I now have a nice long scratch on my left forearm from carrying too many palmetto fronds, but it rather balances the ding and bruise on the right shin from yesterday’s wheelbarrow fiasco. I also just watered the back tree line of turk’s cap, crepe myrtle and arborvitae. The mulberry tree is bare but the loquats are coming full on.

Yesterday I watered the back yard and the back property line of hibiscus saplings and loquat trees, and cut some palm fronds and grapevine.  I worked some on the east garden sitting area, it is now hidden from the street.  I am weaving weave a wall with the living grapevine around some cut bamboo and pine saplings, also weaving into it some palm fronds and honeysuckle vine.  I don’t want something that will topple on me when the wind blows as it does here sometimes.  Thus the weaving.    I could have done without the wheel barrow falling over on me, I’ll have a nice bruise and cut on the right shin for that one. I’d stacked it atop a wood fence panel to help flatten the panel out and it wasn’t balanced and toppled. Yay for work boots and heavy denim!

My brother found away to get his picky chihuahua to eat her dry dog food. He sets a small piece on the floor for his cockatiel Nicole and Coco will eat it all, just to keep the bird from eating it.  He says “these two have taken to trying to nudge each other out of the way as they compete for attention. But they can’t seem to stay away from each other.”  We all know folks like that, huh?

I avoid billing and bookkeeping as long as I can.  It’s not that the work is hard, it’s just not my fave thing to do.  I let it loom larger than life inside my head.  So when the deadline is approaching, what I have to do is start psyching myself up a few days ahead of time, changing my self talk from “I don’t wanna do it!” to  “It will feel good to whip thru the billing Friday and have it behind me.”  I tell myself that over and over a few times a day for days beforehand.  Every time the thought comes up that, “oh phooey I can’t have fun until after I do the billing,” I remind myself it’s just a four hour job if I stay focused.  It’s a guilt-ridden four day job if I play on Facebook at the same time.   And for now, it’s Friday and the billing and bookkeeping is done.  Everyone wins!

I’ve got a friend who just went to jail.  He’s 40, no criminal history, gentle soul, got drunk with his wife one night, they had a fight, he stormed out, long story short, charged with public urination in front of several witnesses, just got sentenced to a year in state prison.  I wrote earlier that a criminal charge of indecent exposure (which he was found guilty of in S.C.) gets you incarcerated, places you on a sexual offender list (in S.C. — in Florida it would not have,) you’ll be restricted to curfew, undergo regular drug/alcohol screening and counseling, you can’t own a computer with internet access, your home is subjected to random searches and more.  Some of my stress of the last several weeks has been navigating all the info from family members, none of whom have computers or cell phones, finding out who to call to learn what is needed, learning where he is and what can and can’t be be done.  Thankfully he’s local (to them) so they can visit.   Since he’s out of state,   I won’t be visiting, but I began writing to him.    We’ve just recently connected and he was curious about how we attract our life situations to us.  We’ve spoken about the importance of being aware of our self talk, because that is exactly what programs us, what hypnotizes us, giving us subliminal suggestions all day along about what we are and are not capable of. In the first letter I reminded him of what we’d already spoken of: Continue reading →