Anticipating workers being here all day to work on our pool cage while attempting to calm and corral our three boisterous dogs, means that I will need some big laughs today. Luckily, I found them. I can’t stop watching and laughing at the video below. “Sag-Who-Tarrius! That’s MY sign! YESSS! Look at me! I’m Fire! Sagittarius #1!”
Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.
On Thanksgiving evening, a few friends and I were texting and it turns out that we were all doing the same thing in different places, from all of the way up in Massachusetts, down to Virginia, and finally all the way down to here in Florida. We were all outside, sitting around fires with our families and we sent each other pictures of our families, with everyone’s faces glowing in the beautiful, flickering firelight. I love beautiful, intriguing fires. I am a Sagittarius, which is a fire sign. My husband is a fire sign. Five out of six of our immediate family members are fire signs. (Yes, things can get really loud and bold and igniting at our house, really quick. I do sometimes feel sorry for our poor little less combustible Cancer son, who does his best to put the fires out.)
So with firelight in mind, my two favorites for Favorite Things Friday on the blog, involve fire. My husband reads the paper version of the Wall Street Journal every day, so he decided he would make use of the paper, by making newspaper briquettes to burn in fires. So every once in a while he sits with a pile of newspapers and a bucket of water and he uses his heavy steel newspaper briquette maker/newspaper log maker, to make bricks/logs to help fuel our mini-bonfires. You can find different models of these ” newspaper brick makers” on Amazon. Ours is made by a company called “Bits and Pieces.” To get the fire started, I like to use Maxwell’s Mystic Matches. These matches are admittedly a bit of a splurge. They are wide, thick sticks of Palo Santo wood that when struck, make an enormous, immediate flame. I love the smell of the Palo Santo as it burns. To start the fire with flames from these matches, makes the fire seem extra special and almost “sacred” in a way.
I hope that you enjoy a warm, passionate weekend, with the homefires burning! Happy Friday! Have a great weekend! See you tomorrow, fireflies!!
Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.
Earlier this year, my aunt and uncle came to visit us. We were very excited to see them as we don’t get to see them very often due to the fact that they live in England. So, I spent a lot of time preparing for their visit. On the day of their arrival, the rest of the family was at school and work, so I did the final preparations. (you know shopping, cooking, shoving things in closets) About an hour or so before their due arrival, I set the dining room table elegantly and I lit a scented candle before heading to take my shower.
About 5 minutes into my shower, I heard a voice I’ve never heard before. It was an extremely loud, urgent woman’s voice broken up intermittently by a piercing beeping sound. Her voice firmly screamed, “Fire! Fire! Fire!” Now right outside of the shower entrance was Ralphie, our labrador retriever. He is a water dog, through and through, and we’ve had to train him that he cannot shower with us, so he just waits right outside the shower door hoping to catch some mist. Ralphie went into overdrive the minute the screaming woman started screaming. Lacey, our collie, who usually walks around the house herding dust bunnies (mostly her own hair), came running to meet me at the shower, too. Now, I’m kind of “hit or miss” when it comes to emergencies, so I didn’t think to grab a robe or a towel. I just ran naked out to the dining room with my hysterical canine entourage in tow. There in the center of my dining room table, the centerpiece had fallen into the candle and the middle of the table was on fire. If I had done it on purpose, it actually looked kind of cool and dramatic, but obviously, there is nothing really cool about a wooden table being on fire.
It’s funny when you look back at these things and observe your reactions. At that moment, I was honestly just annoyed as hell. The noise of the screaming woman fire alarm and the barking dogs was driving me mad. I was running naked from the kitchen to the dining room, tripping over my hysterical dogs, with pitchers of water and the whole time, in my mind, I was going over whether we would have to eat in the kitchen now and would we all fit?!? Seriously. As I was throwing water at my table, I started wondering if I would have time to buy another tablecloth. Thankfully, my mind wasn’t going to the fact that my whole house could burn down with me and the pups with it. I guess minimizing is my emergency defense mechanism?!?
In the end, I was able to put the fire out, and luckily, since I had a thick tablecloth and even thicker table pads, our dining room table (which has a lot of sentimental value – granted, dining rooms tables usually do, due all of the family meals, holidays, games, arguments and celebrations that are often shared around them) was completely spared. In fact, we even ate in the dining room that night. Despite the campfire aroma, all went very well.
So what is the point of this story? None really. I just think it’s funny and it is good to laugh every day. Especially at yourself.
