Thank you

I really want to say a heart felt thank you to those of you who have left comments and sent emails, wishing my husband well. I really do appreciate it. Getting that call scared the daylights out of me as much as the incident did him... He had a very quiet weekend and he is bouncing back. He was back on board today so he is on the mend. It must have been the weekend for it, we have heard of a few people breaking elbows, wrists and falling of motor cycles.. yes all Military. He has managed to get a couple of days leave next week, and we are going to take a few days to ourselves, the kids are heading to D's sisters so there will be some sort out stuff before the move and some much needed R and R.

Random Little Things

I was in a small shopping mall here on the way to the health food store and I came across a hawker selling all sorts of odds and end, and there in amongst all this 'junk' was a witch on a broom.. she was far to beautiful to leave behind, so she came home with me... please meet my constant  kitchen companion, now known as
Miss Alice.

Hello is that Wendy?

I am sitting here feeling a bit drained.. not the physical "I have excelled myself drained" but the mentally worn out type.
My husband got off work early today and we where going to have lunch together..he gave me a call and asked if I would be happy with a take out as a bit of a treat... something we don't do often.. so I said sure and we decided on Chicken Treat.. then he sent a text 10 minutes later and said would you like KFC.. well we haven't eaten KFC in 2 years and I know he misses not having it... I can be so mean.. so I said okay why not. Well I was sitting waiting, waiting, waiting for him to get home and the phone rang.. laughing to myself as I walked to the phone  thinking how hard can it be to buy chicken for lunch..
It was one of those calls "hello is that Wendy ------- ?  My name is ----- ------- from the Ambulance Service, we have your husband with us. We are taking him to --------- Hospital, he collapsed outside KFC, he is ok and has just regained consciousness,"  With a sinking heart I grabbed the my keys & phone and headed off to a hospital that I had only half a clue where to find... I didn't know my old  little car could go so fast :-) thank the Goddess for signs and the absence of police officers.
I got there not long after him... He looked better than I thought he might.. he was pale, shaky and bleeding.
Several hours later, he was allowed to come home. They said his heart was fine, no sign of a stroke and no sign of concussion to spite the huge egg on the side of his head.. He is shoulder and hip are pretty bruised, his elbow and head is cut and he has a  lacerated tongue. Not sure why but he is feeling embarrassed.. he doesn't do hospitals well.
The Dr's seem to think he suffered a hypoglycemic type attack as his blood sugar dropped it rapidly dragged his blood pressure down with it.. this caused a seizure - it seems from what the medics said he was unconscious for about 5 minutes.. I am surprised he was discharged but I sort of trust there judgement and I know I trust my own..  His is tucked up in bed, tomorrow he will feel like he was hit by a mack truck but he will be ok.
I am more than thankful to those powers that silently look after us, those powers that led my man to text me, would you like KFC.. those powers that lead me to say after 2 years, yea sure why not... because if he hadn't asked and if I hadn't said yes.. he would have still been behind the wheel of the car, travelling down a freeway at 100kph when he collapsed, and I don't want to think how that might have ended.
So I give thanks tonight that my family is still whole., and for my husband who is home here with us tonight who I can hear quietly snoring in the next room...a sound I might not complain about again.. well maybe not just yet anyway.
Blessed, thats what we are.... Blessed.

Spring has sprung...

Thought I would take a minute and write my blog while sipping some Fennel tea, which I am hoping will settle my ever persistent nausea issue..  and no I am not pregnant in case your wondering. *laughing*
I have been pretty busy the last several days.. de-cluttering draws and closets getting rid of old cloths and those clothes that seemed to have shrunk somehow while I wasn't looking, I have also been trying to empty plant pots and get them scrubbed ready to be packed in 7 weeks. I am starting to get plants sorted to go to new homes shortly as well. Sort of like spring cleaning really..
My son is moving back in with us in mid October for 2 weeks, before he flies back to New Zealand. It has been a tough year for him since his marriage ended last year and he has missed his little boy terribly so he is heading back to be closer to him. Our wee man will be having surgery in a few months and I know that sits heavily with him. I will miss my boy and it will be hard to say good bye again, but we know for now it is the best right now..Luckily he is able to go back to his last job as a Corrections Officer so he will be set there.

I have watched a bare tree in my yard over the last few weeks, it blossomed with the most amazing fragrant flowers and now has new leaves. In the warm climate here on the West Coast of Australia it is really only the most subtle changes I see marking Spring.  Many of us pagan folk down here in the Southern Hemisphere celebrate Ostara tomorrow -  Spring Equinox comes a sense of optimism and thoughts of all things being renewed - a time of  new rebirth, new beginnings, quiet apt really considering all the new happenings in our life presently. I will celebrate quietly this year.. with a few spring flowers and some yellow candles, perhaps an egg custard tart with dinner.. The Goddess knows my heart and as I am still not feeling 100% well - I am not feeling up to doing more this year.
I read this wonderful little poem in a quarterly magazine I get and thought it would fill the gap here nicely..

And Spring arose on the garden fair,

Like the Spirit of Love felt everywhere;

And each flower and herb on Earth's darkest breast

rose from dreams of its wintry rest

-Percy Bysshe Shelley


Random Little Things

I have been enjoying my soap making very much, and have been experimenting with different oils, and recipes. I have been working towards making all the herb infused oils that I will be adding to my soaps and to some salves I am going to make.. I have already made a wonderful soap for sensitive skin that includes Macadamia Nut oil, infused with botanicals.. here are a few I have brewing on my window ledge... oh the last one is Lavender sugar.. being made to sprinkle on cookies and to make a sugar scrub...

Happy Anniversary

One year ago today, you and I were hand-fasted and then united in a civil ceremony that joined us legally as husband and wife..

We had known each other for a number of years before we joined as husband and wife... we have been though more in this last year than most couples experience possibly in an entire lifetime, if at all..
If it is possible, I love you on a far deeper level than I did 1, 3, or even 5 years ago.  You are my best friend, you are my constant, you are the one man I trust above all others.

I can not imagine one second, of one minute, of one hour, of one day of my life, without you in it... You are truly the Knight of my heart and I above all others, love you.

Busy making & photographing

Look at me being the worlds worst blogger and posting adverting for my wee shop here as a blog post. I have actually been busy for my Made It store today as well as making a batch of soap that near turned into soap on a stick it set up that fast.. I digress though,  I had an email from a loverly lady on Saturday night asking if I would be interested in supplying her with hand made dishcloth's and perhaps some bath items. I had everything ready to go but had not done the packaging or labels nor done the phtograghs for these items. I have posted off her order, a lovely duskie pink dishcloth, a package of herbal bath bags, along with some samples of honey and milk bath, Coconut and Lemongrass scented bath salts and also a sample of honey and cinnamon soap.. called My Honey Pie.. I am trying to be positive that she likes these things enough to purchase them in bulk so to speak to add to her "Mothers" baskets.
Her email was a good motivator to get the bits and pieces done, to actually get them online, which I did today. If you would like to see some of my handy work, hit the link down below. Bit cheeky eh. :-)
Come December, more liley early January I am hoping to start selling my soap. I have been trying a few different oils in recipes to find a nice base recipe to use. There are a few ideas for names running about in my head.. From My Hearth is nice and lots of good people helped me choose, but it doesn't specify any one thing, so I am thinking of having a special off shoot for soap. The one name I really like I am running past someone who has an unrelated product with a similar name and I want to know if she is ok with it. I was thinking also about running a poll in here so you all can contribute to this.

Anyways the link is here to check out my days efforts.
http://www.madeit.com.au/detail.asp?id=138896    and  http://www.madeit.com.au/detail.asp?id=138540

What I know and what I don't.

When I went to the naturopath a month ago, she asked me questions about my health and my "well being" and by my answers, I really had to acknowledge what I think I already new deep down and that was I was really feeling spiritually bankrupt and unconnected, a bitter pill to swallow really. I let it go to a point, but in the last few days I have read blog posts that are gently reminding me.
All of my life I have had a very strong sense of the spiritual energies about me and I have always had a close connection to my deities be it through prayer, lighting a candle, burning herbs, offering thanks before a meal, with drum and song or through the feel of a breeze on my skin, the sun on my face or the feel of the bark of a tree beneath my fingers or damp grass under my feet, making a meal with love and tending my hearth, sometimes the joy of it all is there, but in such a disjointed way it really saddens me. I read back over the early entries of my blog and I could clearly see and feel the sweet connection to life and deity. I don't know when the emptiness became obvious to me, I don't know when my spiritual life became such a struggle and I don't know when I got to be feeling so incredible spiritually and emotionally tired. 
I know that the last 20 months have been some of the hardest I have ever made it through and I/we are still having to deal with an 'in the past' person who I would never associate with under normal circumstances and who takes manipulation, negativity and nastiness to a whole new level and I am not being melodramatic about this and at the risk of sounding 'self righteous' both my husband and I have totally rearranged and changed our lives to encompass our new family - two lovely kids who had been through so much and also lacked so much both socially and emotionally. 
We have sympathized, encouraged, councilled, persevered - we have tried to instill self worth, self confidence, values, good manners and habits, house rules and boundaries into these two young people all the while doing it with firmness and compassion AND lots of love and cuddles. 
I wouldn't change having them here in a minute, and while we still have to go over somethings repeatedly to help them with coming to terms with their life before us, I wouldn't have it any other way. What I do know is that I am hard on myself.. and even though I know we have given so much and done this pretty tough, also knowing  we have also done this on our own with next to no support, really doesn't cut it with me. I still keep thinking I should cope better with my lot, that I should be able to cope 24/7 and that I shouldn't feel so worn out from it. I see this as a form of failure.

Where this piece of unrealistic garbage came from I have no idea, nor do I know how, why or when it became my truth - but I do know it has led to my feelings of spiritual melancholy.
What I need to learn is how to fix it and how to hear the voice within me, who is so quiet at the moment it is barely a whisper. Little steps I think...

Can You Imagine....

I found this wonderful little poem tonight, and it just tickled me fancy.

Can You Imagine?

Can you imagine a world without witches,

A world with all people the same?

Where the only known dragons are hiding in books,

And children are terribly tame?

A world without magic would be sad indeed.

I cannot imagine the pain

Of having a world where there's no Santa Claus,

Where wizards are searched for in vain.

Can you imagine a world without spells,

That science and businesses run?

And think of the sadness a unicorn feels

When he no longer plays in the sun

Can you imagine a world without witches,

No elves, and no magical pools?

And can you imagine how dull it would be

If all that we had were the schools?

I cannot imagine a world without witches,

A world with no magical wand.

A world without beauty, or even a dream,

Or a wood sprite of whom to be fond

They say I should grow up and be more mature,

Like a normal adult ought to do.

But I'd rather, at night, go to dance with a witch,

And I'll bet that you feel that way, too.

Robert F. Potts

© 1996

Doona Vs Bedspread

With us moving states in about 11 weeks, I am getting a few things sorted albeit very slowly! We have a large storeroom big enough to sublet actually... and over the last few months it has got seriously out of control ... I am some what embarassed to let you all see the state of this, but it will keep me on track making my way through the papers, boxes ect...

Well today I decided to tackle this after much procrastination but to do this I found I needed to move 5 spare single and queen sized doona's  (duvet inner to my non Aussie friends)

Well.... after laying said beast'ies on the spare room floor I folded, rearranged and mooshed, as best I could these feather and wool fulled monstrosities ( no I didn't always live in the land of perpetual summer) climbed onto a chair with my arms full of doona and put them on the top shelf of the equally as large linen cupboard.. after several attempts and a few expletives they were safely wedged.. 

Now  as I looked up at my handy work, I wondered what on earth happened to good old fashioned blankets and the faithful candlewick / Chenille bedspread?

I grew up sleeping under a candlewick bedspread... easy to launder, just shake and lay over the bed after it came of the line clean.. none of this jolly climbing inside and getting swallowed by an enormous pillow slip type arrangement, while trying to get your doona cover on again and definitely no OH and S issues trying to put one away either.
Does anyone remember those? I bet my Gran NEVER had trouble getting a spare blanket or bedspread into her linen cupboard.. They jury is out for me, I have used a doona for maybe 15  or 20 years now and the only time I have been under blankets has been when staying in motels in transit from one posting to another.
I remember when I first did my nurse training way back when the world was flat and everything was still  in black and white, bed making was such an important part of our mornings, 2 nurses always made the beds, with 2 linen sheets, 1 draw sheet, 2 blankets and 1 Counterpane, all with hospital corners, how things have changed. I doubt I would go back to blankets, my husband wouldn't cope with the change I don't think, but it is nice to have the memory.

Christchurch - New Zealand

As some of you know, I am an Australian by choice but a Kiwi by birth and while Australia is my heart home now, my thoughts and concerns are back in New Zealand tonight, where I have friends and family.
I ask that you may take a minute to send your prayers and thoughts to Christchurch, New Zealand and the folks who live there, a city devastated by an earthquake in the early hours of this morning.

News Report Here