Yuletide Greetings & Winter Solstice Merriment

Yuletide Greetings & Winter Solstice Merriment

 Today I would like to wish each of you a very big Yule greeting and Winter Solstice Celebration. Today marks my second Yule celebrated since my husband and I became pagan. This year his family’s annual Christmas party falls on Yule so we will be celebrating Christmas with them later tonight playing Dirty Santa enjoying some great food, tons of laughter, and plenty of stories. Beforehand we will be just having  a day of reflection to ourselves, looking forward into the coming year of all that we have coming up. There is so much going on in the 2014 that a time of reflection about our hearts’ intentions is in order as we celebrate this last long night of winter, and the return of the sun.

For me the returning sun brings with it new hope and excitement as we slowly gear up for the coming of spring, the change into the new year, and warmer weather. There are babies being born next year, anniversaries, to celebrate, and schooling to embrace. The return of the sun also brings with it the warmth and joy of knowing that while things may be dark, and we may go through hard times, there is always a light at the end of the tunnel, there is always hope that the sun’s rays will pierce into the darkness embracing us once more.

I hope that you and your families have a wonderful YULE or Winter Solstice depending on what you celebrate and that you enjoy the time that you have with one another. Do something fun and lighthearted to celebrate the return of the sun, the return of the light and be sure to share with us what that was below in the comment section.

Blessed Be.

In these video I have laid out the way to make your salt dough so that you can create whatever you wish with them. The sky is the limit because you can make ornaments and keepsakes of all kinds in every size and shape you want.

December Holidays Craft ~ Salt Dough Creations 

http://youtu.be/amOYgH7ce_E

Basic Ingredients 

• Flour (2 cups aprox)
• Salt (1 cup)
• Water (1 cup apox)

Basic Tools 

• Microwave Safe dish (for microwave method)
• Cookie sheet(s) ---(for oven method)
• 1 cup size - measuring cup 
• rolling pin
• spoon
• bowl

Instructions:

~ Mix flour, salt, and water in a bowl adding flour or water until you reach a play-dough consistency. The dough should be pliable but not sticky.
~ Roll out our dough using rolling pin or other such item until it is about 1/4 inch thick.
~ Cut out desired shapes, or press hands and or feet into dough to create desired piece(s)
~ Place piece(s) on a cookie sheet, or microwavable dish depending on method being used.

"Baking" Instructions

~ If using oven then make sure to Preheat oven to 200 degrees if using oven method
bake for 2 -3 hours checking periodically to make sure they piece(s) do not burn. Once they are no longer doughy remove and allow to cool completely before decorating

~ If using microwave method put plate into the microwave for 3:00 min, check piece(s) and then continue to microwave as needed in 0:30 second intervals until piece(s) are no longer doughy

Decorating Instructions

Decorate using paint, glitter whatever you have on hand .

Surviving Dental Pain

For sometime now I have been dealing with dental pain, my wisdom teeth have decided that since there is not enough room for them that they will make room by breaking the teeth in front of them. Which as you can imagine is super unpleasant to say the least. How have I survived in between visits? Well that is a great question.

(The following is NOT medical advice, if you are having dental issues such as those mentioned here in seek the advice of a medical professional)


Avoiding the following helps during the day

• Avoid crunchy foods such as chips or really crispy bread, or crotons and that kind of thing
• Avoid foods that are at either temperature exreame, such as icecream, shakes or HOT soup, or Hot sandwiches, let food come to a more moderate temperature when eating
• eat on the side of the mouth that is not giving you problems so that you can avoid some aggravation to the area.

I have been doing five main things

• alternating hot/Cold packs
• I do this at night because that tends to be when the pain is more bothersome I start with cold, then wait half an hour, then do hot, I repeat this once and then am usually ready to try to go to bed.
• chamomile tea- 
• drinking this throughout the day, allowing to rest near areas that hurt for a minuet or two before swallowing. the Chamomile works really well for ~me~ to soothe the nerves in my mouth. I use a little less water when I make it so it is a little stronger, but only a little less (6oz instead of water instead 8oz for one teabag)
• orajel 
• I use the cream one--for me lasts longer, and I normally only need this at night
• OTC pain relievers---alternating between ibprophen, aleve, Tylenol 
• since there is a limit to how much of each you can take in a day I will take the RECOMMENDED dose of one say ibprophen, then when it is time for a new does, take tylonol instead, then when it is time for the next dose take aleve. I have been timing it so that the aleve is what I take at night because its effects last longer for me personally which means I sleep better
• Brushing about 4-5 times a day w/Arm&Hammer's new sensitive toothpaste  
• Besides the recommended twice daily, I am brushing after each and every meal, this is helping to keep anything from getting caught on sensitive, painful areas, and helps to massage the areas that are in pain, which helps to soothe the area for about thirty minuets without medication. 

If you have any recommendations for dealing with dental discomfort/pain feel free to post your suggestions in the comment section. 

PSA - Child left in car

One Decision' PSA Is Devastating Reenactment Of 

What Could Happen If A Child Is Left In A Car

DO NOT LEAVE YOUR CHILD IN THE CAR EVER!!

Places like Wal-Mart are now posting signs to remind parents to look before you leave your car. 

What would you do???

Couponing ...Why Should I Get Started?

The elusive Money Tree, probably only found in the land of unicorns.

     Since I dont have one of these lovely money trees growing anywhere near me I am always on the lookout for things that I can do to save money for me and my family. I love to get great deals on things that we use everyday, and things that are special treats as well.

     Couponing has been something that has been very helpful for me and my family as a way to save money and create a small stockpile of items that we always need, like toothpaste, razors, paper products, toiletries, and detergent. The way I see it is that if we can save money on the things like this that we use everyday then we will have more money for the fun things.

     Stay tuned into my blog as over the next two weeks as I explain in detail how to get started so that you and your family can save money. 

Back to School Season

Well it is officaly 

 

season around here.

Classes have been registered for, and I received my first email from a teacher a couple days ago. I know that many who have children in my area are starting week three of school and are working their way through all of the changes going on with our local school systems becoming one. I for one am excited about going back to school personally. I am just past the half way point to my graduation and the classes I am getting to take are exciting because they are no longer just Gen Ed classes, counting the one I am registered for this semester I only have one other Gen Ed class to take and the rest are all core classes. I am so excited about this. I of course have put off my least favorite Gen Ed class to the end (MATH) but I am registered for it and am going to just suck it up and get it over with. I want a buffer in case things don't go well (my safety net) and so it need to be now. I KNOW I will knock it out and be fine but just in case I want my buffer and am choosing to not do it my very last semester.


What about all of you are any of you going back to school? Have your children gone back to school yet? Have you finished school or will you finish school this year? What if your favorite thing about this time of year? Do you have any back to school traditions or rituals that you do by yourself or with family? Are you in college or High school?

I wish you all luck this 2013-2014 school year.

Kid Friendly Lammas Doll

So I know that traditionally this time of year people make corn husk dolls, but since I am the children's cordinator at my local Wiccan Temple, I wanted to do a kid friendly version. So below I have listed the supplies you will need and linked a video that I made showing you how to make one.

Paper Bag Lamas Doll

Supplies

• Lunch sized brown paper bags
• Loom loops or something to tie with Yarn, string)
•  Crayons- for the kids to decorate with.
•  Scissors
• Pipe cleaners if desired - (for arms)

 Instructions -- See this video

 I hope that you enjoy this tutorial and have fun using it with your family. Blessed BE.

How To SAVE MONEY On Gas!

How To Make A Gift Closet "Never Pay Retail Price Again!"

How To SAVE On Pizza!

How to Make Homemade Coffee Creamer

homemade cleaning products

Since the New Year my husband and I have started trying to get away from products filled with chemicals and stuff like that and use homemade versions of things instead. We chose to do this for several reasons I may write about that at another time but anyway tonight I feel very proud of myself tonight. I have a clean kitchen and clean living room.

I was able to clean and disinfect my kitchen without using ANY harsh chemicals....

I made my very first batch of  homemade cleaning products today my husband has been making  homemade laundry detergent, and homemade dishwasher detergent and homemade body wash since January but this was the first time that I had done anything like this So I started out by making an all purpose disinfectant cleaner

Disinfectant - All Purpose This is how I did it: 

Ingredients: 
1 cup water
1 cup white vinegar
1 warm peel of a grapefruit

Directions
I pulsed the grapefruit peel till it was really thin added to the water vinegar mixture and heated it in the microwave for two minuets. Once it was all nice and warm I ran it through the blender again until it was really smooth, strained it I saved the pulp.

Uses
I was able to use it on the counters and table in the kitchen. I really liked this new cleaner. It did a great job cleaning up stuff and the grapefruit totally took away the strong vinegar smell. So instead of harsh chemicals or vinegar my kitchen smells like grapefruit.

All Natural Sink Cleaner: 

Ingredients ---(these are approximate)
 3 TBLs Pulp of grapefruit with vinegar (I used the leftover pulp from making the disinfectant)
2-3 TBLs of baking soda
3 tbls of water

Directions
Mix together the ingredients in a small bowl. It will make a paste. Because of the way that vinegar and baking soda react chemically there will be some fizzing (remember making that volcano for the science fair? But don't worry it is still safe) Since it does fizz up so make sure to use a container that allows for it to do this without overflowing.

Uses
I chose to use this paste to clean the sink in the kitchen with had gotten pretty grimy from not having a good cleaning lately. I used a damp sponge and wiped the whole sink out and then just rinsed with water.  

All Natural Garbage Disposal Cleaner

Ingredients

1/2 cup Baking soda
2 cups HOT Water
1 lemon

Directions
Pour the baking soda down the disposal, (with it off) then peel the lemon and squeeze the juice into the disposal, add the flesh of the lemon in with the baking soda (it helps to scrub the blades) Slowly pour the hot water in and turn on the disposal and let it run until the disposal is clear of anything in it. Then poured the last like two tablespoons in the disposal with baking soda and the juice and flesh of one lemon followed by HOT HOT Water...now the garbage disposal no longer smells stale.

Uses
To clean the disposal and get rid of any funky smell or grime that might have accumulated

*I also added the leftover bit of the sink cleaner I had was not enough to save so I decided to add it my mixture for the unfunkifying the garbage disposal.

All Natural Dishwasher Cleaner

Ingredients
water (will come from running the full cycle on dishwasher)
1 cup of white vinegar

Directions:

Pour one cup of vinegar into a dishwasher safe cup or bowl. Set on the top rack of the dishwasher and run a full cycle on the highest possible temperature settings.

Uses

Gets rid of the grime and build up inside the dishwasher and sterilizes it

---------

Well that is the long and the short of how I cleaned my kitchen without using any harsh chemicals for the very first time. Hope that you will find these helpful .

Graduation

Tonight my brother Frog Graduated!!!!!!!!!! This is the video that the school did of the graduation. I was so proud of him and was so glad to get to see him and a friend walk across the stage. WAY TO GO GRADUATES!!

Ostara Themed Games - (could be Easter games too!)

So this time of year we all want to have fun games for the kids. I was in charge this year of putting together some fun games for the kids besides the traditional egg hunt. This time of year a lot of focus is put on the bunny so I cam up with two games with the help of some Pintrest inspiration. However the Pintrest inspiration was just pinned photos of a finished product with no tutorials on how to replicate what I saw.....So I did some searching and have created a tutorials for you. Each of them are their own post and are all linked conveniently right here in this post.

 Now the first game I came up with as just a seasonal change on the traditional duck duck goose game. We did Bunny Bunny ....Rabbit and instead of the stink pot we went to the carrot patch. Cute right?

We had several other cute games for the kids.
We had a Pin the Tail on the Bunny game. 
I also made carrot bean bags for a bean bag toss game. 
I also made a Bunny Face to throw the carrot bean bags through.

 Well that is about it. Throw in a well organized egg hunt and you have yourself a fun filled time celebrating Ostara (could also be used for Easter). I hope that you find these little tutorials helpful. Feel free to leave a comment below if you have any questions and of course letting me know if you enjoyed them. Hope that you all have a wonderful Spring Season. Ostara Blessings and Happy Easter.