Betsy Snow White Bibliophile

Tag: my life

  • What I got done in the last three months…

    What I got done in the last three months…

    • Wench photo with the Queen!
    • Get my major changed to creative Writing.
    • Attend both days the last weekend of Ohio Renaissance Festival
    • Get autographs from Rasputina (Melora Creager)
    • Finish Blogtober strong (I get a book if I do)
    • Rennie outing to Book Loft?
    • Get Wench tattoo
    • Participate and succeed in NaNoWriMo (Are you participating? Link me BetsySnowWhite)
    • Do a writers night.
    • Photo with Krampus!
    • Wench invasion of the Krampus Walk
    • Photo with Santa and the Wenches
    • Wench invasion of Columbus and Cincinnati Zoo.

    Wench invasion of Columbus Zoo was a small but mighty event. We got our picture taken with Santa. The invasion of the Cincinnati Zoo is happening this weekend.

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    • Wench invasion of Kentucky Dickens Festival
    • Set up Christmas trees

    Our tree did go up this year (last year it never happened.) It did make me feel more festive.

    • Christmas Party

    We did not have a party of our own, but I attended a couple and enjoyed them more than if I had to plan them.

    • Attend Roaring 20s New Year Party

    We have tickets to attend a party at The Forge gaming tavern. I am super excited about it.

  • Welcome November!

    Welcome November!

    Can you believe it is November already? I can’t.

    And it being November that means that on top of the writing I will be doing for school I am also attempting NaNoWriMo for the first time. I met my word goal for day 1, and it will be interesting to see how I am able to keep that up as I get into school etc. I have already signed up for a writing event on the 23rd at the Wagnalls Memorial Library. The theme is to write all night in your pajamas, and they will have speakers and snacks through the night. I am looking forward to it. How can you not be inspired by a building that looks like this?

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    I plan to update and share how my writing is going on Wednesdays for the month of November. Watch out for my Written Word Wednesday posts regarding that if you are interested.

     

  • Happy Halloween!

    Happy Halloween!

    As a child I was at once terrified of Halloween and in love with it. When we would walk past the racks of masks and decorations in the store I would cry, or close my eyes and hide because it all scared me. I was often scared of other trick-or-treaters in the neighborhood, their costumes being to scary for the incredibly timid, shy and easily scared me.

    Once my mom worked very hard to make me a Miss Piggy costume, but a kid in our neighborhood was dressed as a very spooky wolf with light up red eyes. I was no fool and read a lot of fairy tales, so I knew my little piggy self would not stand a chance against that wolf on the street. I made my mom take me home early, because the promise of candy was not enough for me to risk getting torn to bits by that wolf. Did I know in my head that it was just another kid in a costume, yes, but to my incredibly active imagination there was a chance, however small, that the wolf was real and I was at risk.

    I was a child with an overactive imagination and Halloween was sometimes just too much for my poor head to wrap around. I also had very little understanding of the line between fantasy and reality (my first crushes were on Disney’s Robin Hood and Kermit the Frog and I did not consider either of them to be anything less than real). It is an issue that I still occasionally have problems with, but at least now I can usually tell the difference between a monster and a mask on a wall.

    Halloween would grow from a force of fear and fascination into a proper obsession. Many of my everyday home decor comes from the Halloween decor in stores; skulls, bats, ravens, crows, and the occult. Every year less and less of our Halloween decorations are taken down, so the house gets more and more Halloween all year round. I think it is amazing that I am still somewhere inside the little girl who would hide her face when Halloween was out in the stores. Maybe I am just the brave woman that a scared little girl becomes when she faces her fears. If you can’t beat it embrace it?

    Halloween Blessings!

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  • End of 2019 Bucket List – More Items Checked

    End of 2019 Bucket List – More Items Checked

    • Wench photo with the Queen!
    • Get my major changed to creative Writing.
    • Attend both days the last weekend of Ohio Renaissance Festival

    Saturday of this weekend was rainy,  but we still went out for several hours. Sunday was absolutely amazing. I got photos with many of the Wenches in our local and we got this amazing photo with the queen. I love my wenches so much, and I am so proud of what we have built.

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    • Get autographs from Rasputina (Melora Creager)

    I was not able to get Rasputina’s autographs because we needed to get home so Seth could go to work today. However, I did get the autographs of the amazing opening act Charming Disaster as well as their new LP. If you have never heard them you should absolutely check them out. They are a new favorite.

     

    • Finish Blogtober strong (I get a book if I do)
    • Rennie outing to Book Loft?
    • Get Wench tattoo
    • Participate and succeed in NaNoWriMo (Are you participating? Link me BetsySnowWhite)
    • Do a writers night.
    • Photo with Krampus!
    • Wench invasion of the Krampus Walk
    • Photo with Santa and the Wenches
    • Wench invasion of Columbus and Cincinnati Zoo.
    • Wench invasion of Kentucky Dickens Festival
    • Set up Christmas trees
    • Christmas Party
    • Attend Roaring 20s New Year Party

  • Things that I want to do someday

    Do you have a list of things that you would love to do when you have the money, bravery or opportunity? I certainly do. So here are some of the things I have always wanted to do/try:

    1. Burlesque – I love to watch burlesque and have always wanted to perform. Maybe one day. I did just get VIP seats to an amazing burlesque show in January!!
    2. Fire Eating/Breathing – The two kinda go hand in hand and I would love to take a class to learn it.
    3. Skydiving – Strictly tandem, but I have always wanted to try.
    4. Roller Derby – I am a Ohio Roller Derby super fan, and would love to be able to play. I roller skate well, but I am not sure if I am fit enough for that.
    5. Play the Ukelele – I have the ukelele, but I am not great at it. I need to learn to play it. This is probably the most doable.

    Do you have any dreams like this? What would you love to do?

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  • Looking into The Future

    I was gifted with my first tarot deck when I was 16. It was the Arthurian Tarot by Caitlin and John Matthews and it was a gift from my older sister Krystie. I fell in love immediately and I have been doing readings since. For the first year or so I carried the deck with me everywhere I went and slept with it beneath my pillow. I had a notebook where I would write down the meanings of the cards, and any insights I might have about the cards as I was reading. After a couple of years I no longer needed the book or my notes to read.

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    Currently I am waiting for a new tarot deck and an oracle deck that my husband backed for me on Kickstarter. One is The Oriens Tarot Deck by AmbiSun which is a Rider-Waite-Smith based deck that features animals on the cards. The art work is gorgeous and it will be coming to me from Australia. The oracle is the Witches of Legend oracle deck by Annabelle Lewis. It is still open for three more days, and the artwork on it is gorgeous.

    The tarot I use the most currently is the Deviant Moon tarot by Patrick Valenza. I was gifted the Crow Tarot by MJ Cullinane by my younger sister Traci for my birthday this year and the deck and I are still getting to know each other.

    Have you ever had your cards read? Do you read as well? Do you practice another form of divination?

     

  • Cinnamon, Spice and Everything Nice

    Cinnamon, Spice and Everything Nice

    Fall enters on a breeze scented with cinnamon in my world. Cinnamon, clove, ginger and the smell of piles of falling leaves kicked up when you walk in them. The autumn brings with it candles, wax melts, pine cones and so much more in all the spicy wonderful scents that I cannot get enough of.

    I am a basic witch who loves all things pumpkin spice, but that is because it is spice. The spices used in typical Pumpkin Spice are cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves and sometimes allspice. All the yummy spicy goodness leads to wonderful smells.

    There are few smells in this world that make me feel as cozy as the smell of cinnamon. It brings me back to days baking with my grandmother for the fall; making cooked apples or pumpkin pie. Sometimes baking cookies with snickerdoodles rolling them in cinnamon sugar and having cinnamon fingers for the rest of the day.

    There is a cookie I love to bake, that I found in the Witches Datebook from Llewellyn several years ago. They are called Beltane Passion Cookies, but they smell and taste of  autumn to me.

    Beltane Passion Cookies

    3/4 cup unsalted butter

    1 cup brown sugar

    1 egg

    1/4 cup molasses

    1 3/4 cups whole grain flour

    1/2 tsp salt

    3 tsp ground cinnamon

    1 1/2 tsp ground cloves

    5 tsp powdered ginger

    1/8 tsp granulated sugar

    2 tsp baking soda

    1/2 cup crystallized ginger, coarsely chopped (optional)

    Preheat oven to 350. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Using a hand mixer cream the butter with the sugar then beat in the egg and molasses. Sift all the dry ingredients into a medium bowl, then stir into the wet batter. Add crystallized ginger. Roll batter into 1 inch balls and dip one side into granulated sugar. Place sugar side up on baking sheet, about 3 inches apart. Bake 10-12 minutes. Cool on wire rack.

    I may have to whip some of these up next week for Samhain. A little passion never hurt at any time of the year.

    What smells are fall to you?

  • Rest of 2019 Bucket List – Updated With Pictures!!

    Rest of 2019 Bucket List – Updated With Pictures!!

    • Wench photo with the Queen!

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    • Get my major changed to creative Writing.

    Done!! I am beginning my classes on Monday!! I am so excited and feel so positive about this. I also designed and ordered myself some business cards with my website and social media info on them.

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    • Attend both days the last weekend of Ohio Renaissance Festival
    • Get autographs from Rasputina (Melora Creager)
    • Finish Blogtober strong (I get a book if I do)
    • Rennie outing to Book Loft?
    • Participate and succeed in NaNoWriMo (Are you participating? Link me BetsySnowWhite)
    • Photo with Krampus!
    • Photo with Santa and the Wenches
    • Wench invasion of Columbus and Cincinnati Zoo.
    • Wench invasion of Kentucky Dickens Festival
    • Set up Christmas trees
    • Christmas Party
    • Attend Roaring 20s New Year Party

  • Bucket List For the Rest of 2019

    This is the list of things I would like to do before the end of 2019. Some of these may seem easy, but have issues associated. Many involve a lot of moving parts, so that makes them challenging. Let’s see how many I cross off. I will revisit as I get things done.

    • Wench photo with the Queen!
    • Get my major changed to creative Writing.
    • Attend both days the last weekend of Ohio Renaissance Festival
    • Finish Blogtober strong (I get a book if I do)
    • Rennie outing to Book Loft?
    • Participate and succeed in NaNoWriMo (Are you participating? Link me BetsySnowWhite)
    • Photo with Krampus!
    • Photo with Santa and the Wenches
    • Wench invasion of Columbus and Cincinnati Zoo.
    • Set up Christmas trees.
    • Christmas Party
    • Roaring 20s New Year Party

    I think that is it…though I may add and subtract things as I go along.

  • The State of My State…update.

    The State of My State…update.

    So…I have spoken with my advisor at school and as soon as I get my personal statement to her I will be officially changed to a Creative Writing major. I am so relieved and excited to get started on the right path for me.

    I am also going to do NaNoWriMo this year. I have never even tried this before, but I feel very drawn to write this year. I am trying to decide if I want to share what I am working on here or not. What do you think? Are you interested in reading my very rough drafts? Let me know.

    This week I am going to see Heels of Horror XII by Nina West on Friday, back to the Renaissance Festival on Saturday, a Halloween party Saturday Night and David Sedaris on Sunday. Whew! This is going to be chaotic fun. I have decided to be one of the gang members from The Warriors, specifically a Bowery Punk. Overalls, a rugby shirt and roller skates for the win!!

    My older sister will also be in town this week, so I get to meet her boyfriend who none of us have met. It is going to be a great week.

    Any big plans this week?