A thermometer up the ass, ok. but needles, hell no this act isn't taking that Sh*t / make up wonderings

Well Wedding plans are going slow but that's to be somewhat expected the date is almost here and we are planning for another part of the province.

Oh you want to know about the title?
Well our cat needed to get boosters done since the last time was at the SPCA and they were overdue.
This cat has a long history of health problems and pretty much every time she goes to the vet she has her temp taken, and she's never fussed about it. But apparently a tiny little needle that you can't even see puts her into a fit of rage.
I find that a bit odd but hey weird things happen.

anyway, wanna hear a story that's bugging me today. Not bugging in a bad way but I just can't stop thinking about it.
I was cleaning out my make-up bag last night and ended up throwing out a lot of gifts that have gone expired even though they've only been used once or twice. L was watching this and made the comment that he doesn't actually remember what I look like in make-up, since I only wear it once or twice a year he mused whether I should wear it more often.
Now I know he wasn't being mean or insinuating about my looks, he was just making a statement about the waste. But it got me thinking about it.
My friends and family keep giving me massive amounts of makeup that I'll rarely use before the expiration date, I never buy it myself but, should I be wearing it more often to avoid waste and make use of a gift I would otherwise never buy? Some of this stuff I can't regift due to the nature on how these gifts are received. Food for thought even if it doesn't come up that often.

Oh and you may be wondering why a little jump away from pagan issues.
Well I'm still practising but many of the ceremonies can easily be found in different variations elsewhere. I just feel that maybe people can adapt their own.
Now the difference here is that if someone requests something I will more than happily post on that subject, I'm more of lets the question come to me sort of person, and I do realize I will learn from this experience as well so yay.

Any ways

Blessed Be
~Flaming

So apparently pagans can't get married in Canada...

Ok for those of you who don't know, L and I are getting married (actually think cross between a handfasting and a christian ceremony. We have family that don't know or need to know things).

Late last month we went to the DMV to get our marriage license and were asked what religion we were. Well L identifies as a ChristoPagan(still deciding) and I identify as an eclectic Pagan...We must have gone through every pagan belief we knew including Wicca (Wicca being more known to the gov usually) and still the government computers would not accept it.
What would they accept?
All the Abrahamic religions, Hindu, Buddhist, Native and non denominational.

I admit I was a little surprised as many forms of paganism are recognised in Canada as being legit belief systems but honestly! I was more than surprised, I was floored! Not even Agnostic or Atheist made the shortlist and those have been recognised since what seems to be forever!
We eventually and grudgingly put down non denominational for government purposes.

Seriously does anyone else think the Canadian gov needs a swift boot to the arse?
I know they are insanely behind on many things and this is only a drop in the bucket for them, but still it makes me furious.

Anyways onto a light ending?
We have a officiate that is familiar with handfastings both "In Your Face" handfastings and the more "slightly in the closet" handfastings. The dress has been found as well as the natural venue, outdoor wedding YAY!
rings have been made and delivered (custom)
Though we are still looking for a long silver cord for the actual handfasting.

Not much longer to go now!

~Blessed Be
~Flaming

   

Yup, I suck at schedules

So no I can't promise a schedule but I can promise that I will keep coming back. That and I have a few topics/experiences/rants that deserve their own title and attention so expect more today.

I disappeared again

I went Missing again didn't I?

well yes, and I don't have a very good reason.
I just plain forgot, I am so busy at work pulling 10+ hour days for 10 day stretches, with my 4 days off I'm playing catch up with cleaning, cooking, teaching, socializing, and worshiping. Plus I have a new puppy which is like a child! I swear she needs all your attention all of the time.

But all that is settled a bit today, so here I am.

so what did I miss talking about?

IMBOLC (Feb 3rd)

I don't do much for Imbolc seeing as it's usually so close to yule and it sneaks right up on you as soon as your done all your celebrations, but that's ok relax. Imbolc is a time where things are becoming new again. animals are getting ready to birth and some are even lactating, they are nesting down for their future kids.
and I got a puppy and had to puppy proof the entire house (and failed).

Whats coming up fast?
OSTARA (March 20th or the spring equinox)
Light and dark are matching up equally things are being born and it's a good time to start something new...Like maybe your seeds?
Not only am I going to start me seeds but I'm also going to delve into yogurt making on my stove. I eat enough of it that if I can make it it'll not only cut down on my grocery bill but I will also know more about what I'm eating. Which is always a good thing.



 Yogurt recipe I'm trying
-heat ~946ml of milk to 85°C on stove in double boiler (stir occasionally) 
-let cool to 43°C then add warm starter ~2 TBSPs
you can get dry powder bacteria starter but I'm using a plain greek yogurt with live active cultures 
-mix extremely well and incubate in oven at ~38°C using oven light and warming mode 
-After 7 or more hours of incubation should have fairly decent thickness with possible curd floating on top (curd = clear yellowish liquid) can incubate longer for thicker or more tart tasting yogurt or use a cheese cloth to drain and have thicker yogurt. 
-stick in fridge to cool...will last up to 2 weeks (unless I eat it first)
-save some for more starter repeat until not reliable anymore then get new starter. 


add flavor or sugar as needed

Most of my directions came from here but others from random searches around google.

Wish me luck?


Blessed Be
~Flaming

Full wolf moon Jan 26th 2013

Yup well the January full moon was yesterday...I personally know it as the wolf moon, other names I have heard it called by are the old moon and the snow moon though sometimes the February full moon is also known as the snow moon.

I know it as the wolf moon because many villages around the world where there are wolf populations hear the wolves more frequently as we are deep into winter and food in the wild is becoming more and more scarce. The wolves howl hungrily while moving closer and closer if not into the villages themselves looking for more food.

This also being the first full moon of 2013 there is some superstition attached.  I haven't tested this myself but in certain areas of the world people believe that if the first full moon of the year is bright that it means the year will receive much rain and a bountiful harvest, but a red tinted moon at the beginning of the year means a dry and scarce year.
Well last night we had clouds and snow, but I did catch a few glimpses and it wasn't red. Does that mean I'll have a mediocre year for my crops? I have no clue but I think I'll keep the moon in mind a little more while planting and see what happens this year.

Well Blessed Be
~Flaming

well I moved so here's a quick summary

Well as I have mentioned before I did move over Christmas away from my apartment and into a small house with my fiance.
Yay for more room and time to do stuff and less fear because I'm living in a safer part of town!

Well lots of things happened while I was gone and lots of people helped with the move and came to visit as well.

well first the move in mid December
We were supposed to have a hockey team help us...no joke a full college hockey team that L works with was supposed to show up and help us move everything. But they didn't show up.
Some of them slept in, some went on vacation, others just went and done whatever. A small group of them even went to the nearest big city (4-5 hours away) to go bar hopping...yup
So we had L who managed to get time off work early, my dad, one of my dad's friends, a friend we call TK, and later in the day/weekend my mother and my auntie TT to help clean up after.

Then unpacking...we managed go get 90% of the unpacking done before my grandmother flew from across the country to visit everyone and she stayed with us a few nights including Christmas eve and day.
Now most of my family is Catholic, with a few atheists  but they all know our religious sway (even if some of them don't understand the concept that there are different religions. to understand that confusion go Here)
We ate many meals had many drinks and gave many gifts around 3 tree's. We're small town folks at heart where mummering was common in times past so we still have the tendency to wander to different houses to partake in celebratory awesomeness through out the day.
In my family we do avoid heavy talks of religion and belief though some outsiders might be shocked at some of the other things we say to each other and once you get some alcohol in us, well then all bets are off. But it's all in good fun.

found at http://www.tmacs.ca/cs_mummer.shtml

Took a few days to clear up and finish our random get togethers and get back to work . We're still even giving and receiving gifts to people we know so it's not over yet.

Now I finally have a few minutes to sit and write and reflect on how my mismatched family incorporates many traditions and beliefs to just fit.
It's lots of food and work but it's more than worth it.



Now time to eat and prepare for work tomorrow while still trying to plan my garden and our wedding.


Blessed Be
~Flaming

The mourning moon...or wait the beaver moon? full frost moon?

So I missed the post about last nights full moon. yeah...I'm as sick as sick gets and under a lot of moving stress so you'll just have to forgive me, but I do have good news and info about last nights full moon so keep reading.

Last nights full moon I know of by 2 names, one name being the mourning moon and the other being the beaver moon.
The reasons behind the name mourning moon is because during this time of year before the winter solstice we have to look back and see our past selves. what did we accomplish? what fears did we face? did we gain or lose anything?

Needless to say most of what's been on my mind as of late has been my stress of moving to a new house and the stress of me being sick which causes me to be more sick (negative feedback loop). I have what we call a "giant ghost" in the making.

The other name being the beaver moon is quite interesting so I had to look it up. I've heard of the name before but never the reasoning so I read the farmers almanac (Canadian version) Where I also found out it was also called the full frost moon.

picture from http://www.martinezbeavers.org/wordpress/category/beavers/

Apparently this time of year was/is the last time to set beaver traps before all the water froze/freezes over. Pretty simple but hey paganism is usually nature based and you don't get much more nature based than the animals and the seasons.









Now for moving.
We bought a house, We bought a house *does happy dance before tipping over coughing*
We have been looking for a while but recently found an awesome house with a large yard and enough bedrooms to either have a renter or start a family.
Buying a house is stressful and expensive, lawyers fees, insurance, down payment, moving costs, changes in address, condo fees (yeah we chose to live in a housing association part of town cause we couldn't find a non association house that wasn't falling apart). And we're doing this all in November/December...right before yule and Christmas.
It feels like we're yelling "lets throw around all our money shall we?!?"
So yeah I'm happy, excited and stressed about that but thankful that we won't have to live in this horrid piece of shit apartment ever again. And I get to plan out for my little veggie garden, live closer to family and friends and live in a much safer neighbourhood.
We take possession legally on the new moon of December but don't start move in until the day after so hopefully as the moon grows into becoming full again so will we grow into this awesome house and have things work out for the better. Sounds like perfect timing, no? well it wasn't planned at all, we chose the possession date and move in date without even looking at the calendar and based off my work schedule, a few weeks ago, I only realized this week what phase the moon was going to be in.

So now what's on my mind exactly at this moment?
"how many people can we get/con into move heavy shit in exchange for pizza and beer?"
"what should the layout for my new home office look like for my webcomic design space?"
"raised beds or tilled garden beds?"
"what am I going to grow in those beds?"
"what kind of puppy do I want?"
"OMG how the hell are we actually affording this?" (money wise w're actually doing good, I just don't know how we managed it).


Well here's for a busy and exciting 2 and 1/2 more weeks.

Blessed Be
~Flaming