Mood:  party time!

I am reminded that today is the birthday of not one, but TWO boys that were at one time, or another were candidates for the position of Babboo...One was born in Oregon and now lives in Illinois (Normal-where I dated him before I moved here) and One was born in Illinois and now lives in Oregon (where I dated him after I moved here)---Some of you may be familiar...but for the Neophyte-bloglodyte...The first one's last name is Ray,-so he was my "Mr.Ray" (get it?), but now he's my EX-Ray...the second one I met here while I was working with him (and "coincidently?"a guy named Ray...) but it only lasted a short while and he started dating the other Michelle at work to whom he is now married...

The bus came by, and I got on...that's when it all began...

Happy Birthday, TWO you....

Posted by mandalafly at 9:45 PM PST

Updated: Thursday, January 18, 2007 9:48 PM PST

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Mood:  lucky

..."I can't complain but sometimes I still do"...

Apparently Babboo and I have been having quite the nightlife...we showed up in Mrs. Random's (http://mrs-random.blogspot.com) dream and were with her thinking about planning what to do this spring in her garden.  She said something about she was fretting about what to tell us to do, because she hadn't planned anything yet---(exhibiting the true nature of the Virgo personality...PLAN AHEAD!!!)  Meanwhile I apparently tell her something to the effect of..."let's wing it" (ok the actual quote is "Oh well, -we'll just get started with something and we'll see where it goes.") 

I just have to say...she's onto me...I'm all for making plans, I've got my fair share of Virgo in my chart, and a Virgo son to boot (NO, I haven't booted my son...gads, people!)  I know how it's done,(making plans, not booting my son, although that probably wouldn't be so hard to figure out...) but I also have learned several things about making plans...

1.  Plans are a guideline, not a rulebook.

2.  Plans can change.

3.  The Devil can mess with even the best laid plans...and I personally think "he" specifically chooses the good ones to mess with the most...why invite trouble?

While I am writing this a friend calls me from Chicago and gives me the low down on the conversation she PLANS on NOT having, with the boy who should NOT call her, but if she does, she is going to say something, to which he will respond with something else, and then she will remind him of why she is always right, and how he always screws up the part where they just have a rational relationship, because she's ALSO a committo-phobe (her words), just like him, and they like it that way, and even though the PLAN also includes not having any "relations" with said boy, they will ultimately ending up doing so, against her better judgement, and I am reminded how much fun I thought it was when I was at the stage where I invited this kind of trouble...OOH!!!  The DEVIL made me do it!!!! ( Thank the Great Amoeba that my Angel Babboo showed up and we are, so far, mostly saving each other from ourselves...or something to that effect).

And then there was my trip to Salem...to talk to the committee about the difference between Business PLANS, and Business PEOPLE...and how to get that across to the folks in Washington who approve whether we get funded or not...

Roll it all up into a ball and it coincides with the New Moon in Capricorn, which is about Career, and it tells me that it is a good time to review our plans for the coming year, and make the necessary adjustments to allow for the LIFE part of our plans...as for me, I will leave you with this quote from Charles (Curtis Armstrong), in the movie Better Off Dead.  As his best friend Lane (John Cusack) contemplates how he is going to ski the K12 run, Charles says "Go that way, real fast.  If something gets in your way, TURN!"

AmoebaSpeed...my little Bloglodytes...thanks for watching!

Posted by mandalafly at 4:11 PM PST

Updated: Thursday, January 18, 2007 9:29 PM PST

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Mood:  chillin'

     Going to Salem tomorrow morning to put a good word in for the MicroBusiness people with the "Steering Committee."  I know you are saying, "But, Mandalafly, how can you go to Salem after what happened last time?"  Well, kids, different Salem...that one was fire...this one has been covered by ice the last couple of days...who knows, with all this icy weather across the country...is hell freezing over?  I'm thinking it's probably more like a government weather machine on full blast to try to make Al Gore look bad..."What Global Warming?"  Or maybe it's just the "Alien's Winter Wonderland Christmas (or whatever...)Special" and we are being watched as we slide around in our feeble wheeled mobiles.  They say that video from Portland came from some guy on his rooftop, but I bet if you look really close, you can see the shadow from the ship...

     Seriously folks (yah, right) this weather is wacky, but at least it was above freeaing enough that we were able to get out and about a bit better today.  There is gonna be some cleaning up to do after this whole icy mess.  I do NOT miss this kind of winter!  Even though I thank the Universe for the beauty, splendor, and lessons that it has to teach us.  the messages I am getting are "SLOW DOWN!" and "CHILL OUT!"  Sounds like good advice to me!

Okay, that whole rant was not even close to what I was going to write about, but I guess that can be fodder for tomorrow's blog...I'm going to bed!  Say "G'NITE, Gracie."

"G'NITE, Gracie."

Posted by mandalafly at 12:01 AM PST

Updated: Thursday, January 18, 2007 12:01 AM PST

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Mood:  d'oh

Managed to get Things One and Two up, showered, out the door, and on our way, only to have them put school on yet another two hour delay...since last Wednesday the schedule has been whack...it's not supposed to really warm up any time soon either...snow, sleet, temps in the freezing zone...it is actually starting to feel eerily like living back in Normal...except there are mountains.  YAY.

My style is further cramped by finances, the usual January crunch, but then, who isn't kinda reigned in right now...this too shall pass, and I remind myself that I am one of the few Americans on the planet with ZERO credit card debt-and NO CAR PAYMENT EITHER!  I will get a conservative paycheck from the MUSH ROOM today-so we will still be eating-and the electric bill is paid, so it's a pretty good bet that we will stay warm and dry as well...how blessed we truly are.  

Today should be the day that the mandala that I sent to Portland gets there.  I am always excited to hear from people who are not quite sure what to expect.  I have a good feeling about this one.  I am sure she will like it, but there is always a bit of tension for me when I am waiting to hear what they think of it.  There is some part of all of us that needs approval and validation for  what we do, and putting a piece of artwork out there invites comment, as well as criticism...what I really want out of it is the opportunity to do MORE...tell your friends...

See you in a BIT-O, Honeys...

Posted by mandalafly at 9:23 AM PST

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Mood:  smelly

 I'm hoping that the reason that I have lollygagged most of this day away is because mercury moved into Aquarius, and I need to adjust to the different energy.  That's my story anyway. 

Mercury is a little more mellow in Aquarius than in dictatorial Capricorn (we goats do like to be the boss...) and I feel as though today was a get ready to shift gears kind of day.  I puttered a lot, but pretty much ended up at the end of the day with fresh dirty dishes (at least they got rotated), neatly rearranged piles of books I am currently using for research, one Christmas stocking rescued from under Thing Two's bed where a mouse had discovered it still had nuts in it, and a nagging feeling that if I really had to waste a couple of hours watching Wifeswap and SuperNanny (you caught me!!!) I could have done it with a paintbrush in my hand...but I didn't.  SO be it.

I guess there will be plenty of time to get things done as Mars begins it's transit through Capricorn starting tomorrow.  The happy go lucky Sagittarian energy of the past few months should be reigned in and used as horsepower to make our businesses GO!  (Capricorn is Career and Public Standing and Mars is Direction)  Couldn't come at a better time, as I am going to Salem on Thursday to speak on behalf of the IDA program that has helped me to really move forward with this dream of mine.  

Thursday we could also see beauty in places where we might not expect it as Venus the planet of Love and Beauty conjuncts Neptune the Planet of Spiritual love...Dearly Beloved, we are gathered here together to appreciate and love all of creation, the good, the bad, and the ugly...It is all a reflection of ourSelves...Maybe we should all take ourselves to lunch that day.  You know how I love to be Out to Lunch...

On that note...CHOW!!!  (all puns intended, as usual).
 

Posted by mandalafly at 11:21 PM PST

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Mood:  cool

WOW Amoebites, we got snow here in the Willamette (like Dammit) Valley, and it has stayed FRIGID COLD for a number of days now, and I am ready to return to our regularly scheduled milder weather patterns, already in progress! 

Leetle Dog learned a thing about frozen water today as he chased his ball through what is usually a shallow puddle, but had frozen into a small skating rink...and he pulled off a maginificent back-asswards barrel roll into a ball grab...BOOYAH-DOGGIES!!!  Pupperonious has the ball grabbing S-K-I-L-L-S...

So Thursday the Kiddos had a snow day (unheard of!!!), Friday was on a two hour delay, Saturday came and went in a flash, here it is Sunday, and tomorrow is Martin Luther King Jr. Day-and it actually falls on his birthday this year!  I too have a Dream!

Somehow during all of the ka-fuffle (that's the technical term for it),  I still managed to dash off a mandala for a client in Portland within 5 days of her order-WOO-HOO!  Ready for the Mandala Coincidence Report?  Okay...So, the last birth portrait mandala I did was a Christmas/Birthday present for my friend who was born on Feb. 12, to give to my friend who was born on Dec. 22...and this mandala was a birthday present for a guy born on Feb. 12 from his girlfriend Noel (like Christmas-get it?) 

Another theme to his mandala involved roses.  When I was doing the underpainting that happens as I am developing the canvas, I put in this cranberry red color and started swirling it with my fingers.  It became this sort of wreath of roses, and I thought it was probably a part of his birthday since it falls so close to St. Valentine's Day.  Then I also remembered that Portland is Rose City, so-again-appropriate.  I did not however end up with any roses in the mandala itself, but I know that it was built on a bed of them.  When I went to mail it out yesterday...the person at the post office who handled my package was named Rozie...Why am I not surprised?

Don't you just love it when everything is coming up ROSES?  ME TOO!!  Enjoy it while it lasts...A while I hope :)

Posted by mandalafly at 4:04 PM PST

Updated: Sunday, January 14, 2007 4:04 PM PST

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Mood:  a-ok

 WOW, CHILDREN OF THE BLOG-THIS IS BLOG 420!!!

Scorpina thinks this is where I should stop and publish my book, but at this point, I am concentrating on my mandalas, so...onward and upward...

If I could make my own emoticons for this BLOG-today I'd have made "Yee-Haw".   Perhaps it is because my pony is so happy to be on this side of the fence.  Anyway, yesterday was a kind of a putter day, but of course that doesn't mean that there wasn't cosmic fun happening around me.  It is how I know that I am on the right path...or in the left field, as the case may be...
SO the theme of the day yesterday seems to be the Chorale...as in, I looked at the paper in the morning, and the cartoon Bizarro (one of the few that I try not to miss), made me giggle with a picture of cowboys in choir robes, one about to draw his gun on another, saying "I don't like your tone, Mister".  I love how Dan Piraro plays with words.
Later that very day, I was watching Medical Mysteries and they were showing a girl who stuttered quite severely.  She was helped by an earpiece developed by a fellow stutterer.  The piece works on the phenomena known as the Choral Effect, where when a stutterer reads aloud with another person, the stuttering nearly stops.  The peice makes her own voice bounce off the eardrum to mimic the effect of another person speaking with her, and works like a charm in 80-90% of cases!
What in the world is my point, you ask? (probably not for the first time!)

This makes me think about the way that we work in unison with each other.  When we are speaking alone, we might waver and stammer, when we are together, our voice gets steadier, and when we are in a group, we can really SING!!!  Try it with OM.  When you are alone, when you are with another, and then when you are with a group-see how it makes you feel.

Your mission:  See if you can find a group to chant OM with! 
 

Posted by mandalafly at 11:43 AM PST

Updated: Thursday, January 11, 2007 11:48 AM PST

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Mood:  flirty

Oh, and it was some guy named "Elvis's" Birthday yesterday too-but you can see where my loyalties lie...

Warning:  This Blog contains immature subject matter, and may not be appropriate for all audiences.  Proceed with reckless abandon if you dare...

Meanwhile back at the ranch...Today's installment of "Free Association Theatre" flashes back to yesterday, and finds us in a parking lot where I pulled in next to a Ford Taurus which was this irridescent, opalescent, pinky-purple color-not to be confused with a purple pinky...or nurple-

Anyway, it reminded me of this parody of a car commercial that they used to play on one of the radio stations back in Normal, where they are at a car dealer called "Pinkley Taurus."  (say it a couple of times...)  In the commercial there are women extolling the "virtues" of Pinkley Taurus's services, and how they love to have their Pinkley Taurus's Serviced, and of course how wonderful it is that they will rub and buff your...ahem..."car". 

I laugh and say to myself "SELF, now THERE'S a Pinkly Taurus!"   Later I am telling the Pinkley story to Babboo while I am driving him to work, and we pull up to the stoplight behind TWO Taurus's-hahaha!  (The Cosmic Twins Strike Again!)

Later That Same Evening:  Babboo phones me from work because he heard on the radio that "A guy robbed a bank in a town west of here-the getaway car?  A Red Taurus." 

NO BULL!!!
What could this mean, since I am not figuring that I am supposed to be on the lookout for a bank robber...should I be suspicious of everyone who drives a red Taurus?  Should I report them to homeland security immediately, if not sooner...I guess I'll cross that bridge when I come to it...

However-what I read from this is that Taurus is the house of Possessions, and Money has been stolen, so the idea that comes out of this is that perhaps it is a time where we may be vulnerable to loss, especially through theft, and that we should keep an eye on the things we hold dear.  There aren't any planets sitting in Taurus right now, but the Sun, Moon, Mercury, and the North Node are trine it, so maybe it is time to communicate with the Tauruses in your life.  Go do that!

Posted by mandalafly at 10:00 AM PST

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