Going With Your Strengths

I once read an amazing book. NO, it wasn't Twilight. (Though, yes, that book WAS ah-maz-ing!) It was called "Organizing From The Inside Out" by Julie Morgenstern. Self-proclaimed clutterbug and organizing expert. My sister-in-law has a personal organizer, but her organizer calls what she does "whirling" which, I think, is spectacular. It makes me think of a fairy godmother bibbity-bobbity-booing the house clean.

***brief daydream of my entire house being cleaned with the wave of a wand***

Because of that book, or, more accurately, ONE PART of that book, I have radically changed my thinking in one area. Which one? I'm glad you asked.

Go with your strengths rather than retrain yourself.

Julie uses the example of a woman who comes home from work each day and kicks off her shoes, drops her coat, purse, and keys, the moment she enters the house. Traditional organizing (and our mothers!) would have us believing that this woman needs to retrain herself to hang up her coat, put her shoes in the closet, and put those keys on the little brass rack in the shape of a key. It's either that or leave them in a pile on the floor, right?

NOPE. Julie had a better idea. Build a hall tree (coat rack with shelves and drawers) and put it by the door. Then, this woman can come home and deposit her things by the door like she was in the habit of doing rather than carry her belongings all over the house.

Brilliant, no?

Here, all these years I've been trying to get myself to put my shoes in the closet instead of cluttering up the floor and threatening to break my husband's toe if he trips over them. Thanks to a NEW DRESSER (thank you, IKEA, saver of all things good in my household) I noticed my kicked-off-thrown-on-the-floor shoes fit perfectly underneath. Well, all except those new boots I told you about.  ;-)

Now, when I kick my shoes off by my dresser, I simply shove them under it.

It's much easier to go with your strengths than weaknesses.

How can this change your life?

• If you hate to chop onions so much you avoid cooking because of it, then why don't you buy them pre-chopped in the freezer section?
• If you continue to try and write a how-to blog but find you're not a very detailed person, maybe you should change the title from "HOW TO DO STUFF" to "WHAT I THINK ABOUT STUFF."
• If you're not a morning person, then for the love of everyone who knows you STOP TRYING TO GET UP AT 6 AM AND WORK OUT. Your P90X routine may come at Midnight. So be it.

It's human nature (and your mother's!) to browbeat your weaknesses and try and turn them into strengths. But if you already have a strength and can make it stronger? Well, that's even better.

For today,
Sm:)e, Feel Good, Seriously, you know you hate scrapbooking. Maybe you should give all that stuff to your niece.

I.O.U. (a blog)

It's been a week since I posted that adorable picture of my dog, Daisy. (And thank you for concurring that she is, in fact, adorable!) And as tempting as it is to snap a picture of her and post it here again (she's lying on my bed, face flat against the covers), I won't.

I.O.U. a blog. But in the interest of being a true American, I am going to blame someone else for my lack of blogging this past week.

MY DENTIST.

I was in "the chair" last Thursday for 30 minutes (maybe 40, maybe 3 hours, I don't know, I go to my unhappy place when I'm in the dentist's chair) getting a filling. Oh, wait, I'm sorry, TWO fillings. And while my doctor is a kind and genteel woman, she also weilds instruments that grind and whir away my will to live. So in that 30-40 minutes (or 3 hours) I temporarily hate her.*

I was not this calm.

So, there I am, numbed up, prone, my mouth agape, ruining a perfectly good Thursday morning. And when I get home I have to collapse in bed because I'm so TIRED. Yep. Thoroughly worn out from the (mental?) trauma. Then the next day, THE PAIN. No, not TOOTH PAIN. Not even jaw pain. BACK PAIN. Oh my gosh, you guys. Apparently when you're TENSE and OLD, you pull muscles in your back.

:-P

The good news is, I'm on the road to recovery. I have a delightful holistic doctor who reminded me that if I'd have flossed, I wouldn't have been in that chair to begin with, and if I'd have drank more water (instead of coffee) my kidneys wouldn't have been weak and I likely wouldn't have pulled anything.

Whaddayaknow? It was my fault.  :-/

In case you were wondering, a week of back strain and pain doesn't really lend itself to the writer's lifestyle. Sure, the sleeping part, and the movie-watching, book-reading part... just not the WRITING part. (That part is important.) I did get a lot of the other things done, including develop an affinity for Aleve (seriously, I need to send Bayer Health Care a Valentine.)

I know loving you is wrong, but it's only temporary.

On Monday, I did get back to the keyboard. I have a few contests and publishers I'm waiting going to hear back from, so in the meantime I picked up an old rejected MS. I couldn't help it. I LOVE this story. And the characters. Too bad the plot's a disaster and the writing mediocre. No, really. Jessica has come a long way since first drafting this mess. And while I suspect I still have a LONG way to go, I can look back at this MS and appreciate it and its imperfections. Like the way you look back at your third grade picture and think, "Wow, that ugly bucktoothed kid is cute in a way."

No? Just me? But, enough of my belly back aching!

What have YOU been up to lately while I've been suffering tooth decay and a swelled disc? Do tell! And for GOODNESS SAKE, FLOSS!!!

For today,
Sm:)e, Feel Good, I mean it. Go floss right now.

*not really, Dr. Paula. I think you're awesome. But you can see the humor here, right? *grin*

Random Wednesday

Jessica Lemmon @lemmony

My dog likes to pretend she's an paleontologist. pic.twitter.com/5FcxAJJ7

18 Jan 12

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For today,
Sm:)e, Feel Good, Daisy in her element

Scream! If You Love Bad Guys

It's no secret that I like scary movies. And I've noticed as I've watched some older films that the bad guys have gone on to become our heroes. Was it their humble start as psychopaths that made us take notice?

 
I'm sure you know Tim Olyphant now, but do you remember him...

 
as the weird film student-slash-ghostface-kiiller from Scream 2? Hmm. Still cute. Go figure. ;-)

Speaking of Scream, who even knew a thing about Matthew Lillard until he uttered those fateful words

He went on to Scooby Doo fame from there. Zoinks!

Oh, and now we're onto my favorite... Scott Foley, most recently remembered as Henry from Grey's Anatomy. I assume if you're a fan you saw the season finale last year. *cries*

Well, guess what? Scott was the super-twist in Scream 3 when he revealed that he  was--DUN-DUN!!!-- Sydney's BROTHER! Yup. You remember him now, don't you? But don't cry over losing Henry for long. In the last episode of last season's True Blood, Mr. Sexypants up there walked into Merlott's. SQUEE!

Fun fact, Patrick Dempsey, or McDreamy to you Grey's fans, also graced the screen with his presence in Scream 3.

But he wasn't the bad guy, he was Detective Mark Kincaid, who Sydney fell for.

And while we're working our way around the seven degrees of Scream, why not mention that Grey's beloved Arizona Robbins played by Jessica Capshaw... (how can you not love her?)

...once played a not so loveable killer Cupid in Valentine.

Who knew? She looks so innocent...

Who have I missed? I know there are more heroes who used to be villains that you can think of... Hmm, who was in Scream 4 again?

For today,
Sm:)e, Feel Good, Scream!

Shopping Spree!

Normally, January is not when Jessica goes shopping. No, no. Januaries are only for going out to do things one must do, like drive to work, or buy more coffee. But this year, we've been blessed with temps ranging from 57-62 (!) degrees. And I happened to have some Christmas money so...

SHOPPING!

I used to love shopping. Lately though, I have not done a good job wielding my mall money. So on Thursday, when I went to JC Penney (best clearance EVER, seriously), I was ready to spend.

Boot shopping is excruciating. I'm not sure what's worse, that everyone wants $150 for a pair, or that because I have giant clown feet, they all look like sled runners. Enter, the Rory Mid-Calf boot by St. John's Bay. *SQUEE!!!*

 
Here it is! But, I got two of them.

This shoe LOOKS small because of the placement of the heel, and the toe is wide rather than those kinds that come to a point (and only make one's foot appear longer.) AND, I scored them for $34!

Then I wandered over into the peacoats. There were a sea of them on sale. Camel, Black and Red mostly. But I spotted one in olive green. A lone peacoat, the only one in this particular style. It was 60% off AND my size.

 
This is not me, btw.

I also bought pants, jeans, a sweater, some gloves and scarf and a handful of other necessities while there. I brought home two bulging bags and only spent around $200. SCORE!

Over the weekend, I shopped at IKEA. Mr. Lemmony and I are planning to gut our 1956 kitchen (original!) that we've since kept looking pretty (and retro) with paint and new tile. Alas, everything is looking old and tired, and it is time. I found the cabinets and appliances I want at IKEA, now it comes down to planning and money. But the one item I did purchase from IKEA that I am using right now and LOVE is this lapboard. I know it doesn't look like much, but it's so perfect. And way better than balancing my laptop on my knees while typing. PLUS, it's hinged so it folds flat and stores anywhere.

In true  IKEA fashion, it was a bargain at $9.99.

I wish I could say the same for my future IKEA kitchen, but you'd have to  add another "9" onto that figure and slide the decimal point to the right two places. *whimper*

How about you? Any post-Christmas shopping finds?

For today,
Sm:)e, Feel Good, Ironically, every day the weather has been too warm to wear my new coat. I've never wanted snow so badly!

One Year Ago

It's not like me to look back. But after thinking about the year of ones I realized that this month in 2011, two major things happened to change/shift my life. First, I found a gray hair, and second, I became a vegan.

The gray hair thoroughly freaked me out, by the way.

(Gray hare, get it?)

But try as I might to get sympathy from my friends, I couldn't. Turns out age 35 is a bit long in the tooth (har har, that's a rabbit joke, son) for a first gray hair, but let me assure you, no less traumatic. I was at work, too, which was majorly inconvenient because I couldn't have a proper breakdown. So I plucked it, went to my office, and proceeded to hold the gray--okay it was WHITE-- hair against everything in sight. White paper, black keyboard, oak-esque desk material. I was trying to prove to myself it was blonde. Guess what? IT WASN'T. Knock on wood, it was the last one I've seen, though my stylist is under a strict gag order. If she sees a gray/white hair up there, she is not to tell me.

The vegan thing was born (or is it borne? I never know...) out of desperation. No, it wasn't a ploy to drop some poundage before a major event. No, it wasn't because I was diving headlong into a third-of-the-way life crisis. It was because I was tired of being tired all the time (Chronic Fatigue, though I hate labels, but that's what they call it) and feeling sick all the time (Ebstein Barr, again, hate admitting that) and a general sluggishness that followed everything I ate. Not to mention what I was eating was, well, eating me. Eating away my energy, my spunk, my general happiness. I read The Kind Diet by Alicia Silverstone (gonna have to write a thank you note to her!) and my life changed. Twelve hours after eating a Bacon Cheeseburger (no half measures here), I cleared all meat/dairy/eggs out of my fridge and became a vegan.

Vegan Breakfast: tofu scramble (like scrambled eggs if you do it right, and I DO.), roasted redskins and French toast.

Now there was a lot more to this than I knew, and I won't bore you (or freak you out?) with the details. Probably the thing you would be most terrified to hear about would be that after three weeks of no cheese, you really don't miss it that much. And, I'm far from perfect. I have indulged in a veggie eggs benedict on the rare occasion, or the cheese pizza along with a pitcher of beer. What's nice is that these moments never happen because I NEED CHEESE. Also as a result of being vegan...if I could brag just a touch...seemingly without trying, I...

LOST 23 LBS!!! What's that look like, you ask? Well, here you go.

BEFORE:

 
My friends, and me there on the right (November 2010)

AFTER:

 
October 2011 (that's my Debra Morgan costume from Dexter)

So here I am. 2012. Wiser? Maybe. More committed to hair color than ever? Definitely. Lighter and feeling better? You bet.

What about you? Did you make any changes in 2011 that you're reaping the reward from now?

For today,
Sm:)e, Feel Good, Mr. Lemmony calls us "cool vegans," I call us 99% vegans, take your pick. ;)

Please Stand By

I trust you all have had (are having?) a lovely holiday season. Once I resurface from Christmas, and from the serious writing breakthroughs I am having, I expect to blog all about them...

Eventually.

At least by New Year's.

For today,
Sm:)e, Feel Good, Another year flown by!