I was balancing my checkbook against the online statement a few minutes ago & started giggling a little. A couple of the entries say things like “POS Smith’s” and “POS Maverik,” which I know are just telling us that we used our debit card on one of the POS systems at a store, but knowing the other meaning of the abbreviation “POS,” I got a little laugh out of it. Immature? Probably. Satisfying? Definitely!

In other stuff, last winter I bought a bed-in-a-bag set that I wasn’t exactly crazy about, but we needed a new one & it had green in it, which I wanted. It sat for months before we got the bedroom cleaned up & ready for it & it was so heavy & the fabric was so rough that neither of us liked it at all. The green was a sage color, which I like, but I wanted a brighter, leafy green & always have. The other day I was at the store with Dawn & she wanted to show me the sheet set she bought. It was a gorgeous turquoise color & they even had the exact green I’ve been looking for. I bought it & brought it home to show Troy, he didn’t seem thrilled with it, but I put them on the bed that night & the next day he was talking about how he wished we could find a light weight comforter. I told him they had a matching one in the same color we got the sheets in & off we went. We grabbed that & a set of pillowcases to take the place of the shams on the old set & put them on the bed. I now love my bedroom again! They have a rug that matches that I plan to buy on payday & I’m going to print out photos to hang in there too, I can’t wait!

We went to Tuatha last night, hung out for about an hour, visiting with people there & then they called the tribe to the circle, blessed them & it & started the council meeting & Dawn said she wanted to speak. She said her piece, which comes down to something Dave said to us before he left, which was basically, what you believe should be how you live your life, it shouldn’t be something you have to make time for or something that stresses you out. It used to be that way for both of us, we were happy with being solitary & happy just living our beliefs & not feeling like we had to constantly prove that we believed it.

I joined her in stating that I would be joining her, which probably didn’t need to be said, but I thought I ought to, just in case there were people who don’t know us very well who thought that either of us would have made such a huge decision without the other one. Some people were sad to see us go, others were understanding, there were even a few that seemed relieved, which we expected. I do get annoyed with those that talk out both sides of their mouth, talking trash about us while we aren’t there & then saying how much they’ll miss us because we’re their favorite people. It would have been surprising (almost as surprising as my mom asking me if I knew of a good seo tool) to hear her speak her true feelings though, as I’m sure she doesn’t know the truth from the lies most of the time.

The important thing is we said our piece, hugged people goodbye & left. We stopped at the store to get some drinks & such & looked at the Red Box kiosk for a second. They had Inkheart (which I’m reading right now) so we rented it, went back to Dawn’s & watched it together. We actually got to spend time on a Saturday night doing normal, fun activities that involved no drama. Imagine that!

Dawn & I walk on a trail by a river just outside of town here every weekday morning, we started our walk at 8:30 this morning & everything was normal, but by the time we came back over an hour later we heard the desperate cries of what sounded like a very tiny kitten. We left the trail & started trying to locate the kitten, searching through the bush it seemed to be in, but we couldn’t find it anywhere. Dawn climbed further down the embankment, moving the bush around, looking closer until she finally found the tiny, newborn kitten.

It was tiny, black (with white markings) & very hungry & scared, she picked it up & it clung closely to her, looking for milk & warmth. Fortunately, we have another friend, Vicki, who often fosters orphaned & abandoned kittens & was ready for this one, so Dawn took it over there & dropped it off. We’re all pretty sure that someone took the poor little thing out there & dumped it, because they weren’t prepared to handle kittens (how many there were to begin with, we have no idea, we only found one) or the responsibility of pet ownership.

Getting a pet isn’t like getting an auto insurance quote, you don’t just get it & forget it, there are responsibilities involved, like spaying & neutering & when you don’t get that done in time, you take care of the mama & the babies & make sure they get a good, safe home (I know, I have 5 kittens right now that are safe, well fed & healthy). You take them to the vet, you get vaccinations, you take care of them.Otherwise, why even have any pets?

I get so angry when I see these things happen, that poor kitten would have died today if we hadn’t been tenacious & looked until we found it, another woman stopped when she heard it, looked around a little, but didn’t search like we did. There was no way, after hearing that sad cry that we were walking away until we found it & rescued it. Take responsibility for Pete’s sake, people!

I haven’t felt great today, but I made sure to get my walk in this morning anyway. I don’t feel like I ought to stop taking care of myself just because I don’t feel great, it seems like that’s a vicious cycle to get into. I went out & bought some kitten food & new sheets this afternoon, because I was trying to find the first book in the Nicholas Flamel series (by Michael Scott), because I bought the 2nd one thinking it was the first & when I started reading it, I realized I was completely lost. I didn’t find it at our local discount superstore, so we ran up to the bookstore & they had it in hardbound, so I bought it.

I came home & spent a little time with Troy & we decided to get Subway for dinner, so I figured out my points for a 6″ Sweet Onion Chicken Teriyaki, some baked chips & a salad & off we went. It was the perfect meal, it was just enough & tasted so good, too. Troy got ready for work left, so I went in & changed our sheets & totally remade the bed, straightened the bedskirt & got everything looking nice in there again & now, I’m tired & my back hurts.

Back in the winter when I was so sick & before we started the walking & using the Kettlebells & that workout & before I changed what I was eating, that would have been a bigger job than I could’ve done by myself, not even considering the walk & the shopping trip, so I like the feeling that I got things accomplished today even though I didn’t feel well & have a right to be tired, at least I can explain why, right?

I’m really hoping that cutting out all of the extras we’ve been doing on the weekends will give us a chance to actually relax again. We’ve been doing this for over a year & I think we’re worn out from it all, honestly. I’m really looking forward to next weekend when I can just stay home on Saturday night, enjoy Sunday-Tuesday with Troy & maybe get some stuff around here done, like cleaning the craft room.

Anyway, I’m going to relax awhile now & watch “Burn Notice.”

Over the past week, things within our Pagan groups have greatly changed, at least in our eyes (us being myself, Dawn, Troy & Jason). We’ve had to come to a hard decision over what we plan to do & it’s a hard one to follow through on. I know a lot of things, like natural remedies for many illnesses & conditions, tarot cards, music, art & how to lose belly fat, but I don’t know how to walk away & not lose our friends, even though that’s all I really feel like I can do at this point.

Things that have happened in the past few days have really upset me & it seems that we’re in the minority on this & because that’s the case, then we’re the ones that need to leave. We can’t expect everyone in those groups to change how they think & feel just because we disagree with it, so we have to do what makes us feel better, or at least, the closest to better we’re going to get in this situation.

I’m not a hard-hearted person or intolerant, but there are just some things that I can’t go along with, things that drove me from organized religion in the first place & that I promised myself I would never put up with again. I just feel like I’m too independent to allow anyone else to do any of my thinking for me, I’m pretty good at doing it for myself, honestly. So, I guess we’ll break the news on Saturday night & then come home and let them do their thing. I hope we don’t lose our riends in the process, but if we do, so be it.

I started today with one small goal, to get through it without taking a nap & I actually managed it. It’s the first day since the end of faire that I haven’t taken one & I managed to actually get part of my laundry done today, too. It’s a lot of fun to go & participate every day, but it’s very tiring, too. We get up at 6:30 every morning so that we can both shower & be out the door before 8am. We don’t generally get home until close to midnight, so that’s a very long day to begin with, then you figure in everything we do in a day, which for Dawn & I means we’re operating a store for 10 hours or more a day, participating in two Royal Processions a day & sitting in the hot sun for two shows a day & after all of that, moving the tables & putting the merchandise in safe places for the night. For four days.

The first two days of last week were total work days, going about the business of building a renaissance faire & processing vendors, and Saturday, after faire closes, we have about 4 hours or so to get everything torn down & put away for another year. So, it’s no wonder that we’re all dead on our feet for a few days after it’s all done, I’m just surprised that we don’t all start getting quotes for cheap term life insurance before it starts.

I’ve felt badly because I haven’t spent any time with our friend Dave since faire ended, but man, I’m doing good to get up & walk every morning at this point. Anything extra just seems like such a chore at this point, although we’ll be going to see Half-Blood Prince tomorrow night at 10 (I just hope I don’t fall asleep!).

I’ve been very busy since the last post, what with faire & all. Troy’s check went into the new account with no problems, so, other than my name not being on a checking account anymore, everything seems to be just fine. I can always handle less worry in our lives, so that was a huge relief, at least until the next blow, right?

I desperately need to get my house cleaned up, but I’ve been so exhausted since faire that I had zero energy & even less (if that’s even possible) motivation. I’m working on getting my laundry done today, since I have nothing left to wear, but I doubt that anything else is going to get done today. Maybe a few dishes if I feel like it, right now I’m fighting the urge to go take a nap & telling myself that I can’t keep sleeping the day away, I’m still so tired.

We’re going to see Harry Potter & the Half-Blood Prince tomorrow night, after Troy gets off of work, we all bought our tickets online last week (funny story,  our theaters are owned by Westates & I kept entering Westgate in the search bar & couldn’t figure out why I couldn’t find the website for the theater. I shouldn’t shop online during faire, I’m just too tired). I’m really excited to see it, I just finished reading all of the books again & Troy & I spent the earlier part of the week watching the first 5 movies, just so we’d be all caught up & ready to see it. I know, we’re dorks, but we love Harry Potter!

Anyway, I think the dryer is done, so I need to go switch laundry & start another load.

I’m still a little worried, with payday on the horizon. I’m worried that Troy’s check will get deposited into the old account & get garnished, instead of going into the new one & us being able to pay our rent & car payments. I’ll be okay once we get through Friday morning, I think, I’m not a worrier by nature, but I seem to be becoming one lately. I’d like to go back to not being constantly afraid that something else is going to go wrong, honestly.

I don’t think I’ve mentioned anywhere than Booger had her kittens on Sunday. She had 5 in all, and they’re all doing well, growing & getting fat. She’s such a good mama, making sure they’re fed & warm before leaving them. She getys so protective if we get near, so we haven’t checked genders yet, but hopefully will be able to soon. They’re all so tiny & cute! The last one born was unresponsive, but Rhi got it breathing & moving around and it’s fine now.

We’re at a compromise between the two pagan groups we attend & things seem to be going well, at least for now. We’re hoping that we can go back to meeting at the spot we met at last year, mostly because it has such good energy there & it’s a lot easier to get in & out of than the one that we’ve been going to this year.

I’ve been thinking that becoming a wholesale customer has really made my life easier, because now I can buy gifts for people at a lower price when I’m ordering stock for my booth. I plan to look for some heart jewelry for Rhi’s Christmas gift, since she really loves it & I’m hoping they’ll have some nice things later in the year. I have my eye on a cool Celtic heart bracelet that I think she’ll love, but I’d like to add some more to that. Erin will love anything I get for him & he’s super easy to shop for because of that. I’m excited about it.

Well, I need to eat & start going through loaner garb. Have a great night!