A Beautiful Day!

Greetings all! First of all, I want to say a great BIG "Thank you" to everyone for wishing hubby and I so many anniversary blessings!! All's well that ends well as we turned out to have an absolutely wondferful weekend in which to celebrate ~  for both Mabon and our wedding anniversary!

We attended the annual "Celtic Classic" in Bethlehem, PA on Sunday. The weather was gorgeous! We took a stroll along the main strip to see the local shops and happenings ...

Hubby took pics of the Highland Games there ...

Hubby surprised me with an elegant Swarovski Pendant which I had worn with my new black dress later on that evening ...

Even the cats gave me something (per hubby, that is!) ... LOL!

 

Hand Sanitizer specifically for after litterbox cleaning duty!

We rounded out the day by having a nice steak and shrimp dinner at "Outback Steakhouse." They were so thoughtful that they treated us with a complementary ice cream sundae served with two spoons in which to share for our wedding anniversary ... :-)

 

I would also like to share with you all some of Page's pics from Saturday's Mabon celebration ...

A very special week indeed! Definitely a weekend to remember!!!

 Blessed be!

Never a dull moment!

Well, this past week has been, to say the very least, interesting! I had my very long-awaited vacation week from work all planned out. Re-organizing and decorationg ... (check!),  grocery shopping ... (check!), cleaning on Thursday, taking a day trip with hubby somewhere (anywhere) on Friday, and then preparing for our (albeit a tad late due to schedules) Mabon/Autumn Equinox ritual celebration on Saturday afternoon. Uhhh, well, needless to say, although things did eventually work out in the end, they didn't excatly go as (cough) planned ...

On Wednesday morning, we woke up to absolutely no electricity at all. No storms nor accidents in the area in which someone may have hit an electrical pole. So what happened? Well, turned out that apparently my hubby forgot to pay our electric bill and so, you guessed it, they turned it off!

Furious doesn't even begin to describe what I was feeling at that point. I thought to myself, "Great, of all the weeks for this, right?" We made some phone calls to MetEd on our land line phone because we do not receive a cell phone signal in our house at all, not to mention that hubby did not have his cell phone charged either. So we paid the bill and they then proceeded to tell us that they had up to three days to restore our power to us! Say what? ~ keeping in mind that this was not a power outage or anything.  Luckily; however, they do make every effort to hook you back up within 24 hours and by late Friday morning, they did. Therefore, both electric and some weekend plans restored! LOL!

Talk about being thankful, we were all very happy that our Mabon celebration and get together with old friends did not have to be cancelled. And so, we all gathered at my house on Saturday for some food, ritual and fun ...

Me, Judy (Rhiannon), her husband Matt (Draco) & their son Richard (Page)

 

Rhiannon having a little fun eating her apple while posing for a quick pic after ritual!

 Page loving on his fav kitty, Haley!

 Draco & my hubby Brett, "Here kitty, kitty!" 

Some ritual items for the altar ...

Basket of MacIntosh apples

 

Little sabbat gifts ~ Apple & Pumpkin scented bottles

 
We all had a wonderful time and are already making plans for another get together for Yule! 

Brightest Blessings all,

Kim

Uh-oh, back on the diet ... (and a Food for Thought Friday!)

 

Only a year ago, I decided to go on a very strict diet to lose a few pounds ~ no matter what it took! After a couple of set-backs, I eventually did manage to drop some pounds. However, it would seem that, as what happens all too often when one "diets," I have been slipping back into my old habits. Partially because of lack of energy and also due to the constant hormonal struggle with weight which seems to come with, unfortunately, peri-menapause. Unlike only a few years ago, when I lost over 40 pounds in order to get into my beautiful wedding dress (which I had actually bought the year before our ceremony), it is not as easy as all that anymore!!

Yesterday, I decided to go shopping for a nice little black dress in which to wear when hubby and I go out for dinner to celebrate our wedding anniversary this weekend. It was then that I realized exactly how much I had let things go ...

And, I had found the prettiest little (well, not THAT little ~ LOL!) Jim Shore designer necklace to go along with it ...

I had also picked up an "Athena" costume at the local "Spirit Halloween" store that I simply couldn't resist ...

Now, all I have to do is buckle down some in order to feel a bit more comfortable in these outfits. And so, my friends, here we go again! LOL!!

Now you see her, now you ... wait, she's back again!

Two weeks ago, my hubby was outside when he suddenly walked back into the house, grabbed a bowl of cat food, and told me he found a female stray "siamese cat" strolling along our back cement walkway. He said to me, "She came right up to me. You gotta see this!"

So by the time I got into the back enclosed porch, she had already made her way on her own into our house. The first thing I noticed was that she had no collar or ID on her, and she had obviously been spayed. We then asked around the neighborhood  to try to find her guardian(s) in the event that she had accidently gotten out, but to no avail. We kept her in the enclosed porch for a couple of more days until her owner finally showed up at our house asking about her. She told us that one of the neighbors had mentioned that we have cats and should ask us if we had seen her. She also said that she was going to take the cat to her boyfriend's house to live with him because she keeps getting out of the house. She named the cat, are you ready for this one?, "Fancy Pants!" Poor cat!!

Anyway, after that we (reluctantly, mind you) gave the woman back the cat and thought that we'd seen and heard the end of everything. This morning while I was on my way out the back door, who do I see only a week later? Yup, you guessed it, Fancy Pants. Believe me, the last thing I want to do is hand her back over to someone who is so obviously an undeserving, irresponsible owner, but I don't see any way we could keep her without her owner, who lives only a couple of houses away from us, finding out!

She is so, so friendly and so very sweet. I honestly do not want to see her get hit by a car or anything on our extremely busy and dangerous highway we live next to! That being said, we now have little choice but await her idiot owner showing up at our doorstep to, once again, pick her up. Seriously, I could slap this woman silly!!!

Mabon Blessings!

Autumn Equinox Prayer

"To our Lord and Lady ~ Mother Earth, Father Sky,

We seek your blessing on this Equinox night;

Giving thanks for all you provide ~

For food, warmth, shelter and love supplied

Help us find our balance at core;

Transform our light to flow and soar

Bless our homes, our families, our hearth;

Cycling gently with Gaia's Wheel on Earth."

~ Caithe Cameron (Celticai Studio, 2012)

Busy week ahead ...

Each year, I try to take a week off from work the same time as my wedding anniversary which always lands on the second to last week of September. It is also the same week as the Mabon/The Autumn Equinox.

 I usually like to use this time to get the things done around the house which I am not able to any other time of the year such as my annual fall cleaning and organizing. If you remember,  for last year's project I completely cleaned up the very huge mess up in our attic ...

Before ... and after

This year, I plan to work on finishing up the cellar starting with hubby's Game Room and then the Laundry Room. I have already finished re-arranging the Cat's Room (the spare bedroom) yesterday ...

Also, next Saturday will be our (although a tad belated) Mabon ritual celebration with friends and family ...

I can't tell you all just how much I am looking forward to this wonderful opportunity to spend some much needed (and far overdo) quality time with everyone!

 Then finally, hubby and I are planning to attend the annual "Celtic Classic" event held in Bethlehem, PA. We both so enjoy this awesome festival with all of its' many activies and authentic cuisine and games. And, if time permits it, we may also decide to take a day trip to South Street in Philadelphia, PA just to get away for a little shopping ...

The Ben Franklin Bridge at nighttime

 A view of the cool 1950's style restaurant "Johnny Rockets" on South Street

 

(image credits)

"Philadelphia Freedom" ~ Elton John

 http://youtu.be/RhJHL34DiBY

Brightest Blessings!

Kim