Witch Woman aka Crystal Raven

Yesterday was my birthday, so I am now 37 and need to update my About page. It wasn't a bad day, I don't mind getting older, I just mind when I feel older. My husband took the kids to the dollar store and they each got me something; a fake mini orchid plant (to maybe make up for the real and beautiful one the cats knocked over and killed?), three stones each engraved with a word: Happiness, Love and Kisses (I collect rocks and stones) and a stuffed witch from my 10 year old (because the Halloween stuff is out and every witch should have her own witch?). My Dad and step-mother came over after dinner, McDonald's so I didn't have to cook, and brought me an ice cream cake and a card with $50.00 in it.

I am very torn about the money, we need to pay bills, money was spent on McDonald's which should not have been, our computer is completely fried and needs to be taken in to be repaired and we are currently using our daughter old one. But its supposed to be for me and I desperately need clothes, but I know I will feel guilty if I do buy something for myself, even if everyone says I should not.

I also went to have a coffee with one of the mom's down the street, that I met when school started, as everyone one the street has to meet at the same place for the school bus. She, we'll call her Deb, seems like a very nice lady. She gave me a birthday card and my son some hand me down pants , but is definately a bit of an alcoholic. Some of the moms bring their mugs of coffee with them as we traipse these children about, hers has wine in it. Yesterday, in the hour I was there, she had two glasses of wine and filled her mug as we left to go grab the kids. I like her though, she is very straight forward and honest. Her one statement did concern me though, about another mom on the street that lives directly across from us, she said and I quote "I like to drink but at least I look after my kids."

Now I don't actually know the woman across the way but I don't like her, didn't like her even before Deb said what she said. Nothing has really happened nor has she said anything to me other than good morning and have a good day, but my spidey senses are tingling.

Everything seems to be settling in. The kids like their new school and mornings are running smoothly for the most part, my teen is doing well with her schedule as well. I am now here at Blogspot and also settling in the new house.

I managed to get a "Command Central" going in the nook at the top of the stairs. Theres is a two tiered table, the top for writing things out and dumping incoming/outgoing papers on, the bottom to hold three magazine holders which serve to hold stationary, incoming mail and the local phone book as well as a small tin bucket holding pencils, pens and a pad of paper and a wee chest that holds our index cards with all of our recipes, phone numbers and addresses. I have hung a corkboard and perpetual calendar on the wall beside the table. I also grabbed three hatboxes that were on sale that now sit on the floor kinda in front but off to one side of the table. In the biggest bottom one we now have all our spare pens, pencils, erasers and index cards, in the medium middle one are the batteries, tape, paperclips etc and in the small top one, the stuff we grab most often, calculator, digital camera and change jar.

It's so quiet in here you could hear a pin drop, but it is bliss. To be able to breath, to be able to think, to be able to just be.

I am still struggling to find a look for my blog that reflects me. I may be wrong, but I think this is vitally important.

Although I do like Wordpress.com it is simply not cutomizable enough for my liking and will not allow me to express my creativity in a way that I wish to.

I do hope that my readers will follow and support me in this move.

We have 10 cats. Persy (Persephone) and her 3 kittens Raven, Mooch and Flower; Tey Tey (Hecate) and her daughter Annabelle; Minerva and her kitten Toffee; and the boys Spooky and Bandit. Spooky and Bandit we made sure were neutered and we were going to get the girls spayed as we go, except for an unfortunate visit from my mother-in-law and her male un-neutered cat which resulted in most of the kittens.

Now I love cats, adore them, so did not have the heart to give all the kittens away at 8 weeks as we should have, but they are all indoor cats, well looked after and no more un-neutered visitors allowed. I have 3 large litter boxes on the go, all of which I scoop twice a day. We have 10 cat dishes and 1 very large water bowl. My house is clean and does not smell.

But having more than 3 cats is against the by-laws in my town and most landlords (including our new one) have a clause in their lease of having no pets, this is illegal and not enforcable.

Yesterday my new landlord called to ask if we had any cats, I said no, just because I do not want any problems. She reminded me that my lease said my pets allowed and then informed me that my old landlord called her and informed her we have numerous cats and that they (the old lanlords) were going to call the by-law officers and have them all taken away, which they can do.

So, as my heart is breaking, my husband and I decided to give 7 of our cats to the local non-euthanizing shelter, I will be taking Persy, Raven, Mooch, Flower, Tey Tey, Annabelle and Minerva in later today. Please send your good energy, thoughts and prayers to my furbabies.

Here where I live, the nights are getting cooler, some leaves are starting to change colour and a few have even fallen. I am starting to organize the house for back-to-school, setting up a wee Home Central for all the papers, notices and everything else that will be flooding in soon and the kids go back in just over a week.

I can't wait for them to go back, for the return of some sort of schedule, for the return of some peace and quiet. At the same time I, as usual, hate myself, for another summer wasted. We haven't done much of anything, only one trip to the beach that is twenty minutes away, one trip to the park that is five minutes away, no Canada's Wonderland or the CNE or the camping that I was so hoping for. Their younger years are slipping away quick, and I don't want them to have "nothing" like my older two. I hate that they truly have nothing to write about when the teacher asks for a "What I Did This Summer" essay.

But everything seems too hard, too expensive, too little time, yet I haven't done much either, I am not even working right now. Our entire summer was focused on finding a house, packing, moving, unpacking and dealing with the old landlords BS. Now I know these things had to be done, but I am sure I could have done better, organized better, time managed better, but I did not, and so I sit here, looking at my still huge to do list, and hate myself.

I spent most of yesterday organizing (I had a large tupperware bin full of craft supplies) and decorating my studio. I decided to go with shabby chic as I have no money and found a can of white paint laying around, but I actually do love the feel of the shabby chic look. Later today I will sew up a chair cozy and I will be basicly done. I am seriously considering moving my entire altar down to there, just for the quiet and privacy I am able to get in that space, but am once again not happy with my base, it simply is not big enough. I do need a chandelier and of course the walls are not done, but I did it backwards on purpose. See, as much as I love my husband, he does not have a lot of time to spare and is a procastinator. So in decorating first, he will now feel bad for me sitting with unfinished walls and get the job done sometime this year. Unless I decide to try and tackle it myself, which I just may.

The kids are still on track and mentally ready for school. I am geting a bit paranoid as we still have no money for back-to-school supplies and have less than two weeks left, but something always comes through, Goddess will provide.

As for my sleeping, still not quite on track yet and neither is my meditation. I was listening to a CBC radio program a while ago and it was on a study being done on natural sleep patterns. Apparently, in the olden days, the patterns were very different and have only changed due to technology forcing our bodies to do other than they are supposed to. The test subjects were being taken to a cabin in the woods without any electronics or schedules. For the first week all the subjects slept excessively, they believe because most people are truly sleep deprived without even realizing it. The second week a natural pattern began to emerg. Soon after sunset, the subjects would retire for the night, then sometime between midnight and 1 am, they would wake, stay awake for about an hour and then go back to sleep until sunrise. In the third week subjects noted how much better they felt and how much clearer their thinking was, and with some, symptoms of simple ailments began to decrease and sometimes go away completely. This pattern emerged in every subject they tested. They now have theories that in many old stories and tales, that when the Watching Hour is mentioned, it is actually this time during the night when people were in fact awake, another theory is that the three stages of sleep are actually meant to be broken up. The test subjects also did 60% better on literacy and math tests done after the 3 week trial, than the ones the did just before the trial. Just some food for thought :)