Rev Run Message: Mastery

"Good morning. Are you a giver???? Do you have money or does money have you? Can you live without that morning cup of coffee, cigarette etc ? (Remember) What you can walk away from, YOU HAVE MASTERED. What you can't walk away from has mastered you. He who loves the least controls the relationship! God is Love Rev Run"

Wow.

How powerful is that statement?

There are at least three messages in this statement.

Future posts will explore Rev's theories about the blessings of giving and the power of control. For now, l want to concentrate on mastery:

"What you can walk away from, you have mastered. What you can't walk away from has mastered you."

So elementary. So true. So difficult to do.

And yet, just the challenge I need to square off against my demons.

Stephen + Lauren = Who Knows???!

Rumors ... abound. And what does the end of year connection between Lauren Conrad and Stephen Colletti mean for the new year?

As the faithful know, I've already cast my vote.

[Insert all of yoiur comments about how reality tv isn't real... and how I should get and/or concentrate on my own life.]

Just sayin'... IMHO, they make a great couple.

Pictured are Lauren, Lo and Audrina at LAX in Las Vegas, courtesy of Gossip Girls,

Dear Santa... I've been pretty good!

...as I've had little time to be bad!

I know I'm late in writing, but here's my Christmas list:

1. Unfailing health for Miss C and me. If you can only provide it for one, I pick Miss C.

2. Fitness.

3. Will power. Strength. Commitment.

4. Companionship. Continuing and new.

5. Happiness.

6. Contentment, because there's a difference between happiness and contentment.

7. Energy. Energy to enjoy all that comes my way.

8. Time. More than anything, time. Time with Miss C. Time to enjoy all my blessings.

And if your sleigh isn't too full...

9. TONS OF TOYS & TREATS FOR MISS C.

10. AND A DYSON ROOT 6 FOR ME!

Houston Comets Move, I Stay Home

The Comets are moving from Toyota Center to Reliant Center.

And I'm staying home.

I'm sad. And I'm angry.

I can't be mad at the owner, Hilton Koch... it's Houston's fair weather fans that are ultimately to blamed.

Dear Santa

If only you delivered from Heaven,

my list would be short.

Current Object of My Desire...

The Dyson DC16 root 6.

In spite of the reviews I've read... I want one.

Santa, are you reading?

Halloween Creepy To The Hills!

You never expect celebrities to costume up from Aisle 9 at Walgreens... and yet here are Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt.

Cheap, yet eerily creepy... no?

And please, Spencer, don't you think your 'Speidi' reference is a little too literal? This outfit actually reiterates what everyone says about you... you're of no interest whatsoever without your gullible, low self esteemed, ex-best friend of Lauren Conrad on your arm.

Just sayin'.

Spencer Pratt is a Creep

I said it before and I'll say it again... well, even if I didn't say it in these exact terms before, still...

Spender Pratt is a creep.

Well that... and he is about negative 17 million on a scale of 1 to 10, as far as being "sexually appealing". There's not enough bandwidth in the universe, much less the world wide web, to list the many reasons.

And Heidi is either an equally egocentric money hungry, publicity hound... or she suffers from such low self esteem that bagging an "important" guy is the only way she can feel good about herself.

Either way... sad. Just sad.

Bang Bang Bang, Repeat

The bulk of my week was spent getting a new roof on my little house.

Four days, it took. Four days sequester, banging, power rationing. and anxiety.

Followed by the (equally unnerving) squeaking of my wallet.

I'm pleased, though. They did a great job, and were as considerate as nine men with hammers, nails, saws, an air compressor and a torch can be.

And as the rains set in today, I am flooded with a sense of security that I haven't felt in a long, long time.

Pathetic Non-Celebrity

Spencer Pratt is pathetic, as he blogs about blogs that blog about 'Spencer Pratt'.

Not Good Enough For Lauren Conrad

Last week,we were worried that she was still in love with Jason.

And after last night's episode of 'The Hills, we might assume that Lauren Conrad is once again enamored with the deep yet shallow Brody Jenner.

Let's all (ye with little or no personal lives) say it in unison... Lauren is SO much better than that.

She hasn't endured the agony of the Laguna Beach high road (past Kristin, Stephen and Jason)... to settle for a smooth talking pimp, has she?????

Listen to your mom, L.C.!

More Trouble For Beth and Greta In Aruba

It's clear. Aruba considers the publicity undue scrutiny, aka bad publicity.

All Beth Holloway wants, however, is to find her daughter's remains, and to understand what happened.

What Greta can't understand is what I can't understand...

How can anyone who hasn't lost a daughter (by any circumstances, much less these)... pass judgment?

Our Spiny-Backed Orb Weavers

About this time last year, I began noticing brilliant webs with crab-like spiders at their centers.

Because they appeared along with the second appearance of my hummingbirds (more on those later), they caught me at a time when I was particularly curious about nature.

And so I discovered the Spiny-Backed Orb Weaver, akin to the barn orb-weaver spider of Charlotte's Web.

Mine are known as garden orb weavers, and they are mostly a brilliant red orange in color.

Uniformly, my spiders connect primary lines to three fixed objects. Two strands affix to the points (one coming, one going, I assume), and in the center they spin a perfectly round segmented web, comprised of 20 to 30 radii (yes, I've counted them... again with the life!), measuring measuring between 14" and 18" out to out.

According to Aggie horticulturists (Gig 'Em, Ags!), these spiders are considered beneficials in the garden, because they prey upon small garden pests, including mosquitoes.


The more I've learned, the more I've come to really appreciate the species. For instance, it is the female of the species that spins the intricate webs, while the male hangs from a single strand... waiting, I assume, for the female to deliver dinner.

While I don't condone those roles, I applaud the ambition and fastidious work of the female.

I'm told that these gals spin a new web each evening, and that's likely true, when need be. I've gone to great lengths to preserve their webs... including the relocation of a primary point connection. On the rare occasion when a web is destroyed, however, I've noticed a new web somewhere else.

Photos are best in the morning sun. I'll be home again tomorrow morning. Stay tuned for better photos?

Beth And Greta In Aruba Again

According to The Monkeys, Beth Holloway Twitty and Greta Van Susteren arrived in Aruba today.

It's not yet known what they intend to do or where they intend to stay.

Let's just hope that something productive comes from their mission.

Photo courtesy of 24ora.

Object of My Desire

The new Dyson Root 6.

I gotta get it.

I know, I know... that and a life.

Surely LC Isn't Still Smitten

It's always hard to celebrate the moving on, much less engagement of a former love. And last night Lauren had to endure it, on The Hills.

I'm hoping it was just for good television, but previous episodes seemed to raise a glimmer of hope in Lauren, that she and Jason Wahler might rekindle their friendship, if not something more.

And those feelings were replaced in last night's episode of The Hills, when Lauren learned of the engagement. I'm hoping the emotions that surged... were pity and relief.

Photo courtesy of WireImage.com, by way of this MSN breakup story.

New Levels at Columbian University!

Amid protests Iranian President (Tom) Mahmoud Ahmadinejad spoke at Columbia University yesterday and revealed many fun facts!

Photo courtesy of Chris Hondros/Getty Images, by way of U.S. News & World Report.

Stephen Colletti & Lauren Conrad, Together Again!

All is well with the world again! (I really DO need to get a life!)

Stephen has split with Hayden Panettiere, and he and L.C. were spotted, attending as and looking very much like a couple, at a party for Hornitos Tequila Thursday night.

"Stephen and Lauren definitely looked like an item, "a source tells Star. "They hung out together the entire time and at one point, Stephen grabbed Lauren and took her out to the dance floor, where they danced to the song 'One More Time. ' They were laughing and flirting. They looked really happy and cute together."

Anxiously awaited and cute photo, courtesy of E! Online!

Alice Ghostley Passes Away

Resurrecting many wonderful childhood memories, Alice Ghostley, famed television and film actress, passed away yesterday at her home in Studio City, California.

Her filmography credits include movie parts in With Six You Get Eggroll, Please Don't Eat The Daisies, The Flim Flam Man, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Graduate and The Client...

And she played many characters on television in shows like Evening Shade, Designing Women, Good Times, Love American Style... and many, many more.

But I will always fondly remember her as the good witch and slightly off-kilter Esmeralda on 'Bewitched'.

Ghostley died after a long battle with colon cancer and a series of strokes. Passing from this life is often a blessing, but it's sad for those left behind...

1952 photograph, above, courtesy of AP. As Esmeralda, courtesy of this website.

The Difference Between Me and BB8's Zach

Zach believes that he is entitled to entry at L.A.'s hotspot, Hyde.

I have no such delusions.

Fame is fleeting for the dim witted, Dude.