Growing up, we always used Bosco in our milk. Nice and chocolatey, it made me love milk.
To this day, I can’t drink plain milk — I must have something with it — an oreo (yum), chocolate chip cookies, hot chocolate, cereal — anything! But I rarely drink milk alone.
I recently read that Bosco has a chocolate bar. Very interesting. Besides buying it online, I’m not sure where I can get one of these bars to try them.
Growing up in a family that believed in spiritualism — voodoo, holy water, the evil eye, crystal balls — my life had interesting experiences.
I was — what shall I say? — a little wild when I was growing up. My mean temper and stubbornness led others to believe that I was not adapting well. And it didn’t help that I had a boyfriend who my mother thought was evil. Looking back, I was too young to have a boyfriend. And, my mother was raising six children on her own so she was over-protective.
One day she decided to take me to a friend of hers who was a spiritualist — a woman who would be able to exorcise the evil spirit that was in me.
It was a sunny day. The Chicago Cubs were going to play baseball at 1:00 p.m. and I wanted to see them on TV. Instead, I was hauled away to be un-demonized.
We entered the woman’s house. She was tall, dark and thin. There was always a smell in her house. I can’t remember exactly what it smelled like but it permeated the whole house. Could it be incense?
The spiritualist sat me in a chair and looked at me from  across the table. She had a crystal ball (round vase) filled with water and a red rose floating on top. She said to me “You haven’t been behaving very well. We need to see what the problem is.” I thought the whole thing comical. Then she said “I see a man in your life.” No kidding? I stared at her belligerently. She then said “He has a dark complexion.” No kidding? Then she said “He has dark hair.” Hmmm … no kidding? My mother must have briefed her on my boyfriends appearance before we came over.
My boyfriend was Mexican and indeed, he had a dark complexion and black hair. Then she said “It’s no good for you to see him. He’s trouble in your life.” My rolled eyes couldn’t have gone back further in my head.
It’s hard to remember everything that I was feeling and thinking. I do remember I didn’t want to be there. I felt they were intruding on my time. I wanted to watch the Cubs play ball and all of this was nonsense to me. I was only 13.
Since I didn’t exhibit the proper response for the spiritualist, I was moved to a chair in the middle of the room. The spiritualist started walking around the chair with a contraption in her hand which spewed smoke and smelled like incense. I can’t remember what she said. Thoughts of the Cubs playing without my watching them crossed my mind. Anger continued building up inside of me. This is stupid, I thought to myself. Why can’t they just leave me alone?
Finally it was over. “It” didn’t work. I was still as belligerent and hot tempered when I left as when I got there. And I didn’t stop seeing my boyfriend.
My mother would take me to this woman on occasion. Sometimes the spiritualist would read tarot cards and tell me about the present and the future. I don’t recall much of what she said about the future. The things she told me about the present were true but they were supplied to her by my mother.
I don’t know how  many people go through experiences like this. Too many probably. It sets a person up for suspicion later in life. And yet, watching shows like Star Wars brings to mind that there are forces in this world that we can’t see. (Click here to read Part 1 one of Growing Up With Spiritualism)
I can’t fault my mother. She did what she thought was right in her eyes. That was her upbringing. It was not what I believed and I felt uncomfortable around it all. It did lead me to study the Bible later in life and have a better understanding of what the Bible says about such things.
As a Christian, I believe in a spirit world. But people who claim to be psychics, tarot readers, crystal ball readers, mediums — are all playing on the devil’s ground. The earth and the people here are indeed in a warfare — a spiritual warfare.
For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.  Ephesians 6:12
Trying to eek out one more room to paint this week, I selected the upstairs bathroom which is small and shouldn’t take too much time.
I went to Home Depot to get my paint. I’ve been going to Hirschfield’s in Woodbury since the paint and colors I’ve been selecting have been by Benjamin Moore Paint. Since this bathroom will be remodeled in the next year or so, I decided I didn’t need to use high quality paint. Any paint would do. I was surprised to see a paint that was only $12 a gallon in latex and $15 in semi-gloss. I selected the semi-gloss since this would be for a bathroom and the salesperson told me it did not come in eggshell.
The paint, American Standard, says it’s the finest. I immediately thought “Where have you been all my life — cheap and the finest?” Who can ask for anything else?
America's Finest Paint
When I got home and opened the paint can, small bubbles appeared on top. Oh no! I sensed problems were brewing. I’ve never opened a paint can and had these small bubbles before. But, since I had just arrived from the store and they had stirred the paint there, I decided it must be okay and there was no need to stir again.
Up on my ladder, I started painting the corner edges next to the ceiling with a small brush. The paint spread like water. Literally — the paint was so thin  that you could see through it. “Well,” I mused , “you are putting a lighter color over a darker one.” But again my gut told me something was wrong. I continued edging the entire room. “This room is going to take 3 coats of paint,” I said to myself out loud.
The instructions on the paint can do say to sand your walls lightly but that’s really only applicable if you’re painting over semi-gloss. Â All of the other paints I have used have never required or needed it. However, in fairness to the paint (a weird thought I know), I sanded a portion of the walls to see if it would make a difference when I used the paint roller.
Pouring the paint into the tray, I sensed another “oh no” moment. This paint is too thin I said to myself. Still, I put my roller in the tray and rolled the paint on the wall. I painted the whole wall — including the part that was sanded. The paint was too thin.
Painted Wall with America's Finest Paint
I don’t know why I kept second guessing myself. “Maybe,” I told myself “it’s because I haven’t used semi-gloss in a long time so I’m not used to it.” Finishing the room, I left for the day and allowed it to dry. But so little paint was used because it was so watery.
America's Finest Semi-Gloss Paint
Peeking in the room throughout the day, I still had a bad feeling about the paint.
The next morning, the paint was dry on the wall so I started to apply a second coat of paint to the corners. Still water-like, it was no better than the first coat, i.e. you could see through the paint.
I had visions of having to paint the room 5 times with this paint. No — I had to take this paint back. It didn’t matter that the label said “No Returns – Custom Color.” Off to Home Depot I went.
Arriving at the customer service return desk, I explained the problem to the woman at the counter. She simply said “It’s a cheap paint.” To which I replied “Why would Home Depot sell a cheap paint? Why sell something that doesn’t work?” She again responded “It’s a cheap paint.” I told the woman I was returning it. She pointed to the “No Returns” label on the paint can. I told her I didn’t care if they didn’t refund my money but that I was not going to get stuck throwing away their junk. She asked if I wanted a manager and I said I didn’t need one as I wasn’t requesting a refund. However, I again told her that I was shocked that Home Depot would carry such a substandard product. Her response? Lots of people buy it.
She then went on to say “You need to use primer before using this paint — even if the walls are white.” I was aghast. I explained that if you use 2 coats of paint you really don’t need to use primer in most cases.
I left the paint can on the counter, bought a paint tray and left. Heading over to Hirschfield’s Paint Store, I gave them my color swatch and they gave me a gallon of good quality paint. I asked the lady (although I knew the answer) “Do I have to sand the walls as I recently painted the room with semi-gloss?” She said no. My gut was right. Having painted off and on for over 15 years, I knew what needed to be done.
Lesson learned? You get what you pay for. Cheap is cheap so bring your expectations way down. But it’s better to get quality from the start. It will save a lot of time and energy.
They came, they saw, they ate. “They” are deer and they ate the plants I planted this past Sunday. I forgot to spray the plants so the deer wouldn’t eat them. Sigh …
Caladium PlantImpatiensLilium, Asiatic Lily
The spray doesn’t harm the plants and does work to deter the deer. It also helps to keep rabbits away although I haven’t seen any in our neighborhood yet.
All that work … so the deer can have some fresh plants to eat.
Liquid Fence, Deer and Rabbit Repellant
I’m not sure I think deer are so cute anymore. Some have ticks, some eat my plants and one ran right in front of my car the other day. A fawn no less. I almost had a heart attack and don’t know what I would have done had I hit it.
Another homemade meal. This time, macaroni and cheese, corn muffins and roasted broccoli.
Macaroni and Cheese with Guyere & White Cheddar Cheese
Corn Muffins
Roasted Broccoli, Brushed with Olive Oil and Garlic
Our guest who is cooking all these meals for us will be leaving us soon so I will have to come up with my own recipes. I will post a link soon that will direct you to the recipes for all the homemade meals I’ve posted.
Love comes in many forms — husband to wife, friend to friend, mother to son, father to daughter, God to humans — and of course, not to be left out, animal to humans.
The video below, although a wee bit long, shows us the latter — love of an animal to a human.
Oh — if only humanity could have this kind of love to each other.
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