Leanne left a treat!!!

Now, isn't that a special little sweet treat! My friend Leanne stopped by and awarded this lovely award to me! It was given to her by Leslie aka scrapwordsmom, who received it herself.

I need to award it to 5 blogging friends, however, my blogging friends have already gotten it.....need some new blogging ladies!!!

I also have to share 10 things that make me happy....here they are:

1. Ana and Matt getting along
2. When Matt comes home and sits right down and does his homework!
3. A clean sink
4. The way my dog sleeps with his head on a pillow
5. Starbucks iced carmel macchiatos with extra carmel!
6. Bookstores
7. Glee!
8. Diet coke
9. Finishing a project
10.My mom....

Wow, that list makes me sound fascinating! You still here? How about a game of I SPY...teenager style:

So, That's Why! .... for Dummies

Hi friends - a few random thoughts to share.

I had always wondered just how many "For Dummies" books have been published. Sometimes, I'd be in a bookstore, which is the equivalent of my "bar" hangout, and wonder if there was a whole section of the popular For Dummies series, rather than having them interspersed on the shelves with all the other books.

 So, today, when I got an email from Borders, advertising 30% of this series, I got the chance to see just what was out there. Some of the titles were surprising, some made me just laugh, and others made me almost want to buy some of them (but I'm on a self-imposed book spending freeze).

Here's what I found. There are currently 1,832 titles listed. Many of them have to do with computers. It's also only fair to note that I do own several Dummies books; I think they are a great overview and typically well written. Ana and I wouldn't have made it through 7th grade Geometry with out one! (I also have Philosophy, Buddhism, and Psychology for Dummies).

Here's what else you can get:
Anger Management for Dummies
Saints for Dummies
Dating for Dummies
Relationships for Dummies
Rugby for Dummies
Extreme Sudoku for Dummies (I want to know, if you make it to a level of Sudoku where you are ready for "extreme", shouldn't you graduate from the "For Dummies" series?
Curling for Dummies (this would have been good to have during the Olympics)
Freemasons for Dummies (do they support dummies? Can you see them out with picket signs that say "Freemasons for Dummies"? No?)
Computers for Seniors for Dummies (I couldn't find just a  regular"Computers for Dummies", so, if you need help, you have to use the seniors version)

This group just makes me chuckle. I think I might be a eight year-old boy. Are they for actual dummies?
Creating Websites for Dummies (are the dummies going to use the websites?)
Fishing for Dummies (catching dummies?)
Potty Training for Dummies (it's about time those dummies learn to use the potty?)
Housetraining for Dummies (if the potty training doesn't work)
Trading for Dummies (what do you have to trade to get a dummy?)
Happiness for Dummies (well, that's a good thing)
Stretching for Dummies (because they need a book for this)
Choosing a Dog for Dummies (what kind of dogs do dummies prefer?)
Online Education for Dummies (they should probably read Using Computers for Dummies)

These are really specific....
Australian and New Zealand Wine for Dummies
California Wine for Dummies
Whisky and Spirits for Dummies
and you can get Vino para Dummies, too.

These sound fun...
Running a Bed and Breakfast for Dummies
Antiquing for Dummies
Bartending for Dummies

And my favorite of all......

Raising Chickens for Dummies

That's all for now. What "For Dummies" book do you have?

(I'm totally not being compensated for advertising the books, or anything. Just another thing that tickles my funny bone.)

"Burn Those Jeans"....Thanks, Patti, I needed that

found at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bluryee/2850257762/

This woman, Patti Digh, has been "speaking" to me lately. I first read about her book on the Skirt! magazine website and was intrigued by the title - Life is a Verb: 37 days to Wake Up, Be Mindful and Live Intentionally. Every page I've read, so far, feels like she's speaking directly to me and I recently checked out her blog, which you can find here. I'm very thankful when people are willing to share their insights on life, and remind me that no matter what I'm going through, someone else has too (this includes my dear friends who listen to me and then help me, as Cher said in Moonstruck "Snap out of it!" and my guy who reminds me everything happens for a reason).

While I'll let you discover what speaks to you (and please do leave a comment and who or what inspires you), I wanted to share this essay I found on Patti's blog called, "Burn Those Jeans", where jeans are a metaphor for whatever you are allowing to hold you back. Enjoy!

Focus.....checking in

So, one month into 2010, and I'm checking in on the progress of my One Word. Remember, my word this year is FOCUS. I'm finding it a little odd that friends and family who have read my posts are reminding me to focus when I start to spaz out on the various aspects of my life - that I didn't expect. So, let me tell you how things are going....

First of all, this is on my desk.......instead of a calendar, I have a daily mood!

Second, I finished a whole book last month (in less than a month, really), I read Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol. A lot of fun and one I couldn't put down. In the last few years, my voracious reading has taken a back seat to the other pulls in my life. Maybe with a little focus, I'll go back to enjoying this hobby. Next up for February, Eat Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. I bought it last year when every one else was reading it, read about 20 pages and moved on to something else....I lost focus....I'll get through it now.

Third, I've spent some time learning something knew and here's where FOCUS meets digital:

And finally, last year, I accepted a tremendous amount of help from others when my work demanded so much more of my time and life threw me a curve ball. Now, as things have slowed down, the focus is once again trained on my wonderful kids, the love of my life, and my endlessly supportive family. These are the people that are most important to me and bring me immeasurable joy. My focus is once again .... MOM.

I hope you all are finding your WORDs are helping bring direction and ... focus ... to your lives.

My Books, My Shelves: a "So That's Why" special episode

So, I'm sitting here this morning, looking at the 2 bookcases in my bedroom and wondering, "Why?". Why do I have all these books? Why did they enchant me so as to plunk down the debit card so I could give them a home on one of my 5 bookshelves (which doesn't count the ones in the kids' bedrooms)? Why haven't I found time to read them? Some people can tell time in their lives by the friends or lovers they've had, or a song on the radio that takes them back to an era in their life. I can also tell time by my books. Time for a "So, that's why" moment.

There are entire sections on my shelves from the various stages of teaching: student teaching (tons of books on theory and also classroom ideas on every subject imaginable, as well as novels that I intended to have in my classroom), the short stints as a substitute teacher, when I worked with students with learning differences, and when I taught at the college level (books on writing and grammar, art books from the time I taught Intro to Fine Arts, Psychology books (Oliver Sachs and Flow by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi).

There are sections of my "Optimistic Mommy" phase, when I wanted to start a mommy-daughter book club - books on how to do that and the books I wanted to read with my daughter (um, sadly, didn't get too far with that, although she loves to read and that was the ultimate goal).

The philosophical era when I thought I'd read all the classics that I should have read before: Camus, Wharton, Miller, Austen, all nestle together with my book on 100 Banned Books.

The time after that, when I gave up and read chick lit and "pampering yourself" books, exclusively.

Books from the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon from when my son was a wee bairn (they are set in Scotland) and I would read while he rested in my arms.

Books my mom shared with me. Guilty pleasures. Short books that should be long: Simplify Your Life with Kids, for example. And long books that should be short: Seeing Me Naked by Lisa Palmer (just kidding, couldn't resist that title).

An amazing array of Organizing books, close to 25, of which I've read hmmmm 2? I should have stuck with Marcia Ramsland and Peter Walsh, because their books had the most impact on me when I read them. But, uh, nothing seems to have sunk in because my house and my life is in utter chaos - I think I'll organize them next, into a nice versatile basket they may or may not have suggested I buy, and which is now filled with Ninetendo boxes and scarves? Time to read or re-read those books.

Books that make me go - huh? Really? I bought that? (See The Seinfield Chronicles, and Sex and the City: Kiss and Tell) That group is now in a shopping bag on the way to The Frugal Muse (noted in an earlier post), if you are interested, but I warn you, you may look at them years from now and ask yourself the same questions.

There are other subsections of book categories around here, to be sure, but these seem the most important to me to share right now. Since I've also been saying, "I didn't know I had this book", several times this morning, I'm going to take a look to see what I might what to move up on my imaginary reading list. Or maybe write down that list. I also see how some of my writing books may come back into use soon, with the blogging and scrapbooking I do, and the fact that my daughter is on the school Newspaper and Yearbook this year (also, a very good writer, that girl!). Maybe she'll want one of those books to cuddle up with .... uh, yeah, what 13 year-old girl doesn't want to cuddle up with her mom's grammar books? I need to get a grip....maybe some parenting books.....?

So, that's why I have so many, many, many books in my house. My goal continues to be to actually read or re-read these books that mean so much to me, and eliminate those that don't. Those castaways, who have spent some time with me will go off to a new home on someone elses shelves. And I'll have space on my shelves for the next era of my life, whatever that may be.

Bus 2, Mom 1 and How I Spent My Allowance....

We caught Ana's bus this morning....! Yay!

Kids are hanging out with their lovely Stepmom this evening so I went to my happy place - the used bookstore - The Frugal Muse. I've become allergic to paying full price for books...plus, my sister would KILL me!

My new books:
Generation T- 108 ways to transform a T-shirt ($5.98) - for Ana, my little fashionista!
Unforgettable Color ($.93) - for Ana
The Not So Big Life ($.93) - for me, I've wanted to read this one, but not for $24.
Nantucket Nights, Elin Hilderbrand ($4.98) - for me, because I wanted to read her other book, The Castaways and that was full price.
Teen Makeup ($.93) - for Ana
Dead Until Dark, Charlaine Harris ($5.98 brand new...$2 cheaper than regular price) - for me, because my mom is reading her other series and even though I don't watch True Blood, I hear it's a good series.
Home, Julie Andrews autobio ($6.98 - hardcover) I jumped up and down inside because I found this one....wanted to read it since it came out!

So, now that my sister is going to kill me, I will pledge to read my books before I buy another one. Really, Jeanne, I will. After I finish Garden Spells!