From the Mind of AlphaBetsy

Magical Monday       Rune(s) of the Week:   Tiwaz - Tir; Justice, guidance, navigation. The rune of focus and discipline.           Card(s) draw of the Week (from the Wild Wood Tarot):    Two of Bows - Decision:   Reading Points: The bows represents not just the potential energy latent within any situation, but the need to direct and manage that energy to achieve your goals. this can mean the first movement towards reinvigorating and reforming the relationship with life. It requires the decisive will to step  across a threshold and take control in a positive and proactive manner.   Page of Stones - Lynx:   Reading Points: Pay attention to the physical realm, and be aware of the effects generated by everything you do. A strain of wildness and lack of fore-thought can sometimes hamper your forward passage, but careful consideration redresses the balance. Tra...

This Memorial Day weekend is packed full of strange excitement for my family.   Tomorrow I head with Seth, my mom and Seth's mom and dad down to Mansfield to take a tour of the Ohio State Reformatory . This historical and supposedly haunted former prison is famous for being the setting for the film, The Shawshank Redemption. My mom stumbled upon an amazing Groupon for self-guided tours so we are headed that way. I am taking my camera and I am hoping I can capture the image of a ghost while we wander.       On Sunday I am volunteering with my mother at the Columbus Asian Festival , This is my first time attending this particular festival, but I am excited to see what it has to offer. I am hoping for delicious food and fabulous booths, and hopefully people selling fun stuff. :)       Beyond all that craziness life is interesting in my world. I have been trying to find a way to finish my bachelor's degree in English. I applied to a ...

This summer has wreaked havoc in the lives of me and my wonderful husband. We had a water line burst in our front yard which we had to pay to replace. They had to dig a huge hole in the yard, and while digging they accidentally brushed a gas line, so then they couldn't finish until the gas company okayed it. Once they got the new line run, we found out that moving out electric ground had completely taken away our ground and for over a month we have been fighting to get someone out here to fix our electricity. They finally did last week, but not before our spotty electricity burned up Seth's computer, my netbook, the microwave and our dehumidifier. I think we are finally getting back to normal now. Or at least mostly normal. The last two semesters I have upped my classes to 3 rather than the usual 2, because if I keep that up I will qualify to graduate in Spring. Woo-hoo. Over the summer I took College Algebra (Which was actually pre-calculus), American History an...

Another semester of school is behind me. This semester was really hard for me, because I have to take more math courses since I switched my major, and Algebra II was on my schedule. I am proud to say that in spite of my mathematical ineptitude I still managed to get an A I also took my final prerequisite English class as well and also aced it. So it was a good semester overall. In fact I am quite proud of some of the papers I wrote for my English class. They were really good. And I'm not just saying that because I wrote them.  Summer courses start on the 20th and I am taking 10 credit hours instead of the usual 7 or 8, because if I take three classes a semester through next spring I should graduate with my associates of the arts this time next year. For summer I am taking: College math - which is intimidating as hell for me as the description includes the word trigonometry, yikes; American history to 1877 - which should actually be kind of fun; and Intro to Folklore - ...

Yule!! My house is almost ready for the season to begin. I have two parties at my house on the 15th, so I need to be ready. Here are some pics of everything so far. I plan to get a tabletop fresh tree for my dining room table and I want to string popcorn for it. I haven't done that in years and I really have a desire to do it.  I had a meeting with an advisor from school today, and I was able to change my major and get a plan of action for the next several semesters. I am now officially an English major!! I am beyond excited about this. I feel like I am truly working toward a major I really want to study and toward a career I really want to pursue. I also got my classes scheduled for Spring. This means something else off my goal list for the next year. Woo-hoo! I'm chipping away at it little by little. I have several more things in the works, like my sister's going away party, and holiday crafting. I'm on a roll.  * I will...

This month has been a test. The first two weekends held renaissance festivals. Then came Mother's day. Then an unexpected death. Then the Race for the Cure. This past weekend saw a road trip to Missouri, a couple of fun stops and a close encounter of the tornado kind. With all of this going on I also made the deans list at school and was invited to the Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society. I am definitely going to join. I secured my loans for the next year plus. And I got my next set of classes scheduled. Woo-hoo. I have a couple of papers to write this weekend and then my classes are done for the spring quarter. Time flies. My weight loss is still  going. Slowly, but still moving downward. The last two weekends with a funeral and a road trip did nothing to help. Most people do not bring healthy foods to the bereaved, they bring comfort foods. And while I did pretty good food wise on the road trip, I snacked a lot. More than I should have for sure. My new goal is to hit one-derland by...

The last part of the week was a little crazy. I took Thursday off, after having a minor panic attack, in order to finish writing a paper for my English class. It was totally worth the day, because I got a great paper written, and I was paid a great compliment from my professor. Said professor is really pushing me to become an English major. He pointed out that if I get my bachelor's degree in English I can just go take a test and then work as a paralegal anyway. I have to say that his words are getting through. He obviously sees something in me that is making him take such an interest in my major, and (let's be honest) that is the major I  really want to pursue. So now I am torn again. My mom said something that really made me think too. She said, sweets if you were really set on the paralegal path then what he said wouldn't effect you, and she's right. This quarter I am continuing with the paralegal path, but I may talk to my professor and see what the options are. ...

I have a dilemma. Currently I am enrolled in a community college as a Paralegal Studies major. I chose this major because there are numerous job openings for paralegals and the idea of the work seemed interesting. The first quarter I couldn't get into any of my major courses so I took my first required math and English classes. Right away I began to remember how much I love English, and love to read and write. I ended up passing my English class with a high A and had the teacher ask to use two of my essays as teaching aides. So now I am into my second quarter and I took my second required English class and Intro to Paralegal. What I am finding, though, is that being a paralegal is not what I thought it was, and I'm not sure it's what I would like to do. My English class though is amazing again and I love it. I just got my first paper back and I got a 100% on it. So, my dilemma is... do I just muscle on through Paralegal because it's what I have started. Or... do I swi...

I went to the Ohio Thrift Store on Friday Night, and it was an amazingly good find day. I spent $24 total and I bought the following. An Awesome Silver Tray.  A tarnished but beautiful tea set with three goblets, all silver plated. An awesome bottle with Bacchus on it.  And a clear glass tea set for blooming teas. :)  Life is going good. I'm still losing weight. My current weight loss total is 35.5 pounds. Going strong. And my friend Janet and I decided tonight that we are going to do the  Warrior Dash  in June. Basically it's a "race" with an obstacle course in it. And they encourage costumes and silliness, so we have decided we have to do it. I am really excited by the idea. :)  I got my second English essay back today and was really excited that I got a 98% on it. Hell Yeah. I am so freakin' excited by that. Which means I should be getting an A in the class. Rock!! I have a Math test tomorrow night, but I am feeling pretty confident about the concepts...

October is over, sigh. So we move on to November. I have a tendency to pretty much skip this month entirely moving straight from Samhain to Yule and not stopping to enjoy the time between. So, to make myself appreciate November a bit more I am joining  Creative Every Day  in Art Every Day Month. Basically you challenge yourself to do something artistic/ creative every day. I am going to make an effort to do at least something small daily and to share at least once a week. School is going well. I got an A on both my first essay for English and on my first Math test. I expect to do well in English, but the Math grade honestly shocked me. I'm really happy with how my classes are going. I hope I can keep it up. I got an action photo today of the Shrek costume I made Seth's uncle in action. I'm really happy with how it turned out.

I had a very sudden but not altogether shocking realization that the wedding is 2 years away, but I start school next Wednesday, maybe be starting a belly dance class in the next couple of weeks and I am planning to have a Halloween party in a little over a month. Maybe I should start turning my attention more to these things and put the wedding on a back burner. I told you I was going wedding crazy, lol. I got my book money from the school in the mail today which is exciting. I am going to run over to the college on Saturday to buy books for my classes and get my picture taken for my school ID. It's funny because I don't think I have realized that I am actually going to school. It hasn't quite sunk in. I guess I will understand on Wednesday when I have my first class. I am trying to find a belly dance class that does not conflict with my classes and are closer to home. My other classes were on the other side of town so I would either have to entertain myself for 2 hours ...

Things are changing again. With Seth and I getting engaged and the knowledge that a wedding is something we will be paying for I have made the decision that full time school is just not an option. So I'm going to keep working full time and go to school part time. For the time being I will keep working at Huntington, but I will probably keep looking for another full time job. I just don't want to have to wait 5 years to actually get married and honestly I want a wedding... even if it is just a small one, because I look at it as a really big craft project. School starts on the 22. I will be taking English and Math...yay prerequisite courses. Speaking of craft projects, I am brainstorming as to what I want my theme to be for ATCs I am trading with K of Banterings of a Basketcase. I'm thinking something fall/ Halloween as I have that on the brain currently, but I will just have to see what comes out. Ooh... just had a thought. :) I need to get back to working on my altere...

Wicked was absolutely amazing!! I knew a lot of the music because I have the soundtrack but actually seeing what was happening during this or that song was so great. We were about 7 rows from the stage so it was like being part of the show. The wizard was played by Richard Cline, who is Larry from 3's Company, and he did a great job. The girl playing Glinda was delightfully ditzy. And the girl playing Elphaba had the perfect blend of vulnerability and strength. The costuming was amazing as were the sets. I want to see it again...lol. Watching it though makes me long for the theatre. Broadway was my dream all through high school, but life would take me in another direction. Now though when I see a show or go to a theatre I just long to be a piece of it. I want the lights and the sets and the costumes and the memorization and the dancing and the constant rehearsals and the applause. I miss it all so much. I guess the easy answer would be to get involved in community theatre again. ...

We went to WaterFire last Friday night and I have finally uploaded the photos. It was a really cool experience and I think we will be going back the next time they do it. Here is some pics of the bonfires and the fire dancers!!  I think Seth has decided he needs to learn to dance with fire and I'm not far behind him. On Saturday was Seth's brother and my friend Chris' 30th Birthday. The theme was Star Wars and his wife Niki made this awesome cupcake "cake". The Darkside Sith light saber was chocolate cake and the Jedi light saber was white cake...lol  After drinking a bit we went out front and had light saber fights. Here are some highlights of that silliness.   And one final bit of silliness... my little sister riding a lion with swords. Yep...that about sums it up.  School is still a work in progress... Right now my biggest road block is funding, but I am determined to work my way aroun...

I'm moving forward with the School thing, at least a little. I got my FAFSA filled out Friday night and sent in. I need to get some other things taken care of, and will get them done in the next week or so. I don't know if I am going to be able to  enroll for Fall or if I will have to wait until Winter Quarter. I need to go into the school and talk to admissions. I will hopefully be able to do that in the next week.  Yesterday we had a full day. I decided at the beginning of last week that I wanted to get my hair cut this week, because it really needed it. My last hair cut was literally last Halloween. So Seth and I made a day of it.  First we had lunch at  Surly Girl Saloon  which had amazing food. I have been really rocking out on my diet so while I still ate pretty healthy I let myself be spoiled a bit. Seth and I split the Hellfire Jalepenos. I ordered the Salmon with rice and black beans which was more decadent than it sounds, it had this amazing dill sau...