“The RoseBouquet”

Last week I knew that my sister Elsie and her daughter Jalise, and Jalise’s two young children were wanting to come here to Saskatoon. The problem was that Elsie had a roll-over accident the first week of July, and needed to buy a vehicle first. Would they get one in time? Jalise wanted to be at her cousin’s wedding here on Saturday.

I called on the Wednesday evening to Jalise’s place, and there was no answer. I left a message, but she didn’t’ reply later as she usually would, so I began to suspect they were on the way. The next evening I had a call from Jalise at Airdrie, Alberta. She needed a phone number for Uncle Henry and Aunt Frieda, but she didn’t have time to talk. Just to say they were on the way, and okay.

I have only my one single bed, but I am sure I have enough foam mats and quilts and pillows to give everyone a place to sleep.

Friday I convinced myself that they would be arriving around 2 pm, because it takes about 6 hours from Uncle Henry and Aunt Frieda’s to get here. I began to watch and wait for them. (I even took time over my breakfast time to kid-proof my house somewhat). No show.

I got through Saturday with that same waiting, watching mode. When my friend Kathy dropped by with her three-old grandson, and he wanted to see the puppies next door, we went out to the back yard and showed him the big chocolate Labadors through the fence. I kept thinking, I should be inside. What if Elsie calls and I’m missing the call?

After supper I decided that I really didn’t need to live my life “on hold” like this for them. I could dash out to get a few needed items. I was only gone half an hour. I kept reassuring myself that they were busy attending that wedding and of course visiting with the relatives from my sister’s former husband’s family. They must have been invited somewhere for the night.

Sunday morning they had not called by 9 am, so I decided to go to church like usual. But I hurried home to be there when they would call or drop by. Finally after a short nap, I decided that it would be reasonable for me to track them down, as I know some of those relatives’ names. My third call was to Jalise’s cousin Holly’s place. There it was Elsie herself who answered.

It turned out that she had not been invited to the wedding and had come with Jalise’s kids to see me Saturday evening. Guess when. Exactly in that half hour that I went out shopping! Holly has a four-bedroom house, so they were staying there. But Elsie was also coming down with a cold and had a bad headache, so she wasn’t keen on a visit.

Okay. Monday morning I had to call again so I would know whether I should go to WTM’s office as usual over lunch, or wait at home. Jalise said to do what I normally would. Her Mom was not well, and they were invited to her Aunt Phyllis’ for the afternoon and supper. I did learn that they plan to be in the city until Thursday. So I’m bound to get a visit from them yet.

Will it be today? I don’t know….

But I’m beginning to recall scenes when Mom would fret about their arrival, and I would have to reassure her that Elsie always keeps us waiting. When she (or Jalise) arrives, it’s like the sun has finally come out! So the sun will shine here yet. I just have to keep waiting.

P.S. Just got a call, and we’ve set up an afternoon in the Kinsman Park, close to Tom’s apartment. I better go prepare some picnic food!

I’m testing a new income stream as of this week. Back in May I read an interesting and detailed article about one man’s experience in doing paid online surveys for income. Apparently it is possible to make easily $50-75 an hour. I knew there was no point in trying that out while I was moving so I set that information aside. But last week I researched it, and discovered that it is possible to get into this work for free, but I would need to clear at least one hour a day for this.

Hmm…! So I did spend time over the weekend considering and praying about this, and finally decided to pledge myself to get to bed by midnight each night (instead of 1 am), so as to really get up when my alarm goes at 6 and then have time for bath and devotions by 8 am.

I don’t want to give up my Bible study and devotional time, so I’ve added some incentive by vowing that if I don’t get that done by 8 am, I can’t do surveys over my breakfast from 8-9 am.

So far I’ve only been signing up yesterday and this morning, but I did snitch a few extra minutes from writing this RoseBouquet to do my first survey.

So far no fast and large deposits to my PayPal account yet, and I suspect I’ll be on a learning curve for a while yet. So I won’t start raving about this until I can truthfully say it works and pays well. If you want to see how it goes for me, watch this spot over the next few weeks.

Something else I’m starting as I buckle down to a more intense business routine, is to give at least one hour each morning (well, this RoseBouquet preempts that on Tuesdays) in promoting my websites, and products. I discovered last week that Craigslist.org is suppose to be a very productive place to place ads, and that for free. I also can do that at Adlandpro where I have a membership. It’s a matter of writing up good ads and then posting them doggedly at regular intervals.

Actually, if I toss in some of my clients’ sites (some have no clue about advertising) - I’ll have quite a list to promote.

Of course, there are site renovations to complete too. In fact, that’s ongoing. I’ve just realized that I can update all the pages I’ve already done last year and at the beginning of this year.

GRIN! The image that comes to mind is of a dog or a fox with a long furry tail chasing that tail and going in tight circles! You’ll let me know if you see me doing that, okay?

Have you seen the email circulating with all the uses for WD-40? If not it is shown in full on this page; Snopes.com/inbox/household/wd-40.asp If you go to the WD-40 site, you can click on a link to get this pdf file, which is 9 pages with 2000 uses for WD-40 (You could download or print that out if you like).

A fellow on Adlandpro let me read his e-book last Friday, on how to make money using Craigslist for free ads. It has a classified section for a city near you, and there are billions of pages views a month on that site. It has millions of job postings, and user ads. Huh? A promotional WD-40?

I sense the secret to effective advertising is to learn to write and create winsome HTML ads. (your html skills will be an advantage!) Again, I’m just starting an advertising campaign there, but if you want to research it for yourself - go here; Craigslist.org Don’t be surprised it if can guess your city very quickly. But there are all those other cities too.

I recall as a young girl, wanting to talk with God. I was blessed with a vivid imagination, so it wasn’t all that hard for me to imagine many conversations. I used what I learned in Sunday School and in church for guidelines as to what God might say to me when I asked Him my many chatterbox questions.

As I learned to read and memorize Bible passages for myself, that grasp of what God was like, and what He was saying to me became clearer and more sure. Only later I realized that because God is a Spirit, we can only communicate with Him, and His Son Jesus, via our spirit. A sanctified imagination is very useful in this relationship with Someone we cannot see or hear audibly. The fact that this happens on a spiritual plane does not make it any less valuable. Rather, it is the most important relationship of our whole lives.

When family and friends did not understand me, I was always confident that my Lord God did, and He had the ability and time to give me undivided attention whenever I was ready to turn towards Him. I could spill out all my thoughts and questions without fear of a scolding or rebuke. I knew I wasn’t perfect; there was nothing I could say or do to hide that. But the Lord loved me and wanted to help me become better! It was safe to be totally honest and real with Him.

Before my teens were done, I was living out vicariously great exploits I would do for my Lord once I had opportunity. Somehow that seemed to be tied in my mind with growing up and living in the city. That’s where I would overcome shyness and be all that I could see I ought to be. Those vivid daydreams set a standard for what I would expect as the norm for my life.

When I finally got to working in the city, and yes, as a telephone operator, just as I had imagined, it was a bit of a shock when not all that I had pictured in my head came to pass. However, I had a strong habit of talking everything over with my dear, Best Friend, the Lord Jesus, and that became my coping mechanism for everything I encountered.

After a while I realized that though not all the scenes that passed through my head were prophecies, they would make a great book - a book that would show others the amazing value of a relationship with the Lord God such as I had. I was still somewhat afraid people would poo-poo my dream of writing a book, so I did that in secret. Every time I re-wrote and edited it I learned more about writing. I could see my growth from one manuscript to the next!

Four years later I went to Ontario, hoping to publish it, only to discover that I still had more things to learn. After about 19 re-writes I was sure God was asking me to go back home to care for my parents. I had taken on too many extra vocations, so the complete break was necessary to get me back to writing.

To make a long story short, after my thirtieth re-write and polishing edit I was ready to publish it and found a way to get online and learn all about this new phase of getting this book out. In 2001 I made a Publish-on-Demand (POD) deal with Booklocker.com. They print it as fast as orders come in (ah, the wonders of this modern publishing era), and I must do the promotion and marketing of my book.

As a result I’ve taught myself web-design and some marketing and promotion skills, but I’m still honing and developing these. My caregiving era for my parents is over, and now I am going to press ahead to become an effective marketer and promoter of my book.

If you have long wished you could have some heart-to-heart talks with God, this book will show you through the adventures of the main character, Ruthe Veer, who gets to experience the scenes I daydreamed about in my teens, and demonstrates that kind of lifestyle. I like to think that you’ll say to yourself - “Hey, I could talk with the Lord like that too!”

Visit these links to get a taste of my novel, Ruthe’s Secret Roses:

Read sample chapters of my first novel online, starting at the index

Order the e-book to download and read on your computer; Order page (or if you email me, we can make a deal and I’ll send it to you on CD).

You can order the softcover paperback from Booklocker.com

Yes, Marcie did come last week Tuesday. In fact, she called me about noon to ask that I come pick her up from her apartment at 3 p.m. She expected the movers would have emptied out her apartment by then. I went to the post office first, and got there at 3:20 (it was tricky finding her in that maze of apartment buildings) - however she was still packing! The movers were trying to be polite, but I could tell they’d like her to hurry up. So despite my weak right thumb, I helped put things into boxes. I also had to drive off and buy her more garbage bags.

I bumped her luggage down all those stairs, and waited in the car, while she signed forms and turned in her keys. Finally, just before 5:30 she was ready to go, with her two parakeets in a cage. But Marcie had some errands to do downtown, so I took her there first.

At my place I had summa borscht ready to warm up and I soon had supper ready.

I warned Marcie about taking her birds out of the cage, but she kept assuring me she had clipped their wings, and they needed to get to sit on top of the cage. Before long they were on her shoulders and chest, and snuggling by her ears. I tell you, I watched very carefully until she put them back and said her bedtime good-byes to her “babies.”

She called and emailed her boyfriend, so I only got a few minutes to deal with my emails, cancelled my plans for the evening and focused on fixing my foam fold-out bed-in-a-bag, letting her use my bed. She wanted to get up at 4 a.m. so we could be at the airport by 5; thus we ended up going to bed at 10 p.m..

I did learn though, that her family did NOT know she was moving away. Hmm… so I was aiding and abetting a run-away? (Oh-well, she’s 45 and responsible for her own decisions).

I got her to the airport by 5 a.m., and then I came home, re-made my bed, and laid down for a couple of hours. When I got up I was refreshed and had a good day.

My RRAP application is off. Now I’m just waiting and praying that the inspector will come around fairly soon.

The friend who promised the sheet of drywall for my kitchen delivered and installed it last week, so on Saturday I finally installed the peg board I had from Dad’s workshop. I had not used the power drill before, but I tried it, and lo, it works quite easily. True, I was a bit timid about the use of the power tools, but I’m getting bolder as I try things out and discover I CAN do them. Now I’m going to be screwing all kinds of things down with that power drill! I need some towel bars in place next.

In fact, there’s a tall thin tree at the front of the house that’s been rubbing and sawing away at the edge of my roof the last few days in the wind and rain storms we had. I probably should wait until I have someone to help me, but I think I need to cut down that tree. Maybe today yet?

Saturday night I went to my brother Tom’s and start brainstorming about the website he wants me to build for him to sell his diecast models. This is going to be a tall order! You’ll hear more about this yet. But now I need to research this topic and become familiar with something that is out of my realm of knowledge, so I can do a good job on Tom’s site.

I’ve got my evenings and afternoons all scheduled and productive, but I’m still trying to refine my mornings to get all my catching up done, and to dive into promo work in a bigger way. There’s still room for improvement here.

Saturday night I was explaining my AdSense ads by Google on my site, and how they make me money even though I’m busy with other things. He was surprised.

Yesterday I remembered to go check my AdSense account and was surprised myself to see that I’m due for another commission check soon! This reminds me that you might not even be aware that you could be making a passive income from each of your web pages if you inserted your specific code there. Google automatically sees to it that the ads match the keywords you use on that page, so the quality depends on the content you put on your web pages.

You ought to look into it!!
(My link doesn’t show up here, but you can find one near the bottom of almost every page on this site; BouquetofEnterprises.biz - it’s a white rectangular button).

A couple of decades ago, while I was visiting my beloved Grosz’mama in the nursing home, I got into a conversation with another resident there. This woman knew of several wild plants that grew right in Hague, my hometown, and she explained their benefits if I would harvest them and dry them for teas, etc. I was intrigued, and when she told me about a book that would be a good guide in this subject, I went looking for “Back to Eden” by Jethro Kloss, born in 1863.

At first he worked in orchards, then was a minister, and married in 1900. Later, after he was healed of some health problems, he dedicated himself to learning and teaching and helping others. He had a Home Sanatorium where he cured many people with herbs and water therapies.

Back to Eden does have lots of information about plants (often thought of as weeds) and trees which God has placed in our neighbourhood and intended to be our pharmacy for help when we have health problems. But a basic theory Kloss espoused was that most of our health problems stem from constipation. Like most of this current generation, my reaction was, “yuk!” and I skimmed on to other information.

However, when I got really desperate about my sinus headaches I decided to try some of those bowel-cleansing instructions. Wow! At exactly the moments I got cleaned internally, the pressure let up behind my eyes, and my headache evaporated. Literally! This happened enough times so that I became convinced there was something to it.

In this old book, (reissued with family notes and photos), Jethro wrote that most if not all aches and pains that cannot be explained away with a clear blow or or obvious wound come because some feces has deposited in a pocket of our bowels, grown hard, and is pressing down on a nerve going by to some other part of our body. That other part, be it our eyes, a knee, a shoulder, or big toe, or our neck, whatever, will start to hurt like crazy. Our modern doctors will quickly name some popular ailment, such as gout, arthritis, or psychological conflicts as the cause and of course, prescribe a drug or painkiller.

The problem is that those drugs will only contribute to more constipation and soon we’ll be telling our family and friends that we have a chronic problem with this or that.

When my right thumb started seriously hurting a couple of weeks ago, my first thought was that I must have injured it while working so hard on cleaning up Dad’s estate, and that I might have a broken bone. Jethro’s theory didn’t even come to me right away.

Last week when I had a few days of less pain in the thumb, after I’d eaten more raw fruits and vegetables I made the connection. With diet and more water to drink, and one Bentonite capsule the pain in my thumb disappeared. It seems to be time to talk about this more openly and share this information so that others who suffer pain may be set free.

How should you deal with pain with this in mind? Stop eating meats and heavy cooked meals. Instead, go without as much as possible, eating only fresh fruits and vegetables when truly hungry. Drink lots of water throughout the day to rinse through your digestive system. These steps will go a long way. If your pain has dug in its heels though, you may have to get some more thorough cleansing supplements and work at it for a few days.

Don’t go back to your old eating ways though, if you want the pain to stay away. Eat much lighter, healthier meals, drink lots of water (nope, coffee and black tea do not count as water). Just know that you do NOT have to have chronic pain. There are sensible, practical ways to free yourself from those chains of misery.

In my heart, I feel I have proved Jethro right. At least to my satisfaction.

I’m still very much aware of my right thumb, but I think it is improving today. A chiropractor set it in moments on Friday, and presto the pain was gone, only to be back the next day. I painted the back porch anyway, working through the pain. I pampered it a bit more on Sunday and Monday, but last night it began to feel swollen and bruised. Upon waking this morning I began to plot how I could squeeze in time to see a doctor, however, after my bath I looked up some home remedies, and realized that I can deal with this quicker here at home than sitting all morning in doctor’s and x-ray offices.

Besides wanting to stick to my new publishing schedule for this RoseBouquet, I have an overnight guest arriving late this afternoon. This is an unusual situation. (I’ll call her Marcie).

Marcie bought something from Dad last summer, but her cheque bounced. I let her know, and since then she’s been fairly careful not to give me her current phone number or address, and to keep out of my way. However, she’s got a boyfriend in another province whom she met via the internet, and now she’s moving out there to join him. She talked of this plan for several years and her family have tried to discourage it, but now that boyfriend is paying for her move she’s getting her wish.

So yesterday she called, out of the blue. After some chatter, she said she has movers coming for her furniture this afternoon. Then she needs a place to spend the night and someone to take her to the airport for 5 a.m. tomorrow morning, and she’s off to her happily ever after.

Yes, I’m bright enough to know I’m being used, but after warning her that don’t have a guest bed here, I said she could sleep in my bed, and I’ll sleep on the floor. It’s just the right thing to do, I decided.

Then this morning my devotional reading in the Bible was Proverbs 25:22-23, and I knew that yes, it is the right thing to do!

She’s bringing her budgies and I just hope they stay in their cages. I was once chased by a rooster as a child; since then I have a phobia about getting too much face-to-face with a bird. Marcie’s birds want to sit on your shoulder and kiss you all the time. Brrr-rr!

If nothing more dramatic happens by next week, I’ll report how today goes for us.

Saturday was a very productive domestic day. Neighbour Joe was busy, so I ended up having to do my own sawing and hammering to put some odd smaller pieces of plywood on the inside walls of my back porch. I’ve got to learn to use my electric skill saw sooner or later, and it will only come with trying. It’s not perfect, but the porch will be a bit warmer in the winter. Then I painted it all. I used the last of the off white I’d used in the house for the doors and windows on the porch windows, then I opened what was left of the mauve/purple I’d used on my library wall, and painted all the mis-matched wood on the walls and ceiling until that paint was used up too, just over the outer door’s head. (But that needs to be replaced yet.

Sunday evening friends dropped by and a strong suggestion was made that I apply for the government grants available for those with low incomes, to fix their homes and make them safe and secure. Right. I phoned yesterday, and today the forms are in my mailbox.

It looks like I can get up to a maximum of a $16,000 forgiveable loan, if I but commit to staying at this address for at least five years. Someone will have to come assess which repairs are eligible, and then I’ll need to obtain at least two quotes from contractors who could do each eligible repair. The federal and provincial governments jointly provide the money based on the quotes, and it is up to me to get the work done within 6 months, and to pay them.

Say! This could be the Lord’s way of getting all this work done by qualified people! The roof does have a sagging spot and when it rains I still have to set out a row of buckets. There is a continual drip under the sink in the bathroom, and on and on…. You can bet I’ll be thorough with my application!

Business-wise…
I’m now forming a pattern of walking over to the Western Tract Mission office at noon on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. I have lunch with the staff, and am doing small jobs, such as showing Helen how to back up her computer, proof-reading the booklet that came back from the printer, and learning Penny’s job so I can fill in for her when they go on holidays.

I’m pressing ahead with my clients’ websites, and have been focused lately on discovering a new script for contact forms that will be more secure. I think I’ve discovered one that includes a math captcha, but I’ve asked the man who wrote it to adjust it for a special situation. Then I want to change all my sites’, and clients’ sites, to have this new and better form-script.

I should also be starting this coming weekend on my brother Tom’s site. That will be a new learning curve for me, but I’m looking forward to it.

Still not sure though, when I’ll get around to doing renovations and updating on my own sites. It’ll come. It’ll come!