Engagement... Ring? Laptop? PDA?

As Dave has seen the exchange rate from US to Ireland hit the toilet and circle the bowl a few times, he has been having second thoughts about my engagement ring. It's now more than $2k US dollars just for the ring, alone. It was around $1400 about 6 months ago, but did he buy it then? NoOOOooOOOooooo... of course not.

About 3 weeks ago, I killed the 6 year old PDA that Dave had given me for my eBooks. Have I mentioned lately how much I love eBooks? You pay $5.99 more or less, and you can download the newest bestseller using Mobipocket (LOVE!) and read it the same day without leaving the comfort of your home, or ordering the physical book online and then paying for shipping&handling. That's just annoying. When I order a book, I want to read it NOW.

I was packing up the PDA to take it home and it seriously just slipped from my hands and it's protective case and slammed to the floor, hitting the metal foot under my work desk. Ow. I knew it wasn't going to be pretty. Sure enough, the screen was sliced diagonally in half. I brought it home, depressed, distressed, and wholly miserable and sorry. Kindly enough, Dave was glad I was okay - apparently the liquid inside the LCD screen is poisonous and could have leaked out. Ew.

So since then, I've been PDA-less.

Yesterday he brought up the idea of possibly getting me a lesser engagement sparkly ring and also giving me a tricked out PDA. I seriously considered it. If they can engrave the words "Will you marry me?" on it, why the heck not? I took the old one everywhere with me... so I'm certain the new one would follow me, too. What a way to announce you're engaged, eh.

Tonight it was the "Honey, we could always get you a brand new lappy...." line. Now that has me in it's grips, too. I would SO LOVE a new laptop - something less heavy, and with more memory that doesn't freak out on me every time I try to play something from YouTube on here. Again, I told him I would still require a small sparkly ring with the tricked out laptop. And again, the laptop would have to have the words "Will you marry me?" engraved on it somewhere noticeable. Talk about a technology heirloom.

The fact that I would consider any of the items and down grade my ring should speak volumes.

We are geeks.

I think....

We may have found our officiant.

Since Dave and I are not active members of any coven(s), and preferred to be solitary eclectic as unattached people, we wondered who would be able to officiate at our ceremony who would possibly understand where we were at in our lives.

Recently, we've been discussing going to services at the Lake Harriet Spiritual Community Center (hey, any place that has a Psychic Fair has got to be down wi' da Wiccans), not only for us and our growth, but also so Alli can experience other children in families just like ours. It's something we'll be looking into further.

Anyways, I had emailed a few different officiants last week to see if anyone would respond - including the current officiant for Lake Harriet. Nothing. Not a peep nor a phone call.

Monday morning at about 2am I sent a message on one officiant's web page requesting consultation information, giving Dave's and my spiritual path; thinking "Heck, it's probably another dead end."

Lo and behold, Reverend Leslie contacted me back with:

"Dear Dave & Witchy,

Greetings! Thank you for contacting me about your ceremony, and congratulations! It is always an honor for me when people of kindred spirituality allow me to assist in creating their celebration. I would love to hear what you have in mind as far as a variation on handfasting. Let's talk soon...I have some nice material that I have written for other Wiccan and Druidic ceremonies and I would love to share ideas. November 1st...how exciting!

As far as the Tarot readings for your guests, this added invitation makes your email to me twice as sweet. I love the tarot. The cost for having me there would depend on what sort of readings you are interested in and how many of your friends & family you think would want a reading. I find it difficult to do any sort of real reading in less than twenty minutes. I have on a few occasions done very short "mini-readings" which are,of necessity, more light and entertaining (usually for fundraising festivals). So if you want to offer people a serious reading it might just come down to time...I would be able to read for three people maximum each hour, so for half of your guests it would take seven hours.

It may be easier to discuss these ideas live!
Will you give me a call? I look forward to hearing from you!
Leslie (XXX)XXX-XXXX"

Okay, now seriously, how warm and welcoming is THAT to open in your email inbox??

I just responded back to her about an hour ago letting her know our story, and giving some other information, asking when was a good time to call her. I hate feeling like I'm intruding on a person when I call after 7pm. Especially one you'd like to hire.

I'm sure she'll mail back soon... I would love to have her do mini-readings for those who would like one. Now all I need is a psychic and/or mayhaps a palm reader.

I know, I know. We're not all that normal. Who cares. :)

Wedding/Handfasting Update

As some of you who read my blog know, I have found the place that I think we should unite. It's a nice little lodge/house situated off the Audubon Preservation Center between Sandstone and Hinckley, MN.

Good ol' Schwyzer Lodge.

To quote:

"Schwyzer Lodge

The historic Schwyzer Lodge is available for rental for your seasonal family fun. Situated on the shores of Grindstone Lake, this beautiful, charming lodge is an ideal property for a quiet getaway for family and friends. The Lodge has four bedrooms and can sleep up to 14 people. A fully equipped kitchen, fireplace in the living room, three bathrooms and a large screened porch facing the lake make up some of the amenities of this secluded retreat. Plus, you have access to over 530 acres of Wildlife Sanctuary."


I don't know...I just saw it online, and it felt right. I can't wait to see it in person this coming weekend.

Yep. Dave is even going to take some time off this weekend to go and see it with us. Of course I've asked Kathleen and Charlie to come along too - Kathleen is one of the attendants to call quarters for us.

I also asked Beckah if she would so honor us to call quarter; I would love to have my brother Alex call a third quarter, but well...we'll see if our parents will allow him. That leaves a fourth quarter personless. Hm.

Josh, my buddy from work who has a partner with him in a catering business, suggested that he, his girlfriend, Janan his partner, myself and Dave all sit down to dinner and hammer out some details for the cuisine. Dave and I are thinking hearty, down to earth food - lamb stew, veggie stew, artesian breads & cheeses,and possibly a roast for the main meal with the typical vegetable accoutrement, followed by....cake.

Now, the cake has been interesting. When Beckah came over to visit Friday night, Dave and I finally hammered out what we *think* we want. Waning, Full, and waxing moons. The two half moons will be two layer chocolate cake with strawberry filling? Maybe? While the full moon we'd like to be three layers: top layer vanilla, followed by pumpkin butter filling, then spice cake layer, more pumpkin butter, and another layer of vanilla cake. Butter cream frosting as an allover? Yum.

The groom's cake will be shaped like a jack o'lantern and we'd discussed it being carrot cake (without raisins) and cream cheese frosting. Mmmmmmmm....

We shall see. There's just an incredible amount of work to yet go into this. I don't think the planning will seem real until we start paying for things... when money disappears out of your pocket, then things become MUCH more real.

I still haven't had much luck with the gown portion, or what the attendants will wear. I'm not too concerned at the moment. Kathleen might be pregnant or just have had a little one by November 2008 (Gods willing!). I might be in the same boat myself (also, Gods willing!) and would rather wait a bit to see what is going on closer to the wedding.

Mind you, when I was prego with Alli, I didn't gain a pound of fat. But when she was born, I lost 20 in water weight I didn't know I had!

Magick Points

Dave and I have implemented a system where Alli can earn "Magick Points" - it's basically trying to teach herself self-control, and internal checks and balances.
He's taught her breathing techniques to help her curb her attitude and the yelling that's been happening for the past few months that we were at a loss as to how to deal with it. It's been working, somewhat.

Each time Alli can tell us how she used her "magick" to calm herself, help someone out, etc, she earns a point towards a real magick lesson - a small ritual, a lesson on a few herbs, time spent casting and explaining a simple spell (a protection spell would be the first one we should be teaching her).

So far, she has earned and lost, and is currently at zero.

Eventually she will have to learn some self control if she wants to learn what we have to teach....

One can only hope!

And I will say this, for all that I don't discuss rituals and BoS information, I tend to be quite private in my practicing of the Craft. I am more than willing to share information with people face to face, but simply posting it online in a blog, I consider to be most reckless. Spells are spells are spells. All magick should be taught and created with great discretion and safety. So you will not find much in the way of me giving out spells and chants to raise the cone of power in this blog. Just a side note.

Some days, I wonder

And I'm sure you do, too - why I'm marrying Dave - especially after that last post. Peeing in the sink. Sheesh!

Trust me, he really IS housebroken. You have my word on that.


My nerd is a geek of the highest order. He moved halfway across the country to be with Alli and I, knowing it would be easier for him to move to a telecommute position, than it would be for me to up and leave here and try to find work and affordable daycare in DC. He worships the ground I walk upon - most of the time - and he can be the sweetest man alive (except when he sneaks upstairs and scares the SHITE out of me while I'm doing laundry), and he loves spending time with us. He is the reason Alli will probably grow up and become a scientist after their numerous experiments they've had with dry ice, and the planting/potting that took place yesterday. He teaches her things I could never think to....

But the real reason I love him is his quirks. The way he thinks about things - his thought processes boggle my mind because his brain never seems to sleep. Seriously, he codes in his dreams! But when he is single-minded and focused just on me, or our family, it makes it all worth it. By "all" I mean: All the weekends he has worked, all the hours he has had to eat while fixing code he broke, and trying to help, but not quite knowing what to do and then making a problem bigger. Typical male, that.

Sure, he hasn't remembered to pack my lunch on a consistent basis for the last few weeks, but he's had code and the conference on his mind. He's been right grumpy lately, too while playing catch-up constantly. But when he heads to bed with me and holds me, it makes almost everything all right.

So yep. Mark the calendars.Circle the last week of October and the first week of November. We still haven't narrowed an actual date down yet. I'm hoping that will come with the ring. We've picked caterer (shout out to Josh & Janan!), still searching for a good reception and ceremony location, still need to find a dress, and figure out what the hell kind of theme we're really going for. Piece of cake, eh? Ahhh crappies. We still have to figure out the cake, too. Flowers. Other dresses. Officiant. Does the list ever end? Thank the Gods we have a little less than 18 months left to plan.

Hot Fuzz and other tales

Dave and I have 4 bathrooms.

One on the main level, two upstairs, and one in the family room in the basement. Remember this. It comes in handy later.

Last night, in anticipation of Mother's Day and me kinda bugging him for a 'date night' movie, he was able to find "Hot Fuzz".

First off, if you liked "Shaun of the Dead" (based off American zombie films), you'll love "Hot Fuzz" (based off American cop-buddy movies like "Bad Boys") - same quirky, slapstick Brit humor that caricatures American movies perfectly. We loved it - two thumbs up!

Around 2am, we've finished "Hot Fuzz" and are onto "The Prestige" (which I have to tell you, I thought it was pretty stupid - seriously, magicians.... excuse me, ILLUSIONISTS, out for revenge against one another, and it turns out at the end Illusionist A actually has a twin that you've never heard tell of the entire movie and that's how he does impossible tricks).

Well, I really have to pee and I head to the bathroom and tell Dave to keep the movie rolling because I know what's going to happen - the wife is going to drown during a water chamber escape sequence (which sets up the vengeance scenario). He stops the movie anyways and says he has to pee so bad, I'd better hurry up.

I tell him, "Go on! We've got 3 other bathrooms and a sink in this one!"

He comes back with "Don't you dare me...."

Keep in mind, we are both tired, a bit cocky, and I'm a tad cranky right now with my period and all... "I dare you to pee in the sink!" flies out of my mouth.

I laugh nervously and he looks at me, and proceeds to cross to the sink and pee in it.

I don't think I've been so shocked at him about anything as I was last night. Seriously, who pees in a sink???? Walk the 50 feet upstairs to the other bathroom and go!!

Ugh. I made him clean up his mess - yes, the area has been sanitized.
And then I told him I would have to blog about it.

Never dare your mate after midnight to do anything. They just might follow through. Oy.

What have I been up to?

Dave made it to his Minneapolis-based web developers conference "CF: Objective"; at which he had such a blast it's scary. It ran the dates of May 3th-6th. Kathleen came from Sandstone to help with getting Alli off the school and picking her up from the bus. It was good to see her and I know Alli loved having Aunty Kathleen around. :)

Seriously, the first night at Sofitel (Thursday), I called him after midnight and he was half in the bag. Funny. He never drinks at home....
The second day (Friday) that I talked to him, he told me he was hanging out with a bunch of old, married web developers for the most part, and was in Nerd Heaven. (Let me take this chance to thank Jared, apparently the main organizer, at CF: Objective--- Thank you for keeping him safe and sound, and letting him hang around other nerds just as cool as you. :))

Saturday, I went shopping to a bunch of new age shops with Beckah (we missed you Jenn!) and Alli, who had a great time. Costco came first, and then the delicious Little Oven. Yum! Stonehenge, Eye of Horus, and Evenstar were quite nice little shops. We are planning an extended treasure hunt in June/July for additional shops...

Work is work is work. I seem to be inundated lately with requests that are time consuming and quite repetitive. I am still waiting to hear about one of the other positions I applied for. It would have been nice to know by this Friday like the supervisor has promised, but for the grace of the Gods go I... sigh.

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This weekend I am experimenting with food. Friday night Jenn and Beckah came over (Alli was a terror while Jenn attempted to teach her the names of the strings. Oy.

I attempted to make red rice with chicken - arroz con pollo. Most of it came out good, but the rice on the very bottom was a bit crunchy. I suppose as long as everyone lived past the rice and chicken, it's all good. A really yummy fruit salad was our dessert...

And then... they went home and I passed out.

Alli and I were going to Sandstone but I just didn't feel like driving an hour and a half. Tired, crabby, crampy...yuck. Ladies, we've all been there I'm sure. No one wants to move when they feel like every motion could cause a flood in your lower region. *cringes*

Saturday we hit Target though and finally picked up some more potting soil and pots to plant various seedlings Alli has brought home from school.

As a family we tilled the soil in the pots, re-potted Alli's tree she received from school for Arbor Day, planted some sweet pea seeds, and some other things. Dave really got into it and is now putting out terrarium style bags with tomato seeds and chili seeds in them in hope they will sprout for us to plant.

This is why we need a place with land. Our balcony can only cut it for so long with plastic pots and window planters. We do have green thumbs and would like to plant and nurture things to watch them grow. No matter how entrenched in technology that he and I may seem to be, we do have that nurturing spirit we would like to pass onto our children. One thing is certain; we will be having our own garden wherever we may buy a house. I will demand it. :)