New Moon with a little witch

Last night I performed a cleansing ritual at home, inspired in Sacred Suzie's, with bits of change here and there. Her ritual is simple and powerful and that's how I like it to be.

My problem was that Lucas wanted to join me in this with all his heart. I always make cleansings after he's asleep, because I think it's too strong and heavy of a ritual for his little soul. Kids are like sponges tha absorb everything, and I have always been afraid that, simple as it is, it could affect him somehow, so I avoided it while I could.

Well, this time I couldn't escape. He was well awaken when I got home with a bag of sea salt I have bought on my way - it was over since the other weekend. When he saw that, he understood what it was for, and begged me to join me in the ritual, saying again he was seeing ghosts everywhere... *sigh* I put it in the Goddess' hands, and said yes.

So I swept every room's floor to get the house ready, leaving all the lights turned on, and we prepared our tools in the altar. I placed and lit a purple candle on a layer of sea salt over my candle-holder, lit a cinnamon incense, and put fresh water on my little bowl with three pinchs of sea salt - Lucas' choice - and we consecrated everything.

Then I went widdershins around every room with the candle in hand, Lucas behind me with the incense, blessing every corner, saying we were children of light and only good energy was allowed in this place.

Then I placed the candle back on the altar, and took the bowl of consencrated water, going deosil each room, asperging the water around and marking a pentagram on every door and window with my finger. Lucas loved this part and spread water all around like a crazy priest, choosing some special spots he decided needing an extra blessing like the couch, the fridge, and Baruck's food bowls. I sealed the front and back doors with it, all the time saying the house was a house of light and no darkness should stay. I took my magic broom and swept the bad energy out of the house through the opened door.

To finish the ritual, Lucas wanted to burn in the cauldron a piece of paper with everything he wants to get rid of in his life. So there we went, writting all the negative stuff that didn't have room in our lives in blank papers. Even my niece Catarina wanted to join this part. We folded the papers in tiny bits, and I threw them in the cauldron, wetting them with a bit of alcohol. The fire was amazing, going up in a straight flame. We watched it until it was extinguished, Lucas on my lap, lights turned off to enhance the flames' beauty.

And that was all. Lucas was happy to have performed it with me, and I felt ok for letting him be part of it - maybe we can do it together from now on. It wasn't bad after all, and I believe no bad vibe will be attached to him. Just in case, before sleeping he took a warm shower - that's his usual night routine anyway - with aniseed soap.

*Candle image: Noriko Kato

Prayers for Michelle.

Today is my blogroll's updating reading for friend's weekends posts, since I am usually offline during Saturdays and Sundays, and my heart almost stopped when I went to Michelle's page: she had an accident/seizure on Friday and was found unconscious at an embankment of a local creek by a walker by. She's at home now, but will be back to hospital tomorrow, for further exams by her neurologist. Her lovely husband Marcell, who knows that many people on the blogland simply love this girl, is updating about her condition.

All prayers and positive, healing thoughts are so welcome for them both, as well as positive and comforting comments on her page. She's such a brave, sweet woman.

Monochrome Monday.

Aileni, my dear friend from Loose Ends, created this cool meme where the rules are: "original prints, but converted digital images, sepia and images that comprise black and one other colour only", according to his words.
I was longing to join ths group for a long time, and today I made it!



This is, of course, Lucas, at our favorite park last Saturday. He was all busy playing with some flowers' seeds and didn't notice me, or he would throw me his professional smile...

You'll find more Mono Maniacs on his side bar!

Protection

This is the door at Lucas' bedroom that leads to our veranda. And these are the things he likes to keep on it to have his room protected:
1. A big Batman's poster he won at the store where we buy his clothes,
2. A Batman's mask on the doorknob (this he only keeps at night)
3. A "dragon-ladder" Rodrigo drew for him a long time ago,
4. A photo with a lynx Kelli-Dancing Goddess Dolls sent him a long time ago as well.

With the door all sealed this way he sleeps well every night.

Tonight it's the New Moon, and I'll perform the cleansig ritual I leanerd from Sacred Suzie that I find very effective. Since last week Lucas has been asking to make it "because he sees so many ghosts around he can hardly walk at home", to use his own words. Mostly I think he sees objects' shadows and incense' smoke and these shapes trick him, but anyway I won't take any chances...

Banned Book Week

Kris, a.k.a. Mrs. B., posted about it in her page.

According to the American Library Association:

"BBW celebrates the freedom to choose or the freedom to express one’s opinion even if that opinion might be considered unorthodox or unpopular and stresses the importance of ensuring the availability of those unorthodox or unpopular viewpoints to all who wish to read them. After all, intellectual freedom can exist only where these two essential conditions are met"

Below are only SOME of the most banned books in the U.S. Spread the word against freedom! Post about it too, mark which ones you have already read, and read those you haven't yet!

Scary Stories (Series) by Alvin Schwartz
Daddy's Roommate by Michael Willhoite
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
Harry Potter (Series) by J.K. Rowling
Forever by Judy Blume
Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
Alice (Series) by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
Heather Has Two Mommies by Leslea Newman
My Brother Sam is Dead by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
The Giver by Lois Lowry
It's Perfectly Normal by Robie Harris
Goosebumps (Series) by R.L. Stine
A Day No Pigs Would Die by Robert Newton Peck
The Color Purple by Alice Walker
Sex by Madonna
Earth's Children (Series) by Jean M. Auel
The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle
Go Ask Alice by Anonymous
Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers
In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak
The Stupids (Series) by Harry Allard
The Witches by Roald Dahl
The New Joy of Gay Sex by Charles Silverstein
Anastasia Krupnik (Series) by Lois Lowry
The Goats by Brock Cole
Kaffir Boy by Mark Mathabane
Blubber by Judy Blume
Killing Mr. Griffin by Lois Duncan
Halloween ABC by Eve Merriam
We All Fall Down by Robert Cormier
Final Exit by Derek Humphry
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George
The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
What's Happening to my Body? Book for Girls: A Growing-Up Guide for Parents & Daughters by Lynda Madaras
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Beloved by Toni Morrison
The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
The Pigman by Paul Zindel
Bumps in the Night by Harry Allard
Deenie by Judy Blume
Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
Annie on my Mind by Nancy Garden
The Boy Who Lost His Face by Louis Sachar
Cross Your Fingers, Spit in Your Hat by Alvin Schwartz
A Light in the Attic by Shel Silverstein
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Sleeping Beauty Trilogy by A.N. Roquelaure (Anne Rice)
Asking About Sex and Growing Up by Joanna Cole
Cujo by Stephen King
James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
The Anarchist Cookbook by William Powell
Boys and Sex by Wardell Pomeroy
Ordinary People by Judith Guest
American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis
What's Happening to my Body? Book for Boys: A Growing-Up Guide for Parents & Sons by Lynda Madaras
Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret by Judy Blume
Crazy Lady by Jane Conly
Athletic Shorts by Chris Crutcher
Fade by Robert Cormier
Guess What? by Mem Fox
The House of Spirits by Isabel Allende
The Face on the Milk Carton by Caroline Cooney
Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
Lord of the Flies by William Golding
Native Son by Richard Wright
Women on Top: How Real Life Has Changed Women's Fantasies by Nancy Friday
Curses, Hexes and Spells by Daniel Cohen
Jack by A.M. Homes
Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo A. Anaya
Where Did I Come From? by Peter Mayle
Carrie by Stephen King
Tiger Eyes by Judy Blume
On My Honor by Marion Dane Bauer
Arizona Kid by Ron Koertge
Family Secrets by Norma Klein
Mommy Laid An Egg by Babette Cole
The Dead Zone by Stephen King
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison
Always Running by Luis Rodriguez
Private Parts by Howard Stern
Where's Waldo? by Martin Hanford
Summer of My German Soldier by Bette Greene
Little Black Sambo by Helen Bannerman
Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
Running Loose by Chris Crutcher
Sex Education by Jenny Davis
The Drowning of Stephen Jones by Bette Greene
Girls and Sex by Wardell Pomeroy
How to Eat Fried Worms by Thomas Rockwell
View from the Cherry Tree by Willo Davis Roberts
The Headless Cupid by Zilpha Keatley Snyder
The Terrorist by Caroline Cooney
Jump Ship to Freedom by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier

I believe I've read more than what I marked, but in Portuguese versions, so I need to check the titles in English to be sure.

Spread the word!

Wordless

Lucas' Paper Toys

As predicted, our weekend was a rainy one most of time. We went to Chacrinha, our favorite park, on Saturday morning for a couple of hours, but soon heavy clouds were gathering and the best was going home and start making the toy arts!
We had fun cutting, gluing and building these funny little creatures. Some are easy to make like the one above that Lucas customized by coloring it.



But some like Melvin, the dog reading the comic paper, take longer to get made, but looks so cute! Lucas loved the little robot whose head spins, and also the pink bunny that "eats" the blue one. Actually everything was a success. The owl has a pumping heart and is so cool, with a skeleton on the back part. We played roles with them in the afternoon, in crazy stories Lucas made up. I'll surely go back to Matt's page for more!

A wow! page on Toy Arts

I love toy art! The craziest, the better! This afternoon (a lazy one, as you can see,this is the third post today, unusual for me...) I stumbled upon this super-cool page: Custom Paper Toys. Matt Hawkins is the mind behind it. There you find awesome toys created by him and you can print many unbelievably fantastic ones for free! It's fun to visit the page, so many funny, cute things there are!

I already printed these three toys below (so far!) to take home, since with this crazy ugly weather (it rains, it stops, it rains, it stops, it's insane! Right now it's raining cats and dogs), the weekend will be indoors again, so I need good things to entertain my easily-bored little witch!





He also has a great virtual shop here. On my wish list.

You have to visit it!

A little ghost for Autumn

When Lucas was drawing his balloon last weekend, he asked me, "Mom, what's the name of that friend of yours who love ghosts?", just like that, with all the letters, in Portuguese, obviously. He listened to me talking to Rodrigo earlier about her camping in Gettysburg (she's back!!) - and I said it was Patty. Then he said, "I just made this for you to give her on your blog":



So here it is, Autmn, a little friendly ghost for you (openly inspired in Suzie's pendant, LOL). When I took the photo he hid with his hand the truck that it was above it. Hope you like it, sorry it wasn't better taken!

A taste from childhood

Rodrigo brought something he knows I love from his parents' house: sugar cane. This delicious plant is everywhere in their property, for my luck! I used to eat it a lot when I was a child, in little sticks my father or my brothers would cut for us to savour in our veranda.



Last night when I got home from work, hubby took it from the fridge and gave me a full plate for my delight. It was like being a little girl again, sitting on the ground under the sun with my parents and siblings around me chatting while competing for the last stick!



Do you have a taste that brings back your childhood days?

Handbag Planet giveaway

Wow! Girls, check it out! Hangbag Planet will be giving away a handbag per hour on October 15th to celebrate the website's launching! There are gorgeous handbags available. You just have to enter your name & email address to be in. Of course I had to enter this - that's my unusual Sex-and-the-City portion speaking...

Favourite Things Thursday - Granola!

Hello! Thursday is around again bringing the fun meme created by our friend Blue.

One of my Favourite Things is Granola!



I don't know about you, but I can't resist it! Specially for breakfast, when I need that spark of energy to start the day well, before taking my cup of chocolate and bread, I always make a bowl of sliced bananas with granola... Or just granola with yogurt... Or everything together!

This is something that we always have at home, because everybody loves it, including Lucas. I usually make it myself, it's easy:

4 cups of rolled grains
2 cups of raw almonds, cashew nuts and walnuts
1/2 cup of sunflower seeds
1/2 cup sesame seeds
1/2 cup of linseed
1/2 cup wheatgerm
1/2 cup of ground flax seed.
1/2 cup dried fruits, to be added after cooked. I like dried raisins and apple.
1/3 cup of honey
2 tablespoons canola oil
1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon of salt

Preheat the oven before starting.

Mix the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Mix the wet ingredients together, and then stir into dry ingredients. Stir everything well to incorporate.

Spread the mixture into a large baking dish lined with aluminum foil. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, or until getting golden and dry. It's good to stir every 10 minutes to ensure even goldening. Don't forget to add the dried fruits when it is totally cooled. Then store in the refrigerator in glass jars. It's delicious!

Granola is a great source of fiber and vitamins, and it's very healthy. I only need to be careful not to eat too much, so tasty it is!

Turtleheart's Craft Tutorials

Turtleheart is a great hand-crafting artist who loves to deal with polymer clay, among other materials, to create awesome pieces. She is starting a new project of tutorials on her craft page, Into the Dawn. This first one is on making your own stencils. It seems so fun that I wanted to start making a lot of them. I can't wait what's next!

ABC Wednesday - J

Hello, everybody! Here we are again for the ABC weekly meme hosted by our friend Denise. The letter is J, and this stands for Jeans on the wall!

There's a story behind this cute piece: My mother made this organizer out of old retired jeans' pockets my three brothers didn't want anymore to wear. That was over 30 years ago! I used it when a seven-year-old child to store my little dolls, crayons, cartoon magazines... little things litle girls have.
Then I grew up into a teenager and it accompained me storing my lipsticks, my incenses, teen magazines, school notebooks, you name it.
When I moved out to live in Rio, of course it came with me, and kept all my stuff neat. When I married Rodrigo, it was on our family room, keeping our newspapers, bills, letters, incenses, sunglasses...

Now it belongs to Lucas' bedroom. As you can see, some of his toys are there, as well as his current Harry Potter book we're reading at night. From time to time, he replaces what's inside to other stuff, but it's still useful and cool, and I bet he'll keep it to store his belongings for a long time, just like I did!

You can also find the same cool posts at the ABC Anthology's no comments page.

Wordless

Ostara

I made this Slideshow because we took many photos and this post would be much longer! :)
Rodrigo was in Minas for his monthly Homeophaty Saturday course, so the weekend was a bit different without him. He returned this morning and already ate his chocolate eggs, the hungry man!

It was a good Ostara day, but it rained all day long... We planned to do lots of things outside, and we needed to change our "schedule". Lucas had colored cute egg holders from Elsie & Pooka the day before, and yesterday morning he woke up very early, going straight to the altar to see what the little buny had left for him, and got delighted with the little eggs and the Kinder Egg he found.

Then we went to the veranda (while the rain wasn't falling) and he found more little eggs on the herbs pots. He dyed four eggs with colored tissue paper (my fingers are still dyed...) and drew pagan symbols on them - he's all proud he learned how to draw pentacles - to decorate the altar.

Exactly when we were finishing this part, the rain fell like the world would end, and we had to go inside to plant the seeds he chose: Cayenne pepper, carnations and aniseed. I spread old magazine pages on the family room floor and let him have fun, he really loves dirting his hands! All the time we were talking about themeaning of this day, why it is important, and this way he learns without noticing.

In the evening we made our little ritual in front of the altar, and it was fun, because we separated four little jellybeans for him to eat while greeting & thanking each Element's Guardian. He raised his arm holding the candy saying, "Hurray, Fire Guardian!" and ate one jellybean, and so one for the four directions. Then he wanted to greet them all over again!

In the end everything was alright, a long indoor day but full of fun and positive vibes. I hope your weekend was fine as well and those who celebrate the Wheel of the Year had a great Mabon.

Feeling special again

Wow, today is my day! :)

There's no such thing as coincidence. Mrs. B., this lovely, lovely friend from Confessions from a Pagan Soccer Mom, just passed on me this other award, when I have just left her one as well! That makes my day! I feel all warm inside, full of positive vibes! Thank you, Mrs. B.!

And the best is to pass this on two girls who are incredible:

Kelli, the sweet, strong woman behind all those amazing, gorgeous Dancing Goddess Dolls I always talk about. As I told her one of these days, her artwork is all around my house, it's irresistible! Now she's got her own blog, Walking Away, were she shares her thoughts on unschooling and empathic parenting, among others. She rocks!

Lilith, from Crunchy Green Mom. She's a beautiful witch who has the spirit of the Amazons, free and fighter, and has just being nominated Mom of the Month by Mile High Mamas, with an interview and all! Way to go, Lilith! :) She's very true in her opinios, from her products reviews - always reliable, that make me want to get all that stuff for me - to the stories on her life. A very sweet friend.

An award from deep seas

Ocean, my cool friend from Deaf Pagan Crossroads, gave a sweet surprise by passing on me this cute award. She was so generous and lovely in her description of my page that it really moved me.

Ocean created the Deaf Pagan Crossroads as a way to help people understand the world of paganism when it's lived in deafness... Or the other way round. As she herself describes it, the blog was built as a bridge between different aspects of the same world. She wisely writes about the Craft and I've been following her up a long time already. She's a must reading!

So the rules for passing on this award:

1. The winner can put the logo on their blog

2. Link the person you received the award from

3. Nominate at least 7 other blogs

4. Put links of those blogs on yours

5. Leave a message on the blogs nominated

That's the hardest part, as usual, it's torturing picking up only a few blogger friends from my list! But I understand that this way you can call attention to some of the blogs you love by nominating them, not simply saying "everybody on my blogroll, grab this!" (although every time that's what I wanna do, I really think everyone on my side bar deserves them, those blogs rock!), which wouldn't make other people visit others out of curiosity by your description if it wasn't like that. When I get an award, I try to make a "rota" among my friends so everybody wins.

So this time, the Oscar goes to some artistic friends...

1. Mrs. B., from Confessions of a Pagan Soccer Mom. She's got that touch of irreverence while talking about serious stuff and is one of the most creative & active witches of the Net! There are always something cool on her page: delicious recipes, great tips on paganism, giveaways - can't wait for October -, hilarious post on Tanner the cat... I can "proudly" say I was probably the first to read her first post times ago, and got addicted to her!

2. Michele, from The Rocky Mountain Retreat. An amazingly skilled photographer who portraits her area in Canada with breathtaking photos - I always learn a lot about that special place through her eyes. She's got a sweet heart and is one of the strongest, more focused girls I've ever met, I'm honoured to be her friend. The way she deals with the story of her life is a lesson of knowing that keep walking straight up ahead is the answer.

3. Janet, from Artopia. She is a wonderful artist whose drawings always make me smile. She's got charming black & white and coloured moleskine ladies with big, dreaming eyes, and also art journal pages full of intensity and passion. I always enjoy visiting her page and drinking from her talent.

4. Val, from The Illustrated Garden. This is another awesome artist who has amazing botanical illustations, and as she's an avid gardener, there are lots of information and tips on the subject. I'm always on her track.

5. SkullBlossom. She's a teacher who deals with tough kids and is persistent on her struggle to give them some hope to live, and in her free time she recently created this blog where displays tons of cool graphics (currently on the Halloween mood!) she creates and alters, that can be freely picked up, and changed to each person' taste - I have already grabbed the two owls that is on my side bar. Must take a look!

6. Gemma, from A Desert Garden. Another concerned teacher who finds in art an expression of herself. She's a lady who walks with a little girl by the hand all the time, and recently she decided letting the little girl chase her fairies around. Her posts are filled with wise, deep thought words.

7. Suzie, from Suzie's Sacred Space. This girl exempts comments. She's a powerful witch with a heart made of bright light. She undoubtely became an influence on my spiritual path, and her words takes my mind & heart to a different level. As a bonus, she's a jewelry crafter whose pieces are enchated with beauty and magick.

Ostara on the way

Lucas can hardly wait for Ostara to arrive! He' been asking me every single morning when he wakes up, "Mom, how long is it for Ostara?". Now that it is so close,he's making plans al the time! He wants to dye eggs, to draw magickal symbols on them, to plants new seeds, to go for a walk in the park, to color bunnies illustrations...

Seems like it was the other day that I celebrated Ostara! The Wheel is turning way too fast lately! This is one of my favourite sabbaths, along with Beltane. It's the Spring Equinox fo us, the first day of Spring, a lovely time, when we bid farewell to the cold weather and welcome the new flowers in blossom, the warm days - although the weather is absolutely crazy these days in Rio! It's been rainy, windy, and cold! Apparently Winter decided showing off a little before giving room to the warmer season. Only now the sun is up after a wet morning.

I aso love Ostara because it's related to East, representing Air, my element, as a good Gemini that I am. As this sabbath represents new beginnings, renewals and fertility, it's just great for me at this point of my life!

I'll make sure to prepare something special to eat, and that our altar is all bright with incenses, rice, eggs and flowers to honor the special day. Only that, instead of the 22nd, I'l take one day earlier to celebrate it on the 21st, a Sunday. Otherwise I won't be able to spend the day playing with Lucas! At the same time, you folks will be celebrating Mabon over there! Any plans for this day?

Favourite Things - Cats

Favourite Things is a cool meme created by my friend Blue. You can write about anything you consider your favorite, from a poem to walking bare feet (like I did some time ago). Just post on your blog and leave a comment on Blue's page letting her know you joined the fun.

I love animals, from tiny ants to giant whales, I love them all. Or better, almost them all... I'm terrified at the sight of spiders, I guess I mentioned it here.

But if there's an animal that I particularly love, this is the cat. Wild or domestic, I'm fascinated with its charming and beautiful nature. I used to dream of keeping a tiger at home when I was a child, so I could lie my head on its belly to sleep!

Here are some funny and thought provoking quotes about cats I found on CatsInfo, a cool site with everything about these fun, sweet creatures:

*"If animals could speak the dog would be a a blundering outspoken fellow, but the cat would have the rare grace of never saying a word too much."- Mark Twain (a notorious cat's fan)

*"Of all God's creatures there is only one that cannot be made the slave of the leash. That one is the cat. If man could be crossed with the cat it would improve man, but it would deteriorate the cat."- Mark Twain Notebook, 1894

*"I love cats because I love my home and after a while they become its visible soul."- Jean Cocteau

*"Cats are smarter than dogs. You can't get eight cats to pull a sled through snow. "- Jeff Valdez

*"There is, incidentally, no way of talking about cats that enables one to come off as a sane person."- Dan Greenberg

*"The smallest feline is a masterpiece."- Leonardo da Vinci

*"Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea."- Unknown

*"Thousands of years ago, cats were worshipped as gods. Cats have never forgotten this."- Anonymous

*"People who hate cats, will come back as mice in their next life."- Faith Resnick

*"As anyone who has ever been around a cat for any length of time well knows cats have enormous patience with the limitations of the human kind."- Cleveland Amory

As you know, I have the privilege to be owned by a crazy cat, Baruck. It's been eight years since he was given to me by a co-worker after finding him lost on the road near our working place. From that day on, life was never the same. He became my master.

ABC Wednesday - H & I

So we reached letter I on this fun meme hosted by Denise. I missed last week's H, so this will be a double post.

For H, there's Happy moments with dad. That's how it is when my little witch is hugging the big one while eating my niece's yummy brigadeiro (Chocolate ball candy - do you guys have this abroad???)...

And also Rodrigo's first Happy moment as a dad: the first time he held Lucas in his arms, still at the hospital. The photo was taken by me, while I was in bed - that's why it is so well framed...

**********************************************************

For letter I, I have to mention Isaac Asimov, my favourite sci-fi author of all times! I do love fiction, my mind has fun with these astonishing authors and their amazing stories. I also love the classic Robert Heilein, Arthur Clarke, Frank Herbert, Fritz Leiber, Margareth Atwood... But Issac Asimov is the Master for me. He's like Tolkien to Fantasy, making stories so plausible, going back as far as possible in time and thus keeping you wondering if those people really did not exist. I have a dream of reading all his books, but probably it will stay in the realm of dreams, once this man was a writting machine, who had more than 500 stories written! The first Asimov book I read was The Early Asimov, with great shrot stories that made me fall in love with him. The Foundation and The Robots series are my favourites, and his Black Widowers series is another side of his that I enjoy: mystery.

For mre cool ABC posts, visit the meme's Main page!

Bats in da house - UPDATE

This weekend was an indoor one, it was raining dogs and cats all the time! I took my time to finally finish (just bits of "final art" to call it finished indeed now) my wooden box for Mrs. B.'s giveaway and make some little things for Lucas, like this little bat. He already has a little witch whose face he painted himself and a little monster I made from one of his drawings. Of course I had to forget taking a photo of those, but after lunch they'll be here.

So here are the photos I forgot taking. Lucas' double-faced little witch, where on one side there's the good witch, and on the other, the bad witch - with no embroidery for "he's not good to have it". Lucas added these tiny brilliants on the good witch's body, and chose the colors, from hair to cloak. It's kinda weird, but he loves playing with it!

And below there's the little monster I made out of his drawing. I'm sorry I didn't keep the paper, 'cause if you think this is creepy, you should have seen the original, it's absolutely identical to it! I want him to draw more monsters/creatures, so I can make some more, it's fun! I learned that at the Crafty Crow some time ago:

On Sunday, raining was still here, tireless, and after cleaning up the house (love the lavender scent that is it's left when it's all neat) and playing "hot and cold" a lot with Lucas, he helped me to make my favourite dessert - after anything with chocolate, bien sûr... Lemon mousse! The photo below was supposed to have the whole mousse, but the seconds it took me to go to my bedroom and grab the camera was enough for Rodrigo to steal a huge bit of it!

The simplest thing in the world and to be eaten rolling on the floor in delight. It only takes one can of sweetened condensed milk and the same measure of heavy whipping cream, plus the juice of one lemon. Just mix everything in the liquidizer till the mix gets thick. Then layer it in a large container, spread some grated lemon zest to garnish, close it with a lid and place it on the fridge until being served. It can be made out of any other fruit (the lemon juice helps the mix to get firmer, the others will take a bit longer), but I like this best.

Wish you all a great week!

Lucas' Dreamboard

Lucas prepared his dreamboard last Saturday. This time he wanted to type some words, since he noticed many dreamboards have them too. He chose two words in Portuguese expressing what he wants to keep in his little life: amor=love and felicidade=happiness. Two powerful feelings! He also added the Wicca word to estate his path, and his own name. Of course, everything was made on a Word page, it's fun for him to arrange the images that way.

He chose a packet of Ruffes chips, because he loves it and we seldom buy it at home (he's allowed sometimes during weekends, thankfuly but he's not a trash food guy - when we go to McDonalds - because he loves the little toys - he always order coconut water, nuggets and chips, apparently the taste for hamburguers hasn't started yet).

He wants a little chick to see if it will become a girl chicken or a boy chicken. If every month he add an animal, his grandpa's farm will be over-crowded! :)

Ostara is knocking on our door, and he can't wait to once more dye some eggs for the altar, he had lots of fun last year with this.

The peace dove is there simply because he found it beautiful.

Tonight we'll be celebrating the Esbat (under a rainy sky, though...) and our dreamboards will be up on the altar wall to helps us reinforce our wishes. May all of you have a beautiful Full Moon night!

Dreamboarding

Sacred Suzie's Dreamboard challenge's deadline is on Sunday, and here's what I came up with this month to ask the Universe. Very easy interpretation after reading my last posts, right? I made it last evening on the floor of our family room while Rodrigo and my niece were watching "Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix" - Lucas was already sound asleep or would be with us as well, of course!
It was fun to relax in the evening (after such a bad day), with Baruck sniffing my material and insisting to lay down on my lap while I arranged the images on the paper. The energy is being launched, so mote it be!

Friends

Is distance something that really makes a difference when comes to friendship? I don't think so. Is friendship something that really makes a difference when comes to needing support? I do think so.

Yesterday was a very gloomy day, with a dark cloud over my head turning all my thoughts into ugly versions of what they would usually be.

Then you amazing guys sent me those sweet words that took the cloud away from me. I want you all to know that this was very important to change my day and meant a lot to me. Know that you all have a loyal shoulder whenever any of you may need. It's a warm feeling to know that we are building this strong and real chain of friendship that ignores distance.

And to close the day with a golden key that definitely had a final positive impact on my mood and brighten up a certain little someone's life, when I got home last evening there was a packet from Sacred Suzie with something for Lucas. She made this awesome pendant for him inspired by his last dreamboard, with the cutest little ghost ever:

He got so happy he didn't want to change his school uniform anymore, just to hold it! He kept holding the pendant, smelling it LOL The letter that came along with it also made his day, so sweet! Loved its Samhaim colors, and immediately chose the place to hang it, on the wall by his bedroom's door, where the sun hits from the window in the mornings. He also loved the little spider sticker that came in the envelope (he's got a collection in his chest of drawers), but chose to stick it on his wall height chart:

Thank you so much, Suzie!!! Words are nothing to express how this moved me. You made a little boy happy and helped him to understand that the world is in fact a small, magick place. Beautiful!