| When Life Stinks, Find Your Joy! |
|
| Issue No. 19 |
January 9, 2009 |
|
|
|
SEND ME JOY! |
|
Kelly Epperson
PO Box 2324
Loves Park, IL 61131
|
Dream no small dream.
~Victor Hugo
***************
CLICK HERE to Subscribe to JOY!
*****************
|
|
Hello to new subscribers - and those who have been with me for 19 weeks - and everyone in between! Thank you!
I do all kinds of gigs; today I was the birthday fairy. (That was a first.)
Faithful reader Channahon Connie invited me to be a part of her milestone birthday lunch. I donned my wings, and with magic wand and sparkly magic dust, I granted wishes for all. Even for another lady at a nearby table. (Her husband was not interested nor amused.)
Connie was a good sport wearing the Birthday Girl tiara and sash. Thank you so much, Connie, for welcoming me into your circle of friends. And thanks to Connie's pals Sue, Dottie, Nancy, and Bobbee for fun afternoon.
I still have a little glitter on my eyelashes.
If you need to make a wish, give me a call.
Words to ponder:
"I cannot give you the formula for success, but I can give you the formula for failure - which is: Try to please everybody."
~Herbert Bayard Swope
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
|
|
|
|
Joy = Music |
Lyrics to sing along with:
You didn't have to love me
but you did
but you did
but you did
and I thank you
~~ZZ Top |
| Joy = Finding Your Own Peace |
| It's all right to sit on your pity pot every now and again.
Just be sure to flush when you are done.
|
| Joy Droppings |
| What brings me joy lately?
* My new venture of selling shirts with words (C'est Bon; Joy*us;...)
* UPS man bringing me wine (client gifts are greatly appreciated)
* Meeting Grandma Joy(this week's column. click up there at top on left)
* magic wishing dust
|
| Did you know... |
Elvis would have been 74 January 8. One of my first published short stories was titled, "Hating Elvis" about a fat Elvis impersonator. FYI - I don't hate Elvis.
|
| Joy = You |
Birthday cakes and sweet surprises this week to:
Zachary (the Zman) Meredith of Roscoe, IL(4!!!!)
SueBee of Pecatonica, IL
Kendra B of Frisco, TX (18!)
Channahon Connie of (duh) Channahon, IL
Welcome to the world:
Brady William Edmundson, S. Beloit, IL Dec 31!
Noah Charles Dillon, Durham, NC New Year's Baby!
(Noah is grandson of my neighbor Connie Schultz, who introduced me to the columns of the writer Connie Schultz. I met writer Connie last spring and had her sign one of her books to Connie Schultz from Connie Schultz.)
BELATED HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO Patricia Loya, Albuequerque, NM
I met P when I interviewed her for Rockford Woman magazine's Go Green feature. I fell in love with her art and creativity. Check out her stuff and read her words ( she talks nice about me.) She is no longer a Rockford Woman, but an Albuquerque Woman.
http://journalpourlabellefemme.blogspot.com/
(New JOY seekers/spreaders: Let me know your bday. At the end of each month, one birthday person gets a surprise joy dropping in the mail.)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |
| Joy = Books & Movies |
Book Pick This Week = Age Doesn't Matter Unless You're a Cheese (book of quotes)
Flick Pick This Week = Yes Man |
|
|
|
Joy = Obligatory Sales Pitch |
Besides the fabulous book (When Life Stinks, It's Time to Wash the Gym Clothes), I have cards (greeting cards/note cards) with fabulous France photos for sale, and joy clothing! Long sleeve t-shirts with swirly girly C'est Bon (It's Good) and Joy*us. Yep, FABULOUS! |
| Quote Junkie |
Don't bunt. Aim out of the ballpark.
--David Ogilvy
|
| 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
THE LOST ART OF LOVE LETTERS:
Feb 2 - Womanspace
Feb 13 - Center for Learning in Retirement
Feb 18 - Rock Valley College
Feb 16 - PROGRAM SPEAKER, ROCKFORD NETWORK OF PROFESSIONAL WOMEN
Feb 18 - PROGRAM SPEAKER, NATIONAL ACTIVE AND RETIRED FEDERAL EMPLOYEES ASSOCIATION
Toby Keith is coming to Rockford Feb 21. I'm gonna see if I can get on stage with him. (Who's Your Daddy?) |
| Joy=Teenage Boys |
|
"Hey, Mom, you should watch me play this game. It's really gory and they swear a lot."
~~Tyler Epperson
|
| Joy = Healthy Food |
|
It's good to know where our food comes from....
|
| Joyful Tidbits |
|
---three things in life that once gone, never come back: time, words, opportunity
| |
| Joy is Seeing the World |
Reader Michelle of Freeport told me that her daughter is a foreign exchange student in Slovakia. I of course am fascinated. Here is a portion of 18-year-old Hope's blog. Thanks to both Michelle and Hope for sharing.
On Dec. 6th Saint Mikulash (Santa) comes overnight to drop gifts in children's shoes; they also have Jesisko (baby Jesus) come on Dec 24th. On the 6th you get smaller stuff and mostly chocolate, fruit, and nuts; on the 24th it's the same gifts as we give in the states. The city center here in Kosice is said to be the most beautiful city in Slovakia at Christmas time, there's a Christmas market, decorations and a huge live Christmas tree.
On the 23rd I woke up to an already decorated Christmas tree and a 2ft long Carp swimming in our bathtub, yes the fish kind. On Christmas Eve the entire morning and early afternoon was spent cooking and baking. My host dad killed and cleaned the carp in the bathroom so my host mom could bake it, talk about fresh!
The first thing to do is pass around the wafers (round flat crisps that are supposed to represent Latkes like the Jews do for Hannakuh) which you drizzle honey or syrup on. Next everyone must eat a piece of walnut and a whole clove of garlic, the walnut for health and wealth next year and the garlic for health and to keep the vampires away - no joke (kinda makes sense, we're close to the used-to-be border of Transylvania). Then it's the potato salad and the carp. Everyone eats carp for Christmas dinner here but you're not supposed to eat anything on New Year's day that has wings or fins because they'll carry away health good luck and all that jazz.
Dessert was three different kinds of this traditional dish called (don't know how to spell) Bobialky. All three were from the same base of big balls of baked bread but one had milk, sugar and poppyseeds warmed into it, another had brown sugar cinnamon and cloves, and the other had cottage cheese (sounds weird but it's really good).
Christmas morning we had a traditional Christmas morning breakfast of baked beans, cabbage soup, smoked and boiled sausages and leftover bobailky (only meal of the day thank goodness). So that's my update from Kosice, Slovakia. - Hope Baumgartner
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
|
|
...tune playing at the moment....
...it doesn't take much to make me happy and make me smile with glee...
~~The Emotions, "Best of My Love"
(I swore I would NEVER pay for satellite radio. Never say never.) |
There's many quotes that express the sentiment that we regret those things we didn't do as opposed to regretting things we did do. So, take a chance. Go for it. No regrets.
Looking forward to a great year. Send me your joy droppings!
joyfully,
xx kelly
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
