Yearning for Yule

Once more, Yule is just around the corner.  I cannot recall a year when I looked so forward to the Yule festival. I am in dire need need of a reminder that things must sometimes be consumed in Darkness before the Light can be renewed.  I am thankful for the gentle reminder that the Mother, who will soon give birth to the light of a new year, gives only gifts to her children. Although I may not like how it was wrapped or delivered it was a gift none the less.  The world shifts, the wheel turns, and if I am not who or what I wish to be, now is the time to make it so.  The birth of the Old God as the Sun reminds me that each day is a gift and a blessing.  Each day is the chance to shuck off the past and create a new today and a new future.  Things in our lives, even beloved and cherished things, must die so that something greater can be reborn.  This year as the Light faded and the nights grew longer I came through my own dark night, and I now know with all my heart that the dawn is coming to light my life as I light the candles on the Yule altar with my family.  We are overwhelmed with blessings, and in their counting they make the dark spots of the past year a tiny price to pay for those blessings. Always remember, dreams are born in the dark.

H.W.

Lazy Sunday

Happy Sunday, all! I have decided to add a new weekly feature to Hippie Witch. Starting today I will be posting Lazy Sunday, where I will simply post links to blogs or websites that caught my interest over the past week and I would like to share with you all. This way I can take a day off blogging and spread the love around the interwebs a little bit. I will also post a MckLinky so that anyone else wanting to take the easy way out on Sunday can just link in to the blog hop and away we go on a whirlwind trip through the blogosphere! Please contact me if you would like your blog featured on Lazy Sunday! So here is the Lazy Sunday list for this week!

Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage We are thinking of building a cob playhouse for the kids this spring

Back Yard Chickens since I finally won!

Heifer International what our family is doing instead of Secret Santa gift exchange this year!

Hope you enjoy, and if you are a blogger feel free to link up to the blog hop on MckLinky below!

H.W.

Chicken sitting

This past year or more, mostly when I was trapped on bedrest while pregnant and had nothing but the interwebs to entertain me, I discovered Urban Homesteading. I threw myself into this idea as much as possible. I had mixed results, mostly due to the fact I was still on bedrest and/or had a newborn for the spring and summer. The majority of my work has been cooking and baking, learning to sew and make a few pieces of clothing from our old clothes instead of the massive garden I dreamed of. Regardless of this, I got a lot done on our property, had a little bit of a harvest, and know some things we need to do differently next year. The highlight of my pride was the pumpkin pie I served at Thanksgiving was 100% grown and prepared by our family. It was the most delicious pie I ever tasted!
Anyway, our wonderful neighbors are surprisingly like us as far as homesteading/homeschooling/sustainable/handmade living, the big difference being they are Hippie Christian Republicans (HCR) instead of Hippie Witches. (I find this to be awesome in it's rarity!)They possess on their Urban farm something I have coveted and lobbied for during our transformation from a yard to a homestead...chickens! Oh how I long for chickens, but the Hubs has vetoed it at every turn. When the neighbors got chickens and ducks this spring, I saw it as the chance to show the Hubs how easy and awesome it would be to have chickens of our very own. They were our test run. He agreed to observe closely the whole chicken owning and care process to see if his ideas about it were truth or misconception. All this summer I could see him softening, but tried not to push my chicken agenda too hard. My plan was to let him store all the info, then have a discussion about adding chickens to our homestead next spring. The HCR family is currently in Iowa (out of the fridge and into the freezer, huh!) and we are chicken sitting. I noticed that the Hubs day by day taking over the job or going over to feed the chickens and duck, and this morning when I went over he was advising me that their water trough was frozen so he put a bowl in the coop for water and I should water, feed, then top off the water they drank. Golden! Score! We are so getting chickens! His only stipulation now is that we get a couple duck's too...Bonus! Thanks for going home to visit your family HCR.
H.W.

Button

Just a quick note to say anyone who has my button on ur blog I changed it a little so please grab the new one when u get a minute. Thanx H.W.

Lucky Dog

Next Thursday I will be going before the zoning board here in town to hopefully be granted a variance to run a dog grooming shop out of my house. I have been grooming dogs for almost 12 years now, but have always worked for someone else. Owning my own business has been a dream of mine for most of that time, and I finally decided to stop wishing and start acting. Lucky Dog Grooming will open it's doors right after Christmas, and is the gift I am giving myself this year. I am so excited about it, since I will be running it out of my home, because it will allow me to provide an income for my family doing what I love while being here at home with my children the majority of the time. Even when they go to 'daycare' they will be across the yard at the neighbors who are so awesome and homeschool so can sit Jiji down next to their kids to do her schoolwork! My dining room had been transformed into a grooming shop, the tub is sitting waiting to be installed, and as of this morning my sign is on the front door. I am excited, scared, but ready to rock. Please send me positive energy and prayers on Thursday the 17th for me to be granted my variance. Lucky Dog is me building my future, and I know if I get the chance I can grow it into something fantastic!
H.W.

Reiki Thursday

Since I am just getting back in the blogging saddle, no list today. I am sending Reiki out into the Universe to whoever needs it, and ask you to do the same. Say a prayer, light a candle, or just send out positive thoughts. Bless ypu all, and pass the blessing on.
H.W.

I apologize.

It has been 4 months since I wrote on this blog. My life completely exploded in August, and I have spent that time rebuilding it. I have been recovering from post pardum depression, trying to see if my marriage could or should be saved, and starting my own business, which will open it's doors in 2 weeks, as well as the thousand other things that needed fixed, pitched, or reworked in my life. I will not say I am putting my life back together, because very few of the pieces of my life went back where they came from, but I am trying to use the opportunity to clear out the junk and dead wood and keep what can be a strong foundation to build it back better and keep moving forward I thought several times over this period about blogging, but chose instead to journal. I did not want to give any power to my own negativity, or the negativity running through my life in this difficult time by giving it a voice on my blog. I realize, however, that I was neglecting an extremely rich resource by not coming to my blog followers and the blogs I follow. I regret that profoundly, and apologize. I am back now, however, and feel I have something to say worth putting out there!