Tis the season to be jolly?

Yep! It's that time of year again, the Holiday Season. And what is everyone doing? Complaining, being greedy, being violent, verbally attacking each other, and etc. What a great time of year, huh? It usually starts with Black Friday. I stay home that day, because getting trampled to death to save a few bucks just doesn't sound all that fun to me. My family is usually has no money to go shopping too. This year's Black Friday was just like the rest. People got trampled, fights broke out, there were shootings, pepper spraying, police brutality, the whole works. It's like this every year. It's sad and it's pathetic.

Fox "News" is doing their yearly made up crisis about the "war" on Christmas. They think their is a war on Christmas every year, because some people say Happy Holidays instead of Merry Christmas. They think it's offensive and offends their God. I've read the bible and I guess I must have missed the part about Christmas. For a channel that panders to a party that prides itself on freedom for all, when did they decide that everyone has to conform to their views and only their religion is that right one? That's not freedom. And they keep nagging and whining that our nation is a Christian nation and blah, blah, blah. Um, our nation is a diverse one and always has been. Our founding fathers believed in religious freedom, not Christianity is the one true religion. I have no problem with Cristians in general, it's the crazy ones that I can't stand. If you want to say Merry Christmas and have a Christmas tree then do so. But don't be offended at others when they say Happy Holidays, Happy Yule, Happy Hanukkah, or call their tree a Holiday tree or a Yule tree. They are also Americans and have the right to celebrate the season in their own way.

Another thing that is sickening to me is watching the rich people this year spending tons of money on stuff they don't need while so many are going without. Our economy has been bad for several years now and the rich keep getting rich, the poor are getting poorer, and our middle class is now the upper class poor. There isn't much of a middle class left. There is the few folks that are rich and the rest are poor or soon to be poor. I must make it clear that I don't hate all rich people. Their are a lot of good people with a lot of money that give a good chunk of that to those in need. Then, there are a large group of greedy assholes that just don't care. If I had all the money that some of those people did, I would be putting a lot of that money back into the hands of folks who need it. The Holiday Season is supposed to be a time of joy and sharing, but every year it seems more people get meaner and greedier. Maybe it just seems that way the last few years, because most people are hurting and need help. I'm hoping that things get better for my family and others who are struggling. I'm also hoping that people will stop being so selfish and petty and just be happy and thankful for what they have.

Have a Happy and Blessed Yule everyone!

Baby Huls!

My beautiful niece, Britney is preggo and I couldn't be happier for her. She is 17 so the pregnancy has raised some concerns about her health and her future plans, but our family is very confident that she will finish high school and go on to college like she has planned. Her pregnancy is going OK so far and we are all hoping the delivery goes well. She's very mature and smart for her age so we know she will be a  good mother to her child. She's a senior in high school this year. I'm sure she never imagined being pregnant during her senior year, but things happen. Britney did not mean to get pregnant, but even with taking all precautions, it still happened. Even though my niece is scared to death about being pregnant, she's happy and trying to adjust. She goes to school and  has a job and her boyfriend has a full time job making decent money. They have their own place and are doing very well right now. I hope they continue to do well. So, we are all excited and planning for the baby. Between the baby shower, the delivery, and after the birth there is a lot to plan, buy, and do. Britney and her boyfriend Kyle want a baby boy. My sister Jenny and her husband I think also hoping for a boy. I was hoping to have another little girl in the family (we have a lot of boys already) and I'm not sure if anyone else has weighed in on  it yet. We all hope she has a healthy baby. This is the big news in our family lately. I recently went to my sister's to celebrate Thanksgiving with her family and snapped some pictures of Britney's baby bump which I will post below.

The Sick Season In Nebraska

It's that time of year again when lots of folks are getting ready for the holidays. My family however, is trying to deal with and prepare for being sick for the next 5 months and it's already starting. I have four children who seem to catch colds and spread germs easily, so if one of them gets sick, they usually all get sick. From the end of October to the middle of March are the months when we go through a lot of tissues, cough medicine, antibiotics, and etc. For some reason after having four children, my immune system isn't functioning as well as it used to and for the last few years I have been getting sick quite a bit. Being sick while trying to care for sick children is a horrible and exhausting task. I try to avoid people who are sick and I consume plenty of vitamin C, but it doesn't help when I have kids bringing home germs with them from school. I've learned that kids are amazing at spreading illness to other people. My kids being sick so often is going to be tough on all of us this year. Last year the state of Nebraska passed a new truancy law stating that if your child misses more then 20 days of school in a year you and your child get reported to the county attorney. A lot of states have these laws and I understand the reason behind them, however Nebraska is the only state with a truancy law that doesn't excuse school absences due to illness. So, what's the result of this you may ask? Well, our justice system is being cluttered up with these cases, it's costing our state a ton of money, the cases of parents in our state being investigated for child abuse and neglect has quadrupled under this law, our state has had a major increase in children being taken from their homes and being put in the state's custody due to this law. There have been a lot of parents angry over this new law and rightly so. I think it's outrageous that families that have kids with cancer, HIV, and other illness that compromise their immune system are being hauled into court over their children being sick. And, they have to take their kids out of school to go to court. That doesn't make sense either. There are thousands of kids across this state that get serious illnesses or have chronic and incurable diseases and illnesses and miss more then 20 days of school a year because of it. How can our state say that these cannot be excused and that parents should lose there children due to being sick? How can anyone in this state not be upset by this or think it's OK? Personally, it outrages me, because my children are in that category of kids who miss a lot of school, because they are sick. My children still do very well in school, but this year I'm afraid of losing them thanks to this outrageous law. I don't think any child should be ripped away from their family and thrown in foster care or juvie for missing school from being sick. I don't think parents should be fined or thrown in jail, because their kids are sick. I'm scared for my children. Right now two of my children are battling bronchitis and have missed a number of days because of it. Earlier this year they missed a few days, because they had the stomache flu. If things keep going like this my kids might go over that 20 day limit, and there is nothing I can do. I'm not allowed to send them to school when they are sick, but I can lose them if I don't. It makes no sense to me. I will continue to care for my kids and try to keep them from becoming sick, but there is only so much a parent can do. I love my kids and don't want to lose them and I hope Nebraska changes this law soon, so that illnesses will be considered excused absences. I think the law as is should be repealled. I'm hoping I do not lose my children or go to jail and get fined because our state lawmakers think they know what's best for everyone else's lives.


http://www.omaha.com/article/20111002/NEWS01/710029894

http://nfpf.blogspot.com/p/current-issue-repeal-new-truancy-law.html

http://www.omaha.com/article/20111002/NEWS01/710029910/0#parents-chafe-at-truancy-oversight

Excited About Samhain

Yay! It's that special time of year again. Samhain (Halloween known to most) is a day away. I'm super excited. For those of you who don't know Samhain (pronounced Sow-in) is a Pagan holiday that falls on October 31st. What is Samhain? Samhain is known by most folks as Halloween, but for Wiccans and Pagans it's considered a Sabbath to honor the ancestors who came before us. It's a good time to contact the spirit world with a seance, because it's the time when the veil between this world and the next is at its thinnest. Samhain is when we honor our ancestors who came before us. If we’re fortunate, they will return to communicate with us from beyond the veil, and offer advice, protection and guidance for the upcoming year. Samhain is also marks the very end of the harvest and most Pagans/Wiccans consider Samhain their New Year.

Why Samhain Is Important To Me!

Samhain/Halloween is a special day for me. It is the day my oldest daughter Hailey was born. She will be 8 years old this year. She got an early present this year, a little black kitten that we named Midnight. The perfect gift for any little witch in training. It also marks the day of my father's funeral. That's right, they held his funeral on October 31, 1995. I was only 13 years old when he died at the age of 35 years old. My mother wasn't with him very long and he was never really a part of my life. I only saw him a few times before his death. His death was still hurtful because I had just found he was my father and wanted to get to know him. He died from a brain aneurysm, or at least that's what I was told. So, Samhain is a pretty important day for me and not just because it's a Pagan holiday.

Our plans for Samhain/Halloween

We start tomorrow with the carving of the pumpkins. This year we are going to try and do Nightmare Before Christmas characters and of course some Pagan symbols. We didn't decorate our house this year, because of money being tight. Some of our decorations were messed up last year and we had planned to replace them and never got the chance. Maybe we will go all out next year. Thanks to my hubby's family sending Halloween costumes to us for the past few years, we didn't have to buy any for the kids. As I said Hailey is going as a witch. My other daughter, Brianne who is 6 years old, is going as a corpse bride. My son oldest son, Landon who is 5 years old, is going as the race car driver Jeff Gordon (who my sister, Jenny loves by the way). And last, my youngest son, Brendan who is 3, is going as Spiderman. Myself and my hubby were going to dress up, but maybe next year if we can afford it. We will have Hailey's birthday celebration before we go out to get candy. My mom took the day off and we are super excited to spend some time with her. After we get back from taking the kids around and they are in bed, I will have a few drinks and do my Samhain ritual. Can't wait.

Witch Ritual Candles

I was cruising the Internet not long ago and came across some really neat witches ritual candles on Etsy. They are candles with different color of wax dripped down the sides of them. I however, am short on cash because of bills and other things keep coming up, and I don't want to pay $20 or more for the candles when I can make them myself. I bought 4 orange colored candles from Walmart, 2 Mulled Cider (smells like apple cider) and 2 Pumpkin Spice (smells like pumpkin pie). I also bought black and lavender colored candles to melt and drip down the sides of the candles. They candles turned out really good for being my first time making them. There are a few things I will change to make the process easier next time. I had some purple ribbon and pentacle charms already so I added those to the candles as well. Now that I know how to make them and how neat they look, I plan on making the candles for all my Pagan holidays. I'm going to make Yule ones soon so I can get them to the Pagan members of my family before the holiday.

Those are some of our plans and information on why the day is important not only to me, but my family and other Pagans as well. I will be getting my altar ready soon, so I will blog about that and talk about how our Samhain holiday events went in my next blog post. I also plan to try and step up my blogging posts, because I've really been slacking off since I've stated this whole thing. I look forward to sharing more with every one. Have a happy and safe Samhain/Halloween! Blessed Be!

And a Halloween song for you to enjoy!

http://youtu.be/jU6iP0WLsU8





So Tired!

Lately I've been really feeling the effects of my anemia (iron deficiency) and lucky me, I have no health insurance. Do I want health coverage? Yes. Do I qualify? No, not that I have found so far that have reasonable payments. But anyway back to what I was saying. Being anemic sucks. Between the fatigue, nausea, headaches it's getting annoying. So, going to get some women's multivitamins with iron and see if that helps.

A mild case of the stomach flu went thru our house. My 6 year old daughter and 5 year old son were the only ones who got sick. I hate when anyone in our family gets the flu. It's a miserable time and I feel bad watching my kids be sick and knowing nothing can help. You think with all our advances in science we would have something to cure the stomach flu. Instead we get to hear a doctor say we just have to let it run it's course and we'll be better in a few days. So annoying.

Another reason I haven't had a blog post lately is because I have been following the Occupy Wall Street movement. I find the whole thing fascinating and exciting. I knew with the bad economy and the horrible laws that are trying to be passed, that it was only a matter of time before people were out in the streets protesting and wanting things to change. I think it's disturbing that the Wall Street folks in New York decided to sit out on the balcony and mock the protesters while sipping champagne. Really, I don't think they could be more smug or bigger assholes then they already are. And let's not forget the NYPD who are beating, pepper spraying, and arresting peaceful protesters. I guess that's what happens when those who vow to serve and protect receive millions from Wall Street to crush the little guys. But, I will do a full blog post on this later.

I have also been busy with doctors appointments, dentist appointments, and field trips. The kids ususally do all these things in the fall and in the spring so those are busy times for us. Fall and winter are super busy for our family with all the holidays and the kids' birthdays. We try to do our best as a low income family to make birthdays and holidays special for our kiddos. Thank goodness our kids are little and are happy with anything they get.

Well, I need to get off of here and get my kiddos ready for their dentist appointment.

Brendan's Birthday and Mabon

On the 25th of September, 2011, we celebrated my youngest child's 3rd birthday. It was fun and heartbreaking at the same time. He's my youngest, my baby and now he's three. He's growing up fast and soon he'll be in school. Where does the time go? I'm thankful for all the time I get with kids, including the bad, but it all seems to be slipping by way to fast. We invited Glenn's family over for his birthday. We grilled out. The kids had a blast playing outside while the guys grilled and played horseshoes. I ran around inside like a crazy person getting the rest of the food ready and set up, in between watching my favorite liberal shows and reading through the news of course. We all ate and relaxed a few min. after the meal, then gathered in the kitchen to sing Brendan happy birthday. He refused to blow out the candles on his cake, so his dad helped. I took pictures while my husband passed gifts to him to open. He was having fun until he got to the clothes and he got mad and started pouting. I couldn't help but laugh, because I thought it was cute. When Brendan finished opening gifts, we dished out cake and ice cream to everyone and that was pretty much our night. The boys of course still have a trip to the Dinosaur Museum coming up too. My husband I haven't decided when to do that yet. We have another birthday to celebrate in a little over 4 weeks. Hailey, my oldest child, has a birthday on October 31st, 2011. That's right, she's a Halloween/Samhain baby.

This year I have been getting back to my Pagan ways and celebrating the Pagan holidays this year. The 23rd of September, 2011 was one of those holidays called Mabon. Mabon is also known as Fall Equinox. It is a fall celebration of the harvest and the changing of seasons. It is a time to give thanks and is similar to the American Thanksgiving. It is a time to be thankful for what you have and food from the harvest. It's a time to celebrate life and family. Of course the celebration wouldn't be complete without a feast. Most Pagans try to use plenty of harvest foods in their meal such as fruits, grains, and vegetables. I made a ham, mixed veggies, shells and cheese, dinner rolls, mixed fruit bowl, and pumpkin spice bread. We also had fall decorated cupcakes for desert. It probably wasn't all traditional foods, but it was still a good meal and most Pagans celebrate in their own way. I can't wait for the upcoming holidays. It's a lot to look forward to.

Latest From The Smallwood Household

A lot has been going on at our house the last several weeks. Our fridge quite working and we had to get a new one. Then our DVD player stopped working, so we replaced it with a Blu-Ray player. I have to say that I love the Blu-Ray Player. I recently purchased the first 7 Harry Potter movies because until recently I had only seen a couple of the movies. I have watched them all now and I can't believe how amazing they are. Just the creativity and design that goes into these types of movies is amazing. Not to mention the story line is amazing and addictive. J.K. Rowling, I believe, is an lovely woman with an amazing imagination. I haven't read the books yet, but if they are anything like the movies then I'm sure they are just as brilliant. I look forward to buying them one day. I also purchased the movie Thor. It's an interesting movie and the effects were amazing. I liked the movie and look forward to seeing the sequel.

September 15th, 2011 was my son Landon's 5th birthday. The years are going by quickly. It was a school day so he took some treats (juice boxes and goldfish crackers) to school that day to share with his class. He got a birthday crown from his teacher. After school, we picked up his presents and cake. We invited a few people over and celebrated his birthday. He had a great time. He's into super heros so we bought him a few super hero toys and some clothes. My husband is also taking him and our other son Brendan to the Dinosaur Museum soon as part of their birthday presents. Brendan's birthday is also this month on September 25th, 2011. He will be 3 in a few days.

Last weekend I went to Marysville to visit my mom and my sister and her family. It was fun. I got down there late again, thanks to my kiddos and hubby being slow. We grilled out and talked a lot. We stayed Saturday night and Sunday we hung out and visited some more. I didn't get to see my mom much because she had to work. I spent a few hours taking Senior Pics of my neice Britney. She's a wonderful girl, and we recently found out she is pregnant. She's 17 and the baby was not planned at all, so it shocked us all. My niece is very responsible and was taking precautions, but stuff still happens no matter how careful you are. She'll be an amazing mother though and I'm really happy for her. She's more mature then most girls her age, so I'm sure she can handle it. The following are a few of the pics I took of her.

While in Marysville, KS I went to the local walmart and found some items I just had to buy. I found a 52 piece Incense gift set. I bought 2 one for me and one for my sister. I also found a 5 headed dragon incense burner that I thought was awesome. I got Dragon's blood cone incense to burn in it. The smoke fills the inside of the dragon statue and then comes out of holes in the dragon's heads which are in the mouth and the ears. It's kinda of cool to watch and the incense smell amazing.





We also recently added another cat to our family. An all black, female kitten who we named Midnight. I think the cat is crazy though. She has a major attitude. I guess that makes her fit in well here. Midnight was an early birthday present for Hailey. Her birthday is on Halloween so we thought a black cat would be the perfect gift. Hailey is doing very well in school and she is taking very good care of the kitten so I feel as though it was a good gift. I forgot how active kittens are and this one like to try and climb my leg all the time and try to attack everyone when she's playing. She sure is cute though and fun to have around. My other cat, Fat Joe, is less then thrilled that she's here. He seems annoyed by her and isn't afraid to smack her around. He seems like he is getting more and more used to her so hopefully one day they will get along.

This is some of the recent things going on in my life right now. I haven't blogged in a while so I figured I'd put all my latest news in one post. Brendan's birthday is coming up and I have other things that are going on that I will have to come back and blog about later, but this is it for now.