In Principle, I'm Just Uncertain.

Okay. I'm reading "Entangled Minds-Extrasensory Experiences in a Quantum Reality" By Dean Radin. I really shouldn't try to understand everything. But this quantum mechanics idea is supposed to be so freaking mindblowing that when I understand it, I'm supposed to be able to walk clean through the kitchen wall and rearrange my atoms at the other side. Because that's how nature really works on the atomic level. Unless somebody's watching, that is.

Did you know that single electrons shot from an electron gun through two slits in a screen line themselves up at the end of the day as if they had all gone through at the same time and interfered with each other? If you're observing them they act as if they are totally unmotivated to line up. And at the end of the day they are all scattered. But if you're not in the room, they behave.

This has something to do with the fact that light is both wave and particle, and it's also possible that light just doesn't understand the traditional concept of time. It may also be true that light is a bit oppositional and defiant, and doesn't like your beady little eyes.

But these facts correlate with the well- understood Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle:




which in laymans terms from the Uncyclopedia can be stated like this:

"After being virtually unknown by all humans for about 99.9999999% of their existence, atomic particles have become very shy. If they sense they are being watched, they won't do their usual tricks, just like that frog that simply won't sing broadway show tunes when I show him to somebody else."

Unfortunately for me it is bedtime, and I will probably wake up at 3am with animated frogs singing showtunes dancing around my bed. Wearing new black top-hats of course. In the quantum world, it happens all the time, when no one's watching.

Little Blond Ibuprofen Girl and Other Troubling Developments

Last night I sent a very long detailed email to a homeschooling friend of mine who loves to draw. It was a list of four very interesting self-portrait ideas. Somehow the email didn't show up in my outbox, so I typed it again. Once again it didn't show up. So I poured myself a glass of wine and tried to breath deeply in through my nose out through my mouth.

Okay. I'm over it. Until I wake up at 3am because the cat thinks it's a grand time to go rummaging through the bags in the closet. In trying to get to sleep, my mind starts racing about the email. Wondering why she didn't receive it. Wondering how she would draw this or that. Imagining how I would draw my own self-portrait using only objects. Then I imagined various ways I could position my mother's old baby-doll in front of a mirror, in a puddle of spilled milk, with a gigantic pink bow taped to her head, with a noose around her neck and a bottle of Nyquil poured all over her.

Eventually I fell asleep. Kind of. Those who know me well know I'm a waking dreamer. Once upon a time, I even answered the phone when my father called one morning only to discover that my legs had decided to go back to bed before I did, and I had to drag myself back to the phone cradle ... "Uh, Daddy, blrglglglglgooglgb..." That was really weird. But the weirdest thing that happens to me usually happens on a night I take Ibuprofen. I'll get up to go to the bathroom and I'm really in a fog and I hear my name, and there's usually a little blond girl by my bed. Once after Josie was born there was a train in my hallway, and a wolf in my closet, and I thought Josie was sandwiched between the mattress and box springs. But when I'm not your regular post-partem nutcase, I'm just your average middle of the night hallucinator. Well, I digress. I got pretty used to the little blond ibuprofen girl, to the point I would just sweep my hands around and push her away so I could get back in bed. Last night while I was un-sleeping she was there again, but she's grown up a little. She was wearing a hat too. And it looked like she had a boyfriend, but he disappeared before I could make him out. I got a little scared, but my body was concrete and all I could do was breathe really hard and hope that would wake my dear hubby up so he could slap me. But he kept snoring.

Then the dog wanted out. So I got up and let her out and realized why she peed in her kennel last night. The door from the porch to the yard had been closed when I let her out before I "went to sleep". So she didn't want to pee on the deck, and came back in and peed in her house. Poor doggy.

I tried to send that email again this morning. It didn't work. I tried to post a comment on another friend's blog. It didn't work either. Don't tell me to go back to bed. You know better than that.

Psychic Nonsense?

I got a book called Entangled Minds by Dean Radin. He was on Oprah talking about how psychic phenomena is no longer considered superstition but studies in quantum physics have made skeptics take a second look. Well, having had a few premonitions and truly spooky dreams where I'm speaking to lost loved ones and such, I thought it would be fun to take some online tests that Dean Radin has created. It's at GotPsi.com if you want to check it out and let me know how you did.

I really sucked at the card game. You had to choose among five cards to find the one that had the picture on the opposite side. When only able to choose the one card, I was right about 30% of the time. When the test allowed you to keep flipping cards until you found the picture, I usually flipped all of the cards before I found the image.

So laughingly, I moved on to the next game. It was remote viewing. I did really well at this. They show you a gray box and you are suppposed to imagine what shapes and images are going to show up in it when you press the button. There is a list to choose from. The first image I imagined was a house and a sky, but the shapes I selected were angles, and I didn't see any people in this image. The actual photo that popped up was a kitchen, and the prominent shapes and images I chose were 89% right on. Next I imagined a river and trees. The photo was really of a castle surrounded by water. Next I imagined two people next to a building. The photo was of a guard at buckingham palace with a tall red guard station behind him. It was about 8 feet tall and really skinny and red. He was up against a wall. I got an 89% on that one too. Of course I got a few 62% and 32% too. But a really startling thing happened in the 8th trial. I was imagining a fluffy white rabbit in the snow. It was curled up in a ball, and looking straight at me. Instead I got fruit. That one was way off I thought, so in the next trial I tried to go all Zen and not think of anything specific, just pick shapes and colors and images off the list sort of willy-nilly. The photo that popped up was a white rabbit running in the snow. Now what are the chances of that, really?

So if you're always walking around sensing Juju off people, or you've got hunches and intuitions, or you dream your late Grandpa Joe tells you what's coming up in world events, take the test and see how you do.

Update: These tests are designed for average folks who claim to have no special abilities. My hubby (whose psychic predictions extend only to the belief that he will singlehandedly save the Universe from the coming Zombocolypse) scored a 97% on his first trial of remote viewing. He pictured a big tire and a black background with no people. The actual image was of a classic car with a black background. So there you go.

Some Art for Soldiers

This is a butterfly Josie made for our soldier in Afganistan. She made it so he can hang it from the ceiling. He's a paratrooper, and we're calling him Paratrooper Neil so we can remember him. I told the kids that he jumps out of planes. He sent us a letter and told us he would send along a photo of the guys in his unit.


Were going to send this one to Paratrooper Neil as well. It's a little poem from Jake. We are getting excited about spring coming and thought they would like to see a little spring too. There's a bird in that knothole in the tree.

Here's a tree for you from Tennessee,

Here's a bird to you from me.

This card is from Jake to Sgt. Tina. She took a lot of time to tell us about where she is and what she does. We took a lot of time to make this card for her. It was a collaboration between Jake and me. He needs a lot of extra help and attention when it comes to crafts. He wanted to be sure that Sgt. Tina knew he cared after I explained to them how important our letters are and told them about "morale", and what it means to have high morale. He made the purple rose, and all the little leaves. He put the wings on the bee, and drew the ladybug. He made sure that the green field had blades of grass and he put one of the flowers in there. I did all of the cutting and glue-ing.


This is my favorite. I love Josie's little pop-up cards. We're going to send this one to Sgt. Tina. There's a beehive, two trees and a skunk. Josie likes skunks and feels sorry for them because she thinks other people don't like them very much. She also thought Sgt. Tina would like to see some water. Tina wrote us and told us that the Iraqis think that birds bring good fortune, so she included lots of birds.

Tonight I'll go out and get the proper sized envelopes. Tomorrow we'll make cards for some "any soldiers" and send them along to the same locations.

I love doing this.

Anybody else out there who wants to send letters and supplies, here's the link to anysoldier.com.

What the Heck is that Thing?

This is a nutria.

This is the thing I saw swimming around in the Fountain City Duck Pond.

I thinkthe thing in Fountain City is a muskrat, because although it is pretty icky, I didn't get that feeling looking at it that you get when you step on a camel cricket barefoot in the middle of the night.

I wanted to look up the nutria because I had never heard of one before, and I read about it on Dilbertblog. Some man thought another man was this particular water rodent and shot him in the head. He lived. I'm troubled by this story because it concerns me that these creatures may still be swimming around unshot in that area. I know. You're thinking "Michele, I've seen you kiss your rats on the lips! How can you judge what is disgusting?"

You know how you tell a nutria from a muskrat? You look the creature over, and if

IT HAS NIPPLES ON IT'S BACK

you know it's a nutria.

Josie asked me "Did God make that Mama?

I replied "Absolutely not."

Checking In

Just checking to see if my account works. Google thinks I'm somebody I'm not, and refuses to sign me in as myself. A whole online identity crisis. Another problem is when I try to post images and links I get HTML. When I try to post it like that I get told there is an error. When I try to get help, they need my password. But it's not my password, it's his password, and I don't know his password, cause I'm not him dammit.

Oh! Just noticed I was on the edit html page instead of the compose page. That makes all the difference! Thank you for patiently sitting with me while I ramble on idiotically.

Stay tuned for my post on the nutria. One of God's weirder creations, with pictures.

Sheesh! Bless You Kid!

5 Non-Connected Ponderings About Random Stuff

1.) Due to the lack of socialization and isolation that most homeschooled kids experience, my children will only be making 23 valentines a piece this year.

2.) One of the most difficult things to find is a sugar-free, soy-free, wheat-free, gluten-free, dye-free, and dairy-free Valentine cupcake. "Hey kids! I brought some clear paraffin lollies! Anyone allergic to wax? Hey Amberleigh! Don't eat those crayons! YELLOW NUMBER 5!"

3.) I see things in a glass- half- full way. When the tax man comes be grateful you have an arm and a leg to give.

4.) If you know you owe the IRS and you live in Tennessee, make sure you do your taxes between Monday and Saturday. Sunday the liquor stores are closed.

5.) If you're getting a tax return, screw you.