Sorry for the long load time on the picture to the left.  It was just too pretty not to share.  So here I stand, almost breathless on the edge of Harvest Time (August 1 - Oct 31st).  Each year, my life has changed in some big way during that time.  Last year, I got that really blessed new perspective on stress, fear, challenges and most importantly, grace.  Each year, whatever I gain in the harvest ends up being challenged at some point, to make it stronger and be certain that it's "set" in my life.  The challenges of this summer have definitely put those lessons from last year under the knife and overall, they've held true.  I've had a lapse here and there, fortunately with a lot of caring people to lift me back up again and not let me fall all the way down into the mud.  :) Eric is still back at work with his previous company (they brought him a company cell phone, which pretty much takes him off of temporary return status) while his own business DSI, is waiting on bid packages to be accepted or rejected.  Two major ones were due to be determined last week and are still pending.  Once those break, we'll be over the hump and the harvest will be extraordinary.  Meanwhile, we are playing some serious catch up and unfortunately, having to fight down the extraneous crap that keeps coming up.  After we had to have the water pump changed out on the car ($!), suddenly the radiator has sprung a leak which has basically rendered it unusable except for tiny distances.  Eric spoke to a radiator shop today who recommended trying a sealant before bringing it in, so he'll do that tonight.  An unauthorized charge to Eric's bank debit card wiped out our bank account.  The company is refunding the money within 2 working days (they say), but meanwhile, checks are flying all over the country to my account.  What happened (in case anyone else gets caught up in this) is he responded to a TV offer of a particular vitamin supplement, free for postage costs only (about $5).  To try it, you joined their little health supplements club for a month, then call to cancel before the month is over.  We never received the supplements and I was in the room both times that he called the number they gave to cancel; once to cancel and once a few days later to make sure it was canceled.  A month after he called, the "membership fees" were charged to his account, which happened to be night before last.  The result was fairly disastrous.  The bank has said since it was an unauthorized debit, they will reverse all fees for NSF, but can't determine whether the checks will be paid or returned because "the computer decides that."  >:<  Guess we'll find out what hits the fan tomorrow. I think I mentioned before that my kids, all three of them, are just being extraordinary.  I've almost finished my second week of perfect kid behavior.  Nathan cutting his hair was sort of an isolated event and he still really likes it, so pfft, whatever.  Delena has been fully cooperative and just as sweet as she can possibly be (her room is still a mess, but I make her keep a path clear).  Dylan is usually good anyway.  Nathan hasn't drawn on a wall, pissed in one dishwasher cup or dumped one thing on the floor.  They haven't fought or scrapped even once and honey, if that's my only harvest, Mama ain't fussin!  It has been absolutely blissful. My goal, as of late, has been to every day, get the house really, really clean so that if nothing else, we're in a nice environment.  Even then, I'm getting stupid obstacles like broken washing machine, broken carpet cleaner, broken vacuum.  Seems like I have to spend twice as much time fixing a thing than I'm going to spend using it to clean.  I sincerely hope that this simply represents a few extra turns I have to take before I get to the cheese rather than my whole life turning out to be nothing more than an extended, ever more complicated mouse maze. I have high hopes for this harvest.  I know that I already have so much, with a wonderful husband and really great kids.  This website is an incredible blessing for me as I have met so many fabulous people through it, not to mention that it gives me an outlet for my babbling.  This year, I feel the financial security coming in.  Although it's never a good idea to have your happiness depend on money, I do know that in our society, money can sure grease the rails and make the ride a lot smoother!  Money may not buy happiness, but it can sure fill in some blanks for me!!  :)  I'll be happy and complete and whole whether or not I ever have enough money to live on, but shitdogs, I could sure top it out very, very nicely without having to sweat out the budget every single week.  Therefore, since I already have so many blessings (and I do not for a second subscribe to the theory that blessings are finite), I'm going to wish on the stars, the new moon and the harvest for financial stability and abundance this harvest.  (I can do it, I am doing it, it is done) Blessings!!!  Yessiree!  My friend, Maurien, sent me this gorgeous sculpture!!!  It so closely resembles the one that was broken years ago that I loved  (pictured at the right).  The other one, Maurien also found out, has been discontinued and is only available in thrift stores and yard sales across the nation.  :)  I'm going to be combing for one still, but in the meantime, this one is an absolutely wonderful reminder!  Thanks, Maurien!  The new one is very solid and heavy, whereas the old one was hollow and lighter, so much more fragile. The first one was called "The Protector" and came to me at a time when I was a single mom of 4, struggling hard to get by, working 3 jobs and still not even coming close to making ends meet.  Boy, did I ever need protecting!  I would stare at that statue for the longest time, feeling myself resting in that safe palm.  This new one is called "Safe In Her Hand" and I found the name particularly interesting since it came from a Christian gift shop.  Both came accompanied by the same Bible verse, "See!  I will not forget you.  I have carved you on the palm of my hand."  Isaiah 49:15.  I will definitely never forget either of the wonderful ladies who gave me these gifts.  I definitely need to feel safe in the hand of the Goddess right now, so the name is all the more appropriate now, just as the name of the older statue was then.  That, to me, is just proof that it all works as it's meant to, exquisitely as it's meant to. This is a picture of my son, Dylan, who is 6.   We asked him what he was doing and he said he was "being a Buddha and exercising his mind."  : P  It was so funny, we had to take a picture of it.  We asked him what he felt when he did that.  Since we are both avid meditators, we were curious to see what it did for him to do that.  He thought for a second and said... "Smarter." Interesting also, compliments of my son, Joe, are these pictures of 34-year-old actor, Verne Troyer, who played "Mini Me" in the Austin Powers movies, shown here with his fiancée, yoga instructor, Genevieve Gallen.  They plan to wed this November.  Verne is 32 inches tall and she is 6'2" tall.  Definitely, I believe that love can conquer all and I have absolutely no biases in that regard considering sexual orientation, race, religion, etc as long as both parties are fully consenting adults (None of this "I'm 36 and she's 14 and we're in luvvvv" bullshit).   When two people find true love, it's a beautiful, powerful thing.  I'm just thinking geometrically here.  Wow. If it were me, I'd be measuring out that little guy's arm for size.  Whoever said "size doesn't matter" was a man with a tiny whoop-ti-doo.  Of course, creativity and motivation can compensate... Lastly for today, my dear friend, Erick (not the one I married, another dear friend, Erick), sent me this funny that is making the rounds over the net.  It warmed the cockles of my hearts to read that there are folks out there who really, really need our protection, along with a life helmet.  These are written in first person, but I'm not the first person.  I didn't really have all of these experiences, so count the "I's" as someone else:   ONE Recently, when I went to McDonald's I saw on the menu that you could have an order of 6, 9 or 12 Chicken McNuggets. I asked for a half dozen nuggets. "We don't have half dozen nuggets," said the teenager at the counter. "You don't?" I replied. "We only have six, nine, or twelve," was the reply. "So I can't order a half dozen nuggets, but I can order six? " That's right. So I shook my head and ordered six McNuggets. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ TWO The paragraph above doesn't amaze me because of what happened a couple of months ago. I was checking out at the local Foodland with just a few items and the lady behind me put her things on the belt close to mine. I picked up one of those "Dividers" that they keep by the cash register and placed it between our things so they wouldn't get mixed. After the girl had scanned all of my items, she picked up the "Divider" looking it all over for the bar code so she could scan it. Not finding the bar code she said to me, "Do you know how much this is?" I said to her "I've changed my mind, I don't think I'll buy that today." She said "OK" and I paid her for the things and left.  She had no clue to what had just happened. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ THREE MAKES YOU WONDER HOW THESE PEOPLE CAN SURVIVE!!! A lady at work was seen putting a credit card into her floppy drive and pulling it out very quickly When inquired as to what she was doing, she said she was shopping on the Internet and they kept asking for a credit card number, so she was using the ATM "thingy." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ FOUR I recently saw a distraught young lady weeping beside her car. Do you need some help?" I asked. She replied, "I knew I should have replaced the battery to this remote door unlocker. Now I can't get into my car. Do you think they (pointing to a distant convenient store) would have a battery to fit this?"  Hmmm, I dunno. Do you have an alarm too?" I asked. No, just this remote thingy," she answered, handing it and the car keys to me. As I took the key and manually unlocked the door, I replied, "Why don't you drive over there and check about the batteries. It's a long walk." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ FIVE Several years ago, we had an Intern who was none too swift. One day she was typing and turned to a secretary and said, "I'm almost out of typing paper.  What do I do?" Just use copier machine paper," the secretary told her.  With that, the intern took her last remaining blank piece of paper, put it on the photocopier and proceeded to make five "blank" copies. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SIX I was in a car dealership a while ago, when a large motor home was towed into the garage. The front of the vehicle was in dire need of repair and the whole thing generally looked like an extra in Twister. I asked the manager what had happened. He told me that the driver had set the cruise control and then went in the back to make a sandwich. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SEVEN ------IDIOTS & COMPUTERS... My neighbor works in the operations department in the central office of a large bank. Employees in the field call him when they have problems with their computers. One night he got a call from a woman in one of the branch banks who had this question: I've got smoke coming from the back of my terminal. Do you guys have a fire downtown?" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ EIGHT Police in Radnor, Pennsylvania, interrogated a suspect by placing a metal colander on his head and connecting it with wires to a photocopy machine.  The message "He's lying" was placed in the copier, and police pressed the copy button each time they thought the suspect wasn't telling the truth.  Believing the "lie detector" was working, the suspect confessed. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Life is tough. It's tougher if you're stupid.  Let's all work hard to be a Buddha, exercise our minds and be our smartest selves.  :)  Life's easier that way. Meanwhile, I'm off to take my smart self to fix the carpet cleaner and get this house to shine. See you for the harvest tomorrow! Much Love, Friends, Katrina PS:  WOW!!!  Now THAT's some SERVICE on the HARVEST, baby!  While I was hitting "save" on this, I heard the mail hit the box and in it, was this letter: click to see Time for a thank you candle!! I mean, this is $1200 for having sex!  I'm good, don't get me wrong, but dayum! ;-)   9 October 2001 Artist unknown. © Lil Kitty, 2001-2002.