Aaremin’s Table

As to where I’ve been again – we’ve moved!

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Into our own HOUSE!  *insert kermit flail here!*

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Budget shall be my new middle name – eek!

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Slowly unpacking and reorganizing – remembered to go and grab some free banana’s from the Circle K Diamondback thingie last night – 6lbs of frozen chunks now reside in my freezer, while one 3lb bunch still graces the counter tops mwahahahah (I predict banana bread and smoothies in my future!)

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So soon things like menu ideas and more savings stuff shall appear here, I promise!

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I have entered the Tropical Traditions Flaxseed Giveaway at Contest Corner

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Its simple to enter, and I’ll make it easier – just click here and follow the directions to enter!

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Fingers Crossed!

This week I lost my fur baby, my familiar, my Xander.  He’s always been our special boy from the time he was a wee kitten.  His broken leg, the infection that almost went into his bones, his specialized surgery on his wee nether regions that never developed the same way, his leg that never grew with the rest of him as a result.  Right down to his liver that was too small for him which is why we lost him.  Desert Vet Clinic here locally is the BEST, they worked with us, they did everything they could for him, and seeing even just a tech start to cry when we showed up to pick up his ashes well..  He wasn’t just special to us.

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We rescued him, and his sister.  He saw our lives change when we moved.  He went from being a little gimpy dove hunter to an indoor cat who was my special baby.  He came to me when I was sad, he was there when I did ritual.  He slept with us, he watched tv with us.  He welcomed Masuka when my darling brought home a kitten he found at the motel.  My Xander was so strong right up until the end.  We visited him before the end, and he meowed just once.  I know now he was not saying goodbye, he was saying until next time.

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He’s not the first cat we’ve lost since I’ve came to be with my darling.  Some have disappeared.  A few have passed and have been buried on family ground.  Two are on our permanent cat altar.  But Xander has been different.  I have never mourned like I have for him.  I’ve felt so lost since the day we had to make that call for him not to suffer any more.  I tried to drown my sorrows, but that didn’t help.   But now we have his ashes home with us.  He’s on our altar, next to the feline Patroness Bastet, and our beloved Tyger and Beth.  And I feel different.  He’s here with me.  This is how I know he was truly my first familiar.  He’s already trying to show me in dreams who he will be the next time he finds us.  So I’ll know.

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We’re already seeing some of his traits in the others.  Abby, his sister who was rescued with him, is sitting on the arms of the furniture, pawing at us like he used to – she’s also crawling into bed with us like he did – something she Never did before.  Chuck and Masuka also doing little things like he did.  And the Grande Dame Mina – the kitty we’ve had the longest, since me and darling have been together, she’s being more affectionate, in a consoling manner it seems.  We’ve seen this before with fur children who’ve passed, some of their traits showing up in others – its quite amazing to see in all reality.

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Our future has some fairly big changes coming, and I wished upon wishes that he could have been here with us while it happened.  But I know he IS actually still with us, and that each step we take forward leads us to finding him again in his new reincarnation.

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I apologize to anyone reading this that my post caused you to be sad over one of your own memories coming forth, but I needed to get this out.  I love my Xander, and even though his physical form is gone for now, he’s never gone from my heart.

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Until I see you again Xander, although I think your next time you will probably be called Alex

A New Year, a new start – isn’t that always the way.

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I remember when I was younger, the new years resolutions were always to lose weight, but that never worked out heh.   I also haven’t made resolutions in a while, but I think its time to make some new.  So, here we go.

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Mundane Resolutions-

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To make a budget and stick with it
More homemade cooking – curb the takeout
Keep the apartment cleaned daily, perhaps divide into sections in order to make this happen
To shift between $50 to $100 into savings monthly
To remember to take my vitamins daily
To pay off any debt as quickly as possible
To not throw out food (from fridge or pantry) that has passed its time
To try and create a small garden with the little spaced we have on our patio
To try and exercise a few times a week, and get hubbie involved with that
To be a better Wife and Friend, and furr momma
To be more diligent with my coupons
To deposit any rebates we acquire into savings
To take the time with hubbie for a gaming night a few times a month

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Spiritual

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To honor the Gods in my daily exsistence
To be more active with my Coven with local activities
To not leave my 3rd degree assignments to the last minute (I would be Queen of procrastination, but maybe tomorrow heh)
To expand my altar space
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I will probably expand on this as time goes on

Sitting here watching Eastwick and I recognized something.  I get the same sensation watching this as I do watching Charmed, or Practical Magic, or even The Craft (before everything goes nuts heh).    That feeling of wanting to find like minded folks, sisters.  It happened once before actually, after the first time I watched the Craft, I was with a group of people to which after, me and two other women kind of came out to each other as being Witches.  That moment of Click! happened and it was magickal.  It took along time before that sensation of Click came back again.

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In an attempt to find this connection I helped start a local networking group for local pagans.  Its taken years of random gatherings, people coming and going.  Starting to wonder if I would ever find that again.  And then

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And then I find my new home.   As a result of that local list mind you, one of the fabulous ladies whom I met near the beginning of its creation became a part of a Coven that was looking for seekers a little over two years ago.  And I joined.  And I found that feeling again, amazingly enough.

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In this process I learned more about myself, about who I am, and what I can do when I am in that right space, that right frame of mind.   I am light, I am woman, I am of the Earth and the Sky – I am Magick.

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I realize that a lot of people never get a chance to feel this ‘sensation’ of connectedness, but for those of us who do?  Isn’t it a wonderful thing!

Here I have been hassling another blogger friend who hasn’t posted since August, and it would seem I am in the same boat!
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Here we are at Yule, almost the turn of the year.  So much has changed.  We’ve moved, settled in, have another kitteh in our house.  Budgetting, living, laughing, loving, following my path.

There’s a wonderful giveaway happening over at $30 Weekly Grocery Challenge – check it out!

http://30dollarweeklygrocerychallenge.blogspot.com/

I’ve been seeing this thread across a lot of the budget blogs I read, so I thought I would start as well.  Seeing as after our trip to San Diego we depleted our savings a little, I need to find places where I can cut back to replace that money!

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So here’s a quick overview to date of what I’ve done

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I started keeping track August 12.  So, on August 12, we spent $9.03 at Taco Bell – in retrospect we probably could have done with what we had at home.   No gas involved as its within walking distance.

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August 13 – Chevron spent around $13 – grabbed a few drinks for us, and a pack of ciggies for a friend – we’re too nice I think   No gas involved as its within walking distance.  Also put $50 back into savings.

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August 14 – paid rent and spent $45.51 at Target (special cat litter and various supplies)  Not much gas used as its a straight shot there and back.

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August 15 – took Xander to the vet, spent $99 on that but its put on a special credit card for vet visits – that will be paid off asap.  Spent $10 at Walmart cause I had to have chips and jalapenos, and picked up some Root Beer, cottage cheese and sour cream.  Don’t like going to walmart often as their prices really aren’t that great here, but our local Albies does not carry generic chips!.  Also spent $39 at Albertsons getting me soda, some yogurt, lunch meat, bread etc.  Most of that was on sale, or had a coupon or both.  We also picked up our last free knife with their sticker program.

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August 16 – spent nothing!

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August 17 – deposited darling’s 2nd check of the month.  Spent $28.80 at Target, and $41.52 at Sam’s picking up monthly essentials.

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August 18  – spent $25 in gas

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August 19 – in theory spent nothing, but noticed the check was cleared so we paid our electric online – $183 – I will be glad when summer is over!

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I also need to work on food menu’s, another thing that gets difficult  in the summer here, the thought of turning on the oven isn’t a nice one.  But!  I’ve been working on having prepared foods ready for those “eh, what to eat” moments.

That infamous summer desert heat – yeah I’ll blame it on that.  Cause it certainly hasn’t been cause I’ve been playing Star Wars Galaxies, Everquest 2, watching Voyager and various little things.  Horrible and no excuse, I need to post more!

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Frugal/budget wise, doing ok I think.  Still getting into the swing of Not buying every time we go somewhere.  Our first full month electric bill was waaay higher than we anticipated – that’s when I learned that off peak doesn’t mean free – I need to turn things off at night! (after he’d go to work, every light in the apartment would stay on, two computers in the hub room and one laptop in the living room etc etc).    After making a concerted effort, our bill went down for the next month, even though our temperatures soared and the ac ran almost all the time.  So that’s good   Also the upside to the maintenance guy being my darling’s dad – every time another apartment gets some form of upgrade/fix, so do we.  And that goes the other way around.  We’re looking into gettting a programmable thermostat to better see the temp (that silly red bar I can’t tell to read the top, middle or bottom) so that just might help our savings as well – and the apartment complex will pay for it (and if it works out, probably have them installed in all the units).

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Food – doing good with that too.  Trying to cook more, but as anyone who’s lived in the desert can tell ya, the desire to turn on the oven when its hot goes waaaay down.  But stove top, toaster oven and microwave still get used (I actually made cookies in my toaster oven hehe).  We’ve even hosted a bbq here with darling’s parents (I’ve never cleaned so much before that heh).  Our little space has become quite the home.

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well I think that’s all for now, I know I’m forgetting something heh..

This morning on twitter MamaKelly over at 2 Witches Blog did her fabulous video Tuesday tidbit that got me thinking.

I remember when I was a wee girl scout, going to visit a deaf and blind school, and being fascinated by sign language.  I wish I had taken it further than learning the alphabet then.  I thought I had gotten a second chance when darling’s brother married a woman with a deaf daughter.  I learned little phrases to show her the few times a year I would see her at family gatherings.

I got fascinated then about what magick would look like in ASL.  We go through motions while in circle, arms raises here, palms open etc etc.  I found a journal Deaf Pagan Crossroads which seemed to be about the only one I could find at the time.

Then, as time does, it creeps up on ya.  Before I knew it, darling’s brother was divorcing that lady with the deaf daughter (and let them know not in a good way, so talking to her now is impossible).  I put it in the back of my mind.

Today that video brought it all back, the urge, the desire to learn very simple things to add that little bit more of a connection to all of the Goddess’s children.