Holidays Headlines and Headaches...

So I took PTO on Friday to spend some extra time with hubby. Hubby has been adding a bit of red peppers to his diet lately and had a nasty ulcer flare up. He was bed sick on Wednesday more sick and nearly bed ridden on Thursday and then Friday came. I hate the feeling when he's sick. It makes me feel so helpless. I try to get up and take care of things. I try to do the dishes, do the laundry, feed the dogs, feed the cats, feed the birds, get the eggs, run to the store and do all the things he usually does every single day.

And I fail Miserably!

At a point, I found myself sitting across the room from him as he sat in pain, stomping my foot and saying but I don't want to do it!

What? I don't want to do it? Holy crap how much of a brat am I, really?

Yeah that's what I was thinking too... Someone needs a spanking!

After a chat and a chill I got myself together and we managed to have a good weekend anyway. We didn't have the BBQ or go drink lots at a friends house. We were able to get two animals into good homes. Road the motorcycle and got a bit of a sunburn on my arms. (Very light though)

We found another horrible place to eat in Wilson, for the record, we won't eat in Wilson again. And we managed to find some lovely tattoos on the internet.

I was also greeted this morning with wonderful stories of how Westboro Baptist Church's attempts to dishonor Memorial Day were thwarted by bikers. (Link) (Link)and (Link)




And officially, in front of all my blogger friends, I want to say to my dearest hubby... I'm so very sorry for being such a spoiled brat that you can't even be sick. I promise I'll try harder next time.

And in closing, I'd like to remind all my fellow bloggers out there, please be careful when searching for "spanking" on Google. Some of the images are a bit racy.


Namaste & Blessed Be
Sosanna
)O(

Support Our Pagan Mom's - Top 25 Bloggers

Here's an updated list of the Top 25 Mom's of Faith. If you have a chance go over and vote for our Pagan Moms!


Confessions of a Pagan Soccer Mom
The Pagan Mom Blog
Witchy Mama
Witch Mom: Parenting by the Light of the Moon
Hearth-n-home
The Teflon Cauldron
One Witch’s Wonderland
Earth Mother Musings
Tales of a Kitchen Witch
Pagan Presence: Stay Current with the Witching World
Aoibheal's Lair
The Spiritual Mother
Living a Faerie Tale
Something Oddly
Society of Diana

Blessed Be

Sosanna
)O(

Disappointed and Annoyed

Today I found several things extremely disturbing. I found out the following:

1. Tom's of Maine is owned by Colgate (Link)
2. Burt's Bees is owned by Clorox (Link)
3. Sometimes Christian's aren't very Christian like (Link & Note, click "wall and read")

That last one might not come as a surprise to many of my followers as many of you are from the Pagan Community. But to me, I was indeed a bit surprised to find out that our very own Mrs. B (Kris Bradley) and other "Pagans" have been directly attacked by blogger Darlene Schacht. She writes a hate filled post about how all pagans are evil sinners.

I shouldn't be but I am amazed at how much ignorance and hate is still out there in our world. I'm asking all of you reading this if you could go over to the Circle of Moms's and vote for our Pagan Mom's and move them up in the ranking.


Confessions of a Pagan Soccer Mom
The Pagan Mom Blog
Witchy Mama
Witch Mom: Parenting by the Light of the Moon
Hearth-n-home
The Teflon Cauldron
One Witch’s Wonderland
Earth Mother Musings
Tales of a Kitchen Witch
Pagan Presence: Stay Current with the Witching World
Aoibheal's Lair
The Spiritual Mother
Living a Faerie Tale



If you're able to vote that'd be wonderful. If you can't, light a candle and send positives energies.

Blessed Be

Sosanna
)O(

Lawfully Wed

The idea that two people are joined together in marriage is a pretty simple one. Applicant A signs a paper and provides ID, Applicant B signs a paper and provides ID. They are given a license and they marry. From that point forward they are granted over 1000 rights and benefits from that joining.

Everything from visitation in the hospital to death benefits are granted with that tiny slip of paper. That being said, what if you found out that in the event of your death, your mother who hates your husband or wife would be able to go to court and say, you know what... they're not "really" married and a judge would then say ... You know what... fine I agree, they're not married. Your spouse then loses all rights. They take away the death benefits, the house, the car, whatever. Your x-spouse then joins into the lawsuit and says you know what, I should get those death benefits, because I'm the "real" spouse, I'm the widow!


Surely I must be wrong? Surely this can't happen in America. Well sleep well my non-Trans friends. Your marriage is safe and sound. Apparently this is only allowed to happen to Trans-people. Specifically Nikki Araguz, a transwoman, who's husband, a firefighter, died in the line of duty in Texas. His mother and X-wife have sued Nikki in Texas alleging that their marriage is void because Texas doesn't recognize same sex marriage, even though Nikki has completed Gender Reassignment Surgery and updated her necessary paperwork to become legally female. (Story)

So let's think about this for a moment. All those people out there that say, we don't care what they do, they can have civil unions or whatever. We just don't want them messing with marriage. Really? How about Nikki? Can Nikki have a civil union? Can she have any freaking rights that the non-trans person might have? This of course means that any trans-person no matter how long they've been their correct gender or how long they've been living in their married relationship, can at the drop of a hat have their marriage declared "Void".


VOID
–adjective
1.
Law . having no legal force or effect; not legally binding or enforceable.
2.
useless; ineffectual; vain.
3.
devoid; destitute (usually followed by of ): a life void of meaning.

That word still haunts me when the judge in the California case ruled all 4000 marriages VOID from inception. (story)


Our love has legal force or effect, it is legally binding and enforceable, it is not useless or ineffectual. Our love matters. To tell another person that they or their relationship is "VOID" is just wrong. How dare society today, with the highest divorce rates in history, politicians openly cheating on their wives and lying about it for years, having children with their mistresses and they have the utter gall to look at a loving couple and just because they maybe Trans-people or gay they are VOID.


I am appalled. I cannot put together the anger, the frustration and the shear sense of injustice that is running through my body right now. The tears running down my cheeks only confirm that this is indeed not only a travesty of justice but also a knife in the heart of every member of the LGBTQ community.


Please take a moment to talk to others that you know about Trans issues. Take a moment to discuss the LGBTQ Community and how each day a little bit of their rights are being taken away.



As long as one of us is discriminated against, none of us are free.



Hoping for a brighter tomorrow.


Namaste & Blessed Be

Sosanna
)O(

Ritutal vs. Belief

In order to get more money in my life, I take a green candle and cleans it by the light of the full moon. I carve my desire to have more money on the candle and after calling the Guardians I light my candle and meditate on what I want to happen. Each time I see the candle burning it reminds me that I need to focus on work/task/chores that bring this "magic" to fruition.

So, let's say I change the candle color and I complete all the exact same steps. Will my "magic" fail to work? How about if I fail to cleanse my candle in the light of the full moon? How about if I forget to write "money" on the candle? How much can I leave out before my "magic" fails?

There's only one thing that you can leave out of this magical spell that will change the outcome of the spell. That is you. You are the power behind the spell. You are the magic. The other items are tools that remind you. Tools that focus you. Tools that lead you to the end result. The candle cannot produce this magic alone. There will only be silence if you are not there to address the energies of time and space to pull your magic out. You are the power.

Finding your magic is like connecting to a great pool of energy outside the conscious realm. You can go back and access this energy pool and pull it into your life at any time. You are the one with the power. Using your mind you can center yourself and send out this power to others around you.

Sit back, close your eyes and think about your body. Focus on the chakra points in your body, see them swirling around and feel them being energized from that great pool of energy. Feel it moving across your body and accept that you have the power to allow that energy to flow through your body and mind and cleanse it of items that would block its ability to flow easily.

This is the choice. Belief or Ritual. You can believe you have the power to do this,or you can follow the ritual, keep lighting that green candle in hopes that money will arrive. You can visulize the completed "spell" or you can dwell on the journey to find the correct herb. You can enjoy the benefit of having this centered energy, this completed magical source of power that comes from within or you can sit and wonder if this candle is ever going to work.

I for one, plan to reach for the prior.


Just for today, I will not be worry
Just for today, I will not be angry
Just for today, I will work honestly
Just for today, I will be thankful for my blessings
Just for today, I will be kind to every living thing.


Namaste
&
Blessed Be
Sosanna
)O(

Fingernails & Health

As many of you know over the last 2 years I've had a huge change in the way I treat my body and my mind. I've opened my mind up to spending more time with Wicca and becoming more in tune with the natural world. I've started celebrating the full moon and taking part in ritual activity to help me become more aligned with the Earth and Moon. I've picked up scrying tools and started to experiment with that as well as beginning a course on Reiki Healing. I've changed my diet to remove all processed foods and artificial sweeteners. I've removed ALL JUNK food from my diet. If it comes in a little cellophane wrapper, I don't eat it. I've also become a vegetarian.

Looking at the results of my changes, I can say with out a doubt they are incredible. I have gone from a size 24W to a size 10Missy. I have lost over 110lbs and been able to remove all my prescriptions from my diet. The only pills I take now are vitamins.

Years ago, probably about five or so, I would go to the nail salon at least one a month usually twice to get a mani and a pedi. I was there like clockwork. In fact I was there so often that one year as a gift my company gave me a gift certificate to my favorite salon for several visits. I was completely hooked. Well I had to be. My nails were so thin and brittle that it was crazy. They would literally bend in half when I pushed them over. Last night while laying in bed I noticed that my nails are crazy hard. There's no pushing them over now. It made me think about what was it exactly that helped me so much, where years of Sally Hensen's Hard AS Nails product failed miserably.

The answer? DIET!!! There are several articles on WebMD, MayoClinic.com and Livestrong.com that discuss how to eat a "balanced diet" to help your hair and nails. And forever I thought it was crap. But I'm here now to tell you that it's not. I have seen the proof directly.

So take a moment to think about your next trip to the salon. Those chemicals are not good for you. The nail guy wears a mask for a reason. He doesn't offer you one. That stuff isn't good for you. Add some B vitamins to your diet, eggs, soybeans and biotin will help and be much better for you!

Here are some great links that talk about food and nails.

Foods to Help Grow Hair & Fingernails
Fingernails — 7 signs of possible health problems
Fingernails And Nutrition
Nails vitamin deficiency
Are acrylic nails bad for my health?



Blessed Be

Sosanna
)O(

Marriage Rights

I'm looking around the world today and seeing people complaining and arguing about what Gay people have done to marriage. What have they done really? Created more divorce? Umm No, they can't get married to start with. Created adultery? Ummm No, again they can't get married. How do gay people really destroy marriage? They can't. There's nothing that I do in my home that harms your marriage. There's nothing you do in your home that harms mine.

So...

I have a solution. Let's remove all the rights that the government has given to married couples. Yes that's right. No tax breaks, no inheritance no nothing. Let's put marriage back into the communities hands. Let the Christians marry the Christians, the Jews marry the Jews and the Pagans marry the Pagans. No one has to be rioting or picketing or causing a ruckus.

You didn't know that the government gave rights? Well here's a few from Religious Tolerance:

On the order of 1,400 legal rights are conferred upon married couples in the U.S. Typically these are composed of about 400 state benefits and over 1,000 federal benefits.


Among them are the rights to:
joint parenting;
joint adoption;
joint foster care, custody, and visitation (including non-biological parents);
status as next-of-kin for hospital visits and medical decisions where one partner is too ill to be competent;
joint insurance policies for home, auto and health;
dissolution and divorce protections such as community property and child support;
immigration and residency for partners from other countries;
inheritance automatically in the absence of a will;
joint leases with automatic renewal rights in the event one partner dies or leaves the house or apartment;
inheritance of jointly-owned real and personal property through the right of survivorship (which avoids the time and expense and taxes in probate);
benefits such as annuities, pension plans, Social Security, and Medicare;
spousal exemptions to property tax increases upon the death of one partner who is a co-owner of the home;
veterans' discounts on medical care, education, and home loans; joint filing of tax returns;
joint filing of customs claims when traveling;
wrongful death benefits for a surviving partner and children;
bereavement or sick leave to care for a partner or child;
decision-making power with respect to whether a deceased partner will be cremated or not and where to bury him or her;
crime victims' recovery benefits;
loss of consortium tort benefits;
domestic violence protection orders;
judicial protections and evidentiary immunity;
and more....



So.... What do you think... BAN Governmental Marriage and guess what else... No marriages mean NO Divorce!


Blessed Be

Sosanna
)O(

It Arrived!

My crystal ball has arrived! I'm so very excited. I want to thank Snowy of Eye of Nuit (Paganstuffcheap.com) for keeping me posted through the whole process.

The one I wanted was on backorder so I had to wait. But it was really worth it. I love it. I plan to cleanse it in the full moon and begin work with it immediately.

And a special thanks to Kallan for introducing me to this great shop through one of her blog giveaways!

Happy Scrying everyone!

Blessed Be!

Sosanna
)O(

The Fantastic Falafel Fiasco - PTO

Continuing in my line of PTO documentation I wanted to tell everyone about my PTO Day. This past Friday I took PTO for our Yard Sale. We had a ton and I mean a ton (hubby says... no it's not a ton!) of stuff that we have acquired over the last 5 years and it was time for some Spring cleaning!

After the yard sale was over, hubby and I checked out Craig's list and happen to find a Wood Stove for sale for 150.00. Awesome deal because we had expected to pay about 350/400 for the main part of the stove. I called the guy and found out the stove was in Timberlake. That's a good 2-3 hours from us. While chatting with the guy he said, heck you're coming from that far I'll let you have it for 125.00. Needless to say my ability to resist a great deal has never been fantastic so off we went to Timberlake.

Testing out the new GPS ability on my phone we decided that we would locate some Falafel for me. I found the address to Baba Ghannouj Mediterranean Bistro Good Falafel, bad directions... we road around in circles back and forwards and when I called the place they said.... OH you went to the new Harris Teeter we're in the old Harris Teeter shopping center. DANG! I forgot to check, ignore the new Harris Teeter on my GPS apparently! LOL

Saturday we got up and headed to Out Raliegh festival. After being annoyed at the lack of gender correct contact we decided to leave and go find something to eat. On a side note, the protesters were there in force with their megaphones and spouting their hate, nothing new right? Right down from the kids face-painting and play area. Nice.. Real Jesus Like. UGH

So back to the food... What did I want? Falafel. Again, we plugged in Falafel into the GPS and started on the trip. We found Jasmin Mediterranean Bistro. Good Falafel, good baklava unfortunately it was right across the street from my arch nemesis NC State University. I had to eat quickly before they recognized the Tarheel Blue Blood running through my veins (GO TARHEELS). I scampered off to the Dancing Moon Shop before heading back to Seven Springs.

After arriving home and putting on my shorts and getting relaxed, hubby comes in and says, I want a boxer puppy. We searched on the different pet lists and stuff to find him a boxer. He loves boxers and we're in a position where we can possibly start raising them again. So what the heck! We found one! She was perfect! I called and she was still available. She was however in Monroe NC. Near CHARLOTTE! Holy Crap 3 hours away!

We grabbed the crackers and peanuts along with the bottled water and headed out. After about an hour or so hubby said, what do you want for dinner. He said pizza? He said tacos? I said... Falafel. He looked at me and laughed and said, ok fine, find one out here. All I saw was trees. I started messing with the GPS and tried to find a Falafel. Nothing was coming up. Finally I said, fine, get what you want! (Pouting) We drove past a strip mall and I saw in a flash, Sahara - Chicken Schwarma.... I said honey honey stop there's a place that might have it! Sure enough my Hero exits the store with a small white bag of happiness for me. ARG! Onions! I had to pick all the onions off... and they used flatbread instead of pita... but over all, it hit the spot.


So, out of all the places we went to the best Falafel in NC is right here at home. Nothing beats hubby's Falafel!

Life is Good



Blessed Be

Sosanna

)O(

Embrace the Sparkle #4

A Day in my Brain - Embracing the Sparkle



I look around the room and everything is moving so fast. I think faster than most people. I try to get everything done as soon as I can. I want everyone to move like I do. I look around and no one has the same sense of urgency that I do.

I can't slow down I move and move and move. My brain never stops working, it moves constantly. When you look in my eyes you see the Windows Hour Glass---- It's working working working ... always working


This is what my day is like. My life is always on the move. I have tons of hobbies and I work everyone. I work every holiday and offer to support those that need time off. I go go go. Sometimes when I'm sitting in my office I just say out loud - Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee



It's a wild ride.... :(:


Remember: this is what makes us special and unique. You do not have to be destructive or self destructive. You can embrace the great qualities that are present in Bipolar disorder and not have to follow through on the bad. Take the wonderful feelings, that sense of fearlessness and the sense of being able to conquer the world and put it to good use. Imagine the possibilities, expect the wonderful and produce the amazing.

Embrace the Sparkle.


Blessed Be

Sosanna
)O(

Power of Positive Crystals

So my order from "Pagan Stuff Cheap" arrived last week and I haven't had a chance to tell you about it.

I ordered a crystal point with chakra colored stones across the front of it in a lovely silver setting. I had planned to use it as a pendulum for my scrying attempts. As I was sitting with hubby over the weekend we were talking about ways to lower my stress levels from 8-5. (I'm so stressed that we are actually considering joining a commune or moving to Mexico and living off the land)

I had a thought to put on the crystal to help balance myself while I'm working. Even though yesterday was sooooo bad, I still did feel a bit more centered while being yelled at. Hopefully as I move forward applying more positive energy and more good thoughts I'll be able to become more centered.

I started out this day with a nice cup of tea, nag champa and my candles a glow preparing for my first meeting of the day.

Here's to a Happy Tuesday.


Blessed Be

Sosanna
)O(

Business Etiquette - RANT

Caution RANT


HOLY MOLY did I have a rough day yesterday. I generally do not discuss work in my blog. That's because this area is suppose to be a safe haven for me. It's suppose to be a place where I can come and ease my mind and be around others who are like minded. So this post is going to very very vague. Hopefully everyone can follow. (Names have been changed to protect the GUILTY)

In my line of work we design, launch and support content management and collaboration software. Basically I help people decide where to put their files and help them find them when they can't. So after launching a new platform a member of the group I support decided that they were going to put their files where ever they wanted instead of following the model and told me that just because I didn't do my job and missed the requirement they wasn't going to jump through hoops to submit a request for the new model.

(LINK)
What? Ok let me get this straight, you're going to put what you want where you want no matter what the rule says? Really? And why are you screaming at me? At what point did we digress to the sandbox where you can grab all the toys and run across the yard with them stomp your foot and say "MINE". Really?


SCREAM!

When discussing this situation with other co-workers I'm told, Oh "Blank" is just hard to work with. "Blank" does this to everyone, don't take it personal. "Blank" is just that way. Really? Blank is just that way? Ummm Not to me they're not. (dialing phone) Hello HR? I'd like to have a discussion with someone......

You see where I'm going here.

Ok ....

I'm done with this now..


/rant

Time Management

So my time management has been in the crapper lately. I've tried to manage my work schedule along with all my hobbies, which include, Blogging, reading, Wicca, Animals(Ferrets, chihauhaus, boxers, parakeets, cats, chickens and lizards, including a new Yorkie Puppy) and learning to Scry.

Needless to say my life over the last few months has been complete slammed. I have also as you're aware, had issues with my mother as well.


On Monday I got an update from a group I followed years ago on Facebook called National Fibromyalgia Awareness. Remembering that I no longer had Fibro and that I really didn't need to follow the page any more, I posted a nice goodbye and and offer of anyone who wanted to follow me or friend me to do so and I'd be happy to share with them how I got off the Fibro meds, cured my pre-diabetes and lost over 110lbs. Let me tell you, people that are in pain are not happy people. I was immediately attacked as a liar, someone who never had Fibro, someone who didn't know what they were talking about or just a stupid person. Amazing! Try to share some good info with folks and that's what you get.

That's when it dawned on me, of course that was after hubby pointed it out, that I'm a pleaser. I try to make everyone happy. I try to support everyone's cause and lend a hand to everyone I can and leaving myself completely bankrupt for taking care of my own needs.

As I sit here now preparing for my day at work, I think about all the things I have to get done today. None of which will occur between 8am-5pm. I need to apply a little bit of time management and a bit of self preservation to prevent myself from going completely bonkers.

So my posts may be a little slower going forward, my likes a little behind and my comments coming all at one time. I ask that my wonderful followers hang in there and understand what I'm trying to accomplish and stay with me.

I also wanted to update everyone on the Scrying... I seem to have woke up some sort of psychic ability in myself. I've been able to find items that were lost, somehow I just "knew" where they were; and I've been able to help hubby remember shopping items simply by closing my eyes and "listening" to his head. Weird... Trust me I know... but I think it's working.




Blessed Be
Sosanna
)O(

Scrying for Beginners - Chapter 7 & Collecting My Tools

My email box lit up today with a wonderful message from Pagan Stuff Cheap. My order was shipped! I'm so excited. Sadly the crystal ball I wanted is on back order. On Sunday I got a email telling me that I could wait for it or cancel my order. The ball is made out of Alexandrite and it looks soooo nice. I just had to wait for it.

Next I collected my scrying journal. It's a nice purple binder I found at the thrift store and I filled it with loose leaf paper. I'm very excited about it. I ordered a crystal point necklace with crystals across the front to try to use as a pendulum. We'll see how that goes.

I'm still on the hunt for my little black bowl. I was really surprised at how hard they are to find. Trust me though I WILL find it.

Lastly my dearest hubby made me a wonderful scrying mirror. We found the directions in the book because at the time of publishing apparently buying black mirrors was unheard of. (Makes me wonder if I need a more updated book) LOL


So my tools are nearly complete....

Chapter 7's first exercise is to take something that you have readily. A Key, a book, a tube of chapstick and hold it in your hand. Visualize it. Then close your eyes and try to recreate it. Try to make it viewable from all side. Turn it around, upside down and so forth. I've been doing that a little each day. It's very interesting and oddly enough pretty easy to do. I hope that's a good sign.



So off to get my non magikal day going. Can't wait for my new supplies to arrive.


Blessed Be
Sosanna
)O(