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

Sunday, February 10, 2013

A Blast from my Past!


(taken at a H.S. football game ~ me and my long-time best friend & twirling partner Karin. We had competed as a duo and won many trophies and ribbons through the years)
  
 
Greetings to all! I don’t know about you guys, but I LOVE You Tube! Just yesterday morning I was surfing around in hopes of finding some very old footage from my High School Band days back in 1983. Much to my delight I actually found a couple of things. I had been a twirler (2 baton) since I was 10 years old and I was involved in drum and marching corps up until Senior High. I was a twirler in both my Junior and Senior High School days and it was in that year that we took a High School band trip to St. Petersburg, FL and won the 1983 National Championships! What a year that was!!!



Anyhow, I just thought that you all might get a kick out of the following clip which was taken from the last few minutes of one of our Field Show competitions. The song was “Firebird Suite” and I am the twirler up in front third in from the left on the left-hand side. You may want to only watch until we march off of the field as the rest of the video is just the awards ceremony ...
 

Saturday, February 09, 2013

And the winners are ...



Happy Saturday all!! It's time to announce the winners of the Wiccan Life Give-away!! I hope you don't mind that I enlisted the help of my main man Midnight? He is just so good at picking names ...

 
Ready? Here we go ...

 
 
 
The winner of the Blue Mountain Hollyberry double-wicked Scented Candle is Darcy Winters!
 
 
 
 And the Rainbow Candle Holder winner is Rebecca Boucher!
 
 
 
Congrats to both of you and, again, many thanks to everyone who participated! As always, I would have loved to have been able to give you all something, but I am planning more give-aways in the future. If the winner's could please e-mail me their address within the next three days at Ladycaer1964@yahoo.com, I would be happy to send you your gifts!  
 
Have a great weekend everyone!!

Friday, February 08, 2013

Sending smiles to you ...

 
First and foremost, I truly want to send a HUGE "THANK YOU" to ALL of my friends whom have sent me so many touching and caring comments, thoughts and prayers! Your sincere friendship has touched my heart so very much and I want you all to know that you are always in my thoughts and prayers as well, my dear friends!
 
This post is just my little way of bringing a smile your way as your friendship has most certainly brought a smile back to my face. I hope you all enjoy and Goddess Bless!
 
Some Cat Quotes
 

“A cat is there when you call her - if she doesn’t have something better to do.”
    ~ Bill Adler, American Writer
 
“Saying, ‘Either those cats go or I go’ may be words you’ll regret.”
   ~ Eric Gurney, American Writer
 
 
“The cat is such a perfect symbol of beauty and superiority that it seems scarcely possible for any aesthete and civilized cynic to do other than worship it.”
   ~ H.P. Lovecraft, American Writer
 
“At bottom, cats are like music. The reasons for their appeal to us can never be expressed too clearly.”
   ~ Lloyd Alexander, American Writer
 
“When cats condescended to adopt people, people got civilization”
   ~ George Will, American Columnist
 
“If man could be crossed with a cat, it would improve man but deteriorate the cat.”
   ~ Mark Twain, American Writer
 
 
“There are two means of refuge from the miseries of life: Music and cats.”
   ~ Albert Schweitzer, French Physician and Philosopher
 
 
“The purr of a cat on a lap makes solitude endurable.”
   ~ Muriel Beadle, American Writer
 
“Her little cat soul implored some company, some friendship in a lonely world.”
   ~ Pierre Loti, French Writer

 

Thursday, February 07, 2013

Feeling hopeless ...


Who hasn't ever, unfortunately, had that horrible feeling of hopelessness in their life at one time or another? Okay, moment of truth. I have been haunted by this dreadded feeling on and off for many years now. Perhaps it is the fact that I am getting older, but each time this happens I swear that it gets worse?

Anyone who has struggled with depression and/or feelings of repeated failure in their life understands that it is never simply just one particular thing or event which triggers these strong emotions. It is a culmination of several different events actually. I have always tried to do my very best to subscribe to the thought process of "Whenever life hands you lemons, you make lemonade." Well my dear friends, it appears lately that I have lost the recipe for making that lemonade. In other words, lately it is a continuous effort to push myself to so much as even get up out of bed every morning. Not a fun feeling.

A major factor, but most certainly not the only one by any means, has been the fact that I am absolutely miserable at my job. Yes, in spite of the fact that I admitedly live in an extremely oppressed area of Berks County, I have been making every effort to get out of my current situation and get another job. And, because my hubby's job does not keep him working steady (he is on call weekly and is lucky if he gets to work three day a week), he has also been trying to seek better employment but to no avail. Much like many other people in this Country now-a-days, we are  indeed struggling financially.

Now, getting back to the subject at hand, the straw that broke the camel's back this time was the fact that I recently had a very important job interview over my lunch hour. Mind you, I have well over 15 years experience in performing the position in which I was interviewing for and I was most definitely qualified for the job. Without boring you all with a lot of details, I will just say that after my interview was over I was told that I would receive a phone call informing me either way as to whether I was chosen for the position or not. Big surprise, not only had I not gotten a call, but I found out through someone I know well who works for this employer that the position was filled by some young pretty thing and, even worse, someone who is not even from our Country (no offense, but that's Unions today for you I suppose). Turns out that all of my hard work and years of experience in an office that includes 18 years as a Notary Public (which was part of the perspective job description BTW) and I am apparently not good enough to fill a simple receptionist position for these people. It would have been slightly more than I am making now and I would not have had to pay for mine or my hubby's insurance. Too good to be true, right? Yup. I was also told by my interviewers that they were looking for someone who would be satisified with staying in the receptionist position for a long, long time. Umm, I work around young people all of the time and they are always looking to advance themselves. Do these people seriously believe that this young girl is going to wish to be chained to a chair answering phone calls 8 hours a day 5 days a week for long? I doubt it.

I realize that disappointment is a big part of life, but there are times when I just can't help but wonder to myself, "What did I do wrong this time? How did I screw things up?" I don't know. All I know is that life has been getting the best of me lately on every level and for some reason I am having a difficult time this time "getting over it." Although I suppose I eventally will since life does not seem to give us any real choice, right?

What makes things even worse yet is that I haven't gotten a raise in seven years! Therefore mind you, my salary goes down every single year as high insurance rates go up and so do the BS taxes! The mere thought of possibly losing our home is bad enough, but I can't bear the idea of ever losing our cats, my fur babies!! Truthfully speaking, they are the reason that I am able to push myself to keep going every day these days!

Well, if you are still reading this post my friends, I sincerely thank you for listening to my ranting. It is not something I usually do on my blogs, and I do apologize for it. But I simply felt the need to journal and, temporarily, take off one of my many "masks" I must wear.

Wednesday, February 06, 2013

Just a friendly reminder ...


Happy Wednesday all! Just thought I'd give a shout out to everyone who has participated in my Wiccan Life Give-Away to remind all that the drawing will be held this coming Saturday, February 9th!!

Well, early Spring or not, we have been getting a bit of snow fall around here. So far nothing more than a couple of inches and some flurries here and there (*knock on wood*)!


The cats; however, are all safe and snug lying on the bed and sofa. What a life, eh? ^^



Have a great rest of the week and I will catch up with everyone this weekend!!
 

Sunday, February 03, 2013

A Little Wiccan Life Give-Away!!!

Good morning all! Since it has been quite a while since I had my last blog give-away, I have decided to have another one. These give-aways are just my little way of saying, "Thank you" to my awesome blog friends and members and; therefore, are only open to members of this blog!

The two gift prizes are ...

Hollyberry doubled-wicked, double scented Blue Mountain Candle
 
 
Rainbow Votive Candle Holder
  
 
All you need to do is leave a comment on this post letting me know that you would like to be added to the drawing. The drawing will be held on Saturday, February 9th and, as usual, the winmer's will be announced here and I will also attmept to contact them via their blog or their e-mail (should I already have it). The winner's will be asked to e-mail me their address to send their gift to and as always their addresses will remain strictly confidential!!!
 
In the interest of fairness, the winner's gift prizes will be held for no more than three days after the drawing date in which at that point I will pick another winner in its' place ~ so please make sure to mark the drawing date on your calenders my friends!!!  ;)
 
 Here's wishing everyone a blessed Sunday!!


Saturday, February 02, 2013

Imbolg Blessings and a Groundhog!

I woke up early this morning to watch my favorite groundhog, Punxatawney Phil, on the news!! Where in front of thousands of extremely excited fans, Phil was brought out from his burrow by his "The Inner Circle" members to address everyone, including reporters from various National news stations, in order to give us all his "live" winter prediction broadcast for 2013. Phil's verdict?  Yay!!! "An early spring for you and me!" I said it before and I'll say it again, "Gotta LOVE that Phil!"

Watch Phil's live prediction here ...

 
 
 Groundhog Day is so poplular here in PA, that I would be terribly remiss for not mentioning two of our more local weather predicting prognosticating groundhogs, "Shoey Louie" (from Shoemakersville, PA) and "Pagoda Patty" (who makes her live appearance from The Reading Pagoda in downtown Reading, PA). 
 
 
 
So what are my plans for today, my friends? Well, I am going to start by doing my usual house cleaning while watching a marathon on TV of the movie "Groundhog Day," then I plan on traditionally cleansing and blessing my home, and then finally in the early evening I am going to celebrate Imbolg solitary style.  Nothing too exciting, but, I, just like my cats, am a creature of habit and I do so enjoy my routines as this is how I typically spend this sabbat (along with Groundhog Day, of course).
 
So as we all await "an early spring" this year, let the mid-season of Winter commence with whatever way in which you perosnally choose to celebrate it!
 
 
WISHING ALL THE BLESSINGS OF IMBLOG AND ALL THE BEST FOR GROUNDHOG DAY!!!