Sunday, February 27, 2011

Can the Law of Attraction Bring You That Someone?

I'm sure you know all about the Law of Attraction. You've heard the words buzzng around, and maybe you've gone so far as to buy a book about it, or you looked it up and thought it sounds too good to be true. It's not too good, it is good, but it is as true as the brain in your head or the decision you make in your heart to do what is necessary to apply the law to your daily and even minute-by-minute needs. I know, I know, it's new-age right? No, it's not. The Law of Attraction may have been recently named but it a force that God created a long long long time ago. It's a LAW so it won't change. Think of the Law of Gravity, it does change, but not on this Earth. The Law of Attraction - reaches to the moon! (and beyond actually)

Can I really THINK a man into my life? One that I want, one that I think will be the best candidate to be that one, that right guy? Sure, and I'll tell you why? We spend too much of our time remembering things that didn't work out in relationships and we think out loud to our friends and those who will listen, that NEXT TIME it's going to be different. I don't know about you, but I have waited over 12 years this time and you know that by God and all things Holy, the next one is be nothing like that man I married; but I won't use negative thinking to make that happen because the Law of Attraction is very powerful, respectful of your thoughts, and obedient! If you think about it, negative or positive, it comes to you -- that thought (thoughts) create braided vibrations in time and find other vibrations out there being sent out by those types of people just because they live the way they do, and THEY are the ones to be attracted back to you -- whether or not you pick one to be a mate, that's up to you, but you will certainly ATTRACT one to you. DON'T think negatively - - just don't do it. Acknowledge that you have those thoughts and move on...fast.

When I think about it, I want a man who respects me and what I am currently involved in. I am a writer, a playful soul, a happy woman. I expect a man who expects me to be this way. I think on the intention of his thoughts, he intends to be with me, he intends to find someone like me, he's looking for someone like me, and I'm thinking of someone like him. It will happen simply because of the Law...it has to. There is no way out of the circle - - round and round it goes. You think, it attracts, you receive....so, since you're the creator of your thoughts,it only stands to reason, and good thinking, that you would think intentionally, deliberately, on purpose, for the things you truly want. THAT is the key to the gate. OPEN IT.

Oh, and as for that man that I'm thinking about, I'm not thinking about 100 of them like him - - just him. There is only one. God made him, He can bring the man around. He's better at it anyway. I messed up the last time.

Saturday, February 26, 2011

4-D Ultrasound - - No One Can Hide!


Poor baby Copeland Elijah Wayne! He's just a little over 31 weeks along inside his mother (my daughter) and already we're spying on him. Surveillance cameras probing his every move already. He doesn't stand a chance. I bet by this time next year someone will have developed a way to fingerprint babies inside their mothers and then they'll match those prints with the ones they take when they come out so that they are sure the right babies go home with the right parents. Watch, you heard it here first.

Caity went to the Precious Peeks location in Avon, Indiana where we live, to get a closer and very personal look at her unborn baby boy Copeland. He's in there alright, and at 31 weeks he's finally decided he can't hide from the ultrasound tech. Nope, not anymore. Mr. Santiago, the owner and operator of the machines that allow us such a great look into the life of our little guy was just as glad as we were that he was able to capture little Copeland. Caity, Brandon and I have been to the facility 4 times to get the procedure done, which takes 30-40 minutes if you do it right; but he was always turning away from the camera. Shy of the paparazzi I suppose, but we're his family!! Caity was asked to move to the left, then to the right, then she was asked to stand up, and even once to do a hand-stand with the help of her sweet and extremely patient boyfriend Brandon. I didn't like hearing that she was doing that, but you gotta shake the kid from the corner every now and then!

Today he was forced to show his pretty face after she drank 16 oz of freezing cold water which eventually made its way to the placenta and Copeland instinctively moved the cord away from his face; the cord he had been using in the past to shield him from the wide eyes of the ultrasound probe. AHA!! We found you Copeland. You cannot hide any longer we know your weakness.....and of course, being a normal and perfect baby, he adhered to our begging and came out just long enough from under his warm folds of tissue to peek at us, literally opening his eyes, opening his mouth several times, and even sticking out his tongue. Naturally we laughed. Brandon got a little emotional and his eyes welled up - it's usually me that does that, but this time it was DADDY!!!

I will say that it's a bit expensive, and it's a bit of a luxury to take this step at this point and have your baby's portrait taken even before he or she is born, but the tech made it all worth it. He made Caity a DVD of the 35 min. session, he assured us that other facilities make you pay EACH time rather than guaranteeing you that you will have a good session. He recorded Copeland's heartbeat and put it inside a little fuzzy teddy bear for Caity, and made her 36 individual pictures showing her how he stretches, yawns, winks, blinks, and yes, sticks his finger in his ear to show us he's had about enough of us staring at him. Well, he had better get use to it - - we Stringfellows have cameras attached to our hands. If he thinks he's being invaded now, he hasn't seen the start of it.

April 27, 2011 is the due date. Drivers, start your engines!!

Priority! Priority!

Oh, it's all about getting our heads screwed on right, isn't it? Remember your grandpa telling you that you had a screw loose in your head? I think I actually thought we were all put together inside our bodies like some sort of machine, a Frankensteinish thing where maybe you couldn't see it unless you were a doctor, but people actually had screws and bolts, and they could possibly come loose! I didn't want that to happen to me. LOL

Over the years, and more precisely over the last few years, forcing myself to prioritize my goals, dreams, and desires has been both a challenge and a process. I'm one of those believers in thought, believers in positive motivational thinking. I believe something can happen simply because I believe it. Remember when you picked up the phone to call someone and they were on the phone already calling you? How does that happen? Sure, there's the logistical explanation that you may be holding to a routine of calling a certain person at more or less a certain time, but for the sake of this point I'm putting it out there that you sent out a thought to the vast and wonderful universe that you personally had an intention to connect with someone and that thought, backed by intention, fortified by positive motivation, put a real vibration into the world and it matched up with another thought just like it -- you may have read about it in the popular book "The Secret", but it's been going on forever. This world of ours, a gift like no other, has a way of producing exactly that which we think about mostly or most strongly.

Getting my mind to separate thoughts, separate dreams, and to separate what I want, now that's the secret if there is one. I have to identify my idea and sit myself down to think about them sometimes. It helps to write it out, pray over it, write it out again, say it out loud and yes, tell someone so that the vibrations of what I want actually come out from my mouth and into the ever-all listening universe. I say God..I always give Him that credit since He actually made the universe. Priority is everything...because that's where the universe begins. It won't jump in the middle, it goes straight off the top - - whatever you are thinking in THAT moment, THIS moment, is what begins the force behind the manifestation which will eventually create that which you are thinking. EVERY time. It's called the Law of Attraction and it works. It really works. REALLY REALLY...it works.

Now what? What do you do first? Simple - - breathe. It's what you do next that counts.

What Are Best Friends For?


Some best friends take you shopping when you’re feeling bad and they bring you chocolate. Mine gave me the “eye” and told me to get over it. Being a life-long Cher fan, I’m just lucky she didn’t slap me across the face now and then and scream “Snap out of it!”. I say that, I may have just opened myself up to a rude awakening next time Jeannie catches me in a mood.

There are women out in this giant and wonderful world who climb corporate ladders, close multi-million dollar deals, create and maintain enormous budgets and hire and fire employees when necessary. Other great and powerful women run for office, run an office, write for syndicated columns (had to add that) and some are law enforcement agents, senators, who are always in the public eye or splashed across headlines in newspapers - - or on Nancy Grace selling their new book which will certainly forever change the way the world operates. Other women, other great women work hard behind the scenes, setting things up, getting things ready, and being there when we need them -- this is my best friend. Sometime back in the 1980‘s Jeannie felt a call to help children. It was a call that led her to her current position of educator, teacher, supervisor, and ultimate child care-giver at a fabulous Oklahoma City based facility called appropriately, Special Care. Working with minor to severe handicapped and/or challenged children comes incredibly easily to this woman, she almost makes it look as if she had given birth to the hundreds of kids I have personally witnessed her ministering to. It literally begs the question “what would they do without her?”

For me the question is moot. I don’t have to ever worry about being without my best friend even if we are geographically challenged for now. Jeannie has finally learned from her daughters Julie and Kristen how to set up and use her Facebook account! No worries, right? I can even get her to post a picture with just the slightest of instruction, she’s really coming along. To be honest with you Jeannie and I were instant soul-mates. I know I am taking a chance at embarrassing her by saying this, but it won’t be the first time; Jeannie and I were literally forced into our relationship as besties when her best friend and my best friend walked off together from the cafeteria table we were perched at on that first day of school. My sophomore year, her senior year, just the two of us alone but together - alone. I think it went something like this: “Hi, I’m Jude. I like the Bee Gees” to which she answered “Oh, yeah, OK I’m Jeannie and I like Barry the best.” Liking Barry the best, and telling me so was key to everything - I was a Maurice Gibb fan. We were both Oklahoma Sooner fans, so that was all it took to seal the deal. Maybe it took two or three more minutes of discussion for it to happen, but we both realized our friends weren’t coming back for us. We were stuck there in teenage hell at school but at least we had each other. That was August 22, 1978. Those two other friends never returned to claim us. Jeannie and I are best friends.

It may seem trite or simple for me to make the decision to interview my best friend for one of my first articles with Women’s Radio, and I assure you it was an easy decision. I wanted you to know Jeannie and to get the opportunity to celebrate her along with thoughts, prayers, and memories of your own best friend. It was an awesome experience to sit on my couch watching crime shows with her, texting sarcastic remarks about which CSI character would or wouldn’t do what they just did in public. If there’s one thing we do really well its texting and being rude to each other at the expense of television reality show character, an opposing football team, or in most cases a real life criminal being exposed on Headline News. Every day Jeannie and I text for hours - our way of keeping in touch. Sitting on the couch I asked her through phone messages what her ideal job would be, what her goals were, what she thought were some of the biggest highlights of her life. She knew she was being interviewed so she told me to do what I do best and just embellish! WHAT? WHAT, me, embellish? OK -- I thought I’d tell my readers about the time Jeannie broke into the Whitehouse before it was popular to do so, and how she danced with the President - - but it never happened. Jeannie’s most memorable moments involve watching a child without the ability to speak give their parents a sign saying they were loved. She helped a kid without legs skateboard, she moved a family once in the freezing cold weather because they’d lost their power and their child, her student, couldn’t be without electricity -- I half way expected her to say her goals were world peace and for all the animals to find homes where they could be safe. I wanted to slap her! If all the goals and aspirations my best friend have weren’t true or weren’t real, I may have suddenly become a Cher fan too; but they are -- that is WHO she really is.

Jeannie has it all really. She may not know it, but she does. She is loved by her family, she has a good home, a good job, a really cute car, and a dog that thinks she bakes treats just for her. Oh, and she has a really super cool best friend who loves to watch football with her and text rude and inappropriate things every night - - she really is THAT cool.

Thursday, February 10, 2011

The Perfect Haunted House

I'm an author of fiction (as well as a couple of memoirs) so I'm always looking for the perfect place to murder someone and stuff the body, right? You and I both know I'm talking through my pen, or my keyboard, I have no intention of really hurting someone. I don't actually, as the author, have to be the one to do the killing either, I was thinking about writing about someone, or a few someones who had already been killed -- say in a house, and then the main characters in my book moves in to the house and has to deal with the ghosts living there. That to me makes more romantic sense -- the forensic loving, cop-show-watching side of me says it's best I don't try to get too involved with the actual event of death as I'd just screw it up. I'd be thinking too much about it in the 21st century terms and end up bumbling a perfectly good 19th century killing!

So, I was online today looking at houses I may want to buy for myself when I move out to an area that's a bit more rural, but still close enough to Target and Starbucks. There's a city called Kokomo in Indiana that fits the bill. No, I'm not making that up, it really is called Kokomo, and it has TWO Starbucks! I like Kokomo! Just west of the city is an area with more corn, more farms, more nothing, and in the late 1800's farmhouses were popping up everywhere out that way -- some of them are still there, have great barns, land, horse property; and for me the author, it has a great bunch of forests, woods, streams, and gullies to kill someone on paper and stuff their bodies somewhere between Chapters 2 and 3.

I found a house that fits me. Two-story with a creepy creepy basement. It was built after the Civil War, but I want to think it was build on land that was fought over. It was the homestead of someone interesting and I'm going to find out who. It's a flat-faced colonial house with pocket windows, wide plank hardwood floors and it has great heavy wooded banisters and baseboards. I bet if I looked, it would have one of those awesome little closets under the stairway to store your vacuum and old papers in. I love those little closets, you can hide in wait for hours and scare anyone who comes in to visit -- WHY don't people check there first when they hear spooky sounds? I do!

So, I'm hoping the place is available for a lease purchase, and I'm hoping it has a nice ghost or two hanging out either in the barn or the house itself. I'm not opposed to living with those in the past as long as they don't try to force me to join them too soon. I may want to write about murder but I don't think I want to participate or volunteer too soon. When I think about it, the basement has a fireplace in it; that would be an awesome place to hide too -- say on Halloween when the kids come by for a party or something...no, I'd get stuck and the video to get me out would show up on YouTube. Never mind!