Found on the Net

Rules for LIFE

1. You will receive a body.
You may like it or hate it, but it will be yours the entire period.

2. You will learn lessons.
You are enrolled in a full-time informal school called Life. Each day in this school you will have
the opportunity to learn lessons. You may like the lessons or think them irrelevant and stupid.

3. There are no mistakes, only lessons.
Growth is a process of trial and error: experimentation. The "failed" experiments are as much a part of the process as the experiments that ultimately "work."

4. A lesson is repeated until learned.
A lesson will be presented to you in various forms until you have learned it. When you have learned it, you can then go on to the next lesson.

5. Learning lessons does not end.
There is no part of life that does not contain its lessons. If you are alive, there are lessons to be learned.

6. "There" is no better than "here."
When your "there" has become a "here," you will simply obtain another "there" that will again look better than "here."

7. Others are merely mirrors of you.
You cannot love or hate something about another person unless it reflects something you love or hate about yourself.

8. What you make of your life is up to you.
You have all the tools and resources you need. What you do with them is up to you. The choice is yours.

9. Life is exactly what you think it is.
You create a life that matches your beliefs and expectations.

10. Your answers lie inside you.
The answers to life's questions lie inside you. All you need to do is look, listen, and trust.

11. You will forget all this.

12. You can remember it whenever you want.

April 22, 2007 - Song for this Earth

as the waters rise
and take back
dry land
while the sun still attracts
our planet
as we spin
round her core

and as the layers
that protect us
are vanishing

I sing a song
for this earth

as our friends the mammals
the fish, the bees, the snakes
all sea and land creatures
all things furry and
with legs and wings
in whose eyes
there is a knowing
far deeper than ours

are threatened
in their specieshood daily
their millennial existence
annihilated in our split seconds

I sing a song
for this earth

~Mary Steel 2005

BLUE'S CLUES 2 - Birthday Partying with Blue

Well, the 4th birthday was a BIG success!

Everything was ready when birthday guests started arriving...The boys had taken naps!!!!And everyone arrived "on time"- around 4pm.
So party games were able to start together...
Blues Clues "Notebooks" were passed around and Blue explained that we were trying to find clues to figure out what the BIG PARTY SURPRISE would be.
We all made Blue's Banana Pops for a nice snack to keep us happy while we did other things.The 1st CLUE was discovered as clean-up from the pops was under way - and everyone drew a WALL in their handy dandy notebook.
We quickly morphed into CRAFT activities of bug building and t-shirt painting.Blue's 2nd clue was discovered out the window, as that activity became less interesting and everyone drew a SLIDE in their notebook.
As the party was making it's way to the play room the 3rd clue "bounced" in to the room and everyone continued on to the "Thinking Chair"
My niece Rebekah was the first to figure out what the BIG SURPRISE was and then there was a mad rush to the door!
The kids had a BLAST on the Bounce House! Played on it and the other outside structures for quite some time....got them back inside with calls of presents and pizza....and then it was all over.
I'd call it a BIG SUCCESS! The kids were always focused on an activity - there was no fighting, no crying - just FUN!!!!
YAY!

Birthday Party Eve

Well - Tomorrow is the big day.
As hard as it is to believe, Ronnie turned 4 on Monday, but tomorrow is his PARTY! He requested another Blue's Clues Party several months ago...and everyone is set for a fun-filled afternoon.
Last year I was SO prepared for the Blue's Clues party - this year I've got A LOT more to do in the next 24 hours and I'm a little worried.

I have to go shopping today for a bunch of stuff...and put together goodie bags...and straighten the house...and figure out how to keep 7 sets of fingers from banging on the Piano tomorrow. (YES we have a piano now- will blog more later.)
The clues this year will be leading to the bounce house pictured above. I had started thinking about getting one of these SEVERAL weeks ago and hesitated to spend the money. SO, I got to the Tuesday before the party, yes 4-10 and still had no idea what we were going to do. On Wednesday I started calling everywhere I could think to call to see if anyone had any in stock to pickup - NO LUCK. So I went on ebay to try to find a local place - NO LUCK. So I called one of the ebay stores and asked how much it would cost for 2 day shipping....the lady said it would double the price. BUT she also said that normal ground delivery from her (Illinois) to New Jersey should only take 2 days. So, I ordered it and started praying!
Thankfully someone was listening - it is right now sitting on the UPS delivery truck ready to be dropped off at my house.

Unfortunately my prayers did not include weather wishes...and it is kinda iffy for tomorrow.
I do have a bunch of activities lined up so that if the bounce doesn't work for this party - at least we'll still have fun stuff to do.
T-shirt decorating....with special fabric markers and beads...

Banana Pop Creations - bananas with PB or Yogurt dipped in crunchy toppings YUM

Egg Carton Bugs...

Pin the pawprint on Blue

And of course playing BLUES CLUES!!!
More to come....

Ten of Cups

Last night some friends and I met to do some divination work.
We shuffled the deck of tarot cards thinking about all the myriad things we are in the process of doing, all of the things we need to do, and all of the things we want in our lives.
We laid cards (face down) to represent each thing. And then - instead of picking a card/cards from the bunch and selecting something - we removed cards - eliminating things. We left ourselves with only one card - and each of us had a powerful message.
Mine was Ten of Cups. I wish I had the exact card image to display...I might try to get it and scan it to post later....It is a beautiful card with a rainbow and ten golden chalaces - calm waters and happy, satisfied people.
Here are the explanations I have found on the 'net...

10 of Cups: Count It All As Joy (c) Cheryl Lynne Bradley 2006
Joy is the will which labors, which overcomes obstacles, which knows triumph. -William Butler Yeats
The excursion is the same when you go looking for your sorrow as when you go looking for your joy. - Eudora Welty
Capacity for joy Admits temptation. - Elizabeth Barrett Browning Aurora Leigh (bk. I, l. 703)
We live in a world which is increasingly difficult to understand and to navigate. Morals, ethics and justice seem to be taking a back seat to greed, rampant consumerism, hatred and misuse of power on a global scale. The problems facing our world are all products of the corruption and self-destructive, self-absorbed lean of our society and our increasingly pessimistic view of what the future could hold. It doesn't look promising at all.when we see how many people in our world don't get enough to eat, don't get proper medical care, live in battle zones or have known nothing but war, unrest and persecution (real or perceived).
The 10 of Cups in the Tarot is a happy card. It contains images of happy families, rainbows and gives us a sense of joy and emotional fulfillment. Wouldn't it be wonderful if life could always be this full of happiness and contentment. The reality is that life is hard and sorrow is always plentiful. Our situations can change quickly, without reason or rhyme. As I always say, people can be cruel and disappointing far more often than they can be compassionate and supportive. Sometimes I think people are bored with their own purposeless lives (and so boring) that they have nothing better to do than be mean, petty and hateful. This card tells me that the people depicted have chosen to count only joy.
I believe that this card is telling us that no matter what is happening in our lives, no matter how difficult the situation we are in, that we have to count and consider it all as joy. We have to learn to fill ourselves up on the beauty of the past and the hope of the future, and to keep only these things in our heart. It is easy to get stuck on thoughts of what might have been, what could have been, what should have been and what we wanted it to be. It is much harder in some situations to accept the reality of what was. It is difficult to be clear and in the present when we are dwelling on events in our past that cannot be changed, but that may have been deeply devastating or traumatic for us. It overshadows any of the joys we may have experienced in that same past, but those joys were there, they did occur and they deserve to be remembered.
http://members.tripod.com/TarotCanada/10CupsCountItAllAsJoy.html
I do not see the 10 of cups as completion, (10 Fish in the Merlin Tarot by RJ Stewart).
I read the 10 of water as fertility it's self, (this is key). Emotional openess equals vulnerability and fertility. This is the type of vulnerability and openess that precurses pregnacy. (note:pregnancy is not an end result, quite the opposite actually). The Ace of Fire penetrates the 10 and we have conception, conception of an idea, an action and or a life
In this, the 10 of water stands as emotional history and the perception of that history and it's not repeating. Not knowing what to expect leaves one feeling vulnerable, (to say the least) regardless of how positive the difference. Simply being open to new experience leaves one with feelings of vulnerability and various levels of fears, but not locked into any one particular state. The 10 shows the openess, the movement, the changeability and most of all, the fact that there will be movement out of the 10.
The 10 is not as much about the current state as it is about how the current state can and will change.
http://www.care2.com/c2c/share/detail/247414
With the 10 of Cups as your Daily Tarot Card... (This is the ACKNOWLEDGMENT card! It says: I appreciate what I have!) Today you ought to count your lucky stars, and revel in your good fortune! You have something to be happy about, so why not allow yourself to smile and enjoy it? Take the time to acknowledge whatever it is that is so good in your life now, for this is a day to take a break from the challenges of life...and stop to smell the roses instead!
http://www.tarotscopes.com/10cups.html

Spring is the Thing!!

I know I haven't written much lately - it's those conflicts of work vs motherhood again.I'll write all about it once the conflict (ie the work) has settled down to a manageable level.

On a brighter note - SPRING HAS SPRUNG! - below are some thoughts on these two topics...

For the love of gardening is a seed that once sown never dies, but always grows and grows to an enduring and ever increasing source of happiness. Gertrude Jekyll

Spring Cleaning
Time for tulips, worms, resurrection
The tulips open and close, open and close
Like breathing wings
Testing the possibility of spring
Time for dawn to lick out the last
Of that rich dark bowl of night
And bleed her own colors into the world
Branches that were bare just last week
Shoot volleys of blossom in the sun
And green wood on the apple tree takes off
Like an arrow into the sky
Even old beams in the house begin to softly sing
Of leaves and the fresh arc of wind
Time to take a spade and shove sharply
With your heel in its old rubber boot-
TURN OVER YOUR LIFE
See what survived, shake out the bugs
Get some air in the roots
Throw out piles of papers,
Unfinished projects
Like layers of old mulch
In the morning your heart is still
A cupped leaf holding dew
If you can match that stillness
And look into the sweet water of your own heart
You may catch the wild promise, a goddess just waking
The magic of your own rebirth

Miriam Dyak 1996

There Is a Need to ROAR
So, where do we go to ROAR
Where do we stand and stomp and shout
Where do we clench our fists and bubble like lava
There's no place to ROAR but this white flat page
(which chars at my touch)
To ROAR with such power and rage and anguish
That people run, windows break
Rocks leap, and trees grip the earth
To ROAT with such ferocity and fangs and spit
That the jagged ripples wreck and wreak havoc
Sidewalks split, buckle and grind to dust
Cars flip and collide like toys, asphalt melts and returns
To its prehistoric liquid pit in the earth
To ROAR and vibrate with every angry molecule who already
Exists aching for expression
Summon volcanoes and earthquakes
Tidal waves and tornadoes who wait for just this moment
Join the universal burn
The need to ignite, to change, to start over, to cleanse
Open your mouth wide
Because there is a need to ROAR

Elizabeth Kelly 2005