Julia's Blog

The Power of Giving

2008-08-19T07:21:13Z

There's a special book promotion going on today for The Power of Giving. Why is this extra-special? Because, in the spirit of the book's theme, the authors, Harvey McKinnon and Azim Jamal, are donating all their royalties to charity!

I was asked to participate in spreading the word about this book by sending out emails to my list, but since I was already sending out info on the new Abraham-Hicks book in August, I declined. But I did say I would blog about it. I will confess that, while I've skimmed it, I have not yet hunkered down to read the book. I know, however, from my own experience that giving freely is like priming the abundance pump! (All those wealthy philanthropists aren't just bleeding hearts--they understand and are comfortable with participating in all aspects of flow!) And that giving without expectation--with no strings attached--is one of the most powerful frequency-raising techniques you can employ!

Anyhoo, here is some of the promotional info I was given to share with you. I won't put it all here, because you can go to www.thepowerofgiving.org/promo
and read all about it.

** What you will learn from The Power of Giving **

In The Power of Giving you'll discover the dramatic benefits to you when you become a better giver:

* how giving will improve your relationships
* how to live to your potential
* how to find more meaning and happiness
* how to discover what you can give
* when to give
* when not to give
* giving hope
* giving what you need most
* and much more...

** This book gives you practical tools and exercises showing you **

* where to give
* why to give
* who needs your help
* how much to give

You'll also automatically help nonprofits when you buy this book. All author royalties will go to nonprofits - from today, until the book goes out of print (hopefully never).

When you buy copies of this book you'll:

* enhance your personal life.
* help spread the giving message.
* help contribute to the goal of $500,000 donated to charities.

** Why are we giving away all of our royalties? **

This book is all about giving. In the spirit of giving Azim and Harvey decided to give their royalties to good causes.

When you buy The Power of Giving today, August 19, you will be eligible to receive lots of great bonuses. You can read about them at www.thepowerofgiving.org/promo There's even a money-back guarantee on the book if you're not inspired!

+++++

After you buy and read The Power of Giving, I would love to get your feedback on it!

The Ultimate Easy World Test

2008-08-16T05:02:25Z

I'm putting Easy World to the test. Or, rather, Easy World is putting ME to the test. It's very fun. AND, my ego is starting to get a little irritated that none of it's machinations are needed!

As I have already expressed, I got a literary agent for my Easy World book with ultimate ease--my top choice: wonderful Lisa Hagan. She already got 3 publishers to ask to see my book proposal (we still haven't heard back from many of the publishers she queried and have gotten a few "no thanks" as well). Meantime, she has fallen in love with Easy World and is not hesitating a whit to make sure I'm remembering to be in Easy World, too.

Even when I had stepped only so slightly out of it--so slightly I might have sworn I was still in it, she invoked EW and called me back. Love that. The student turns the tables on the teacher. Not that I really consider her my student. But it is quite fun to see someone newly on fire with EW (she's already had a bunch of EW successes--I need to get her to write some testimonials) and it tickles me that she is a new Easy World evangelist--who better than that to help me sell the first book about Easy World?

A couple of days ago, the editorial director for a big, big, BIG New York publisher who had asked to see the proposal called me to talk about the book. Before she called, Lisa rang me up to tell me she had asked for my phone number and would I be willing to talk to her. Huh? WOULD I?! I asked Lisa why she would likely be calling and Lisa said most probably to see if I'd be open to making some changes. I figured I'd sure listen and let Spirit guide me about that, so I told her to go ahead and give her the green light.

The editor called not long after Lisa and I hung up and, instead of wanting to talk about changes, she wanted to ask some questions about Easy World and some things I'd mentioned in my proposal that she was not familar with, and just get a better idea about who I am and what Easy World is about. She also asked who I might be able to get to endorse the book, so I named a few people I have access to, and a few I may be able to find a way to access. (If anyone has a connection to Mike Dooley, please let me know how to contact him--he'd be perfect! Or, any other "A-list" self-help authors/experts.)

We had a fabulous phone visit--talked for 30-40 minutes. At the end of the conversation, she said with great enthusiasm that she very much hoped we'd be talking again and soon, and I inferred from that she was hoping to publish the book if she could get it approved. I immediately called Lisa to report on our conversation and she got the same impression and seemed to think she'd/we'd hear from her really soon.

This is where my challenge to stay in Easy World comes in. After a couple of days with no further word, I'm really called upon to totally release, again. And again. And again. Every time I've thought I had, I have caught myself trying to figure things out. About 100 times! Even though I am rationally well aware that Universal Forces are so very capable of handling this and that the less I mess with it, the more perfectly it will be able to work out, there is still a part of me that is impatient and wants to try to interpret the evidence (ego is all about the evidence!), pick at it and manipulate it, and try and see into the future. Silly, busy ego. It isn't capable of knowing what is actually going on, and certainly not of knowing what is in alignment for the highest possibilities for the book and for me!

That publisher may not even be the right one for Easy World at all. There's certainly a chance that the editor just needed a little dose of Easy World and that's why she was so attracted. Whatever the case, it's not serving me to try and figure anything out. Everything is unfolding in Divine Order in Easy World. It's my job to be there when the results come in!

It is a relief to know that I am not in charge of this--or, at least not my ordinary self. I figure if there is ever a time for me to be confident in Easy World, it is in the matter of getting my EW book published and out there in the way that will be the most beneficial for all involved. It's absolutely my responsibility to keep my hands off the wheel so that can happen.

What a cool adventure! Surely it's going to turn out to be my best Easy World story ever!

www.ILiveInEasyWorld.com

Resources for tonight's teleseminar, "Vibrational Shelter"

2008-08-12T22:28:10Z

Well, if you were on the teleseminar, you know that our time got cut short by someone's home security system interjecting itself through the phone line and repeating its menu over and over and over again! How ironic that our topic was vibrational shelter and someone's "reptilian brain-soother" interfered! Funny.

Since we didn't get to finish and there were people wanting to ask questions and discuss, I think what I'm going to do is put the talk online for people to download and listen to (free) and then schedule another conference call where people can ask questions after they've listened. I'll send out an email with that information when the time comes, so keep an eye out!

Anyhoo, here's a link to the PDF excerpt of Chapter 2 in Recreating Eden that explains the power of alignment with Source to protect you from anything out of alignment. The part about the magnets starts on p. 9:

http://www.juliarogershamrick.com/Recreating_Eden_excerpt_chap2.pdf

Loved Back to Life

2008-08-12T04:49:48Z

Amy Crowell has lived a fascinating life. No--make that several fascinating lives--in one lifetime! From a seriously dysfunctional childhood where her father encouraged her to drink beer at age five and forced her to appear naked in front of a living-room-full of guests in her teens, to serious drug and alcohol abuse and a stint in prison in young adulthood, and much more, she has more experiences on the shadow side than most of us can fathom living through. But she is a survivor who managed to rise above with the determination to shine a light on the path out of addiction for others.

She tells about it all in her powerful new book, Loved Back to Life: Everything Everyone Needs to Know About Alcoholism and Drug Addiction. I know about Amy's book because she asked me to participate in her campaign to spread the word about the book. Since the subject matter is not in close alignment with my message, and since I'd already committed to participating in another campaign this week, I told her I would blog about it instead of sending a mailing. From the advance copy she sent me, one message is loud and clear: No matter how lost you become--and believe me, this young lady was lost-- you can always find your way back to yourSelf.

After a lifetime of alcholism and self-defeating behavior, Amy has now been sober for 20 years and is a motivational speaker and an expert on drug/alcohol addiction and recovery. She teaches high school in Dallas, and is zealous about educating young people about the dangers of substance abuse. Her book is an inspiration and even though the issues she has dealt with have not been a part of my life, I found it fascinating. For those in relationships with loved ones who are substance addicted, it may just be the inspiration you've been looking for!

For more info on Amy's book and for a list of the bonuses you'll receive when you buy it today, August 12, visit:

http://www.lovedbacktolife.com/bestseller.html

$731!

2008-08-10T18:32:16Z

Not trying to be crass here by talking money--I'm just gobsmacked, as the Brits would say, at my earnings from last month from Holy Tea Club! $731.00! And I hardly did anything to earn it other than just talk about the tea on my blog and include a little soft-sell Holy Tea ad simply linking to my blog entries about the tea in my teleseminar mailings. Oh--and I did have a Holy Tea article in my Spring-Summer 2008 newsletter. All easy. Very, very easy. Stuff I was simply inspired to do. People just "get" that this is a powerful, gentle and, yes, easy-to-use tool for internal cleansing, and they seem to immediately know they want to try it. Once they start using it, most keep it up because the results are so immediate and profound. The longer you drink it, the more layers of toxicity you release. I know I expect to be drinking this tea as long as I'm in a human body!

As you may recall, I had asked for an Easy World way to make money, and the next day, "coincidentally," I signed up as a Holy Tea distributor because I wanted to get my tea, which I'd been drinking for a couple of months, at wholesale. I didn't set out to do this as a money-making thing as I have had many more MLM disappointments than successes and, frankly, am too busy for another job. I just didn't want the hassle. But since it cost nothing to join, there's no obligation, and it meant I'd get the tea cheaper even if I did nothing with the business, it just made sense to sign up.

Somehow, this started taking off by itself, with the help of the free website the company provides each distributor, and the next thing I know, I'm 8 months into it and making a substantial chunk of change--my income with Holy Tea has approximately doubled each month! Amazing for something you've not worked hard for. But that's the way it is in Easy World. No "hard work" allowed. Simply take inspired action only and allow the magic to happen! You can do this, too-- with Holy Tea, or anything else you feel drawn to.

I'm almost feeling a little guilty about how little I've done to earn the money. I sure need to let go of that old-paradigm stuff in a hurry. I live in Easy World where everything is easy!

For more on my--and others'--experiences with Holy Tea, visit my February 23, 2008 blog entry.

Hey--where's that agastache?

2008-08-09T22:50:24Z

I am amazed and impressed with myself. I am about 3/4 of the way finished with organizing my new office. The bookcases, which were, in my mind, the linchpin of the operation, are going to need to be altered to fit in the door before I can use them, but somehow I managed to sort out a whole lot of stuff without them. I set up new files in the file drawers in my "new" desk, and have filed stuff that had been in chaos for years and years. Feels so good! I must be getting ready for some great stuff...

This morning, Rick and I sat outside for a long time, sipping our morning cuppa, shooting the breeze, and watching the wildlife and the not-so-wild life (Roly and Lilah) in our garden. Two hummingbirds--the first to arrive this season--showed up, much to our excitement, looking for our normally huge and voluptuous agastaches, (also known as Sunset Hyssops) which no longer exist. They lived out their lifespan and had to be replaced this year, but the new ones are still quite small with only a few blooms at this point. It was kind of humorous to see the little birds, who only come to Denver on their way back and forth to the mountains, zip up to where the big plants used to be, look confused, fly off, come immediately back, hover for a few seconds, check around the area, like a tourist trying to find McDonald's listed on their GPS but that been torn down and hadn't been rebuilt yet. "Hey--this place was in the guide and had 5 stars! This is exactly where it is suppoed to be--do YOU see the restaurant, Harry?"

(You can see photos of hummers and agastaches-past here at this link.)

I hope they understood me when I told them to come back next year and the plants would be big and full of blooms just as their navigation system had promised! Meantime, I won't feel as cheated to leave the garden to go to Michigan in September when the hummers would usually flock to our garden.

Another "eating from the garden" story is Roly's. Dang him. He keeps getting into the tomatoes, even though there's a wire fence around them. He's heart-of-my-heart, but good grief! He's incorrigible, and I can't watch him every minute he's outside. He loves to lay out in the sun, and that's what he acts like he's going to do when I first let him outside, but when I turn my back, he knocks off a bunch of tomatoes. One evening, he got stuck in the fence and we caught him trying to run to the house in a panic, wearing the fence! Thankfully, Rick got him loose before he hurt himself. Another time, I didn't actually catch him in the tomatoes, but the fence was pulled away and was perpendicular to where it had been set up. He looked quite innocent that time--he isn't very savvy about being sure not to leave evidence. So, we're going to buy some better fencing tomorrow, as I need my tomatoes. You really don't want to come between me and my Sweet 100s!

Miscellaneous wisdom from the sorting piles

2008-08-05T20:10:02Z

In the process of making way for my expansion by clearing out my office for the new large desk, etc., I'm going through years and years of papers. These include tons of notes I've taken over the years on everything from realizations I've had as I've "downloaded" information from Source, to cool quotes from others. To make this process more fun, I'm going to share some of these as I go along.

Here is a snippet of dialog from Saint Joan by George Bernard Shaw:

Joan: I hear voices telling me what to do. They come from God.

Robert: They come from your imagination.

Joan: Of course. That's how the messages of God come to us.

Exactly.

Here's one of mine:

The denial of your Original Self is the source of all pain.

And one more from me:

Play is a prime feature of youth. If you want to increase your youthfulness, play!

I still have a bunch of iTunes credit from Rick's wonderful Christmas present to me of a $100 iTunes gift card, so I decided some Beach Boys would help me have fun with the sorting, so I downloaded Sounds of Summer--The Very Best of the Beach Boys. I swear I feel younger and more energized just from listening to, desk-dancing to, and singing at the top of my lungs (!) this music from my teen years.

Okay. Back to "work"! More later...

Fortune smiles on my "new" office

2008-08-04T07:45:42Z

Well, even in Easy World, Rick and I weren't able to get the new bookcases into my office--too much bookcase, not enough door or maneuverability in our very tight hallway. We'll have to deconstruct them and we're waiting till our very handy neighbor, Jesse, returns from his family vacation to California. He's an engineer and an avid do-it-yourselfer, so we're hoping he'll have a line on how to take the bookcases apart with the least amount of impact to them and get them in the office, reassembled, good as new.

BUT, my new desk is in, and the old one, amazingly, fits at the back of it like it was made to. It's snugged up under the big desk's overhang, which is very handy as I needed a place to put my laptop's docking station and other equipment. There's even room left over so that someone else can work at that desk. I'm hoping Rick will join me from time to time with his laptop. I'm loving the change, and even though I'm sitting in almost the same position in the room, it kind of feels like a new place.

I got the drawers from the old desk sorted through, and transferred whatever was still useful to the new desk drawers. Lordy--I can hardly believe some of the stuff that has been in there for close to forever! Business cards and scraps of paper with people's names and numbers I have no recollection of at all. Soon after I moved to Denver, I revived my freelance copywriting business, and got involved with the Denver Chamber of Commerce. I joined a very active leads group, which I attended quite regularly for about a year, and did a lot of other Chamber activities as well. I collected a lot of cards, many of which were still in my drawer. But the last involvement I had with it was 1999, and I quit the copywriting business not long after to pursue being a fulltime author and spiritual teacher. Time to let that old stuff go. Okay--probably past time!

I do believe that clearing out all this old stuff and organizing what's left is making way for the new energy that is coming in and has been expanding quite palpably. After reading Clear Your Clutter with Feng Shui by Karen Kingston years ago and having a remarkable increase in prosperity from clearing out stuff, I know the power of it. I already feel more prosperous and in command, not to mention, more adult, with the larger desk. In addition to about $15 worth of old stamps of various denominations (even some 22-centers that were first class postage long ago!), I found a little bit of money--a little more than $3, and miscellaneous interesting stuff. But the most fun things I found were a bunch of Chinese fortune-cookie fortunes I'd stashed in my drawer (I love them as divination tools, and stash them here and there to find when I need a shot of encouragement), and they said what I was feeling:

The fun is just beginning, take it as it comes.
You will be unusually successful in business.
An unexpected wealth is waiting for you.
Your luck has been completely changed today.
You will travel far and wide for both business and pleasure..

--and, perhaps, my favorite, as I wait to hear which publishers are interested in my Easy World book--

Your talents will be recognized and suitably rewarded.

Now--aren't those just the perfect affirmations to receive upon going through all that junk, jettisoning various tethers to my old life, and setting new priorities for my space as I prepare for new adventures!?

Desks

2008-07-31T06:28:07Z

I seem to have a particular talent for manifesting desks. Back in the 1980s, when I was starting out as a freelance copywriter, I had a promising little business with some great clients, but no desk. I'd put my word processor on my coffee table and sat on the floor to write. I was not a particularly organized person (odd--I can organize projects down to the tiniest detail, but I have always been chronically unorganized when it comes to everyday life) and I had stacks of papers growing in the living room of my tiny apartment, with no filing cabinet, no desk, etc., and no cash yet with which to buy them.

I had taken a personal-growth class that offered free monthly followups for life, and one of the regular activities at these meetings was that each participant got to present a problem and then be silent while the group would brainstorm for her or him. My issue at one of the first meetings I attended after starting my business, was need for organization. The consensus of the group was that I needed a desk--that I needed to make it a high priority. While not exactly a newsflash, it reinforced the absurdity of trying to run a business without the basic equipment. They also told me that I needed to just start organizing, even in small increments--to just do something, anything, to overcome inertia.

On the drive home, I said to the Universe, "Okay. I need a desk and I need it yesterday. I don't know how you're going to provide this but that's none of my business. Please send me a desk." And I decided that, as soon as I got home, I would do something, however small, toward getting organized.

It was easy to figure out what to do as there was a stack of mail from a few days earlier that I had never gone through. It was the perfect place to start! As I sorted through the various envelopes, one stood out. It was from a local business, and it was hand-addressed, so I was pretty sure it wasn't just an ad.

"Why is Danco Scandinavian Furniture writing to me?" I wondered as I tore into the envelope.

I had forgotten that, weeks earlier, I had been there with a friend to pick up another friend who worked there whose car was in the shop. She had been busy with a customer when we arrived, so we killed time wandering around the showroom, admiring the sleek Danish modern furniture. There had been a small teak desk with a filing drawer there that I had admired, but it was $150, and out of range for me. "Maybe someday," I thought.

Inside the envelope was a letter announcing that I had won second prize in their anniversary giveaway drawing. I had completely forgotten that I had filled out an entry form while we were there waiting. The prize? A $150 gift certificate for store merchandise! I don't have to tell you what I used it on. I'm typing on that very desk right now!

But not for long. No--I've outgrown that little desk, and I'm ready for a new one. My mother-in-law, Emily, was giving away her desk a year or so ago when she bought a new one, but I missed out on that as she gave it to my sister-in-law, who needed it for her kids. But that was alright--as I remembered it, Emily's desk was really huge and a dark finish, and my office furniture is all sort of a reddish-golden teak color. From time to time I thought about how much I needed a larger desk, but when I priced new ones, they were just more than we were able to put out, and I never seemed to have the leg-power to tromp around to the used office furniture places to find a bargain. So I just said to the Universe, "I really need a larger desk and I need it for free or for cheap and it has to come with ease."

The day I got off the phone from talking to my new agent--a very wonderful day, indeed--I called Rick in my excitement to tell him what a great conversation we'd had, and after sharing my news, he said, "It's just a great day all around. If you want Mom's old desk, Karla (Rick's sister) has to find a new home for it because she's moving and won't be able to use it." I jumped at the chance, got the measurements from Karla--amazingly, it was the perfect size for my space--and found out that 2 matching bookcases were included. Rick rented a truck and drove the 90 minutes to her house and picked up the desk and bookcases. When he arrived back home, he had a desk with him that was not at all the huge, dark desk I had been thinking of. It and the bookcases are a reddish-gold teak-like finish! And they match, almost perfectly, the other furniture in my office! Now, for time to clear my office to make way for the new furniture, which is temporarily clogging up my living room. (I need to get as good at organizing my office as I am at attracting desks.) I will tackle it this weekend as it's high time to start using my new bigger desk. My career is expanding and this desk is a reflection of that! Doing some clutter-clearing can only help, too.

Oh, yeah--remember in the desk manifestation story from the 1980s my telling the Universe I needed the desk "yesterday"? If I had opened my mail when it had first arrived 2 days before I finally saw the letter, I could have picked up my desk and had it by what would have "yesterday"! Love the Universe's precision--and sense of humor.

I am the desk manifestor.

Rocky Mountain High

2008-07-26T04:44:48Z

You could say I've been quite high the last few days.

Emotionally, it's because (and this is the secret I was waiting to reveal!) I signed with literary agent, Lisa Hagan, president of Paraview, Inc., to represent my Easy World book, and any other books I write! It's been said that getting an agent is, perhaps, more challenging even than getting a publisher. I don't know about that (I hope that's true since it was so easy for me!), but you can't submit your work to most major publishers without having an agent. I had extraordinarily good fortune in that Lisa is only the 2nd one I submitted my query to--and the first one recently (the last was in December). The other guy would have been totally wrong to represent a book about Easy World, anyway, and I credit Easy World with the ease with which I connected with Lisa!

I'll tell you more about Lisa in the coming days, but I'll hit the highlights now. She's very successful--she's been at it for 18 years and has sold a slew of books--and everything I read about her says that she's wonderful to work with. She is now in Virginia, but was in NYC for many years and moved back home--says she went home one Thanksgiving and didn't want to go back to the city--so she didn't. We talked on the phone this week and got along famously--she is very spiritual-growth inclined and we speak the same basic language in that regard. She's excited about my book and, most importantly, "gets" Easy World, which is a requirement!

She said my 71-page proposal (including sample chapters) was excellent, which was a huge relief after devoting so much time to it and only having some books to go by. She only suggested a minor format change in one section, and I decided to tweak a couple of others, so I polished it up and sent her the final version today. Apparently, summertime in the publishing world is very slow since so many people are on vacation and editorial meetings are scarce, so she advised me to be prepared for that. That's okay. I've turned this over to Easy World and I will simply occupy myself doing whatever I'm inspired to do and know that it's all being handled in EW!

The physical "high" came yesterday when Rick and I went on a day trip to the mountains. We drove the Mt. Evans Scenic Byway, the highest paved road in North America (ascends to14,240 feet), open only approx. 3 months out of the year. Once you see the road, you'll understand why! This movie is of part of our descent from Mt. Evans--pay particular notice to the edge of the asphalt pavement, and know that there were huge "bites" out of the edge in some places--SCARY! I had the "help me Jesus!" grab bar above the passenger-side door in a death grip much of the time, letting go of it only to video the experience to share with you. The wind noise is pretty loud so you may want to turn down the volume, but if you listen to the audio, you'll probably laugh at what I say right before the video ends...

First, however, some dramatic still shots from the top of the world, taken by Rick (click on the thumbnail for a large-format view):

As you can see, the top of the mountain is well above the timber line, and you can see for miles and miles and miles:

I love this sign at the summit of Mt. Evans. I'm not sure I'd have wanted to drive up there if I'd seen it in advance!

These next ones look like they were taken in someone's garden, but they are wildflowers, in a garden designed by Nature. The upper part of the mountain is tundra, and it is amazing the beautiful wildflowers you find there (these were taken just off a parking area, thus, the gravel--I didn't want to go farther as I was concerned about damaging the fragile ecosystem):

I'll have to finish this entry later with a Part 2. This is enough for now!

Newsletter, a secret, Dad, and the mice

2008-07-23T06:46:17Z

At long last! I got a newsletter done and mailed out! Phew. I am very pleased with it even though it didn't fit my arbitrary schedule of getting it out last quarter. If you haven't seen it yet, you can read it online here: Spring/Summer Rising Times Newsletter

Something so very exciting has happened and I'm so eager to share it with you, but I feel I need to wait till it becomes official with papers signed, etc., before I do. Just know that something I have put a lot of focus, passion and work into has paid off and I'm over the moon about it!

A quick update on Dad--he finally got sprung from the rehabilitation center on Friday after the cottage was assessed for accessibility by the folks that do that. My sisters, bless them, (they're in Michigan now) scrambled and acquired and got done everything he needed to have done to be able to be there. He's really been discombobulated by the whole episode (that's actually truer than it even sounds--his name is Bob and he hasn't been quite himself since the accident!). I think it's a matter of getting his bearings and doing things for himself again. It's been 5 weeks that he's been out of his element with people doing everything for him since he fell. With all that's happened to him, it's not a wonder it's knocked him for a loop at age 87. As I told him and my sisters, I think it's like when you ride somewhere many times with someone else, you don't always know how to get there, but after you drive it yourself, you know. I am praying he uses the same stubborn strength that got him through POW camp in WWII and through the death of my mom to rally again!

Speaking of Mom, last night, she appeared in a dream and she was healthy and happy and looked great. It was one of those dreams that was SO real, it really felt exactly like being with her. I was so startled in the dream because I knew in the dream scenario she had died but then she showed up so very real--for a moment, I was confused whether I was even dreaming or not. It was one of those that when you wake up, you still feel it so intensely. What a gift!

And then, there's the mice. I have to admit there was a day--the 2nd full day we had them, I believe it was--when I was ready to take them back to the store because I was just so knotted up about them. Nervous about all kinds of things like not having yet tried to handle them to clean their cage, etc., which really reeks of urine unless you clean it out frequently, and dealing with the dogs' obsession with them (they went from nonchalant to crazed as the mice got more confident and started being more active) had me thinking it was just too much. But they were so adorable and I had such a fun time watching them, I got very attached, and so they are still here. I don't think I could possibly take them back now, even though we have another week to. I'm sure you'll soon be hearing more about Annette, Britney and Christina!

The 3 Mousketeers

2008-07-17T20:32:08Z

Have you ever done something impulsive because a pair of little eyes tugged at your heartstrings? Yesterday, I did. I was at Petsmart getting some enzyme cleaner, and on the way out, my attention was grabbed, first by the precious sight of four baby mice curled up together in a plexiglass aquarium, and then by a fifth mouse.

As I peered into the box at the group of 4, mouse #5, who would come to be known as Britney, came running over from where she'd been investigating, stood up on her hind legs with her front paws against the glass, and looked straight into my eyes. And that was that.

No--I didn't buy them on the spot. I came home and told Rick about them, expecting him to object to the idea of adding mice to our family, in which case, I would have dropped it. But far from it--he enthusiastically related how some friends he knows from connecting online have mice and just adore them, and was very encouraging about adding mice to our menagerie. But it was 6:25 and we were meeting Stepdaughter #3 and her boyfriend at a neighborhood restaurant at 6:30, so we had to get going--no time to buy mice.

I must confess I had some fearful thoughts about it at dinner--what was I getting into? I invoked Easy World and decided if there was any part of it that seemed like Difficult World, I'd let it go. Rick had wanted me to get the kids to go with me after dinner to adopt mice so he could be at home doing things he needed to do, but they had another obligation, so I was thinking that might be the sign to just abort the plan. But before I could even ask, Rick kindly volunteered to accompany me.

When we got there, the 5 were still all there. Thinking 5 mice was a little excessive for our first time out, we settled on 3--they like to be in groups and that way, if something happened to one, there'd still be a companion there (I hated to break up the family, but at least we left 2 together). Oh--and they're all females, so there won't be the amazing multiplying rodent issue! I had first wanted, in addition to the one that had started it all, a beautiful caramel-colored one and a jet black one. But then a dark gray one with a white blaze on her face caught our eye and we decided on her instead of the black one. Then we started noticing the black one was a bully, so our decision was cemented. (Say a prayer for the other mouse left behind to deal with her!)

We bought an all-in-one mouse cage set-up that included everything they'd need, and headed home with our 3 Mouseketeers. We got them home and the pupsters were curious, but not overly so--not obsessed like my dearly departed Luna would have been. Lilah's shown more interest than Roly, but I've been doing my best to redirect her when she starts staring in the direction of the cage.

We decided that naming them after the 3 most famous Mickey Mouse Club female Mousketeers would be fitting. Thus, the dark one is Annette (Funicello), the white with dark markings is Britney (Spears), and the blonde is Christina (Aguilera). We are certainly hoping Britney and Christina behave better than their namesakes. But I'm already seeing a similarity with the Britneys. Back in Britney's (the singer's) heyday, she was an exercise addict, working out 5 or more hours a day. Last night, Britney (the mouse) couldn't seem to stay off the exercise wheel--maybe her way of relieving stress? I was a little worried she'd be dead by morning from over-exertion, but she was fine--and on the wheel again within seconds of our waking them up! She and Annette have worked out a strategy whereby they can use the wheel together, side-by-side (Britney bullied Christina off the wheel when she wanted to share), but when their womanly figures come upon them, it should be interesting to see how they adapt. That little wheel may need to be replaced by a bigger one.

There is much more I could share about the meeces, but I'll just leave you with photos of them for now, and pick back up when there's something that someone other than us will find interesting about them!

Three sleeping mice--Britney, Christina, Annette (she shys away from publicity)

Britney and Annette

Britney on the wheel

Annette--she's the most curious about humans, but very camera-shy!

6 Ways Mushrooms Can Save the World

2008-07-15T06:20:34Z

Believe it or not, I am finally closing in on having the Spring/Summer newsletter ready to go. I've committed to Tony to have my articles, etc., ready for him to lay out Monday, for a target of Tuesday to send it out. (If you're not yet on my email list, be sure to add your email address--there's a little yellow box to the left of this blog entry you can use--so you can be among the first to receive it!) So I'm saving my writing energy for that...

Meanwhile, I want to pass along a really cool TED video I saw today called 6 Ways Mushrooms Can Save the World. I found it to be amazing and it has opened up a world for me I had never considered. Here's a link--for some reason, the blog software isn't letting me embed it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XI5frPV58tY

The guy in the video, while obviously brilliant, is not the world's most polished speaker--he's clearly an inspired geek who is only doing talks because he is so passionate about his message. But he picks up speed as he goes and his message is truly awe-inspiring. Do stick it out to the end! (About 18 mins.)

The plan?

2008-07-14T06:59:53Z

It hasn't been as long as it would appear since I made a blog entry--I made one midweek last week, but I removed it after it had only been up a half-day. You see--I was all excited about something called the Pickens Plan that a friend sent me an invitation to join. Just the Sunday before, while watching 60 Minutes (Rick's favorite TV show, which I could live without most of the time), rising oil prices came up, and I just flipped out at the absurdity of society's willingness to participate as if it's just fate.

It's such a ridiculous scenario to be so hamstrung by the oil industry when there are so many great energy alternatives to pursue--alternatives that would restore the environment and bring greater balance to the planet AND cost so little. So...I was passionately expressing my opinion about it, while at the same time, not really knowing a clearcut way that I could participate in making the change. So, when I received the invitation to join the Pickens Plan, I jumped at the opportunity because it seemed like an answer to a prayer. Actually, when I very first got the invitation, I wasn't drawn to it--mostly, I thought, because I didn't understand what it was. But then I began to explore the site and I was sold. So I signed up, made a blog entry about it, and then emailed some friends I thought would be interested.

It is a a coalition of people who want to see energy alternatives replace our dependence on oil--NOW, not in some nebulous future--spearheaded by who I now know is infamous oilman, T. Boone Pickens. On the homepage of PickensPlan.com he says:

"America is in a hole and it's getting deeper every day. We import 70% of our oil at a cost of $700 billion a year - four times the annual cost of the Iraq war. I've been an oil man all my life, but this is one emergency we can't drill our way out of. But if we create a new renewable energy network, we can break our addiction to foreign oil. On January 20, 2009, a new President gets sworn in. If we're organized, we can convince Congress to make major changes towards cleaner, cheaper and domestic energy resources. To get this done, I need your help...."

What's not to love about that? A visionary oil man? "A little odd," I thought, but anyone can see the light! That's when I jumped in with both feet and published my blog entry and sent my emails.

Then Rick informed me who T. Boone Pickens is. He's the guy behind the Swiftboat attacks that went a long way toward sinking John Kerry's presidential bid, giving us another 4 years of George W. and the gang. He is not known for his honesty and integrity, and is quite the greedy schemer (he's currently working on trying to sell the city of Dallas the gazillions of gallons of water he bought up water rights to in west Texas--read about that here). I wasn't ready to bail just on that--didn't want to throw the baby out with the bathwater, so I did a little exploring of the Pickens Plan community to get a better feel for things.

You know--I don't really care if he stands to make a bunch of money as long as this project has more integrity than he seems to. Unfortunately, what I found in the forums was a hotbed of political divisiveness, ugly name-calling, Obama-trashing, and lots of toxic energy, so I decided to bail out. That's when I pulled the blog entry. It just felt wrong to be allied with that energy (pardon the pun!) and to promote it using this venue.

Then, the same friend that pointed me toward the water rights article sent me information that points to Pickens being a key player in a series of hush-hush high-level meetings with Cheney, Ken Lay of Enron infamy, et al, that coincides with the commencement of the extremely steep, rapid rise of oil/gas prices. Very curious. What might this push for alternative energy have to do with this?

I'm still conflicted over it all. Somehow now I can't seem to trust that this person, who seems to have done so much damage to our country in the name of greed and thirst for power, has a plan that can really make a difference for our country and the planet without some built-in, secret traps. But his plan looks a lot better than any other anyone has put forth in a major way and it is galvanizing tens of thousands of people like me who would like to know what to do to make difference. Can someone with his track record give birth to something that will really help, with no hidden, detrimental agendas?

Remember to choose Easy World!

2008-07-09T06:49:11Z

This morning, I remembered to choose Easy World only a few seconds after I woke up, and thank heaven, I did! If I hadn't, I might not have been able to turn down the invitation into the depths of Difficult World that was soon to be issued to me.

You see, before having my own breakfast (something that usually wakes me up), I was in the midst of feeding the dogs (who have Wellness kibble for breakfast and Northwest Naturals frozen raw food for dinner). I had just scooped out their portions and was replacing the kibble bin in the closet, when I somehow managed to bump something and drop the bin. Oddly, it flipped over and landed on its lid, but not before the lid came off in mid-air and kibble went flying. When I picked up the bin, though I did it very carefully, even more kibble escaped, and there was dog food all over the floor.

I managed to keep the two furry beasts at bay until I had managed to sweep most of the food up, but I was really glad I had not yet fed them so I could let them do the rest of clean up for me. They did an admirable job, too. They found pieces I could not even see, and scoured the floor under the baker's rack which was obscured from my view. Lilah has been practically standing on her head all day trying to get under the refrigerator to get the pieces that skittled under there and must be lodged since my stick trick didn't work to free them.

Anyway--and if you're a morning person, you may not understand this--but the miracle for me was that I not only did not get upset, angry, or otherwise bent out of shape, I stayed placid--even amused--and simply handled the situation methodically and calmly. Normally, if something potentially challenging like that occurred first thing in my morning, I would succumb to the dark side, and at least half my day would be soured because of some dumb thing I just wasn't able to handle in my semi-alert, not-long-out-of-bed state. But not this morning! I had a happy morning and a grand day altogether. And I owe it all to choosing Easy World.

I need to replace the Easy World Good Morning poster I used to have in the bathroom. Since the bathroom got remodeled in September, it's been missing, and I have not been consistent with saying the Easy World mantra ("I choose to live in Easy World where everything is easy") first thing in the morning since. If you haven't printed out your own poster to help you start your day in Easy World, you can go to the ILiveInEasyWorld.com freebies page and take your choice! It just might help you keep your cool if you spill a 5-gallon bin of kibble or have any of the other challenges that could derail your day if you let it!

Speaking of Easy World, mark your calendar now for July 29, the date of my next free teleseminar which will be "Easy World, the Place to Be," a review for longtime EW fans, and an intro for EW newbies. I will also be sharing new insights about Easy World and taking your questions during the last 20 minutes of the hour. I hope you will join us! (To receive an email with access details, be sure you're on my email list no later than the day before, which will be July 28).