Life IS a verb...

Or is it just a noun...
could it be both a verb and a noun?

















I found this book at Savers. The tag said it was $2.99 but I don't know if Savers charges that much for non-hardcover books so maybe it was cheaper.

I bought it in in lieu of some other tempting titles including: "Beyond Parsley"; "Inside Steve's Brain", and "Freeing yourself from Environmental Illness."

On Amazon one of the hardcovers of "Inside Steve's Brain"  is quite pricey at $99...at least today...Don't worry the Savers version was paperback. This version is less than $15. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0044KY0YY/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B0044KY0YY&linkCode=as2&tag=crifoyo-20

You can snag "Beyond Parsley" which got good reviews on Amazon for $.01 or $7.51. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0960707611/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0960707611&linkCode=as2&tag=crifoyo-20

I couldn't find "Freeing Yourself from Environmental Illness" on Amazon.  I wish I had gotten that one too.

So, now to the winner of my book search at Savers "Life is a Verb" by Patti Digh.
On Amazon you can get it for $3.99 new or $.24 used...or you can check out Savers and get it for $2.99...you might save on shipping if you get it at Savers, unless you have Amazon Prime.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1599212951/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1599212951&linkCode=as2&tag=crifoyo-20

This book started out as a blog:
http://www.37days.com

She writes about the 37 days between her step-father's diagnosis of cancer and his death.  She encourages others via writing activities and inspirational quotes to live life to the fullest.

I have mixed feelings about self-help books.  I think that part of me thinks I should be above self-help books because as a professional self-help-er I should know all the skills to fix mua-self.  The other part of me sees self-help books as a bunch of the same stuff hashed up and re-arranged differently, so what's the point of reading the same book in a million different nuances a million different times.

I was curious to see how much I am exaggerating with the amount of self-help books so I did some sleuthing.  Amazon has 20 pages of 16 each which equals 320.  Google has 44 pages of 9 each which equals 396.  So this is a tad shy of a million but still...

My curiosity was not gratified.  I Googled "How many self-help books are there in the world".  It brought up the same results as Suri which was the Wikipedia history of self-help books: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-help.

So, until I can prove there are at least a million self-help books in the world I will accept temporary exaggeration-defeat...for now.  But, 400 self-help books is still a lot of books.

Something was still not right.  Another virtual trip to Amazon resulted in 100 pages of 12 each, which equals 1200 (don't worry I did that one in my head) of mystery books.  My theory that self-help books being rehashed a million times is starting to develop some cracks.  Is the self-help genre really second fiddle to Fiction...Fiction meaning fake.  At least self-help is non-fake.  Yes, I seem to be defending my once scorned genre...this is why blogging is so helpful.

Google Books has 100 pages of romance novels.  Novel, meaning fake as well.  What's with people and their obsession with fake.  Something to think about.

In the meantime my curiosity is piqued to read the whole Wikipedia history of self-help books, because my first skimming (used as a noun) proved very interesting.

In my opinion memoirs should be a sub-category of self-help because learning from others' experiences can be very self-helping.  We learn what to do, what not to do.  I'm sure that if we read "Inside Steve's Brain" we would learn how to be self-motivated, creative, and a risk-taker.  Or, we could go read a self-help book on the above.

Google Books has 1000 memoirs.  So that makes our self-help tally (assuming memoirs are a sub-category of self-help) 1396; can we just round up to 1400? 1400 self-help books; now we've overtaken romance and mystery, thank goodness! This is approaching my million mark but I think if we assume that history, religious writings, biography, and autobiography also have strong ties to the self-help milieu then a million is not such as stretch.

Wow, what a tangent.  I definitely need a book on, "The need to be right."

Anyway, what I was saying is that I used to not think very highly of the self-help genre, where's my thesaurus; the self-help species.  However, through blogging I've learned that in light of my apparent opinions on the fake classifications, self-help doesn't come out so badly.

Self-help books are definitely cheaper than therapy.  They can "Change your life".  I had to put that in quotes because it seems like the self-help category pretty much owns that one.
Self-help books are full of statistics and interesting facts and psuedo-facts; a fascinating mixture of hard and soft science.  Whereas in the past reading a self-help book may have been perceived as "You're weird"; now it's perceived more like "You're normal; good for you and good job saving money on overpriced therapy".

They are also much easier to skim, in fact I'm sure that after I read the Wikipedia history I will learn that writing them for skimming purposes is a must for getting your self-help book published and on the New York Times Best Seller list.  "Go crazy on the bullet points" a self-help book for aspiring self-help writers would say.  You won't have to worry about losing yourself in a self-help book, like you might in a more fake genus, like romance or mystery.  Unlike those readers you are more balanced, more flexible.  Your book is not a new, temporary appendage.  You don't take it to the bathroom like...(well I'll stop comparing that doesn't become someone so enlightened). But let's just say... You, my self-help reader, are AWESOME, STRONG AND AMAZING!! Thank you, thank you.

The Ozarks...wherever that is.

 I found this vase at Savers.  It was $1.99.  I'm not supposed to be buying knick knacks unless it meets one of my exception requirements.

The first exception for knick knack consumption is if it's of the Christmas persuasion.  Christmas knick knacks are always acceptable and if I had the space and money I would have a whole house just to store Christmas paraphernalia.

The next exception is if the knick knack is being purchased for someone else...someone else who doesn't mind knick knacks.

My final exception is if the knick knack can double as something other than just a random, cute, statue collecting dust on an otherwise uncluttered surface.

I suppose, by nature that vases are knick knacks that double as functional art.  They can argue that their job is not just to sit there and look pretty, but to also be the designated containers for flowers that have no other way of existing in-doors, unless you have a terrarium or one of those alligator inhabited glass rooms like in "The Happiest Millionaire".

Now that I've rested my case on breaking or not breaking the knick-knack rule, I will move on.

Let me begin with the obvious.  This vase is very orange.  The picture makes it look darker and redder; it's actually more of a Sunkist Orange shade.  The color Orange has a history in my family genogram.  My Grandmother's favorite color was orange.  My Mom's least favorite color is orange.
In the past, my suggestion that my mom's hatred of Orange is somehow related to her mom's love of orange has been vehemently denied.  Nevertheless I try to be objective about my own beliefs and feelings about the color orange and not allow my personal opinions to be swayed by my family's strong convictions about this controversial color.

Although I love this vase in and of itself, I have to be honest that as of yet, I haven't been able to find the perfect place for it in my house.  So, I'm not sure what will become of it.

 One similar to it is going for $8 on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001TPWRK6/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B001TPWRK6&linkCode=as2&tag=crifoyo-20


Speaking of Amazon...my orange vase says "The Ozarks" on the back of it.  Until this vase I didn't know where the Ozarks were.  I thought it was a small town somewhere up by Canada.  Wikipedia has helped me understand that the Ozarks are a mountain range or a "high and deeply dissected plateau" that sprawls through a few different states including Arkansas, Oklahoma, Missouri, and Kansas.   So, that narrows it down. On the bottom, in handwritten, blue ink it says: Oct 12, 1973.  So, this mysterious item is possibly older than my husband and may have been purchased as a Christmas present.  So, this vase leaves more questions than answers about its origins.  I hope I can do it justice by finding the right place and use for it.  It has miraculously made it this long without getting broken.  I shall not fail it....

My first "Quoting" Journal.

I found this journal at Target, of all places.  They usually have a whole section of journals on hand in all types of materials and designs, which tempt me every time I set foot down that aisle. This journal practically jumped into my hands and I had no choice but to bring it home.

I didn't initially know what I would use it for, but it soon became the place where I would begin recording the random sayings of my husband.

At some point in time I lost this journal and my husband was the prime suspect, of course...although in the back of my head, I doubted whether someone who would post his stream of consciousness on Facebook if he had the time and if technology allowed someone to post their thoughts directly onto social media, would actually hide my seemingly benign buttony journal...

I found it eventually and I was sad that I had missed out on so many hilarious quotes...I guess this Target journal is the only thing worthy of quoting such things, as I will soon share.

I have to be honest that as time has gone on, his hilarious, non-sensical, deep and profound thoughts and sayings have become so commonplace that at times I'm too lazy to document them.  However, with my husband, I'm learning that if I continue to listen and am willing to learn, many more quotes will present themselves...and I'm sure someday I'll be rich if I take the time to be a proper journalist and record them.

Whenever I read these quotes, I laugh so hard; sometimes harder than I do when I open my book of Bushisms, but not quite as hard as my book of Jack Handy...

Here are a few examples to get my day going in the right direction:

• "Jesus loved to give us illustrations...which made us look like idiots...which we are." 

• "The reason that Dr. Seuss writes about this cat, causing all the trouble, is because usually the kids cause the trouble not the cat, so he uses reverse psychology on the readers in order to make the kids who are reading it trying to prevent the cat from causing trouble and maybe the kids will think twice about making a mess in their own home."  (Referring to the book "The Cat in the Hat.").

• "You'd literally have to talk to the Eskimos and find out how they sleep through the night; unless you're telling me that they don't live in igloos."  (Referring to an Ice Hotel we saw on TV). 

• "My wife's a therapist and she can figure out people's symptoms by their symptoms.  Sometimes she calls me a hoarder, although I usually hoard in the garage and not in the house."  (During one of many spontaneous practice preaching sessions). 

• "...I mean the cat wasn't there or anything.  I mean you'd think the cat would be there since it's such a part of the family, like sitting in a milk crate on the table or something." (Referring to an event he shot where the girl was all about her cat). 

• Overheard: "Yeah all my bullies from school either ended up dead, in jail, or working for the district."

• "I'm NOT going to Walmart; I'm not an alien; I don't like sci-fi." 

• "I got there right as all the college students came...I think they were sleeping all day and woke up and realized, 'Hey I'm hungry'" (After going grocery shopping). 

• "If she wants a husband then order one from France!" (Regarding something he saw on the show "The Bachelor"). 

More Word Art

I found this framed word art in the Random Section of Goodwill on Dollar Thursday.  This was .99 however it wasn't the right colored tag to make it a dollar; so the jokes on Goodwill because I got it for less than a dollar anyway.

I'm not a stitching expert but it looks like possibly needlepoint in two colors, pink and dark pink.   The gold frame adds some bling.

Google helped me find the possible author of this quote which was taken from a larger poem attributed to Laine Parsons; although I'm not 100% it belongs to her, but my extensive one minute research points in that direction.  She has a poetry book on Amazon:

Always Follow Your Dreams: A Collection of Poems to Inspire and Encourage Your Dreams by Collin McCarty, Nancye Sims, laine Parsons and Sue Mitchell (1985). 

I brought this to work and haven't been able to hang it up yet in my office but most of the time it leans against a chair which faces the door, and those who walk through it, including myself.  I hope that it inspires those who come into my office.  Words are just words at times but they are the tools of my trade.  

The one receiving the words can choose to either accept and internalize or reject and deny.  I don't read or recite this poem to people; that would be weird.  I leave it up to them to read it.  Most of the time it's ignored and sometimes if someone needs the chair, it's not even visible.  

Maybe I need it for myself, as a reminder.  Goodwill may have determined it's value at less than items on Dollar Thursday, however, art is inherently priceless if it inspires positive change, hope,  or a decrease in blood pressure (as some ocean scenes do for me).  

If I managed to hang this word art on my wall; it would be a first...a first because so far, nothing hangs on my walls...maybe that should tell me something...or maybe not...something to think about. 

White Christmas

I found this at Savers in one of the knick-knack aisles.  It was $1.99.  I usually try to avoid knick-knacks that can't be used as functional art.  I try to pride myself if being a savvy, smart, Savers purchaser of unique items which will enhance my life, without slowly becoming a hoarder, not someone who buys things with the Savers descriptions of: "Housewares Fig/KnickKnack/Collectible"...

All the de-cluttering shows and books seem to have a thing against knick-knacks, as if they are one of the sole reasons someones house is infested with flies and the kitchen is now inaccessible save for the small tunnel through the living room.  If the kick knacks were eliminated, this would solve 85% of the problem off the bat.  So of course I never wanted to be one of those knick knack-aholics who attracts knick-knacks to the detriment of my household and all of society.

When I think of knick knacks I think of my Grandparents; one of my grandmothers had a whole house of knick knacks, many of which I inherited.  Her house was always clean and clear of clutter; I don't know how she did it with so many knick knacks, but she did.  She collected angels and little scissors, cabbage patch dolls, and tea sets; She needlepointed and latch-hooked gads of pictures, which hung on the walls. She was very creative and loved cute little things.

I guess this knick-knack at Savers spoke to me and since it was around Christmastime I thought it justified getting it even though it seemed to lack any functionality aside from being a paperweight or ponytail holder.

I'm not sure if this church, which has some sort of glistening ingredient, making it look snow covered, was made to be a Christmas decoration, but it reminded me right away of the idyllic first scene in Lady and the Tramp or as my daughter still calls it: "Lady and Tramp." I love this first snow-covered scene with the horse carriage and the snow falling on this perfect, little town.  Of course in the movie it was Christmastime, so this must be a Christmastime church, representing a Classic Disney Cartoon Movie set.

This justifies buying it even more because movie set icons are culturally and often monetarily valuable.  What defensiveness?

The point is, I bought it; it's here; it's May and because it doesn't have Christmas lights on it I can justify having it out year round.  It brings a reminder of Christmas as well as thoughts of an idyllic, Disney-cartoon world where dogs can talk and white powdery stuff falls from the sky during Christmastime; What will Disney come up with next?

The Albino

I found this surprise a few days ago.  Blueberries are a main staple for my diet.  I started implementing them more after I realized how good they tasted on syrup-cottage-cheese covered waffles as well a peanut-honey smothered toast.  They are also a superfood and are good for brain health.

 I'm not sure if this one is good for brain health or not. I saw it immediately and my brain identified it as an "Albino." I wasn't sure if I was looking at a diamond in the ruff or something trying to kill me.

I texted a picture to my mom and brother.  My brother texted back: 

"Don't eat it...it may be trying to kill you.  I've been suspicious of albinos ever since watching Foul Play." www.imdb.com/title/tt0077578

To which I replied: 

"Haha of course I won't eat it...I'm sure it's worth something 
on eBay." 


 I Googled Albino Blueberries and a slew of images popped up (I love Images; the adult version of a picture-book, when you're too tired to read).

 So, here are some images of Albino Blueberries...thank you Google Images for clearing this whole thing up.

The Duke Boyz...

We found Bo and Luke at our neighbor's house.  My first encounter with them was through the cages of their newly neutered lives.  My neighbor had been working hard to trap, de-genderify and release all the feral cats on our street...not an easy feat; that rhymed.

I had not been really aware of the Trap Neuter Release (TNR) Program, but thought it was super nice and selfless of my neighbor to devote her time and effort of ridding our street of these annoying night-howlers, for the benefit of us all.  Good riddance!


Being the supportive neighbors we are, we said "Sure, we'll come try to hold these anti-social, but cute, helpless kittens".  And we did and we oohed and ahhed and had a good laugh when Luke escaped and hid under the couch, or was it the fridge, I don't know but it was cute.

Somewhere amidst the confusion of Luke going missing we agreed to adopt one of them; it was a VERY tough decision...Bo, being an Orange Tabby, was my first pick because I'm partial to Orange Tabbies.  Luke, however was so darn cute with his little face...

And...here we are about two months later.  Apparently they come as a set, at least that's what we told ourselves.  Topher my old-man Orange Tabby does great with them, Lucy on the other hand...she's used to being top feral queen in the house and has had a bigger adjustment.

They keep us up all night playing and ruining our new Craigslist Couch.  They metamorphosed from hissing at us from behind the toilet to purring, drooling (I won't say any names, Bo) and demanding constant attention.

But, they were free, they were neutered; my daughter holds Bo like a baby, which is the craziest thing I've ever seen because he LOVES it.  I'm happy to report back to the Trap Neuter Release people that their program works well...at least the Trap and Neuter part...

My first UPCYCLE

I found these sconces at Savers and Fry's...they're one of a kind.  The main ingredients are the Bookends from Savers and the candles from Fry's.  Wait, back up the train...that's right I scored these steel, red, bookends from Savers for $1.99.  I intended on using them as bookends but when I got home I realized that I had forgotten how a bookend was used...my natural bookends were the books themselves holding each other up as their own tension cord between the two sides of the bookshelf.  There was no room for these bookends and when I put books on the short side of the bookends it engulfed the pretty red design; if the books are supposed to lean against the long side, then the short side removes a big chunk of room from the shelf...nonetheless, I needed to find a new use for them because I wasn't seeing that $2 again and I already was feeling sheepish enough at how low my common-sense IQ must be.

I can't tell you how the inspiration hit me, because I don't know, but it did and this is the result! Our large mid-century modern mirror (Passed down from my aunt after my Grandmother died) hangs in the middle.  Since our Dining Room has no lighting fixture (unless the very off-center skylight counts) these small flickers of light should help to set the tone...and provide light...at night.  I hope the cats aren't too intrigued by the flickers and try to pounce on them from the Dining Room table, inevitably burning the house down.  That's just my hope.  And my other hope is that someday we'll be able to afford a proper lighting fixture for above the table...that and windows coverings to replace the year old paper ones...not sure if Savers can help me with that one...but with Upcycling, one never knows...