I’ve got almost 4,000 friends on Facebook.  I am asking you now, if you do not care about the work I do*, please do us both a favor and unfriend me now.  Really.   Of the 4,000, 647 are on a list called “People I actually know.”  These include not just real life friends, but also clients, advertisers, publicists and other media contacts I’ve worked with in the 19 years I’ve published Horizons Magazine.  Some of them I only know as far as their name on the periodic emails we exchange, or a voice on the phone twice a year.  But I still feel a personal connection to them, so they are on the list.  A lot of people want to friend me on Facebook simply because I publish a magazine.  They see me as potentially someone to promote them.  They don’t necessarily care about me or my posts, or my work; they see me as another media contact while they are doing their shotgun spam approach to marketing.  So if you’re one of those, or if your main focus is politics or news reports or looking for a girlfriend, please unfriend me now.  Thank you.  And if you are interested in what I do, then you must be part of my cluster.  Abraham-Hicks says, “You come forth in clusters with intentions to enhance one another’s experience; and when you meet up with your cluster, it’s really fun.”  I’m all about the fun.  Andrea Continue reading →

Last night I had a reading with Domino, whom I first met in 1987.  Domino is in her mid 60’s and was widowed in 1990.  She looks 40, she’s petite and slim and fit and she gets plenty of male attention.  Domino has always been a free spirit.  Her boyfriends are often the topic of our discussions and they definitely fit a distinct pattern.  Domino works part time and has a modest income.  Her boyfriends are always nice guys who are looking for a place to live shortly after meeting her, and they usually don’t have a steady source of income.  One former boyfriend helped her remodel her home to the tune of $26,000.  This was not money she paid him, but rather out of pocket costs for supplies and labor.  He simply lived in her home for 3 years and she paid for everything, meals, vacations, all costs.  With that one, when she finally asked him to get a job and contribute to the repayment of the second mortgage she financed the renovation with, he decided he needed his space and disappeared.  With no notice, no forwarding info.  I was glad she didn’t marry that one. Continue reading →

A Franklin Lorie original

Ever dream of designing your own jewelry line?  If you can draw it, my friend Frank Lorie can create it for you.   He’ll make a professional master mold so you can make as many pieces whenever you wish, at a fraction of the cost of having it done elsewhere. I first met Frank in the mid 70’s when I worked for his stepfather.  Frank’s a cool guy, an awesome jewelry artist, and he’s soul centered. He made this awesome ring for me.  I’m telling my friends they can design their own jewelry lines.  Frank can also set gemstones in a variety of settings and do repairs. Continue reading →

The sweet woman who was my tenant of nine years passed away this afternoon.  My prayers are with her and her family.  The good news is the doctor discovered the mass in her lung just 30 days ago and ordered her in the hospital right away. She said she’d smoked for 40 years and figured it just caught up with her. Last week she learned it was lung cancer and lymphoma – so she didn’t suffer or worry for too long.  We’ll meet again.

The end of death as we know it: What the crossing over experience is like as reported by those who have passed

Has anyone noticed this besides me?  On Facebook, there’s this silly post going around,  it says, “Go to your profile. Look to your left. First 7 friends are your Zombie Apocalypse Team. Here’s mine.”  Then you list them in the order they appear.  Mine were:
Sidekick: Tim Tedana
Heavy Weapons: Robert Goldberg
The idiot that survives: Morgana Starr
The Sniper: Miro Posavec
The one that loses it: Julie Hall
The Brains: Raymond Hines III
The First to Die: Sharon Greene

I don’t know what the name Zombie Apocalyse refers to exactly, a movie or game, but I get the drift. I didn’t think too much about the post I made, except thought it was funny that Morgana Starr was The Idiot Who Survives.   LOL   She would be.  Then, as friends began posting on their Walls, I began taking delight in who each had as The Idiot Who Survives and I began to see a pattern. Continue reading →

Sunday I worked all day and evening on final layout for the September issue of Horizons Magazine.   I didn’t even go over to the rental, so I could stay focused.  That’s the only problem with being self employed and being my own boss – since I can do anything I want, I have to discipline myself to stay focused on priorities.  A lot of what I do has a deadline or appointment time, so I  use those as guidelines.  Friends see me off and on Facebook all day and think I goof off all the time.  Ok, I do, but I’m also in between phone calls and appointments, or I’m rebooting the main computer or I’m taking a break from a job whose deadline is just days or hours away.  I’ve always got days worth of info floating around in my head waiting to be thought upon and pondered when I get free thought time.  If I’m typing and reading, part of my head stays open for the pondering list to run in the background.  If  I’m talking and listening, it’s not.   That’s why I can play on Facebook when I won’t make time to chitchat on the phone. Continue reading →

I got an email yesterday after blogging about a tummy bug last week and nicotine poisoning this week.  The writer asked, “I’m confused.  Why do you  ever get sick since you always write about being spiritual and knowing how to attract your reality?”   I get asked questions like that all the time.  Being spiritual doesn’t mean you don’t get sick, it means you act and react in a conscious way when you do.   I attract way more wellness than sickness, way more good than bad, way more joy than aggravation.  I have no complaints whatever.   As far as getting sick, I figure stuff is always moving through my body and if I’m being a little too resistant (consciously or unconsciously) then it’ll linger a day or so. Everything moves on quickly enough, so I don’t think of it as a problem.  In reality, what we call “sick” is just our body’s reaction to expelling a toxin. A diagnosis is just a snapshot in time and our symptoms are usually the cleansing stage.   Now that I know what it is, I’ve learned not to be afraid and think it’s the beginning stage of some scary, big illness.  I’ve learned to accept the symptoms and love them because that means the ick is on its way out.   Continue reading →

Nine years of nicotine stains, this fixture had a light cover

I wrote yesterday I am cleaning my rental home of nicotine.   I believe I’ve now cleaned enough nicotine from the front bathroom that I can begin actually cleaning the room.  It’s remarkable how much nicotine comes off the walls, even after several washes with Fabulouso cleaner.   I’ll continue to wash all surfaces each morning until it’s all gone.  Last night I could smell the nicotine on my fingers and in my lungs.  I’m not a hater, if people want to smoke they should smoke and it rarely bothers me.  But I’m talking here about the physical effects on the interior of a building.  And it didn’t occur to me until today that I really should have worn gloves the whole time I had my bare hands in it. Continue reading →

Nine years of nicotine stains, this fixture had a light cover

Today was dedicated to thorough toothbrush cleaning of every surface in the front bedroom of my rental unit at Holiday Park with Fabulouso cleaner.   Look what years of nicotine smoke can do – and yes the light fixture had a cover on it until now.   The ceiling was primed yesterday with stain killer, then painted.  I can’t really complain though.  My tenant lived there for 9 years, she was the ideal tenant, paid rent on time and asked for minimal repairs.  Even the dozens of cigarette burn holes were on the carpet that she put down.   There was the matter of me finding that underneath both bathroom sinks, the shelves had all but crumbled due to some water leak in the past.  I wrote on Facebook, “And it’s deja vu all over again in the front bathroom cabinet under the sink. This crumbling set of shelves my tenant never told me about. I’ll have my friend and master craftsman Tod McNeal check it out. ”   Continue reading →

I went to Holiday Park since the painter called early and said he could paint today instead of tomorrow.  I’d planned to sleep all day and recupe from my earlier tummy bug this week, but that was not to be.  While I was there and lay on the floor for a break, I looked up and saw the ceilings and freaked.  My tenant was a smoker and, after 9 years, the ceiling in two rooms had a fine yellow layer of nicotine.  It was easy to tell because she’d removed a wall about 4 years ago (! – yes, I know…) and I could see the difference in color between where the air was exposed to smoke and where it had not been.  So besides cleaning and painting, all the switch plates and wall receptacles and smoke detectors, etc. will be replaced now, too.  The new tenant deserves a fresh place with a fresh look.  Plus, it’s good feng shui! Continue reading →