LaserMonks

So, here’s what I learned today. There’s a group of Cistercian monks in the wilds of rural Wisconsin who are gagazillionaires now because of the on-line business they have. It began as they were brainstorming for a way to support their monastery. Funds were tight and the bills were piling up. The more traditional means of making money with a farm wasn’t going to work for 6 monks. So, they put their heads together and began to think. They thought about a golf course and a conference center. They considered growing Shitake mushrooms and raising Christmas trees. And, what do you figure happened while all this brainstorming was going on?

Their printer ran out of toner.

Fr. Bernard McCoy was shocked at how much a new toner cartridge was going to cost. He began to surf the internet to find a better deal and when he did he wondered how he might save money for other religious in need.

One thing led to another and they sell lots more than just toner cartridges now. Visit the monks at www.LaserMonks.com

They are a regular business. You get the added bonus of having somebody pray for you. They do as much as the other big office supply stores do. I’m switching my business to them.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year!

Where I Consider Resolutions

I’m not too sure what I want to do. It’s interesting to me that during the course of any year, lately anyway, that ideas to do things sort of spring upon me and I either act upon them then or I don’t. I also don’t lose a lot of sleep over this process. If something sounds sort of difficult to manage at the point of inspiration I typically put it on a back-burner and return to it later on where I might or might not have had a revelation about how to proceed.

The idea, though, is to allow these ideas room to grow. And, I, being the one in charge of my life can either act upon them or not.

Except when the new year rolls around. That’s when I start looking at my feet while I’m dancing and inevitably start tripping myself up.

Stupid resolutions. I never keep them. It sounds like a good idea at the time, but it’s a sort of forced idea. It doesn’t flow naturally from where I am now to where I’d like to be at the end of the year. I don’t know that I’ve ever kept a single resolution that I made. To be generous I would imagine some of the ideas I had eventually did pay off and I actually did end up keeping them, but if you ask me now I really can’t remember any of them.

The thing that I think does work is that I can remember I am constantly in motion. I know that I’m not exactly the same person now that I was at the beginning of this year.

For one thing I am calmer. Now, why is that? I’m not sure. But, it’s a good thing. Believe me, it’s a much better thing. It might have to do with the fact that my husband is a lot calmer. He quit his job in April to write full time. At first I was panic stricken. Slowly, though, I moved through the panic, faced some of my own personal demons, and got over it. Maybe that was the key thing to do.

Anyway, that’s sort of off the point. The idea is that I’m calmer now than I was before. I’ve got all kinds of hopes for the new year. I guess that’s where that old phrase, “Hope springs eternal” comes from. So do resolutions.

So, while I will likely make a few resolutions this year maybe I can school myself to reconsider them when my fortitude to keep them appears to be flagging. Maybe at the point (probably 2 weeks into the new year) where I suddenly begin to lose interest in losing weight I am able to encourage myself without shaming myself into continuing on. Maybe a small quiet meditation would be the ticket.

I could center myself. I could move inside to where I, like all of us are, am perfect just the way we are. The center of soul. That part of us that continues through each lifetime, that moves with determination and with purpose into and out of the many lifetimes we have had. The inner part of us that does not fear, that understands beyond belief, that has a personal and permanent connection to Source. I want to be there just for a moment or two to connect again with who I really am. The stuff in this lifetime is the clothes I am wearing. The stuff at the center is me naked; where flab is not so important, where wrinkles don’t matter, where what really matters is love and creativity and laughter. If I connect for a few moments I believe I can come away from the encounter and be a little kinder towards myself and by extension to everybody in my life.

Happy New Year Everybody.

Internet Explorer 7 and Java Problem Solved

Wow. That took awhile. Recently I upgraded to Internet Explore 7. I tried to play one of the word games at Pogo and it wouldn’t work. It kept saying I didn’t have Java installed. Except, I did. After much searching on the internet I finally discovered what needed to be done.

On the Internet Explorer 7 screen over on the far right hand side is the word “Tools”. You let that drop down and go to “Manage Add-Ons”. Go to “Enable or Disable Add-Ons” and make sure that Sun Java is enabled.

The first time I did it I saw all these other programs that I used to use occasionally before I did the upgrade and selected them too. Wrong move. Just do one at a time and make sure it works before you add on any others. I managed to totally disable Internet Explorer. And, the way to solve that slick move? I went to the Control Panel – Internet Options – Advanced Tab – and down at the bottom Reset Internet Explorer Settings.

This was another time where I was glad to have a second browser installed. It is Firefox and I use it as a backup when I manage to screw up Internet Explorer 7.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas everybody.

A Favorite Quote

“If you have to eat a frog, do it quickly.” Actually, I’m having a terrible time actually finding this quote. Mark Twain was supposed to have said it. What I did find was a variation of it which goes, “"If you have to eat a frog, don't spend a lot of time looking at it.”

This is actually one of my favorite sayings and to have it said by Mark Twain who is a writer I admire is doubly satisfying. But, for both of these quotes I cannot find direct evidence that Mark Twain actually said it.

I farted around for over half an hour looking on the internet and I was beginning to feel disappointed. This was what I was all set to write about and I wasn’t going to be able to do it if I wasn’t 100% certain that Mark Twain actually said it.

That’s when somebody whispered in my ear, “I’ll say it to you now if it makes you feel any better.” You just have to love Folk in Spirit.

Where Our Neighbors Give us a Christmas Cake

Our neighbors just came over with a Christmas cake for us. This looks absolutely magnificent, don’t you agree?

Where I Don't Recognize a Psychic Hit

Here’s what happened. I intended to hook a camera up to my computer to download some pictures. The camera rests in a cradle. There’s a power cord to the electric and there’s a USB cord between the camera and the cradle. Usually, the order I do things is to plug in the USB thingie first and then plug the power in. Except, it’s been awhile since I did this, I forgot how I normally did it and I neglected to plug in the USB thingie.

The cradle fired up, but the charge light was the only light to come on. Normally, I lean on the USB light and that function becomes active and then I download the photos.

Right.

So, the procedure got turned around and I’m pushing on the light/button for the USB and nothing is happening and I’m starting to get concerned. Suddenly, I realize I never plugged in the USB cable. I realized right then that this was not the normal order of how I do things and even though my intention was to now plug in the USB cable I got this very, very quiet feeling of unease about the whole thing.

That, dear readers, was my psychic hit.

And, I didn’t pay attention.

My computer broke.

The whole ding-donged screen went black and I could not get the stupid computer to turn on again. So, here I go thinking I’ve broken my computer at work and why hadn’t I done a backup recently (I will do one today) and why hadn’t I ever located the stupid Outlook.pst file to backup too because now I’m really sorry and most of all: Why the hell didn’t I pay attention to that psychic impulse?

Because it was so quiet.

Because it was such a tiny, tiny thing.

Because I’m stupid.

The guides say it’s because I’m learning. Okay, I guess I shouldn't be so hard on myself. Anyway, that was the psychic hit.

Now, the good news. After trying and trying to get the computer to turn back on again with no success, we called our computer guy who was able to rearrange his plans and make an emergency visit to the office.

He unplugged the computer and plugged it back in again.

It worked.

He explained that sometimes electricity will cycle around inside the machine and somehow the computer gets confused. Unplugging it completely and plugging it back in again reset the whole thing.

12:12 Meditation

Where The Psychic Vents

I've been playing around with my other blog, Where The Psychic Vents. Haven't actually posted much in the last week or so to any of my blogs. Busy times. Back hurts too. Blame the dentist for that one. Next time, laughing gas for me for sure.

On Edge?

If you find yourself on edge and cranky a lot of the time consider that maybe there’s something, one small thing you might do in making a mind/heart adjustment for yourself that will magically alter the way you perceive the world around you.

Consider that the thing that needs attention for your world to be bright and sunny, for you to be cheerful again, is buried deep in your heart and in your memories. This thing will have happened to you when you were younger, but it very well could be something that is left over from previous lifetimes as well. This is the core work to be done. You might address it occasionally as you age, as you move through your life. You might address a corner of this stone, examine one facet of this multi-faceted gem that sits at the core of you and find that things ease up for you for a time. But, somehow this thing always seem to come back to haunt you.

It might be that you feel a mild depression settle upon you. It might be that you hurt your foot again. How does this happen? Why does it always happen before a big meeting that you manage to hurt your foot? It’s weird.

These could be the outward manifestations of this multi-faceted stone that sits at the heart of you. This problem if you will, or a life lesson, a multi-lifed lesson that waits patiently for you to chip away at.

Knowing the symptoms are there and the issues still awaiting your pleasure why not have the courage to look at them? It doesn’t have to be an in-depth look. It doesn’t have to be a prolonged look. What counts here is the acknowledgement that it is there and the promise that you will look into the matter.

That’s all.

There are all sorts of ways for the how of it, for the ways to go about healing the hurts inside of you. But, the first step, the most important steps of all are to acknowledge that it exists and to make the promise to the universe, to your higher self, that you will look into the matter.

It’s like a dose of WD-40.

Do it now or do it next lifetime. The choice is yours.

Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. Whether you do it up big or scale it down small take a moment to think of all the people in your life you are thankful for.

A Nice Day Off

I'm flailing around this morning trying to come up with 3 articles for next month's newsletter at Talking to Spirit. And, I'm not getting very far, so I figured I'd pop in here for a couple of minutes to yak.

I've got the day off. Heaven. Don't really have any super-duper plans of things to do, though we might visit the Oakland Museum. I've never been there, DeeDude is a member and has 3 guest passes, so that might be interesting. Or, it occurred to me that maybe I could talk him into going to San Jose to the Winchester Mystery House. All the years we've been here I haven't been there either. Or, we'd sort of made tentative plans to visit a new Indian restaurant near where I work and at the same time visiting the new Trader Joes that's just opened up. So, it's all up in the air....in the meantime I'm diving back into the article writing with the hopes that I can come up with something a little interesting.

Oh sit and shit. What? Sit and shit. As opposed to standing on the toilet seat? Am I channeling? I don't know are you? Okay, what's wrong? Why does anything have to be wrong? When I start saying things like that I know something is wrong. Things like what? You know: sit and shit. Nobody ever says anything like that. Well, somebody did and that somebody is you. What am I talking to myself now? You were in the article you were writing. Oh, right. It wasn't coming off very well. Maybe I should take a break. Maybe you should regroup. How is taking a break any different from regrouping? Taking a break is taking a break. It's doing something else. It's relaxing. It's thinking about something else. Regrouping is thinking about what you want to be doing in a different manner. Oh. Well, that sounds logical.

Personally, I think I need to stand up and stretch. Later.

Where The Guides Help with Some Psychological Work

I could say there’s just no easy way to get rid of stress in your life. Sometimes it seems that way to me. But, this morning as I sit here thinking about the flare up of digestive woes (sounds so much better than flaming diarrhea) I had over the weekend in response, I think, to being worried that our car, The Green Machine, would not pass the smog test I get the feeling it’s time to do more than celebrate the one event and wait in trepidation for the next one.

So, this has happened before. I’ve got a few more stress-filled events coming up in my life over the next few months. I either need to find a way to get past them easily or figure out a way not to get so stressed about them. I think the later course of action would be the smarter road to follow.

I know it is not bad luck that these things loom in my life. Everybody is in the same boat. Do you see your neighbor falling to pieces over any little thing? My husband has said I worry too much. He’s been saying that for years. Maybe now is the time I can start looking at why I’ve got this Chicken Little view of life.

Guides?

Yes.

Could you help me with this?

No.

Why not?

The sky is actually falling.

Ha. Ha. This is something I’m supposed to do on my own right?

Well, it would be a lesson well learned. How does anything sit better than something you figure out for yourself?

Well, you’ve got a point about that.

We might pose another question for you and that would be more for the benefit of others reading this particular missive and that is: Do you in any way feel betrayed by our not answering your question?

No.

Why not?

I know there are times when I just really do need to work stuff out for myself. There are lots of things you don’t tell me.

Like what?

Like when I’m going to die.

Well, yes. Another?

Will I ever be rich?

Another?

Will I ever be skinny again? And, don’t say another. I’m getting tired of this.

Why?

Shit. Now, look what you did. I’m having a hot flash.

That, Dear, is merely a taste of things to come. Bwwwaaahhhhhhaaahahha.

Very funny. People are probably wondering that you can make noises like that.

Like what?

Like that Bwwwaaahahahhaa sound. It’s an evil sounding laugh is what it is.

It was Guide humor, Dear. That is all. There was a pointed acknowledgement that there is a Hell and you could very well end up there after all.

Well, you already told me there is only a Hell if you believe in Hell. Mostly, there is only Heaven.

Well, Hell for awhile. A way-station on the way to bliss.

Here’s what you can do. Close your eyes. Sink as you do into the quiet place. This will only take 3 mintues. If that. Sink, Dear. You are safe. You will have plenty of time to finish getting ready for work. This is your time to do some very valuable work toward lessening the effects of stress and what you feel are stress-filled situations in your life.

Are we doing this so others can see?

For a moment.

Sink, Dear. You are the guinea pig.

Thanks.

Sink.

It is not that hard to move back to a child hood moment. A place where you were worried about something.

I just want to cry.

Yes, well, that’s what you wanted to do then. That was the only thing you could do then.

Go back.

What do you see?

I don’t understand what they want. I just don’t understand. I will do what they want if they will just tell me. If they are going to be happy with me when I do what they want I will do what they want. There is no other way to do it. I can only do what they want. But, I get mad sometimes because I just don’t understand what they want me to do. If I am quiet maybe they will see what the others are doing. Maybe they won’t even notice me. Maybe I can be so still and quiet that they will think I’m not even here. But, I’m big. I’m bigger than the rest of them. I can’t do this and I can’t do that and yet they get angry at me if I go do something else. I can’t win here. This is a no-win situation. This is like being in jail. This is horrible. I am very sad about it. I wish I was dead. I just wish I was dead.

You have no power in this?

No. But, I can be mean.

You can be mean to your parents?

Oh, no. I love my mommy and daddy. I can be mean to them.

Who?

My brothers and my sister. It’s not good, but it’s the best I can do. I just wish sometimes I would get so sick they would be sorry they were ever mad at me.

Hey, I don’t see this going anywhere.

You’ve in the thick of it, Dear. Hold with us just a little while longer. There are some insightful things you’re relating here.

Well, it sounds like I was a very mean and very bad little girl.

Yes, it does sound like that. It is how you look at yourself. And, you became a mean and very bad woman as an adult.

No, I don’t think so. I think I’m just full of stress.

Okay…I’m going back under. This is weird typing it as it is happening to me.

Keep going.

Okay, so I was powerless there. I really could not do anything about the situation, but as a child I figured out a way to cope somehow and that was to be mean to my brothers and sisters.

Dear, were you really mean or were you put into a position of responsibility where you needed to be the big sister and help your mother take care of them? You were the easier solution at times. You were always there. You wanted to please.

I want to throw up.

Well, you don’t do that anymore do you? You are getting close to something here. Keep going.

Oh, crap. All I needed to do was to say, “No!” That’s it? That’s it?

For you, yes. Picture yourself again as that little girl who only wanted to die and picture her standing in front of her parents. Both of them. Stand her on a chair so that she can look them in the eye and let her say, “No!”

Hey, thanks for your help. I feel better.

And, you’ve also demonstrated to anyone who needs to do the same work what it can be like and how relatively simple it is to take care of emotional and psychological wounds. Our blessings.

Writing Progress - Big Zero

In an ideal world, a world of concentrated attention to NaNoWriMo.org activities I would be focused upon the job of writing a novel.

In the real world:

My back hurts now because I tensed up in the dentist’s chair yesterday while I was getting my teeth cleaned. It was like I’d passed on into an advanced stage of rigor mortis. They’re so blamed sensitive I was jerking, and twitching, and gagging. It was horrible. The dentist apologized to me afterward. I said, “Oh, that’s okay. It happens every time. At least I wasn’t screaming.” He looked at me funny. I guess it’s a good thing I don’t drink anymore. The comments that used to come out of my mouth in those days must have been fabulous.

The further unsettling news is that I’ve got to get 3 crowns. To maximize dental benefits I’m getting 2 done next month and the third done the following month. Oh, joy.

The more unsettling news is that my car is due to be smogged at a test only station. If it doesn’t pass I can either have it repaired (which could be really big bucks) or I can sell it to the State of California. I’ll have to investigate that avenue.

I didn’t need all these crappy things on my mind as I’m trying to craft a novel. No wonder I got a boil on my rear end last year.

NaNoWriMo - Day 3

Well, I’m writing. That’s about all I can say. Progress on an actual novel? Well, no. Not yet. It’s like eating the crusts off of your sandwich completely until you get to go forward into the center where the truly good stuff resides. Word count for NaNoWriMo: 6,552 I wish I could find a cute widget.

Psychic Readings

Just a quick observation. What discernible difference is there in the information you would get between a psychic who charges a lot, a psychic who doesn’t charge a lot and a psychic who doesn’t charge at all?

To my way of thinking there is no difference. They charge or don’t charge for their own reasons. Maybe they are into a mode of service and have decided that money isn’t what is important to them at that point in time. Maybe they want to sift out the riff raff, folks who aren’t going to take their advice seriously by charging. Maybe they would prefer to concentrate all their efforts towards psychic endeavors rather than flipping hamburgers, or answering phones and typing all day.

I think it’s the same as choosing a hairdresser. The hairdresser knows their stuff. They’re not going to go get a license to cut hair without knowing how. But, it is the individual customer who will determine if they will return to the hairdresser another time. It was either a good cut or a not so good cut. I’ve had both. Do you see me pissing and moaning? No. I just find a different hairdresser or do it myself if it gets long enough.

Anyway, if you’re going to go to a psychic it is you who is going to determine whether you had a good reading or not. There are some no-brainer basic rules to follow like if they offer to lift a curse from you and your family you are supposed to run in the opposite direction and not pay for that. Or, if they feel it is really important for you to return to them and soon for a more in-depth reading at more cost to you that too, isn’t such a good thing. But, other than that the psychic is able to tap into guidance for you. It may be something as simple as saying, “Slow down a little” or, “Pay attention to the irritating things going on in your life.” The biggest thing is that if the information you get from a psychic rings true for you, then go with it. If it doesn't ring true then say thank you and don't gripe about paying for the time they took to do the reading for you.

I, who am a psychic, go out occasionally and get my own readings done by other people. One thing about reading for yourself is you run into what I call, “wishful channeling”. You want so much for it to be true that you skew the channeling in your direction. If you’re aware of it you take that factor into consideration and aren’t so disappointed if something doesn’t come about. I suppose every psychic runs into it sooner or later. The easiest way to handle it is to announce to all and sundry that you can’t read for yourself and then don’t tell them about the times you do. Hell, I read for myself all the time. I love it. It’s why I’m on 24/7 with Spirit.

Actually, it’s not really reading for myself that I do, it’s more just hanging out with Folk in Spirit that I like. Like I was at Curves this morning for my workout. About half way through I got somebody from Spirit encouraging me. Something about Curves for Christ. I said, “Are you kidding?” while I was huffing and puffing and they shook my head for me. Funny. And, I thought about the other ladies in the room with me, all of us sweating and puffing and how I’m having this conversation with somebody in Spirit and they don’t even know. I wondered what they were thinking about. I even went so far yesterday to imagine what it would be like if one of them ever asked me what I do and I tell them I’m a psychic rather than tell them I’m a secretary. It’s just a small fantasy I have. Sort of like I'm coming clean.

Well, I only do it here on the internet. Who do I know who reads my stuff here? Nobody, really.

But, having a reading done by somebody else gives you another point of view. It also shows you another psychic’s style. We’re all individual and not too many, I think, went to school to do this. I didn’t. I consider it almost continuing education for myself just to see how other people do the psychic reading thing.

You can take a look at some of the readings I've done for people. These are the ones I did for free and I figure the energy exchanged is my right to put it on the internet with names and personal information removed or changed. Right now, especially this month as I'm mired in the NaNoWriMo.org November writing project, I'm not going to be doing any readings. Once December rolls around maybe I will again. What I would like to do, though, is get myself to a point where I can do them to supplement my retirement. To do that I'll need to get back into the swing of things this next year.

And, She's Off....Writing for NaNoWriMo.org

I don’t anticipate a whole lot of action in my blogs this month. I’m participating in the NaNoWriMo.org November Novel Writing Contest. I’ve written two days and devised a clever, yet way cool spreadsheet to track how I’m doing. Different than the table I used last year which had a count of each chapter. This one takes into account the fact that I might dip into an already written part and add to it. How it will work is at the end of a days writing I cover over the entire text…ctrl A ought to do it and get a word count. The word count is placed into the table.

What I think is neat is that the equations are set up to subtract all that has been produced before to come up with just what was done that day. That way I can begin in the middle of a sentence, which is a good thing. Not having a completed thought when you leave a piece of writing enables you more easily to pick up on your train of thought when you return to it. At least that's what they've told me. Then I also don't have to do awkward things like color coding anything or mark it in any way so I know just exactly where that piece of writing happened. I also incorporated an IF statement so that the next day’s stuff doesn’t return a weird number. I also have a number for where I should be. That way I can easily see if I’m still on target. Roughly, I want to do 3 pages a day. More if I can handle it.

Anyway, if I can get it up here you can see what I did. The places to input numbers are in the green column. That would be the total written in its entirety. Ctrl A to select and word count to see how many words. Then, you can widen the comments column. It wouldn't fit in the blog unless I squeezed it up. If it helps somebody, good. I think it will help me to stay on target.

What I find interesting is that you, Dear Reader, can input numbers into this spreadsheet to see how it works. Refreshing the page returns it to how I uploaded it. You can even save it for yourself if you want.

Figs and the Spread I Made From Them

So, here’s the deal: I cut up a boat load of figs and layered them into a big skillet. I poured (mounded) white sugar all over them. I poured in some lemon juice. There was a bit too much lemon juice for the first load along with some orange juice for a really tart batch and just a little bit of lemon juice for the second, sweeter skillet-full of figs.

I cooked both batches for about 5 minutes or so until everything was real mushy. Then, I pulsed it all in the food processor and returned the figs to the skillet to cook some more. We liked the second batch more than the first so I mixed both together and the final product is pretty interesting. This, when it cools, is going to be a nice fruit spread.

One Two Three

It’s funny, but before I learned how to channel I always had this ache inside. It was like this unfulfilled yearning that never really stopped. I couldn’t really put a finger on what the matter was, but somehow I just wasn’t hitting on all cylinders.

I learned how to channel almost 15 years ago. Doesn’t seem that long ago. I don’t have that ache anymore. I still get angry. Hell, face it, I’m going through menopause. You think menopause for a psychic is any easier than menopause for anybody else? I doubt it. But, I don’t have that ache anymore.

This evening on the road coming home from work I was testing out one of the basic channeling exercises. I delight in helping folks learn how to channel or just moving them a little closer so that one day they’ll break through for themselves. I was sort of down and up all at the same time emotionally. A bit on the needy side. Not really feeling sorry for myself, not in an absolutely pissy mood. Just a little needy. Anyway, one of the guides suggested I start counting. It began as a rhythmic sort of a thing.

One two three
One two three
One two three four
One two three

It felt to me sort of like a rhyme.

One two
One two
One two three four
One two three
One two
One two
One two three four

And, then they started singing the numbers.

And, somehow I relaxed into it.

I mean I really fell into it. And, I was still driving. I’m pretty amazed at it now.

Somehow I relaxed and let go of so much tension the tears just started streaming down my face. I’d swipe at my face. I was still singing. Numbers. Stupid, silly numbers. But, it was the love of the guides. I was having one of those moments when you just know in your bones that you are so connected to the universe and so much a part of your life and the people in your life that it just brings you to your knees. And, that’s what it did for me.

I feel better.

Trudge...Trudge...Trudge...

This rebuilding of blog has hit another wrinkle. I tested it on two different computers at work today only to discover that although one computer was fine with it the other froze up horribly. What was it? Well, logically I should go back to the last newest thing I put on. It’s either going to be the technorati widget that says how much the blog is worth or the drop down for the archives. I vote for the technorati widget. So, I just took that off. Will test again tomorrow and see if it’s any better. Ding donged, but this is slow.

Rebuilding - From the Ground Up

Well, I’m making progress on putting the blog back together again. Last night I put my blogroll back on. I really like adding just a tiny snippet of code and have everybody already in place. There was no typing in each link one by one. So, that was a large part of it. I also put one of the last little do-hickies on from Technorati about how much the blog was worth. Who knew it was up there in the $9,000 range. I thought that was cool. I’ve never paid $9,000 for anything, car, refrigerator or computer, and to think that my blog is worth that much. Anyway, I thought it was pretty cool. I do spend a lot of time on it. Maybe it paid off.

I also got DeeDude’s books back up and my own, “Spirit Whispers” from LuLu.com. Got my buttons back up and the biggest thing of all, the thing I’d been wanting to do forever and just couldn’t figure out how to do it was to arrange all the archives into a drop down list with newest showing first, a reverse order sort of deal.

Slowly I’m building it back up again.

Where I Channel in French

Here’s a channeling funny that happened the other day. I was considering learning another language. I’ve got a blog going to practice and learn Spanish, but I’m not all that good at it.

I had a yearning to return to French. I had half a year of it in high school, but I don’t remember squat about what I learned. This is from a person who went to 5 different high schools in 4 years. Anyway, I was thinking about how I could satisfy my yearning to learn another language and maybe exercise my brain some.

I was in the car at the time driving home from work and one of the guides said to me: Je t'aime. At least, that’s what I thought it sounded like. Sometimes I'm not sure that I channel things right and I said, “Je m'appelle?” Like, maybe I hadn’t channeled it right and were they really trying to say, “My name is?” That’s about all I remember of my high school French. No, they said, “Je t'aime”. I figured I’d look it up when I had a moment, but forgot all about it until I was talking to a friend this weekend. I told him what the guide had said. He said it means, “I love you”. How sweet is that?

It's Slow Work - I Found a Drop Cap

Actually, maybe this is a good thing. That's what I keep trying to tell myself: "My higher self wouldn't hand me something that wasn't going to be a good thing for me no matter how I cringe or holler about it." As I'm surfing around the internet looking for a likely looking blog template I found this interesting snippet of code to create a drop cap. Figured it might come in handy and it looks sort of interesting.

I got it from Manderin Design. I think it's pretty nifty.

The Blog Broke

It’s the minimalist look. We’re done with fancy schmancy. Well, what happened was the blog broke. It was okay to look at with FireFox, but totally busted with Internet Explorer. I’ve been farting around with it since the weekend. Thinking it was Internet Explorer, I took the plunge and upgraded to version 7. Nice, but not the fix I needed. So, tonight I held my breath and reset the template to plain. Real plain. I saved the old blog so I could go back in and begin the long, laborious process of tweaking and adding on all the bells and whistles I’ve been accumulating for the last few years. But, I’m real happy that it works at all.

Have Their Eyes Glazed Over Yet? If Not, Keep Talking.

Most of us are regular people. We’re not famous. We’re not movers or shakers. We’re just folks. But, what we have to say, I think, is important. So, getting to the point is also important.

Figuring along with a 30 second commercial (at least the ones I still understand) they say right up front what it is that they want you to know about.

My husband, for years, has constantly yammered at me, “The short version, please.” Irritating? Yes. Pointless? No.

So, next time you’ve got to tell somebody something, rather than explain all the in’s and out’s, the wherefore’s and why’s of the matter, just state your case. Then, if it’s a woman you’re talking to you might be able to go into more detail. If it’s a man you’re talking to stop. It’s how we’re wired differently.

Thinking About Advice

What qualifies me to hand out advice to anybody? Nothing, really. Actually, nothing more than it qualifies you, Dear Reader, to hand out advice too.

We do it anyway. The idea, though, is that the person listening to said advice, from either of us, will either accept or reject it. Or, they could just wonder about it. Does it offend me that you don’t take my advice? No. Does it offend me that you might disagree with my advice? No. Will I listen to you as you list all your reasons for why my advice sucks? Maybe. I’ll give you about 15 seconds and within that 15 seconds you will either present yourself as a legitimately qualified person to say something constructive or you’ll come off as somebody on the attack. That’s where I make my decision.

And, I either listen to you or I won’t.

I think, though, that there is also another route that we might be open to in regard to listening to advice from others. I’m thinking of what the inner you has to say about any of this. Could this advice be rated on a scale of 1 to 10 in terms of being good for you?

Okay, so it’s good advice. If you buy into it whole heartedly this particular piece of advice would help person A only a little bit, therefore it’s a #2 on that scale of 1 to 10. Person B listening to the same advice, given their own set of circumstances and stages of development, might be helped to the 8th level of that scale of 1 to 10.

Same advice. Didn’t help the first person all that much but was more beneficial for the other person.

I never really thought of it in terms like that before. Degrees of helpfulness.

Do it anyway.

Larger Might Not Be Better

I am considering my email. Why would anybody want a larger penis? It’s not going to fit in your pants anymore. You’ll need to get underware and slacks specially made. You’re going to have trouble getting into and out of your car. Picture this: As you open the car door the next move you make is going to cup your hand to protect your scrotum as you ease slowly, butt first into your car. Then, you’ll probably honk your horn with your elbow.

What else could go wrong? You’ll probably hit the back of the commode as you pee. Your range is going to be off. Women will scream at the sight of you and run fleeing into the night. It’s just not worth it. We like you just the way you are.

What I'm Reading

I’m reading a new book. It’s called, “Seven Up” by Janet Evanovich. When I’m done with it (probably by tomorrow evening) I’ll be writing up a book review and posting it on my other blog. For tonight though, I’m laughing my ass off. I had the thought earlier in the evening that this book could probably be rated R or maybe even X. No, probably an R. And, I got it in the library! How about that? Anyway, for anybody who has never read a Stephanie Plum Bounty Hunter story, this is the 7th one. Janet Evanovich numbers each of her novels and I believe that the 13th one was recently released.

Stephanie is like Lucy Ricardo on steroids. It is absolutely hilarious. And, the R part is the sex. The stories all take place in New Jersey. Stephanie works for her slime ball cousin Vincent and goes out looking for folks who’ve missed their court dates. Bringing them in is Stephanie’s job. She’s in love with Joe Morelli, a Trenton cop and also has the hots for Ranger, a fellow bounty hunter. Both guys end up helping her out of jams left and right. Stephanie gets help from Lula, a former ho turned file clerk in Vinney’s office. She wants to be a bounty hunter and helps Stephanie out on a lot of the cases. She also weighs more than I do. Stehanie’s family joins in and is also as hilarious as she is. I wonder if it is the water they drink? Her Grandma Mazur is a hoot, a hot old lady who is a terrible embarrassment to her daughter, Stephenie’s mother. Hell, if she was my grandmother she’d be an embarrassment to us too.

Even the bad guys are endearing. I know I am going to be guaranteed a laugh when I read a Stephanie Plum novel. And, the best part? Even though she screws up left and right (not entirely her fault) she does win in the end. Anyway, that’s what I’m doing tonight.

8 Facts About Me Meme

Georganna from A Writer's Edge tagged me for an, "8 Facts About Me" meme. This is the first time anybody has tagged me for one of these and I have to say I wasn't pronouncing it right. I was walking down our hallway after I got her email talking to myself (which in my case always involves talking to Spirit too). I was muttering about the mem I got. That's when my guide said, "It's pronounced Me Me." And, that's when I "got" it. It's a thing about yourself, hence it's all about me. Duhhhh. Sometimes it takes me awhile. (Note: I stand corrected. You really do pronounce it mem.)

The Rules:

1. Link to your tagger and post these rules.
2. List eight (8) random facts about yourself.
3. Tag eight people at the end of your post and list their names (linking to them).
4. Let them know they've been tagged by leaving them a comment on their blogs.


Anyway, 8 facts about me:

• I went to 13 schools in 12 years
• I got psychic when I overdosed with Stephen King books
• I regularly act on suggestions from Spirit while I’m cooking
• I met my husband in a restaurant in Germany and complimented him on how well he spoke English. His reply: “Thanks, I’m an American.”
• I have 5 cats
• I once talked to a chicken leg.
• I quit smoking 8 years, 2 weeks and 2 days ago.
• I’ve saved about $18,457 not buying cigarettes since I quit smoking.

I'm tagging the following folks with this meme: Wicked H, Sera, Abhay, Matt, Genuine, Millie, Nancy, the PreSurfer

Curves

Now, this is a really interesting turn of events. I went and joined Curves last weekend. It was one of those really interesting things that verge on psychic. I was looking for a place to get my hair repaired. Not cut. I cut it. This was for repairs. And, I knew there was a shop somewhere along the way. I saw the, “Curves” sign.

Me, who doesn’t exercise. Me who would be caught dead before I exercised. Me who is embarrassed as all get out at how out of shape I am.

I joined Curves. I’ve been 4 times now. Three times this week. Folks who will appreciate the effort I’m putting into this will also appreciate the fact that I went after work on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday.

All it involves is half an hour of your time. You don’t work up that big a sweat. You’re not dying of exhaustion. But, you’ve burned up between 200 and 500 calories that you might not ordinarily burned up.

It adds up.

Also, I get to work out on 12 different resistance exercise machines. I don’t have to be embarrassed by how out of shape I am. We’re all old ladies (mostly) and no men at all. And, I can walk to it from my house. And, I heard somebody on television recently saying that the best exercise a diabetic person can get is resistance and weight training. I'm really impressed that I haven't hurt myself. Normally, I embark upon an exercise program and within 2 days I've hurt myself so bad I can hardly walk for 3 weeks. I'm not hurting and I'm really encouraged.

Gene Autry

DeeDude is taking a Gene Autry break. In celebration of what would have been his 100th birthday on October 2nd if he was still alive (and kicking somebody in Spirit just said) they are running 100 hours of Gene Autry movies on television.

I`m back in the saddle again

Out where a friend is a friend

Where the longhorn cattle feed

On the lowly gypsum weed

Back in the saddle again

Ridin` the range once more

Totin` my old .44

Where you sleep out every night

And the only law is right

Back in the saddle again

Whoopi-ty-aye-oh

Rockin` to and fro

Back in the saddle again

Whoopi-ty-aye-yay

Back in the saddle again

Poker

Okay, the world is at your feet. I’ve been wanting to learn how to play poker. I mean, years ago I would play a hand or two of Five Card Stud every once in awhile, but I wasn’t hot about it. And, like I said, it’s been years and I’ve forgotten everything I ever knew about the subject. So, in the back of my mind I was thinking I’d like to hone my skills. Except, I wasn’t sure where to start. That’s when with the laws of manifesting you just relax and it will happen. Lo and behold, in my inbox today is a request from Blovertise to talk about MacPokerOnLine

The rules in any of these sorts of deals is that you visit the site and then talk about it a little on your blog. I went there and thought to myself, “Well, I don’t have a Mac now, but I used to and there are probably lots and lots of people who do have Macs.” Then, I wondered why do you even need a poker place just for Macs? I suppose it’s important. I’ve never really given it much thought. So, anyway, I’m poking around their site and I see the section on learning the basics of playing poker. “That’s for me!” Truly. MacPokerOnLine is going to be a great resource even if I don't have a Mac anymore.

Yesterday

On my day off. Here’s what I did:

Repaired my hair. I cut it the night before. Myself. Yes, right. I know other people can do a good job when they do their own hair. But, I didn’t. It sucked, actually. It was grim. I determined to try out a hair stylist who works in my neighborhood. I knew there was one just a block away and that’s what I did.

Lan shaped it up, evened it up and now it’s bouncy. Sassy. Cute. The gray doesn’t even show as much as it did before. And, all that dead looking orange business left over from when I did my own coloring, that’s almost gone. In fact, it looks almost deliberate; like my hair is sun-streaked. I figure it will be another 6 months and I’ll be back to my own color. We exchanged business cards. She asked what I did. I said I was a psychic and a mean secretary. I swear I’m enjoying saying that to people. They really listen to you after you say something like that. Anyway, I channeled for her. It wasn’t too bad. There wasn’t anybody else in the place except us so I didn’t feel too awkward about zoning out the way I do when I’m going to channel.

I mailed off a package to my sister and her family. Everybody got a beaded piece of jewelry or bookmarker. You can see them at my other blog, Where I Bead.

On my way back from the post office I spied a Curves sign not too far from where I live. I was back in there a few hours later to sign up. $127 later got me my initial membership fee of $78 and the first month’s charges of $49. I’m signed up on a month by month basis instead of a year contract. If I’d elected to go the year route it would be $39 each month, but, for now I want to do month by month. The lady said I could switch to a year contract anytime I want to later on.

What I like about it? Most of the ladies coming in are about my age or older. Some younger, but most of us edging toward elderly. There are no men at all in the place. There’s no changing of clothes. I don’t even need to purchase special shoes; they said I could wear my garden clogs that I wear everywhere. Half an hour and you’re done. That’s it. Two circuits around the machines and I guess there are probably 12 of them. You work 30 seconds on a machine, hop off when the lady in the recording tells you to, jump onto a square workout bouncy board, jump around for 30 seconds and when the recording tells you to change station go to the next machine. That’s it. Three times a week is what they recommend, but they said I could come in more often than that if I wanted to.

What I remember is when I was a kid and we had physical education I was pretty fit. That was a 45 minute class once a day. There was 15 minutes farting around front and back of the class getting into and out of gym clothes, but then we had 30 minutes to do PE. Generally, it was 15 or 20 minutes of calisthenics and then the rest with some sort of organized ball throwing thing that I always failed at miserably because I can neither throw nor catch a ball. That is a result of my outward focusing eyes.

Cure Cancer and Fuel Your Car on Saltwater

When you're not looking it's amazing what you can find.

Where I Read Books

I write in another blog – Where I Read Books. Obviously, the talk is about books. I am a voracious reader. That started when I was a little girl and finished off the text to a social studies class we had just started over the first weekend of the school year. The teacher was ticked off at me.

I have the day off today from work, a special treat, and last night geared up for the longer weekend by tearing off to the library after work. I have to say every time I go there that branch is packed to the gills with people. The attraction, I think, is a gathering place for young people. They tend to make more noise than I think is warranted for a library, but the trade-off is that the library is getting business and maybe some of the love of books and reading will rub off on them. It’s certainly better than hanging out on the corner.

But, last night the picking of books came to me easily. I walked out with 5 of them. The one I started first, it being a “Hot Pick” which means I only get it for 1 week’s time is, “The River Knows” by Amanda Quick. She’s one of my most favorite writers. This one is an historical mystery. Then, I got, “Francesca's Kitchen”, by Peter Pezzelli; “Seven Up”, by Janet Evonovich; “The Devil Who Tamed Her”, by Johanna Lindsey and “High Noon” by Nora Roberts. Yum.

Jackson Pollock.org

Oh, this is incredible. I signed up for Stumbleupon and the very first site I see after I installed the toolbar almost had me gasping. This is fabulous and you've really got to visit www.jacksonpollock.org

There is nothing to read. You just begin pulling your cursor all over the screen and it drops a line of ink. When you click the mouse the ink changes color. When you pause it blobs. As you streak across the screen little flips of ink splatter about...just like a Jackson Pollock painting. What therapy. What a kick.

Here is the painting I did. This is really neat!

Spiritual Cinema Circle

I’m always on the lookout for neato products or services to promote. It’s always a little nicer if there is a bit of reciprocal linking involved or some sort of payoff. I signed up for Spiritual Cinema Circle the other day. It’s sort of like book of the month club only with movies that would appeal to me on my trip through life. I’ve moved away from your everyday slasher films to want something more. I think I might have found it. Anyway, I’ve been peppering my blogs with their adverts. And, a few links here too. A good product and one that I really believe in.

Four inspiring new films every month, award-winning films you won't see anywhere else get your free trial of Spiritual Cinema Circle here.

Saturday Stuff

So, it’s raining today; our first solid rain this season. Actually, it’s an unseasonable rain, but we can probably use it. I know the fire fighters are really happy about it because this is California’s dangerous fire season. But, I don’t mind the rain. I’m going out in a little bit to do some shopping in the neighborhood. A quick trip across the street for some stuff at the hardware store and then down a couple of doors to the House of Produce for the rest of what I want to put into a beef vegetable soup I’ll make for dinner; just right for a rainy day.

I’ve been working since early this morning on computer things, so I’m due for a change of pace. So far? I’ve updated DeeDude’s site www.evanosky.info with a copy of a really nice article about his new book. I knocked out two PayPerPost opportunities to the tune of about $20. Got dressed and had breakfast. It might not sound like much, but the PayPerPost stuff also requires that an entry of non-advertorial stuff go in-between them, so there was regular writing too.

While I was eating breakfast I made a list of all the stuff I’d like to do today. There are 18 things on that list. You think I’m not going to be busy? I’ll post later on to update anybody who’s interested in whether I got to everything or not.

Writing Every Single Morning

When I was a little girl in 1965, I was about 10 years old and in the 5th grade in Oslo, Norway. I went to school at the American School on the outskirts of Oslo. We would begin each day writing a little story about some picture our teacher, Mrs. Brown, had glued to a piece of brightly colored construction paper and then put up on our blackboard. Every single morning. The stories were never very long, though it seemed to take me a long time to write whatever it was that I would write that day. I suppose she gave us 20 minutes to do our writing. Twenty minutes to a little kid can seem to be a long time. But, the point of this is that woman, with the tiny little exercise she had all of us do was instrumental in forming my life as a writer. Thank you Mrs. Brown, wherever you are.

My List for the Weekend

One of the things I like to do moving into a weekend is to sort of figure out a bunch of things I’d like to do. Time is tight around here as, I imagine, it is with a lot of people who work during the week. You’ve got a couple of days off and you don’t want to miss a minute of them.

So, on Fridays my thought turn towards stuff that I’d like to accomplish during the next two days that I have off from work.

My lists have sort of changed over the eyars in that at one time durining in our local beer garden was a must do. As we don’t drink anymore that particular pleasure just doesn’t make it to the list anymore. Also, I generally think of things to do that aren’t going to cost a whole lot. Seeing as how DeeDude is under pressure to finish up his Mountain View Cemetery book this week he’s not going to be able to do anything with me. So, I will amuse myself.

Chores. That will head the list with the usual suspects of laundry and ironing. I really ought to do a little bit of cleaning and maybe I’ll spend all of 20 minutes doing something along those lines. Over the years my eyesight has gotten dim and I just don’t see dirt like I used to. So, I don’t clean as much. Less wear and tear on stuff.

But, what I really want to do is to spend time here on my blogs. I would like to finish up the jewelry beaded projects for my sister and her family and get them ready to ship. I’d like to work on all my blogs, just something. Generally, I spend most of my time here, but the others deserve a bit of attention too. I’ve got a piece of cross stitch started. It’s an Autumn Angel. I’ve worked on it 3 days now (in the evenings) and I think there is about 2 square inches of fabric that’s been covered. This is going to be really slow. Thank goodness it is a small angel.

So, I’ve got a nice line-up of things for the weekend to do. And, as my mother told me once if I do something that’s not on the list add it to the bottom and then cross it off. It makes you feel better about what you’re accomplishing.

The Visual Thing

The internet in the early days was all text. No pictures. It looked boring. Now, however, there are lots of pictures and graphics to sparkle up the experience. What I have neglected to do is to join in. Mostly, I’m all text. The visual stuff takes a little bit of extra time and I have to admit that many times I just don’t allow myself enough time to either look for a picture or take one with my trusty digital camera.

Why is this important? Well, I was sort of wondering about what the folks who come to visit my sites might be looking for or at. That’s when I began to pay more attention to how I surf the internet. Pictures are important. If I’m going to page down through a blog quickly the first thing that is going to catch my eye and then my attention is a picture. Simple. So, I resolve to do more.

This picture is my cat Shelby peering into my water glass. Her foot is a blur as she intends to get to the bottom of it.

Sleeping In

We’re sleeping in later these days. Even our 6:00 am alarm clock kitty is sleeping in. It’s because it’s not getting light as early in the morning anymore. So, on the one hand, it’s nice to have a bit more time to sleep. On the other hand, not having as much time to spend doing morning things before work is not as nice.

I’ve been thinking about the National Novel Writing Month contest coming up in November and wondering if I shouldn’t start now with gearing my hours up so that I’ve got an extra hour or more in the mornings to use for my writing. That’s what I mostly ended up doing the last time I participated.

It all sort of caught me by surprise the first time I did it. I knew the goal was to write 50,000 words between November 1 and November 30. What I didn’t anticipate was the toll it took on me. While I still have a job to go to and I still need to be able to perform at a good level I also wanted to be able to write. Like they say, don’t quit your day job. So, squeezing in time to write was important if I was going to even make a dent in 50,000 words that month.

Broken Eggs

What to do with 7 broken eggs? I made a frittata. I was on my way back from shopping at Office Depot (Seagate 500 GB external hard drive for DeeDude to put all his stuff on and a more powerful shredder - everything on sale!!!) and Lucky’s (usual grocery items including….tada 18 eggs) and as I stood downstairs with DeeDude to carry things up to our place the lid to the eggs flopped open and they all tumbled out of their little eggy nests. Rolled right around in the bag and broken egg started pooling at the bottom of the bag. Well, at least it didn’t get on anything else.

Anyway, I didn’t have half and half or cream, so I used a little bit of 2% milk. I broke another 2 eggs open, so we had a total of 9 eggs. I used half a kielbasa, a bit of onion and some leftover fried potatoes from breakfast as the filling. Then, as it cooked together in the skillet I shaved parmesan cheese over top.

When it got mostly done with cooked scrambled eggy bits with uncooked eggs together I stopped stirring and let it go a bit longer on a low flame. Before it was completely done I put it under the broiler for a couple of minutes.

After I removed it from the broiler I let it sit awhile in the skillet and the edges shrunk away from the side of the pan enough so that it flopped easily out onto my hand and then upside down onto a plate. I put another plate on the bottom as it faced up and turned it right side up. That was the part I was sweating thinking the whole thing was going to stick in the pan or break apart as I tried to remove it. But, everything worked out well. It looks pretty enough to warrant a picture. I hope it tastes as good.

National Novel Writing Month is Approaching

I’m thinking again of the writing. I’m thinking of November. I’m thinking of pushing me to my limits once again. I didn’t make the 50,000 words last year. It was more along the lines of 20,000 words written, but for an old lady, I thought I did pretty well. I’m gearing up for the National Novel Writing Month again or NaNoWriMo.org

I checked out the site and they’re set to start accepting signups on October 1st. If you have a hankering to write that book you’ve promised yourself for years that you were going to write one of these days, this is what you’re going to need. I even bought the book, “No Plot? No Problem!!” by Chris Baty, founder of NaNoWriMo. It’s a terrific read and will inspire you to pound away at your keyboard with the best of them. This is the book that will shred each and every inhibition that you have about writing. This is the one that will have you actually writing instead of staring at a blank screen (or paper).

What I Did Today

Recently I went to Walgreens and got an ink cartridge refilled rather than purchasing a new one. I saved about $15. And, today I did it again, except this time it was free. There was a special coupon in Sunday’s paper if you showed up today you could get one cartridge refilled for free. They said it will be ready at 10:00 pm tonight. I asked if I could come back tomorrow and they said that was okay. That’s got to be one of the best savings I’ve seen lately.

However, now that I think of it I was at Mervyns last weekend and they were having some pretty incredible sales going on. I got a robe for DeeDude that was half off. Same with a couple of bras I got for myself. And, when I got to the cash register the sales clerk said, “Oh, if you were to buy $5 more you could have $15 off”….I asked if she’d mind me going back to pick up another bra. She said that was fine. So, I hurried off to snag another one.

I also picked up 6 packages of Chicken Top Ramen for $1 today at Walgreens. If you throw in a handful of frozen peas you’ve got 6 meals for $1. So, lots of savings today. That always warms my heart.

Writing

I have to say I take my psychicness for granted. It is just how I am and I am not always in as grateful frame of mind as I might be. I didn’t grow up this way. I became the way I am now rather abruptly when I was 38 years old.

I suppose it started out with me being curious. I’ve never really listened too closely to people who tell me I can’t do something. If I wanted to do something somehow, someway, some day I would find a way to do it.

Take being a writer. That was a big goal for me. Nobody actually said to me that I couldn’t do it. I did, however, get a lot of, “What? You a writer? Don’t make me laugh.” Which might as well be as good as somebody telling me no. The trouble was, though, that I couldn’t write. This went on for years. I just couldn’t do it. I read like a house on fire. And, I wanted to write so much that I could taste it. Except, the minute I ever set pen to paper everything froze. So, I went around telling people that someday I was going to write a book. I did try a couple of times, but I’d get 10 pages into it and I’d get lost. I just didn’t know how.

But, I kept reading. And, finally, one day when I was in my late 20’s I asked myself if I was going to continue boring people to death with my whining that someday I was going to write a book.

That did it. I got mad at myself.

I’d tried all different kinds of ways to start writing: wall charts, extensive outlines, index cards. It was all very elaborate preparation to write, but it nothing ever got written.

So, I tried something new. I started out with a really big piece of paper. I drew a big circle on it. Within that circle, using a bright marker, I wrote the kernel of my story. Radiating out from the circle were lines. All with different colored markers. And, on each of those lines I wrote some one thing about the story. Those, presumably, became chapters. This exercise got me to thinking.

But, what finally got the whole thing off the ground was that shortly after the big circle exercise I wrote my story in the space of one paragraph. It was about 2 or 3 inches long typewritten. That’s all. Then, I took each of the sentences in that paragraph and began breaking them down until I finally had 10 sentences telling my story.

Those 10 sentences became my chapters and over the next 3 years I wrote. I didn’t deviate much from the original plan. There were times when I found that I’d written myself into a corner and couldn’t seem to get out again. That was the day I laid down on my bed with a tape recorder and talked into it for 10 minutes. I ended up with enough material to keep me going for the next 6 months.

I can remember a few times when I sort of zoned out as I was writing when my characters seemed to come to life and directed the story on their own. I liken those experiences to a writer’s high. Really terrific. As I think about it now I’m wondering if I wasn’t also tapping into Spirit Space. I wasn’t channeling in those days. That was to come some 10 years later. But, thinking back I just wonder if there wasn’t stuff going on then too.

Years later I read a boat load of Stephen King’s books in a really short period of time. That was when the psychicness really took off. And, it was a few years after that when I found myself channeling.

New Site for DeeDude

Well, that was different. I spent some time late Saturday night and a lot of time on Sunday creating a website for DeeDude. It’s Evanosky.info and it’s about his books and projects and stuff. I created the graduated background at grsites.com and the rest of it with CoffeeCup. I also downloaded the latest version of CoffeeCup. I originally purchased it a really long time ago and all updates are free forever after that. Not bad.

I used my stuff at TalkingToSpirit as a template and went from there. It’s a mix of html and css. I’m not sure if it’s a pristinely ordered website, but it works. And, it’s sort of classy looking. I like it and, more importantly, DeeDude likes it. This way if he wants to change something I can do it for him easily enough. By the way, if some of the pages look real sparce it's because this is a work in progress. His assignment is to get me some copy to beef it up. We also handled some of it last night with him dictating to me what he wanted to say and me typing it in. That seemed to work well too.

Snoozing

You snooze…. You lose. I was in the midst of creating a rather terrific, if I do say so myself, PayPerPost entry. I got distracted and did not complete the process and later on (like about 30 seconds ago) found out I can’t apply for it now. All 100 carefully crafted words designed to earn me a nice $12.50 out the door.

So, what now? Well, I’ll let it sit for now. Maybe later on the offer will come around again. It’s the story about the stockbroker. True too. My husband the stockbroker. Also, my husband the editor. And, now, my husband the writer. DeeDude has done a lot of stuff. If you want to purchase his latest book, “Oakland’s Laurel District” contact him at Evanosky@pacbell.net

I Want to Call My Stockbroker

My husband took the Series 7 Exam years and years ago. He became a stock broker and he was very good at it. But, I remember that he spent a godawful long time studying for that exam. It is a very, very difficult exam and the tension in the house was palpable as the weeks drew nearer to the time of the test. Having some help studying for it would have been a godsend. It turns out now folks can get assistance. At http://www.empirestockbroker.com/ you can get help studying for the Series 7 Exam. There’s a wealth of information for home study that’s going to be the support you need to pass that exam.

That Looks Like Crap

I really ought to be writing this post in my other blog…the one where I am occasionally crude. But, I want to put an entry into this one, so, folks, if you are in any way offended by things crude, stop reading right now.

That said, I will continue.

I occasionally have problems with my digestion. Actually, it’s most of the time now that I’m moving into those advanced years. What goes in comes out and you can actually identify stuff. Peas? Right. You had tomatoes with that? Right.

You get the idea.

Anyway, the other day I stood there peering into the toilet thinking that I can now identify every single blamed thing that I eat. One of the guides said, “Why don’t you eat things that look like shit?”

Living a Heavenly Life

Have you ever had a psychic reading? I’ve got something just as cool for you to do today and you’re not even going to have to leave the comfort of your own home. Go fill out a very short questionnaire at LiveInTheTwo.com and find out what you can do in terms of a little self improvement. I filled one out and was a bit surprised myself. You’ll find out if you have what it takes to live in the top 2% of wage earners. They are also going to give your some really insightful observations about how you do go about the business of living.

Obviously, having more money is going to be the no-brainer on this one. But, there are other benefits to living in the top 2% of wage earners. One of these is your degree of happiness and what makes you happy. A diamond ring has no more power to make a person happy than a sweet little puppy dog curled up taking a nap next to you on the couch. I don’t know anybody who can’t do with a little self improvement. And, can you afford to spend 5 minutes at no cost to gain a little insight into how you might improve your lot in life? I think you might find it well worth it.

Musing

What does it feel like to receive psychic information? I think it must be different for everybody. In the book that I’m reading right now the heroine gets itchy palms. Also, the hair stands up on the back of her neck. By the way, the book is, “I Thee Wed” by Amanda Quick. It’s one I’ve read many times before and enjoy immensely. I actually think that the writer taps into her own intuitive side on a regular basis, so I figure from a fictional account we’re getting solid info. There have been too many times, not only with this book but with others written by Amanda Quick – Jayne Ann Krentz – Jayne Castle (all different names she writes under), for me to ignore the similarities of psychic impulse.

When I get a piece of information coming in via psychic avenues I don’t always get the big psychic TaDa to differentiate that information from something I might logically know and something I’ve divined psychically. It used to drive me nuts.

My main contention here is that everybody is psychic. Everybody. And, I feel that many people receive psychic hits regularly and just take them for granted and don’t feel that they are anything other than normal life. It’s when things like itchy palms and that knowingness, that greater knowingness comes into play that it can either be frightening, or unnerving or, at least, stand out like a sore thumb. I’ve always wondered why this won’t work with lottery numbers.

In retrospect, I can feel I had a psychic knowingness about my husband when I first met him. I remember DeeDude and I hadn’t known each other all that long. I went home for a vacation visit and I said to my mother, “I’ve met the man I’m going to marry.” DeeDude didn’t know about it yet. We were in the early stages of dating. But, I knew in my heart that he was the one. We’ve been married 31 years.

When a person is learning how to play the piano they sit there for hours on end hammering out songs or playing scales. It’s boring as hell. It takes a lot of time. It is a very deliberate action on their part to learn how to play the piano. Later, once your fingers, your head and your heart have it learned you can then begin the process of enjoying yourself as you play the piano.

I think the same thing holds for being psychic.

I think it works better, or at least more smoothly, if you can put yourself into that area where you think and believe you will receive psychic info. And, again, this is going to be different for everybody.

Maybe you take a deep breath envisioning the bad gunky stuff in your body coalescing and riding on the coat tails of the breath you expel as a cleansing of sorts. Maybe as you inhale the breath you pretend that what you are inhaling are waves of energy that pulse over, through and around our planet radiating out into space, coming from some distant source and all that lovely energy courses through your body as you inhale that breath moving and touching upon the bad gunky spots in your own body to heal, to energize, to get you moving. It’s a thought.

Or, you might take an imaginary stroll in your mind to a peaceful grotto. Once you are there have a look around. Bring the consciousness that you have to this grotto and just look around. Use your inside eyes to do this. Tell me, what does it look like? This could be your secret place to go when you want to think about things. This could be the place you come for a quick energizing pick-me-up. This could be the place where you ask a question. I don’t care what the question is. Just something you’re wondering about. Hey, your feet hurt. And, they’ve been hurting. Why now? What did you do to make them hurt now when they could have hurt just as badly 2 weeks ago? Ask.

And the answer comes back as: Stress. Tension. Tension and stress translated into how you are moving and how you are moving hurt your foot. Oh. Okay, how to fix that? Another question. Fine. How to fix this?

Go after the tension. The source of the tension. Be quiet and feel this. Allow pictures to come up too. Allow visions of what the original tension was to rise up into your consciousness. Wait for it. Baby stuff. Tense baby. Crying baby. Stiff baby. Mad baby. Hurt baby. Arching back baby. Hurt baby. What to do now? What would help? Think of mommy holding you. Think of your mother holding your head, molding you to her chest and shoulder. Holding you. You calm down. You are comforted.

Well, gee. That was interesting.

Saving Grace

I recently started watching, “Saving Grace” on TNT. I think this show is wonderful. Holly Hunter plays Grace, a hard drinking, smoking, cussing detective who, one night as she’s driving drunk hits a man. She is stunned and in the throes of her horror over what she has done pleads with God to help her. When she stops her car to go look for the man she has run over he is nowhere around. God made it all go away.

Later she meets Earl who is a hard drinking angel. People he has saved refer to him as a Last Chance Angel. If he can’t help you nobody can. He’s there to save Grace’s butt. Only she doesn’t want to be saved and doesn’t think too highly of God anyway.

If you get the opportunity to watch this show, do it. It’s a who-done-it detective show, but meanwhile there’s Earl trying to save Grace. If you've got a high speed internet connection you can watch the latest episode on-line.

Aligning the Chakras

Here's something interesting Seth told me once a long time ago. He said sex aligns the chakras. Now, in the back of my head right now I'm hearing, "I did not say that. I said having an orgasm will align the chakras." I stand corrected. In any case, I thought it was sort of interesting.

How this came up is that I've got a couple of Boji stones. The female one is round and smooth. The male stone is bumpy and irregular in shape. When I first got them they would repel each other magnetically. Now, they won't. I didn't know what had happened. I went on the internet and a few sources say that you should not store them together (which I did) or they will lose their magnetic power and that you can re-charge them in the sun or in moonlight. They are used to help with psychic stuff, to take away pain, to balance yin and yang and to help to re-align the chakras. That's when I remembered that little factoid about sex..ur...orgasms.

I Know What You Need

Okay, here’s something to chew on. If you get a psychic sense about somebody is it your responsibility to volunteer that information? My answer is no. Hold your tongue. Wait until they ask. I have learned the hard way that people do not appreciate being given unsolicited advice, psychic or otherwise. If they wanted help they would ask.

But, what do you do about somebody who is pissing and moaning about this, that and the other thing and whether you are psychic or not you know in your heart what would solve their problem. Interestingly, the same rule applies. Don’t say anything. They just want to hear themselves piss and moan. What you can do is not listen to it. You could set your timer for 10 minutes and at the end of it say goodbye, change the subject or, God forbid, tell them you don’t want to hear it anymore. Much as you may love these folks, they are energy sappers and at the end of it you will be all roiled up in their sorry stories. You've got a life to live too, so the sooner you stop listening to their crap the sooner you can rebound and go do something you'd like to do.

A Dream I Had

I love it when I channel in a dream. So, here’s my dream from this morning:

I was at a birthday party. Except, I’m normally very shy and I don’t do the mingling thing well. And, I really didn’t know anybody at this party. I hung around in the background and in the back rooms of this house until I figured it was time to go. To be polite I felt I needed to say thank you to somebody and to be really polite it ought to be a thank you to the birthday boy. Except, I didn’t even know who he was. To make things worse all the people I’d come with were gone and I didn’t think they were hanging around outside waiting for me to show up in order for us to all pile into the car and go home. Well, I’d figure that one out once I was outside. Maybe I could walk home.

So, I made my way to the front door. There appeared to be a host of sorts standing there and I wondered if maybe I’d lucked out and this was the birthday boy. I said thank you and as I was standing there in front of him I thought what a chicken I was and maybe this wasn’t the guy. There wasn’t such a large crowd anymore in the front room so I went in there in search of more people to thank.

There were a bunch of folks sitting on the floor scattered around the edges of the room. I walked in and began greeting them and making small talk. I still wasn’t comfortable, but at least it wasn’t as bad as it had been before when I’d been doing the wall flower thing in the back of the house.

Everybody at this party was black. I’m white and I was feeling sort of out of place. But, they now appeared to be friendly and I was sort of settling in now that the party was breaking up.

I was not letting on that I am psychic. I did not feel that it was appropriate and I felt that if I said anything it would raise more questions than it answered, so I was keeping mum about it. Except, this new lady comes in and starts moaning about something. I glance at her and I can’t really understand what she’s talking about. I lean in closer. She is talking to me. Now, she’s getting really upset and she’s crying and the best I can figure out is she is super worried about a number of people. She’s almost crying and her agitation is getting worse.

I have white gloves on. I take the one on my right hand off. I grab her right hand. The ladies in the room with us are suddenly enlightened as to who I am. I am the psychic. The one who reads palms. Except, I don’t read palms, but I was busy with this upset lady and I didn’t want to be explaining what I was doing to the rest of the crowd. I needed to concentrate on her.

I thought to myself, though, reading palms might not be such a bad idea. I looked at the lady’s palm. No good. I don’t read palms. So, I covered her palm with my hand and one of the bystanders says to the room, “She’s warming it up.” Well, that sounded good. I am a 2nd degree Reiki practitioner, maybe that would work, though I haven’t used it in a really long time, but who knows? The lady is still upset and I still can’t understand what she’s talking about. I’m thinking I really need to know what is wrong in order to offer some advice and with all the people making comments in the background this is getting harder and harder.

Then, this sort of loud guy gets into my face. He was probably the birthday boy and figured he could take liberties or something, but he’s really interfering with what I’m trying to do. I’m getting irritated between the lady who has asked me for help and who won't stop crying and moaning, the ladies in the background with their comments and now this nut who is really in my face making revealing comments about how I’m the psychic who reads hands and such.

That’s when Spirit stepped in. I felt it happening. I started swaying. I didn’t stand up, but I kneeled up. I’d been hunkered down on the floor with the lady, but now I’m on reared up on my knees. I’m taller than I was, but I’m still holding the lady’s hand. Now, I’m swaying. In my mind I know that Spirit has moved in and they’re being really dramatic, more dramatic than I normally am, but measures because of the crowd need to be taken. Okay, I’m game. What are you going to do? And, I start swaying. I’m in the grip of Spirit. Folks are starting to be awed and stand back and give me the room I need. This is a show now. I’m thinking this is totally unnecessary and Spirit is putting on a show and now we are going to be scaring people. Except birthday boy is not standing back. He’s really in my face now. He’s excited as all get out. Oh, shit. I’m swaying and thinking that the movement is very much like a cobra and wondering what the hell is going to happen next. I’m still holding this lady’s hand.

That’s when it happened. You know how a lion roars? Right. That’s what came out of my mouth. Birthday boy is 2 inches away from my face, dancing and keeping time with my swaying cobra movements and Wowwwwww Roarrrrrrrrr comes out of my mouth. Except it was more along the lines of Gnnnnnnngggggtththththhhthth. It was the snore to end all snores. I’m surprised I didn’t wake myself up.

Anyway, birthday boy stands back real quick and that’s when the channeling part starts. I am now channeling and it’s all coming out in a deeper male voice which is how I channel. My husband says it is very weird so I usually don’t do it in front of him. But, I was in this dream. Here’s what the guides (Seth) said to the lady: "When everything around you is in turmoil you can be at peace. You must be the one to make a choice as to what you will be. You cannot control what is happening in the lives of others. That will continue to unfold according to their wants, desires and needs. But, you have a choice to make and you can be at peace in the midst of turmoil. It is your choice."

I’m thinking I still didn’t know exactly what this lady’s complaint was, but the advice from Spirit sounded good, so maybe I worry too much about stuff. They seemed to have taken care of whatever needed to have been taken care of. Then, I snored again and woke myself up.

I guess I just need to chill out.

An E-mail I Got

Here's an e-mail I got this morning:

Would you happen to know how I am supposed to deal with the emotional complications (feeling of their pain and information transference, among other things) when they start, well um,... I'm sorry, I really cannot put into words how they communicate through me, I don't see things or hear things I just know what it is that I'm supposed to know, it is random and occurring much more frequently. It gets much more complicated and every time they... I break down into tears because not only do I understand what I am supposed to know but I feel their anguish or pain in many different aspects. Oh, and another thing, how am I supposed to explain these and many other occurrences to any one without people thinking I am crazy including TRULY prophetic dreams, from the ({tsunami years ago} to the recent earthquakes. I am not crazy or a schizoid... please advise if possible.Thank You.

And, my answer:

Opening to psychic stuff is really unnerving. It just is. And, it will eventually stop being so uncomfortable for you. Either it will calm down and you will be able to get the same info with far fewer blasts to the head from the old mallet Spirit wields or you will just get used to it and it will continue at the same intensity but you will not break down when it happens. Either or. Will it stop? It might. Like what did I do? Well, I still tear up when I'm talking to the dearly deceased sometimes, but I also know just from general information I've gotten from the guides that everybody, without exception, who has passed over is okay. So, the info I'm getting is the same but I can just deal with it better.

One thing that is definitely happening with you and happens to everybody without exception with opening to psychic experiences is that your own psychological growth buttons are going to be pushed. Will you need a therapist to help you make your way through it all? Maybe. Maybe not. My own personal feeling is that no matter what psychic phenomena you are presently experiencing you are not crazy and you should go see a therapist for a few times to straighten your psychological butt out a little bit. Not totally. Nobody can (I think) completely straighten their psyche out completely, but you can certainly tweak a few things. It's what makes us human. We were all hurt as children. I don't care who you are. I don't care how happy your life has been. There are these weenie and sometimes larger than weenie psychological hurts we all carry around. You can go for years without it hurting or bothering you but, one day...the day you open to psychic stuff it's all there for you to deal with. The quicker you do so the more fulfilling your new psychic life is going to be.

How do you find a sympathetic therapist? A therapist who isn't going to say you are crazy for what you feel as a psychic? Find a number in the phone book or on the internet for somebody who is local. Call and ask them. You might try looking for a transpersonal therapist. Just tell the truth and say, "Hey, I've recently been experiencing psychic phenomena. I've been having prophetic dreams. I think I'm an empath where I feel the emotions coming in from the other side and it's really overwhelming. Are you open to people with psychic abilities and can I come talk to you for a few appointments?"

As far as how are you supposed to explain your psychic experiences to all and sundry? Don't do it. Really, I'm not kidding. The best way to get a whole lot of negative feedback is to go blabbing around about what you are feeling to everybody you know. They will stop talking to you. They will look at you funny. They will tell your mother. The family will have secret conferences about you and how you have suddenly gone nuts. Just don't talk about this stuff to everybody you know. Instead, speak of it only to people who appear to be open to the idea of this psychic stuff. The worst thing I think you can do for yourself (and I speak from experience) is to be flung into a horrible depression because all the people you care about deeply don't believe you are really having these wonderful psychic experiences. Instead, go hang out with other psychics for awhile. There's a wonderful group of them at Spirit and Soul. Their url is: http://spirit-and-soul.com/ They have great chats and classes and you can practice being psychic there.

I hope this helps you. I hope you don't mind, but I'm going to use your question and my answer in my blog. It's just a terrific question you asked. I know about the information transference....it's telepathic. It just happens...boom, you know. Play with it. Ask your guide to help you with it. Ask them to tell you slowly about stuff. Use automatic writing to see how that's like. Explore all the different ways to communicate with the other side. Practice lucid dreaming. You can't change the future with the prophetic dreams. And, you can't feel responsible for them either. It just is. It's like people who get barometric headaches and know rain is coming in 3 days' time. Are they responsible for the storm? No. They just know it is coming and don't plan a picnic.