On November 11 I gave up refined sugar. I indulged in gobs of ice cream and daily mochas the few weeks prior to the big day, and practically made myself sick with sugar. I’ve been sugar-free a whole week. Woo hoo!

For several days I’ve had headaches and aches in the back of my legs, mostly behind my knees. I’ve also had odd aches and pains in my knee joints and hips. The knee pain is reminiscent of when I had arthritis. Mostly I’m just tired. I’ve read that it can take several weeks for the body to switch from a sugar-burning metabolism to a fat-burning metabolism. I am happy to report that I’ve lost three pounds.

Sugar cravings lasted only a couple days, and now I’m pretty comfortable and steady. But at night after dinner I like to watch TV and eat a couple pomegranates. We’re just now starting the pomegranate season and my local Wegmans sells huge beauties at two dollars each. So I am getting some sugar, but all refined sugars are off the table.

On another note, since giving up sugar my salt cravings have diminished. Or maybe it’s just because of the supplements I’m taking now.

I got my side of beef last week. Last night I roasted and ate a chuck roast and steamed asparagus. The night before I roasted a pasture-raised chicken with root vegetables. It’s fun learning how to cook. In a couple weeks my side of pork will be ready for pickup.

My friend Pete and I went to see 2012 on Friday. If you like special effects, then you need to see this show in the theater, not on DVD. The story wasn’t so great (typical Hollywood serendipity with heroes escaping destruction at the last minute), but the action never stopped. WOW! Watching the world blow up is pretty entertaining. Are the Mayans and Hopis right? Will our planet’s poles shift 2012?

I bought us popcorn and when the cashier asked if I wanted butter, of course I said yes. I love buttery popcorn. Then I asked if it was real butter or soybean oil? He let me look at the container: partially hydrogenated soybean oil and butter flavor. Disgusting. Yeah, I ate it, because I had my heart set on it, but that’s the last time I eat popcorn from a theater. How could anyone in their right mind think that concoction is healthier than real butter? We’ve been hoodwinked!

I’ve spent most of the past few weeks learning my Mac and the video editing software Final Cut Express, I’ve published my first interview on Joanne Unleashed. It was originally going to be a Skype interview over the Internet, but I ended up doing it in my home. I used two cameras to record the interview, and I spent probably eight hours editing the two videos into one. I learned a lot, and I really enjoyed it. Check it out and let me know what you think.

I’ve not posted much this past month because I’ve been learning. I borrowed some money from my parents and bought a Macbook Pro, a Flip HD digital camera, and Final Cut Express software to edit videos. I’ve never owned a Mac before, so I had to learn how to maneuver around the desktop. I’ve also never used editing software. I joined Lynda.com and their course on Final Cut Express gave me enough information to produce the two videos I’ve uploaded this month.

I’m going to be starting a new blog devoted to health and nutrition that will launch November 11. Why November 11? Let me tell you an interesting story.

A few years ago while I was living in my motor home, I contacted a psychic who had been recommended to me by a book customer. It was an incredible experience. She knew things that she shouldn’t have known, which built trust in me, but then she lost the trust when she said things that were vague or just not true. (I believe half the time she was truly psychic and the other half she was just stroking my ego.) We ended on a sour note, sadly, with my expressing doubt and her ripping me a new you know what. But for a short while I had been lifted to a new vibration, a new awareness, that was incredibly empowering.

It’s amazing how high one can rise in thought and spirit when they are affirmed as valuable and powerful. These aren’t typical messages we receive from our parents, our educators, our peers or our society. These forces seem instead to be intent on bringing us down and taking our personal power away. I envy those children whose parents believed in them and encouraged them to live their dreams. My mother believed in me, to a point, but she was kind of a nut job. My dad’s constant message was that I wasn’t good enough.

I think we all doubt ourselves, think too little of ourselves and each other. We keep track of our failures and judge ourselves, subconsciously compare ourselves to others. There’s that constant voice when we dream big that says, “You can’t do it.”

Anyhoo, during my high vibrational state, I was surfing through real estate listings because I was looking to buy a house. I came across this beautiful property and when I wrote the six-digit MSL number down I said to myself, “That equals 11.” That meant nothing to me, and I had no idea why I said it. I never added numbers up before (I suck at math).

But I added up the numbers and, you guessed it, they equaled 11. I told the psychic, thinking that it might be “a sign” that this was the house for me (a holdover from my years as a Christian seeking signs of God’s direction). She replied, “No, that’s not what it means. It means you’re a master number 11.” Apparently in numerology there are master numbers: 11, 22, and 33.

The following are some typical characteristics of the master number 11:

The 11 is also known as the psychics number, it’s the most intuitive of all numbers and it represents illumination and deep insight. The 11 is also very sensitive, charismatic and inspirational.

It acts as a channel for information between the higher and the lower. In order to find fulfillment and happiness, 11’s have to focus on a bigger goal beyond themselves.

11’s seem to develop slowly, but they simply need more time to mature and prepare themselves for the bigger goals and challenges they need to face. At times, 11’s might get intimidated by the vastness of their goals and they might even loose confidence in themselves.

One of the major challenges of 11’s is to develop confidence in their abilities and that’s also the key to unlock their enormous potential.

Here are some of the ideal career choices and vocations of 11’s:

Inventor, artist, teacher, healer, spiritual leader and mystic. –Spiritual Numerology

Now I don’t know anything about numerology, and I won’t discount it outright without investigation. But I don’t need to understand or believe in it to grab hold of the idea offered to me. What I do believe in is that thought creates reality. We become what we believe.

Better the illusions that exalt us than ten thousand truths. –Alexander Pushkin

Since then I’ve been drawn to the number 11. My birthday this year was February 18, 2009. Now, added together it comes to 22, which is another master number. But February 19 equals 11 and so does 2009. So I decided this would be my year to find my purpose. And I think I found it!

November 11, 2009, adds up to 6, but I choose to see it as 11/11/11. So on November 11 I will be publishing my new blog. I’ll provide you with the URL on that day. I’m very excited about it, and I hope to offer really helpful, educational content to encourage others eat well, get well, and stay well.

Thank you for sharing my journey with me.

I decided it was time to get my hair colored and cut. In this video you’ll meet my stylist, Autumn, and hear about what can go wrong when you stop eating animals but still eat typical American foods.

Please let me know if you have any trouble viewing the video. This is my first video shot with an HD camera and edited in Final Express 4.

I just checked my Amazon affiliate account, and someone ordered almost $300 worth of books, earning me almost $20 in affiliate commissions. Happily, one of the books is a title I had wanted a few years ago but didn’t order and then lost track of. What a happy coincidence.

Last month several people placed orders through this site earning me over $10 in commissions.

An additional benefit to me is I learn about other interesting books by the choices people make, liked Your Inner Fish: A Journey into the 3.5-Billion-Year History of the Human Body. I’ve been adding several of these titles to my wish list.

I just wanted to say thank you for ordering through here. Those orders have paid the hosting fees for the next four months.

THANK YOU!
THANK YOU!
THANK YOU!

Thanks to a poster on a message board, I just bought $150 worth of restaurant gift certificates for $15 at Restaurant.com (I got 70 percent off).

The site brings restaurant owners and diners together by offering restaurant searches via zip code, state, or popular city. The listings include hours of operation, menus, wine list, available restaurant websites, accommodations, a map, etc.

You can now get an additional 60 percent off your coupon price by using the discount code GIFT in your shopping cart. Enjoy!

In December 2008 I wrote a long post saying I was changing my focus from health education to manifesting. It didn’t last long. I’m too invested in health education. I love it too much. I love helping people unhook from a flawed system.

People want to know how to be healthy, what to eat, how to cure chronic disease, and the information they’re getting is pretty lame and industry-driven. There’s a lot of money to be made off of sick people (and unhappy people), and a lot of people willing to lie to get it.

Common sense is your greatest ally. I will continue to write about health and nutrition as well as manifesting and spirituality. I’ve decided that I’m not going to have a particular niche. I’m just going to be me, as scary as that sounds.

Erie is warming up. The past week we had several days of sunshine, one night of snow, and now we’re having some rain. I find I miss the sound of rain, which brings me back to sweet memories of evergreen Oregon.

Winter in Erie is a long, gray, cold affair. All the trees have lost their leaves. Storm winds often howl all night, swinging branches rubbing and beating against each other, a roar of sound like angry gods. It sounds like an airport. These Pennsylvania trees are hardy and stand up against the beating. The moisture-rotted maples of Oregon would never survive here.

Snow on the ground and cloud cover overhead reflect the city lights. It’s soothing on a still night to watch snowflakes float down to blanket the ground, but it seldom gets dark. I miss the dark, dark nights in Oregon and the canopy of brilliant stars that reminded me of my insignificance and my uniqueness.

I wake to a variety of birdsong I’ve never heard before. The Robins have returned, bright-breasted and hungry.

The first leaf buds are beginning to open. Bulbs give up their substances sending up leaves to consume the light from our beautiful sun, the ball of fire that gives us light and life and warmth. I yearn to lie naked beneath him. Come, warm sunshine. Bring this dull town back to life.

A masterful packing job

Continued from Part I.

Tom and Mike needed to fit ten cat carriers, a litter box, three boxes of litter, four cases of canned cat food, two suitcases, one valise, two pillows, a bathrobe, two bags, two boxes, a gun case, a few odds and ends and three people in an SUV. They did it somehow.

I left my beautiful home for good and led the way in my Mazda Speed 6 to WalMart to get some disposable paper bowls to feed the cats. Then we went to the credit union where I parked my car and handed the keys to an employee, telling her I could no longer make payments. Then I climbed into the SUV and off to Pennsylvania we went.

Goodbye Veneta home

The first rule was “No one opens a door unless all cat are enclosed in their carriers.” We started letting cats out within hours and they found their way to our laps. Toby (first cat, black cat) was her typical charming self, hissing, chuffing, lashing out at others, just “carrying on cranky,” to quote a famous Minbari. I quickly abandoned rule number one as unworkable.

When we arrived at Motel 6, Tom asked if they allowed pets. When they replied that they did, Tom did not inquire as to how many. So we boxed up the kitties and I snuck them into my room two at a time. I nearly panicked when several started meowing loudly for dinner, fearing that the people in the room next to me would be alerted to my crime. I fed the cats as fast as possible and then let them out of their carriers.

Of all God’s creatures there is only one that cannot be made the slave of the lash. That one is the cat. If man could be crossed with a cat it would improve man, but it would deteriorate the cat. –Mark Twain

Six of the cats had urinated and two had defecated on the towels in their carriers. After dinner they loaded up the litter box with an unimaginable volume of waste. In the morning the box was again full of loathsome smelling canned food feces.

The more inquisitive cats inspected every bit of the room while the shy ones hid underneath the beds. About six cats tried to sleep with me, four of them vying for coveted positions under the covers. Lyla snuggled against my head. Halfway through the night I awoke to Puddy digging through the garbage for the lids to the canned cat food. After I put that away he discovered the cat food cans in another bag. I bundled that up and put it on a high shelf. I slept poorly that night.

Can you see six cats?

The next morning Mike suggested we break down a few boxes and let the cats roam. This worked really well, and he eventually perfected the system. We broke down all but three carriers and provided a clear path to the litter box and the water bowl. My two black cats, Toby and TipToe, monopolized my lap and became aggressive when challenged or forced to share. Agnes spent one full day in the litter box and the other two days in a carrier with Arthur and Pinegar.

Four cats up front and Chester at my feet

A pillow was placed on top of belongings behind my seat and another on the middle console. The cat occupying the middle console became the gatekeeper to the lap, so cats had to sneak to my lap via my right shoulder. The front of the car eventually filled with cats: two on the middle console pillow, two on my lap, and one tucked into my shirt front. Chester was fascinated by the floorspace with the pedals at Tom’s feet and made repeated dashes but was redirected to my floorspace.

So that’s how we traveled four days from Oregon to Pennsylvania. We stayed at Motel 6’s for three nights, and the rooms were almost identical, so this reduced cat inspection time significantly. It’s amazing how resilient and adaptable cats can be.

How to move ten cats from Oregon to Pennsylvania?

My original intent was to drive the cats in my Mazda Speed 6 and tent camp along the way. I wrote about the problems with the trial run in the tent in an earlier post. When I realized camping wouldn’t work, I tried to buy a van, but I couldn’t get financing.

The airlines required all cats be vaccinated and certified healthy by a veterinarian. I refuse to vaccinate on my cats, and I wasn’t in a position to pay to have ten cats examined let alone flown cross country.

Then I called car rental agencies for information on their payment policies. I could pay with cash, check or credit card. If I used anything but a credit card, the agency would run a credit check. If my credit was below a certain threshold, they wouldn’t lend me a car. I might drive off to Mexico with it. So that was out.

The only option left me was to ask my friend Tom to fly out, rent a car and drive back with me, which he did. Tom and his partner Mike flew into Portland on Sunday, November 2, and rented a vehicle. Tom was supposed to rent a van, but the agency suggested that an SUV would provide more space.

My friend Robbie and I drove up to Portland to meet them and also because in all the time I lived in Oregon I had never seen Powell’s Books. Their inventory is approximately 70 percent used and their store consists of several floors, the various sections color-coded so you don’t get lost. I bought five books from the health section.

Powell's Books in Portland, Oregon

Robbie and I then drove to the airport to meet Tom and Mike, and we led the way to Jakes Restaurant for dinner (which I have just discovered is supposedly one of the top ten seafood restaurants in the nation). The food was delicious, especially the sourdough, and the company was even more delicious. Good friends breaking bread.

Marshall brings my last Caesar salad

Monday morning Tom and Mike helped me load my remaining belongings onto the second trailer. We visited Robbie’s Windowbox Cafe. Robbie’s is where I met the people who would later become my friends.

If you’re looking for a place to meet people in Veneta, have a great cup of coffee, use free wireless Internet, talk or debate with intelligent people, then Robbie’s is where you go. Stop by some early morning and be entertained as the locals argue politics, current events, whatever. And jump right into the conversation. They won’t mind. I miss Robbie and her shop most of all.

Our Daily Bread

We three, along with a friend named George, then went to lunch at Our Daily Bread where I ordered my favorite Caesar salad from my favorite waiter, Marshall. Our Daily Bread is a small restaurant on Territorial Road housed in a renovated church. The food is good (not great) and the ambiance and service are excellent. I recommend the Caesar salad (light on the dressing), the McKenzie Omelet and the Featherbenders Grill sandwich. (Watch out for the soups. The cook relies on heavy cream to flavor and thicken most of them.)

Now it was time to load ten cats into an SUV and depart Oregon.

Continue to Part II.

Cats locked in sun room while movers pack

I finally arrived in Pennsylvania four days ago. All cats are present.

Last week I was busy packing up the last of my belongings, deciding what to take and what to leave behind. What I didn’t post earlier is that after the auction closed without a winning bid, a company in the UK bought some books, and I then sold the rest to my friend Tom for more than the ending eBay bid. The money wasn’t enough to pay off the IRS, but it was enough to make a huge dent and satisfy my collections agent. The rest will be paid in low monthly payments for a few years.

I rented one 26-foot trailer and 9 feet of another trailer. Books are just about the heaviest personal items to ship, so I weighed each box after packing it, and ended up with 25,000+ pounds of books. The moving company (Estes Pack & Ride) couldn’t give me a clear answer on how much weight I could ship in one trailer. First they said 30,000 pounds when they gave me the price quote. When I pushed the issue the sales rep came back with 19,000 to 23,000 pounds. Well, which is it?

When the first trailer was delivered, the driver told me to go light in the front and load only 1,000 per foot, which is what my movers did. But that would mean 26,000 was a light load! I called Estes again and was told I could get by with 26,000. Then I called them later and was told to go with what the sales rep told me. Not very knowledgeable about their own trailers, I’d say.

The agreement we had was that they would take the trailer to the weigh station two miles away, and if it was over limit, they would return it to me to fix. I got a call later in the day that the trailer was 1,600 pounds overweight on the front axle. I could either have my movers redistribute the load at the terminal or Estes could do it. “How much will it cost for Estes to do it?” “I don’t know. I’ll find out and call you back in 15 minutes.” I didn’t get a call, naturally. I called an hour later and was told that they had already redistributed the load and they were charging me only $225. Lucky me! For $225, my movers could have redistributed the load and had lunch and dinner on me for two days.

Great Movers in Eugene–Sunseri

When I moved my business from Roseburg to Veneta, I hired a moving company called A Sunseri Pack and Load. I found them on Craigslist, and they were licensed and bonded. Tony and his son Sconchin (not sure on the spelling) are hard workers, excellent packers, and personable people. They have their own van and trailer, and it took about six trips to move my business from Roseburg to Veneta.

I’ve dealt with a lot of businesses in my day, and as a business owner myself I expect businesses to be ethical, treat customers with respect and provide an honest service for an honest agreed-upon price. Most often than not I am disappointed as companies appear motivated by greed and resort to whining and blame shifting when they receive complaints. I was so very pleased with Sunseri’s ethics and hard work, so when it came time to load 30,000 pounds onto two trailers I called them.

Sconchin (middle) and Tony (right). (Forgot name of man on left.)

The moving company dropped the first trailer on Wednesday morning and Tony and Sconchin (Sunseri) and another man they brought had it packed that day. The moving company picked it up Thursday and dropped another trailer.

Nine feet of trailer

I was so worn out by this time and so sick of packing that I paid Tony and Sconchin to pack the rest of my personal belongings. That took a couple of hours and then most of the day was spent loading 12 feet of belongings into 9 feet of trailer. And Tony did a great job. So if you live in Oregon near Eugene and need a mover, give A Sunseri Pack & Load a call. Tell them Joanne the book woman sent you.

The business computers, desks, chairs, shelving, supplies, etc., also had to go, so I ended up dumping a few thousand pounds of books that I wanted to take. I also donated about 20,000 pounds of books to a nonprofit in Veneta. I left behind and gave away a lot of stuff. And I have some dear friends who sold some of my stuff for me after I left.

In the next post I’ll write about moving ten cats across country.