LOOK where we are going this weekend !!!!! ***jumps around with excitment*** Princyclopedia 2007: Harry Potter (at Princeton University, NJ)

This year’s theme is Harry Potter!  Explore the wizarding world, including your favorite shops and Hogwarts classes! Potions, wands, Herbology, robes, Charms, Astronomy, Quidditch, Honeydukes treats, howlers, Care of Magical Creatures, storm spells, fabulous door prizes…and did we mention live owls, bugs, and snakes? Special prizes will be given to the first 222 children who come dressed in their snazziest wizard garb!

I am sooooooooooooooooooo excited!!!! (could you tell LOL) This is going to be huge, and I just know I’m going to get even more inspiration that I can then hopefully incorporate into our upcoming HP big birthday party the end of May. Teacherman (my hubby) is almost afarid to take me to this big event – cause he thinks I’ll be trying to rent all the decorations and hire all the actors. LOL

It is only about 15 minutes away from us – but the town and especially the campus are packed even without an event going on. So we are going to arrive at least an hour early (by 9 a.m.), tailgate and have breakfast while we wait for it open. And of course my daughter and I will be in costume! hehehe

Bright blessings, Lady Rose

Written by Lady RoseTags:harry potter

If you’ve been reading this blog you know I started back in college this semester by taking Introduction to Education. I handed in 2 papers last week and have been anxiously waiting for my grades.

My mid-term essays received a 99% and my report on the Board of Education received a 100%.

I am well on my way to getting an A for the class overall. I am very pleased and very proud.

This weekend I intend to start researching my end-of-term project and organizing my notes for the final.

Yea Me!

Mama Kelly

Written by Mama Kelly

Not much has been going on this week and my thoughts are dark and dismal as a result.  Putting pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard) results in a stream of compaints and curmudgeoning.

Some of this is a result of my feeling overwhelmed in general, some of this is realted to issues stemming from my husband’s chronic pain, some of this is a result of Miss Artistic’s homework issues.  Overall I am just sad, weary, and frankly often angry.

I am grateful for the upcoming “spring break” which means that I have a week without screaming about homework and that I can sneak in maybe an extra 15 minutes of sleep in the morning.

That’s it in a nutshell.  I am off to the workplace that we affectionately refer to as HELL.  It’s be funny if it wasn’t such an accurate description.  I am soooooo tired though.  The bright spot of my day is knowing that in an hour I will be sipping my WaWa coffee.

Blessings

Mama Kelly

Written by Mama KellyTags:depression, exhaustion, fatigue, life, personal, work

Well I had my meeting with my advisor last night. My meeting was at 6:30, and work ended at 5 so I spent the time in between running a couple of errands. I went to buy a new charger for our cell phone and I picked up some of the kids’ “easter” basket candy.

I liked my advisor A. He was my age and very encouraging. He disuaded me from taking a Composition class over the summer as he feels that, even if I don’t remember it, I probably took one freshman year way back when in the late 1980s. We also talked about what 4-year school I should set my sights on after completeing my time at the community college.

I am now formally matriculated as an Education Major. Even though the difference is nothing more than a couple of keystrokes in a computer database I do feel different.

We set my my summer schedule:

Tuesday 6pm-10pm : Cultural Anthropology

Thursday 5:35-9:35 : Computer Literacy : class and lab

Online/TV Course : Human Geography

I also came home with the class requirements for the 4 year school he is suggesting. As it is WAY more expensive than my local 2 year school I am glad to have the list of what classes here meet their requirements so I can take as much as possible as the lower cost.

My husband asked if I can see the light at the end of the tunnel and I told him frankly, NO. But, I am starting to believe that the tunnel is going to come out somewhere.

The frustration is, of course, how long it is going to take especially being limited to only taking classes via Internet or at night.

Another frustration is that while, through a communiversity program Full Time tuition at the college I’ve been advised to consider (using an offsite location) I can save 48% on the tuition and only pay just about $5K a semester, I only get the discount if I go full time. So I told my hubby that somehow we have to juggle it so that I am going to school full-time while working full-time. I told him that I felt that our best bet would be to sell our rental property (or take out a home equity loan at that point). I will have to continue to work 35 hours a week at work to keep my insurance …. and 18 credits a semester for 2 years. He keeps talking about student loans, but Id rather sell the house and use the tuition to offset the tax hit that selling will cause.

Anyway …

I’m still stuck in the tunnel … and I may not know where its going … but I’m beginning to think I’ll get out before the ceiling caves in.

Blessings

Mama Kelly

Written by Mama KellyTags:back in school

Harry Potter party planning and blogging housekeeping have taken over my life.

I had a very productive weekend – lots of hours in the wee hours of the morning huddled over the keyboard writing pages and posts for my new blog, Diet Pulpit, and also trying to learn more about widgets, alternative blog themes, plug-ins, etc.     I don’t think I’ll ever get the hang of it.   LOL  

I spent a lot of time this weekend sorting through all the various boxes that have arrived over the past few months containing Harry Potter Party STUFF!!!!    It has taken over the living room, part of the dining, and some of the room on the second floor — oh yeah, its THAT much.    So I got some big containers and just started sorting — one pile for food related items (dragon lollipop molds, pumpkin spice syrup, pumpkin mini muffin tins, etc.), another box for items related to the classes (divination, potions, charms, etc.), another for decorations (stone goblets, gold and blue carboard stars, owls of various sizes, etc.), yet another container for Diagon Alley shop items (wands, pigmy puffs, cauldrons, etc.) and 2 boxes for the 24 Honeydukes candy sampler goodie bags, and another container for the table clothes, plastic cups, etc.   Of course there are the really big boxes for the class Kits (24 HP astronomy class kits, 24 HP mobile kits, 24  HP care of magical creatures tracking kits), and two huge cauldrons, several brooms, 15 posters (that still need to be laminated), and the big pile of various things that need to be copied and the papers to copy them on (i.e. menus, handouts, invitations, etc.) and of course the Gryffindor Sword, Sorting Hat, various other collectibles for the museum display, and the games for the wizard tournament.  

At least I feel like I have gotten a handle on things.  But it does feel a bit overwhelming at times.  The party is only 8 weekends away!!!   Yikes I better order the Hogwarts Castle Cake!      So I have just 7 weekends (14 days) to get it all done, with the last four days before the party devoted to food preparation.   Oh yeah, the panic is going to kick in soon.   LOL    I can already hear the little voice in my head saying……”What have you gotten us into?!!!”

We also watched the  Potter Puppet Pals latest puppet video, “What’s that mysterious ticking noise?” at least 20 or 30 times, and I can’t get the song out of my head.   It is the funniest yet!   My daughter and I sang it a lot while we sorted.   hehehe

Angelgirl (my daughter) had a busy weekend too, with karate class Fri. night, afterwards she went with a friend to see The Last Mimzi (which she gave two thumbs up and said it was sooooooooooo cute) and spent the night at the friend’s house, then karate again Sat. morning, and then the entire afternoon at a Girl’s Scouts International event which was a lot of fun (her troop did a display for Canada).  Sunday was homework and helping me sort the HP stuff.   

Gee looking back over all that, no wonder I’m a bit tired today. LOL

Hope all of you had great weekends too!    Lady Rose

Written by Lady RoseTags:family, harry potter

Well hubby had some kind of stomach bug yesterday and where there original plan had been to go out as a family and “run errands” I decided, after he took to the bed, to take the girls out on my own. I surprised them by including a trip to Payless Shoes and to Fashion Bug to the announced Drug Store and Grocery Store visit.

It never fails that when the kids really need new shoes that Payless ISN’T having one of their Buy1 Get1 50% off sales.  So I spent a bit more than I would’ve liked but ….

PrincessNibbles’ sneakers had developed holes and so a new pair was more than called for.

Miss Artistic’s sneakers smell like small creatures use them for foul purposes.

Also they each needed shoes for “Easter” when we go out for dinner as a family.

I bought 5 pairs of shoes — and spent $75.00 — which is not as good as I usually do.  And while a couple of the shoes were on sale, honestly Im kind of annoyed at my lack of bargain-finidng.

Then we went into Fashion Bug where I may have made up for any sales I didn’t find.  I picked up a number of Tshirts off the clearance racks for $2-$5 each, Miss Artistic got a $38 pair of jeans that only cost me $7 ….. Princess Nibbles got 2 pairs of jeans at similar discounts. 

And I purchased each of their “Easter outfits”.

Miss Artistic will be wearing a sand colored pair of cargo-styled capris with a brown-themed 70′s design top.  Paired with this outfit will be a pair of wedge sandals (from Payless) in brown with earthy tone (salmon, turquoise) flowers and a “Gwen Stefani” style pair of sunglasses.

PrincessNibbles will be wearing a white split skirt paired with a white top with a mock shrug in a pink butterfly design.  Accenting this lovely outfit are white sandles (from Payless) with multicolor flowers on top (please note that the pink flower matches the pink “shrug” perfectly).

The only things I bought myself was a pair of earrings.  Sterling silver, french hook design with largish square peridots.  They are antiquish looking and were a steal at only $10 (down from $40).  I purchased them because the green reminded me of spring and new shoots of plants, fresh growth.  I am going to try and remember to put them on every morning, as a conscious reminder that I can create the life I want.

I also decided that I am not buying any new clothes, short of an emergency, until I lose enough weight to NEED new clothes because everything else is falling off of me.  LOL

That’s it in a nutshell.

I am off to work today, I am back to my 6 day a week schedule and dreading it already.

Blessings

Mama Kelly

Written by Mama KellyTags:children, clothes, clothing, easter, kids, shoes, shopping, spring

Well I went yesterday to take the “standard skills” test to fully matriculate into college.
It was in 4 parts and I have to re-take 1 of the parts to avoid taking one of those introductory level algebra courses that while they charge me for 3 or 4 credits, don’t count said credits toward my graduation requirements. On Reading Comprehension and Arithmetic I tested in the 99th percentile. Arithmetic I tested in the 93rd. And Elementary Algebra I BOMBED.

I am too shamed to even share the percentile I placed in.

My only excuse is that I didn’t know that there was going to be algebra and therefore didn’t freshen up on the rules, etc.

The bright side is that I wasn’t planning on taking Math classes during the Summer semester. Soooooo I can study over the next few months and refresh my memory of things along the lines of

(3x+4y-z)(2x-1y+2z)

I meet with my advisor on Tuesday evening to formally register for my summer classes … the plan right now is 3 classes, 2 at the campus and 1 online. I will be asking him when I should plan to re-take the algebra test so that I can take my math requirement in the Fall.

Dare I mention that algebra and I don’t get along? My initial experience with algebra was in Catholic school taught by a nun that I still believe was an incarnation of evil.

She was everything that I feel a teacher should not be:

she was cruel … she would purposefully berate and insult student until they would cry

she was vindictive … she had a habit of assignment homework problems beyond what she covered in class and then give you detention if you got too many wrong

Needless to say the very thought of stepping into an algebra class makes me break out into a cold sweat.

Anyway, in addition to my other coursework this summer I have to spend time every week relearning the algebra skills that I was taught when I was 15 or 16 years old. I can at least appease my battered self-esteem by reminded myself that it was over 20 years ago. LOL

Wish me luck.

Mama Kelly

Algebra Resources

Math for Morons like Us

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

Algebra Tutorials

Written by Mama Kelly

Lady Rose and I (Mama Kelly) started blogging back on Blogger in January of 2006. 

I started first with a blog entitled Mama Kelly’s Musings.  Then there was Tarot Time and Witches’ Wit & Wisdom. When Lady Rose joined in the fun Purple Moon Garden was first born.

We moved to wordpress primarily because it allowed the categorization of posts.  We enjoyed this feature as it allowed us to take 4 blogs and merge them into one.  Originally it kept the name Purple Moon Garden, but was eventually rechristened A Blog of Two Witches.

Gradually we added new blogs …. a weight loss blog (Incredible Shrinking Ladies) … a blog dealing with Mama Kelly’s recent return to college (Training to be a Teacher) … and most recently a tongue-in-cheek blog entitled the Diet Pulpit.

There were other blogs too …. Ane’s Art and Angst, which was supposed to be a spot for Mama Kelly’s older daughter and MAY just open as a joint venture for her and another girl soon.  Additionally there was Hoping for a Homestead which was birthed and slaughtered within a period of a couple of months.

Today our account was suspended. Ostensibly for including links to our blogs in the signatures of comments we left hither and yon about the web.

I am hoping and praying that we will get our content back. However research has shown me that it is quite possible that we won’t. The early stuff is still over at blogger (through July 2006), but the last 8 months of work may just be gone for good.

I am sick to my stomach, I am angry, I am frustrated, and I am sad. But, I wonder at the timing.

We recently marked the Sabbat of Ostara, the spring equinox, which is a time of new beginnings.

So while I wail and moan, and yes even stomp my feet I have to wonder about the fact that we have been given a fresh start.  It is as if the Goddess herself decided that it was time for us to begin anew.  To find a focus.  To get on a schedule.  To give our blog purpose!!!

We have been given a chance to take all the lessons we learned over the past year of blogging and create something that can eventually be even better than what we had before.

I am upset certainly by having to start over, especially building up the traffic that we had started to accrue.  Recently we were seeing days with hits in excess of 1200 hits.  It will take a long time to reach those levels again.

I am worried about having to recreate so much content.  Some of it was incredibly time consuming, namely the Pagan BlogRoll and Coloring Pages for Pagan Children.

But … I/we will not go gently into the abyss of cyberspace.

We shall go on.

Thank you to all of our faithful readers.

Look for your favorite content to reappear here soon.

Blessings

Mama Kelly

P.S. Update 10pm E.D.T. – our content has been restored. 

However, I am considering using the “moment of clarity” supplied by this fright to work on gradually moving to new digs.  Cleaning out a lot of old content, fluffing the good stuff, and starting fresh as it were

Written by Mama Kelly

Well I handed in my take-home mid-term and my paper on the Board of Education meeting I attended on 2/27/07.  I am certainly hoping to get A’s on each, or high B’s at the very least.  I certainly feel that I met or exceeded the stated requirements but as I tend to do I am stressing a bit.  Mainly because these will be the first graded items we will receive back from this teacher and so I do not know how strict he is when it comes to grading.

In related news … half of tonight’s class simply didn’t show up, presumably because THEY didn’t finish their assignments.  The teacher expressed frustration and disappointment on more than one occassion about the poor turnout tonight.  I really felt for him.

He is older than I am … I would place him in his early 60s … and has obviously been in the field for a long long time.  On the days he holds classes at the college he puts in 14 hour days.  I can understand why he’d be frustrated at absenteeism.

Anyway, part of class was spent watching a 1989 video, The Truth About Teachers, hosted by Whoopi Goldberg.  It was both informative and inspiring.

While a bit out of date (quoted statistics obviously would no longer apply) it was wonderful to see teachers who made their classrooms a top priority in their life.  The teachers presented certainly went above and beyond the requirements of their jobs every day … sacraficing time, energy, blood, sweat, and tears.

The video was comprised of brief glimpses into the classrooms of teachers, many in poor or underpriviledged school districts, who used innovative teachniques to overcome student apathy and learning difficulties.

One of the highlighted teachers was quoted as saying that he felt he “owed something to the future”.  What a wonderful reason to be the best teacher possible.  I left tonight feeling hopeful. 

Not only am I beginning to believe that I actually do have something to offer a classroom, but I am beginning to postulate ideas for things I want to do with my students.

Wish Me Well

Mama Kelly

Written by Mama Kelly

Last weekend when Lady Rose visited she and I went to the bookstore. One of the books I picked up was Tarot for Your Self. I grabbed the title mainly because it corresponds with one of my goals on my 101 list which is to increase my tarot expertise, but also because it focuses on using tarot for the self as opposed to as a tool for reading “fortunes” for others.As I work through the exercises in this book I intend to share my findings with my, our readers. One of the exercises in chapter 1 is to create a personal tarot profile.  By using elements of numerology and astrology you find which Major Arcana cards are supposed to have special meaning for you in your life.

Personality Card – life purpose, aspirations, lessons to be learned

Soul Card – soul purpose, qualities that will assist me

For me, both “cards” are represented by The Hierophant

teaching and education; spiritual discipline; rules and conformity

OK talk about a 2×4 … I have recently re-enrolled in college with the goal of becomming a teacher.  So I am appartently finally working in tandem with my “life purpose”.  Part of my lesson will be being forced, to some degree, to conform and follow the rules, in order to succeed in this goal.  Additionally I can be aided by regaining a spiritual discipline.

Teacher Card – qualities I either fear or don’t recognise in myself which can be helpful

Temperance

enthusiasm, confidence, optimism, organization

If I possess these strengths they are long buried and quite stagnant.

Zodiac Card – what I need for self-expression

The Lovers

combining the head and the heart, emotion and intellect; working with a partner

Very much on target.  Not only do I need to feel engaged both with my mind and my heart but I do work better working WITH someone else.  Especially when I can share the work with either a friend (like Lady Rose) or a romantic partner.  I need to not feel ALONE in whatever task I have before me.

Destiny Card – my impulses, desires, and reactions

9 of swords

depression, suffering, guilt, self-loathing, illness, anxiety

WOW …. As someone who has multiple health issues and who has dealt with anxiety and depression since my youth this probably is the one card I could use to represent myself if I was truly honest.

I am often that woman sitting up in the dark of the night, hands over my face.

Personal Potential Card – sun sign

Knight of Swords

comitted to thoughts and ideas, assertive and courageous, headstrong and impatient

Inner Teacher Card – moon sign

King of Pentacles

responcible and trustworthy, craftsperson, practical, slow to change

Mode of Expression Card – rising sign

Queen of Wands

recognizes personal power, spontaneous, quick-tempered

Certainly this book is full of food for thought!!!

Blessings

Mama Kelly

Written by Mama Kelly