aviv2762's Xanga

Saturday, August 29, 2009

Sat, 29 Aug 2009 12:39:01 GMT

I Feel Connected!

Yes, I finally got my new computer. Or I should say modem. So many times I think people refer to the whole kit-and-kaboodle(modem, monitor, etc) as the compute. But I digress.

A month and a half ago both my desktop and laptop bit the dust...a week apart! No thanks to those idiots on YouTube who have nothing better to do than to send out viruses. Not that I'm playing the company that runs YouTube(although you 'could' up your security a tad) but those who place videos on the site.

My entire family sans myself were constantly on the site and now it is permanently banned from the house. My 14 yo used it for her video game tips, my dh used it in place of a radio while he was working but the biggest culprit was my autistic daughter. She loved to watch everything from Lambchop to Micheal Flatley! The month and a half that we've gone without has helped lessen the blow of her addiction but we're still having wars over it.

I wish that there was a way to block one site with buying a program much like you can block a television channel. If anyone knows how please let me know. It would allow peace to encompass the land once again. At least for a little while.

But I'm so happy to have a computer once again. My SIL who is the head of her company's IT dept had one of 'her guys' look at our old systems. Unfortunately nothing was salvageable but he could see the trail of destruction. They even emailed YouTube with the information(apparently they have to). But now I am going through the task of re-installing all that I had on the old one. I also had to break the news to the girls that they would have to re-do a great deal of schoolwork since they were homeschooled this year via CD-Roms and all that information/grades were lost!

We won't be using that method when the new school year begins in November!

But now I have relinquish my new toy for the queue is getting insistent. Something about being 'thier turn' !

Ice Cream: The Gods' Nectar

Fri, 17 Jul 2009 18:49:31 GMT

"You scream. I scream. We all scream for ice cream."

My family and I...for a tactful way to put it..struggle. Since moving back to my husband's hometown, careers have been turned around, we've taken menial positions that we abhor, work several gigs and sacrifice a great deal.

One of one sacrifices has been the family's favorite sweet craving: ice cream.

But there are those days when you just need that cold treat. To have the sharp yet creamy coolness putting your parched throat into shock treatment. The feel of mounds of milk and sugar oozing around your molars and falling past your tongue like a slow moving waterfall is sometimes, sometimes what you need to just get through that stress-filled day.

Did you know that this cold nectar of the Gods(and Goddesses) has been here since the time of Mesopotamia? Well actually it was ice but that was only the beginning. The Greeks created snow cones using honey and fruit. In 400BC Persians donned their imagination caps and came up with a pudding like dish made with rose water and vermecilli(I know, doesn't sound quite right does it?) that is still served in Iran today.

Then ice sorbets were born. Some say by the Chinese and then there's the story of Charles I who supposedly offered his ice snow make a lifetime pension if he would keep the recipe secret therefore it would only be a royal treat. The cad!

Ice cream that we know, love and 'need' didn't come on the scene until the 18th century both in England. But we seem to owe the Quakers a debt of gratitude since they brought it with them with they came to America.

Years ago, then President Reagan declared July to be national ice cream month. But he was wrong. Because apparently ice cream is just as popular in the winter months as it is in the summer. I suppose because it doesn't melt as fast and you're not competing against such events as festivals, 4th of July, family reunions and your average kid's birthday parties and picnics.

I don't believe it matters. There is still that yearning for a sweetness that can only be saved by ice cream. No chocolate candy, cookie or cake will do. Not even a icy popsicle will be a sufficient replacement.

Now there are some people who believe themselves to be ice cream connoisseurs but I believe that translates into snobs. Now, don't get me wrong I could live on Blue Bell ice cream(made solely in Texas thank you very much) but I know that there are some states who aren't able to receive this delicacy. That would not stop me from salivating over another brand of my most favored obsession. Unless it is made out of frozen lard, then I would be first in line to try it!

It's difficult to say that I will sacrifice my craving for this icy dessert. I just can't bring myself to cut off cold turkey and I have tried in the name of my family, my pocketbook and (ahem) my waist line. May two out of three of them be damned for my family would defend my statements here to the death as they reached behind me with thier Baskin Robbins spoon ready to sneak a smidgen to taste.

After all it is the nectar of the Gods and I would not be the only one to rise to challenge the naysayers of the world. Sacrfiice is the 'mother' spelled backwards in so many cultures. Ice cream, however, is not one of them.

www.othilldesigns.com

What book am I going to write?

Fri, 17 Jul 2009 04:29:09 GMT

Another Featured Grownups...well feature!

What's the book about that you're going to write?

Too many of us go to our graves with our book, or books, still inside.

Don't tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass. ~Anton Chekhov

I don't think any of us would be members of this blog if we didn't get a thrill from the art of writing well. Writers feel that their thoughts are worthy of being read. We not only want our thoughts read, we want them preserved in a journal or a diary so we can look back and read them again. I bet some of you have fantasized about about your journal being found after you die and made into a movie, by Steven Spielberg or a quirky cool independent film that makes everyone cry tears of joy.

Ah well, I've been at the writing game for quite a while. My books have been technical, spiritual, fantasy and romance.

The latest in my endeavors is about raising an Asperger's teenager and an ADD teenager in the modern world without forgetting about the spiritual soul. It begins as a sort of 'baby book' and evolves in teaching two very different individuals how to survive in a world that can be cruel(to people like them) yet maintain all the life lessons that thier family has taught them.

I'm almost finished with the rough draft and may have a publishing house already interested.......

Friday, July 10, 2009

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 17:13:15 GMT

Well it's official, I need a very long Calgon moment. Actually I need a break.

I work a 'supposedly'part time job that is absorbing my life. I say supposedly because it seems to emcompass more and more of my life. 'Part-time' means that they don't get to do that. But the town isn't jammed pack with evening jobs which is the only time I can committ to making any extra money. And I'm too old and hopefully smart enough to just jump up and announce 'screw this' and run hellmell off to the unemployment line.

Answer: Take a vacation!

I have well over 90 hours of personal time so I'll be taking a 10-day holiday. And what will I be doing?

Working!

I have so many projects started for Over The Hill Designs and none of them finished. Over 2 dozen cross stitch designs sketched and colors but need to get them on linen, several batches of soaps and candles, 3 necklaces awaiting in design molds but yet to be put together and at least 2 dozen pendants awaiting my attention.

All that and one daughter's room to finish painting, another daughter's room to begin and a house that really needs cleaning.

<sigh> I may need more than 10 days.

Thursday, July 09, 2009

Thu, 09 Jul 2009 05:24:56 GMT

this is from broom service and ok...it's technically Thursday but it was for Wednesday so my heart was in the right place!

1. List at least 5 BOOKISH things on your desk (I'm thinking your TBR pile or books you haven't shelved...)
   2. List at least 5 NON BOOK things. (I'm thinking some of some of the more unusual items on your desk/table?)
   3. Tag at least 5 people to do the same.
   4. Come back and leave your link, so we can come and visit your blog. Or add your answers in the comments.

WHAT A DUMP!
That would describe my desk!

1. I dont know if you can see them but there is a small stack of books under the humungus pile of papers! Both are for research on articles. These include Texas Highways(well officially a magazine), 'The Facts On File Encyclopedia of World Mythology and Legend', 'Natural Healing', 'Ghost Towns of Texas', and a copy of Wilbur Smith's 'River God'.
2. Well not officially on the desk but my collection of comuter guardians: red devil Snoopy, Opus, a stuffed Boeing plane, biker Garfield and Scorch my dragon. To be fair I'm counting this as one. Then there's my small pile of jewelry 'stuff' like mediallions, ear wires and a small pile of beads to be repaired. My Save The Rainforest mug that got turned into a pencil cup and my homemade pentagram wreath that hovers precariously.
3. No tagging. If you want to do it. Take it.

Thursday, July 09, 2009

Thu, 09 Jul 2009 04:59:48 GMT

http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"> name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"> name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 11"> name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 11">WHO IN THE *(&^ ARE YOU?(As the song goes....)

Another visit by Featured Grownups

If you do read FG(and I have my doubts seeing very few of the vet writers there anymore) you will know that there is a new sheriff in town. Which means the old favorite question must be raised, 'Who are you?"

I'm hoping it will stir more attendance in the land of FG because it really is a good place to go, to read and to write.

So here we go again.....
Who am I? Only the Gods know the answer to such a benign question and to be had in just a few measly paragraphs. Just who are we in the grand scheme of life, eh? Existentially of course

I’ve been a member of Xanga since 1999. I quit once but lasted all of 6 months and I rejoined in 2002. Glutton for punishment I suppose. I consider myself an artist, academic, writer, sudo-philosopher, reader, teacher, wife, mother, Pagan, college graduate,collector, worker bee, sculptor, seamstress, renovator, former hippie, vegan and so on and so forth.But what's in a label? Not much.

I’m in my late 40’s, have a couple of daughters known world wide as my ‘read headed heathens’. I have been married for 20 years to the same guy! Imagine that! I put up with him when no one would. Besides he’s broke so no upstanding women would give him the time of day! I am of Scot-Irish-German-English-Souix ancestry. I'm a descendant of Ben Jonson, Reginald Johnson(the teacher of the last emperor of China) and Chief Quanah Parker.

My long-term dream is to return to Scotland, to my roots and to my family.

I homeschool the kiddos since my 16 has Asperger’s Syndrome and has reached the aggressively surly age and my 14 yo has Inattentive ADD as no teacher would have the patience/tolerance that I do with her(‘Columbus discovered…oh look something shiny!”). But that’s all right because her mom and dad have it as well and understand fully.

I operate my own online gift business where I made everything there that I sell and a separate EBay business. I’m one of those people who like turning garbage into useful ‘stuff’! I’m also a freelance writer which means not only am I on the lookout for stuff at garage sales but topics I can write about(usually from the same place).

I have a congenital hip, SLE, arithritis, ADD, bad teeth, pre-menopause hair, and curvature of the spine. Lovely huh? Walking medical disaster.

I have an old Diva of a Tabby, a spoiled baby of a Jack Russell and a crazy baby Calico cat. They are like big teenaged sister(who wants to be left alone), bratty baby sister who’s always into things and little brother who just doesn’t want either one of them to pick on him or he'll run cry 'Mommmm, they're picking on me!".

All of 7 of us reside in a 60 year old ‘haunted’ looking house in a small poverty-stricken town in North Texas. The hubby works as a part-time renovator and part-time Wally World flunkie because neither pay worth a damn!

We are Pagan. Not Wiccan; just Scottish Pagans who believe in the Gods and Goddesses connected to our homeland.. I was raised in my faith as some are raised as Baptists or Methodists or Catholics. Unlike most of your ancestors who came here seeking freedom in their Christianity, my ancestors came here to escape persecution from the Christians and to pray the way they wished. It's always been a two way street just my side doesn't get heard from a lot. Which is OK. We like it quiet on this side of the road!

I love my faith just not what I have to do to maintain security and sanity in the process. I have watched an Uncle die because of it. I have had my house egged, and TP'd, paint bombed and had effigys burning in my yard. I've lost jobs because of my faith and watched my children cry because of cruelty of adults living vicariously through their children.

I like to read a lot of the Christian blogs and dont consider it us or them. I even watch the Duggar family on occasion(but shy away from that Kate and Jon thing for good reason). I have quite a few Christian friends(although I may not after this ) I haven't belonged to a coven since I left home and don’t wear black or lots of jewelry and pretty much look like your average Jo-sephine I suppose because most are shocked that I’m Pagan when they find out. . I don’t know if that is a good or bad thing. My faith doesn’t make ‘who’ I am just part of the mix. I do miss the days of 'community' with fellows of my faith. That's the one thing that I envy of the Christians.I miss that a great deal.

If you've read this blog for any amount of time or have the fortitude to go back a couple of years, you will know that I lived all over the place from Israel to Germany to Russia to my beloved Scotland. Then there was my military time and my abusive husband time and loss of child time. But I won't bore you with stories that have already been told and can be read upon here.

More benign stuff....

My kids have been raised in our faith just as they have been raised Vegans(actually GFCF vegans), pet lovers, book fiends and board game fanatics.

We spend our Springs and Autumns working our local Renaissance festivals and have even traveled with them.

My parents are dead. My brother lives in West Texas. Our relationship is strained but we're working on it. I have an older sister to whom I don't speak to anymore which involves lies, slander and bipolarism. Long story.

I am strong on the exterior but overly sensitive on the interior. So much so that sometimes it disturbs my sleep because I can sense when someone close to me is upset. . My 14 yo says I have visions and that is my power. Great...sign me up for 'Heroes' now.

I like being a blonde although now it needs touch-ups.

I hate arthritis and winter and cold. But I also hate extreme heat. October is a good month for me.

I'm a certified herbalist and practice daily because of bad experiences, hate doctors and pharmaceuticals.

I make my own laundry soap, bath soap, bread, candles, furniture, clothes and insist of having a compost. I'm still a hippie at heart.

I love to read tea leaves and an old Tarot deck made somewhere in the late 1800's.

If I ever win the lottery(and I play religiously) I want to buy a Silver Eagle RV instead of a house and travel across the US and Canada.

I was once a professional musician

I have 5 different degrees.

So there you have it. If you think you know me...Great! If not, it'll come in time.

Sunday, July 05, 2009

Sun, 05 Jul 2009 05:15:51 GMT

One of my earlier posts I wrote about losing my muse. Well apparently it is coming back to me in abundance. NOW I'm too busy! So busy I discovered I'm now suffering from exhaustion. When it rains it pours.

Hubby and I decided to address the issue of cross stitch and why certain themes just drown in so many while other areas have nothing. After numerous conversations, we are now in the throes of creating pagan cross stitch kits. Which is not as easy as it sounds especially when you are doing it from scratch! We struggle from paycheck to paycheck even though I continue to make sales on my Etsy site and bring in money from writing freelance articles. But dh has ordered me a cross stitch program because he has become 'dotty' from attempting to create the graphs for the cross stitch designs I've come up with.

His talent as a former Boeing welder has also been put to good use. I've been designing some necklaces and earrings and laying them out in jewelry molds. At night, when I'm working that boring part time job he gets out his little pliers and gets to work putting them together. Too many years of working as an artist has strained my eyesight and at least he doesn't have to take off his glasses to see the 'small stuff'.

My muse seemed to return to me in two different ways. I ran across a sister site to a site called 7witches.com. It is called real_wishes.com. I found it while looking for vampire graphics for a girlfriend's MySpace site(she has dialup and we all know how that is!). The site promised free wishes by this group of 7 witches. Sounded hokey and like an e-chainmail but I was stirred on to give it a try. Afterall, I didn't have to give them any money, right?

So I did and asked for a 'this-isn't-going-to-happen-in-a-million-years' kind of wish. To win a million in the lottery. I haven't yet but odd things began to happen.

My muse came back and with it my items in Etsy(which hadn't been selling) were selling both on and off the internet. My articles were deluged with hits(I get paid a minimal payment for the articles but get bonuses for the viewhits) therefore my payments skyrocketed. The second part was the conversation of recycling and renewable housing with a friend. The next thing I know I was staying up late to search the world wide web for a former dance instructor who was now building sustainable housing...in Huntsville. Then my Facebook page was hit with all these people from my past....in Huntsville. Then ideas began flowing about how to use recycled items as part of my art.

The reason for my wish was that we could move back to SE Texas to the town of my alma mater...Huntsville, Texas. My youngest daughter who didn't want to leave before became excited as the prospect. We began talking more seriously about this not just as a place to go to retire but as a reality(which we never let ourselves feel this way before).

I was told(in the wish site) that I would see the time 11:11. I did. I was told to believe. Well I didn't really but dreams of why we wanted the money in the first place began to occur. I still don't know if it will work. I've always accepted my lot and the fact that I was most likely going to be stuck in this town but now....as my dh told me, "I'm not willing to say no to anything anymore. Stranger things have happend so why not that?"

Why not indeed.

Aviv

MAKE A WISH...COME ON

Thu, 25 Jun 2009 05:06:41 GMT

Make

Make A Wish

Oh I know it sounds hokey...but as Gary says...I'm not in a position to doubt anything anymore! So give it a shot but you have to tell me if your wish came true!!

Since spooky eyes didn't work, go to real-wishes.com. Do what it tells you for 8 straight days. Come on, what else do you have to lose?

Like my dear dh says, 'I dont doubt anything anymore.'

One catch, you have to tell me if something truly did happen!

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Wed, 17 Jun 2009 16:39:41 GMT

Summer Solstice is quickly approaching which only means one thing....I let the months escape me again!
Alyssa's 14th birthday came on June 1. Her party was pushed back to the following Sunday because that is the only day that both Gary and I have off at the same time and when he isn't asleep(read details later). She opened a multitude of gifts that I had been hording since Christmas. She has become really addicted to 'Mama Mia' and was amazed when one of her gifts was a box of old ABBA cassettes. It's a good thing that this Mama never throws anything away. She recieved music, clothes, a Brain Age 2 game, a fashion video game, a herb garden kit, a lava lamp, a new Ren-fest gown sewn by me and her first wand. [I make them and she wanted 'something special' so there you go].

Birthday tradition also states that the honoree can chose their favorite meal. Hers was an Chinese resterant in Denton which surprised both of us. I thought that we be spending a mint at a trendier place of her choosing. We took her shopping at Walmart in Denton for summer clothes and bought her a new swimsuit via Land's End as part of her day. There is NO shop locally that sells her size because both her and her sister's torsos are so long. Even the woman at Land's End thought that I measured it incorrectly. That's what happens when you're 14 and 5'7"(Jessica now is 16 at 5'11-1/2!) I'm officially the shorty of the family.

Alyssa 14 and growing
Jessica...don't ask about the rabbit-toothed smile. I don't know either.

Lightning 6yr-my not-so-little piglet awaiting cake!

Gary and I pass each other via our shifts at Walmart. He now works graveyard shift while I work evenings. He took initially as a supplemental job but when his sister learned of this, well all of a sudden they had no work to do at the shop. Oh well.

Now Walmart nation-wide is severely cutting hours and laying off all of their full timers. Our small store is now exception. Poor Gary went from 33hours to 20 which means he works only every other day and is now supplementing that with remodeling work. If it wasn't for my freelance writing and my online shop at Etsy (http://www.othilldesigns@etsy.com) some things would be going by the waste side like cable, phone, etc.
We started a vegetable and herb garden to cover some of the costs, make our own bread,laundry soap,etc and spend a lot more time clipping coupons, checking out circulars(Walmart will take competition ads for a 200 mile radius) and storing canned and dry goods as if Armaggedon was happening tomorrow. After all, who knows how far Wally World will cut us?

Our small town is suffering immensely. Thirty year old companies are folding up, fast food chains and retail stores aren't hiring this summer, former oil field employees and truckers fill the food stamp office and more people are moving away. Bowie has always suffered due to the fact that our city council doesn't push to bring in new business, we're not on the interstate and the people who can have always commuted to the cities of Denton, Dallas and Fort Worth for their livelihood. So getting worse for Bowie is a major stab in the heart.

Jessica and her hormones has also played a large role in my stress. Asperger's, hormones and being 16 do not mess well. She gets frustrated, aggravated and plain ol' anger. She slams doors, screams and at her worst moments has hurt both Gary and myself. She actually dislocated his middle fingers by slamming a door on his hand. Since starting her on a full fledged GFCF diet and different set of vitamins, she has calmed somewhat. SAM-E is a wonderful vitamin for her mood and it's OTC. Which is a good thing since we have no insurance and can't afford to visit a doctor at $60 a pop.

So stress, angst and good dose of minor depression keep me away from blogging these days. Hoping to relieve some of it this summer by taking on a teaching job. I think winning the lottery and getting out of Walmart would do a lot for that!

Sunday, April 12, 2009

Sun, 12 Apr 2009 19:17:27 GMT

WELCOME TO HELL PARSON!

Well I said that I would blog but I didn't think I would have this to report! But that is what the majority of us here in North Texas particularly Bowie and other small towns in Montague County felt.

*This sight is from across the border into Oklahoma which was hit at the same time we were.*

The winds for several days had been amazingly strong; some were estimated at 60mph. Hence the problem: the fires were not caused by one incident but several different incidents. Phone lines being severed, truck owner's muffler falling off near Sunset and tumbling into a ditch and only one suspected teenage arsonist in Oklahoma. In the end, we lost over 160,000 acres, 3 residents and over 100 homes.

But the effect was the same. Thick and confusing[to get through] smoke. And fires that spread so quickly that you couldn't keep track of the speed. Our local elementary was evacuated on the first day of the fires. Two small towns were almost completely destroyed. Now when I say small towns I do mean small. One of them had only 100 people and is now left with one or two houses, a church and their school left! All in all four towns were told to evacuate. Since we know about wild fires all too well here, we were more than happy to oblige! Unexpected problems also happened due to the fire causing a portion of a road to collapse near one of the towns(their only exit) because the plastic supports underneath the blacktop melted! One person was hurt and only with broken bones and bruises.

At least every Bowie citizen knew a family member or friend whose home was destroyed or damaged by these fires(30 in total). Our town and neighboring towns only have volunteer fire departments. Dallas and Fort Worth whose outlying towns of their counties were dealing with wild fires as well, were sending people to aid in our fight. Helicopters were present to spray water but couldn't until the third day due to the strong winds.

The fires even took on a sort of tornado like behavior[as you can tell by this photo]. If some cases one side of a road had miles and miles of scorched and smoldering ground while the other side was unscathed.

On the bright side, after battling these fires for several days we were gifted with a strong storm last night. If I didn't believe in global warning before I do know. You would understand if you experienced the freakish behavior of Mother Nature.

I'm glad that it is over but it was certainly hell on earth.