Heidi on a Harley?

Empty nesting is not as slow paced as one might think. Fact is, we can't even find time to fix my computer! I just can't focus on my thoughts using I.T.'s work laptop and I can't change my header pic to a diff picture, because they are stored on my pc, of course (right?). So it's eternal summer over here for now, even though the mid-west is glowing with pumpkins, corn stalks and a harvest moon.

Fash did get a leading role in the college's fall play, and she joined the dance team and the improv team and I don't know what all. She did very well on her first ever college writing assignment and she's coming home this Friday for fall break. I can't wait to see her. She's bringing her friend, Arizona, who is from Arizona and therefore cannot get home for a mere long weekend. Her name is not Arizona, but Fash calls her Arizona. She likes enchiladas and Mariachi, so I'm scrambling for recipes and bands to welcome her to Michigan. We will introduce her to apple picking and the corn maze at a local farm. But I might paint a big cactus on the wall, so she'll feel a little more at home.

I finished reading my latest book about four Lindas called Hometown Ties by Melody Carlson and am starting The Reluctant Prophet by Nancy Rue tonight. The words on the back cover are what caught my eye, "God Gets The Girl, The Girl Gets The Harley". In this fictional piece, newbie believer, forty-two year old, Allison Chamberlain, decides that God is calling her to buy a Harley and ride- wherever it takes her. In so doing she lives out the chance to present the reality of Christ to one of society's darkest corners.

Buying a Harley and becoming a biker is about the last thing on earth I'd ever do, simply because I am afraid to drive when enclosed let alone exposed. Wouldn't it be funny though if that is exactly how life unfolded for me at forty-seven? I could use some reinvention right about now and October 8 is just around the corner.

V-v-vroooommm!

Find Your Strongest Life, book review for Thomas Nelson

Conventional wisdom once taught that with enough training and encouragement any person could successfully accomplish any task. Author, Marcus Buckingham, leads the way in busting this myth with his newest release, Find Your Strongest Life, published by Thomas Nelson. In this book, targeted specifically for women, Buckingham pairs his expertise as a strengths-based solutions consultant with twenty years experience working for the Gallup Organization to demonstrate what the happiest and most successful women do differently.

As it turns out, today’s woman has more opportunities than she’s ever had before. She also has more responsibilities. Therefore, every moment of each of her days is filled to the brim with activities, thoughts and relationships. Not every moment, but only specific ones fulfill her and make her happy .

Buckingham defines how to identify these strong moments and draw them out. Then he shows you how to create more of them, so you can live your strongest life. To accomplish this he uses real life character sketches of women he has counseled, pointing out how each handled similar situations differently, then compares the end results. Additionally, Buckingham shares several studies, such as one done on men and women measuring their level of happiness at various stages of their lives. Midway through the book, Buckingham suggests that the reader take the Strong Life Test found online. He goes on to explain what the results mean and how to use that information to the best advantage for finding your strongest life.

I found the Strong Life Test to be surprisingly accurate in describing what circumstances make me feel most fulfilled and purposeful. Also, when Buckingham explained how "Attention Amplifies Everything", he showed me how the principles he discusses can be put into practice for strengthening relationships, such as marriage.

Sure, it does take practice. You can’t make the best choice every time. But paring away the choices that make you feel weak and learning to choose what makes you feel strong is what this book is about. I recommend reading Find Your Strongest Life to help you do just that.

Strong Moments and Weaknesses and Unused Kleenex

Today is Tuesday. Except it isn't today. It is tonight. For one more hour and ten full minutes it is Tuesday. Today was a great day. When customers, at the bookstore where I work, asked me questions today, I was able to offer helpful answers. I like that. It is a strong moment for me when my suggestion is helpful and evokes a smile from the helpee. Finding the Happy Birthday, Pastor greeting card, a devotional book that would make a perfect present for a friend's 20-something granddaughter and the book that goes with the study guide-these moments are showing me how to find my strongest life.

Months ago, I decided to be a book reviewer for Thomas Nelson. I was accepted as a book reviewer, got really excited about it, went to the website and chose my first book to review: Beautiful Mess, a story about the life and times of country singing group, Diamond Rio. Why I chose this book, I will never know. I just got so excited that I was a new book reviewer for Thomas Nelson that I clicked on the book and wala, a few days later, it was there on my doorstep in a brown paper package tied up with string. I began reading it, but I just didn't care- I was like that girl in A Chorus Line who sang about Mr. Karp's acting class- I dug right down to the bottom of my soul to see what I had inside... I tried...But. I. Felt. Nothingggg....

But I had to keep reading, because I was a reviewer for Thomas Nelson and what would Thomas Nelson think? So I did. Slowly. Then I got this e-mail from Tom and it said something like this: "...normally you cannot choose a second book to review until your first book is reviewed, proven by your provision of two URL's where your reviews of that book may be found...BUT we are having an exception...a special deal...this book: Find Your Strongest Life by Marcus Buckingham- is about to be released and we want our reviewers to read this book, if they want to, and post their reviews all on the same day, the day the book hits the street...SO, if you want to bypass the current book you are working on and read this book, you may do that NOW."

And I thought, here's my chance. I can table this Beautiful Mess and Find my Strongest Life and get on with the reviewing. I clicked on the special offer. When the book arrived, I looked at the cover, at Marcus there on the cover, and I thought, what is this guy gonna know about what women do differently to find their strongest life. Suddenly, I found myself thinking, if I read this it is sure to turn my life into a Beautiful Mess. So, I went back to reading about Diamond Rio. The musicians' biographies in there began to interest me. After a few nights, guilt plagued me, because I knew I had a deadline on the Find Your Strongest Life review. I figured I had to read it or get a bad reputation with Tom and the gang. So I did. And let me tell you something, Marcus Buckingham does know a lot about what the happiest and most successful women do differently. In fact, his book, First Break All the Rules, Now Discover Your Strengths, has taken the corporate world by storm. He says: quit trying to turn your weaknesses into strengths. Identify your strengths, focus on them, duplicate the situations in your life that feed them and you will find your strongest life. The way he explains it makes a good deal of sense.

I didn't get the book read in time to post the review on the release date. I still haven't posted the review. This isn't the review. So, I don't know if I am in or out with Thomas Nelson, but I plan to put the review up and then put one up for Beautiful Mess and see what becomes of me. I feel terrible that I missed the deadline. I want to succeed at being a reviewer for Thomas Nelson. I'm never late for work (at my new job, that is), but meeting deadlines does seem to be a weakness. Marcus says I should not focus on that or I will amplify it. So. I will move on to an area that I am not sure is a strength or weakness. I'll let the people decide.

I cleaned my kitchen up until it was spotless. I put all the recycling in the bin out in the garage and shredded the junk mail that was strewn across the counters. I scrubbed with Clorox Clean-Up and threw away unneeded debris. I put every small appliance in a cupboard to free up space and create clean lines (this is decorator talk). The whole time I was working around this one thing:

...a perfectly good wad of unused Kleenex. I don't know where the wad came from, but it was clearly unused. I could not bring myself to throw the wad away. But where should one put a wad of unused Kleenex? It doesn't belong on the kitchen counter. It doesn't fit nicely back into the Kleenex box. It would get dirty in my purse. It would end up going through the wash and rinse cycle if I put it in my pocket. A perfectly clean kitchen with clean lines and a wad of unused Kleenex on the counter create tension. Don't worry- Ziah, the bonsai, is in the living room.

Anyway. Is it a strength or a weakness to not be able to throw away a perfectly decent, unused wad of Kleenex?