In praise of St. Joseph and Thanks to the Gods :)

We've been very fortunate and have managed to sell this joint and buy some new diggs in no time at all (although it felt eons).

After seeing over 20 houses we've decided on this pretty thing...



A 100 year old farm house sitting on 2 acres of rolling hills or 'toboggan slopes' as the husband calls them. Hell, it even has a babbling brook!

We had originally dismissed the house because the price tag was a bit high, there were dead flies everywhere, and it needs some work.... then the price dropped and we had a second look. We held our breath and took the plunge.

So thanks to the Gods, Goddess and Saint Joseph we are ready to move forward and start living a magical life once again :)

The Hierophant

My partner in the 'craft a tarot card' swap left the second card choice up to me. I chose card no. 5 'The Hierophant'.



Looking through my collection of old photos I came across a group shot of a gang priests (Do they travel in gangs I wonder? What exactly do you call a group of holy men?). Anywho I thought this fellow was suitable.

The Hierophant is/was also called The Pope or High Priest in some decks. In the journey of the Fool the hierophant is a wise man who gives advice, helping him to cope with his fears, bringing him back to reality.

I was raised Catholic, and although I never had a priestly sage to turn to, I was fortunate enough to know a few nuns who gave wonderful bits of wisdom. I remember speaking about one of the priests that struck fear into all of us and a sister telling us "A priest is just a man. He is God's agent... but he is not God." Another told us that sometimes feeling lazy might be God's way of telling us to settle down and take a break once in while.

I may not follow the same path as those nuns but they were wildly wonderful people :)

10 Houses in 2 days.

We've seen a fair number of houses these past few weeks and there's not a hell of a lot out there. It's frustrating because I don't think that we're picky, we just expect a reasonable return on the money we invest.

The hubby thought aloud tonight and said that perhaps we were spoiled, maybe our expectations are too high. I reminded him of the house we visited this afternoon with cat shit on the floor.

So far we've seen about 20 houses and nothing has really stood out. We're not looking for something that is perfect, we're open to a renovation project, but within reason. Taking something back to the studs isn't something we want to tackle right now... unfortunately many properties in our budget seem to require that level of work.

We also don't want to be house poor and exceed our budget. We're starting to feel stuck and something is going to have to give or we won't have anywhere to live soon.

Because I'm greedy

Soooo... because I was very pleased with myself and the Star card, I made myself a Star card too yesterday.



The colour in this photo is way closer to the originals than the previous photo I posted.

Next up? The Empress!

Star

I've always wanted to make my own tarot deck, so when I saw a swap on craftster for handmade tarot cards I jumped on board.

I'm really happy with my efforts today. Here's card No. 17, The Star.



There's a few symbolic things missing from the card but overall I'm pleased.

I'm really hoping that by making cards I'll gain a better understanding of the Fool's Journey and a deeper appreciation for the symbolism used (even if I do cheat and forgo using some the symbols in my own deck).

We're back

The kiddo and I have been away, spending some time in our old home town. The poor thing misses the city something terrible (I have to admit that I miss that big old place as well). Once back home I managed to do a little more work on my fat fibre book which is beginning to take shape. The pages still need quite a bit of work but I'm happy with the progress so far.

While we were away I picked up a few old photos for my collection. Just look at this old gal... she's wonderful!

And these two will make quite the pair :)

I'd like to image that if these two were a couple that, despite the stony exterior, they were probably quite a riot and suffered terribly from fits of giggles.

March Break! (Mother if you're looking avert your eyes!)

Woo hoo! We're off to visit our old home town for March break. We're so excited to see some dearly missed friends and to roam some favourite places.

It's funny but one of the things I miss is the bus. It's more than the freedom that public transit gives a gal who doesn't drive... it's the people watching, the funny stories and the few moments alone that I miss. I do not miss the smell of pee or the crazy people :)

Anywho, it's also my mum's birthday next week and I have her inchies all framed and ready to go. Here they are all bunched together...

And sitting in their pretty frame...

When I went to pick up the frame last night I could not believe the prices of some of them! Christ almighty, there were crappy fake wood plastic things for $30+ Eeesh. So I convinced the hubby to go to HomeSense and picked up this much prettier one at a reasonable price. Have I ever mentioned how much I love that store? The kiddo hates it when we start to go through the doors of that heaven. "NO! I don't want to go in there!" He knows that we lose all sense of time when we cross that threshold :)