When Life Stinks, Find Your Joy!
Issue No. 18 January 2, 2009
Click, click, click:
 
 
 
SEND ME JOY! 
Kelly Epperson 
PO Box 2324 
Loves Park, IL 61131
kel_epperson@yahoo.com     www.kellyepperson.com
 
 
 
Dream no small dream.
~Victor Hugo 
 
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Guess what? 
It's 2009.
 
Got any big plans? Small plans? This is your year. I can feel it.
 
I'm not one to make resolutions, but I do believe in mindset and living with intention. I also believe that feeding your soul is the most important thing you can do this year.
 
Remember these words from Harriet Beecher Stowe:
"When you get in a tight place and everything goes against you, till it seems as though you could not hold on a minute longer, never give up then, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn." 
(Thanks, Minta, Asheville, NC, for sharing this quote)
 
Hang in there, little buckaroos. It's gonna be a good year.
 
uhnstoppable
 
 
 
 
      
Words to ponder: 
Wherever you are is the entry point.
~Kabir 
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Joy = Music
Lyrics I love: 
Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world  
~John Lennon
imagine
 
Kansas Pam photo
 
 
Joy = Finding Your Own Peace
There comes a point in your life when you realize
who matters
who never did
who won't anymore
and who always will.
 
I hope you are at that point.
(from an email going around;thanks Debbie L)(and Harry the psychic)
                       
Joy Droppings
What brings me joy lately?
                                                     
* Calendars, coasters, cupcakes
* French wine from Gaillac (thanks Sherri! thanks Darren!)
* new friends that have come into my life
* old friends that have stayed in my life
* a puppy that goes potty outside                               
pee 
Did you know...
the very first crossword puzzle appeared Dec 21, 1913 in the New York World?
Did you know that if you get stumped, you can go to www.oneacross.com? (Thanks, Renee F for the web hint. Thanks, Writers Almanac, for the history.)
Joy = You
Joyful birthday greetings and salutations and many happy returns and gooey cake and trick candles and birthday spankings, pinches, and kisses and ......................to:
Shelly H in Florida
Nita L in Rockton
Meg W in Omaha
Doug L in Rockford 
                                 cake             
 
 
 
 
December Birthday Joy gift (JOY magnet) goes to Debbie Westervelt of Florida/Pecatonica. She also received the best joy present: another grandbaby! DebbieDaughter Tanya Edmundson and hubby Bill (and big sister Lauren) of S Beloit welcome a son to the world (I don't know name yet) born on December 30. Blessings! 
 
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Joy = Books & Movies
Book Pick This Week =   Almost French by Sarah Turnbull
Flick Pick This Week =    Chocolat
 

Joy = Obligatory Sales Pitch

Quote Junkie
It's choice, not chance, that determines your destiny.
~Jean Nidetch 
 
 
Joy=Speaking Gigs
 
Jan 7 - Admit Professionals Breakfast Meeting; Jump for Joy, Rockford
Jan 8 - JOY Birthday Luncheon - Reader ChannahonConnie, somewhere in Suburbia
Jan 9 - Hi-Twelve Luncheon, Christmas in France, makeup of snow day cancellation, Rockford
Jan 12 - Noon Luncheon, Pioneer Club, Off the Beaten Path, Belvidere
Joy=Teenage Boys
 "Hey, Mom, you should watch me play this game. It's really gory and they swear a lot."
~~Tyler Epperson
 
 
Peace
http://treatsfortroops.com/internal/foster/selection.php
 
 
From Randy L, Rockford:
In the middle of a room was a large round table.  In the middle of the table was a large pot of delicious stew. The people sitting around the table were thin and sickly and famished.  
 
They were holding spoons with very long handles, that were strapped to their arms and each found it possible to reach into the pot of stew and take a spoonful.  But because the handle was longer than their arms, they could not get the spoons back into their mouths.
 
There was another room, exactly the same as the first one. There was the large round table with the large pot of stew. The people were equipped with the same long-handled spoons, but here the people were well nourished and plump, laughing and talking.  
 
The difference? They learned to feed each other.
Joyful Tidbits
There is no key to happiness. The door is always open. Come on in.
 
 

Sprinkles of Joy

"I feel that you are justified in looking into the future with true assurance, because you have a mode of living in which we find the joy of life and the joy of work harmoniously combined. Added to this is the spirit of ambition which pervades your very being, and seems to make the day's work like a happy child at play"   - Albert Einstein
(Thanks, Barbara Kuhl, Home Elements Gift Shop, Pecatonica)
 
From Cindy R (a fellow American I met when we both lived in France):
Just wanted to share some things that bring me joy... my Starbuck's coffee first thing in the morning... my 12 year old daughter asking to make dinner... my son's long eyelashes... making pancakes with my youngest daughter... going on a date with my husband... talking on the phone with my mom once a week (I am in California and she is in Wisconsin)
 
From Lyn S in Nebraska:
We watched "Fred Clause" while eating pizza in the living room (a definite no-no unless Mom decides to break the rules). So joy for me has been breaking house rules for family unity and fun, and no spills to have made me regret my decision! (I cherish you too my friend!)
 
From Kathie M in Florida:
Saw dolphins while boating yesterday! SOOOO exciting when they come up to the side of the boat! 
 
From Harry H in Wood Dale, first joke of the new year:
She was standing in the kitchen, preparing our usual soft-boiled eggs and toast for breakfast, wearing only the t-shirt that she normally slept in.

As I walked in, she turned to me and said softly, 'You've got to make love to me this very  minute!' I thought, 'I am either still dreaming or this is going to be my lucky day!'

Not wanting to lose the moment, I embraced her and then gave it my all, right there on the kitchen table. Afterwards, she said, 'Thanks,' and returned to the stove, her T-shirt still around her neck.

Happy, but a little puzzled, I  asked, 'What was that all about?'
She explained, 'The egg timer's  broken."    
 
 
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...tune playing at the moment....  
tonight I'm gonna party like it's 1999.... Prince
 
prince
 
"Music is a higher revelation than all wisdom and philosophy.
Music is the electrical soil in which the spirit lives, thinks and invents."
~ Ludwig van Beethoven ~ 
 
Take 4 minutes and enjoy a youtube trip around the world (with quick stop in Toulouse, France) with song. Stand by Me ....... No, I won't be afraid, no I won't shed a tear, just as long as you stand by me........ Thanks, IndyLiz.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
(Special hugs and hello to the Cohron family. Peace to you all. Harrel will be missed.) 
 
 
 
...you may say that I'm a dreamer....but I'm not the only one.... 
joyfully,                                                                    
xx kelly