It is official.

Lynn Tucker will be joining Carnival Diablo Festival Of Wonders for two very special afternoon shows on the outside stage! On Saturday July 30 and Sunday July 31.

This rare chance to see Lynn do her public Psychometry readings is something you should not miss.

100% of the proceeds of these two shows goes to The Shoppers Drug Mart Walk For Women's Cancers.

Psychometry is a psychic reading of a small personal object or a photograph.
Once on the stage Lynn pulls envelopes of items unknown to her and begins her readings.

You will pay a donation fee per item you wish read. Your donations go to the cause.

Lynn has been the consultant medium for PSICAN (Paranormal Sciences and Investigations Canada) since 2006.

Carnival Diablo Festival of wonders is happening in Carleton Place, Ontario just East of Perth off of HWY 7. There is information about show tickets and ordering tickets online on the Website. Just click on the Carnival Diablo Festival of Wonders links or Picture.

This is a great weekend of events whether you come for a day trip or you come and stay over the weekend. There is camping on site, or there are hotels in the area. You must book early because the Festival Features are very popular!

Come and join us! Help a Cause and Meet the Weird, the Wonderful and Fantastic!

Lynn does not do private readings. Only public readings for official Charities or Non Profit Organizations.

http://motivated-motion.blogspot.com/2011/07/it-is-official.html

Parasols and Pantaloons,

This summer there is a really interesting festival taking place.
My friends Scott and Jessica have a great idea for summer fun:
Carnival Diablo Festival Of Wonders.

He is having a three day festival in Carleton Place at the end of July.

There is camping and events and there will be vendors and psychics and all sorts of old traveling faire-type entertainment.

The Paranormal Show , Prof. Crookshank's Traveling Medicine Show , The Diablo World of Wonders , The Missing Link Attraction , The THING , Kevin Quain and the Mad Bastards , The Magic Lantern Show , Gypsy Fortune Tellers, the Artists Village, Special Guests, Great Food, Diabolic Games and more!

I am imagining the the Steampunk crowd will be there. So I am trying to decide the wardrobe for Carl and I. I was thinking of making us some victorian swimwear. I would love some bloomers and a sailor jumper for the water! Can you imagine Carl in the striped jersey tank and long-short onesie?

I have been looking at tea-dress styles to see if I can design a nice one for the weekend. Something in a seersucker perhaps. I already have a great hat that my Dad gave me.

The great thing about an event like this...you can take some fine china dishes with you and eat your lunch on them! Camping with china! WooT!

For those who would just like to watch the folks daring enough to costume in the heat, you are welcome too! For all of the info check out the site


HERE.

Come and join the big party! Plan your summer camping at this festival. There are also cottages and yurts in the area for rent!

http://motivated-motion.blogspot.com/2011/06/parasols-and-pantaloons-this-summer.html

From Sadness in Africa To Royal Joy in Great Britain to International Revelry........What a time it has been for the world I am in



I have not written for a long time.
My world has been hindered by my own life. So I chose to go on a Sabbatical to finish some things that needed to be finished in my life.

During this time of inactivity in networking through the blog we have seen some interesting days in this world I live in.



In these past weeks there has been so much death and destruction and unrest in Africa, especially those places in close ranks to the Middle East/Arab Nations, that it has sickened the world how many lives have been taken through Genocide throughout these countries-killing average folks who decided to rebel against their Tyrannical Leaders and plead with the world to help them reclaim their lives, for the sake of their dead and lost innocent Friends, Neighbours, Mothers, Fathers, Brothers, and Sisters.

As North Americans sat in the comforts of their homes to watch on TV so many folks in other Countries fighting with their hands, for their lives, with their children at their sides we thought WE would not be touched by horror this month. We sat comfortable in our living rooms eating snacks and hooked into CNN and Anderson Cooper 360 watching the devastation, we could not even predict what happened next.

Storms came through North America. Tracked through the Southern, and South Eastern US causing death and destruction as tornado after tornado touched down in Alabama, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Tennessee killing scores of people, flattening cities.

At the end of the month we saw a proverbial sun ray shining on the sadness as the world waited in anticipation of the British Monarchy Royal Wedding of Prince William Wales ( the grandson of the British Queen Elizabeth) to Catherine Middleton on Friday April 29th.



I was excited about the wedding. Canada is part of the British Monarchy, and the the wedding of the future King is a huge deal for us. What I never expected was that so many countries around the world were really looking to this wedding to uplift them from the sorrows of the times. Every Canadian and US channel had the wedding live on TV. The Official Royal Family Website created an official Royal Wedding site that was going to live stream video from inside Westminster Abbey and along the whole procession route. Really showing us the Monarchy is moving in track with the times and using the networking to its advantage. The prediction was that 2.1 billion people would get to see the wedding.



.....And WOW what a spectacle it was! Just amazing. It was the best world celebrated party we thought we would ever have.




No sooner did we settle that day than bleak news came out of the United States again. More tornadoes swiped the landscape of the same states again losing more lives. It felt like a blind slap in the face for North Americans. Once again we were worrying for friends visiting and living in the US. Canada and USA share one of the longest(or perhaps the longest) borders in the world. Canadians travel to the Southern States like Europeans travel to Spain or Turkey for winter vacations. Americans come up to Canada to camp and fish and watch sports, as well as visit The Big Cities where the folks are unusually friendly. We are like relatives. There is always a push and a pull in the relationship, but in the end we come together and help if help is needed.

When the US suffers, so do we here in Canada and visa-versa. And nothing more significant to explain this relationship could there be, than our dealing with The War In Afghanistan. "The War On Terror".

In two days from the Wedding Watched and Celebrated Around The World, and the Week of Tornado devastation in the USA and in the Month Africa turned upside-down we were gob-smacked once again by the news from the US Presidential White House: "Osama Bin Laden is Dead!"

Once again we sat listening to the News on TV and Al Jazeera News on the internet as details began to come out little by little....awaiting the President Barak Obama to make his official statement. The each country waited for their leaders to make their statement.

The leader of the greatest international terrorist association. Public enemy #1 for almost 20 years of terror against world nations. Osama Bin Laden was killed in a covert American operation. The operation started in August last year and ended with his death on Sunday May 1st.

How do I feel about the news of Bin Laden's death? Relieved. I took a calm breath and smiled sensing that I may not hear another name of another member of our Army loses their life in Afghanistan. I know it isn't possible to ensure safety, because the US certainly pissed off several thousand members of Bin Laden's forces, and there is a great risk they will retaliate, but none-the-less I feel more at ease.

I have shed tears of sadness over strife in Africa, I have shed tears of Joy for the Royal Wedding and I shed Tears of Sadness for the South Eastern United States.....Then tears of Joy reacting to the words, "Osama Bin Laden is dead!"


(please also do not forget in March the world was devastated over the loss and destruction as a result of the worst Earthquake Japan has known, followed by a horrific Tsunami that wracked the land and severely damaged a Nuclear Power Plant's reactors causing a historic Nuclear accident putting Japan at risk of radiation exposure, causing terrible risk to the lives of its citizens, in the wake of the deaths from the earthquake and tsunami.)

As I reflect on all that has happened over these past months it almost feels like the earth has gone through a personal development moment in its time and it has forced humanity as a whole
to get a different sense of Self. I don't think that I ever thought I would have ever see a day when the psyche of the world was so effected by events in my lifetime.

http://motivated-motion.blogspot.com/2011/05/from-sadness-in-africa-to-royal-joy-in.html

My View Of The Book: The Rite The Making Of A Modern Exorcist

A colleague of mine suggested I read The Rite The Making Of A Modern Exorcist by Matt Baglio

Is it worth the read? Yes.

Folks in PSICAN have always been interested in my close relationship with Exorcism in the early 1980's.

From my experience with the Canadian Catholic and Apostolic Diocese, I had spoke often of the almost zero use of Exorcism in North America in the '70's and 80's. In the Anglican Church several Bishops had to be present and decide on the use of Exorcism and it was not used often, if ever. Mostly because the Priesthood in the 70's and 80's right up to now: means folks who study their Seminary Studies plus a specialty in Psychology, or Medicine, or Counseling and Education. The Priest of today is a multidimensional leader. But that leader usually knows nothing of Exorcism.

This book answered all of the questions I had about why the Catholic Church in North America
was in this situation. Which is pretty much the same reason as the Anglican Church had the same situation in North America(, from my own knowledge).

My experience with the Priests was one of the reasons I sought Post Secondary Education in my Second Degree in Christian Religion.
Even though I am a Heritage Spiritualist (with Pagan Root of Heritage) the Christian Apostolic and Catholic ministries were a big part of my life.

The Rite brought back my past quite home for me. My knowledge of the Rite of Sacrament, and the Old and New Testament were really necessary to understand the book. I really had to reach back into my Theology knowledge to keep up with the scripture references. (But in the book there is a great reference list with full passages, so you can keep on top of the lessons)

The book The Rite is nothing like the movie The Rite. The movie is only made in the spirit of the book. It takes a bunch of stories from the book and jumbles them up into a few characters so the movie can fill almost two hours. If the movie followed the book it would be very long.

The Rite follows an California Priest, Father Gary who worked for quite a while as a very successful religious leader of a congregation. ( He had left a very successful job as a Mortician, and gave up a relationship with a lovely woman, to follow his calling.)

A near death experience had caused him to doubt his faith.
His success as a great community leader put him near the top of the heap to be considered to be trained as a premiere American Exorcist. He declined this offer, and chose sabbatical education in Italy halfway through his career. When another Priest had to decline the Exorcism training at the last minute the Catholic Diocese once again pressed Father Gary to take the Exorcism training while he was on his sabbatical in Italy anyway.

Father Gary decided to try out the program and added it to his studies.
The rest of the book explains the difficulty he went through to find a Priest to Intern with, and it covers a lot of information about the early Authors (Priests) of texts on the Rite of Exorcism.
The book is awesome about covering the Saints who are part of the exorcism rite and/or who studied and spoke about Demons and Angels in their work.

The book covers the multi-dimensional work of Exorcism. There are accounts of about 100 exorcisms experienced as co-Priest and/or observer in the Rite of Exorcism by Father Gary while in Italy.

I really enjoyed the book. It brought back my appreciation for the Catholic Church that was where I worshiped as a kid, because it was walking distance. And for my Theology and Religious Education. Which definitely made the reading of this book's references easier, allowing me to read it at a nice pace.

Even though I do not agree with the Catholic and Apostolic Ministries about Demons and The Devil, it was really nice to learn why these ministries make the references as they do.

I thought it was interesting to learn that the Catholic Stance on Exorcism.

I also thought it was interesting to learn that via the new Catholic Doctrine I would be considered a person that a Catholic should not know or seek any advice from: being that I am Heritage Pagan Spiritualist Medium, who works with a Paranormal Investigations Team. The work that I do is considered as dangerous to the Catholic community as Cults like Charles Manson's, Witch Doctors, and Satanic Ritualists.

This saddened me a little. The references to spiritual self-help and enlightenment material being dangerous also did hit below the belt too. I felt that the book was a bit of Propaganda stating the Catholic Church is in a New Age War. It might increase the numbers of young people to come back to the Church, but it could drive the last of the doubters away.

I see the movie The Rite (while a good theatrical piece), being propaganda by the Catholic Church to strike fear into the young generations of Catholics, scaring them into accepting a life that includes the Church. Fear worked before during the Crusades. So did killing people in the name of religion! (oh isn't that what Manson did?)


Lynn

http://motivated-motion.blogspot.com/2011/02/my-view-of-book-rite-colleague-of-mine.html

Are You Dreading The Malls At This Time Of Year?



(click any photo to make it bigger. Then press the back arrow key at top of browser to see the blogpost again)

Do you look at the parking lots and seas of people and have a strong desire to avoid them?







Do you need a really elegant gift, or candles? Do you know someone who is into natural products? Have I got a Secret For You! A trendy gift shop and a yoga studio all in one!
Plus the full product line is available online. Just click the links and go to products.























This Holiday Season the shop is offering a Drop the HST sale. I think this is a great incentive!
If you live in the York Region or GTA I have a hidden gem of a shop to tell you about that is in a quiet town, and on a main street and easy to get to from HWY 48 or HWY 404! From either HWY head to Souffville Road. In town, Stouffville becomes Main Street. And on Main street just east of the Nineth line is The Moksha Yoga Studio. It is in one of the business Brownstones on the north side of the road, on a corner with parking in the rear, and on the roadside of Main.

MAP:HERE


This year Moonflower's Magical Touch joined Moksha Yoga Studio and has taken residence in the main area of the building. It is a wonderful place!




Moonflower's Magical Touch has a celtic theme. But of course because of the Yoga there is also a Nameste vibe to some of the products too! From Chakra stones to Candles, Faerie Figurines and fountains, to crystals and incense. Plus two types of yoga mats and some other Yoga related products!


I did a lot of my holiday shopping there this year! I was de-stressed and did not have to hang at the mall at all!

Guys are easy to buy for: They either want clothes, tools, books, videos or cd's.

Women and girls are not so easy to buy for: They collect stuff. Lots of stuff! Jewelry, figurines, scents, themes, images...... Plus books and cd's and clothes. Buying clothes for a girl is impossible! Try to guess her size! One of my daughter-in-laws is tiny wasted and tall, and in the fashion stores today she says she can be a size 6 and be a Large! That is the most incongruous sizing imaginable! So when I shop I have to shop NOT for clothes. So what else does she like? Candles! Scented candles, perfumes, cute nick-knacks, and jewelry! But the scents have to be natural or she breaks out in hives........so.....I look for natural scented candles. Essential oils, and really unique cute stuff!

Now-a-days with the video game revolution, Gothic Faeries are really popular with the 20-something crowd. Warrior and Earthly Faeries of voluptuous stature dawn the bookshelves of many-a-university student these days. Sometimes they are their Avatar in a game, sometimes they are their favorite character from a book or RPG. If it is Fae/Fey it is IN!

Moonflower's Magical Touch has an awesome collection of these faeries, and from my research they are the lowest price of all the shops in the GTA for these amazing collectibles! They also have a huge collection of under $20.00 gifts of angels and faeries. There are angel cards, and tarot cards, incense and candles of all shapes and sizes. Books on the spiritual. Crystals, Spiritual Jewelry, and lovely wall hangings under $30.00. Silken banners with Hindu features, earthly painted mirrors, and plaques for indoors and outdoors.


You could also pick up gift certificates for Spiritual Readings, or Reiki work, plus Spa services like Theraputic Massage.



Moksha Yoga has two types of Yoga Mats for sale. The typical spongy one, and a newer kind that is microfibre with a grippy bottom you can use in the sweaty hot yoga studio upstairs in the building! The microfibre is the IT yoga mat as far as I am concerned. Easy to wash, easy to carry, light and practical.
Hot Yoga! Oh....so awesome! I started Hot Yoga since I injured my shoulder last year. I was desperate to find some form of exercise that could help me. It helped me improve my range of motion while a awaited a cortisone shot in my frozen shoulder. The girls (yoga instructors) helped me attain my goals with special bands that could compensate for my lack of motion range so I could keep my body fit and supple. It was a great prep! And when it came for my injection of cortisone, I only had to wait 8 hours for my full range of motion to return! After 14 months of a frozen shoulder, then using the hot yoga in the month prior to my injection I attained what the specialist said was a tiny chance at motion.....almost immediately!

The Moksha Yoga Studio is offering the sweetest trial deal which would be the most awesome present for someone! One month (the first month) $40.00 unlimited hot yoga! And there are at least 4 different classes and styles of classes you can take per day in the week, and a few classes available on the weekend. $40.00 for an awesome fitness present! You could have them make a membership for the person, or you could have it as a gift certificate they could redeem. The Moksha Studio is a franchise, so ask them about mingling your membership at a studio near your work for some of your classes! I am not sure how it all works, as I am a newbee, but your membership card is a keychain card you swipe in before the classes! So cool!
There is maternity hot yoga, meditation hot yoga and easy basic hot yoga and heavy cardio hot yoga. I don't know the special names, but you get my drift.... So there is something for everyone. It is like yoga in a sauna. So awesome! Folks know I am a round, and diabetic and I can do it, so don't think you have to be in great shape! It is worth the try for $40.00! Moksha is set up to welcome Men and Women. There are two beautiful changing and shower rooms available. One for guys and one for gals.

There is even a 30 day challenge. Which is to try to attend a yoga every day for 30 days! It is really a fun challenge. It also helps you try out all of the styles and see which one you like best.

Hot Yoga is my new best fitness friend. So if you go to Moksha you will see me there regularly at different times in the New Year! The location is about 20 minutes to the door from Newmarket, and about the same from North Toronto, and less from Markham.

There are only a few gift boutiques that carry Spiritual things in the York Region area, so it is really nice to have Moonflower's Magical touch in the area. I also find Charlene is a great soul. She is of Celtic traditions and she has spent a long time working on attaining that spiritual peace we all strive for.

Lisa of Moksha Yoga Studio is vibrant and earthy. She is dedicated to her students 100%. She has hired a great team of instructors. The community of patrons is great! Everyone is very supportive and helps each other out with the moves and compliments each other if they attain something in the studio they have been striving for. A real adult-minded community. It doesn't have that public gym, high school mentality of competition or pick-up joint.

If you want to feel peace instead of frenzy this Holiday shopping season, you need to drive yourself to Stouffville, avoid the crowds and fulfill your Secret Santa gift, and family gift shopping by heading to Moksha Yoga/ Moonflower's Magical Touch. One stop shopping for everything gifty, and a bonus of Yoga class memberships or gift certificates!

http://motivated-motion.blogspot.com/2010/12/are-you-dreading-malls-at-this-time-of.html

What If You Had Nothing For Christmas?


What if all winter you would have to decide...rent or food?

This year I am making a huge appeal to my Toronto, and York Region area friends.

Our family has been helping a family that has been homeless for the past 4 months. Sometimes they seek shelter here, most times they slept in their car and would come here to shower and do laundry and cook some food they got from the food bank.

A tragic turn of events found a family of 4: Two parents and two, twenty-something kids without a home. Their rental was basically condemned the day they moved in and the landlord put them up in a hotel promising the house would be fixed, and when their first and last ran out he said, "Upps sorry."

In the mean time because they had no permanent residence their jobs let them go. The son who is a carpentry contractor had to stop working so the family could live in his pickup truck.. ( 4 adults, a dog and a cat).

This is a hard working, Never been on unemployment or welfare ever, family. People who always had one full-time and and one part-time job each to make by. Homeless in York Region with no aid in site. Welfare offered them food money. A pittance less than 'Bob Cratchet' had.....

This family lived in their car in the grocery store parking lot until three weeks ago when it got so cold they had to go to a shelter. Why didn't they go sooner? The shelter would not take them with pets. The shelter had limited room for families. York Region Housing lost them in the system. York Region Police were looking out for them and protecting them at night, and were trying to find them aid. Finally the Police told them to sit on Welfare's doorstep night and day till they helped. Welfare and housing called the Police on them and the Police came and told welfare the family was doing as the Police had instructed. It has been the most horrible ordeal I have ever witnessed in my life.

An Animal shelter gave temporary refuge to the dog and cat so the family could be warm at night in the shelter. The family found a home. I got a call last Sunday from a lady who purchased a newly built property in Brandford on spec. with the intent to have it as a rental income property. She said she was willing to give them a break because she had to live in her own car in the past.

We tried to get the Newspapers and the News channels to help.... We tried all the politicians of the area, and even their own home parish Anglican church would not aid this family. These are people that have clean abstracts and are bondable. No drug or alcohol habits. And are hard working and willing to do ANY job- type laborers.
The two adult children stayed by their parent's side. They could have each left their parents and probably bedded down with a friend here and there and made it on their own. But they are so dedicated to their parents and so worried for them, they would never leave their side. If only some of us had such dedicated kids of our own........

I have known this family for 20 yrs.
Our family did all we could within our own limitations, as I just had my third cancer surgery this year, and I am not so well myself.

Now we are asking for everyone's help.
This family got a house. But they cannot afford to pay their storage fee so they cannot get their furniture or belongings until they can afford to pay the storage, and that won't be for quite a long time. Welfare can pay the rent and eek by the utilities, but they won't be able to buy food. It will be rent, or food, not both.

I am appealing for help for me to help them. I will drag my ass out of my sick bed with the help of my own family to pick up donations.
The family is sleeping on the floor of an empty house, with nothing. Absolutely nothing.

I made a facebook appeal and got some stuff from folks today and Carl and I delivered it, and we will continue to deliver it throughout the weekend.

These folks need jobs too. They are all experienced:

house and business cleaning
retail management
general contracting and carpentry
handyman/mechanic help
meat packer
butcher
grocery clerk and grocery labor
farm hands
baker
taxi drivers or dispatch

My first appeal got some household items and furniture, and I am still in need for these items:

towels
facecloths
ivory laundry soap
ivory body soap or dove body soap
baking pans
pots and pans
kitchen glasses
large tea pot
toaster

beds and mattresses: three queen size would be best as they are tall

coffee table and end tables
night stands for three bedrooms
three dressers
TV
clock radios
lamps
one overhead dining room fixture or kitchen fixture to put over the kitchen table
a computer monitor

dishes
sharp knife set
shovel
pots and pans
area rugs
iron and ironing board
coat hangers
queen and double bed sheets
cleaning supplies
tools
blankets



The food banks here are almost empty so the pickins is slim for them.
I know they need grocery cards for No Frills so they can make sure their money pays the rent and utilities(water and gas). The new townhouse comes with free cable, internet and telephone for a year as part of the builder deal, and it came with all the appliances.

We need a pair of men's steel toe work boots in decent conditon, size 10 1/2.

We need dog and cat kibble and cat litter.

I would really like to get them some prepaid gas cards. I would really like to get them lots and lots of pre-paid No Frills Cards.

These folks are not even thinking about Christmas presents. But I know if some of you have no cast-off furniture your wallet might be able to open with cash, or you would be willing to make a Christmas stocking for an adult?:

They could use a stocking each with personal toiletries
Two women and Two men:

The stuff they could use: bars of ivory or dove soap, shaving cream, feminine hygiene products, razors, deodorant (probably as neutral scented as possible), toothpaste, chapstick, hand cream.

I took $50.00 of my Christmas money and went to No Frills and I said if I buy them $50.00 worth of meat, potatoes and rice and pasta, would they match my spending with a gift card for No Frills. I am willing to do that again and again if anyone wants to donate cash. I am willing to do that with the gas stations and Walmart, over and over again for every dollar of cash a person wishes to donate. I will ask everyone I can think of who is a retailer to match the donations with gift cards for them. My goal is to have them not go hungry this winter while they try to make rent, until they get work, and can stand on their feet again.

No one in their family would help them. Their parents have all died recently. They looked after one set of parents for the twenty years I have known them.

I know some of you have been in their shoes, and remember how great it was to get a hand-up. Please pay it forward if you can. Check your closets, your basement, your garage. Come on I bet you know in some form of laziness you haven't gotten rid of stuff you don't need anymore....
When you go to No Frills can you add the cost of a pre-paid grocery card to your order and do without the extra holiday sweets? Do your kids really need the 20th present you are dreading wrapping, or could that money buy some toiletries for an adult who will get no Christmas presents this year?

Did your own dog or cat have to go on "Special" diet food this year and you still have part bags of kibble in your pantry that your pet can't eat? Can you pass it on to this family for their pets? Did your own pet just pass away? Do you have extra food you don't know what to do with?

Are you wealthy enough to give someone cash to buy food? Are you willing to buy car gas pre paid cards so someone can get to a job or hunt for a job?

Carl and I don't have much money. My illness takes tons of money to manage, but we decided Christmas cards and stamps were not as important as food for a friend, and found $50.00 we could spare, and we turned that into a double investment by approaching a grocer. We are willing to do it! Can you?

Do you own a business in York Region and are able to employ someone? Consider this family.

Can you give up a night at the bar to ensure a family has food on their table?
Can you give up those three movies you might rent this weekend and buy a food or gas card?

We cannot help the world, but we may be able to help one family survive through 2011.

If you can help you can contact me at motivatedmotion (at) sympatico (dot) ca

Do you know a big business person or a news media person you could show this blog post to? Please tell everyone you can. Shout as loud as you can. PLEASE

(If you see responses on here or Facebook and think: "Oh they are getting help, I don't have to bother." Please think again. I also know of another family in need I can send the overflow to... People I know who are local.... If we get enough food cards to help this family for several months I will pass on the overflow cards to another family in need. No Frills is all over the area, so we won't waste the extras!)

http://motivated-motion.blogspot.com/2010/12/what-if-you-had-nothing-for-christmas.html

As a Member of the Trans Canada Etsy Team I am proud to announce that The Motivated Motion Gallery on Etsy: http://www.etsy.com/shop/motivatedmotion will be participating in the sale. Please watch each day, as I roll out the new Winter Line. This week will be filled with roll-outs!

Stuff On Sale:
Everything but the charity items and the New Winter line are on sale, 10-25% off. All sale prices are reflected in each item description and there is no need for coupons or codes.

We still have the Sneaky Shopper feature running in the shop. This means there are significant savings for shipping on all items when they are the second item you buy, so pick a low cost or free shipping item as your first choice, and then your higher priced shipping items as your second and you can save huge on shipping! Details are available here: http://fluffandneedlefelting.blogspot.com/search/label/Sneaky%20Sale

For The Trans Canada Etsy Team 12 Days of Christmas sale you can also get a ballot for a gift package give away. For every $10.00 you spend before shipping you get a ballot for the prize. You can also get a ballot by writing a letter to Santa. Please see details on the Team Blog: http://transcanadaetsyteam.blogspot.com/2010/11/on-first-day-of-christmas.html

http://motivated-motion.blogspot.com/2010/11/as-member-of-trans-canada-etsy-team-i.html

Rough Times And Another Surgery For Me

Those who have been following along on Facebook have seen some status updates that have indicated something was really wrong with me this last month and a half.

Through weeks of diagnostics and conferences between my Dr's and Specialists, and through endless evaluations of every kind, there seemed to be no answer to why I was so tired that I could not lift my head from the pillow some days.

The symptoms were so extreme, that if my Dr had not had such amazing cardiac test results for me in his hand, and great blood work in his hand, he would have thought that I was experiencing some sort of cardiac failure.

Then this weekend everything changed again. A lump rose up just under the scar from my vulvectomy site and it grew very fast.

Today the Surgeon didn't bother with an O.R. , he just expanded upon an in-house biopsy, and basically did another vulvectomy under local anesthetic, taking a super large site encompassing the whole of the lump plus surrounding tissue to test for malignancy.

I have a strange lump on my right leg-in the quadricep muscle(the tech called it a ropey mass), and the inguinal lymph node is tender, so they did an ultra sound on both those sites this afternoon, and they have booked a pelvic ultra sound and an abdominal ultrasound for Sunday morning. Plus I had a chest xray on Monday.

The Dr's have covered all the bases, just in case this is not just stage 3 VIN3 as before, and it has advanced to a malignancy. The Surgeon is optomistic that he got it all, but he reminded me this cancer returns over and over again, and getting it early will keep me healthy. It is rough news to know I didn't make it 6 months from the last surgery, and I didn't make it 1 yr from the first vulvectomy.

I hope this was the culprit to me feeling so physically bad, but just in case it is not, the Dr's are continuing the investigation to the mystery why I have taken so ill, so suddenly.

I didn't want to tell everyone until I really knew what the Dr's were going to do for me. Now the surgery has already happened, I at least have something concrete to explain to everyone.

Thanks for all of your concerns. Thanks to those who were patient and did not probe me too much when I said I would have something to tell today- and they were willing to wait.

Thanks to everyone who sensed something was really wrong and sent strong messages of support even though they had no clue what was happening....they just knew that I was not able to be me, and it was scaring them.

My Dr's have been so good. They have all been talking and have not left me just hanging out there with no support. I have had so much support it has exhausted me going to do all the stuff they suggested we try to get to the bottom of the mystery.

In two weeks the pathology results will come back, and I hope they will come back with no malignancy so I don't have to think about Christmas Chemo or Radiation.

I am scaling back my life for a bit.
I will be only releasing the Christmas stuff I have for the shop, and I will not be working or designing anything new until well into the new year. I have the shop closed on vacation until the end of the week, and I will open up again and publicize some Etsy Team events, and then I will close up the shop on Sabbatical, just before Christmas.

I will be only focusing on one thing this winter. I have a paper to write and present in 2011, plus I am just finishing up a workbook I am writing, and a novel. I figure even if I am stuck in bed I can still write. So I will be concentrating on my academic endeavors, instead of my artistic endeavors. I just don't have the energy to do both right now, and I have to learn how to create some boundaries, so I can stay well and not get into the pickle I have been in this past month.

http://motivated-motion.blogspot.com/2010/11/rough-times-and-another-surgery-for-me.html

Silence Does Not Mean Idle!






This summer has been a time for catching up, shaping up and stepping up.

My Son and I took on a huge task of participating in the Toronto Walk For Women's Cancers and a great deal of our time has been spent fundraising and training.

This weekend is the walk and we are going to have a blast.

I will have pictures and stuff later!

I have not been idle in the studio, but I have had to change my working and my vocation for a bit, as I am still plagued by this stupid frozen shoulder! It will soon be a year since the fateful injury.
I have had to hang up my knitting and reduce greatly my needle felting for the most part of 2010. I have done one needle felted piece so far, and I soon will release a new line of cobweb felted (nuno felted, or wet felted) scarves and accessories and shawls)
This hot hot summer was perfect for wet felting and I have taken advantage of the weather to move the studio outdoors and do most of my wet felting in the garden.

I will release the new line for October 1st.
I will give you a taste of the new line now and show you my prize work!
This shawl is called: The Flower Of Hope
It was inspired by all of the folks we got to meet and share our story with through our Cancer Charity fundraising, as I survived two surgeries this winter to overcome a cancer re-occurrence from cancer I had in 1993.

The piece took me 15 hours to make. It is so big I had to piece and tape tons of bubble wrap together and felt the whole works on my driveway!

The huge daisy blossom takes over the piece. It is made of wool and silk fibers. It is extremely lite weight and so so warm! I wore it out in some rain and it kept me dry too! (I had to quality control test it! Plus I wanted everyone to get to see me in it once before some deserving sole buys it up!)

So here is your earlybird preview of the shawl! It will sell for $200.00 and will have free shipping.

If you want to buy it up before everyone gets a chance you will have to contact me quick so I can make it a reserved sale! The funds for this item will be added to my Walk For Women's Cancer fundraising. If someone buys it before this Friday they will get a 2010 tax receipt for it.

This is just a reminder too that everything sold in my Etsy shop except for the Lop-eared Lulu bunny will have its proceeds donated to the Walk For Women's Cancer Charity until the end of September.

October 1st to January 31 the proceeds will go to Motivated Motion to buy supplies for the following year.

The shawl will remain in the Charity section of the shop until it is sold, and it is guaranteed always to have its proceeds go to the charity. And Lop-Eared Lulu bunny proceeds go to an animal rescue, foster and adoption charity in York Region.

http://motivated-motion.blogspot.com/2010/09/silence-does-not-mean-idle-this-summer.html

MY REPLY TO EVER-SO-WISE SEARS

The following note is a reply to the last letter Sears has sent me reguarding the mess they created. You can read the last letter to me at the link below:


http://motivated-motion.blogspot.com/2010/08/sears-saga-continues-here-is-latest.html

My Newest Reply:

Dear Courtney,

I appreciate that you have gone over my grievances.
I see that you refer to policy several times. I also think that what you have said means that some of the things I have addressed cannot be changed until you get more complaints about the similar issues from other customers.

Seriously now....the issue with your protection agreement department not having an ID saying Sears attached to the number is the #1 catalyst to this whole thing. I have sited many many other grievances that have been made public and were available to me over the internet over this situation going back at least as far as 1988, and I do not believe that this situation should continue any longer. It has nothing to do with the service rep being able to open their ID when they call. It has to do with the number being assigned getting an actual name of Sears on the ID. Perhaps this situation is occurring because you are not doing the Sears work with Sears employees and you are using a contracted company to do the work that refuses to carry the Sears ID. If this is the case then they cannot identify themselves as Sears.....can they? Of course this is only speculation on my part that you must be contracting out the calls, but it seems the only logical reason a Sears ID could not be on all the lines of the customer service reps for warranty.

You are inviting problems with your customers questioning your reps and asking to speak to management immediately if they doubt the validity of the call, and by asking them to hold on for 48hours to get a manager is really bad form under the circumstances you are creating by not having a Sears ID on attached to the telephone numbers that are being used for these purposes.

Your customer base that holds the Sears Credit card is aging. This means we are becoming more vulnerable as the information technology age grows at a faster rate than our own knowledge base can grow. We rely on being able to still speak to a person of authority immediately if we request it, especially if we are concerned about our private information security, and about giving out our credit card number to someone who initiates a call to us. Older folks are being frauded all the time by folks who call them to provide bogus service. Sears used to be counted on to provide good customer service. This means actually providing it. Not promising to provide it in 48 hours.

You have also neglected to inform me about the ISO rating of Sears. I need to know which ISO rating you are compliant with so I know if the policies you have told me about in this note are compliant with the rating you hold. I have been waiting for info from you on this issue, yet none has been provided. I believe I asked for someone policies and compliance to write me on this point, once already.

Reguarding me replying promptly to your emails or not.
When I took two days to deal with the company on the telephone with zero satisfaction and zero service, I used up all of my free time. Now I have to take the time where I can get it to reply to you and to contact you in whichever way necessary when I can, as the first two days of giving you all my time resulted in nothing. Unfortunately I am not about to rush some other important aspect of my life which will attain results in the proper timing and format, just to appease Sears so they can clean up a mess they created. You will just have to be patient with me like I have had to be with you.

I am still reserving my right to deny or accept your offer after I have learned all I needed to from you reguarding policies and compliance.

Sincerely,
Lynn Tucker

It looks like we need a list of complaints about the same problem to effect change. If you have documented a similar problem could you please contact me through comments.

http://motivated-motion.blogspot.com/2010/08/my-reply-to-ever-so-wise-sears.html

A Piece Of My Life Is Officially Closed,


My partner and friend has died quite suddenly.
Many know of my years driving truck with Deb. We spent night and day together driving all over North America, then in 2003, after I was diagnosed with diabetes, I hung up my driving hat, and left Deb to make her way along the highway without me.

When we drove together Deb did the days and I did the nights. We traveled the highways and biways lookin for adventure. Don't know what we were more like.......Thelma and Louise, or BJ and The Bear? I guess some folks sway one way on that opinion, and some sway the other. We kinda just swayed in the wind. Half the time, hangin by the seat of our pants, haulin loads of Just-in-time freight.

Well Deb was the girly girl and I was toughy girl. Deb was 6ft tall and I skidded in just short of 5 ft. Her hair was perfect and her nails always painted, and I never painted my nails and I wore overalls or velour lounge suits, while she wore dresses. She made me seem kind of butchy, but I wasn't.....she was just way more prissy than me. A funny pair of girls rolling down the road.



We had two weaknesses......casinos and shopping. We were relentless shoppers. I was always looking for unique shirts for my boys and Deb was looking for the next bargain at Tall Girl! We knew where all the best shopping was and we would do our best to plan down-days on the road in good shopping towns. We also liked to site see. Once in a while we would get to see something really cool, or meet some really awesome people. Deb definitely taught me how to shop. She also taught me the toughest parts of my job. I learned the details and intricacies of the logistics business from Deb. We actually did make a good team. But when I got diabetes I did not have the stamina for the job any longer and I decided to retire from the long haul and stay closer to home.....teaching driving and safety instead. I missed the road. Sometimes I still miss it.

Until now I always knew that if I wanted to have one last ride in the truck I could have just asked Deb to indulge me, and I knew she would. But I never got the chance to fulfill the one-last-ride. So now that Deb has died I will turn in the dream.

When you ride together you spend more time in the truck than you do with your friends and family. We spent day and night together and then she lived here on our down time. Deb was an integral part of our family the whole time we drove together. She had a roll here. Stories about our life with Deb are part of family dinner conversations all the time.

Even though Deb's death was sudden to us, she had been sick for a while. Her friend Leigh Ann explained in a note that Deb had taken ill, and it was discovered she had multiple blood clots throughout her body. While preparing to remove the clots and repair a defective heart valve, a clot from her lung moved into her heart and killed her. It is a tragic way to die. I wish I had known she was sick. I wish I could have said, "Goodbye"

Every day I look at the map that Deb and I put on the wall upstairs. Every time we would return home we would trace out the roads we traveled in RED ink on the map. I think of the hours we spent going without sleep so we could listen to the Harry Potter books on tape while the truck rolled along. And how Deb would yell at the tape at all the bad guys.

I will remember endless evenings with our friends....playing pool....eating on Church street...and goofing around.

The most of my memories I know I have shared with her is "The World From My Small Window"......all of the photographs I have from our trucking days. A million sunrises and sunsets, mountains, and oceans, forests and deserts. The thrill of finding little cool places. Of even tough times when we would be stranded by broken down trucks in the middle of no-where....too close to Christmas....and not with our family....And of course....where we were at 9/11 and how tough those first days of unrest were, and how crazy it was with immigration during that time.....

Once we made the most of a time we were stuck in Cheyenne Wyoming, just before Christmas, so we did the Christmas shopping and set out to do crafts in the room for a week waiting and waiting for the truck parts to come in.


Or the day we were offered Lamb fries for the first time.......or the day we were chased by the tornado, or the nights we slept through earth quakes in California........or the 5 days we were stuck in the ice in Nebraska.

We were transient souls visiting the majesty of the land one freeway after another. I have traveled some of our roads since. Back to New England twice, and without her on the road with me it was not the same. I would share stories of our trips with my traveling mates, but I could never quite bring myself to enjoy the road like I used to. The view is different from the car, than the big truck.........







So my days of trucking are now officially closed. The transient chapter of my life is done with the passing of Deb. She died way too young.....Just when she finally was putting all the pieces in place too. Perhaps in Deb's next life she will become the marmy school teacher I always joked with her, she always aspired to be.......and hopefully she will give up her love for pick-up trucks and go for a Jetta or somethin!!

Deb you will not be forgotten!

http://motivated-motion.blogspot.com/2010/08/piece-of-my-life-is-officially-closed.html