The Smiling Spirit

Archive for June, 2009

I love the week after the new moon. We live out in the country and when there’s little or no moon, all you can see is stars. I find starry skies to be quite spectacular and adore the humbled feeling I get, gazing up into the massive expanse of the (seemingly) unexplored Universe.

Thursday night at about midnight I found myself sitting out on my front porch with Abby. We were watching the lightning bugs dance down by the road in the fog that was creeping up the front acre from the field across the street. I sat there in the warm, heavy night air in awe of the natural beauty of the night in its total perfection.

I started thinking about Charlie being gone and how much I love and will miss him. That lead into thoughts of Michael Jackson, Ferrah Fawcett and Ed McMahon’s recent deaths. I sat there thinking about how short life is. Then I heard myself say in my head, “Well, I’m only 30″… ONLY 30. I mean, not to say I’m old or not… but it got me thinking about how you never age. I mean inside… you… the divine spark of God that is YOU. The “I Am”. You never age. You feel the same as when you were a child.

Then my mind wandered into awe at how the body ages but inside, I stay the same. I grow and learn and change… and yet somehow I stay the same. I become and yet I remain.

I felt so CHARGED by these thoughts. I sat there in the thick darkness with my dog surrounded by a blanket of stars and a field of lightening bugs and in a most joyous fashion began a litany of the amazing things in my life I’m so grateful for and that I appreciate with every fabric of my being. My body felt like it was buzzing with the sheer pleasure I was getting from just sitting in gratitude for life.

Suddenly a bird that was nested in the small copse of pine trees about twenty feet to my left started to SING! LOUDLY! It cut the silence with laser precision and was unquestionably the immediate center of all attention. Abby launched to her feet, startled by the outburst. I felt goose bumps break out across my entire body.

It twittered about in the deep shadows for about 10 seconds (which in the dead of night seems ENDLESS!) and then abruptly ceased. The silence rang loudly in my ears and I felt God reaching out to me from the void.

Nature never ceases to amaze me. God never ceases to amaze me.
I find that whenever I simply sit in gratitude I always find the connection I’m seeking. It sure doesn’t always happen in such a spectacular fashion but it happens none the less.

I hope you’re finding the connection you’re seeking :)

Well…

This morning marks one full week since our beloved cockerbeaglebasset, Charlie, disappeared into the woods.

We’ve done everything we can to find him. I spent 3 days wandering the woods and yelling and channeling my inner beagle into a howling bark. In the past, we’ve found that he’ll bark in answer if you bark at him beagle style. Not this time. I’ve even been driving the people at the shelter crazy because although they say they’ll call me if he comes in, I’ve continued to call every other day anyhow.

The boys and I have had some pretty extensive discussions about how beagles are known to wander and how this is probably how he ended up in the shelter where we found him in the first place. I’ve also tried to make sure that they understand that, although we deeply love and miss Charlie, he IS in fact, as a living being, creating his own reality. He’s headed wherever he needs to go.

I’m glad I found Abby (our australian cattle dog/pitbull/jack russel) on mother’s day this past May. Having her around the house has helped filled the void left by a missing Charlie. She’s such a bundle of love. Even if you didn’t know that she was only two years old, you could figure it our by being near her. She’s so playful and cuddly. You can just TELL she’s a pup.

And even she’s been grieving for Charlie. It took her 3 days to stop looking for him all around the house. I found that she kept laying down and sleeping on his bed so I took it into my bedroom and laid it on the floor right next to my side of the bed. She officially graduated out of sleeping in the kennel and into freedom the night after he disappeared. She’s such a mama’s girl, she really wanted to be near me and having her close at hand was helping me feel better too.

So anyway, we’re all trying to get out of our funk and get back to normal. I still have hope that Charlie will return or be found, however if he doesn’t, we’ve made peace with that too. It’s really amazing how devastating it can be to lose a family pet. Even one you’ve only had for a few months.

The format of this site has changed slightly, but may still be of interest to most if not all of it’s current visitors.

My target audience is now stay-at-home moms, working moms, wives and girlfriends. There is a Spiritual overtone, so ANYONE interested in Spirituality, Law of  Attraction, conscious living, conscious and/or Spiritual parenting, loving the life you live, finding purpose in your life and/or just BEING HAPPY may find this site useful and is MORE than welcome to stick around!

This site is my life. This is what I do. Not the website, but the content therein.

I’m a 30 year old mother of 3 boys, 2 dogs and 2 cats. I’m married to the man of my dreams and we will celebrate 11 years this August!! These 4 people and 16 paws are my life! I’m a homemaker. A deeply spiritual homemaker who’s doing everything she can to create a loving, happy, Spiritual existence here in this life.

I’m doing my best to raise conscious, loving, thoughtful, Spiritually aware children. My boys are 7 (Kyle), 9 (Kevin) and 14 (Thomas). Thomas has lived with his father since he was 2 and I’ve had to learn how to build a loving relationship with a son I see only every other weekend. I’ve also had to learn how to build a relationship with my Ex and his wife which has been very relaxed and easy for most of these years.

I’m here to help and inspire and LEARN from YOU! I hope you can help, inspire and learn from me too :)

To the left you should see a list of the topics I intend to be blogging about. If there’s anything listed of interest to you, stick around!

Hello Friends!

I’ve been browsing all kinds of resources lately looking for ways to keep bugs off myself, my family and my food during this summer season! Keeping bugs away in a safe, green, chemical free manor is very important to me.

I’ve found a lot of the usual tips that I’m pretty sure everyone knows but I’ve also managed to find a few tips that were totally unique and WONDERFUL ideas. Below I’ve listed those tips and a simple recipe for an essential oil to keep your balmy summer nights as bug free as possible!

#1. Sit the legs of your picnic table in tin cans filled with water. Disposable pie tins or old frisbees work well for thicker legged tabled. Why go through all of this trouble? Ants can’t make it through water, so you’ll prevent a pathway for them to climb up your table.

#2. Keep insects away from your picnic by giving them one of their own. Several yards away from your eating area, fill a pie plate full of water and sugar. The bugs will be so busy with their meal that they won’t pay any attention to yours. Don’t forget to pick up the pie plates before you leave the area.

#3. Light a stick of incense scented with essential oil of lemon balm, thyme, eucalyptus, peppermint, or lavender.

#4. Burn candles scented with those essential oils.

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Mosquito Repellent Oil

10 drops essential oil (basil, eucalyptus, cloves, geranium, peppermint, rosemary, lemon balm (citronella), onions, garlic, and feverfew)
2 tablespoons olive oil
Combine the ingredients in a glass jar; stir to blend. Dab a few drops on your skin or clothing.
Note: Pregnant women should consult with their doctor before using essential oils.

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What Scent Oils Repels What?!

Ticks First Choice: Rose Geranium
Other: Palmerosa, bay, eucalyptus, European pennyroyal
lavender, tickweed (American pennyroyal)

Mosquitoes: Pennyroyal, lemon balm (citronella), thyme, lavender

Blackflies: Sassafras, lavender, eucalyptus, pennyroyal, cedar, lemon balm (citronella), peppermint

Head Lice: Tea tree, rosemary, lavender, eucalyptus, rose geranium

Fleas: Orange oil

A note about wasps and yellow jackets: Don’t wear perfume, hair spray, or scented
deodorant. Avoid wearing bright colored clothing.

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Tips 1-2: http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/328094/dont_bug_me_9_tricks_to_keep_bugs_away.html?cat=6

Tips 3-4 / Mosquito Repellent Oil: http://www.care2.com/

Today Kyle(7) and I are butting heads a little.

He was preparing to make a ham sandwich and before he put his hand inside the bag of ham, I asked him if he’d washed his hands. He told me he had, but the way he paused to see what I’d say told me he was lying.

“Go wash your hands Kyle,” I said.

“I diiiid”, he said.

“You’re lying to me Kyle, now go wash your hands!”, and with that, he stomped off into the bathroom to wash his hands.

When he returned, he made his sandwich and ate. With only one bite to go he asked if he could go and play his second hour of video games when he was finished. This was when I informed him that I was tired of being lied to and that he was going to write sentences for me about it.

Of course the whole world came crashing down at that moment. After he calmed down he asked how many sentences he’d have to write. I asked him how many sentences he thought lying was worth. He thought for a moment and said 15. I know he was trying to low ball me because he knows that Kevin(9) got stuck writing 50 sentences once, for a much larger infraction that he’d been warned about multiple times. Fifteen sounded good to me, so I agreed.

I got out the tablet and considered for a moment what I should have him write. My first thought was “I will not lie to my mother about anything”, but I wasn’t fond of having the negative words in there. Not, lie. No, that needed to go. Affirmations are supposed to be in a positive light. I settled on and wrote across the top of the page, “I will always tell the truth.”

I informed him that he wasn’t to leave the chair and there would be no video games until he finished his fifteen sentences. He’s showing extreme resistance, but that’s what Kyle does. He can be very stubborn. Always wants everything HIS way and hasn’t been above stomping feet and screaming in the past. He doesn’t usually pull that with me because I don’t allow it.

He turned his chair to face away from the tablet. Then he pushed the tablet across the table out of his reach. Now he’s just sitting there looking at it. His resistance is wearing thin because his boredom is growing. It won’t be long now :)

When he gives in and writes what I asked him to, we’ll have to have a talk about how we’re a family unit and there can be no lies within the family unit. We’ve talked about lying before, but I think he’s in need of a little more depth of conversation now. He’s a little older and better able to understand.

I won’t tolerate lies in our home. The size of the lie is unimportant. We must always know that what we say to each other is honest and true. We are a unit… a team. Any team will break down if there’s not trust within.

So now… it’s a battle of wills. He’s determined to not write a single sentence and I’m determined to not give him the irrational, yelling, fed up, out of patience mom act that he’s so obviously trying to illicit from me.

Whoever came up with the idea to honor mothers one day a year should be smacked! LOL