Blog Party Update

Things are coming along nicely with the blog party! I am so excited! We've got some amazing sponsors and wonderful writers for the guest posts. I've still got lots of room for guest posters! Come join the party and Welcome The God this year! You can write about anything; you're favorite God; your garden; favorite memories of Spring; spells, and rituals; and guess what! Our party falls on Ostara! If you would like to write something about Ostara that day is still open! Contact me through my contact page and we'll work out a day for you to be a guest poster! Remember, there will be daily giveaways, daily guest posts, and many surprises! This is the first annual Welcoming The God party and I hope to be able to do this for years to come! I've also still got room for sponsors! This would be a great way to get your name out there! Although the giveaways are only one day I will not be deleting any of the posts so that way there will be an archive to show people what happened this year!

Apollo: God of Music and Poetry

So, I am hosting a blog party called 15 Days of Welcoming The God because I believe we need to honor the coming Spring which symbolizes the rebirth of the God. I'm also doing this because I want to get closer to the male aspect of deity. We focus so much on the Goddess as Pagans that sometimes we neglect the God.

I've always been drawn to the Greek deities, most particularly Aphrodite. I've also felt a certain draw to Apollo as well but I've never done a whole lot of research on him. With the blog party on the way, I thought it would be fitting for me to research him and spend time getting to know him like I did with Aphrodite.

So I would like to share some of what I've learned about Apollo from the small bit of research I have done. I had always known that he was a God of music and poetry, but I didn't know about everything else he is associated with. He is a God of light and the sun; truth and prophecy; medicine, healing, and plague; and of course music, poetry, and the arts. Obviously I have a lot to learn about this fascinating God and I am so glad that I finally decided to answer the call to get closer to this God. I'll share more of what I learn about Apollo in the next couple of days. I'll also share a meditation I like to use when getting to know deities.

The Button For The Blog Party

Okay guys, here's the button, I'm hoping all of my bloggy friends will put this up at their blog and advertise the party. This blog party is about welcoming Spring and the God. Remember this is the time that the God is reborn and I want to welcome him back this year and for many years to come. If you want to participate I need guest posts about anything to do with Spring (spells, memories, your garden, stories about the God, etc.) so contact me through my contact page with your contribution and I'll get a date to you. If you want to sponsor a giveaway please contact me asap so we can work out the details. If you're a sponsor I'm giving you full control of how you want the giveaway ran, basically you can boss me around and I'll gladly do what you ask ;). Let's start organizing this party guys! I think we're going to have so much fun this year!!!



<a href="http://collegewitchexperiences.blogspot.com/search/label/15 Days of Welcoming The God" target="_blank"><img src="http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll81/ahagy20/blogpartybutton.jpg" border="10" /></a><br />

Also, if you are a participant, grab this button:



<a href="http://collegewitchexperiences.blogspot.com/search/label/15 Days of Welcoming The God" target="_blank"><img src="http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll81/ahagy20/partyparticipantbutton.jpg" border="10" /></a><br />

15 Days of Welcoming The God

Okay guys, things have gotten a little humdrum around here and it's time to clear up the energy in my bloggy home as well as the house I live in so I've decided I'm having a blog party! I'm still hammering out the details, and Kristina Hunt of Domesticated Gypsy is helping me out with it. I'm hoping she'll want to do kind of a co-party and help me out with it because I'm not as seasoned at blogging as she is. So I'll let you know the full details and I'll also be providing a button for the blog party as well.

My ideas for this blog party are this: I would like to start on the 15th of March and call it 15 Days of Welcoming The God. I am interested in having guest posts for each day, so if you would like to contribute to that contact me through the contact page and I'll set up a date for you're guest post. I would also like to do a daily giveaway, similar to the way Mrs. B does her 31 Days of Halloween. If you guys are interested in contributing to the giveaways, please let me know. I would like to make this a yearly thing so you will have a chance to contribute next year as well and get your name out there. I will also be more than glad to put up any ad buttons you might have and will gladly display them either at the bottom of the blog or on one of the sidebars.

So that's the idea guys. Please let me know what you think of it! I'm open to everyone's ideas as well so give me your ideas. See a picture you think would make a perfect button for this blog party? Let me know! See someone on Etsy you would like me to contact and see if they would be willing to contribute to the giveaways? Let me know, I'll do my best. Leave comments and contact me through the contact page with all your ideas and/or contributions! Lets go crazy wild with this and have some fun!!!

Friday Confessions: Confession #2

The confessions are back! Are you guys ready? For my second confession I think I'm going to stay small again and go with another quirk I have. I promise we'll get into deeper things but it takes time to open up about certain things. So this Friday I confess that I have a food hoarding problem. I don't have an eating disorder, I don't over or under eat, I just have a fear of running out of food so I stash some back. My kitchen has terrible storage space so I have a huge storage tub that I use for extra storage. I can see my tub getting low and I replenish even before I've ever seen the bottom of the tub. Mom and Dad take me to Sam's Club and I stock up on restaurant sized portions of things like apple sauce, vienna sausages, and things that I think I'll need to get by if everything else runs out. I've even caught myself hiding my favorite snacks in my nightstand, just in case I want them at some point and don't have them.

The weird thing about this quirk is I don't have the problem when someone is living with me. It's important that they be able to eat so I try not to hide things in my nightstand or hoard food or have too much food on hand. I don't worry that I'll run out of food when I have visitors, I just worry that I'll run out when I'm alone. It's weird because you would think I would worry about it more when there are more mouths to feed because food goes faster then but I only worry about it when I'm alone. I don't think it's a huge issue because I know that I have a small problem and I even know why I have that problem. So when I go grocery shopping I always ask myself are you buying this because you really want it or are you buying it to hoard it? So that's confession number two. Do any of you guys have a weird issue with food?

Blog Updates

Okay guys, today is Friday and later on I will be doing a confession. I know I've been majorly slacking in that area but I'm trying to get back into the swing of things. Also, I'm putting a new poll up on the right hand side of the blog and I would like if you guys would vote. I need to know if you guys are interested in a new giveaway. If you guys are, please vote yes on the poll and leave me ideas of what you would be interested in in the giveaway in the comments area. Remember guys, I love getting comments from you guys, it lets me know you're actually interested in what I write about, so leave me lots of comments!

An Adventure on the Baseball Diamond

The other day my dog and I had a crazy adventure at the baseball diamond near the house. My friend Ari came over with her dog Solo to go walking with me and Princess. Well we decided to go down to the big park near the house which has an enclosed baseball diamond, a huge area with dried up ponds that has trails to walk around on, and several other things. We originally were going to walk around the dried up ponds but we decided we wanted to go somewhere where the dogs could get off leash and just be dogs so we started toward the baseball diamond. On our way there my next door neighbor's dog (whom I hate!!!!) decided it wanted to come with us too and started running all over the street and teasing our dogs about being on their leashes. This of course caused our dogs to start pulling on us because they wanted to chase the other dog. Normally pulling wouldn't be a big deal but Solo is an 80 pound pit bull and Princess is a 35 pound pit bull (for now, remember she's still growing). Poor Ari just got pulled all over the place. She's my height (5'6") but she only weighs about 100 pounds so her dog weighs almost the same amount she does. Through the walk I just got my arm pulled on, but I watched Ari get spun around, almost get knocked down, nearly get jerked to her knees, and so many other things. Mind you the baseball diamond is only one block from my house!

We finally get to the baseball diamond and think "Yes!!!! Now we can just lock the other dog out and let ours off leash and have a break from being beat up by them!" So we run in through the gate and slam it closed in the other dog's face and celebrate for a second (we had to have a small victory dance lol). We took the leashes off and happily sat down in the dugout ,watching the dogs run and be silly and play with each other, all the while laughing at the other dog which is trying to play with our dogs through the fence. All of a sudden we notice the other dog got in and our dogs are joyfully playing with him and we turn to each other, faces matching with that "OH SHIT" look that is pretty universal no matter where you're from, because we realized if he can get in, our babies can get out and there's some pretty major construction going on around the baseball diamond. So we go running to see if maybe it's just a small hole that the little dog got through and find there's a huge TRUCK ENTRANCE in the damn OUTFIELD!! Why anyone would have a truck entrance in the outfield of a baseball diamond I will never know, but our babies decided that was their chance to get to explore. So Ari and I run full force trying to catch our dogs all the while yelling at Solo and Princess "Come on baby we gotta get back in the diamond. Come here guys," and reaching for whichever dog we happened to be closest to. Princess is joyfully running around and pretending to let me get close to her then darting off again and Solo is bounding around behind her.

Finally Ari is able to catch Solo and even though I wasn't able to catch Princess, she decided she wanted to follow her buddy. So back into the baseball diamond we go. We are trying to herd our dogs back to the dugout because we forgot to take the leashes with us and the dogs now had to be back on leash because some wacko decided to put a truck entrance in an outfield and the dogs are more interested in the little dog that had followed us. So Ari decides we should run and maybe that would excite the dogs enough to chase us. She starts running and Princess is hot on her heels, but Solo is still playing with the other little dog. I walk up to him and go "Okay Solo, come on, we gotta get back to your Mommy," and he kind of looks at me with this look in his eye like "Um whatever, I wanna play here." So I start herding him and the little dog back to the dugout. We finally get there and have both dogs safely on leash and sit down in the dugout again letting the dogs and ourselves cool off, all the while trying to come up with ways to ditch the stupid neighbor dog. We finally decide to head back to my place to get water for the dogs and as we're walking out of the gate Ari says "Hey, why don't we just close the gate with that dog still in it and maybe we can get a head start on it." Well, I didn't think it would work because that dog is the one that found it's way into the baseball diamond. Our dogs would've never known about that truck entrance if it wasn't for that dog, but we did it anyway, because hey the dog could still get out, it wasn't like we locked him in there with no way to get out and get back home. As we're walking away it just stands at the gate and watches us walk away.

We get back to my house and I set out two bowls of water for our babies. We happily sit on the front porch letting the dogs slurp their water, and enjoying the nice warm pretty day. The dogs finally start calming down and laying together, so Ari and I kick back and start enjoying the sun. All of a sudden we both get ripped out of our sun worship by both dogs slamming into the ends of their leashes. We look up and that damn neighbor dog is back again. Ari laughs and says "Well I guess that's the end of our peace and quiet until we decide to leave," and I reply, "God I hate that dog!!!!" We had a good laugh on the porch while I threw leaves at the dog to make it go home and that was the end of our adventure.

Gardening

In an effort to start writing more here at the blog and get back into the swing of things I thought I would stop by Pagan Blog Prompts and find a prompt to write about today. There are always pretty good prompts over there and don't let anyone tell you you're a bad writer just because every now and then you need a prompt to get your juices flowing. Anyway, gardening is the most recent prompt and I figured it would be a good idea to start there.

I've always loved gardens and flowers and plants. Mom always had flowers inside and out and they were always lovely. Gram could make anything grow, which is something I could never figure out lol. When she and Granddad moved to the ranch Gram died at there was a bean plant wrapped around a tree that was completely dead, there was no saving it according to the previous owner. Well Gram was always of the firm belief that everything and everyone could be saved with the right amount of love, so every day she went out there and watered that tree and bean plant and soon had it growing like never before. I've personally always wished to be that way.

Over the years I've tried my hand at growing different things. When I was around 19 I had some small potted plants that I had started from seeds that grew well until I had a mishap at the apartment I lived at and the plants then became neglected. I've tried several times to grow lavender because I am in love with lavender but it apparently doesn't love me back because it always dies. I've tried starting it from seed and it will germinate and look promising and then just wither and die, and I had a grown plant that I bought from a nursery that died within a week (but I think I was over watering it). I am not one to give up, especially if I've had some successes, so the other day when I was at Target I came across these cute little growing kits for $1 and had to have them. One is mini roses and the other is forget me nots. The seeds are guaranteed to grow and they come with their own little pot and one of those little dehydrated potting soil disks. They are currently sitting in the window and I am anxiously awaiting any growth they will show.  I'm just hoping they will survive my nephew who thought they were just really cool buckets of sand, and Princess who knocks them out of the window any time she sees any kind of activity outside.

I'm planning on starting a few seeds in pots outside along the porch and maybe planting some bulbs in the flower bed under my spare bedroom's window. I haven't really decided on the plants yet, I was hoping to have Mom go with me and help me pick out some stuff, but I am excited to have my own flowers at my house. After all the craziness that has happened at this house, like the break in, etc., I just know the flowers will help get rid of any lingering negativity and bring happiness and peace back into this house. So, tell me about your garden... Are you planning on starting some small potted plants? Do you have a huge set up? Whatever you have I'm sure it is magickal!

Book Review: Sylvia Browne's Afterlives of the Rich and Famous

This book review is part of the TLC Virtual Book Tours. I'm running a little late on this and I am so sorry for that. Things have been really busy here. Anyway, on to the book. As most of you guys know, I'm a big fan of Sylvia Browne. She is a renowned psychic and reading her books about the afterlife always make me feel better since losing Grandma. Her book Afterlives of the Rich and Famous is an okay book. It details the lives of some of our most beloved actors that have passed on. I enjoyed it for the insights into the afterlife. I don't worry myself too much with what goes on with celebrities when they are alive so I'm usually not too worried about what they do with themselves on the other side either but this was a lovely book. I enjoyed getting to know about what life can be like on the other side. I particularly enjoyed reading about Heath Ledger. I was a big fan of his and missed him deeply when he passed on... It is good to know he's doing great on the other side. This book is great for those of us that enjoy knowing about celebrities, but it is also great for those that are curious about life after death. Sylvia, along with her spirit guide Francine, give us wonderful hints and paint a beautiful picture of Home. I give this book four stars.

Clearing The House

Well guys, I'm kind of back. Depression eats at me almost constantly so I pretty much just sleep or watch the little tv in my room. I decided that wasn't okay so I joined a gym to be able to keep myself busy and I had been volunteering out at the animal shelter. Yesterday Mom came by to take me to buy new jeans since all of mine have holes in them and I realized my house was filthy. My water had been off for a day (which by the way was not the reason for the ickiness, I had just been too depressed to deal with it) and by the time Mom and I got back the water was back on. As she was leaving she said, "Well, now that your water is back on maybe you can get some cleaning done," in that polite I don't want to hurt your feelings but this crap is unacceptable kinda way moms have of saying things.

After she left I looked around and realized that it really was completely unacceptable. "I really let my mother enter this house! Holy crap!!! This kind of filth should be against the law!" I was appalled! I started thinking about when the whole mess started piling up and I realized that when my stuff was stolen, even though I thought I was doing okay, I started sliding down that depression mountain. Then when my first love told me that even though he had once agreed to having an open relationship with me he wasn't sure he wanted any kind of relationship with anyone then turned around and told me he was bringing some girl from California to his house for 2 weeks killed me. My fighting spirit told me not to show anyone how much I was hurting so I decided to just keep myself busy and not think about the things that were hurting me.

During the day, as long as I wasn't home I was great. I smiled all the time and felt like my life was great, but at night and when I stay home that's when things get rough. At night I lay in bed and this weight drops onto me. It's a familiar darkness that says, "Hey, I knew you would come back sometime. Remember all the bad things that have happened? Your Gram isn't here to protect you anymore or make it better. People take advantage of you all the time and purposely set out to hurt you," and all I can do is lay there and cry and wish things were better. It got bad enough that one of my really close friends told me I should really consider going back to the doctor and asking to be put back on anti-depression medication. I woke up this morning thinking today is the day I will make it better, starting with getting rid of the filth in this house.

Well I haven't quite finished the task, there are still dishes and laundry to do and vacuuming as well, but I started. That's what's important. When I took the trash out I imagined carrying that darkness out with it, telling it it isn't allowed near me anymore. I imagined washing all the natural and supernatural gunk out of my clothes when I did the few loads of laundry I succeeded at doing today. It's hard to be in this house, I'm not going to lie and say that everything is hunky doorie, but I'm trying and I'm fighting; that means something to me. I refuse to give up and let that inky darkness take over my life. So I'm clearing out the house physically and metaphysically in the hopes that it will help lift my depression. Of course if things keep getting bad I'll see a doctor, if I still have insurance, but for now I'm trying and that's what matters. Remember guys, if you're depressed, it's all about the fight. Are you going to be one of those that listens to the lies the darkness tells you or are you going to fight back? Every bad situation has a good side to it, even if you have to look really hard for that good side. Believe me I know it's hard... at times I can't think of anything except "Please just make the pain go away," but it always does, it just takes time.

Blog news: I'm going to start putting reminders on my phone to do my Friday Confessions because I've been terrible about doing them and I apologize for that. On the 17th my little bloggy home will be participating in another blog tour with TLC book tours. And I'm going to try to write more often than I do now. Blessings to you all.

Update on Stolen Computer

Okay, this is a fairly long story so I'll try to just give you the most important information. I had a guy living in my spare room here at my new house that I had known when he was a kid. He said he wanted to straighten his life out and I recognized some of the things he'd been through because I'd been through them too. Well a couple days ago he left with one of his friends and I noticed the computer was missing. I asked him if he knew where it was, thinking maybe he had put it in his room or something like that and he said it should have been in the living room. I searched the house high and low and couldn't find the computer. So I asked him if he and his friend could come back to the house to help me figure out what was going on. That was at 2 in the afternoon on the 2nd. By 9:30 that night he still hadn't shown up so I went to the police. The computer is still missing, and last night when I came home from having dinner with my parents around 9:30 pm I found my tv, xbox 360, all the xbox games, and my ipod missing as well. He had come in through my bedroom window and carried everything out. So far my first love and I haven't been able to track the kid down. Thankfully Princess was okay, I was okay, and Mom loaned me a computer. I just hope my first love can find this kid or this kid has a huge issue with his conscience so my stuff will be returned. Thank you all for your prayers and energy I really appreciate it.

UGH!

My laptop was stolen the other day, then my TV, xbox 360 elite, all the xbox games, and my ipod were stolen too. So Mom is going to let me borrow her desktop computer for a little while but man am I so frustrated!!!! I'm at Mom's right now on her laptop so I'm gonna end this and I'll update later.