Last night we had our "Animal Blessings" Ritual and Supper...it was basically an evening to thank all of the animals in our life...including those that provide us with food...and to remember those beloved furbabies that we've lost. It was pretty sad actually, because, one of our kittens had just died yesterday morning. We said good-bye to her and had her funeral *sigh*. Bri has promised that when we get our tax return that EVERY ONE of our pets will be fixed...most of them already are, but, a few that are in the house aren't...and they escape...then a few months later...HELLO - new kittens! I think that we've finally gotten all of their little escape routes repaired so that they can't get out anymore...having kitties die is just too depressing for us all. Tonight is, of course, Samhain and we are all looking forward to it...I love to get dressed up with the girls and lighting all of our candles and stuff. Even though I did have to pick up the decorations  that we had decorated our altar with this last night, this morning...it's as if the cats knew it was their day and they took it upon themselves to have their own type of 'crazy fun and festivities' ... I'm just glad that nothing was broken (yet) - lol! I still have to make Bri's bread pudding and get the kitchen cleaned up. We've put pictures, of those we wish to remember and show our love to, upon our altar and I will tell the girls about my memories of them to help bring them closer to their ancestors. The girls went through our picture box and found all of the pics of Kitties that we've lost...then they stuck them up on our bay window that's behind the altar...they also cut out oak leaves and decorated them - then included the names of those pets that we didn't have pictures of...I can't BELIEVE how many there have been...OK - I'm rambling now...lol. I have lots to do still...so I need to get my bum to work. I hope that everyone has a great evening (don't make yourself sick 'testing' all of your kids candy - LMAO)...Tonights ritual will be a little longer than last nights, but I don't think the girls will mind, they really enjoy participating. Anyway, I love you lots and many Blessings! MWAH!

~Hannah~

"All Hallows Meet" 

Oh, wild lonely places of sweet dread delight That call to my Children on Halloween night In whispering wind wisps and whipporwill plight Tickling the treetops where moonbeams alight. Come hither, ye Witches, on silver light fly! Don't dawdle, don't saunter, don't idly stroll by! Lift your skirts as seer gusts catch the leaves dead and dry Rise up with the wind soaring hasty on high! Ride ye thus to the hollow in the wood dark and deep Where all merry parted shall now merry meet. At the time 'twas appointed that time shall ye keep To honor me, hail me in great esbat fete. When the moon sailing bright in the dark midnight blue Casts her spell on the landscape, reversing each hue, And the scent of the night gives the magickal clue To the circle make haste, give Hecate her due! Dance wild, draw the power and shape in a cone, Till the power is thine and the will is thine own Then hurl't to the wind that thy purpose be flown And thy wish shall I grant on the Night of the Crone. One and all then come hither and join the great feast Where within all are welcome: Spirit, Human, and Beast. Give hail and farewell to the souls since deceased Then wend thy way home 'fore the Sun tints the East. But remember, my Children, remember quite clear The sound of my voice ringing high in your ear. 'Tis my summoning call in the owl's hoot you hear To meet merry again on All Hallow's next year.

Yes, that's a strange title....but, I'm telling you....for SOME reason my home has become over run by FLIES!! I do realize that it's the changing of the season and that all of the Mother's creatures wish to extend their lives and to find a warm, dry place to do so...but, I've never seen so many in my life...not in my house anyway. I take the trash out everyday, I scoop litter....on and on....but, everyday I wake up and there are MORE *sigh*!  My cats are also all going crazy...it's as if they are having one big crazy party and they enjoy racing through the house bouncing off of the walls (literally)...knocking anything and everything off of the cabinets and onto the floors...dumping my plants....even breaking dishes!!!! OMGODDESS...even if the kids were home all day I don't think that they could make such a huge mess. Autumn is my favorite season and Samhain has always been my most favorite sabbat....and, it seems that the cats are getting into the spirit this year too...lol!  I haven't felt well for quite some time now, and I'm sorry for the absense...I've finally been able to make a dental appointment and, as of Friday, this horrible aching in my mouth will be GONE for good...I'm literally excited about it and I can say that dental work is one of my very LEAST enjoyable things. I've lost LOTS of weight and that's a great thing for me....it's so strange that the meds that I was on could cause so much turmoil in my body. I think it's been 122 days (or something like that) since I've been off of them and I'm down from a size 22 jeans to a size 14...it's DRAMATIC I know, but I haven't changed my eating habits one bit (the tooth pain is bad but, it hasn't kept me from eating enough to sustain my body). A few years ago when the weight started piling on I looked at my doc and told her that I didn't know what to do...she simply said that I wasn't trying hard enough to lose the weight and that it wasn't totally the fault of the med's...ummmm...WRONG!  I plan to go in to see her soon and let her see exactly what those meds did do to my body for herself...the weight has literally melted off of me as soon as I was weaned off of the pills. I AM NOT saying that you should quit your med's just to lose weight though, please don't get me wrong.  But I am saying that, for me, I found other ways to control my symptoms. Plus, I will be seeing a new doc next month and he thinks that I may not be bipolar but be suffering from Post traumatic stress disorder - an ER doc prescribed Klonopin for me and that is the one med that has helped me the most EVER - and I only need it when I feel a panic attack coming on. We will see though, I have to have blood tests done to check my liver and kidneys, as well as, have my blood sugar tested...I'm hoping that, since I'm losing the weight, my health will improve greatly. I haven't had many FM (fibromyalgia) flareups lately and that's a great relief - they are still there - just not as painful. Anyway, I'm blabbing on and I'm supposed to be preparing some crafty stuff for the girls to do after school...we want to fix the place up really nice for Samhain. I've also been reading them one new story pertaining to Samhain each night before bed and they've really enjoyed that alot.

I'm off for now...Blessings to you all and much love! I'll try not to be such a stranger! MWAH!

~Hannah~

P.S. I nearly forgot....my mum in law, Sue, has lost 30 pounds since her gastric bypass surgery and she is doing very well...I can't wait to see her next time...maybe we'll both have to do a little shopping! x0x

^^^Mum (Sue) and Dad (Brian) - We miss them LOTS!

First of all, I've been having probs with my server and it's about to drive me nuts...I'll have to add more photos another day...*sigh*.... I haven't felt very well, physically OR mentally (emotionally) since we've returned from England...I think it's alot more than jet lag...today I have a major migraine and a toothache. Plus, I just miss everyone so much...even the air here at home makes me feel 'ick'.  The good thing is that Bri and I have found out that it's not going to be as hard as we had thought for us to move to England...YAYYYY!  It will take at least a year to prepare and save money...and for Bri to get his old job back (at his old company in England - American Airlines)...everyone seems to think that he'll definately be able to. This has excited us LOTS...but, I'm just feeling very ill and emotionally drained. Bri's mum, Sue, went into surgery yesterday for her gastric bypass...we were really worried about her and wanted to be there for her...but, we've been told that she went through it with no major complications. *thanks Goddess*  There are some ppl who get that surgery that don't really need it...but her doc said that it was important for her too...she's already had multiple knee and back surgeries so, she should feel like a new woman soon. We haven't told her about the news regarding our sooner than expected move to England...she'll be SOOOOO happy. Well, I'm off of here for the moment....I have to get rid of this head and toothache.  Take care everyone...I hope to talk more soon! Blessings & Love - x0x0x

England was fabulous and I'm hoping that my pics will be developed by Monday so that I can put them on here...we didn't take a digital cam and decided to use disposable cams so, I have to wait to have them processed and then scan them...anyway...I have lots to write about but for now, I'm going to talk about the trip home...basically...IT SUCKED!!!! I'm sure that it could have been much worse and I thank the Goddess that we arrived in one piece...that's what's most important afterall. The trip going from Chicago to England only took 6 hours...we had very bad turbulence but at least it was a fairly short trip...on the way home was a VERY different story. It took us nearly 9 hours to return back to Chicago and by the time we arrived we had missed our flight to Tulsa...so...we had to stay in Chicago overnight because the next flight to Tulsa wasn't until Friday at 8:05 a.m....the airline did provide us with a room and food vouchers but, the motel we stayed in was one of the most expensive EVER...we spent $9.95 on a pack of smokes and after deciding to stop at the lounge for a few beers that were $6 for a draw...I promptly told the waitress to forget it I was going to BED...lol! The food voucher really only paid for Bri's meal because the food prices were OUTRAGEOUS. Yes, we still had money left but, after spending bascially those same prices in England all week (which is normal...the dollar doesn't get you much after you exchange it to pounds) I had had ENOUGH. We get to the airport at 6 a.m. the next morning and board our final flight right on time...thank goodness! But when we get to Tulsa I call my mom to see if she can pick us up and save some money...we initially had planned to take the Greyhound home because we would have been traveling from 2:30 a.m. to 4:30 a.m. and mom had the girls so she couldn't exactly leave them home alone...BUT...by this time the girls were in school and we would have plenty of time to get back before they were let out...OF COURSE SHE SAYS NOOOOOOO! So we wait in Tulsa for 3 hours...spend $30 on a taxi cab to the Greyhound Depot...buy our tickets ($70.00)...and FINALLY arrive home at 4:30 p.m. (12 hours later than planned). If my mom would have picked us up we would have been home by 1 p.m. - it's only a 1.5 hour drive! We were exhausted, but very happy to see the kids, we gave them their gifts and then started on the house cleaning...and TRUST ME it was a MESS! Now we are both jet lagged and I actually woke up at around 4 a.m. this morning and found myself completely lost...I was still thinking that I was in England and I walked through the house confused until I finally remembered that I was HOME...lol@me! Other than the travel problems the trip was great...we had a blast and I can't wait to go back. We are hoping to take the girls and go around this time next year - I do know that we can't wait another 4 years to visit - that's just too long to go without seeing your loved ones. We are also doing alot more research to find out exactly what we will need to do in order to move there permanently...Bri needs to be around his family and our girls need to be around them too. They are a wonderful lot of ppl - sure they have probs just like anyone else - but they are all very close and loving. I want to raise the girls in a family like theirs and I know that being around them helps me so much - I've NEVER been part of a loving family and it's really important for Bri, myself and the girls to maintain a strong bond with such amazing ppl. As for Bri, I didn't realize how hard it had truly been on him to be so far away for so long and the happiness that he felt while he was 'home' was contagious...we didn't fight or argue ONCE. When we returned home his attitude seemed to change instantly once we drove into the trailer park....he really does hate it here....I do to, but, I'm willing to stay here long enough to make arrangements and follow through with our future plans to move to the UK. I wrote him a long email last night, just to 'talk' about how he is feeling and why he seems so upset about returning home. Yes, sometimes we have to email one another even though we live in the same home....it's easier for him to communicate that way because when he's feeling stressed and I try to have a serious convo with him we tend to argue instead of communicate effectively....he seems alot better today after reading the email though and I think that our life will definately start moving forward in a much more positive direction.  ANYWAY.... I'm off of here for now, I want things to be ready for tomorrow's Mabon/Equinox feast and I still have lots to do.  I can't wait to see how our photo's turn out and I'll post them ASAP.  Catch you all laters and have a great weekend....MWAH! Love and Hugs and Stuff!

~Hannah~