The Pagan Mom Blog

I am so sorry I haven’t been around. With the weather monkeying up my work schedule I just haven’t had time to sit down and write anything. And to be honest by the time I got home I didn’t want to touch a computer lol.

In regards to my last post, for now I am going to continue as I have so far. If it becomes an issue at work I will deal with it then. Not sure what I would do, things are different when you work in a family business. I mean if I sued my father in law over religious discrimination, it would make for bad ju ju with the family. But I don’t see that kind of situation coming up so I am not worried about that. I think it just hurt to think that someone might suddenly change their opinion of me based upon a bumper sticker. Only thing I can do is remain professional, I am not about to try real hard to win someone over.

Moving on to other events, the weather prevented me from enjoying my weekend at Knit Inn 2010. That was frustrating because I REALLY was looking forward to the classes I had signed up for. On the upside I was able to get down there yesterday for the last class, a designing shawls class. I am a visual learner and unfortunatley this was not a hands on class. BUT, I did learn quite a few things. So I am currently designing a basic shawl just to get started. I have several ideas floating around in the head and will eventually get to work on those. I want to get the hang of the basics first. I am still trying to work down my stash and getting there somewhat. When I design the next shawl then I will buy more yarn. Or maybe when I get cracking on one of my projects in my queue in Ravelry.  Whichever I get to first lol.

That’s about it around here. Just doing what I got to do to keep up with work deadlins and keeping kids fed. Ya know, the boring stuff lol.

Coming out as pagan is always a difficult task. Some are lucky and their families and friends are supportive. Others have a much harder time with the people surrounding them. Often you find pagans online who often ask should I? When should I do it? And the ever elusive how do I do it?

I have never really announced it outloud. My family knows and doesn’t seem bothered by it. At least they have never said a word about it. This could be due to the fact that I am not very close to them and we talk maybe a few times a year. My friends know and the type of people I tend to be friends with, it doesn’t cause any issues. My husband’s family…..well I am not sure if they know or not. I have never come right out and said it but if they did ask I would totally confess. They have seen the altar in my home but I am not sure if they knew it was an altar lol. My father in law has seen tweetdeck open on my computer at work and my name is PaganMomBlog on twitter. And I have noticed that when the discussion of religion has come up, primarily the Christian religion, he will usually ask my husband a question. Not in a snotty sort of way but that kind of way of “you beleive like I do so let me ask you”. And then again perhaps I am reading into it.

Lately I have wondered if I should come completely out to my inlaws. I am concerned in the area of work. At work no one knows. Our clientele is on the elderly side and being in the south the automatic assumption is that they are all Baptists. I know, it’s an unfair judgment but it’s habit. One I am working on. I do know that some of them are Unitarian Universalists (which means very accepting) and I know exactly who those people are. But others  I worry about. I don’t want the business to lose clientele because someone has issue with my personal life.

So why is this coming up now, after 6 years of working there? I saw the look about a week ago. One of our clients has a business near my home and often in the mornings on the way in I swing by and pick things up or drop things off. This particular morning I got there before they open. I saw our client coming up behind my vehicle. Which she was staring at hard. And then that look came on her face. That look of “oh my god” and then I could see her trying to process it ” is she? noooo she couldn’t be”. Then she looked at me, that soul searching look and it was a desperate look. What was it that caused such a look? A bumper sticker. It says “Mother Grove” and has some slogan about honoring the goddess. No pentacles, no “my other car is a broomstick” sticker….just that word goddess glaring at her. I could tell that suddenly she was very uncomfortable. I handled her the way I always had. Cheerful and smiling. I told her what she needed to do with paperwork. I noticed that normally a woman who spent 30 minutes chatting my head off suddenly wanted to get as far away as possible. I haven’t heard  anything about this as of yet. My father in law is an adorable man. I can’t imagine anyone disliking him so I think if she had confronted him he might have been able to smooth things over. But the mere idea that he would have to do that bothers me. My religious beleifs should have no bearing on how well I can do my job.

So I am not sure what to do. I have this fear that if I came out to my inlaws that it would make things bad between us. I love them as if they were my own flesh and blood and for them to be upset would hurt me greatly. I think that is what makes this the most difficult. I don’t want people hurt. And I don’t feel forced into a closet, I have always wanted to live my beleifs without being an “in your face” pagan.

And perhaps I have blown out of proportion. Maybe there is some other reason she made the faces and wanted to rush into her store. Unfortunatley experience and intuition tells me otherwise.

P.S. I will be taking tomorrow off. This week is kicking my butt and I haven’t been getting up at 5am but 6 am. So I am going to listen to the body and “sleep in” and not worry about getting a post up. I will be back Friday for my Follow Friday post.

Tax time is in full swing. Yesterday was absolutely exhausting. When we got home and fed kids pizza that we picked up along the way, I checked my Farmville and then laid down. I think I was asleep by 8:30. The good thing is that my hours are going to fly through the roof. When I had stepped out to pick up lunch for us from Subway, 6 people came by and dropped off their info for their returns. The boss looked at the growing stack and asked me if I was sure I didn’t want the part time temp to handle the administrative aspect. I am sure, I really want the hours. So this morning I am ready to go to work and get cracking. But. Kids have a 2 hr delay due to the sleet coming through. So I have to wait. Now I am waiting to hear from the school. Given that the kids keep missing days and they have already taken Good Friday as a makeup, they are now discussing starting to use Spring Break. They are going to call parents and see what they want. I am sure we can figure out my answer…….take the Spring Break days. Those have always been a pain for us. But I doubt that it will happen. I think more parents will vote for the use of Saturdays (which my kids will not want lol). Saturdays wouldn’t affect us much because Alex will still be home. Kyle usually stays and works from home on Saturdays so that  can come to the office.

With regard to the knitting classes this weekend, Kyle and the kids will go down with me Sunday as long as it isn’t snowing. No matter what if it snows I am not going. But Sunday it’s not supposed to and it’s supposed to be above freezing which means melting. And Sunday is the designing class which I am really thrilled about.

Tomorrow Claire gets her glasses….finally! It’s been almost a full year since she had a pair. Hopefully next month I can buy a second pair for her so that in the event she breaks a pair she has a backup. I also need to get a new pair for me because I haven’t been seen in two years. I am afraid Alex needs glasses as well, so I need to get him checked.

In other news, Megadeth is coming to Asheville in March. YAY! They are bringing with them Testament and Exodus. Talk about a blast from the past! I am totally going, friend of mine got our tickets already. Shinedown will also be coming April 1. Not too sure about that one. Tickets go on sale Friday and once my friend finds out how much they are we will talk about it. I really can’t afford it if it’s more than $40. We will see.

That’s about it in my exciting life. I need to check my farm andget ready for work. What are you all up to today?

The weather this winter is seriously messing things up badly. Usually we will get our nasty weather in March. And when it comes it is mostly in the form of ice. This is bad enough. Once in awhile we get snow but it has never been enough for us to make a snowman or even wet enough for it to stay together.  We got 15 inches in December, 10-12 this last weekend. And you know what???? MORE is coming next weekend? Not sure on accumulation but just thinking about the possibilities is enough to anger anyone. If i lived up north I would totally expect this. But I don’t and that entitles me to a little bit of whining. You see next weekend I am supposed to be in South Carolina for a knitting event. This was super important to me because one of the classes I signed up for was a designing class. I want to design my own prayer/meditation shawls and hopefully sell them on the side. So this class was really important! Some of you may wonder what all the fuss is so here is the issue. First off I don’t drive well in snow. I can do it but I reserve it for when I must and walking is too far and I am not driving more than 15-20 minutes. Greeneville is 2 hours away. Secondly we always have ice with our snow. No one can drive on ice, I don’t care what they say. Thirdly, to get out of Asheville means going down mountainsides. No matter which way I go it is a must. The grades are seriously steep. They have special runoff roads for truckers in case they lose control. My own car slows down trying to make it up the grade. Coming down means almost constantly braking. Imagine hitting a patch of ice? Yea, I am not happy about this. I may try to go just Sunday, that’s the designer class. It isn’t supposed to actually snow on that day so the roads might get cleared up.

Along with all of this snow comes alot of school closings. This won’t affect Beltane as I will pull my girls out of school for that. But it could mean they will be in school most of June at this rate. As of now they have to go to school on Good Friday. That has quite a few people up in arms but really it makes me happy. For one we don’t do anything for Good Friday. Secondly Easter comes right around tax deadline and Good Friday has always thrown a wrench into the workday. Now I just need to get someone to take Lil Man off our hands so I can work. Especially now that I am doing the work of two people instead of just my own.

So there was my whining. It will all get worked out, it always does.

So this week I got another cowl made up. This one is getting mailed out tomorrow with the two scarves I finished last week.

After that I got back to busting the stash with the scrap blanket project.

Now if you have no idea what I just said, a stash is the yarn stash that a knitter/crocheter has. And a stash buster is a project that takes the odds and ends of leftover yarn that isn’t large enough to make one single project from. Once I get enough triangles knitted up I will start sewing them together and I think I will be giving it to a friend of mines’ daughter. Depends on how it looks when I get done with it, ugly and I will just use it here at the house. Gorgeous and I send it off so they can show off my mad skills.

Amidst stash busting I did find a skein of boucle yarn. I decided it was enough to make a scarf. Probably not enough for me so I will give it to one of the girls. Boucle isn’t that fun to knit with but it makes for a very soft scarf so it’s not too rough on the hands. I was checking over my queue at Ravelry in hopes that I was done with scarves but I am not. I have one from Twilight that I need to make for Molly (aka the twilight freak of the house) and then I have another one for the hubs. He has been begging for one for awhile now so I guess I could be nice and make him one.

That’s it for now, what are you making?

How is the weather by you??? It began to snow here yesterday around 3-ish. At 5:30 it looked like this:

It’s dark right now (5:50 am) so I can’t see much to see if we accumulated more overnight like the were calling. I also need to check weather channel again, last night they were saying it was going to snow all day long today.

So I am snowed in and not too interested in going anywhere. Perfect day to catch up on my blog reading. And since it’s Saturday it’s time for me to share with you the Blog Of The Week! I wish I had theme music for that slight announcement, lol.

Bringing Up Salamanders is so amazingly wonderful! I first met her on another blog when we consistently kept showing up in the comments and then responding to each other in the comments. Before you knew it we were visiting each other often. My fave thing about her is that she is in another country. This means she is on a different calendar than the pagans in the US. It’s a nice reminder of what else is out there. And her blogging about her son is simply adorable. Sometimes i just want to fly on down to Brazil and hug him to death. He is such a sweetie! Nadia has this vibrancy about her that I am so jealous of. Even when times are hard she has this life force that is so strong and remains positive. So if you need a new pagan blog to read or you want to see another slice of life, hit up her blog. You won’t regret it!

One thing about Twitter is that it is inundated with a lot of bloggers. I mean A LOT! Before I make my recommendations, one word of advice. If someone touts themselves as a “Social Media Guru”……run. 99.9% of the time these people don’t know jack about social media and spend their time spamming people. Or as most recently, I got into a tiff with a “social media guru” who felt her tweets were private conversations with her friends. Obviously she didn’t know much about social media! But ok enough of that, let’s get down to business.

Sugar Jones - this chick is HILARIOUS! She is honest in this way that is so unoffensive it makes me wonder how one can possibly be like that. I did have a very short convo with her at TypeAMom Con and she is very bubbly. Normally I hate bubbly, she grows on you.

MaryMac - such a funny woman. Her blog is pretty awesome too. Best thing, she is totally ok when you disagree. I have mad respect for anyone who is ok when someone disagrees!

TriciaR - I lub my Tricia. We have alot in common and she is just a joy to converse with. And alot of times she is wiser than she appears!

SecretAgentMama - amazing photographer, awesome photog blog, kickass taste in music, and she is such a blast to hang with. Whether we are traipsing in the woods chasing ghosts or hanging out at TypeAMom….we always have fun!

CharmCityKim – She is everything I am not. Vegetarian (I love seafood too much), runner (i got too much jiggly), college graduate (someday), and in Baltimore. Yea, I totally started reading her blog and follow her cause she is in my hometown. I don’t want to live there, but I can re-live the memories when I read her blog or catch a funny tweet (*giggles* underwear in the backyard!). This makes her automatically awesome in my book!

So there the are. Check them out! And if you have any recommendations for me…..feel free to link me in the comments!

Monday night I had an appointment at Freaks & Geeks Tattoo Sideshow. They are located right down the street from my house. The cool thing is they were doing a special Haiti tattoo where all proceeds went straight to releif efforts and it was affordable in terms of tattoo’s….$50. It’s an adorable tattoo too!

In the banner I think I am going to add “pwisans”. According to a Haitian Creole dictionary it means strength. It felt fitting to honor the Haitians with that because they are some very strong people. As much as any of us complain about our hardships, none of us can compare to the suffering most Haitians endure. At least here in the US we have organizations who work hard to help the less fortunate. We also have a welfare system that does attempt to help those who need it. In Haiti they have nothing like that. If you have no money, home or food….you are stuck. In order to survive you must be strong, including before the tragic earthquake. So, it seems fitting.

Now, besides having this particular work done, I am going back next week to have another tat designed. It will actually be specifically related to this blog. I think it will be crook & flail in background, an ankh in the foreground and “The Pagan Mom Blog” around it. I am hoping to use royal blue and gold as the colors for the tat. My plan is to redesign the look of the blog and subsequently change my blog button so that the tat becomes the logo.  Talk about branding lol! I won’t have to worry about running into that tattoo on anyone else!

One thing about getting a tat is, I always worry about conversing with the artist. I am sure that some of them, if not most, are really intelligent enough to talk and work at the same time. Unfortunatley I am so aware of the loud buzzing needle and need to follow the stencil that’s on my body. It doesn’t seem quite the appropriate time to have a chat. So I kinda tend to be real quiet unless they speak first. At least then I know I am not distracting them, ya know?

The other odd thing I think about while in the chair is the paperwork involved. If you have never had ink done you do fill out paperwork. One of the things they need you to disclose is if you have certain illnesses that can be passed on through blood. SoI wonder, how often are people honest that they have Herpes, HIV/AIDS, or Hepatitis? And really, if you had a disease that could be passed on by bodily fluids….would you really have work done? Now Galen, the guy who did my work, was very sanitary. I pay close attention to that because I sure as hell don’t want to catch anything. And really, if I did have a disease I don’t think I would have any done. I mean the fear of passing it on to some stranger who is just trying to stay in business and enjoy the work they do would be overwhelming. I am not trying to pass on judgment to anyone who might have had Hepatitis and got ink. I am just curious on what their thought process was about doing it. And I really want to know if they REALLY disclosed their illnes. Makes ya wonder!

Wednesday already? Jeesh this week is just flying by!

So if you are following me on Twitter I am sure you have seen countless tweets about the upcoming Beltane Brouhaha. Some of us have decided to have a tweetup and chose the Brouhaha as our destination spot. This is an event open to anyone who wants to attend! So I am very happy to announce that I got the email that the registration is now open…..yay!

The event is fairly affordable. $12 early registration fee ($15 at gate), $5 for kids 5-12 yo, $40 for a cabin holding 2-4 persons, $15 for a single dorm space, and $12 for meal tickets. For me and the girls to go it came out to $98. Not really bad for a weekend event.  I have attended some other functions that were much more than that for just one person! Now last year was the first time I ever went so I am not really a big expert but I will pass on a few things I learned.

I personally recommend you get the dorm space or cabin. Dorm space is basically they will shack you up in one of the larger cabins with people that you may or may not know. Basically you pay for a bed. The cabin is good for families or if you know some people and want to share a cabin with. I already know a couple people from twitter are going to share a cabin. The best thing about cabins are they are right there in the middle of everything. There is tent camping space available if you are looking for something more affordable. The people with Church of Wicca can direct you to who you need to talk to at the park for tent camping info. Now the downside to tent camping is that you will have to leave the cabin area by dusk when they close the gate, that is if you plan on driving into the site area. Now if you don’t mind walking in the dark to your tent then you don’t have to worry about when the gate closes. I just hope that you can find your way back to the tent site lol.

Food. I do recommend you bring some snacks and maybe a cooler to keep at your cabin. Bear in mind there are animals in the woods. Last year we had a mouse that literally opened our screen door and came right in and found my stash of pretzels. Lesson learned! Open flame is not permitted on campground except at one designated spot just outside the messhall. So if you want to cook at your cabin, bring your campstove. As for meals I recommend that you do purchase the meal tickets. You are not going to get anything glamorous to eat but it’s not horrible either. Last year we had hot dogs, hamburgers, spaghetti, and my all time favorite….pudding from a huge ass can. You know, one of those ones you find at Sam’s or Costco. They do sell snacks and drinks throughout the day at the messhall.

So what to expect? Vendor row is one. Last year I think they had about 10 businesses with tents set up selling their wares. If you have a business you will want to get in on this event. It’s a great way to meet your clientele! And if you love to shop witchy stuff you will find plenty of stuff to ooh and ahh over. In addition to shopping there are classes for kids which tend to be craft oriented. My daughter had a blast last year making a wand and coloring her own divination cards. There are classes for the adults pertaining to various things. Some were Wicca 101, others were more deeper into theology and then others were craft oriented.  Last year I took a class to sew my own ritual robe. I was the first person who had ever failed her class. I think I felt worse about that for her than about me failing it lol. Also there will be plenty of ritual. Last year we had a ritual the first night, an initiation ritual the next night (I didn’t attend that), and then a maypole dance just before leaving on the final day. In the evening people gathered into a drum circle around the fire pit and just hung out and had a good time. That was the best part, we just had so much fun socializing! I know for alot of solitaries in places that they don’t know alot of other pagans, events like this can be a huge blessing.

So that is my awesome wisdom to share. If you have question, feel free to ask in comments or email me. If you are attending, let me know here in the comments! If you want to find someone to share a cabin space with, leave it in the comments and maybe someone else will see it and respond.

HOPE TO SEE YOU THERE!!!

***I did not receive free tickets to see Legion. I simply went and felt like sharing about my thoughts on the movie. Furthermore this review will disclose some spoilers, if you want to see the movie and not have it ruined before hand….DO NOT read any further!***

Gosh, kinda sad that anytime I share a non-petitioned review I have to have a dislosure just to cover my ass.

So anywho, last Saturday we went to matinee and saw Legion. I have been drooling all over the trailers since I first saw Zombieland. I always have been highly attracted to theological movies. This one did not disappoint. And just to clarify, this movie is based on Christian theology.

It included what I would consider proper depictions of angels. Alot of people seem to make this assumption that angels are “the good guys”. They almost have reached a rank of being helpers to humans. Really they have always been beings that are indifferent to humans and do God’s bidding. The angels who did have humanistic emotions and challenged God (and one could argue that they thought for themselves) were cast down to hell. Well, sort of anyway. But before I get on to this the movie had an excellent cast of characters. Some of them are not well known and yet some of them are (and Dennis Quaid is the only one I can remember by name lol). Regardless they melded well together. The battles were full of action and exciting. I always have adored a well done fight scene.

Now on to the actual plot. Gabriel and Michael are at odds. See God is kinda ticked off at his creation so he places orders to bring upon the Rapture. But there is a baby that is to be born that could save creation. The orders are for the angels to make sure that the baby isn’t born and allow mankind to suffer their own demise. Now, this is kinda where I have a problem with the angels. See, they aren’t very nice. You got this one angel in the form of an old lady, I am sure you see her in the trailer. What you don’t see is downright horrible. The pregnant woman is a single mom. She proceeds to inform the preggo that her “fucking baby will die”.I kinda have an issue that an angel of God would actually use that kind of language. I mean this is a loving God right? Angels are supposed to be created in the image of God much like humans, right? The old lady then continues on in a very singsong-like voice talking about how all the babies will burn. It was very antagonistic.  Of course I realize this is Hollywood but still….I kinda would think an angel would show up, do their job and leave, ya know? Anywho as we continue on we discover that Michael has decided to go against God’s will. In the course of the movie he determines that Gabriel does what God wants but Michael does what God needs. And the whole ending wasn’t actually something I like, much too happy and God accepted that what Michael did was good and he wasn’t cast out of Heaven. Now the last time an angel challenged God and his orders he was cast down to Hell. What makes Michael so different? This is where I didn’t like the movie. And the idea that an archangel knows what best for God when God is an all knowing being is just downright wrong. I mean, wouldn’t God have known that Michael was going to do this? Of course one could argue that the all-knowing God would also know that creation would anger him to the point of exterminating them too. Then why bother creating at all? But really, it humanized the divine to a level that shouldn’t happen. I know it’s a normal thing to do but at least do it and admit your humanizing the divine and ACCEPT that you might be wrong because none of us can really comprehend divinity completely since we are limited by our experiences.

But hey, it was just a movie!