If you do what you love, you'll love what you do, right?

The title of this blog post sounds like lyrics to a 70s song.  

With summer upon us, I have a lot of free time on my hands. My job is kind of on hold, so I started thinking...what do I love doing? If I can figure that out, maybe I can find a way to use that to occupy my time.

What do I love to do? What is my hobby? If I have nothing to do, what do I choose to do? (I'm pretty sure eating sugar cookies and drinking Sonic slushes mixed with rum, isn't the answer)

Books.   I read.   A lot.

So, I decided to start another blog for book reviews. When I'm looking for a book, topic and theme mean a lot more to me than the author, so this blog is organized by genre, but searchable by any key word: theme, author, etc.

Jen's Books

If you like books, and you want to take a look, please come on over and visit. If you like books and you like to write reviews, PLEASE come on over and visit. Keep in mind, it's still a baby so there aren't many reviews...yet.

Read on,
Jen

Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life. - Confucius

Sports Bras and Pity Parties

I have a love/hate relationship with sports bras.

Today I had a rip roaring pity party, with only one guest...me.

Now I love sports bras because they are comfortable, keep everything in the right place, and function well for their intended use: support during exercise. Yeah, well here's the thing, I don't exercise. If you ever see me running, you better run too because there is a seriously scary mofo chasing after me. If you ever see me doing yoga or weight lifting there will be a copay for physical therapy involved because that's only going to happen because my doctor is making me. Still, I love sports bras.

Correction, I love my 10 year old, grey, seriously in need of mending sports bra. See, I only have one. I also only have one "fancy bra," too. I know, I need to turn in my girl card. By the way, I have less that 6 pairs of shoes, too (but I do have 4 pairs of cowboy boots). True story, when I went to get the steroid injection in my back and the nurse saw my holey, grey sports bra, she just looked and me and said, "Oh, honey. Really?" Sigh.

Anyways, that's why I love my sports bra...it's comfortable. Here is why I hate it. Have you ever tried to put a sports bra on after you get out of the shower, even Houdini couldn't have managed this feat. It's seriously a 2 person process, but it's too embarrassing to ask for anyone's help, so you have to do the after shower sports bra dance, dislocate at least one shoulder, and pull your bra into place and then pop your shoulder back into place like Mel Gibson in Lethal Weapon. Very challenging stuff.

On to my pity party...hang with me there is a connection.

I had a really bad morning. Nothing serious, just a lot of little stuff that piled up and finally overwhelmed me...like that Chinese torture method, Death of a Thousand Cuts. Well, not quite that bad, but it forced me to take the ultimate girl therapy treatment: Crying in the shower. Not sure why, but crying in the shower is better than any therapist's couch. I guess as the hot water washes the dirt and tears away, it also takes most of the stress and anxiety with it. I was crying because my job is basically nonexistent and I can't find a different job with the flexible hours I need having 2 super busy kids, my computer was being difficult, chores were piling up, and on and on...you get it, right? Stupid little stuff, that just piled up and bitch slapped me, thus the crying in the shower therapy.

After the shower, I felt a lot better and then I realized I had taken a really long shower, I was really hot and the bathroom was really steamy and staring at me from the counter top was my ancient grey sports bra. All I could do was laugh, between the sweat and the steam it was going to take a miracle and a crow bar to get that damn bra on, but I did it, yes I did. At that moment I realized that if I can get that sports bra on in that perfect storm of sweat and steam, I can do anything. Moody laptops...no problem. Job issues...I'll figure it out, eventually.

So there you go. You never know what is going to put your life back into perspective, sports bras...showers...laptops...whatever. Look for the small things to laugh about, they make the big things more manageable.

Party on,
Jen

Men are governed by lines of intellect - women: by curves of emotion. - James Joyce

Strings Attached

We have all heard the saying “no strings attached.” When you hear that, what do you think of? Is “no strings attached” a good thing or bad thing? It really depends on the situation. When it comes to buying some thing or signing a contract we WANT no strings attached, but when you really stop and think about it, we have strings attached to everything.

We have strings attaching us to our family. We have strings attaching us to our jobs. Just about everything in our lives has these strings attached, sometimes they lift us up and sometimes they pull us down. Imagine your life with no strings, alone and adrift in the Universe with no tether. No bad “strings attached” but no good “strings attached” either. Not good.

Now close your eyes and imagine all the strings that are attached to your life. Picture the good things attached with beautiful gold strings. Picture the bad things attached with the thinnest wisp of thread. When you want to rid your life of something negative, first picture that thin thread snapping and the thing slowly drifting out of your life. It might seem silly at first, but visualization has its place and can be a powerful tool.

The reverse also works, too. Sometimes I feel my teenagers pulling farther and farther away from me. I know they need their space, but it's really hard to let them go and live their own lives. In my mind, I picture them attached to me with that beautiful gold string. I imagine that string as unbreakable and then I start making it longer and longer in my mind. This shows me that my kids might be pulling away but they will still be attached by that unbreakable bond.

Decide what you need and want in your life and what you don't, then get out your golden lasso or scissors as needed. Don't forget some silly string in your life occasionally, too!

Speaking of string...don't forget to floss,

Jen

The world is all gates, all opportunities, strings of tension waiting to be struck. - Ralph Waldo Emerson