Cicero on Thankfulness

“A thankful heart is not only the greatest virtue, but the parent of all other virtues.”

-Cicero

Author Spotlight: Janet Beasley

I have writer friends scattered across the US. We all have different writing disciplines but we share love of the craft and someone is always there to lend a different perspective when asked. I met Janet Beasley several months ago and fell in love with her energy and outlook on life. Janet has been working on an epic fantasy series called Maycly for several years with her illustrator & sister, Dar. On Thanksgiving Eve, I got a newsflash from Janet; the first book in the series will be release in early 2012.

We all know that publishing as we have known it for the past 50 years is dead. Kindle and PubIt rule. You can now print and ship your own books and build an audience more successfully than old school publishers can – and do it on your own terms.  The old Gatekeepers are gone or irrelevant, which is the same as being gone. There’s never been a more exciting time to be an author. So I want to introduce you to Janet Beasley today. If you’re an epic fantasy fan, you’ve found a brand new world to explore and a wonderful tour guide in Janet.

Mayclay updates can be found on Janet’s blog.

Red Friday: 11.25.11

U.S. Navy Lt. j.g. Will Parker, a member of Provincial Reconstruction Team Farah, hands out Sada-e Azadi magazines while other members check on the quality of Nawbahar Road, in the Khak-e Safeyd district in Afghanistan’s Farah province, Nov. 16, 2011. The team conducts quality assurance checks on road projects to ensure that contractors meet the construction requirements outlined by the team and government officials.

 U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Alexandra Hoachlander

A Simple Challenge by Leo Babauta

Is is just me or have the holiday sale ads reached a whole new level of obnoxious this year? Can’t stand them. I soooo loath them I won’t turn on the TV unless I want to see our flawed but adorable local weather weasles deliver a sure-to-miss forecast. I don’t think my intolerance stems from age – I think its just the economy. Stores are out to squeeze every penny they can out of shoppers – and they’re screaming at us earlier and louder than ever before. I just don’t want to play along. As I stated in my last post, I don’t want a big, noisy, material holiday this year. We’re opening a window and letting the holidays pass through.

So, I was relieved to see this post by Leo Babauta over on Zen Living. He makes a great case for taking the No New Gifts Challenge, and walking away from all the commercial noise. Thought I’d pass it along before Walmart opens later today. Oh, and I’d love you’re take on the Let’s Spend Money Like Drunken Sailors Cause Its Christmas ads.

Breaking Tradition

I am not ready for the holidays this year. Not even looking forward to them – which is wrong, I guess. My life, these past three months has been one long wall-to-wall campaign to launch our non-profit’s first project which deals with childhood asthma and antibiotic overuse. We’re making amazing progress and begin training our first group of school nurses in Central Missouri on December 9th.

Needless to say, I don’t have enough hours in the day to do the whole “holiday thing” this year. Cooking? Not gonna happan. Not this year.  Okay, I’m not a great cook anyway; we all know that – but on the holidays I usually bake enough to dirty up the kitchen. This year, my Sweet SIL is making the entire Thanksgiving dinner and bringing it to our house. What an angel! Sandy, you will never know how much I appreciate you!

Saturday is tree decorating day – a new tradition that began after my hospital injury in 2007. My family will gather at our place, wrestle the giant fake tree out of the garage, put it up and decorate it. Gee, I hope all the lights work. I’ll do the two mantles next week between phone calls. May just throw some glitter at them and call it done.

Christmas cards are off my holiday list this year, too. Okay guys, this is major. It’s the first time in 26 years I haven’t sent them out. If you’re on the annual list, don’t freak out when you don’t get one this year. Mitch and I are here. We’re fine. Just don’t have the time to spend addressing cards.

So, in lieu of a festive Thanksgiving post from me, I decided to link you to a friend that always makes me smile, and amazes me with her energy. Lois K wrote this Thanksgiving post on her blog, My Jam Jar. The food is amazing and she’s just fun to read. I’ve got a pile of links I’ve been gathering with every intention of sharing, too,  so look for a flurry of posts in the next few days.

SIL Sandy said something that struck me as profound one day last week when I was having a small meltdown about all the things I couldn’t juggle. She said, “This year we’re just gonna open a window and let the holidays pass through.”  That philosophy isn’t heart-warming or festive, but it works this year for a lot of folks I know. And its the mantra at my house for the Holiday Season 2011.

Have a Wonderful Thanksgiving.

Two in a Row

Wow, could this be considered a winning streak? I’m thinkin’ yes. The Cleveland Browns won again, 17-16 against the Miami Dolphins – a team I haven’t kept up with since the Don Shula/Bob Griese years.  Yes, that was a long time ago; I was quite young. And yes, we had television back then - and very bad hair. Anyway, the Browns scored today’s winning points in the last 43 seconds of the game. I hear the Dolphins were stunned, as was most of the NFL. 

 For those of you just tuning in, I became an official Browns fan last Sunday when my Little Bro gave me one of their hoodies. I wore it today.  In public.  I got some very strange looks from guys wearing licensed NFL merchandise from other more mainstream teams. It was a little unsettling. I felt like I’d just walked into a Star Wars convention and said, You know, I really liked Jar Jar Binks in The Phantom Menace, and I think he’s good for the franchise. Yeah, that look. But it takes no guts to be a fan for a team like, say, the Packers. They’re winners. It’s in their DNA. Packers fans swim at the top of the NFL food chain (and they get to wear those cool cheese hats.) The Browns… that’s another story. It takes grit to be a Brown’s fan, and an enormous capacity for optimism. For the past two weeks the Browns have gotten all their oars in the water at the same time. They’re thinking like winners.  They look like a team. Let’s see if they can keep that can-do spirit going for win #3. Woof.

P.S. to Lee: Looks like your Lions had a great day, too! It’s a happy day for underdogs.

Red Friday 9.23.11

U.S. Army Spc. Jake Amato jumps over a canal while he and his teammate, Sgt. Sean Matthews, look for triggermen in the Alisheng district of Afghanistan’s Laghman province, Sept. 12, 2011. Amato and Matthews are assigned to the Laghman Provincial Reconstruction Team. The team, which partnered with the security forces assistant team and the Afghan police, patrolled through a village to talk to residents and teach the police proper patrol procedures.

U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Ryan Crane