For the last couple of weeks or so, our cat Teddy has been driving me crazy sitting at the doorway between our living room and the small hallway. He just sits there staring up at the ceiling crying loudly as if he sees something I don't. What could he be crying at the ceiling for? A cobb web, a small bug crawling up it? Nope. So, usually don't do this, but I grabbed my digital camera and took a picture of the entranceway into the hallway and THIS is what the camera picked up ...

Okay, so I took another picture at the same time while standing in the very same spot in the living room that I took the first one, but no orb this time ...

Another look after I cropped the first one ...

 

Greetings, friends. It has been a little while since I have posted, but in my defense, I am dealing with a lot of stressful issues lately which go far beyond the normal holiday crap and I will not bore you with them. Instead, I will make an attempt to focus on the positive if you will indulge me.   

I haven't had much time nor the room as of yet to actually put up my usual holiday decorations and so I did the best that I could ...

Hand baked fresh Chocolate brownies with mint icing and chocolate chips.

                                 Pumpkin spice cake.

And, my hubby brought home these maple snickerdoodle cookies ...

This past Friday, I was surprised by these gifts from two of my very thoughtful co-workers ... 

My personal trainer (and friend), and fellow Eeyore enthusiast, Deb, gifted me with this awesome Eeyore tooth fairy and small Pooh picture frame.  

And, another co-worker whose mother is currently fighting stage 2 breast cancer, surprised me with this sweet (and perfect!) gift bag ...

Complete with Grinch Christmas card, two talking pens (pens with sayings on them), a thank you owl, and Grinch Hershey Kisses ... HUGE HUGS!!

This particular pen is spot on because I am ALWAYS saying (both at home and at work) "Whose STUPID idea was THAT?" lol

Until next time, have a great rest of the weekend all!

Blessed Sunday all! It has been yet another BUSY weekend here! Yesterday, I spent the afternoon with my sister, Aurora Skye doing a bit of long overdue shopping for Small Business Saturday ...

Many years ago, I saw this cool documentary on the history of the holiday of Christmas, its' origins and transformation throughout the years. It was featured on The History Channel. Back then, I had recorded it from my VCR onto a tape, but recently I found it on YouTube and thought that I would share it with you. It is about 45 minutes in length, but I promise you it is well worth your time watching!  

I also included a bit of extra info regarding Yule traditions! I hope you enjoy!

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The twelve days of Christmas originate with the Norse, beginning the night before the winter solstice and ending on the 6th of January when all decorations are removed.

Many of our modern traditions are rooted in the old pagan celebrations.

Mother Earth is asleep. It is a time of death, no crops grow, the earth is barren and food may be scarce.

Each day following the solstice grows longer with increasing sunshine and the promise of a rebirth of life.

Anthropologist E.W. Budge believed that this event was celebrated as long as 12,000 years ago.

• Yule is our celebration of the rebirth of the Sun. It is our rejoicing of the triumph of life over death.
• The theme of Yule is the return of light and the everlasting life of evergreens, representing continuing life.
• The earth has grown silent. It is the dark days, a time for contemplation of the year that has passed. It is a time of planning new beginnings, fresh starts, and the promise of blessings and things to come.
• It is a reaffirmation of life everlasting. We decorate with a focus on evergreens representing life – bay leaves, mistletoe, holly, vines, and holly berries. The trees of Yule are spruce, fir, and pine. Pine represents protection, healing, purification, wealth, rebirth, and immortality. We decorate with candles to welcome back the light.
• This is a day of feasting, dancing, and merry-making. No work is done on this day.
• The Norse believed that bells scared away bad fairies and scared away the dark. That is where the tradition of jingle bells originated.

Activities and Decorations:

Yule and the winter solstice are perhaps the busiest sabbats we have. It is combined with Christmas celebrations full of activities, parties, and family fun.

Yule is a celebration of the Sun.

Bonfires are lit, and a festival of lights represents the returning Sun. This is the origin of the tradition of hanging Christmas lights on our houses. This stems from the belief that “As above, so below.”

Light is the main theme of the winter solstice. Adorn your home with candles. The color white is for the returning light, green is for life everlasting, and red represents the sun.

The Yule Fire:

A Yule fire is a major feature to celebrate Yule and the winter solstice. Often, a piece of the Yule log from the prior winter will be saved to ignite this fire.

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FYI, this is a wonderful book written by Dorothy Morrison entitled, "Yule: A Celebration of Light & Warmth"!

 

Greetings, my friends and welcome to the first day of the Winter Solstice - ready or not! I took this pic just this morning although it actually began snowing on and off yesterday here in Berks County, PA ... ❆⛄🎄

In the meantime, I stayed home and did a little organizing and such - very little. Hopefully, by next week I will feel better so that I can do more. Yesterday, I was cleaning out my makeup case. Getting rid of the old stuff as the blushes, eyeliners, and mascaras supposedly only have a six month shelf life. 

Okay, I was bored and decided to share a few more mascara swatches on my blog. These are color comparisons of the various shades I have purchased. As always, I used the L'oreal White Primer first before applying the colored mascaras. It helps to bring out the brightness and pigment of each color. So, here goes.

On the left the "Lime Crime"  (Nebula) and on the right "Chanel Noir Allure" (Lilas). I much prefer the lighter Chanel Lilas to the deeper lavender in color of Nebula ... 

Next, two different shades of pink colored mascaras. Maybelline Sky High (Pink Air) mascara ...

and, ColourPop BFF mascara (Pink, Inc.) ...

Other than the obvious difference between the two brushes (the Maybelline, like the Chanel Noir Allure brushes, is flexible and helps separate your lashes well as opposed to the ColourPop brush which is soft, but the formula is somewhat thicker and so it tends to get rather clumpy), Maybelline Sky High is a bit lighter in pigment than the ColourPop. If you are going for a more subtle look, Pink Air is perfect. I love both colors; however, I am partial to the Pink, Inc. because I like the fact that it shows up a bit better ...

And finally, Clinque's Chubby Lash Flattening mascara line. There were three colors other than black available when they introduced this product -   "Two Ton Teal", "Portly Plum", and "Massive Midnight" ... 

I was only able to purchase the "Portly Plum" and the "Massive Midnight", but the Portly Plum was far too dark and it, as with almost all burgundy, darker green, and dark purple colored mascaras, looked more black in color than anything and so I decided to get rid of it.

In compassion to Maybelline's Sky High "Blue Mist" (on left) the Clinique's "Massive Midnight" (on right) is a much darker shade of blue (too much like Navy Blue) and not one I will be wearing very often, if at all ...

The problem with most colored mascaras is that regardless of the brand, they come and go. The main reason for this is that they are considered trends and therefore it comes down to a matter of whether or not the cosmetic company will profit enough from it - which unfortunately is very rarely. One of the few colored mascaras which has stood the test of time is L'oreal Voluminous Cobalt Blue which can be found in almost any store for a lot less than the high end brands. Which is why when I like a colored mascara I buy as  much as I can while I can before it is discontinued. Brands such as Lime Crime, Urban Decay, and some of the ColourPop colored mascaras are no longer available for purchase unless you are lucky enough to find them on Amazon or Ebay.

I have included some cool videos of the brands that are still available ...

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