh's baby) for a couple hours while they ran some errands in Bradford. I changed him, and walked with him, and we gave him a bottle. Babies yell a lot, is something I have realized. It must be hard to be that little, and not be able to communicate what's wrong with you very well. You're wet, you cry, you're hungry, you cry, you are lonely, you cry, you are tired, you cry. He is absolutely adorable though. He can smile a little now, and he makes cute little giggly and cooey noises when he is happy.

I am tired now, and since thankfully I am not a 3 month old, I can put myself to bed. With a nice cup of tea.

Merry Part and Blessed Be!

Shallow and Deep Thoughts

Shallow Thoughts - I saw two incredibly ugly cars today. One was a hot pink Taurus and one was this ugly shiny yellow-green Saturn. I think the color might be called chartreuse. They were eyesores and I hope they get charged higher insurance rates because they are so ugly that they are distracting to other drivers.

Deep Thoughts - I took a walk today when I got home from work. I walked over to Campus Drive and up to the gym, then back along the trail by the creek. On the trail there are stone benches that have been dedicated as memorials to those who have passed by their family and friends. It made me think about my Grandma Dot. I think a bench along a walking trail would be a fitting memorial for her because some of my favorite memories of her are taking walks with her and her sister, my Great Aunt Evie, on summer evenings. We'd walk about a mile, from her store in West Hickory out of town to the foot of Tank Hill and back. It was always interesting to hear her and Aunt Evie talk about the old school that used to be in West Hickory, the old houses we would pass, and the people who used to live in the area. And then I remembered that for some reason, in the spring I always end up thinking about death, and endings. This morning, I noticed that on my calendar that today is the anniversary of Scott Cunningham's passing. For those of you who don't know, Scott Cunningham is a rather prolific Wiccan author. His book, Wicca, A Guide for the Solitary Practitioner, was one of the first to say, "Not everyone can find a coven or a teacher, and this beautiful, Earth-based religion should be shared with anyone who wants to learn about it." So I lit a candle for him this morning while I drank my tea. It has always seemed strange to me that I think about death during the springtime, because spring is about new beginnings, and things starting over again. Life is blooming all around me. I saw buds and seed pods forming on the trees and bushes along the road and the trail today. Maybe it's the weather in part, because 50 degrees and a cold wind feels the same in October or March here in Bradford. Or maybe it's because before you can have a new beginning, there is always an ending. To plant new crops, you have to turn the old growth in the fields over into the soil. Death fertilizes life, and the Wheel Turns.

Merry Part and Blessed Be

Cavemen prefer full figured ladies!

I knew there was a reason I loved those Geico commercials with the cavemen! Check out this article from the Discovery Channel!