conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Give me a description for a story titled Bless This House about Merravay, English, Downton with the genre: Romance.
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: This is the story, in broad historical sweep, of Merravay, a beautiful and sorrowful English mansion told by the people who knew her intimately and loved her. A Downton Abbey of it's time, from 1557 until the crowning of Elizabeth II.
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Give me a plot for a story titled Bless This House about Merravay, English, Downton with the genre: Romance.
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: Bless This House (U.S. TV series): A postal worker and his wife raise two children in Trenton, New Jersey.
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Give me the first three paragraphs for this story.
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: Bless This House
  Many ceramic bowls inscribed with blessings in Judeo-Aramaic languages have been found buried under the foundation of houses in ancient Babylonia, Mesopotamia, and Iraq, dating from AD 200 to AD 800. These incantation bowls, also known as devil bowls and demon traps, are protective charms meant to trap any bad spirits and safeguard the building and its residents from bad energy and evildoers. It is an age-old Andean custom before building a house in Bolivia to bury a llama fetus in the earth beneath the foundation to help give the owners good fortune. Mummified llama fetuses are still sold in the markets there for this purpose.
  When constructing a masonry edifice, be it a pyramid, a cathedral, or a house, the first stone laid has special significance, since all further stones or bricks will be placed adjacent to it or on top of it, thus determining the shape and strength of the entire structure. Thus, the foundation stone has long been treated as a ceremonial building block that represents the birth of the building and is blessed with offerings of grain, oil, and wine, and in ancient times with animal and, sometimes, human sacrifice to ensure the stability of the building. The stone blocks often had a hollowed-out indentation to hold a time capsule or a vial of wine in honor of this auspicious new beginning.
  The setting of the foundation stone in Malaysia is celebrated in a ritual by Brahmin or Lama priests offering flowers, by masons or by carpenters with sacrificial chickens or a lamb, or by the youngest son of the owner of the building, who beats on the stone with a hammer to create a vibration to connect the stone with the positive energies of the cosmos. In Sri Lanka, the foundation stone is a special concrete stone with a cavity that is filled with precious metals and grains. Speckles of copper, bronze, gold, silver, precious stones, grains, and sacred objects are included to bring positive energy to the new house.
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Give me five more paragraphs.
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: Cleaning is the process of removing dirt from any space, surface, object, or subject, thereby exposing beauty, potential, truth, and sacredness.
  I grew up in the 1950s, the era of supposedly happy homemakers like June Cleaver who donned a shirtwaist dress, pearls, and pumps and made sure the seams of her stockings were straight before starting to vacuum. Until the relatively recent influence of feminist thought, housecleaning was deemed to be solely the responsibility of women, and thus undervalued and generally demeaned. Cleaners, whether members of the domestic family or corporate employees, are relatively invisible. Yet they perform tasks that are crucial for our spiritual as well as physical well-being and comfort. Though considered to be menial labor, cleaning has an almost alchemical effect of making and remaking a home or any space anew, magically transforming it with focused care through consistent tidying, dusting, mopping, waxing, cleaning, polishing.
  Clearing and cleaning your personal space can result in enhanced mental clarity and an improved memory. By cleaning your home, you honor it. Cleaning is a loving, caring practice that makes a big difference. When you clean, you heal, restore, renew, transform, and beautify your most favorite possessions and intimate surroundings. In doing so, you cleanse, restore, and transform yourself in both tangible and intangible ways. Cleaning can be a sacred practice if you allow yourself to be fully present in the process. As the Buddhists say, "Chop wood, carry water." Do what you are doing while you are doing it. Concentrate. "Be here now," counsels Ram Dass. Pay reverent attention to the metaphoric intention of your task. As Tolulope Ilesanmi reminds us, "When we mop a floor, wipe a counter top, scrub a toilet, dust a table, it is not so much about the physical dirt we are removing from the object, surface, or space. It is about the dirt we are removing within us." If your home is your sanctuary, taking care of it by cleaning is a form of prayer.
  Despite the fact that I loathe vacuuming, I am a happy homemaker and inveterate altarista. I love my home. I love my altars and I actually love to clean them. One of my greatest pleasures is to turn up some jivey hypnotic music and go at it. Not a thorough cleaning every day, mind you, but some bit of ordering, arranging, freshening, some loving attention and appreciation to my precious temple. The best housekeeping tip I ever received was from an old colleague and mentor. She was a famous choreographer and traveled far and wide to work. She also raised three daughters in a huge homey loft that always looked perfectly organized and sparkling clean. She said that she never did more than forty-five minutes of housework a day. With that minimal amount of concerted effort you can accomplish quite a bit, so things remain orderly and you never have to do an exhausting marathon cleaning day.
  While I was working on this chapter, it occurred to me with crashing awareness and shame that here I was devoting the greater part of my attention to writing about creating and maintaining a sacred space, while I was neglecting my own. My house was a mess. What a disturbing paradox. Then suddenly one afternoon when I was deep in a paragraph, I was brought back to my senses by a deafening explosion in the kitchen. What the... ? Nothing seemed wrong until I opened the fridge to a shocking sight. Somehow a heavy unopened jar had slid off the top shelf and had fallen onto the glass shelf below, shattering it. There was glass everywhere, shards in the drawers, in the food, on the floor. It was totally unnerving, way too much to deal with. I closed the door and went to bed.
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Give me the last five paragraphs.
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: A bowl of water with a Blue Ball in it absorbs any residual or accumulating negativity in the room. Flush the sullied water away periodically, then add fresh water and a new Blue Ball to maintain a well-protected space.
  Spirituality is meant to take us beyond our tribal identity into a domain of awareness that is more universal.
  This smoke from the sweetgrass will rise up to you, and will spread throughout the universe. Its fragrance will be known by the wingeds, the four-leggeds and the two-leggeds, for we understand that we are all relatives; may all our brothers be tame and not fear us!
  The blessing agents listed on pages 210 to are available from www.MamaDonnasSpiritShop.com, as well as from a wide range of herbal emporiums, botanicas, and spiritual supply shops in your area and online.
  Mama Donna also creates DIY House Blessing kits in a box filled with everything you need to cleanse and bless your home or office. Available at www.MamaDonnasSpiritShop.com.
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Delete the first sentence.
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: Flush the sullied water away periodically, then add fresh water and a new Blue Ball to maintain a well-protected space.
  Spirituality is meant to take us beyond our tribal identity into a domain of awareness that is more universal.
  This smoke from the sweetgrass will rise up to you, and will spread throughout the universe. Its fragrance will be known by the wingeds, the four-leggeds and the two-leggeds, for we understand that we are all relatives; may all our brothers be tame and not fear us!
  The blessing agents listed on pages 210 to are available from www.MamaDonnasSpiritShop.com, as well as from a wide range of herbal emporiums, botanicas, and spiritual supply shops in your area and online.
  Mama Donna also creates DIY House Blessing kits in a box filled with everything you need to cleanse and bless your home or office. Available at www.MamaDonnasSpiritShop.com.