Healthy, Wealthy and Wise?

Well, I don't know about wise, and wealthy is a definite no go, but as far as healthy goes, I am feeling pretty darn good. As my long time readers know I have been slowly working on being healthy. Yes, I want to lose some weight but my main goal is to be healthy and hopefully not dependent on medications as I age.

For the past 18 months I have been going to the gym regularly, working out with weights and doing a half-assed job at Weight Watchers.

My weight is very, very slowly going down. VERY slowly! Part of that is the weight training. Since I started working with weights I have lost a total of 12 pounds but I have lost 15% of my body fat. Technically I am still overweight but I am feeling pretty good. I love to work with the weights and even though I am currently recovering from "tennis elbow" I have been able to continue to use weights in my fitness routine with just a few adjustments.

I have successfully incorporated exercise into my life and I am now beginning to look more closely at my diet. Because I lead a fairly social life and eat away from home at least twice a week I have been slow to look too closely at my diet. I am not willing to give up my social life so I am starting to look at ways to eat in a healthier fashion while still enjoying the meals out. I'll keep you posted as I find tips and tricks that help in this area.

A couple of months ago I stopped drinking Diet Coke. That was a painful thing for me. I love the stuff but I felt that I needed to remove those chemicals from my diet. So far so good. Since I last wrote about it I have not had a single caffeine laden soft drink. Not even while on vacation. I am really pleased with that! My main beverage is water to which I add lemon, mint or melon, to add a bit of flavor. I have reduced the amount of artificial sweeteners in my diet by a huge amount. Artificial sweeteners are the exception instead of the rule now and I have increased the amount of fruits and veggies in my diet. All changes which have made me feel great.

Now I need to work on my weekday meals at home and those pesky meals out. Breakfast and lunch are easy, dinner is a bitch! I work 10 hour days and when I get home I don't want to cook. My wonderful man cooks and he is really making sure to find healthy meals but I need to step it up and start cooking more.

Skinnytaste.com is an amazing site that I have mentioned before. I have been getting fabulous meal ideas from this site as well as Slenderkitchen.com. Both of these sites have flavorful meals that also include nutritional information as well as Weight Watcher point values, which makes it easy to incorporate the meals into my Weight Watchers lifestyle.

I have less that 20 pounds to go to reach my goal weight(I am shooting for the high end of my weight range). Hopefully I'll be doing a happy dance here soon. In the meantime I will keep on plugging away and will continue to incorporate  healthy habits into my life. I plan to share my progress and any tips, tricks and recipes that help me as I continue along my way.

Rehobeth, Delaware 

Whew, what a rush. At least I think it was, it all happened so fast I don’t remember too much! That is how the last couple of months of my life have been.  These past few months I have been in Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey, Virginia, Maryland (OK, that was seriously all in 10 days) and then my man and I went out to California! I’ve been cleaning like a mad woman and we just recently began the monumental project of turning our backyard, which has been a lovely playground for the past 17 years, into a retreat for adults, somewhere we can go and relax, play cards, entertain... We definitely have our work cut out for us but progress is being made.

I’ve been to parties and a couple of Bar-B-Qs, hosted a party myself and have even gotten to know several of my neighbors much better. It hasn’t been a bad few months, just busy. I like busy but I have completely neglected my art and my blog which has lately been catching up with me and making me noticeably cranky!

My studio has a thin layer of dust covering it and my projects are looking forlorn in their unfinished glory.  The kitchen witch I started for my cousin is still only a head, she is waiting patiently to get the rest of her body and some clothes so she can head to her new home, Alice is really, truly, almost done. Her clothes are mostly finished, I am toying with re-sculpting her hands since I singed them when I baked her, but all she needs is to have a few minor details taken care of and her stand completed and she is done!  The fairy for my birdhouse is still just an armature and the dragon STILL needs his skin!

This is truly the first time I have spent any time in the studio in months and before I can even begin to work I need to clean and do a serious purging! I am a borderline packrat. I can’t help it. The art I create can use clay, fabric, paper, buttons, metal scraps, copper wire and feathers, and that may just be one part of the whole. I have scrapbook papers, inks, rubber stamps, wood shapes, yarn, paint, charms, feathers, stencils… and so much more and the thing that is starting to get to me is that I know I haven’t used or even looked at lots of it in many, (too many)years, AND I am starting to crowd my work space.

This coming weekend I will be putting together a box (or 2) of goodies, I’ll post it on Sunday and I’ll be sending it along to someone who wants it – details to follow –yes, on Sunday! This will hopefully help me to clear out some of the lovely things I have an excess of while making room for me to work again and at the same time I’ll be sending them to someone who will give them a good home!

That idea just hit me as I was typing and I LOVE it!

I am off to start cleaning. I’ll be posting more soon- really!

The vacation is almost over...

I am currently enjoying the last day of a 10 day trip to the area where I grew up. It has been a great trip and I have been waxing nostalgic with friends and family the entire time. I will be back home next week and finally catching up here!

Here are some snapshots of my week, more to follow as I catch my breath and update the blog. The beach pictures are from Rehobeth, Delaware and that lush river is the Brandywine river in Wilmington, Delaware.

See ya soon!

Cowards, Religion and Business Cards?

Today, while I was working at a local conference for my day job, someone, a strong believer in Jesus Christ, left a little calling card on my windshield because I have the above pictured Coexist bumper sticker on my car. They believe that I need to repent and take Jesus into my heart. Sadly, this person did not have the strength of character to speak to me in person about my beliefs. How do they know that I am not a Christian? I know many Christians who believe that people of different faiths can coexist peacefully. I find it interesting that someone who feels strongly about their beliefs is too much of a coward to approach someone who obviously has a different faith and have an honest discussion. There was, of course, a website for me to go to so that I could read all about how they are right and I am wrong.

No, I will not be sharing that site here. I refuse to give them any “real” exposure. I chose to not visit the site listed because the tactics they used are cowardly and when someone feels they need to force their view on another by leaving a business card full of their “opinions” on another’s car, well, let’s just say that I can’t imagine they would respect my right to my own beliefs.  

When I read the back of the card I had many thoughts. My first of course was what a chicks*&t coward, then of course it was that they are entitled to their beliefs and too bad that they don’t feel I am entitled to mine, then I thought, what a moron, no wonder there is so much hatred in the world, people like this push it.

Of course, once I went through all those fun thoughts I realized that it really doesn’t matter what this person believes. I don’t care how they relate to their God, I don’t believe in their book nor do I believe in their savior, I do, however, believe in their right to believe in those things and if they find strength and comfort in their religion – yay! What saddens me about this pathetic attempt at proselytizing is that, I imagine, if someone told them that they were wrong in their religious beliefs they would have to turn to a book, or their church leader to form an intelligent response as to why they believe what they believe. Some people just follow blindly without truly understanding their religion.

To my Christian followers, I truly respect you and your faith. As my previous Pagan Blog Project post on God states, I believe that Deity comes to everyone in the way that they can best relate and all of the faces humans put to God are just parts of the whole. That is MY belief and I feel quite strongly about it.

So… to the individual who put the propaganda on my car, I whole heartedly believe in my religion and my religious practices. I know what I believe in and why. I know the history of my faith and I am happy to have an intelligent discussion with you about it.

Sincerely,

AutumnWind 

Pagan Blog Project: G is for God(s)

When someone first finds out that I am Pagan the questions I get can range from silly to offensive to serious. Most of the people who know me are very supportive and will send me silly witch related things as signs of support and acceptance. I loved it when a friend sent me a little picture of a broom with the subtitle “Yes, I can drive a stick”.  She gets me.

One of my very good friends has an on again off again relationship with her church. It is a Christian based group and while she will not discuss my beliefs with me she did ask me the following: Do you believe in God?

In my practice I work with many Gods and Goddess and while I knew that is not something she would understand I was able to tell her with certainty that I do believe in a Devine Spirit. I don’t however believe in a cruel and vengeful God, nor do I believe that my image of the Devine is the only one.

This is something that many people I know who are not pagan have a difficult time with. Growing up in the Catholic faith we were taught that there is only one true God and that was the Catholic version. This is one of the many reasons that I never felt comfortable there.

As a young child I just could not believe that God was so cruel that all of the people who came before Catholicism was founded were in purgatory. This made no sense to me. Then, as I got older and discovered and explored many other, different religious beliefs it made even less sense.

My spiritual path is very personal. I have a strong connection to nature and a definite need to create. I work mainly (but not only) with Goddesses and when I think of the Devine I usually think in feminine terms though I believe that the Devine is both masculine and feminine in nature, that all of the different faces that we put on God are part of the whole and that each person relates to the Devine in the way that is most meaningful to them.

I am very comfortable with who I am and what I believe and yes, I believe in God, though I prefer to refer to her as Goddess!

BB

I'm Back!

Panama City Beach, Florida

As my life occasionally leaps into overdrive I have to stop all the fun things I do and take care of business! That has been these past couple of weeks. Fortunately I was able to get things taken care of rather quickly and will be back posting regularly this week. 

I have lots of great things to share, some new sculptures, an interesting new "happy" app, a playhouse to chicken coop project, and lots more!

Right now I am heading out to my backyard to pick some dandelions. I see some dandelion wine in my future! I'll catch up with everyone soon!

Autumnwind

Pagan Blog Project: F is for Fire

Fire is one of the 4 elements that make up all of creation, the others being Earth, Air and Water. Fire is a profound tool, used, among other things, in candle magic, for offerings, and of course for the more mundane (though no less important) purposes of cooking and warmth.  Fire is truly one of the most important tools that early man learned to use.  

As I stated previously, in my practice, Fire corresponds to the South, Noon, the Summer, Adulthood, the Mother, the Sun King, Manifestation and Action.

Fire is a masculine element which has both creative and destructive qualities. Fire can be used to burn a paper on which we have written a magical purpose, intent or thing we wish to release, thus destroying the paper and sending the magic imbued on it to the universe for action, fire can be a tool to creativity, as an artist, I use heat to cure my sculpture, flame to sear edges and add details - thus Fire aids in my creative endeavors.

Even when fire is viewed as destructive, as when it ravages a forest, it serves a purpose. Fire cleans away the old and makes way for new growth. Some seeds, such as those from the Lodgepole Pine, require fire in order for them to germinate.

Some additional correspondences for Fire:

Color: Red

Stones: Jasper, Quartz Crystal

Tool: Athame

Goddesses: Brigit, Vesta

Gods: Horus, Vulcan

Rituals: healing, purification, sex, banishing, courage, strength and also for Candle Magic

Creatures: Snake, Dragon, Phoenix

Elemental: Salamander

Fire is featured in many a fairy or folk tale. My favorite is the Russian Folk Tale of Baba-Yagaand Vasilisa the Fair. In this story, young Vasilisa is sent into the forest by her evil step-mother to get fire from the Baba-Yaga, which after completing many difficult tasks Vasilisa obtains and brings home the fire. Unfortunately for the step-mother and her daughters, the fire that Vasilisa brings home purifies the home, killing the step mother and her two evil daughters quickly.

In this tale, the Fire was both destructive and purifying, releasing Vasilisa from the influence of her step-mother and ultimately leading her to a much more pleasant life.

I will leave you with Wendy Rule’s song about Vasilias (yes, I am totally on a Wendy Rule Kick right now)!

Some sites I visited during my research:

http://www.thewhitegoddess.co.uk/the_elements/fire.asp

http://paganwiccan.about.com/od/bookofshadows/a/Fire-Folklore-And-Legends.htm

http://www.wicca.in/the-wiccan-elements/

http://paganroots.com/information/elements/fire-element/

http://www.angelfire.com/la/redwitch1/elements.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fire_ecology