New Banner for Pagans of Etsy

I was very honored recently by having my design chosen for the new Pagans of Etsy Street Team shop banner. I honestly never expected that my design would be chosen, as the competition exhibited great talent and submitted some really beautiful designs.
You can check out the new banner and avatar at the team's Etsy shop and you can also search "paganteam" to see all of the wonderful products our team has to offer.

Winter?

I'm sitting here at work and while customers are coming in and out, I'm getting the sense of them heading out to the hustle and bustle of holiday shopping. Please bring back the pleasant autumn weather, I'm so not ready for this.

Keeping Track

Lots of us keep track of the gas we put in our cars and the milage we are getting, but not too many people can say that they know how much and what kind of fuel they are putting in their bodies. This was never really a concern for me, until I quit smoking over 4 years ago. I had an initial blast of new found energy for the first several months and actually ended up being in the best shape of my life for a short while. I lifted weights several times a week, rollerbladed and bellydanced on the days that I didn't lift and hiked every weekend. I ate high protein and low fat.
Then, I met my husband, and I got lazy and we enjoyed dinners out that consisted of juicy steaks and fried cheese sticks. Working out was replaced by snuggling up to watch a movie. Before I knew it, I had put on 10, 15, 20+ pounds. Ugh. For a while I tried calling it "happy fat" and that was cute for a bit, but it didn't change the fact that I was not happy with the direction my physical appearance was heading.
I have since changed my diet, replaced white stuff with brown stuff, tried to commit to at least taking a walk after work on most days. I ended up dropping about 10 of those pounds. This made me optimistic, possible over-optimistic. Last time I got on the scale, it was headed upwards.
Somebody had once suggested to me to try writing down everything I ate all day. This is helpful for a couple of reasons. First, I don't think many of us realize just how much of what we are eating. I am definitely a grazer; throughout the day I will grab a handful of this or a little piece of that and munch whenever I feel like it. All those little things add up. Second, this should make you think twice as to whether you really want to admit in writing that you just ate chocolate chip cookies for breakfast. I decided to start doing this today.
This morning, while I was writing my list, I figured it could be helpful to also write down the calories associated with each food. I really have no idea what that number is at the end of the day and I thought I should have some idea of that. Its easy to look at the labels of packaged food and find that out, but the apple I ate this morning didn't come with a label. So, while I looked for that information on the internet, I found out that about.com has a free service that can help with all of this! You can sign up for http://caloriecount.about.com/ and after answering some questions about yourself, you will be set up with a simple diet and exercise program. The coolest part is that you can log on and enter in the foods that you eat and the site will keep track of this for you. You can even enter in your activities for the day.
I like anything that is easy and keeps you honest. :)

Adventures in Home Canning

Here's the result of my first attempt at canning. Fresh apples and cinnamon have become some delicious applesauce. I think I may try some preserves next. I found everything I needed to know in the Ball Blue Book of Preserving

These Boots are made for Walkin'

After 17 years of service, it is time to replace my favorite boots. Throughout the years they have served as dancing shoes, walking shoes, snow boots, motorcycle boots and more. Here's hoping the new ones are up to the challenge.

Hopeless Humans

I've been really enjoying my neighborhood walks. I'm usually more apt to head for the woods, but something has been keeping me around town lately. I like seeing the houses and gardens and its always interesting to "people watch" anyway.
The one thing that bothers me a whole lot though, is that there is hardly anyplace you can look without seeing some bit of garbage on the ground. I never thought too much about it (after all, I did grow up in New Jersey) until the other evening when I walked past our local supermarket and witnessed a little girl, get out of her dad's van, throw some trash on the ground, look at it for a good minute and then go on her merry way. My initial instinct was to give her a lecture and make her pick it up, but I probably would have been arrested as her father was already giving me the hairy eyeball for looking in their direction.
This all got me thinking; every piece of trash that you see on the side of a road, or somewhere on the ground, was put there by some two-legger who was just way too inconvenienced to wait to find the proper receptacle. If we can't grasp a most fundamental concept as "Don't be a litterbug" how are we to expect people to understand why it is so important to take care of Mother Earth?

Open Door Policy

The weather in NJ has been absolutely beautiful lately, which more than makes up for the excessive rain we had in the spring. They started leaving the service department door open where I work, and I in turn have propped open the back door in my office. This creates some nice air flow and completely changes the atmosphere for me. Although the back door goes out to the shop, where the noises and smells are not necessarily birds and wildflowers, it still makes me feel connected to the outside world, and does wonders for my attitude.