Blogs

Belief in "spells"

I actually "cast a spell" today, but it wasn't anything serious. I was reading the TAL threads thinking there may be some rules with oils that I wasn't aware of, but from what I gleaned there weren't -- it's respecting the spirit in which oils are created, and belief in thought, and how there isn't good or evil power, it's simply perspective. So I got a round votive candleholder in blue glass, one of my favorites. I filled it with coarse salt, because I wanted to anchor a thin candle and it felt natural. I coated a green candle with patchouly oil (that's how it's spelled on the vial) and thought about how grateful I am that finances are going well -- we both have full-time jobs, the house isn't falling apart, our cars aren't asploding -- and put the candle in the salt. After it was lit, I put it on top of the checkbook and stood for a minute, just listening to the house hum around me. There's so much I want to do with the house, but I need patience to have the money to do it. That was it! The rest of the day was OK; I'm still breaking out in rashes from my BPAL applications, which is pissing me off, but I feel good about us and our personal situation. We'll see!

April 25, 2006

Of bubble baths and spiders

Do you like bubble baths? I luuuurve bubble baths. And I am a damn picky bitch about my bubble bath. I used to like the Kiss My Face Peaceful Patchouli bubble bath, but they changed the formula and the bubbles leave much to be desired. I went to Victoria's Secret last week (big shock there...) and got some of their bubble bath, and it's not bad. I got the Strawberries and Champagne scent, which is rather unlike me, but that scent combo has prurient associations (in my head only, not based on any actual experience) and I couldn't resist. I actually enjoy the V'Tae bath salts in the Sacred Fire scent. That is a really, really sexy scent that is also very comforting. Their verbiage on the package always gets me -- "Anoint. Intoxicate. Enchant. Goddess. Ritual. Magic." Ah, it evokes a web-spinner to me. I just wish they made it in a bubble bath. And I am a bit of a web-spinner. I don't mind spiders one little bit. I don't pick them up and play with them, but I tend to give them their space and I never want to hurt them. I once got rather upset with a secretary in my office who recounted screaming and running around her kitchen at the sight of a spider before beating it to death with a broom so hard that her kids couldn't even find the carcass when she was finished. The story kind of gave me a pain through the heart. I know we all have our phobias, but holy crap, show some restraint. Now how the hell did I get here from where I started, on bubble baths? Well let me tell you, if there's a spider in my tub and I want to take a bath, I get a magazine and respectfully move it to a secluded corner of the bathroom. They aren't stupid -- they'll stay away from hot water and bubbles. Off to my ritual and magic in bubbleland...

septima_pica's smellyblog

April 25, 2006

wendymehndi's BPAL Blog

WishList

My "I wanna try these they sound so Magically Deeelicious!" List DRAGON MOON dragon’s blood resin, tea leaf, bamboo reed, sandalwood and cherry blossom. Sleepy Moon black opium poppy, bamboo pulp, ylang ylang, lavender, chamomile and white sandalwood. Hecate Magnificent three-faced Goddess of Magic, the Dark Moon and the Crossroads. She is the Mother of Witches, and the midnight baying of hounds is her paean. Her compassion is evidenced in her role as Psychopomp for Persephone, and her wrath manifests as Medea's revenge. Deep, buttery almond layered over myrrh and dark musk. Fée A buoyant, dulcet blend of vanilla, sunflower, carnation, honeydew, peach blossom, lychee, oakmoss and white tea Tushnamatay From the Bewitching Brews collection: Pure internal harmony and spiritual bliss: the perfected meditation blend.

wendymehndi

April 25, 2006

Things to swap away.

(as of 7/17/08) Italics=swap pending BOTTLES IMPS GC: Against Idleness and Mischief Aug-09 Anathema Apr-09 Bewitched ? (taped) Black Dahlia Oct-08 Black Rose Mar-10 Blood Amber Jan-09 Blood Rose Apr-09 Bruised Violet Compound ? Catherine Oct-08 Djinn Jan-09 Dragon's Reverie Jun-09 Eos Jul-08 Erato ? Event Horizon May-09 Grand Guignol Oct-09 Hermia Jul-08 Horreur Sympathique ? Kali ? (rolled and taped) King of Hearts ? La Bella Donna Della Mia Mente Jun-08 La Belle Dame Sans Merci Jun-09 Lucy's Kiss Jul-08 Lucy's Kiss May-09 Marie Jun-09 The Miller's Daughter Mar-10 Miskatonic University ? Oberon Jan-09 Othello May-09 Othello ? Phantom ? Phantom Queen Jun-08 The Pool of Tears Mar-10 Queen Gertrude Mar-10 Rosalind Jul-08 Seraglio ? Sheol Aug-09 Suspiro May-09 The Unicorn Oct-08 Tweedledum Nov-08 Villain Jan-09 Viola Mar-10 Wings of Azrael Apr-09 LE: Faunalia Dec-09 Gacela of the Dark Death Dec-09 Old Man Ackerman's Instructional Toys Dec-09 Yule Cat Dec-09 NON-BPAL Violette Market: Cathedral Sep-09 Violette Market: Scottie's Blend Sep-09 Goth Rosary: Black Wings ? I can decant from the following: (no decants right now, I'm out of empties) Absinthe Anubis Athens Bess Death Cap Death of the Gravedigger (swap for Salon scents only please) Gaueko Laudanum Nyarlathotep Perversion Whitechapel

septima_pica

April 25, 2006

littletingoddess' Blog

warm fuzzy kitty cat love

It is so beautiful outside tonight that I took my daughter to play at the school playground 3 houses away from our house. Echo, our cat, who is indoor/outdoor, followed us there. He was so cute, prancing along next to us. I sat on the bench while she played on the monkey bars, and he just wandered around, never venturing very far away. She then wanted to go to the other side of the school, where there is another playground. Echo stayed behind, meowing plaintively, but I know he knows the way home, so I wasn't concerned. She played for about 15 minutes, then we came back to the first side..... guess who was still there. And of course came prancing right up. He sat on the bench with me for another 15 minutes, as I watched my daughter play, then followed us back home. He just seemed so uncatlike, almost as if we had brought a *gasp* dog along! He is now inside, next to my desk, completely stretched out and fast asleep.

littletingoddess

April 24, 2006

This Old Snark

Soul/Stale Mate

Antimony ruminates on the Lloyd Dobbler/Diane Court dichotomy of soul mating. Snarky has to admit, should the world of couples fall into the strict either/or of Lloyd or Diane archetypes: she aspires to Dianeness (Dianeity?), but is most likely the Lloyd in her relationship with The Mister. Sure, Snarky is the rightful egghead of the two. Her nerdiness and geekiness are such to elicit hybrid words like gnerd or possibly nee(k) (an homage to Monty Python, which adds a flavor of Dork to the mix as well). Heck, she even started making notes in dictionaries (her own copies, of course), she was crushing on Diane that hard. But her yearning for The Mister, even now almost six years into their marriage, is all Lloyd. She feels she needs to be a better woman to be with him. He makes her want to succeed at things she's barely even dreamed about. He didn't take her across the pond, but they did end up on the other side of the country to follow his career. (OK, and it was separate flights so no hand/breath holding, "waiting for the 'ding'" moment for the Snarks.) (Which seriously? Next to the "holding up the boombox" moment? One of Snarky's favorites.) Currently The Mister has a slight advantage to Snarky on bread winning. Very slight. The care and feeding of the home fires is done jointly (though the laundry-and-dishes part of the kindling often gets neglected). Snarky has taken the reins of the check book and manages most of the financial matters of the house, though The Mister does his Annual Duty of Using His Accounting Degree Once a Year for Taxes. All in all, Snarky has to say her relationship with The Mister falls into a more stereotypical, "traditional" one (man provide, woman manage)... with leanings toward scale-like equilibrium rather than yin-yang parity. She is thinking about taking up kickboxing. Today Snarky is nekkid! Well, in the ol factory sense anyway.

darkitysnark

April 24, 2006

Cake or Death?

A mostly-recovering drama groupie says what?

Reeking of: Dragon's Milk. Ugh, I'm such a drama groupie. Months after the fact, I'll go sifting through threads, digging up old drama to read through all over. Thing is, the stuff usually amuses me — not to the point of joining a comm like fandom_wank, mind, but it does tickle me in a sick kind of way. I say "usually," because it doesn't here. I hate wank here. I want everyone here to get along and sing cheesy songs (just not that one about rowing a boat ashore!) and make pretty necklaces out of flowers while sitting in a huge circle. (heh.) On other Forums, I'm more of a lurker. I'm more... removed from it all than I am here. Not that I'm an especially-noticed member 'round here (heh, hardly), or that I'm among the most active, but still, I'm more active here than in any other fandom/community I haunt ("haunt" is also a perfect word for what I do on other Forums). Besides that, Beth (and Ted et al) is/are far more involved with their customers/fans/love-monkeys than any other... *what's the word? Subject of Fandom? Something along those lines* I've encountered. I mostly frequent Forums devoted to... things. Lush-type forums. I guess it's a "More involved + Cooler/More Involved *whatever that word is!* = Not so amused by the snark and drama between forumites/thrown at *that damn word again!*" sort of thing. Plus, Beth is freakin' awesome, so it's not the same when wank's directed at her here than it is when people go on tangents about how much **** sucks and that ****'s owner needs to get a life/die/whatever. Kind of like the difference between someone berating your first cousin and the 38747276546th cousin you know about, but have never met/seen/spoke to/etc. This all probably ties into my "Why we're not part of some perfume-related cult" rant from the Confessional thread. Same thing, really, just not in the very same vein. I don't know. It's early, and this whole post-o'-pointlessness started when I started sniffing through old threads on another Forum and found a sticky pile of wank. I should either sleep, or go back to reading some of the (relatively) better smut over at RestrictedSection.org. Luuuucius.

Aredhel

April 24, 2006

Am I old?

Currently listening to: "This Side" by Nickel Creek -- I this CD Currently smelling like: Port-au-Prince, then Montresor My unofficial goal with this blog was to go 1 full month of entries, and I couldn't even accomplish that -- I created an entry yesterday, but deleted it as so craptacular I couldn't post it, lots of familial complaining. So what's happened since then? Yesterday: my Mom turned 60! I can't believe it. That sounded so old when I was growing up. DH even said, "Your mom is 60? She doesn't look it." She doesn't act it either. That's my goal: to not act my age. My mom has so many hobbies and interests, plus she and dad own their own business, they're busy and interesting. I admire their lives and want to be more like them in that aspect. Today: we probably spent too much at Home Depot, but I told DH as we got in the car, "I like going into those stores, I just wish we had the money to do what we wanted." It was outside stuff, topsoil and grass seed and stain and waterproofing for a little wooden bridge. Then we went to a pub and drank beer and I had the best baja spicy shrimp tacos EVER and then came home and watched Sopranos. Oh, and both the Suns and Mavericks won their playoff games, so DH is happy.

April 24, 2006

Damn the torpedoes

Do you ever have one of those spells in your life, where you'd just like to put the universe on notice that he/she/it can stop tossing grenades in your path? That maybe you're just tired of dodging explosions in the road, and a bit o' smooth sailing might be a lovely change? Just long enough to have a little time to get some things figured out? I think some people are given a life of more combustables than others. And my life, for the last year, has been a series of big-ass explosions and smaller rumblings, more akin to a volcano getting ready to blow. I'm getting weary of it. Maybe if I could be a little more clueless, everything wouldn't seem so acute to me, but who wants to be clueless? Sometimes I think those of us who are rather gothic in our outlook are simply the people who just can't stop paying attention long enough to get clueless. Not that I can't be clueless about many things, but they usually aren't important enough to tranqulize me to what's going on. But I suppose to be awake to the difficulty of life is also to be awake to the gorgeousness of life, so why be a whiny-pants about it?

Filling the Periodic Table

April 23, 2006

Whiskers and Whispers

Freedom is over...and French Enraged Bunnies!

Currently smelling of: Bess (first time testing), and the Lion (smells of sugared amber iced tea!) I just have to show this little flash off: hmm, Enraged Bunny Musk, anyone? Holidays are now finished...as intensive studies season begins. Coursework and exams! I'm back on campus and a little bit homesick, though not too much. I have my BPAL to console me, thank goodness. The stupid boys have returned and invited their girls in, but they've been pretty quiet so far. I'll see what happens as the night progresses. It'll be nice to see my friends again tomorrow, but also annoying to get back to studies and loads of coursework. I have maths coursework due in on Tuesday and as usual, I'm procrastinating again! Must get back to work...

yeahbutnobut

April 23, 2006

Who isn't in love with Lloyd Dobbler?

I watched "Say Anything" again tonight. (for like the 1000th time) I don't want to sell anything, buy anything, or process anything as a career. I don't want to sell anything bought or processed, or buy anything sold or processed, or process anything sold, bought, or processed, or repair anything sold, bought, or processed. You know, as a career, I don't want to do that. I'm a brain. Unfortunately, *not* trapped in the body of a game show hostess. My boyfriend basically shares Lloyd's worldview. He's not into the whole buy/sell/process worldview. He doen't have a degree, and although he has a good job in computers, I don't think he's figured out what he wants to do when he grows up. Plenty of aquaintances have questioned what the hell the two of us are doing together. He makes me laugh. He's sweet to me. He's the kind of guy who would point out glass for me walk around. I spent about 11 or 12 hours studying today. He brought me a warm lunch, and warm dinner. He's been cleaning the apartment. He makes the whole house run while I focus on my studying. --- I was discussing relationships with other actuaries at a seminar a couple of weeks ago... And we all realized that of the sucessful corporate high-ups we knew, most of them did not have high-powered spouses. Even the female partners at the consulting firm I used to work for, their husbands were artists, caterers, one owned a fly-fishing shop... All good careers, but not corporate. And the men too, their wives didn't work, or also had similar non-corporate careers. I think there's a lot of value in having both people in the relationship working in fields with very different challenges and very different definitions of success. I think it makes it easier. You get stressed over different things, and not always at the same time, kind of makes it easier to be there for each other. That, and for people in very time-consuming or high-stress careers, I don't think there's anything wrong with wanting to be with someone who is more home-oriented than career oriented. I don't think it's a gender role thing, after all, I'm the one working all the time, and who spent the first couple of years as the primary income in our household. But, you know, *someone* needs to keep the home fires burning.

antimony

April 23, 2006

Whiskers and Whispers

Weird 'rainbows' and end of holiday moanings.

Currently smelling of: Eclipse (delicious cinnamon-heavy bottle, mmm), and will smell like Bathed and Infused Italian Wedding Cake after my bath. I saw something weird in the sky today. It looked like a little piece of rainbow-but it wasn't raining-it was a sunny, hazy day. And rainbows usually form in the part of the sky opposite the sun, usually against the raincloud. This 'fragment of rainbow' was actually in the haze just to the left of the sun, and just stayed there for about 20 minutes and at times it was quite bright, it looked almost like a muted, colourful, second sun, whilst at other times it looked like a faint fragment of rainbow. It was a beautiful but strange phenomenon-I have no idea what it is and what caused it though-I'm guessing it's the same mechanism that causes rainbows but normally hazy clouds don't go all rainbow-y! I just wish I had a camera at the time... I really am going to miss living at home. No more of my mum's lovely cooking. No more peace and quiet. No more lovely smells. I have to go back to my little room where I have to put up with constant NOISE from the boys-be it extreme bass from their awful hip hop/RnB music (the bass is so high, it's almost tremor-inducing!), having to hear them vomit every morning because they drank too much, hearing them chat loudly and drunkenly in the corridors at 4am, and hearing the guy opposite making his girlfriends scream with the door ajar (I really hope the screaming isn't what I think it is!!) so everyone can hear how much of a ladies' man he is, and the early morning prank fire alarms set off by the drunk boys. I also have to put up with the messiest, greasiest kitchen ever, and the stink of those awful chicken nuggets and fried sausages and George Foreman grilled burgers, and the sheer stupidity (and the smell!) of the boys in my flat-they seem to have evolutionarily reversed back to their ape stage. Their girlfriends are not much better, yapping like deranged chihuahuas at 3am every morning. And the boys smoke weed despite the uber-strict no smoking rule for our halls (so strict, that no candles or incense is allowed in the rooms!) and the stink of the stuff seeps into my room all the time... But another thing I'm not looking forward to is exams. Loads of exams and tons of coursework. I'm struggling with the maths coursework already, it's giving me real grief! And I have to do physics coursework as well, three lots of it, including one about quantum physics, which is very fascinating, but the maths behind it brain-meltingly difficult! Stuff about one-dimensional boxes and semi-infinite wells and so on...oh, my poor head... I'm hoping to come back next weekend-to a nice new bottle of UNDERPANTS!!! I am really looking forward to trying these pants on, seriously. And the Raging Rabbit too!

yeahbutnobut

April 22, 2006

Unsophisticated

I realize I'm unsophisticated. To some people I'm probably pretty tacky. I'd rather hang out in a bar eating something fried out of a basket and drinking a beer than somewhere fancy and expensive and all dressed up. Our home furnishings range from "comfy" to "odd." Some pictures on the wall are posters in cheap frames. I don't travel to exotic places, and really don't want to. We got married in Vegas, and my dress cost $100 online. But I work full time. Everything we have we've paid for -- we didn't get help with the house, or the cars, or have a bunch of money placed in our bank account. I have a college degree, but went to an inexpensive school and got a 4-year scholarship. I have extended family members who have a lot of money, and they live nearby. They probably feel obligated to invite us to family functions. They like talking about their vacations and how much their house is worth. Their kids go to the privatest of schools and are thought to be perfect in every way. I'm tired of pretending I like them. And I'm not going to do it anymore.

April 22, 2006

Denise's Cool Blog

more more MORE!

edit! More at 10:30pm... can you tell I'm bored?

eviltemptressdq

April 22, 2006

Denise's Cool Blog

Icons...Icons...Icons...

*made 7pm* More (by order of my Enabler):

eviltemptressdq

April 21, 2006

Hey Jack Kerouac, Part II

Really, Jack Kerouac was once so amazing, and I would have shamelessly chased him around when he was young and beautiful and angsty and idealistic, before he became a totally gone alcoholic former hipster angrily spewing forth bloated hateful bile in his overly dominant mother's home in Florida, renouncing all of his hepcat Zen ways and pushing away everyone who had adored him. (That was a poor attempt to write just a bit like him.) So let's just look at him when he was so fine:

April 21, 2006

This Old Snark

Aging Geeksters Unite!

Oh man, the Thomas Dolby concert was AWESOME. Even if "She Blinded Me with Science" is the only song you know, Snarky highly recommends this! There won't be any body slamming or sweaty zeitgeist communion, but there will be a definite bond of geekitude, nostalgia, and just "ain't it cool" gee-whizzedness. And now Snarky has this song stuck in her head: "One of Our Submarines" One of our submarines is missing tonight Seems she ran aground on manoeuvres One of our submarines A hungry heart To regulate their breathing One more night the Winter Boys are freezing in their spam time The Baltic moon Along the northern seaboard And down below The Winter Boys are waiting for the storm Bye-bye empire, empire bye-bye Shallow water - channel and tide And I can trace my history Down one generation to my home In one of our submarines One of our submarines The red light flicker, sonar weak Air valves hissing open Half her pressure blown away Flounder in the ocean See the Winter Boys Drinking heavy water from a stone Bye-bye empire, empire bye-bye Shallow water - channel and tide Bye-bye empire, empire bye-bye Tired illusion drown in the night And I can trace my history Down one generation to my home In one of our submarines One of our submarines One of our submarines One of our submarines is missing tonight Seems she ran aground on manoeuveres One of our submarines Today Snarky's wearing what's left of her Tombstone/Sweet Cove SN combo from last night and the zesty fragrance of Pangea Organics Chilean red clover with geranium & grapefruit lotion (she got a free sample).

darkitysnark

April 21, 2006

Denise's Cool Blog

I've succumbed to temptation...

and ordered some more imps from a forum member! I'm hoping they don't take too long to get to me, so that I'll have something to discuss on here "for real", soon. Here is what I am getting: belladonna delirium juliet la belle au bois dormant lolita undertow and the bonus of "embalming fluid", which I asked about and she had! Thanks for the suggestion! Of course Katie just pointed out to me that I already ordered Juliet. *sigh* I'm just such a ditz... I'm lucky it was only 1 repeat! It is just insane that with the zillions of flavours, I still managed to repeat one. I have the cool spreadsheet, but no Excel at home! And, honestly, I swore I even double checked. LOL. I also decided to make some icons for what I have ordered (didn't finish yet), but I'm not sure anyone liked them :-X I posted them, and everyone sort of ignored it. Oops. I guess I suck! LOL. Here is what I made so far: If you happen to like them, feel free to use them! No need to credit... but please save them to your own computer (no hotlinking). Yay!

eviltemptressdq

April 21, 2006

Hey! Watch it! shakes fist

One guy from work flew into town tonight for a meeting tomorrow, and DH and I were going to take him to dinner. We're driving to his hotel and almost got run off the road! Why is it instinct with some people that when there are 2 lanes going in one direction with no turn bays, and someone's stopped to try to make a left turn, the person behind them simply veers into the right lane? It's like the tradeoff between waiting behind someone and causing an accident is a toss-up. So we're in the right lane and luckily DH swerved in time, was able to hop the curb, not hit the electric pole and pull into a Brothers Chicken parking lot. The other car slowed down, some guy in the passenger seat half-assed waved to us, like "sorry you almost wrecked your car," then pulled away. DH was so mad, and we didn't even know if our car was damaged at that point, that he took off running down the street waving after the car. I in the meantime was writing down the license number, but after I hopped out of the car I checked the front and everything looked fine. One guy came out of the restaurant making sure the car wasn't hit. He saw DH take off down the street and said, "Damn! He's mad!" Hee! Anyway, I didn't want to go on about bad drivers. We had a great dinner and I pick him up first thing tomorrow to go to the meeting. So tomorrow will be a beating, then it's the weekend! *boogies in my chair* And my rash went away, so I'm trying to wear my BPAL smellies without being all itchy! I'm wearing Pink Phoenix and I smell goooood.

April 21, 2006

Hey Jack Kerouac

The domme of this blog spends way too much time trying to figure out why certain things happen. Way, way too much time, but she thinks she can somehow divine the workings of the universe. What bullshit! Sometimes it's very liberating to say "I don't know," and when one of the last living members of the Beat Generation and Zen wise man Gary Snyder tells you so, you might as well listen. Here's his quote: "I must confess that I don't have the faintest idea what my purpose is or what's going on. I became comfortable with that mystery a long time ago -- that I would never know how any of these things fit together in any explicit way." Yuppers, ya just have to roll with it sometimes. Actually, all of the time would be a good idea, but if I can do it just some of the time, I'm doing real well. And speaking of the Beats, was Jack Kerouac a babe or what?