Please Bring Gifts

Change always comes bearing gifts. ~Price Pritchett

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It has been an eventful couple of days. A lot has gone in a little bit of time. Was unexpectedly without internet, phone and cable for a while. This was (another) a big eye-opener. It was the culmination of a direction I had been going in, but did not fully realize it at the time.

I've been keeping a new little journal for observation. It has been very helpful. I asked for help in seeing some things and this was a welcome answer/tool. I've just been being quiet and observing Nature and writing what comes into my heart. I have learned some monumental things about myself. And what I have had the opportunity to learn has tilted my perspective of just what it is I am doing and why. Because of this I have to change the focus of this Shells and Bones, but I think it is a good thing. It's always a good thing when someone gets closer to their heart. Not to be too self-important, but I do have a need to spell things out clearly.

Well, to get down to it, I have decided to temporarily not offer any consultations or services. I plan to still offer botanicals and salts -- singly and packaged for specific uses, but for now, I won't be taking on any work for clients. I do plan to offer other items. I don't quite know what they are yet, but I trust that they will be coming and as they do, I will offer them. Hopefully they will be of use and of interest. I am jumping in the flow and we'll see what happens.

I am following my heart as these new revelations have arisen. They surely have arisen for a reason and I won't fully know the reason until I continue to follow through. The new direction, at it's foundation, is towards Nature and Spirit, and my Love for Them, and whatever materializes from that. So anything to do with sharing Their Beauty (which I believe is mostly everything) will most likely stay the same.

Thank you for reading my blog and I hope that you will continue to visit and find many useful things.

Michele
<: n'ya` ya :>

[Oh and I am adding some of my journaling, so there will be several back dated posts.]

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Under the Weather -- Call the 4 Thieves

For my son's birthday, I promised to go see Hancock with him. I had not been to the movies in over a year. I am not a movie person, but of course I wanted to go with him for this special day. Well, I forgot about my allergy to air conditioning. By the time we got out of the movie theatre, I was already feeling woozy, but not knowing why. I could barely walk later on that evening and woke up the next morning feeling like someone had beat me up with a baseball bat in my sleep! I felt HORRIBLE and it also brought on a relapse of this skin thing I have been battling for about 5 or so years. My throat was swollen beyond belief and my tonsils were huge. Well anyways, besides moaning and whining, I just wanted to write about what I took to get over this thing. All I took was a couple of aspirin every so often and sips of "4 Thieves Vinegar" every time I started feeling woozy. I even got to go out and watch fireworks, from using this combo. I still felt tired, but it was way better than the last time I had this reaction. I was bedridden for weeks and the "skin thing" had me bedridden for months, doctors not knowing what it was.

Okay, so here is the recipe I used in case if anyone might be interested:

http://www.luckymojo.com/spells/recipes.html

[scroll down to the "F's" portion]

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And the movie, I was a little perplexed at the beginning and even told my son, 'okay I am confused... they better have a way to tie all this together and pull it out in the end'... which in my opinion they did! I will definitely go see a sequel if there is one. I heard critics didn't like it. Also heard the reason for the choppiness in the beginning was that they had to cut a lot of scenes to get a PG rating and suffered loss of continuity.

And a side note, I haven't looked but I bet if the "decoders" had a field day with this movie!

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Nightmares Restless Sleep -- Cleansing Waters

For relief from nightmares and uneasy feelings while sleeping, use either 1 Herb Water , the following recipe for Cleansing Waters or a store-bought cleaning solution (some examples given below). Sea Salt also can be of help and can be sprinkled around and in your bed linens.

To make Cleansing Waters... you can pick 2 to 5 herbs, according to how you feel at the time. Choose strong ground up dried plants known for cleansing and protective qualities, such as Lemon Peel, Basil, Chamomile, Rosemary, Pine, etc. Let the plants know what you are requesting of them and ask for their help. Thank them for their sacrifice on your behalf. Add to bowl of hot steaming water, thanking again as you do. Let sit for a while till you smell a good aroma and you know they've released their energy into the water.

Some helpful store-bought solutions include some of your basic household cleaners, such as pine cleaners, a very weak bleach and water solution (maybe 1 tbsp to a quart/estimate - this may not be good for all persons since needs to be used on walls and carpet, although I've used it with no problems... UAYOR - use at your own risk), a basic borax solution, etc.

Use the remedy chosen to wipe down walls, floors, carpets with a cloth dampened in the solution... especially around your bed area, any windows and doorways. Do this right before bed.

Nice list of plant properties here.

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1 Herb Water

This is a variation of a protection remedy I was given by a family member/elder.

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1 Herb Water

-- Pick one strong protective herb. (Ex. Basil, Rosemary, Sage, Black Pepper, etc.) Boil a big pot of tap water. Put your herb in your hand, cup it and tell your herb your problem. Ask for it to help you in anyway that it can. Thank the herb for it's sacrifice to help you. Now add your herb in an increment of a number that means something to you. (Ex. 3, 1, 7, etc.) So if 3 is your number, you add 3 teaspoons to the pot or 3 pinches or 3 leaves... each time thanking the herb again. Now let the water boil as many minutes as your special number used. Try to let steep at least a day. 2 days is better. Just keep the cover on and move off to the side, off the flame. When cooled, can bottle up in an empty 1 gallon water jug and use a small empty sports type water bottle for daily use. Keep the big jug in the fridge for storage. Splash on in the morning and/or whenever you feel the need.

This page has a nice list of herbal properties information (scroll down for properties):
Herbs, Flowers, Trees, Spices

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Quick Tied Play Quilt

[pic -- Photo of the quilt was supposed to go here, but my FDIL left this morning and I forget to get one. I have to ask her to take one when she gets back home.]

I made a quick tied sweatshirt quilt for my grandson the other night. It is real down home, no frills and no batting. I had been wanting to make it for a while now, but procrastination had got the best of those plans. I rescued several sweatshirts my son had set aside for trash and an extra lrg. old disney/winnie the pooh pullover about month ago. They were all navy blue or gray, nice colors to stand up to play times and food spills.

I measured the Winnie the Pooh area for use as one of the top center blocks. It was 9" in height and I added 2" for extra room, so total height of cut block would be 13". I made the width 13" also for ease in work (so a 13" square). I had already cut all the sweatshirts apart at the seams, leaving big blocks of fabric to work with. I cut out the WTP (winnie the pooh) block and used it as a pattern to cut out the rest, taking care not to stretch out the fabrics as I cut, just letting it sit as it normally would. Cut out -12- 13" square blocks in total. Just laid em out side by side, 4 in a column, 3 in row. Pinned right sides facing and sewed the 3 squares across each of the 4 rows first, taking care not to stretch. While I was sewing, I had the whole piece I was working on either laying on something (my little table next to my sewing machine or sometimes I use an ironing board) or what was coming off of my lap, I held up in my hand at sewing machine height and careful not to be hanging down as I sewed. This would help in lessening the distortion of the fabric. (I actually thought working with the sweatshirt fabric was going to be a pain, but it is one of the most forgiving fabrics I have worked with.)

After the rows were sewn, they were sewn together, still taking care not to distort. Laid the whole thing out, eye-balled it for squareness and did a little trimming.

But then I did not have a backing piece in mind yet. I looked around, found an old blue and white striped crib sheet. Keeping my fingers crossed that it would fit, I cut off the elastic, split the seams and laid it out. Did not fit as it was (almost did), but if I cut off the extra end "tabs" created when I split the seams at the corners, I could sew those two pieces together into one long strip and then attach it at the bottom and cut off the excess, as the "tab" piece was a little too long for the width of the sheet. Perfect fit after that alteration.

Sewed together the quilt top and sheet backing fabric right sides facing (making sure no stretching of quilt top fabric again), leaving about 10" unsewn in the bottom area, for a "hole" for easy turning. After sewing, turned to check for accuracy and to eye-ball again. Looked pretty square, so I turned it back inside out, clipped the corners and trimmed the seams. Flipped it back out, hand sewed the hole closed with a blindstitch ( a video - I hide the knot under the fold of one side of the hems and go through the hem folds with my thread to hide stitches). Tied the quilt with natural color cotton yarn at the corners, in the middle of all the sides and in the center.

Quick Tied Play Quilt Made. :)

Baby Quilt FAQ at Quilt.com
http://www.quilt.com/FAQS/BabyQuiltFAQ.html

[edited 7/10/08 -- man, I must've been tired, cuz I could hardly understand those directions! hahahahha fixed it tho'... hopefully :) still need to add those pics...]
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The Disclosure Project

I am just getting ready to start watching this series of videos on YouTube. I first heard about The Disclosure Project about 4 years ago or so (I have their link in my side bar). I was sent a link, went to their site, watched the video and got my hair blown back! This is a different video than the one I saw then. If you want to see something about UFO's that has what folks would call "credible witnesses" (military, air traffic controllers, etc.) then this is that.

The UFO Disclosure Project -- Part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFJsaK3j4js

Old 1977 UFO Documentary for Australian TV

This documentary was pretty cool to watch. I LOVE seeing old TV programs from the 70's and remembering what TV used to be like when there were only major channels and several local ones. The presenter says it's the last surviving copy of the program and appears a little rough in some areas (showing a lot of Stars Wars and Jaws movie clips, which turn out to be an extra bonus for me anyways). Also there are interviews with a very young (did not recognize him) Steven Spielberg, Allen Hynek, Stanton Friedman, Betty HIll and many others. It was the first time seeing an interview of Betty Hill (at least that I can remember) and what she said freaked me out a little. I was watching the first parts late at night and I had to pause it and save it for day time.

I like the style of the whole thing. It's pretty matter of fact and straight forward, not filled with all the drama and overly emotional music of today's docs. I am on the 6th video and getting ready to watch the others.

Stan Deyo - UFOs are Here! - 1977 Documentary

A large amount of videos at YouTube Channel Freeforyoutohave (page says "Ex-Soldier and War-Veteran (Bosnié-1993)"... "To Boldly Go Where Someone Has Gone Before" - over 600 videos uploaded)

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