It's a New Year!

Blessings Darlings!

Yup, a new year.  New chances.  Mostly the same old bills.

Here there has been a change - after months of complications, the Chubby Hubby is now getting Social Security benefits.  He's in his 70's - so since starting it after turning 70 he's getting a monthly deposit that looks HUGE in our eyes.  Between that and my job all of our 'normal' monthly bills will be able to be paid without panic ... for the first time since 1991 (when he left his job with regular paychecks to start his own business.) 

How do I know that we'll be able to pay all regular bills?  Because I made a budget, of course.  We all know that we should know what our monthly regular bills are, but making budgets out of those figures can be scary.  It can show what we're doing wrong (we, for example, are spending WAY too much of our income on rent so CH has space for his business.) 

So, yeah, go forth and see what you spend on stuff last year, so you know at least what minimums you'll be spending this year.

I'm sure that we'll be tweaking this budget.  It doesn't have 'correct' amounts for things like health insurance/meds in it since Bob will be switching to Medicare and paying for that and some of the additional plans for that, and our higher income has me no longer eligible for Medicaid so I'll be paying health insurance and higher medicine and doctor visit copays.

Still, it's a start.

The current budget doesn't have room for savings, tho', and we need to get that in order.  At one point last month our savings account had only $38 in it!  Remember - that's the account that would also be  bail money for some of you who read this regularly, so some of y'all have a vested interest in us having cash in that account!

So our cheapness .... uh ... frugality is going to continue, along with refining what we really spend. 

And, seriously - why is propane still so expensive now that oil prices have dropped?  We finally we able to get the propane tank filled today, and it's going to cost around $950!  What's up with that?

At any rate, this is what we're starting our year with.

Frondly, Fern.

Cold Season is Coming.

Blessings Darlings!

Every now and then, many of us get a few extra dollars.  Sometimes those extra dollars don't need to spent on immediate necessities like rent or this weeks food.  It's mighty handy to have a 'wish list' in advance for such times.

I'm at one of those times right now.  We finally got our tax refund (LONG story there!).  So, noting that it's now November, I took a look at my wish lists.  Winter is rapidly coming.  There are things that will happen this winter.  Someone here will get a cold, for example.  It could even be me!  Checking the expiration dates on our over the counter cold meds and replacing them would be a good idea.  Because especially if I'm sick - the last thing I need is to try to explain to the Chubby Hubby or the Spawn is what meds I can and can't take.

ALL the damn meds for colds, allergies, etc were out of date.  The burn relief spray was 5 years out of date.  Welp, that told me what list I was taking to the store with me.   We're now covered for most meds (two I'll try to grab when they goes on sale).  I also stocked up on canned stew.  Not only is it one of our go-to foods when folks have colds here (that and soup, but I had cans of that already), but it was on a GREAT sale ... and when I picked up the first can I saw that they had $1 off coupons on each of them!  Happy Fern was Happier. 

I'm also happy that facial tissue doesn't have an expiration date. 

Freeze Warning!

Blessings Darlings!

There's a freeze warning for my area tonight.  This is VERY early for our area.  We've not even had a frost yet - my basil is still very happily growing.

Since my UPG is that Samhain is 3 days after the first freeze ... it looks as if Samhain will be very early this year.

I'm now in a hot sweat over the last of the garden.  All crops not harvested by Samhain are left for the Pooka, so getting them in is now or never.  Harvest today - process like a fiend for the next 3 days.  Then Samhain with the ancestors. 

This is why I tend to start working with the ancestors Oct 1.  All 'issues' between us get cleared up, they get offerings and I start to listen to them even more closely. This way, when ever Samhain shows up - the spiritual work is well under way.

How are your Samhain spiritual preps going?  I see lots of folks posting in Pagan groups about how they are decorating for Halloween - but not many posts about them prepping for their ancestors dropping in.

Frondly, Fern

Black Walnuts

Been spending most my life

livin' in a prepper paradise ...

So - today's cheap preps was day 1 of going out to collect black walnuts. Lesson already learned: smaller bucket or fill it less full. I DID remember to grab a bucket with a handle, but it was a 5 gallon bucket. And I filled it. And it was heavy. And I was on foot.

Of course - most of these have their green/black covering on over the shell of the nut. So this isn't going to produce that much actual usable black walnut meat. OTOH, it's free and they have SUCH rich flavor - and buying them, even in bulk, would be about $15 a pound plus shipping.

These are NOT your tame English walnuts. I'll have to drive the car over them to de-hull them, then dry them, then use a vise to crack them so I can get to the meat.

FWIW - this is sort of why Black Walnuts can be used to break from the past.  They also are useful for dyes and the roots are great for protection/warding.

Over the next week or two I plan to collect a lot more. But for today - it's on to water rotation (we are not on city water. If power goes out our well pump stops. When you live like this - you store water because storms can take out power.)

I might just take some Motrin (okay, the generic version) and have a cup of tea first.

That Blessed To-Do List.

Blessings Darlings!

My ambitions tend to outrace my grasp - which means that my To Do list is really, really, REALLY long.  So much to do!  So little time to do it in!

Today I got several unexpected free hours, courtesy of hurricane Florence.  Because I have the To Do list - and keep it prioritized - I checked my list and decided to catch up on the dishes then do a blog post or two. Wonderful uses of some 'found time'.  Without the To Do list, I'd have had to dither about what I should do with those hours.  Instead, I could IMMEDIATELY get to work.  Thus, the To Do list existing at all increases my productivity.

But ... literally the moment I stood up to go to the kitchen ... power went out.  Our water is from a well.  No power = no dishwashing (or flushing toilets, or washing kitchen floors, etc).  Doing any research online for one of the blog posts was also out of the question.  Writing the blog posts on the computer was iffy - how long would my computer battery hold out for that?

So, back to the To Do list (which I don't keep on the computer, it's in my daily planner.)  What chore that takes no power is the highest priority?  Dusting, then straightening the living room.  AND doing them would take about as long as the dishes would.  A great substitution!  So I did those tasks, then sat down and wrote this by with pen on paper.  Again - having the To Do list made life more efficient and increased my flexibility when power being out threw me a curve ball.

Heck - back in the day, when I was having a problem with insomnia, I had an entire To Do list made up of things to accomplish if I was up between 3 and 5 in the morning.  It didn't help me sleep, but at least I didn't have the added stress of feeling that I had 'wasted' that time.  

Make your To Do list.  Use your To Do list.  Get your goals done.  Or at least more of them.

Frondly, Fern

Omen Or No Omen.

Blessings, Darlings!

Dear Gods, I just tried 'reading' the same of a murmeration of birds as an omen.  Not that I had just asked a question or had an issue that I needed guidance on in my mind.  Hey, it looks like boobies!  That, and the cow that was nursing, must mean that everything is tits!  And tits are great!  So everything is great!

Well ... that's not quite how omens work.

While omens can come in myriad forms ... there are some constraints on what constitutes one.

One vital constraint is setting.  If you haven't just asked a question or have an issue preoccupying you - then whatever you see is probably not an omen.  Most stuff is just the world doing its thing.  Cows with calves nurse their calves.  Murmerations of birds happen when a lawn tractor moves towards where they are feeding.  Snakes - or deer or bunnies or turtles or squirrels or whatever - cross roads.  The beautiful yellow flickers now around the house are here because the thistles have gone to seed and these birds LOVE thistle seeds.  As noted in the Psychopomp blog: it's not all about you.  But if I just asked a question or was pondering an issue - that one of them showed up RIGHT THEN might be an omen/message/whatever.

Another constraint is that you understand it/can interpret it.  A message you can't understand is worthless as an omen (or a message from the Gods.)  If it's a symbol that means nothing to you, then it's extremely unlikely to be an omen.  You shouldn't have to do further research on an omen.   If it's a message from something that comes in Gaelic ... that message isn't going to be something I can use, so isn't what my psyche will have picked up as an omen.  Th FACt that I'm picking up Gaelic MIGHT be.  An omen in Hebrew I'd be able to understand, even if it coming in Hebrew is unlikely to be important.

Sometimes repetition indicates an omen.  That wouldn't be true here about the 'cow nursing', even tho' Hathor and I have somewhat of a relationship - the fields around my house feature at least 25 cows that are still nursing their calves.  Mice in my basement is just an sign that we failed to block all the ways that they have been getting in.  Deer around here tend to eat the same patch of vegetation every day at the same time until they've eaten it all.  Crows are common.  But if I have something on my mind, and while I'm out doing things I repeatedly see murders of crows on the buildings I'm entering that day ... that's a sign.

Go forth and be amazing.

Frondly, Fern

Psychopomps, or "I've Got a Hot Date Tonight"

Blessings Darlings!

A couple of weeks back I blogged about how the air in my land base is full of bats, moths, and butterflies, normal for this time of year.  That said - all these critters are well-known to be  psychopomps, magical critters that help you travel between the worlds.  Clearly, not every moth and butterfly in your area isn't there for your personal spiritual/magical service.  99.9% of them are NOT 'all about you'.  That's true even if your astrological sun sign is Leo.  IJS.

That said - one in 1000 probably IS 'all about you'.  So today as I was sitting outside, having a cigarette and thinking about the post I was planning on creating about psychopomps - getting some serious attention from a gorgeous red spotted blue swallowtail was the equivalent of being asked out on a date to do some traveling with ker tonight.  We chatted so I know what I'm supposed to do to prepare, I left ker an offering (mashed ripe peaches, heavy with juice - I know this species.  Actually if I was giving the offering to a 'normal' member of the species, it would be even better had the fruit been a tad ... uh ... fermented.  They REALLY like that.  But in the case of psychopomps the extra 'spirit' is redundant.)

In many minds, psychopomps are associated only with leading spirits after death.  That's certainly a psychopomp role, but it is far from the only role they take.  They are there at births (often with the Ancestors riding them, as in the case of dragonflies in Japan.)  They are there at soul retrievals.  They can be sent as transportation for your spirit by another spirit that is summoning YOU (which can be a scary thing.)  And they can (as in this case) be a spirit helper to a Practitioner heading to the Otherworlds.

At any rate - I've a date tonight to go soaring off with a Psychopomp.  See you later!

Frondly, Fern