I kidnapped a friggin' gnome!

Well, it seemed like we needed some sport around this office. Therefore, I took it upon myself to swipe the private property of one of my co-workers....a natty little gnome named Weezle-stix. Weezle-stix was just minding his own business sitting in the mailroom when I came along and nabbed him. Here is the first picture his owner got with the first note.

You can't recognize that he's a gnome except for the pointed hat and little shoes sticking out from where I slipped the bag over his head. I'm sure his owner is worried about him! But, we have to have some entertainment around here, and so he made an unwitting sacrifice to the cause.

Happy Friday everyone! It's almost time to go to the house!

Az

Out of the Convent and Back to Work

Well, I spent the last day of my vacation, Tuesday, March 20th, in a convent. Here is a picture of it from the outside. It is a wonderful, beautiful place, and I got to spend from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. there.
I had a wonderful view. I spent my day writing in my journal, working on my Tarot book and cards...meditating and just enjoying the atmosphere. There was another group there that day, but I couldn't really hear them except when they were having lunch. Beyond that, it felt like I was all alone. It was so peaceful and quiet. The original plan was that I was going to be in one of the upstairs rooms with a desk and a wing chair, but the good sisters had forgotten that they would be having a guest stay in that room so I had to suffer with one of the enormous downstairs room. Here was my little setup and my view.
Rough huh? I brought my lunch so I didn't even have to leave the grounds for that. It was cold and rainy so I spent the day inside, which is kind of a shame because the grounds are so beautiful. But it was so cozy. Those leaded glass windows are just incredible. The hardware on them is so old and lovely. You can really begin to understand as you look at the stone casements for the windows and the leaded glass windows themselves the phrase "they sure don't make 'em like they used to." I cannot even imagine what that property would go for on the real estate market. It's almost obscene to think of it as ever being up for sale. I know that there are a lot fewer sisters than there used to be, and that the Catholic church is a business.....I hope that whatever diocese this convent is in is a rich one and can afford to keep them there. I know that the house itself was donated by a Boeing-rich family back in the 1930s, and so they don't have to pay for the land or the house unless they have leveraged it for other funds, but it has to cost quite a bit of money just to keep up with the maintenance and the grounds.

Anyway, back to my day. One of the things I did while I was here with all of this time to myself was to lay out a tarot mandala. This is my DruidCraft deck and this is an exercise recommended in the book. It takes so much floor space and so much time to set up that I didn't think I would get to do it. But I did it on my nunnery day! There were really some insights and illuminations that came from it too. Plus, it took a pretty cool picture. Check it out.


Another thing that the good sisters have going for them is that they have unencrypted wireless internet access, so while I was there, and yes....of course I took the laptop. I can't get very far from a keyboard these days. I really dont think I would know what to do with myself if I did. Anyway, I was able to hook up to the Internet, email my husband, and what was even better, MY CIRCLE MATES right there from the Convent. I did try to put up a blog entry from there, but something happened and I lost it and I decided that I wasn't about to waste all my convent time looking at a computer when I could look right in front of me and through antique leaded glass windows see a gorgeous vision of the Puget Sound and the ferries crossing back and forth fucking around with trying to get a blog post written. That stuff is better done from places like I am occupying now. The friggin sofa at home with the idiot box with nothing on it playing in the background. Yep, there are plenty of THESE moments to write things on the computer.

So, yeah....I'll be going back to the convent as soon as I can. I think it is soul-restorative and wonderful to be there, and hopefully the good sisters will have me back. Just wanted to share some of that day here on my blog.

Bright Blessings all ya'll.

Sister Mary Asradel

Home Again

So it's the Monday after my return to Lynnwood. We had a very full weekend lined up and it went by in a blur. Yesterday, my hubby went racing while I stayed home with my girl and we watched videos and went out to a coffee place. Saturday afternoon I had an unexpected visit from my son and his girlfriend and a friend of the family for some years, Scott Reynolds. Here is a photo of all of them along with Andrea. I'm a lucky woman.
After Saturday's lunch with my brother-in-law's new fiance and her family, we came home to our visitors who were only hear for about a half hour, then I had to take a nap before I feel down. After my nap, and believe me, I didn't want to get up, it was time to go to circle. I didn't get in until 1:00 a.m. and brother was I ever tired. So today was for cleaning the house and making some headway toward this place looking human again. My daughter has a surprise coming to her when I leave her a note telling her that she has to clean her bathroom and bedroom this afternoon while I am off cloistering in the convent in Woodway.

Alrighty then....time to sign off now. By the way, here's me on the plane on the way home.

Here at Eva's

Eva, that's my sister there with me....ell, she gave me some perfume today, because I told her that I smell bad, and therefore, cannot get full time employment nor enjoy any of the other benefits of being in polite society. She caved in, gave me the perfume AND the lotion as well as 20 bucks and a bottle of pain killers! Now how's THAT for makin' out great the last day of vacation. Booo Yahhh!


So now we're gonna go to Ditch Witch! I can't wait. We're gonna get the coolest shirts and other ditch witch crap you ever saw. :)
Hooo Rayyy!

Well, we got back from the Ditch Witch place where the guy must've thought we were cute 'cause he gave us free stuff. My crippled up old sister up there couldn't walk the stairs and so we had to be taken the back way like freight down to the basement where all the shirts and shit are....anyway, it was fun and we got a lot of stuff. Again, the sister bought all my stuff. She's pretty sweet, even if it's really painful for me to admit it. I'm gonna hate to leave.

Oklahoma

I'm writing this post from the sofa of my Mom's house in Perry, Oklahoma. We are watching Harry Potter. I explained briefly the plot line as Part IV started and mom wanted to know how I got all of that from the 10 minutes the movie had been on. By the way, this is my Mommy:



She just put on her glasses to better see mad-eye Moody. :)

I have been so happy to be here and so very glad to have been able to come at a time when I was needed. The Goddess works in mysterious ways, and listening to the inner spidey sense is always a good thing. Since the beginning of the year I have felt like I needed to come and see my Mommy. The time-frame just worked out perfectly for me to come here when I was most needed. My sister just had a surgery on March 1, and my mom just got out of the hospital too. I have been able to help in what I consider small ways, but they are so glad I'm here. It really makes me feel good. I told my sister that I knew she would do the same for me.

It occurred to me while I was sitting in my little bedroom that you won't always get to visit your mother. There will come a time when that will no longer be possible - and there is really no other feeling or place like it in the world. A place where you can go and feel at home, or at least to a certain degree, no matter how old you get or how many miles separate you. So, I'm really enjoying my time here and will be coming back more frequently now that I know it's only going to cost $250 to get here and back.

So, that's what I've got to say about that. Mother is asleep now....Harry Potter has just gotten going good. She's nodding off.....oh well....nightie-night mommy. Your daughter is going to stay up and play on the Internet and work on her Web Page - concepts that you have no notion of, and really don't need to know about. You've lived your whole life without this computer stuff, and there is absolutely no need to crowd it in at this late date.

Day Before Vacation

Today is my last day in the office before a 10-day vacation, most of which is going to be spent in the state of my youth, Oklahoma. Now there isn't a great deal to see or do in Oklahhoma, unless, of course, there have been some vast improvements over the years that I am unaware of.

However, my mother and my sister still live there so it should be a good time. I have never just made a trip back by myself. I've actually only been back, well, this will be the third time in 12 years that I have been back to visit. Neither of the prior times was I on my own. I had at least my daughter with me, and the very last time I went, I had my husband with me. I wanted my mom and sister to at least meet the man I am married to. It just seemed strange somehow to be married to someone your family wouldn't even recognize if they came up and knocked on the door. But this trip, this one is for me. I want to see my Mom, since she's actually getting up there in years and have some time to talk to her and relax that I'm not having to worry about entertaining someone else. My sister just had a surgery so she'll be glad to have me there as a go-fer. ;) I don't mine either. For my part, I'll be glad to have a break from my everyday life and to see my family.

So that's it! Anyone reading this post, I wish you good friends, strong families and good times.

Az