The Secret, One Again, Validated

Hope you all had a nice Mother's Day. I had Cold Stone Creamery ice cream for dinner which is exactly what I wanted (and, if anyone can get the EXACT order in the comments, there is a prize involved here* - see restrictions below), It was pretty much a perfect day. Here I am with my babies, at lunch, which could have been a disaster cuz Diva (who is donning the blanket we keep in our car), was freezing, and therefore pouty, and I had to give her the "what-fer" a few times and gave her not one strike, but two strikes before she fully realized that "hey, it's my mom's day and I can be a diva 364 days out of the year and it's pretty much fine but I better step up today so I don't piss her off." Good thing missy, very good thing.

So, I haven't discussed this lately but I am in the process of a major DECLUTTER in order to DECLUTTER my house, my body, my mind. Last week I spent one full day purging practically everything in our basement. We no longer have scattered puzzle pieces all across the floor. There are no balls in the basement any longer (I've been a pretty lenient mom and the kids usually go downstairs for a rousing game of dodgeball. In our basement. You should see the walls. I am no longer letting them build forts in which to have barricades in order to blast nerf gun toys at one another. Nope. It is a clean place of solitude. The kids were thrilled with the change. They can color down there! They can play waitress now that the bar area has been decluttered (we haven't done that EVER since we moved here two-and-a-half years ago!). They can do crafts and watch TV, and lounge around and play Dance, Dance Revolution and I have threatened them that if I ever have to clean up their mess like that again they will be very unhappy children.

And then, I took the decluttering frame of mind upstairs into our bathroom. I had medication products that expired in 2001. I had tubes of cream that I have no idea what body parts they were to be used on. I had Noxema containers with stuff inside that looks like that cement mixture you used as kids to make crafts. No way is that going on the face. Toss, toss, and toss. I was a maniac and now everything is clutter-free and happily in a place where it belongs. And everything is something that I use regularly or plan to use soon.

The feng shui of it all is just too good to be true.

Next up, is my closet, and the clothes that unfortunately, no longer fit, but fortunately, are no longer in style! So that's one way of looking at it from a positive perspective! I will be tossing anything that I cannot button. There will be a lot of stuff.

I'm living The Secret, altering my surroundings so I can focus on getting what I want in life. I ran to Target to buy a new sprinkler for the front yard for the kids, and then had to go to the grocery store. The grocery store by the Target is convenient. While it is convenient, I loathe that grocery store. Not the chain, that particular store. I usually take a right out of my subdivision to get to the grocery store, but Target is to the left, as is the grocery store I hate. It always puts me in a bad mood. There are always lines. The stuff I need is never there. I had to stop in to get just a few things, and when I was walking in, I said to myself, "God, I hate this store."

Then, I stopped.

That is my problem. I go into the situation negatively. I think automatically that it's going to be a horrible shopping experience. I dread going there.

Today, I decided to switch my mode of thinking.

I walked into the store, and made myself smile really, really big. I wasn't smiling at ANYONE in particular. I was just smiling. And I looked at the apples and I thought, "Wow, these are the most beautiful apples I've ever seen," then I went over to the deli and thought, "Wow, what fresh looking meats and cheeses," and "How clean and nice is this store!"

Then I found the few things I needed, smiled at some customers, noted that the produce guy snuck a grape and ate it (which kind of grossed me out, thinking that I could be buying grapes someday that a strange man has been chewing on). I got up to the front of the store, where there is always, always a line, or not enough cashiers and guess what?

TWO LINES WERE WIDE OPEN!

I actually had to make the decision which lane I would go through. I really hope I didn't hurt the other cashier's feelings when I didn't choose her.

So, the whole shopping trip was exactly opposite of what I usually experience because i followed the Law of Attraction via The Secret and my magnetism was aligned with whatever it is on earth that lets us be happy and I had a great experience.

And then, I got into my car to drive home...

And I had to go.

Like bad. Really, really bad. I won't go into details because I know some of you can be kind of squeamish, but I concentrated on The Secret and told myself, "I HAVE THE SECRET!" Kind of like how He-Man cartoons started out with him pulling a sword out of a rock and yelling, "I HAVE THE POWER!"

I was really and truly saying these phrases out loud:

I HAVE THE SECRET!

I HAVE THE POWER!

I WILL NOT POO IN MY PANTS! (No, I didn't really say that last one, but was definitely thinking it.)

I was also thinking the whole way, "I'm not going to be stopped by a red light! I will not miss any of the lights!" And you know what? I didn't miss a light!

I got home, did my business and whoo! What a great feeling to know that The Secret works (and that I didn't have a majorly embarrassing incredibly awkward accident in my car!).

And, along the lines of me decluttering my life, the reason I had the urge to do what I had to do when I was in the car is, I'm sure of, this new product I am test-driving, if ya know what I mean: Detox 7. Today is Day 2 of the seven-day detox program, and let me tell you, so far, it's good. The only problem was I was totally unprepared to drink a cup of tree bark and root, leaves, and other herbally dirty things. I swear it was like drinking a cup of dirt shoveled from the back yard. But today, I was prepared, and mixed the fiber breakfast starter drink with green tea. Oh yeah Baby, clean Manic Out!

And I think it's working, body and mind because I was so productive today and upbeat and clutter-free and here is a quick list of the positive things I've done today, in no particular order:

Woke Up (always a plus)

Didn't have the major daily urge I usually have to crawl back into bed with Tukey to snooze while he watches Curious George and Clifford

Did a load of laundry that I promise I will fold and put away later

Went for a power walk

Killed a fly in the kitchen (come on, you all know how fabulous it is to get a fly that's buzzin' the kitchen!)

Went to Target to buy the kids a sprinkler, some buckets, and jump ropes

Went to the grocery store I no longer hate

Zapped two wasp hives while in the process of being built

Took pictures

Uploaded pictures

Wrote this blog post

Got three kids through the shower

Passed out a load of snacks and juice boxes

Did three hours of freelance work (Check out some quizzes I wrote here: BabyZone Quizzes). They're fun to do!

Entertained the nine or 10 or 12 children in my front yard via the sprinkler. A couple of them started belting out at the top of their lungs:

"CELEBRATE GOOD TIMES, COME ON!"

They played Rover, Red Rover, and also a new, fun version of Duck, Duck, Goose in which the Duckee had a bucket of water and when he chose the Ducker, he would pour the water over that person's head. Good times, yes siree.

They are cracking me up. My yard is a mess. My house is now still a mess because I was outside with them. Dinner's nowhere near being made (even though it's just going to be chicken caesar salads), but hey, these kids made some memories today. This is the kind of 'hood they should grow up in, and these are the kind of memories they should have!

Here are some pictures:

Next up for decluttering--continue with the current novel I am writing. You can read the first chapter on my website under the tab, Novels. Let me know what you think. And any editors reading, if you love it, I promise I can get you the finished product by the end of summer (see, it's that Secret thing working for me again!)

*Sorry Swishy, as much as I love you, you are not eligible to participate because I think you know already what my fave is. Prize will be given to first commenter to guess what flavor and what mix-ins I got, but you don't have to guess the size or if I had it in a waffle bowl or styrofoam bowl cuz that would just be too dang hard! Winner will receive a trip to Cold Stone Creamery or another local ice creamery if you don't have Cold Stone near you. And sorry also to my blood relatives, and my marital relatives, you too, are ineligible to play.