Fuzzy Thoughts » Fam Time

Amethyst Diving

Michelle — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 21:17:08 +0000

Last week I was in Lake Havasu visiting the family, and swimming and other combinations of those two. Mostly I came back tired and burnt, but hey, it was fun.

The last day of swimming in the channel next to the London Bridge, I did some rock diving. One specific rock diving: Amethyst. I’ve found it all around the lack, channel and even up river during previous trips. Not to be disappointed this time, I managed to find some whole amethyst chunks as well as some mixed specimens.

These are not gem grade rocks. They are pretty, mostly when wet. I’m thinking about polishing them up a bit though. We’ll see. Oh? That picture is me and the kids riding behind Dad’s boat.

We’re silly that way.

Off to Arizona

Michelle — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 18:05:26 +0000

I’m leaving for Arizona tomorrow and I’m trying to get some blog posts done, and some articles finished. I’m almost packed.Internet will be spotty, and what I can through my phone…which is alot. So the only difference will be I won’t be available all day.

So sun, water, and more sun. See you in a week!

Had Fun on Vacation, Not So Much at Home

12,200 Feet to Say Farewell

Michelle — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 21:11:17 +0000

Last weekend we said goodbye to Bob Stevenson. He was my uncle by marriage to my mother’s sister. Most of things about him I already knew. I grew in Breckenridge and he and my aunt Kim were the only extended family nearby.

After the memorial we hiked up to Mohawk lakes. He lived near the trail head for…ever…so we took some ashes, dropped them at the falls then hiked up to the top. I admit it was a hard hike for me. But I’m glad I did it. I haven’t been up there since high school.

Bob was, well Bob. He was a part of my life from the beginning and many of us hadn’t seen him in years. We were pretty sure he would appreciate the hike right down to the hail at the end.

I don’t know exactly how to feel about all of this. I wish him well where ever he is now, but my memories of him were already that. Memories.

Of Sun and Towers

Michelle — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 02:30:54 +0000

My expectations for this week were to finish the major revisions on my novel, talk about that process, then start the (re)outline for the next novel. That’s still coming. Maybe next week. This turned into a different sort of beast.

My nearly five year old nephew was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes this last Tuesday. It, as apparently most of these diagnosis’ do, came suddenly. My sister was called from his preschool to pick him up. He proceed to fall deeper and deeper into lethargy during the day. She took him to the hospital and they ended up at Children’s with an Insulin drip.

After a day and half they let him out to go to classes for diabetics. We all went with to offer moral support and learn how to take care of him when he was in our care. The pattern is working itself out. The shots and tests are painless or nearly so, and he is taking it well. Management isn’t easy but he’s adjusting. They have a 24 hour emergency line for support no matter when you need it, he’s assigned a doctor, a nurse, a dietitian and a social worker, he got to pick out a bracelet and he gets to show kids his “kit”.

Being me, I wasn’t really angry about it like the parents and the grandparents. Hey, I’m the gal with 3 chronic conditions. I wish I got the support my nephew is getting. I’ve been through the stages of grief with myself. For my nephew I’m just going to have to be damage sponge. Am I scared for him? Hell, yes. But at the same time by caring for him and listening to him and his mom when they need it, I can help ensure (as much as anyone can) he’ll live 100 more years or so.

He’s a good kid, not into candy and soda, loves lunch meat, cheese, and fruit (some veggies). I’m sure he’ll be okay. I’ve seen him go from lethargic to vibrant in the space of a workday. He’ll do.

So forgive me if I’m a little behind. Gotta deal with the sun and tower first.

No related posts.

Meditation

Michelle — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 22:37:59 +0000

My uncle Bob died last week.

It’s difficult to think about. My aunt divorced him last year so technically he wasn’t my uncle anymore. But…my aunt was married to him for 33 years. I will always know the time because of the story behind their marriage in the first place. My aunt, with her new boyfriend, was still broken up. No one blames her. My uncle had dug his own holes and burned his bridges. But 33 years is a long time.

Originally he and my aunt had only wanted to move in together…had they done this, they mayn’t have ever gotten married. But they chose the worst possible time to tell my grandparents…on the eve of my parents wedding. My mother, sixteen and several months pregnant with me was in the midst of planning a shotgun wedding with my father. So when my aunt broke the news to my then Catholic grandparents they broke into tears. It was decided that since the entire family was there anyway, my aunt would be married the day after my mother. Their wedding pictures look very similar…they used the same tuxes, blue. The same people are there…it’s all very odd.

My uncle used to play hide and seek with us in the woods. He’d sneak up on us and scare us. He took us sledding and let us jump on the bed in the guest room or read in the den of his house. I think he may not of liked it but he let us.

The last time I saw him was five years ago. He was laying on my grandparents couch, with my dog, then a very tiny puppy, sitting on his chest. He laughed.

He fought with my dad, he didn’t like to travel or family holidays, he had people help him around his house but refused to help others.

But he was my uncle.

Going to Vegas

Michelle — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 15:22:31 +0000

J: Once we hit town, since check in isn’t until 4, we can hit Costco for the stuff we’ll need that week. If I understand that map, at least of them is fairly close to the condo.

Me: Your Costco worship is crazy mad. But sure.

J: Blasphemer.

Me: Good thing Costco hasn’t got the Ikea route yet. I can image you’d jump on the chance for a Costco apartment or hotel room.

J: You will burn in Big Lots for that.

Me: Why are you going to burn down Big Lots? You like Big Lots.

J: I couldn’t think of a better alternative store for hell. Work with me here.

Had Fun on Vacation, Not So Much at Home

Michelle — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 22:46:27 +0000

So Arizona was fun. I managed not to fall out of the raft or the boat but my brother did. We spent nearly every day in or near water as my family is wont to do. I’ll get some pictures up.

J. hurt his back after we got home. It’s pretty bad but he says it’s bit better. The stress worry is getting to me.

I’ll post more in a bit…I have three go-lives with a dead line of next week and a chapter to finish. Busy me.

There is TMI in this Post Amoung the Weekend Updates

Michelle — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 16:39:11 +0000

So no, the weekend did not start out well with my computer dying, again. I’m actually extremely upset now as I know it’s a hardware issue. At the end of the week I should have an update on that. Any bets on what I’ll get from Dell this time?

Writing went well this weekend. Not only did I finish a chapter, but I’ve joined a new critique group. This is looks much more committed than my last group and we have a good range of folks both in ability and background. After they left I managed to pound out another 1000 words. Creativity abounds.

We did Aia’s b-day party this weekend. McDonald’s totally dropped the ball. Nothing was ready, no one seemed to know what to do. They managed to get their act together in the end but dang. We’re not going back there next year. So I need to scout out a new place.

Heroes sucks now…have I told you that? The suckage is so bad that they are now sticking random sex in for the hell of it. Noah actually waited to start shooting until after teh sexes. Stupid. Hiro is still my fav as he’s the ONLY character to learn from his mistakes. And the only guy who deals with the bad guys first. Chances of continuing to watch this show though are near nil.

Our movie night is now on LOST. Day late and a dollar short I know. We’re finding the show fairly predictable, but good anyway. We can deal with that. People say it’s gets weirder. We’ll see.

Now for the TMI. My period started this weekend. The bad thing about that? It’s only been two and a half weeks since my last period. Not good. In fact very bad. The last time this happened, I was in the middle of massive cancer screenings which boiled down to the hypothyroidism. Has it gone further in the wonky? Or is this the PCOS? With the hair loss, the bloating, the mood thing I’m worried. Doc on Friday. Hoping we can deal with this with a medication adjustment. Hoping.

Things We Did

Michelle — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 18:15:25 +0000

The holiday weekend was full of weird things. First, of course, came Thanksgiving. This holiday went like most except Aia decided to have a full on melt down which resulted in a spanking and a long time out (which relatives trying “help” by giving her whatever she wanted didn’t). Basically she spilt water on her dress. I took her in the back room where gma keeps another wardrobe for her (really, she does) and started picking through them. This is where the full on fit happened as she insisted that the clothes weren’t hers even when gma came back to show me where all her clothes were. Aia started screaming and hitting. We got the dress off and the new one on. She didn’t stop and got a spanking and time out.

Being at the grandparents meant I had to take drastic measures. I then took the dress (and all her other overnight clothes) and hid them. Not two seconds later the aunt and the gpa were looking for the dress to give back to her in all its sopping glory. I wouldn’t tell them were it was. Gpa went back to try to threaten her out of crying when she revealed to his horror that she’d been spanked.

OMG the earful I got. Spanking is evil, I’m a horrible mother, I should be taken away in chains etc.

Wait for it.

From the man who used to use his BELT.

If you don’t see the irony here, I can’t help you. My daughter gets a swat on the bum and dress put over her head. She’s never had a belt to her bum. I have and it still hurts.

Finally she calmed down. Other relatives came and all was forgotten. By the end of the night my daughter was sitting with me again. When she came out and apologized, I washed her face, gave her a drink and some food. Then we played Hawaiian Go Fish. The rest of the night went well.

Friday I had to work. Very quiet. Didn’t get much done except writing though. The interwebs were not cooperating with me.

Saturday we brined the turkey and took off for Colorado City. Shooting was fun. We blew up Diet Cokes that we had sitting around. As we got ready with glasses and ear protection, J. began freaking out. He lost his sunglasses. I only stopped laughing long enough to point out that they were on his face. While still giggling I bullseyed a can on the first shot. Go me.

We left with the intent to do more shooting on Sunday. When checked into the hotel we found out it had free wireless aptly named, “This connection is hackable”. Then we headed into Colorado City…which turned out not to have a downtown at all. We made it Rye before giving up. We had planned to go to Bishop’s Castle but decided we couldn’t make it there before sunset (closing time).

For dinner we hit Texas Roadhouse. That was good, though the waitress was dumbfounded when I ordered my sweet potato with only sour cream and butter. Luckily none of the chefs decided they heard wrong. The green beans tasted like squishy bacon. Trust me…that isn’t as good as it sounds.

We saw Transporter 3. Absolute crap. Which is too bad. We’re getting movies now that suffered from writer’s strike itis. Doesn’t bod well.

I finished the nylon bag knitting project. Realized that I had been doing the purl stitch wrong until the end. I’ve got purl down now. Who knew that you had to move the thread first? Stitch n’ Bitch set me straight. I also cast on that scarf staring with brown worsted wool. The humungo needles are fun. Still I don’t under stand how the SB girl holds the very large straight needles under her arm pit. She must have no boobs. And stumpy arms. No offense, I have stumpy arms and large boobs. Of course her humungo needles might be way bigger than mine. In fact that’s probably true as well.

I started reading Yarn Harlot’s Secret Life of Knitters. Great book, but that woman is way to OCD. How can you loose a pattern? And why stuff projects in weird ass places? I gets I am a project knitter not process. All weird.

We woke up Sunday to a fire alarm. Which went off right away, then on again and off again. Must have been faulty wiring because it was blizzarding out. So we checked out and hit the road as we had to be home by three. It took (normally 3 hours) 5 hours to get home. Good thing that alarm kept going off, despite the head ache.

We had a good last write in. I got out another 2000 words. M. made the finish line. After that we came home to the turkey just coming out of the oven and the dogs coming home clean. It was a nice night.

This morning it appeared that the basement flooded. After J. made move a ton of books and we realized it wasn’t coming from the walls. I grabbed a tissue and dabbed some up (should have done that first). Dog pee. Dagny dog pee every where. That means medication failure and another vet trip. I made J. vacuum it up. Good thing we still had M.’s steam vac. Thanks M.!

Now I need to get back DGA stuff. Everything is ready except some last minute back end stuff and those damned tickets. Very damned tickets. Blargh.

Proof I’m Raising an Uber Geek

Michelle — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 03:15:38 +0000

Aia: Mommy, don’t you think that Konoji acts just like the Flash?

Me: What…I guess so.

Aia: He does…he even commercializes things. See the camera.

Me: Oh, I thought you meant his speed.

Aia: No mommy, no one is faster than the flash. You can’t compare that.

I am not living under an ancient Chinese curse (Currently).

Michelle — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 19:57:29 +0000

Nope…it’s been pretty boring.

This came to light due to some earlier posts making a reader cry…and I realized I haven’t had much of that lately. Life has been quiet and relatively free of that ancient Chinese curse: May you live in interesting times. Which is okay. I have several web projects going (yes, go read your email. Call if confused), and other than a fight over whose doing the dishes and why (that me needing to do them as long as I can do them my way) life has been quiet.

There is Worldcon which I am nervously drafting a letter to get games for. Anyone want to run games for Worldcon speak NOW.

Then there is the novel. I had a little disaster…my character file became corrupted…so I have to read through the manuscript and type out the details I’ve lost. No more screwing around…they’re going into ywriter4.

For all the hoary masses….

Michelle — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 17:18:09 +0000

AWOL to put it mildly. Things have not gone as planned and have taken a further turn for the worst with the great stomach rebellion of 2007. The weekend started off well. We got up early on Saturday and drove to McDonald’s for Pooh Bunny party goodness.

Aia got out of the car…I started to then notice I was parked cock-eyed. With Aia safely on the sidewalk I straightened out the car.

Then she started jumping up and down.

I opened the door to, “Flat Tire Mom!!!”. Sure enough the rear passenger tire was flat. Not loosing air…not a lit out of air, but flat.

I then proceeded to ignore it…as it was time for party. It took a bit to round up everyone for this McDonald’s had a mysterious back room just for parties and a disturbing image of a girl looking down through the ceiling that gave you the impression you were in one giant happy meal.

The chicken nugget analogy was not lost on us.

Only 6 parents stayed for 13 kids. Luckily all the kids were good. For all of McDonald’s faults, they do parties well. Extra toys and hats for all the kids. Then play time while the food is being prepared, full on happy meals then a really good cake.

Of course this didn’t count that the girl ditched us halfway through, they lost my deposit, and couldn’t remember how much to charge me (I got a discount in the end). Overall though, the party itself was good. That’s what counts.

So then came the problem of the tire. M. and I wanted to do shopping so she whisked of A. and Aia to her house to wait for me.

A really nice man helped me change it. I could have done it but he had gloves and was very nice. I had to turn away the other guy. So we got it changed and I took it to the dealership where they fixed it for free.

Back at M.’s we sat for a bit, I let J. know we were going to be late. We hit B&N then Petsmart. We took A. to the grandma’s as he was about ready to collapse. Then we hit Target.

Where I found the perfect wine rack, which they did not tell me they did not really have until after they charged me. This took two hours to fix. With a bad phone call later I found no Targets have it. In fact, every single Target in Colorado ONLY has a display and no actual wine rack for sale.

No, they won’t sell the floor model.

So if you see a buffet sized cabinet with two drawers on the bottom, shelves on one side and a wine rack on the other actually for sale…please let me know.

So M. pleads bedtime…and I don’t blame her…we go back to her place I get my stuff while Aia plays her game. But on the way back we almost hit a guy…who thought that playing chicken in black on the dark part of 84th would be fun. I swerved, missed him, and then stopped the car. He ran way laughing.

Shaken and tired we got home. I put away the groceries and went to bed. Sunday was much more relaxed. I cleaned, cooked tortilla soup, went to the TGIO which was great, is small.

Monday was migraine city.

Tuesday included puke for lunch.

Wednesday I was just queasy. I’m still queasy but at work.

So I missed Japanese and Dnd has been canceled till after the 1st and M had to bow out for the week (which was good cause I was sleeping) and I’m still going to make writer’s tonight.

Jaa Mata

No related posts.

One Camera Cleaned Off

Michelle — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 16:49:15 +0000

I got one camera cleaned off. I’m working on the other other two.

I’ll have time with my own computer on Wednesday…and I’ll be taking it to Vegas with me….though their probably won’t be internet access there (they charge too much).

So maybe Wednesday night I’ll have Texas and even Mexico up. I really am working on it!

Home Again

Michelle — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 18:59:18 +0000

I have pictures and stuff that I have to download.

Basics with pictures and explainations to come later:

Car Fire
No Parking at DIA
Good Fast Flight
Baggage Wait
Hot
Rain
Gma
Swim
Wii Zelda
BnL Asshole
Snooky’s
Flighty Waitress, Nice Owner
Wedding
Rain
Wedding Inside version
Gift Table
Pictures
More actual Wedding
Londoner-Just Opened with Crazy Londoner Owner Included
Irish Rover with Curry
R’s House
Spec n’ Eddie
Chicken with the Gma
TGI Fridays
Sleep
Not Sleep
Plane
Not Plane
Back to Work!

Telling my Mother to Butt Out

Michelle — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 16:35:57 +0000

I learned a long to time ago not to let my mother call anyone for me.

In sixth grade I came home crying because a boy, who had been teasing me all year, had taken my library book then slide across the floor on it like a skate board.

At the time I was a little afraid of librarians. One I had in Elementary school once threw things at me because an eraser got lodged in the book as I pulled it from my back back as I asked to renew it.

Anyway, I came home crying. My mother happened to be there. I remember begging her to do nothing. She called the principal.

Too bad the principal was this boy’s Uncle.

I got sentenced to “special time” with other mentally disturbed kids where I was “evaluated” every other day. I was repeated ask to bring home forms for my parents to give permission for me to be transfered to various “helpful places”. I learned to forge my mother’s name. Later I learned they never talked to my parents about me.

Mostly we colored and talked. It was a lot of crap.

After sixth grade the principal left and they began experimenting with mixing 7th and 8th graders together. No more nut-job time but lots of teasing and I got to go to 8th grade twice while skipping 7th grade. That’s a whole nother weird story.

So my mother, who is trying to help in her own twisted way, called my Aunt to talk to the real estate agents who are giving me a hard time about my house not being cleaned by professionals yet. Since yesterday was and extremely upsetting dayCan’t say why yet…I promise there will be a whole blog post about it when this is settled., my mother’s declaration of calls ended with me screaming at her on the phone…frantically calling my aunt then apologizing to J. for all the drama. (He was incredibly sweet about the whole thing and got lots of hugs.) I don’t handle stress well. You should how bad it gets if I don’t take my thyroid medication.

Sigh.

I still suck at Super Mario Bros.

Michelle — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 18:01:52 +0000

Oh boy.

So I spent the holiday cleaning out J.’s house and setting up Aia’s new room. I manged to set up the old Nintendo and the Super Nintendo in her room with out too much stress. I still suck at Mario Bros though. I forgot you can’t kill Spineys in version 1.

I hauled out over 5 backs of trash and sorted about 50lbs of bulletsI never, in a million years, thought I would say that. J. has hurt his hip really bad so I set him up with the 5th Harry Potter and only bothered him to check on trash level and build a few things he could do while sitting. He cooked on a grill a bit but no lifting for him if I can help it. We now have a working guest room and a ready Aia room. The rest is contingent on getting a storage unit today and putting new flooring in next week. Gah.

We watched fireworks from Federal & 84th. You can see the fireworks in every city from Highlands Ranch to Broomfield and Green Valley Ranch to Golden from there. It was great. They all went on despite the wind, lightning and rain. Beautiful.

I found out that my sister will be moving today. I have mixed selfish feelings about this but nothing ill. I wish her well and will help with anything I can.

Tonight I have to meet with the realitor so my house can actually go on sale. It’s a lot to do.

Home Again

Michelle — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 20:26:01 +0000

I’m back from Playa del Carmen. It was a great trip. My family is still insane. We had nearly non-stop rain but that was great! No bugs and a nice even temp. And it made the waves in the ocean incredible.

Iberostar is a nice resort. We had to laugh beacause the nice smooth paths the cars used, but the rain soaked uneven stone walkways were still rain soaked uneven stone walkways when drunk. Which was quite often.

I managed to get stung by a jelly fish but it was a thimble jelly fish…which felt like a splinter but otherwise the mark doesn’t bother me. Aia didn’t want to leave, she was having too much fun with the grandparents.

The ruins, Chitzan Itza, were amazing. If you stand in a certain spot and clap, the pyramid sqeeks at you. I know, get the pictures off the camera.

My uncle was offered a small boy in town, he refuse. Barganing went well. Aia didn’t fuss about and even got herself some soveniers for a $1, down from 10$. Two was pretty, if Americanized. The food was wonderful, if fattening.

While there I kind of got charged up to study Japanese again. A quick search had a ton of online lessons…so we’ll see what happens.

M. had me try her Bare Minerals makeup while we were there. It’s nice stuff…I think I might buy some. Now it’s just getting back into the grove.

Busy, Rabid Bees Aside

Michelle — Tue, 22 May 2007 15:13:47 +0000

Mexico is next week! That’s right from Saturday till Saturday I’ll be in Mexico.

Too bad I’m so unprepared.

I need to get chapter 5 done by Mexico. That’s goal. This way I can take my notes for chapter 9writing them in order of POV to keep the tone current. Stop figeting. with me to Mexico and write on the beach. That an some drawing time should be for a good vacation.

HOD has finally got an event coming up. Don’t hit me. That’s a good thing. I’ve gotten an idea to mess with the website but that can wait. As soon as I get the details that event will be up.

The Pagan Pantry article has to be done by Friday. I’ve gotten the research done….just need to write the puppy and turn it in. My due date is really Wednesday but really I’ll be in Mexico.

Then there’s BenCon. I’ll have online registration up this week. I don’t know if all the events will be in because not all the events have been submitted. BenCon needs stronger coordination.

What else? Work stuff. Just notes and time cards. Some temp training but nothing big. I have a list of stuff I still need to buy for Mexico and all my bills must be paid before I leave. Due to the new pay schedule I won’t have any spending money for Mexico. Okay I might. I do the bills Wednesday (Really, why wait?), and then I’ll know. If a miracle happens and my paycheck is put in the bank Friday at mid night, I’ll dip. I get two paychecks by the time I get back. Too bad they’re all a country away. Otherwise I’ll borrow from the sister for one outing but pretty much the stuff I planned to stock up on is out. I’ll have to see though. Sometimes, life bites. Oh well at least the food, drink and room are paid for. My mother tried to help by telling me I don’t need to go out at night. She forgets that point is that I can this time. Last time I couldn’t got out not because of money but because I was still breastfeeding. I could only go out 1 night, my mother followed me everywhere and generally I wasn’t allowed out of anyone’s sight unless I was napping. Even then the darn ex hovered over me. So the list of things I wanted to do while there has dwindled to two major things with a heavy weight on one, if at all possible. Here’s to hopping I that I didn’t add correctly in my favor and/or my check is there Saturday morning.

Then when I get back I just need $200 for the loan, at least $100 for groceries, till the 15th. That’s not a problem since, even though I miss a week of pay, it’s an extra week. So by the 15th, with all my bills payed I’ll be much richer.

For the worse that could go wrong, it’s not that bad.

The Mexico Snaffu

Michelle — Wed, 21 Mar 2007 16:37:53 +0000

It is the day of snaffuing. The dawsp post wasn’t supposed to go there…but I’m leaving it.

My family is going to Mexico. This is good…more than 20 of us heading out to the Carribean for a good get away. Now I even get to bring a friend. I asked J. but his vacation is already taken up by the Carribean adventure he’s on this week. So I’m taking M.

We’re going to Playa del Carmen. Some of our family can’t come…like the 18 year old cousin who rather stay at home with her friendsShe’s going to regret this…poor girl. or the Peruvian aunt who is still in citizenship process and can’t leave the country.

Sucks to be them.

So we’ll go, have fun. I’m taking the pooh bunny too. She’s pretty excited.

I love Mexico.

Of Manga and Taroty Things….

Michelle — Wed, 14 Mar 2007 20:39:20 +0000

Last weekend was full. I fit more things in there than humanly possible.

So let’s pretend I’m superhuman, shall we?

I am now counting three days without pop. I made a counter on Traineo. I’ve managed to exercise every day…still feel tired and still getting headaches. Doc might be upping the dosage of synthroid…I’ll have to see.

Writer’s was just me and M. last week. I managed to get some work done. We apparently have competition with another writer’s group now. I don’t know what we’ll do at the moment. Next week will tell us if they’re there all the time.

I got my tires done. I go to the Saturn in Aurora. In that little triangle of land between Parker Rd, Iliff and Havana I found Dora’s. Best Fried Ice-cream Ever. Salsa was bland though.

Just across from that was Book World. This little antique bookshop scored me a Geiger art book and a how to paint fantasy book by Vallejo. Natch. Found a book on Wiccan covens…good group book in general really.

Afterward I went on a quest to complete my travel alter. I got the idea from Pagan Sojourn. Details and pictures will come later; when I have it finished…which mainly entails figuring out how to save the tarot cards from the incense. Paltry really, who knew altoids cans were so versatile?

This brought me to Isis. I don’t like going there…but for most pagan needs there is no better place in Denver. The vibe is just bad…always has been…probably always will be. If I want gifty, stone like or clothy I head to Spiritways, Herbs and funky implements Herbs and Arts…just about everything else (unless I’m making it myself) it has to be Isis…it’s only competition on that level was Wings. I miss Wings.

I digress. I know what I want at Isis a replacement for the small tarot cards I lost. I did find those but I also came away with the Manga Tarot by Selena Lin. In Isis’ faux import tarot section I found the Manga Tarot by Riccardo Minetti & Anna Lazzarini. Score! Riccardo Minetti is fast become my fav of the contemporary tarot creators. His decks are so rich in art and symbolism and he has a grounded knowledge of tarot lore and history. I firmly believe he is the next cannon in tarot. Marseilles, Waite, Crowley, Voyager, Minetti. Totally makes sense to me.

Reviews can be found here and here.

I managed to continue my quest to get all my altar accouterments made from stone at Herbs and Arts. My spirit altar now has an incense burner. My working altar incense burner is now an egg shaped one. How cool is that?

300 was a two hour long battle speech. That’s it, pretty, gripping…makes you want to go out and kill Persians. But in the end it was a speech. I still liked it. Even with the gore overdose it pleased my aesthetic senses. Frank Miller should do a tarot deck.

Aia woke up on Monday with a 101 degree fever. So that was a day of missed work. She was really sick this time, with the sleeping till 5pm and all. She’s missed three days so far…here fever keeps breaking then showing up again. I’m sure she’ll be in school tomorrow.

M. forgot about Tuesday. I got a little angry but got over it quickly she dropped everything to come over anyway. She missed prosciutto and goat cheese stuffed chicken with saffron rice and avocado pesto for dinner. The conversation was good…now I have to eat the extra food I made for the next three nights.

Recipe for Avocado Pesto is here.

What else? Not so much. Reading the book for the Pagan Book Group. Trying to sneak in a game here and there. That’s about it. J. leaves for the ‘rents this weekend, so lots of free time. I’ll wander off now.