Know It All's Who Know Nothing

Warning: This is a rant. If I offend someone too bad for you because what I'm about to talk about is something that needs to change.


My mom has a friend that while I think she means well with most of her crap, she's also one of those people that just rubs you the wrong way. You can only handle her in small increments and then it's time for her to go home. So when she informed us that she started massage school I almost barfed. She wants to trade services with me and I don't think I could stand her for a whole massage. But that's not even the biggest part of my rant. I easily handled that situation by telling her that I don't get massages.

My biggest issue is this: she comes from a family that doesn't even allow their young ones to watch Harry Potter because it shows Witchcraft. She started learning about reflexology and kept calling it Witchcraft. I looked at her one day and said "That isn't witchcraft, it is just nerves responding to touch." And she just kept on insisting it was Witchcraft. Now she is on this crazy kick of having to "cleanse the energy around her and within her." Now, normally I would be all for that, and I would even be helping her with it, but the probably is she seems to think that what she is doing isn't witchcraft and everything else that she doesn't understand is witchcraft. Her school also teaches Reiki and she tried to correct my pronunciation of the word! Although I have a sneaking suspicion that the Reiki they teach isn't very in-depth because she will be finished with school in one more semester and they haven't started teaching the Reiki part yet.

Now that she is understanding some of the things going on I informed her that I am Pagan and I'm a priestess as well, card carrying and all. When she mentioned "needing to find someone to cleanse her house," I told her that as a legal, card carrying priestess, I am completely capable of cleansing her home for her, but she refuses to acknowledge that. What irritates me is that she thinks she knows everything about energy healing and energy work because of the things they cover at her massage school. Her teacher even informed her that she is a healer! All the healers I have ever known have a calming energy about them. With her I can't stand to be around her because she is loud, obnoxious, and nerve grating. How can you heal someone when you grate on their nerves so badly that no one wants to be around you?

I've tried discussing some of the things I've learned with her while doing pedicures for her and such and she has a bad problem with tossing aside the things I'm explaining to her because "she knows that already"! These are things that took me years to understand and successfully work with, and not because I'm incompetent, but because these are things that you don't learn over night! She has been in this school for less than 6 months and now she thinks she knows everything there is to know. If there's one thing I cannot stand is someone who thinks they know everything when they've only scratched the surface of something and when they don't even know anything truly. She has no idea what kind of energy is used in Reiki except that "it's really cool and somehow it just works"! I'm sorry, but I'm of the school of thought that if you don't know exactly what kind of energy you are working with, and have some small idea of how it works, you shouldn't be messing with it. I even asked her about chakra alignments and such and asked what she knew about that, because with Reiki you work with the chakras, and she looked at me like I was speaking in tongues!

Here's the thing, if you've had just enough training to make you curious about something, you haven't had enough training in my mind. If you are curious about it, you don't have enough knowledge about what you are messing with to safely wield it. But with another turn of that coin, if you say you know everything there is to know about something you are working with you are sadly deluded. You should have enough training that you are comfortable enough to work with the energies and say "this is how it should work, but things are always changing," and you should still hold enough curiosity to learn from each experience as well.

A while back, Mom started getting very sick. To the point where we weren't sure if she was going to survive or if the pain was going to overcome her spirit and send her to the Otherside before her time. I've been working on energy healings with her, and teaching her how to cleanse her own chakras because she has the personal power to do so by herself. I also called in a friend to do some Reiki on her. That friend of mine is a Second Degree Reiki Master. She didn't finish her training, but I knew from being around her enough that she truly is a healer and was comfortable with asking her to work on Mom. Now Mom's friend that irritates the crap out of me wants to "try" Reiki on Mom. Since starting this journey with Mom's health, I've started learning about energy healing myself. I'm at the part where I am still curious and still learning, but not comfortable enough to use it with Mom yet. I was fine with her doing massages on Mom because Mom needs them, but now she's started using reflexology on Mom's feet which irritates me because I'm the one that works on her feet. I'm also Mom's herbalist and I work hand in hand with her doctor to help speed things along, and I am her energy healer. Is it wrong of me to be irritated that a woman I can't even stand is STOMPING all over my territory? And one that thinks she knows everything when she knows nothing?!

My resentment towards this woman started when I decided to adopt. Since I was 21 this woman has tried to convince me that I need to have a hysterectomy and yet this woman has 5 kids of her own that she never even takes care of. Her children are with their grandparents 24 hours a day. Her mother which is a close personal friend of mine and Mom's filled out a reference sheet for me when I started my adoption process. The next time I spoke with her daughter, this irritating woman, she informed me that I didn't need to adopt, I just needed to take one of her younger children for a week and that would "take care of me wanting to have children"! I flat out looked at her and informed her that I thought she needed to keep her own children and stay out of my business. Then she informed me that I just needed to have sex and that would also take care of me wanting to have children and my bad attitude. I will be the first to admit this woman brings out the very mean side of me. She can't see that I'm a healer at heart because something about her just brings out the worst in me. I can't stand having her around me. I can't stand speaking to her. And it really offended me when she informed me I just needed to have sex instead of adopting a child! I have told her I don't know how many times that I don't like her and don't want to be around her and she just laughs it off as if I am playing. I don't know how to say it any clearer without being downright nasty. Yet she insists that we are friends, and that I value her opinion on my adoption and everything else she seems to think she knows everything about. My thoughts on all of this is: If you don't truly know what you are talking about, stop acting like you do. And if someone tells you they don't want your opinion on a big change they are making in their lives, don't force your opinion on them.

Anyway, I'll end this rant because I have a feeling it isn't making much sense anymore. Thanks for letting me rant! Brightest blessings to you all!

Happy Late Litha!

Happy way belated Litha my friends. I've missed being around the blog. My computer is having some technical issues and is currently visiting the doctor. My phone also crashed the other day and I just now got my replacement. So posts will probably be short for a little while. July 6th I will have a book review for you guys. Thankfully my droid has a pdf reader so I am capable of reading the book on my phone. For the images that will go along with the post that day I will come to my mom's house and borrow her computer.

I am hoping to have my computer back soon and I was wondering... how would you guys feel about having a small party for Lamas aka Lughnassadh? I apologize if I misspelled that. I thought we could call it Happy Harvest and have a couple of giveaways and such. How do you feel about that? Let me know because I would like to start planning for it now. Hopefully I can get a button worked up for it soon.

Anyway, other than my thoughts and such, that's about all that's going on. Things are going slow with the adoption and truthfully sometimes I feel like I'm getting nowhere with it. Hopefully that will change soon.

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The Brothers Grimm, and Other Dark Things

I know I promised a couple of adoption appropriate spells and an adoption Wiccaning ritual, but I haven't sat down and worked on those things. I apologize for that, but I wanted your opinion on things. I love the original Brothers Grimm stories. I don't like to call them fairy tales because in my mind fairy tales are the whitewashed Disney versions, although yes I do know that not all fairies are like Tinker Bell, and some can be quite terrible. But my question here is when do you think a child is old enough for the original Brothers Grimm stories? Personally, I want my child to understand that "monsters" and other "dark" things as set aside by conventional America, are not to be feared. I think that promotes a good mindset. So I would eventually like to read some of the original Brothers Grimm tales to my potential child, however, I do not want to give my child nightmares either. So, leave me comments, and tell me what you think. When is a child old enough for those tales to be appropriate?

Also, I've been to see Dark Shadows (again) with my mom, dad, little brother, and little brother's girlfriend. I absolutely adore that movie, and will be buying it as soon as it comes out on DVD/BluRay. But the reason I bring it up is because I saw a movie poster at the theater that I am super excited about!

This comes out in September. I'm sincerely hoping to have a child placed with me at that time, and if so, I would love for this to be the first movie I take my little one to go see. These are the kinds of things I would love for my little one to watch. Monsters Inc., all of The Good Witch movies, and things like that, that cast the "scary" things in a more positive light. What are some of your favorite things to watch with your little one?

Chalkboard Paint

I took my behavioral intervention class today. It went really well. Now I have 2 classes to take online, then my PRIDE classes. I also had my fire inspection today. It went really well. The director at Buckner was concerned that my loft wouldn't work as a personal bedroom. He told me to make sure I asked the person who did my fire inspection if they approved it as a bedroom, and if they did then there wouldn't be any problems. It has been approved and the only non-fixable thing that could have posed a problem is now a non-issue! So now all that's left is the home health inspection and the homestudy which will be done all together! I still need to get my TB test but I will get that done around the first of the month. So things are running right along!

What does all that have to do with chalkboard paint, though? Well nothing really. I wanted the first part of this post to update you guys on where I am in my process. Where chalkboard paint comes in is now. I told you guys I have been considering different paint colors for my child's bedroom, and while I was doing that I also decided to pick up chalkboard paint for my kitchen. I picked up the chalkboard paint today and have applied the first coat. It takes about 2 to 3 coats to get a good coverage, but so far I'm really liking it!

I covered one entire wall in the kitchen area so that I can use it to write appointments and lists, and my little one can use the bottom part to draw and play on. I have to wait 3 days before writing on it so that it can cure completely, but I am so excited to use it! I have also decided on the paint color for the toddler room. I have decided to go with soft sage. I just love the color and I think it will work great for a unisex room. Plus green is my favorite color so yep, I am a wee little bit biased towards it lol. The next few days are going to be busy.

My brother and I will be moving my queen sized bed upstairs, going out to the farm to find the toddler bed, working on building the fence, and a whole lot more. I don't know what I would do without him. He has been so good about helping me out around the house, especially now that I am trying to adopt. I don't know if he'll ever know how much I appreciate him helping me out so much. He installed my fire extinguisher today, taped off the area I wanted to paint the chalkboard paint on, and is already planning for helping me build my fence for my dogs, and is going to run the tractor and level my land out so that I don't end up with a lake, again, out in front of my house the next time we have another big rain. I would never be able to get all this done without him.

So there ya have it. That's all that's going on right now. Later tonight I will post some of those spells I was telling you about and discuss an adoption friendly Wiccaning. So in closing I would like to share a picture of my kitchen wall chalkboard. Its only the first coat of paint mind you, and remember my brother taped off everything that didn't need paint on it, so the messy edges you see are on the tape lol. I'll post another picture when it is completely finished!

Finding a Paint Color

I don't know if you can see the color differences here or not. Mom and I were checking out paint at Walmart the other day and picked up some sample bottles of 2 colors that we liked on the paint chip. The bottom color is called soft sage. I really like it but it seems a little dark. I tested it with a sponge as well and it is perfect sponged on so I may end up using a sponge roller with that color. The color on top Mom picked out. It is called soft meadow and on the paint chip it looked primarily green with a soft blue undertone. Even in the bottle it is a very pretty green and when I originally painted it near the soft sage I thought "Oh what a pretty light green color!" But strangely, as it dried, it turned out to be baby blue and not a cute baby blue either.

I wanted a green because it is unisex in my mind. I've also found this really cute toddler bedding set that is a jungle theme with lions and monkeys, and the primary color on it is green. I thought it would be nice to find a color that complimented that bedding set. I just can't decide now! I love, love, love the soft sage but I just don't know if it is an appropriate color. And really, are there any appropriate colors for a child's room as long as it isn't some scary garish color?

My little brother will be out of school for the summer on Thursday and he has agreed to help me build my fence, level out the area of land in front of my house, and get my bed upstairs. I think our first point on the list will be moving my bed. Once my bed has been moved I am going to steam clean the carpet and rearrange some things, then I'll post a picture of the room and you can give me your opinions. I'm still leaning towards my green right now.

Another idea I've had is to turn a wall in my kitchen into one big chalkboard. That will create a large space for me to write down appointments for me and my potential child, and a large space for my child to get creative and draw. Walmart sells two different kinds of chalkboard paint. One is a spray paint can for about $4, and the other is a one quart can for about $10. I have some very beautiful woodwork around the baseboards and a door, so I plan on buying the quart can so I can control exactly where the paint goes. I have a sneaking feeling if I was to use the spray paint there would be chalkboard sections on the floor and all over my pretty woodwork. I'm not sure how much of it I will need to cover the area of wall I want to cover but I plan one buying at least 2 cans to be sure about it.

Well that's all for now. If you guys have any other suggestions or comments, feel free to leave them in the comments section. You guys know I love hearing from you!

Preparing For a Child

There are thousands of preparations going on here at my tiny house. Not only am I physically preparing my home for a toddler, but I'm planning magickal preparations for the new addition as well. A lot of adoptive parents prepare the child's bedroom or nursery, as well as several things around the home, such as childproofing cabinets and plug-ins, they do their best to prepare their pets for the changes, they discuss changes with their extended families, and they prepare themselves as best as they can. For Pagans that are adopting there are other things you may like to consider as well.

When preparing your potential child's room, think about doing a cleansing while preparing the room. While doing the cleansing think about asking for good health for anyone staying in the room and keeping illness at bay. Ask for the room to be infused with happiness, joy, and comfort. This is especially important for children that are being adopting from foster care. These children will need all the health, happiness, joy, and comfort they can get.

A lot of times we periodically do cleansings like this on our homes in general, but it's a really good idea to do this on the child's room once a week until the child is placed with you. Because the room is set aside for the child, no activity will happen in there, except for you adding things for your child, while at other times it will sit empty until the child is placed with you. In my case, once I move into my loft, the child's room will remain empty, except for me adding things to the room like decorations, and such, until my child is placed with me, and the door will remain closed, unless I am in there, to keep my dogs out of there.

When a room is essentially "closed off" from the rest of the house, the energy becomes stagnant. This is why it is a good idea to do your cleansing once a week until your child is placed with you. After your child is placed with you, you will be able to sense when the room will need a touch up. You should also take this time to do a deep cleansing and blessing on the entire home, and do so as often as needed to keep the energy flowing in a healthy, happy way. This is a good way of keeping yourself busy while either waiting for a placement, or even from the very beginning of the process.

Other magickal workings could include writing a spell to help the process along. This process can feel as if it is dragging by, and sometimes you may feel as if you will never get to the end point of the process. Doing a spell to help speed the process is a good idea. Depending on where you live, if you are adopting through foster care, this process can take anywhere from 6 months to a year or longer. I just recently started the process, and I'm about halfway through. Tomorrow I am being fingerprinted which is an essential part of the process, and I am also having a TB test, yet another essential part of the process. What takes the longest is not the paperwork if you are "homework" oriented like I am, but the classes. They are scheduled to happen at certain times, and you cannot race through them.

By doing a spell to speed the process up, you may be able to create an environment where you're classes happen in quick succession. My first class was my CPR class which was last Thursday. My second class will be my SAMA training (which is a behavioral intervention class and teaches you ways to defend yourself from a child acting out violently without harming them) and I will be taking that class this coming Thursday. After that is my psychotropic drugs class, which is taken online, and I will be given the link for it after my SAMA class. The biggest obstacle I have run into is my PRIDE class. The director at the Lubbock Buckner agency has said he is willing to work with me on those classes one on one, but it is suggested that I take the group class, because the people in that class will essentially become my support group after the class.

Now I fully understand the need for continued support, especially from people going through the same thing, so I would normally be all in for the group class. The problem is there is no group class scheduled until the end of July. That would put me becoming a licensed foster/adopt home around September. So what is a person to do. I would like the group class because I would love to have that support group after all this, however just like any normal person who is excited for something to happen, I want to be a licensed foster/adopt home as soon as possible as well. My director told me there is hope of getting a group class started sometime soon because he has had a few phone calls from others interested in the same program, so the witch in me instantly perked up. I can do a spell that will help give a little boost to people's interest, at least enough to get a class started sooner. Then I have a chance of being licensed by early August. This is something you may like to consider as well. Spells to obliterate obstacles will come in very handy.

You may also wish to write a spell to help bring the ideal child to you. After becoming licensed a child can be placed with you as soon as a month after licensing, sometimes potential families get calls before becoming licensed, and at other times it could take longer. If you have an idea of the kind of child you would like to adopt, not only will they ask you that in some of your paperwork to be able to keep on file, you can also list that within the universe. This will help keep things straight, speed things up, and keep you from digging through pile after pile of potential children. The spell will help bring exactly what you ask for. But just like with any other spell, be careful of being too vague. They will tell you at the agency you are working with not to restrict things too much with them, because that will make it harder for them to find a child to place with you. Spells don't work that way though. The more vague you are with your spell, the more dreck you will have to dig through. You may get thousands of potential children, but they may be nothing like what you are looking for. Sit down and write down exactly what you would like in a child. This could include key points about their personality, things they've been through, what they might look like, medical issues, and more. Just remember to be very specific with your spell.

There are many more magickal things we can do to prepare. But to keep this post from being too long, or boring you to the point of tears my friends, I will end this post now. Soon I will write specific posts for child finding spells, speeding up the process spells, and one very important spell, magickally preparing yourself.

One of My Favorite Pagan Songs Ever

Ok, so I've gotten slightly distracted while I should be doing other things... however, I am sick and I am allowing myself to do whatever I want. So I found one of my favorite Pagan songs of all time and I wanted to share it with you guys. Hope y'all like it as much as I do :D