Psychic Bites

Originally the practice of tithing was adopted and set into practice by the Christian church. The act of tithing, which at one time was a statute law in pre Normand England was to give one tenth of the “fruits” or “profits” from your labor to the minister of your religion in recognition of God being the Supreme Being. In our time of course this practice still continues but is done on a voluntary basis.

Now that I have shared what tithing is defined as and how it was established lets shift gears and get to the heart of the matter.

Have you ever noticed that when you seemed strapped for cash everything starts to go wrong? The more that goes wrong the more you stressed out you become. The more stressed out you become the more that goes wrong. You are now stuck in this viscous cycle and all you can think about is crawling into a corner, curling up into a little ball and crying.

How do you stop this cycle? Simple you give back. I found this method years ago and with-in weeks I noticed everything was getting better and my cash flow was growing leaps and bounds over what it was even before my worries had started. I also notice when I stop doing this I end up back in “want” and “need”.

I call this “Blessing Bucks”; I have no idea what it is really called. This is what you do. Take multiple one dollar bills and on the back of them write a short blessing or prayer with a black marker. I always write “may you be blessed with health, wealth and love”. To me that just covers everything. Place these “blessed” ones in your wallet. When you are out and about or doing errands hide a single one where it is sure to be discovered.  Side Note: Do not let anyone see you do this! Do not just drop it on the ground and walk off! My favorite places are in the baby aisle tucked in between packages of diapers or formula, in the job ads of the paper and my favorite, in the lotto slips that are used to pick your numbers. I always like to imagine someone will use that dollar to buy their ticket, win and pay it back to others.

Maybe this is just the law of the Universe working “you get what you give”. Maybe it works for me because I believe. Either way I hope if you give it a try it works as well for you as it does for me and may you all be blessed with health, wealth and love.

I believe everyone can agree that it is a universal fact of life that every human being wants to be loved. That is to say on a deeper level we all want someone to call our own, to have just that one special someone who will forsake all others, stand by us through thick and thin and have an unbreakable bond filled with trust and respect. This blissful accomplishment would surely make the heavens part and champagne flow.

This parting of the heavens seems to come easy for some, you may even know one of them and wonder now how did they do that, why are they so lucky, why are men always tripping over themselves to get to her or a bit of the green eyed monster comes out and you openly declare in your frustrated state “what is so special about her”. Honestly, nothing, more than likely. She is probably your equal in every way except in her methods or “attitudes” if you will about dating.

At a recent gathering I had the pleasure of encountering an acquaintance that is as she puts it “still single”!  I and everyone else were soon to find out this is a point of contention for her. After a couple glasses of wine she rather loudly proclaimed that the opposite sex are a bunch of scoundrels,  she is tired of dating and tired of putting herself out there only to fall flat on her face. It seems her foray in the dating world only goes two ways she is either viscously dumped with no reasonable explanation or worse she fails to capture the eye of the object of her affection.  

Lucky her, as her boisterous proclamation was great bait to draw out the nearly twenty men in the room who were at all stages in relationships. Single, married and divorced and they were all too willing to help or should I say set her straight. As one man said “I smell desperation, it is a turn off and I run as fast as I can in the opposite direction”.  So below I will list the top offenses these men agreed upon. If you find yourself in the same situation as our dear friend mentioned above and want to see where you fall on the “desperation meter” read on, be honest with yourself and remember to laugh when you can say “oh no, that’s me” or “I’ve done that”.  

As a disclaimer I would like to mention as the men were going on the ladies in the room also had things to say but for the purpose of this article I will leave that for another time. So with an attempt of humor here we go.

The Huntress: The huntress has one thing on her mind and that is securing a husband. She treats every potential relationship as this one will be the one. She wastes no time in inquiring if her prey is open to matrimony. Time is of the essence with the huntress and securing verbal declarations of love and commitment and within a very short period are very important to know as this reveals if one is “wasting her time”. The prey has a good nose for smelling out the huntress and avoids being snared. Advices of said prey, please show some reasonable patience with us, relax and go with the flow and enjoy getting to know me. Three to six weeks or even three months may not be quite long enough to have “like” turn into “love” and figure out if we are marriage material. Pushing or ultimatums will produce the opposite of the desired outcome.

The Stalker:  The stalker is the equivalent of a human GPS. She uses all technology and methods at her disposal to let the object of her affection know she is there for him twenty four seven.  Cell phone calls, texting and online social networks are all wonderful   for tracking and making sure he does not forget her. The social pages are also excellent to being alerted to another female’s presence. There are some stalkers that believe they are not doing a thorough job without the old fashion drive by multiple times a week. The stalkee’s advice, it is really scary you have so much time on your hands to devote to us. We have to work, eat, sleep and maintain friends and family just like you. Your constant attention towards us gives us no time to miss you and makes us wonder if you are completely needy, a danger (rephrased in a nice term) or you simply do not trust us. Either way whether you are trying to secure a date or continue dating the stalker method rated two hand cuffs down.

The Emoticon: The emoticon is wonderful at always sharing heartfelt emotions. She strives to assure how very wonderful he and their relationship are. This is more than just the nice ego strokes we all deserve; as it comes in the constant forms of calls, letters, messages and gifts assuring him of her undying sweetness. Recounting in detail about how absolutely wonderful every waking second you spend together is flawless is a must. There is no love stronger then theirs and certainly no one could love him more than her.  The adored ones advice, we think you are wonderful also, and appreciate you recognize our good qualities but we want a girlfriend not a smothering mother.  An important side note on this, the men stated if they were on the fence about breaking up these behaviors and trying to get them to express their feelings about the relationship repeatedly would make them shut the door completely.

The Princess: The princess is entitled and therefore obligations and protocol must be followed if you are to date with-in the royal court. As a suitor you must acknowledge that said princess comes first and all outside activities must be approved. If it is deemed you are friends with someone we find unsavory you must relinquish said person. Calls must be made on an hourly basis and you must be available twenty four seven. Any plans must be done days if not weeks in advance. Trinkets of your affection are highly encouraged. If there is failure to comply it will be noted that you are obviously flawed, lacking in judgment and simply do not care about our needs. Be warned you will be in serious danger of being cast aside after a proper tongue lashing. Advice from the toad, even if we adore you; if you constantly beat us down are high maintenance and smothering it will only result in diminished calls and contact.

To say the least my evening out was illuminating. It is interesting to find out the view of the opposite sex and what drives them away. In the rule full disclosure and honesty I must reveal that I have been married once before and my current husband of seventeen years smirked at me on occasion as this discussion was going on. My reply, that’s ok honey, I know and openly acknowledge I have at times worn my highly polished tiara proudly.

Make Lemon Meringue Tart…. Now I must confess I am a chocoholic to the core and have to declare myself grateful that there is no legal limit on this luscious sweet for if there was I am sure I would often be found at least twice over that legal limit and would without doubt be immediately sent  to chocoholic rehab for detoxification. But alas spring and Easter are almost here and this turns my thoughts and cravings to one of my other favorite sweets, my Great Aunt Camilla’s Lemon Meringue Tart. This tart is creamy and not overly bitter like some meringue pies can be personally I think it is the lack of corn starch in the recipe. Hope you enjoy.

Pastry Crust:

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup unsalted butter at room temperature

1/4 cup granulated white sugar

1 large egg, lightly beaten

Lemon Curd:

3 large eggs

1/3 cup fresh lemon juice this is about 2-3 lemons  

3/4 cup granulated white sugar

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature and cut into small pieces

1 tablespoon lemon zest

Meringue:

4 large egg whites

1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons white granulated sugar

1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar

Pastry Crust:

In a separate bowl, sift together the flour and salt.  Set aside.  Place the butter in the mixer and beat until softened.  Add sugar and beat until light and fluffy. Gradually add the beaten egg, beating just until incorporated. Don't over mix or the butter will separate and lighten in color. Add flour mixture all at once and mix just until it forms a ball.  Don't overwork or pastry as it will be hard instead of flakey when baked.  

Flatten dough into disk, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for about 30 minutes.

Ready an 8 - 9 inch tart pan with removable bottom.  On a lightly floured surface, roll out the pastry into an 11 - 12 inch circle that is about 1/8 inch thick.  To prevent the pastry from sticking to the counter and to ensure uniform thickness, keep lifting up and turning the pastry a quarter turn as you roll. To make sure it is the right size, take your tart pan, flip it over, and place it on the rolled out pastry.  The pastry should be about an inch larger than pan.

When the pastry is rolled to the desired size, lightly roll pastry around your rolling pin, dusting off any excess flour as you roll.  Unroll onto top of tart pan.  Never pull pastry or you will get shrinkage.  Gently lie in pan and with a small floured piece of pastry, lightly press pastry into bottom and up sides of pan.  Roll your rolling pin over top of pan to get rid of excess pastry. Press dough into the pan with your thumb.  Roll rolling pin over top again to get rid of any extra pastry.  Prick bottom of dough.  Cover and refrigerate for about 20 minutes.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F and place rack in center of oven.  Line unbaked pastry shell with parchment paper or aluminum foil.  Fill tart pan with pie weights, making sure the weights are to the top of the pan and evenly distributed over the entire surface.  Bake the crust for 20 to 25 minutes or until the crust is dry and lightly golden brown.  

Lemon Curd:

While the crust is baking make the Lemon Curd.  In a stainless steel bowl placed over a saucepan of simmering water, whisk together the eggs, sugar, and lemon juice until blended.  Whisking constantly to prevent it from curdling, cook until the mixture becomes pale in color and quite thick (like sour cream) and 160 degrees F on a thermometer.  About 10 minutes.  Remove from heat and immediately pour through a fine strainer to remove any lumps.  Cut the butter into small pieces and whisk into the mixture until the butter has melted.  Add the lemon zest.  Immediately pour the lemon curd into the baked crust and smooth the top.

Reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees F.  Bake the tart for about 10 minutes or until the lemon curd is firm but still a little wobbly in the center.  Do not let it brown or burn. 

Meringue:

In a clean bowl whisk the egg whites until foamy.  Add the cream of tartar and continue beating until soft peaks form.  Gradually add the sugar and continue to whip until stiff peaks form.

Place dollops of the meringue over the entire surface of the hot lemon curd.  Make sure the meringue comes right up to the crust and there are no gaps between the crust and the lemon curd. Then, with a back large spoon, gently press down on the meringue to get rid of any air pockets and to make sure all the lemon curd is covered with the meringue. Return the tart to the oven and bake for about 10 to 15 minutes or until the meringue has nicely browned.

Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool 

The Anti Valentine….

As I promised in yesterday’s blog about Valentines, today we are going to take a look at the other side of this upcoming holiday. To several out there the Valentines holiday is about one thing, love; romance and the wooing of that someone special but for many others this holiday is well, not a holiday to be celebrated at all.

The Anti Valentines movement appears to be a sentiment that is growing by leaps and bounds. As I set out to my research on the subject I was overwhelmed by the sheer number of sites (most of which the authors wrote with great humor) that proclaimed the holiday to just be either plain evil and designed to make single people everywhere feel bad or simply against the consumerism  associated with the day. One site an anonymous female relives that a few years ago she built so much expectations around the holiday that when her someone special failed to live up to her expectations she became convinced he was dating others and kicked the man to the curb. A action she ended up regretting because he was a good man and it was one of the best relationships she had ever had. Needless to say now she does not buy into what she called the Valentines hoopla.

Before I go further I believe I should state my stance on Valentines. I find myself to be ambivalent about the day.  I am all for love, but it is my belief that everyone deserves a great partner that will love, honor and respect them 365 days a year. In my opinion it is the little things that your someone special does for you on all the other days that truly defines the relationship not a gift given out of pressure, expectation or obligation due to the calendar reading February 14^th. Granted I’ll take flowers out of the blue for no reason but, my car being washed so I don’t have to or the simple act my husband reaching for my hand and holding it every time we go out just because he enjoys being near me and my personal favorite picking up the doggy doo, now that screams”I love you” to me!! In case you are wondering we do exchange cards in our home they are always humorous and lovingly signed by our two dogs and our cat.

Ok, so on with the what I have found out about the upsurge of Anti Valentines movement. This year American Greetings added ten new Anti Valentines cards to their lineup. Hallmark says it ramped up their selection years ago when they started to notice this trend. Café Press stated it doubled it line of t-shirts, sticker and cards  going from 11,000 last year to over 22,000 available items this year. Several sites are dedicated to “SAD” which stands for “Singles Awareness Day” that include how to throw parties that all will enjoy and how to treat yourself on February 14^th. Some of my personal favorites I found was a bar in Ohio that is featuring the top 20 meanest love songs and a featured drink of the evening called “Love Stinks” and San Francisco’s 5th annual anti-Valentine's Day Cabaret and Musical Extravaganza, "Love Bites, My Dog Bites, And My Pickup Truck Won't Start."

So there you have it …my wish for you on this beloved or dreaded holiday is to feel no pressure have fun and feel great about yourself no matter what you do or who you spend it with. I would also like to invite all of you to share your favorite Valentines story whether “Love is evoL” or makes love made you swoon. Humor is appreciated!  

February is here and our expectations are running high as in less than a week flowers, gifts and cards will be given and then candle light dinners will all be hosted in the name of Saint Valentine. Ah Amore’.  

But have you ever wondered who this Saint Valentine is and why countries around the globe celebrate February 14^th in honor of his name? From the research I have done on the net February 14th as we know it “a day of love” did not really catch on until around the middle ages in France and England where it was noted that this date of all thing was the beginning bird mating season. Up until then, well… history tells me that when it comes to Saint Valentine there is more than just a few interesting stories out there of who he is and how this holiday came to be.

To start us off, who was St. Valentine? Here a just a couple of accounts. The first I found is sweet and alleges Valentine actually sent the first 'valentine' greeting himself. The story goes that he was a prisoner  and fell in love with the jailor's daughter and before his death he wrote her a letter, which he signed 'From your Valentine,' and this is the expression that we still use today.  

The second legend contends that Valentine was a priest who served in Rome. When the Emperor decided that single men made better soldiers he outlawed marriage for the young would be soldiers. Valentine, who felt this, was an injustice defied the Emperor by performing marriages in secret. When Valentine's actions were discovered, the Emperor ordered that he be put to death. Yikes!

Next up, the marriage lotto! A most eyebrow raising story, that contends the Christian church may have decided to celebrate Valentine's day in the middle of February in an effort to reform and outlaw the celebration of the pagan Lupercalia festival a festival the then Pope felt un-Christian. The Lupercalia festival was a basically fertility festival dedicated to the Roman god of agriculture, and to the Roman founders. Lore states that the ‘Luperci”, which was an order of Roman priests, would gather at the sacred cave where the infants Remus and Romulus (the founders of Rome) were believed to have been cared for by “lupa”, a she wolf. The priests would then sacrifice a goat, for fertility, and a dog, for purification. The goat's hide was cut into strips, dipped in the sacrificial blood and then was used to touch the all single women and crops with-in the city. Later all the young single ladies whom had been touched or blessed would place their names in a urn and the bachelors would each choose a name out of the urn they were then paired for a year which often resulted in marriage. Boy, modern day dating site have nothing on these guys! Talk about your instant match.

Now on to some facts from the Greeting Card Association:

·         The first Valentine on record was sent in 1415 from Charles the Duke of Orleans to his wife and is part of the manuscript collection of the British Library in London, England.

·          Esther A. Howland, in the 1840s, began to sell the first mass-produced valentines in America.

·         Valentine's Day the second largest card-sending holiday of the year.

·         Approximately 85 percent of all valentines are purchased by women.

So there we have it brief and rather amazing mixed accounts of St Valentine and Valentine’s Day there were so many more stories of this man and this holiday that it would take pages and hours to write not to mention I never got to were Cupid came from, the one thing I can say for sure after hours of research St. Valentine was indeed of Roman time. Thank goodness the French and English did step in the make this holiday one of the heart for all the romantics of the world. Join me tomorrow when for fun I look at a growing trend of the “The Anti Valentine”!

I want to wish all of you a wonderful holiday. I hope you find yourselves blessed to be surrounded by the ones  you love and love you. I hope all of you are safe, warm, healthy and at peace.  May abundance and prosperity be with you through the season and in the New Year.

Blessed Be,

Annette

I just adore this Pear, Apple, Cranberry crumble it is one of my favorite recipes for this time of the year as it bakes it fills our home with the aroma of fall. I hope you enjoy it as much as we do if you decide to give this recipe a whirl.                                       

Crumble Topping:

3/4 cup all purpose flour

3/4 cup light brown sugar

3/4 cup old-fashioned rolled oats

1/3 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

1/2 cup  unsalted butter, cut into pieces

Filling:

1/4 cup  light brown sugar

1/4 cup  white granulated sugar

1/2 tablespoon cornstarch

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 pounds Granny Smith Apples or other firm, tart-tasting apple - peeled, cored, and sliced into 1/4 inch thick slices

1 1/2 pounds ripe Bartlett or Anjou Pears, peeled, cored and cut into thick slices

2 cups fresh cranberries, rinsed, drained, and picked over.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees and place rack in the center of the oven.  Butter or spray with a nonstick cooking spray, a 2 1/2 quart casserole or oval gratin dish, or a 10 inch deep dish pie plate.  Set aside.

For Crumble Topping:  Combine the flour, sugar, oats and nuts in a large bowl.  Cut the butter into small pieces and blend into the flour mixture with a pastry blender or two knives. The mixture should be crumbled to about the size of peas.  Set aside while you prepare the filling.

For Filling:  In a large bowl combine the sugars, cornstarch, ground cinnamon and salt.  Peel, core, and slice the apples and pears and toss them, along with the cranberries, in the sugar mixture.  Once thoroughly combined transfer to the prepared baking dish.  Spread the topping evenly over the fruit.

Bake for approximately 35-45 minutes or until the topping is golden brown and crisp.  Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool for at least 15 minutes before serving.  Serve with softly whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.  Refrigerate leftovers and reheat before serving.

A friend of mine told me about the use of St. Joseph statues when she was selling her home about two years ago and I tucked this info away until a couple of nights ago when the use of St Joseph popped up on my local evening news in relation to the five year low in home sales. Wanting to know just how popular this has become off to the web I went...so, ok I also had nothing to write about and thought it might be interesting tidbit to blog.

First a little background info and how this came to be and how it is used today.

This "miracle" has it roots in Catholicism. According to the tradition, burying St. Joseph began hundreds of years ago in Europe. St. Teresa of Avila, a nun in the 16th century, buried a medal of the saint and prayed to St. Joseph to help secure land for a convent. The ritual is said to have worked, and so the trend of burying St. Joseph has caught on.

So what did my online reseach show? Well upon doing a simple search there were hundreds of sites to choose from to purchase this statue and close to a hundred articles printed in the past three months across the US including one in the Wall Street Journal. Who Knew!

The articles ranged from very serious, a priest feeling this practice was just not quite right and maybe it better to place the statue in a place of honor in the home, to down right funny, a lady who stated she and her husband snuck out into the front yard in the middle of the night to bury the little guy upside down so the home owners association would not see them and that no relative would be driving by since she was of Jewish faith.

So does it work? I can't say, but it does make me smile that a simple little statue can bring and give hope to so many.

Over the years our home has seen its fair share of guest and when I say guest yes I am referring to those in spirit.  In our home they seem to gravitate to the use of electronic devices in the most ingenious ways to get our attention. Here are a couple that stand out.

Hello who’s calling??? In my office we have a two line phone, one line is a working number and one line is not. As I would sit giving readings or working on other things the non working line would repeatedly flash as if a call was coming in or as if someone was on hold.  At first I thought well a defective phone so off I went to the store receipt and phone in hand to get an exchange. New phone, same results so next step call in the phone company because clearly there must be something wrong in the wiring…wrong again. So one night at an open gallery reading that I do I told my story and the feedback from other readers in the audience was “oh yes they love electronics” and they relayed their stories. A clever man in the audience surmised and quipped “so it really is a dead line!”  To his delight he got great laughs from his conclusion.

It’s time to help with remodeling. Over the past year we have remodeled our front room turning it from a sitting room that was not being used to a library. First step sell the old furniture. Armed with my camera in hand I arranged the furniture for pictures so it could be listed online in the local paper to be sold. Click, click, click and to the computer to download. Huumm visitors, beautiful orbs all over…lets try these pictures again. This goes on two more times until I say out loud while laughing “come on guys, I am glad you are here you are welcome but please I need clear pictures without you in them.” Of course being polite they obliged and clear pictures were had on this try.

We like the new furniture. In the room there is now a large library piece that expands across the back wall it has lighting with a clever little touch pad with four lighting levels low, medium, high and of course off. With-in a week of receiving this we would walk by the room and the light would be on; we would turn it off only to have it back on. We knew exactly what was happening but just in case had the company out to look at it to make sure there was nothing electrical wrong. As we suspected all was in perfect working order.  So we adopted and continue with the attitude of simply saying hello, welcome the visit, turn off the light and go about our business.

I hope you enjoyed this little story about some of the occurrences in our home that it made you smile and maybe even brought a little laughter to your day! Have a great weekend!

I would like to take a moment to introduce and welcome Readings With Charles.  Charles is a gifted Intuitve Tarot Reader, he has several years of not only reading the tarot but teaches it as well to new tarot enthusist in his local community. He possess a calming demenor and delivers straight forward answers and insights to your questions.

http://www.keen.com/listingdetails/Tarot-Readers/Readings-with-Charles/0-0-0-7017645

How psychic am I? Can I become psychic?  These are questions I and so many other readers are often asked by clients. So here is my own personal take on the subject and please remember this is just one persons opinion as she has learned it through the years.

I indeed do believe that we are all psychic yes, each and every one of us. I believe we all have multiple gifts in varying degrees and it's up to us to make a conscience choice to open the doors to this wonderful energy and to learn how to use it. Let me take a step back, the dictionary tells us that the word “psychic” is from the Greek word “psychikos”, meaning “of the soul”. We are all souls right so then by definition, we are all able to access, receive and then transmit information that reaches beyond our physical body and the five senses. Wow, is it any wonder then when a person decides to throw open these doors it can be quite a spiritual awakening.

I know this is where you ask if we are all psychic then how come I don’t feel it.  Several reasons come to mind. Sure, some of us are lucky to be born into families that encourage us to stay tuned in to this natural connection and continue use and develop your gifts throughout life. Some of us it is just pushed out and stays open when a great trauma occurs in our life. Some of us ok most of us are subject to being taught from the time we were small children that anything psychic is bad so we jam up our psychic frequency and as life continues we are so busy and stressed that we never stopped to tune in. 

Tapping into the energy, getting tuned in and raising your vibration is like anything in life this takes practice, patience and the ability to get out of your own way so remember to tell the ego to go sit off in a corner while you practice. Read books, find locale groups with like type interest or ask your favorite keen reader what they do when they get clogged or what they did to get so good with their gifts. Some things I like to do is going to open gallery and delivering messages or being a guest in classes for people who are developing and letting them read me, btw the energy with these are fabulous. I also meditate, place a time on when exactly my husband will be home or play who is calling when the phone rings and my favorite game is sending telepathic messages back and fourth with one of my dear friends who is on the coast.

Now please do not think I am saying we all have it in us to be the next John Edward or Colette Baron-Reid but one can certainly expect to look at life differently, respond to it differently and in essence become a truer, happier version of you.

   Hello, and welcome to Psychic Bites. I am Annette and I am  a fourth generation psychic, but only the second my family to use my gifts on a professional level. I possess the gifts of Clairvoyance and Clairaudience. In addition to my natural gifts I was taught to read the cards by a method called  Intuitive Tarot by a dear friend.

   I grew up mainly in the Midwest but have lived all over the US and some areas of Europe. Unfortunately most of this travel comes from my childhood, something I would like to work on changing. I grew up as an only child to a single mother who worked two jobs to keep us afloat. When I was not with my mother I was under the care of my grandmother, who is largely the reason for the name of this blog and I will get to that in a moment.

   The great loves in my life: One, my dear husband of fifteen years. Yes, as with all relationships we have seen "the good, the bad and the ugly" which I believe by the grace of God has only made us stronger as a twosome and as individuals. My second love is our animals both here with us and on the other side. We curently have only two, Madison, our seven year old yellow lab and Simone our fifteen month old kitten. Third of course it goes without saying my family,  friends and dear clients I have met over the years.

   My favorite thing to find balance: This is where my Grandmother comes into play for the name of this blog. Grandma is a great cook, there is nothing this lady cannot make. As a child being with her a large amount of time I would be under foot constantly as she prepared this or that with great love and pride for the family and the loads of friends that she would entertain. Grandma's solution... put me to work, and well it stuck with me all these years. I have found cooking (not eating) is one of the best ways for me to find my balance, quiet my mind and simply ground me. The entertaining part is just the icing on the cake so to speak as I find great joy to look around my kitchen and see my family and friends eating, drinking, laughing and sharing over good nosh.  I will be placing a section in this blog that I will post recipes, for both tummy and body,  that I have tweaked and developed over the years.

   Other Joys: Gardening and reading. There is always work to be done in the landscaping and in our house the deal is my husband does the yard and I take care of all plants and flowers. I have found not everything grows well in the Texas heat...so like I said there is always something to be done. I am currently reading several books, for joy, Essential Spirituality by Roger Walsh and for continuing education Therapist as Life Coach and Total Life Coaching both by Patrick Williams.

   My wish for you: May Peace always find you and yours and may you find your balance in the things you love.