Samhain and Friends

Last night was our Samhain celebration. I had a fantastic time. We had an Ancestors Supper where we had an altar set up for the ancestors (ours and all ancestors who have blazed trails for us, made the world what it is today). We each filled out an invitation with the names of all our own ancestors that we would like to invite to the feast and the ritual. We filled a plate with food and put it on the Ancestors altar as their feast. Then we ate ourselves. After eating and talking for a little while, we had the ritual which honored the ancestors, the Goddess Ceridwen and the God Cernunnos, both Celtic deities.

After the ritual, we just sat around eating the desserts and talking and laughing. We are quite the bunch and we got one woman laughing so hard she was actually crying and her stomach hurt. We had a great time. I really needed an evening like that.

I got home around 1am. It's almost 9am and I haven't been to sleep yet. Stanley Steemer is coming today to do the carpets and I had some last minute moving and rearranging of stuff before they get here. I tried to lay down and was going to take a four hour nap, but after 45 minutes, I gave up and got back up. Now I'm waiting for them to call and let me know they are on their way. I can't wait for them to get here and get done. Then I can go get some sleep!

Cleaning and Sleep and Politics

The Stanley Steemer guys got here about 11:00. I was wound right up because I hadn't had any sleep, plus I hate having strangers in my home messing with my belongings. I know that it had to be done, but my anxiety level on a scale of 1-10 was about a 22. I took two of my anti-anxiety pills while I was waiting for them to get here. They were only here for about an hour and a half, thank the gods. I just hate the idea of this type of thing because I just know they are looking at the mess and judging me for being a pig. I'm sure they've seen worse, but that does not make me feel any better about them invading my home and my privacy.

After they left, I ate lunch, then dragged the stuff back out of my bedroom that I had put in there to get it out of their way in the living room and the office. Finally I could get some sleep. I slept for about six hours. I had set the clock for 7pm and woke up at 6:58.

I got up and did some writing for a while. Then, as expected, I got a phone call at 8:30 from the Human Rights Commission. At first it was an automated message from Cyndi Lauper about the importance of this election. Then I was hooked into the conference call. It lasted about 40 minutes. It was about the importance of this election to the LGBT community.

I just finished supper and now I'm hanging out trying to destress. The cats were shut in the bedroom while the guys were here. They are, of course, out of captivity now and not sure what to make of the new smells. Poor things are as traumatized as I am.