At this time of year, many of us are plagued with that annoying cough that won’t go away because there is such a big tickle in your throat, way back there where you can’t reach to scratch it.  And it always happens at the most inopportune time!!  This can be very embarrassing as I know first-hand.

But, if you keep a chocolate bar with you and you start coughing in the bank or where ever, you can sooth it quickly!

As if you needed an excuse to eat chocolate

I was leafing through Sylvia Browne’s website the other day and I was checking out the hypnosis training that is offered by her church. 
My mind was blown!!

From the site:

Hypnosis Certification Training includes a minimum of 150 hours including classroom training, and practical application. Training begins with ten days of intensive classroom instruction, which will take place at our headquarters in Campbell California. Experienced Sylvia Browne Hypnosis Training Center Master Hypnotists < That must be the now infamous Vera Espana and Darren English and the like...>, who have been approved by Sylvia Browne to train you, will conduct all training.

Before completion of the classroom training at our headquarters, students will be required to take a written exam and an oral exam.

Following the initial classroom training, students must complete practice hypnosis sessions using a variety of techniques and methodologies. Practice hours will be completed at the student’s own pace, in their community or location of their choosing.

Students must successfully complete the oral and written exams before conducting practice hypnosis sessions and additional requirements to be applied toward certification as a hypnotist.

Upon completion of all requirements, students must provide evidence of all practice hypnosis sessions to be considered for certification by Sylvia Browne Hypnosis Training Center.

The first thing that got me was the cost.  The training registration costs $2000!! <say what??>
Now, because the training happens in Campbell California, you have pay your own airfare, hotel and food for at least 9 days which is the length of the course.

So, let’s see…
Airfare = (average airfare from Expedia.com from Phila. to San Jose which I believe is the closest airport equals $400 one way) = $800
Transportation from Airport to Hotel (avg for round trip to and from airport) = $200
Transportation to and from hotel to Novus Spiritus = unknown
Hotel (average fee per night for 10 nights since it’s a 10 day course $110 for lower-end hotels) = $1100
Food = I have only heard of the high cost of living in California so I can assume that 2 weeks worth of dining will run you up to about $50 a day (give or take…some meals will be quickies and I’m sure you’ll get invited along for some outings with your fellow classmates) = $500
Hypnotherapy Course = $2000
Odds and ends and souveniers = intangible but probably more than you plan on spending

$4600 <that you know of> to go and BEGIN your training ONLY to have to be recertified again in 2 years and if I understand the Training Catalog correctly, you have to go back to Campbell for the 15 hour recertification training!!!

After you’ve completed all of this, it is up to you to get your own place to conduct your skills as it is a requirement to have 50 hours of documented out-of-class or “practical” training so you’re going to have to set yourself up with somewhere to conduct these hours unless you do friends and family.

But wait!  That’s not all!

You also MUST purchase and maintain malpractice insurance plus the cost of possibly renting a small space to conduct this as many people won’t go to you house for hypnotherapy.  Some would but I wouldn’t if I were to go for hypnotherapy that is…

Any monies you collect through your practice MUST be documented and forwarded to Novus regularly (control issues?) and if you get any referrals from the Campbell office, you are required to send a percentage of the fee you collected from the referral.

It’s the same as when you become a Minister and you open your own church.  You’re contracted to send them monthly reports including a recording of your service so that they can assure that you are following their strict guidelines AND you have to tell them how much you collected.  YES!!  You’ve seen it all.  Organized Gnostics tithing!!!  A lot of people believe that Sylvia pays to keep these churches up and running but the truth is that you pay for it yourself and after one year you are required to send Sylvia 10% of your collections!!!!! 
 
It’s just another lie that is spread by carefully planted inner people of the organization…

So, back to the hypnotherapy certification

In the end, you’ve spent thousands of dollars and only wound up with the experience and a cheaply made certificate with the Sylvia Browne signature stamp on it like you receive when you’re a Novitiate with the church.  I am a Novitiate so that is first hand information although I couldn’t tell you where my certification is.  I might have burned it along with her books.  We heat with wood so it was a very spiritual “green” experience. 

And get this…
In the Training Catalog under the Refund Policy section is states that “not receiving your enrollment confirmation before the course begins is not justificaiton for seeking a refund.”
Are you freaking kidding me??
They don’t even have to confirm that they have received ALL (no partial payments allowed) of the tuition!  They don’t have to confirm that you are, in fact, enrolled in the training!  That is a trip!!!
So, if you sent in your money and you expect customer service like you get with anyone else that you give money to, lower your expectations.  And if you sent in your money and have not been notified that you’re been accepted and if you have not been told which dates you’ve been placed in and you don’t show up? YOU’RE SCREWED!!

And then it gets worse!!
“If it is necessary for SBHTC to cancel a course, the full course fee will be refunded.  We do not reimburse travel or accomodation costs or any expense other than the full course fee in the event of a course cancellation.”
Again!!  Are you freaking kidding me?!
IF you get out there and they cancel the course unexpectedly, you are screwed!

Whatever you do with the training is up to you but controlled by Novus because if there’s a dime to be made, they’ll be hovering over you like the crow in Stephen King’s “The Stand” and I don’t use that book as an example by coincidence!!

These people are sick!  They are preying on people who want more out of their spiritual life who possibly out of desperation, through reading and comraderie have found Sylvia’s books and have chosen to go forward with Novus Spiritus possibly without the knowledge (and therefore power) that Sylvia Browne is a fraud, a fake and has been a con artist for as long as anyone who’s known her can remember.

If you have stumbled into my inner thoughts and think “why is this girl so obsessed with stopping Sylvia Browne?”, go to StopSylviaBrowne.com and read a few of the articles and discuss this with others on the JREF Forums.

A lot of good people get involved in this stuff.  I was lucky to have benefited from the books in a self-help sort of way but I kept my head on and had my husband holding my pant’s belt-loop in case I decided to dive into the Kool-Aid party!  Many will stumble upon one of her books and think “WOW! This is what I always believed but I never knew that somebody else did!!” The reason it sounds familiar you guys is because her Church Sanctioned Fluid Organized Tax Shelter Church has taken beliefs from many religions and concocted their own. 

Check this out…Sylvia claims to go into trances at which time Francine, her spirit guide comes through, but there have been people who have experienced first-hand Sylvia slipping during these trances and answering questions in her own voice and getting angry at her side-kick Mike McClellan for not controlling the situation (the questions) better as I believe they are pre-screened.  It’s equivalent to the magician swallowing the key to the handcuffs accidentally, you know?  She probably kicks him when one of her many contradictions makes it through the editing process and gets published in her recycled book list!  (yes, many of her books are repeated info with a new title and cover)  GASP!!

Gnosticism is a very ancient belief.  It is not an organized religion and I’ve rarely met one who is into the hypocrisy of many religions including Sylvia Browne’s lame-brain effort to make millions by creating yet another organized religion where she is the pope. 
Sylvia has been known to say that she is Satan’s Soul Mate!!  Can you believe it?!!
One of those things is a leap…one isn’t.

THAT’s why I write about it and support Robert  in his effort to Stop Sylvia Browne!! 
Just in case you were wonderin’ …

CYa

I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves;
therefore, be ye wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.
Matthew 10:16-23

and I’ll tell you!  If I wasn’t Republican by marriage <relax> then I’d probably have Obama signs on my front yard!

<when I met my husband, in addition to remaining myself in it’s better form, I also became a construction worker, dirt bike racer and … a Republican among other things…>

He [Obama] is a golden representative of what I’d like to be President but unfortunately I think I am <as I believe others are too> swayed by his appearance.  He’s pretty hot! and he knows how to joke around, he can dance as he showed on Ellen, he can respond to a serious question with just the right words and I bet he’s good in bed, too!  But, can he <or anyone> deliver promises made in a campaign?  Just a little bit…
and his name is just fun to say!!!  Barack Obama

I want someone to tell me the truth. Not repeat what is wrong over and over and state the obvious as to how it should be handled.  Meanwhile, deep inside everyone knows that knows that this country is NOT run by one man alone < I KNOW!  That’s mind blowing!!  And yet some blame one guy for what a room full of people did!> and that one man can make a difference but can’t change the world alone.  I think the whole government should be overhauled but anyway…I want realists who are on the same team.

Obama’s got charm!  I will give him that!  Wouldn’t it freak everyone out though if he was a plant by the terrorists to infiltrate our government?  Freaky thought, huh?  HE’S NOT!!  But, religion is a big thing to some people <not me> and I’m not sure a Muslim would get elected.  What if he posed as a Christian and this whole Reverend Wright thing is the lie blowing up in his face?  You NEVER know!!

I’ve always taught my daughter that “the bad guy” isn’t always in yucky clothes but sometimes wears a suit and tie and sometimes it’s a she.  Trust no one whole-heartedly.  The librarian can be a pervert and the homeless guy could change your tire for the cost of a hot cup of coffee and never give you glances that make you uncomfortable.

These are a few of my thoughts as far as how easy it is to get screwed down here and how we have all been shocked before and swore we’d never see anything more shocking only to see it soon after.  People aren’t always what they seem.

THAT SAID…I’m not accusing Barack Obama with anything other than youth.  I have not decided which way I’ll vote but I’m 95% for McCain at this time.

CYa 

Hey Folks!

If you read Robert Lancaster’s article, “Email: “My Experiences in the Early 70s With Sylvia Browne“ - Notes on Browne from her early years as a professional “psychic” that was posted today on StopSylviaBrowne.com, you’re probably thinking what I am.  After all of these years of practice, why isn’t Sylvia Browne better at it than this?

I applaud and give a standing ovation (which means a lot since the floor’s very low these days) to the woman who wrote the email telling of her experiences with Sylvia Browne that clearly show the hypocrisy and idiocy of Sylvia Browne!  Thank you for taking the time out of your day to deal with such a vile subject but you know as the others who help Robert do that you are doing what’s right.

Many see Robert and those who support him in his effort to expose this fraudulant woman who wears sheep’s clothing as a bad guy and those who support him are bad people but I ask you?  What if we were exposing someone peeing in the vat at Heinz Ketchup Plant?  What if we were united to save others from abuse or from getting ripped off?  If I bought a product from a store and got ripped off, isn’t it the right thing to do to bring it to light?  Well, that’s all we’re doing.  IF it rocks your spiritual foundation, it wasn’t built sturdy enough.  If the truth hurts, change it.

And if you wish to discuss it, head on over to the JREF Forum and join the group!

  Peace

Mmm…Smells like money!!

The AP says the following (in a nutshell):

The Internal Revenue Service started making the deposits at 8:30 a.m. EDT Monday with the goal of completing 800,000 direct deposits each day over the first three days of this week. No deposits will be made Thursday while the IRS prepares a big batch of 5 million direct deposits scheduled on Friday.

The government’s paper checks will start going out on May 9, a week earlier than previously announced. The rebates, which are expected to reach 130 million households, range up to $600 for an individual and $1,200 for a couple. Families with children will get $300 per child.

So, my daughter leaves for her class trip in the morning and my bank account’s bare…not even the deposit that I made on Saturday is showing up!!  Ya ever feel like someone’s messing with ya?

If you’re wondering what Sylvia Browne’s schedule is for her final Montel Show’s, it has been posted on her website or you can what others are saying about it on JREF’s Forum!

I caught a few minutes of the episode a few weeks ago where Montel & Sylvia were talking about this (his show not being renewed) and she acted so casual about it saying stuff like “Oh Montel, you’ll do fine” in her ‘I can’t believe I’m wasting time talking about this’ way and I thought to myself, “I wonder what Montel’s saying right now in his head?  “F You Sylvia?” or “I wouldn’t believe you if you predicted the obvious?”

Anyway…here’s the dates:

Wed, May 14 - Celebrating 17 Years: Sylvia’s Farewell on Montel  <God, let’s hope so!>

Wed, May 21 - The Best of Sylvia Browne <the best of the worst>

Wed, Jun 25 - Sylvia Browne: Live From Las Vegas <home of Sylvia’s final belly flop>

Tue, Jul 15 - On the Other Side with Sylvia <yeah, she’s on the other side…of the welfare line what with about a dozen homes just in California alone!>

Wed, Jul 23 - Sylvia: Answers from Beyond <beyond where, we still don’t know>

Wed, Jul 30 - Questions and Answers with Sylvia <just none that she’s answered already because Sylvia has a tendency to contradict herself>

Wed, Sep 03 - Celebrating 17 Years: Sylvia’s Farewell on Montel  <just the beginning of the repeats…>

Sylvia will be then moving to “Sin City” to serve her junk as well as conducting her Farewell Cruise and Farewell blah blah blah.  Somehow ‘her people’ got her booked at the Excalibur Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas which really doesn’t change my perception to the town (no offense).  She’ll be joining the likes of Louie Anderson and the Thunder from Down Under (Australian Male Hotties)!!  Ticket prices are $82.50 for preferred seating and and $137.50 for VIP Seating!  That’s steep!!

Well, at least the casino got it right.  They have her listed under “Entertainment” and Sylvia Browne should only be considered for Entertainment Purposes Only.  A term used when unhappy customers who pay $750 for a reading with her or $500 for a reading with her son, Chris try to get a refund!!  For this fee you will be chatted with for 20 minutes and then given a bunch of cold reading answers that most should not be taken seriously!  Thankfully they only last 30 minutes so people will only be subjected to 30 minutes of bullshit!

I wonder, if given the choice, how many ladies would choose the “Thunder from Down Under” show which only costs $39.95 for general seating and $49.95 for VIP seating rather than putting up with that raspy-voiced charlatan Sylvia Browne?

Yeah, tough choice!!

…that Season Two only had 7 episodes!

COME ON!!!

< woo hoo!  We love you Don!!  I like you when you’re normal but I like you better when you’re extraordinarily normal! >

This is the greatest show!  It’s beautiful on the eyes…not just in the cast because some of them are not your typical LA beautiful but they’re still beautiful, you know what I mean?  I mean that it’s filmed in a calming manner…not all jumpy.

Anyway!  That’s not what I logged on to write about…

I loved the way that they took the David Hasselhoff situation and gave you the perspective of what if that video of him all drunk and slobbering was leaked to the press to boost his daughter’s budding career.  Hollywood seems to thrive on the concept of bad attention is better than no attention at all!

And the way that they took the Britney situation and gave a little twist of an idea of what could have been going on behind the scenes!

Brilliant stuff and yet they give us only 7 episodes!!!

 That’s just not nice Courtney!!

And if anyone of important stumbles in here, get rid of Colt.  He’s yucky.  That’s all I’ll say about that…

Keep showing us the twistedness of the voyerism that has become the grease of the Hollywood wheels!

Between you and Ashton Kutcher’s show “Pop Fiction” where the celebrities set up the paparazi so that nobody ever knows if the stories they’re covering are true or not.

Personally, I think Matthew MacConahey is in on it with this mystery girl that shows up pregnant by him and he’s all happy and stuff…I’m not buying it and that’s not just womanly feelings I may have for the guy…it’s higher, in the gut!

I was all excited when Robert Lancaster posted on the JREF Forum the final dates of Sylvia Browne’s appearances on Montel which you can read HERE but then further down the thread I read from Seeking Truth < Hi S.K.! > that Sylvia’s boasting “you can’t get rid of me that easily“!  Yeah…really?  Hmm…cockroaches are tough, too but we manage!!

That’s okay…the more she talks, the more ammunition falls into our laps.  Every time she speaks there becomes more reasons to stop Sylvia Browne so keep on talkin’ Sylvia!  Talk right into justice’s cold, hard truth…and possibly bars!  Ah, don’t worry!  They hardly ever use stripes in prison anymore!

And no offense to Cher other than to use her name in reference to the never-ending farewell tours that some celebrities become famous for.  They’re all doing it Cher but like everything else, you blazed the trail!
You go girl!!

<so…do ya think Cher’s gonna read that?  Ya never know!  Mitch Hedberg’s mom commented on my blog so you never know!>

C YA

…to start off the summer season that’s suddenly finally hit New Jersey.  It’s hitting 80 degrees and it’s sunny for a few days.  Of course it’s April so we could still see snow!  Jersey’s got everything and sometimes every season in one!  Keeps us on our toes!!!

I’ve gained 10 pounds but it’s all-over weight.  It’s not that kind that goes to one spot and sits there although I’ve been vowing that I’ll start doing 100 crunches a day now for about 2 weeks!  Squeezing into a pair of Levi’s cut-offs isn’t too bad.  Levi’s fit better when they’re tight when you put them on.  In a short while they’re more relaxed and conformed to the body…the way I like ‘em.  Of course this means I’m going to have to shave the legs every day instead of every other day but that’s a small price to pay.  It’s not like they’re huge or anything!

My husband’s been driving me crazy the last few days.  Of the 2 of us, he’s the emotional one.  I’m not very emotional and sometimes have to force myself to be…it’s weird. I guess I’ve seen so much bad that nothing we go through now is that bad!  <Thank God>  Anyway…he’s the type the pouts which drives me crazy.  I don’t understand what the hell makes a man think that he’s gonna get his way by pouting!!  Especially if, and it usually is, it’s because he wants sex!!!  What a warped sense of foreplay,huh?  But, with my husband you can never tell.  Sex makes it better but he falls back into mopey.  I can’t complain too much tho…I knew who he was when I married him.  Part of his issue is the housing market.  It goes much deeper than foreclosures.  Men who build them start to suffer too and the ripples go wide.  Of course my husband’s been worried about this since I’ve known him…15 years.  Who knows though.  Even a broken clock is right twice a day!  He also might be upset about my health but he has a funny way of showing it.  I wouldn’t want to be in his shoes though…better me sick than him.

My daughter’s spoiled as ever!
She leaves Tuesday for her class trip to Disney which of course has Mommy running around like a chicken in a fox barn but that’s okay.  Our times like these are winding down.
BUT be a parent of a Senior is freaking amazingly expensive!!  My God!  I don’t know how everyone does it…probably the same way I will.  Empty out some savings a wrack up the credit cards!  We don’t use credit cards as a rule…we figure that it’s best to use cash but now and then ya gotta say “uncle”!

Of course this means that last year’s cut-offs have to do, not that I buy new clothes every year.  I pride myself on getting years out of things. I still have the same eyelash curler that I used in high school and that was in the 70’s so I’m not a frivolous girl.  Last years sandals are good too.  I don’t wear fancy clothes…T-shirts, Levi’s of some sort and as close to barefoot that I can get shoes!  I got married barefoot if that tells you anything about me that you haven’t figured out already.  The only thing that I bought new this year is a cute 60’s style sundress that I found at a head shop for $15.  I really like it cause I don’t have to wear a bra with it the way the embroidery is but knowing me, hyper-modest, I’ll wear one anyway…but it’s nice to know I don’t have to.  I threw on a jacket the other day rather than putting a bra on and regretted it like crazy later when it got warmer.  It’s not like they’re big and scream out “LOOK AT ME” but I don’t like drawing any extra attention to myself.  Every time I laughingly say I’m gonna get a boob job I remember that they would get too much attention and I change my mind.  I’m just the way God made me…

Yeah…the weather’s shaping up nicely here in Jersey.  The trees are pollinating like crazy.  Everything’s covered in green that if you do manage to wash away, it is back 10 minutes later.  With predictions of a larger than normal gypsy moth population this year, just like last year the trees will be bare by July only to regrow before the summer’s over and throw pollen at us again!

Oh well…I often search for the perfect place to live but I know that even if we were to find it, we’d procrastinate and never see it anyway.  That’s why I keep building our little heaven here on Earth.  If only I could teach my husband to enjoy it.

Since leaving all discussion groups and being horrible at keeping up with emails, I figured I’d hip up all of my buddy’s as to how my ticker’s doing.

I had an Echo done last week and my ejection fractions are 25-30%.  (So that you don’t have to look it up, 60% is normal  ).  Two years ago I got a 25-35% result but that’s okay.  I expect to feel older as I age and I’m feeling pretty good for the most part.  I notice it when I try to climb uphill when we go for walks in the woods and my endurance has slipped a bit but that makes me ask others for help and that usually ends up well.  People like to feel needed and I’m a self-admitted control freak who needs some reform.

We (the Doctor and I) are a little concerned with my tachycardia’s but I have learned various ways to reset my heart by closing off my arteries.  If that doesn’t work I go to the ER and they inject some stuff into the bloodstream and it stops my heart and resets it…kind of like a reboot, huh?  It felt really weird when they did it…like being almost dead for a few seconds.  And I’ve finally agreed to take a very low dose of Paxil and it is helping to keep the “brain worms” from eating me alive.  Anyone who has it knows the heart disease is the number 1 most mental disease as it never really leaves the mind alone but after 10 years of being badgered to do so, I gave in and got a little assistance in that area.  Although I don’t like the weight gain that comes with Paxil (I now actually have a figure at 127 lbs. instead of 113 lbs.!) but it does help with the panic and also helps with the pre-menopause symptoms so that’s a plus! 

And this is kind of cool…as the guy was doing the Echo we were talking and it turns out that he knows a guy, Paul Baloche, that I used to go to school with and hung out with who is now a Christian Rock Star!  Other than the guitar playing and singing, Paul has done a complete 180 from where he was back then which gives me some hope that more of the people I partied through school with did 180’s too!  I know I did!  I know that it’s a small world but when a random conversation about nothing with an Echo tech. reveals just how small it really is, it’s worth noting. 

I know that this is bothering John.  We don’t like talking about it more than we have to as it bothers the crap out of us that we have to deal with this at all but he gets really sad and that sadness usually comes out as repressed anger but it will fade away as time passes and I continue to prove that I am good and there’s no reason to be anything but happy.

So, that’s all kids.  I’m doing fine and will keep doing so as long as I am able…