Thursday-4:45pm

Turned out that Dagan and Leah were feeling "off" yesterday. Dagan even stayed home from work. So Leah didn't want to come over after her dentist appointment and I wasn't feeling up to snuff, either--so we cancelled craft day again.

Dagan and Leah had a scheduled apointment with their contractor to pick out doors for the house, etc. They bumped the meeting up. Wanted to get it over with in case they were coming down with this flu, too. (I haven't heard from them today.) Then they stopped over here to get my computer working. (Had to download from Dagan's computer from the beginning again--it finished at 1:30am.)

They brought over marinated chicken breasts from a meat market and we (mostly Dagan and Leah) made a dinner of chicken, rice, and broccoli. Best meal I've had in a while! Been eating soup and bread for many days. Just too tired and weak to function very well yet. And I have leftovers for dinner tonight, too! :) Nice!

I just need rest and sleep and time to recover. It takes me longer than healthy folks to bounce back, I'm sure. But I am slowly feeling better. Still a little queasy, but much better than I was. I have not been on the computer much, so I apologize to those of you who haven't heard back from me yet.

Now I am off to watch the recapped "Lost" program that I taped last night. I will see the new episode tonight! That is something to look forward to--hehe! I really enjoy that show. Like one huge puzzle!

Wednesday-11am

Leah will be over later. We were planning on a trip to Tochi's and K&Krafts, but I'll have to see how I am feeling. Exhaustion hasn't left me after the two bouts of the flu. (That's not as bad as what the flu does for riling up your IBS--chuckle!) I know--too much information! :) I seem to have used up all my energy when I washed clothes and made bread--hehe!

Well, we had warnings out for last night that there would be wind chills of down to minus 45 degrees below zero. It is minus 21 degrees right now. Good grief! Been really cold off and on this winter. There are times where it is not a bad thing to be housebound, I guess, eh? Maybe not a good day to be out and about after all? We can always go another day...???

Tuesday-1:30pm

Caroline was here to clean this morning. Yesterday I think I accidentally disconnected my desktop from Dagan's computer before the downloading from his was completed. Sigh. So--I still don't have the desk computer freed up. Leah will be here tomorrow and hopefully she can figure out what to do.

Tomorrow Leah and I are planning to go over to Tochi's and K & Krafts briefly before we start crafts. So, I am taking it easy today. Cold weather has returned. Hope everyone is warm and having a good day. I am still not up to snuff, but better every day. Not sick-sick anymore, at least. On the road to recovery--again. :)

Monday-8pm

Latest pictures of Dagan and Leah's house! They have been busy picking out cabinets and such. Really beginning to look more like a house every day. :)

Dagan and Leah were over on Sunday--before and after their meeting at Home Depot for cabinets. Dagan started to erase the brains off my desktop. Leah changed the belt on my Oreck. I was finally feeling better and was washing clothes.

Karma enjoys being made into the bed sometimes. She slept tucked into the bed like that for a couple of hours.

I've been on irregular hours again. Was up in the middle of the night last night trying out the Cuisinart--finally! Made bread.

I shouldn't do things like that when I am tired--hehe! I didn't let them raise enough.

Still tasted so good! I'll know more what I am doing next time. It said--while the machine was running, "add liquid through small fed tube as fast as the flour will absorb it." Well, I poured too fast and ended up with a wet mass in the center and nothing happening. Had to stop and scrape it down. I don't think it blended quite right, so I kneaded it well at punch down time. I'll know to go slower next time adding the liquid--chuckle! It was really quick to put together, tho! And the new version with the "dough" button was great! It doesn't bounce around on the counter like the first model from 32 years ago. :) Quieter motor, too! I LOVE IT!! About time I got to playing a little, eh? Bummer being sick.

I am feeling much better, obviously. Overdid it yesterday, tho, so have been a hobbling zombie today--hehe! Dagan was here over his lunch hour and after work. I am still typing on the laptop. The desktop computer is still downloading something for a few hours. Then I should be pretty much back in business. Dagan will be back to tweak and add a couple more programs on to the desktop later on and he's going to do some re-programming to the laptop, also, eventually. I am so grateful to have Dagan and Leah to help me out! What would I do without them?! Leah is going to install the program that is downloading now onto the desktop this Wednesday when she comes over. They're tag-teaming me--hehe! :)

They brought me a wireless keyboard I am excited to try out when the computer is ready. So when Miss Karma wants to come butting up under the screen to watch--I can let her. Can move the keyboard over to the other side of the desk and it's supposed to work from there, too? Cool! I am so glad they have so many computer parts lying around!!

Crazy weather up here in the MidWest. We are supposed to drop around 60 degrees. Was around 40 degrees today and we are supposed to drop to about 20 degrees below zero--with 50 miles per hour winds!! An inch or two of snow, too. So that means--little or no visibility and warnings are out for the wind chill factor. Cover exposed skin--we are headed back to the deep freeze. That is why Dagan isn't coming back tomorrow to work on the computer when Leah can install the program on Wednesday when she comes over for crafts. (I think it is my Office or Windows or something? I am supposed to be able to use the Internet again when it is done!)

So, things should be back to normal again around here. Knock on wood!! I am feeling better and the desktop should be up, online, and running well again by tomorrow! TaDa!! I think this is the longest stretch I haven't blogged between those two hinderances? :) I should be back tomorrow again. Later!

Thursday-5:45pm

Woke up sick again yesterday morning with the flu. Cancelled the day with Leah yesterday and my appointment with the Rheumatologist for today. Have been sleeping a lot.

My dear friend, Ruby, told me there's some nanovirus going around that you can have several times before you are free of it altogether. Straight from her doctor, she said--and to drink as much fluids as you are able to keep down. Apparently I have gotten this peculiar virus, eh?

I'll be back when I am feeling better.....

Tuesday-7:15am

I decided to go ahead and do the blog now before I go to sleep. I've been up all night the past few nights again--on that cycle for a while. Anyways, last night I was playing around with some stamping. Embossed them in black and then colored them in with the Lyra crayons and the water brush. Fun! That colorful blob on the right is the folded up damp paper towel. I can just wipe off the color and go to the next color--so cool! Perfect for this kind of a project.

I love the colorful Christmas trees! Might use them for this Christmas in 2008. Putsy--but so colorful and bright! And if I start now--I have LOTS of time--hehe!

Meanwhile--new photos of Dagan and Leah's house! They are really coming along. How they can work in this cold is beyond me! But I am glad that they are, I guess.

I'm sure it will be much more pleasant for the construction workers, also, when they get the rest of the house framed and all the walls up. At least that would block the wind!

I trimmed the long plant that gets to covering the top of the tank and laid out the strands on some newspaper. Forgot them there when I slept last. Woke up and Karma had eaten every last piece! Chuckle! I wonder if she ate them damp or dry? Hehehe! She sure got her greens yesterday.

I watched the Cuisinart DVD and have plans to try to make bread eventually, for sure. They showed several of the recipes from the little recipe book that came with it. Helps me to watch, so I am glad they had a DVD. Nice surprise! :)

Tomorrow I will be up early--sleep or no sleep. Leah is coming over and we might be able to make it over to Tochi's, too. (Local health food store.) Depends on how busy she is on call, but she said it has slowed down. We will be doing crafts--not sure what yet?

Thursday I have my annual appointment with my Rheumatologist. So the next couple days are going to be busy ones for me. Keeps me out of trouble, right? :)

And--now I am off to bed...

Monday-5:15pm

Finished!!

I did get the other 28 cards put together yesterday (already sent three in January--one accidentally too early, even, when I was sick and couldn't think straight--chuckle!). I am a little more sore, of course. Taking the day off from any projects. R&R day. So glad to be done--feels soooo good!! Am feeling quite contented. :) And I was pleased with how they turned out, too.

Sunday-1:30pm

This is what I did all afternoon and evening yesterday--one hour at a time.

First I had to cut all the framing paper.

Then I worked at cutting up and applying all the carpet tape on all four parts of the card.

The teflon mat works well for this--hehe!

Finally done with getting all the two-sided carpet tape on at about 4am.

Ready for construction today! Or as ready as I'll ever be--hehe!

I want to finish today. :)

Saturday-1:45pm

When I am too sore to spend any extra time at the computer Miss Karma is disappointed. She wants me to play games or videos--for her amusement, of course. She will stay right there and cry a little--begging for videos. Silly girl!

I have been just working on the cards and watched stuff I taped. Did play with Karma a lot yesterday. She was full of beans and gave me a workout--hehe! So--today--back working on the cards and keeping warm. :)

Friday-1:45pm

Actually, these photos are several days old. I have figured out that I can send pictures and links back and forth between the desk computer and the laptop in emails--hehe!

Anyways, they are working away at building the basement or lower level ceiling.

Here's where the stairs will be when you come in the front door--going up and down in the split level.

Those are the latest pictures. I am curious as to how they put in the cement floor in the basement? I find it all interesting. :)

I worked on the birthday cards yesterday and finished all the caulking parts--tada!! My goal was to be finished with them before Monday and I just might make it! :) I was so busy doing that yesterday that I haven't even watched the DVD that came with the Cuisinart yet--so I haven't experimented with it thusfar. I think I am actually afraid to start right now--because I will probably get so wrapped up with my amazing new kitchen toy that I won't finish the birthday cards--hehe! So, I might wait until I am done with those first. By that time I will be out of homemade soup again anyways.

We have a really cold weekend ahead. Lows in the minus teens and highs in the minus single digits--might hit zero degrees for a high by Monday. I am so glad I have heat and don't have to go anywhere. Leah is on call for her second job where she has to drive to different places if they call. I hope she is lucky and doesn't get hardly any calls--no calls--this weekend. Doubtful, but one can hope.

Me--I will be here constructing birthday cards and eating up my hot homemade cabbage and potato soup.

Thursday-1:45pm

Well, I have been experimenting and have discovered that it is not the camera or the cord--it is something wrong with the desk computer. I found where to plug the camera in on the laptop and the pictures showed up. I am blogging from the laptop.

Here are pictures I had been taking. This is from Haiying's order. My part was her book (I just need to buy a 3-ring binder for it), some magic paper (8 in a package), and a larger & a smaller bamboo orchid brush. (I want to try to paint a bit larger--all my brushes are pretty small. And Leah likes to paint larger.)

Here's the T-shirts Leah ordered. And she got a package of magic paper, too.
We didn't get to do crafts together yesterday. Leah was detained. In fact, Dagan got here after work before she did. They left from here to go check on cabinets for their house.

My heat wasn't on, I guess. Or was only briefly on. All the registers were cold. So, I called the office and they sent the nicest man over to fix it--David.

Almost three years ago when I moved in I had no heat. This guy came over and he installed this lever on the bedroom heat register. This is a picture of it when it was on. Off--the lever stuck straight out from the register. Didn't seem to work well inbetween, you know? Either I had the heat on or off.

David actually wanted to fix the heat so that it worked from the thermostat for the first time in almost three years. What a task! He was trying to find the register with the control on it. He had to pull out the stamp cabinet and the craft bookcase--nope. Then he had to pull out the bookcase next to the TV stand and the TV stand to find it. He replaced the unit and got everything back in their spots. I have heat--and controlled by the thermostat! And that lever is now tucked inside the end cap in the bedroom--not visible anymore. TaDa!

Now I have been playing around to find out where the heat should be set--and maybe I can leave it there and not have to be constantly turning the heat on and off anymore! Nice! I told him that this place just keeps getting better and better. I do love my little apartment.

Meanwhile--the Cuisinart arrived yesterday, too!! So Dagan and Leah got to see it and all the parts.

It is way heavier than my old one that Leah has now. I am thinking that this one might not dance around on the counter if you try to make bread dough? I'll find out eventually. The beaters are wiskers, really. For lighter batters and whipping cream, etc. I think you make cookie dough with the blade as I recall?

I have instructions and a small sample cookbook to read through today. :) A late Merry Christmas to me, eh? Isn't it beautiful!! Well, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, right? It is beautiful to me!

I worked on the birthday cards yesterday. I think I will finish the caulked parts today. Then I can start putting them together. My goal was to be done before Monday and I think I am going to make it. Hurray! So--off I go...after I figure out how to transfer copies of the photos to the desk computer since all the rest of them are on that one.....????

Wednesday-noon

I started this blog on Tuesday and something happened and I couldn't access blogger?

I can't get pictures from the camera into the computer, either. Not sure if it is the camera, the cord, or the computer. Luckily I had these pictures already--of the birthday cards. I decided to post them because it won't ruin the tactile effects of the 3-D caulking-hehe!

Anyways, I was having the camera troubles at the same time I was trying to do the blog--so they must be connected. I can access blogger on the laptop? I sure seem to have the strangest problems with my computer....????

I have spent the last couple days catching up on emails. Yesterday I had my federal housing appointment at 3:30pm. Caroline came to clean at 11:30am (she has to come earlier now because of her class schedule), then she went to a class, and actually volunteered to come back to pick me up to bring me over to my appointment during her break inbetween classes! What a sweetheart! It was below zero and very windy--would have been a horrible day for a three-bus trip, that's for sure.

Then Dagan (who had also volunteered) came and picked me up and brought me home. Cell phones can be really nice, I have to admit--hehe! Thank you! Thank you, to both of them!

It was so cold and windy yesterday that the heat couldn't keep up or froze or something? It was really cold in here--no heat--cold to the touch. I had layers of clothes on and crawled under blankets and went to bed early (grateful I no longer have a bird to worry about with the cold)--and slept late--sure I'd have to call the office today. But, now there is heat today. Good! Another thing to be grateful for.

Leah is coming over later this afternoon. Dagan is coming over after work, too. Leah's bringing dinner for them because they have an appointment about their cabinets in Fargo and they can just leave from here. (Dagan works in Fargo.)

Haiying's package came yesterday and Leah can pick up her new T-shirts and magic paper. (That is what I was trying to do yesterday--put pictures of Haiying's order into the computer.) We will work on crafts. I am working on the brithday cards and am halfway done. I just want to get those done before I get involved doing anything else. I can be easily side-tracked, you know--hehe!

I hardly slept the two days before last night. I don't think the herbal menopause stuff is doing much of anything any more, so I am going to quit when this bottle runs out. Might have to go in to my doctor and see about taking hormones, I suppose. I hate to take hormones because you always hear bad things about them, too. I'll see how it goes.

I might not have any pictures for a while. New ones, anyways. :(

Have to wait and see if Dagan and Leah can figure out what's wrong.

My apartment is slowly warming up. It is one of those white days where the sky and the ground blend together into one solid white wall. Makes it look very cold out, but it has warmed up to a balmy 11 degrees!

Stay warm! Or to my friend Cristina in Argentina--stay cool! :)

Monday-1:45pm

I'm back, I guess.

Been a long week.

While I was sick I got a "daughter angel pin" from my folks.

They got one for me and one for my sister, Renee--who is doing much better with the kidney stones, BTW. They are still dissolving, but she has been off the pain pills for a while.

Thanks, Mom and Dad!

Since I don't really leave the house very often, I found a spot for it--

pushed it into a cardboard box that sits in my desk.

So, now I have another angel watching over me. :)

I have over twenty emails to respond to. Might take me a while to catch up. Thanks everybody for being patient with me while I recover. :)

Got back to the Cinch plan yesterday again. I am washing clothes today. Tomorrow I have my annual appointment with federal housing. Caroline is coming to clean and she is going to give me a ride uptown. Dagan is going to pick me up after work and bring me home. I am so grateful. Didn't really want to have a physical set-back before I am even back to my normal. (It's a three bus journey one way.)

I am glad to be back and am feeling much better. :)

Saturday-11am

I can't believe it is already Saturday! Time flies when you're miserable--hehe! I am still not up to snuff, but I have heard that this flu can leave you listless for up to a week. I'm pretty low energy in the first place--ROFL!

Monday night when I went shopping with Dagan it was a beautiful evening. Had been warm enough for water to be dripping off the eaves that day. Felt like spring. (Now it is back to cold and snowing the last couple days--that I have actually noticed--ha!)

Big thing for me was I ordered the Cuisinart (above) that I have been saving for since October at Bed, Bath & Beyond. It is being shipped via FedEx and is due to arrive on Tuesday--tada! I am so excited--and will post actual photos, of course.

Big thing for Miss Karma is that her treat drawer is full again and she got some new dry and canned foods (that CashWise doesn't carry).

The rest of the trip was buying up the stuff that you have to (toilet paper, paper towels, kleenex, etc) at Target. I did get some cans of "my coffee" though--my one UN-neccessity.

After 2 1/2 hours of shopping--I was shot. Couldn't sleep at all Monday night--too sore and generally miserable. Shakey, dizzy, headache, hurt everywhere, nauseous, and threw up Tuesday morning. Didn't know I had the actual flu, tho--(can feel like that just from pain and lack of sleep)--until I had slept again and was still nauseous and sleep didn't make it better. Pretty sad that I didn't even know I was "sick-sick" for the first day or so--chuckle! With Fibromyalgia--well, you always have that all over body ache like you are coming down with the flu and activity makes it worse--it's hard to tell.

Well, that is totally it for today. I am on the mend--a slower mend than I would have hoped--but I am on the mend. :)

Thursday-7pm

Feeling better day by day. Still not really functional yet. Later...

Wednesday-4:30pm

New pictures of Dagan and Leah's house.

I have been sick since yesterday and will post more when I am feeling better.

Monday-1:15pm

So--what have I been doing SINCE New Year's Eve? chuckle!

I decided to move the easel. I had put it there after Gracie's bird cage left and that spot looked like a blank hole I should use somehow for art.

I only use the easel for acrylics and oils--and I am not doing that right now. It has just been sitting there for the past six months. So, I put it in the storage area.

Drug out an old rectangular folding table (have two actually) that I have used for crafts and many things over the years--to try something. It is four feet long and a little too wide for the spot, but it is a great idea. I have decided to get a folding art table--on sale till end of February!

I also decided I needed an "inspiration wall" once I pinned up the real paintings I got from Barbara and Haiying. So, I printed off a few online pictures of Haiying's and Barbara's paintings (hope you ladies don't mind?)--and a couple of pictures of Kio--just because I like them--hehe! I will probably find some more--switch them up, you know? Take some down and put others up--depending on what I am working on.

Now that is an inspirational wall, isn't it? Hopefully--over time--I will replace them with MY OWN paintings--hehe! Thanks Ladies!!

Below is the folding art table I want to buy. It can be raised from 29-53"--so can be used sitting or standing. (Leah prefers to stand and I might like to on occasion, too.) You can tilt it like a drafting table from 0-45 degrees! That will be wonderful for watercolors! 30 X 42 inches--so it will fit perfectly in that spot and give me a fairly large table space.

This means I will not have to tear down and set up--back and forth and back and forth--to do different projects!! I am so excited! I can keep the art table out for painting. I have the wood table by the window set up for birthday cards right now--(still--hehe!)--and can leave that up until I am finished--tada!! Happy, happy me!

Let's see--what else? I started the Cinch plan (for about three and a half weeks) on the 4th after I got my grocery delivery. Dagan and Leah had been trying it--Dagan quit. He liked the chocolate and Leah liked the vanilla. They gave me his leftover chocolate powder last month.

You make a shake for two meals and eat one healthy meal and healthy snacks. I ordered a bunch of Lean Cuisines, which I never buy (too expensive for me)--and low calorie snack bars, carrots, yogurt, nuts, etc, to snack on. At least I am starting out healthier this year--hehe!

Last Friday I had the great visit with Maria! We always have a wonderful time visiting.

Yesterday Leah and her friend, Amber, came by to work on designing Amber's wedding invitations. They were here the better part of the day while I washed clothes. I think it is really going to be a pretty little invitation! :) They really did a good job thinking this up!

Leah has been swamped with work calls, so she can't take me shopping today and might not be able to come over to do crafts on Wednesday, either? Dagan is coming by after work to bring me shopping. And in the meantime--I have to haul out a stack of things to the dumpster and the garage. (The little Christmas tree is coming down early this year--hehe! I often have it up into February, to be honest--just love Christmas, you know!) So--I had best get moving... :)

Sunday-3pm

Last shots from the New year's Eve table!

I got the white heart-shaped plate with the raised angels and roses on from Denise. :)

I have always used it to hold smudge sticks.

Smudging is supposed to clear away negative energy. I may forget to use them most of the time, but every time I have moved in the past dozen years or so I have smudged the entire place before I moved in.

I didn't use them on New Year's Eve--just felt they had been ignored and brought them to the table.

I have a huge crystal that was a kind of mysterious gift, as far as I'm concerned.

When I was living in a duplex in Rogers I came home from work one day and saw a big ugly rock sitting in the dirt--right in the corner where the driveway met the sidewalk. It was a dirt corner--where plants had once been long ago--and nothing was ever there before but a flat patch of dirt and the occasional forgotten toy. I noticed the rock as I walked past it--but got this sudden overwhelming feeling I was supposed to go back and pick it up. (I have learned to pay attention to those feelings.)
The rock was dirty inside and out, but I saw a few sparkles hidden beneath the black dirt.
Took it inside and washed it off with water and a toothbrush...

...and was awed by this beautiful stone!!

I asked the kids who lived downstairs if they had brought a rock over by the driveway and sidewalk--nope.

I was like it was dropped from the heavens? Love it!!

The crystal in the front of the next picture is the biggest one I have ever purchased. I love it! Has so many pieces jutting this way and that. Has really good energy!

The long crystal wand behind it was a gift from Lynnette. I can't remember the name of that stone--started with an S.

The three spheres up in the corner (forgot to get a closeup of them) are different stones. The largest one is a regular crystal with what looks like a tiny red butterfly inside of it--made from natural flecks of some stone?

I saw this red crystal ball (below) at Rosedale in Minneapolis. Couldn't afford it, but I asked if I could pick it up and hold it in the store. It felt like it vibrated in my hands!!! (Still does!) I know it is a man-made crystal, but I really wished I could get it. I finally had the money and went back a month or two later. Figured if it was meant to be mine it would still be there. It was! And it was the same one that vibrated in my hands with the defect line (not too noticeable). The lady told me that they only ever had one large red ball. It has always felt special to me.

So--here's a shot of the crystals and stones--just a general overview of what was on the table.

I also love the one in the foreground--as it is blue and white.

The one in the middle is kind of pink and white.

And I have a few smaller crystals--and the hearts in the front.

Can't tell I like stones, eh? I used to carry small stones that I had found here and there around in my pockets when I was a kid--and later as an adult, to be honest.

I have always been attracted to hematite. When I heard that it is a calming, grounding stone--I used to buy them up by the handful and give them away to people. Used to carry them in my uniforms and work clothes--at many, many jobs over the years. Also gave away the little pweter "angel in your pockets", too. Gave away quite a few of those at the two colleges I went to up here in Fargo/Moorhead.

So--there you have it! Yup--I'm still a Flower Child. :)

Now I'll have to catch you up with the daily stuff next time. Have a good one!

Saturday-11:45am

Okay--back to the New Year's Eve table--hehe!

This is almost like having a real conversation with me! I go off on tangents telling stories and may or may not get back to the subject--ROFL!!

The Tibetan Monks and the mandala sand.....

First of all, here is a link to show you pictures of that process:

http://www.artnetwork.com/Mandala/gallery.html

It was amazing! Talk about patience! I used to stop by inbetween classes and just watch them. You didn't talk to them, of course. You could stand and watch more closely or sit and watch from a few feet away. I was there a lot. Just such a good feeling being around them--used to sometimes just close my eyes and listen to the metallic rubbing of the sand tubes.

I was around so much and went to anything they had--various talks, music demonstrations, hung around the table where they sold things--that they got used to seeing me around. When they gave away half of the sand in these tiny plastic bags after they destroyed the mandala, I waited to be at the end of the line so that I could ask them if I could have some extra sand so that I could give some to my son. They smiled and gave me an extra bag of sand for Dagan--filled them both really full! He did the clasping of my hands with both hands that always felt like a blessing.

The monks had a ceremony later (I had a class and missed this one--the only event I missed) where they poured the rest of the mandala sand into the pond on campus. They energize the sand to be a healing agent for the earth, as I understood it. Water cycles from land to air and back--all over the earth--so they put it into water--sending off that healing energy. What a beautiful concept. The earth needs it--that is true!

I wanted to find something small and appropriate that I could keep the sand in--something special. I discovered this small container that looks like it is made of amber. Seemed perfect! It was near the center of the Tibetan cloth on New Year's Eve.

It was difficult for me to get a shot so that you could click and enlarge and see the rainbow of colored sand--but I think I finally got one!

My friend Jennifer (from MSUM writing classes and the student writing group we used to have at my apartment in Moorhead while we were in college) was going to this shop in Bismarck, North Dakota one time and told me they had pendulums there made of crystals and stones, etc. I asked her to pick me out a clear crystal pendulum.

She called me from the store and told me they had these wooden ones that were hollow inside and had a cap. I knew right away that I could put some of the sacred sand inside of it! Cool! So I had her get me two of them. Thank you, Jennifer! I don't let anybody else use this wooden pendulum.

And here is the crystal one Jennifer picked out.

The one I have had for many years is made of brass. I don't clean it. Don't want to disturb the energy, I guess.

And what do we use pendulums for? Actually--to pick cards or rune stones (the white ones).

The Angelic Messenger cards are way too large to shuffle. For years I shuffled them by laying them all over a table and swirling them around. That takes up a lot of room, for one thing. Tried to pick by instinct, warmth, tingling of the hands...whatever. And you can do it that way, of course--I did for many years.



What we found was easier was to kind of give the cards a little side-shuffle and then just split them up into three piles. Then use the pendulum to tell what pile the card is in. Split that pile up...and so on--until you are down to one card.

The pendulum will swing in a circle when it likes a pile or card.



We also used pendulums in the Healing Touch classes I went to at St. Catherine's in Minneapolis. We used them to determine whether chakras were blocked or not.



Seems like a bunch of hokus pokus at first--but I was won over. Besides--you can't possibly pick a bad angel card--hehe!



The last thing I have to show you from New Year's Eve is my crystals. And, of course, I have a story about the biggest one...:)