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 →

I spent an hour today talking with a friend who dearly loves his wife of 28 years and is tired of her running him ragged because nothing he does is ever good enough. She always wants more, more, more. To keep the peace he says nothing. I could not live like that.   And to stay with someone because if you divorce they will take everything you’ve worked for your whole life, why do people think they have to live like that?  I say let them take it, consider it a fair parting gift for your freedom.  I consider it an honor when someone mistreats me. Rejection is protection. There’s no clearer exit sign.  On Facebook, gal pal and artist Jane Taylor wrote: “Reminds me of the old folk tale of the fisherman who caught a magic fish that could grant wishes, and first his wife told him to ask it for a cottage, then a castle, then a kingdom...”   Her story reminds me of the wife who complained of no room in their small cottage so the husband moved in the goat and the cow and the chickens and then moved them out one by one. She loved her big place afterward. I wonder if his wife would give permission for him to go on a camping trip to the Smokies with me?

Givin’ it a spin

Those who write the news put their slant on the news.  They can spin their words to suit their audience. As a journalist, I recognize the hype. Journalists, by definition, put information in their own words and make it creative in their own way so it will draw attention. Personally, my attention is never drawn to doom and gloom.  My attention is drawn by the most hopeful “what if?”  My attention is drawn by demonstrations of unwavering faith in the face of adversity.  If, as a journalist, it is my choice as to what I wish to draw the reader’s attention to, then this is it: Continue reading →

Free at last!

Ten days ago I wrote that I’d priced and sold my scrap gold and the amount I got for it was within $339 of the total amount needed to pay off credit cards, my new bed, and my new couch.   Days later I received an escrow refund check  from my mortgage company of almost $300.  I love it when the Universe knows exactly what I need even if I don’t. Of course, I always expect the Universe to drop windfalls in my lap, so that helps too.  Most of the expense came from renovating my rental property for new tenants and paying off office equipment.  I took the credit cards out of my wallet and put them in the file, so in case I need them, they are a safe three moves away.  I’m glad I got my lesson early on about credit cards so by the time I reached 40 I had that pretty much under control.  By then I’d also stopped shopping for recreation, which gave a huge boost to my savings account.  Last year, each time I opted to eat at home rather than out, I paid myself the difference.  I transferred that amount of money from my checking account into my savings account.  At the end of each month, I depleted the savings account paying off everything I could.  Sure, it might be only $8 one day, but it adds up, all the little things I consider buying, then ask if I’d rather have that amount in my savings account instead.  I’d psyched myself up at the idea of having a fat nest egg.  Step by step and inch by inch gets ya there, dude.   Quicker than you think.

RELATED:  Getting a handle on the credit cards and bills