Gave in, the coughing jags were getting scary.

I suspect that I died, in a previous lifetime or two by choking or drowning. I have great respect for dark water and would rather NOT be out on it, at night. The cruise I took doesn't count, that was a floating sky scraper. Zeus used to try to get me to go out in the sailboat at night, nope, can't do it. My anxiety level hit overdrive, if the shoreline disappeared.

I remember once taking a canoe out by myself. I proudly stroked my way around Lake Monona only to come up on some children, playing in the water, as my canoe glided next to them. Apparently, I feel safe and proud in knee deep water.

These coughing spasms are nasty. When the sinus cavities fill up suddenly and I start to cough I can't catch my breath. I actually start to panic. Logic tells me I'm not to go cash in the chips over this but the rest of my body and brain aren't listening. It's THE END. It's OVER.

My life doesn't flash before my eyes probably because I'm tearing up from the effort of trying to breathe. After three of these episodes this morning I asked Zeus to take me to the Urgent Care.
There I was handed a mask, told to keep it on and join the other masked people in the waiting room. Long story short I'm on an antibiotic "just in case" there is a secondary infection. The doctor seemed concerned that this was into the eight day. I was also told to drink more water.

The prescription wasn't ready when we drove through the drive up but a pleasant little girl told us to " go, go enjoy your lunch". We did, managing to scarf down some Mexican food at Taco Bell. My appetite certainly hasn't been affected by this head cold.

Another exciting day in the neighborhood. I should be back to my "perfect" self in about four days. Well, my practically perfect self. I have tons of laundry to fold while Zeus and I watch Seven Pounds, which arrived in my mailbox today.

I hope you all have a wonderful evening and a creative rest of the weekend. :)Bea

Friedensreich Regentag Dunkelbunt Hundertwasser

We are having what I think are our last days of fall here in southern Wisconsin. It's beautiful, the fog, clouds have moved off and the sun is shinning. It feels like the temperatures are up in the middle to high 50s, which is just perfect for me. Tomorrow and possibly, Sunday, the same kind of weather. It feels like a special little gift from Mother Nature.

I took Murphy to puppy day care and met Zeus at the restaurant for breakfast. I spent about 10 minutes in the car having a coughing spasm. Not pretty. Gulping for air, tears running down my face and trying to will myself not to cough again. I'm at the tail end of this whatever it is and I will be so glad to move on to good health.

The sun was pouring in the new studio, this afternoon. I am like a little kid, humming to my music as I put beloved books on the new shelving. I carry up boxes of stuff and put things away. I'm trying to consolidate things. I have a pile of books that I have decided I no longer need that can be donated to my local library. I have found books that have projects or techniques that I have wanted to try. I decided to keep those separate and give them a go, after Christmas.

I am in love with Friedensreich Hundertwaser's work. Two children's books about him arrived in my mail this past week. I sit and stare at his colors and style and think how fortunate the world was to have someone like him creating art. He was fascinated by spirals and saw them as a symbol of life and nature, something I share with him.

I'll leave you with a quote from him.

"A good picture is when the pictures is full of magic, when you can feel the happiness in it, when it makes you laugh or cry, or when it makes something happen. It should be like a flower or a tree. It should be like Nature. It should be that we miss it when it isn't there."

:) Bea
Have a great weekend, don't forget to let your soul out to play, go create.

One potato, two potatoes and a sweet potato more.

I thought I would share some of the art work from the local artists in Lima, Peru. These were not gallery artists but folks that set up their paintings, on the sidewalk, around one of the city parks. I kept thinking that the at least three of these would make great puzzles for a dreary Wisconsin winter.
Although today is rather mild the sky looks like it just wants to burst open and rain. I'm amazed that it hasn't yet.
I'm taking a day off from most all activity. I had a rough night with coughing and this head cold.
I ended up sleeping in my recliner for a couple of hours. If I remember from last year this "thing" seems to take 7-10 days to clear it's self out of my system. Today has been a series of naps and hot tea and soup.
I felt much better yesterday and ventured out to the local BBQ place with Zeus, for dinner before the UWisconsin B-ball game. By half time both of us looked at each other and decided to head for home. I was exhausted and Zeus looked very tired. I'm sure my coughing keeps him up too, at night.
I remember when my step sisters and I would fall ill and the night would be a series of one girl coughing after another until my mother came into the room with the teaspoon and the bottle of Terpin Hydrate.

"Uses.—Terpin was first physiologically investigated by Lepine, in 1855, who stated that it acted in a manner similar to the oil of turpentine. It has since been used in chronic bronchitis and in the advanced stages of acute bronchitis, especially when the secretion is unusually free. As terpin hydrate is not volatile and is relatively non irritant it seems impossible that, of itself, it can exert the characteristic effects of oil of turpentine. The theory on which it is employed is that it will be slowly decomposed in the body liberating the active terpenes."

I have never, ever in my life tasted anything as nasty as that stuff. To this day, if you come at me with a teaspoon of water I will start to sweat. Because that's what it looks like, harmless water until it burns it's way down your throat. It certainly stopped the coughing, though.

Tonight, I get to babysit Riley for Mary. Riley had moved on to sweet potatoes from pears and applesauce for her dinner. Last night Mary noticed a rash so it may be that she is allergic to those well loved sweet potatoes. I don't remember ever being told to watch for food allergies when I started my kids on baby food. I don't remember ever having any trouble with food allergies either. New age, new problems. I hope she isn't allergic because that child sure does love her sweet potatoes.

It's always so funny to me what a wide range of food my babies and toddlers ate and then as they got older they got fussier. Try to get a sweet potato into a 12 year old........not mine!
You would think I was trying to kill them. humph.........should have had a bottle of that old Terpin Hydrate around.

:)Bea Stay healthy, eat your sweet potatoes and CREATE in any order you want.

Finessing the Temporal Tap

As usual the photo has absolutely nothing to do with the title of this blog. I have a lot of pictures from my trip to Peru, last year, that I have never posted and I like them. So, there it is, a country road, a tired looking donkey or horse, I can't tell but I like the composition of the photo.

I first posted about Temporal Tapping a week ago, on Wednesday, November 11th. I have been doing it faithfully every day, multiple time during the day.
I am very curious to see if this works. I chose a LONG established habit of mine, nail biting.
Not a pretty or nice habit but one born out of anxiety and stress from my early school years.
I suspect it was a way of dealing with the stress of my parents fighting non stop. My mother tells me I wasn't a thumb sucker but that I bit my nails from a very early age. Of course, she denies that my early home life might have been the problem. I think my parents fought for the drama of it all. Looking back it seems like a theatrical production with screaming, yelling, door slamming, one parent in one part of the house, another in another part and little Bea wondering what the heck she should be doing about this.

I am so glad to hear Dr. Phil, whom I have a love/hate relationship with, tell parents that when they fight in front of their children that they CHANGE the child. No, ifs, about it, the child's personality is changed from that moment on. So don't do it. Easier said than done, I'm afraid.

Anyway, back to the Temporal Tap. I started out with a rather broad positive statement for the right side and found that anxiety is going to find a way around that statement. I needed to finesse the statement. I wasn't biting my nails anymore but I was working on the cuticle.
Disgusting I am sure some of you are thinking. Yeah, well, that's part of being human, we do these disgusting things, drink too much, eat too much, do things to our physical body that aren't healthy for it and much more.

I'm willing to put it out there because I think I have found a method that might help with a number of these "disgusting" issues.

The Temporal Tap does seem to work. I'm looking at the START of new growth of nails. I have a long way to go until I go have my first manicure but it does seem to be working.
I have to admit that every time I find my hand moving toward my mouth my brain sets off a loud speaker system in my head. WHAT ARE YOU DOING? BE AWARE, BE AWARE! WHAT ARE YOU DOING!
Now, that's the first time I ever think I was ever even aware of what I was doing.

So, if you are trying the Temporal Tap and find you are doing MORE of what you don't want to do. It's time to finesse the statements, both negative and positive. Yes, this requires work on your part. If your "habit", like mine, is due to anxiety you need to address that.

So, let's just review some things.

"1. If the wording of your statement that you are tapping into the left side of your head contains a negative word and the statement tapped into the right side contains only positive words,
2. The statements are in harmony with the way you naturally talk and think,
3, as you say the statement, you keep your attention on the words and their meaning, and
4, the statements do not instruct you to do something that contradicts a core value or a more basic need.

Select a target behavior, emotion, or physiological condition that you want to change. Craft a negatively worded statement to tap around your left ear and a positively worded statement to tap around your right ear. .........With deeply entrenched habits, I have seen it take up to thirty days before the results became evident. Even if you are skeptical, judge for yourself based on the results you attain."
Energy Medicine For Women, Donna Eden

Thirty days, huh.........going to keep trying this. When I am successful with this then I'm going to be working on a healthy, correct weight for my age statement.
I, like a number of people, like the idea of a new start with the New Year.
I plan to go into 2010 full tilt. My studio organized, ready to produce. I will have been rested and rejuvenated by being with my entire family over the Christmas holidays. I need health, energy, stamina for what I want to achieve in 2010. How about you? Got plans? Got dreams?

I saw some road signs, similar to the old Burma Shave ones, along the highway the other day.
The first one said, DREAMS
Second ........... ARE GOALS
Third ............. WITH DEADLINES

I kinda like that. So, if you are tapping, I hope it is working. If you find this amusing I'm glad to put a smile on your face. If you are undecided, give it a try. Need help, I'll see what I can offer, email me.

:)Bea GO DREAM, CREATE and a little tapping wouldn't hurt.

P.S. When I sat down to write my blog I didn't have a clue what I was going to talk about. I took a moment to center myself, LISTEN and then started typing. First draft I didn't have a clue when I last talked about Temporal tapping. I had no idea that it had been a week. There is a reason that I have posted this blog, exactly one week from it's first appearance. I haven't got a clue what that reason is but one of you out there needs to pay attention. Maybe more than one. You need to hear/read what I am saying and just as importantly, you need to communicate to me because there is something that I need to hear from you. I know, you are shaking your head.
If you know me in real life you know what I am saying is true. :)Bea

Bits & Pieces & This and That

Left to right: Alice Liddell Hargreaves, at the age of six, Mary Hilton Badcock, Alice Liddell Hargreaves, at eighty, during her first and only trip to America to celebrate the centenary of Lewis Carroll's birth, the three Liddell sister, Edith, Lorina and Alice and Alice Liddell at the age of seventeen in 1870 the last photo that C.L. Dodgson took of her.

" The beginning of Alice in Wonderland was told to me one summer afternoon when the sun was so hot we landed in the meadows down the river, deserting the boat to take refuge in the only bit of shade to be found, which was under a newly made hayrick. Here all three of us, my sisters and myself, came the the old petition, TELL US A STORY and Mr. Dodgson began it.
Sometimes to tease us, Mr. Dodgson would stop and say suddenly, "that's all till next time."

"Oh," we would cry, "it's not bedtime already!" and he would go on. Another time the story would begin in the boat and Mr. Dodgson would pretend to fall asleep in the middle, to our great dismay. --Alice Liddell Hargreaves, The New York Times, April 4, 1928

"We used to sit on the big sofa on each side of him while he told us stories, illustrating them by pencil or ink drawings as he went along...He seemed to have an endless store of these fantastical stories, which he made up as he told them, drawing busily on a large sheet of paper all the time."
--Alice Liddell, Cornhill Magazine, July 1932

"Alice and Through the Looking-Glass are made up almost wholly of bits and scraps, single ideas which came of themselves. In writing it out, I added, many fresh ideas, which seemed to grow out of themselves upon the original stock; and many more were added when, years afterwards, I wrote it all over again for publication; but (this may interest some readers of Alice to know) every such idea and nearly every word of the dialogue came of itself. Sometimes an idea comes at night, when I have had to get up and strike a light to note it down but whenever or however it comes, it comes of itself. I cannot set invention going like a clock, by any voluntary winding up; nor do I believe that any original writing (and what other writing is worth preserving?) was ever so produced... Periodically I have received courteous letters from strangers begging to know whether it is an allegory, or contains some hidden moral, or is a political satire and for all such questions I have but one answer," I Don't know!"

--Lewis Carroll, April 1887

Recently, I heard an interview with the author of Twilight. She said she has never written anything before, certainly didn't consider herself a story writer. The whole plot came to her in a dream. She woke up, sat down and wrote Chapter 19. From there she was so interested in it she wrote the rest of the chapters.
Often ideas come to us from the dream state. I don't know what level of sleep we are in when we find these ideas and often many of us can not bring them through to the waking state.
When I have a dream that stays with me throughout the day, one that I can still see clearly in my mind, I consider it a "teaching dream"
It's a dream that I need to write down and then take a seriously look at what my inner self is trying to tell me. The content may be very dream like but if I can remember how I felt during different parts of the dream, it helps me see the message. My dreams, like yours contain my own personal symbols. Some of them may be universal, some may be supplied by whoever or whatever is driving the dream.
I remember the dream I had the night before my mother in law died. I was back in my grandmother's house, sleeping in the back room where I always slept when I stayed with her.
I telephone was suspended from the ceiling, over my bed where I lay. I reached up and put the receiver to my ear. I heard my great aunt (who was probably my biological grandmother) tell me that "all was ready". I asked her what she was doing and she told me that she and "others" were waiting for some folks to arrive. I asked her what she meant. She told me that she was there to greet and make comfortable the new arrivals and not to worry about HER.
Early that next morning I received a phone call that my 92 year old MIL had passed away.
Ah, yes, I know, POINT?

I harp on taking some time to be quiet. I probably will continue to HARP on this topic because we are no longer a QUIET society. As artists we NEED to connect with that inner space, or our dream state. We need to be refreshed with that universal hum.
It's not just jibberjabber on my part. Call it the "zone" call it what you will but it's the place that ideas flow, where our creative "juice" is and we NEED it like we need air to breathe and water to drink.
If you are tired, sick, bored, run down, overworked, feeling like your art is just treading pace then give serious thought to taking 10 to 15 minutes out of your life and teach yourself how to connect up with the quiet constant flow.
And, I don't honestly believe that we need to connect up so we can create more things that sell. I believe that there are important things that need to be created. Humanity needs their artists and creative people to help them understand their purpose here.
Whether it's a creative plan for health care, feeding the masses, something that people walk by and find themselves studing it and thinking differently, I have no idea but I do know, from a gut level that this is really important.
I know I mentioned Mozart in an early post but it's true what he said. He couldn't put the notes he heard/saw in his mind down fast enough. He brought through from that universal stream the music that moved his generation and others. Yes, he brought it through by physical means for his own interests and whether they were good or bad really isn't important. What is important is that these "ideas" these things that I can't really put a name on, these creative ideas, get brought forth and we are in physical form with the ability to do so.

"One thing that made his stories particularly charming to a child, was that he often took his cue from her remarks--a question would set him off on quite a new trail of ideas, so that one felt one had somehow helped to make the story and it seemed a personal possession. It was the most lovely nonsense conceivable and I naturally reveled in it. His vivid imagination would fly from one subject to another and was never tied down in any way by the probabilities of life."
--Gertrude Chataway, a child friend to whom Carroll dedicated The Hunting of the Snark, 1876

:)Bea Meditate, sit quietly, LISTEN and CREATE

The Monday after the weekend.

I am still sick with a head cold. I think I have more energy than I really do. I'm not doing any lifting and carrying of stuff today, just putting away all the stuff that Justin carried up to the studio, for me. He worked hard, I have a lot to do.
Riley stayed over night with her Daddy, at his place. It was very strange not to come downstairs and have my morning smile fest with her. I miss the pumpkin which combined with the head cold put me in a weird mood this morning.

I decided to bring about a change by posting some updated pictures of the studio. Actually, I'm going to post the link to the album and if you are interested you can go and see it. I dated the recent ones for you.
http://picasaweb.google.com/bea3150/Studio#

Michelle Remy, over at: http://lostcoastpost.blogspot.com/ has been continuing her Zetti quest. She got me thinking about the first time that Zetti Corkey, my alter ego appeared in my art work. I remember making the ATC back in 04' and at the time wondering why on earth I had written Corky did not want to be art, on the card. The figure is wearing glasses or goggles, his pointy had and a frame has been put over his head. You can see the original here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/bea3150/ZettiCorkey#

I found a box with all my old ATCs in it. I was surprised at how many I did, that may have been following a theme, actually had a more personal meaning for me. By the end of 04' I was doing Soul Collage cards. I look back on my early ATCs and many of them can be moved right over to the Soul Collage pack of card. There is one, in that Zetti album I mentioned above that reads," It's cherishing every moment, It's being your own inspiration, It's a Life Lived Well."

Justin and family were down here for the weekend. Shari, after spending the week, as school nurse sending children home who were sick, ended up on my couch, sick, sick, sick. She was running a temperature and could barely move. I have since heard from her and the doctor told her she has H1N1 and gave her medications to take. Now, Mary says that she is feeling very achy and tired.
The kids on the other hand were in constant motion.

Hayden, Hunter and I made Hayden's Famous yesterday. Since the cans of biscuits had sat out on the counter for a while it was hard to pull the dough apart to make the triangles so we decided to make circles and make the usual filling but pull the other half of the circle over to make half moons. They were still a big hit. Hayden and Hunter learned a lesson is how to change the pattern. The world doesn't fall apart if you have half moon shapes or triangles. We just changed the name.
The Crazy Eight card game was played in the usual manner by the Neal men. Clean underwear was worn on the head. No, I have no idea how this tradition started. Perhaps it's a Scottish tradition, which would explain the "kilt" mystery.

We sent Justin and family off around 5:00PM only to greet Mary's friends, Alexis, James and their two children. Mary was cooking dinner for them. She invited us to join in but John and I decided that what my head cold really needed was pizza, beer and unlimited salad so we took off for Rocky's.

Update on Temporal Tapping
I did NOT chew on my fingers during the movie 2012. Normally, I probably would have. I did have some silliness going on with my cuticles so I had to change the positive message I was tapping to include the entire finger. I found myself, ONCE, last night, putting a finger in my mouth and IMMEDIATELY hearing a question in my mind, WHAT ARE YOU DOING? Now, I have to say that's a first. Honestly, the habit is so ingrained that I seldom even know or realize that I have bitten a nail. To have a THOUGHT that loud in my head. I whipped that finger out of my mouth like I had been caught stealing something from the general store. I will continue to tap and see where this goes. If any of you are trying it I would love to hear how your success is going.

I can hardly keep my eyes open and it's only mid morning. I think Murphy and I will take a little nap after I down some more Vit. C with Zinc. I do NOT want what Shari had or has. Be well everyone.

:)Bea Create it takes your mind off your issues.

Sunday morning, oh Sunday morning......

I number of people have asked me how the movie 2012 was so I thought I would do a little review instead of just answering emails and comments.
I am NOT a blood and guts kind of girl. "Boy stuff" car chases, James Bond type of stuff bores me after having seen the original ones.
This movie was almost THREE HOURS LONG and I NEVER, NEVER even thought about the time while I was watching it. It reminded me of when I sat through the Titanic with the rest of the audience and not one of us, in a FULL THEATER, got up out of our seats.
The computer graphics are amazing and so real like that I found myself clutching the arm rest, my husbands thigh and my jacket, in rotation.

It was like being in the science museum and seeing the WHAT IF or WHAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN to the East and West coast eventually. You know we've all seen those little computer graphics on PBS that show water sweeping into and around the buildings. TRUST me when the water comes in a Tsunami form it's a WALL of water and when you watch, on the big screen earthquakes destroying cities, it's beautiful and terrifying at the same time.

I mean, part of your brain KNOWS you are sitting in a movie theater and part of you is like a child sitting there speechless at the horror of it all.

For the most part the acting was fine. I can't remember the name of the main male actor. I've seen him in other things and he was just great. Woody Harlesson (?) was funny, wacky and over the top with his character and it was just fine. You really needed a little comic relief by that time.

The title 2012 is just a little to close in time. The sun has started to heat up the earth's inner core of water, that causes the earth crust to become unstable and start to shift.

I wouldn't take small children to see this. I think it might be hard for them to separate the real from the imaginary in their brain banks. But, that's just my opinion.
I didn't see it in 3-d just the big screen and THAT was worth it. I still like to go to the movies for movies like this kind. The home screen and sound system just doesn't do justice to it.

On, another layer, it's worth it because sometimes we really need a reminder of how fragile our existence is, on this planet. A meditation teacher once told me that in the grand scheme of things humanity is like a flea on the back of mother earth. When a catastrophe of this size does and will occur at some time it's important that we have said our I love you's. That we have tried to help one another and not just thought about ourselves. WHY? Well, if your belief system ends with this life form then it probably isn't important to you.

But, if you believe that a sacred part of you, moves on into another form, another experience, another lesson, then it is important to remind yourself why you are experiencing the HUMAN EXPERIENCE.

:)Bea Have a great day, you know the drill, do something creative it's good for your soul. And, while you are at it, call somebody and tell them how much they mean to you. THAT is good for your soul too.