Meet Cluster Fuck

Hello everyone! Meet Cluster Fuck! The largest of my beds, Cluster Fuck is a monster garden of 3 varieties of pumpkins that have tentacles that reach out and grab your ankles, 6 varieties of tomatoes (I only planted 3), alien corn (think Signs), dahlias, chamomile, gargantua sweat pea, 4 varieties of peppers, experimental lemon cucumbers, moss rose, gourds and euphoric poppys all crammed into a itty bitty space. If your going in, bring back up.

This was Cluster Fuck in June.

Really, I think something supernatural is going on here.

Pumpkins, broccoli, corn and dahlias. So ugly, it's beautiful.

Angelus stole my camera! Incase I didn't make it out alive?

Bad Girl Gone Domestic

My next interview is with one of dearest friends and Ya-Ya Raven, blog author of A Day in the Life of a Domestic Enchantress. My dark goddess and sexy mamacita, bad girl gone domestic..I give you Raven!



Your recent picnic by the water was so cute, what foods did you make?
I made peanut butter and jelly for Ash, chicken salad for myself. I also packed fruit, yogurt and some other snacks. Trinity had some Yo Baby organic yogurt, juice, and some formula.

How do you share the 'craft with your children?
Ash is not into it so much, but he does enjoy cooking according to season and sabbat. And he will occasionally join me in a morning prayer or two, unfortunately Granny has him convinced witchcraft is evil. Trinity does everything with me from morning prayer to blessing meals, spells, crafts you name it she is a part of it. I am thinking she will be a better witch than I am.

What's on your summer to-do list?
Not too much actually, the only thing I have planned is to spend as much time with my kids as I can. I am also starting school to be a massage therapist in August, I am excited I get to put more letters behind my name. Want a free massage?

Describe your home keeping routine.
I wake up early with Trinity and get most of my cleaning done in the morning, and I make sure all of my dishes are done before bed (otherwise the fairies won't let you sleep, or so I hear). I also clean during commericals.


What do you think are the 5 most important basics to domestic witchery?
Wow, good question!
1. Bringing magic into every part of my day whether it be cooking dishes or laundry, for instance when I scrub floors I add lavender and lilac to the water. I feel it helps put calming energy into the home.
2. Make sure the house is clean, but not so clean guests are uncomfortable.
3. Candles especially scented ones, nice atmosphere and no smelly house, lol
4. Honoring household gods and spirits.
5. Probably the most important, a space of your own to escape to. I personally have my bathroom set up like a spa with plenty of books, candles, and relaxing bath products(mostly homemade).

__________________________________________________
If you would like to be interviewed by me, please comment with "interview me" and your e-mail address.

Garden Party

Welcome to the Domestic Witch Garden Party! Walk along the garden paths below by visiting the blogs listed and enjoy the wonders of gardening. Don't forget your floppy hat!

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Update on Movies to Show Angelus

My attempt to watch all the Disney movies with Angelus in chronological order has been thwarted by Disney and their bass akward way of releasing movies every 10 years. I can't find most of the older ones on DVD! Walt would be turning over in his grave! Unless it was his idea, then I stomp on his grave.

Anyway, we got to Bambi...cried... and moved on...

Grocery Shopping List

Click Here to download your own copy as a word document, you can then edit and customize. Happy shopping!

Bacon Memorial Library in Wyandotte

In the Spring I took Angelus out of his Gymboree class to try something new. I wanted something educational. I tried the library but the story times at my city's library are all wrong for our schedule. My mom suggested trying out other city's - what a great idea! I currently have him enrolled in a story time and reading reward program in a neighboring city - the Wyandotte Bacon Memorial Library. Wyandotte is a delightful city and they have a long-established, impressive library.

Back home, my neice China reads Angelus a library book.

Off with her head!

The lastest addition to my headless fairy garden, thank you Luna!

My Famers Market

My city, Taylor Michigan, started their own Farmers Market this year, how lucky am I! It's really good too! Not too small, not too big. Really nice farmers and vendors, none are certified organic, but many farm organically and just haven't or can't afford to be certified. Oh the berries have been so delicious! You really, really can tell the difference in taste, and I love when I hear "Just picked this morning!" from a vendor.

Hogwarts Feast

Last weekend Ed and I hosted a Hogwarts Feast in honor of the newest movie release! Everyone was asked to bring a themed dish and wear their house colors. Hex made Mini Dragon Eggs (breaded peppers and cheese), Sierra set up a kids fondue station to make licorice wands, Luna brought Quidditch pies (pasties), Meave made pumpkin pasties and I made Butterbeer and pumpkin juice. Those are just a few dishes we enjoyed; we had some really awesome food!

Butterbeer
3 cups of butterscotch schnapps
2 liter bottle of cream soda

Mix and serve. This was absolutely wonderful; I'll gladly make it again without a Harry Potter themed party!

(Out of Season) Pumpkin Juice
Since Harry Potter and The Half Blood Prince was released in JULY of all times, I had to come up with a pumpkin juice that didn't involve pumpkins. Pumpkins in July are unnatural, just like Harry Potter movies.

2 quarts of carrot juice
1 can (approx 13 oz.) of coconut milk
1 can (approx 14 oz.) of sweetened condensed milk
2 TB of pumpkin pie spices

Warm the sweetened condensed milk and pumpkin pie spices until the spices are blended well in the milk. Mix with remaining ingredients on a large pitcher.



Hogwarts House Colors & Games
Gryffindor: red and gold
Hufflepuff: yellow and black
Ravenclaw: blue and bronze
Slytherin: green and silver

Those who weren't able to wear their house colors were given one of these House Badges, Kelly was nice enough to bring and cut out.

All four houses earned and lost points through out the night, the house with the most points at the end of the night won the “house cup” which was bragging rights and a smug expression. I kept track of points throughout the night with a note pad and posted it periodically on a sheet I put up for everyone to see along with a list of games were playing.

Game 1: He Who Must Not Be Named
Anyone, child or adult, who is caught saying the “V” word at anytime during the night will loose their house 50 points! If you catch someone saying the “V” word turn them into the point keeper, You don’t want to turn in someone for your own house!

Game 2. The Bertie Bott’s Every Flavor Bean Challenge.
Anyone who wishes to participate can earn their house up to 50 points by eating Bertie Bott’s flavored beans! Earn 10 points per bean eaten, no more than 5 beans per person. Each player must eat their beans one at a time without the aid of other food or drink. If the player spits the bean out, it doesn’t count! Bertie Bott’s has every flavor: you might get strawberries, you might get vomit! You never know! Participation is optional. (These beans can be purchases at most stores that specialize in candy)

Meave demonstrates.

Game 3. The Dark Forest
This is a game for all the kids 10 and under. Any child who is brave enough to enter the dark forest alone (a.k.a. go behind the garage) and capture a magical creature will earn their house points. Points for each creature is different, they won’t know how many points they earned until after the creature is captured. (I tied random point notes to the feet of Angelus stuffed animals that were magical in nature.)

Trinity captures a dragon!

Game 4. Harry Potter Trivia
We will be doing 4 rounds of Harry Potter Trivia, 5 questions each round. Each house will select a representative from their house to play trivia. The representative can be the same for each round or different each round to allow others to play. The 4 rounds will not be played back to back, but split up throughout the night. During the game, each house representative will be given a wand and read a question. The first to raise their wand is allowed to answer. Each correct answer earns house points; each wrong answer subtracts house points. The questions get harder as the rounds progress and the points get higher!
Round 1: 10 point a question
Round 2: 20 points a question
Round 3: 30 points a question
Round 4: 40 points a question


Here are the questions and answers I used:
Round 1:
What are the last names of Ron, Hermione, Neville and Luna?
Ron weasley, Hermione Granger, Neville Longbottom & Luna Lovegood

What must one say to activate The Marauder's Map?
"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."

What is Harry's Owls name?
Hedwig .

How would you get Fluffy to sleep?
Play him music.

What are the first names of Malfoy and his father?
Draco Malfoy & Lucius Malfoy

Round 2:
What two species is Hagrid
Half-Giant, half human

What is Hermione's cat’s name?
Crookshanks

Who said "To the well organized mind, death is but the next great adventure."?
Professor Dumbledore

What is Professor McGonagall first name?
Minerva

What is the Patronus Charm used against?
Dementors

Round 3:
What is the Dursley street address?
#4 Privet Drive

What does Professor Flitwick teach?
Charms

How many years did Sirius Black spend in Azkaban?
12 years in Azkaban

What charm repels a Bogart?
Riddikulus

What is a parselmouth?
An individual who can speak Parseltongue, A person who can converse with serpants.

Round 4:
What is a Squib?
Individuals from wizarding families who cannot perform magic at all.

What are the three Unforgivable Curses?
Avada Kedavra - The Killing Curse
Crucio - The Cruciatus Curse
Imperio - The Imperius Curse

Who were the 4 Triwizard Tournament competitors?
Fleur Delacour, Cedric Diggory, Victor Crumb & Harry Potter

What are the first and last names of the 4 founders of Hogwarts?
Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw, Salazar Slytherin

What is Professor Dumbledore's full name?
albus-percival-wulfric-brian-dumbledore


And the winners of the house cup was....

Gryffindor!

Slytherin House


Ravenclaw House


Hufflepuff House

At the end of the night we watched Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix outside!

Luna and I cuddled up to watch the movie.

My First Blog Giveaway!

I will bestow upon the winner of my first blog giveaway this beautiful set of stones!



First is a protection mixture of snowflake obsidian, moonstone & lapis lazuli and then you'll also get one of my beloved Anubis Rocks made from coal.

Snowflake Obsidian - Snowflake obsidian has the property of bringing things to the surface. Snowflake obsidian can provide balance during times of change. It is a stone of serenity and purity, and can shield against negativity. Snowflake obsidian gives protection from physical and emotional harm.

Moonstone - Said to ease stress, anxiety, women’s hormonal swings and menstrual imbalance. Heightens psychic sensitivity and intuition.

Lapis Lazuli - Said to be the stone of friendship and truth. The blue stone is said to encourage harmony in relationships and help its wearer to be authentic and give his or her opinion openly.

How to enter:

To enter, comment and tell me which of my labels ("table of contents") is your favorite!

For 2 extra entries, write about my giveaway in your blog. Feel free to use the button code on the right sidebar! Please include in your comment below that you have done this.

I will pick a winner on August 5th using an online random number generator! I'm so excited!!

Chamomile Update

Picking fresh Chamomile.




Giving it a good rinse.


Time to dry.


Dried out a ready to brew for tea.

Rum..need I say more?!?!?

Rum Cake
I love the fire breath this cake gives you, whoo hoo!


1 cup crushed walnuts
1 18.25 ounce package yellow cake mix
1/2 cup dark rum
4 eggs
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 3.5 ounce package instant vanilla pudding mix
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup white sugar
1/8 cup water
1/4 cup dark rum

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Grease one bundt pan.

Sprinkle walnuts over the bottom of the pan.

Mix together the yellow cake mix, 1/2 cup dark rum, eggs, 1/2 cup cold water, cooking oil and instant vanilla pudding.

Pour batter over nuts.

Bake at 325 degrees for 1 hour.

Cool, inverted on a serving plate and make a few little holes on top.

Glaze:

Melt the butter in a saucepan.

Stir in 1/8 cup water and sugar. Boil for 5 minutes, stirring constantly.

Remove mixture from heat and stir in rum.

Drizzle over the top and sides of cake.

Fitday

This is my favorite program for calorie & nutrition tracking: FitDay. I've been using it for years to help me when I diet. When I stick to a diet, it really helps. Unfortuantly, will power is not included with the program!

You had me at Oreo.

Oreo Torte

15-19oz Oreos
½c Melted Butter/Margarine
16oz Whip Cream
2c Chocolate Pudding
8oz Cream Cheese
1c Sugar


• Grind or smash Oreos into chunks, set aside 1 cup. Put the rest in the bottom of 9x13 pan, cover with melted butter

• Mix 8oz cream cheese, sugar and 8oz cool whip; spread over cookie/butter mix

• Spread Chocolate pudding over Cream cheese mix

• Spread remaining whip cream over pudding

• Sprinkle remaining Oreo crumbs over whip cream

Dune

I will not fear
Fear is the mind killer
I will face my fear
I will let it pass through me

If you wanna make an omelette, you have to break a few eggs.

Savory and fresh summer breakfast!

A prefect egg-y circle fried in bacon grease.

More cheese please!

Yummy.

Yea, he's flipping me off.