Chick tales

The chicken adventure continues and I have to say that I am surprised at how little work they really are.  The biggest thing has been getting the coop ready, and most recently, their outdoor run.

They are growing like crazy and have provided hours of entertainment for all!  Out of the 16, there is one I call "pitchfork" because when I am cleaning the coop she runs after the pitchfork like it is her job.  And then there is Diva, who digs herself a hole in the dirt and gives herself a dust bath, over and over and over.

When Diva finishes her dust bath, she stretches out and lounges in the sun!

While the other chickens are rushing about doing serious chicken business, such as pecking at the ground furiously, Diva does this.  With no apologies.  A chicken after my own heart!

I actually have no problem with being referred to as the crazy chicken lady!  Birds of a feather flock together and all!  And I am especially glad that the kids are enjoying them as well.  Maddie kept insisting that they freaked her out, but she enjoys hanging with them.

 

Charlie and the chick ... in their new outdoor run Peter and I constructed out of an old dog pen.  We also dug in fence two feet into the ground to deter predators.

And Lucy isn't sure what to do with them.  She tries to play and they run away, but I am working on their socialization!  This morning I went down to the coop to check on food and water and they had been up to all sorts of mischief.  The big piece of cardboard I keep to put over the screen door on cold nights had been knocked down and pooped on to the point I may have to throw it away, and a roll of paper towels that I had stored in the top nesting box had been knocked down, I guess, and it was unrolled and strewn all about.  Such fun they had!  It is raining today and the tarp over their outdoor run (we will build a permanent cover but ran out of time this past weekend) had filled with water and collapsed in, and so until I fix that, I don't want to put them out.  They are clearly miffed that they are not getting out, and several of them were sitting by the door expectantly!  And who says chickens are dumb!

A buff orpington tells Diva to get up and get to work!

I would love to name more of them, but quite frankly, I can't tell them apart unless they are chasing a pitchfork or lounging in the dirt.  They are pretty much all the same size, with the exception of one who we are almost wondering if she is a rooster -- she looks so different from the others.  She/He is pictured on the left, and has a redder comb and is a different color (though in this picture it doesn't really show up.)    They are six weeks now, and only four months or so until we get eggs! 

Trial by error

Back in the day, such an expression! it was common for things to be handed down through stories and essentially being taught all the things necessary for every day living.  Mother's taught their daughter's what it took to run a household, and father's taught their sons what it took to do whatever it was he did, either through apprenticeship or whatever.  While it is highly unlikely that I would have stood around and listened to any particular lesson in home making, there is a part of me that wishes that I'd seen SOMETHING, that I could have potentially absorbed by osmosis.

While progress has taken many women out of the kitchen and into the world where they can do whatever they want, necessity is pushing many of us back into it.  I still fight with the constraints of what it means to saddle yourself with a flock of chickens and an enormous garden that is going to mean preserving of food -- something I am just not that comfortable with.  And it's annoying.

I don't know if it is due to age or what, but I find myself researching and researching how to do something, instead of just using my gut!  I had a baby and read as many books as I could get my hands on, but back then it was literally Dr. Spock and What to Expect when You're Expecting out there ... and maybe that was a good thing.  Two very different viewpoints and ways to do things -- and I figured out that somewhere in the middle was just right.

I was much more comfortable raising a baby than I am baby chicks!  I know that sounds ridiculous, and believe me, I KNOW THAT SOUNDS RIDICULOUS, but somehow I felt raising a baby human was obvious, whereas raising baby chicks not so much.  In fact, I have read too much and I keep pointing out to myself that they are happy.  They don't complain and they do what they are supposed to, which is roughly eat, poop, sleep, poop, drink, poop and as of late flap their wings.  But I worry about their "brooder" becoming too small, and then what?  So I google ... what do you do when your chicks are too big for their brooder ... and read.  And read.  And read.  All the while, the chicks are fine in their current situation.  What the hell?  I worry that I might have gotten the wrong shavings by accident.  Didn't I read that a certain type of shavings was toxic to them?  Why didn't I write that down when I went to buy shavings?  WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME?  How could I make such a stupid error?  (The toxic shavings are cedar and I bought aspen.  It's all okay.  For now.)

And then there are my seedlings.  There are just too many little things depending on me right now, it's freaking me out!  My seedlings are under the grow lights in the basement.  I have googled how long are you supposed to keep seedlings under grow lights countless times ... I still don't really know.  Some are growing yellow, I googled that.  I am at the point now where too much knowledge is really only getting in the way.  What the hell is wrong with figuring it all out on my own?

And herein lies the problem.  It's all too easy, I think.  I am over-thinking it all because can anything really be THAT easy.  Really, ALL I have to do is put a pea down on the ground and cover it lightly with soil and it will grow?  It just doesn't make sense ... being so easy, so somehow I have to figure out a way to make it more complicated ... and then what?  I don't know.  I am just guessing that this is what is going on, but I don't like it.

I want to make this recipe of Beet Kvass.  This is a fermented beverage made out of beets and a culture.  Of course EVERYONE has their own way of making beet kvass, and some leave it to ferment for two days, others for a week.  Which is right?  Now here is the thing.  I make water kefir all the time, there is always a jar sitting on my counter.  I have determined that I like it best when it has fermented for three days.  That is another example of something that there is no true right or wrong way ... but even with this knowledge, I still second guess myself.  Oh no!  Someone is talking about mold.  I don't want mold.  Google that.

The truth of the matter is, I have beets, I have the culture starter and I have a mason jar.  Several of the things I read used the jar.  But another, the one of the woman I tend to like her recipes and advice, etc. uses an actual fermenter.  I googled that.  Do I really need to buy a fermenter?  That is when I lost it!  That is when I started this blog, in an attempt to chill out and stop making things harder than they need to be.  I know how to make fermented beverages, why do I think I am now going to actually be doing rocket science this time around?  I JUST DON'T KNOW why I seem to have no natural affinity for this ... and then I think, well maybe you do!  Your chickens are happy, your seedlings are fine, there are a FEW that are turning yellow for heaven's sake, and you've been fermenting kefir for years, and you've also brewed kombucha, grown your own wheat grass and frozen a ton of things from the garden last year that you are enjoying now.   So what is going on?

I don't know.  I find it weird.  I seem to think that if my grandmother had shown my mother how to can and preserve food and then she had taught me, the universe would be in alignment.  When I know, not so very deep in my heart, that I would have scoffed at any attempt to teach me anything.  My grandfather had a garden and fruit bushes, and I just didn't pay that much attention.  For one, there were creepy crawly things in gardens (and that sure as hell hasn't stopped bothering me to this day!) and while I have attempted to build the same structures that he used (to no avail) for tomatoes, because I can see them in my mind's eye ... that's about all I got out of it.  (And my mind's eye and my carpentry skills have never gotten along -- they are like mortal enemies who stalk each other, ready to knife the other.)

Okay, now I have to go clean out the chick brooder and without Google assistance, figure out if my yellowing plants need to be watered or fertilized or just left alone.  Like the peas.  I put them in the ground, lightly covered them with soil, then everyday lamented that it hadn't worked.  The peas never came up.  So I planted a second crop (in a different area) and lo and behold, the others came up.  Peter mentioned that I need to have patience.  Yeah, that might be part of the problem.  I don't have any.

I wonder if you can google it and then buy it on Amazon?

Computers, food and chickens

Apparently my blog has a new look.  The world just keeps changing I guess!  What is funny is that it sort of ties in with what I was going to talk about, in a kinda sorta way.

So Peter bought a new computer for his office and therefore needed me to transfer all the stuff from the old to the new, etc.  It became quite apparent to me while doing this that the old computer was in great shape and certainly had plenty of life left in it, so I decided to give it to my father.  This would seem like a fairly innocuous gesture (damn, new set-up doesn't do autocorrect!) perhaps I spelled that innocuous word correctly, but anyway, the gifting of this computer would mean that I would have to teach my father to go from a PC to a Mac.  In other words, was I crazy?

I did the transfer of information and the teaching of where it was all located in the new operating system over the weekend with Peter.  It amazed me how little he knew of what he did on a daily basis, and I showed him how to do things faster, more streamlined, and yet, he kept asking questions about things that don't really matter.  Like why was this particular file (an application) where it was.  Honestly, I have been working with computers since the beginning of time (or so it feels sometimes!) and not ONCE have I EVER questioned the location of a file.  It's like if I went into an office building and it just drove me INSANE that the receptionists desk was to my right and not to my left.  (I use any type of analogy I can come up with to try to point out how ridiculous such comments and concerns are, but thus far no one seems to get it!)

I found it interesting the things that bothered Peter.  For example, the original computer I was transferring the files, applications and documents from had been mine.  I have always been quite convincing, both at home and for all the years I worked at the newspaper, that it made the MOST sense for me to get whatever new computer we needed and then I would relinquish my older model to whomever it was actually needed a computer.  Makes sense, right?  No one ever questioned this, including Peter, so whenever he has needed a new one ... well, you get the picture.  I like to have the fastest, newest, biggest and best, and no one else has ever really questioned that! LOL  But he was getting a new fancy schmancy printer/scanner/copier at his office and needed more oomph, and here is the thing ... I didn't need an upgrade myself!  I couldn't have a bigger screen or I would have to go outside to see it, I have plenty of juice for all the applications I need ... I'd hit the top and that last peak just isn't necessary!

So Peter actually got the new computer, but because I used Migration Assistant in transferring files, it also came over on his new computer that I was a User, and an administrative user at that, and well, he doesn't like to see my name in HIS computer!~  He wanted it to be his, and only his.  Fine, I assured him that I would delete my pesky name from his computer, but in the meantime, there were more pressing urgent matters ... like getting a PC and a Mac to get along.  The big new fancy schmancy printer thingamabobby is PC-run, and Peter wants to be able to share files between that and the Mac.

But I am getting ahead of myself.  In the meantime, Peter took his new computer to the office, all set up and ready to go, and I took the older one to my father.  I knew there was going to be a learning curve, so I packed clothes in case I needed to overnight it.  I made myself completely available to him for a full day so that he could ask any questions he wanted and I could help solve the problems he encountered.  Then I left him with tons of sticky notes tacked all over the computer with simple directions and told him to write down any further questions and I would return in a few day's time.

In the meanwhile, Peter asked me to come to his office while the new fancy schmancy thingamabob was being set up in the event the person doing so didn't know how to connect Macs and PC.s  (He didn't.)  But the actual set-up took hours, and I wasn't able to work on connectivity until it was getting late and we still had other things to do, so I said I would figure it out another time because he could still print, scan and copy files from the mac and vice versa using a thumb drive, and really, that isn't the end of the world in the interim.  BUT ... before I left, could I PLEASE do something about my user name being in there, it was DRIVING HIM CRAZY! 

OMG.  Seriously?

So I removed it from all the directories I could find, but you see, these people, and when I use that term I refer to my father and husband, are obsessed with SEEKING OUT THE THINGS THAT DRIVE THEM INSANE.  I just don't get this.  I taught myself how to program computers, I taught myself how to desktop publish, I taught myself how to use PhotoShop, I taught myself how to use Excel, which is no easy feat I might add (to use as a database), certainly not as easy as true programming, and never for a single solitary second, not even a brief, passing millisecond, did it ever occur to me to give a damn about something that didn't keep me from doing what I needed to do.  Never.  So I just don't get it. 

I can address problems and I do my best to solve them.  But those actions are secondary to the fact that I won't be as bothered by these non-essential things as they are!  In fact, the fact that I have come across this issue twice in the same week has left me most curious.  Is it the male brain?

I returned to my father's domicile and addressed the list of questions he had.  They were fairly simple and I spelled it out for him (literally) so he could access the answers at any time.  But there were a few things driving him crazy.  One of them?  MY NAME was in the computer, why was that.  Seriously?  Do people not like my name?  LOL 

Oh.  And there were icons on the dock that he didn't understand.  I tried to explain that when you open an application, it seats an icon on the dock so that you are aware that you have that particular application open.  If it drove him nuts, then he could close it.  I gave him examples, but then the printer icon popped up and he exclaimed SEE, like that one, why is it there?  I calmly explained that it was because he was printing a document.  Will it go away he wanted to know.  Yes, but if not, he could close it.  Why did he have to close it?

You can see that in my head I am screaming WHY THE HELL DOES IT MATTER?  But I calmly and clearly state that he doesn't HAVE to close it, but since it appears to be BOTHERING him, closing it seems the most appropriate thing to do since ignoring it doesn't seem to be an option.

Both my husband and my father are most curious as to why I don't do something with computers as a job, (you know, because I obviously NEED a job since I have so much time to help them!)  And when I was watching the guy set up the thingamabob for Peter, I even gave him a few pointers to make things quicker ... so it's not as though I couldn't.  But I will tell you why.  It is because computers are easy, but it's the PEOPLE I can't deal with!  My brain doesn't seem to work the way others do ... and anything you do with computers is insanely frustrating because sometimes one thing will work perfectly and then the next time you go to do it, it won't.  That isn't logical, but you can't deal with great amounts of information without the knowledge that it will try to beat you down in one way or another.  To me, it is a challenge, but what if I spent my time asking WHY such and such happened?  You just can't.  If you want to know what I am talking about, use any complicated software for even the most simplest of tasks, and then try to do the same thing again using the same method.  There is no guarantee that it will work.  In fact, I bet it won't!  I am not talking about opening and closing files, either.  I will work for hours and hours and hours to solve a problem, build a database, try to format a document (that is hell no matter how you slice it!) and not let any of the things that could push the average person over the edge bother me.  So you can see why the most silliest of things bothering someone seems just ludicrous to me.  Maybe it's because I know too much?  I don't know.  But the bottom line is, I have no patience in explaining the same things over and over and over only to have someone ask me why my name is in the computer.  Huh?

But having spent a full week doing computer-related things, I did realize I enjoy it.  Not the people part, no way no how, but trying to figure out how to get Mac and PC to play is fun and challenging because I don't think anyone really knows for sure!  Oh yes, there are directions on how to do this and do that, but that doesn't mean it will work.  Very often you will have to do the opposite of the directions.  But I get that.  It's always been that way with computers.  They are illogically logical.  Or at least software is.  And I started to think, is it because when programmers are writing code, they do what I used to do, and copy and paste large chunks of already written code and then modify that to do what you wanted it to do.  Because that makes sense, in an illogically logical type of way, that software is so much more complicated than it has to be, and it would make sense if it was trying to do something to a certain point, then it runs into another piece of code that sends it off in another direction.  I was never sure which parts to get rid of (and since it worked, why bother) but think about this happening to a huge degree.  Well, obviously most people don't even know what the hell I am talking about, and a computer programmer would say she has no idea what she is talking about ... yeah, whatever.  And therein lies the problem.  LOL

So as I was thinking about what it would be that I could do that would incorporate my interest in computer-related things, I went to Trader Joe's to buy food and the check-out woman was talking to another employee about the raw food diet.  She looked at me and said, I know, you have no idea what I am talking about, and I said, actually, I do.  And she tried to catch me up on it, asking if I had a juicer (yes) and then she said, well, my excalibur is on order.  And I said I have one, don't use it very much, but my favorite recipes are kale and onion bread.  Oh, she said, you really do know what you are talking about.  (Why would I lie?)  I explained that I had taken a very expensive course on it, but had concluded that while I could find a lot of benefits to it, ultimately I had determined that eating an almost strict organic diet (she had noted that everything I had bought was organic) of lean meats and vegetables and fruits, no processed foods and now no wheat was where I was at now.  At this point she had called the other employee over and they were both asking me questions.  The other person behind me in line also started asking things, and there was nothing they asked that I didn't know about.  You should be teaching about this stuff, the woman told me, and it just cracked me up.  I do NOT WANT TO BE A TEACHER!  I have no patience for people not getting it immediately, and while I had no problem answering all of their questions, what would drive me nuts if I was supposedly teaching and advising them would be the fact that they would continue on with their normal eating patterns no matter what I said.

I don't want a job, so afterwards, as I was driving, I pondered exactly what the universe was trying to say.  I still don't know, but it was a very clear message in that I got it, and when you have that feeling of knowing, it definitely means something.

Right now it is about chickens ... I feel strongly that this is going to be a lesson I need to learn, whatever it is and for whatever reason.  And maybe somehow all these things will tie together in a much more coherent manner than it is now.  But the only thing I know for sure is that I have no control.  Oh, and that having my name on this computer doesn't bother me one bit!!!

The period has not ended the sentence!

Shall we have a little chat about menopause?  Or peri-menopause, that lovely term that is supposed to encompass all a woman goes through until the day she has entered menopause forever and a day.

I was lucky for the majority of my adult life in that my period did not run my life -- and in my family, that says a lot!  My mother and sister were (are?) heavily affected and often explained many situations due to PMS.  I just didn't have it, and therefore didn't get what they were talking about.  I had what I termed "change of season" periods, where I got a small glimpse into the PMS world ... but they were so infrequent that I hardly paid attention to them other than to come out on the other side and think, wow, I think I was actually depressed!

Once I started to experience symptoms of peri-menopause, my first thought was that I would gut it out, take nothing and get to the other side with a minimum of pain and suffering.  What I didn't expect was the sheer exhaustion that overtook me.  I am not a napper, and the ONLY time I had ever become so tired I could hardly make it to the couch, was when I was pregnant.  So that made sense, a hormonal oversurge was coursing through me, and my body was mimicking being pregnant.  Fine.  Except I wasn't, and there was no way I was going to hit the couch everyday!  There was that, and I literally felt as though my uterus was falling out.  I think this can actually happen, but everything felt all wrong "down there," and I didn't like it.  So I was suddenly faced with two issues that I didn't feel prepared to live with, and I started doing research.  I had narrowed it down to a holistic clinic in Massachusetts, when I came across an over-the-counter all natural remedy that was cheap and it seemed worth my while to try.   So I did.  It was about two weeks before I noticed I was back to myself.  Or the new self that I am, because as women we don't really ever have a touch stone of "self" to return to, because our lives and our bodies and our minds are constantly changing.  Constantly.

So that has been at least a year or so that all has been good -- I take my little green pills three times a day (religiously I must add!) and I use a variety of supplements that are all known to help, like maca powder and flax, and I throw in hemp seed, chia, green powders and the like as well.  I do not experience hot flashes EXCEPT when I am about to get my period.  And then they are fairly benign, more of an introduction to a hot flash ... I can feel the things friends talk about begin to happen, then it dissipates.  I do, however, have one day before my period where that exhaustion thing kicks in and I have given up fighting it, because it just prolongs it, and I just kind of do nothing until it passes.  But that is what prompted this blog today ... one because I think as women we need to be talking about it because it is such a minefield of choices, we need to share our stories.  And two, because my period, which has been irregular for a long time, but had seemed to find a pattern of regular irregular, seems to be shifting into a new pattern of regular irregular!  I went 34 days since my last period, and yet I expected it to come about 12 days prior to that, and actually experienced symptoms.  But no period.

So I actually grew excited that maybe this was it!  Maybe I had crossed over to the other side and I was going to be free!!!!!

Yeah, no.

So I pulled out my calendar and realized that two months ago the same thing happened ... a huge span of at least ten extra days, and so I guess the new regular irregular is all over the map!  In December it was 26 days (between periods) in January it was 33, in February it was 20, in March, 25 and in April, 34.   (In case the universe cares or is listening, I am all for the 34 days thing ... the 20 is tough, kind of like having your period all the time!)

So I wanted to see if there was some way I could regulate irregular periods, and the first thing I read was that irregular periods can affect women between three and TEN years.  And all of the things I could do to treat the problem, I am already doing.  It is due to rising and falling progesterone and estrogen levels.  Blah blah blah.

So, no party to celebrate the passing of this cycle that is really at this point, just a pain in the butt.  (Well, I guess not the butt) and I suppose I should just be happy that it came with no warning, and I am not the least bit exhausted ... so that is a plus, right?

What is really amazing is that this is still something a woman comes into with very little knowledge and wisdom from others.  My mother went on hormone replacement therapy and while it delayed her symptoms for a decade, once she went off of them when they were deemed unsafe, she was left with one confused body.  I personally have to believe that it is a natural part of a woman's life ... and have gone along with that for years, as I have been reading about it all along.  But when certain symptoms hit you that are untenable to live with ... suddenly you panic and think that there is no way you can spend the rest of your life feeling like this.  Sure, it is an over-reaction to a perhaps temporary issue ... but I still think the majority of us are hit with this thinking that it is OUR problem alone.

And it's not.

I know how eager you must be to have this all cleared up and please know that I am happy to assist you further.

I know how eager you must be to have this all cleared up and please know that I am happy to assist you further.

This is what I kept getting from the Apple Store.  Ya think?  What I think is so funny is that **I** have to provide all the information in order for them to do anything, when in this case I am trying to BUY something, but it isn't working!  And I keep getting the above line, and then a request for more information.  Which galls me because in this information age I know they have every scrap and morsel of information they need, but this is a stalling tactic.  But don't pretend you are happy to assist me when your first line of defense is to respond that you are happy to help me but you want me to provide you with MORE information ... THAT YOU ALREADY HAVE!

This has generated over eight emails.  All beginning with the above line.  I am grinding my teeth.  My eyes have rolled so far back in their sockets, they hurt.

I am EAGER to hurt someone right now.  Will anyone be happy to assist me in THAT endeavor?!!!!

Oh what a beautiful morning

Ahhhh, there really isn't anything better than blue skies, sunshine and a gentle breeze streaming through the house to put you in a good mood!  Yesterday it was in the high eighties here -- a season where it is almost always cold and rainy and gray.  So even though this wacky weather is a bit concerning, I have to admit if global warming means we get less winter here in New Hampshire, well, I put that in the plus column!

Also in that column is the ability to get gardens started earlier -- or a longer growing season altogether -- more weeks before black flies infiltrate and just the overall joy of being outside instead of inside holed up and dreaming for warmer climes.

In the negative column is the fact that we need rain.  The lake is as low as I have ever seen it for this time of year (when it is usually the opposite) and the concern that if I do actually plant plants in the garden, it might snow!  I mean, it is mid-April and I am afraid I might be pushing things.  Am I?  It's hard to say.  I went swimming in the lake yesterday.  Oh, I could feel the fact that it recently had ice in it, but still, times they are a'changing, and I guess it is better to be further north as it does.  Our stay in Florida was quite warm, and locals said that it was unseasonably hot there, for that time of year.  Then there are all these crazy storms across the country.

But is this due to global warming or is it just typical weather patterns that are being reported on more frequently?  I mean, Oklahoma gets tornadoes, as do many states in the midwest.  So are there more tornadoes than normal?  I have no idea, since I don't live there.  I can only report on the state of the weather in my own state -- and it is definitely different.  But the ice did go out on the lake this time a hundred years ago (or less) and it was 90 degrees in April another time....and all that time in between the world hasn't come to an end.

As for devastation, since I was a small child I have heard that California is going to fall into the ocean and that states bordering the San Andreas fault could just up and fall into it without warning.  I just couldn't imagine why people would choose to live in these areas!  I didn't even venture to California until only a handful of years ago!  I mean, it's GOING TO FALL INTO THE OCEAN!

Yesterday, when I began this it was in the high seventies.  Due to the fact it was nearly 90 the day before that, every window in the house was open.  Last night I started to close a few as it seemed chilly.  This morning it was FREEZING in the house and the heat was on.  I checked the outside temp and it was 40.  No extreme temperature fluctuations THERE ... unless you count a 50 degree switch in two days extreme!  What is so interesting is how it plays with your brain.  Yesterday I was getting stressed that I haven't planted all of my seeds.  This morning I am worried about all the seedlings I have that are going to eventually have to be planted in the garden ... which suddenly today seems way too early to even be considering!  Geesh.  Two days ago I was refilling the hot tub wondering when I thought I would actually use it, as it was so hot.  This morning I wanted to jump into it because I was freezing!

No one knows if global warming is real.  I guess we'll know they were right when the movie 2012 happens, not that long to wait really.  Of course, California is still there ... but they MIGHT be right.  Or maybe that is what a living planet does to heal itself ... creates weather to shake things up a bit ...  maybe this is all completely normal.  I love extremes -- when we get a blizzard I hope we get stuck on our mountain for days!  That has never actually happened, but I think it would be fun.  I guess I don't want as much snow as certain parts of Alaska received where it buried people in their houses.  At least I don't think so.  Still seems kind of fun.  

Mostly I just have to wrap my head around having three different seasons in a week.  I guess as long as I am flexible and have jeans, shorts, flip flops and clogs and long and short-sleeved shirts at my disposal, and a jacket to throw in for the really cold days, it will be fine.  I just don't want to put the top on the Jeep.

If global warming means we get more warm weather in New Hampshire, then sign me up.   But just stop teasing!~

More on the moneymakers

I received an email from a shaman who I had met with several years ago in which he talked about ho'oponopono -- which is a somewhat confusing method to find yourself and heal the world.  Why confusing?  Because there seems to be a bit of controversy surrounding its roots and its "masters."

The email led me to a book called
 
 and my entire being screamed DO NOT BUY THIS BOOK.  Why?  Because I did a little quick research on the author, and he is basically the epitomy of the salesperson I was talking about earlier -- who just keeps writing the same book over and over with new titles all in the name of making money (for himself, of course).

The person who sent me the email is someone I would respect ... with the exception that he clearly wants to be one of these people -- with a successful online business selling his services.  I could see him begin to implement his strategy right from the beginning, and I was immediately put on guard.  I just have a hard time seeing spirituality and the pursuit of money as going hand-in-hand.  And yet, this is a huge money pit in that there are so many people out there looking for answers to their myriad of questions.

The author of ZeroLimits is almost nauseating in this book, as the master of the process is constantly talking about how awesome he is.  And then he talks about his car, and well, you truly begin to wonder how "deep" this guy is.  The book is sprinkled liberally with websites to visit to purchase all manner of wares, including t-shirts and the like.  In addition, the testimonials (which are on both the website and in the book) lead you to their websites -- and you realize most of them are in on this same deal ... buy my stuff, my programs, my wealth of knowledge on attracting success.

And ... you don't really learn the process itself because it is SECRET!!!!  The only way to TRULY learn is to purchase the $200 DVDs, of which of course there are many.   I mean, kudos to Joe Vitale (not sure where the doctor part comes in, he certainly doesn't mention that in this particular book) for making money spinning a philosophy that to the best of my knowledge could be imparted on a post-it note into a full-fledged book.  I mean, he repeats himself (we do keep hearing about that amazing car he loves and which has its own name, Francine, given by its creators) and every book should have page upon page of testimonials in really large print to take up extra room.

Am I being attracted to this right now because I should take advantage of the millions of people who want positive change in their life and I can certainly dream up some such amazing intelligence that only I have, some secret way to do some ordinary thing, that will cost way more than $19.99 and not even come with a ginzu knife!  I do find it intriguing that I guess I was looking for proof of this, and then whammo, boy did I get it.  And in spades.  
 
Curiosity got to me and I went to see what he is a doctor of.  He is a doctor of metaphysics -- a spiritual healer.  I personally think he is a money doctor, because when you type in his name you get countless websites -- he doesn't leave it up to one -- he will sell anything, good old Doctor Joe.  Yeah, I'm not impressed.  I also see on this particular book jacket above, it says you get a SNEAK PREVIEW of ho'oponopono.com.  Whip dee doo!  I guess it didn't work, huh?  I read the book and I don't seem any wealthier, healthier or at peace AT ALL!  I am all riled up!  I mostly just feel duped.

And that happened because someone I respected (but questioned) recommended this to me.  I should have gone with my gut.  But that is who buys this stuff, fairly intelligent people with the ability to pay for the things we already know.  We just don't trust ourselves.

I could never make money off of that.  Alissa.