Musings and What-not

I love Edgar Allan Poe.  When I read his poem, The Raven , during high school, I immediately fell in love.  So much so, that this poem continues to be my all-time favorite.  I bring him up because he often comes to mind this time of year. C'est la vie! Well, my sweets, I have a treat for you that is sure to put you in the mood as we move closer to celebrating All Hallows.  [Interestingly, I was introduced to the following song when Sarah Jessica Parker sang it in one of my favorite "Halloween" motion pictures,  Hocus Pocus .  Go figure. ] Anyhoo. The song has been attributed to Edgar as a poem when in fact it was written by John Debney for the aforementioned movie. Anyhoo. Again. What I love about this poem is how much you can feel the torment that ran wild in the poet's soul. Perhaps, it was not torment at all. Perhaps, the poet was conscious of this realm's truth and wanted to lead others out. Perhaps, this poem holds no meaning at all. [shrugs] Moving o...

You may have noticed that when you click a link within a page or post that you receive a secure connection error message.

Why is it that people only lose their shit whenever the 13th falls on a Friday?

Every now and then, something in my Spam folder will deem itself worthy of my attention and admiration.

As I sit here at my desk, relishing in the silence, I give thanks.

Whatever came up in 2008 will be complete for you in 2016... if you allow it.

Marriage is not something to be taken lightly, yet it was a path I traveled not once... but twice.

When I was 14, I ran out of the bathroom, undies down to my ankles, and proclaimed (in front of my horrified mom) that I was finally a WOMAN!  Yes, dearies... I had started my period.

Are you overwhelmed by all the things you want to do in life but feel you cannot because of your ever-growing spiritual practice?

Do you feel out-of-place in your space? If so, it may be due to the fact that your home may not be e nergetically supporting you .

Facebook has become a wonderful place for me to meet some really awesome folks, and most of the time, these lovelies have me in stitches with the things they post. I recently had the pleasure of viewing the Ryan Gosling, Hey Girl (Special Needs) edition, courtesy of Sunday Stilwell , and man! Is this stuff funny!

A medical diagnosis, of any kind, can be life-altering.  A life that once offered some measure of stability would now be forever changed. In 2005, our family received two blows to our way of living.  That April, my son was diagnosed with autism, and a few months later, my grandmother was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. What is very interesting about the two disorders is they both affect a person’s neurodevelopment; however, the affects are experienced at the opposite ends of a person’s life.  While autism affects the youth and how they interact with the world, Alzheimer’s typically affects the elderly (over 65) and, ultimately, their interaction with the world outside.

You're probably getting tired of me always plugging Twitter , but I can't help myself!  The place rocks! A couple of weeks ago, one of my Tweeps approached me to review an auditory calming system manufactured by his company, B-CalmSound.com ! I'm all for testing new gadgets, so I said, "Yes!" At first glance, the system just looks like your average mp3 player, but it's the sound tracks that deliver the gifts.

I don't know why eyebrows raise whenever I mention that a portion of my book's proceeds benefit the Tulsa Autism Foundation . Apparently, donating a portion of one's royalty fundage isn't something you hear a first-time author doing.  And from the looks of things, most well-established authors don't partake in this little activity either. Why is that?

Wow, 40 years have come and gone!  Where did the time go? Although, I've only been 41 for two days, I feel as if I've reached a pivotal point in this journey called life.

Wishing you and yours a wonderful and safe holiday season! Or if you don't celebrate the holidays, just, ummm, wishing you well!  :D

Is this post about autism?  No, it isn't.  Then again, I don't always blog about autism.  Tonight's post is about another topic of which I am very passionate about.  I'm an advocate... what can I say? I like chocolate, but I don't love chocolate.   I know a lot of people who can't live without it; I think they call refer to themselves as "chocoholics". Most of us don't always pay attention to how that tasty bar or little kiss came to be.  We don't normally put a whole lot of thought into it because we don't want to ruin the moment . Some of you may only look as far as the label and that may very well be the extent of your concern. Then again, some of you may look beyond it, and see the dirty little secret that most chocolate sellers don't want you to know. Man!  I feel like this post is about to turn into the sequel of The Da Vinci Code ©. ;) The following is an excerpt from a Global Exchange article. In 2000, a report by the US Stat...

Yesterday, my Twitter friends learned of my decision to donate my tresses to Locks of Love , a public nonprofit that "helps disadvantaged children with medical hair loss." This is a pic of my pony sans product (meaning my hair is chemical-free and store-bought product-free).  No sense being natural if you're going to put crap in your locks, right???. I didn't want to get cold feet, so, ummm, here's a picture of it after I cut it off today. Now, I know some you are out there laughin' at my forehead or fivehead (as it was so graciously referred to during my youth) AND spottin' your britches over my robe! {y'all are so messed up for laughin' at me! :-)} In between gasping for air, please remember that this was all for a worthy cause and my after photo should not be held against me.  {wink} Man!  The stylist is going to be ripped to shreds when I walk in and ask her to "fix" the rest of my head!  I still have almost 8 inches of hair on th...

Thank you from the bottom of my bottomless heart to EVERYONE who entered, tweeted, and blogged about my lil' giveaway!  Words cannot fully express my gratitude. The video you are about to view is unedited, meaning I did this on one take AND I enlisted the assistance of HRH (His Royal Hiney).  After all, this whole experience was made possible because of him. Oh!  And don't even think of judging me because he's up so late!  {wink} The books will be mailed on Monday because I have another giveaway at my signing tomorrow (WOOT!), and I want to be eco-friendly by making only 1 trip to the post office. Thanks again!  This was an absolute blast! P.S.  It only took me 11 hours to upload the video!  LOL  Hence, the lingo referring to tomorrow which is, of course, today!