Welcome Fall, my favorite time of the year! I’m not a pumpkin everything person…I am only a pumpkin seed person. The girl was in in the mood for pumpkin pie and today she made her first ones from scratch. It would have been cheaper to buy one from the store but she was game….so I went with it. I forgot to take a picture of the pumpkins before roasting but here was the after….
We thought for sure we did something wrong? This was not the color of pumpkin pie? Now we know….the color comes from the spices. It was extremely watery when she poured it into the pie crust…..again we were worried. It turned out okay in the end. The girl now has to work on subtle knife testing….no stabbing the pie.
I also made some apple crisp in the middle of the girls pumpkin experiment and my book page pumpkin making. PT ordered four this morning so I was in the kitchen all day. If I wasn’t at the kitchen table working on the book page pumpkins, I was helping the girl, peeling and coring apples, or doing dishes. I think we have the fall smell down and I get to eat my first batch of pumpkin seeds.
I made four book page pumpkins but couldn’t seem to get a good picture of all of them so here are three….
I couldn’t find the same leaves that I used last year so I used these neutral berry sprays. I was aiming for whimsical? PT liked them, hopefully her friends that are receiving them as gifts will like them too?
Last night KB had her Lemongrass Spa party and it was a huge success! I really needed it to be so I am very excited about that. I left my house without my phone which I have never done. It was strange but I survived. I used KB’s phone for a calculator when needed. It was a tad unnerving on the way home….it was dark…what if I had an emergency? I pass deer everyday and that worries me the most…even when I do have my phone. I made it home without any problems thank goodness.
All in all it was a pretty good weekend! I even set my dates for my pop ups at my favorite coffee shop for the season. These might be the only three events that I do….Zia
PS. My weekend started with a rainbow Friday night….in some spots it was even a double!
Today was my first night of Italian classes! It was fun and overwhelming all at the same time. This teacher is all for class participation. I told the girl how everybody had their turn saying my name is…. and then again I am from and I live…in Italian. He also teaches Italian at the same university that the girl attends. I was telling her about the class participation and she said “no way, I’d drop that class!” I was uncomfortable at first but I got over it. This class goes every Thursday from now until December 20th, except for Thanksgiving…we have that day off. I was surprised at the number of people who were there….between 25 and 30. I thought that was a lot. I hope I retain most of what I learn.
We also had a potluck at work today and I was lucky enough to have BV share her garden fresh peppers with me….
I made stuffed peppers a few weeks ago when Force of Nature Girl begged me to make stuffed pepper soup. This time I used the ground beef that was on sale at my little Italian grocery store where I buy my produce. There is a distinct difference in the taste. Nobody else seemed to notice thank goodness but I did. We don’t eat a lot of meat in this house but when we do it’s better quality than what is mixed in these peppers. Cooking for the masses is different than cooking for three….
In other exciting news this week…the Faerie Magazine Outlander issue came out! There is a tutorial in it that screams “droughtlander” party. A little arts and crafts plus an episode or two, equals a great day!
It will be sometime in October…we haven’t picked a date yet. In looking at the calendar I happened to notice that there is a full moon on Halloween. The last time I remember a full moon on Halloween it was in 2001, it was also a blue moon…I left my ex husband the next day and my mom died three days later. That was a huge period of change for me….
We are still experiencing spider-geddon over here. Tonight when I got home from class there was one hanging out by the door frame and as soon as I opened the door he fell through the door frame and onto the floor. I stomped on him after screaming and doing a little dance. This is so crazy! The girl tossed the body out on the porch and said “this serves as warning to the rest of you!” It was a lot of drama… Yesterday the girl saw a big one on the metal threshold, when I opened the door a smaller one zoomed by and jumped down into the vent….like he knew where he was going. I sprayed peppermint oil on the other one and it scurried away.
This guy was outside tonight….he is so big that you can see the flash in one of his eyes.
This was the size of the one in the basement that we lost it over! I haven’t seen a spider down there since I made a wide path of diatomaceous earth around a raised section of the basement floor. I didn’t want to put it outside but it looks like I might have to? I will do it Saturday once Friday night’s rain dries up. I have never lived anywhere where the spiders sit at the door waiting for it to be opened so the can come in. I did not send that invitation!
Why can’t they all be as cute as Walter and Jesse? Walter has been hanging out by the kitchen sink for about a week. Jesse showed up this morning. It’s fruit fly season so they can hang out as long as they want.
The girl named them after I said they were not to be killed. Walter is on the top and Jesse is on the bottom and they are welcome here.
I started my Sunday with a whopper of a dream….nightmare really.
I was at my Grandmother’s house, sleeping in the bed that I slept in when I was in junior high on the weekends. While I was sleeping I heard a sinister voice and I am not using the D word…call me superstitious but ghosts are bad enough let’s not delve lower to the more scary entities. Right after I heard the voice the sleep paralysis came. This was different because I didn’t physically feel it because I was dreaming it. A dream in a dream if you will. While I was struggling in my dream I went old school Catholic and was reciting the our father and I couldn’t remember it all. (When I am experiencing sleep paralysis this is not how I fight it, I use white light which has worked so far) When that didn’t work I went to the hail Mary which did work but I couldn’t remember all of it either. While I was fighting to wake up in the dream about a dream there was a curtain. In my dreaming mind it was a curtain to a closet, the reality is…that it’s the curtain in my bedroom.
Skip to the next scene where I am making the bed while telling the girl about the dream. When I was locking all of the windows (I have no idea why?) I could hear the girl’s phone and it sounded like the beginning of a Rob Zombie song. It was about 666. I asked the girl “did you draw those numbers?” She said “no, I googled it.” Then there were other things coming out of the phone “you will never have any money”, “you will never amount to anything” and I can’t remember what the other one was. I’ll be the first to admit that I have lots of issues but none of these relate to me. If I thought like that I wouldn’t be on this path. That was it and then I woke up.
I am embarrassed to say that the first thing I did was to recite the our father and hail Mary in my head just to prove that my memory isn’t that bad. Can’t fight with something you don’t believe in so I am not sure why I went there. Don’t get me wrong I do believe in God/Goddess but I do not believe in the church or the giant lies that it was built on. Not interested in a theological debate just trying to clarify for the dreams sake. It was a very disturbing way to start the day.
I went to PT’s for breakfast and hung out there for a bit. I came home and started cleaning and doing things around the house. The landlord gave me stuff to spray in the back on the big weeds and while I’m not a fan of chemicals…it’s not my house. I did come across this little lady today. I hope she didn’t go near where I sprayed.
Then I hung out in the neighbors pool for an hour or so. It was a little chilly so I am going to guess that today was probably the last day for the pool. I needed that water therapy today.
Now that I am a little more settled in this house I am noticing a couple of things…other than the spiders. I used to be more knowledgeable about Feng Shui but these days not so much. I do know that the front door should not be aligned with the back door. The Chi comes in and goes straight out and that’s not good. I moved the kitchen table from it’s cozy corner to the center of the kitchen. I can’t stick a big random plant in the path so the table will have to work. Excuse the mess….these are the pictures I took after I moved the table.
I am hoping this helps. I don’t hate it and haven’t walked into it yet but only time will tell if it is going to stay like this…..Zia
I have mentioned before that I have been trying to listen to my inner voice more often than naught…this last one surprised me. I have been struggling with the continuation of my little small business and in my head I knew what I was willing to do this fall. I received an email from the history center. I have done their event from the beginning….their history and mine. This year they are doing it two days instead of one. My initial response when I opened the email was “absolutely not!” I have since tried to talk myself into doing the show anyway. “I’m off the week before”….”I always do well”….”it would pay for Christmas”, etc. No! I’m not doing it.
It’s not the money (it’s double the cost for two days), that is still very reasonable. It’s my time. I am not willing to give up two days of my life on this event. I am going to email my favorite coffee house to see if they are willing to host two maybe three pop ups….once each month the remainder of the year. I want to use up my supplies and this will be my last batch of book page pumpkins…ever. I have other places to focus my energy…like my writing.
I’m a maker so I will never stop making but now is not the time for this small business venture. Now is the time for writing. I talked a former instructor into doing another fairy workshop. I hope other people sign up for her sake, but for me this is more research.
I have been in this park numerous times throughout my life and lately there have been some attacks. I haven’t decided what level of protection that I want to bring with me. This event is from 10am-1pm…it’s a sad state of affairs that I even have to think about safety on a Saturday morning/afternoon.
It’s been pretty uneventful as of late. I had book club last night…hair cut and errands today….tomorrow I am hoping for total relaxation…aka one more day in the neighbor’s pool before fall.
I am reading a new book….one I did not pick for book club because it’s over 600 pages but I am loving every minute of it so far.
I don’t want to put it down! Hopefully it stays interesting….I will let you know.
Except for battling spiders that has been my weekend. I don’t want to even talk about the number of spiders that have tried to get into the house (over diatomaceous earth…food grade)or that have gotten into the house the last week. I really don’t want to get bit again….why can’t they just tell me what they need to in a dream so the girl isn’t a basket case. It’s like Arachnophobia the movie over here!
Just because I was finishing up with the Halloween decorations, does not mean “open spider invitation”. Ugh! I try and stick with the “you can stay outside and I won’t harm you, but the minute you come inside…I will squish you.” These last two were 3.9 seconds from crawling under the back door. I grabbed Windex because it was handy and then I sprinkled peppermint oil like it was holy water all over the thresh hold. These bad boys walked right through that d-earth. I am definitely not up for this challenge…..Zia
This week we have been trying to get back to normal after the kids were at their dad’s for a week. Between work and school it hasn’t been easy. Today was the girl’s late class at the university. The teacher delayed the start time almost an hour and I still couldn’t find a parking spot near my second favorite coffee house. It wasn’t too bad today because it was nice outside which is where I sat after my favorite coffee house closed. Today I read a book on fairies and one on unicorns…..this is all research for my writing.
I found this the most interesting out of everything I read tonight….
Cave drawings from Lascaux believed to be 15,000-17,000 years old. This is part of the unicorn panel found in the hall of the bulls. Still don’t believe? That’s okay….I believe enough for all of us.
Today I saw the sun…I haven’t seen the sun since sometime last week. This was my favorite meme from this past soggy, dreary weekend. I made me laugh out loud.
One of the things I purchased when I was with SB on Saturday was this grapevine wreath. I couldn’t pass up the $5.00 price and I stripped it of all decorations.
In trying to stick with my use it or lose it goal this year….I used all of the Halloween pieces I purchased at Hobby Lobby last year at 80% off.
It’s not my best work but it will do. It’s fun and festive….that’s what I am going with. I purged a lot of my Halloween decorations, at least half. I still might purge more….this time it’s the girl holding on to “things”. I will never be a minimalist but I am getting better at letting stuff go…..Zia
I’ve been should on…..I’ve been trying to find the right way to say this since last month and it hasn’t been easy. This is one of those things that came out of the eclipse season that I really needed to think on and make some decisions.
Why do I make things? I can’t answer that, it’s kind of like asking me why my eyes are brown? I am a maker and as long as I am creating what I want to create I am happy.
I make things because I love to make things. I give away things I make because I like to share with people that I care about. This is the way I have always been. Do I sometimes give away too much? Absolutely I do! Where does the should on come in?
Well….when enough people tell you that you should sell what you make eventually you listen. Am I sorry that I made a little side business for myself? No, not at all. Did I really need a vendors license for the amount that I sell? No, I surely did not. Somebody should on me for that useless piece of paper and the headache that goes with it twice a year.
Do you remember when I said that I signed up to do an event that was out of my comfort zone? I checked my email for the date that I backed out of it and it was August 19th. I don’t know what made me back out of it but I am so glad that I did. The majority of my stuff, 90% at least is paper and it has done nothing but rain today and tomorrow will be worse. Way back in August I didn’t know what the weather would be like, I just knew I wasn’t doing that show. I will do the history center and maybe two pop ups at my coffee place and then I will decide if I want to continue. This is also part of the use it or lose resolution I made this year. I moved a bunch of supplies to make these projects and I will use them up. Restocking probably won’t happen. Only time will tell…
I have always been a dreamer…in more ways than one. My dreams were pretty intense when I started my private Facebook group dedicated to the dream world. I swear almost immediately after creating that group my dreams stopped. My dreams have picked up since then but I haven’t been a good admin to the group. Mountain Woman called me out on it last night and she’s right…I need to own it. I should on myself in this case because I started this group because of my crazy dreams. It’s not about me, it’s about creating a safe place for people to post their dreams and get some insight from like minded individuals.
Last night I had a weird dream…aren’t they all? I was in my little Italian store and they were getting ready to close. The lady behind the counter offered me a sample of their new fresh baked bread and it was out of this world amazing. There were some men in uniform on the other side and one of them came up to me. He had dark hair and blue eyes and he had a scar or mark along his hairline. I couldn’t decide if he lost a bet or was on a dare? We talked…he touched my cheek…and I said “I’ve got to go, the store is closing.” I talked to another cashier for a bit before I left. It was very strange and it felt very real.
Today I drove out to SB’s side of town and we did some thrifting. I found a couple things but today was more about hanging out than it was shopping. My favorite deal from Goodwill was this planter for $2.25. I liked it because it had feet. We ran into Marc’s later and I found this Z plant to go in it. I need more plants and SB insists that this one is hard to kill. The plant was $7.50 which I thought was a good deal.
I haven’t been this way in a long time and we drove by one of my favorite houses. I thought someone had purchased it but it still looks abandoned to me…
We also stopped at a store I have never heard of, something about labels or brands? They get name brand clothes and black out the labels or punch holes in them and offer them at a discount. I bought a sweatshirt that doesn’t look like a bum to wear with yoga pants for $11.99 and a comfy hoodie in the men’s department for $7.99. I will be wearing that hoodie tomorrow for sure.
Weather and basement pending I will be heading to PT’s for breakfast and then home to make some soup and play in the kitchen. We are supposed to get six inches of rain between now and Monday and my fingers are crossed that the basement doesn’t flood again. I am almost done with laundry, I don’t want to add to the water flow in any direction tomorrow.
I am a little sad that I am missing the masquerade ball tonight, I think it would have been fun. In my head a masquerade ball involves formal dresses and men in tuxes and that isn’t what tonight would have been. I still think it would have been fun though. I’m just lucky that I backed out when I did and received a refund…whew!
I haven’t had the kids most of the week and haven’t listened to the radio since I picked the girl up from the university on Wednesday and yet this song popped into my head on Friday…..
Where do you wanna go….how much you wanna risk? Those were the words that repeated themselves all afternoon. I couldn’t even have told you the name of the song or the artist until I googled part of the lyrics. I’ve heard it before but I never paid attention to the lyrics until Friday. Messages come in the weirdest places, just be open to receive them…..Zia
The girl did go to her dads last night where they all are choosing to ignore what went down on Monday. The girl even said it herself today “I’m all about ignoring a problem until it goes away.” She still had me pick her up from the university during her break today.
When I dropped her off I passed two campus police cars…one of them twice. That made me feel a little better leaving her alone since her dad would be picking her up. So instead of writing today…I chopped up the rest of that 1/2 bushel of plum tomatoes. The processing time on diced tomatoes is forty five minutes and the first batch is in the water canner now. I have 15 pints and 3 quarts of diced tomatoes…that was a lot of chopping. SB found a recipe on Pinterest and used it so I followed suit. https://www.thriftyfrugalmom.com/how-to-can-diced-tomatoes-a-step-by-step-tutorial/#sthash.uLJoVKUi.ZvghUPSJ.dpbs
I was excited to find figs at my local grocery store and on sale for $6.99 to boot!
I thought I missed my chance! I won’t have time tonight after all of those tomatoes but I see fig and pear jam in my future tomorrow…. I am just happy that I was able to use all of the tomatoes that I purchased and that were given to me.
Since I had the dehydrator out I thought I would try strawberries and blueberries. Its a first so I don’t know how well it will turn out? If it does work it will be great for trail mix later in the year.
It will be cooler this weekend so maybe I will can some more…I am in full harvest mode. You can tell the seasons are getting ready to change even if it’s obnoxiously hot outside…..Zia
I don’t even know if I can put today in words….it’s unbelievable….
Today the girl and I went to a birthday party for my cousin’s daughters. They live out of state and the girls are turning one so this is a pretty big deal in my book. This party also happens to coincide with my ex-husband’s first day of vacation. The boy opted to wake up and go straight to his dad’s house. The girl wanted to go to the party so she came with me.
Her dad lost his mind over this. He wanted to go to the fair to eat and would not go with the boy alone. He threw a huge hissy fit, only acknowledging the boy when he needed someone to yell at. The poor boy spent most of the afternoon sitting in silence being ignored by his dad. The girl was with me when her dad sent her the text “thanks for ruining my vacation!” What?!!!
This is a grown ass man who will be fifty in a few days and this is how he is behaving? Do you have any idea how hard it was for me to keep my mouth shut? What a jerk!
We left earlier than planned because the girl was worried about the boy being alone with their dad. She made the boy come get her so she didn’t have to walk in alone. I told her to call me if she needed me to come and get her, which was more to calm her down than anything.
The girl did end up calling me to come and get her. She went with her brother to work and I found her crying in a booth when I got there. That’s the third time he made her cry today. I guess he told them to go home, he was going to go to work tomorrow and that they were boring anyway. I can’t even believe that I was once married to this guy?
The girl turns 21 in three days and the boy turns 23 next month….they are adults. I can’t fight this battle for them, as much as I want to and I really want to…but I won’t. How did I deal with my anger? I took it out on some tomatoes….
I canned thirteen pints of salsa tonight. There is something about chopping things into tiny pieces that make me feel better. I don’t follow a recipe for salsa, I chop tomatoes,onions, and cilantro and then cook it down. That’s it. It tastes great because all of the ingredients are fresh. I think I might have to invest in some new rings this years, they are starting to look a little shabby. Some people don’t even store them with the rings but I always leave them on.
I am not prepared to go back to work tomorrow. I’m not even prepared for food tomorrow. I didn’t grocery shop this weekend because I wasn’t going to have the kids and surprise….I have the kids. Oh well, I will just stop on the way home tomorrow…..Zia
I’m a little late to the harvest game this year but I showed up this weekend. BV brought me some cherry tomatoes this week and I honestly think they were the best I ever tasted. I put them in the dehydrator to make my version of sun dried tomatoes.
Today was my annual canning day with SB, we always have a good time. We canned sauce, tomato basil jam, and eggplant caponata. I still have a 1/2 bushel of plum tomatoes so tomorrow I hope to find the time to can salsa and diced tomatoes. I think I missed my opportunity to can with figs this year…the pear fig jam I made last year was one of my favorites. I won’t pass it up up next year….it’s too good.
Last night I had ML over to try out the foot spa kit from Lemongrass Spa, drink some wine and watch a little Outlander. I knew that if I didn’t invite her over that she would have spent the whole weekend alone. What kind of friend would I be if I let that happen? The foot spa products are amazing and my feet are still super soft today. I only sipped on a glass of wine….I was still getting over a whopper of a hangover. I went out with PT and her sister Friday night and I overindulged….I spent all day Saturday paying for it.
During my Saturday morning struggles the girl had on the weirdest show called Stan Against Evil. I mean weird! I said “what the?” most of the show. She put it on again after ML and I finished an Outlander episode, this one was called Werepony. If you are only ever going to watch one episode of this show….this is the one. I can never unsee the werepony.
I spent a lot of time thinking this past week about what I do and why I do it. All of the inner work that this past eclipse season has brought is still tossing and turning in my head. Some of it makes sense and some of it I’m still working on….I’m getting there…slowly but surely. More changes to follow…..Zia
Yes….fairies and big full rainbow, those were the highlights of my day. I have been having some serious things going on while I am sleeping and not all of it makes sense to me right now. So I will take all of the rainbows and fairies I can get. I woke up this morning seriously pissed off and ready to rant over something that happened almost two thousand years ago. I didn’t and am not ready to go into details right now so I will just reiterate….serious work is happening in my dream world lately.
Today was my day to hang out at the university while the girl had her night class. The place I was prepared to hang out did not have available parking so I made a new plan. I hung out in my favorite coffee shop and was going to head to the other place when this place closed. Then the storm rolled in….I ended up sitting in my car and finishing the book I started inside. It was a quick read only 120 pages or so.
How many more ways can Scotland come up in my life? I have never heard the story of Reverend Robert Kirk before tonight. How is this even possible? He died in 1692 so this isn’t new, I just can’t believe that I didn’t know. I took many notes during this read….
On the way home there was a huge full rainbow and the left side of it was super bright. This picture was taken on the interstate….have no fear, both of my hands were on the wheel. The girl took this picture. I love the way a little rainbow turned up in the raindrop…
It was so bright that part of it was still visible when we got home fifteen minutes later.
I woke up a little rough this morning but it turned out to be pretty magical day…Zia
