So comes the end of the season, the end and beginning of the turning of the wheel. The holidays have been a wonderfully stressful bunch of weeks where family and friends have gathered, argued, laughed and returned home with fond memories. We are now the proud parents of a gorgeous chocolate brown puppy, of unknown heritage. She was our late Yule present to ourselves, saved today from the pound. (Pictures coming soon). Our little bundle of joy's name is Marla. Wishing the best to all those who read this!

Blessed Yule,

Erika

So this is the amazing candied apple that my boss just gave me a few minutes ago. Since this is a, though slightly morphed, cross-over tradition from Pagans to Christians, I like it a lot!

In other news, Michael and I have moved into a new apartment and are living much more comfortably- it's so much bigger! Right now I have unwanted house guests (some of his old friends from when he was in high school) that I'm not overly fond of, but they are only supposed to go caving today (they came up last night) and leave after they're done. Hopefully I won't have to put up with them too long- they're awful!

One last complaint- finals week! Next week I take all of my finals and stress over, yet again, if I get to keep my scholarship. I made horrible grades the first semester of my freshman year and I'm still paying for it as a sophomore. If I make it through this semester, I'll be somewhat in the clear- but it'll be cutting it close this semester!!!

Blessed Yule!

Erika

So, firstly, Shane has decided against leaving for an extended period of time. He believes that I am worth waiting around for, and that once I graduate, we'll be able to satisfy his wander-lust.

However, sad news is my bearing today. Saturday, my favorite grandmother died. She was my Mammaw and I was her only grandchild. She pretty much raised me for the majority of my childhood so our bond was close. She died unexpectedly from a cocktail of issues- a vital one of which the doctors seemed to have looked over. Her sudden turn for the worst seemed to perplex them, which makes me wonder about their very expensive and apparently useless educations. Being their for her death was a blessing because she knew that all of her children and grandchild were there. Strangely her funeral, which was yesterday, had a detached feeling for me- I suppose the death was the worst of it and anything after that seems light. I spent so much time crying over the past few days, I'd like to think that I'm all out of tears. I have had the wonderful luck to be able to spend these past few days with my family and Shane, who has been a wonderful supporter as my mental and emotional stability have been questionable at best. Though it was sad to lose her, it was best that she go quickly than a long, drawn out battle with the various illnesses that ailed her.

Please send good energies towards my family and I.

Brightest Blessings,

Redewitch

So, Shane and I are having problems. He doesn't feel like he's in the right place and is contemplating leaving for a little while (6 months to a year). He wants me to wait on him- you know, still be his when he gets back- and I agreed, but hesistantly. I want so badly for him to stay here and wait on ME. I know it's selfish, but if he'll just wait for me to graduate university I'll go with him where ever he wants. But I know that, even though he won't say it (at least not yet), he believes that part of that growth has to be done without me.

It's all very difficult. He hits me with this just a week before I start back to classes- I won't hear a word my professors are saying. I'm stressing so much over this. I know everyone needs time for personal growth, but honestly, I'm pretty hard to live with, and I'm afraid he'll find someone else in his travels away from here. He says he's committed and that I wouldn't have to worry- but what else would he say? "Yeah, I might find someone else. But maybe not..." I mean come on! He's so confused right now and I worry that we're growing apart. I can't stand the thought of being without him, it just seems unnatural. I don't want him to be here unhappy and unsatisfied but even MORE I don't want him to leave.

Okay, so no parking fiasco today, so back to the same ole' boring stuff that work is made of. However, I got a new book last night at Barnes & Noble- The World Without Us by Alan Weisman. I couldn't wait to get started and was up until like 2am trying to get as much in as I could before I hit the sack. It SO good so far. I heard about it when he was on a podcast and they asked him about it. 

It's about what would happen to everything on the planet if we all just disappeared tomorrow. And not something worldwide devastating that would take out other species- like assume that there was a homo-sapien specific virus that just wiped up all out. What would happen to our houses, work buildings, art work, subways? He put in a lot of work and research, check it out!