THe Law of Attraction

Skeptical???? Most people are when they hear the terms New Thought Movement as it's so coined. Or if your not familiar with that term try Metaphysical or New Age.

Call it what you will it's all the same thing. For the past few years I have been on a spiritual journey. Don't confuse my term spiritual with religion. What I am talking about has nothing to do with church or idol worship.

I have been on a path...a path to find the substance, that from whence we came. Not something "out there" but that stuff within. You know, like when Jesus said "The kingdom of Heaven is within". Too bad man has taken Jesus teachings and turned them into a self-serving sideshow worthy of idolatry. .....but that's a whole other post...

Well, today I wanted to go to the book store to find a new metaphysical book to read. I used to have a friend who would always jokingly refer to my literature as "weird" books. She was no where near enlightened enough to comprehend the magnitude of what was written in those books, but in her defense we all eventually find our way back to the source even if some of us find it in more arduous ways.

So, back to the bookstore. I was browsing through the "weird" book section and spotted a book entitled The Law of Attraction. I have read many books about the law of attraction...The Secret, Ask and It Shall Be Given, Infinite Possibilities, and Spiritual Economics just to name a few.

I unshelved the copy of the Law of Attraction book. As I pulled it out a single dollar bill fell out of the book onto the floor. Hmmmmm.....strange, so I began to flip through the book searching for more of the green stuff. :-)

What I found tucked inside of the book was a small card that had enveloped the dollar bill. On the outside of the card was a hand drawn heart. The message on the inside of the card read....

Your life is changing in a big and miraculous way.

What a coincidence...or is it called synchronicity??? Yes, my life has slowly been changing in big and miraculous ways for the past few years. I thought about that card and lone dollar bill...what it meant and why I had been the one to receive it.

I finally decided the best thing to be done with the card and dollar bill was to pay it forward. I selected another book in that section that I had a particular affection for. I chose The Secret off the shelf, added another dollar bill to the one that I found and enclosed the money in the card in hopes that another kindred soul will get that special message sent from the Universe.

Isn't that what life is all about anyway?? Passing it on...there is never not enough of anything. If we ALL would share of what we have no one would ever go without anything they need.

Remember the story of Stone Soup??? Let us all share so that we ALL can have...the source is unlimited for those that BELIEVE.

PEACE OUT PEOPLE!!!!

Ronald McDonald House

This afternoon we had a 4-H obligation. Our groups job was to prepare a meal for the Ronald McDonald House residents.

Last week the girls (I say girls because that's what our 4-H group is mostly comprised of..only 1 male) decided on preparing tacos for the families.

The girls...and the one guy, had to prepare the meal in the kitchen of the house. I have to say I was pretty impressed. They prepared the whole meal for 30 people all on their own. The whole meal included a variety of freshly cut fruits, a pie, and taco fixings they prepared all on their own as a group with very little interaction from us moms. Oh, and let me tell you how hard it was for a group of women to be in a kitchen and not feel compelled to work!!

Here are some pics of the activity...







I do want to make note that yes, some of my pics look blurry. Hubby bought me a new camera recently that does not have the little small eye view thingy (whatever you call it) so I need to practice on steadying my hand when I hold the camera out to look at the big view thingy to take shots. I don't mold well as far as technology goes. Luckily I have a tech savvy daughter that it is with me most of the time that helps her mom out with my discrepancies.

After the meal was prepared it was time to go home and prepare our own family dinners. Before we left the "kids" decided to make use of the house playground equipment..




Another successful afternoon.

Camping On Inks Lake

It's been 3 years since our last camping trip...our first here in Texas.

Although I am not a fan of sleeping on the ground, I do love being outdoors listening to the sounds of wildlife and watching the stars before I close my eyes into slumber land.

We picked Inks Lake for our first Texas camping experience. There were no regrets to our choice. There were several times on our trip that I thought I had died and gone to heaven. It was absolutely beautiful, refreshing, and bonded us together as a family.

Since I have so many pics I will give a picture summary of our trip.

Here is our camping spot. We were right on the lake.



Summer spent most of her time at the edge of the lake. Someone had left an old cast net down there that she was totally intrigued with.




We had worked up a sweat after we unloaded all our stuff and set up camp so we headed out to explore and take a dip. We ended up at Devil's Waterhole. I don't know why it's called Devil's Waterhole. I have not taken the time to research it....




Not being a fan of deep water, while the "kids" were swimming I decided to take Brandi and do a little exploring on my own. The area was the usual rocky hills so I had to leave Brandi behind below so I could climb the rocks and take some pics from above.





Later on that evening we checked out another swimming area. I spent my time reading a book and taking pics. Something about swimming with millions of fish eggs floating around in the water did not appeal to me...





It had been a long hot day and it was finally time to get back to camp, prepare our picnic style dinner and start an evening fire.



At dusk it was a real cool factor to see the deer grazing so close to our site. You could tell they were very used to being near people and didn't mind us coming close enough for a pic.



Sleep was restful. I awoke several times during the night to see a stray shooting star and hear scurrying nocturnal animals.

We awoke the next morning starving. We had meager amounts of picnic food from the day before left...nothing that would sustain us through our active day. We did a search on the GPS and found a restaurant nearby to have some brunch.

After we ate we came back to the park do to a little hiking along the lake. We didn't hike long before we came upon a cool little waterfall. While Toby and Summer stopped to check out the waterfall I ventured on down the trail a good way to try and get some more pics. I could have walked along that trail forever taking pics but I knew my family was probably down there tapping their foot waiting on me to return.




The waterfall area we found was soooooo relaxing. The water was cool and clear and the sound of the waterfall was serene. Aside from seeing a couple of snakes it was perfect. We did have our eyes peeled for any stray snakes while we chilled in the water.



After we chilled at the waterfall a little while we ventured to the other side of the rock where there was a larger swimming area perfect for Summer. It was deep enough to swim in but yet not to deep that she couldn't stand up. Summer loved the area but it seemed a little snakey to me...even though I never saw a snake on that side.




Poor little Brandi was totally out of her comfort zone the whole trip. She hates water and she definitely hates to walk on a leash. I did have to put her in the water a few times to cool her off. It was so hot she didn't seem to mind.

Here is what she was doing most of the time...watching, waiting, looking forlorn and lost. That's just Brandi for ya.






We were having such a good time and there were still areas of the park we didn't get to see. I wish we could have stayed another night. I look forward to our next camping trip to Inks Lake.

Here are a few miscellaneous pics..

The Crab Bucket

One time a man was walking along the beach and saw another man fishing in the surf with a bait bucket beside him. As he drew closer, he saw that the bait bucket had no lid and had live crabs inside.

"Why don't you cover your bait bucket so the crabs won't escape?", he said.
"You don't understand.", the man replied, "If there is one crab in the bucket it would surely crawl out very quickly. However, when there are many crabs in the bucket, if one tries to crawl up the side, the others grab hold of it and pull it back down so that it will share the same fate as the rest of them."

So it is with people. If one tries to do something different, get better grades, improve herself, escape her environment, or dream big dreams, other people will try to drag her back down to share their fate.

Moral of the story: Ignore the crabs. Charge ahead and do what is right for you....or at best, be the only crab in the bucket.

Lie To Me

Lately I have been intrigued about a series Toby and I have been watching called Lie To Me. I have always been one of those perceptive types that pretty much can sense whether a person in genuine, soulful, deceptive, have ulterior motives, etc. In a sense, I think we all inherently have it.

Even though I do have a radar, I have not always taken heed to my internal warnings.

Anyway, the series was inspired by the scientific discoveries of a real-life psychologist who can read clues embedded in the human face, body and voice to expose the truth and lies in criminal investigations.
Of course, these clues would also show themselves in any other situation where someone felt the need to lie or deceive.

I have been enthralled. Since watching the show I have found myself studying random peoples faces, voices, and body language. I have been so intrigued, I have also began to do some reading online about the practice.

Nobody likes to be lied to or duped...I like the idea of being able to expose deceptiveness. Maybe that makes me a little deceptive myself....maybe my interest comes from the experience of once being married to a compulsive liar.

After watching an episode the other night, I got to thinking about lying in depth. I myself have never been a good liar. I was always one of those people where it was written all over my face if I were even telling a little white lie.

Most the time I would just fess up because it was easier to face the consequences than try to figure out how to tell a lie gracefully.

Matter of fact, even if I think a person does not believe me or is acting accusatory to me, I will appear to be lying just because I think that they think I am lying....if that makes sense.

I would be terrible at police interrogations. I would be one of those people that the police could convince that I committed a murder just by making me feel pressured, even though I would know I was innocent.

So, I was thinking about that. I wonder if even if you feel like someone does not believe you would you still display those same facial expressions and body language?????

I know there have been times I have looked guilty in the past even when I wasn't.

Just something to think about.

The Zoo......Again

In the 12 years Toby and I have been together, we have been to many, many zoos. Zoos have always been on our agenda when we are looking for something to fill an open day.

So, the Austin Zoo it was today. Austin Zoo is a rescue zoo. It's not known to be one of the best zoos in the area but we like it anyway.

When we drove up in the parking lot we were slightly annoyed. There were about 20 buses or more in the parking lot. I think I can speak for all homeschoolers and say one of the biggest things that will make us cringe is a busload of schooled kids or crowds of any kind at a park or attraction.

So be it. We had already made the trek across town to the zoo so we weren't about to let a swarm of wild ones intimidate us.

There was such a large crowd that it was very hard avoiding the groups. We did the best we could.

Here are some typical zoo pics....







I guess the highlight of our day had to be watching this lion charge at some school kids that were taking enjoyment from taunting the lion....even though it clearly states on each and every cage not to harass or yell at the animals. After all, they are rescue animals.



As Toby and I watched the lion charge at the taunting kids a couple of times through the other side of the fence we secretly imagined what it would be like if the lion somehow busted through the fence and came after their asses. :-) Shortly, one of the keepers came out and reprimanded them.

After we finally left the chaos of the zoo it was past our lunchtime. We decided to try out another restaurant we had never eaten at...ironically it was another seafood restaurant Catfish Parlour.

I'm beginning to think I may have originally given Austin a bad seafood rap. In the past two days we have eaten at some delicious seafood restaurants. Catfish Parlour outdid Quality Seafood in our opinion.

Once we got home, we caught up on some of our outside chores. I hate to waste time on yard work, but someones got to do it.

Bodies

This week our "field trip" was to the Bodies Exhibit. Austin is the last stop for the exhibit and I was determined I wasn't going to miss it.

Since we weren't allowed to take pics inside the exhibit, I don't have any pics to post. You can check it out here.

Not only was Bodies fascinating to me, it has also been controversial. I just had to see what all the hoopla was over dead, preserved bodies on display.

Just a personal opinion on my half, but once a person is dead they are dead....no matter how they died they are still dead and no matter how much the living feel they need respect the dead person is still dead and most likely no longer concerned about what is done with his/her shell...just as a butterfly is not concerned with his cocoon after he has transformed.

Before we went to the exhibit we grabbed some lunch at a suggested seafood restaurant. Good, fresh seafood is not very common in these parts. We have found tolerable seafood but nothing like the seafood you find on the coast...of course not, this is not the coast.

BUT, I do have to say that Quality Seafood was comparable if not the same as what I have eaten on the coast. They also had a store inside the restaurant where you could buy fresh seafood. The selection was large and appeared fresh. If I didn't know better I would have thought I was back on the coast. Two thumbs up for Quality Seafood.

After we got our tummies full we set off for the exhibit. The exhibit was pricey, but I have to say that Toby and I were intrigued. Summer was also very curious about the whole thing. I even spotted her reading some of the descriptions of certain body parts and the info posted on the walls. That in itself is more a miracle than what our bodies are. :-)

One thing for sure, I am glad we are not a modest family or squeamish about body parts and nudity. Genitalia was not scarce and it was interesting to see what lies underneath our shell. I was glad Summer got to experience what lies underneath all of our skin in a very up close and personal way. There is nothing better than visual aids and hands on experience when learning about our body...or anything for that matter.

Since I didn't get to use my camera in the exhibit, I managed to take a couple of lame pics of UT campus from the top of the parking garage. Sorry, this is all I have to offer for pics of the day...

Here is the UT Tower in the photo..



To the left of this pic is the edge of the UT stadium...



It was a good day.