Vegan friends keep scrolling. I stopped at Thrifty Specialty Produce & Meats of Palm Bay and picked up some sliced chicken breast. I like that I can get three fat slices for about $3. I package them individually in freezer bags into which I add their marinade and tenderizing agent: this corn flour/cornstarch/egg white mixture. In the 30+ minutes it takes the chicken to freeze and thaw, it is tenderized like you wouldn’t believe.  Here’s the recipe from my foodie blog –> How to make chicken tender like the Chinese restaurants

Attention everyone: working from home does not mean I’m sitting watching tv eating bonbons. I’m always waiting for a half dozen calls back after which I can return the next half dozen calls. I need to be at the computer to look stuff up. I can’t be running off and I need to keep my head in the game during work hours. Thank you for understanding. <<stepping off soapbox>>

To all the “sensitives and empaths” out there complaining of everyone else’s “negative energy” attaching to them, if you cleared up and released your own past baggage, it would have nothing to attach to. Big Giant Secret of the Universe: No one can weave a bond of discord with you if you contribute no strands to the weaving. A friend and client keeps hitting obstacles in opening a business and she doesn’t see she’s doing it to herself. Instead of seeking sound advice from professionals and working a business plan, she spends her time chatting with friends, giving all the details of everyone who is jealous of her and wants her to fail in business. It’s all she talks about. She turns molehills into mountains and creates problems where there were none. The thing is, no one is trying to stop her from doing anything. No one cares. She manufactures these scenarios in her own mind to prevent herself from taking the next step and succeeding. Yet she’s been so close, so many times. She talks about how sensitive she is, that she takes on the negative energy of the people she works on. Yet she takes on a business partner with a lot of unresolved baggage, both personally/emotionally and professionally/financially.  Continue reading →

I posted on Facebook, “I will send a dollar to whoever correctly intuits the 3 numbers I have written down (111, 222, 333, 444, 555, 666, 777, 888, 999) as well as the geometric shape I drew next to them. Also tell me some things that tickle your fancy. I’m tickled by playful orange cats and squirrels romping in the trees.” His answer, 888 pyramid, my dogs.

The Compassion Exercise by Harry Palmer.
Honesty with one’s self leads to compassion for others.

OBJECTIVE: To increase the amount of compassion in the world.
EXPECTED RESULT: A personal sense of peace.

INSTRUCTIONS: This exercise can be done anywhere that people congregate (airports, malls, parks, beaches, etc). It should be done on strangers, unobtrusively, from some distance. Try to do all five steps on the same person.   Continue reading →

A fun and busy day yesterday, as a friend helped me update the master shower. We’d taken the free-standing tub out two days ago and the first job today was to create additional support behind the shower handle and head by cutting pieces of 2×4 to screw in between the studs. He had to replace some of the existing supports as they’d managed to move forward with the former water damage, and stuck out beyond where the wall would go. That part of the wall bowed out a bit when the wall of tiles was there. I can see now exactly what caused my shower head leak. I formerly used a hand held shower head, and would at every shower take it down from the holder and put it back in. Over the years, since there was no support behind the shower head, the pipe moved and weakened, springing a leak. I love seeing the interior workings of things and learning how they work. It took awhile to measure and cut the support pieces to size and screw them down. Then he measured and cut the hole for the shower control handle and the shower head and put the concrete board up and caulked.   Continue reading →

I just received a Facebook message: “Do you remember you did a reading for me at Book and Bead Outlet back in January. You said then that a person that I was having conflict with was going to sort of fade away, not those exact words but that is how I received it. In the meantime we have had less and less interaction and today she told me she had submitted her resignation and was going back to her old job, all because of her conflict with someone else. At any rate I just wanted to let you know that I am blown away by how something you told me then has played out.”

This morning I filled the garden tub early to give the sun time to warm up the water. We removed the tub from the master bath yesterday and set it in the garden. I figured I can let the water sit for a day or overnight at a time.  I am planning my afternoon exercise to be out on the patio, after which I can jump into my tub and cool off and watch the squirrels jump around in the trees. It took me just 7 minutes to fill, it will drain off into the giant bird of paradise outside the main suite.  This is a fun project but I know me — anything that takes upkeep will soon lose its appeal.  Plus I’d have to rig misquito netting from the branch overhead…..  We’ll see.

Yesterday a friend and I hit the floor running at dawn to tackle my master bath. I’d seen water leaking through the wall after a shower and Tod said he’d take a look at it. By the time he got here, I’d decided to remove the tub I installed in 1988 and go back to the original tiled shower stall. I removed the tile and wallboard that had water damage, as well as the little wall I’d built around the tub, then tiled. Most of the tiles were salvageable. I hauled load after load of tiles and drywall out of the bathroom. I cut the caulk around the tub to begin loosening it. I did all this last week. So, by the time Tod and I went to work on it this morning, we had a clear working space. The first thing we did was pull the tub out and set it on the patio outside the master suite, where I’ll create an outdoor spa. Tod took on the task of cleaning up the shower stall using bleach and then Lime Away. Even with the fans on, the chemical smell was strong. I was stunned at how spotless he got the tiles using a scrub brush and a Paul Bunyan sized arm of elbow grease.  Continue reading →

Updated some legal work for friends today, powers of attorney, last will and testament. Is your will current? Does it name who you currently want to have named to receive your stuff? Make sure it does.