Whirly Swirly Connections

What an amazing day today!!
I got to start out with a call from Christine -- always a great way to begin my day! -- filled with lots of giggles about my practice kids, their latest adventures in creating parental angst and the whole evolution of a combined family :^)
THEN, I got to have coffee with Tony -- enlightening as usual! We covered a gamut of topics including dogs, book publishing, editing vs reading, and pedophiles (entrapment, family members, survival, instinct, child empowerment...) -- yeah, we'll talk about anything and everything & love every minute of it! I loaned him my copy of the book, Life is Good by Trixie Koontz (who is dog) -- thank you Kelly, your gift continues to warm hearts!
And because the universe didn't think that was enough, I came home to two exciting pieces of mail: an ATC from my friend Cris, from a series inspired by The Divine Spark of diana, my myspace persona :^) She is keeping one and trading the rest in the Imagination Tribe ATC trade. The second is a Live and Learn Conference DVD made by the Mayer family in BC, Canada; included is the 40th birthday movie that Craig made for Gillian, set to Exactly! I'll post their ash sprinkling experience over at Hannah's blog, but I must tell you that the card they sent is a picture of the famous Spirit Bears, which came to my attention through Tony, and they're sending the remainder of their Hannah ashes to Gillian's brother who happens to live with the Spirit Bears!!
The day's not over, there may be more glitter rising as my life continues to whirl and swirl and connect...

Yer never gonna believe...

what I did tonight ::bg::
I hung out with Jeremy on his birthday!!

He called me yesterday, in the midst of my coffee. I was so intrigued that he would call, I had to answer. He came by yesterday afternoon to pick up his movies and ended up hanging out with us for a couple of hours. It was really cool, calm and nonchalant. I'm committed to being the only ex-girlfriend against whom he has nothing negative to say -- so far it's working! Tonight he called because all his friends gave up early to go home and sleep (work tomorrow and all) and he really wanted company -- I really wanted him to have a sober drive home; so I worked it out with Hayden that I could go hang out with the Birthday Boy for an hour. I picked him up at The Crow and drove him to Nutty's North where there was a really good live band. Jeremy was incredibly drunk and did some (in)coherent ramblings; some stupid (lookin for birthday pussy tonight) some sweet (you know I still really love you) some more honest than he wanted (we broke up because I was scared, not bored). Poor guy, I do hope he finds a reason to get happy -- and soon.
Meanwhile, I'm back home safe and sound, alone, while Jeremy is passed out on his friend's sofa where I dropped him off at 1am.
hmmm.
liphe is phunny.

Today's Wisdom

from Mother Crone... thank you! What a blessing these words are
)0(--)0(--)0(

Goddess
by Stage Diva
she is abstract beauty, not perfection
she is round and full, blossoming womanhood
she is forsaken
belittled by a hypocrite society that preaches to love, worship, and
nourish the body, yet forces masochism to maintain its jaded ideal.
but she is a goddess
unconcerned with the masses who cannot see
who tell her she is
Fat.
Ugly.
Worthless.
she does not hear them
for she says beauty is unique so she does not listen
so they scream
they rage
they force her to hide
for she is dangerous
she is not like them
she is a goddess

I just knew it was gonna say Patience!

Today's horoscope for Gemini:
You are somewhat unstable today, although chances are that nothing is really going to change -- even if it seems like it will. Your values are brought into sharp focus and your desires have a better opportunity of being fulfilled, but it probably won't happen immediately. Patience can be a difficult thing for you, yet you need it now more than ever.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Yay! I'm unstable, the stars say so! I'm glad I'm being called, yet again, to be patient, my favorite quality about meself :::blech!:::
I don't want to be still and quiet, I don't want to wait, I don't want to.... waaahhh!
Fine!
Today's mantras:
BE, DO, HAVE
There's plenty more where that came from

today's Poetry

Today we welcomed Freya Manfred to our church. We are blessed to have her mother, Maryanna, as an active part of our fellowship and I'm coming to love her offspring and their talents as well. (Marya is an amazing pianist and artist) As she inspired us with her own writings, she challenged us to come up with a poem of our own today. Here's mine:

Sadness
like the soft tickle of my cat's fur,
compelling,
comfortable,
imagine infinity...
Until real life,
a spark of static electricity,
like joy,
crackles into sadness' reverie and
changes life's focus again.

Today's headline was Lakes, Love, Life and Death with Freya Manfred... such important visuals for my life and my healing right now. I spent my morning (as I do each morning...) Exactly where I need to be.

It's the Stars I tell you!

Tomorrow's eclipse could be a turning point and you are already feeling the intensity.
~Ummm, yeah! Another cleaning rampage last night and I'm sure another is due today... Life's been pretty sweet with the boy, I think we breathe more after being with a large group of breathers ;)
Instead of intellectualizing your feelings, you must face up to the deeper emotional issues in your life as you try to determine who is the boss of your immediate surroundings. ~I just opened a discussion on "When mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy" ... It's me (dammit, grumble, grumble -- sometimes I'd just like someone else to be in charge...) and I've already committed to a position of Happiness is a Choice! :::bg::: Looks like it was what I needed to hear!
Naturally, the best way to solve any conflicts is through dialog.
~Like those amazing talks I've had with Hayden every single night since we got home? I know there's been a shift in me, but it's subtle and calmer, harder to recognize in myself, but I can sure see it in my kid. And there's something to be said for the *Shine* our kids do take on at the conference; it's beautiful to see them return with! There seems to be a niche available for everyone who's ready for one, some way for them to be themselves and not suffer scorn. So it was good practice and great timing to be at the conference; we were ready for the next stage.
It's time, more than ever, for you to talk through your issues with your partner, even if you think it may get unpleasant along the way.
~It's already been at unpleasant, we're making our trail out of there and back into purposeful, joyful life together. Talking about it and shifting ourSelves in the situations is leading us the right direction, we can already tell.

When mama ain't happy...

the working title of my talk for next year's conference. It's a work in progress and I'm totally excited about it!

My Groceries

After a week of eating Trader Joes from a cooler in my hotel room, I thought I really missed my fast food fix... then I traveled home and just don't feel the same. I watched Angie eat the most delicious food I'd never put together at the park... I missed eating fresh and whole foods. We popped over to her house last night to play some X-Box Karaoke and eat Turkey Taco Bowls (again, ingredients I'd never think to put together!).
When we left, I was exhausted but Hayden wanted to do some grocery shopping. So we compromised and went aaaalll the way across town to the HyVee with the Healthy Selections Department. We got 4 different kinds of organic cookies (including Newman's Own oreo knock-offs!), 2 mixes for homemade cookies and one for Hemp Brownies (no, we *didn't* have the munchies!!). Hay found organic Raisin Bran and wants to try the blue corn flakes! We got soy bacon and organic brown eggs, I found pitas and spicy hummus, sliced (REAL) cheese and artisan sourdough bread. Mixed into our cart was a Lunchable (which made the boy's heart *SING*!), 2-12 packs of soda, and a couple of candy bars. What a great balance! We had to get a big loaf of french bread (like you eat with Abbi and Kyra, mommy!) and he proceeded to eat it in a very Traaseth-like mode: he scooped the insides out and left me the delicious crusty outsides. He even asked about oil and vinegar! Oh! We also got some new Annie's Organic mac and cheese -- they have Arthur and it's orange! He settled for some Annie's EZ Mac when we got home (circa 1 am)

Sex in the mail!

I can't escape! The references are everywhere!!
I'm obsessed, I am... I know it's ME creating this Sexual Vortex around myself... I'd much rather Be the Sex Goddess than the Queen of Death, anyday! Though I need more Sex for that to happen! (and now that I have my magical Sex Goddess robe-thingie, hand crafted by Cris...)
Anyway, my Fireside Chat on Sex was very well attended -- far more attended than any of us had anticipated! (poor Broc, folks preferred my sex stories over his hot air balloon collage art funshop! Sorry! we'll schedule better next year, you can come talk Sex with us :::bg:::) It was so cool to be "in context" where my nuttiness and openness make sense! I got to share my funnies and hear other folks' funnies, too. We also covered topics like Shame (for getting pregnant at 16), Quality (how do I *really* make her happy?), and Strewing (or catching your kid trapped under their bed when having an uncomfortable Sex talk). I was honored to be cornered many times after this session for clarification, correction and support. I had no idea I was such a g-spot expert until I was asked! how cool!
I travelled home, grumbling about my difficulties with the Sex Chat, in light of not having a sex life of my own...
and I shared that comment with Tony. Which was the springboard for yesterday afternoon's venture into "what we aren't talking about." We've both, obviously, been thinking about this in our own heads for many weeks now... as I suspected the artificial wall that has been erected between us (ha! whatta pun!) was there from fear, fear of not knowing exactly what the future holds... I shared Sandra's wisdom, "If you've got one foot in yesterday and the other in tomorrow, you're just pissing all over today!" We agree that it would be downright silly to have this amazing friendship with one another and look somewhere else for sex... it'd be too weird! AND if we're both really okay with not knowing exactly what the future holds (I'd be the Queen of that! For life!) then what exactly is the problem?! I guess there really isn't one! :::vbg:::
I'm glad he's as sweet a lover as he is a friend.
Then I'm picking out reading material for pooping and I pick up this month's UU World magazine... on the freaking first page (I'm glad I found it today!) is a letter from the religion's president talking about OWL and Sex and Sexuality and Love.
Hmmmm, what else is gonna float up with all this swirling going on???

Planetary Kick in the Ass

Gemini (May 21 - Jun 20)

Your key planet Mercury is feeding you positive thoughts today, encouraging you to gloss over a problem. Don't avoid the sticky details now or you will be required to go over the same ground in the weeks ahead. Set your sights on where you will be going next. Stop talking about what you want to do and start making it happen.