A little bout of insomnia, Xmas/Yule update, Homework, and my apartment smells weird.

I have been having trouble sleeping the last couple of days. Tonight, well it's now morning, I haven't slept a wink. I tried. I tried a couple of tricks that usually work for me to no avail. So I decided that laying in bed was useless and got up to get something accomplished. Said accomplishments were looking up some recipes, making a meal plan for the next two weeks, and compiling a grocery list. We're going to have lots of veggies and protein. I need to bring some more fruit into the mix. At the moment we have Kiwi and a couple of oranges that need to be eaten. 

Yule went very well. I went to a Yule party at a friend's house and gave myself a beer bath twice. Our friends are Heathen and brew their own Mead and Beer. I got to try three different types of their beer and at least one type of their Mead. The reason I gave myself a beer bath was because we all drank out of a very large drinking horn while standing around a fire chatting and toasting the Gods and Wights. It was wonderful and we've been invited back for next year. 

Christmas went well too. I made a big dinner, like my Grandma makes. Amanda's parent's came and it was a nice, quiet day. My first turkey fell off the bone. We shredded and froze what was left and I have been using a little bit here and there for sandwiches and turkey enchilada casserole. 

I got a week off from school, which I really needed. Amanda and I have been going non-stop for so long that I can't remember a time when we weren't very busy. Between school, IEPG obligations, being exhausted, and moving/unpacking, we've hardly had time to ourselves. I sat down to do my homework this weekend, basically telling everyone who comes to visit us that we were unavailable for a few days. My cultural anthropology class is going very well but formal logic has my head spinning with the various abbreviations and symbols. I feel a bit lost with it and need to see if there is a tutor available. Part of me just wants to say fuck it, the stress and time wasted on it isn't worth it, plan to fail the class, and take something else to make up the credits later. I haven't decided what I am going to do yet. 

I am happy to be in my own home, the happiest I have been in a long time. However, Amanda and I are a bit frustrated. We have so many books, a library so to speak and while we are going through some books and getting rid of some, we are keeping a lot. We have four five shelf bookcases in the spare room and think we need four more. We also have a 9 cube bookcase in the living room with all of our pagan related books. Amanda has a lot of things from her childhood that she is going through, and will be going through and getting rid of some things as well. We just don't need everything we have and have out grown a lot.

I would post pictures of the apartment but it is a mess. Felicia, our old neighbor, brought the rest of our stuff from Amanda;s parents house and we have yet to find places for all of it. With Amanda working full time and me in school, it's going to be a little longer before we get it all put away and gone through. It is a bit depressing. It feels like home and yet it doesn't because it is not settled... if that makes sense. We still have some furniture to buy too.

Good news! We found a set of kitchen chairs. Four of them for 30 dollars and even a chair for 10 dollars that Amanda is using as her writing chair. 

Bad news, I am overly exhausted and just want a day to sleep, or in the very least, lay on the sofa and read or watch movies or something.

Happy news, I found some interesting tea at a local grocery chain. It's tea with saffron in it. There is a variety, which is nice and while I haven't tried them yet, I am excited for when I do. I did pick up a goji berry tea as well. 

My apartment smells weird. I have a scented wax burner that I use pretty much every moment that I am awake, but it doesn't seem to do what I want. That and the bathroom oil diffuser air freshener kind of overpowers everything. I need something milder in that room. 

Well that's all for now. I need to get Amanda up and moving for work. 

Happy New Year to everyone!!!

Haunted Humpday(s) 3 & 4

Last week I missed Haunted Humpday blogging due to being out of town so frequently. It really was a crazy week! Anyway, Amanda's parents are blessedly out of town and we kicked off the week with beer and garage diving for my Halloween/autumn decorations!

When I worked at ABC Discount Liquor and Smoke shop several years ago, I tried Sam Adams Octoberfest and loved it and I don't like beer. I like rum, vodka, gin, and sake. Anyway, every year since then I have tried to get a 12 pack of Octoberfest. Well this year, given everything that's been going on, I decided to try the Harvest pack from Sam Adams, which includes Harvest Saison, Octoberfest, Harvest Pumpkin Ale, and Boston Lager. I haven't tried them all yet, but I am looking forward to it. Amanda and I also picked up Angry Orchard's Hard Cider. I've wanted to try it for months and just never did. Well, it's really good!

On to some of the fun stuff from my garage...

Last year, while shopping clearance at Shopko, I found this cute Owl Sign.

My pretty Pumpkin candle lanterns from Michaels

Another find from Shopko's clearance

I keep a little Halloween bat plush toy in this cage, which I painted black for Halloween last year. But instead of putting the bat inside, Narcisa wanted to play. 

Narcisa loves anything string-like and pounced on the cheesecloth hanging from my skulls. I actually picked up three orange glitter skulls from Target a couple of years ago and shaded them in with black acrylic paint. Then I stained some cheesecloth with coffee grounds (made a huge mess trying to dry the cloth out!) and then mod podged the cloth over the skulls. There are three but I only added some moss to one of them, which is the one on the left. 

A couple of my witch themed decorations. The coffin box I made myself. The sign was from the dollar tree, and the witches rule book was something Amanda's mom made us

A preview of a couple of mixed media projects I did last year. I will post them again in a later post.

Well, I've put off my homework long enough. Maybe next week I'll have some books or movies to share and maybe, I will have a story of my own (have to write another short story for class). 

Octoberfest in August!!! Hooyah!

I don't drink often, maybe once or twice and rarely three times a year. There are a few things that I really like  for instance Spiced or Coconut Rum and Coke, Hpnotiq, Gin with Sprite, and Screwdrivers. I'm sure there are plenty of other drinks I would like if I had the money and desire to get my ass online to look recipes up and then go fetch the stuff but alcohol just isn't one of those things I feel a particular need for. However, there is something that I really like and fell in love with when I worked at the smoke/liquor store back in Kansas: Samuel Adams Octoberfest! I'm not really a beer person, I like Harp by Guinness but that was pretty much it until I tried Octoberfest one October just for shits and giggles. There weren't any shits and giggles, but I liked it enough that I didn't really want to share.

It's been about five years since I've really had the chance and money to get another round of Octoberfest. I pretty much cut two things from my shopping list in order to get it but I really don't mind. My girlfriend doesn't like it so that means more for me!

Actually, I'm a little surprised to see Octoberfest on the shelves this early. Maybe I'm not the only one who is   wishing Autumn would begin or feels like the Autumn season is trying to creep in early this year. For those in the Mid-west it probably doesn't feel that way, but up here, it's hot yet there is that cool breeze that kind of makes things nicer and certainly throws me off a little.