Been Too Long!

So, been almost a friggen month since I last updated this thing. Go figure dear Magaly would pull my attention back into focus here.
Work has been going good. We finished our in class training last Friday and today was our first day on the phones (call center). It went pretty well over-all. I'm not as nervous since I know I won't know anything and will stumble through a lot and forget a lot. I guess it's beneficial that I worked at a call center before so everything that made me nervous my first day at the last one doesn't make me nervous at this one. It's mainly just all the different things we do, and then all the things we are trained to do but can't yet or can't until certain circumstances...I'm working 9AM-5:30PM Monday to Friday for the next 3 weeks. It's technically still part of training, but on the phones now. My real shift will begin after that and will be a 1-2PM start with Tuesday&Wednesday off. I much prefer afternoons and having days off during the week will be nice since everything is open, etc.
The new living situation is awesome. The couple that own the house are just so insanely nice and great to have as roommates. They leave tomorrow morning for a little less than two weeks (coming back the 25th I believe) for their wedding and honeymoon and stuff. It'll be odd being home alone solid for that long other than the two tiny dogs and cat they have. I still have my three male ratties and now have a gecko and bearded dragon! The beardie was originally my roommate's. She had bought a breeding pair at hatchling age but now that they're becoming of age more they're beginning to fight, etc. more often if in the same tank so she separated them, but then felt bad not having enough time for two so we talked and the big male is now mine. We'll try breeding them at least once I think. The gecko was from a kijiji ad I had found before moving. He's a cranky older guy who was never really handled so I have to be very cautious with him right now.

Other than all that, life has just been busy, because of all that and then bus-ing around town on weekends to get shopping done, etc. eats up a lot of my free time. With this shift I can at least catch up on a lot of things I've been neglecting and won't have a ton of extra time for when I switch to my regular shift. A lot of it is over due art and cleaning, and of course a lot of Wiccan things I've had to let slide for too long. I did happily find another occult shop downtown though. I am upset I missed the Pagan Pride thing they apparently do every year in the park by a week though lol
Hubby and I are saving and going to find a nice house or duplex style house to rent. We have talked extensively and have pretty well come to the decision that we don't want to permanently live in Sarnia. The plan, as of right now, is to rent a nice place in/close to Sarnia and work and save while he finishes his Red Seal and then buy/build a house on the edge/close to Peterborough in the end. Not only is it a nice city but it's pretty much the middle point for visiting both side of the family (roughly 3hrs from my parent's and around 3.5-4hrs from his family), so is beneficial in that way as well. Jobs aren't super abundant, but they aren't really anywhere anymore. He has quite a few friends living there though and I do currently have one and one girl from our training class I've become close with moved here from there and still visits their family there all the time and wants to move back if they can. It's a pretty win-win situation if we can manage it.

Anywhoo, enough ramblings for now. I've got to get to bed soon for work in the morning...7:30AM is just waaaayy too bloody early for me. So, I promise to make my way around to visit everyone soon and hope you all have been doing wonderfully!

Been MIA

So, life has been insane lately. Not only started a new job but moved to a new place closer to work. I'm living with a soon to be married couple, who are both very nice. I also live closer to a friend from my training class at work that is also Wiccan, which is pretty nifty. I also saw some Wiccan books in the basement when I was putting some stuff down there but haven't asked cuz while they were right out in the open, I feel like I was snooping by asking or something LOL

I hope to get stuff sorted out again and get back to the personal things in my life.

Mother Gaia

Been slacking in a lot of things lately. Trying to keep myself busy and catch up on things before I start work on the 2nd (Yes, I finally got a job!! w00t!) so am trying to get back into some art things. I'm still insanely behind on my 52 Weeks art journal but will catch up on that another time. Right now I've been itching to draw and create. I don't have the right supplies to make some things I want to start working on, but am going to have fun with the stuff I can. This is one piece I'm working on and hoping to get up on my etsy shop when I get things rolling in there.

Building a Mini Altar

Well, I finally have the bigger bedroom and it's all organized. My only thoughts are on how to set up the table I'm going to use as my altar. It's small...Like probably 1.5ft across squared type a deal...and it has to be moved before using it, so no fancy set ups to stay at all times. I do have a large area set up on the one half of my dresser though that can stay permanently, so am thinking of just covering the table with this black fabric I found, then adding in smaller candles and things that won't fall over as easy, and bringing in items I may need as I get things ready.

How do you all deal with small altars and/or having to move them? I miss my big painted desk I use to have LOL

Happy Faerie Day

Technically I'm like 10 minutes late, but it's been a long and busy day unfortunately. I'm noticing rituals and things are always agreed upon but never actually carried out with my roommate...Kind of annoying, so I think once (if I do) move into the bigger bedroom, I'm just going to find something for an altar and do my own just without the incense because of the furballs.

Today I so wanted to do something big for my Faerie Friends...but unfortunately (although I am enjoying myself) I'm staying the weekend at my parent's so do't have anything much and what I do have for my tools and such is packed up...So, a little blog post to show my love for the Fae.

Happy Litha!

Kind of late, but I believe we're celebrating "tomorrow"/tonight anyway. This is one of my favourite holidays, along with Samhain, for it is the height of life and right beside my birthday on the 23rd, and Faerie Day on the 24th!
I hope you are all enjoying this Summer! I will be on more once things settle down some more and want to thank everyone who sent me well wishes to my last post. It means a lot to me and I will be journaling and returning to my Witch School meditation and other studies to help me feel more centered.

Life Frustrates Me

So, I've been extremely absent and hate that. I haven't done anything 'witchy' in weeks, barely even anything artsy in the magickal areas. I'm so far behind on my Pagan Art Journal pieces and with all this postal strike nonsense, I'm feeling horrible on making some people wait for pieces I've done as part of a group project.

I somehow remembered last minute that tonight was the full moon and jumped onto The Stone Circle just in time for their online ritual. It was needed. I need to start doing my Wicca Online courses again, especially the meditation practices now that I've quit smoking again (On day 5 now) and I miss the study. I don't know why it seems like I have no time for these things when I'm not working yet, and other than some house cleaning and playing with the rats, I really don't have any serious responsibilities at the moment...I should really try and work on catching up on the art journaling since all my supplies are here (although I need more white paint soon) and to start my Wicca Online course over....Sucks losing my grades and beginning again, but it's been too long for me to feel comfortable just jumping back in mid-lessons. I hope one day to be able to afford the full membership and access all the courses they offer. hmmmm I need to find my notebooks with some of the stuff I copied out too...

I feel out of touch with everything. In some ways I feel like I'm making progress and working towards things, but mostly I feel like a fumbling fool right now. I miss my hubby, I miss my kitties, I miss the quiet country air...I may have only lived there a little over a year, but it is my home....and I miss it a lot...Depression has been nipping at me, and I need to try and focus on other things to keep it at bay. I also need to try and start eating healthier and exercising again...This extra weight will just not do LOL I just feel lost lately....

A Faerie Birthday Present

Well, now that the gift has been given I can share a few pics of the painting I did for my best friend (and current roommate while up here) for her 25th birthday yesterday. She loved it, so I am so happy!

It's all done with acrylic paints on a simple piece of press board or whatever. I added some sparkles with watered down glue around the wings and then sealed it with this spray stuff I had bought a while ago.

Gunna be a Faerie House

Went to Value Village today, mainly looking for some "interview clothes" but of course browsed the entire store for probably over an hour. While in the 'trinkets' and candles section I found something perfect to turn into a mini Faerie House. It had a candle in it, as it is suppose to be a candle holder I believe, but I took it out.

It's very pretty on it's own so I'm not positive on what all I'm going to add to it, but I can't wait to be creative!

It's Here!!!

My mini altar kit came in!!! I'm too excited!! I won it at a contest over at Pagan Culture a couple weeks ago and it's here!! *dances*

Must say my favourite piece is the mini wand. Although everything tiny is just too cute! Thank you!! Your business card is very nice and the little magnet is verrry pretty! Forgot to grab pics of those though.

If you're interested in new and fun and amazing Pagan products, head on over to The Whimsical Pixie

For the Love of Poi

Beltane was celebrated a bit early for us. We went to some Pagan friends for a Passion Party (spent way too much!) and then they did their first Fire Poi of the season for us. Got some wicked pics of it.

After they were done we played with their LED Poi and I absolutely ADORE it and want my own set! So much fun!

Cute and Beautiful Cleansing Kit Give Away

Well, I just popped over to Pagan Culture to give a shout out to the ever lovely Magaly, and noticed the awesome giveaway being offered from Wee Witches for an adorable mini Cleansing Kit - something I feel I could find very useful right now.

Absolutely pretty and easy to use in a flash! Go check it out and enter to win yourself, along with the many other give aways going on!

Beautiful Book

Went to Chapters tonight and found this beautie. It's got the plush '3D' cover and I even found a matching bookmark. Can't wait to start using it!

UPDATE :D

So, it's been busy....Need to catch up on the Pagan Art Journaling pretty badly now...but I met some new peoples last night. Pagans and the wife is an awesome and decent priced amateur tattoo artist. She also works with Faeries and adores them possibly more than I do LOL Their son is adorable too.
We randomly went for a visit since I guess they haven't seen each other in a few months because of the court BS my friends are going though (looooong ass story) but we're heading back out there Saturday! They're having a Fantasia party in the afternoon and then a 'fire show' ...um like this:

It's like two balls on some sort of rope swung around...forget what it's called.

Anywhoo, it'll be the first of the season type a deal if the weather cooperates anyway. Should be interesting and a good way to, sort of, celebrate Beltane in a way since I have no clue if we're doing anything for it as of yet...So much to be done around here. We're suppose to be completely cleaning and reorganizing the house today, but Karoline's still asleep and her hubby should be done work within an hour or so, then we're going to go pick up my assistance check, cash it, do some shopping, etc. (I'm hoping to get a couple things from this awesome occult shop on the rez) and yea...Then her hubby and his little sister will be home and she won't want to clean, etc. (they do get in the way badly and just make a mess behind you type a deal...) So we'll see.

OH, we has ratties again :D I have a couple decent pics of them, although the tan girl is most likely going to a rescue close by as the other one, Karoline's favourite, is most likely a boy. We have them separated and just waiting for the woman who runs the rescue to study the pics we were able to get to confirm sexes.

This is our girl...We're pretty 100% positive she's female. She is a cream color but has some dark brushing through her, almost making her look dirty. Was thinking Dusty for a name, but might not pick one since she will be leaving soon if we're right.

This is Gem. We're basically 99% positive he's a male...dumbo though with a pretty blaze on his head. He's quite friendly and easily held. Hopefully we find another baby boy who is also very friendly to move in with him.

Fear

Wow, completely forgot bout this stuff sadly...Will need to play catch up soon!

Basically my fear of 'getting lost'......

Quick Post - I'm Here!

Well, drive was good, hardly any traffic, and stopped at Harvey's and finally tried one of their veg burgers lol Chilled last night other than grabbing a tooonnnn of groceries. Karoline and Joe are attempting to cut down on eating meat. They've talked about going veg, and with me here it's easier for them since veggies and veg stuff needs to be in the house anyway. Other than that I chatted with the hubby on the phone for a bit, he got his return and is getting $1000 so will be able to come up for a visit in a couple weeks - thank Goddess! I miss him already, had to stick a DVD on low volume to sleep last night...lol

Today we're going to my parents for a bit and then possibly Karoline's mom's and then I think her dad's for dinner. Hoping we're back in time for the online Full Moon ritual on Stone Circle. Oh, speaking of witchy stuffs though, there is an awesome occult/smoke shop on the reserve not far from here. They have these amazing handmade journals (leather bound, handmade paper), gem stones, different types of incense, wands, pendulums, tons of Faerie figurines, and some beautiful Green Man figurines and things, and tons of other stuff for such a small store. I cannot wait to have the money to buy a few things.

Will take some pics and fun stuff when I get the room I'm in rearranged some.

Proper Moving Update While Packing

Okay, so to go into details...

A couple months ago the hubby and I had huge - sometimes drunken - talks about me moving in with one of my best friends closer to my parent's and getting a job while down there and stuff for a couple months. Originally it was going to have to be me taking a train or bus to get there though and we couldn't get the money together that we needed at the time for it, so it got pushed aside.
Anywho, last night my friend was telling me about her and her hubby going to come up to the Toronto Zoo this weekend and said I should try and meet them there and shit (it's just a little over 3hrs from us), but as usual we don't have the money for it - especially now that we drive a gas eater of a car. Well, she talked to her hubby and asked me if they could make it up here to get me, would I still be up for the moving in for a couple months, etc. Well, of course! Talked to the hubby and while we're gunna miss each other like crazy and it'll be weird sleeping alone for a while we will try and figure out visits and we can save a butt load of money, hopefully, as long as I can get a decent job down there, etc. I put out a couple of resumes through kijiji ads for some cleaning and dishwashing stuff and my friend is gunna talk to the owner of this bar she goes to a lot and has become friends with her, etc. Will need my smart serve, but we're gunna look into a "start up" check from welfare or something as soon as I'm down and such. either way, jobs are easier to come by down there than up here right now and anything retail will add to my resume for experience and help me in getting a job when I move back, etc.

I hate I won't be able to finish the garden before going though...but will have to put my germinating seeds out and hope for the best and do a little clean up at least and see if the hubby will put in the stone fencing while I'm gone for me, etc. gunna keep my other seed packets just in case (when I get back, next year, our place, etc.). I'm gunna miss my kitties like crazy too and it sucks that the hubby doesn't have a digital cam to take pics for me while I'm gone, but maybe he can grab a cheap one if this jobs lasts a couple more weeks for him. Will need to hope my friends have the right battery charger or I can buy one soon since I have to leave our charger here cuz of his wireless mouse and keyboard LOL
Good notes, other than seeing friends/family and hopefully making money, my friend is Wiccan so we will be doing lots of rituals and fun stuff together, she's also tired of being overweight so wants me to help her with dieting and working out, etc. and of course we've been friends for like just over 20yrs now so it'll be sweet nonetheless! I'm excited and a little nervous...mostly nervous for wanting this to work so much...I'll be bringing all my art supplies (paints and stuff too) so will continue trying to sell art (they have a scanner so I can do prints too!) and keep up with the 52 Weeks of Pagan Art Journaling, etc. and hopefully this will all work out for us.

So, I'm Moving...

Just a quickie, will explain later, but I'm going to be moving in with a couple friends (nothing wrong with hubby, just plans) for a couple months. I'll have internet and stuffs, just going to be a busy few days here so might not be on.

Witchy Fiction Fun Day One!

Wow, so many things on the go lately I totally forgot to whip up some stuff for this partay!! Guess it'll be on the fly, although that's not always a bad thing!! for anyone not in the loop, head on over to Pagan Culture for all the details and for some awesome giveaways!

"You don't understand..." Lily moaned and turned from the Fae woman. She slumped against a large tree trunk and curled her knees into her chest.
  "Don't I?" Armadelle smiled as she fluttered to perch on Lily's knee. "You're young, but you're smart. You can figure it out." Lily stared at the four inch tall Faerie and scrunched up her brow. Her sister was lost somewhere within Allumineria, she knew this; however, she knew nothing of this magickal place. Hell, twenty minutes ago she would have never believed such a place existed!
  "How am I ever going to find her? I don't even know where to begin to look?" Armadelle took flight, hovering at eye level for Lily. She lowered her sparkling green hood and placed her hands on her hips.
  "You don't know, do you?" Lily pulled her head back, trying to keep the tiny woman in focus. 
  "Know what?" Armadelle's eyes bulged out in shock, almost causing Lily to laugh as the site reminded her of a bug. She flitted up and down, and in circles of excitement, making Lily dizzy. "Know what?" She repeated, causing the Faerie to halt in mid air.
  "You're a witch, Lily! You can do anything!" Armadelle giggled at the confusion on Lily's face.
  "A witch? What are you talking about?" Lily stood as Armadelle flew in excited circles around the surrounding trees. Several other Faeries came zooming about to join in her glee.
  "You were born a witch and will always be a witch. Hasn't your grandmother told you?" 
  "My grandmother?" Lily looked around, almost beginning to wonder if she were in a dream of some sort.


Okay, short but I'm working on this novel right now...Sort of a spoiler for any who might read it through my Fiction Writing blog With Pen and Paper.

Magaly has done it again!!

Oh wow...I should have waited to post about a giveaway cuz my Goddess!! You will be amazed at the giveaways going on over at Pagan Culture! We are helping to celebrate some fun with Magaly and there has been lots of sponsors and lots of ideas and everything is in motion now! There are 13 giveaways in total, here are some of the ones I have so happily entered!

$20.13 gift card for your favourite etsy shop! So hoping on this one and know exactly what will be bought with it haha

Pocket Travel Altar by Whimsical Pixie

Witches' Brew Goddess by Carioca Witch

$20.13 Gift Certificate and surprise! This last one is mainly for us Wicked Darlings and for however many Witchy Fiction posts we write for the party! Can't wait to get started! Go check out all the Witchy madness!!

Insane Spring Giveaway!!

Hop on over to Art From the Heart for an amazing giveaway being hosted for her 200th post! The prizes are just stunning and beyond generous, and the rules to join in are easy!

Those are just two of the things to be included, along with a special gift as well!! Now get on over there and enter to win this fabulous giveaway! I already did :D

My Pagan Profile

Over at The Deepest Well there is a fun Pagan Profile for us witchy people to get to know one another, so as I love little questionnaires I thought I'd give it a go! I cut a few questions out I didn't really know how to respond to, and some that would be repeting other answers above.

Name: Real: Ronda Wiccan: Lilac SilverFox

Location: Sarnia ON Canada

Profession: Professional housewife right now -_- though crafter in progress...

Hobbies/Interests: Writing, drawing, reading, painting, being creative, gardening, playing video/PC games, hanging with my boyfriend, playing with my pets, penpalling, Faeries, Vampires, Elves, fantasy, music, horror movies, Animal Rights, blogging.
 
Wiccan Blog: My Wiccan Ways
Animal Blog: Animalistics
Fiction Writing Blog: With Pen and Paper
DeviantART page: Lilac SilverFox
Your spiritual path: Very eclectic Wiccan. Wanting to study Celtic and Faerie traditions though, but follow nothing in particular. Solitary practitioner, somewhat by choice.

How did you find your current path? Funnily enough from the movie The Craft. Obviously did real study after pretend with my friends LOL

Previous spiritual path(s): None.

What drew you to and continues to keep you on this path? It just feels right.

If you’ve been pagan for several years, what changes have you seen in the Pagan community as a whole, and/or your own practice? I've noticed it's much more open and talked about and heard about, which is so nice.

What subjects are you interested in reading about - in books, in blogs, etc.? Other's faiths and practices of Wicca/Paganism. Fun things like gardening, crafts, books, and getting to know one another. Book wise, I'm a heavy Fantasy reader though reading all my Wicca books right now actually.

What about you or your life are you working towards changing - short term/long term?  Needing  job and moving out of this house with my boyfriend. Losing weight and being more active in general. Being happy.

What energies do you want to rid yourself of - what energies do you want to bring in? I'd like to rid myself of self negativity and bring in more peacefulness and I guess better tolerance of ignorant arseholes.

What has made and/or continues to make you truly happy? My boyfriend, my friends, my parents - and occasionally my older brother. Finding art that inspires me to create and be me. Being outside. My animals, and animals in general. Nature.

What/who inspires you? Nature inspires me the most right now.


Well, not having the best day today and it isn't ending any better so not much to say. Got my painting done for the project, just gotta upload the pic, probably tomorrow. Been a long, semi-crappy day in the end so heading to bed now.

More Garden Progress

^ hmmm someone got out who's not suppose to be.... ^

Lots more progress on the garden today. Mother Nature has been very kind to me these past three days, especially considering two of them were suppose to be thunder showers and we got sun instead :D Got all the vines dragged away (found a big ass tarp thankfully) and clipped some more of them, dug out three of the biggest thorn roots, and then took the metal rake to the actual garden area. Took about 2hrs so I called it a day. Tomorrow - weather permitting - I'm gunna run the rake over it in the opposite direction and try and get all the big weeds out and rake/clip the other section. Thinking of transplanting a couple of the really small cedar trees into the other half - too many roots and stuff to plant flowers, etc. So, ten hours total working on this project...I think once I get it full cleaned out, and the surrounding area raked up and shit, I'll post a couple before/after pics haha Hopefully no more cold weather and my germinating seeds sprout and I can get to the actual planting process in a few weeks. Still want to put in the stone fencing and those candle holders and such to make it all purdy too lol

Oh, and in exciting news, my Never-Ending Dance drawing has been sold!! I posted some of them on FB while I'm getting things set up on etsy still and one of my penpals is buying it and going to commission other work from me now and then :D

Flower Garden: Part Two

So, after roughly a total of eight hours this weekend, the garden area is looking a little cleaner...

Now, lets hope the weather holds up for me to get the tarp out and drag all those vines to the burn piles.

The Green Man and Gaia

So...after finding some interesting facts on what I thought I'd consider my 'patron' deities I have noticed a new and much stronger calling out of no where. Mother Nature, Earth, Green, Life. In essence, the Green Man and all he stands for, but of course every male deity figure has to have it's female counterpart, and thus as I was reading Solitary With last night I came across a simple phrase mentioning both the Green Man and Gaia...Well, my first thoughts had been simply Green Man and Mother Nature - but what is Gaia but the Mother of the Earth as a whole, and thus much more appropriate.

I know every Wiccan/Pagan chooses and sees things differently, but I wish for your opinion. Any opinion really as this has jumped out at me and as they are not pantheon deity it's a little confusing to me right now.

Art, Garden, and Stuffs

So, have still been working on the Pagan Art Journaling project, just somehow completely forgot that I had forgotten to post last weeks, and just got finished the last one in time for this weeks prompt again hehe Going to try and be more on top of it - for myself - but this week's prompt is another thinker for sure LOL

Realizations

Not that I haven't really known this all along, but lately it's been a struggle to keep it in mind as stress and depression has been creeping up on me a lot lately...I had a lot of fun designing her little shield though :D

Earth

I wish I'd been more free with the Water prompt when making the little spirit...This was completely random, let the brush do the walking kind of idea. I am falling much more in love with green lately, and am looking into the Green Man and other aspects of deity more so now...As much as I enjoy the thought of having a patron/matron choose me, I think Mother Nature and Green Man are my callings in some sense...If that makes sense... o.0

So, along with a lot of other projects on the go, which will be posted later, I finished the Never Ending Dance drawing. It will be listed on my etsy shop by the end of this week.

It was so thrilling to draw this that I'm considering trying to do a mini version in an ACEO format of some sort...We shall see, and I'd personally like it to be a gift for a certain inspiring special someone if I do make it, sort of belated birthday gift too *wink* I tested out my water color pencils in this one, and found my little 'deleter' marker blends them pretty nicely so I am hoping to use them more in future pieces, as well as actually get some water color paper soon.

Also have a couple of pics of the wonderful, and yummy, gift I won from Spirit-Phoenix (minus the book as it's being read and I think we all know what Solitary Witch looks like hehe)

All that remains are the peeps (so sweet, I can only have one now and then hehe) and the wrapper from the chocolate bunny. Yup, I save it and folded it up so while it's not 3D anymore, it still looks like the faerie bunny and is tacked up on my bedside cork board hehe, oh and the box cuz I want to copy out the cute poem on the back!

So, while it's another gloomy; rainy; chilly day outside, so no working on the garden yet I did get my seeds that I have so far germinating inside yesterday and so took my camera out when getting the potting soil and took a couple "before" pics of where I'm doing the garden.

^ plan to use the rest of the pretty stone fencing and put on each of those candle holders in the corners ^

It's going to be a lot of work - plus getting the rest of the stone fencing and the tulips dug up from the front yard to bring back to here - but it will be sooo be worth it! I am considering getting some sort of pretty plastic lattice to put almost against the garage and see about training ivy to grow up it. We shall see what gets accomplished this year though, as I highly doubt - or at least hope - we won't be here still by next Spring to keep it up, etc. course then I'll have new gardens to build hopefully LOL

Craving something sweet and unique?

Then run on over to Audrey's Give Aways and enter to win One Dozen handmade lolipops from Maddie's Devilish Sweets!

Yummy homemade lolipops, cake balls, and other sweet surprises can be found here!

and you can win one dozen of a surprise new flavour of her lolipops! Head on over now! Drawing will be held May 6th!