Celebrate the Magic of Everyday Things....

Celebrate the Magic of Everyday Things....
Wishes and Angel Blessings

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Living a Magical life...


I've been sooooo busy these past couple of months! After being laid off from my job, I have decided to try my hand at a dog walking and pet sitting service of my own. It has been very very successful. I am in the throws of becoming an official business and learning about the entrepreneurial world. I came across this idea when I was feeling sorry for myself along with being very scared of how I was going to keep generating income. I asked my angels for guidance, being specific on doing something that I truly loved to do....and lo and behold, Shake a Leg! was born.

I still have my booth called The Pampered Goddess located in a consignment shop in Colchester, CT. It is actually still doing very well too! I am winding down at selling things that I have collected over the years, and soon will go to flea markets and tag sales looking for those special home and garden decorations, tools and such to put in the shoppe. Through out my life I was always interested in the metaphysical and New Age side of things, so one of my shelves currently is dedicated to items of that sort. I sell tarot cards, books, candles, etc that I no longer have the need for.
My newest edition is a very very old and rare book called The Greater Key Of Solomon. I purchased this book many years ago in the current condition it is in. It is very tattered and worn, but still in tact. I am hoping it lands in the hands of someone who has a deep appretiation for what this book represents! I will keep you posted.
Thank you for visiting my blog!

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

As promised...pictures of things at The Pampered Goddess







Here are some pictures of the various "Home and Garden" items I have for sale on the booth at the little consignment shoppe I rent from. My favorite is the beautiful wooden goose that I picked up quite a few years ago. It has lived happily with me until I recently have had a change in decorating style, and it no longer works with what I have.
A comical little sprite of a "jester" sits in a glass bowl waiting for the perfect viewer to catch her eye and want to take her home.
Stars, a Winnie the Pooh storage box and Angels adorn the shelves, each with its own hopeful wish that it finds its way to a comfortable spot in someones life ;-)

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

I buried St. Joseph upside down today....

Soooo, I am in the process of selling my home. About 3 years ago I purchased a statue of St. Joesph from a Catholic store in a church. The intent was for the little figurine to go to a friend of mine who was thinking of selling her home. She ended up postponing selling and I ended up keeping the statue...tucked it away until today. You see, St.Joesph is said to help you sell your house. Granted, my house has only been on the market for two weeks, but I would like to sell it within the next 30 days, and within $5,000 of the asking price. So, in the ground he went today, upside down and all. I said the devotional prayer as instructed with my little kit, and buried him next to my For Sale sign facing the road.
Here is an article I came across on the internet to give you some more background behind this little ritual...

When it comes time to sell a house, some homeowners rely on St. Joseph, carpenter, earthly father of Jesus and, well, earthly real estate agent. A centuries-old tradition claims that burying a statue of St. Joseph in the yard helps homes sell faster.

Stephen J. Binz believes it works. The author of "St. Joseph, My Real Estate Agent," he became a believer when his own house had been on the market for seven long months. Upon the advice of his Presbyterian real estate agent, Binz buried a St. Joseph statue in his yard.

"I thought it was a rather ridiculous superstition," says Binz, a practicing Catholic. But a week later, he had an offer and sold the house.

Binz now says it's only a superstition if you treat it like one. "The distinction between superstition and devotion is created by the person doing it," says Binz. In other words, if you simply bury St. Joseph and count on that to sell the house, then it's superstition. If you do it as an act of faith, then it's devotion.

Happily for home sellers, kits containing small, easy-to-bury statues detail exactly how to deep six St. Joseph and pray for his assistance. Roman Inc., a Rosedale, Ill.-based company, has produced St. Joseph home-sales kits since 1996. Complete with a statue and a prayer card, the kit consistently ranks among its top-selling designs. Roman currently sells four different styles of St. Joseph kits, including one translated into Spanish.

The House of Hansen, a religious goods store in Chicago, sells between 30 and 50 St. Joseph statues a week to people of all denominations, according to manager Mary Arens. Buyers are usually on a mission, heading straight for the one style she stocks: "Someone either told them about it or they used it before," says Arens.

Marcia Gies, a metropolitan Detroit real estate agent for Coldwell Banker, purchases St. Joseph statues in bulk and gives them to clients who ask her about the custom. She handed the first one out as a joke 14 years ago after a listing expired that had been on the market for a year and half. It then sold in one showing.

But do houses with St. Joseph planted in the yard always sell quickly?

"Some do, some don't," says Gies.

When a friend suggested Judith Semas bury St. Joseph, she couldn't resist -- her San Jose, Calif., house had languished on the market for six months and she was pressed for cash. "I thought it was a crazy idea, but she insisted I didn't have to believe in it, just bury the statue," says Semas, who identifies herself as a spiritual person who doesn't practice any particular religion.

Semas' house sold less than two weeks later within $5,000 of the asking price. "Let's just say that from then on I decided that any time I'd plan on selling my house, I'd be soliciting a little help from St. Joseph," she says.

Not everyone agrees on how the practice of burying St. Joseph began. The most popular tale is that an order of European religious sisters in the Middle Ages buried a St. Joseph medal and asked the saint to help them acquire land for a convent. Others believe a religious brother in Montreal in the late 1800s buried St. Joseph medals in the land he wanted for a new oratory. Or that German carpenters first buried St. Joseph statues in the foundations of houses they built.

Just as vague is how and where St. Joseph should be buried. Some say the statue should be placed in a hole in the backyard upside down, with his feet toward heaven, facing the home. Others say he should face the new home, be in a corner or in the front yard. Most condo owners simply stick him in a flowerpot.

But one thing is certain: When the house is sold and the deal is done, St. Joseph should be dug up and placed in a spot of honor in the new home. How many people actually follow through and unearth the saint is unknown, says Binz, but he estimates that there are "a lot of buried statues out there that people have forgotten once the house is sold."

Michelle Blake turned to St. Joseph after she and her husband purchased a new home and their small Cape Cod residence remained unsold through the usually hot spring and summer real estate seasons. "We are both Catholic, so we figured what the heck, it couldn't hurt," recalls Blake of West Chester, Pa.

After burying a statue upside down, facing the street and next to the for sale sign, Blake and her family began praying to St. Joseph daily. The house sold within two weeks.

"Who knows if it was coincidence or St. Joseph," adds Blake. "But I'll tell you that I still have the prayer to St. Joseph on my fridge and the little plastic statue on my windowsill."

Friday, March 12, 2010

Spring Tickle!

OOOH! I can already feel the tickle in my bones that Spring is slowly starting to rise up and stretch her earthly green limbs....
I took advantage the other day of the "warm" 50 degree weather here in Connecticut to see if I could yet see any signs of life in my gardens. Sad to report, I did not find anything stirring about.
I did purchase a new pair of garden gloves, and took my rakes and trowels and gardening helpers out of hiding in my basement. I also have started to get ready to welcome my trusty perrenials back to the cottage gardens that I lovingly planted over the past 2 to 3 years.
The waiting is both exhilarating and heavily anticipated....I am "in my element" when I am purusing about in my gardens, the smells, the sights and the sounds are a welcome comfort to my senses and well being. My gardens allow me to inticately stay in tune with my surroundings and my thoughts as well as wishes. I beleive in prayer, and the more you can pray in surroundings that "speak" to you, the stonger the strenghth and energy you can give to that prayer.
And wait till you see the results of what you prayed or wished for!!! Look Out!

Friday, March 5, 2010

My Little Shoppe

I rent out a small booth in a consignment shop near where I live. (Quality Consignments in Colchester,CT) This shop has many "vendors" like me who are trying our hand attempting to sell things that are lovingly used, gently handled, made by hand and even new items that we have come across.

I absolutely love having this little booth. I bought a sign a few years back as a decoration for my bathroom....the sign reads "The Pampered Goddess Spa"....it clicked with me and lived in my bathroom for several years. It was this sign that inspired me to name my little booth The Pampered Goddess....and it's this sign that is there today on the booth.
I sell mainly home decor items that have a little bit of what I like to call "designs for harmonious living". There are pieces of old and new that mix together to create an element of beauty, along with a comfortable blend of surprise and magic on their own, or in composition. Also offered are inspirational angels, books, and jewelery.
I do pretty well selling on a monthly basis, at least enough to make my rent there...it's a great little hobby that I would love to share with you....
Stay tuned!