Another week in the chaos cabin! We are a little bit closer to having working electric in all rooms. I got the first batch of shiplap so I can start panelling the living room, and my fiancé and I have picked out flooring. We are making good progress.

Unfortunately, I am still overwhelmed. The progress isn’t fast enough. My fiancé isn’t here a lot as he’s working a ton to pay for the renovations. The natural consequence of that is the restaurant, plus the house, plus caring for the dogs has fallen on me. I’m struggling to keep up as I have some health issues I am combating.

My spiritual practice has all but vanished lately. I am grasping at everything I can to try to get it back. My wellness and self-care practices are completely gone. I can’t even take a shower in peace because of the dogs. The house isn’t to the point where they can be left unsupervised.

We keep saying, “we just need to survive November.” And I keep trying to tell myself that’s only a month. That’s only a month. I can do this. I can get through this.

Through the Grace of God, I will.

•••

The Links

The History of Fettuccine Alfredo. This is probably my favourite pasta dish, and why not? Butter, cheese, noodles…what can go wrong? I didn’t realise until this week, however, that we have bastardised it here in America. We add cream. That’s not the traditional preparation method.

On the topic of food I went to a rye tasting at the local watering hole. I tried this interesting concoction, the Hercules Mulligan Rum & Rye. It was like eggnog mixed with some whisky. Incredibly sweet. Heavy on the cloves.

But what really stood out about this whisky wasn’t the whisky so much as the marketing bull going along with the whisky. The distributor said Hercules Mulligan was a real person and “great friends with Hamilton” — which right there is a strike against him. The distributor went on to say Hercules Mulligan was responsible for us winning the American Revolution due to how he fomented revolutionary thoughts in Hamilton’s mind, and fortified the troops with his rum and rye concoction.

It was all I could do to not announce loudly to everyone that Hamilton was a horrible person, whom our founding fathers detested, and never wanted in office. The recent rewriting of history to make Hamilton out to be a good person is quite mind-boggling.

I am a sucker for a good Tarot deck, which is why my Tarot collection is in the dozens. This week I went into my local mystic shop looking for the Byzantine Tarot, which I couldn’t find and will have to order, but I walked out with the Golden Botticelli Tarot. I am in love. A full review will be coming soon, and like all tarot decks, they’re not perfect. I’ve come to the conclusion I need to create my own to really get the perfect deck. But, I connected with the cards right away. The readings are scary accurate! And the cards are beautiful, so this tarot deck has quickly become my go to deck, replacing the Pagan Otherworld’s Tarot, which I’ve used exclusively for about a year now.

Orthodoxy Links

I’m still really enjoying my Orthodox studies. I am in a number of Facebook groups for Orthodoxy. Even though Facebook is evil, it really brings some peace to my Timeline.

I don’t ever envision converting to Orthodoxy for reasons too numerous to get into in this brief post, but it’s a fascinating religion. I love learning about the differences between Orthodoxy and Catholicism, the history, the schisms, the Saints.

I really loved learning about Saint Mary of Egypt. She’s honoured in both Orthodoxy and Catholicism. Mary of Egypt was promiscuous and would perform sexual favours in exchange for other favours, like travelling without payment. Legend has it she tried to enter the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and was barred from entry by an invisible force. She prayed to an icon of the Theotokos, repented, and lived out her life as an ascetic.

This video of relaxing Orthodox chants is fantastic. I have an Orthodox chants radio on Pandora I listen to on my way home in the evening, but this one takes it a step further with sounds of a fire.