End of Year Reflection

Deciding to Comment

This year, a friend gave me a book called Simple Abundance, A Daybook of Comfort and Joy.  Each day there is an inspirational message, a profound thought, or a simple message to reflect upon.  I've been reading it daily, for several weeks now, and find so much wisdom in it that I have to force myself NOT to blog about it daily and NOT to re-write her work for all to see.  With the New Year about to happen, I feel nudged to post some thoughts and wonder how the rest of you feel about the ending of a year and beginning of a new one.  I hope you will share your thoughts with me.

A case of year end grumpies

The Author (Sarah Ban Breathnach), from her unseen place in the universe, called me out in her message for 12/29.  She writes " Today is the day the post-holiday blues usually drop in for their annual visit."  Not that I had the blues per say, but I did have a mild case of the grumpies that was just under the surface and never would have admitted it if she hadn't caught me in the act.

As she points out, whether we are aware of it or not, we are balancing our personal books and tallying up the profits and losses.  This is a time of year that we look back to see if we achieved our goals, surrender to expectations unmet, try to come to terms with situations we couldn't change, or just begin to acknowledge we could have made changes but chose not to.  Even for those of us who have just completed a wonderful year, we still look back and find times we wished were different, adding a bit of melancholy to our moods.

No matter how great our year was, we are losing it.  It will be gone forever.  Pay no mind that a new one is coming.  It is our nature to grieve a bit over the losses we had, no matter how small, and the fact that time has moved on never to be recovered. 

She also notes that "we" are probably not feeling very well (physically) at this time of year, and should not be surprised if we have colds or chest congestion now (which I do, adding to my grumpiness).  The author tells that "practitioners of Eastern medicine expect these illness in winter; metaphysically the lung is the organ that processes grief".  Old pain, she says, has become a familiar friend (not a nurturing one) by now and is very difficult to release.

I think that having the grumpies, or feeling down, is natural part of the season; the ebb and flow of energy.  Weeks of hype for the season, shopping, cooking, parties, family and activity all around us.  In the final day or so before Christmas, my personal energy is draining and I find myself longing for the first week of January.  Yet, when it all quiets down the few days after Christmas, it is quite a no-man's land for me.  Not the relief I was expecting.

I don't rest as well as I thought I might.  I don't want to shop, yet I want to be out.  I need to clean, but I don't want to.  I don't want to go visiting but I don't want to be home.  Then, this all starts a mental discussion about how to get out of the funk and make the New Year even better than the last creating more stress and grumpiness.  I just want to tell myself to SHUT UP!

Advice:  Treat Yourself Kindly

The advice seems simple:  when this (holiday blues/grumpies/letdown)happens, remember to treat yourself kindly.  This is a time to trust, not to form judgements.

Trust that the kids will go back to school.  Trust that the bills will get paid, the work will get done, the tree and decorations will get put away.  Things will go back to normal.

Thank you Ms. Breathnacht, I was waiting for someone to recognize the problem and give me permission to fix it.

For me, treating myself kindly meant that yesterday I spent the day walking in the snowy woods, reading a book for hours, going to a movie at night, and letting the dishes and laundry wait.

It also means that I will not try to plan my new year today.  I will not set any intentions today.  I will not outline goals with dates and project notes.  I will not rush around trying to beat the clock so my place is spotless by midnight (however I will vacuum up the dog hair - ugh!). 

I WILL recognize that I need a bit more time to rest and enjoy whatever THIS day brings to me.  I will not FORCE this day to happen as I have tried to force other days to happen. 

Today, this last day of 2012, I intend to just notice the beauty of life as it is right now - not as it was or will be.  I will be mindful of the miracle of my breath as it goes in and out of my body. I will observe the wind on my skin and wonder how it all works.  I will try to see without judgement.  A dog, a car, a business, a person.  No judgement - just seeing - just observing.  That, in itself, should free up a lot of mental chatter! 

Tomorrow may never come.  All I have is now.  And I'm setting out to experience this time, the last day of 2012, with a fresh spirit, new eyes and a cough drop and a tissue. 

Gotta keep it real. . . .

Happy Last Day of 2012 to all my friends and family.

Jackie

Manifesting a Sewing Wish

A few weeks ago, I posted a Christmas wish on the Mood Fabrics Facebook page that said something like this:

Dear Mood - all I want for Christmas is to win one day at Mood with a Project Runway designer to help me select fabric for sewing garments.  PS - I'll even pay my own expenses! 


Well, on Wednesday (12/19) I was at the end of my "sisters" trip and took off for the morning to fabric shop while they did more sight seeing.  I got off the elevator at Mood and in the corner, I saw women taking photos with a Project Runway designer Kooan Kosuke.  I just marveled at seeing a celebrity at Mood and tried to keep a respectable distance when I really just wanted to run up and ask for an autograph, but didn't.

As I was looking at the velvets, I heard a voice say "Can I help you?" and honest to Pete - it was him!  I'd forgotten that Mood had recently hired Kooan to work at the store, and here he was before me, sales apron on with a giant smile ready to help!!

I was almost speechless!  He helped me select a velvet and a tafeta and we talked about design elements for those, and a few other fabric choices.  Pleated collar and cuffs?  Yes - maybe.

We also talked about his current work, his desire to create a line for consumers, which would use other skills and require a different thought process to his normal designing.  He does costumes mostly, and now working at Mood.  He did say that when he creates non-costume garments, that he puts so much of himself and time into the garment, it is very hard for him to part with it.

So, my wish came true!  I got the help of a Project Runway designer in a very short time after I placed my wish order with the Universe.

May you all be blessed with great dreams, and have strong visions of the life you desire.  That is all you need to start the energy flowing, creating the environment to give you what you seek.  But don't forget YOUR part in the process. 

I had to get myself to NYC and walk myself to Mood before the magic could happen!

TTFN!

Jackie

Psychic Excedrin

Yesterday, I was at Rite Aid looking for a small bottle of pain reliever.  What I really wanted was Excedrin.  I LOVE how well Excedrin works for me.  Never mind the generic or off brands, I love Excedrin.

Many months ago, I went to pick up a bottle and to my dismay, the shelves were empty.  Someone told me that all the Excedrin products had been recalled and none were to be had.  Around August, I gave up looking for it, and hadn't thought about it until yesterday.

Yesterday, I was longing for, wishing for, the return of Excedrin and wondering when, if ever, it was coming back.  I had an entire mental conversation (at least I hope it was a silent discussion in my head) about what could have gone wrong at Excedrin?  When was it coming back?  Is it like Twinkies and Cupcakes now?  Maybe I need to do a little Internet research and see if it was coming back soon. 

Then, I simply forgot about it until today.

I opened my mail and there was a small, mysterious box.  You guessed it!  A bottle of Excedrin with a $1.00 coupon for a purchase and a Thank You from Rite Aid for being a valued customer!!  I guess Excedrin is back!

In case you are an Excedrin lover, here is a link you might be interested in: Excedrin  

I have to say, that in this particular case, I must have had my antenna up and got some "inside" info from the Universe.  Kind of a pre-knowing I guess. 

The only other explanation is that I sent out such a powerful "need" vibration that the Universe delivered as fast as it could without seeming un-natural.

Anyone else out there have a recent, similar experience to share?  What is the last time you recall thinking about something, only to have it appear in very short order?  Would love to hear your story - please share.

TTFN

Jackie (who is giddy over a little bottle of Excedrin - imagine if I won the lottery!)

Psychic Survey but no Zombies

This weekend, I flew on 4 planes to get to and from a wedding in South Dakota.  I had various experiences on all of them.

On the last flight, I sat there thinking "boy, I wish the Airlines would offer me a satisfaction survey after each flight.  Would be nice to have some venue for offering comments, ideas and relay experiences.  Wonder when they will get on the ball and do that like the rest of the world?"

So today, I open my email, and there is the survey link for Delta!  Cooincidence?  Hah!  I think my antennas were up and I linked into the Universe and grabbed that email while it was on it's way to me!

There you have it.  Just another musing about the "cooincidences" in my life.

Anyone else have something like this happen recently?

PS - to be fair, I must also tell you I had a very vivid dream about being turned into a zombie.  So far, that hasn't happened yet.  However, I do think it is an interesting way for my psyche to show me the difference between "getting" reliable data from the universe, and getting the standard ridiculous, random vibes that are floating around out there.  Yet, I am still a bit skittish about unknow folks who are trying to engage me in conversation. . .

TTFN

Jackie

Psychic Salami

Seems that my psychic antennas are up these days, more than usual.  Today, I went to visit a dear friend who is struggling to get well from cancer, chemo and complications.  It was also her birthday today. Before going to visit, I called her and asked if she would like a cupcake to celebrate and to my utter delight(because, you see, I wanted a cupcake too, and needed a really good excuse to get one), she said "yes" !

We decided on the flavors and moved on to lunch. I asked what she wanted from the bagel place and took her order of a cinnamon raisin bagel with plain cream cheese. 

While standing in line, I was looking at the menu board that I've seen about a thousand times (can you tell it is my favorite sandwich & bagel place?) and was about to order my standard turkey on rye bread when I suddenly noticed HARD SALAMI. 

I thought "oh gosh!  I didn't know they have hard salami!"  And that started a huge dialogue in my head about all of a sudden wanting a hard salami sandwich on a salt bagel.  The dialogue became an argument, and I was fighting with the devil inside me who was screaming out for the salami and the angel said - no way - stick with the turkey....

Because I was holding up the line, with the silent bickering in my head, looking like an idiot, I just took the turkey and my friend's cream cheese bagel and went off to visit.  As we sat there eating our lunch, she chewed on the cinnamon bagel and said thoughtfully "this is good, but I wish I had gone with my craving".

What craving?

"Oh", she said wistfully "I really wanted a hard salami on a bagel, but I thought it would not be so healthy for me, so I settled for the cream cheese.  Wish I had the salami!"

So there it was.  1000 times I've stood in front of that menu board and never saw the salami (which i L-O-V-E).  Today, my dear friend craves salami and I must have tuned in on it.

The good news, is that I still have strong intuitive tendencies, but the bad news is now I know the bagel place has hard salami. . . .

TTFN

Jackie

PS - My favorite bagel place is Barry Bagels!  See the link and go get some salami:  https://www.barrybagels.com/default.aspx

This is what happens when you have too much Bob Marley Relax Iced Tea before bed

Those of you who know me, know that I dream a lot.  Mostly nightmares, but sometimes not.  I dream so vividly, that I can feel things, smell things, dream in color and often know I'm dreaming while the dream is going on.  Lots of times, I have recurring dreams.  So here is one for those of you who like to interpret dreams or just don't want to feel like you are all alone out there with weirdness!

In the early morning hours, between 5:30 and 8:00 a.m. (I looked at the clock a few times) I dreamt I was in a big church with my mom, who passed away when I was 27, and my youngest daughter who is in her late 20's now.  Turns out we were looking at the church for the possibility of holding a wedding there - my wedding. 

This is where I first got disoriented because I tried to tell my mom and daughter I WAS already married, but they would not hear of it.  We toured the church and I vividly saw my self humoring them, going through the motions thinking how fun it would be to have another wedding, party and dress and all.

We walked from one part of the church, directly into a room full of ladies who happened to be girls from my high school days.  Not really my friends, but girls I knew.  I was suddenly aware that this was a bridal shower for me and one of the girls in charge was also confused.  She thought the shower was for someone else, but was going to be a good sport and let me be the "bride" at the event.  No one else seemed confused, and my mom and daughter thought this was all going as planned.

Suddenly, I was being rushed out of the room as it was made known to me that I was late for dressing for the wedding.  Rushing out of the room, I found myself alone in a department store/country club, with two male friends, one from my past and one from my present, who were assigned to get me to the church on time - so to speak.  We were literally running up the down escalators with heavy old suitcases filled with my gown and honeymoon attire.  My mom and daughter were no where to be seen.

Suddenly, we were lost.  And I discovered my gown was hanging out of the suitcase getting escalator grease all over it.  I discovered the guys were clueless and starting to get upset.  I called my mom and she talked to them giving them instructions on how to help me get ready for the wedding.

Suddenly - as all dreams do, there is never a smooth transition to any scenes - I found myself in an elegant, all wooden hallway of the "Club" and popped into my room with only minutes to spare to get made up and dressed for the wedding.  My mom was calling frantic that I'd be late, yet my male companions were of little help. 

My make up was running from the heat and I discovered they had packed all the wrong stuff.  While I was trying to make THEM comfortable, I kept calling for my daughter to help and suddenly all hell broke lose in the corner.

Looking over to the corner of the room, I found a baby elephant (yep - I think this is where the Bob Marley Tea comes into play) that was sent to me as a wedding gift.  The baby was frantic and running all over and the guys were nearly berserk.  I told them to get the baby out ASAP because it had to poop (oh yeah, I know this is weird) and it had to go outside.

The guys thought I was insane and they could not understand how I knew the baby had to go, and on top of that, they could not find the door.  Finally, half in my dirty gown, makeup running, I hit a button on the wall that lifted the entire wall like a garage door and the little elephant went tearing out, trailing two men on a leash behind it. 

As I watched, the elegant hallway gave way to being outdoors and the baby found some gravel in the shade to do it's business.  The look of relief on it's face was endearing and the guys were in shock that the entire wall opened up and the outdoors magically appeared.

I woke at that point, exhausted from the dream, hoping for another few minutes of sleep - but the phone rang and I had to get going.

I think this is what happens when you can't sleep and mix the Bob Marley tea with the melatonin tablets!  Your dream analysis is more than welcome!

TTFN

Jackie

When did outside become inside?

Vacuuming the patio

As I was vacuuming my patio this weekend (screened in, tile, no carpet - yet), for the third time since June 1, I had to ask myself what was going on here?  Why am I suddenly, and regularly, now vacuuming my patio? And when, exactly, did outdoors become indoors?

My patio is outdoors. Granted, it is attached to my house and it does have cushioned furniture on it, but it is OUTDOORS.

Outdoors, things get pollen on them, dust blows on them, cotton wood fuzz collects on the ground all because it IS the outdoors.  When you are outdoors, you can look down and see dirt - right?  Sometimes you see pebbles, grass, ants and the random spider.  And outdoors, stuff gets wet when it rains. That is what we expect, right?  We expect patio cushions to be wet after a good rain, to be dusty from time to time, and to have an ocassional spiderweb running from leg to leg of the chair.  Patios also used to be hot, cold, damp or whatever was happening outdoors in the non-patio area.  And we accepted that.

The most we expected to do to our outdoor places, was an ocassion broom sweeping and dry-rag dust off of the furniture.  Sometimes we bought a new candle. 

Well, on my patio - that used to be "outdoors", there is now finer furniture than ever before and it has come to my attention that this nice stuff looks rather unpleasant with a layer of pollen all over it, and with dirt on the floor, and with the ocassional dust web/spider web connected to it.  So it must be cleaned.  Regularly.  I suppose.

The new table, made of wicker has a beautiful glass top that keeps things stable from the bumpy wicker texture, but also scratches easily.  So - we need placemats on the table (one long scratch made its way onto the table before anyone noticed that someone didn't use a placemat).  The pollen and dust shows up very vividly on the glass, so it must be attended to almost daily.  Funny, the glass tables in my house have the same issues.  You'd have thought that I'd know better, right?

Then, my darling hubby noticed that the beautiful BLACK wicker furniture frames really should be vacuumed weekly to keep them from collecting dust and pollen.  He pointed out that the woven structure of the wicker traps the yellow/green pollen very nicely and soon it will be difficult to clean the frames, unless we vacuum them weekly.

My DH also noted that the lovely upholstery we selected, should be vacuumed regularly to keep IT clean and free from dust and pollen and spiders and outdoor stuff.

Looking around, I decided we needed some lamps on the patio, near my chair, so I can knit, needlepoint or read when it gets dark - outside.  Now, we are shopping for outdoor "artwork" and carpets!

While I was picking up light bulbs at the home store, I paused at the display of outdoor gas heaters - the kind you see at restaurants and events where they try to keep warm spots for OUTDOOR events in the cooler season.  I'm thinking one or two of those will be perfect to keep me warm, on the patio, when it gets cooler outside.

To deal with the hot, hot, muggy weather this weekend, I considered keeping my sliding door open onto the patio to allow the A/C to leak out to the patio to make it more bearable to be out there on the new furniture, relaxing OUTDOORS.  Something told me that might be a bad idea, so I didn't.

I've also been looking around for canvas covers for all this nice, new patio furniture, so that it can be safe during the winter periods.  I guess taking the cushions inside won't be enough.  Keeping the wicker protected is very important THEY say.

My final thought on this (ok maybe there will be more to come, so it might not be the FINAL thought, but I'm thinking it is close) is when it threatened rain yesterday and I dashed outside to pick up the upholstered cushions on the lounge and matching chair so they wouldn't get soaked.  I even considered taking the huge hammock down to keep the canvas from getting wet. . . .

I think we've lost our minds.  At least at my house.  I know that some people really need the extra space outdoors and use a patio or porch to get added space for living, but in my case - - -really?

I am blessed to have almost 6,000 sq. ft. of INDOOR space that is temperature contolled year round, clean (mostly), bug free (mostly) and nicely furnished.  Why then, do we feel compelled to move to an outdoor environment and try to make it as nice as if it were indoors?

The more I think on this, the more insane it sounds.  Come on people, don't leave me out here on this one alone.  Others must do it too, because I see all the stuff in the home stores, online, in catalogs, and at home shows that cater to making OUTSIDE more like INSIDE.  What are we doing?

Hey, look.  I'd like to chat with you more on this subject, but I think I just saw some dust settle on the table outside so I gotta run.  If anyone knows of some doodad that will help me keep the pollen IN the plants, the dust 50 ft. from the house, and all bugs a mile away, please post. 

With Swiffer in hand, heading toward the patio - again -

TTFN!

Jackie
(who seems to be her own worst enemy)

Hey Mom! Do you have handcuffs at your house?

Should We Even Be Talking About This?

The phone rang.  It was my youngest daughter.  "Hey mom! Do you have handcuffs at your house?' she asked.

"Uh. . . that's a trick question right?" I replied, then quickly added "no. . not so far as you know. Why do you ask?"

That got a laugh out of her, and once you realize she is now a police officer, the question wasn't as kinky as you might have been led to believe.  What she really wanted to know was did I have HER handcuffs at my house?  She had stopped by and changed at my place and thinking she'd left them here in the rush to her shift. The fact that her question was worded as if I'd assume were talking about HER handcuffs, was the funny part. 

On her end of the phone, I can only imagine her rolling her eyes and saying "eweeeew! yuck!" in head, while she played along with me.

We laughed about this for a bit, then hung up and it struck me how odd it is to have certain conversations with your kids, even when they are almost as old as you (I maintain that I stopped aging long ago, and now my kids are getting old enough to be my sisters and brother).

This reminds me of the time I was cleaning out my pre-marriage and pre-weight gain lingerie drawers while my oldest daughter was visiting.  I was laying out beautiful nighties, etc. (I'll leave this part to your imagination so my kids don't have to hack into my blog and delete this) and my daughter was taking a few things that suited her, when her husband walked in the room. 

He looked at the lacy stuff laying around, and she showed him a few things and he said "Wow!  Those are pretty!  Where did they come from?"  And the look on his face was priceless when she said, "Oh from Mom!  She doesn't need them anymore!"  He then looked at me, blushed and said to us both "Oh great.. .that's a visual I really didn't need!". 

Then quickly realized how that comment sounded and he tried so hard to get out of the pile of poop he stepped in by saying "OH GOD!  Not that Mom wouldn't look great in. . . I mean. .  I just can't. . . .now when my wife is wearing that. . .OH GOD!....I'm getting out of here!"  And out the door he bolted.  I have no clue what became of those things and really don't need to know.  I can let that one alone for all our sakes.

Yep.  Having kids who are almost my age really makes for interesting conversation. 

I remember the time when my then-young step-son came into my room holding something behind his back and said "Hey, Jackie!  You LIKE fur, don't you?"  That is an entirely different post for an entirely different day.

TTFN
Jackie
(who really is so psychic!)

Objects in the mirror; change in blog name

Yesterday, while driving, it occurred to me that I had forgotten the perfect name for my blog that I thought of long ago.  There it was, right outside the window on the car mirror:  Objects in the mirror are closer than they appear.  How crazy is that?  Why aren't the objects in the mirror just as close as they appear to be? 

I've always wanted that saying as some sort of article title, tag line or quote on my business card, and when I started my very first blog, it left me completely until yesterday. Just goes to show you I don't look at my right side mirror very often!

First of all, WHY do they (car manufacturers) do that?  With all our technology, you'd think they could make a mirror for the passenger side of the car that shows the REAL size and distance from the object to you. 

This little feature on the cars has haunted me since the day I first got behind the wheel in driver's ed oh so long ago.  Exactly HOW MUCH closer is this object?  Just a bit?  Quite a bit?  RIGHT NEXT TO ME?  How can I ever trust it?  What moron thought this is a good idea? OH GOD, I'll never trust my right-side merging and can I really believe that the driver's side mirror is telling me the truth?  Arrrghh!

Back in the day, there were no outside mirrors on cars, and then there was only one, on the driver's side.  Finally, some safety guy, or insurance person, or mother came along and said "we need a mirror on the other side too!"  But, maybe that mirror should be misleading, just to keep a little excitement in the driving experience!  Yeah, that's it!  Let's keep it fun!

So who made that decision to put in a funky mirror that distorts the image to make it appear farther away giving me a false sense of security?  Who I ask?

The newer cars have cool things in the mirrors that light up when someone is in your smack zone.  The closer they come to your zone, the brighter the lights get and some even beep.  So, if you look in the distorted mirror, you think the car is farther away but the lights KNOW the truth.  The light sensors shout "danger, danger - don't believe what you see in the mirror!"

Odd, eh?

Well, if I were an English teacher, or a philosophy teacher, I'd use this sentence as a class assignment.  It's a goodie.  Think about how it actually pertains to our lives, in a metaphorical sense.

The objects in the mirror are usually the things behind you, right?  Stuff from your past.  Looking back on your past, don't some events or situations seem LARGER than they really were?  Or, do they seem smaller than you thought at the time? 

We don't get any blinking lights that go off and say "hey! that old stuff is sneaking up on you again and it's getting close!  There's gonna be a big bang here!"  Memories are always conjured up with filters on them.  Either we make the story bigger, worse, more drama, or we minimize what happened.  We pick and choose what we remember, for the most part.  And HOW we remember it.  We give memories new or continued life if we keep talking about them, writing about them, dwelling on them.  Some are good, and some need to be given a proper burial and let go of completely.

So there you have it!  My blog name has been changed to what I originally wanted it to be.  And if you have any thoughts about the car mirrors, memories or whatever, leave me a comment.  By the way, be careful while driving, and keeping old memories - be sure to watch for the signal before the big bang!

TTFN!

If it itches, scratch it!

I just read a book call Spontaneous Healing  by Andrew Weil who talks about the body's ability to heal itself.  After all, it is how the human race, and most living things, survived.  You get cut, your skin heals.  You get an infection, and your body sends little white blood cell soldiers to attack and repair.  Your skin is constantly renewing and replacing old skin.  Your body wants to survive and wants to be in a state of wellness. This is a great book!

So that brings me to my itch.  And why I scratch it against everyone else's admonishing "LEAVE THAT ALONE!"  What the hell sense does that make?  My body is sending me a signal:  something is bad here,needs help to repair so pay attention to this area! Scratch me! Now, please! (FYI - this is NOT in Dr. Weil's book!  It is my own revelation about how the human body works).

Think about this.  If I swallow wrong, and start choking, which is my body's normal reflex to save itself.  It is a series of violent spasms set off by my brain after it says "holey crap, we're losing oxygen fast and we gotta get this damn thing outta here".   Not one person in the room will say "hey Jackie! Stop that extreme coughing and hacking!"

When I cut my finger, not one person will say "hey! don't press on that - just let it bleed!"  Nor will they say, "Stop that sweating! Right now!  You don't need to sweat!  I'm sure you'll cool off your internal organs and brain some other way."

But when you have an itch. . .now, that's a different story, eh?  Stop scratching!  Quit that!  You'll make it bleed!  God, you are making ME itch now!

Well, this is how I feel about that.  If I itch, I WILL scratch.  And I have been.  This year, for the first time in my life, I have developed eczema on my legs that turns into hives.  I've soaked in oatmeal baths, used all manner of creams, sprays, lotions, and have had steroid shots and pills.  Through all of it, I continued to itch and only scratching brought relief.  So I scratch.

Did it bleed?  Yep, it did.  Did it scab? Yep, it did.  Did it bruise from such crazed scratching?  Yep it did.  Did it heal?  YEP IT DID.  All of it.  And I felt better while scratching and after scratching.  That is what God invented scratching for!  In case you get an itch!

I've had plenty of time to think about why the body itches in the first place.  Something bad is inside and wants out.  It wants out so badly it will erupt and nudge, and jiggle your nerves until you help it out by scratching it right the hell out of you.

I actually believe that by scratching, you send some signal to the brain saying "Hey buddy, I'm helping you out as much as I can here!  Here's the place!  Yep, right here!  Send white blood cells!  Dude, you aren't sending enough!  What if bleeding and open sores happen?  Will you send more little white cell soldiers then? Good, because here comes a bleedy sore for you!  Yeah buddy, right here right now". 

And the brain GETS IT!  It says "finally, you moron!  I've been nudging your nerves all day now to get you to scratch here to help the blood flow faster to that area with the yucky stuff, and finally you listen to me!  Here's some relief for ya sister!  And stop listening to those people who say "stop that itching".  What the hell do they know?  They are not your BRAIN!"

So that's my take on it.  Not very scientific, except for the part that the body was meant to survive, be healthy and reproduce.  And I know it sends me signals to help it do that:  hunger pangs mean feed me, sneezing means get this crap out of my nose, pain in my ear means turn the music down, and itching means . . .scratch me!

Can you deny this?  Go ahead.  Tell me your thoughts. Just don't tell me to quit scratching, cause I won't!

TTFN

Why are "annuals" called that, when they don't come back every year?

Let's just talk about this crazy word for a minute.  When we talk about annual plants, that means you have to buy them fresh and new every year.  You can't just plant them once and watch them pop up again every spring.  Who, in their right mind, decided to call them annuals? 

In my mind, the plants that come back every year, are annuals, like this definition of Annual from the dictionary:

adjective

1. of, for, or pertaining to a year; yearly: annual salary.

2. occurring or returning once a year: an annual celebration.

 

Got that?  "Returning once a year.  Yearly".  Well, that is NOT what happens with THOSE kinds of plants.  The kind of plants that need to be replanted each year should be called "quarterlies" or more like "3-monthlys" for they really only last about 3 months and you gotta replant them every season.

 

I was talking about this with my daughter the other day we wondered how did these plants ever survive in the beginning?  If they don't come back in the next spring, that means they just completely die.  They don't sow any seeds that sprout back up in the new season.  Or if they do sow seeds, why don't they just grow right there where they were dropped?  They don't leave roots behind to re-sprout.  They leave nothing.  Nada.  Zip.  Zero.  Yet somehow, magically, they are here now. 

 

So where does the fresh crop of "3-monthlys" come from?  I think they come from seeds, but who gathers them?  And if they can be gathered, why can't the plants just drop them in the dirt, scattered by the wind, or bird poop, and grow the next year?

 

I am wondering if no one harvested the seeds, if the annuals would be gone forever?

 

Perennials, on the other hand, are plants that live for MORE than 2 years.  They appear to die out, but return each growing season.  Actually, they continue to grow, albeit so slowly, all year through stem or root systems.  So they seem to be named correctly, according to me.

 

It's the "annuals" that I just can't grasp.  Like, how it all got started - who figured it out and how they managed to collect the seeds before all the flowers were gone forever.  Smart little cave people!  Or, maybe it was the aliens. . . hmmmm....still could be.  Every year, the aliens stop by earth and drop off a fresh batch of "annual" seeds to . . .umm...Burpee and. . .Andersons. ...yeah, that's it.  Aliens.

 

Let me know if you KNOW where the real, true source of the "annual" seeds come from each year, or how it all started in the beginning. 

As far as I'm concerned, the 3-monthlys come from aliens and that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

TTFN!

 

 

Getting my Feng to Shui in my sewing studio

My sewing projects have come to a stand still in spite of the awesome new fabrics I've just brought home from New York, several sewing group challenge deadlines looming and a promise to sew for some Leonberger friends.  I have new trims, buttons, threads and a crap-load (yep - that's a lot) of new patterns piled high, yet I can't get my Mo Jo going. I finally figured out what was going on.  

Walking the dog today, I had an idea about this standstill in activity.  It must be that the feng shui in my studio is off!  Of course! That had to be it. 

When I first moved into my current home and was able to turn a stand-alone apartment into a sewing (aka Poker) studio (a girl cave) I had the furniture situated with my chair in the middle facing east, putting my big desk in the center of the room so I could walk around all 4 sides of it for cutting ease, etc.  For a few years, I sewed regularly.

Well, I got bored with that arrangement and decided I wanted to face looking out the sliding glass door to watch the deer graze and look at the woods.  So I moved my desk 45 degrees and had my back to the entry door, facing south.  This placement opened up the room more, and I started planning a way to get a new cutting table in the room.

But, the whole thing was awkward.  Nothing got done, crap piled up everywhere and not one poker game even finished in the money :(   So today, I moved the furniture around in the room again, going by "feel" instead of by logic.

The desk got moved up against the east wall, and my chair faces east again.  Even though it looks smack into the wall, I'm closer to the glass window, and as I type this a young buck is nibbling leaves only 100 feet from me.  I can actually see him with my peripheral vision, and if I just turn my head so slightly, I can see him in full view from my east facing chair.

In the middle of all this, I got out my feng shui book and checked a few important elements of this art of positioning furniture, colors, numbers and images for success, health and happiness and I discovered that my Kua Number is 4 (based on date of birth and sex- Male/female, not how much I've been having lately).  Here are my best items for personal growth:

• Wood is my element (my floors are hardwood, my desk is wood, my pencils are wooden, my door is wooden, and my studio is IN the woods!
• The SUN is my Trigram (trigrams are root symbols of the I Ching) and there will be more on that in another post
• Best color for my home is blue/green (note to self - get some paint soon; goodbye white and oyster colored walls)
• Best direction for personal growth is in the southeast -which is exactly where I have placed my desk today! 

Once I get all the boxes, fabric and junk picked up off the floor, I'll post a photo.  Now, if I don't get motivated to sew, I guess I need to paint my room blue and green (sigh. . .not my favorite colors).  If that doesn't help my sewing Mo Jo, I'll read the next chapter of the feng shui book.

And, I think I need to read further into the book to see if need to change the orientation of my PC desk - for better results at Poker.  Hmmmm....I might even need an entirely separate room and set up for that feng shui!

Go ahead, you disbelievers, poo pooh this is if you like, but the principles of feng shui are ancient guidelines and practices attributed to the Chinese, that use the invisible lines of energy present in everything, to create a harmonic flow of these 'currents".  There's a lot more to it than just that, but you get the idea.  A great book on this is "Total Feng Shui" by Lillian Too.  Link to Lillian's web-site

Hey, most of us have no clue how an email gets into our PC, or how a show gets onto our TV right?  Well,this is the same thing, kinda.  And I want every advantage I can get to make life easier, happier, healthier and more prosperous, so I'll move my desk, put a picture of dragon under my mouse pad, and put some crystals in each corner of my room.  Stand back, I can feel the chi flowing!

Now for the sewing. . .

TTFN!

Beautiful Ball Gowns and what happened to dressing up?

Most of you who are reading this blog, may have just been on the edge of a time when dressing up and dressing beautifully was very important.  In 1964, when I was 11, I remember going to see Mary Poppins at the Valentine Theater in downtown Toledo, in a taxi (because most people only had one car, and our dad's took that car to work) with my mother and sisters on a weekday afternnoon.  We were dressed in dresses and I wore white cotton gloves and carried a small patent leather purse.  I remember it was hot outside, but very cool in the theater, and wanting to take my gloves off, but my mother insisted that I leave them on, because I was a big girl now and I had to act like a lady.  I know she did let my sisters take theirs off because I had to put their tiny gloves in my empty (except for a crochet-edged hanky) purse. 

I think that was the last time I ever wore gloves, except in the winter and to prom.  The world was changing and it took away our graceful manner of dress, many of our manners and courteseys, and in exchange, gave us "comfort" clothing, casual days, jeans for everyone and every day and fewer and fewer formal events.

Ah.  My heart pines for those days - the dressing up and manners parts.  This link will take you to a video, with narration, about ballgowns.  Not that most of us will ever get to dress like this, but it is the stuff that girls dream about and is good eye candy for today!


Beautiful Ballgowns

My "senior's" Discount! Wow - that's a harsh reality check!

When checking out my groceries today, the young woman ringing my stuff said, in a matter-of-fact way "Senior discount?".

And I said "Huh?".

So she said "Today is Senior's Discount Day.  Do you get the discount?".

It took all my will not to grab her by her pretty young neck, pull her over the counter to my side and shake the living crap right out of her and shout "do I LOOK LIKE I QUALIFY FOR A FREAKING SENIOR DISCOUNT????".

But, I did not.  Choking on those other words racing through my brain and keeping my hands firmly wrapped around my cart, I managed to gracefully smile and ask "Oh, what age does one need to be in order to qualify for that discount?"

Sweetly she says "60!".  And I say back "OH!  Honey!  I've got one more year before I turn 60 and I'm gonna milk it for all I can, to the very last day.  You just keep your discount another year!"

There was a bit of giggling, some insignificant small talk going on between us as I glanced around the store and at the people in line.  I realized most of them were only about 4 1/2 feet tall, stooped over, silver-haired with big ears and pastel clothing.  I heard her yammering something about "first Tuesday in the month. . " and fought off the urge to grab my purse and check my make-up to make sure my lipstick was still inside my lip lines and my blush wasn't too round and dark on my cheeks.

Finally, she winks at me and says "Look!  I gave you the discount anyway!  You saved $9.07!  Oh, and be careful in the parking lot!"  I ask why, thinking there were robbers or something unusual out there today, but she just nodded toward a little old lady who was bumping her cart into a display and said "see, there? watch out for THEM!"

I raced home, after stopping at the tea shop to pick up some white tea (erases wrinkles you know) and went straight to the bedroom.  I looked for my 6" platform heels, my low-cut evening dress and my dangly earings.  Yep, still there.  But the question now was - do I have to wear these things to the grocery store - and stay about 10 feet back from the cashier - just to maintain some semblance of youth?

Or, do I just give in now, and accept the fact I'm more likely to be mistaken (hahaha....yep....I said MISTAKEN) for a senior than a . . . 40-something?  I did save $9.00. . . .which will buy me a great martini. . . .

Hell no. . . Iknow I'm going into old age, but I am going kicking and screaming and wearing high heels as long as I can!  Screw the discounts! 

And tomorrow, we'll talk about the email ads I keep getting for scooters and funeral planning.

Bastards!

Bruno the Leonberger with the funky tail fur

Just a short post for my Leonberger friends who have heard about Bruno's tail. Yep, never grew back right after he lost a lot of hair last year.  As far as he knows, it's a beautiful tail!

How I think Risoto was discovered

Last night, we had friends over for dinner and made a wonderful Truffle butter, chantrell mushroom and shallot Risotto with broth and white wine. It was so good, I ate the leftover for breakfast!

I don't make risotto often, it takes quite a bit of time and fussing compared to rice. I think risotto is Italian for "rice that is stuffed full of liquid over a long period of time".  The rice itself can be cooked like normal rice; 2 cups of water, 1 cup rice boil till done, etc.  But to make risotto, you use the same rice with 5 cups of broth and 1/2 cup of wine and you add it to the rice in 1/2 cup increments, only adding the next 1/2 cup after the first is fully absorbed.  That, my friends, is a lot of liquid going into a little bit of rice!

I wonder who discovered that method?  Probably the wife who cooked the rice with a normal amount of liquid, and when her hubby didn't get home from the orchard on time,  she added more liquid.  When he still didn't come home, she added more.  She did this about five times, is my guess.

On the sixth time, when her hubby still didn't show, she sat down and had a glass of wine, and then another, and waited.  By the time she saw him coming down the lane, the rice was drying out and she was down to 1/2 cup of wine in the bottle - so she dumped that in for one last effort to keep the rice moist and fluffy.

Well!  The rice was quite the hit with the husband!  Or at least he knew better than to say a word about this new-textured creamy concoction (having noticed the empty wine bottle on the table, and the wild look in his bride's eyes). 

He raved about the creamy rice and when he asked her what she called it, she said, in a slightly tipsy fashion "thish is reese-oh too!", meaning to say, "this is rice TOO!"  (she also said a few other words about him being late from the orchard again, but that's another story)

Not wanting to offend his wife, he told all the neighbors about the new rice-oh-too, and the wife started having the neighboring wives over to show them how to make the new dish. After much experimenting with rice, water and wine the recipe became our modern day risotto.

If you know a different version of how this was discovered, please post.  Otherwise, this is my story, and I'm sticking with it!

TTFN!

Reverting to childhood and motion sensored monkeys

My hubby came home from a business trip and dumped a pile of treasures out of his suitcase, onto the bed.  "Here," he says.  "You can have these if you want them.  They are the ad items the vendors gave us."  Since he was at a very prestigious event, the ad items were pretty high end: Leather Ipad cases with attached note pads, ergo pens, a silver ball puzzle globe, I-accessories like ear buds and misc. and a Snoopy dog dressed in a tuxedo. 

I riffled through the stuff, having an IPad - some of it was of mild interest.  I snagged the puzzle globe for the grandsons, and put the ear buds on my night stand.  I giggled like a schoolgirl over the cute Snoopy dog and sheepishly put it back in the midst of the other little treasures.

When I came back to the bedroom, the pile was picked up, clothes were put away and there on my pillow - sat the Snoopy!  He is adorable!  My brain screamed "awwww!" but I just smiled and was reminded once again, how well my husband knows me and how much he takes care of me - especially in the "awww" and "wow" departments.

And while I'm thinking about it. . . as a child, I never had a soft spot for stuffed animals.  I didn't have a bear collection, had only one Barbie, one stuffed Rabbit on my bed from an Easter gift.  Then, a few years ago, I started to find and gather up sheep decor (for my yarn shop).  Figurines, stuffed animals, yard sheep, soap sheep, puppet sheep.  And I also started to notice places like Build a Bear shops with the cool clothes for the Bears and the neat shoes and accessories!  There was a lot of "awwww!" in that store. 

I also started to pick up stuffed animals and rock them like an infant as I browsed through the piles of big-eyed, long eared, fluffy soft toys searching for just the right one.  I caught myself more than once, rocking a stuffed sheep in the cashier's line. . .

It also happened that people could not really pick these creatures for me.  My hubby would hand me a sheep and say "here's a good one!" and I'd look at it and say "No, that one isn't right."  He thought I was nuts.  How can it not be "right", he'd ask?  Well, for one thing - look at the eyes.  The eyes aren't looking right. And the shape of the head. . . too flat.  Ears - too short.  Nose - too pointy.  Body - too stiff.  But thanks for trying.

And it wasn't just sheep!  It quickly moved to penguins, a collection that was supported by my son-in-law who seemed to find just the right ones with just the right faces.  Some how HE got it right! Gifts from him included the penguin seat belted into my back seat of my car that I didn't see for 2 days even thought I drove a lot - each day, to a penguin cookie!

Then, my need for "awwww" moments moved on to baby animals.  I noticed that I had been spending a lot of time looking at puppy stories on Facebook, bought a baby polar bear calendar, and spent time chuckling over pets dressed in halloween costumes!  What is going on here?  In my career, my office only had tastefully framed photos of my children and their ocassional art work (sometimes taped to the back of my door or inside of my credenza doors to keep my office "professional" looking yet let me keep my children close to me).  Looks like the dam broke and now every cutsey, fluffy, big-eyed animal found its way to me in one form or another.

I wonder if this joy of simple, ever smiling, soft and cuddly toys and adorable baby animals is a function of age?  Getting older and finding a need to laugh more, cuddle more, and play more?  If so, then I guess reverting to childhood isn't such a bad thing, until it comes time for the Depends. . . .

Gotta go.  There is a motion sensor monkey in the family room, who laughs and giggles and rolls on the floor when you get near him, calling my name on this fine Sunday! 

TTFN!

No sewing MoJo today

though the day isn't over yet, I doubt if I'll keep my promise to myself to sew something every single day. I did go buy some tension shower curtain rods to put in the unused doorway of my sewing room so I can use them to drape fabric over, instead of folding and stacking it. This is a new situation, since I came home from NYC with some leather skins and some fancy pre pleated designer fabric that should be rolled and not folded, and I had no clue how to manage that. At first, I considered buying a drying rack (stand that is used for hand wash dry flat laundry) but noticed the hanging rods were quite small, plus they took up a lot of floor space and it is likely I'll always have some sort of delicate fabrics around so I needed a better solution. There stood the empty, unused doorway and the idea popped into my head! I'll go give it a try and post a photo if it works. If it doesn't, that loud whining sound you'll hear will be me...

Opportunity Coincidence for Step-son

A couple of weeks ago, on a Friday morning, I was putzing around the house thinking about how I was going to help find some volunteer opportunities for my step-son to add to his college experience in his field of Wildlife Management.  His thing is hunting, fishing and all that goes with that.  He was fortunate to find a college degree program in just that line of work.  Now, going into his Junior year, he needs to start having "work" experience or internships in that line of study.  Here we are, in Toledo, Ohio and I am mulling over how I can ever find him opportunities here, when my door bell rang.

It was the guy (from a distant town) who fixes my roof.  He stopped by, unannounced,  not to check on my roof which he just repaired the prior week, but to ask if my husband might be available to help him over at the Boy Scout reservation down the street with an event for kids teaching them how to fish.  Hmmmm....I said.  Hubby is sick, but how about the step-kid?  Might it be possble that he could get some bona-fide credits for his portfolio if he helps out?

Why absolutely, was the response.  In fact, my roof guy handed me a card for the step-son from the American Sportsman's Club and told me of numerous volunteer opportunities for my kid, all across the country in all seasons!  From over night camps, to day events at Cabella's, the sponsors are looking for help to teach people how to hunt, fish, camp, trap and skin - and his first opportunity was the very next day. 

Thank you Universe!  You heard my call for help and answered my specific request for volunteer opportunities from the hunting, fishing, camping world!  And my goodness, how quickly you responded!

Coincidence?  Pre-knowing?  This time around, it sure felt like manifesting to me.  Getting in alignment with something I wanted and assuming it would come, letting the how and why up to the Universe.

In any event, step-son is now on a fast track to filling his internship/volunteer dance card and all he had to do was make the first phone call to the number on the card. 

TTFN!
May all your thoughts be good ones!

It has even happened here!

As I was setting up my blog, I discovered the option to allow advertisements to be shown on my page, and fought with the gadget for an hour or so with no success.  I tried to sponsor sewing machines, fabric, patterns, knitting stuff to no avail.  Just before signing off (having been "errored out" several times) I thought to myself "Well, since none of those products seem to be offered as options, I suppose I can always sponsor health insurance (my old occupation)!"  And then I thought, nah. . .I'll find something tomorrow.

So, I wake up today, turn on my PC and go to my blog.  And guess what?  There are ads on my page!  Not only that, but the main ad is for a health insurance company!! Go figure.

I've got some work to do on this, but in the meantime, I'm thinking I best be careful what I think about since it seems to comes to me very quickly!

Coincidence?  What do you think?

Coincidences

Welcome to my Blog!  This is my first post and right away we might as well get it on the table that I'm a bit psychic or intuitive and many of my posts and blogs will likely be on topics relating to the interesting phenomena of this ability.  I've been this way for long time, but only recently embraced it, studied it, and have begun to work with it.  So, as I send words out into the Universe creating an energy wave along with them, I'll be anxious to see what manifests from them, and will absolutely share that with anyone who is interested.  Let's get this party started!

It shouldn't surprise me, but it always does.  Last night, I was thinking about my DH (darling hubby) who is away on a business trip and suddenly this information popped into my head about an unknown person who I assume is affiliated with the event he is participating in:  indiscretion. 

The word was followed by a split second lightening bolt of information regarding an event at his conference where someone would do or say something that will lead to problems for themselves and others in their business world.  Someone who was not being discreet with their words or actions. The rest of the details of that little snippet are not important, but what is unusual is that this email arrived in my inbox only hours later:

Inspirational Quote of the Day (Thu, 31 May 2012)

Be Impeccable With Your Word. Speak with integrity. Say only what you mean. Avoid using the word to speak against yourself or to gossip about others. Use the power of your word in the direction of truth and love.

Unknown

This happens to me all the time. I'll never know if this was a coincidence, if I called it to me, or if I had some pre-knowledge of this showing up presenting itself to me so I could pass it along.  At any rate, my gut tells me there will be a story here, when DH comes home, and at the very least, some good advice has come my way to share with anyone who also finds it, in THEIR time.

Would love to hear your stories of things like this in your world.  Please feel free to share!

As my dear friend Walter would sign off each of his newsletters, long before the internet, texting and LOL:

TTFN!

(Ta ta for now)