I'm watching Deal or No Deal right now and the offer was $393,000. They are doing the Million Dollar Mission again and she has a 50/50 chance of having a million in her case.

I'm thinking about doing an internal cleanse. It's a 21 day cleanse. I got the name of a website from a co-worker. www.blessedherbs.com. I went and looked at some of the pictures because my co-workers were saying that plaque builds up in our colons and this cleanse gets that stuff out. Be warned, it's not for the squeamish! Yes, it's stuff that ends up in the toilet! But after seeing that stuff, I certainly don't want it stuck in my colon! I just want to do more research before I do something like this. But if plaque is really built up inside, that means my body has to work harder to get nutrients absorbed and toxins eliminated. I do want my system to be cleaned out...like getting an oil change.

Offer up to $477,000 now. 2 $1million cases, $400 and $10,000 left on the board.

I go to Ca. this weekend for a Premier Designs Conference. Although I don't think I'll keep doing it, I'm going to the conference because Kath wanted to hang out. Leaving Fri. morning and coming back on Sun.

She ended up taking the offer of $471,000! And her case had $400...she made a great deal =).

Today I signed up for the Neuro Muscular Therapy class in Phoenix, AZ. It'll be at the end of Feb. I need to get my CEU's because I have to renew my state license and they require 12 units every year instead of 48 every 4 years. We have so many licenses and cards to keep up. State license, Sheriff's card, Health card...and I also have a Henderson license that I renew every 6 mos. I tell you, they are just getting a bunch of $$ from all us therapists. And I don't know that they (city, state) do all that much on our behalf. And there's also the National Certification to renew every 4 years.

I do enjoy taking the classes, but I think 12 CEUs every year is a bit much.

What JoAnn Means

You are fair, honest, and logical. You are a natural leader, and people respect you. You never give up, and you will succeed... even if it takes you a hundred tries. You are rational enough to see every part of a problem. You are great at giving other people advice. You are well rounded, with a complete perspective on life. You are solid and dependable. You are loyal, and people can count on you. At times, you can be a bit too serious. You tend to put too much pressure on yourself. You are usually the best at everything ... you strive for perfection. You are confident, authoritative, and aggressive. You have the classic "Type A" personality. You are very intuitive and wise. You understand the world better than most people. You also have a very active imagination. You often get carried away with your thoughts. You are prone to a little paranoia and jealousy. You sometimes go overboard in interpreting signals.

What's Your Name's Hidden Meaning?

As I was looking through links on Linda and Rick's blog, I ended up doing this name thing. Not all of it applies, but it was fun to see what they came up with =). Very generic, including traits anyone would hope to have. I put in my mom's name and it wasn't very close, but it said very nice things =).

"The Right to Write" Julia Cameron

Anton Chekhov advised actors, "If you want to work on your acting, work on yourself." This same advice applies to working on our writing.

Why should we write? We should write because it is human nature to write...We should write because writing brings clarity and passion to the act of living...We should write, above all, because we are writers whether we call ourselves writers or not.

Writing is about getting something down, not about thinking something up.

When writing is rooted in the process of taking down the next thought as it unfolds itself to us, then it is less about our brilliance and more about our accuracy.

Henry Miller advised: "Develop interest in life as you see it; in people, things, literature, music - the world is so rich, simply throbbing with rich treasures, beautiful souls, and interesting people. Forget yourself."

The idea that writing is more about listening than creating takes the pressure off. I like to write, but I often question the value of writing. But through reading this book, things are making more sense to me. I do like to be accurate, I am a better listener than talker, writing does help me clarify my own thoughts. I like to take things in...not necessarily with any specific purpose, but for the mere chance of building on my own experiences.

For a while now, I've enjoyed reading about lives of writers. Something fascinates me about writers. There's a nice mixture of detail and mystery. It reminds me of how God so often works. We don't see the whole story right from the beginning; things may not seem like they fit together, but soon enough, things are revealed in a beautiful way.

As I read about writing, I'm able to apply it to work. Doing more listening than promoting my own agenda...no matter how noble my agenda is.

Even though I may not stick to a lot of things that I start, I believe that writing will always be something for me to return to. I haven't been pouring my heart into writing as often as I used to. I want to work on developing my writing life.

I hardly did anything this weekend! I put up curtains in my room, and some little errands, but that's about it. Oh, reminds me I should do some laundry now...ok I'm back. I started out with good intentions of getting more done, but by Sat. afternoon I just wanted to lounge around.

I watched football yesterday (yeah Chargers!). I guess since they're closest to us, I was rooting for them =). I should find out in a week if I won anything for the football contest. I ended up getting the 50/50, but this year they're doing it differently. Last year, I won $250, but this year, they're only picking 25 winners. So they'll draw 25 names out of about 400 people who also got Fiddle in the Middle. But the prize will be $1,000.

Last week I was feeling sickly, but by Mon. I was feeling well enough to work. But my throat isn't completely back to normal yet. I'm not coughing much, but it seems I have to clear my throat a lot.

I talked to my sister yesterday and she wanted to know if I'd go to Japan with her to visit Krysta while she's going to school there. Krysta's leaving in a couple of weeks and will be there until July. So that's when my sister is planning to go since she can't go in April. Krysta's aunt and grandma from Mark's side are going in April but Colleen will be finishing up school then so she wants to go at the end of Krysta's semester.

So looks like we'll be going, but Mom said she isn't ready to travel this year. I know she wants to go to Okinawa, so maybe we'll do that next year. I just want to go while she's still able to get around. I'm sure she'll be fine for another 10 or 15 years, but I think it's better to travel while one is younger vs. while one is older =).

We'll probably help Krysta ship stuff off at the end of her schooling, go around Tokyo area and then head towards Kyoto =). I told Krysta that she should visit that area since she's interested in cultural things. I know I'd like to go to onsens, but I don't know if they'd want to do that. So we'll have to work something out where they can go shopping and I can take baths =).

I just saw a cat walk through the backyard. I've never seen a cat back there before, but my mom said she's seen one before. It saw me looking at it and jumped on and over the wall. I think it's amazing how they can jump like that. It was like it was walking on the side of the wall before it reached the top part.

I'm on the fence about going to the gym today. I haven't gotten into a routine yet. I need to though.

Happy New Year

While I'm sitting at the computer, thought I'd make a short post (I say that now, but it might turn into a long one!). Happy New Year, first of all =). I had a fun New Year's Eve w/co-workers. For the past several years, I've stayed home on NYE so it was nice to get out.

But since yesterday, I started getting a sore throat so I've been taking Airborne and I made some ginger tea for the first time. Ginger root is supposed to be good for colds and sore throats. I boiled 4 cups of water, peeled and sliced up a 2 inch segment of ginger root, and put it in the boiling water. I covered it, lowered to simmer and left it for 20 min. It actually is good. I like the spicy-ness it has. Not hot spicy, just, you know, ginger spicy.

I started reading a book on writing (A Right to Write) and I'm liking her style and the exercises she has in there. I'll write more about that later. But there are so many good things in there, it seems like I'm underlining the whole book!

There are a few things I plan to focus on for this year: Fearlessness, Writing and Massage.

The fearlessness part will probably propel me in other directions as well...like travel. When I think about what I enjoy, I like new things and being stimulated by new sights. Well, maybe not new sights, but new atmospheres. I'm not observant visually. I would make a terrible witness...I just don't notice those kinds of things. I like to see how things work. And when you go to different places, people do things differently, talk differently, think differently - that's what I like to observe and learn about. Perhaps I should have been an anthropologist. But it's never too late to do something you truly love. I'm still figuring out what I truly love.

Since I feel like I might be getting sick, I don't know if I should go to the gym - part of me thinks it'll be good for circulation and moving toxins along...maybe sweat some stuff out and break up some congestion in my chest. I went yesterday and I felt fine.

Oh, I bought some curtains and rods so I might put those up today =). I'll post before and after pictures if I do.