Whoops

No matter how much I intend differently, I just don't seem to post as often as I would like. Oh, well.

We had our benefit for my friend with breast cancer and in our little tiny area, we raised over $10,000 dollars. I am very proud of us. It is amazing what 4 determined women can do when we set our minds to it. But then we learned our friends cancer has spread to her liver. My sister is my cancer consultant, and she said that the liver is one of the easiest to deal with. I always thought it was one of the hardest to deal with. I hope I am wrong and big sis is right. So I am sad and concerned today, and just want to fix it.

My mosaic sold well to a friend who didn't realize I had made it. He was so thrilled with it. We had so many wonderful donations and it was so wonderful.

A fine new day

There are many things in my life that don't make me happy, but I am a pretty happy person, overall. I am grateful for the calm in my life and what I have. I have options and I have a family that would step up and offer help if I needed it. Well, a couple of them would. One of my sisters is my cheerleader and gives me great encouragement and support. I wear a necklace that says "Happiness is a choice" and I truly believe that. I used to believe we were guided by our fate and we didn't really get a choice. I now understand that we can't necessarily control our feelings, but we can control how we react to our emotions. We may not choose who we fall in love with, but we can control how we react to that. We can choose or not to engage in that love or acknowledge its' deficits and choose not to act on it and save alot of pain. That was such a revelation for me.

And now for a little something different- something I made for an auction-well, it is at the top of the page. I haven't mastered how to put things lower in the post. Little moves, people, little moves!

Just crap

The sun is out and my sanity has returned with it. I feel like I am in such limbo and have for so long. I have been trying to sell my house and move for a year now, and it still hasn't happened. I am frustrated and losing my perky positive attitude. I gave notice at my job, so August 31 will be my last day at my store. I am working 2 days a week at another store and will add 2 days, for a total of 4, if my house doesn't sell by then, so I won't fall apart, but it would still be better to sell and go. At times, I question the wisdom of giving notice, but I am so sick of liquor and those that purchase too much of it. SO, despite the unknown aspect of it, I am not very sorry I did it. I will also make an area to work on some upholstery jobs to add some extra income till I can get moved and actually set up a real shop. It will work out, but I like to know what is going to happen.

I made this plan to sell and move last year in February, and so it feels like that has been my only focus for over a year, and really, I am tired. Tired of uncertainty. SO much of my stuff is in a storage unit in the new town, so I go to look for something and it isn't here. And occasionally, I go buy it again, since I need it, dammit!

I am ready for it to be done.

Tagged

I have been tagged by Sue Woo. I am to tell you my 3 favorite books. I am a voracious reader and there are tons to choose from. I am not sure I can limit it to 3, though.

My very, very, very favorite is Animal Dreams by Barbara Kingsolver. I was not a huge fan of The Bean Trees or Pigs in Heaven, but Animal Dreams really spoke to me. I was really able to feel the story and Cosima's feeling of not belonging. Both of my sisters disliked it and one of them had a whole spiel about the noble savage and such nonsense. I have told people that I just love it and want to carry it around with me and have it be my friend. Dorks r us.

My next favorite is The Bone People. It is hard to say it is a favorite because that implies that I liked it. It was not something you like, but it was compelling, and haunting and horrific and very, very powerful. It haunted me for months and that is not an exaggeration.


I also really loved and felt Refuge by Terry Tempest Williams. She weaves together a story in a way that I have never seen, or read, done before and it is such a lovely, touching book. It is not a novel- more of an accounting of her family history and an environmental issue. Lovely, lovely book.

And because I can't really stop at just 3, I will add some more. I adore Elizabeth Berg, starting with Talk Before Sleep, which is one of the loveliest stories of women's friendship I have every read. It touched me very deeply. If you want to laugh your ass off, read Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series. They are technically mysteries, but that is sort of incidental. They are laugh out loud funny. And a light, pretty fast read. Unfortunately, her romance series is nowhere near as funny. Don't bother with them. I will admit that in the last 4 years, following a divorce, I have had a harder time reading fiction. I read lots of political stuff, and figure out how to retire without being a bag lady, when you only make $10 an hour, and are self employed stuff and the standard post divorce reading list. I am starting to read again, now and I am really thrilled.

If you are reading this, consider yourself tagged.