The golden calf.

Non pagans look at me funny for believing in many gods.  Admittedly, they sometimes leave bibles around, but that's beside the point. They think I'm strange (at best) because my faith is divided betwixt so many deities.

But I don't think they realize there doing the same thing.

Think about it. We are a culture that is obsessed with celebrity. Even just this week CNN was running stories about a talentless starletts shoplifting woes in between stories on the crisis on the middle east.  As if it were real news! And the outrage of the Biebs cutting his hair! The candlelight vigil when Snooki drunkenly twists her ankle! (ok, that hasen't happened yet, but you know its going to)

So I've decided to make a little game out of it.  Wanna play?  It's called "who are the modern day gods".  Here goes...

(And much like my own pantheon, its a mix of Norse and Greek.  Yeah, I know, I'm weird)

Thor  - god of war.  I'm going to go with Gerrard Buttler. beautiful to look at, but has that air of hidden danger.

Hera - queen of the gods. Sandra Bullock. Total Hollywood royalty.

Odin - the man. The most powerful god of all (and the sexiest IMHO). It's a toss up. I was going to say Nathan Fillion, because... well, he's Mal and Mal is a GOD PEOPLE.  But I also have to say Liam Niesson.  Also powerful, smart, and uuber sexy.

I have an Odin thing, sorry.

Ahem, moving on.

Athena - goddess of wisdom.  Oprah. Not even going to explain.

Loki - the trickster god, trouble maker extrordanair. Charlie Sheen, Lindsay Lohan, Paris Hilton, insert any rehab junkies name here. Constantly in creating and living in chaos. 

Persephonie - (my patron goddess) goddess of spring, queen of the underworld, and deity of transformation.  I had a hard time coming up with a celebrity, but I'm going to go with Nichole Richie.  She was a loki, but turned herself around and now has this whole earth-mother thing going on. It's good. I'm usually not a fan of hers, but in this case, I'm good with it.

Gaia - the mother goddess. Julia Roberts. I totally get that hippy momma vibe watching her.

Balder - gentle and wise, god of light, source of all love.  Tom Hanks.  All the way.

So see, we may not realize it, but were worshiping the gods still. Just not the way we used to. 

dont you wish your girlfriend could cook like me.

i am a kitcheny witchy MACHINE! with the exception of two nights ago when we went to hooters, i have cooked every meal my family has eaten all week. mostly from scratch. i say mostly because of the fish sticks on fish n chips night.

so for the most part ive been in controll of everything thats gone into my body. ive known everything that ive consumed. no dyes, preservatives, no unpronouncables. and with the exception of my quesadilla with fries and blue cheese dressing (cause im an addict) from hooters, ive been cleansing myself from the inside out.

now, i noticed something about day 3. i got very sick, very quickly, of oatmeal and ham n bean soup. especially oatmeal. so i was forced to find new recipes. new ways to make this experiment doable. thank gods for the internet.

as breakfast was the biggest issue, i tackled that first. allrecipes.com had some great (and not so great) granola recipes. yes, some of them called for HFCS (i flat out refuse to call it corn sugar. i have pride), but not all. i finally chose one i could modify, as im not a big fan of dried cranberries or rasins. i simply left them out.

i cooked it up last night, and i have to say that its damn good. like good enough that ill be making this weekly. if not more. i can see hubby and princess gorging themselves on this.

the next hurdle is dinner. because i am so sick of ham n bean soup that i could puke... ham n bean soup. theres a recipe for clam chowder on spoonfedblog that id like to try, but itll have to wait till payday. hubby loves seafood.

mmmmmmm, seafood...

im being stalked by jesus

so ive been noticing a weird trend in my tweet stream. im apparently being stalked by jesus. and an anti pornogrophy ring. and a money making plan that just requires a small investment of...

its all a little disconcerning.

i have nothing against jesus. hell of a guy. heard great things about him. and 99.999% of the christians i know are fabu people. its the ones that try to convert me through the anon gauze of the tweetaverse that are getting on my nerves.

i am happy in my path. i see no reason to look elsewhere. and, yes, i was BORN OK THE FIRST TIME. thank you. you can stop lurking in my stream now.

and while i dont follow them, they cant really enjoy reading my tweets. i curse. i complain and grouse about everything. im not a really plesant tweeter. funny, hells yeah. plesant, not so much. so im pretty sure with names like 'kids for christ', im not their bag.

personally, i use twitter as a sounding board for that ever random thought pops into my little head. moreso than facebook or even this blog. ask anyone who follows on both fb and twitter. im much less censored there. things and people that tend to annoy have their own hashtags. and the people that i follow are either people i KNOW, or ones that i am actually interesed in hearing what they have to say. im old school like that.

have we really become such a self obsessed society that ew expect everyone to hang on our every word? sadly, i think we have. just my two cents of course.

o ill admit, i follow a couple of celebrities. a couple of the firefly cast, some of the bsg cast. but thats just because im a massive geek. a. massive. geek. im under no delusions that these people want to hear ANYTHING i have to tweet.

so unless youre actually interested in what i have to say, dont follow me. think of me like @NathanFillion. stunning to look, at hillarious to read, but not connecting with you on this level of existance. (im sure hes a wonderful person, sweet to his friends, kind to animals, etc. but lets face it, hes a modern day god. but thats another post)

developing a healthy little complex

so ive been reading lables, doing research, planing gardens (yes, plural) all in my attempt to put as little fake food and unpronouncable CRAP in my system as possible.

oartmeal for every brecky, home made from scratch fare each lunch and as many dinners as i can. ive cooked my little heart out. ive stayed up late packing lunches for work the next day. all in all, ive done everythimg that time, bugget, and sanity will allow.

i even made my own tarter sauce people. delish, btw.

and i have to say, its becoming routine. i dint crave jimmy johns whan everyone else in the office is getting it. and eating REAL food is starting to change my palate. real food tastes better, once you detox your taste buds.

it hasnt all been smooth sailing. last nights fish n chips was a 50/50. processed walmart fish sticks, pared with steak fries that went from potato to plate after a dip in boiling oil. complete with self made seasoning.

but the more i practice what i preach, the easier it gets. would help if i would remember to put stuff on the list when i run out. like the honey i need to make granola...

the "flexitarian" experiment

hubby and i have decided that we want to eat better.  we want to set a good example for Princess and Bubby, and if we just happen to loose some weight in the process... well that's just a skippy bonus, idn't it?  and since i'm a big ole crunchy momma i immediately went into research mode to look for made from scratch recipes, whole grains, as back to the  earth as i could make our new 'food lifestyle'.

i looked into becoming a vegetarian, but a) i've heard from multiple ex vegetarians that it isn't the healthy choice that it seems from the outside and b) there is no way on earth that i'm going to get mr beer-and-hot-wings-for-breakfast to become a vegan.  just not happening.

the next thing i found is 'flexitarian'.  and this one looks promising. basically flexitarian is eating meat, but only a limited amount.  maybe a serving a day.  this looks good to me.  so i'm thinking that were going to try this.  but i'm going to ease hubby into it.  beer and hot wings, remember?

so this two weeks is the easing in part.  i've already made most of the dinners for the next two weeks.  chili, ham and bean soup, mini meatloaves, pork chops...  the only thing i still have to do is roast about 10 pounds of potatoes.  and yes, i know there's a lot of meat in that above list.  easing in, remember?  this way we get used to eating only home cooked "i know everything that goes into anything i'm eating" food.

after this two weeks is up, then i'll work on more meatless meals.  like i said...  easing in

Imbloc - and a mini freak out

it really doesn't feel like imbloc today. we just got over being hit with the tail end of snowpocolipse (maybe 4 inches, tops), it's bitter cold outside, and honestly the thought of growing things is so remote that it doesn't even really register.  i'm not even really celebrating today.  i'm going to get together with friends (a couple of whom are pagan) and do a big thing on the 18th to match up with the full moon.

and that has kind of got me flustered.  as most of you know, i'm a kitchen witch.  solitary.  it's been so long since i've cast a circle, i have to go through my books and brush up on it.  and i've NEVER done a group ritual in my life.  never.  what we've got planned is pretty low key, lots of candles in the snow, but it's still my first ever group ritual.  this is kind of a big deal.

i mean, what if i totally biff it?  yes, these are my friends, and they'll love me no matter what.  but what if i TOTALLY BIFF IT?????


i think i have a lot of reading to do.