Contagious manifestation..........................

I took some pictures of my F-U-L-L dumpster, but I am too lazy to up-load them right now so I will share with you soon I promise. Until then here is a great (true) story to entertain you.

I know most of you have already received and used any tax returns you were owed. Since I am self-employed, and pay quarterly taxes, I work really hard to figure out how to pay Uncle Sam just the right amount. Since I am not in a hurry to send off a check if I still owe something I tell my accountant that she can do my taxes last. ( and just to brag, we are getting $79.00 back so I did a darn good job of figuring this year) Since she does my youngest's along with ours, hers are done late as well.

She got her state return in the mail on Wednesday. No big deal right? We knew it was money she would be getting so how could it be money she manifested? Here is the good part... She came home that day while I was out with the dogs. As we were walking up the driveway together I said, "Did you see you got your check from the state?" Her response, "Oh! Ya!, And I TOTALLY manifested it. I decided I could do it (as in manifest money) so I stopped at the bike store and told them," Get my bike ready( She ordered it when it was on sale a couple of weeks ago). I am still not sure where the money is coming from, but I will have it by then and I am picking up the bike on Friday. I got home and there was the check with the amount that I needed." And I thought I was proud when she learned to say her ABC's!

The story gets better... Yesterday she says to me, "I've gotta quit manifesting money. It's creating too much work for me. I thought I was going to have the entire day off and now I have three people to see." And still later when she checked in over the phone... "I feel a little bad that my manifesting for me made S0-and-So get pneumonia." I explained to her that is was So-and-So that manifested the illness so that her body could have the rest it was demanding. Us receiving from the Universe is never going to take away from another.

Maybe there are those of you out there that are thinking I should be committed, or charged with harming a child's mind, but I think this autonomy she is practicing is great. She has always been a spiritual child, aware that there are things greater than herself. I am glad that she has begun to work with this greatness independently from my encouragement. My baby is growing up!

Let me mention here that this is one great kid. The reason she didn't have the cash to simply buy the bike outright was because she had a $600.00 car bill. Beyond room and board (and a little college tuition) she is financially responsible for all of her other needs (and remember the kid LOVES shoes!). She DOES NOT use credit cards or student loans, and is consistently putting money in the bank to finance her last two years of College. She has it much more together and not just financially) at (just) 19 than I did by my late twenties.

Beyond sharing the story because I think it is a great story, I share it with you to encourage you to increase your own faith. Not necessarily in God or the Universal Energy of Spirit, but in yourself. Believe that you have whatever you need inside of yourself to reach all your goals and dreams. Believe that life doesn't have to be hard, and that you can take the bull by the horns so to speak and get what YOU want out of life. Practice faith in yourself, even when you don't feel it. This a great time to employ "Fake it till you make it." Before you know it you will have enough successes in your world that your faith will soar and you will understand without a doubt that you are Captain of your own life and you can steer your ship towards any destination you want to reach. Bon Voyage...

Great weekend.............................

Our dumpster is about half full at this point. Now I am trying to hold the thought that it will be big enough to hold all we want to get rid of. Most of the work room and all of the shed is finished, but the attic hasn't even been touched. I am sure (my) Mister is getting sick of hearing me ask if there will be enough room or if we will have to have a second load.

My heart is sick about the stuff I am throwing away. There must have been hundreds of those plastic pots that plants come in. Plastic in land fills, I know they will be there years from now, but I have no use for them and it is the only way the plant people sell their plants. Is it my fault they don't use peat pots to begin with?

So far we have consistently converted to the new light bulbs. I even found a couple of the old style ones the counter the other day. Seems (my) Mister switched them out for the new ones because they were in lights we used frequently. He plans to use them in lights used less often. I am rubbing off on him (poor soul). I have also surrendered to no more plastic water bottles, even if they are convenient. The re-usable shopping bags are going great. The other night I bought close to four hundred dollars worth of stuff and had to use only one plastic bag. If the silly store would keep the bags at the check-out lanes instead of at the door of the store (who is thinking of checking out when they have yet to face the nightmare of shopping?) they would sell more bags and maybe even market to the shopper behind the person using the re-usable bags. The other day I even discovered that our small grocery in town refunds you five cents for every plastic bag you don't use (based on how many of your own bags you do use).

I am working on cutting down on plastic baggies/wrap to cover food, and trying to work up the courage to tackle decreasing my paper towel/napkin usage, and then it is on to cleaning chemicals. I use bleach and would absolutely die if someone took away my Clorox wipes, but I keep entertaining the notion that one day I will be able to do so, and try and be patient with myself.

So Saturday was my youngest daughter's nineteenth birthday. We started the day with a 5K race, and we both ended up winning second place in our age division. This was only the second time I placed in a race. The first time I was also last overall, and was in the bathroom "recovering" from the six miles when they called my name as a winner. It was VERY sweet to hear my name being called. The other cool thing was I used two guys to pace myself against during the race and beat both of them, and at the end passed a girl that I had chatted with at the beginning of the race. Ended up she got third in our age group, and when she turned around and saw it was me that got second she said, "Man! I so should have passed you." Ya! She looked the part of a runner MUCH more than I did; tall, lean, with full on make-up, to my short, stubby, really need to wash my hair look. Just goes to show you never know what is inside the package until you open it!

After birthday cake and presents the two of us went for another run in the rain (thankful it wasn't snow), uptown to buy marshmallows (she wanted Rice Krispy treats) and a rent video to watch. It made me feel good to be alive. It also made me think of you Maria, and the hard time you are having right now. I know you don't believe in prayer, so I sent out good thoughts to the Universe for a timely recovery for you, my friend.

Okay, the sun is up. Time to go wake (my) Mister and get him back on dumpster filling patrol. Enjoy your day...

De-cluttering...........................

Our fifteen yard dumpster arrived yesterday, and I was almost as excited as Christmas morning. Since the beginning of the year I have been trying to clear the clutter out of my life and this will help a lot. Not to mention that currently I have an old toilet and sink adorning the area beside the garage.

I moved into my current home about 18 years ago on a Saturday. The next day my friend, her boyfriend, and her three children moved into my basement because they needed a place to stay. There was a shower in the basement, but not stool or sink. Shortly after they moved in I discovered that that boys were peeing in the shower (gross but true) instead of coming upstairs to use the facilities. I needed a bathroom downstairs fast. At that exact time my neighbor was re-doing his bathroom and I noted the toilet, sink, and medicine cabinet outside. After inquiring what his plans were for them they became mine and have served me well all these years, and deserve to be retired.

The other thing we did shortly after moving in was to build a big tree house. It too was past it's prime and needed to come down. We are taking the wood that can be saved to Habitat for Humanity but the rest will be dumped. Now that it is down, I can see my pond from every (back) room of my house. I LOVE IT!

And then there is the attic. (my) Mister's personal nightmare. I want our construction friend to move a couple of lights in the kitchen and when I told (my) Mister this he got all defensive and said there was no reason to move the lights. After we talked it came out that he didn't want the work done because he didn't want to have to move all the junk in the attic that would need to be moved before the work could be done. We will give away as much as we can before trashing it, but it is a fact that some things just plain wear out and need to be thrown away.

I totally get that I can be a hard person to live with, and plan to nominate (my) Mister for sainthood upon his death. Here is the latest reason why...

The other day when I borrowed his truck I discovered all the junk that he "promised" to get rid of hanging out in the bed of the truck. When we were "discussing" what could be passed on from the attic and what would need to be trashed I brought up the truck contents and told him how it was bad Feng Shui to keep it around (and went on to inquire why he lets stuff pile up in the first place, blah, blah, blah).

The next day he says to me, "I heard what you said about the bad Feng Shui so I took a bunch of that stuff to Goodwill and took the returnable bottles back to the store and got you five dollars for your vacation jar. The rest of it is in the dumpster." Told you he would qualify for Sainthood!

Enjoy your weekend...

Police Brutality..............................

Reminder... I live in small town U.S.A. The biggest thing our police officers have to entertain themselves with is setting up stings on the outskirts of town and catch people not slowing to the posted 25MPH speed limit. Not such a tough job I wouldn't think.

It is not unusual for me to see a patrol car driving slowly down my street a couple of times a day. On Sunday I noted that one had stopped at the edge of my property in front of the neighbors edge of property. I really am not a nosy neighbor, but I this concerned me as she is in the stage of active dying and I thought maybe... He drove on down the street a few seconds later.

About an hour later I heard a car pulling into our driveway. I try and get to the door before the door bell is rang to help keep the dogs under control. (Our doorbell is a Pavlovian signal for them to bark.) As I looked out the window I noted the same officer sitting in front of our property shuffling some papers and then he drove off. I opened the door to let in our guest and found a red tag hanging on my door.

I will quickly tell you the violation was for yard waste and liter in the street. Our city picks up leaves from the street, and brush from the edge of the yard. My youngest had misunderstood me and put some branches on the leaf pile. The leaf pile originated from the yard worker of the neighbor that is dying, and yes we added leaves of our own in a pile beside of hers. If we were wrong to do this fine, not at all upset to be informed of this violation.

What totally freaked me out, to the point of throwing me into an instant anxiety attack (don't know why, it didn't seem like a big deal but one was triggered anyway), was the fact that the officer walked up to my door to place the tag on the door handle, but didn't have the common courtesy to knock on my door and clear up the matter with me directly (and it was obvious that someone was home with several cars in the drive and one person sitting in a car in the drive) . Living in the community that I do, this IS common practice and community expectation. We REALLY DO have an Officer Friendly that goes around talking to our children and teaching them about the law and safety issues. I felt totally disrespected and violated. Over a pile of leaves I know...Totally overreacting.

Yesterday morning I called the police station to report this abusive treatment. I talked with the police Sargent, and he assured me this is not normal protocol. He said, "I know this is no excuse, but he is young and I will be talking to him about how things are done in name-of-city. I am really sorry for his behavior and will take care of it." I suggested that he send Junior over to properly introduce himself to me and the Sargent thought this was a wonderful plan.

The Sargent checked into the leave situation and it seems the city only picks them up in the fall. I assured him that I would get ours and the neighbors picked up. Just to show you the inner workings of our town, he did know that the neighbor was at the end of life and a couple other details about my block. Some people might find this Big Brotherish, but I find it reassuring, like we are being looked after.

I have thought a little about why hanging a tag verses knocking on the door was such a big deal to me. The best I can come up with is it shattered my illusion of the give and take that I feel exists in our city. Our police officers are here to serve and protect, not issue summons in secret and throw around their power. I guess the biggest thing was the feeling of discourtesy. I am a total believer that if you have a problem with someone go and talk to them. Clear up the situation and move on. I guess, if I am totally honest, my ego might not be able to stand the thought of someone having a problem with me. NOT ME??? Now there is something I can work on.

Manifesting oatmeal............................

I am forewarning you that this is one of those posts that is going to make you shake your heads in disbelief; either out of amazement at my powers, or regarding what a nut-case you think I am.

Either is fine with me.

Last night I got a hankering for a batch of "that time of the month" cookies (you all know them as no-bakes). As I started to make some, my youngest said, "You might want to check and see if we have oatmeal, because there is not much in the container up here." I continued on with the other ingredients thinking, (quote) "I will just have to manifest some if it isn't down there already."

My youngest went downstairs to check for me (we have shelves in the basement with overflow staple products), and returned to tell me there wasn't any down there. I went down to look with visions of oatmeal manifesting in my mind. There sat a (small size) box right on the bottom shelf. When I returned to the kitchen singing praises of my manifestation powers my youngest tried to convince me she didn't notice it because she was looking for a big box. (She didn't notice it because it hadn't been fully formed when she went down to look was my take on things.)

When I turned my attention back to the cookies I realized I had confused recipes - cookies for brownies (that is what happens when a fifty-year-old cooks from memory) and had put too much butter in the pan. What to do except increase to a double batch...

I ended up having the EXACT amount of needed oatmeal for the double batch. Not only did I manifest the oatmeal in the first place, but the universe sent exactly what was needed, no more, and no less. Pretty awesome isn't it?

And yes, there was another check in the mail last week; reimbursement for a new mask for (my) Mister's C-Pap machine that he got at the end of last year. My thoughts are creating a great reality!

I got the exclusive!.....................................

Yesterday the phone rang, and it was an advertising firm offering me EXCLUSIVITY if I signed on to be one of eight companies advertised on a handout to be in the businesses up town with the high school football schedule on it.

I do very little purchased advertising since most of residents make it to us by word of mouth. I wouldn't put my loved one in a home from a list of yellow pages ads so I don't advertise in the phone book. Regardless, I opted to listen to the sales pitch and see if I felt compelled to purchase.

As he was going through the script, I could not suppress a giggle every time he used the word "exclusive." I finally had to stop him and ask why this was such a big deal, and why I would want it. Giving the guy lots of credit, he didn't miss a beat but just went into how that very morning a real estate business said the ONLY way he would sign up is if exclusiveness was guaranteed.

"Wow!" I said, and then: I really feel sorry for that person because he doesn't get that there is abundance in the Universe and there is really enough of everything to go around for everyone. In my experience the more we try to hang onto a little, the more that little dwindles and then we allow the fear to take over.

The poor boy! I think he said something like, "that is a good point, but many people like the idea of being the only one on the listing so we mention it." Just to show him how much I believe in putting stuff out in the Universe to keep things stimulated, I bought the ad.

So, after he finished his job, his manager had to go over things with me again. When we got to the "exclusive" part for the final time I was trying to tell him that I am an adult foster care, but I also provide respite and hospice services. He says, "Tell you what? We'll just give you anything close to any of those categories. How's that sound?" I was too polite to tell him I didn't care about any of it, so I just said, "fine," and we wrapped things up.

Please share your ideas with me about areas of your life and when you feel having an exclusive contract is required or why not? I only have one in my life and that is this little expectation that (my) Mister is intimate with me and me alone since he signed the marriage contract.

I will admit that the last time my youngest went shoe shopping without me I was jealous and thought about making that activity an exclusive between her and I, but as long as she is willing to share what she gets I can let this one slide. For now anyway...

Friendships...............................

In one of her current posts,Maria was talking about the diversity of the friends in her life and ask about her reader's friends. Rather than fill up her comment section I decided to write a post about my friends...

If I had to do so in one thought, I would say my friends are patient, loyal, and true, because I rarely (if ever) see or do anything with them and yet I know that they would coming running in a minute if I needed them. The one thing that I thought would be easy when I started this business was finding people that wanted to work for me. Turns out this was the hardest thing of all. If I do have a fill-in caregiver, it creates a bunch of extra planning for me as I am really picky that things be done in a consistent fashion to how I would do them. Like when you have infants/toddlers, most of the time it isn't worth it just to go out to lunch (NOT a big fan of eating out so maybe this colors things a bit).

All of my friends have been VERY understanding of this, and keep me in the loop as to group happenings, and I am very appreciative of this.

The other group of friends that have become uber important to me is my blog family. Besides Random, I have not met a one of you, and yet I laugh, cry, and rejoice with you as I read about your life adventures. I honestly don't think a face-to-face meeting would make me feel closer to you then I already do.

If I had to pick BFF, I would have to list my kids and Mister. Maybe, because these are the people I continue to see on a regular basis (they have no where to run and hide), but mostly because we have a truly genuine good time when we are together. I am blessed.

That is a description of my friends in a nutshell. As to the demographics that Maria discussed in her post (taking out my blog family for the moment), well over half of my (small) circle of friends are much older than me (from five to fifty plus years if you count all of my former home care patients that I still keep in touch with). Ninety plus percent of them are or have been married, leaving less than ten percent same sex preference or in a same sex committed relationship. If any of my friends are Republicans OR prejudice they hide it well out of respect for our relationship.

I think where my group of friends are the most diverse is in regards to religion. We range from VERY involved in organized religion to no belief in a higher power of any kind. Each of these views is respected and had no bearing on the friendships in the least.

The other way my group of friends is diverse is in regards to our talents. We each seem to excel in a talent (music, art, computer skills, etc...) that makes a really awesome collective group of supports. Does it surprise anyone that my talent is telling it like it is, and speaking up for a group cause? My secondary talent has to do with advice regarding shoes as an accessory, but since this is a post about my friends and not me I won't elaborate.

Passing on the question, what about your friends?