Category Archives: my life

bookbabie has cooties

Posted on by

I’ve been tagged by my blogging friend Melynn at Breathing Easy. For those of you who aren’t fluent in bloglish, being “tagged” is a virtual game not unlike the childhood version, except that instead of getting cooties we have to reveal a number of things about ourselves. I probably would choose not to play (party pooper that I am) except that my mom recently told me that she’d been reading through my old blog entries and she was learning things about me that she didn’t know. Hmm. I’ve always considered myself a very private person. I used to hoard the bits and pieces of the inner me because I thought if I put them out there I could lose them. It’s like I imagined that they were these colorful helium balloons full of me instead of gas and if I gave them to people they might let them go and I’d never get them back. Does that sound weird? (Don’t answer that!) Writing the blog (and my 2 1/2 novels) has helped me understand that it’s okay to reveal yourself (a little) to the world. Perhaps I should say share yourself, fear not, there will be no revealing bookbabie sex tapes popping up on YouTube! So anyway, I’m going to play tag today in honor of my mom, however, I won’t follow all the rules (like Melynn, who by the way I think would be a best friend if she lived nearby). So here goes, seven random facts about the bookbabie, but you must promise me that you won’t let go of those strings…

1. I have a killer serve in volleyball and wallyball.

2. My first favorite “grown-up” book was My Antonia by Willa Cather

3. I watch Dancing with the Stars (so does Mr. bookbabie, but don’t tell him I told you!)

4. I wanted to have three children but got sick and struggled just to raise the two babies I was blessed with.

5. I felt most like “me” when I was standing in front of an easel painting.

6. I haven’t painted in about ten years:(

7. Hey Mom, I can still sit like this sitting-004.jpg (but not for long and the getting up part isn’t pretty!)

a nice visit

Posted on by

My sister and her family are back in Carlsbad, the holiday dishes are washed and put away, the colorful Thanksgiving centerpieces are tired and wilting. It was a nice visit. I am grateful to be able to write that one simple sentence. My family has been through a lot over the past five years. Like many families, we have watched a family member struggle with substance abuse issues and we have also watched helplessly as that struggle spilled over and touched all of us in different ways. The trail of hurt that is left behind by abusers cuts wide and deep with lessons that are sometimes difficult to accept, the main one perhaps being that love does not conquer all. But love can hold a family together if you let it. Through the pain, the disappointments, and the uncertainty of our crazy lives that tenuous thread of family love is worth tending and preserving, it’s a precious gift that merits our respect.

The photo above is of my wonderful young nephew Robert and his dog, Lola. Robert turned fourteen while he was here last week. He went to a Lion’s football game and a Red Wing hockey game and he spent Thanksgiving happily surrounded by his noisy, sometimes nutty family. If your extended family is struggling to stay connected, try harder to hang in there for the sake of the children. The next time you all get together let go of that Norman Rockwell family you think you should have, it exists only in your imagination. Let go of the past and all those bumps and bruises you’ve been so diligently cataloging. It was a nice visit…and that’s all it really needs to be.

baby cheeks

Posted on by

Can you tell my sister is head over heals in love with her first grandbaby? They were over for a pre-holiday visit so baby Aryeille could meet the California contingent for the first time. They adored her of course, I mean, who could resist those chubby pink cheeks? (It’s okay Bob, she only cried for a minute, we know you didn’t pinch her cheek that hard!).

“Never have children, only grandchildren.”
Gore Vidal

hangin’ on

Posted on by

After ten days of the November drearies the sun came out yesterday and the temperature hit sixty! I decided it was a good day to run errands so I spent the afternoon running around gathering the necessities for the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday, which for us officially starts on Saturday when my sister and her family fly in from California, yay! I grabbed my trusty Canon G9 on my way out the door resolving that one of my errands would be to spend some time driving aimlessly and enjoying the lovely day. The photo below is from Maple Street in my town, I want to live on that street someday and you can see why, it is especially pretty this time of the year. The photo above is from a Japanese Maple in my own backyard. The leaves are slow to fall in Michigan this year, they don’t seem quite ready to give up and face the cold winter months and I am so very grateful for their tenacity!

shhhhh!

Posted on by

1-57731-208-2.jpg

I gave a dear friend of mine my audio copy of The Power of Now, by Eckhart Tolle this morning (and I promptly ordered myself another one!). What if someone told you that you are not the voice inside your head? You know, that incessant voice that says you’re not good enough, thin enough, smart enough, rich enough, healthy enough, pretty enough, the voice that tells you that you need to go there, do that, be this….well, you get the picture. What if you could step outside your mind and watch that voice, that manic (exhausting) egoic part of yourself? Observe it as it bounces from one anxiety and fear and problem to another, what would happen? I’ll tell you what will happen, you will take away it’s power and you will come to understand that you don’t need to deal with that lousy past that you are dragging around behind you and you don’t have to anticipate every possible future conversation and scenario that may, or may not occur. Look around you. Can you deal with right now? As you sit there reading this blog, can you handle this moment?

The Power of Now will help you shed that annoying little voice and be fully present in your life. I listen to the book often, it’s a meditation for me, a gift I give myself when that voice takes over and I begin to lose myself in all the noise. I hope my friend finds some peace (and quiet) in Eckhart Tolle‘s wise words.

good news

Posted on by

We are so connected in this modern life of 24 hour cable news programs, cell phones, and the Internet that we can sometimes be overwhelmed by information burnout. And while I think it’s important to be an informed citizen, the negative angle local and national news media outlets serve up just plain gets me down sometimes. I want to know what is happening in the world and in my own community, but I don’t want to just hear what all the screwed up “bad” people are doing. I also (and more so!) want to be inspired and motivated by the goodness in the world, by stories of everyday people who are making the world a better place, not a scarier place. I want balance and apparently I’m not alone in my hunger for positive news. I’ve linked three websites that I sometimes browse that focus on good news stories. Daryn Kagan started her website after working for CNN because she wanted to, Show the World What is Possible! one story at a time. Good News Broadcast has a mission to Find, receive, create and broadcast to the world, life-affirming, thought-provoking, educational news, entertainment and events. On the Good News Network “about us page” they write, Local TV news, especially, has been continually feeding us junk food. We need to be informed by a world view that is not dripping with sensationalism and attuned to the police scanner.

So if the news is getting you down check out those websites, or better yet, go outside for a walk and take a closer look at the world right outside your door. Be grateful for the goodness in your own life, whether it’s a flower still blooming in the chilled November air (like the mum I photographed on my front porch this morning), or simply the fact that you have a safe, warm place to call home.

Whatever we focus on is bound to expand. Where we see the negative, we call forth more negative. And where we see the positive, we call forth more positive. -Marianne Williamson

cheesecake bliss

Posted on by

Ever since I’ve gone gluten-free I rarely bake anymore. It just doesn’t seem to be worth the effort, especially since I’m the only one in my family that avoids the sticky little proteins (although there are others who show signs of needing to, but I won’t go there in this post). Anyway, I hosted book club last week and wanted to make something I could actually enjoy along with my friends so I adapted a cheesecake recipe to make it gluten-free. It was soooo good you’d never know the crust was wheat-free and even people who aren’t big cheesecake fans loved it! It’s almost a cross between cheesecake and apple crisp because of the crust and the crumble top so this is the perfect time of year to make it and impress your friends and family. And since this was my first time ever making cheesecake it must be a fail safe recipe! Click on “keep reading” to get the recipe:)

Continue reading →

october days

Posted on by

I took my camera and went looking for October today while Mr. bookbabie was golfing. I found it. In the bright sunlight that set the maple trees on fire, in the cool breeze that kissed my cheeks, in a sky as blue as any ocean. I found it.

Winter is an etching, spring a watercolor, summer an oil painting and autumn a mosaic of them all. ~Stanley Horowitz