Hello and welcome back to the new and surgically improved Nutcracker Suite. I'm glad you decided to stop by for another look. I know what you're saying, "it's been a long time coming."  What can I say?  I have no excuses.  Just think of me as one of the 'computerally challenged'.  Did I forget to mention my mantra, which is "I hate computers!"  And you might as well throw some (ok, a lot of) procrastination in there as well (I like that shaken, not stirred, thank you very much).  But, it has finally been updated, so no sense in dwelling on it.  Now, you ask, where did you get the name Nutcracker?  My friend MadGrl gave it to me and it sort of stuck.  When I began sending my dreams into Electric Dreams, I needed a pen name and voila, Nutcracker to the rescue! The title of this web page, The Nutcracker Suite, was given me by one of the dream editors of ED, Richard Catlett Wilkerson. I guess I deluged him with so many dreams he thought I needed my own category! And that's how this web page came into existence.

As for myself, I'm happily married (98.7% of the time), have 0.2 kids, I don't do drugs (ok, the occasional Coca-Cola and Excedrin PM/Melatonin before bedtime) and I don't drink or smoke (unless absolutely, positively necessary). I'm not a rocket scientist, nor do I play one on TV.  I don't have a Ph.D., but I do have CD's.  I can sing , but I can't dance (and no, I won't hum a few bars).  I'm just your average, middle-aged female (of course that depends on your definition of middle-age). My biggest problem at the
moment is trying to figure out a way to get the moles to vacate my front yard. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated as I'm losing sleep over this, and invariably, losing dreams as well.  E-mail me.  We'll talk.

I began keeping a log of my dreams in January of 1995. They seemed to just appear out of the blue one morning and I've been writing them down ever since. To quote friends and family, "You couldn't make this stuff up if you tried." Ain't that the truth!  And thus began my deep, dark journey into the great dream abyss. It does take perseverance mind you. Left unattended, dreams will not flourish on their own.  They are like flowers in a garden.  Sure you get a weed occasionally, but every once in a while you get a blossom so large and so brilliant that it screams to be picked.

About keeping a journal: I keep a notebook and pen next to me on the bed and usually awaken during the night to write them down (sometimes all night long or so it seems...and yes, it is annoying, to yourself and mostly to those you happen to be sleeping with). Still, I highly recommend it. If you think you'll be able to remember your dreams come morning, don't bet on it. Been there, done that. Sometimes it works, but mostly it doesn't (especially if you've got CRS disease, like myself...if you don't know what CRS stands for, again, e-mail, we'll talk). My advice; get up, write them down and go back to sleep. You'll rest much easier.  And lucky me, for Christmas MadGrl gave me a pen with it's own light built in.  Cool!

I have three tips for keeping a Dream Journal: 1) once you've written down your dream, enter the date (MM/DD/YY) and 2) I find it easier to locate them (for future reference) if you number them say, beginning with #001, etc. and 3) I've most recently begun categorizing them (Angels, U2, Aliens, Pez, etc.).  It helps me discover where my idiosyncrasies lie.  What idiosyncracies?  Are you talking to me?

Again, I encourage you all to write down your dreams, have your kids write down their dreams (now would be a good time to get them started on their own journal) and get your family and friends to do likewise. Dreams you and they have now may recur five, ten or twenty years from now. They would be great to have as a reference to look back upon. 

Pleasant dreams . . . . .