Marta's Musings

  Paperback   $ 19 .99 Description Lov e a t T h i r d Si ght  is  a  s e mi - a u tob iog raphic a l  ac coun t  o f the   y o u n g  Pa u l  Leone   and  R e be cca   O 'L e a r y f r o m  th e ir   f i rs t   m e e ting,  t h ro ugh   f irst   j obs, fi r st   m u gg in gs ,  f i r s t  aud i tion s, f i rs t  run-in  w i th the   c ops,  f i rst jo b s, a nd  lo t s  o f  c hal lenge s.  It  d e l v es   into   the  s ea rc h f o r  mat uri t y   o f yo u n g  c ol leg e  s tu d e nt s  w ho  fall i n  love ,   kn owi ng  lo ve  onl y  a s   a n   i nn o c e nt co n ce p t   a n d fi n d i n g w h at   t he  true   me a n in g i s   thr ough l a u ght er , pain , amb it i on ,  d r e a m s a n d  lof ty no ti o n...

The other night my husband and I were dining with friends when one asked me how I got to be a professional belly dancer. I thought back, and without immense detail, just went through the chronological steps. So I'm listing them off here so that later I have a guide to fill in the relevant details. 1975 - I was working in the law firm in San Mateo and a co-worker suggested I go with her to take belly dance lessons. I had been taking tap and jazz and couldn't really relate to what belly dance is. She talked me into it and I found it lots of fun. I took classes and workshops with several different instructors. 1977 - Now married and living in Wiesbaden, Germany, I had been moping around for six months, depressed, after my mother died. I was listening to the AFRTS (Armed Forces Radio) and there was an announcement that the Air Base in Wiesbaden was looking for teachers for classes for the military wives. I called and offered to teach tap dance. The coordinator said, ok, he would ha...

Thinking about my favorite things in order to stay motivated, as sometimes that's necessary and lately I find I am rather edgy. So much so that I have been listening to John Field on YouTube. It is Nocturne #4 in A Major. Have a listen. 1. Cooking. When Ray and I were at the Barnes and Noble last week we picked up a couple of books. One is a small pasta book called Pasta Friday. I look forward to trying out some new recipes. Though because of the colder season, I have been breaking out the winter recipes. My mother's famous spinach casserole (NOT creamed spinach) LOL. I gave some to my friend Hilda and she loved it and asked for the recipe, which I have printed out and will give her this week sometime. 2. Updating my web presences. I enjoy the process, I do get a bit frustrated with the different procedures depending on which site as each has it's own methods. And today I was navigating Threads, YouTube and my own sites, while trying to appease Google Adsense. It's not ...

Here are the latest production of satin harem pants with keyhole side cutouts. Fully adjustable, the front and back panels can be gathered together. Brocade decorates the ankle. Matching fabric ties with tassels. https://www.martathelegend.com/online-shop  

  While working on assembling a photo carousel to advertise my latest harem pants project, I needed to search the internet for an app or software to create mp4s. Also, recently, in order to update my old bellydancermarta.com site, I needed to take a course in HTML5 because the last time I worked on the site was in HTML3 and a LOT of things have changed. In the 8 years I worked for the State of California, I did not keep up my skills in web development. I thought I could just go back and pick up where I left off when I retired. LOL What an optimist. I have realized that I am becoming a dinosaur. I started reflecting on where my work is now. My book (Anmutig und fit durch Bauchtanz) is now sold second-hand on eBay and referred to as 'vintage.' And it is available on vintage book sites. Several of my costumes are also being sold second-hand on eBay and elsewhere and referred to as 'vintage.' My original website is definitely vintage, though I refer to it as historical. :) ...

Shady "contractors" - beware of Raynaldo Munoz  Please advise any suggestions you have about how to handle a supposed contractor who abandoned the job. We had a roof leak back in January which I requested recommendations on Nextdoor, Pocket, Sacramento, California.  Raynaldo Munoz answered and assured me he was a licensed contractor. The roof got sort of repaired. The main leak into the outer doorframe was repaired, the rest of the patio overhang still leaks. That is not my main concern as we were focused on water leaking into the house. The top door molding was removed in order to repair. And for over a month now Raynaldo said he would replace the molding and has not done it. He sets appointments and doesn't show up and doesn't let me know. I'm fed up. Unfortunately, I paid him the full quoted repair of $900.  I will contact the Contractor's Licensing Board. Anything else I can do? I will find another contractor to repair the molding, but I imagine if I wan...