Worries, and Volunteering.

Last night I was up and down with the dogs all night. (Once again, I gave them some people food that didn't agree with their stomaches.) But the good part of that is that I was able to catch multiple dreams. The first I caught was at around 12:00.
I was with my friend Mitzie in a back yard (mine supposedly)of a New York town house. Bible study had just ended and we were talking about the painting I just finished for her. (A painting I really did just finish yesterday.) As we talked we got fruit off of a tree. The discussion was about things she wanted to add to the painting. She wanted to add some poppies on a hill in the background. I was a little flustered that I was no longer "done" with the painting. When we finally looked at the clock it said 3:00AM. We mentioned that she had stayed for four hours since study time. Then, as we were walking to the front door we noticed it was open. "That's not good." I was shocked and had a fleeting thought that a burglar had gotten in my house, but when I looked out the door I noticed my dad sitting on the brick stair railing that butted up against the porch. I could see people and ambulances and other 3:00AM type sights on the streets of New York around my house. My dad was looking forlorn watching and waiting. I asked what he was doing. He said, "Savannah's not home yet." (That's my 18 year old daughter.) I knew what that meant. When she did get home she would be in DEEP trouble, and her car would be taken away. The rest of the dream was just standing there looking, waiting, and thinking about where she could be. Was she in danger? Was she out with her boyfriend? hmmm.

There were two other dreams between then and morning, but all I remember from them are scattered images and a song, so I'll skip ahead to the one I had just before waking up at 6:00.

I was volunteering at a woman's shelter (probably thinking of a book I'm reading called House of Hope). I had walked through the building and then around the block. When I came around to the back door I noticed a large pile of feminine products. Someone had dropped off a donation of pads, razors, tampons, aspirin, q-tips, etc. I started gathering them into my arms, and taking them inside. A woman told me where there was a bathroom that I could stash them in. It took me a few trips but the moment I was done I was ushered into a multipurpose room with cork boards along the wall covered in construction paper with rick-rack edges ala-elementary school style. Some had things pinned to them, others were empty. There were plastic and metal chairs around the room and people started to filter inside. The pastor from my church told me to grab some things off the wall and put them away. I went to the wall and found injection viles and other types of medical looking paraphernalia. I was taking them down while Pastor Scott was having the women sit in chairs. I took the stuff outside where I assumed there would be someone to pick them up, or perhaps I was waiting for another donation. I'm not sure, but there was a litter of puppies outside that needed my care. So I started loving on them. Then I woke up.

The first dream is pretty obviously about two things I'm worried about. I want to be done with Mitzie's painting, as it has been on my to-do list for a year now. And I'm worried about my daughter getting into any furthur trouble because my husband has said the next thing to be taken away will be her car.
The second dream no doubt centers around my book. I've mentioned before that puppies in my dreams usually refer to youth. I tend to work with youth more so than with women my own age or older.

More Exposure and Lack of Control

The night before last I had a dream about taking both dogs to "Camp Bow-wow" while I'm gone on vacation next month. That was simply pushing me to get a place lined up for them to stay.

Last night's wasn't so simple:
I had two dreams (that I remember), one in which I was with a group of girls at a mansion having a retreat of sorts (the girls were young, like teens and twenties,) and I had keys in my hand walking topless down the hall where there were a handful of bell boys and male desk clerks.
I was minding my own business, but was being suspected of something. I don't remember if it had to do with the keys, or being topless, or what, but the men (also in their twenties) were whispering about me, and one was following me to confront me. Towards the end of the dream he did confront me, but I shrugged it off and said I wasn't doing anything, just taking the keys to the room.

In the second dream I was with a group of older men (not elderly, just 40+) and we all had long aluminum tubes that we were making car frames out of. Each of us had our own and it was loopy. We had to straighten it, bend it, cut it... whatever to make it work. The aluminum caught fire easily just by banging the tip on a surface, and we were warned about that. I had very little control over the big long tube and mine caught on fire within a minute of me holding it. I asked for help to put it out, even from my dad, but they all just told me to blow on it. I tried to blow it out but it wouldn't; It even flared up at a few of my attempts.

The alarm rang, and I had to get up. :(

There is a very big theme this week of exposure, and incompetence.
I need to remember that dreams are generally warnings or your own doubts playing out, not necessarily a prediction of what is actually going to happen if you heed the warning.
With the girls on retreat I can wrap my head around being in a situation like that, but building cars with aluminum tubes with a bunch a men... I cannot.
Only because they were older than me, and that my dad was there, I have a feeling that they represent older men in church, building (metaphorically) church things that are mobile. I was trying to be one of them, but had no control.

I talked with my friend Carrie the other day, and the conversation led to "where I fit in at church". My son has stopped going to the kid's class. He is eleven, and it's just too "little kidish" for him now. I still help out in there, but it's become odd now that he's not in there. I had been doing stuff with the teenage girls, but that basically stopped at the end of last summer, and now the girls I know are about to graduate, so I don't really want to volunteer in there either. I haven't been a part of women's ministries in years, other than my own bible study I host at my home, which has nothing to do with my church.
So there it is, in black and white. I have assignments that I feel will be shared with the church once complete, and for now I will focus on those, but my dreams continue to hash out where I fit in ministry.

Am I Prepared?

I really haven't dreamed much of interest lately... thus no new entries, but I thought I'd share last night's as it seemed very vivid and long.

It started in a room at church, not my church particularly, but a church; I could tell because of the people who were there, and because of the size and emptiness of the room. We were clearly in what we called the "fellowship hall" when I was growing up. (It's the multi-purpose room of a church where most food related events take place.) In my dream I was there with a hand full of kids from the elementary class that I help out with once a month. There may have been a couple adults, but I don't remember any. My dogs were with me, as was the greyhound from an internet rescue story I read yesterday. I was coaxing my dog Knuckles to be nice to the greyhound. When I realized that the interaction wasn't going to improve, I walked outside. The dogs were gone and all the kids were ahead of me in a large field that I've seen before in dreams that has a large pool in it. The kids were getting into the pool along with other classroom helpers. I wanted to swim as well but didn't have a suit. For some reason I thought it would be better to swim naked than in my clothes, so I stripped down and got in the pool. There was a hot tub in one section of the pool and most of the kids and helpers were in it. I tried to stay close to the wall of the hot tub hiding my nakedness. One little boy came up and touched my boob, and I had to swim away from the wall shooing him away. At that point I saw my sister on shore and asked her to bring me a bathing suit. A few minutes later she brought me back a tiny string bikini (that I owned about 9 years ago to lay out in). I fumbled with the suit under water all the while noticing parents of the children, who were now there to pick up their kids, watching me in disgust. I finally got the suit on just as someone was saying that if anyone needed a ride home now was the time to call your parents. I got out of the pool and wrapped a towel around me. I called my mom and said I could walk home, but would she bring me the dogs so I could give them a walk too, so I didn't have to do two walks that day. I knew the area and it was about 2 miles from my house.
About the time I made it to the street to start the walk home the scenery changed and I was no longer myself. I was Antonio Banderas with shoulder length hair and a long trench coat on, walking with my girlfriend into a huge mansion. The mansion was very dark and full of fancy wood paneling and large decor. I was explaining to her that I had agreed to do the painting for her father. (Her father didn't really like me, but doing the painting was a bribe of sorts to smooth things over between us, since I wanted to marry his daughter.) My eye went directly to a large painting on the wall behind me to my left of a "Niagara Falls" type close-up painting, that was lava instead of water. I kept looking to the left as we walked down an open hallway, into each alcove along the way. Each section had more paintings, each in a series that had to do with the lava one. They were all dark, made of browns, reds, and blacks, and each had an element of a puzzle in them. At first, the puzzle pieces were not the main focus, but the further down the hall we got the puzzle grew and became the main subject of the painting. My painting was going to be a part of this series and I wasn't sure exactly how. My girlfriend's father's footsteps could be heard in the distance in front of us and to our right, we quickly ducked into one of the alcoves on our left and waited for a stairway to appear. The stairs had been a part of the wall beneath the chair rail molding, but as we watched they stretched out from the wall to form an actual staircase. I started to step on them while they were still "doll size", but quickly realized that they were going to grow more. I stepped off a little embarrassed, and waited for a few seconds longer as even the top half of the wall protruded out and the stairs had plenty of room to go up and behind the section of wall. Right as we got on the stairs my alarm went off and I had to wake up; which was very disappointing.

So... what does it mean?
Well, I can tell you where the elements came from...
The greyhound, as I mentioned was from a story I read yesterday. (Very touching about a rescued greyhound, who in turn helped with nurturing other rescued animals.)
The church kids were there most likely from me thinking this past Sunday that I had to help out, when really my Sunday is two Sundays away.
The smallness of the bikini is coming from me trying to get to the same size I was 9 years ago before we go to Hawaii in a few months.
Antonio Banderas is on my mind from a conversation I had with my friend Saturday morning while her daughter was watching Shrek the Third, about Puss-in-Boots having his own movie, and me questioning if that could be any good.
Niagra Falls imagery comes from my husband's trip to Toronto this coming weekend. And I imagine that the puzzle pieces in all the dark paintings are about me pieces together the dark events on the prophetic calendar.

Being naked and ashamed is a common theme in dreams usually about not being prepared, or possibly exposing vulnerable parts of yourself.
My pool dreams typically are about cleansing or refreshing. It's interesting that I was ashamed at the same time as being cleansed... but I guess that is how it goes sometimes. It makes me think of the prayer I received this past Sunday.
I knew God wanted me to go up and get prayer for my 12 year anniversary of marriage. So I went to a couple that I admire and asked them to pray over me. I had to tell them a little of our "ugliness" so that they knew where I was coming from. Even in my vague explanation their prayer was so targeted it was as if I had divulged everything. That took place in our multi-purpose room BTW.
I have known for a while now that I have a part to play in teaching about prophetic events in today's world. Be it through paintings, or fashion, or words. I feel prepared, but not talented enough... which is generally how I view Antonio Banderas. I think that the grandness of the mansion that the paintings were in speaks of how great and overwhelming of a task I consider this undertaking.
The stairway was hopefully a good thing... but I guess I may never know that. (It did lead up. :-) )

Laundry and Teeth

Last night's dream stared me and my mom.
I was doing laundry... putting clothes in a very deep washing machine. Then I went to my mom's room and was looking for clothes to pack to go to summer camp. She opened a lower drawer for me and I started digging through it. I pulled out one shirt that I thought was something I wanted, then as I unfolded it, it became my son's Perry the Platypus T-shirt. Again I reached in the drawer and pulled out an article of clothing that ended up being my son's underwear. I pulled out one more thing of my son's and complained to my mom that these things aren't mine, they are his.

That was the extent of the dream.
As for interpretation... With me clothing dreams have to do with my weight and what track I'm on concerning my body. This specific dream equates me with my son. I started a diet this week... the same diet that I did this summer while my son was at a weight loss summer camp. I am mentally preparing myself for the journey ahead. It was so much easier when no kids were home this summer, but I won't have that this summer, so I'm going ahead and doing it now. The deep washing machine tells me that there is a lot of "cleansing" to do, and the lower drawer tells me that I'm at the bottom of this thing.

Saturday night I had another interesting dream. The night itself was interesting because I was dog sitting three dogs that were not mine. Two of them are chiweenie puppies, the same age as my Lhasa apso puppy. Very "needy" pups. Because I am such a push over I slept with all three of the other dogs and my own puppy. First on the couch, then up in the guest room. Every time I would move they would all wake up and re-arrange themselves. It was a long night to say the least!
Anyway I think the dream spoke of my situation as well as me being a push-over in general, and my indecision... or more pointedly, my inability to stick to decisions... to stand up to others, or even dogs for that matter.

The dream started with my sister and I walking to a camp site. (My sister, though I have no right to blame her any further, is the root of where I got my "door mat" status. She's a year older than me and was my boss and my mouth piece all through childhood.) We got to the area that we thought should be camp and there was a parking garage. We went up some cement stairs that were enclosed just like in a normal parking garage. As we looked we started to hear voices. It was my dad along with the rest of the youth group for camp. (My dad was a youth pastor for much of my childhood.) We scurried back down the stairs to meet them. There was a discussion that I didn't hear and my sister came to me and said, "they don't have room for everyone in the nice cabins. You and I should take one of the bad ones."
Well, I didn't want to take a bad one, but I didn't say anything. Then June (a lady from my church who is famous for her hugs) came up to me and hugged me and whispered in my ear, "You don't deserve a bad room, you should have a nice one."
I looked at my dad who was talking to the group and noticed that his teeth were brown and that they were fanned out on the top row like the old cartoon drawings of hillbillies. I saw that he had a cup of coffee in his hand. "You should rinse your mouth ofter you drink coffee Dad," I said. (Our dentist just told my daughter the same thing about soda last week... that's where that's from.) Then out of nowhere my grandmother (Dad's mom) appears and walks up to my dad and pulls out one of his teeth. The tooth she pulled came from the canine area, but it looked like a molar. My dad protested and then he pulled out his entire top row of teeth all at once on a metal grid. The teeth were large and each wrapped with metal that strung them all together. He was pointing out the spot that the one she had pulled came from, and arguing with her. Then I woke up.

As I said, I think that night, feeling very "trampled on", both figuratively, and literally, this dream speaks to being pushed around and being indecisive. My dad is the same way. Also, loosing teeth in dreams usually has to do with not being about to deal with things. (lost Incisors = indecision, lost molars = inability to "chew on things") That's John Paul Jackson's theory, not mine... But it seems to hold true in my dreams. Perhaps the image of my dad with terrible teeth is a symbolic warning of sorts to what lies ahead of me if I don't get this thing under control.

Old Friends

For the past few nights I've had dreams of old friends.
A couple nights ago I dreamed that I was preaching to my friend Paul. He was giving me excuses about why he didn't like Christianity... "couldn't have 'fun'." etc. I was telling him of the "fun" I have. :-)
Last night's was about my friend Ryan. (There were other old friends involved, but mainly Ryan.) He had made a huge mess with all kinds of things: some metal, some food, and I was cleaning it up for him. His sister was standing near by and was disgusted with him, as were a few other friends, but I could see that he was sad, and I wanted to help. I think he was drunk... or at least "sloppy" acting.

Today I'm praying for my friends... old and new... I think we are at a place of change. It's time to "poop or get off the pot". I love my friends. I wish the best for them all!

Take the Wheel, Clean the Baby, and Dress Up.

I slept great last night... I bought some "breathe right strips"... Thank you to the inventor of those!

My first dream started in a parking lot. I can't remember too much of it, but I remember the main part, which is that my ten year old son was driving the car while my daughter and I rode in it... Me in the back seat. At one point he turned and was on the freeway facing on coming traffic. I tried to talk him through turning back around, but some cars started coming and he froze. When the next opportunity appeared I jumped over the center console and took over driving.

(I think this is as plain as it sounds... I'm letting a ten year old drive me around... I need to stop!)

My second dream was about a baby. The baby was a girl, maybe 4 months old. My mom and I (and I think my daughter) were all taking care of her. She looked a lot like my sister's daughter with curly brown hair, and a button nose and big eyes. She had on a red frilly dress. She wasn't mine, but I was helping. I took her to the bathroom to change her diaper. I was holding her by the belly and running water over her butt, wiping her clean. Then as I was drying her off I got angry and was being intentionally rough with her. I wasn't outright shaking her, but I was jerking her around and had a mean look on my face. I was frustrated with the situation... which had something to do with the baby.

(This one, I'm not positive, but I think has something to do with my daughter's trouble. I think the baby represents my daughter's "fruit" so-to-speak. I'm trying to help clean it up, but it's frustrating, and mainly I just wanna hurt the little 'red dress wearing' thing. )

My third dream was a good one, thank God. I was with my sister and we were kids. The look we had going was based on a favorite picture from my childhood. (In the picture we were at my Grandma's house and we had on fancy dresses and some of her makeup.) In the dream we had choices of piles of frilly dresses and skirts and boas to dress-up in. We had our hair curled and mine was in pig tails (as was often the case growing up). We had lip gloss on too. We were dressing up and dancing around enjoying being little girls. It was a very enjoyable dream!

(I think this one is a flipped coin from the MANY clothes trying on/sister dreams I've had in the past few months. In all the past dreams I've been a teen or an adult and the clothes rarely fit, and it's rarely 'even' between us and rarely fun. This one, being free and innocent, and just being ourselves, we had a great time. All the clothes fit, and we enjoyed each others company.)

"Pregnant Dreams"

A little foreground...

Yesterday I started the "Truth Project" with the junior high and high school students after church. I'm very excited about that.  

Our youth pastor's baby is due Friday, so that has also been on my mind.

Yesterday was my 11th wedding anniversary. 

I went to bed last night praying that I would have some worth while dreams.

BOY did I!

I had one of a carnival... being there with kids from a class. My son's kindergarten teacher was there, along with many other teachers. One was very pregnant and jumped on a trampoline, fell, but smiled. She was beautiful. There was a fence by the park that was significant.

The next dream I had was that I was given an electronic baby. It was very "real" in size and shape, but had a screen and gears on it's face. It pooped... real baby poop and I went to clean it up in the sink. My mother was there to help me, but we kept hitting the babies head with the door, or the sink edge, or the spout. I was getting mad at my mom and frustrated with myself. The water was not good for the baby. (Duh, he was electric). So the screen went blank like we had killed him. Then words came across it saying that we had to do some steps to fix him or he would explode. It was very nerve-racking.

In my next dream I was pregnant. I was very excited about it. I had only told my family and mom (who was there). I had not even told my sister. I wanted to tell the world. So I decided to go on Facebook. I thought, "oh my sister would be mad if she found out on facebook."  Then as I was walking down the hall, I saw Alicea, (the youth pastor's wife who is due this week.) I stopped her and told her I was pregnant too and "won't it be great! My baby will be born in the same year as yours! Maybe they can get married!" I was so excited!

I had another unrelated dream about having dinner with my husband. (which we did last night, for our anniversary) In the dream he ordered something I didn't want, and I stepped on the tray while climbing down from an elevated picnic table that we were sitting at with an few old high school boyfriends. 

My last dream... I remember the best... and was the craziest...

I was driving down a residential street in a Cadillac. The street was dark feeling. My house from when I was 8 was on a hill to the left. There was a large dip for drainage to the side of the road before the yard started. As I was passing my house I noticed some very small black and brown objects moving in the road. I stopped, did a U-turn and went back to see what they were. I got out and picked them up. They we fetal Rottweiler puppies. There was five of them. They were no bigger than your thumb. I gathered them up and ran them into the house. My husband and kids came in the living room and I asked them to help me. We had Barbie bottles, and My husband got some bowls of cream, but I was yelling at him to go get some formula from the store. I picked the puppies off of my hand and body one by one. There were now far more than 5. The first four were standing on and squishing the runt of the litter. I was so sad for it... it died. After I got the five Rottweilers off, there were some golden retriever, and poodle fetal puppies too. Then I pulled off 3 white fake looking mice. I was disgusted with them and yelled for my daughter to throw them outside. There was also a gerbil looking one that drank a bunch of the milk and was now expanding to 'hand size' and about to explode. I yelled for the kids to take that one outside too, "Quick, before it explodes!"  I was then very frustrated that my husband had not left for the store, I was worried that the milk we had would not be good for them. So pulling the last one or two off of me I ran for the door to go get formula myself!

OK, so... interpretation time.

Pregnant dreams are great! They mean that you are pregnant with something... an idea, a ministry, a new direction.

I know what I am pregnant with, and these dreams only confirmed it. I have an eschatological message that I am sharing on another blog, and with anyone who will listen, but it's come to the point that I am ready to share in a bigger way.  I am working on the fashion show to go with it, but I think there may be opportunities coming to just speak even if that is not finished.

Alicea and her husband have heard a bit of my schpiel (sp) and have both told me (not necessarily about that specifically) that I should teach. My dream involving her was very pointed. I said that our babies would be born the same year! That's this year. I am certain that this is the year that I will be able to teach on eschatology.

The electronic baby makes me think of the internet and possibly my "end times" blog. 

My mom called me today to tell me that in the last Bible study session they had, Beth Moore said that she too believed we are in the Tribulation. This was huge news to me, because I know the denomination that Beth comes from does not hold that stance. Both of our denominations are decidedly pre-trib. So to have Beth speak against that REALLY fuels my fire. I respect her a lot, and it just empowers me to be bolder with my message. So again... It told me that surely, this is the time for my ministry!

My mom being a key person in the dreams is also significant because I specifically tell my mom the new things I find on the subject, and she is one that I am really trying to persuade. She also tells me everything that she hears about the subject. 

As far as the puppies go, if you've read previous posts you'll know that puppies (to me) represent youth. I mentioned just beginning the after church program with the teens. I have also recently volunteered to teach the 4-6th graders if we start a "Sunday school" class for them, cause right now they are in with the little kids (K-up) and it's just too beneath them, IMO. I'm not sure if these two things specifically were what the dream was about, but again (a reoccurring theme) that I'm saving puppies.  This time from the street. One of my biggest burdens with the end times is that there are kids here for it all. I want so badly to tell them about the times so that they will not be scared, but it's such a "parent's thing" to do, that I don't feel it's my place.

Perhaps this is speaking to that. I have actually thought of writing a children's book about the subject that is fictional, and fantastical, but still would 'prepare' them for the coming years.

OH... so much to think about! So much to get moving on... What a morning it has been.

Do you smell in your dreams?

I have created a monster; My dog loves to be under the covers when he sleeps, but he's not a real sound sleeper. He woke me up every hour (starting at 1:30 - ending at 5:30) to re-cover him in his bed. Uggg. How do you un-train a bad habit? It is cold at night, so I feel bad if I leave him uncovered. My husband says I should teach him to pull up his own covers.  Maybe I should get him a sleeping bag that is slightly held open by something; he can crawl into like a pillow.

Anyway, on to the dream...(that I remember)...

This isn't quite the beginning, but I can't remember the beginning:

I was walking in an area that reminded me of an indoor street... like at the NY NY in Vegas. There was a pub up ahead and I saw my very first "love". (a boyfriend of mine that I met when I was 13. He is still a friend, but in the dream he looked like he did at age 16.)  Right as I saw him and was going to go talk to him, his sister walked up and greeted me. It took me a moment to recognize her because she had dyed her hair blonde and had it cut like Guy's sister (you may remember from other dreams, who just happens to be the girl that my "love" went out with directly after me.). 

Anyway, right after she talked to me I saw my best friend from Junior High, Jessica, looking the same as she did in Junior High. She was walking with a boy and looking very chic. I ran up to her to say Hi, but never actually talked. They walked straight into a photo shoot with another old friend, Jay Gibbs. He was using an elephant as a prop and had a cane in one hand and was on stilts (or maybe just platform shoes). Jessica and Jay and sometimes the other boy posed for multiple pictures while I avoided the camera. As I was avoiding one shot my foot slipped in some snow. Then Insectosaurus (from the movie "Monsters vs. Aliens") made a tidal wave of snow that I rode all the way down the hill sitting on a boogie board. As I got to the bottom of the hill I noticed that my dance shorts were inside out. I sat in the snow and took them off to turn them right side out. There was a crowd of people all around doing a bunch of nothing. A yard duty lady came over to make sure I wasn't exposing myself. I pointed out my nude colored dance shorts that were under the purple and black ones I was wearing. As I pulled back on my black and purple shorts they ripped in numerous places. When I stood up I had a huge hole from my belly to my crotch that revealed my nude dance shorts which looked like control top pantyhose. (It was not a good look.) I was looking in a mirror in a gift shop, and I turned to face a perfume cabinet when my nose caught a whiff something yummy. (This is one of the only dreams I can remember that I actually smelled something. Generally my smelling sense is not present in dreams.)

The cabinet was beautiful. It looked straight out of a fairy tale. The shelves were glass and all the perfume bottles were dainty and intricately designed. My eye was immediately drawn to two with peacocks on them. (I collect peacocks.) I just knew that the good smell must be coming from one of them. I smelled the first one, but it had no smell. I put it back and grabbed the second one. I could barely smell anything with that one too. Then I saw one that said "Icy blue" that was in a frosted blue bottle, not half as fancy. (I wore Ralph Lauren's "Blue" for the past 3 years until last October.) I picked it up and recognized that this was the yummy smell I had turned to look for. It was much fruitier than my normal "Blue" perfume, but still a very clean and crisp smell. A sales lady came over to talk to me. She asked what perfume I wore now. I explained that I had been wearing Prada's Orange Blossom perfume this year. She said, "Oh, you'll like that one then, It's very sweet as well, but different enough from yours." I agreed. The smell was heavenly.

Then... my dog woke me up.

No, I don't know the meaning of the dream. I think it was a pretty random hodge-podge of thoughts going on lately.  My son was watching Monsters Vs. Aliens a few days ago. My daughter has been wearing short dresses a lot lately, so she has also been wearing a lot of dance shorts under them. My bottle of "Blue" is almost completely gone, but I've been wearing Prada since October. I recently thought about buying another bottle of "Blue" just in case I wanted to go back to my old reliable. I'm not sure why Jessica, Jay, Shane, or Felicia were in the dream briefly, but whatever.

The thing that is most interesting to me is that I could smell. For that to have been 'turned on' seems something special. Why out of millions of dreams was this random one blessed with a sense of smell... and only for the one perfume? I mean really, the other two perfumes had no smell to speak of... that's odd. The two that shouted, "Pick me!", were not good. What's the significance of that? hmmmm. Something to think on for the rest of my day.

Swinging and Draping

This will be my last post for a while. My family is going on vacation to Israel and Jordan! Wahoo!

I will take my dream journal with me. Hotel dreams are always crazy. maybe I'll post "the best of" when I get back.

Yesterday I watched two episodes of Project Runway catching up with the season, so it played heavily into my dream. (I didn't watch The Biggest Loser yesterday, but Jillian Michaels made it in to my dream too.)

The dream started with Jillian Michaels and I picking out clothes. She was wearing a dress that my mom made me when I was 16. I commented about how I filled it out better than she did. I was wearing another dress that was bought around the same time. It was a favorite of mine for years. I still have it in my closet. It's a coral red/orange with a huge slit up the side and has a sheer tropical flower print "shirt" dress that goes on top. She says something about my body and self-image then I go stand in a line.

I am very near the front of the line, but then people start cutting. The person in front of me gets mad at all the cutters. I look back and say, "Maybe we're suppose to be in order." I pull out a picture and notice that the line up is looking very close to what the picture shows. I go back to where I'm suppose to be. (Maybe with the "H"s: my maiden initial.) I am in the middle of classmates from High school in Aviano.

When I finally get through the entry way, I go up onto a large merry-go-round type structure. It is white with a large flat dome in the middle and sets of 8 seats (4 facing forward and 4 rear facing) in the "horsey" area. It all looks very Victorian and slightly Disney ride like. I walk left around the inner circle looking for a seat. There are plenty vacant but people are "saving" them. I find four empty so I grab the one closest to me and prop my feet up on the dome. I get a nasty look from some class mates in the four seats facing mine. They are saving seats in my group, but say that I can stay, they just need the rest.

My art teacher from Aviano, Mr. Rossey, comes in and has all of us run around.

After that I head up to an attic. Mr. Rossey comes up and talks to me about his leaving his job as a teacher. At first he is sad, but as we talk he gets happier.

When he leaves three other girls (Amy, Tesha, and ?) go out side (still at roof level).

There is a large two person swing hanging from a tree that is at least 10 stories high. The one girl I can't remember and I get on the swing and starting swinging. We are swinging as high as red wood tree tops.  There are trees all around like we're up in the mountains, but there are also sky scrapers near by.  It is enormously fun, but then Amy and Tesha want a turn. I say to wait, but they move closer. Our swinging gets sloppy and we start to swing into trees and buildings.  It doesn't hurt, but we are still fearful.

We come to a stop and go back inside the attic. I start to play around with my dress. I take the neck hole and put it on my back, twisting the arm hole around for my head and leaving one arm exposed.

As I play, the fabric is growing and making a beautiful drape. My mind tells me that there is not that much fabric in that dress, but instead of it going away, I grow. I grow until the large amount of fabric is too small and barely covers my parts. The slit is way too high, and I'm busting out all over.

I somehow know that there are military troops in the next room, and I go there. It is like a hanger, but they are already on the mission. I am now like the 50 foot woman... More like 20, but whatever, and I'm using my exposed body to distract them.

Then... I woke up cause the dog came in my room.

Food Glorious Food

I have moved on from cheese (Maybe cause I had some cheese on Sunday.) ...now I'm dreaming of burgers, tater-tots, and crab.  For anyone out of the loop, I'm fasting from animal products for 21 days. (not always succeeding when it comes to dairy, my true love. :-))

You may remember me saying that if you dream of the same theme three times in a row take note; It means that the massage/warning/whatever is sure to happen.

So what exactly does it mean when I dream about food three times in a row.  I'm surely going to eat? Ha, well of course I am.  There has to be something beyond that.

#1 There was no background. (Have you ever had a dream with no scenery? Erie isn't it?) The only 'props' were food stands. I was with the junior high youth pastors from my church and we were driving up to a "Tommy's Burger" style food stand with other food stands close by.

#2 With my father in the car, we pull up to a gas station. I say that I would like Burger King. (I don't even like Burger King, but it is also the only fast food that we had on base when I was growing up in the military.)  We go into Burger King and stand in line. Just as I think I'm next, a man squeezes in front of me with his order drawn out on napkins, cartoon style. The only drawing that stands out is one of a little crab, and he asks for "crabbers"; some sort of finger food made of crab.

The next thing I remember is standing by a salad bar type area, and a trashcan, and my tater-tots fall to the ground. I look around at the floor; It's gross. I think about the grossness of tater-tots and I see a gross guy in an old black sports car sitting at the drive-through window.  It's all repulsive.

#3 I'm on some type of mission trip with my husband. We are in a poor looking area, but it seems to be Italy. (We were just in Italy in October, but no place like this.) The restaurant that we are at (seems to be where we are staying as well) is a floating dock anchored to the side of a house. As we are sitting talking, his order comes. It's crab legs. I get upset because I haven't even ordered yet. He hands me the menu, tells me to chill out and pick something.  I pick a yummy stew with potatoes and tomatoes and other veges and spices. (It reminds me of the broth from the Oaxacan sea bass at Claim Jumper.)

Any way, I'd love to say I know exactly what they mean... but I don't.

If I took them all separately I could make some good guesses.  ...like, I'm about to start doing "The Truth Project" with the high school students, and I'm going to met with the youth pastors on Wednesday.  Right now there is no real structure for what I'll be doing, but we're going to look at the options and pick one.  That could interpret the first dream.

The second dream could be me talking myself out of wanting any type of fast food (Something I obviously don't get on the fast), by using one of the restaurants I don't like and making it appear grosser than it already is.

The third could be interpreted that though my husband and I are on a couple's trip, a mission no less, that he is still making the 'orders' before I have a chance to look at the menu. I may need to chill about these things, cause in the end, I still get something good.

All of that could be fine and completely understandable. But why did the last two both involve crab? ...tying them together. Why did the first two involve burger joints? ...linking them. Why did they all three center around food?

Yes, It is possible that I'm just obsessed because of the fast.

hmmm...

Entertainment

I imagine this will be normal posting time. I just got home from taking the kids to school. I highly doubt I'll be up early enough to write and get them ready very often.
 I had three dreams again last night (that I remember).
The first was simply me going to spend the night at my high school BF's house. Her dad who is now passed away (lung cancer) was outside sweeping the walk way. I walked on the flower bed to avoid him, but then tracked dirt on the area closest to the door. He gave me a disappointed look, and that was the end of that dream.
Before I tell you my next dream, it's important to know that I went to see the movie "The Book of Eli" yesterday.  It's important because very often the entertainment you put into your head will show up in your dreams. That's one reason I never watch horror movies. If you want your dreams to be truly untainted, you'd have to go without movies, TV, video games, etc. The good news is, even with tainted dreams there are still messages to be discovered.
So, knowing that I went to see "Eli" I'm OK with what happens in this dream.
I'm walking down a street in a bad part of town with my son. I look into a shop that belongs to my friends Gregory and Kookye. (The shop reminds me of the shop in the movie.) (They really did own a consignment store at one point, so that makes sense. Plus Kookye was the last person I got an email from yesterday, so she was on my mind.)  I went on ahead down the street, but my son wanted to stay and play with their daughter (really they have a son). He stayed and I walked on.  Later, I walked back to their shop and it was in much better condition and everything was neatly put away. In a back room my friend Megan (also Kookye's friend) was wrapping presents with other ladies. Her husband Curt came up to me and started showing me his "LUSH" products. I explained to him that I had some LUSH stuff at home. I use their Godiva shampoo. So he offered me a few bath bombs for free. Then one of the ladies wrapping took me to another back room with a Christmas tree in it and toys under the tree. She offered me a plush Tigger for my son. I thought it would be bad to break up the set (they had Pooh and Eeyore and all the rest), but she insisted and I took him.
Then I asked where the restroom was (a very common theme for me obviously). The potty was in a long hallway; girls on one end, boys on the other, but completely open. As I sat there a small Asian man came up to me from down the hall. I got very mad at him for invading my privacy, so I got up and started a knife fight. Many more men and boys joined the fight and by now I was on their end of the hall. The boys were all chubby. I asked, "Do you wanna know what fat looks like?" then I cut (with my small pocket knife) each one of them in their bare bellies (little 3-5" cuts, but deep enough to see the layer of fat).
Like I said, I'm OK with this, cause I know the slashing of bodies came from the movie yesterday. But I find it interesting that they were chubby and that my one memorable line had to do with fat.
Both my son and I are about 30 pounds overweight and can't seem to motivate ourselves to loose the weight.

My third dream was a camping trip with old high school friends and my parents. (My dad pastored the youth during my childhood, so that's not a strange scenario.) People I remember in the dream were Amy, Jodie, Christie, and my BF Vanessa. Near the beginning of the dream the girls were are crowded around a dimly lit mirror getting ready. We were leaving that day. The camp was beach side, and some how we went, with our suitcases and sleeping bags, out onto floating  (10' in diameter) burlap sand bags. My mom tipped them over looking for a flatter side for us to walk on, but they all sank. So we were swimming with suitcases and sleeping bags trying to pull up the floaties. Finally we swam to next section of floating structures which is a giant round white with a red bulls-eye inflatable. There are people sitting on edge and walking on top, we bounce onto the inflatable. I start to wonder if people will fall, so we stop bouncing and walk across. We get in the car (my Durango) and head off.  On the road the water comes right up to the asphalt.  My mom is driving and she keeps veering into the water. I point it out to her, as well as pointing out the harbor in the distance, and a paradise looking place where two girls are swimming with swans and weeping willows are planted in the water. I want to go there, but we have to get everyone home. We start to discuss who to take home first according to the order of their houses. Vanessa lives closest to me, Amy lives furthest, etc.

I'm not going to take any time time today looking deeper cause I have to go paint at my friend Kim's house. Maybe you can try and decode something for me. :-)