We are not human beings having a spiritual experience, we are spiritual beings having a human experience

Sunday, May 31, 2015

What's new ...


 
 
Greetings, my friends! What's new? Well, hubby and I have already purchased tickets for the Loreena McKennitt concert to be held on October 20th at the Santander Performing Arts Center in Reading, PA. This will be our anniversary gift to one another as we both truly so enjoy her music! Our anniversary is not until the end of September, but we wanted to be able to get good tickets all the same.

I have been fairly busy with various things and so I haven't been able to blog much as of late. Anyway, not much else new happening on this end at any rate. I do seem to be making a few furry friends during my late afternoon walks as the groundhogs keep scurrying past me while I walk. There are a lot of them around our area.

Hope all is well with everyone!! Until next time all, I will leave you with a vid clip of one of my all-time favorite groups whom I was fortunate enough to see perform live back in 1996 in Allentown, PA. ~  LOVE Tommy Shaw!!  )o(

Friday, May 22, 2015

Fun Friday ~ More Scrapbooks ...


Happy Friday everyone! With the Memorial Day holiday weekend upon us already, hubby and I are looking forward to spending some quality time with family and friends. And, it is always nice to have a long, three-day weekend as well!

Last night, I had a chance to work on a couple of more scrapbook albums which I had begun about a year ago. The first one was a special photo collection that I had put together of my favorite photos of hubby and I throughout the years. The pic I used on the front cover of the album was a photo that I had taken of my very first rose my hubby had ever given to me. Yes, that's right my friends, I still have that just as I have a habit of keeping everything that has important meaning to me ~ including old birthday and anniversary cards and items of the like ... ;)

 
I used the all of the cards I had gotten from him with flowers and cards and gifts which I had given to him as well, concert tickets and shows which we both attended, and so forth. I also used additional little charms to decorate along with the red ribbon ...





I also finished up a couple of vacation albums from a few years ago with family such from our trips to Canada and Bermuda ...

 
I had found some really great theme stickers, among other cool decorations, at our local Michael's Arts & Crafts Store. I really love their selections for serious scrapbooking!
 
I would like to wish all a very peaceful and blessed Memorial Day. And also, on a more personal note, I would like to add that my beloved father served in the Army during the Korean War and at his funeral my mother was given an American flag in honor of his service and the fact that he was a veteran. My mother has decided to give his flag to me to hold on to. Proudly, I now keep it in his honor as, throughout my entire life, I have always thought of him as my dad and my hero ... and, to me, always will be!
 
Memorial Day: Honoring the Sacrifices Made and Remembering Those Left Behind

Wednesday, May 20, 2015

My Scrapbook #1

 

Greetings everyone! As I mentioned in my previous post, I wanted to try my hand at scrapbooking. Now, I thought that I would start out with something fairly simple and so I had decided to use medium-sized photo albums and begin decorating them.

My first book is a collection of photos from my favorite sci-fi and horror flicks which also include a few pics from the television series, "Supernatural" (and, also happens to be a favorite show hubby and I watch all of the time) ...


 

"Flesh is a trap ... and magic sets us free." ~ from "Lord of Illusions"
 


 
As you can see, I used quite a few theme stickers (3-D as well) to decorate the album pages. I have also added a couple of quotes and such relevant to that particular movie or subject.

 Next, I would like to work on adorning an album book which I had put together a year ago of a few treasured photos I have of my hubby and I throughout the years. Obviously, a completely different subject matter, wouldn't you say? LOL!!

Sunday, May 17, 2015

Scrapbooking ...


As you all well know, I have an abosute passion for pretty much all kinds of artwork, be they aceo paintings, wreaths, scuptures, photography and such and I love to work with my hands! As a child, my mother always bought me arts and crafts projects to work on ~ whether it was making some type of jewelry, cutting and pasting things, or even sewing and/or crocheting ...

 
Lately; however, I have been gaining much interest in the hobby of scrapbooking.  I am not sure exactly what I am doing as of yet, but I am beginning to play around with several different ideas so far. Now, mind you, I am not trying to make a masterpiece or anything, I simply wish to put together scrapbooks which I, personally, can enjoy!


For me actually, the idea started when I decided to play around with a KODAK Picture Kiosk instant photo machine at our local CVS Pharmacy store. I began learning how to use the collage software and designed several different photo backgrounds and chose my own picture arrangements for friends and family. So much fun, it was almost addicting!

 
 
Since I already have a fair amount of decorative rubber stamps and ink pads, assorted ribbons, cool stickers, among other things which I could use in a scrapbook, I thought I would try my hand at it at least once and I will see how it goes!

Friday, May 15, 2015

This and That

Happy Friday everyone! Not very much happening here today except I have to go back for the second half of my root canal work on my tooth so that they may put a pin in it. Now, believe it or not, the root canal itself  actually wasn't too bad. It was the extremely long needle which they stick into the roof of your mouth in order to inject the novocain. Whoah Nelly, that hurts like hell and definitely brings a tear or two to your eye! The needle has to be flexible as to move around inside the curve of your mouth. As my doctor put it, "It is like trying to stick a needle into a piece of wood!" ~ LOL! At any rate, they must finish what they started and I will be so very happy when they are finally done.

So needless to say, I have taken a vacation day today and will most probably spend the remainder of the day chilling out and watching a movie or two at home with my fur babies. I have been continuing to take my hour long walks in the late afternoons and loving the beautiful weather!!!

And, last but not least, a funny little story (or at least I think it is) which I would like to share with you all. Lately, my hubby has been teasing me about the movie "Fifty Shades of Grey," which, BTW, I have absolutely NO interest what-so-ever in going to see nor (in my humble opinion) of reading the pointless novel! And so, after a few days of his kidding around with me about a storyline which does nothing for me, I turned to him and said, "Okay dear, I will show you what turns ME on!" And then I put one of my all-time favorite Clive Barker flicks in the DVD player, "Hellrasier." Now, Clive Barker has a gift for intermixing  both horror and the ability to explore the psychological yet sensual (and at times dark as it were) side of our human natures and I find that the dynamic between the characters of Frank Cotton (the very strong, sexy actor Sean Chapman) and Julia Cotton (Frank's sister-in-law played by lovely award-winning British actress Clare Higgins) a very powerful one! When I watch this movie, I see much more than a scary story and great sex scenes, I find the entire novel which Clive Barker had written extremely thought provoking. Now, I said "thought" not "do" and let's face it, we all have our fantasy side of our natures, eh?


For now; however, I will leave you all with a couple more "Food for Thought's."

Have a very blessed weekend!!


Sunday, May 10, 2015

Back in the Saddle Again (or atleast in my sneakers) ...


Well, it looks like as of the beginning of last week, I am back to my attempt to shed the few pounds which I had gained back over the last year or so.

Only this time, I am forgoing the rigorous exercise which resulted in my losing clumps of head hair the first time I tried dieting at my age two years ago. With the spring weather now upon us and in full swing, I have fortunately had the opportunity to go for four days of up to one hour walks (well, my walk is more like a slow run!) after work hours. I work until 4:30 during the week and by the time I get home in the afternoon the sun is no longer beating down on me and there is usually a very nice, comforting breeze about the air.

So far, I have managed to drop just enough weight to get back into my summer clothing by walking and eating mostly grilled chicken salads and such ...



Of course, I am not foolish enough to think that I will be able to look as thin as I had in my 30's, but at the age of 51, I can only go so far as I keep hitting a plateau in my weight loss and my body has decided to fight me no matter what I try to do!

No matter; however, I have also decided that I am through with scales and counting calories as I had for so very many years as I have had quite enough of that routine. No, I have decided to let my clothing do my talking for me and monitor my weight loss by size instead!


HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!


Wednesday, May 06, 2015

What sign are you attracted to?

If you were to venture to guess, what sign would you perhaps consider your “Achilles heel”? You know, your “weakness”? That one man or woman whom you tend to be attracted to like a strong magnet over and over again without benefit of even knowing what astrological Sun sign they are when you first meet them?

Oddly enough, I have noticed that, for me, those persons have always been under the Sun sign of Scorpio. Or, maybe not so strange after all if you are a Pisces such as myself? I swear to you … in my case, all of my biggest mistakes have been my serious relationships with a Scorpio man … each and every time. Even if their astrological birth chart only showed the sign of Scorpio in the planet of Venus (go figure, Venus represents love & sensuality), the result was the very same ~ complete and total attraction! I couldn’t say “exactly” what it is about them other than their unbelievably striking facial features, or perhaps it is merely their intense sexuality? In any case, it appears that I was destined to have them in my life as friends and only friends. No offense to any Scorpio’s out there, but it would seem that I am far too sensitive a Pisces woman for the sometimes very cold and cruel Mr. Scorpio. Again, no offense to any of the Scorpio men out there, I am merely speaking from my own personal experience in regards to this subject matter.

“A mutable sign is an astrological sign that can be adjustable, understanding, analyzer, extrovert. The sign that comes under the mutable section can be associated with the positive qualities as it can act on any sides of Cardinal as well as the Fixed signs.” (En.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutable_sign)
                               
Now, I have been with my hubby, a mutable Sagittarius, for 21 years now and am not nor have I ever truly wished to look elsewhere. Once again, I am only speaking from my own personal long past experience with the sign of Scorpio. As far as Sagittarius men and I are concerned; however, I feel there is something to be said for both being of a mutable sign. Sometimes, it is much easier to spend your life with someone who is, in my opinion anyway, fairly easy-going and is able to see your side of various issues as well as their own. It is also worth noting that, the only Gemini man (also a mutable sign) whom I have ever dated in my life was extremely fair with me in every way ~ not surprising though if you consider the fact that communication and talking things out is supposed to be one of their attributes.

How about you, my friends? Have you any personal views and/or experiences in which you would wish to share?

Sunday, May 03, 2015

A lovely Beltane!


Yesterday, my sister Aurora Skye and I enjoyed a very lovely Beltane together! We used a ritual ceremony written just for the two of us which included all of the elements of a usual Beltane rite. Naturally, we performed a symbolic Great Rite rather than an actual one which is fine if you are re-creating that part of the ritual with a significant other and one who is also Wiccan. My husband happens to be agnostic and so I would never ask him to participate in something that he did not truly believe in. Even when we celebrated this sabbat as a group, Rhiannon and her husband opted to use the symbolic and not the actual. It all depends upon your comfortability with it all. Let's face it, if done correctly, it is an extremely emotionally and physically intense element either way.


I surprised my sister with a little goodie bag of Beltane gifts for the season made up of candles, incense and the like before we began the ritual. We have been and will always be there for one another through thick and thin and I simply wanted to show her how very much she means to me ...

  
At the end of the ceremony, we toasted to the Lord and Lady by drinking a sip from the delicious bottle on the left. It was a clear-colored concord wine imported from Japan and ate tasty jelly cakes.
 


I chose to wear my new Celtic Mermaid pendant
 
A simply beautiful pic of Aurora. I really love this one!
 
 
All in all, a wonderful day spent with one of the most important people in my life! Hope everyone who celebrated Beltane had as blessed a day as we had!