A Wicked Life

Those who know me, know I don't get all socially conscience. I am always weary of agenda. Not just from the organization or group of individuals doing wrong in the world, but the so called "do gooders". Yes I'm jaded. When I was younger I helped "Save the Whales". I even adopted a whale when I was in my early twenties. Oh Greenpeace... the memories we have to share back in the 80's... As I mentioned in a past blog post, I love the ocean. Marine life.  As a young girl there was little I did not know about whales, dolphins, and orcas. The more I did learn the more I loved them.  I went to Sea World with my aunt when I was around 13 years old. Still have pictures. What a fantastic experience! At the same time I remember being sad. As I walked by the tank after the show...something just didn't feel right. They didn't belong there in that small space so I can be entertained by their splashing and tricks. Their floppy fin... I knew why it was f...

I love honey. I put it on my oatmeal, in my tea, and sometimes just a straight spoonful.  In the past I didn't really read labels. Not because I didn't care but because I was tired of taking my reading glasses out of my purse.  Ok, so I didn't care... I would buy whatever was reasonable in price. You can imagine my shock when I finally paid attention to the honey I was putting in my tea. Thankfully this was not eaten straight but still gross. Oh, it gets better It's now in the garbage. I don't care what could have been done with it. I think it belongs in the garbage.  You get what you pay for. My new favorite pass time is farmer's markets. At farmer's markets you can get some really delicious honey like  Bariani Raw Honey . They make olive oil too but haven't gotten around to trying it. They are a little pricey but let me tell you; the BEST! It's Italian and made in California! Mangia! What are your favorite recipes usin...

I am on LinkedIn. I happen to think a professional networking site is a great idea. No drama about who did who's boyfriend or "like this photo or ignore and your grandma dies" kinda crap. Okay maybe the who did who's boyfriend was a little overkill.  Anyway, in the past year I have been more and more involved with networking on LinkedIn . I am not too thrilled with the fact that you HAVE to know your contacts. It is against the rules of the networking site to request a connection with someone you do not know. I get it, reduces spam and the drama you left on Facebook but still... the goal is to NETWORK. Most don't pay attention to this rule (myself included) and connect with as many people we can until LinkedIn restricts us. At that point you have to know the other person's email address before you can send a request. Cool. Now we just comment in public with our email addresses and people can request connections, bypassing the "rule". I'm fine...

Exactly 6 months from today I will be 45 years old. Like the majority of Americans I am not in shape and need to lose a good amount of weight.  Like everyone else that is overweight I have tried many different ways of getting fit and losing the extra pounds. Fad diets, supplements, personal trainers (2 days, not 2 days a week just 2 days...), and whatever else that seems to be "effective" that's on the market.  I have however gradually changed my diet and activity levels. As of today I don't eat fast food or drink sodas. I am not one that craves sweets so I don't have to worry about a donut temptation. I have started using coconut milk and love it. Kale salads are amazing. I'm finding wonderful healthy foods. I have even reduced my alcohol consumption. Once a week Happy Hour with friends and none at home.  I also do not eat after 8pm and make sure that I am drinking plenty of water.  Coffee has been replaced with green tea. Well, I cheat on the coff...

Which way do you go? Do you go down the left or the right?  If you take the wrong path can others judge you? Whose to say you are headed in the wrong direction in the first place? Is it really so important that everyone believe the same?  Because I don't go to church or worship your god I'm going to burn in hell fire? I haven't killed anyone. I don't cheat or steal. I love my mom and dad. Besides, isn't that up to the big guy to decide anyway?  I took the wrong path once. I doubled back and went the way I was supposed to. Not because someone told me but because the direction I was headed didn't feel right for me. It wasn't where I was meant to be.  I had someone tell me today to repent for "he is coming and I will surely pay for my ways." What a great approach! Unfortunately for that person, I happen to know my way around the Good Book. What about those that don't? Those who are verbally beat up in the name of being sav...

What are dreams? Thoughts and anxieties that we have throughout the day that manifest themselves while we sleep? If so, that dream I had last night about accidentally eating moldy cheese... must be telling me that I stress too much about rotten food.  What about those dreams that are so damn real? Ever had a dream that a lover was cheating on you? Did it turn out to be true? So maybe dreams or prophetic?  What about the bad dreams? Nightmares and night terrors? What are those? Sleep paralysis... never fun, right? I can't tell you how many times I have had a crazy dream and wanted to write about it only to forget most of it five minutes after I wake up. Some claim they don't dream at all. Or, that dreams don't last more than a few seconds. There are tons of literature on lucid dreams. You know, when you can control what is going on in your dream... Ever try? What about the myths of dreaming? If you fall and hit the ground in a dream you will die in r...

How often do we hear that today? "Because I can."  It explains the attitudes of people today. This post kind of ties into the one I did last week. Being mean on the Internet.  This attitude has dug deep in today's society. We are empowered to do whatever we want, only God can judge us, YOLO... You may be asking yourself, "well, what is wrong with that outlook?" I'm not sure there is anything "wrong" but there should be a limit to this way of thinking. We all need to remember what we do does in fact effect those around us. It doesn't matter if we even know them. I'm not talking about being offended. I have a whole other post coming out about being offended.  Let's take the term YOLO for a minute. You Only Live Once. No, you live everyday. You die once. So those crazy things you do because you can, you will have to live with the consequences later. It's not like trying something new like water skiing. People are doing horrible o...

Everyone is born with a number. Mine happens to be 9 but that is an other story for a different day. Today is all about the feline. Whether you are a cat  person or a dog person, maybe a little bit of both, you can agree that there are challenges in owning and LOVING a pet. My friend sent me this link yesterday. Geez, I thought my lil demon kitties were bad. Well, they kinda are but I did rescue them from the wild. ;) http://www.sunnyskyz.com/blog/79/The-27-Naughtiest-Cats-In-The-World-And-I-Can-t-Stop-Laughing

...any article or post you comment on can and will be seen by everyone.  Ah the Internet. Full of articles, posts, social profiles... you name it. A person can comment on just about anything these days.  Here is what I don't get. So, let's say you have this article on...quilting. Some chick found a new way to quilt and the local newspaper posts the story on their website. Human interest story. You read the article. Then browse down at the comments. The first couple are nice comments asking "what stitch is used?" or "where did they get that fabulous fabric?" It doesn't take long before there is a comment commenting on another commenter's comment. You still with me? Yeah commenter's is not a word. So comment below about it. Anyway, these comments are usually not very nice. What starts out to be "nice pattern", five comments down the feed turn into "I hope your family dies!".  These are even people who don't p...

TODAY IS NATIONAL TEMPURA DAY! Some, not very many, but some interesting events happened on this day in history~ 1999- Impeachment of President Clinton 1990- The Leaning Tower of Pisa was closed to the public for the first time in 800 years. Why? Fear of the tower toppling over. 1953- President Harry Truman announced the US had developed a hydrogen bomb. This announcement was included in his final State of the Union Address. 1931- The Committee for Unemployment Relief announced some four to five million people were unemployed.  For those being born today: Zodiac Sign~ Capricorn Chinese Zodiac~ Year of the Snake and a little tarot card of the day for love... January 7, 2014 Daily Love Tarot~ 7 of Cups

As part of my 2014 Goals, I decided to start my day with a short 15 minute yoga session. This morning was a little challenging. Waking up with a headache and not much sleep because my furry kids decided to go ape shit at 3am... I wasn't exactly motivated to do anything but pop some Advil and go back to sleep.  I have several Yoga DVDs but always go back to one. I use an AM/PM Yoga for Beginners DVD. After 6 years I am still a beginner because I never stuck to it. Not because I didn't like doing yoga, I love it. I would just have something else more pressing in my mind to do. Anyway, it is a great DVD. I posted a link to it the right hand side of my blog.  I highly recommend it.  So, after forcing my self into downward dog, I was able to get into the mood and actually finish the 15 minute session. This may seem like a very small accomplishment to most but to me, oh yea!I did it! Woo hoo!!!  My other goal for 2014 is to eat breakfast and make it more ...

Featured Artist for January 2014 Dan Eden Bio: Dan grew up in a small town in Northern California. She has been drawing since she was old enough to hold a pencil. She comes from a long line of artists and shares this passion with her siblings. Dan's inspirations for her work are unique and captivating.  Dan works with various media including oils, ink, and acrylic.  Dan's artwork is for sale and she also takes commissions.  The Jinn (c) 2014 The Rose Cross (c) 2014 Melt With Me (c) 2014 (untitled) (c) 2014 (untitled) (c) 2014 (untitled) (c) 2014 (untitled) (c) 2014 (untitled) (c) 2014 (untitled) (c) 2014 (untitled) (c) 2014 (untitled) (c) 2014 Mad Hatter (c) 2014

Let me preface this post by saying, I am in no way trying to get anyone to sign up or purchase. I'm sharing my experience and if it makes sense to you to look into this product further, great! If not at least know you know what Shaklee (r) is if someone asks. :D This time last year, if anyone asked me if I knew what Shaklee (r)   was, I would have asked them, "shak what?" Well a friend of mine made the choice to be a distributor in October and wanted me to support her efforts by coming to a party. Low key, no pressure. I have done multilevel marketing before so I was okay with coming but wasn't going to buy or be a distributor. I had enough issues with Avon... I spent too much, that was the issue. Before the party I asked her a few questions... start up price, is there a website, and do I have to have a bunch of product on hand? Start up price depends on what level you want. So from $50-$500. Yes there is a website for a $15 a month but it is fully set up. A...

So it is the beginning of January. Most of us have made some goals for 2014. Not resolutions, but goals. I'm not going to get philosophical regarding the difference between the two. It's just different. In my mind anyway. Do you make goals and get discouraged and stop? What discourages you? What road blocks are in your way? Who tells you that you can't and you listen? Of course people are going to say, YOU. You are the reason you get discouraged because if you really want it, you will get it. Now let's get back to reality. We have our doubts and self-perceived limitations. Yes, they may be self-perceived but that is the strongest doubt out there. Ours. Okay, now that we know we set ourselves up to fail every year let's take some baby steps. Me? I had so much going on but not getting much done. So in 2013 I decided to have yearly goals set. Things I wanted to accomplish during this time. They were pretty huge. Overwhelming in fact. How did I break it down? ...

Do you paint? Draw? Write? If not, have you ever wanted to? Why not give it try? Add it to your 2014 goals. Paint a picture!  My parents are artists. In fact most of my family are artists in some fashion. I don't do nearly as much as I should. It's therapy. An escape in thoughts... visions. I started back in the 1990's doing oils and mostly surreal work.. Then I kept going. I love drawing faces...This one I did of an older woman's picture on the back of a Reno News and Review magazine. To this day I couldn't tell you what the picture was for or who she was. My pencil was the "Fountain of Youth" that day!  Of course like every artist, I have a little bit of a darkside... ;) I would never suggest doing a checkerboard theme unless you are really into torture. The first one I did with the rose, should have taught me a lesson.  I started listing my work online then a couple of of art shows. I received a lot of compliments but no one really ...