Leaving Las Vegas

On the off chance that anyone ever actually reads this blog, I've moved it. Come and visit my new home here; posts that don't appear on Blogger start here.

Still Haven't Found...

Back in the days when I lived on the other side of the country, I used to go to a pagan shop. One day, while there, I ran across a neat product: it was a silver (well, silver-colored, no clue what metal it actually was) pentagram, 2.5-3 inches in diameter. Being as I am fascinated by miniatures and pocket kits, it occurred to me that such a thing would be lovely for inclusion in a sort of pocket altar. But at the time I was poor and did not buy it, and I've never seen another like it since. Since then, my discovery of Project A.R.E.S. has only strengthened my desire to have a pocket altar, but I've found myself stymied; no one seemed to sell the pentacle I liked, nor even one of a suitable size in some other design.

Except that the Internet is a wonderful thing, and I've found a site that sells something that, if it's not exactly the same item, is at least a close relative. They've also got one that's solid which I rather like, and another with a rather nice Celtic design. The site in general has all sorts of cool stuff, too, though their selection of chalices does not offer what I want (plain blue glass, "Holy Grail" shaped, no etching, pewter fittings, jewels or clear glass).

I could fit the pentacle in one of these tins, and use one of the blue glass bottles for the portable chalice; a sword and a wand are going to be harder (Abaxion has all sorts of wands I adore, but they're all too large), but I'll bet I can work something out...

Had A Bad Day

I can tell I'm having a bad day when the sight of something pretty makes me cry. And then spend almost $200 I shouldn't have on purchasing, not it, but the kit to make it.

I realize it's because I'm hormonal and have no one to be religious with and am feeling not particularly appreciated and sad because I don't have the holiday accoutrements I grew up with, and it's going to be a gorgeous heirloom project. All I really care about is that the thought of having the finished thing makes me feel better, and that's worth a whole lot just at the moment, because I am at work and cannot afford to go sit under something and whimper.

Also, digression: I am puzzled to note that FireFox's built-in spell check does not recognize the word "accoutrements". The singular is OK, but the more common plural causes it to be unhappy.

Beginning to Look a Lot Like...

I'm a little ambivalent about the holiday season this year. On the one hand there's the problem every non-Christian has: Christmas is just everywhere, and it's not my holiday. But my mother doesn't know that, so I have to keep up appearances. This would be easier to deal with were it not for the fact that I don't really have anyone to have Yule with either; Luke's a sort of spiritual agnostic, in the Heinleinian "I don't know Who's cranking, but I'm pleased They don't stop" kind of way, and every other pagan I've met in this area is a flake, a jerk, or both. And I don't even have an altar up yet. That may have to be #1 on my hit list for the weekend.

But hey, I bought fabric last night for my "Advent" calendar. Not that I'm going to have something I can use this year, but I'm at least getting the ball rolling. It's hard to resist when the lovely green velvet is on sale for 1/3 its normal price.

Wouldn't It Be Nice

I have a health condition that causes me to be overweight. Which in and of itself is mildly annoying, but it doesn't bug me too much. Sure, if someone offered to wave a magic wand and cause me to lose 25 pounds, I would not object, but it's not as if I'm sufficiently overweight to be getting health problems from it, and Luke doesn't mind.

But there's my mother. She bugged me about my weight all through high school, let up a bit when I went to college and became the only freshman ever to lose fifteen pounds, and the last few years has been up to her old tricks. When I told her about my health problem, I thought that was the end of it, but no: yesterday she went out of her way to tell me that she has problems with her back "when she sits around too much". Because it could not possibly have anything to do with the fact that I got hit by a car three months ago and sprained precisely the portion of my back that now hurts again; it must be that I'm choosing to knit or read instead of getting healthy exercise. I have thus far refrained from telling her that the choice is not between sedentary activity and exercise, but between sedentary activity and lying in bed doing nothing at all.

Crush On You

I think I have a crush on one of my friends. I say this because I am experiencing the urge to make her things, which is always a sign of infatuation with me.

This is the kind of crush where you want to be around the person and have them tell you how cool you are without necessarily having a sexual component; for me the sex bits are generally reserved for male crush objects--I mean, I've had sex with a woman, and it's not necessarily relevant how many X chromosomes are in the cells of the finger on my clit, if you know what I mean, but as a general rule women don't do it for me. But the point is that this is the kind of crush adolescents get, generally on older teens but sometimes on adults, the kind that led to the romantic friendship phenomenon of the 19th century (Wikipedia has a nice précis on this, if you care to look it up.)

Of course, I'm gonna be 32 in a few months, so I'm unclear as to why I still get these crushes. Fortunately she has a birthday coming up, so I have an excuse.

Five Little Pumpkins

Luke wants to get a fake pumpkin to make the jack o'lantern out of this year.

How do I phrase "Honey, you have snookered me into a fake Yule tree with this bullshit 'pine allergy' of yours, I am not having a fake jack o'lantern too" without sounding harsh?