THINGS I'VE NOTICED

I opted not to listen to or watch the State of the Union speech. I followed the results however. Did you know BHO (my shorthand for Barack Hussein Obama--hell froze over, how did a man with a Muslim name get to be President! People being too politically correct I think.)

It is time BHO and Congress realized that they are our public SERVANTS not our Masters! BHO should be bowing down to us, not to our enemies!!!!

I notice that BHO thinks that "cooperation" means he thinks we should all kowtow to him and agree with him on everything. If we don't we aren't cooperating.

BHO thinks that the average income of Americans is $85,000 a year.

BHO is out of touch? Nay, he's got a problem with the language! He keeps trying to change the meanings of all of our words for one thing. I think this is as a result of his failing his ESL classes (English as a second language).

I predicted on the day after the election in 2008 that BHO would leave his job in disgrace within eighteen months.

I am not burying my head in the sand by not listening to anything he says. I believe in the adage "Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice shame on me" I've heard all of his lies and I don't buy them anymore. I knew first time I heard him speak he speaks in "circle language" he goes around and around very oratorically saying nothing.

The only 'CHANGE" BHO has perpetrated is changing the meaning of all of our words, and trying to change this country from a Republic to a Socialist Country. They haven't given much credit to the tea parties. Neither did the British and look where it got them with the colonies. We are a very independent people. The mistake Progressive Democrats make is believing that we are too dumb to decide our own futures. They don't know that we are smart enough to change their futures.l

THE ECONOMY - PROTECT YOURSELF

I think we have to face the fact that the government is running this country into the ground and we are about to face dire financial conditions for the country. This doesn't mean it has to effect you. I predict there will come a time when we will have to start over again on most everything. Government is bankrupting the country, and our only hope is to save ourselves. They will get kicked out and we will recover...then we have to start over.

First thing is we have to stop sending money to China and other countries, but particularly to China. If you shop for anything at Walmart or even Macy's this is hard to do. Everything is "made in China". Make do with what you've got. Only buy necessities you cannot live without if they are made in China! Even be so particular as to try to buy things made in any other country besides China! Make do with what you've got. Fix old equipment and keep on using it, particularly if it was made in the US. In the meantime, think about what sort of things we are going to be needing that presently comes from somewhere else. Think about a way to provide our own version of American made products. Find a niche and fill it. Make American jobs making American products.

Quantum Physics and God

We are each elements in the structure of the atom that is the Universe. The atom is energy surrounded by more energy. Protons, neutrons and electrons. Every cell in our body is also composed of many atoms. All of the atoms in the Universe are held together by vibrational energy that forms matter. This concept is very spiritually meaningful to me. In that knowledge is the understanding of manifestation of one's desires. I haven't got it mastered yet but I'm working on it. Work on it with me!! I know you can. P.S. The vibrational energy that runs in and through everything is called God, The Almighty, Source, etc.

On top of that knowing your soul, spirit, non-physical part of yourself never dies and is always connected to All that is...i.e., every other atom in the Universe...a big gulp to take in...but understanding that is also necessary.

Getting into harmony with your non-physical self and your physical self, i.e., loving your non-physical self with your physical self and vice versa is how you get in harmony. Then understanding the emotions your physical self feels is like feeling a pain from a nerve that's been injured, telling you to fix something. i.e., to work your thought process from the feeling of fear, doubt, worry to a more positive place. The first time is hard, but it gets easier and easier, faster and faster. Keep working on it. Nothing is impossible and it's always too soon to give up.

Jana Lynn ShellmanIN GOD WE TRUSTAuthor of The Wish Factory: How to Make Wishes Come Truehttp://www.thewishfactory.com/ My Blog http://www.twitter.com/wishladyaInstructor at Creating CharactersVisit my Facebook Jana Shellman MySpace.com

Dreaming - Rose-colored Glasses

I wonder if everybody dreams. Does living in daydreams hinder you or put you ahead of the game? Does believing in wishes and dreams come true make you more creative? Is there value in dreaming? I believe there is. But when two people are having the same dream and making the same wishes the possibility of the dream and the wish becoming manifest are incredible.

Sometimes we ask for signs and the signs have been in our lives forever. We just haven't opened our eyes to see. Sometimes the signs are right behind us following us throughout our lives and we are so busy moving forward we forget to look right behind us, they are standing in our shadow.

Dreams, wishes, prayers are all communication to God, communication to the Universe, and the mere act of dreaming, of wishing of praying is turning the vision over to the Universe and we merely have to say "Thank you for taking care of that for me."

50th High School Reunion

About 30 years ago I realized we'd been out of school 20 years and never saw much of one another, so seeing as how I only had a ton of other things to do I set about finding my classmates (there were only 50 or s0) and sending out invitations for a reunion. I conned someone in our hometown into having the party at their house, and we got together. Some of them hadn't been back since. But every three years there's a Trienniel Alumni Reunion for South Whitley High School, so we have a class reunion then also. This year it was our 50th year since graduation in 1959. Hard to believe.

I made it easy on myself this time. I merely pointed at people and told them what to do. I'm executive material here. We planned a two day class reunion followed up with attendance of our class as the honor class at the Alumni Reunion. What a good time we had. We had a great turn out. People who hadn't been seen in 30 years and in one case 54 years turned up...and we all looked like we were 16. Perhaps its because I love them all so much!! If you'd like to see pictures of all these 68 year olds who look 16 go to my Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/inbox/?f=1#/profile.php?id=1574289110&ref=name

Age is Just a Number

My little boy just turned 33! I remember some 35 years ago when I was driving a semi across country. It was suppertime and all of the families were sitting in their houses around their tables eating together. I could see them through their patio doors as I drove down the freeways behind their houses. I made a wish. I wish I could find someone to marry, have a child and retire from the road. Less than a year later the wish was beginning to come true. Probably because most of my wishes are made whimsically and then I forget about them. Lots of people make wishes and then hang onto them, change them around, remake them (not realizing every time they remake a wish they are really making a new wish and sabotaging the old one they already made), and basically not leave the wish alone long enough for it to come true.
I've been thinking a lot about the intensity one puts into wishes and wondering why some take so much longer, until I realize that I, in my great wisdom, wrote in The Wish Factory "sometimes everything in the world has to move over a fraction of an inch before your wish can come true". I've got one wish I made a very long time ago that still hasn't come true. Most of it has always been true, but the culmination of it may take a little longer to happen. At this point in my life, I am content knowing it will come true. Perhaps that's the entire secret to wishing. Perhaps its all in the "knowing" that a wish is going to come true that makes it so. Manifestation is difficult to predict, and if you ask your "spirit guides" they will say "soon", they will say "patience" "very soon"...but how relative is their idea of time and ours? Perhaps time in the spirit realm is not at all relative to our time here. Maybe that's why they don't understand our impatience. Here I am musing again. Check out the book Fountain of Youth by Peter Kelder. Amazon has it. I've been doing it for 20 plus years. It seems to be working pretty well. I'm still 68 going on 10.
love and kisses. Jana

What Mindset--Being Happy With Yourself

Creating a "mindset" for losing weight takes many years of trial and error. What it all boils down to in the long run is learning to love yourself, just exactly where you're at. About 25 years ago I was listening to some self-esteem tapes (I'd been in a relationship where I'd found my self-esteem slowly being eaten away, and I began to wonder what had caused it. I don't normally let the opinions of others effect the way I feel about me.) I would listen to those tapes while I walked on the treadmill (I've been walking treadmills for daily exercise for nearly 25 years. You should see my muscles! My niece, a body builder, envies me my calf muscles.) One of the things on the tapes struck a chord. It told me to find a picture of myself as a child, and then talk to that person. I found a picture of my Mother and me sitting on a fountain at Belle Isle near Detroit when I was about 3. My mother has always been beautiful. As I looked at that picture of us, I realized I looked exactly like my mother! I'd never felt that way before. Instead I remembered when I was small, about five or so, hearing my mother telling a friend, "when J--- was born I cried, she looked just like her Grandfather B." Well, my Grandad B was a very sweet man, but he had red hair, a bulbous nose and he was very heavy. That's the mindset I got about myself at an early age. When I looked in the mirror the only thing I saw was the similarities to my Grandfather.No red hair, no bulbous nose, but a round face, skin tone, and other things I can't put my finger on. It didn't matter that I had a knock out figure and the boys were crazy about the way I looked! That was my mindset for years. After I saw that picture of my mom and me, however, I changed the way I looked at myself. My favorite song is Kellie Pickler's "Don't you Know You're Beautiful" I knew at that moment my marriage wasn't long for this world! I knew my life would change dramatically. By that time I'd already managed through hard work to lose about 40 pounds. I struggled to lose another 25 or so. Then I found Nutrisystem and managed to lose 18 pounds rather quickly. Then I got stuck. Despite walking an hour a day on the treadmill, daily yoga, and use of the Bowflex, I was stuck. My motto is, It's Always Too Soon to Give Up. I'm a winner. Nothing will stop me from achieving my goals, be they weight loss or anything else. And yeah. I'm beautiful. Listen to Kellie's song. I love it!

Poppy Hannah - Paralegal series

To see excerpts from my Poppy Hannah go to the archives and look for January 23, 2007 post which is an excerpt from the first Poppy Hannah mystery.

More Cyber Stalking?

I've been examining certain names on Facebook and other social networking sites, and I discovered all of the names I picked out for my children under one surname that's rather significant to me. All I can say at this point is Thank you. I'm honored someone would validate our memories in that way.

WHAT I'VE DISCOVERED

They say "with age comes wisdom". There also comes a certain peace and knowledge of who you are and what you're here on Earth to do. There comes a time when you realize you don't have to regret any of the decisions you've made in the past, because no matter what, you're still exactly where you're supposed to be, doing exactly what you're supposed to be doing. That knowledge brings about a certain peace and contentment. Breathe. Smell the lilacs. Plant some more flowers so you can smell sweetness all summer long. Stop worrying about anything. Count your blessings.

Its Spring

It's very beautiful out today. Sunshine, and not too warm yet, but all the leaves are out on my maple trees in the backyard. These trees leaf out early and they are the last leaves to fall. Finally figured out (I asked) the yellow bushy things on the other side of the alley are bamboo. Who would have thought!! I am going to have to go over there and see if I can get some roots to plant. The place is abandoned. The place next to it is abandoned and has gorgeous ferns growing there that I transplanted years ago to my backyard. I think I will put the bamboo on the west fence line. There once was a time there were no trees in the yard at all, just a very dry sunny yard with nothing but grass. Now I have trees 40 or more feet tall. There are also thousands of tiny little trees growing under them. Anybody need a baby tree?

PROMISES NOT YET KEPT

The President promised to abolish daylight savings time. I'd like to see that happen soon enough that we only have to change our time one more time..........ever!! Whoever enacted Daylight Savings Time in the first place obviously had no humor and couldn't take a joke. What was that email I got from the Indians? How does cutting a foot off one end of a board and tacking it on the other end make it longer?

STOPPED HOLDING BREATH

Okay, I've stopped holding my breath since the election. I've also stopped reading the newspapers, stopped watching any news whatsoever. Decided if I'm going to survive no matter what. I need to read my own blogs, practice what I preach, and revert to the Abraham Hicks teachings that I've been telling everyone else to read! We make our own economy by our beliefs. I'm doing great and expect to do much better. Nothing is impossible and the only roadblocks we stumble over are the ones we put in our own path.

Write your own story. Tell it like you want your life to be, not how it appears to be right now. Nothing is impossible and you can do and be anything you want to. If you worry, that's your spirit, your soul, telling you that you need to change your thoughts. Instead of focusing on your problems, focus on your blessings. Keep doing that until you are no longer worried and have put your self into a better-feeling-place. It is not nonsense. Give it a try. Harken back to your early days in Sunday School. Count your blessings! Then go from there.

I'm in the process of writing my own story the way I want things to be.

As a result I've agreed with myself (isn't that easy) to stop worrying about anything.

My favorite thing to do these days is watch the bull riders of PBR on the weekends, and watch Ty Murray on Dancing with the Stars on Mon and Tues. I am amazed he's survived so far, though I knew he was a success because of his persistence and hard work, I wasn't sure how his personality would survive the "unmanly" spray tans and the like. So far I think the PBR fans are keeping him going. I've learned there are many more of them than I'd imagined. I've been watching PBR for the past four years. I've got my PBR hunks calendar on the wall (with my favorite Paolo who was injured and isn't riding, and my very favorite "Hollywood" i.e., Guillherme Marchi who won last year.) I sit there in my rocker-recliner crocheting and watching the cowboys and the bulls. Sometimes I root for the bulls.

In the meantime, I'm working very hard on my intellectual properties. Trying to finish up the women's historical adventure novel, Kekionga, and at the same time trying to market my animated feature film screenplay The Wish Factory. Working right now on finding backers for it, and exploring the production of a short animated trailer to "sell" the project to backers.

Also working on our 50th Class Reunion. How did I get that job? Well, no one else was doing it. This year I think we're going to have a very good turn out. There aren't many of us, but most of us have been relatively close over the years.

My psychic said I have too much to do. Maybe he's right. In the meantime, I've got to get busy and go to the Taurus birthday party at my brother's.

Stay safe, breathe, keep doing that. Love and kisses. Jana

Stimulus Plan--What it Means

To the unenlightened the words "stimulus" mean a check in the mail. The new stimulus package they are trying to jam through has things in it that will change the way we visit our doctors if we are on Medicare. It is trying to sneak through other things that have nothing to do with stimulating the economy. The greed for that stupid stimulus check is the unenlightened selling our freedom.

Flime ties....

Two thousand what?!!!!! No! It couldn't be already. I remember the New Year of 1959 and how excited I was about what might be in store for me. And now...oh dear! There was quite a lot. Not all of it good, but most of it pretty exciting. I had a lot of adventures, and though not everything happened the way I thought it should happen, if it had, I wouldn't have been able to have nearly as many adventures. And there's still time for some of the things I wanted to have happen to occur. You never can tell just what might be in the wings waiting for us.

Remember if you hold a thought long enough, it becomes a thing. Do we really want a "thing"...well, it all depends....

I do know I still am waiting on certain hopes, dreams and wishes to materialize, and though someone once told me to take off my pink glasses, I never did...and nothing is impossible.

Things will happen just exactly the way they have always been supposed to happen, and exactly when they were supposed to happen.

Look for The Wish Factory movie to occur soon. Look for The Wish Factory theme park!! Well, nothing's impossible remember. Look for millions of Threadbare Fred Bears sitting on shelves in toy stores all over the world.

Thank you for taking care of that.....

Love and kisses, Jana

MERRY CHRISTMAS

What a Christmas!! On the 19th the power went out and I really expected it to pop right back on. Late on the 19th the cat and I went to South Whitley to my mom's. Though SW was somewhat without power for a part of the day, by the time I got there at 10:30 that night all the power was back on except for a few houses. I stayed with my Mom for four days. Fritzie was there too. He was a riot. A scaredy cat for sure. I put his cat box down in a corner of the utility room and he stood up on his back legs in a corner of the box, in the corner of the room, with his nose in the corner. He looked like a naughty little boy on time out. When he finally quit standing in the corner, he hid under couches and beds. Sometime during the night he got out and walked around exploring, and he jumped up on mom's bed and looked at her for awhile. Then he wandered around some more. Whenever a train would go by on the train tracks he'd go hide again. During the next day he spent the entire day hiding under couches...but he came out again when the sun went down. It wasn't until the last day there that he managed to stay out longer in the daylight.

On Monday I drove Mon's car back to Fort Wayne to check on my house and do some Xmas shopping for her. Fritzie stayed behind. I had loaded up my car with all the stuff I was going to need for Xmas ... all the presents, my medicine, more clothes, more food for Fritzie, and I had it all packed in the car and ready to go. I came back in to my house (26 degrees in the living room) and was surveying the house looking for anything I should also take along when I heard the furnace ignition click on. Then the FIOS box came on and my tv started up. The Xmas lights on the porch were on. I went out on the front step and shouted Hallelujah!!! Course the neighborhood was deserted except for John down the street. I had already checked all the water and it was running all right, (thank God for leaky toilets) so I went back around and turned off all the faucets. Then I started unpacking the car and put everything back where it belonged. The house had warmed up to 40 by the time I vaccuumed the floor and dusted. Then I spent another couple hours completing Mom's Xmas shopping and I drove back to SW and Fritzie was glad to see me. I slept that night at Mom's and the next morning packed everything up and went back home. I was so glad to be back home and so was Fritzie. He was purring like crazy and then he laid down on the floor on his back to let me know how glad he was to be home. I got the "kitty I love you blinks" from him. Only trouble was, I had taken fancy feast along for convenience, and now he's addicted to it, and demands his fancy feast treat every morning. I'm weaning him down to a quarter can of it every morning.

The first Google I did on the computer was for natural gas emergency generators. I could have survived in the basement at 45 to 50 degrees if I'd had to, but I don't want to ever have to make the choice again. I didn't leave the house because I was afraid of the cold, however. I left because I felt threatened by the marauders I caught invading the neighborhood in the dark. A car pulled up and discharged half a dozen guys who ran in all directions looking for houses they could get into. They didn't come to my house because I had windows lit up with oil lamps,but all of the empty houses were their targets. I called the cops immediately and they were here in seconds. But I started packing up and then called a friend to come and guard me as I loaded the car and left for SW.

I should have been braver and known that my guardian angels are watching out for me all the time, but with the lack of communication ( my phone went out when my FIOS backup battery ran out...) And I couldn't find my car charger for my cell phone in the dark. (It was in my suitcase!...I found it when I unpacked at Mother's house).

I got back home in time to have my traditional Xmas eve party with Becky and her kids, and Whitney made the most delicious spaghetti sauce that we had over whole wheat spaghetti. We had apple salad as well. Then Xmas morning i got up early, baked some corn pudding and some scalloped potatoes packed the rest of the Xmas presents I'd got for Mom to give to people and repacked the car to go to my brother's for our family Xmas. Leigh and her husband and kids were there, and we won't be seeing them for three years as they are going to Italy, where he'll be stationed in Naples.

Zach still didn't make it home for Christmas, but he spent Xmas with his Dad again this year. He got to talk to all his cousins though and we visited on the phone. He's working taking care of an Alzheimer's patient part of every day, while he's waiting on his perfect job in the hospital.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Love and Kisses. Jana

I'M ONLY RESPONSIBLE FOR MY LIFE

I've been in mourning for our country, because of the results of the election. I've gotten myself to a better place by not watching television, not reading the paper and dumping all the emails that look the tiniest bit political. I fear for the safety of our country.

In the meantime, the best and only thing I can do is look out for myself. The country may be in a poor financial condition, but I'm not. We may lose some of our freedoms, but I won't. We may all mourn life as it used to be. But my life is just fine and I'm doing great.

There's only a recession if you believe there is. You will only be poor if you believe you will be.

YOU ARE ONLY RESPONSIBLE FOR YOU

I've been in mourning since the election. I believe our country is in great danger. There's nothing I can do about it. So I'll be not watching the news on television, and I will be deleting any political alerts, and I will be not reading the newspaper. I am only responsible for me. I'll get along fine. I figured out a long time ago that I am only responsible for me and I can only change the way I think. I am comfortable with who I am and how I think. I am comfortable in my faith.

I believe this country will be severely tested in the next couple of years with regard to our faith.

If you're interested in learning The Law of Attraction, goto this web site

Politics & Religion

Celebrities touting their views on politics and religion turn me off. Do they really think they're so important that their views are going to change our views? Yes they do! Do they change our views? I think they do, but most of the time all they change is our views of them to a negative. Those celebrities who share their views on politics have been known to turn me against them for that very reason.

Let's take Barry Manilow. I love his songs. I'm not sure I think much of his political views, and I'd just as soon he kept them to himself, so I could keep on enjoying his songs.

Let's take Sally Field's views on religion. I used to just love Sally Field, but I lost complete respect for her when she voiced her opinions about God's place in her winning an award.

I don't understand the intense hatred that exudes from people expressing their political views for the "other party". Don't they understand their hatred only reflects on themselves? I do feel there is a plus for the side I encourage, inasmuch as the intense hatred spewed by those on the other side merely intensifies the happenings of that which they don't want. It's how the Universe works!!

Be for the ones you want to win. Bless those you don't want to win. Bless those who express the anger against "your side" for their Universal support, even though they don't really mean to be working for your side.

FROM THE MOUTHS OF BABES

I was just watching John Edward Cross Country where they talked about explaining death to a child. I think my child did the best job of explaining death to everyone.

His great-grandfather Harv died when Zach was about three. We were at the funeral home, and he and his same-age cousin, Jeremiah were sitting on the floor in front of the casket playing with little cars. Whenever someone walked up to the casket to look at Grandpa, Zach would tell them, "that used to be Grampa, but he's not in there anymore...he went to heaven."

A little later that evening we were driving home and from the back seat Zach said, "Mom, we need to get a big long ladder so we can go visit Grampa in heaven." I told him there was no need because Heaven was just above us, and we could talk to him any time we wanted.

YOU CREATE YOUR SITUATION BY WHAT YOU THINK

More stuff from The Law of Attraction by Esther & Jerry Hicks
You are much more than you see here in your physical body, for while you are, indeed, a wondrous physical creator, you exist simultaneously, in another dimension. There is a part of you, a Non-Physical part of you–we call it your Inner Being–that exists right now while you are here in this physical body.
Your emotions are your physical indication of your relationship with your Inner Being. In other words, as you are focused upon a subject and have your specific perspective and opinion about it, your Inner Being is also focused upon it and has a perspective and opinion about it. The emotions that you feel are your indication of the match or mismatch of those opinions. For example, something may have happened and your current opinion of yourself is that you should have done better or that you are not smart, or that you are unworthy. Since the current opinion of your Inner Being is that you are doing fine and that you are smart and eternally worthy, there is a definite mismatch in these opinions, and you would feel this mismatch in the form of negative emotions. On the other hand, when you feel proud of yourself or love yourself or someone else, your current opinion is a much closer match to what your Inner Being is feeling in the moment; and in that case you would feel the positive emotions of pride, love or appreciation.
Your Inner Being, or Source Energy, always offers a perspective that is to your greatest advantage, and when your perspective matches that, then positive attraction is occurring . In other words, the better you feel, the better your point of attraction, and the better things are turning out for you. The comparative vibrations of your perspective and that of your Inner Being are responsible for this magnificent Guidance that is always available to you.
More later.... But think about this stuff. It is cool.

Waking Up Happy and Joyful

I have a book....The Amazing Power of Emotions....by Esther and Jerry Hicks you need to study that book when you are not doing anything else. I think it holds the key for your learning to move your thoughts in the right direction. Thoughts are things. I have another called Money and the Law of Attraction, by the same people and I wanted to give you this part:

"Most people believe, or want to believe, that everything in the universe responds to their words in the same way that other people around them can sometimes be trained to behave. When you tell someone, "Yes, come to me." you expect them to come. When you say "No, go away from me." you expect them to go. But you live in an attraction-based Universe (an inclusion-based Universe), which simply means there is no such thing as NO.

When you give your attention to something wanted and you say, "Yes, come to me." you include it in your vibration, and the Law of Attraction begins the process of bringing it. But when you look at something unwanted and you say "No. I do not want you--go away!" the Universe brings that, also. Your attention to it, and therefore your vibrational alignment with it, is what is causing the response--not your words.

And so, as you say, "Perfect health, I seek you...I want you--I bask in the idea of perfect health," you are attracting health. But as you say "Sickness, I do not want you" you are attracting sickness. As you say. No, no, no." It is coming closer, closer, closer, because the more you struggle against something you do not want, the more engulfed in it you become.

People often believe once they find their perfect mate, or achieve their perfect body weight, or accumulate enough money, then, once and for all, they will also find the happiness they seek...but nowhere is there a little corner of something where only positive aspects exist. The perfect balance of the Universe says that positive and negative (wanted and unwanted exists in all parts of the Universe. When you, as the creator, the chooser, the definer, the decider, look for the positive aspect, that becomes what you live--in all aspects of your life. You do not have to wait around for that perfect thing to show itself to you so you can then have a positive response to it. Instead, you positively train your thoughts and vibrations, and then you become the attractor of it, or the creator of it.

...encourage you to begin each day with the statement. Today---no matter where I go, no matter what I am doing, and no matter who I am doing it with--it is my dominant intent to look for what I am wanting to see.

Remember, when you awaken in the morning, you are reborn. While you have slumbered, all attraction has stopped. That sequestering away for a few hours of sleep--where your Consciousness is no longer attracting--gives you a refreshing new beginning. And so, unless you wake up in the morning and begin regurgitating what troubled you the day before, it will not trouble you in your new day, in your new birth, in your new beginning."

When my son was little, I used to wake him up in the morning singing, "When the Red Red Robin comes Bob, Bob, Bobbin' Along, Along. There'll be no more sobbing as he starts throbbing his old sweet song...Wake Up, Wake Up, you Sleepy Head, Get Up, Get Up, Get Out of Bed, The Red Red Robin is Bob, Bob Bobbin Along."

That's how I feel when I wake up. I feel joyful for a new day of wonder and adventure and excitement.

See if you can't begin your day that way. You may get some ugly looks if you begin your day singing, but just smile and go on.



Jana L. Shellman Author of The Wish Factory: How to Make Wishes Come True.Instructor of Creating Characters at http://www.writerscollege.com/ Visit my web site at http://www.thewishfactory.com/

The Sky is Falling - The Stock Market - How to Feel Rich

The sky is falling, the stock market is falling, gas prices are falling, mortgage rates are falling, housing that has been priced too high is not selling at those too high prices!!! Maybe people who have average wages can now afford to buy a house in the price range they can afford! Maybe now we can afford to buy gas!

When things appear to be bad, work your thoughts to a happier place. Look for the silver lining. Expect good. Expect to be happy. Expect good things. If you expect good things you'll get them. If you expect bad, guess what? You'll get bad.

Let's look at mortgage payments. I think somewhere the formula my father taught me got lost. He always said "never pay more per month for rent or mortgage payments than you earn in a week." That's real simple isn't it!?? I've sort of wiggled the rules a tiny bit and said to myself at times that I can rent a place or buy a place for what I gross as opposed to what I net per week, but other than that, I stick pretty much with that formula. Now I include the cost of taxes and insurance in that formula when I think about mortgage payments. At present I'm obligated to pay $248.00 a month for those things, and it is actually a bit high for being on Social Security, but its comfortable.

The other formula my father taught me was Priority Paying. First you should pay for your shelter, then you should pay for your means of getting to work (i.e., your car and your insurance for your car), then you should pay for your food, utilities, and phone (communications, including cell phone and/or internet) should come last on that list. After that comes clothing and then you can buy things you want.

How to feel rich all the time: My formula for that is to take the first $100 I don't know what to do with and get a $100 bill. Put it in a secret place in your wallet. Then when you go shopping you can look at things you might want and think "I have the money to buy that if I want to".... I've been carrying that $100 bill for five years. I haven't done without anything, I really wanted or needed to buy but at the same time I've saved money and started 3 savings accounts and I feel richer all the time.

Now the bad news...I was forced to file bankruptcy in 2004. I had a triple bypass surgery and I didn't have insurance. Even if I had insurance it would have left me owing nearly $40,000 that I didn't have the money to pay. I didn't lose my house, or my car, or anything else. The only choice I had was to file bankruptcy or go on Medicaid, i.e., let the state pay the bill and then when I'm dead and gone they get my house. In the meantime, they would have had the right to annoy me interminably for the rest of my life. The bankruptcy wasn't hard, I'd quit using credit cards in 1996, so I didn't really have to worry about credit, except perhaps to buy a car. I hadn't had credit to buy a car since 1986, so that wasn't a big problem either. I reaffirmed my mortgage, so I kept my house.

PS the bankruptcy wasn't hard because as a paralegal I sometimes prepare bankruptcy paperwork for people. I always tell them to see an attorney about it before hand so they know what their rights are. Then if its a simple bankruptcy I can prepare the paperwork for them.

PPS See my previous posts about credit cards

My blog has moved!!!

I have to go in now and change things on my email signature so people can find my blog at the new spot on the Blogspot. Have to have Margie change it for http://www.thewishfactory.com/ too. It was very easy to change it from the AOL site. AOL is getting chintzy in their old age, not supporting the bloggers on AOL anymore, but at least Google made it easy to change. Hope everyone enjoys reading my blogs, and I'll have to get better at it again, since I haven't done one since the end of July!

Look forward to hearing from people about my strange thoughts and ideas, and will put more in for my stories as well.

If you are looking for free books on positive thinking, check out Free Books at my website, http://www.thewishfactory.com/ and you can also order books from me and use PayPal for the ones that cost.

I've got the Shawnee Dictionary and the Wish Factory books for sale.

Cleaning Out the Closet

I was cleaning out a closet and I found one of a set of prints that used to hang over my kitchen table when I lived in an apartment in Champaign, Illinois...on 6th Street.  I took them down when I moved away from there and never put them back up.  They held special meaning for me.  Now, some 44 years later I found the one.  I have no idea what happened to the other.  The last time I paid any attention to them was about June of 1963.  I noticed they were hanging upside down.  I knew who turned them upside down and I thought for a moment he'd returned.  Then I realized I'd been so distraught for so many months I hadn't noticed he'd turned them upside down the last time he was there which was in January of 1963.    We were together briefly a couple years later, but there was so much to talk about and so many questions, I guess I didn't ask any or get any answers.  Oh well, we'll always have Disneyland.    I think I'll hang this print back up in my kitchen....maybe I'll hang it upside down.  Love and kisses....

Tags: closets, movies, Mad Money, wishes

I GUESS I FIT THE TERRORIST PROFILE

I TOOK MY 88 YEAR OLD MOTHER WITH ME ON A TRIP TO CALIFORNIA TO VISIT MY SON.  I PUSHED HER IN A WHEELCHAIR THROUGH A LOT OF AIRPORTS.  FIRST WE HAD TO GO THRU SECURITY AT FORT WAYNE AND IT WAS FAIRLY SIMPLE.  WE STILL HAD TO TAKE OFF OUR SHOES ETC., BUT WE WERE THE ONLY PEOPLE THERE.  WHEN WE GOT TO DETROIT I HAD TO PUSH HER IN A WHEELCHAIR A VERY LONG DISTANCE, AND WE DIDN'T HAVE TO DO SECURITY.  THEN WE FLEW TO PHOENIX AZ...I DON'T EVER WANT TO GO TO PHOENIX AGAIN!!!!!!!!   FIRST OF ALL, A GUY GRABBED MOTHER AND ANOTHER WOMAN IN A WHEELCHAIR AND TOOK OFF RUNNING WITH THEM AND I HAD TO RUN TO KEEP UP, CARRYING HER CARRYONS AND PURSE AND MY CARRYONS AND PURSE ETC...  RUN!!  HE HELD OUT HIS HAND FOR MONEY, AND MOTHER GAVE HIM $4.  HE SAID "IS THAT ALL?"   THEN HE DUMPED US OUTSIDE THE TERMINAL TO WAIT FOR A BUS!!!!!!!   HE DIDN'T STAY TO HELP US GET THE WHEELCHAIR ON OR ANYTHING.  IT WAS 119 DEGREES IN THE SUN.  THEN WE HAD TO TAKE A BUS TO ANOTHER TERMINAL, AND GO THROUGH SECURITY AGAIN!!!   THIS TIME MOTHER WAS DOUBLE SEARCHED AND MADE TO STAND UP OUT OF HER WHEELCHAIR AND THEY KEPT HER IN A GLASS ROOM AND WOULDN'T LET ME NEAR HER!!!  THEY SEARCHED THROUGH ALL OF OUR LUGGAGE AND WERE VERY BRUTAL!!  THEY WERE NOT NICE!!!   THEN WHEN WE FINALLY GOT TO OUR GATE, WE HAD TO WAIT UNTIL THEY TALKED SOMEONE ELSE INTO TAKING ANOTHER FLIGHT BECAUSE THEY HAD OVERBOOKED OUR FLIGHT TO SACRAMENTO.    WHEN WE FINALLY GOT ON THE PLANE, INSTEAD OF BEING BOARDED FIRST AND GETTING IN THE FIRST ROW, WE WERE LAST, AND HAD TO GO TO THE VERY BACK ROW.  WE FINALLY MADE IT TO SACRAMENTO AND THINGS WENT SMOOTHLY AND WE HAD A LOVELY VISIT.  WE WERE WELL ENTERTAINED FOR THE WEEKEND.  ZACH TOOK US BACK TO THE AIRPORT ON MONDAY MORNING VERY EARLY, AFTER ONCE AGAIN BEING DOUBLE-SEARCHED WE FLEW BACK THROUGH SALT LAKE CITY.  IT WAS NICE THERE, AND WE HAD TO SIT AROUND FOR 3 HOURS, BUT IT WAS PLEASANT.  THEN WE FLEW STRAIGHT TO DETROIT AND HOME TO FORT WAYNE.  IT WAS NICE.   I LOST TWO POUNDS ON THAT TRIP!!!   WE HAD A GREAT TIME.   (I was severely tempted to curse in Arabic...I can do that....but I refrained from uttering the curse near TSA...    And I can count to three in Arabic and speak baby-talk Arabic   ...and I knew a lot of Arabs, muslim and non-muslim ones, in college 45 or more years ago...but why are we being targetted by computers?  Perhaps its the eyeliner I buy from Pakistan?)  Might I point out we are part Native American and have more right to be here than just about anyone? 

Tags: AIRPORT SECURITY

Retiring, not retiring, and other non-related things

I tried to retire a couple of years ago.  It seemed practical since I could collect social security and be home and not worry about things.  It got very boring, very fast.  You can only do so many New York Times Crossword Puzzles with a pen before the challenge is gone.  I found I had lots of time to write, but something was missing.  Interaction with people where I get my ideas for characters was one of the things that was missing.  The characters I write are a combination of many people I've met. 

The cat was getting tired of me waking him up every three minutes.  So he started waking me up throughout the night to tell me when a car drove by or a raccoon climbed a tree in the back yard.  Or even when a mouse ventured out to steal his food.  His method of awakening me was to run at the side of my bed and then violently bounce off the side of it continuously until I woke up.   I finally went out and purchased a baby gate to keep him out of my bedroom.  I hate to sleep with the bedroom door shut. 

I volunteered to be the primary plaintiff in a bunch of class action suits I was eligible for, and that took up some time and gave me interesting research to read.  But then I was really bored and wanting more information.  I relate to that robot who was learning to think and kept demanding more "input".  

Don't you just love the internet and all of the things you can learn?  But sometimes, if you're retired it just gets silly.  I'd watch Jeopardy and if there was something I didn't know I'd write it down, Google it, and then read up on it until I did.  Then people who were playing Trivia with me made me count to ten before I was allowed to answer.  Sometimes they'd look at me for the answer and I'd count to ten just to irritate them.  I am not usually a mean person, so I decided I needed to be busier. 

Then my last boss called me to do some more work, and I jumped at the chance.  I do contract work as a paralegal doing research and document preparation, and I also do work for others organizing their bookkeeping and so forth.    I love doing legal research.  Sometimes I get side-tracked though and take off in directions I didn't mean to go.  In other words, sometimes I learn more than anybody really wants to know about a subject and that can get boring for others.  Sometimes I get very excited about it, and there's no one to tell!  

I've been known to call up the class action lawyers in Chicago and tell them of new research I've discovered.  I'd like to get them to do a Class Action suit against credit card companies for unconscionable contract.  I no longer carry credit cards.  I haven't used any kind of credit (except my house mortgage) since 1997, and I haven't bought a car on credit since the early 80's.   My credit rating is probably the pits but what does it matter if I don't buy anything on credit? 

Enough for now, I've got some work to do.   Love and kisses.  Jana

Tags: Credit cards, living without credit, retirement, working after retirement, class action suits against credit card companies.

The rules for loving

You know that country song, the words 'if you can't be with the one you love, you love the one you're with'...I always hated that concept.  Then I realized its pretty much how I lived the years from 1963 thru 1989.    I have come to realize there's nothing wrong with loving two people at the same time.  Then I decided I didn't need to waste my time any more and just went on loving the one I wasn't with.   But I do understand at the same time, it is possible to love two people at the same time. 

I'm not saying it's the same kind of love, but it is having respect for the feelings of another, trying to lead them in the direction of finding their own happiness, and appreciating the things they added to your life.  You have to appreciate the things you shared and the value the other person added to your life.  Even when you are no longer with the other person you have to acknowledge the value they added to your life, and the things you learned from that relationship.  

All in all, I now believe things have worked out exactly the way they were supposed to work out.  We were supposed to be with the people we were with at the time we were with them.  We weren't supposed to be with them when we weren't.  I believe our souls planned the whole thing, and even the souls of those we spent time with who didn't turn out to be the loves of our lives were planned to be in our lives at the times they were.   We had things to accomplish and we had to do certain things on our own.  I wouldn't be the person I am today without all of the people who touched my life in the past.  

I don't resent the events that happened in my life, though I wish I'd remembered some things I've always known.  I wish I'd remembered always I'm in charge of how I feel about things.  I wish I'd remembered I'm not responsible for how anyone else feels about me, I'm only responsible about how I feel about them.  I wish I'd acknowledged I was loved all those years I believed I was merely lost.  I wish I'd understood the words that were said to me.  I'm glad I remembered those words and have come to understand them now. 

I wouldn't change a thing that's happened in the past.  It was all a part of the growth of my soul.  I'm excited about the future and what it will bring.  No matter how things turn out, I will always know I'm loved, and whether I'm with the one I love on this side, or when we both arrive on the Other Side matters not.  It would be cool to spend more time together on this side, but the one thing I understand is Forever is a wonderfully long time to be loved.

Tags: the wish factory: how to make wishes come true. Shellman.

DYING ISN'T REALLY THE END

Just watching John Edwards new show.  There was a cool thing one of the audience members said, "We shouldn't mourn someone's passing, we should celebrate the fact we were able to experience them in our lives."    That's a special message.   When he asked another woman how she dealt with the death of her small child she said "Always Blessings, Never Losses."  Everyone in the audience was crying, and John Edwards couldn't talk.  I've been noticing as I go to funerals these days, the differences in families and the way they deal with the passing of their family members.  If you didn't know the families you might make a judgment that they were indifferent to the passing because they weren't weeping and carrying on.  In some cases they are visiting with friends, and hugging and smiling and saying how glad they are to see their old friends they haven't seen for awhile.  Our family behaves that way.  And then I've been to those funerals where people are weeping and carrying on and just beside themselves with the passing of their family member or friend.  I've figured out the difference between these two types of families.  The families who are smiling and visiting have a deep faith and know they are celebrating the memories of their loved ones, while the families who are weeping, aside from feeling they have been deprived of being with their loved ones, feel they will never ever see them again. 

I remember my Grandad Terman's funeral.  It was all I could do to keep from laughing because I felt he was sitting on my shoulder whispering in my ear.  He didn't like the fact there was a minister he didn't know officiating at his funeral.  My Grandad believed in Creator.  He just didn't think much of church.  I think this is because he was at least one-half Miami Indian and he had his own beliefs.  He was one with nature and knew that God was in and through everything.

I know those who've crossed over are around us, protecting us, observing us all the time.  There's a certain reassurance in knowing this.  Sylvia Browne says "the other side" is right here with us, i.e., it's another plane, but it is just above us and all around us...which is why our loved ones who've crossed over can be all around us.  Sometimes I think they're over there on the other side studying and learning and observing things, and when we call them for assistance, they're probably thinking "hey, I'm busy, can't you figure this out yourself!"  In otherwords, they're having a good and peaceful time and don't really want to be drawn back to the drama and trauma on this side.  So perhaps the answer to this is to leave the drama and trauma out of our own lives, live peacefully and joyfully, loving your life here on earth, and looking forward to when you can cross over to the good and peaceful atmosphere on the other side.

Tags: John Edwards, dying, talking to the dead, funerals, Faith, Miami Indian, Sylvia Browne, God, Love, Happy

Waiting for Wishes to Come True

Watching the California fires.  A lot of them are happening in my old stomping grounds.  When I heard the fire was just East of John Wayne airport, I went on Google Earth to look it up.  I used to live half a mile from John Wayne Airport.  Of course, then there were no buildings to speak of at the airport, just three hangars and a windsock.  I could see straight there through my kitchen door.  Now there are a million people (I'm exaggerating) living between that house and the airport.  I couldn't believe what it looked like now some 40 years later.  Who would have guessed that Hadley's alley would still be there, and not really change that much.  You won't find Hadley's Alley on a map.  It was really a number on SW Cypress Street in "Santa Ana Heights" which is now apparently a part of Newport Beach!  Who knew!  It was a tiny farm in the country then, and I would drive home and look out over Newport Back Bay and watch the mansions being built on the sides of the back bay.  They were going up like mushrooms.  I called them "Tract Mansions" because they were just like tract housing, except they were mansions.  At the time I paid $85 a month for my little house that sat on a long narrow strip of land with horse pastures on either side.  A house in front of my little house, a garage, a "wash shack" where the groundskeeper lived, and a tiny little travel trailer that was rented out to various people, and then the owner's big house at the back.  When I went back to visit someone had planted hundreds of Saguaro cactus in the front yard, so close together you couldn't even walk through there!  The yard where I kept my dog and garden had been turned into a horse paddock and there were now horses on the property.  They didn't have hardly enough room to turn around!   I wrote a short story about that property called Bone Garden because of my landlady's habit of burying bones in the yard.  She cooked leg of lamb sometimes, and would bury the leg bone in her garden.  She also named her vegetables...and flowers.  So when my dog Rami unearthed a long bone my writer's imagination took off.  Bone Garden was the result. 

At any rate visit my web site at www.thewishfactory.com if you got here some other way. 

I'll try to come up with more writing one of these days.   Carole J. if you read this send me an email...I don't have your email address.  Thanks.

 

Tags: California fires; imagination, mysteries, population explosion, mansions, Newport Back Bay, Newport Beach,