Betsy Snow White Bibliophile

Tag: family

  • October 18 – Sisters, Podcasts, Sweethearts, and Faire Days

    October 18 – Sisters, Podcasts, Sweethearts, and Faire Days

    My older sister, Krystie, was in town the end of last week and the weekend. We went to dinner at Studio 35 Friday night to get to spend some time with her. After that I came home to record WTF Did I Just Watch Podcast with Jenny and Jean-Paul and fellow guests Randy, Jon and Char discussing the 1983 Stephen King joint Silver Bullet. It was a really fun and funny discussion of a batshit bananas film.

    Saturday we headed down to the Ohio Renaissance Festival once again. It was romance weekend. I barked for Wench Collecting before gate and for about 40 minutes after open. People were eager to play which is always exciting. Once inside we decided to try the new ramen place Dante’s Third Circle. I got mine Tingly Tongue spicy, and Seth got Why did you do this, lol. It was pretty dang good. We bought some boozy cakes at Let Them Drink Cake and bought a friend a pendant from my friends at The Wired Viking. At 2:15 the Wenches met for a photo.

    We had some amazing conversations with our fellow ORFans and left basically at close and headed home.

    On Sunday Chris, Niki and the Niblings came down to Ren Faire as well so I took a break from barking, but still got collected quite a bit. I bought a beautiful felted flower from A viking Wife. Seth and I decided that in honor of our 10 year anniversary we would take part in the mass vow renewal that happens on Romance Weekend.

    Photo 1 courtesy of Stephen Kohus

    The ceremony was very sweet. The officiant quoted Neil Gaiman. I cried (not that this is shocking). We found family again and ran around a bit until it was 2:15 and time for the wench picture.

    I met several new wenches, and talked to some I never get to talk to. It was really nice. Niki also decided she wants to be a wench! So we are going to work on that.

    More faire photos from Romance Weekend.

    I knew I had a podcast to record later so we headed out so I had time to watch Dracula and get ready to record. So watch out for GGG to cover the Bela Lugosi classic soon.

    Monday we had dinner with my Mom and sisters again because Krystie needed to head home to Oklahoma Tuesday. We got a family photo while we were together.

    Halloween Countdown for 14, 15-17 and 18. Tomorrow starts my double countdown.

  • Death, Life and Piecaken

    Death, Life and Piecaken

    On October 26 I received a text message from my husband while I was at work asking me to call him. Now, I don’t know if it is true for everyone, but certainly for me if Seth asks me to call him while I am at work something is wrong. So, I walked off the floor and called him not knowing what to expect. Seth’s Aunt Margie had passed away suddenly, and his mom had just called him to let him know. We were all in shock. Seth’s Grandma has been sick and is also dealing with dementia so honestly all of us, including my mother-in-law, thought the call was about her. Margie has not been the epitome of health in recent years, but we had no idea it had gotten so bad. She had a really scary medical issue about 10 years ago where she got pneumonia which converted to a lung infection that almost killed her, but against all odds she recovered with medical issues that were minor compared to what they could have been. She was so strong through everything and maintained her amazing spirit. She will be greatly missed.

    Friday we headed to Springfield for her funeral. On the way I received a text message from my sister-in-law Niki that said:

    Moira, my oldest nibling, is very goth which they get honestly because both their mother and myself were/are goth. (I am not always in black anymore but I have heavy goth leaning tendencies.) When the family finally arrived to the funeral home Moira had red eyeshadow with heavy black eyeliner, a black line across their nose and black lipstick. Apparently, this was the pared down version as the original makeup included spider webs, and witchy sigils. Moira was insistent that their parents were ashamed of them, etc. Niki was insisting honestly that she loved the makeup Moira had done, but it has a time and place and a funeral is not the time or place. I agreed with Niki, and told Moira they looked amazing in the pared down version. Honestly several family members complimented their makeup. I love that kid so much. They are an amazing artist in many ways including makeup.

    A couple of weeks ago we were hanging out with Chris and Niki, and they asked Seth and I if we would be the legal guardians of the niblings if anything happened to them. We of course said yes. I love those kids like they were my own.

    After the funeral we went home to feed the pets and then went over to Chris and Niki’s to wind down and play some D&D. We are playing and laughing and began to discuss Thanksgiving plans. I explain that my Mom decided that since we are walking 5 miles in the morning that can be our family get together so we are open that day. Niki says they can host for that side of the family then, and I laugh and say that I am going to buy this hundred dollar dessert I saw online for the day because it keeps coming up and I am curious. They laugh and ask what I am talking about. So I share with them…The Piecaken.

    Picture of an incredibly ostentatious dessert courtesy of Goldbelly.

    What is a Piecaken you ask? It is a pecan pie topped by a pumpkin pie topped by a spice cake topped by apple pie filling and all of it held together with a cinnamon buttercream. It is the brainchild of Pastry Chef Zac Young and is a fever dream of a dessert and you can order one to your home for $99 through Goldbelly.

    Niki immediately says she will pay for half if we want to do this thing. I laugh and go to the site where
    I realize that if you sign up for their news letter you can get an immediate $20 off. I do it and pretty soon we have ordered our very own insane ostentatious dessert to be delivered to Chris and Niki’s later this week to wait in a freezer to be premiered on Thanksgiving day. I am not at all sure about this, but I feel like it is going to be fun no matter what. I will let you know if it is worth the eighty dollars.

    Tell your friends and family that you love them. Do things that make you happy including wearing all the makeup. And eat the dessert. Life is short, do the things.

    Photo by Jess Bailey Designs on Pexels.com
  • Friday night Karaoke and Cocktails.

    Friday night Karaoke and Cocktails.

    Yesterday was my last day on my current job, and it was a stressful last week, so Seth and I went down to Newark last night after work to meet up with my mom and sister for some dinner and Karaoke.

    We started at Elliott’s Woodfired Grill where we all got different woodfired pizzas. I got a roasted red pepper with goat cheese. Seth got the Mama Dre which had pepperoni, sausage, and ham. Mom had the spicy italian and Traci got the chicken bacon and ranch. They were all delicious. We kept trading pieces.

    Roasted red pepper and goat cheese pizza.

    Then we headed back to The Bootlegger for Karaoke. This time I started with a Blackberry and Sage Gimlet, which was delicious. Then I had the Sronefruit Sangria. I started the night singing Sin Wagon by The Chicks followed by Doctor Jones by Aqua, Wig in a Box from Hedwig, Cry Little Sister from The Lost Boys and finally The Warrior by Scandal. I also sang a duet with my sister of Wonderboy by Tenacious D.

    It was a super fun night. We laughed a lot and just generally had a great time.

  • A Haunting…or not

    This past weekend we went to stay in a cabin in Hocking Hills to celebrate my brother-in-law’s fortieth birthday. From the outside it looked just like a normal two-story house, but inside it had an amazing spiral staircase leading to the upper floor and beautiful wood beams over the kitchen. Outside on the property there was a frog pond, an old smoke house that was blocked off and an old well up close to the road. There was also a family cemetery further back on the property, which we would explore later in the day.

    My nieces, nephew and mother and father-in-law arrived a couple hours after Seth and I. I had already explored a bit and found a cicada shell and a pretty yellow maple leaf, so when the kids arrived I showed them the spots we had explored so far. Spotting the well the girls wanted to investigate so we wandered over and looked in. I jokingly shouted hello into the shaft and a head appeared in the space below as if peaking out to say hello.

    I jumped back so fast. And the girls looked at me with wide eyes. I asked if it looked like someone was in there to them too and they nodded. We sped walked back into the cabin and told everyone that we had absolutely been freaked out by what appeared to be a face in the well.

    My sister-in-law said that we could all go out in a bit and investigate since it had obviously freaked me out. And I was freaked out. Perhaps I have watched too many horror movies and read too many scary stories, but I was legitimately scared of that well.

    Later, Seth, my sister-in-law, nieces, and my father-in-law set out to hike up to the cemetery and before we left they investigated the well. My lovely scientific husband worked out that the well had water so still that the reflections went weird. It was our own faces we had seen in the well. I was the well witch. I am the well witch. 👻

    The rest of the weekend was relaxing, other than the fact that I have been suffering from poison sumac for over a week and it somehow just keeps getting worse. It started as a tiny patch on my right arm, and now it is all over my arm, on my stomach, a little on my left arm and a little on my knee. It is driving me insane and just keeps spreading. I am going to call my doctor tomorrow to see if I should go in to get it checked out. It itches, but it also hurts! The well witch is displeased.

  • Isolation Chronicles: Zoom Parties, Trivia and Porch Visits

    Isolation Chronicles: Zoom Parties, Trivia and Porch Visits

    The Ohio stay at home order has been extended to May 1, so we are sitting tight at home for at least a few more weeks. I can say that I think my anxiety is either leveling out or I am just getting used to it. Neither is probably great, but…it is what it is. I am working from home 87.5% of my week I am working at home now (Seth helped me with that math. I go into work for 5 hours in the evening on Friday.) I still get my Wednesdays off though, so that is a positive.

    Last Wednesday I was part of an amazing event hosted by Joanna DeVoe, Molly Roberts, Cris Ashburn, Joey Morris and Jessi Huntenburg on Zoom. It was an April Fools Day Witchy Town Hall and we wore costumes (tiaras, ears, flower crowns and fun glasses), talked about books, and had witchy trivia contests. I was the lucky winner of a call with Joanna DeVoe and a prize from Joey at Starry Eyed Supplies. I also put an offer out to send more Snail Mail messages and got several replies, so I will be writing more letters on Wednesday.

    I am so excited about the call with Joanna. I have been watching her Youtube and listening to her podcast for a long time as well as supporting her Patreon and chatting with her on Twitter, so getting to have a coaching call with her is an amazing gift. Our call is set for the 15th and I am beyond excited to chat with her about where I am headed and how to get there. She is such an absolute ray of light in this world and I feel blessed to be connected to her.

    On Saturday my Mom and Sister dropped by and we maintained a safe distance on our porch to have a short visit. They dropped off Seth’s Birthday present (his birthday was March 30) and brought us Soppapillas from Soppapilla Express in Newark. That is absolutely one of my favorite foods in the world and secures my family as completely awesome. They got Seth a Fitbit Versa and the boardgame Pandemic, which we all got a good laugh at. That night Seth and I played Pandemic a couple of times and played through Castle Ravenloft once.

    We are staying sane and keeping ourselves entertained. How are you faring in the isolation? Doing anything fun?

     

  • Sister Sunday!!

    Sister Sunday!!

    Yesterday my sister, Traci, and I had a sister day to hit a couple of record stores around Columbus. We decided to start at Spoonful Records but since they didn’t open until noon we decided to grab lunch at Dirty Franks. Dirty Franks is an amazing hot dog joint in Downtown Columbus. I got two veggie dogs, a Puff the Magic Popper and a Columbus Crew Dog and a side of Spicy Fried Cauliflower. Traci ordered Corn Dogs and tater tots  cheese and bacon. The food was delicious as always. We used to have a Dirty Franks location about a block away from my house, but they closed a year or so ago and I miss them so much.

    Once we finished our food and split a shot of Monkey Shoulder Brandy because we just wanted to see how it tasted we walked over to Spoonful to peruse. Spoonful is a lovely, orderly and bright record store. The staff are knowlegable and very nice to speak to. Traci bought several records but I did not buy any at the first stop. I did however stop to admire their absolutely amazing Dolly Parton Pinball Machine.

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    We then headed to Used Kids Records which was a little more punk rock and had albums in every possible nook and cranny. While we were browsing a guy from the neighborhood came in with his adorable black pug named Pig who went immediately behind the counter to get treats which they keep for just such visits. At Used Kids I found two New York Dolls albums, a Cyndi Lauper I did not have on vinyl and in an act of pique Taco with Puttin on the Ritz.

    Traci asked if we could run next door to Evolved Body Art so she could get her septum pierced. We went over, but they had a bit of a wait at that location, so they gave her a 5 dollar off voucher and sent us to the High Street location. We went there and we basically got right in. She looks adorable with the new septum ring.

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    It was a gorgeous day so we walked a mile or so to Magnolia Thunderpussy where I found the original Star Wars trilogy on Laser Disc that I bought my husband for his birthday (Yes I have a working Laser Disc player). Traci bought a couple more albums. We ran across the street to The Garden which is a Woman owned adult emporium and I bought a pair of thigh highs to wear on Saturday for my birthday/ the fancy dress party.

    On the way back to the car we stopped to get a margarita and some queso at Condado Tacos.

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    I love my sisters!

     

     

  • The Ugly Ornament Exchange 2019/2020

    The Ugly Ornament Exchange 2019/2020

    Our family (Meaning my mothers sisters and their families) started a tradition a couple of years ago where instead of buying each other presents we instead do an ugly ornament exchange. We always hold our family Christmas on New Year’s Day now, and the ornament exchange has become an important part of these traditions.We do it much like a white elephant exchange using our family’s rules for that which is slightly different from the traditional white elephant. Our rules are this:

    1. Everyone brings a gift wrapped ornament and places them under the tree. Generally we try to over decorate, because you want your present to be incredibly tempting.
    2. We draw numbers/ or this year went youngest to oldest to pick a present.
    3. When it is your turn you can choose a package from under the tree, or you can steal from someone else.
    4. You cannot immediately steal a package back, there has to be another action between the steals.
    5. Usually we set a 3 steal limit, meaning on the third steal the gift stays with the person who stole it.
    6. Once we all have gone and everyone has a package we open them and see the rewards of our work.

    It is immensely satisfying when your package is highly sought after when you know that your ornament is absolutely horrifying. Of course, ugly is in the eye of the beholder and some of my absolutely favorite ornaments are ones that have come to me by way of an ugly ornament exchange.

    Some of the best places to find ugly ornaments: Michaels, World Market (both of ours came from here this year, as well as a gift of a tacosaurus ornament for my cousin Robby and his new wife Sharon), Target and ,sadly, Hobby Lobby. Though I no longer shop there many of my family members do. My mother swears by Walmart as well, but I have not had the luck she has. Joann’s is a crapshoot.

    All this being said, below are the spoils of this year’s exchange. Seth and I came home with a giant pug head and a rather frightening ballerina. My mother and sister a toilet and a monkey. My aunt Gayle’s family took home a sasquach, a cow, a vw bug wearing antlers and a giant mollusk shell. My aunt Cathy’s family gathered a clip on palm tree, a baby in a buggy, an angler fish (my contribution and man is it ugly!) and a seahorse. My older sister will be receiving my husband’s choice in the mail which is a six pack of santa beer. Photos below for ogling and horror.

     

  • An October Wedding

    An October Wedding

    Today my cousin Robby married his wonderful now wife Sharon. It was a beautiful and meaningful ceremony officiated by Sharon’s sister Colleen. Robby and Sharon have bonded over there mutual love of certain nerdy/dorky topics, so the wedding was full of Harry Potter (Robby proposed to Sharon at Hogwarts in Universal Studios), Jurassic Park, Star Wars and other fun pop culture elements. Sharon wore a beautiful and simple white dress that was made for her, and a pair of white Converse Chuck Taylor’s. I am so happy for my cousin and I wish the two of them happiness and joy. Congrats you two!!

  • Anniversary Thoughts – Seven Year Itch?

    Anniversary Thoughts – Seven Year Itch?

    Today is the seventh anniversary of the day I married the best man I have ever met. Seth and I have gone on a great many adventures together in our seven years of marriage (and five years of dating before that) and we will be on many, many more. I cannot imagine my life without him in it. I am beyond blessed and so grateful to have him in my life. Thank you, Seth, for teaching me, making me laugh, loving me so much and for catching me when I fall. My heart is yours for always.

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    Our wedding was a supremely personalized and hand made event and I loved every piece of it. My mother was our officiant and made my jacket, the vests for the guys and the skirt for my niece. Our friend Cliff made the steps leading to the front of the stage and our “cake topper” which was a diorama of Seth and I in our wedding clothes fighting zombies encased in a lovely dragon skin box, with lights. My sister-in-law baked all of our cupcakes and helped with general wedding crafting. My mother-in-law helped us with crafting. My sister helped us with crafting. I made the bouquets and the boutonnieres, designed the programs, etc. Seth made our hand-fasting cord, flowers for the bouquets and our rings out of chain maille plus helping with everything else. Seth and I wrote the ceremony and our vows. It takes an army to create a wedding as beautiful as ours, and we were blessed to have some of the best people involved.

    Photos are all by Capture Life Photography

  • The State of My State

    The State of My State

    My life feels like a most delightful form of chaos currently.

    I am halfway into my first semester of my Grad school and I am already realizing that I may have made a mistake. My thought was to take my English degree and make it more practical by studying Communication – Social Media and Marketing and the truth is I don’t like it. Despite having worked in the banking business for 17 years I am not a very business minded person and I don’t love looking at people as commodities and creativity as something that can be swayed to be profitable. I am doing fine, but I am not happy. I am planning to contact my adviser to see what I can do. I will keep you posted on the outcome. I am hoping to maybe swing over to a English – Creative Writing. Fingers crossed.

    The Wenches of Myth, IWG 73, have made they’re debut in their first official year at the Ohio Renaissance Festival. We are having a great time. I even wrote a toast that I got to present during pub sing. I am meeting new people, making new connections, and generally having a really good time.

    I have lost 53 pounds so I am also able to wear some of my faire garb that I haven’t been able to in years. It feels fantastic. I am down to a size 14-16 and still working. My husband and I joined WW (weight watchers) in February and with diet alone have together lost about 108 pounds. He also looks amazing and we both feel so much healthier. Check out this this side by side of my face from January to August.

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    Beyond that my little sister is buying a house, my cousin is getting married, we have tickets to see Rasputina and David Sedaris in October. There is a lot going on, and a lot to look forward to. Tomorrow we are surprising my friend with a Duchess party. Pictures to come.