Oh, NeNe...what happened? You were the most level headed of the whole Housewife franchise and now, sadly, the fame and fortune monster has got it's claws so deep into you, it doesn't look like they could ever come out. And, okay, I have to say it...as much as I thought that Sheree has changed this season..that being foreclosed on and having to dial it back...might have humbled her...well, apparently all they all need is a little of the hair of the camera and they're right back howling at the moon again. Shame too. Real crying shame. Sheree, when you patted yourself on the back at the end of your faux fashion show, did you do that in front of a mirror? And was Dwight staring back?
Anyway, I've apparently missed too much of Grey's to make it back there as well. I have NO idea why Meredith spent the whole episode in bed. I mean, I know that she was probably pretty far along in her pregnancy in real life so they were hiding that as badly as they used to do in the days of The Dick Van Dyck Show. But, is she sick? Do I actually care? Nah. I also knew that Heigl was high tailing it on hiatus from Grey's for awhile but the writers dealth with her exit from the hospital in a really wanky way too. As for ANYONE else on that show last night (which was so sad that I remembered exactly why I stopped watching it to begin with) I didn't recognize. Except Yang. And, seriously, if you were supposed to be the next Christian Barnard, what are you doing still working triage in the middle of the night at a middle of the road ER? Stupid.
But, I was keeping a low pro and not letting the usual cast come by and play because my beloved got his lower braces on yesterday afternoon. And my oh my how things have changed since I wore that full metal jacket. I even said to my sister this morning that I was so happy to be able to get ahead of the discomfort by dosing him with Motrin before the appointment since I soooo remember having to totally tough it out when I was a metal mouth. There weren't any different color wires to choose from (he wouldn't get orange and black for Halloween no matter how hard I whined) or wax to keep the inside cheek from being all cut up (we stuck cotton in there...we made that up...weren't me clever....clever and gagging....) and there definitely wasn't a screen to look at that could show you how much progress the top teeth have made in moving into place. Nope, we had to just hope that it was worth tuning in the mothership once all that metal was removed.
But he did have some pain last night and then again this morning too.
Prompting and predicating me to think about what soft foods I should lay in for what promises to be a loooooonnnng ass weekend.
I only wish he liked guacamole. Or salsa. Because I got a box of both in the mail the other day. From WHOLLY GUACAMOLE. They're the company who makes guac and salsa from all natural ingredients and sells it without preservatives. So, now they have these new Snack Packs of salsa. And each pack is LESS THAN 50 calories. And we tried them out the other night (we had to 'balance' out the fifty calories by eating the salsa with Fritos dippers!) and we LOVED them. In fact, the little cup I had was almost like a whole appetizer it was so filling. And delish. Louis couldn't even finish his cup. Someone took it and finished it for him though. We really liked this stuff. Preservative and salmonella free. Good stuff.
But Grayson doesn't like salsa.
He kinda/sorta likes guacamole. Not even caring about all the magical avocado can do to make you more beautiful. I mean, you think that someone who takes pictures of their crooked , crooked (!) teeth because they can't believe "how great I'm going to look when my teeth are finally straight" would want to know about ancient civilizations using avocados in efforts to exponentially improve appearances.
That's right, in order to bring on the beauty, it's believed that you only have to hold a ripe avocado in your hands and visualize the new you, as strongly as you can, and then totally hold that vision while you peel and eat. Eat one a day for ten days with this express intent and hubba hubba holy guacamole!
Now, normally, I would give the best guacamole recipe ever on this post. I don't know if I can best the Wholly version. So I won't try. At least not this week. This week I'll be bringing some of those tasty snacks to Tammy's where Grammy and Pop Pop are visiting and then will see what they think. On second thought, maybe I'll make mine and do a blind taste test. Yeah, that's what I'll do. I'll let you know how that turns out on Monday. For now:
Ellen's Great Guac Recipe
Ingredients:
2 ripe avocados
1/2 half tomato, seeds removed and finely chopped
1/2 red onion, minced
1 serrano chile, minced
2 tablespoons fresh cilantro leaves
2 heaping tablespoons sour cream
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
1/2 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
sea salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste
Cut the avocado in half and remove the pit/seed. Spoon out the rest of the fruit into a mixing bowl and gently mash with a fork. Add all other ingredients except the tomato (add that right before serving.) Once the dip is mixed cover tightly with a plastic wrap that forms a 'skin' on top of the guacamole in order to avoid browning caused by oxydation.
And, well, I'd say 'Go Giants' but I'm mad at them. GO JETS! Instead.
Enjoy your wholly wonderful weekend!
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Okay, so we've seen it with those Kardashian sisters (some might say that Khloe getting married after dating Lamar for four seconds was the ultimate act of it) and we've seen it with the Williams sisters on the tennis courts (especially hot-headed Serena!) and we've seen it in great literature and music, in poems and epic stories from the Bible. But, you ain't seen nothin' until you see the Voltaggio brothers on 'Top Chef' this season.
I don't know what they strike such a cord in/with me except that my own family (and we're all pretty old now) still goes at it sometimes. And we do it JUST like those two cookin' bros. So, last night was arguably any 'Top Chef' seasons best show...Restaurant Wars! This is where four chefs partner on one side and four go on the other and they compete to put out the best single night at their restaurants. From the beginning, it looked like the teams were pretty evenly split. Except the whiny blonde girl got the Irish Santa guy who could be the one who comes between those two bras and takes the proverbial cake and gets crowned top cook. But, that said, ANY team boasting BOTH Voltaggios is a team to be reckoned with. As we saw last night. But we also saw something play out at the end of the show that could have been scripted from any intrusive fly hanging around my own old house, ESPECIALLY when my parents were still alive.
See, the brother's team won the night. And both brothers were then in contention to win the $10K prize. Now, I will say this: the judges dissed the losing team for NOT having someone come forward and act as leader. The winning team DID have a leader and it was clearly the elder bra. BUT...elder bra wasn't rewarded for his leadership and keeping peace in the kitchen while his younger bra had his temper tantrums all over the dessert trays. Once again...let me just recap....the judges castigated, critisized and lambasted the losing team for NOT having a leader. But then they didn't reward the one who emerged on the winning team. They gave the money to the spoiled brat brother. And therein lies the spicy barbeque rub!
So, the older brother, even though he just led his team to a victory that the judges called "the best restaurant in Top Chef restaurant wars history,' sits and stews in the appropriately named 'stew room' while his younger brother practically bubbles over with liquid, "I told ya so, I told ya so." Now, when the younger bra magnanimously offers to share the $10K bounty with all the chefs equally, elder bra did EXACTLY what anyone of us in my immature family would do....HE TOLD THE BROTHER TO KEEP HIS PORTION OF THE BOOTY!!!
OMG!!!!
How great is that?????? My family dynamics playing out on 'Top Chef'!
C'mon, if that wasn't his brother but was some random chef from Timbuktu, he might still have issues with his comportment and behavoir but he wouldn't turn down a few thousand bucks because of it. He only did because MOTHER ALWAYS LIKED HIM BEST!
OMG!!!!!!
I sooooo cannot wait to see what happens next with these two. Even Irish Santa called them "a ticking time bomb."
In case you hear that tick, tick, tick in any of your own dealings:
Make sure that bedroom doors always open INTO a room and be sure, as well, that they shut smoothly too. This is, if you want kids in the same house to get along. NOthing harms a relationship between siblings, or so says Feng Shui like a delicious chicken rollatini, um, I mean, nothing harms that relationship more than doors that get stuck or open to the inside of a room. As well and sticking with unstuck doors:
All bedroom doors should be equal in size (as should the love we get from our parents!) because it's been proven that rooms that have bigger doors sometimes have bigger egos (some might say bigger bullying egos) inside.
Feng Shui says that putting a round and smooth crystal ball under the parent's bed, by the foot of the bed on the left side as you look at the bed from the doorway, will keep relationships between brothers and sisters flourishing and respoect and support growing between them.
Can't we all just get along?
With crispy pear something or others and mint ice cream on top?
I'm with you Bryan! But, then again, mother always did like me best. hee
A money collage. Because money has an energy all of its own. Look, if I came to your house right this very second and we were sitting around, you and I, just talking about how my little snowboarder keeps escaping the ax on 'Dancing' while Donny really ratched last night...and, then, I just casually opened my Dolce and grabbed my wallet while pulling out a handful of bills...well, where would your attention, YOUR ENERGY, then go?
Right.
Money has an energy all of its own. Like I said.
In fact, money energy is pretty freakin powerful too. More powerful than a locomotive AND a speeding train put together. More powerful than Superman even! And, well, when money is displayed in an area it tends to take over the ENERGY of that whole space. Just try this: put some dollar bills around your space. You know, if you're in a cubby, just hang a couple of dollars on the front of your computer monitor. Or, if you are expecting the usual dinner crowd, go ahead and put a bunch of bills on the front of the fridge. You don't need to tell me what's gonna happen since I already know. But I want to show YOU.
Money has an energy all of its own. And, when displayed, attracts more of same.
Permanently putting money in your WEALTH area attracts more money into your pocket. Displaying money in WEALTH represents money coming to visit and then deciding to stay awhile.
And wouldn't you rather have money visit than, say, oh I don't know, Jon Gosselin?
If you can find a red picture frame, good on ya. If you can't, use a GOLD FRAME.
With a red background. Red matting or red construction paper or even a red material of some sort.
Onto this background, affix nine bills (you can use ANY bills ... you know ... like the faux Monopoly money thousand dollar bills or those million dollar bills you can get in Spencers or other gift stores.) Now, you also need to affix 99 coins as well. If you want you can create an abstract piece of art with this collage (speaking of....how weird is this? the other day I posted about once upon a time commissioning a work of art from an artist named Jean Sobieski and how I sometimes babysat for his daughter at the time. She grew up to be the actress Lee Lee Sobieski and, well, today..when I was looking for an image to use for this post, her photo...LEE LEE's PHOTO was sitting next to this money picture!! How weird is that?)
Anyway, you can create an abstract work of art with this collage or go the more standard or routine route and draw a tree and then stick the bills and coins as if money were growin' on.....you get it.
Now, when you are all done with this, put it anywhere inside any of your WEALTH areas and leave it there for at least 49 days.
That's enough time to buy a few lotto tickets.
If you get what I'm sayin'?
Money has a powerful energy all its own.
Use it.
If you've read the Empowering Days for this month (and if you haven't, what are you waiting for?) either here or on my site (www.ellenwhitehurst.com) then you today is one of the most powerful days in October to ASK for something...anything!
See, here's what I traditionally find...I tell someone that they need to seek clarity and then ask for what they want, and, well, some of the 'normal' responses go like this:
"I want more money."
"I need my husband/wife to spend more time thinking about me."
"I want a partner."
"I need a job."
And on and on and on. But these 'wants' and 'needs' are very broad and very homogenous and don't really hold that power packed punch they should in order for us to turn our intentions into concrete manifestations.
"I want more money" should translate into "I want three hundred and forty three dollars to buy those cool Cole Haan boots I saw in the new Neimans catalog."
"I want my partner to spend all of Friday night with me, drinking wine and having incredible sex and I don't want to see him/her texting, taking care of the kids or even glancing at Super Nanny for one single second. I want her/him to reconnect with me on an intimate and special level."
"I want someone to partner me who is compassionate, well read, dresses nicely has a great sense of humor and who loves to cook as well as give great massages." (wink)
"I want to work in an office that is dedicated to marketing and PR and I want to be recognized for all the creativity and enthusiasm I can bring to that job. I am worth a salary of at least $65,000./yr to start and love going to work every day."
Do you see the difference? Clarity. Intention. And, now, the proactive step that will make them all come true.
Once you have gotten VERY clear about what IT is that you want, then write these words on paper (again with great thanks to Worth):
TREE
ROAD
EAVE
EDEN
Read from west to east
And north to south,
Then speak aloud:
TREE of knowledge,
ROAD of pain,
EAVE of home
EDEN again.
Now, once you solve the riddle contained within, make your wish. Then burn the paper somewhere inside your home.
And let me know when your wish comes true.
Won't be long now.
I always have trouble falling asleep on Sunday nights. I always have and suppose that I probably always will. But it wasn't until I was an adult and talking about that same fact that all of these other friends (etc) came forward to say that they have the same trouble too. Seems like I'm not alone in my isolated insomnia. Through the years we've talked about it and speculated about the causes (the obvious....start of another week...to the obscure; my mother went into the hospital for the first time on a Monday when I was a little girl and didn't come back out for six months...blah, blah, blah.)
Of course, the whole school thing was ever the only reason I ever thought I developed this Sunday Night Anxiety (yes, I named it!) But, like I said, as I grew older I also found out that the day of the highest rate of fatal heart attacks is Monday. Actually, it's Monday morning to be exact. So, clearly, I am not the only one embracing the anxious.
Now, as if that weren't enough...here comes word over the weekend that the one demographic who seems to be being the most negatively affected by the Swine Flu are teenagers. For whatever reasons, the one age group who is in the prime of their health and life is the one group being blasted by this flu. Well, pregnant women are too. Pregnant women and teenagers. It's like this sickness is trying to infiltrate hope itself. I've debated about getting my son the vaccine. Well, really, no, I haven't. I'm not a proponent of vaccines and never have been. I did all kinds of due diligence on vaccines while I was pregnant with my son and came to my individual decision not to vaccinate for a whole host of really good reasons. That I still stand by. But, now, all of that stalwart and staid support of alternative and complementary therapies get called into question when I see something this insidious so adversely affecting that demographic. I mean, the vaccine itself boasts formaldehyde and aluminum and insect repellant as just a part of its ingredients. But the abjext age discrimination makes me question, what's potentially more dangerous..the sickness or the cure?
And, then, as if that weren't enough for moms and dads to be to be thinking about, we see this tragedy up at U Conn happen over the weekend. The football team quarterback, stabbed outside a school dance on Saturday night. Stabbed to death. AT U CONN!!! I went to Fairfield U in Connecticut and we sometimes traveled to use the library (read: look for new boys to flirt with) at U Conn. I don't know what to say about (by all accounts) a great young athlete's life just being randomly taken. No suspects either. Not a one.
So, this is all on my mind because we had a report here, in our community email, last Friday of three young black men breaking into a neighbor's house IN BROAD DAYLIGHT, brandishing a gun and sticking the mom and two of her kids into a closet while the ransacked the place. IN MY SUBURBAN UPSCALE NEIGHBORHOOD. At 5 o'clock in the afternoon! The third child, a boy, was upstairs hiding and used his cell phone to call 911. The cops caught one of the perps but the other two got away.
How do you think this makes ALL of us feel? Single mom and her kid living alone here in our cottage? Mothers whose husbands are in Iraq fighting for all of our freedom. Men who are back from that same place, just wanting to rest their souls and their psyches from this sort of fear.
When did we become the Wild, Wild West again? When did human life become so disposable. And a statistic? How did a strain of flu develop that can quickly kill teenagers and pregnant women? When did the social climate change so much that you can't celebrate a game day win at the school dance without worrying about never throwing a pigskin again? When did it become just another apathetic course in our day to say it's okay when thugs brandishing guns break in to houses that are supposed to shield us from this very nightmare?
When did it become unsafe to exist?
My son was the one who asked me whether he should get this vaccine or not.
I don't know.
My son was the one who told me about Jasper Howard being snuffed at this stabbing in Connecticut. He asked me if that part of Connecticut where I went to school was no longer safe?
I don't know.
And, my son called neighbors on Friday night because I was down the street and he was here with a friend and they heard a noise downstairs and came down to find the front door wide open. He ended up calling the dad of a friend of his who sent his older son to come and pick the boys up until I got home. He asked me if he did the right thing?
I don't know.
Here is what I DO know:
A bagua mirror, hung over the top of the front door on the outside is strong protection against invisible threats. And visible ones too.
Position small Fu Dogs on either side of an entrance or in a window so they can see all who approach and keep all who are inside safe and protected.
Lastly:
To protect your property and your most treasured possessions inside, raise your right arm from the elbow so that your fingers point at the sky. Then visualize an impenetrable light shield coming down over the front of the house. At the same time, lower and straighten the arm so that your fingers are pointing directly in front of you at elbow height. You will be making a "shhhhhhh" cound while doing this. Repeat this entire sequence five more times while paying attention to the roof, the foundations and all four of the outer walls. When done, visualize an impregnable wall surrounding your house, and, your life. Then say the OM MANI PADME HUM nine times.
All else fails, don't forget that Indian tribe from Washington State that taught us to scream, three times in succession, Oh Wogey, Oh Wogey, Oh Wogey..whenever fear was present and help...immediate help...from the cosmos is required.
My son forgot to get his wogey on last Saturday night. I don't think that will happen again. For ANY of us! Even, and especially, you.
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