My mother-in-law passed away on June 2 from bacterial meningitis. Her passing was sudden and left her immediate family with bittersweet emotions.
Four days after she died, I bought Journalution along with Beth Jacobs’ Writing for Emotional Balance. I had started journaling in my early twenties, but fell out of the habit after I reentered the workforce in 2002. That was also the year my father-in-law suffered a massive stroke. So much happened during then and now that it was hard to sit down and think about what was going on for any length of time. Many good things have happened as well, which I also missed writing down. The latter I regret very much.
Both of my husband’s parents are gone now, and it’s such a strange feeling. In many ways, I was closer to them than I was to my own parents. They did so many nice things for me and my boys. I’ll be journaling a lot over the next year in order to capture those memories and to sort out some unresolved conflicts in several aspects of my life.
Quote from Journalution
Many great thinkers, artists, and intellectuals keep journals. It is a process of self-discovery unlike any other.
Journals are a great way to capture memories and emotions. They are also a great tool for achieving the goals in your life. The guides I mentioned above help you draw out and work through the emotions, both the positive and the negative, so that you can grow as a person. I’ll write a full review of them once I’m finished. In the meantime, I wanted to let you know of their existence.
make custom gifts at Zazzle
Yesterday was a very inspirational day that started off early. I’m not sure why, but I struggle to get up all week, only to spring awake on the weekends. As I was working on a design, I kept thinking about the bookmarkers I had mentioned in Friday’s post. There has to be a way to make them on Zazzle, I thought to myself. You’re just not being resourceful enough.
Sure enough, after I had uploaded my finished design, I began trawling through other stores and found this lady who is selling bookmarkers, using one of the business card templates. I couldn’t do anything else just then, because I had to take my son to the hair stylist.
I took a pair of Keds tennis shoes that I had designed (and can’t wear because of my stupid duck feet) to show her, fully expecting her to give me a polite smile and a “That’s cool.” response. Instead, her eyes lit up. She wanted my shoes, but couldn’t afford them right now. So we bartered with each other.
She asked me a lot of questions about the design process and what kinds of things sold on Zazzle. I told her that the shoes were the hardest to sell because they were so expensive, but that T-shirts are the bestsellers on that site. My only regret was that I didn’t have any business cards to give her, so that she could pass them to her clients. Next time.
I came away from that visit feeling elated and possessing new ideas. Another client had come while she was finishing up with my son. This client informed me that the 80s style was coming back. Although she wasn’t too happy about it, I’m glad we’re moving out of the Retro 70s, which hung around way too long.
I figured that once I returned home, I would start researching on that. No, I started thinking about Chapter 12 and how I really should be working on it. But I continued to procrastinate. The result of that procrastination is the mug you see above. Something about Clancy’s quote struck a chord with me. I created a T-shirt to go with the mug, and then I finally got started on the chapter. No, it’s not done yet. So close, though.
I’ve been working on Chapter 12 for what . . . a month now? It seems like longer. I had finished it two weeks earlier, only to accidentally erase it the moment I saved the next chapter. While the gist of the chapter remained in my mind, the internal monologue I had written was lost. I’m wading through this chapter, uncertain how I’m going to end it.
While I’ve been struggling with this chapter, I’ve been learning how to design fractal images, thanks to a new program I discovered called Fractal Domains. In the middle of that, I’ve taken up reading novels again, something which I’ve neglected for the past two years in favor of the Internet and writing. The main reason for that is that I’ve joined a book club.
I’ve known the host for years. She and I met at our sons’ elementary school, and we both love a good scary novel. But because the other women in the group aren’t too hip on reading anything scary, she chose Firefly Lane, by Kristin Hannah. If you were born anytime during the 1960’s, you’ll enjoy reading this book. I warn you, though, it’s a four-hanky story.
I tore through the first 100 pages in a weekend, while I waited for my fractal images to render. While I’ve been using this program for a few weeks now, I’m still finding myself in the experimental stage, tweaking the settings until I achieve an image that strikes me.
This was one of the first images I made that made me say, “Wow!” I used this image to create a mousepad, a print, a mug, and a magnet on my Zazzle store. If you’re not familiar with Zazzle, it’s very similar to CafePress, only easier for a newbie like me to use.
The one thing I was disappointed in was that they didn’t have the option to create bookmarkers. Then I got to thinking how great it would be to produce journals. It’s been a long time since I’ve written my life down in a journal, but I do use them to take notes on topics that I’m researching. So, last Sunday, I went to Lulu and downloaded some templates to create hardcover books. I have a few cover designs made already. Now, I need to design the interior pages. Then I need to decide whether or not to bother with ISBNs, since these are blank books.
I’m also considering using CreateSpace, since I can get ISBNs for free and an automatic listing on Amazon, if I understand their service correctly. I’m looking forward to seeing the finished product(s) next month. As of this weekend, however, I’m going to finish Chapter 12.
I came to bury one father and found out I had two. One is confirmed dead, and the other is presumed dead by a family I never knew. Both called themselves Bob. Though they looked identical, the subtleties were there. I thought I was the only one who knew, but I was wrong. I was wrong about a lot of things.
The house I’m living in now belonged to one of them or both of them. I don’t know. I don’t want this house, or their money, or their obligations. Most of all, I don’t want to know their secrets.
They talk to me from their respective grave sites, intruding my dreams with grotesque images of floating, rotting bodies. They refuse to let me rest until I recognize one of them among the small legion.
Awake, I look at old letters of my father’s mistress, filled with obsession for a man who despised her and their son. I watch the half-brother I barely know as he draws pictures of bridges with floating bodies beneath them. Such excruciating skill and detail for a grown man who can barely count to thirty. Does he understand what’s happening to him?
He’s afraid of our freaky cousin for reasons he refuses to tell me. This guy keeps lurking around, and it has nothing to do with our fathers’ money or possessions they left behind. Something deeper draws him to us, powerful and dark. I can’t see it yet, but I can feel it.
Tags: paranormal, paranormal fiction
I saw this lady’s name in the number one spot on Twitter’s trend list, but didn’t pay any attention to it until a subscriber gave this lady kudos. So, I clicked on it and found myself watching Britain’s version of America’s Got Talent. The contestant’s name was Susan Boyle. She was middle-aged, overweight, and plain.
Susan told the judges that she wanted to be a professional singer. They rolled their eyes at her. The audience did the same. I watched their reactions and thought, ‘This must be a parody. She’s going to start singing, and they’re going to laugh her off the stage.’
Then she began to sing I Dreamed A Dream from the musical Les Misérables. Her voice came out strong and clear. She didn’t crack a single note or go off key once. The crowd gave her a standing ovation. The judges, including the notorious Simon Cowell, gave her their highest score and verbal kudos.
I wish that I could have been there to hear this lady sing because video and pictures never really do anyone any justice. Instead, I retweeted that post I found on Twitter and went to work, elated by this woman’s victory.
The people in Susan Boyle’s hometown were not surprised by her victory. They knew that she would blow everybody away with her voice. “Never judge a book by its cover,” a pub owner said to a TV news reporter.
How true. If you haven’t seen this video yet, watch it.
Source: YouTube
Twitter Today is an excellent radio show that covers a variety of topics to help you build solid relationships with the people on Twitter and in life. Often, I come away from this show feeling inspired and good about what I am doing. If you haven’t listened to this show, you’re missing out.
The show’s host, Michele Price, is a ball of positive energy. We met back in December, when I made a complimentary Twitter background for her. We batted ideas back and forth regarding her background and this website. So, I was thrilled when she invited me to be a guest on her show to talk about how necessary it is to have your own custom Twitter background. It airs tomorrow at 7am PST, 10am EST. Don’t miss it!
To learn more about Michele, visit her at whoismicheleprice.com, TwitterProfitSecrets.com, and @prosperitygal.
I wake up every morning, telling myself not to read the headlines. Last week was particularly upsetting because my state’s teachers were preparing for the dreaded pink slip. While I’ve always had a sour feeling about California’s public school system, my immediate reaction was outrage. This isn’t the sector that needs trimming. We need teachers, police, and fire.
The California government has tens of thousands of useless bureaucratic “jobs” that no one would miss. Why don’t we start cutting there, first?
Our welfare population continues to grow by leaps and bounds, thanks to the illegal immigrants who keep pouring into this country. Why are we taking care of these people?? Deport them, and be done with it. To hell with Political Correctness. Get ‘em out of here. While we’re at it, let’s make self-serving moochers like Nadya Suleman pay back the taxpayers’ dollars they’ve stolen by working the fields. Welfare was designed to be a temporary solution, not a lifetime entitlement for lazy bastards.
Are prisons are overcrowded, they say? Let’s start by executing the people who are residing on Death Row. Forget about their human rights; they gave them up when they decided to butcher their victims in excruciating ways.
For the prisoners who are serving for lesser crimes: Strip all amenities such as weight training and cable TV from every prison in the country. Make them eat moldy bologna and wear pink, like Arizona’s Sheriff Joe. We can make them work the fields, too, right next to Nadya. Make prison life a deterrent, not a vacation spa!
Those are my solutions, take them or leave them.
Can you imagine working at the following Company? It has a little over 500 employees with the following statistics:
29 have been accused of spousal abuse
7 have been arrested for fraud
19 have been accused of writing bad checks
117 have bankrupted at least two businesses
3 have been arrested for assault
71 cannot get a credit card due to bad credit
14 have been arrested on drug-related charges
8 have been arrested for shoplifting
21 are current defendants in lawsuits
84 were stopped for drunk driving
Can you guess which organization this is?
It’s the 535 members of the United States Congress. The same group that perpetually cranks out hundreds upon hundreds of new laws designed to keep the rest of us in line.
The proverbial blind leading the blind.
In 2002, renowned Ghost Hunter , Carter Simms, was offered $5,000 to conduct a 3-day and 3-nihgt paranormal investigation of the infamous Masterson House . Twenty years earlier, Minister Joseph Masterson and his family were brutally murdered inside their home. With the aid of a videographer, a reporter, and spiritual advocate, Carter set out to prove or disprove claims that the Masterson House was haunted. What transpired is the most terrifying and tragic paranormal investigation in the history of modern Ghost Hunting .
The synopsis on Amazon.com (above) would have you believe that Death of a Ghost Hunter was based on a true story, as would the caption in the beginning of the movie. After some research, I found some commentary on the TAPS blog which leads me to believe that this is fiction . . . much like The Blair Witch Project. A good point that one of the commentators made was the lack of thanks to relatives and credits to resources.
Several things bugged me about this film: the reference to the infamous movie above, the low-budget acting and equally low-budget filming. Don’t expect any heart-stopping moments or Hollyweird gore. That said, I enjoyed this movie because of the backstory and the creepy elements (minus the “possession” episode, which is sooo tired), especially the Bible-thumping girl that came out of nowhere and invited herself into the paranormal investigation. Those two factors kept me watching long after I got tired of the main characters. I wanted to see how she fit into this story and what would ultimately become of her.
I felt that the ending was believable, if not the most creepiest aspect of the movie. While I wouldn’t rush out and buy the DVD, I didn’t regret renting it.
Recent Comments